PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

CONTENTS

  1. The Man from the River,[7 ]
  2. An Attack at Midnight,[18]
  3. A Lost Girl,[31]
  4. A Piece of Wreckage,[43]
  5. A Brave Rescue,[56]
  6. A Mysterious Shot,[68]
  7. Stranded,[80]
  8. A Meeting in the Forest,[95]
  9. Under the Greenwood Tree,[105]
  10. A Canoe Comes and Goes,[118]
  11. A Forest Fire,[132]
  12. The Raft,[146]
  13. A Lodge in the Wilderness,[158]
  14. Mysterious Visitors,[172]
  15. A Face at the Tent-Door,[185]
  16. An Arrow Out of the Night,[199]
  17. The Attack,[212]
  18. A Dead Girl,[225]
  19. A Hot Trail,[238]
  20. A Prisoner,[251]
  21. Chigmok's Story,[264]
  22. Ainley's Story,[278]
  23. A Surprise for Ainley,[292]
  24. The Trail to Paradise,[305]

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CHAPTER I

THE MAN FROM THE RIVER

The man in the canoe was lean and hardy, and wielded the paddle against the slow-moving current of the wide river with a dexterity that proclaimed long practice. His bronzed face was that of a quite young man, but his brown hair was interspersed with grey; and his blue eyes had a gravity incompatible with youth, as if already he had experience of the seriousness of life, and had eaten of its bitter fruits. He was in a gala dress of tanned deerskin, fringed and worked by native hands, the which had quite probably cost him more than the most elegant suit by a Bond Street tailor, and the effect was as picturesque as the heart of a young male could desire. To be in keeping with such gay attire he should have worn a smiling face, and sung some joyous chanson of the old voyageurs, but he neither sang nor smiled; paddling steadily on towards his destination.

This was a northern post of the Hudson Bay Company, built in the form of a hollow square with a wide frontage open to the river. The trading store, the warehouse, and the factor's residence with its trim garden, occupied the other three sides of the square, and along the river front was a small floating wharf. A tall flag-pole rose above the buildings, and the flag itself fluttered gaily in the summer breeze, taking the eye at once with its brave colouring.