straight upward, and Henry concluded at once that he would find a
little distance ahead a ridge that sheltered this portion of the island
from the cruel north and northwest winds.

His belief was verified as the rise began within three hundred yards. It
ascended rather abruptly, having a total height of seventy or eighty
feet, and seeming to cross the island from east to west. Standing under
the shadow of a great oak Henry looked down upon the northern half of
the island, which was quite different in its characteristics from the
southern half. A portion of it was covered with dwarfed vegetation, but
the rest was bare rock and sand. There were two or three inlets or
landing places on the low shore. As the moonlight was now good, Henry
saw all over this portion of the island, but he could not detect any
sign of human habitation.

"I suppose Tom is right," he said to himself, "and that there is nothing
to be seen."

But he had no idea of going back without exploring thoroughly, and he
descended the slope toward the north. The way led for a little distance
among the shrub bushes from which the raindrops still fell upon him as
he passed, and then he came into an open space almost circular in shape
and perhaps thirty yards in diameter. Almost in the center of the rock a
spring spouted and flowed away through a narrow channel to the lake. On
the far side of the spring rose four upright stakes in a row about six
feet apart. Henry wondered what they meant and he approached cautiously,
knowing that they had been put there by human hands.

Some drifting clouds now passed and the moonlight shone with a sudden
burst of splendor. Henry was close to the stakes and suddenly he
shuddered in every vein. They were about as high as a man's head, firmly
fastened in the ground, and all of them were blackened and charred
somewhat by fire, although their strength was not impaired. At the base
of every one lay hideous relics. Henry shivered again. He knew. Here
Indians brought their captives and burned them to death, partly for the
sake of their own vengeance and partly to propitiate the mighty spirits
that had their abode in the depths of the great lakes. He was sure that
his comrades and he had landed upon a sacrificial island, and he
resolved that they should depart at the very first light in the morning.

This island which had seemed so fine and beautiful to him suddenly
became ghastly and repellent, but his second thought told him th