UP THE INLET. — NAUGHTY GUIDES. 91 



could not be surpassed. So]nel)ody suggested fishing, — 

 and nobody objecting, four rods were jointed and rigged, 

 and four leaders with their delicate flies were launched 

 forth. 



Tiien on we went, and on, with logs here and there disput- 

 ing our passage, until dinner time, when we landed at "Hog's 

 Back, "near McColhun's clearing, where a little cool stream 

 comes into the main river. We l)uilt a th'e, roasted the ti'out 

 we had taken, opened our baskets and feasted in a rudimen- 

 tary way with tlie woodsman's keen appetite and zest. 

 Again we proceeded on our way up stream, the crooked- 

 ness and the snags and logs increasing every moment. It 

 was all so strange and primitively wild that the difficulties 

 of our progress were scarcely observed but to be enjoyed, 

 and we were unconscious that the day was declining and 

 that it was impossible for us to reach Osgood Pond before 

 nightfall. Our most excellent hypocrites, the hotel guides, 

 knew that before we started, but we had been left in bliss- 

 ful ignorance. 



A thunderstorm broke upon us. We drew our boats up 

 on the shore and sought the shelter of the trees. At first 

 thej^ protected us admirabl}^ but after a time the leaks in 

 the leaf}" roofs became uncomfortably numerous. Starting 

 a "smudge," we made ourselves as jolly as possible, and 

 speedily the storm, after the fashion in the Adirondacks, 

 passed along. 



And now we discovered, upon consulting our guides and 

 our watches, the ignominious fact that Osgood Pond was 

 out of the question. AYhen we came to know good and 



