o. All three were soon busy helping forward
preparations for the start. They packed their knapsacks with a few
necessaries; and after a hearty breakfast had been eaten,--their last
meal off moose-steaks for a while, as Herb informed them he "could not
carry any fresh meat along,"--the guide's voice was heard shouting:--

"Ready, are ye, boys? Got all yer traps? Here, Cyrus, jest strap this
pack-basket on my shoulders. Now we're off!"

The pack contained the tent, the camp-kettle, and frying-pan, together
with the aforementioned provisions, a good axe, etc. It was an
uncomfortable load, even for a woodsman's shoulders. But Herb strode
ahead with it jauntily. And many times during that first day's tramp of
a dozen miles, his comrades--as they trudged through rugged places after
him, spots where it was hard to keep one's perpendicular, and feet
sometimes showed a sudden inclination to start for the sky--threw
envious glances at his tall figure, "straight as an Indian arrow," his
powerful limbs, and unerring step. Even the horny, capable hands came in
for a share of the admiration.

"I guess anything that got into your grip, Herb, would find it hard to
get out again without your will," said Cyrus, studying the knotted fists
which held the straps of the pack-basket.

"Mebbe so," answered the guide frankly. "I've a sort of a trick of
holding on to things once I've got 'em. P'raps that was why I didn't let
go of Chris in that big blizzard 'till I landed him at camp. But I
hope"--here Herb's shoulders shook with heaving laughter, and the
cooking utensils in his pack jingled an accompaniment--"I hope I ain't
like a miserly fellow we had in our lumber-camp. He was awful pious
about some things, and awful mean about others. So the boys said, 'he
kept the Sabbath and everything else he could lay his hands upon.' He
used to get riled at it.

"Not that I've a word to say against keeping Sunday," went on Herb, in a
different key. "Tell you what, out here a fellow thinks a heap of his
day o' rest, when his legs can stop tramping, and his mind get a chance
to do some tall thinking. Now, boys, we've covered twelve good miles
since we left Millinokett Lake, and you needn't go any farther to-day
unless you've a mind to. We can make camp right here, near that stream.
It will be nice, cold drinking-water, for it has meandered down from
Katahdin."

He pointed to a brook a little way ahead, shimmering in the rays of the
afternoon sun, o