44 HILLS AND LAKES. 



get back to our shantee. This we accomplished in as 

 many hours. When we came to the promontory 

 from which we took our forced voyage across the 

 lake, my guide went ashore, and peeling long strips 

 of bark from the saplings, fastened them together, 

 thus making a towing-line of sufficient length and 

 strength, and fastening one end to the raft, with the 

 other in his hand, he swam round the point of rocks. 

 Having gained terra firma, he hauled in upon the line, 

 and thus towed the raft round the point, myself keep- 

 ing it off the rocks with my pole. We were weary 

 enough to sleep soundly that night. It must have been 

 past midnight when we were startled from our slum- 

 ber by a terrific scream which sounded at no great 

 distance from us. My first thought in the bewilder- 

 ment of the moment, was that the house was on fire, 

 or that robbers had invaded our dwelling. We sat 

 up, with our eyes wide open, staring at each other, 

 when again that terrific scream sounded directly over 

 us, while scream after scream seemed to answer from 

 every direction around us. An indescribable feeling 

 of terror crept over me, and if the truth must be told, 

 my hand was none of the steadiest, as I reached for 

 my rifle. I did reach for it, and, as I grasped it, made 



