Little Rivers [18]
a good angler and a cheerful companion, had sent word
he would lodge there tonight, and bring a friend with him. My
hostess has two beds, and I know you and I have the best; we'll
rejoice with my brother Peter and his friend, tell tales, or sing
ballads, or make a catch, or find some harmless sport to content
us, and pass away a little time without offence to God or man."
Ampersand waited immovable while I passed many days in such
innocent and healthful pleasures as these, until the right day came
for the ascent. Cool, clean, and bright, the crystal morning
promised a glorious noon, and the mountain almost seemed to beckon
us to come up higher. The photographic camera and a trustworthy
lunch were stowed away in the pack-basket. The backboard was
adjusted at a comfortable angle in the stern seat of our little
boat. The guide held the little craft steady while I stepped into
my place; then he pushed out into the stream, and we went swiftly
down toward Round Lake.
A Saranac boat is one of the finest things that the skill of man
has ever produced under the inspiration of the wilderness. It is a
frail shell, so light that a guide can carry it on his shoulders
with ease, but so dexterously fashioned that it rides the heaviest
waves like a duck, and slips through the water as if by magic. You
can travel in it along the shallowest rivers and across the
broadest lakes, and make forty or fifty miles a day, if you have a
good guide.
Everything depends, in the Adirondacks, as in so many other regions
of life, upon your guide. If he is selfish, or surly, or stupid,
you will have a bad time. But if he is an Adirondacker of the best
old-fashioned type,--now unhappily growing more rare from year to
year,--you will find him an inimitable companion, honest, faithful,
skilful and cheerful. He is as independent as a prince, and the
gilded youths and finicking fine ladies who attempt to patronise
him are apt to make but a sorry show before his solid and
undisguised contempt. But deal with him man to man, and he will
give you a friendly, loyal service which money cannot buy, and
teach you secrets of woodcraft and lessons in plain, self-reliant
manhood more valuable than all the learning of the schools. Such a
guide was mine, rejoicing in the Scriptural name of Hosea, but
commonly called, in brevity and friendliness, "Hose."
As we entered Round Lake on this fair morning, its surface was as
smooth and shining as a mirror. It was too early yet for the tide
of travel which sends a score of boats up and down this
thoroughfare every day; and from shore to shore the water was
unruffled, except by a flock of sheldrakes which had been feeding
near Plymouth Rock, and now went skittering off into Weller Bay
with a motion between flying and swimming, leaving a long wake of
foam behind them.
At such a time as this you can see the real colour of these
Adirondack lakes. It is not blue, as romantic writers so often
describe it, nor green, like some of those wonderful Swiss lakes;
although of course it reflects the colour of the trees along the
shore; and when the wind stirs it, it gives back the hue of the
sky, blue when it is clear, gray when the clouds are gathering, and
sometimes as black as ink under the shadow of storm. But when it
is still, the water itself is like that river which one of the
poets has described as
"Flowing with a smooth brown current."
And in this sheet of burnished bronze the mountains and islands
were reflected perfectly, and the sun shone back from it, not in
broken gleams or a wide lane of light, but like a single ball of
fire, moving before us as we moved.
But stop! What is that dark speck on the water, away down toward
Turtle Point? It has just the shape and size of a deer's head. It
seems to move steadily out into the lake. There is a little
ripple, like a wake, behind it. Hose turns
he would lodge there tonight, and bring a friend with him. My
hostess has two beds, and I know you and I have the best; we'll
rejoice with my brother Peter and his friend, tell tales, or sing
ballads, or make a catch, or find some harmless sport to content
us, and pass away a little time without offence to God or man."
Ampersand waited immovable while I passed many days in such
innocent and healthful pleasures as these, until the right day came
for the ascent. Cool, clean, and bright, the crystal morning
promised a glorious noon, and the mountain almost seemed to beckon
us to come up higher. The photographic camera and a trustworthy
lunch were stowed away in the pack-basket. The backboard was
adjusted at a comfortable angle in the stern seat of our little
boat. The guide held the little craft steady while I stepped into
my place; then he pushed out into the stream, and we went swiftly
down toward Round Lake.
A Saranac boat is one of the finest things that the skill of man
has ever produced under the inspiration of the wilderness. It is a
frail shell, so light that a guide can carry it on his shoulders
with ease, but so dexterously fashioned that it rides the heaviest
waves like a duck, and slips through the water as if by magic. You
can travel in it along the shallowest rivers and across the
broadest lakes, and make forty or fifty miles a day, if you have a
good guide.
Everything depends, in the Adirondacks, as in so many other regions
of life, upon your guide. If he is selfish, or surly, or stupid,
you will have a bad time. But if he is an Adirondacker of the best
old-fashioned type,--now unhappily growing more rare from year to
year,--you will find him an inimitable companion, honest, faithful,
skilful and cheerful. He is as independent as a prince, and the
gilded youths and finicking fine ladies who attempt to patronise
him are apt to make but a sorry show before his solid and
undisguised contempt. But deal with him man to man, and he will
give you a friendly, loyal service which money cannot buy, and
teach you secrets of woodcraft and lessons in plain, self-reliant
manhood more valuable than all the learning of the schools. Such a
guide was mine, rejoicing in the Scriptural name of Hosea, but
commonly called, in brevity and friendliness, "Hose."
As we entered Round Lake on this fair morning, its surface was as
smooth and shining as a mirror. It was too early yet for the tide
of travel which sends a score of boats up and down this
thoroughfare every day; and from shore to shore the water was
unruffled, except by a flock of sheldrakes which had been feeding
near Plymouth Rock, and now went skittering off into Weller Bay
with a motion between flying and swimming, leaving a long wake of
foam behind them.
At such a time as this you can see the real colour of these
Adirondack lakes. It is not blue, as romantic writers so often
describe it, nor green, like some of those wonderful Swiss lakes;
although of course it reflects the colour of the trees along the
shore; and when the wind stirs it, it gives back the hue of the
sky, blue when it is clear, gray when the clouds are gathering, and
sometimes as black as ink under the shadow of storm. But when it
is still, the water itself is like that river which one of the
poets has described as
"Flowing with a smooth brown current."
And in this sheet of burnished bronze the mountains and islands
were reflected perfectly, and the sun shone back from it, not in
broken gleams or a wide lane of light, but like a single ball of
fire, moving before us as we moved.
But stop! What is that dark speck on the water, away down toward
Turtle Point? It has just the shape and size of a deer's head. It
seems to move steadily out into the lake. There is a little
ripple, like a wake, behind it. Hose turns