Several considerations had to be borne in mind, in disposing of the canoes; for that of Gershom was to be secreted, as well as that of the bee-hunter.  A tall aquatic plant, that is termed wild rice, and which we suppose to be the ordinary rice-plant, unimproved by tillage, grows spontaneously about the mouths and on the flats of most of the rivers of the part of Michigan of which we are writing; as, indeed, it is to be found in nearly all the shallow waters of those regions.  There was a good deal of this rice at hand; and the bee-hunter, paddling his own canoe and towing the other, entered this vegetable thicket, choosing a channel that had been formed by some accident of nature, and which wound through the herbage in a way soon to conceal all that came within its limits.  These channels were not only numerous, but exceedingly winding; and the bee-hunter had no sooner brought his canoes to the firm ground and fastened them there, than he ascended a tree, and studied the windings of these narrow passages, until he had got a general idea of their direction and characters.  This precaution taken, he hurried back to the hut.

“Well, Gershom, have you settled on the course to be taken?” were the first words uttered by the bee-hunter when he rejoined the family of Whiskey Centre.

“We haven’t,” answered the husband.  “Sister begs us to quit the chiente, for the Indians must soon be here; but wife seems to think that she must be safe, now I’m at home ag’in.”

“Then wife is wrong, and sister is right.  If you will take my advice, you will hide all your effects in the woods, and quit the cabin as soon as possible.  The Injins cannot fail to see this habitation, and will be certain to destroy all they find in it, and that they do not carry off.  Besides, the discovery of the least article belonging to a white man will set them on our trail; for scalps will soon bear a price at Montreal.  In half an hour, all that is here can be removed into the thicket that is luckily so near; and by putting out the fire with care, and using proper caution, we may give the place such a deserted look, that the savages will suspect nothing.”

“If they enter the river, Bourdon, they will not camp out with a wigwam so near by, and should they come here, what is to prevent their seein’ the footprints we shall leave behind us?”

“The night, and that only.  Before morning their own footsteps will be so plenty as to deceive them.  Luckily we all wear moccasins, which is a great advantage just now.  But every moment is precious, and we should be stirring.  Let the women take the beds and bedding, while you and I shoulder this chest.  Up it goes, and away with it!”