BIRCH BROWSINGS. 197 



fire. With rueful countenances we contemplated the 

 irreparable loss our commissariat had sustained by 

 this mishap ; but remembering there was virtue in 

 . ashes, we poked the half-consumed fish from the bed 

 of coals and ate them, and they were good. 



We lodged that night on a brush-heap and slept 

 soundly. The green, yielding beech-twigs, covered 

 with a buffalo robe, were equal to a hair mattress. 

 The heat and smoke from a large fire kindled in the 

 afternoon had banished every " no-see-em " from the 

 locality, and in the morning the sun was above the 

 mountain before we awoke. 



I immediately started again for the inlet, and went 

 far up the stream toward its source. A fair string of 

 trout for breakfast was my reward. The cattle with 

 the bell were at the head of the valley, where they 

 had passed the night. Most of them were two-year- 

 old steers. They came up to me and begged for salt, 

 and scared the fish by their importunities. 



We finished our bread that morning, and ate every 

 fish we could catch, and about ten o'clock prepared 

 to leave the lake. The weather had been admirable, 

 and the lake was a gem, and I would gladly have 

 spent a week in the neighborhood ; but the question 

 of supplies was a serious one, and would brook no 

 delay. 



When we reached, on our return, the point where we 

 had crossed the line of marked trees the day before, 

 the question arose whether we should still trust our- 



