Around the Campfire

Around the Camp-fire

It was toward the end of July, and Fredericton, the little New Brunswick capital, had grown hot beyond endurance, when six devoted canoeistsStranion, Magnus, Queerman, Sam, Ranolf, and myselfheard simultaneously the voices of wild rapids calling to them from afar. The desire of the woods awoke in us. The vagrant blood that lurks in the veins of our race sprang up and refused to be still. The very next day we fled from the city and starched collars, seeking freedom and the cool of the wilderness. It was toward Lake Temiscouata and the wilds of the Squatooks that we set our eager faces. In shirt-sleeves and moccasins we went. For convenience we had our clothes stitched full of pockets. Our three good birch canoes and our other impedimenta we put on board a flat-car at the station. And that same evening found us at the village of 2 Edmundston, where the Madawaska flows into the St. John at a point about one hundred and fifty miles above Fredericton. Unless you are an experienced canoeman, skilled not only with the paddle but with the pole, and expert to run the roughest rapids, you should take a guide with you on the Squatook trip. You should go in the bow of your canoe, with a trusty Indian in the stern; one Indian and one canoe for each man of the party. The art of poling a birch-bark against a stiff current is no easy one to acquire, and needs both aptitude and practice. Your Indian will teach you in the gentler waters; and the rest of the time you may lounge at your ease, casting a fly from side to side, and ever climbing on between the changing shores. But as for us, we needed no Indians. We were all six masters of canoe-craft. Each took his turn at the white spruce pole; and we conquered the currents rejoicing. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 48986
Author: Roberts, Charles G. D.
Release Date: May 17, 2015
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Copeland, Charles, 1858-1929