Having satisfied
himself on this head, he descended again and took his place in the
boat. This was moored by a rope a few feet long to a bush growing
from a fissure in the rock close to the water's edge. He and Peter
remained on watch with their poles, to fend off any pieces of ice
which might be brought round by the waves, while the rest of the
crew, wrapping themselves up in their blankets, lay down at the
bottom of the boat.
The next morning the storm still raged, and the lake presented the
appearance of an angry sea. Sheltered under the lee of the island,
the party were protected from its effects, although the light canoe
rose and fell on the heavy swell. The ice had wholly disappeared from
the lake, the pieces having been ground to atoms against each other
in the storm. Along the line of shore there was a great bank of ice
as high as the tree-tops.
"The ways of the Lord are won'erful," Duncan Cameron said. "The storm
which threatened to be our destruction has proved our salvation. When
it abates we shall be able to paddle down the lake without fear of
interruption."
"Yes," Peter said, "the varmints are not likely to follow us. In the
first place, unless they thought of taking their canoes into the
forest when the storm first began, which aint likely, as they was
a-thinking only of cutting off our escape, they'd 've been smashed
into tinder. In the second place, they couldn't ketch us if they had
canoes, for, as we've eight paddles, counting them we made out of the
seats when we was on shore, we'd be able to laugh at 'em.
Pages:
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333