casionally by rabbits, two or three
porcupines and a lynx that Dick shot one day near the tilt. This lynx
meat they roasted by an open fire outside the tilt, and considered it
a great treat. It may be said that the roasted lynx resembles in
flavour and texture prime veal, and it is indeed, when properly
cooked, delicious; and the hunter knows how to cook it properly.
Trout, too, which they caught through the ice, were plentiful. They
had brought with them when coming to the trails in the autumn, tackle
for the purpose of securing fish at this time. The lines were very
stout, thick ones, and the hooks were large. A good-sized piece of
lead, melted and moulded around the stem of the hook near the eye,
weighted it heavily, and it was baited with a piece of fat pork and a
small piece of red cloth or yarn, tied below the lead. The rod was a
stout stick three feet in length and an inch thick.

With this equipment the hook was dropped into the hole and moved up
and down slowly, until a fish took hold, when it was immediately
pulled out. The trout were very sluggish at this season of the year
and made no fight, and were therefore readily landed. The most of them
weighed from two to five pounds each, and indeed any smaller than that
were spurned and thrown back into the hole "t' grow up," as Ed put it.

One evening a rain set in and for four days and nights it never
ceased. It poured down as if the gates of the eternal reservoirs of
heaven had been opened and the flood let loose to drown the world. The
snow became a sea of slush and miniature rivers ran down to join
forces with the larger stream.

At first the waters overflowed the ice, but at last it gave way to the
irresistible force that assailed it, and giving way began to move upon
the current in great unwieldly masses.

The river rose to its brim and burst its banks. Trees were uprooted,
and mingling with the ice surged down towards the sea upon the crest
of the unleashed, untamed torrent. The break-up that the men were
awaiting had come.

"'Tis sure a fearsome sight," remarked Bill one day when the storm was
at its height, as he returned from "a look outside" to join Dick and
Ed, who sat smoking their pipes in silence in the tilt.

"An' how'd un like t' be ridin' one o' them cakes o' ice out there,
an' no way o' reachin' shore?" asked Ed.

"I wouldn't be ridin' un from choice, an' if I were ridin' un I'm
thinkin' 'twould be my last ride," answered Bill.

"Once I