THE GREAT NORTHWEST 257 



poising and feeling with our feet for the least slimy 

 places we at last got safely over. "We then had time 

 to realize what idiotic fools we had been to risk our 

 lives on such a crossing, and, for what ? a few trout. 



We motioned to the three men we left on the other 

 side not to attempt the passage. They signalled " all 

 right," and we started ahead. Afterwards one of the 

 three made up his mind to try it. He labored along 

 very cautiously until near the middle, then his foot 

 slipped and in a twinkling he was struggling with the 

 stream. Fortunately for him, he fell on the inside. 

 He was a strong, athletic young man, and managed to 

 throw an arm around the inside log before his body 

 could be sucked under ; then by an almost superhuman 

 effort he pulled himself on to the boom again. Hav- 

 ing got back safely he went to the car for a change of 

 clothes. To-day he is full of thanks to Providence for 

 his narrow escape ; and well he may be, for his chance 

 of life in that caldron of ice water was well, one in 

 a hundred. 



Shortly after leaving the river we struck a good 

 trail up a mountainside. It ended in an almost im- 

 penetrable jungle of fire-swept timber, over, under 

 and around which we panted, perspired and labored 

 for an hour. Then suddenly, as if by magic, there 

 flashed upon our sight a lovely little gem-of-a-lake 

 circled around by great mountains, whose sides were 

 sheeted with snow nearly to the water's edge. "We at 



