248 CKANBERKY LAKE.— TUB OSWEGATCIIIE. 



where navigation for our tiny craft became ditiicult, and 

 beyond vvliieli were " Tlie Plains," — tliose singular, open, 

 treeless regions, natural pastures for deer, found here and 

 there throughout the wilderness, how caused, nobody 

 knows,— we met two gentlemen and their guide coming 

 down the river, returning from an unsuccessful excursion 

 above. We were about twenty -four miles from Uie home- 

 camp, and deemed it unwise, with our limited time, to 

 proceed further. We turned about, slowl}' fishing (h)wn 

 stream, while our new-found associates puslicd rai)idly on 

 to tlieir proposed camp, where tliey invited us to join them 

 at our leisure. 



On our way up-stream, my guide had i)ointed out a 

 noted pool, (;al!ed " C'age's 8i)ring Hole," at the outlet of 

 Cage's Lake, or IJladder l\)n(l. I had made a few casts 

 without raising a fin. On oui- return, the sun was a little 

 obscured by clouds and had begun to dip below the tree-tops 

 which cast a mild shadow over the pool. I approached it 

 with the greatest care, resolved that here, if anywhere, I 

 must take my big trout. The main stream, scarcely ten 

 feet wide at that ]»oint, came down like the heav}^ arm of 

 tlie capital letter "Y," the small, rapid inlet being the 

 lighter arm, and the two forming, at their junction, a deep 

 pool nearlj" circular, and from forty to fifty feet in diam- 

 eter. 



As soon as we had emerged from the green ahlers sulfi- 

 ciently to permit casting, my guide checked the boat and 

 held it with his paddle. I threw my best skill into the 

 effoit, and laid a 1\y on the placid water as gently as a 



