the warm, summer months, the deer come down from the mountains at night to feed on the marshes that line the shores of the lakes and rivers.* While they are thus feeding, if you pass along in a dark, still night, without making a noise, you can hear them, as they step about in the edge of the water, or snort as they scent approaching danger. The moment you become aware of the proximity of one, strike a light and fix it firmly in the bow of your boat, or in a lantern on your head, and advance cautiously. The deer, attracted by the flame, stops and gazes intently upon it. If he hears no sound he will not stir till you are close to him. At first you catch only the sight of his two eyes, burning like fire-balls in the gloom, but as you approach nearer, the light is thrown on his red flanks, and he stands revealed in all his beautiful proportions before you. The candle serves to distinguish the animal, and, at the same time, give you a clear view of the sights along your gun-barrel, and he must be a poor shot who misses at five rods' distance.

* Sportsmen may wonder at our killing deer in midsummer, but I would say that we never shot a sucking doe. Bucks never are better than in July, for the food is then so abundant they are extremely fat. We killed only one doe in all, and that was a yearling.

This night, the only good feeding spot for deer had been so trampled over by us, before dark, that they would not come out upon it, and we floated on for a a long time without hearing anything. I never before saw such an exhibition of the stealthy movements of an Indian. The lake was as still and smooth as a polished mirror, and our frail canoe floated over it as if impelled by an invisible hand. I knelt at the bow, with my rifle before me, while Mitchell sat in the stern as fixed as a statue, yet urging the boat on by some strange movement of the paddle, which I tried in vain to comprehend. He did not even make a ripple on the water, and I could tell we were moving only by marking the shadow of trees we crossed, or the stars we passed over. Though straining every nerve to catch a sound, I never once heard the stroke of his paddle. It was the most mysterious ride I ever took. We entered the mouth of a river, whose shores were black with the sombre fir trees, while ever and anon would come more clearly on the ear the roar of a distant waterfall. It was so dark I could make out nothing distinctly on shore, and the island-like tufts that here and there rose from the water-the little bays and rocky points we passed,

assumed the most grotesque shapes to my fancy, till I had all the feelings of one suddenly transported to a fairy land. Now the silent boat would cross the shadow of a lofty pine tree, that lay dark and calm in the water below, and now sail over a bright constellation that sparkled in our path, while the scream of a far-off loon came ringing like a spirit's cry through the gloom. Oh, how bright lay the sky, with its sapphire floor beneath us, and how black was the fringe of shadow that encroached on its beauty, and yet added to it by contrast. The silent night around me—the strangeness of the place, and the far .removal from human habitations, were enough in themselves; but the dim, impalpable objects on shore, just distinct enough to confuse the senses, added tenfold mystery to the scene. I seemed moving through a boundless world of shadows, with nothing clear and natural, but the bright constellations below me. Thus we continued on for a mile, without a whisper or sign having passed between us. At length the canoe entered what seemed at first a deep bay, but soon changed to the mouth of a gloomy cavern. I leaned forward, striving in vain to make out the misshapen objects before me; but the more I looked, the more

confused I grew; while to add to my bewilderment, suddenly the dim outlines I was struggling to make out, began to vanish as if melting away in the darkness. At first, I thought the whole had been a structure of mist, and was dissolving in my sight, but casting my eyes beneath me, I saw we were receding over the stars. Then I understood it all. Mitchell, without making a sound, had drawn the boat slowly backwards, causing the objects before me to fade thus strangely from my sight. He knew the ground perfectly well, and could enter every bay and inlet as accurately as in broad daylight.

Pursuing our way up the channel, I was at length startled by a low "hist!" The next moment I caught the tread of a deer on shore, when the light canoe shot along the surface till I could hear the low ripple of the water around the bow. "Light up!" said Mitchell in a whisper. As quietly as possible, I kindled a match, and lighting a candle, put it in a lantern made to fit the head like a hat, and clapping it in the place of my cap, cocked my rifle and leaned forward. The bright flame flared out upon the surrounding gloom, and all was hush as death. But as

we advanced towards where the deer was standing,

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the boat suddenly struck the dry limbs of a spruce tree that had fallen in the water. Snap, snap, went the brittle twigs-one of them piercing our bark canoe. We backed out of the dilemma as quick as possible, but the sound had alarmed the deer, and I could hear his long bounds as he cleared the bank, and made off into the forest.

After cruising about a little while longer, we put back, and crossed the lake to a deep bay on the farther side. But the moon now began to show her disc over the fir trees, and our last remaining chance was to find a deer in the bay before the silver orb should climb the lofty pines that folded it in. But in this too we were disappointed, and the unclouded light now flooding lake and forest, we turned wearily towards our camp fire that was blazing cheerfully amid the trees on the farther shore. Just then a merry laugh came floating over the water from our companions there, breaking the silence which had enchained us, and for the first time we spoke. My limbs were almost paralyzed from having been kept so long in one position, and I was sick and weary. Still I would not have missed that mysterious boat-ride and the strange sensations it had awakened, to have