828 A Fight with a Trout. 



not pulled all the hair and skin off from the deers' tails. Formerly, 

 sportsmen had a habit of catching the deer by the tails, and of 

 being dragged in mere wantonness round and round the shores. It 

 is well known that if you seize a deer by this "holt," the skin will 

 slip off like the peel from a banana. This reprehensible practice 

 was carried so far that the traveler is now hourly pained by the 

 sight of peeled -tailed deer mournfully sneaking about the wood. 



We had been hearing for weeks of a small lake in the heart 

 of the virgin forest, some ten miles from our camp, which was alive 

 with trout, unsophisticated, hungry trout ; the inlet to it was described 

 as stiff with them. In my imagination, I saw them lying there in 

 ranks and rows, each a foot long, three tiers deep, a solid mass. The 

 lake had never been visited, except by stray sable-hunters in the 

 winter, and was known as the Unknown Pond. I determined to 

 explore it, fully expecting, however, that it would prove to be a delu- 

 sion, as such mysterious haunts of the trout usually are. Confiding 

 my purpose to Luke, we secretly made our preparations, and stole 

 away from the shanty one morning at day-break. Each of us carried 

 a boat, a pair of blankets, a sack of bread, pork, and maple sugar ; 

 while I had my case of rods, creel, and book of flies, and Luke had 

 an axe and the kitchen utensils. We think nothing of loads of this 

 sort in the woods. 



Five miles through a tamarack swamp brought us to the inlet of 

 Unknown Pond, upon which we embarked our fleet, and paddled 

 down its vagrant waters. They were at first sluggish, winding 

 among triste fir-trees, but gradually developed a strong current. At 

 the end of three miles, a loud roar ahead warned us that we were 

 approaching rapids, falls, and cascades. We paused. The danger 

 was unknown. We had our choice of shouldering our loads and 

 making a detour through the woods, or of "shooting the rapids." 

 Naturally, we chose the more dangerous course. Shooting the 

 rapids has often been described, and I will not repeat the description 

 here. It is needless to say that I drove my frail bark through the 

 boiling rapids, over the successive water-falls, amid rocks and vicious 

 eddies, and landed half a mile below, with whitened hair and a boat 

 half full of water ; and that the guide was upset, and boat, contents, 

 and man were strewn along the shore. 



After this common experience we went quickly on our journey, 



