174 A BED OF BOUGHS. 



ing-room, or an open court, or what you will. An 

 obsolete wood or bark road conducted us to it, and 

 disappeared up the hill in the woods beyond. A loose 

 bowlder lay in the middle, and on the edge next the 

 stream were three or four large natural wash-basins 

 scooped out of the rock, and ever filled ready for use. 

 Our lair we carved out of the thick brush under a 

 large birch on the bank. Here we planted our flag 

 of smoke and feathered our nest with balsam and 

 hemlock boughs and ferns, and laughed at your four 

 walls and pillows of down. 



Wherever one encamps in the woods there is home, 

 and every object and feature about the place take on 

 a new interest and assume a near and friendly relation 

 to one. 



We were at the head of the best fishing. There 

 was an old bark clearing not far off which afforded 

 us a daily dessert of most delicious blackberries, 

 an important item in the woods, and then all the 

 features of the place a sort of cave above ground 

 were of the right kind. 



There was not a mosquito, or gnat, or other pest in 

 the woods, the cool nights having already cut them 

 off. The trout were sufficiently abundant, and af- 

 forded us a few hours' sport daily to supply our 

 wants. The only drawback was, that they were out 

 of season, and only palatable to a woodman's keen 

 appetite. What is this about trout-spawning in Oc- 

 tober and November, and in some cases not till 

 March ? These trout had all spawned in August, 



