232 BIRCH BROWSINGS. 



danger on the land side. All retreat was 

 cut off, and he looked his fate in the face 

 without flinching. I slaughtered him just as 

 a savage would have done and from the same 

 motive, I wanted his carcass to eat. 



The mid-afternoon sun was now shining 

 upon the lake, and a low, steady breeze drove 

 the little waves rocking to the shore. A 

 herd of cattle were browsing on the other 

 side, and the bell of the leader sounded 

 across the water. In these solitudes its 

 clang was wild and musical. 



To try the trout was the first thing in or- 

 der. On a rude raft of logs which we found 

 moored at the shore, and which with two 

 aboard shipped about a foot of water, we 

 floated out and wet our first fly in Thomas's 

 Lake ; but the trout refused to jump, and, to 

 be frank, not more than a dozen and a halt 

 were caught during our stay. Only a week 

 previous, a party of three had taken in a 

 few hours all the fish they could cany out of 

 the woods, and had nearly surfeited their 

 neighbors with trout. But from some cause 

 they now refused to rise, or to touch any 

 kind of bait : so we fell to catching the sun- 

 fish, which were small but very abundant. 

 Their nests were all along shore. A space 



