SPECKLED TROUT 103 



blaziBg fire. But the rain now commenced again, 

 and fairly poured down through the trees, rendering 

 the prospect of cooking and eating our supper there 

 in the woods, and of passing the night on the ground 

 without tent or cover of any kind, rather dishearten- 

 ing. We had been told of a hark shanty a couple of 

 miles farther down the creek, and thitherward we 

 speedily took up our line of march. When we were 

 on the point of discontinuing the search, thinking 

 we had been misinformed or had passed it by, we 

 came in sight of a barkpeeling, in the midst of which 

 a small log house lifted its naked rafters toward the 

 now breaking sky. It had neither floor nor roof, 

 ; and was less inviting on first sight than the open 

 woods. But a board partition was still standing, 

 out of which we built a rude porch on the east side 

 of the house, large enough for us all to sleep under 

 if well packed, and eat under if we stood up. There 

 was plenty of well-seasoned timber lying about, and 

 a fire was soon burning in front of our quarters that 

 made the scene social and picturesque, especially 

 when the frying-pans were brought into requisition, 

 and the coffee, in charge of Aaron, who was an artist 

 in this line, mingled its aroma with the wild- wood 

 air. At dusk a balsam was felled, and the tips of 

 the branches used to make a bed, which was more 

 fragrant than soft; hemlock is better, because its 

 needles are finer and its branches more elastic. 



There was a spirt or two of rain during the night, 

 but not enough to find out the leaks in our roof. It 

 took the shower or series of showers of the next day 



