THE DUSKY GROUSE. 145 
home, and show them what grouse shooting in Idaho 
really was. The cook took the birds I had bagged, 
dipped them in a pail of water, and placed them, feathers 
and all, in the middle of a hot fire of coals and covered 
them with ashes. The doctor and Jones, who had been 
out after trout in the lake, returned with two splendid 
strings of fish soon after I did, and throwing them on 
the ground, they indulged in the most glowing descrip- 
tions about the abundance of fin in the lake, and the 
wonderful transparency of the water, which enabled them 
to see the slightest movements of the fish thirty feet be- 
low. While they were pouring out superlative adjec- 
tives, the cuok was busily engaged in preparing some of 
their catch for dinner, and as his method was novel, I 
may as well describe it. He first split thick boughs into 
two or three parts, according to their thickness, and 
fastened a trout—after it was cleaned—to each part, by 
means of a vine which was passed around the head and 
tied behind the stick. The sticks, or boughs, were then 
placed before a hot fire, on a bed of leaves, and when 
the fish were cooked on one side the other was turned 
until they were done toaturn. This is a simple and ef- 
fective mode of cooking fish in the open air, and is very 
popular with those who pride themselves on their knowl- 
edge of the culinary art. 
When dinner was ready we attacked it without waiting 
for Smith, as we did not know what time he would re- 
turn, and as soon as it was over we fell to recounting the 
adventures and incidents of the day. This is one of the 
great delights of camp life, and an excellent means of 
enlivening the dinner and making it cheerful and social, 
instead of a mere mechanical habit, which, however 
necessary it may be, is not always the most interesting part 
of a holiday in the forest. We were so absorbed in our tales 
that we forgot all about our absent comrade, and it was 
only when the shadows of night began to approach that 
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