be, when I need him."--"Ho!
good!" he exclaimed, as the keen blade appeared.

"Now, Rolf," said the lawyer, "I want to come back next year and bring
three companions, and we will pay you at the same rate per month for
each. What do you say?"

"Glad to have you again," said Rolf: "we'll come for you on August
fifteenth; but remember you should bring your guitar and your
spectacles."

"One word," said the governor, "do you know the canoe route through
Champlain to Canada?"

"Quonab does."

"Could you undertake to render scout service in that region?"

The Indian nodded.

"In case of war, we may need you both, so keep your ears open."

And once more the canoe made for the north, with Quonab in the stern and
Skookum in the bow.

In less than a week they were home, and none too soon; for already the
trees were bare, and they had to break the ice on the river before they
ended their trip.

Rolf had gathered many ideas the last two-months. He did not propose to
continue all his life as a trapper. He wanted to see New York. He wanted
to plan for the future. He needed money for his plans. He and Quonab had
been running a hundred miles of traps, but some men run more than that
single handed. They must get out two new lines at once, before the frost
came. One of these they laid up the Hudson, above Eagle's Nest; the
other northerly on Blue Mountain, toward Racquet River. Doing this was
hard work, and when they came again to their cabin the robins had gone
from the bleak and leafless woods; the grouse were making long night
flights; the hollows had tracks of racing deer; there was a sense of
omen, a length of gloom, for the Mad Moon was afloat in the shimmering
sky; its wan light ghasted all the hills.

Next day the lake was covered with thin, glare ice; on the glassy
surface near the shore were two ducks floundering. The men went as near
as they could, and Quonab said, "No, not duck, but Shingebis, divers.
They cannot rise except from water. In the night the new ice looks like
water; they come down and cannot rise. I have often seen it." Two days
after, a harder frost came on. The ice was safe for a dog; the divers or
grebes were still on its surface. So they sent Skookum. He soon returned
with two beautiful grebes, whose shining, white breast feathers are as
much prized as some furs.

Quonab grunted as he held them up. "Ugh, it is often so in this Mad
Moon. My father said it is because of Kaluskap's dancing."

"