CHAPTER FIFTEENTH 



FOOTPRINfS 



the camp-fire was smoking, for 

 the wood was green and I was willing 

 that my companion should worry over it, I 

 strolled up the long, sandy beach with no par- 

 ticular object in mind and quite ready to meet 

 and parley with any creature that I overtook. 

 I saw only evidences of what had been there, 

 or what I supposed had been. There were 

 tracks that I took to be those of herons, and 

 others that suggested a raccoon in search of 

 crayfish. Here and there a mouse had hur- 

 ried by. What lively times had been kept up 

 at low tide within sight of the tent door ! and 

 yet we knew nothing of it. But these tracks 

 were not well defined, and therefore why 

 not misinterpreted ? I have not suggested all 

 the possibilities of the case - Here my 

 meditations were checked by the call to 

 breakfast, but I took up the subject again as I 



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