RIVER LIFE. 



199 



the 'law,^ which at that season aflbrded protection, and so the 

 moose escaped. 



" The night just referred to was a time of realities. Truth 

 proved ' stranger than fiction.' Amid anxiety for the lost, the 

 ax had been left on the mountain. A pile of logs lay near the 

 outlet of the lake. With some «f these our missing companions 

 had made a fire ; some formed the floor of the camp, and others, 

 used as rafters, were covered with houghs for protection, but not 

 from rain. On the above floor (the spot allowing no other), no 

 boughs at hand could make a downy bed. Every one found out 

 that he was composed of flesh and bones. It also became diffi- 

 cult to regulate the fire, so that the heat was often intense. Con- 

 trary winds would ever and anon drive the smoke into the camp, 

 and thus cause great involuntary weeping. The scene waus, felt, 

 and few could find sleep without stealing it. It was visible dark- 

 ness all around. Toward midnight the rain commenced. One 

 of the party, writing to another from Lincoln in December, says, 

 ' Old Mount Ktaadn from this place looks dreary enough. Its 



Northuiist view ol Mount Ktaadn, fiom tlio west branch of tlie Penobscot. 



