IN THE FOREST 103 



cracked if not broken. He was not a very 

 strong man physically, though as hard as nails. 

 All we could do was to foment his side with 

 one of our flannel shirts and let him lie 

 in his blankets near the fire, which had been 

 lit at the base of the cedar-tree. 



There were some open glades at the end of 

 the lake and the country looked more game- 

 like. I went out in the afternoon to have a 

 look round. The country was more open and 

 I found a two-day-old track of a big bull, so 

 game was in the neighbourhood — there were 

 also fresh bear tracks and bear droppings 

 close to camp. 



I returned to try for a dish of trout while 

 Thomson went out to lie in wait for deer coming 

 out to feed at sunset — a form of sport I did 

 not appreciate. 



The question of food was now becoming 

 serious, as the men had calculated on plenty 

 of deer and grouse, and we had had no fresh 

 meat since the deer I shot the day we started 

 up the Nimquish River. Fishing from the 

 shore and from our raft I caught six cut-throat 

 trout, the largest about half-a-pound, with 

 the fly. The lake was very deep and peaty — 

 no doubt there were bigger fish in it, but they 

 would not rise freely ; it was late in the season 

 and possibly my flies were not big enough. 



