



Produced by D. Alexander and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)






 MARCO PAUL'S
 ADVENTURES
 IN PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE.


 FORESTS OF MAINE.


 BY THE AUTHOR OF

 ROLLO, JONAS, AND LUCY BOOKS.


 BOSTON:
 T. H. CARTER & COMPANY,
 118 1/2 WASHINGTON STREET.

 1843.




 Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1843,

 BY T. H. CARTER,

 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

 STEREOTYPED BY
 GEORGE A. CURTIS,
 N. ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, BOSTON.




 [Illustration: FROM THE BOYS' AND GIRLS' MAGAZINE.]




 CONTENTS


 CHAPTER

 I.            THE MOUTH OF THE KENNEBEC.                      11
 II.           THE LOST BUCKET.                                21
 III.          A RAFT.                                         32
 IV.           THE DESERT ISLAND.                              43
 V.            THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT.                       54
 VI.           EBONY AND PINE.                                 66
 VII.          THE BEAR IN THE MILL.                           77
 VIII.         THE BIVOUACK.                                   88
 IX.           THE ENCAMPMENT.                                 98
 X.            LOST IN THE WOODS.                             110
 XI.           THE SHINGLE WEAVER'S.                          120
 XII.          A VOYAGE ON THE POND.                          130


 [Illustration: _"Joe and two others were despatched to row it
 ashore."_--See p. 31.]




PREFACE.


The design of the series of volumes, which it is intended to issue under
the general title of MARCO PAUL'S ADVENTURES IN THE PURSUIT OF
KNOWLEDGE, is not merely to entertain the reader with a narrative of
juvenile adventures, but also to communicate, in connexion with them, as
extensive and varied information as possible, in respect to the
geography, the scenery, the customs and the institutions of this
country, as they present themselves to the observation of the little
traveller, who makes his excursions under the guidance of an intelligent
and well-informed companion, qualified to assist him in the acquisition
of knowledge and in the formation of character. The author will endeavor
to enliven his narrative, and to infuse into it elements of a salutary
moral influence, by means of personal incidents befalling the actors in
the story. These incidents are, of course, imaginary--but the reader may
rely upon the strict and exact truth and fidelity of all the
descriptions of places, institutions and scenes, which are brought
before his mind in the progress of the narrative. Thus, though the
author hopes that the readers, who may honor these volumes with their
perusal, will be amused and interested by them, his design throughout
will be to instruct rather than to entertain.




MARCO PAUL IN THE FORESTS
OF MAINE.




CHAPTER I.

THE MOUTH OF THE KENNEBEC.


One summer, Forester and Marco Paul formed a plan for going to Quebec.
Marco was very much interested in going to Quebec, as he wanted to see
the fortifications. Forester had told him that Quebec was a
strongly-fortified city, being a military post of great importance,
belonging to the British government. Marco was very much pleased at the
idea of seeing the fortifications, and the soldiers that he supposed
must be placed there to defend them.

On their way to Quebec, they had to sail up the Kennebec in a steamboat.
As they were passing along, Marco and Forester sat upon the deck. It was
a pleasant summer morning. They had been sailing all night upon the sea,
on the route from Boston to the mouth of the Kennebec. They entered the
mouth of the Kennebec very early in the morning, just before Forester
and Marco got up. And thus it happened that when they came up upon the
deck, they found that they were sailing in a river. The water was smooth
and glassy, shining brilliantly under the rays of the morning sun, which
was just beginning to rise.

The shores of the river were rocky and barren. Here and there, in the
coves and eddies, were what appeared to Marco to be little fences in the
water. Forester told him that they were for catching fish. The steamboat
moved very slowly, and every moment the little bell would ring, and the
engine would stop. Then the boat would move more slowly still, until the
bell sounded again for the engine to be put in motion, and then the boat
would go on a little faster.

"What makes them keep stopping?" said Marco.

"The water is very low this morning," said Forester, "and they have to
proceed very carefully, or else they will get aground."

"What makes the water so low now?" asked Marco.

"There are two reasons," replied Forester. "It is late in the summer,
and the streams and springs are