148 Hills Ai^b Lakss* 



tliej told were amazin'. Tliej made a set at the old 

 man, to draw him out. It warn't very difficult to 

 start liim, and the way he went ahead was surprisin'. 

 Knowing the old man's truthfulness in the woods, it 

 was a new thing to hear him tell such whopping lies 

 about fishin' and huntin', but a sly wink told me they 

 wan't meant for me, and I knew it was all right, but 

 such stories. Squire, I never happened to hear before* 

 1 mind one he toldj by way of a wind up, was this : 

 *I was,' said the old man, 'four years ago, away up 

 among the Saranacs, and had strayed away four or 

 five miles from my shantee, when there came on the 

 orfullest storm of rain, and w^ind, and thunder and 

 lightnin' that ever mortal man heard tell on, — ^you 

 ought to have been up there, boys, to have hearn the 

 thunder boomin' and roarin' through the heavens, and 

 peelin' and echoin', and knockin' about among the 

 Adirondacks,— to have seen the lightnin' flashin' and 

 flamin' along the ground, and dartin' down from the 

 clouds into the tall trees, and smashin' them into a 

 thousand splinters, — to've hearn the timber crashin' 

 and thunderin' to the ground, as if all nater was goin' 

 to ruin in one universal smash. Well, if I warn't 

 scared that time, you may shoot me. So, lookin' 



