EVENING ON THE WATER. 71 



while the guides remained at camp and completed the 

 homely duties there. 



It was the most peaceful scene and hour we had yet 

 enjoyed. Even the midges and mosquitoes, which always 

 preferred to remain on shore and never pursued us twenty 

 yards from land, had fallen away from us like summer 

 friends. 



Our talk was of times gone by, of friends absent, of 

 topics hardly suggested by our surroundings; while the 

 gently descending darkness and the balmy air and perfect 

 serenity of nature attuned our thoughts to higher themes 

 than we ventured to dwell upon in the rough-and-tumble 

 of our daily camp life in the garish light of day or even 

 at the nightly camp-fire. 



So passed our Sunday in the woods, not wholly with- 

 out its good influences. 



