." And furthermore: "Let not to get a
living be thy trade, but thy sport. Enjoy the land, but own it not.
Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and
selling, and spending their lives like serfs."

III

OO-KOO-HOO'S EL DORADO

OUR WINTER CAMP

Bear Lake was beautiful. Its shores were fringed here and there with
marshy reeds or sandy beaches; and its rivulets, flowing in and out,
connected it with other meres in other regions. At dawn moose and
caribou came thither to drink; bears roamed its surrounding slopes;
lynxes, foxes, fishers, martens, ermines, and minks lived in its
bordering woods. Otters, muskrats, and beavers swam its inrushing
creeks; wolverines prowled its rocky glens, and nightly concerts of
howling wolves echoed along its shores. The eagles and the hawks built
their nests in its towering trees, while the cranes fished and the
ruffed grouse drummed. Nightly, too, the owls and the loons hooted and
laughed at the quacking ducks and the honking geese as they flew
swiftly by in the light of the moon. Salmon-trout, whitefish, pike,
and pickerel rippled its placid waters, and brook-trout leaped above
the shimmering pools of its crystal streams. It was Oo-koo-hoo's
happiest hunting ground, and truly it was a hunter's paradise . . . a
poet's heaven . . . an artist's home.

"What fools we mortals be!"--when we live in the city!

The site chosen for the lodges was on one of two points jutting into
the lake, separated by the waters of Muskrat Greek. On its northwest
side ran a heavily timbered ridge that broke the force of the winter
winds from the west and the north, and thus protected Oo-koo-hoo's
camp, which stood on the southeast side of the little stream. Such a
site in such a region afforded wood, water, fruit, fish, fowl, and
game; and, moreover, an enchanting view of the surrounding country.
Furthermore, that section of The Owl's game-lands had not been hunted
for forty-two moons.

Immediately after dinner the men began cutting lodge poles, while the
women cleared the tepee sites and levelled the ground. On asking
Oo-koo-hoo how many poles would be required for the canvas lodge which
he had kindly offered me the use of for the coming winter, he replied:

"My son, cut a pole for every moon, and cut them thirteen feet in
length, and the base of the tepee, too, should be thirteen feet
across." Then looking at me with his small, shrewd, but pleasant eyes,