comin' oot the mouth an' takin'
the teeth o' one side along wi' it."

"What became of him?"

"He settled doon i' Winchester, which was then weel nigh the jumpin'
off place, licked every mon in town as wanted a fight, an' then
married a fine woman an' bided there as respectable as ye please. I
sure thought, tho', he would go to the dogs. I'm o' the opeenion that
wife will be the makin' o' him. What the boats ahead doin', lad?"

"They are landing at the mouth of the little creek, there."

"I have it; 'tis nigh sundown an' I reckon they hope to shoot
something fer supper," saying which he began to sing in a rollicking
voice the following, which may be presumed to be of his own
composition:

"Swate Widdy Hogan's married rich Flannagan
To provide for Hogan's heirs;
All tin twins o' thim great at shenannegan,
An all o' thim born i' pairs.

"Pat an' Terry, Tom an' Tim,
Peter, Mary Ann,
Dinnis, Nora, Shaughn an' Fin,
Wid Kathleen an' Dan,"

"Never mind the rest o' the family, Ferguson, come ashore an' help
with the work."

"Help wi' the work, is it, Joseph, me boy? Joseph wore a coat o' many
colours, ye know, but he was the same old Joe all the time. You'll
niver improve, I'm thinkin'."

Rodney was left to build a fire and told to keep his eye "peeled," for
a prowling savage might happen along any minute.

When he had a good blaze started, he sat down to wait. After a few
minutes, hearing nothing, he decided to take his rifle and go up the
creek a short distance in the hope of seeing game.

That those returning and finding him gone need not be alarmed, he cut
a piece of bark from a young tree and with the point of his knife
wrote on the inside: "Up creek, back soon."

The boy had not gone far when he came upon a path made by animals
passing to and from the creek. He noticed no fresh tracks but
concluded this as good a place as any where one might lie in wait for
a sight of game.

He selected the trunk of a fallen tree which commanded a view of the
path and where he would be screened from the observation of any animal
passing.

It was near sunset and the rosy light shone through thin places in the
foliage overhead. Not a sound could be heard save the murmur of the
water in the creek. Rodney had paddled all day and was tired. He began
to feel drowsy. That would not do and he shook his head vigorousl