nks, now like imprisoning
walls with great sombre pines, now open and radiant with the gold
and scarlet of the maples, marshalled in order by the white lances
of the slender birches.

At times Lucy and I were allowed to walk along the reaches of level
sand to relieve the strain on the paddlers, where the river ran
swift and strong, and when we at length gained the great stretch
of the lake called Matapediac, like the river, my heart was full
of the beauty and charm about me.

"The span o' Life's nae lang eneugh,
Nor deep eneugh the sea,
Nor braid eneugh this weary warld,
To part my Love frae me," ...

I sang in my heart, for was it not all so wonderful, so beyond all
planning, this way of Love? It might be long, it might be wearying,
but it would lead aright in the end.

When the head of the lake was reached, the canoes were lifted from
the water; that of the strange Indians was left behind, but ours
they raised on their shoulders, and, Andre carrying the scanty
baggage of the priest, we set off on a long carry, or portage, as
they call it. This occupied two days, as the path was difficult,
and we found a sad encumbrance in our skirts, which suffered much
in the traverse. We took the water again at a tiny stream, and
finally gained another, called the Metis, leading to the St.
Lawrence, our highway for Quebec. At the Metis the strange Indians
left us and returned to join their fellows.

Late one afternoon le pere Jean ran the canoe inshore, and, nothing
loath, we left her in charge of Andre, to follow the priest up the
high bank and take our way on foot under the great pines.

A low breeze was moving almost silently among the trees, bringing
an unwonted freshness we could verily taste. Soon we marked the
screen of undergrowth, which hid the sun, grow thinner and thinner,
until his rays came shining low through a halo of golden leaves,
with gleams like to glancing water. Breathless, we hurried on until
we swept aside the last veil and found ourselves on the open cliff,
overlooking mile beyond mile of dancing water, which the setting
sun covered with a trail of glory breaking in ripples on a beach
of golden sand, that stretched below the cliff on which we stood.

"Oh, the sea! the sea!" I cried, sinking to the ground, overwhelmed
by the flood of feeling which broke upon me. It was the promise of
a new world of light and safety, after the black, swift river and
the sombre forest from which we ha