SPECKLED TROUT 115 



replenished our stock of bread and salt pork at the 

 house of one of the settlers, midday found us at 

 Reed's shanty, one of those temporary structures 

 erected by the bark jobber to lodge and board his 

 " hands " near their work. Jim not being at home, 

 we could gain no information from the "women 

 folks " about the way, nor from the men who had 

 just come in to dinner; so we pushed on, as near as 

 we could, according to the instructions we had pre- 

 viously received. Crossing the creek, we forced our 

 way up the side of the mountain, through a perfect 

 cheval-de-frise of fallen and peeled hemlocks, and, 

 entering the dense woods above, began to look anx- 

 iously about for the wood-road. My companions 

 at first could see no trace of it; but knowing that a 

 casual wood-road cut in winter, when there was likely 

 to be two or three feet of snow on the ground, would 

 present only the slightest indications to the eye in 

 summer, I looked a little closer, and could make out 

 a mark or two here and there. The larger trees had 

 been avoided, and the axe used only on the small 

 saplings and underbrush, which had been lopped off 

 a couple of feet from the ground. By being con- 

 stantly on the alert, we followed it till near the top 

 of the mountain ; but, when looking to see it " tilt " 

 over the other side, it disappeared altogether. Some 

 stumps of the black cherry were found, and a solitary 

 pair of snow-shoes were hanging high and dry on a 

 branch, but no further trace of human hands could 

 we see. While we were resting here a couple of 

 hermit thrushes, one of them with some sad defect 



