268 ON THE EDGE OF THE WILDERNESS 
. woodpeckers might be nesting, or climb out along 
limbs for the nest of thrushes or warblers. You 
might at times, also, have seen him over by the 
shore of one of the ponds, sitting perfectly still 
on a stone or a log overhanging the margin, his 
eyes fixed on vacancy, one paw dangling in the 
water. But if you had been able to watch long 
enough, presently you would have seen that paw 
yank up with a lightning quick stroke, and a 
crawfish fly to land. 
It was one evening in late summer that Rastus 
saw firelight glowing on top of Black Rock, a ~ 
rough precipice jutting out like a bowsprit from 
a shoulder of the mountain, with a flat top on 
which picnic parties were sometimes held, when 
you could find enough men and especially women 
who were not afraid of the rattlesnakes which 
lived on the faces of the naked cliff itself. 
Rastus, led by his curiosity, moved over toward 
this firelight, while it glowed redder and flickered 
lower with the coming of night, and as he drew 
near his nose caught the smell of meat—of bacon, 
no less! The picnic party had departed; Rastus 
had heard them go laughing down the trail which 
