THE START OF THE TRAIL 1s 
centre of the lake, and were gratified to discover 
that out from the edge the wind had swept away 
the snow, giving us a smooth road for our progress. 
In the distance, on the farther shore, we saw 
the smoke of a fire; and as we reached the other 
side, we came upon a man who was fishing through 
the ice. With a long heavy chisel, he had cut sev- 
eral holes through the two feet of frozen surface. 
Leaning over each opening was an alder branch, 
from which a bit of fish-line hung down into the 
dark cold water. On an old pine-stump close beside 
his brushwood fire, and within easy sight of all his 
lines, sat the fisherman. Any movement of a tell- 
tale alder gave immediate notice that the hungry 
fish were biting. 
The staple food of a Maine lumber-camp is baked 
beans and pork, and on every bill of fare, if they 
had one, this article would appear at least once a 
day. But frequently it happens that some deli- 
cacy of the locality will vary the monotony. One 
of the lumber-camps was to have lake trout and 
landlocked salmon for supper that night, for our 
fisherman had been in luck. Several good-sized 
fish lay, frozen stiff, on the ice. 
Not only fresh fish, but often good tender juicy 
steak, is put upon the lumber-camp table. If your 
lumberman should be working alone in the forest, 
and a deer should charge upon him, he would 
