he lake, and if so, our chances of overtaking them were
small indeed. I now regretted that I had not waited to communicate with
Uncle Denis before we had started. He would probably have gone on to
the farm, and, having obtained horses, set off with a strong party,
which by proceeding along the eastern side of the lake, might have
headed the people, whoever they were, who had committed the outrage. We
were satisfied, however, that there were not many of them. They would,
however, should we come up with them, have a great advantage over us,
for we could not venture to fire at them for fear of wounding their
captives, whereas they might blaze away at us with impunity. I said
something of this in effect to the Dominie.

"If they are Indians, they are not likely to have fire-arms," he
remarked, "and I cannot fancy that white men would have any object in
carrying off the dear girls."

Fast as we were going, Dio must have gone faster, for still we saw
nothing of him. Whenever we slackened our pace, Rose exclaimed--

"Go on, Massa Tidey, go on Massa Mike, no stop for me, I keep up, me got
wind now!"

Her eagerness enabled her indeed to exert herself in a way she could not
otherwise have done. At length we caught sight of the water between the
trees, and in a few minutes we were standing on the shore of the lake.
The moon shed her bright light on the calm surface of the beautiful
sheet of water, enabling us to see a great distance along it. At one
side rose the mountains, on the other the banks were fringed with trees
of magnificent growth, except here and there, where grassy glades came
down to the edge of the water, or points jutted out, forming sheltered
bays and nooks, which might conceal those of whom we were in search. We
stood for some minutes straining our eyes, in the expectation of seeing
a canoe gliding rapidly away from us, but not a speck could we
distinguish on the unruffled bosom of the lake. We searched about to
try and discover any signs of a canoe having touched the shore, but we
could find nothing to indicate that one had been there. That we had not
lost the trail, however, we felt nearly certain. We had now to decide
what probable direction the fugitives had taken; it was not likely that
they would have gone towards the mountains, and indeed, on further
search, we found that the wood in that direction was almost
impracticable. Not a single clear track or opening through it could we
discover,