14000 MILES 



the Notch, and we walked nearly all the way. Every- 

 thing is moss-grown and marked with decay. The Notch 

 has its Old Man, its Flume and Cascades, and our ex- 

 clamations burst forth at every turn. Such mosses, such 

 high, ragged bluffs, such babbling brooks, and all so 

 fresh after the rain! Was ever anything so beautiful? 

 Suddenly we found ourselves in open space again, and 

 driving along the Clear Stream meadows, we passed the 

 little enclosure where are the graves of the first two 

 inhabitants of this lonely region. Six or eight miles 

 more brought us to Errol Dam, where we left Charlie in 

 good care, while we took a five hours' trip on a tiny mail 

 steamer. We thought we were to be the only passen- 

 gers, but a young woman with an invalid brother, bound 

 for the Rangeley Lakes, came at the last moment. We 

 steamed along the Androscoggin River until within a 

 half mile of Lake Umbagog, then turned into the Magal- 

 loway. In course of time the little Parmachenee pushed 

 up against a bank and we were landed in the glaring sun, 

 to wait while the mail was carried two or three miles, 

 and the two men had dinner. 



Fortunately we had a luncheon with us, or we should 

 have had to content ourselves with crackers and 

 inolasses, and "bean suasion" with the brother and sister, 

 at the only house in sight. We were back at Errol 

 Dam at four o'clock, and as we paid the four dollars for 

 our little trip the man said, "Too much, but we have to 

 live out of you folks." 



There is a stage route from Errol Dam to Bethel, Me., 

 but we preferred to follow the Androscoggin, so that 

 eventful day finished off with a fourteen-miles drive 



102 



