268 
THE MAINE WOODS. 
of our companion, expecting to find him within a mile or 
two, farther down the stream. The Indian wanted his 
breakfast first, but I reminded him that my companion 
had had neither breakfast nor supper. We w r ere obliged 
first to carry our canoe and baggage over into another 
stream, the main East Branch, about three fourths of a 
mile distant, for Webster Stream was no farther navi¬ 
gable. We went twice over this carry, and the dewy 
bushes wet us through like water up to the middle; I 
hallooed in a high key from time to time, though I had 
little expectation that I could be heard over the roar of 
the rapids, and moreover we were necessarily on the 
opposite side of the stream to him. In going over this 
portage the last time, the Indian, who was before me 
with the canoe on his head, stumbled and fell heavily 
once, and lay for a moment silent, as if in pain. I hastily 
stepped forward to help him, asking if he was much hurt, 
but after a moment’s pause, without replying, he sprang 
up and went forward. He was all the way subject to 
taciturn fits, but they were harmless ones. 
We had launched our canoe and gone but little way 
down the East Branch, when I heard an answering shout 
from my companion, and soon after saw him standing on 
a point where there w^as a clearing a quarter of a mile 
below, and the smoke of his fire was rising near by. 
Before I saw him I naturally shouted again and again, 
but the Indian curtly remarked, “ He hears you,” as if 
once w r as enough. It was just below the mouth of 
Webster Stream. When we arrived, he was smoking his 
pipe, and said that he had passed a pretty comfortable 
night, though it was rather cold, on account of the dew. 
It appeared that when we stood together the previous 
evening, and I was shouting to the Indian across the 
