Walter searched the trees near at hand, but could make out nothing that resembled a bird, and his chagrin was deepened by the guide’s next remark.
“Them books may tell yer where t’ look, but they don’t teach yer how t’ use th’ eyes God give yer. Now any five-year-old born in th’ woods would hev seen thet big swelled up bunch o’ feathers fust thing. Look at thet tall pine stump over thar t’ th’ right and——”
“Whooo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Whooo-hoo-hoo!” rang the fierce cry again, and almost on the instant the top of the stump resolved into a huge, broad-winged bird, that swiftly and noiselessly dropped behind a low hemlock. A moment later it reappeared, a hare struggling in its talons, and flew heavily over toward a swamp. Big Jim promptly seized upon the episode to drive home a lesson in woodcraft.
“Pard,” said he, “thar’s a better lesson in the A B C o’ wood life than I could give yer in a month o’ talkin’. If thet hare hadn’t let its narves go on th’ jump, and had remembered what she ought t’ hev knowed afore she was born, thet to sit tight an’ not move a muscle when yer don’t want t’ be seen is th’ first law o’ th’ woods, she’d be sittin’ nice an’ snug this very minute, instead o’ stuffin’ ole Fly-by-night’s craw. Puss was narvous. The hoot startled her an’ she moved jest a leetle bit. Probably she rustled a leaf. Them big owls is all ears. Fact, son; the whole side o’ th’ head, pretty near, is an ear. He heared thet leaf rustle, an’ he was Johnny-on-the-spot in a jiffy. Yer saw what happened. Never make a sudden move in th’ woods. Sit tight if yer don’t want t’ be seen, or move so slowly thet nothin’s goin’ t’ notice it. Don’t never ferget it! Yer’ve jes’ seen what fergettin’ may cost. When yer go in th’ woods leave yer narves t’ hum.”
The pack basket and duffle were stowed in the middle of the canoe, Walter took the bow seat and the guide, kneeling in the stern, for he had never outgrown his early training when canoes of his acquaintance had no seats, shot the little craft out into the lake. As they turned into the low marshy estuary which marked the outlet of the lake, the first rays of the rising sun glanced over Mt. Seward.
Once in the main channel of the river they felt the gentle force of the current, and under Jim’s powerful stroke they swept swiftly on. Walter had been doing his full share, for he was a good paddler, but now the guide suggested that he put up his paddle and hold his camera ready for whatever they might surprise along the river’s edge, or up some of the numerous setbacks.
The boy put his paddle aside and, slipping a film pack into the camera, set the focus for one hundred feet. Then with thumb and forefinger of his right hand on the focussing screw, ready to shorten the focus should they get within less than one hundred feet of a subject, he set himself to watch the shores.
“Remember now, no talkin’ an’ no sudden moves,” cautioned the guide.
Alas for Walter! The lesson had yet to be driven home. Not five minutes later the canoe shot around a bend, and without a sound glided into a setback. Almost instantly a low warning hiss from Big Jim put Walter on his guard. The canoe seemed merely to drift, but if the boy could have seen the guide he would have witnessed a magnificent exhibition of the canoeman’s art as, with paddle deep in the water and moving so slowly as to make hardly a perceptible ripple, he still kept the craft under perfect control.
Walter, every nerve tense, scanned the shores in a vain effort to discover the cause of the guide’s warning. Inch by inch the canoe crept on and still the boy saw nothing but the placid, pad-strewn surface of the water, and the forest-lined shore. Presently his eager ears caught a faint splash off to his right. Like a flash he turned, swinging his camera with him. The next instant he realized his mistake. With a sharp whistle of surprise and alarm a doe noisily splashed shoreward from a point not fifty yards distant, where she had been standing among the lily-pads. From the instant the canoe had first caught her attention and excited her curiosity she had remained so motionless that Walter had failed utterly to pick her out from the background with which her protective coloring blended so marvelously.