222 MOOSE-HUNTING, SALMON-FISHING, ETC 



So homeward we started, reminded by Brother 

 Gun that " the best-laid schemes of mice 

 and men 'gang aft aglee.' " " Troubles," it is 

 said, " never come single-handed ; " and so it 

 proved in this case, for scarcely had we gone 

 two-thirds of the way back, using the signal- 

 lantern on the shore as our guide, when John 

 informed us the water was shoaling very fast, 

 and the boat would soon be aground. " Great 

 Scot! " we exclaimed, " not away out here ? " 

 Hardly had he remarked this, when we became 

 conscious of the fact she was aground hard 

 and fast, and the only way out of the scrape 

 now was to wade. Just here Bac salutes 

 Pat thus: "Pat, what did I ever do to you, 

 that you brought me into such a scrape as 

 this ? " " Holy horrors ! " cried the " circle- 

 shooter," "got to wade ashore? Ha! well, 

 here goes it." Up he got and out he got 

 " Great Scot ! " he calls out of the darkness, 

 " I am down below the top of my boots." 



Our situation was so supremely ridiculous, 

 all we could do for a while was to laugh and 

 screech. This was wild-goose hunting with 

 a vengeance. Fortunately, those fellows on 

 the shore can't see us, or they would have 



