was my
only hope of saving myself, and I determined to run the risk; but no
time was to be lost, as the Indians might look up the stream and
discover me. I struck out boldly, and found that I could stem the
current, though it certainly required all the strength I possessed. I
looked down the stream every now and then, to ascertain whether the
Indians were returning, which I thought they might do when they saw only
one person clinging to the canoe; otherwise I kept my eye as steadily as
I could on the bushes for which I was making. Of course, I might have
crossed the stream much more easily by allowing myself to be carried
down with the current, but then I should have landed much below the
place where I hoped to find concealment. I could distinguish for some
time, even amid the roar of the waters, the voices of the Indians as
they shouted to each other; but they gradually became fainter and
fainter, and this gave me encouragement, as it informed me that they
were getting further off.

Even then I thought of poor Mike. What might be his fate, should he be
captured by the Indians? His fiddle, and probably everything else in
the canoe, would be lost, and he would have no means of softening their
savage hearts. With his fiddle in his hand, I felt that he might
succeed in saving his life. It may seem strange that such thoughts
entered my mind at that time; but the truth is, I was less anxious about
myself than I was about him.

I had got more than half-way across when I began to find my strength
failing me. It seemed that I should never reach the shore; still, I
struck out, straining every nerve. I was afraid at length that I should
be obliged to allow myself to be carried down by the current, and be
glad to cling to the first rock or bough I could reach. My eyes were
growing dim, and I could scarcely see the bushes on which they had so
long been fixed. Still I struggled on, determined if possible to
succeed. Suddenly I felt myself caught by an eddy, and the next instant
I was carried close under the bank. I was about to grasp one of the
branches, when I recollected that the sharp eyes of the Indians would
discover where my hand had crushed the leaves, so I resisted the
temptation, turning myself on my back for a minute to rest; then I dived
down, and came up again in the very middle of the bush.

I now without fear drew myself out of the water, and climbing up,
discovered a thick trunk hollowed out by age, t