POKE RECEIVES A OUR'OSITY AND TELLS A YARN. 251 



Fire-Light Hunt. 



" Beyond Little Tupper's Lake, some three or four miles further 

 on in the wilderness, toward the Racquette, lies Little Rock Pond, 

 a mere dot of glass set in the emerald woods that stretch for miles 

 away in every direction, unbroken by human thrift and unmarked 

 by the fruits of that primal curse that caused the thorns and the 

 thistles to be brought forth. Connecting these two sheets of water 

 is a narrow stream so insignificant that it joyfully runs its way 

 nameless and unknown. The hills stand back on firmer bottom, 

 and the little valley bordering the river is filled with succulent 

 grass, reeds, swamp alders, and rose-trees that blossom and bud for 

 the wild game alone. Here Stalknecht and I had a camp and were 

 spending a month together, keeping house in the only decent 

 manner there is of living in this free country, where the servants 

 are all a little better than their masters." (Poke was violently 

 opposed to Irish servants.) 



" Hank, my guide, and I one night paddled our boat up this 

 stream to its source in Rock Pond, and when darkness had come 

 we lighted our jack-light, and, setting it in the bow of the boat, he 

 took his seat in the stern with the paddle, and I mine in the bow 

 with my double-barrelled rifle, and we commenced to descend the 

 stream. A jack-light is so arranged that it throws a bright light 

 in front of the canoe, while it leaves the boat in utter darkness, 

 and the hunter, thus sitting in obscurity, is enabled to see any- 

 thing in range of his light with perfect distinctness. So we began 

 to descend the stream. Our voices, subdued to a whisper, were 

 presently hushed altogether. Not a sound disturbed the stillness ; 

 no splash of the paddle in the dexterous hand of the guide ; no 

 noise of motion ; we floated on the water as the moon floats when 

 ' with white fire ladened ' she sails out into the still night. The 

 weird trees, naked of leaves and shirted in moss, flashed out in 

 light, and then fell back in darkness, save when their tops marked 

 the sky beyond. Bush and flower, reeds pendent with their heavy 

 seed, and lancifoliate lilies, with their deep blue plumes, lateral 

 lagoons, gemmed with water-plants and bordered with their 

 larches, came out into the light, dropped into the darkness, and 



