"
"Well, that's a beauty of a birch, anyway."
They got ashore, and fastened the painter to a sapling on the bank,
because it was not long enough to go round a pile. Then they produced
their knives, and, proceeding to the place where the young birches grew,
cut down two famous rods, to which they attached lines with white and
green floats and small hooks with gut attachments. The lobster can was
produced, and wriggling worms fixed on the hooks. "A worm at one end and
a fool at the other," said the lawyer. "Speak for yourself, sir,"
replied the dominie. The next thing was to get into the canoe, which was
safely effected. Then, the question arose, how was she to be moored in
the current? Wilkinson suggested a stake driven into the bottom for the
deep-sea mooring, and an attachment to the exposed root of the lovely
overhanging birch for that to landward. So Coristine sprang ashore, cut
a heavier birch, and trimmed one end to a point. Bringing this on board,
he handed it to his companion, and, paddling up stream, brought him
opposite the overarching tree. The dominie drove the stake deep into the
river mud and pressed it down.
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