He found a
thong of buckskin, and fastened his canoe to the stalks of the
plant, thus anchoring or mooring his little bark, and leaving
himself at liberty to move about in it. The rice was high enough to
conceal him, even when erect, and he had some difficulty in finding
places favorable to making his observations through it. When the
bee-hunter made his way into the bow of his canoe, however, which he
did with a moccasined and noiseless foot, he was startled at
perceiving how small was his cover. In point of fact, he was now
within three feet of the inner edge of the rice-plant, which grew
within ten feet of the shore, where the two warriors already
mentioned were still standing, in close communication with each
other. Their faces were turned toward the fire, the bright light
from which, at times, streamed over the canoe itself, in a way to
illumine all it contained. The first impulse of le Bourdon, on
ascertaining how closely he had drifted to the shore, was to seize a
paddle and make off, but a second thought again told him it would be
far safer to remain where he was. Taking his seat, therefore, on a
bit of board laid athwart, from gunwale to gunwale, if such a craft
can be said to have gunwales at all, he patiently waited the course
of events.
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