A FIRE-AND-WATER MEDLEY 157 



have accommodated five men comfortably, had it not 

 been utilized also for cooking purposes ; but being 

 thus used, five sleepers crowded it a little too thickly 

 for comfort. 



Imagine our surprise when, on this dark and stormy 

 night, we opened the door of the cabin to find its in- 

 side crowded with seven guides, two sportsmen and 

 one woman. 



They had been all day dragging up from Eed 

 Brook, twelve miles, for the water was so low that 

 the canoes had to be dragged most of the way. 



The two "Sports" were tolerably dry, but the 

 guides were as wet as the rain and an occasional 

 " header " in the stream could make them. 



All were huddled round the fire, while the steam 

 from their drying clothes and the smoke from the fire 

 itself had a struggle with each other as to which 

 should be first in its fiight up the chimney. 



Every one seemed in good humor, particularly the 

 lady, who was really the most cheerful one in the 

 camp. She dried her skirts before the fire, laughed at 

 the incidents of the trip, and, while her husband pulled 

 off her rubber boots, made fun of my embarrassment 

 caused by the slim prospect of giving every one a 

 chance to sleep. The weary, water-soaked men 

 around her drank in her jolly humor, for there was a 

 dryness about it that seemed to counteract their 

 damp condition. It is wonderful what an electric 



