IN THE CATSKILLS 



shanty a couple of miles farther down the creek, 

 and thitherward we speedily took up our line of 

 march. When we were on the point of discontinu- 

 ing the search, thinking we had been misinformed 

 or had passed it by, we came in sight of a bark- 

 peeling, in the midst of which a small log house 

 lifted its naked rafters toward the now breaking 

 sky. It had neither floor nor roof, and was less in- 

 viting on first sight than the open woods. But a 

 board partition was still standing, out of which we 

 built a rude porch on the east side of the house, 

 large enough for us all to sleep under if well packed, 

 and eat under if we stood up. There was plenty 

 of well-seasoned timber lying about, and a fire was 

 soon burning in front of our quarters that made 

 the scene social and picturesque, especially when the 

 frying-pans were brought into requisition, and the 

 coffee, in charge of Aaron, who was an artist in 

 this line, mingled its aroma with the wild-wood 

 air. At dusk a balsam was felled, and the tips of 

 the branches used to make a bed, which was more 

 fragrant than soft; hemlock is better, because its 

 needles are finer and its branches more elastic. 



There was a spirt or two of rain during the night, 

 but not enough to find out the leaks in our roof. It 

 took the shower or series of showers of the next day 

 to do that. They commenced about two o'clock in 

 the afternoon. The forenoon had been fine, and we 

 had brought into camp nearly three hundred trout; 

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