NAMAYCUSH AND OTHERS 115 



of water, we swung around with the wind to a north 

 and south position not more than fifty yards from the 

 tumbledown dock that lined the shore along the head 

 of the canal. 



"The lately risen sun shone brightly, except when 

 a mass of gray-white clouds drove across it; the waves 

 tossed the little cedar canoe airily up and down; on 

 the rising shore the fresh green of the white-stemmed 

 birches stood out sharply against the dark spruce trees, 

 the feathery blue-green of the pines, and the rusty 

 yellow-green of the young cedars and alders. A wild 

 duck and her fluffy brood paddled about furtively be- 

 neath the bushes fringing the shore two hundred yards 

 away; in the cleared spaces on the bank sleek robins, 

 with aldermanic vests of red and inquisitive yellow 

 beaks, hopped about among the buttercups and daisies 

 and wild roses ; while a song-sparrow poured out a full- 

 throated trill from a neighboring fence-post. 



"It must be confessed, however, that these beauties 

 of nature, the Indian's shack cresting the bare hill, the 

 group of little, unpainted dwelling houses, and the 

 dozen forlorn, uniform, empty gray cabins where once 

 lived the workers in the deserted tannery even the 

 sky-piercing brick chimney itself, such a strange sight 

 in the deep woods made but a vague impression upon 

 my senses. For when Piscator has been casting flies in 

 imagination only, for eleven months from a revolving 

 office chair, he is not to be diverted by such trifles from 

 his first lust of fish. 



"I began to cast out toward the shore, tip well down 

 to the water each time on account of the wind. After 



