"One time, when I was hunting on the lake I was careless in the canoe and upset, and my gun sank to the bottom, and, of course, I never got it again. The Indians hearing of this told me that the selallicum had given me a warning not to come on the lake again, and that I had better respect this warning. There is only one Indian in the whole country who will go out on the lake, and that is Squawitch here. He is an old friend of mine, and has lots of confidence in me. But even he will never enter a canoe except in my company. I don't know just how he reasons about the matter; whether he thinks that I have some strong medicine which enables me to defy this monster or not; but he has been hunting here with me many times and is always ready to go again. This morning, though, he told me that an Indian had seen the selallicum on the lake within two or three weeks."
Mr. James paused to refill his pipe, and as they sat there for a moment silent, suddenly the faint cry of the hounds was heard in the distance, and Mr. James said: "There! hear that? That's Captain. Listen!"
Presently the shriller cry of Dinah made itself heard, and as they sat listening to the cry of the hounds, which gradually grew more and more faint, Squawitch parted the bushes near them, and, walking along a log toward the water, drew from the low brush a canoe and two paddles. He stepped into the canoe, pushed it ashore, and signing Mr. James and Jack to step in, took his seat in the stern. Mr. James took the bow paddle and Jack seated himself amidship. Then, with a stroke or two of the paddles, the canoe shot out of the little cove on to the unruffled surface of Mirror Lake.
Certainly it well deserved its name! Only a few hundred yards in width and less than a mile long, it was surrounded on all sides by a superb forest of gigantic firs. Along its margin grew a narrow border of grass or low willows, separating the border from the dark forest; and beyond that border a fringe of lily pads floated motionless on the surface of the water. The little strip of grass, the tall green trees, and the blue sky above were so perfectly reflected in the clear water that Jack could hardly tell where the reflection ended and the vegetation began. Shut in on all sides by the vast untouched forests, the lake lay there like a great eye that gazed steadfastly and unwinkingly at the sky which it mirrored. The light breeze had fallen as the sun rose, and there was now not the slightest motion on the water. The stillness was unbroken for a time, and they sat listening for the cry of the hounds.