112 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



evidence on this occasion any more than he did 

 when they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear 

 or a moose. 



Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, 

 and its waters compared with those of the latter are 

 as copper compared with silver. It is very irregu- 

 lar in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of 

 a slow-moving grassy creek, then expanding into 

 a broad deep basin with rocky shores, and command- 

 ing the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that 

 the pond-lily and the speckled trout are found 

 together, the fish the soul of the purest spring 

 water, the flower the transfigured spirit of the dark 

 mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and 

 ponds; yet in Moxie they were both found in per- 

 fection. Our camp was amid the birches, poplars, 

 and white cedars near the head of the lake, where 

 the best fishing at this season was to be had. 

 Moxie has a small oval head, rather shallow, but 

 bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of 

 springs, where the trout lie; and a very broad 

 chest, with two islands tufted with pine-trees for 

 breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in the 

 neck, or in a small section of it, a space about the 

 size of the Adam's apple, and we paddled across 

 and around the broad expanse below. Our birch- 

 bark was not finished and christened till we reached 

 Moxie. The cedar lining was completed at Pleas- 

 ant Pond, where we had the use of a bateau, but 

 the rosin was not applied to the seams till we 

 reached this lake. When I knelt down in it for 



