It may strike the reader as a little singular, that the place where
a stream of any size passed through banks that had an elevation of
some twenty feet, should be a matter of doubt with men who could
not now have been more than two hundred yards distant from the
precise spot. It will be recollected, however, that the trees and
bushes here, as elsewhere, fairly overhung the water, making such
a fringe to the lake, as to conceal any little variations from its
general outline.
"I've not been down at this end of the lake these two summers,"
said Hurry, standing up in the canoe, the better to look about him.
"Ay, there's the rock, showing its chin above the water, and I
know that the river begins in its neighborhood."
The men now plied the paddles again, and they were presently within
a few yards of the rock, floating towards it, though their efforts
were suspended. This rock was not large, being merely some five
or six feet high, only half of which elevation rose above the lake.
The incessant washing of the water for centuries had so rounded
its summit, that it resembled a large beehive in shape, its form
being more than usually regular and even. Hurry remarked, as they
floated slowly past, that this rock was well known to all the Indians
in that part of the country, and that they were in the practice of
using it as a mark to designate the place of meeting, when separated
by their hunts and marches.
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