126 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
ening, and as night came on it was the darkness 
‘of Erebus. The coasts of the lake are not lighted, 
and we carried neither masthead nor side lights, but 
the Captain had taken his bearings well, and there 
were no currents to sweep us off our course, con- 
sequently we went on in the darkness until the 
engine stopped again of its own accord. Sound- 
ings were taken and the Captain said that we were 
‘‘about where we wanted to be,’’ so we anchored. 
The galley fire had been going, and fragrant odours 
had from time to time floated aft, so with a sense 
of relief we sat down to our supper on deck and did 
it ample justice. After the usual smoke, we looked 
around for sleeping accommodations and I decided 
—having brought my bedding—to camp between 
the wheel and the engine. There was a spot shel- 
tered by cabins on each side and by a low poop, 
aft, and should a storm break I could easily get 
under cover. 
How wonderful was the silence that night upon 
the lake! On the ocean, even in the doldrums, 
there is the sobbing of the swell against the ship 
sides, and on the land there are noisy insects, but 
here there was not the faintest sound. We soon 
turned in, and when the bright sun awoke me about 
five the following morning, there was nothing mov- 
ing on board. We lay at anchor at the mouth of 
a bay in which there was a large white rock prob- 
ably one hundred yards long and less than half as 
broad. It stood up like the back of a huge white 
elephant and multitudes of gulls were hovering 
around it. The shores of the bay were low, but 
