of the boat the wind had ris, and
was blowin' a stiff gale. The boat had drifted across the lake and had
struck broadside agin the shore, and the waves were makin' a clean
breach into her at every surge. I soon got her, head on to the waves,
and feelin' something mighty lively at the other eend of the line,
hauled in a twelve-pounder."

"Pshaw!" exclaimed one of the audience; "you've only been telling a
dream, in this long yarn, we've been listening to."

"Wal," replied the narrator; "some people that I've told it to, have
suspicioned that it might be so; but every thing about it seemed so
nateral, that I'm almost ready to make my affidavy that it was sober
fact. One thing, however, I always had my doubts about: I never fully
believed, that _I was actually pitched over that island_. I've hearn
it said that when a man has eaten a hearty dinner, and goes to sleep
with the hot sun pourin' right down on him, he's apt to see and hear a
good many strange things before he wakes up. May be it was so
with me."

CHAPTER VI.

THE UPPER SARANAC--SPECTACLE PONDS--THE ACCUSATION AND THE DEFENCE--AN
OCTOGENARIAN SMOKER.

We spent the next day in rowing about the Upper Saranac, exploring its
beautiful bays and islands. We took as many trout in trolling
occasionally, as we needed for dinner and supper. It became an
established law among us, that we should kill no more game or fish
than we needed for supplies, whatever their abundance or our
temptation might be. It required some self-denial to observe this law,
but we kept it with tolerable strictness. There were times when we had
a large supply of both venison and fish, but there were seven men of
us in all, and we could despose of a good deal of flesh and fish in
the twenty-four hours. We had sent our boat with the luggage across
the Indian carrying place, a path of a mile through the forest, to the
Spectacle Ponds, three little lakes, from which a stream, known as
Stony Brook, rises. This stream is navigable for small boats like
ours, five miles to the Rackett River. These lakes contain from a
hundred to a hundred and fifty acres each. At the head of the Upper
Pond is a beautiful cold spring, near which, upon crossing the
carrying place, at evening, we found our tents pitched. We arrived
here about sundown, somewhat wearied with our day's excursion, and
with appetites fully equal to a plentiful supper which was soon in
readiness for us.

"You are getting me into a ba