d some in
pails across to a small lake near at hand. They have done well, and
curiously enough have grown to a weight of from one and a half to two
pounds. This would seem to show that their small size in Volcano Creek
results entirely from conditions of feed or opportunity for
development, and that a study of proper environment might result in a
game fish to rival the Rainbow in size and certainly to surpass him in
curious interest.

A great many well-meaning people who have marveled at the abundance of
the Golden Trout in their natural habitat laugh at the idea that
Volcano Creek will ever become "fished out." To such it should be
pointed out that the fish in question is a voracious feeder, is without
shelter, and quickly landed. A simple calculation will show how many
fish a hundred moderate anglers, camping a week apiece, would take out
in a season. And in a short time there will be many more than a
hundred, few of them moderate, coming up into the mountains to camp
just as long as they have a good time. All it needs is better trails,
and better trails are under way. Well-meaning people used to laugh at
the idea that the buffalo and wild pigeons would ever disappear. They
are gone.

XXI

ON GOING OUT

The last few days of your stay in the wilderness you will be consumedly
anxious to get out. It does not matter how much of a savage you are,
how good a time you are having, or how long you have been away from
civilization. Nor does it mean especially that you are glad to leave
the wilds. Merely does it come about that you drift unconcernedly on
the stream of days until you approach the brink of departure: then
irresistibly the current hurries you into haste. The last day of your
week's vacation; the last three of your month's or your summer's or
your year's outing,--these comprise the hours in which by a mighty but
invisible transformation your mind forsakes its savagery, epitomizes
again the courses of social evolution, regains the poise and
cultivation of the world of men. Before that you have been content;
yes, and would have gone on being content for as long as you please
until the approach of the limit you have set for your wandering.

In effect this transformation from the state of savagery to the state
of civilization is very abrupt. When you leave the towns your clothes
and mind are new. Only gradually do they take on the color of their
environment; only gradually do the subtle influences o