86 A QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED. 



the logs in front of onr tent after supper, smudging away 

 the musquitoes with our pipes, " will somebody tell me what 

 we came into this wilderness among these musquitoes, and 

 frogs, and owls for ? Mind you, I am not discontented ; 

 I enjoy it hugely ; but what I want to know is why I do so ? 

 I desire to understand the philosophy of the thing." 



" As the question involves, in some sense, a physiological 

 fact," replied the Doctor, " it comes within the range of my 

 professional duties to understand and be able to answer it, 

 for you must know that the enjoyments of this region 

 are primarily physical. Now I've a theory which is this 

 that every man has a certain amount of vagabondism 

 in his composition that will be pretty certain to break out 

 in spots occasionally. At all events it is so with me, and 

 from my observation of men, I am strong in the faith that 

 it is so with every one who is neither more nor less than 

 human. It is all a mistake to suppose that I come off here, 

 enduring a heap of hardship and toil, simply for the love of 

 fishing and hunting, though I confess to a weakness to a 

 certain extent that way. The charm of this regjon consists 

 in the fact, that it is the best place to play the vagabond, 

 and in which to do the savage for a season, that I know of. 

 You can go bareheaded or barefooted, without a coat or 

 neckerchief, get as ragged and untidy as you please, without 

 subjecting yourself to remark, or offending the nice sense of 

 propriety pertaining to conventional life. You are not 

 responsible for what you say or do, provided always that 

 you do not offend against the abstract rules of decency, 



