ON THE PRAIRIE 181 



By degrees these filled up, and the whole 

 valley became a broad marshy meadow, 

 through which the brook wound between 

 rows of willows and alders. These beaver 

 meadows are very common ; but are not usu- 

 ally of such large size. Around this camp 

 there was very little game ; but we got a fine 

 mess of spotted trout by taking a long and 

 most toilsome walk up to a little lake lying 

 very near timber line. Our rods and lines 

 were most primitive, consisting of two 

 clumsy dead cedars (the only trees within 

 reach), about six feet of string tied to one 

 and a piece of catgut to the other, with pre- 

 posterous hooks ; yet the trout were so rave- 

 nous that we caught them at the rate of about 

 one a minute ; and they formed another 

 come change in our camp fare. This lake lay 

 in a valley whose sides were so steep and 

 boulder-covered as to need hard climbing to 

 get into and out of it. Every day in the 

 cold, clear weather we tramped miles and 

 miles through the woods and mountains, 

 which, after a snow-storm took on a really 



