varieties of small trees that were found there. For a mile and three-
quarters, the stream along which the trail ran was too swift for
canoeing, but it then expanded into miniature lakes or ponds which
were connected by short rapids. Each of us portaged a load to the
first pond, where the canoes were to be launched, and I directed Pete
and Stanton to remain here, pluck the geese, and prepare two of them
for an evening dinner, while Richards, Easton and I brought forward a
second load and pitched camp.

This was Easton's twenty-second birthday and it occurred to me that it
would be a pleasant variation to give a birthday dinner in his honor
and to have a sort of feast to relieve the monotony of our daily life,
and give the men something to think about and revive their spirits;
for "bucking the trail" day after day with no change but the gradual
change of scenery does grow monotonous to most men, and the ardor of
the best of them, especially men unaccustomed to roughing it, will
become damped in time unless some variety, no matter how slight, can
be brought into their lives. A good dinner always has this effect,
for after men are immersed in a wilderness for several weeks, good
things to eat take the first place in their thoughts and, to judge
from their conversation, the attainment of these is their chief aim in
life.

My instructions to Pete included the baking of an extra ration of
bread to be served hot with the roast geese, and I asked Stanton to
try his hand at concocting some kind of a pudding out of the few
prunes that still remained, to be served with sugar as sauce, and
accompanied by black coffee. Our coffee supply was small and it was
used only on Sundays now, or at times when we desired an especial
treat.