CHAPTER VIII. 



The morning- came, briiilil and fresh, and i)re8ented us in 

 excellent condition and spirits. We found th:jt we had 

 descended upon a delightful vvildei'ness home, ui)on the 

 northern shore of Meacham Lake, — a body of water stretch- 

 ing one and a half miles southward, and one and a half 

 miles in width, surrounded on ev^ery side by prime- 

 val forests, and on nearly every side by mountains. The 

 little log-hotel in which we had slept and eaten faced 

 toward the water, and across its front ran a rude, ample 

 verandah; while behind it was a small clearing where the 

 household vegetables struggled, under inhospitable condi- 

 tions, to meet the modest expectations of their cultivator, 

 and where, under the 3^earning gaze of J'uller's excessivel}" 

 stead}'^ span of horses and a very mild cow, a small field of 

 diminutive oats was ripening and the thin gho.st of a ha}' 

 crop was maturing. 



On the east, a few feet distant, was the older log-house, 

 which once served as the only dwelling, and where under 

 former auspices and administi-ations there had been wild 

 times of sport and carousal. It was now simply the " guide- 

 house, " and also contained Fuller's little shop where a rod 

 or a gun could be repaired as neatly as skill and a tine set 

 of implements could do it. It was also the general meeting- 

 place of the sportsmen and male tourists. On the racks 



