and the Maritime Provinces. 253 



between pike and pickerel then, as many do not to-day, but the little six- 

 inch fellow with vertical bars on its sides we called " brook pike." The 

 six-pound fish with network on its sides and the big fellow with white or 

 yellowish spots, were all dubbed " pickerel." 



" How far is the lake " ? I asked. 



" Only about a dozen miles down the B. & A. track, and we can do it 

 in four hours with our camp on our backs. Will you go" ? 



" Yes, if you know how to camp out in winter and are sure that we 

 won't freeze to death. When will we go "? 



" To-morrow ; we must go before the ice gets too thick. When it is 

 about four inches it bears well and cuts easy, for we may have to cut a 

 hundred holes." 



We arranged all the details, and two boys started on a cool morning, 

 the day before Christmas, with a light tent, small axe, frying-pan, a single- 

 barrelled pistol, and what we thought to be the proper amount of bedding, 

 provisions, and equipments for a week in camp. I proposed that we take 

 along several pounds of alum and salt to tan our deer-skins, but John said 

 they would keep in cold weather, and there was no use in taking useless 

 things. When I suggested some antidote for snake bites John gave me a 

 look, and said: " Snakes don't run in winter, through the snow " ; and I 

 bowed to his superior wisdom. We had hatchets, hunting-knives, and 

 knapsacks of enamelled leather to keep our provisions from getting wet ; 

 and away we went. How jolly it was for the first two miles down to 

 Teller's woods, where we rested. My shoulders then seemed to have an 

 ache as they were released from the backward strain of the knapsack, but 

 oh, how sore they were when we reached the lake, long after noon ! If 

 there had been tired legs and strained shoulders they were forgotten when 

 we threw off our packs beside the lake, and with an appetite a dozen miles 

 long, and of unknown breadth, we fell savagely upon our provisions. 

 John's mother had put him up some corned beef, sausages, and cake, 

 while mine had provided boiled ham, bread, and baked beans. 



In later years there have been formal dinners where there were waiters 

 behind the chair, who saw that a portion of currant jelly was served with 

 the venison chop, and that the glasses were kept filled. To-day I enjoy 

 that — then I did not know it ; but that luncheon on the shores of Kinder- 

 hook lake, over half a century ago, is remembered with pleasure to-day, 

 while greater ones have been forgotten. 



By the time the tent was pitched, wood gathered for a fire, and bed 

 made, the sun had gone down. We had removed the snow, covered the 

 ground with spruce boughs, spread our blankets, and after another supper, 

 we talked of the morrow and turned in. If we had been sleepier than we 

 were, after the hard day's tramp, the novelty of the situation was enough 

 to make two green boys wakeful, and then the twigs which we had left on 



