( IIAPTEK XXI T. 



The lust, niii'ht before our depart ure from Ilaquette Lake, 

 we cxiicriciiccd one of the fiercest, of Adirondack storms. 

 The rain, wind, thunder and lightning and dashing of 

 waves were really frightful, in the pitchy darkness of mid- 

 night ; and 1 trembled by the hour for the staunchness of 

 cotton cloth and tent ropes and the firmness of tent pegs. 

 The force of the storm of both rain and wind was at its 

 : iuhevi .-it about :! o'clock A. M. I had been awake fora 

 lonir time, startled almost momentarily by the crash and 

 roll of thunder and the vivid lightning, and the fierce 

 beating of the rain and wind. I more than half expected 

 that at any moment our frail tent would lie swept bodily 

 away, leaving us prostrate under our blankets, exposed to 

 the full force of the storm. It seemed as if it would never 

 cease. If ra-vd more and more fiercely. Suddenly, when 

 the rain \\a- dashing in heaviest torrents and at the height 

 of the L'ale, 1 heard a snap and a flapping as if a sail had 

 lorn loose from the yards, and felt a heavy gust of \\ind oil 

 my face. Throwing off the blankets, 1 jumped upas if I 

 had heard the } T ell of a panther at my ear, and rushed to 

 the front end of the tent. A loosely fixed tent-peg at the 

 opening had been drawn, the strings holding the curtains 

 had snapped like threads, and the curtains themselves 



