56 
THE BED MOUNTAIN OF ALASKA. 
soon we paddled back to camp, after having searched the 
point over for the missing canoe. Not a sign of it could 
we find. 
" When we returned to our two hunters, they laughed 
at us, but were angry, too, because they had but one 
canoe to fish from. Only one of them could go out at a 
time. 
" We took a few trout in the lake, but the fish did not 
rise well, and after a couple of days we pushed on to a 
small pond five miles above. 
" It was all white water between, so we had to carry. 
It took five trips to get across, for it's the hardest carry 
in all the north country. 
The last time we took the canoe. It was rather 
heavy for that style of craft, and there was one point, 
just opposite a big waterfall in the river, where it had to 
be lugged straight uphill for fifty rods or more. 
" John and I got underneath, and the New York men 
pulled on a rope hitched round the bows. 
" It was a hard tug, but we got there at last. 
We built a brush camp pretty near the shore of the 
upper pond, and laid out for a fortnight's stay at least. 
There was deer-sign in the woods, and if the rises in the 
pond at sunset meant anything, they meant all the fish 
we could eat, and more, too. 
" Well, sir, if you'll believe me, we'd no sooner got 
settled down in camp than everything began to go wrong. 
" John cut his hand that very night mending a leader. 
