unrolling were now not up to the knee; then the brake would reach to the
shoulder. The path wound round the thickets (the blackthorn being quite
impenetrable except with the axe) and came again to the river some four
or five hundred yards from the stockade. The stream, which ran from west
to east through the enclosure, here turned and went due south.

On the bank Felix had found a fine black poplar, the largest and
straightest and best grown of that sort for some distance round, and
this he had selected for his canoe. Stones broke the current here into
eddies, below which there were deep holes and gullies where alders hung
over, and an ever-rustling aspen spread the shadow of its boughs across
the water. The light-coloured mud, formed of disintegrated chalk, on the
farther and shallower side was only partly hidden by flags and sedges,
which like a richer and more alluvial earth. Nor did the bushes grow
very densely on this soil over the chalk, so that there was more room
for casting the fly than is usually the case where a stream runs through
a forest. Oliver, after getting his tackle in order, at once began to
cast, while Felix, hanging his doublet on an oft-used branch, and
leaning his spear against a tree, took his chisels and gouge from the
flag basket.

He had chosen the black poplar for the canoe because it was the lightest
wood, and would float best. To fell so large a tree had been a great
labour, for the axes were of poor quality, cut badly, and often required
sharpening. He could easily have ordered half-a-dozen men to throw the
tree, and they would have obeyed immediately; but then the individuality
and interest of the work would have been lost. Unless he did it himself
its importance and value to him would have been diminished. It had now
been down some weeks, had been hewn into outward shape, and the larger
part of the interior slowly dug away with chisel and gouge.