ADIRONDAC. 93 



with a little moss, it floated with two aboard, which 

 was quite enough for our purpose. A jack and an 

 oar were necessary to complete the arrangement, and 

 before the sun had set our professor of wood-craft 

 had both in readiness. From a young yellow birch, 

 an oar took shape with marvelous rapidity trimmed 

 and smoothed with a neatness almost fastidious, no 

 make-shift, but an instrument fitted for the delicate 

 work it was to perform. 



A jack was made with equal skill and speed. A 

 stout staff about three feet long was placed upright 

 in the bow of the boat, and held to its place by a 

 horizontal bar, through a hole in which it turned 

 easily : a half wheel eight or ten inches in diameter, 

 cut from a large chip, was placed at the top, around 

 which was bent a new section of birch bark, thus 

 forming a rude semicircular reflector. Three candles 

 placed within the circle completed the jack. With 

 moss and boughs seats were arranged one in the 

 bow for the marksman, and one in the stern for the 

 oarsman. A meal of frogs and squirrels was a good 

 preparation, and when darkness came, all were keenly 

 alive to the opportunity it brought. Though by no 

 means an expert in the use of the gun, adding the 

 superlative degree of enthusiasm to only the positive 

 degree of skill, yet it seemed tacitly agreed that I 

 should act as marksman, and kill the deer, if such 

 was to be our luck. 



After it was thoroughly dark we went down to 

 noake a short trial-trip. Everything working to sat- 



