HUEKAH! FOB THE COUNTRY! 31 



into silence. That is a cry of alarm, a note of danger, and 

 every frog within hearing understands its import. 



Is it asked where we are ? I answer, we are on the Lower 

 Saranac Lake, just on the south point, at the entrance of 







the romantic little bay, at the head of which stands Martin's 

 Lake House, the only human dwelling in sight of this beau- 

 tiful sheet of water. On the point where we now are, long 

 ago, was the log shanty of a hunter and fisherman, sur- 

 rounded by an acre or two of cleared land. But its occu- 

 pant moved deeper into the wilderness, over on the waters 

 of the Rackett, many years since ; the log shanty has rot- 

 ted away, and a vigorous growth of brush and small timber, 

 now covers what once may have been called a field. 



But the night shadows are beginning to gather over the 

 forest, throwing a sort of spectral gloom among the old 

 woods, giving a distorted look to the trunks of the trees, 

 the low bushes, the turned up roots, and the boulders scat- 

 tered over the ground. See what ogre shapes these things 

 assume as the darkness deepens. Look at that cedar bush, 

 with its dense foliage 1 It is a crouching lion, and as its 

 branches wave in the gentle breeze, he seems preparing for 

 his leap ; and yonder boulder is a huge elephant ! The 

 root that comes out from the crevice is his trunk, and the 

 moss and lichens which hang down on either side are his 

 pendant ears ; and see, he has a great tower on his back, 

 wherein is seated a warrior in his ancient armor, grasping 

 battle-axe and spear. Beyond, through that opening upon 

 the bay, is a castle looming darkly against the sky, with mas- 



