LUNCHING WITHOUT FOOD. 113 



horses, with our rifles on our shoulders, we passed 

 from the more open settlements, which gradually 

 grew thinner and wilder, and entered the unbroken 

 forest. In the trouble we were at to obtain an extra 

 horse, and afterwards a saddle, we forgot to take pro- 

 visions for the way ; so, after traveling for nearly thirty 

 miles, we found ourselves on the banks of the Boreas 

 River, (our old friend, with whom we encamped a 

 week or two since, some thirty miles to the north- 

 east,) weary and hungry, and twelve miles of forest to 

 the nearest clearing. It was now one o'clock, and we 

 had been in the saddle since early in the morning. 

 Our horses needed food and rest, so did we ; but the 

 former was easier obtained for our beasts than for us. 

 Taking off their saddles and tying them head and foot 

 to prevent them from straying away, we turned them 

 loose, to browse in the forest. W— d hunted around 

 for berries to allay his hunger, while the doctor smok- 

 ed his pipe and chewed spruce gum which he peeled 

 from the trees, by way of stomach-stayers. R — fi'c 

 and myself thought of trying the trout ; but the 

 heavily timbered and tangled banks forbade all access 

 to the stream except by plunging in. Hungrier than I 

 ever remember to have been before, I floundered 



