Notwithstanding the lateness of the season, a few musquitoes began to sing about our ears as soon as the sun came up. Fishel, who was full of droll good nature, observed them.
"Well, look here," he said, as he broke the ice in the water pail and dipped out a basinful to wash in, "I'll be doggoned if here aint a lot of these measley musquitoes buzzing around here with buffalo overcoats on."
The keen mountain air at this low temperature, and the grand scenery with which we were surrounded, combined to sharpen our appetites, and our breakfast beside a rousing camp-fire was enjoyed as only a meal can be enjoyed amid such surroundings. As soon as the sun had risen high enough to banish the frost and warm the air slightly, the grass all about us was set in motion by thousands of grasshoppers who gamboled playfully, in order, apparently, to warm up their benumbed limbs and get an appetite for breakfast. All hands then turned out and harvested a goodly supply of them, for we had been advised that the trout in that stream would not take a fly so late in the season.
Then we proceeded to business; the captain and Dick fishing up the stream and I down, while Sam took his rifle and went across the hills in search of game. The stream, where we started in, was not more than three to four feet wide and two feet deep in the deepest holes, yet at the first cast I hooked a trout that after a few vigorous plunges took the barb off my hook and departed. I put on a new one and had better luck next time, for in another hole a few rods farther down I took one that weighed a pound and a half.
In the meantime the captain shouted to me, and looking up the stream I saw him displaying one of about the same size. We each followed our courses, and did not meet again for some hours, when the captain came down to see how I was getting on. He had eight and I had six, the average weight of which was over a pound each. He relieved me of my load and returned to camp, and from that time on did but little fishing himself, preferring, in the fullness of his generous nature, to devote the most of his time to accompanying me, showing me the most favorable points, exulting in my success, and in every way possible promoting my comfort. Whenever he left me for a short time he would send one of his men to take my fish to camp, dress them, and do anything and everything else possible for me.