looks just like my old canoe," said he. "Somebody must have left
it adrift up the river. I wonder how it floated down here without being
picked up." He put out his hand and caught it, as it touched the dock.

In the stern a good paddle of maple-wood was lying; in the middle there
was a roll of blankets and a pack of camp-stuff; in the bow a rifle.

"All ready for a trip," he laughed. "Nobody going but me? Well, then, au
large!" And stepping into the canoe he pushed out on the river.

The saffron and golden lights in the sky diffused themselves over the
surface of the water, and spread from the bow of the canoe in deeper
waves of purple and orange, as he paddled swiftly up stream. The pale
yellow gas-lamps of the town faded behind him. The lumber-yards and
factories and disconsolate little houses of the outskirts seemed to melt
away. In a little while he was floating between dark walls of forest,
through the heart of the wilderness.

The night deepened around him and the sky hung out its thousand lamps.
Odours of the woods floated on the air: the spicy fragrance of the firs;
the breath of hidden banks of twin-flower. Muskrats swam noiselessly in
the shadows, diving with a great commotion as the canoe ran upon them
suddenly. A horned owl hooted from the branch of a dead pine-tree; far
back in the forest a fox barked twice. The moon crept up behind the wall
of trees and touched the stream with silver.

Presently the forest receded: the banks of the river grew broad and
open; the dew glistened on the tall grass; it was surely the River of
Meadows. Far ahead of him in a bend of the stream, Luke's ear caught a
new sound: SLOSH, SLOSH, SLOSH, as if some heavy animal were crossing
the wet meadow. Then a great splash! Luke swung the canoe into the
shadow of the bank and paddled fast. As he turned the point a black bear
came out of the river, and stood on the shore, shaking the water around
him in glittering spray. Ping! said the rifle, and the bear fell. "Good
luck!" said Luke. "I haven't forgotten how, after all. I'll take him
into the canoe, and dress him up at the camp."

Yes, there was the little cabin at the meeting of the rivers. The
door was padlocked, but Luke knew how to pry off one of the staples.
Squirrels had made a litter on the floor, but that was soon swept out,
and a fire crackled in the stove. There was tea and ham and bread in the
pack in the canoe. Supper never tasted better. "One more night in the
old ca