urrent bore back across the river.

Leaning far out, grasping a branch to keep from falling, I distinguished
the canoe at the upper landing, and the Indians busily preparing
camp. At first I saw nothing of any white man, but was gazing still
when De Artigny emerged from some shadow, and stepped down beside the
boat. I know not what instinct prompted him to turn and look up
intently at the bluff towering above. I scarcely comprehended either
what swift impulse led me to undo the neckerchief at my throat, and
hold it forth in signal. An instant he stared upward, shading his
eyes with one hand.

I must have seemed a vision clinging there against the sky, yet all at
once the truth burst upon him, and, with a wave of the arm, he sprang
up the low bank, and joined his Indians. I could not hear what he
said, but with a single word he left them, and disappeared among the
trees at the foot of the bluff.

I drew back, almost frightened, half inclined to flee before he could
attain the summit. What could I say? How could I meet him? What if
Cassion had followed me up the path, or had despatched one of his men
to spy upon my movements? Ever since leaving Quebec my one hope had
been this interview with De Artigny, yet now that it was imminent I
shrank from it, in actual confusion, my heart fluttering, my mind
blank, yet I was not a coward, and did not run, but waited, feeling my
limbs tremble under me, and listening for the first sound of his
approach.

He must have scrambled straight up the steep face of the bluff, for it
could have been scarcely more than a minute, when I heard him
crunching a passage through the bushes, and then saw him emerge above
the edge. Clinging to a tree limb, his eyes sought eagerly to locate
me, and when I stepped forward, he sprang erect, and bowed, jerking
his hat from his head. There was about his action the enthusiasm of a
boy, and his face glowed with an eagerness and delight which instantly
broke down every barrier between us.

"You waved to me?" he exclaimed. "You wished me to come?"

"Yes," I confessed, swept from my guard by his enthusiasm. "I have
been anxious to confer with you, and this is my first opportunity."

"Why I thought you avoided me," he burst forth. "It is because I felt
so that I have kept away."

"There was nothing else I could do but pretend," I exclaimed, gaining
control over my voice as I spoke. "My every movement has been watched
since we left Quebec; this is the fi