39<5 SPOR TING AD VENTURES 



decided to re-embark, if possible ; so the canoe was launched on 

 a receding- wave by two Indians, who were stripped to the buff. 



I stepped in first, but I had scarcely entered before a large 

 wave struck the craft, and, lifting- it hig-h up, carried it and 

 the two men holding it shoreward with a rush, and as I had 

 not sat down I was pitched into the sea backwards, and made 

 to drink a large quantity of salt water. I remember distinctly 

 making some blind efforts to find a footing and attempting to 

 swim, but I do not know how I got ashore, except to suppose 

 that my struggles aided me somewhat, and that the wave did 

 the remainder. 



I scrambled to my feet on the beach as rapidly as I could, 

 and made a dash for the interior as fast as my soaking garments 

 would permit, and was soon beyond the reach of the treacherous 

 combers. 



Not knowing what had become of the remainder of the party, 

 I commenced shouting, and in a moment after, a lusty voice 

 could be heard above the roar of the storm telling me to come on. 

 The darkness was intense, yet I soon found the Stentor, and 

 on inquiring of him what had become of the canoe and those 

 who held it, he said they were all right, except that one of the 

 men had received a hard knock in the stomach from the craft, 

 and was temporarily laid up for repairs. On rejoining the 

 others a few moments after, I learned that the Indians had 

 saved themselves by clinging tenaciously to the boat, and 

 that when the wave receded their weight kept it from going 

 to sea, it being- cast high up on the beach. 



After a short consultation, it was decided to remain on the 

 island that night and attempt to reach the mainland in the 

 morning, the sea then running being deemed too heavy to give 

 us much of a chance for our lives in the darkness. That night 

 was a most wretched one to me, and I gladly hailed the return 

 of the morning, as it enabled us to launch our canoe and reach 

 the mainland in safety. When we arrived there I learned 

 that the Indians considered the island to be the resort of evil 

 spirits, that it was their wailing we had heard in the caverns, 

 and that it was because we had intruded on their ground 

 that we met with the accident, as a warning not to go there 



