g the red-winged black birds
that flew above us calling hoarsely across the open spaces. Now and
then, a roaring veering cloud of pigeons passed in the upper air. The
breath of the river was sweet with the fragrance of pine and balsam.

We were going around a bend when we heard the voice of Bill shouting
just above us. He had run the bow of his canoe on a gravel beach just
below a little waterfall and a great trout was flopping and tumbling
about in the grass beside him.

"Yip!" he shouted as he held up the radiant, struggling fish that
reached from his chin to his belt. "I tell ye boys they're goin' to be
sassy as the devil. Jump out an' go to work here."

With what emotions I leaped out upon the gravel and watched the
fishing! A new expression came into the faces of the men. Their mouths
opened. There was a curious squint in their eyes. Their hands trembled
as they baited their hooks. The song of the river, tumbling down a rocky
slant, filled the air. I saw the first bite. How the pole bent! How the
line hissed as it went rushing through the water out among the spinning
bubbles! What a splash as the big fish in his coat of many colors broke
through the ripples and rose aloft and fell at my feet throwing a spray
all over me as he came down! That was the way they fished in those days.
They angled with a stout pole of seasoned tamarack and no reel, and
catching a fish was like breaking a colt to halter.

While he was fishing Mr. Wright slipped off the rock he stood on and
sank shoulder deep in the water. I ran and held out my hand crying
loudly. Uncle Peabody helped him ashore with his pole. Tears were
flowing down my cheeks while I stood sobbing in a kind of juvenile
hysterics.

"What's the matter?" Uncle Peabody demanded.

"I was 'fraid--Mr. Wright--was goin' to be drownded," I managed to say.

The Comptroller shook his arms and came and knelt by my side and kissed
me.

"God bless the dear boy!" he exclaimed. "It's a long time since any one
cried for me. I love you, Bart."

When Bill swore after that the Comptroller raised his hand and shook his
head and uttered a protesting hiss.

We got a dozen trout before we resumed our journey and reached camp soon
after one o'clock very hungry. It was a rude bark lean-to, and we soon
made a roaring fire in front of it. What a dinner we had! the bacon and
the fish fried in its fat and the boiled potatoes and the flapjacks and
maple sugar! All through my long life I hav