“Like a bird, the true little craft took the plunge. One more blinding dash of spray, a shivering pause, and, darting forward arrow-like, she dipped to the last and steepest descent.
“At this instant, from the bank overhead, came a spurt of blue smoke and a report, followed by a twinge in my left shoulder. Another report, scarcely audible amid the falls’ thunder, and cleaving the last great ripple, we swept into gentler currents. Crack! crack! crack! went the professor’s little rifle, as he fired over his shoulder at the place where the smoke-puffs clung.
“I said, ‘Push on, before they can load again.’
“Dropping my paddle, as we passed their empty canoe, I put two charges of buck-shot through her birchen sides. Then, satisfied that the mending of this breach would keep our enemy wholesomely occupied for some time, we pushed forward swiftly in grim triumph.
“A few miles farther on I stopped, and informed the professor that I was wounded. At this he turned about in such sudden concern that he barely missed upsetting the canoe; but he presently remarked, ‘By the healthy vigor you’ve displayed in running away the last half hour, I don’t imagine the wound can be serious.’
“On examination we found that a bullet had nicked the top of my shoulder, though not so deeply but that cold water and some strips of sticking-plaster went far toward giving relief from pain. But the muscular action of paddling caused the scratch to become inflamed; and so, when at about four in the afternoon we swept out on the smooth waters of the lake, I gave up the stern paddle to the professor, and played invalid a while in the bow.
“A light breeze, to which we hoisted our sail, took us pleasantly down the lake, and about half-past six we landed near the outlet. We tented just where Camp de Squatook stood a few days ago. Under the lulling influence of a supper of fresh fried trout, the savor of which mixed deliciously with the wholesome scent of the pines, we concluded that perhaps by this time our enemies would have given up the pursuit, disgusted by their past failure and the damage done to their canoe.
“Nevertheless, we resolved to take thorough precautions, lest our adversaries should cross the head of the lake and come upon us by night.
“We built a huge fire so that it shone upon the landing-place, and lighted up every way of approach by water. The tent stood out in the full glare. To the rear and a little to one side, beyond the limits of the grove, in the densest part of the thicket, we fixed ourselves a snug and secret couch, whence we could command a view of the whole surroundings.
“Close by we arranged a pile of bark, with kindlings and dry balsamic pine-chips, such as we could urge into a sudden blaze in case of any emergency. Immediately behind us was the water, and from that side we felt that we were safe so long as that glare of firelight could be maintained.