FOREST LIFE. 77 



Brother looks on equal brother, 



Manhood looks on men — 

 Be thy future, oh our mother, 



As thy past hath been — 

 Heavenward, like thy mountain-guardians, 



With their star-crowns deck'd, 

 And thy watchword, like Katahdin's 



Cloud-swept pine, ' Erect !' " 



Then followed the "yarn." Now "Nick," as we familiarly 

 cnlled him, was a tall, sinewy man, the exact counterpart of 

 Hobbs in physical proportions, full of fire, and fond of adventure. 

 He had spent much of his life in the woods, and in different parts 

 of the country, somewhat apt in his observations, and ofF-hand 

 in his style of conversation. 



Looking thoughtfully into the fire a moment, as if to call an 

 item from his experience, he proceeded as follows : 



" In the month of September, 18 — , having business to transact 

 with a man engaged in timber-making on Bartholomew's River, 

 New Brunswick, I set out on horseback, late in the afternoon, for 

 his encampment, distant some ten miles. Part of the distance I 

 had to pass through a dense wilderness, where a path had been 

 made by cutting away the underbrush and small trees ; the rest 

 of the journey could only be prosecuted by riding in the bed of 

 the stream, which at the time was quite dry. 



" In answer to the inquiries made at the tavern where I hired 

 my horse, I was told that the camp was on the bank of 1 lie 

 Btream, and could be easily seen from the channel through which 

 ! is to pass. The sun was about one hour high when I entered 

 the woods ; but I had not proceeded half way through when the 

 heavens suddenly became overcast, which admonished me that 



I :• about to experience one of those terrible thunder-tempests 



which sometimes occur at the close of a sultry September day, 



and are remarkable for the copious torrents ofrain which fall in 

 the vicinity of lakes and rivers, surrounded by the wilderness. 



