"
Catharine declared her ancle was so much stronger than it had been since
the accident, and her health so much amended, that the day after the
conversation just recorded, the little party bade farewell to the valley
of the "big stone," and ascending the steep sides of the hills, bent their
steps eastward, keeping the lake to their left hand; Hector led the way,
loaded with their household utensils, which consisted only of the axe, which
he would trust to no one but himself, the tin-pot, and the birch-basket.
Louis had his cousin to assist up the steep banks, likewise some fish to
carry, which had been caught early in the morning.
The wanderers thought at first to explore the ground near the lake shore,
but soon abandoned this resolution, on finding the under-growth of trees
and bushes become so thick, that they made little progress, and the fatigue
of travelling was greatly increased by having continually to put aside the
bushes or bend them down.
Hector advised trying the higher ground: and after following a deer-path
through a small ravine that crossed the hills, they found themselves on a
fine extent of table-land, richly, but not too densely wooded with white
and black oaks, diversified with here and there a solitary pine, which
reared its straight and pillar-like trunk in stately grandeur above its
leafy companions: a meet eyrie for the bald-eagle, that kept watch from its
dark crest over the silent waters of the lake, spread below like a silver
zone studded with emeralds.
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