b04 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 
meet the rude exigencies of a “tramp” and “shanteeing 
out” for a few days, amidst storm or sunshine, as the evening 
heavens may send ! 
“The Bridge” at Jessup’s River, is well known to sports- 
men, and to this point we made our first fly-fishing expedition. 
The eyes of Piscator glistened at the thought, and early was 
he busied with almost hasty fingers through an hour of ardent 
preparation amongst his varied and complicated tackle. Now 
was his time for triumph! In all the ruder sports in which 
we had heretofore been engaged, I, assisted by mere chance, 
had been most successful—but now the infallible certainty of 
skill and science were to be demonstrated in himself, and 
the orthodoxy of flies vindicated to my unsophistic sense. 
The preparations are simple, and were early completed. 
The tidy housewife soon had ready the huge loaves of fresh 
nice bread—the can of yellow butter, and other minor 
appliances of a feast in the woods—the main condiments 
and dishes of which we were expected to supply from our 
own sharpened appetites and skill. Then the cooking appa- 
ratus, which was primitive enough to suit the taste of an 
ascetic, as it consisted in a single frying pan. Then the 
blankets, with the guns, ammunition, rods, &c. 
These were all disposed in the wagon of our host, which 
stood ready at the door. It was a rough affair, with stiff 
wooden springs, like all those of the country, and suited to 
the mountainous roads they are intended to traverse, rather 
than for civilized ideas of comfort. We, however, bounded 
into the low-backed seat; and if it had been cushioned to suit 
royalty, we could not have been more secure than we were 
of luxurious comfort—a fanciful illusion which it took but 
little time, however, to dissipate in an astound, as we found 
ourselves rumbling, pitching, and jolting over a road even 
worse than that which brought us first to the lake. It 
seemed to me that nothing but the surprising docility of the 
pretty span of glossy black ponies which drew us, could 
