July, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
365 
or rod, — but there was not, and all was 
well. So early we began to take chances 
as is the way of every canoeist, though 
unlike the average canoeist, serious dis- 
aster failed to overtake us. 
We went into camp that night on a 
high bank upon the right at the head of 
a long jam of logs and drift, through 
which the water shot with much fret and 
noise. The water looked “bassy” but no 
fish came to our lures, though I am mor- 
ally certain that such fish are to be found 
in that locality. We went to bed fishless 
but not supperless by any means. 
Ever since striking the down tree I 
had experienced considerable trouble 
with my side; indeed, the pain was so 
severe that I thought of pleurisy and had 
had George paint me with iodine again 
and again until a splendid blister had re- 
sulted, though without alleviating the 
pain to any great extent. Lying sleepless, 
every breath I drew hurting me excru- 
ciatingly, I felt or heard a grating 
sound. Placing my hand upon my side 
I could feel the bones slip and knew that 
«I had a couple of broken ribs. Awakening 
George, I had him bind me up in a towel 
and I lay down and soon dropped a-sleep. 
For the remainder of the trip I was un- 
able to get off my back alone, or upon 
my feet without aid; but it takes more 
than a couple of broken ribs to keep an 
outdoor man from enjoying himself. 
Anyway, knowing what was the matter 
was not half so bad as expecting pleurisy. 
It was an ideal spot to camp, open to the sky and breeze 
T HE next morning we were up early 
and afloat shortly after sunrise. 
Already we were learning how to 
strike tent and pack expeditiously. With 
water. Once we slipped upon a deer 
feeding in the water and innumerable 
times great blue herons flew squawking 
in front of us ; in fact, it seemed that we 
disturbed one of those birds at almost 
every bend of the river. Along in the 
afternoon we came to another dead-water 
and old dam, around which we were com- 
pelled to carry. The pond or lake above 
the dam looked good to us, but we were 
in search of a camping spot so did not 
wet a hook. Not a great ways below the 
dam we went into camp on the east side 
of the river, climbing a high bank to 
get above the lowlands and mosquitoes. 
In the night we were treated to our first 
thunder storm, though it was not severe 
it kept us awake and we were not out 
very early the next morning. Fog hung 
low over the ground, shutting out all buf 
the nearest objects, and it seemed as 
though it might rain at any moment. 
We waited for the rain but it did not 
come. 
At ten o’clock we loaded up the canoe 
and put off. For a little ways the stream 
continued rap : d then we entered upon a 
long stretch of dead water in the teeth of 
a strong head wind, which continued until 
we reached the town of Hayward. The 
Hayward carry was a long one, a good 
half mile through the lumber yards. It 
might have been possible to have secured 
a team but we preferred to carry by 
hand. With the outfit below the dam, we 
hired a boy to guard it while we hunted 
up an ice-cream parlor. Having filled 
up on delicious cream, we secured a pound 
Puck-Way-Wong dam, where we had to carry 
maintain steerage way or when we came 
to a dead-water; we were out for pleas- 
ure and not work. However, let me say 
right here that we passed over the upper 
Nemekagon too rapidly, missing thereby 
a number of good trout streams entering 
from either side. We had been compelled 
to carry for so many low-hanging 
bridges and fences that when we came 
to the remains of an' old dam beneath a 
highway bridge, we looked it over, and 
shot the ancient spillway without mis- 
hap; had there been an up-reaching spike 
a place for everything and everything in 
its place, housekeeping out o’doors is far 
more simple than housekeeping within 
wooden walls. We made our way, with 
many a sudden twist and turn, through 
the log-jam, and ran three quite bad baby 
rapids just below, striking one rock with 
sufficient force to crack three planks. It 
made us indignant to break the canoe 
where there was little or no excuse for 
so doing. Noon found us investigating 
the possibilities of a creek that came in 
(CONTINUED ON PAGp 410 ) 
did what I could to keep it right side 
up. Just how we managed it I am un- 
able to state, but we succeeded in work- 
ing the boat under the log and through 
the wires without upsetting. It was a 
close call all right and one that might 
have cost us dear, as the stream was 
running like a mill-tail of destruction, 
and a spill would have meant the loss of 
a goodly portion of our outfit if nothing 
more serious. 
W E fared along after the near trag- 
edy in more sober mood, though 
ever we were open-eyed towards 
nature and cognizant of the good trout 
of fresh meat and returned to the boat. 
Quickly pushing off we soon left the 
sights and sounds of the mill town be- 
hind. Dinner, consisting of boiled po- 
tatoes, fresh pork chops, bread and but- 
ter, “store cookies,” and good camp cof- 
fee, was prepared upon a little sand spit 
projecting out into the river. 
As time was passing and we were anx- 
ious to get as much of the Nemekagon as 
possible behind us before sunset, we did 
not take the full two hours’ nooning 
which we had promised ourselves before 
setting out, but were on the river as soon 
as the dishes were packed. Of course, 
we did not paddle, only as we had to to 
