112 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



evidence on this occasion any more than he did 

 when they prompted him to level his rifle at a bear 

 or a moose. 



Moxie Lake lies much lower than Pleasant Pond, 

 and its waters compared with those of the latter are 

 as copper compared with silver. It is very irregu- 

 lar in shape; now narrowing to the dimensions of 

 a slow-moving grassy creek, then expanding into 

 a broad deep basin with rocky shores, and command- 

 ing the noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that 

 the pond-lily and the speckled trout are found 

 together, — the fish the soul of the purest spring 

 water, the flower the transfigured spirit of the dark 

 mud and slime of sluggish summer streams and 

 ponds; yet in Moxie they were both found in per- 

 fection. Our camp was amid the birches, poplars, 

 and white cedars near the head of the lake, where 

 the best fishing at this season was to be had. 

 Moxie has a small oval head, rather shallow, but 

 bumpy with rocks; a long, deep neck, full of 

 springs, where the trout lie; and a very broad 

 chest, with two islands tufted with pine-trees for 

 breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in the 

 neck, or in a small section of it, a space about the 

 size of the Adam's apple, and we paddled across 

 and around the broad expanse below. Our birch- 

 bark was not finished and christened till we reached 

 Moxie. The cedar lining was completed at Pleas- 

 ant Pond, where we had the use of a bateau, but 

 the rosin was not applied to the seams till we 

 reached this lake. When I knelt down in it foi 



