he shelter, if there seems the slightest possible chance
of rain before morning--well, every one who has been there knows how the
opportunities for doing something open up to a willing campmate, so
there is hardly any use in enumerating them here.

When darkness finally fell upon them all these things had been taken
care of, and they were in fine fettle for the stay, whether it be of
long or short duration, even to a pile of firewood close at hand.

Supper was next in order, but that was a pleasure in which all insisted
in taking a share in preparing as well as demolishing; and it was
wonderful how speedily things were managed with so many cooks eager to
assist the chef.

During their afternoon trip upstream they had trolled with a couple of
lines back of the boat, and fortune had smiled upon them sufficiently to
provide them with fish for the evening meal, which Owen cooked in the
manner most favored in this region, where trout may be looked on as a
common, everyday article of food, and not in the line of luxury.

Of course, there is no necessity to tell how perfectly delicious that
dinner turned out to be, for every one knows that fish are at their best
when eaten in the very spot they are taken from their native element;
and that being placed on the ice for hours or days takes their delicate
flavor away, and renders the flesh soft and crumbly and next to
tasteless.

And Owen confessed that the cup of Ceylon tea which he drank was the
first he had tasted for a year; and he also gave his companions to
understand that he had been brought up by a Scotch mother to look upon
tea as nectar fit for the gods.

After the feast they lay back and took life easy, all of them being
actually too surfeited to think of such a thing as cleaning up the pots
and pans for the time being, that little task being left until later,
when they would possess more energy and ambition.

Eli apparently had something on his mind, and as he filled his pipe,
preparatory to enjoying his customary after-dinner smoke, he opened the
subject by remarking:

"I say, boys, did either of you notice that line of smoke down the
river, just at the time we were heading for the shore? I was going to
call your attention to it, but something that was said about the spot
for this camp drew my attention, and I clean forgot it till now."

"I didn't notice anything--in fact, I was so much taken up with looking
for a jolly place to bunk tonight that I reckon I