80 
[Jaji. 28, 1899. 
hesitated about the price, so I produced a quarter, which 
seemed quite satisfactory. 
We went back to camp and announced the good news, 
which seemed to completely reinstate us in the good graces 
of our crew. 
After a sufficient lapse of time we retraced our steps to- 
ward the old log house, but, as Vic seemed to have im- 
portant business among the berry bushes, I went up alone 
to the house. The old lady said the biscuits were not 
quite ready, and wouldn't I walk in and have a glass of 
milk. I walked in, had as much delicious milk as I 
could drink, and then discussed crops, weather, hard 
times and local geography with the old lady till Emmy 
was ready with the biscuits. 
When Emmy ha.ided me the very largest kind of a milk 
pail three-quarters full of m.ost appetizing biscuits, I 
thought to myself I had the cheapest quarter's worth of 
grub I'd bought for a very long time. Down the lane I 
met Vic. 
"What have you got in that pail?" he shouted. 
"Hog feed," I replied. "What did you suppose?" 
He said nothing, but lifted the cover, looked in and then 
shouted and yelled in that exuberant fashion for which 
he is noted.' 
Did we have a good dinner? Well, we had only two 
jack-knives to eat it with and our butter knife was carved 
from a piece of wood; but if you happen to meet Vic, and 
put the question to him, he won't say anything to you, but 
will merely close his eyes and gently rub the region about 
the fifth button of his vest, from which, if you are 
wise, you will gain all the information necessary. 
After dinner we stretched out in the shade and lazily 
watched the lengthening shadows and listened to the 
purling of the rapids near at hand. 
Vic dozed off, woke up, and said he was not a bit sorry 
I had left the basket behind, and strange to say, such a 
great content was on me that I let the remark pass with- 
out the least attempt at contradiction. 
A little later a sweet little thing roused herself from 
her reveries and asked me if I was sure they were nice 
clean people who had made the biscuits. An hour before 
she wouldn't have cared if they had been made by a. 
greasy Hottentot in a swill bucket. I didn't want to spoil 
the dinner she had just eaten, so I told her the little boys 
were all dressed in Fauntleroy suits and wore kid shoes 
with patent leather toes, that the old lady wore a muslm 
apron and a white cap, and that Emmy looked like a Wat- 
teau shepherdess. Just then the boys came along to get 
the pail. The sweet little thing looked the boys over very 
intently for a while, and then gave me a look of the utmost 
SQorn, further refusing to speak to me for nearly an 
^°The boys told me that near the track leading up the 
creek there was a spring of water which was always icy 
cold I walked up the track and found a little path leading 
off into the shady thicket. Black leaf mould was under 
my feet, and brakes and ferns rustled and waved as I 
brushed past them. There, deep in the shade, a keg was 
sunk to its rim in the moist earth. ,At the bottom the 
clean sand danced as the pure crystal water bubbled 
through it, and welling over the edge, trickled off among 
the mosses till lost in the depths of the wood. I drank 
my fill, and dipping up a can full, took it back to our hot 
and thirsty party. 
Vic reasons curiously sometimes, and when we started 
back he suggested that, as I knew the lake better .than he, 
I might as well take the tiller. Now, why didn t he rea- 
son that way when we left home? Well, my view of the 
matter is that when we left home the breeze was fresh 
and the man forward bad to sit up on the gunwale ; now 
CHART OF STONY LAKE, ONTARIO, CANADA. 
the breeze was lighter, and the man forward could lie in 
the bottom of the boat with his head in somebody's lap. 
But please don't mention to Vic that I said so. 
I really envy Vic sometimes ; every one of those girls 
treated him like a favored younger brother, and as for 
me — well, I was a married man, and they knew it. 
The breeze in addition to being lighter than in the 
morning had drawn more into the west, so we worked 
toward home with a short leg toward the southern shore 
and then a long leg westward. Just east of Boschink 
three islands head the archipelago through which we had 
sailed on the outward trip, each crowned with a large 
summer coftage; now the wind led me to keep clear of 
them entirely in the more open water to the south. 
The southmost of the three islands of which I have 
spoken was called Isle Belle Chasse, and as it was at that 
time unoccupied, there we landed for tea. I thought Vic 
would be ashamed to look a bun in the face, but he 
seemed as hungry as ever, yet so large was our supply 
that, when tea was over, we seemed to have enough for 
several more meals just as hearty. 
But the best part of our day was yet to come. The 
moon was not yet full, and already touched the_ wavelets 
with spots of silver, while the setting sun was still tinting 
land and water with a rosy glow. Round the end of the 
island a crane went flying by with curving neck and long 
legs trailing far behind. Out in the lake two loons 
chuckled and laughed like maniacs. In the w-oods near 
by the persistent plaintive cry of a whip-poor-will sounded 
mournfully through the evening quiet.' The peace of it 
fell on us like balm, and the cool breath of the evening 
breeze was like a mother's touch on the fevered brow of 
a little child. 
Shall we go in? No, let us sail on and on till old 
Mother Nature has taken us to her breast and told us 
wonderful tales, and shown us wonderful sights, and 
filled our ears with her wonderful lullabies — then we will 
go home and sleep the dreamless sleep of those to whom 
she thus reveals herself. 
So we glide on and on past our island home, and out 
through the narrows into the open waters beyond, leaving 
behind us the dreaming islands and the narrow channels 
now black from side to side with their dim reflections. 
Outside the moon flooded us with mellow light, not 
the cold pale rays of winter, but warm with the yellow 
tinting of a summer haze. The breeze blew fresh and 
steady, and back and forth we raced across the lake, 
throwing off a curl of frosted silver from our bow with a 
swish and swirl very pleasant to the ear. Except under 
the moon every tree clad island gloomed dark and mys- 
terious. There a few tree tips touched with moonshine 
broke the line of black, and a lane of light cut the dark 
reflections to the shore. Over toward Juniper Island 
the red and green lights of the steamer shone out; but 
soon the red disappeared and we knew she was heading 
up for Mt. Julian in the darkness of the northern shore. 
It was hard to pick out the narrow channel in the belt 
of black to the east, but why should we trouble, here 
comes the steamer, and she will take the southern chan- 
nel and so to Breeze's, near our home. In her wake we 
may safely follow ; no danger there. Puffing and snort- 
ing, she passes us, and after her we dash till the swinging 
lights show her turning rapidly to port. But where are 
we? This seems strange to the eye. I glance under the 
sail and see not, as I expected, an open channel, but a 
black and threatening mass apparently right upon us. 
In a flash we are about on the other tack, aad then our 
whereabouts is plain. The steamer has taken a course 
south of Hoover's Island, instead of to the north, and 
there she is stopping up at Breeze's. 
Ah! well. Our pleasant sail was ended all too soon, 
and we were at our cottage door, bearing with us affec- 
tionately the remains of Emmy's pans of biscuits. 
But what had been going on at home during this event- 
ful day? The Major Domo had remained behind to keep 
the Mater company, and about 6 o'clock wandered idly 
down to the boat house. There on the dock, tinted with 
the same rosy light that shone upon our evening meal at 
Isle Belle Chasse, stood the missing lunch basket. He 
smiled a superior "just like them" kind of a smile, and 
then took the basket up to the Mater. She, poor soul, 
was straightway filled with anxious pity. 
"Oh ! the poor things. They'll surely be starved to 
death." 
"Oh!" said the Major Domo, with cheerful confidence, 
"I'm sure they arc all right. If they are starved to death 
they would have been home long ago." 
This was rather doubtful consolation, but it seemed 
to comfort the Mater. Not, however, till we arrived was 
she entirely easy, and even then the story of our adven- 
tures was often interrupted with sympathetic exclamations 
of "Well, well!" "Indeed," "You poor things," and 
"Well now, how fortunate." 
As I said at first, Vic still persists in blaming me for 
the mishap, but I now refuse to discuss the point further. 
In any case, "All's well that ends well," and I reminded 
him that, if the lunch basket had not been left behind, we 
couldn't have had Emmy's biscuits warmed up for break- 
fast the two following days, which would have been a 
distinct loss to all of, us. J. Edward Maybee. 
Toronto, Jan. 18 
Canoe Fittings, 
New York, Jan. 21. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
In the last issue of Forest and Stream are some com- 
ments by Mr. W. Baden Powell, who laments the fact 
that in England it is not the custom for dealers to carry 
canoe jewelry in stock. 
I was wondering how such a state of affairs was possi- 
ble in the country where the sailing canoe originated, and 
my wonder continued until further along in the article 
I struck his elaborate suggestion regarding lamp, com- 
pass, clock and barometer. 
Possibly, unknown to himself, Mr. Baden Powell has 
explained why it is so hard to procure ready-made fittings 
over there. 
When one of the brightest and best known of English 
canoeists prefers an acetylene lamp, with its specially pre- 
pared and almost unobtainable fuel, in preference to a ker- 
osene bicycle lamp, which can be filled at any house using 
lamps; when he gives minute directions for the manu- 
facture of a glass-fronted box in which to hang a clock 
and barometer in a canoe cockpit, instead of carrying a 
cheap watch and a pocket aneroid, how is a dealer in boat 
fittings to manage to make from his own design articles 
sufficiently cumbrous and intricate to satisfy the rank and 
file of the cruisers? v E. T. Keyser. 
[We uriderstand that Mr. Baden Powell's remarks ap- 
ply in part to the larger types of canoe-yachts and smgle 
banders, as well as to the one-man canoe.] 
A. C A. Memtjcrsliip. 
Applicatidns for membership may be made to the Pt^rser of the 
divi'sion in which the applicant resides on blanks furnished _by 
purser, the applicant becoming a member provided no objection 
be made with fourteen days after his name has been officially 
published in the Forest and Stream. 
Atlantic Division, 
Gersltem L. Wallingson, Trenton, N. t-. P- I- C. A. J 
Chas. F. Wilmot, New York, 
