und.

CHAPTER IV.

THE THREE SMOKE SIGNALS.

Cuthbert was delighted when he heard the Canadian lad's voice, for he
realized that it was one of rare sweetness as well as power; and being
fond of singing, and knowing scores of college songs, he promised
himself he would in good time teach them to Owen, for their voices would
blend admirably, while Eli's had a certain harshness about it that
rather swamped his own baritone.

And he was also aware that the _voyageurs_ of the Canadian wilds have
numerous French boating songs of their own, that are wonderfully adapted
to the rhythm and swing of the paddle; possibly Owen would know some
such, and might be induced to sing them on occasion, all of which would
add to the delight of their advance over the waters, onward into further
depths of the wilderness where mystery brooded and the unknown abounded,
for them, at least.

They had managed to make a few miles, but the current was mighty
difficult to buck up against, and when finally Cuthbert suggested that
they take advantage of an alluring point where the trees hung over the
water and the situation seemed especially adapted for a campfire, Eli
greeted the proposal with a grunt of unaffected delight, while even the
well seasoned Owen felt that something to eat would not come in amiss.

To most of us the time to eat is ever a welcome one, especially when we
know there are good things in the larder; and with boys this thing of
appetite is an ever present reality, and the point of sufficiency seldom
reached.

Soon a cheery fire had been started, and Owen persisted in taking charge
of the preparations for lunch, giving them a species of flapjack that
neither had ever seen before, and which they pronounced fine.

Owen's eyes alone told that he appreciated their praise, for he uttered
no word to betray the fact. He was a singularly quiet lad, and Cuthbert,
who made it something of a fad to study human nature wherever he found
it, felt certain that his past life had been mixed up with considerable
of sorrow.

All that morning they had not met a solitary human being upon the river,
and when Eli commented upon this, their new comrade assured them that it
was no unusual thing to go for several days thus, especially at this
time of year, when the Indians and halfbreeds who trapped for the fur
company were hunting back in the forests, laying in venison to be
"jerked" or dried for consumption during the winter months, when