152 THE LOG OF A TIMBER CKUISEE 



leather, reinforced everywhere, with counters riv- 

 eted on, and with the soles thickly studded with huge 

 Hungarian hobs. Broad steel edging nails bound the 

 soles and heels till it seemed as if nothing could de- 

 stroy them. Brown immediately christened them 

 "the bear traps. " 



I was unable to give these massively made affairs 

 a thorough test, unfortunately, for after a few days' 

 use I decided that if I had to carry them over the 

 hills and valleys of the Black Eange during the rest 

 of the season life would not be worth living. They 

 weighed together, by the way, just a little over eight 

 pounds. 



Frazer, before this, had hit upon what he con- 

 sidered a highly satisfactory arrangement. Instead 

 of paying a big price and getting the heaviest kind 

 of footwear, he went to the other extreme. He pur- 

 chased several pairs of light, low athletic shoes, had 

 them solidly soled and hobnailed, and wore each pair 

 till it showed signs of giving out, then threw them 

 away. In this way he not only got three or four 

 pairs of shoes for what one expensive pair cost, but 

 possessed the advantage of carrying much less 

 weight on his feet where every ounce counts. 



The drawback to his scheme, applied personally, 

 was that my feet were apparently not made of the 

 same material as Frazer 's. I had put on a pair of 

 his shoes and was discovering this fact on the run I 

 had begun to describe when the digression on shoes 

 began. I could feel the rocks through the soles, 



