Bob Hunt in Canada

by George W. Orton

"Well, tell it to me," said Bob, "and I can then tell it to the others."

"All right, all right," said Joe, "but you must not expect big story. It ees only what happened to me one long wintaire."

The boys went in for a swim and they found the water a little colder than the lake on which they had camped the previous weeks. Joe, Jean and Jack kept very busy, and it was not long before the noise of a stick beaten against a tin can made known to all that supper was ready.

"Trout will do us to-night, but to-morrow morning we must have salmon for breakfast," said Mr. Waterman. "An extra dish of prunes for the one who catches the first salmon."

This offer does not mean anything to the ordinary person in the city, but on a trip out into the woods where the grub has to be rationed out, fruit of any kind is at a premium. It was almost dark when they got through their supper and were ready for the night. It was quite a cool night in spite of the hot day they had had. The guides piled on the wood and it was very comfortable after their hard day's paddling and portaging, to sit around the fire and talk over the events of the day or whatever happened to come up. Bob soon sneaked away from the fire and went over to the smaller fire which the guides had made close to the little wood hut they had hastily thrown up. It did not take Joe long to plunge into his story, and for quite a while Bob stayed with the guides listening to Joe. When Bob returned to the main party he found them getting ready to seek their blankets. His return was greeted gladly by Bill and Pud, who remembered the story that Bob had promised to get from Joe and then relate to them.

"Well, how did you make out?" asked Bill.

"Did Joe tell you the story?" exclaimed Pud eagerly.

"Yes, he told me the story in his matter-of-fact way. To him his experience was only an ordinary occurrence that may almost be expected by any hunter in a hard winter. I think that I had better keep the story until to-morrow night, as it is getting late," said Bob, looking questioningly at Mr. Waterman.

"Go ahead, Bob," said Mr. Waterman. "We are going to stay here and fish to-morrow, so it won't make much difference if we stay up a little later than usual. I don't think that Joe has ever told us of this experience, has he?" added Mr. Waterman, turning to Mr. Anderson.

"No. Joe has told us a lot of very interesting experiences that he has had, but he never told us of the time he got so hungry that he tried to eat his moccasins," said Mr. Anderson.