24 



RECREATION. 



beavers lived in the little pool of water 

 which lay behind it. The structure of the 

 dam was worthy of study. But 2 tools had 

 been used in the construction of the frame- 

 work, the axe and the augur. The logs 

 had been squared and fitted with the axe, 

 wkile straight oak pins riveted them to- 

 gether. The stream had carried away near- 

 ly all the earth from the apron. The great 

 wooden structure, rising across the stream 

 like the skeleton of some gigantic animal 

 of the past, showed the honest work of 

 the builders. The dam had been bleached 

 and whitened by the storms of many win- 

 ters, but was still staunch enough to with- 

 stand many spring freshets. 



Over the dam we went and on up a 

 steep hillside until we reached a large lake. 

 Joe produced a canoe from a thicket, and 

 we and our impedimenta were soon afloat. 

 If we were to have trout for our dinner, 

 we must catch them ; so I cast from the 

 bow while Joe slowly paddled. 



In less than an hour we were at the 

 camping place, but it was an hour filled 

 with such experiences as can be had only 

 in the woods. In it I caught more trout 

 than we wished for our dinner, and 4 deer 

 kindly posed for us from the shore. As 

 we rounded one point a deer was standing 

 knee deep in the water, either drinking or 

 feeding on the lily pads. With a start he 

 raised his head and faced us. His antlers 

 had not less than 10 points, and he was 

 worthy to be a model for Landseer. He 

 gazed while the canoe drifted. We silent- 

 ly watched him and admired his graceful 

 form. In all that wilderness we were the 

 only living things he could not trust. He 

 bounded away and the spruces hid him. 



We soon put into a little opening where 

 a tiny stream flowed into the lake. A few 

 rods back, on a round knoll covered with 

 maples and having a background of dark 

 spruces, was a well made leanto. There 

 deer hunters camped in the fall while they 

 hunted the region about the lake. Its ends 

 and frame were made of logs stoutly 

 pinned together. The roof was made of 

 spruce bark and was supposed to be water- 

 tight. The leanto was open toward the 

 lake and before it were the coals and 

 ashes of former camp fires. Joe made a 

 fire, I cleaned the fish at the brook, the 

 women cut the bacon, and soon the trout 

 were frying. In the open air we had din- 

 ner, with no sauce but our appetites, and 

 no orchestra but the murmur of the brook. 



Tn the afternoon we paddled to the up- 

 per end of the lake and then far up the 

 winding stream which was its main source. 

 Great herons, with shrill cries and dangling 

 legs, flew up from the tamarack swamps 

 about us. The stream was filled with trout, 

 and we caught all we wished and stopped. 

 Why kill in wantonness? 



At sunset we went back to the lake. The 

 dying wind had left no ripple. The sur- 

 face of the lake stretched before us bathed 

 in a' flood of sunset light. Thousands of in- 

 sects were dancing joyously in the glow. 

 Birds were skimming here and there over 

 the surface, the trout were feeding and 

 broke all about us. Not a square rod of 

 surface was for a minute undisturbed. We 

 could have caught a hundred trout if we 

 had been in the mood to kill. 



After supper we cut balsam and filled 

 the floor of the leanto with boughs, on 

 which we spread our blankets. Then piling 

 the fire high with maple wood, we lay on 

 the blankets and enjoyed the warmth. The 

 lake before us was shrouded in mist, the 

 tops of the hills across the lake were grow- 

 ing indistinct in the rapidly fading twilight, 

 the new moon had but a short journey to 

 her repose behind the hazy sky line. The 

 darkness deepened and we were gradually 

 shut in by the trees about us and the small 

 patch of sky overhead. 



Wrapped in a blanket, Joe smoked and 

 told us of the life of the trapper and 

 woodsman in those wilds in the winter. 

 He told stories of the fall hunting for bear 

 and moose. At last came the fanciful 

 stories held in stqre and told to each new 

 comer. The climax was the story of the 

 trout which had been tamed and lived in 

 camp. Faithfully it followed its master, 

 but alas, while attempting to cross a stream 

 on an ice-coated log, it was drowned. 



Did we sleep? We wrapped ourselves 

 in our blankets, we extended our feet to 

 the fire, we inserted our heads under the 

 eaves of the leanto, said good-night for 

 the last time, and kept on talking. We 

 arose and renlenished the fire. We in- 

 formed each inquirer as to the exact hour 

 of the night. We made remarks deroga- 

 tory to the mental equipment of the loon. 

 We compared the relative discomforts of 

 the bough bed and the buckboard road. 

 We concluded that the bed, like the road, 

 had not been brought to a definite level. ' 



It is probably safe to say that each per- 

 son had a nap. We wore out the night, 

 and arising early refreshed ourselves in 

 the Qold water of the brook. The wood 

 gods were kind, for they gave us a beauti- 

 ful morning and a good breakfast. By 

 noon we were back in the main camp with 

 nothing but the pleasantest memories of 

 the lake and its leanto. 



The time came when we had to return 

 to the exactions of civilization and its 

 routine of duties. We did not dread the 

 buckboard road. It was a part of the great 

 woods which we had seen and enjoyed. 

 We planned to go back to camp the next 

 summer, for we had been inoculated and 

 the bacilli of joy of the wild life had 

 worked itself through our whole being. 



