28 BRIGHTENING UP. 



ceased ; but, drenched and shivering, none of the hunters 

 were able to obtain any sleep. They therefore spent 

 the remainder of the night at the fire, which burned 

 badly, and almost choked them with dense smoke. At 

 length the dawn streaked the eastern sky, from which 

 the clouds in ragged masses trailed slowly away. The 

 warm sun soon dispelled the chilly feeling which early 

 morning always occasions, and our hunters shortly be- 

 gan to feel brighter under the influence of his genial 

 rays. Birds twittered and fluttered through the thick 

 foliage of the spruces ; ducks quacked upon the river, 

 and the passing flights soared higher with a rush as 

 they perceived the party at the camp. Everything 

 seemed to rejoice at the departure of the gloomy, un- 

 comfortable night, and at the advent of cloudless skies 

 and warm sunshine. 



Old Jake busied himself in building a fire, which he 

 easily effected with sheets of birch-bark and pitch-pine 

 knots, which existed in plenty in the neighbourhood, 

 and which are full of bitumen, and highly inflammable. 

 Gaultier filled the camp kettle and hung it over the 

 blaze ; Pierre cut the venison for their meal from the 

 carcass of the deer ; and as soon as breakfast was ready, 

 the three hunters seated themselves round the fire, 

 which drew the steam in clouds from their wet gar- 

 ments. This, however, little incommoded them, as they 

 were well inured to the desagrfaients of a trapper's life. 

 Old Jake, indeed, seemed in unusually good spirits. 

 "It diz this coon's gizzard good," he said, "to get 



