r a few minutes, turning first
one eye towards the hand, and then the other. After a little he hopped
on a branch still nearer, and, seeing no motion in the hand, he at last
hopped upon the palm and began to peck the crumbs. Instantly the
fingers closed, and Jasper caught him by the toes, whereupon the
whisky-John began to scream furiously with rage and terror. But I am
bound to say there was more of rage than of terror in his cry.

Jasper handed the passionate bird over to the artist, who tried to make
a portrait of him, but he screamed and pecked so fiercely that Heywood
was obliged to let him go after making a rough sketch.

Breakfast was a repetition of the supper of the night before; it was
soon disposed of, and the three travellers again set forth. This time
Jasper sang one of the beautiful canoe songs peculiar to that country,
and Heywood and Arrowhead, both of whom had good voices, joined in the
chorus.

They soon passed from the lake into the river by which it was fed. At
first the current of this river was sluggish; but as they ascended, it
became stronger, and was broken here and there by rapids.

The severe toil of travelling in the backwoods now began. To paddle on
a level lake all day is easy enough, for, when you get tired, you can
lay down the paddle and rest. But in the river this is impossible,
because of the current. The only way to get a rest is to push the bow
of the canoe ashore. It was a fine sight to see the movements of Jasper
and the Indian when they came to the first rapid. Heywood knew that he
could be of no use, so, like a wise man, he sat still and looked on.

The rapid was a very strong one, but there were no falls in it; only a
furious gush of water over the broken bed of the river, where many large
rocks rose up and caught the current, hurling the water back in white
foam. Any one who knew not what these hunters could do, would have
laughed if you had told him they were about to ascend that rapid in such
an egg-shell of a canoe!

They began by creeping up, in-shore, as far as they could. Then they
dashed boldly out into the stream, and the current whirled them down
with lightning speed, but suddenly the canoe came to a halt in the very
middle of the stream! Every rock in a rapid has a long tail of still
water below it; the canoe had got into one of these tails or eddies, and
there it rested securely. A few yards higher up there was another rock,
nearer to the opposite