250 CRUISINGS IN THE CASCADES 



nous roar and looked upon its angry bosom, for 

 here we were enabled to see slightly, owing to the 

 faint light admitted through the narrow opening in 

 the trees overhead, how rough and boisterous it was! 

 Its bed was a succession of bowlders from the size of 

 a man' s head to that of a small house, and its waters, 

 coming direct from the snow, were ice cold Yet to 

 amp here was to suffer all night from wet and cold, 

 and we preferred to push on. 



By keeping near the shore we could nearly all the 

 time have brush to hang to and steady ourselves, 

 but where there were none of these in reach our 

 rubber boots slipped on the smooth wet rocks, and 

 several times we fell into the icy flood up to our 

 chins. Once, in particular, I fell in water nearly 

 three feet deep, dropped my gun and it went to the 

 bottom. I lished it out, however, staggered to my 

 feet, and struggled on. 



After nearly two hours of this terrible trudging, 

 wading, and staggering, we at last reached camp at 

 eleven o'clock at night and triumphantly deposited 

 our burdens within the tent. 



Our two friends, from whom we had separated en 

 route, had arrived only half an hour ahead of us, and 

 notwithstanding the rain, which still fell heavily, 

 Dr. Hale, who had remained in camp, had a great 

 log-heap fire blazing in front of the tent. A pot of 

 coffee steamed by the fire, and a sumptuous supper 

 of broiled bear steaks, baked potatoes, and hot 

 biscuits awaited us, but I was too tired to eat. I 

 drank a pint of hot coffee, put on dry flannels, 

 crawled into my blankets, and slept soundly till 



