She
had risen early, and had gone through her trifling share in the
preparations, and though she had avoided me, I could see that she was
ready to play her part.
We paddled on our knees that morning, for the waves were choppy. By
ten o'clock the bands of cloud had merged into a dun canopy, and by
noon a slow, cold rain was drizzling. I dreaded a halt, but the
necessity pressed. I selected a small cove, well tree-grown, and we
turned our canoes inland.
Fortunately the rain, though persistent, had been gentle, and had not
penetrated far under the heavy foliaged pines. We selected a clump of
large trees, chopped the lower branches, and scraping away the surface
layer of moss and needles found dry ground. Here we piled the cargo in
two mounds, which we hooded with tarpaulins and with our overturned
canoes. Our provisions were snug enough; it was ourselves who were in
dreary estate.
It rained all the afternoon, stopped for a half hour at sunset, when
the sky, for a few moments, showed streaks of red, then closed in for a
night's drizzle. I had built what shelter I could for the woman out of
boughs covered with sheets of paper birch and elm. I had made a
similar shelter for myself that I might not seem to discriminate too
much in favor of the Englishman, and had told the men to do the same.
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