OSGOOD RAPIDS. 141 



two years since Dupont and I had heard the roar of the 

 Nile bursting through the barriers of Syene; and then 

 we grew sleepy, though it was not yet midnight, and then 

 we went to our rooms and slept. But once before I slept 

 I heard that mocking laugh of the loon, and then the wind 

 rose among the pine-trees by the house, and I fell asleep 

 listening to the strange sound, full of memories. 



Monday morning was bright and clear — too clear for 

 fly-fishing ; but we held an early consultation, and John 

 and Frank agreed that, since trout would rise to a fly ear- 

 ly in Ma} r , notwithstanding local traditions to the contra- 

 ry, there was no place in which they were more likely to 

 be found than the Osgood Rapids. So we went to the 

 Osgood Rapids. As a general rule, all the streams in 

 the Adirondack region are sluggish for long distances, 

 and fall over short, rocky rapids here and there. The 

 whole country is a level, with innumerable lakes and 

 ponds connecting with one another by these streams. 

 The Osgood, a small lake, three fourths of a mile from 

 Smith's house, receives the water from Jones Pond, and 

 discharges a stream, tolerably strong in high water, into 

 Meacham Lake, some miles distant. 



Boats for fishing the Osgood must be carried from 

 Smith's, and to one who has not seen it the procession of 

 a party crossing " a carry" is very droll. The guides lift 

 the boats, upside down, on their backs, supported by a 

 yoke which fits the shoulders, and walk off as comfortably 

 as a man with a carpet-bag. You can see the boats, but 

 only the legs of the guides. They seem to be boats walk- 

 ing — a row of elongated terrapins ; and when two or three 

 move off in a line the scene is odd and amusing. It is no 

 small work to carry a boat three quarters of a mile, and 

 many of the carries in this country are much longer. 



