290 THE ADIRONDACK. 



a new substance, and sending a different arterial blood 

 coursing through the system. 



Having so often tried it before, it was no mere experi- 

 ment with me to seek the Adirondacks for health ; and 

 so, after battling with exhaustion till I could see the 

 little ones safely through the pyrotechnics of the Fourth 

 of July, I shouldered my long neglected rifle, and with 

 a longing heart once more turned my footsteps hither- 

 ward. 



i 



I had gone in twice by the way of Lake George, 

 striking the centre of the lake region, and came out 

 once by the Tahawus and Adirondack Iron Works, and 

 so, by way of variety, resolved this time to go to the 

 extreme north, by way of Port Kent, and, beginning 

 with the Saranac lakes, work whichever way took my 

 fancy. But after we had got afloat on Lake Champlain, 

 one of my companions (I had two) discovered that a 

 carpet-bag had been left behind somewhere between 

 Saratoga and "Whitehall, and so we stopped at Westport 

 while he went back in search of it. While waiting here 

 I ascertained that we could reach the Saranac by cross- 

 ing a ridge near the base of the lordly Tahawus, and so 

 we resolved at the last moment to try this, to me en- 

 tirely new route. 



