The boy's heart was full of tenderness for the brave old soldier who had so promptly assumed the part of a father towards him; and had he not been restrained by the consciousness of the vital importance of the mission he had undertaken, he would have been inclined to return at once and share whatever trials were besetting the chevalier.

From him the boy's thoughts sped to France and the old chateau in which he was born.

He almost laughed aloud as he imagined the look of consternation with which old Francois would regard him if he could now see him, lying alone in a fragile craft, such as the old servant had never imagined, in the midst of a terrible wilderness of great moss-hung trees, queer-looking plants, black waters, and blacker mud.
From these reveries he was suddenly startled by the sound of a slight splash in the water and a subdued human voice.

Raising his head very cautiously above the side of the canoe, Rene caught a glimpse, at the mouth of the little lagoon in which his own craft was concealed, of another canoe, in which were seated two Indians.

It was headed up-stream, but its occupants had paused in their paddling, and from their gestures were evidently considering the exploration of the very place in which he lay hidden from them.