pioneer would have detected no other sign of the presence of a human
being than the occurrences that we have already narrated; but the most
inexperienced person would have decided at once upon the hiding-place
of him who had given the moving impulse to the bodies.

Just at the summit of the bank was a mass of shrubbery of sufficient
extent and density to conceal a dozen warriors. And within this,
beyond doubt, was one person, at least, concealed; and it was certain,
too, that from his hiding-place, he was peering out upon the river.
Each bowlder had emerged from this shrubbery, and had not passed
through it in its downward course; so that their starting-point may
now be considered a settled question.

Supposing one to have gazed from this stand-point, what would have
been his field of vision? A long stretch of river--a vast, almost
interminable extent of forest--a faint, far-off glimpse of a mountain
peak projected like a thin cloud against the blue sky, and a solitary
eagle that, miles above, was bathing his plumage in the clear
atmosphere. Naught else?

Close under the opposite shore, considerably lower down than the point
to which we first directed our attention, may be descried a dark
object. It is a small Indian canoe, in which are seated two white men
and a female, all of whom are attired in the garb of civilization. The
young man near the stern is of slight mold, clear blue eye, and a
prepossessing countenance. He holds a broad ashen paddle in his hand
with which to assist his companion, who maintains his proximity to the
shore for the purpose of overcoming more deftly the opposition of the
current. The second personage is a short but square-shouldered
Irishman, with massive breast, arms like the piston-rods of an engine,