Soon afterwards both the boat and her prize
disappeared on the opposite side of the schooner, which,
now lying with her broadside immediately on a line with
the shore, completely hid them from the further view of
the cousins.
"Look!--Look!" said Clara, clinging sensitively and with
alarm to the almost maternal bosom against which she
reposed, while she pointed with her finger to another
dark mass that was moving through the lake in a circular
sweep from the point of wood terminating the clearing on
the right of the fort.
Miss de Haldimar threw the glass on the object to which
her attention was now directed. It was evidently some
furred animal, and presented all the appearance either
of a large water-rat or a beaver, the latter of which it
was pronounced to be as a nearer approach rendered its
shape more distinct. Ever and anon, too, it disappeared
altogether under the water; and, when it again came in
sight, it was always several yards nearer. Its course,
at first circuitous, at length took a direct line with
the stern of the boat, where the sailor who was in charge
still lay extended at his drowsy length, his tarpaulin
hat shading his eyes, and his arms folded over his
uncovered and heaving chest, while he continued to sleep
as profoundly as if he had been comfortably berthed in
his hammock in the middle of the Atlantic.
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