Produced by Al Haines [Illustration: Cover art] [Frontispiece: "The great branch torn from a neighbouring maple told all the tale."--_p._ 20] DICK'S DESERTION A Boy's Adventures in Canadian Forests A TALE OF THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF ONTARIO By MARJORIE L. C. PICKTHALL WITH SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS Toronto: The Musson Book Company, Limited. 1905 CONTENTS. CHAP. I. IN THE HEART OF THE WOODS II. THE FALL OF THE TREE III. FRIENDS INDEED IV. A DAY IN THE WOODS V. A BACKWOODS CHRISTMAS VI. THE CALL OF THE FOREST VII. A MESSAGE FROM THE WANDERER VIII. A WOOD'S ADVENTURE IX. ON THE PRAIRIE X. IN THE GRIP OF THE STORM XI. BACK TO STEPHANIE XII. TO A GOODLY HERITAGE ILLUSTRATIONS "The great branch torn from a neighbouring maple told all the tale." . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ "'If I had fifty rivers and fifty canoes, I could not leave Stephanie.'" "They began to sing the old carols their mother had taught them long before." "He flung out his arm, circled with savage ornaments--flung it out with a wild gesture, and began to speak." "He held out a tiny package, wrapped in birch-bark, with an inquiring glance towards her." "'For pity's sake, let me alone!' Dick pleaded. 'Go on and leave me.'" "'Dick! Dick! Where are you?'" DICK'S DESERTION: A Boy's Adventures in Canadian Forests. CHAPTER I. In the Heart of the Woods. It was early fall, and all the world was golden. Golden seemed the hazy warmth of the sky; golden were the willow leaves and the delicate foliage of the birches; even the grass, pale from the long heat of the summer, had taken on a tinge of the all-pervading colour. Far as the eye could reach, the woods and uplands were bright with gold, relieved only by the deep sombre green of pines and hemlocks. Save for these, it seemed a country that some gracious Midas had touched, turning everything to ethereal, elfin gold. The Midas-touch had even included the little log-cabin and its untidy clearing, for broad-disced sunflowers were scattered over the neglected garden, and between them bloomed late goldenrod, which had crept in from the wilds outside; and a small patch of ground was covered with shocks of Indian corn, roughly bound together, yellowing also beneath the influence of sun and frost.