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 [Illustration:
 ANDY HELPS THE INDIAN SQUAW TO CONSTRUCT THE WIGWAM.--_Page_ 225.]




CEDAR CREEK

_FROM THE SHANTY TO THE SETTLEMENT_

A Tale of Canadian Life


BY THE AUTHOR OF

'GOLDEN HILLS, A TALE OF THE IRISH FAMINE'
'THE FOSTER-BROTHERS OF DOON,' ETC.


LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56 PATERNOSTER ROW, 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD
AND 164 PICCADILLY

MORRISON AND GIBB, EDINBURGH,
PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE




CONTENTS.

    CHAP.                                          PAGE

        I. WHY ROBERT WYNN EMIGRATED,                 7
       II. CROSSING THE 'FERRY,'                     22
      III. UP THE ST. LAWRENCE,                      35
       IV. WOODEN-NESS,                              44
        V. DEBARKATION,                              52
       VI. CONCERNING AN INCUBUS,                    63
      VII. THE RIVER HIGHWAY,                        70
     VIII. 'JEAN BAPTISTE' AT HOME,                  78
       IX. 'FROM MUD TO MARBLE,'                     86
        X. CORDUROY,                                 96
       XI. THE BATTLE WITH THE WILDERNESS BEGINS,   105
      XII. CAMPING IN THE BUSH,                     115
     XIII. THE YANKEE STOREKEEPER,                  123
      XIV. THE 'CORNER,'                            133
       XV. ANDY TREES A 'BASTE,'                    138
      XVI. LOST IN THE WOODS,                       145
     XVII. BACK TO CEDAR CREEK,                     154
    XVIII. GIANT TWO-SHOES,                         166
      XIX. A MEDLEY,                                171
       XX. THE ICE-SLEDGE,                          180
      XXI. THE FOREST-MAN,                          186
     XXII. SILVER SLEIGH-BELLS,                     196
    XXIII. STILL-HUNTING,                           202
     XXIV. LUMBERERS,                               214
      XXV. CHILDREN OF THE FOREST,                  220
     XXVI. ON A SWEET SUBJECT,                      229
    XXVII. A BUSY BEE,                              235
   XXVIII. OLD FACES UPON NEW NEIGHBOURS,           244
     XXIX. ONE DAY IN JULY,                         250
      XXX. VISITORS AND VISITED,                    259
     XXXI. SUNDAY IN THE FOREST,                    260
    XXXII. HOW THE CAPTAIN CLEARED HIS BUSH,        274
   XXXIII. THE FOREST ON FIRE,                      280
    XXXIV. TRITON AMONG MINNOWS,                    291
     XXXV. THE PINK MIST,                           298
    XXXVI. BELOW ZERO,                              309
   XXXVII. A CUT, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES,             315
  XXXVIII. JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES,                      324
    XXXIX. SETTLER THE SECOND,                      329
       XL. AN UNWELCOME SUITOR,                     338
      XLI. THE MILL-PRIVILEGE,                      343
     XLII. UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS,               351
    XLIII. A BUSH-FLITTING,                         359
     XLIV. SHOVING OF THE ICE,                      370
      XLV. EXEUNT OMNES,                            378




CEDAR CREEK.




CHAPTER I.

WHY ROBERT WYNN EMIGRATED.


A night train drew up slowly alongside the platform at the Euston Square
terminus. Immediately the long inanimate line of rail-carriages burst
into busy life: a few minutes of apparently frantic confusion, and the
individual items of the human freight were speeding towards all parts of
the compass, to be absorbed in the leviathan metropolis, as drops of a
shower in a boundless sea.

One of the cabs pursuing each other along the lamplit streets, and
finally diverging among the almost infinite ramifications of London
thoroughfares, contains a young man, who sits gazing through the window
at the rapidly passing range of houses and shops with curiously fixed
vision. The face, as momentarily revealed by the beaming of a brilliant
gaslight, is chiefly remarkable for clear dark eyes rather deeply set,
and a firm closure of the lips. He scarcely alters his posture during
the miles of driving through wildernesses of brick and stone: some
thoughts are at work beneath that broad short brow, which keep him thus
still. He has never been in London before. He has come now on an errand
of hope and endeavour, for he wants to push himself into the army of the
world's workers, somewhere. Prosaically, he wants to earn his bread,
and, if possible, butter wherewith to flavour