s well satisfied with
its performance, as were its more successful rivals.

After deliberating some time over a pocket compass which I carried, we
decided upon our course, and held on to the west. The descent was very
gradual. Traces of bear and deer were noted at different points, but
not a live animal was seen.

About four o'clock we reached the bank of a stream flowing west. Hail
to the Beaverkill! and we pushed on along its banks. The trout were
plenty, and rose quickly to the hook; but we held on our way, designing
to go into camp about six o'clock. Many inviting places, first on one
bank, then on the other, made us linger, till finally we reached a
smooth, dry place overshadowed by balsam and hemlock, where the creek
bent around a little flat, which was so entirely to our fancy that we
unslung our knapsacks at once. While my companions were cutting wood
and making other preparations for the night, it fell to my lot, as the
most successful angler, to provide the trout for supper and breakfast.
How shall I describe that wild, beautiful stream, with features so like
those of all other mountain streams? And yet, as I saw it in the deep
twilight of those woods on that June afternoon, with its steady, even
flow, and its tranquil, many-voiced murmur, it made an impression upon
my mind distinct and peculiar, fraught in an eminent degree with the
charm of seclusion and remoteness. The solitude was perfect, and I felt
that strangeness and insignificance which the civilized man must always
feel when opposing himself to such a vast scene of silence and
wildness. The trout were quite black, like all wood trout, and took the
bait eagerly. I followed the stream till the deepening shadows warned
me to turn back. As I neared camp, the fire shone far through the
trees, dispelling the gathering gloom, but blinding my eyes to all
obstacles at my feet. I was seriously disturbed on arriving to find
that one of my companions had cut an ugly gash in his shin with the axe
while felling a tree. As we did not carry a fifth wheel, it was not
just the time or place to have any of our members crippled, and I had
bodings of evil. But, thanks to the healing virtues of the balsam which
must have adhered to the blade of the axe, and double thanks to the
court-plaster with which Orville had supplied himself before leaving
home, the wounded leg, by being favored that night and the next day,
gave us little trouble.

That night we had our first fai