With Gun P Rod in Canada 



was warm and bright, we could not resist the thought 

 of a cruise back to camp instead of tenting out, so all 

 hands shipped in the canoe, and paddled out to the 

 motor-boat and clambered aboard. 



The little Gray hummed her accustomed well-balanced 

 tune, and we sped towards the setting sun. The colours 

 on the woods and waters were marvellous. Who ever 

 described a beautiful sunset adequately ? We had one 

 that night, and the glory of it is past telling. 



We reached camp at dark, and as we sat by the big 

 fireplace in the glow of the sputtering birch logs, we all 

 felt as though we had had a joy- and sun-drenched day. 

 We did not even feel guilty because we had side-stepped 

 the canvas for the log-house, and boat-cushions on hard 

 ground for spring-cots. 



There were also the unknown adventures of to-morrow 

 to guess and conjecture about. The big lake was not 

 always smooth and the big moose not always shy. Some- 

 times, also, the little engine acted bad in a pinch. 



SECOND DAY. 



Joe suffered from lack of circulation in his pedal 

 extremities, brought on by an unexpected attack of his 

 old bete noire, tic douloureux, so he declined to go with 

 us on the second day of our cruise. 



The weather was cold and windy, but clear. We 

 loaded up the canoe with grub, tents, blankets, plenty 

 of extra clothing, guns, etc., and all hands paddled out 

 to the motor-boat, which was tugging at her moorings. 

 It was " some " load for a seventeen-foot canoe, but there 

 being no sea in the protected cove where she rode, we 

 made it nicely. We headed for the big lake with the 

 intention of steering north-west to a special " calling " 

 and hunting ground on the western shore of the lake. 



212 



