FROM CANDLE TO FORT GIBBON 



399 



beautiful of its kind we had yet seen, and we often stopped 

 to admire the clusters of high birches which stood at the edges 

 of lakes or streams. High and white they rose above us, 

 forming a strong contrast to the smaller and darker pines, with 

 every twig silhouetted against the heavy snowclouds. Even 

 now, in the middle of the winter, this, the most graceful of 

 trees, is a splendid sight, as 

 it bends its snow-covered 

 branches over the trail, 

 sometimes so deeply that we 

 must take care to avoid 

 them. And the snow along- 

 side the trail completely 

 obliterates the smaller scrub 

 trees ; sometimes the tops 

 are just visible, but usually 

 they stand up like small 

 round domes, hidden under 

 a soft white snow blanket. 



Mile after mile we laid 

 behind us. At 3 P.M. we 

 thought that we had covered 

 the distance to the road- 

 house (supposed to be 

 twenty -two miles), but it 

 became 4 P.M. and 5 P.M., 

 and yet no sign of the house. 

 On we passed, uphill and 

 downhill, over rivers and 

 lakes, hoping to see the 



house at every bend of the trail. But the night settled about 

 us, and we had to light our lanterns. We marched on and on, 

 cursing our bad luck, worn out, tired, straining our eyes to 

 catch sight of the lantern of the road-house. Then we struck 

 a fresh trail ; we were near people who had been coming and 

 going on the same day for the purpose of cutting wood, so 

 we whipped up the dogs, and soon we stopped in front of a 

 wretched log cabin. A woman came out and took care of our 

 dogs ; her husband, a white man, had gone to Loudon. 



She cooked for our dogs and for us, and as soon as we had 



THE TRAIL OVER A PORTAGE. 



