158 WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



tract attention from some of the family. She quickly 

 decided to take her canoe and paddle out on the lake 

 on the opposite side to Bald Mountain, so that while 

 her lover could thus see her, any signal that she gave 

 might be interpreted, if seen by one of her own people, 

 to be simply a greeting of " good-morning," because 

 the island would be between her and the mountain. 

 So she paddled swiftly away, and when near the far 

 shore she stopped, turned about, and sitting in the 

 stern of her canoe, she gave the loon's cry to the morn- 

 ing sun. With breathless intensity she waited for a 

 reply, and it soon came, as an echo of the same weird 

 call, followed by a perfect imitation of the loon's un- 

 canny laugh. Almost instantly the dead fir was re- 

 moved and the signal that had done its work was seen 

 no more. 



Bald Mountain is about five miles long and two and 

 a quarter miles broad in places. Its peak is nearly flat, 

 having only a slight contour. At its base Mud Lake 

 nestles close to it like a babe against its mother's 

 breast, and in the extreme far corner of the lake enor- 

 mous springs gush up from its bottom, springs of clear 

 and very cold water, where the trout live and spawn, 

 and where they can be seen almost any day during the 

 spring and summer months. Anita had been for many 

 weeks accustomed to paddle up into Mud Lake, push- 

 ing her canoe over the great series of springs mentioned 

 above and catching enough trout to stock the family lar- 



