CHAPTER XVIII 



THE ROSE MOUTAINS 1905 



September n. Under the azure sky of a calm Indian 

 summer day, surrounded by gorgeous color, the broad sur- 

 face of the charming Pelly floated our canoe along, as the 

 swift current, assisted by our paddles, bore us rapidly 

 around the sweeping curves and along the wide bars and 

 fantastically escarped banks. The mountains above were 

 white with snow, the terraces below them brilliant in 

 contrast. As the Pelly range faded from sight, the Glen- 

 lyons came into view. Goshawks were then very numer- 

 ous along the river and I saw two different ones, each at 

 a different place, chasing a kingfisher. Once I saw one 

 chasing a herring gull, and, another time, one chasing a 

 raven. Different flocks of red-breasted mergansers scur- 

 ried down the current ahead of us all day. 



September 12. We camped just before dark, and in 

 the morning, after paddling forty minutes, reached Rose's 

 cabin. As we landed, he stepped out on the bank to wel- 

 come us, with that taciturnity and lack of demonstration 

 always acquired by those who habitually live alone in 

 the woods. He had been there two years and had con- 

 structed a V-shaped cabin without even a window. It 

 was banked with earth from the ridgepole to the ground 

 and hence, though gloomy, was very warm in the winter. 



He was an old man about sixty, who, after having spent 



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