Heaven cannot frown on our union, darling."
"I should love you all the same, Pierre," whispered she. Amelie was
not hard to persuade; she was neither weak nor superstitious beyond
her age and sex. But she had not much time to indulge in alarms.
In a few minutes the sound of voices was heard; the dip and splash
of hasty paddles followed, and the fleet of canoes came rushing into
shore like a flock of water-fowl seeking shelter in bay or inlet
from a storm.
There was a hasty preparation on all sides for departure. The camp-
fires were trampled out lest they should kindle a conflagration in
the forest. The baskets were tossed into one of the large canoes.
Philibert and Amelie embarked in that of Le Gardeur, not without
many arch smiles and pretended regrets on the part of some of the
young ladies for having left them on their last round of the lake.
The clouds kept gathering in the south, and there was no time for
parley. The canoes were headed down the stream, the paddles were
plied vigorously: it was a race to keep ahead of the coming storm,
and they did not quite win it.
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