the pond. No land-marks were visible, 

 so we steered by "dead reckoning." 

 Bige was feathering his paddle, Indian 

 fashion without lifting it out of the 

 water, so we silently proceeded, making 

 no ripple on the surface and yet, at 

 first, rather swiftly. 



A few minutes later, the bow of the 

 boat struck some yielding obstacle. 

 My first thought was that we had hit 

 a mossy, overhanging bank on the oppo- 

 site shore of the pond. In times of 

 stress, thoughts follow each other in 

 rapid succession. My second thought 

 was that the opposite shore was not 

 mossy and overhanging, but rocky; 

 third, that we had not been out long 

 enough to get across; and fourth that 

 we must have hit some animal who was 

 swimming. But things were happening 

 now, more rapidly than thoughts, and 

 very much quicker than the time re- 

 quired to tell about them ; and this latter 

 thought was confirmed long before it was 

 completely formulated. 



5 



