166 NARRATIVES. 



had retreated, without deigning to reveal himself. Having 

 by this time become pretty thoroughly awakened, I sprang up, 

 raked together the decaying embers of our last night's fire, 

 piled on a quantity of brush and logs, which created a genial 

 blaze, warming every corner of our rude habitation ; then, 

 enveloping myself in my blanket, I slept soundly till awak- 

 ened by the first beams of the morning sun. Such was my 

 first night in the woods. 



The days passed pleasantly in this sylvan retreat. When 

 we were tired of our locality, it was a comparatively easy 

 operation to effect a " change of base." A half hour at any 

 time sufficed to transfer our effects from our habitation to our 

 boat, and another half hour was amply sufficient to establish 

 our cuisine and lodging in any locality to which we chose to 

 migrate. Space and time would fail me were I to attempt to 

 describe in detail our multifarious adventures in search of 

 game and trout ; how I rowed up and down the lakes trolling 

 for salmon-trout, till the four broad blisters on my right palm, 

 and the three ditto on my left, rendered ample testimony to 

 my proficiency as an oarsman ; and how at last, at the close 

 of one pleasant day, we found ourselves securely encamped on 

 a rocky peninsula extending for a mile or two out into the 

 clear waters of Moose Lake. 



Moose Lake is an isolated but beautiful sheet of water, ly- 

 ing a mile or two aside from the chain of lakes oovwhich we 

 had hitherto been located. This lake is famed for the abun- 

 dance and superior quality of its trout ; and I was not slow 

 in testing the validity of its reputation in this respect, by 

 catching a fine mess of speckled trout for breakfast on the 

 morning after our arrival, before Newhouse had emerged from 

 his bag of Canton flannel. But as salmon and not speckled 

 trout were the principal objects of our labors, we prepared at 

 once for taking them scientifically. And lest there should be 

 some among my readers who do not clearly apprehend the 

 distinction between the two, I will devote a paragraph or two 

 to their enlightenment. 



So few are unacquainted with the common brook or 

 speckled trout, that any description of this superb fish will 



