192 Footprints 



dents in the sand wherever the water was shal- 

 low, when they turned suddenly and darted 

 off-shore. This sand seemed very unstable, 

 and a little agitation of the water caused 

 many a mark to be wiped out ; and yet we 

 find great slabs of ripple-marked and foot- 

 marked sandstone. I picked up such a piece 

 not long ago on which were rain-drop marks. 

 This is the story of a million years ago ; but 

 who ever found Indian moccasin-marks not 

 two centuries old ? The footprints that 

 could tell us many a wonderful story are all 

 gone and the tale of a rain-drop remains. 

 This is a bit aggravating. Here where we 

 have pitched our camp, or very near it, was 

 a Swedish village in 1650 and later, and for 

 two days I have been hunting for evidence 

 of the faft, — some bit of broken crockery, 

 rusty nail, glass, pewter spoon, anything, — 

 but in vain. History records the village, and 

 correftly, without a doubt, but there are no 

 footprints here, nor other trace to show that 

 a white man ever saw the place until our tent 

 was pitched upon the beach. 



Towards evening I had occasion to renew 

 my youth, — in other words, " run on an 

 errand," as my mother put it, — and going half 



