At first it seemed a crushing blow.
They had three courses open to them - to seek a location farther
north, to assume that one side of the lake was theirs, or to find
out exactly who and what the stranger was. They decided on the
last. The canoe was launched and loaded, and they set out to look
for what they hoped they would not find, a trapper's shanty on
the lake.
After skirting the shore for four or five miles and disturbing
one or two deer, as well as hosts of ducks, the voyagers landed
and there still they found that fateful bootmark steadily
tramping southward. By noon they had reached the south end of
the west inlet that leads to another lake, and again an
examination of the shore showed the footmarks, here leaving the
lake and going southerly. Now the travellers retired to the main
lake and by noon had reached the south end. At no point had they
seen any sign of a cabin, though both sides of the lake were in
plain view all day. The travelling stranger was a mystery, but
he did not live here and there was no good reason why they should
not settle.
Where? The country seemed equally good at all points, but it is
usually best to camp on an outlet.
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