(II AFTER XIX. 



A little more of the serene and happy life at \" Stickney 

 Camp." (luring which I had almost forgotten that 1 was to 

 TI-SS the wilderness, and the migratory impulse came upon 

 me. Already I longed for the charms of Seventh Lake, 

 and the glories of the Ra<|iiette. while I'towana, Kagle 

 and Blue Mountain Lakes lured me in the distance. And 

 the boy he had never been quite content to sleep in 

 John's com fort able quarters. Nothing-short of tent and bed 

 of boughs and out-of-door cookery, and lakes where there 

 was no highway for parties coming and going, would 

 wholly satisfy him. .John. 1 was convinced, was conspir- 

 ing witli himself to make us so completely happy here that 

 we would willingly surrender our projected journey further. 

 He had "roughed it " enough, slept on beds of boughs in 

 winter as well as in summer, until a mattress was good 

 enough for him; and his kitchen stove was vastly more 

 convenient than any open I'm; or any new-fangled affair 

 that a sportsman might lug into the woods with him. On 

 the one side, therefore, was the luxury of this present life 

 at Stickney Camp, and John's unspoken but not unfelt per 

 suasion to remain. On the other, was my programme, 

 deliberately formed, which urged me on like another 

 Wandering Jew, and Ned also, who teased and talked me 

 wild when we went to bed and when we woke in the 



