LAKE SUPERIOR. 73 



darted down stream, taking out the line at a tremen- 

 dous rate. I turned to follow, but what was my 

 dismay to find that, although I had managed to get 

 from the shore to the rock, the current followed 

 such a direction that I could not return. On went 

 the fish ; in vain I sounded the bottom with the 

 handle of the landing-net, or felt for a safe footing, 

 or essayed to jump ; the water was too threatening 

 and the risk too great. Still the fish kept on, and I 

 had just made up my mind to take the leap for his 

 life or my own, when the line became exhausted 

 and the leader parted. Slowly I wound in the line, 

 sadly picturing the supposable weight of the escaped 

 fish, and depressed in spirit, managed with Don's 

 assistance to regain terra firma. The only consola- 

 tion was in the thought that we had secured full as 

 many fish as we could use. 



That night was extremely warm, and one of the 

 most trying I ever endured in the northern woods ; 

 not only were mosquitoes abundant and ferocious, 

 but that terrible pest, the sand-fly, existing by my- 

 riads in the sandy soil, made merciless attacks upon 

 us. The shores of Lake Superior are unpleasantly 

 prolific in all the minute torments that are most 

 dreaded by the sportsman. During the day the 

 black-fly absolutely swarms, in the evening the sand- 

 fly arises from the sand in invisible millions, and at 

 night numberless mosquitoes continue the pursuit ; 

 repelled, but not dismayed by ointment and lini- 

 ment, they wait till it is dried or rubbed off, and 

 dart upon the exposed part ; they far exceed in 

 4 



