160 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDEKNESS. 



cry of a hound, when, in unknown grief, he wails out 

 his feeling. At the same instant I felt the boat 

 shake. Never did I obey that signal to be on the 

 watch more quickly. Never was I signalled before 

 to look at such an object. A canoe, and in it a fig- 

 ure like a girl's, was in the very act of turning 

 the point. A living girl could not have kept a 

 steadier stroke, or urged a boat along more nat- 

 urally. And yet I felt that it was not flesh and 

 blood, nor a real boat, nor ashen paddle before me. 

 Onward the apparition came. Up to the very- 

 border of our camp that spectral boat glided, then 

 paused. A human face could not have gazed more 

 searchingly into the fitful firelight ; a human form 

 could not have taken a truer attitude of search. I 

 saw a shadowy arm move through the air, and 

 the formation of a hand rested for a moment on 

 the brow, — as when one shields his eyes, peering 

 into darkness, — then sank upon the paddle-staff, 

 and the boat moved forward. 



That motion roused me. It started John also. 

 An instant more and we had solved the mystery 

 But even as our boat glided out of the deep shadow; 

 the apparition turned her head fuH on us. I won- 

 der we did not stop. But, with that ghostly face 

 not fifty feet away, looking through the bright 

 moonlight steadily into mine, I gave a stroke which 

 bent my paddle like a sword-blade when you throw 

 your weight suddenly upon it. The deed was done. 



