We made camp at a bend in the creek where there was a large surface of
mossy rock uncovered by the shrunken stream,--a clean, free space left
for us in the wilderness that was faultless as a kitchen and dining-
room, and a marvel of beauty as a lounging-room, or an open court, or
what you will. An obsolete wood or bark road conducted us to it, and
disappeared up the hill in the woods beyond. A loose boulder lay in the
middle, and on the edge next the stream were three or four large
natural wash-basins scooped out of the rock, and ever filled ready for
use. Our lair we carved out of the thick brush under a large birch on
the bank. Here we planted our flag of smoke and feathered our nest with
balsam and hemlock boughs and ferns, and laughed at your four walls and
pillows of down.

Wherever one encamps in the woods, there is home, and every object and
feature about the place take on a new interest and assume a near and
friendly relation to one.
We were at the head of the best fishing. There was an old bark-clearing
not far off which afforded us a daily dessert of most delicious
blackberries,--an important item in the woods,--and then all the
features of the place--a sort of cave above ground--were of the right
kind.

There was not a mosquito, or gnat, or other pest in the woods, the cool
nights having already cut them off. The trout were sufficiently
abundant, and afforded us a few hours' sport daily to supply our wants.
The only drawback was, that they were out of season, and only palatable
to a woodman's keen appetite. What is this about trout spawning in
October and November, and in some cases not till March? These trout had
all spawned in August, every one of them. The coldness and purity of
the water evidently made them that much earlier. The game laws of the