t to the furthest corner of the shanty. For "night-wood,"
we cut a dozen birch and ash poles from four to six inches across,
trimmed them to the tips and dragged them to camp. Then we denuded a
dry hemlock of its bark; and, by the aid of ten foot poles, flattened
at one end, packed the bark to camp. We had a bright, cheery fire from
the early evening until morning, and four tired hunters never slept
more soundly.

We stayed in that camp a week; and, though the weather was rough and
cold, the little pocket-axes kept us well in firewood. We selected
butternut for backlogs, because, when green, it burns very slowly and
lasts a long time. And we dragged our smaller wood to camp in lengths
of twenty to thirty feet, because it was easier to lay them on the fire
and burn them in two than to cut them shorter with light hatchets. With
a heavy axe, we should have cut them to lengths of five or six feet.

Our luck, I may mention, was good--as good as we desired. Not that
four smallish deer are anything to brag about for a week's hunt by four
men and two dogs. I have known a pot-hunter to kill nine in a single
day. But we had enough.

As it was, we were obliged to "double trip it" in order to get our
deer and duffle down to "Babb's." And we gave away more than half our
venison. For the rest, the illustration shows the campfire--all but the
fire--as it should be made.

CHAPTER V
Fishing, With And Without Flies--Some Tackle And Lures--Discursive
Remarks On The Gentle Art--The Headlight--Frogging

THERE is probably no subject connected with outdoor sport so
thoroughly and exhaustively written up as Fly-fishing and all that
pertains thereto. Fly-fishing for speckled trout always, and
deservedly, takes the lead. Bass fishing usually comes next, though
some writers accord second place to the lake trout, salmon trout or
land-locked salmon. The mascalonge, as a game fish, is scarcely behind
the small-mouthed bass and is certainly more gamy than the lake trout.
The large-mouthed bass and pickerel are usually ranked about with the
yellow perch, I don't know why: they are certainly gamy enough. Perhaps
it is because they do not leap out of water when hooked. Both are good
on the table.

A dozen able and interesting authors have written books wherein trout,
flies and fly-fishing are treated in a manner that leaves an old
backwoodsman little to say. Rods, reels, casting lines, flies and fish
are described and descanted on in a way and