124 
as the sky and as devoid of any living 
thing. 
“‘T’ve seen this place in the winter with 
a herd of over roo deer* scattered over it,”’ 
said Billy. ‘‘Let’s get up on a hill some- 
where and have a look around.” 
We crossed the bog, wading over the 
moss with deliberate, heavy-footed tread, as 
though tramping in the snow, picking our 
way precariously at times on tufts of sod 
where the “‘mish”’ was soft and a misstep 
meant a knee-deep flounder in the ooze. 
At the farther side we came to a well-de- 
fined opening in the wall of spruce tangle 
where the caribou had worn an ancient 
avenue. Following the trail, as plain as 
any old cow-path in a pasture, and rising 
gradually to higher and more open ground, 
we crossed the belt of timber and came out 
on the farther hillside where a point ran 
out like a cape and broke off in a bluff of 
boulders. Below stretched an open plain 
clear to the horizon on the north and south, 
*Caribou, there are no deer on the island. 
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RECREATION 
bounded only by a line of woods half a 
mile across to westward. 
We sat down on the topmost boulder 
and cooled off, for walking on the Newfound- 
land mish is a toilsome business to those 
who live habitually where solid ground 
gives a fair spring for the toe. Then we 
took the field glasses and searched the 
country. Distant blue hills marked the 
valley of some big lake or river beyond the 
immediate horizon of timber, away still 
farther to the westward. The boggy prairie 
swelled in a gentle raise to the skyline on 
the north. To the south a great, park-like 
plain, dotted with ponds and little islands 
of woods, stretched to the haze of distance. 
All these added details the magnifying 
power of the binoculars made large and 
clear, but they didn’t show deer in the 
immediate foreground like I had fondly 
half-hoped. 
‘“‘Here’s where we come in the winter 
time,’”’ narrated Billy. “St. Patrick’s look- 
out,” we call it. We make straight in 
THE CAMP ON THE MIDDLE LEAD 
