CHAPTER IX 



DOWN THE NORTH FORK. PLATEAU MOUNTAIN. 



1904 



September 2$. As it required some time to gather all 

 our effects and load the canoes, we did not start until 

 2.30 in the afternoon. It was then warm and clear. 

 The river had fallen since we had come up ; many of the 

 riffles were doubtful of passage, and the canoes, as they 

 were swept along in the current, kept scraping the bottom. 

 But all the hard work of towing them up was more than 

 compensated for by the pleasure of going down. Assisted 

 by the paddles, guiding the canoes through dancing 

 riffles, we went swiftly careering through the wild tim- 

 bered valleys, the mountain panorama unfolding itself 

 at every curve. Shortly before dark we reached the 

 place where we had camped September third, and imme- 

 diately after landing I took the birch horn and, going 

 about three hundred yards from the bank, gave a few 

 calls. I was in a swampy thicket of willows, alders, and 

 dwarf birch, sparingly dotted with spruces and broken by 

 open spaces of a few square yards. In a short time, after 

 hearing the chopping and the whistling and talking of 

 the men, while dense clouds of smoke from the newly 

 made fire were floating down the valley, I concluded that 

 no moose would dare to approach within a mile of the 



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