CHESUNCOOK. 
133 
unusual in the night — for I still kept taking notes, like 
a spy in the camp — was the creaking of the thin split 
boards, when any of our neighbors stirred. 
Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They 
spoke of the practicability of a winter-road to the Moose- 
head carry, which would not cost much, and would con¬ 
nect them with steam and staging and all the busy world. 
I almost doubted if the lake would be there, — the self¬ 
same lake, — preserve its form and identity, when the 
shores should be cleared and settled; as if these lakes 
and streams which explorers report never awaited the 
advent of the citizen. 
The sight of one of these frontier-houses, built of these 
great logs, whose inhabitants have unflinchingly main¬ 
tained their ground many summers and winters in the 
wilderness, reminds me of famous forts, like Ticonderoga 
or Crown Point, which have sustained memorable sieges. 
They are especially winter-quarters, and at this season 
this one had a partially deserted, look, as if the siege were 
raised a little, the snow-banks being melted from before 
it, and its garrison accordingly reduced. I think of their 
daily food as rations, — it is called “ supplies ”; a Bible 
and a great-coat are munitions of war, and a single man 
seen about the premises is a sentinel on duty. You 
expect that he will require the countersign, and will per¬ 
chance take you for Ethan Allen, come to demand the 
surrender of his fort in the name of the Continental Con¬ 
gress. It is a sort of ranger service. Arnold’s expedi¬ 
tion is a daily experience with these settlers. They can 
prove that they were out at almost any time; and I think 
that all the first generation of them deserve a pension 
more than any that went to the Mexican war. 
Early the next morning we started on our return up 
