To this creek old Jacob steered his light craft, and bidding the girls collect a few dry sticks and branches for an evening fire on the sheltered side of the little bank, he soon lighted the pile into a cheerful blaze by the aid of birch bark, the hunter's tinder--a sort of fungus that is found in the rotten oak and maple-trees--and a knife and flint; he then lifted the canoe, and having raised it on its side, by means of two small stakes which he cut from a bush hard by, then spread down his buffalo robe on the dry grass.

"There is a tent fit for a queen to sleep under, mes cheres filles," he said, eyeing his arrangements for their night shelter with great satisfaction.
He then proceeded to bait his line, and in a few minutes had a dish of splendid bass ready for the coals.

Catharine selected a large flat block of limestone on which the fish when broiled was laid; but old Jacob opened his wide mouth and laughed, when she proceeded to lay her bush table with large basswood leaves for platters.

Such nicety he professed was unusual on a hunter's table.

He was too old a forester to care how his food was dished, so that he had wherewithal to satisfy his hunger.
Many were the merry tales he told and the songs he sung, to wile away the time, till the daylight faded from the sky, and the deep blue heavens were studded with bright stars, which were mirrored in countless hosts deep deep down in that calm waveless river, while thousands of fireflies lighted up the dark recesses of the forest's gloom.