Untitled Article

out . However , five hands , all used to it , soon made things appear comfortable ; and at the expiration of the hour we were sitting on an ample and fragrant bed of the tender bought of the silver-fir , in front of a huge pile of blazing logs . We lit our pipes , the hunter ' s solace after fatigue , when a spare moment occurs ; and looked with much satisfaction upon the great frying-pan filled with noisy slices of pork hissing over the flames . In the mean while the tea-kettle being removed spluttering from the fire , informed us that operations might be commenced by a cup of the beverage ' which cheers but not inebriates .

'' Can t get at the sweetenin' to-night , capting / said old Paul , 'he ' s in with the small things , at bottom of the sack ; get all fixed to-morrow . ' " 'Never mind ; Paul , we will dispense with the sugar to-night . Here , Joe , put my biscuit to soak , and hang up my mocassins and socks to dry / said I , extending my feet to the warming element . f Now for the grub V " Balmy sleep , soon after the meal , overtook the inhabitants of the camp , interrupted , however , suddenly , about the middle of the night , by a most appalling crash close to the camp , which at once awoke us . It was blowing a furious gale right up the lake , and the rain rattled against the bark-covered side of our

camp . "' What was that horrid row outside , just now ? ' I asked of the half-awakened Indians . '" ' Sartin , Capting , big tree fall close to camp / And they were right : for at daylight next morning we found that the trunk of a dead pine had fallen during the night , missing our camp by a couple of yards .

"February 28 . —The prospect was dismal , and the rain still falling whenweemerged from under our shanty this morning . The old ice on the lake , which stretched away as far as we could see , till it and its lofty wooded banks were lost in the drizzling mist , was covered by nearly six inches of water . The snow had nearly disappeared from the ground round our camp , the bottom of which was saturated with water , though our boats were fortunately dry , from their having been raised

on layers of wood . A few hundred yards below the camp , the Gasporan river , swollen to twice its usual size , fell roaringinto the lake , rendering the ice broken and insecure for some distance around its mouth . ' Bad day for hunting , ' said old Paul . * I tink , however , some snow left still in the woods ; and no telling , might be moose handy . '

" ' Well , Paul , let ' s go in out of the wet , and get breakfast , and then wewill talk about what ' s to be done . ' " Joe had turned the course of the water , which had been flowing regularly through our camp , by a circular trench , and , opening an old cellar constructed on a hill-side , had collected therefrom a basket of fine potatoes and dried smelts , which latter had been taken in the lake during the past summer . This morning our stay in camp was longer than is usually the case , as little was expected to be done

during the day in the woods , and old Paul diverted us with some anecdotes of the hunting he had enjoyed at different times in this neighbourhood . The camp we were now in was his summer and fall residence , and was built on ground granted by Government to the Indians , called the Indian Reserve . A capital location this appeared to be for an Indian wigwam . The adjacent woods are full of moose , porcupines , and hares . The Big lake , a stone ' s throw from the camp , was seventeen miles in length , and connected with the Atlantic at its lower extremity by a

short arm . In the summer months it teems with salmon , freshwater and sea trout , smelts and gasperaun—which two latter fish are to be taken in great quantities in the river below the camp . Paul informed us that last fall he had shot in the neighbouring forest two moose and a carriboo , and had put up more than a dozen barrels of gasperaun and smelts , which he had disposed of advantageously at the settlement twelve miles distant . After a long arnoke , we agreed to start ; so , loading the

guns , anointing both the outside of the barrels and the finger-ends of kid gloves in which the bullets were sewn up and rammed down , plentifully with mercurial ointment , we sallied forth . Sheets of birch bark rolled up into cones were placed over the hammers , to protect them and the nipples from damp , and could be slipped off immediately in case of need . As the hunting country lay on the other side of the river , which it was impracticable to cross at this point , we-were forced