114 l G0 A-FISHING. 



While the fire burned I mused, and before the musings 

 had assumed form the trout was cooked, and then my 

 supper was ready and eaten, the bed looked more and 

 more inviting, and by nine or ten o'clock I was sound 

 asleep in the corner. 



Morning found me sleeping. The sun and air were 

 streaming in at the window-frames innocent of sash or 

 glass. But while the question of breakfast was under 

 discussion, a voice came in by the same avenues with the 

 sunshine and wind, singing a cheery song, and I saw the 

 tall form of one of the sawyers of the mill swinging along 

 toward the wood in the direction of the lake. He pulled 

 up at a hail and turned to the cabin. 



" Glad to see you lively this morning," he said in a hearty 

 voice. " I thought I'd come over and bring you suthin' 

 to eat ; expected to find you in camp, down along the 

 pond."' Then, entering the cabin and seeing the half of 

 the last night's trout hanging before the fire — " Well, you 

 seem to ha' taken care of yourself. You don't say you 

 got that feller last night with one of them little poles o' 

 yourn ?" 



We made a substantial meal together at once, and the 

 best thanks that could be given my friend were visible in 

 the justice done to his corn-bread and hard eggs. He 

 had come three miles across the country on this hospi- 

 table errand, and was delighted when I proposed to him 

 to spend the day on the lake, and promised to go home 

 with him in the evening. 



The first work was the building of a raft. To the un- 

 initiated it is often a puzzle how rafts are constructed by 

 fishermen in the forests, and possibly there are not many 

 sportsmen who have regarded an axe and an auger as 

 parts of an outfit. The two things are essential to a for- 



