A ROMANCE OF "OUR LAKE" 167 



sparkling river, and soon had water bubbling in the 

 kettle, potatoes boiling in the pot and pork rinds sizzling 

 in the frying-pan, ready for Anita's catch of fish, which 

 she was not long in bringing to camp. After the 

 morning meal, Anita washed the dishes and then helped 

 Frank in gathering green boughs enough for two of 

 Nature's finest mattresses. Frank had brought two 

 fine new tents his own he pitched near the water's 

 edge, but behind a mass of alder bushes, so that he 

 might be aroused if any one passed during the after- 

 noon. Anita's he pitched in a secluded grove of small 

 firs about a stone's throw from the river. As they 

 were to start when the moon appeared, they slept 

 until darkness and the chill of night awoke them. 

 They paddled all night, and bright and early next 

 morning Anita, as before, set out to catch fish and 

 Frank to get the fire going and the water boiling. 

 Breakfast was finished, and they were off again before 

 the sun was half an hour high. A right glorious run 

 of nearly twenty miles brought them down below the 

 " Forks," where four branches of the Tobique come to- 

 gether, and past Riley's Brook, where they stopped for 

 the balance of the day ; here was a famous salmon 

 pool. Frank's plan was to run the balance of the river 

 entirely by moonlight. As the pitch of water was 

 good and the moon nearly at the full, by running at 

 night they would avoid chances of meeting canoemen 

 coming up the river and thus would prevent news of 



