Presently the Mohican halted in view of the river-bank, making a sign for me to join him, which I did, briefly bidding the Stockbridge Mole to notch the trees in my stead.

“A canoe has passed,” said the Sagamore calmly.

“What! You saw it?”

“No, Loskiel. But there was spray on a boulder in a calm pool.”

“Perhaps a deer crossed, or a mink or otter crawled across the stone.”

“No; the drops were many, but they lay like the first drops of a rain, separate and distinct.”

“A great fish leaping might have spattered it.”

“There was no wash against the rock from any fish-swirl.”