144 THE BEAYER RIAER WATERS. 



By this time we were all ready for the noon-day tramp 

 over the carry. At the dam, in the swift water, tliere was 

 very lively sport with the fly, among the small trout. The 

 large ones had retired from the rapids, and the small ones 

 had taken their places, as is likely to occur near the end of 

 the time for fishing in swift water. 



A short row (about two miles) up the river .brought us 

 to Smith's Lake-as pretty a sheet of water, with its seven 

 wooded islands and cliarming, mountain-girt shores, as one 

 is likely to see in the Adirondack region,— much like, 

 indeed, but larger than Blue Mountain Lake, which is con- 

 fessedly of surpassing ))eauty. 



We took possession, hy the sportsman's right, of the 

 "Syracuse Camp," which its proprietors were to occupy 

 later in the season. 



The open sleeping camp was hardly tenantable, and we 

 were glad to avail ourselves of a trapi^er's winter-hut of 

 logs and l)ark, of entirely nondescript a-chitecturnl design, 

 but which contained a pile of stones for a fire-place, and a 

 bed of marsh hay. We built a rousing fire, and a confla- 

 gration seemed imminent as the flames and smoke and 

 sparks flew up the sheets of spruce bark that formed the 

 side of the hut by the tire. But a (rapper had, all alone, 

 braved the rigors of the winter there, and doubtless had 

 piled on the wood as freely in January as we needed to in 

 May. At all events, the "fire risk " proved to be a good 

 one, and despite our fears we learned to be comfortable on 

 that score. A heavy rain that night searched out sundry 

 defects in the roof, which were cured with fresh sheets of 

 bark, the next day. 



