180 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



ed by the grating of lily-pads against the sides of 

 the boat. We had crossed the lake, and were^ 

 entering the river. My mood changed with the 

 change of locality. The lover of nature was in- 

 stantly lost in the sportsman, and as we shot into 

 the fog, which, rising above the river, from the lake 

 looked like a great fleecy serpent twined amid the 

 hills, eye and ear were all alert to detect the pres- 

 ence of game. But we were doomed to delay. 

 For nearly two miles we crept through the damp 

 and chilly fog, hearing nothing to interrupt the 

 profound silence save the occasional plunge of a 

 muskrat or the sputter of a frog skating along the 

 surface of the water. But all of a sudden, when 

 heart and hope were about to fail, some distance 

 ahead of us we heard the well-kno^vn sounds, 

 k-splash, k-splash, and knew that a deer, and a 

 large one too, was making for the shore. Here 

 our adventures began. I signalled Martin, by a 

 desperate " hitch " on the thwart, to run the boat 

 at full speed toward the sound. He did. The 

 light shell shot through the fog, and when in 

 swift career struck the bank, bow on. Martin was 

 tremendous at the paddle, and a little more force 

 would have divided that marsh from side to side ; 

 as it was, the thin, lath-like boat was buried a third 

 of its length amid the bogs and marsh-grass. With 

 much struggle, and several suppressed but sugges- 

 tive exclamations from Martin, we extricated the 



