54 CRUISINGS IN THE CASCADES 



it necessary to get out of the country, and their 

 motion, and that of the vessel combined, caused me 

 to score several close misses, but I finally found the 

 bull' s-eye, so to speak, and killed three in rapid suc- 

 cession. Then the mate came down and said: 



"We don't allow no one to be firm' off guns on 

 board." 



' ; I have the purser's permission," I said. 



" Well," he replied, " the captain's better author- 

 ity than the purser on this here boat," whereupon 

 he returned to the cabin deck, and so did I. I was 

 not seriously disappointed, however, for I cared 

 little for the duck shooting; I was in quest of larger 

 game, and only wanted to practice a little, to renew 

 acquaintance and familiarity with my weapon. 

 Early in the day we entered Burrard Inlet, a narrow, 

 crooked, and peculiarly shaped arm of the salt water, 

 that winds and threads its way many miles back 

 into the mountains, so narrow in places, that a boy 

 may cast a stone across it, and yet so deep as to be 

 navigable for the largest ocean steamship. The inlet 

 is so narrow and crooked that a stranger, sailing into 

 it for the first time, would pronounce it a great river 

 coming down from the mountains. Through this 

 picturesque body of water our good boat cleft the 

 shadows of the overhanging mountains until nearly 

 noon, when we landed at Vancouver, the terminus 

 of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In consequence of 

 this important selection, the place is a busy mart of 

 trade. The clang of saw and hammer, the rattle of 

 wheels, the general din of a building boom, are such 

 as to tire one's nerves in a few hours. Later in the 

 day we reached Port Moody. This town was origi- 



