almost uttered an exclamation at sight of it.
"It could not be!" Donald rubbed his eyes and looked again. Yes, it
was. There was no mistaking its shape or color.

"Bullen's tub, as I'm a sinner!" muttered the young man, under his
breath. "If that doesn't beat everything! Where did they get it?
What are they going to do with it? and what has become of its owner?
Poor old chap! He can't possibly be alive, for he would have died
rather than be parted from it. Now, though, I had better keep quiet
for awhile and see what is coming next."

Although it lacked two hours of sunset, and Donald maintained his
lonely watch until then, nothing more came in sight. He prepared
another meal to strengthen him for a night of toil, and as soon as
darkness had set in, made a start. Keeping so far out on the lake that
the shore was but a dim line, he urged the canoe forward with his
utmost strength through the solemn stillness of the long hours. He did
not venture near shore until the eastern sky was paling with
approaching dawn. Then, though he sought anxiously for some friendly
stream in which to conceal his canoe, he failed to find one before the
growing light warned him that it was no longer safe to remain on the
water. He was thus forced to land on the open beach, and with great
labor drag his craft up a steep bank to a hiding-place in the forest
beyond. After that, with infinite pain, and moving backward as his
work progressed, he carefully obliterated all traces of his landing by
sweeping them with a bunch of twigs.

While certain that he must have passed the Indian fleet during the
night, and that it would in turn pass him before the day was ended, he
was compelled by utter weariness to sleep, which he did in a dense
thicket at some distance from where he had hidden the canoe. When he
awoke, it was so late in the day that he feared the savages had gone
by, but after a while he again heard their voices, and peering from his
covert again saw the entire fleet sweep past. This time he counted its
occupants as well as he could, and discovered that the war-party
numbered something over two hundred members. On this occasion the
canoe containing the paymaster's tub was in the foremost rank, and
there were no stragglers.

It was a great relief to the anxious watcher to catch this glimpse of
the enemy and thus gain an approximate knowledge of their whereabouts,
and after they had disappeared he felt at liberty to attend t