better; rivers and
lakes in all directions; no end of sport and all that sort of thing,
you know. Have you ever been in Canada?"

"Only traveled through."

"Well, the next time you feel inclined for high art sport we'll go
together, and have no end of fun--that is, if you're not married and
done for, which, of course, you will be. No matter. I was saying that
I was in a fine country. I spent a couple of months there with two or
three Indians, and at length started for Ottawa on my way home. The
Indians put me on the right path, after which I dismissed them, and
set out alone with my gun and fishing-rod.

"The first day was all very well, and I slept well enough the first
night; but on the morning of the second day I found the air full of
smoke. However, I did not give much thought to that, for there had
been a smoky look about the sky for a week, and the woods are always
burning there, I believe, in one place or another. I kept on, and shot
enough for food, and thus the second day passed. That evening the air
was quite suffocating, and it was as hot as an oven. I struggled
through the night, I don't know how; and then on the third day made
another start. This third day was abominable. The atmosphere was
beastly hot; the sky was a dull yellow, and the birds seemed to have
all disappeared. As I went on it grew worse, but I found it was not
because the fires were in front of me. On the contrary, they were
behind me, and were driving on so that they were gradually approaching
nearer. I could do my thirty miles a day even in that rough country,
but the fires could do more. At last I came into a track that was a
little wider than the first one. As I went on I met cattle which
appeared stupefied. Showers of dust were in the air; the atmosphere
was worse than ever, and I never had such difficulty in my life in
walking along. I had to throw away my rifle and fishing-rod, and was
just thinking of pitching my clothes after them, when suddenly I
turned a bend in the path, and met a young girl full in the face.

"By Jove! I swear I never was so astounded in my life. I hurried up to
her, and just began to ask where I was, when she interrupted me with a
question of the same kind. By-the-way, I forgot to say that she was on
horseback. The poor devil of a horse seemed to have had a deuced hard
time of it too, for he was trembling from head to foot, though whether
that arose from fatigue or fright I don't know. Perhaps it was both.