rough stone chimney crackled and snapped, and up the flue roared the blaze. Outside all was still save when the breeze stirred the giant pines causing them to give out a mighty whisper like the murmur of the sea.

It was a cozy interior over which the firelight flashed.

The log cabin had been sheathed to keep it warm and tight, and to conceal its barrenness on the   walls had been tacked a few gaily colored prints. On one side of the room were several well-filled bookshelves, while on the opposite wall were racks for pipes and guns. From over the fireplace an elk's head peered forth, catching the scarlet glow from the fire on its mammoth antlers. Two small bedrooms which led out of this living-room completed the cabin. Outside stood four others built exactly like this one, and in addition a dining-cabin, cook-house, and two cabins for the guides.

Aside from this tiny settlement on the lake's edge there was not a house for twenty miles. It was a wilderness indeed!

"Are there any other people staying here at the camp beside ourselves?" inquired Theo at last.

Dr. Swift, who had seated himself before the fire, nodded.

"Yes, there is a Mr. Croyden, from Trenton, New Jersey, whom I have met here before—a splendid man, whom you will like. He is a great fisherman—comes back every season just about this time. At present there is no one else, so you will not find the woods overcrowded." 

Theo laughed at the bare suggestion, then yawned drowsily.

"Nor will you be troubled by not sleeping to-night, eh, son? You look about ready to hit the pillow this minute."

"I am," replied Theo. "I never was so sleepy in my life."

"That is the Maine air."

"Some of it is the effect of the corduroy road," the boy observed with a grin.

"It is a beastly road, that carry," agreed Dr. Swift. "It shakes every bone in your body. When you do manage to get here, however, it certainly is worth the trip. Do you feel as if you could worry down a little dinner?"

"Well, rather!"

The Doctor chuckled.

"So do I. It ought to be ready soon now, for it is nearly six."

Just at this moment the sound of a horn was heard.

Dr. Swift rose promptly.

"That is dinner," he said. 

"I expected a bell," Theo answered, springing up.

"Waiting for a Japanese gong, are you? Well, you won't hear it here."

Clapping a hand affectionately on his son's shoulder the elder man led the way to the dining-cabin and pushed open the door.

Upon the hearth inside another bright fire glowed, and before it stood a long roughly made table covered with immaculate enamel cloth, on which was spread a smoking meal.

A man with a pair of merry brown eyes rose from his chair as the two travelers entered.

"I am glad to see you, Dr. Swift," he exclaimed heartily, putting out his hand. "So you are back to the fishing grounds once more!"

"I certainly am, Mr. Croyden, and thankful enough to be here. I've brought my boy, Theodore, with me this time; Theo, we call him."

Mr. Croyden took the lad's hand cordially.

"I'm glad to see you, youngster," he said. "If you prove half as good a fisherman as your father   the two of you won't leave a trout or salmon in these waters."

"But I'm not a fisherman at all," Theo confessed. "I never cast a fly in my life."

"You certainly have come to the right place to learn, then. Your father has been neglecting your education, I fear. I see there is something we can teach you."

"I'm afraid there are a good many things," replied Theo modestly.

Mr. Croyden regarded him approvingly.

"That's right, boy," he said kindly. "Never be afraid to learn. We all are still learning, at least I am; and I will wager your father is, too."

"A doctor is always learning," assented Theo's father.

"And a business man as well," put in Mr. Croyden. "When we no longer need to learn we can be pretty sure we are near the end of our usefulness in this world. Now suppose we begin your education, Theo, by teaching you the proper way to eat a brook trout. How would that lesson please you?" 

There was a twinkle in the stranger's eye.

"Very much indeed."

"I rather thought so," was the laughing answer. "Here, Franz, help Dr. Swift and his son to some of the fish I caught to-day. They are the first of the season, Doctor, with my compliments." He made a courtly gesture with his hand. "Remember, Theo," he added, "always to open a fish up the back. In that way you can take the backbone out whole and save yourself a deal of trouble."

Theo nodded his thanks for the suggestion.

What a dinner it was!

The trout were fried to a rich bronze, and the crisp potatoes were discs of golden brown; in addition there were baked beans, smoking brown-bread, slices of creamy cheese, and a pyramid of doughnuts. At the conclusion of the meal Franz came running from the cook-house with a covered dish heaped high with pancakes.

It was only when the three campers were unable to crowd down another mouthful that they rose from the table. 

"Don't you and Theo want to come into my cabin and enjoy my fire for a while?" asked Mr. Croyden.

"Why, thank you, Croyden," answered Dr. Swift; "we might make you a short call. We are off to bed early, however, so we must not stay long."

Mr. Croyden's cabin proved to be a replica of the Swifts' own cozy one, except that it was more sumptuously furnished; for Mr. Croyden, who was a hunter as well as a fisherman, had adorned both couch and floors with great bearskins, trophies of his luck.

As his guests entered he hurried forward to put another four-foot log on the fire, after which he dragged out three steamer-chairs and placed them before the blaze.

"All the comforts of home, you see," he said gaily.

"More comforts than some of us get at home," smiled Dr. Swift. "There is nothing to equal this in New York."

For a moment none of them spoke; they were watching the scarlet rise and fall of the flame. 

"What a lot of company a fire is!" mused Dr. Swift.

"I know it," came from Mr. Croyden. "And did you ever think how easily we can produce it? Within the space of a second we can start a blaze. A fire was quite another problem for our forefathers who lived long before matches were invented. Think back to the time when people rubbed dried sticks together to make a spark; or later when they were forced to use flint and matchlock. It meant no end of work to capture that first light, and even then it frequently went out. How housewives struggled to keep the embers on the hearth always glowing that a new fire might be built without so much trouble; and how men carried from place to place coals enough to kindle other fires! When we strike a match and so quickly get our response of flame we do not half appreciate how fortunate we are."

"I never thought what it would mean to have no matches," reflected Theo.

"Man's discovery of the use of fire was one of the first steps in his civilization," Dr. Swift put   in. "It meant that henceforth instead of eating raw food as did the other animals he could have it cooked. For man, you must remember, is the only animal who cooks his food."

"And hand in hand with the cooking came the need of dishes in which to prepare it," rejoined Mr. Croyden. "Meats could, of course, be broiled over the fire on a forked stick; but no stews or soups could be had until man invented some utensil which would contain liquid and at the same time withstand the heat of the blaze. That problem was the one that confronted all primitive races, and set them to fashioning pottery. The history of their first attempts is most interesting. Probably chance led people to the discovery that they could mix clay with water, and that it would harden in the sun. They may have seen a print of their