-rat. Indeed he had been known among his playmates in the old
country as the "Water-rat." When, therefore, he plunged into the river,
as described, he took care to hold his breath as if for a long dive, and
drifted with the current a considerable distance as motionless as a dead
man. The Indians listened intently, of course; for his coming to the
surface; for the breathing, and, it might be, for the splashing that
would be natural after such a leap, but no breathing or splashing met
their ears, for when Fergus put up his head, far down the stream, he
only let out his nose and mouth for a gentle inspiration, and sank
again.

"It iss circumventin' you at your own trade, fightin' you wi' your own
claymore, that I will be doin'," he thought, as he rose a second time,
and swam softly with the stream.

Fergus had the advantage of being well acquainted with the river in
which he was swimming, as well as with the lands in its neighbourhood,
and he knew that there was a certain bend in the stream which it would
take the canoe of Okematan a considerable time to traverse. By cutting
across a narrow neck of land there was, therefore, a possibility of his
intercepting the canoe.

The Saulteaux, of course, might have also taken advantage of this
circumstance, but they could have done so only on foot, and they knew
that without canoes they could not arrest the progress of the fugitives.

Reaching the spot where he wished to land, by intuition almost, the
Highlander soon found himself on the bank, squeezed the water out of his
garments, and set off as quickly as he dared in such darkness. By good
fortune he happened to cross a hunter's track or path--like a
sheep-run--with which he was familiar, and, by following it, was able to
advance much more rapidly. In a short time he again came out on the
left bank of the river. There he sat down on a boulder to listen.
Profound was his attention to every sound--as profound, almost, as his
anxiety, for he knew that if the canoe should have already passed he
would be obliged to make his way back to the Settlement on foot by a
straight course, which meant a slow, toilsome march, scrambling through
pathless woods, wading morasses, and swimming across rivers.

He had been seated thus for about half-an-hour, and in his impatience
was giving way to despondency, when the plash of water smote upon his
ear. Cocking the said ear attentively, he was rewarded with another
smite, and, in a few m