But that was all.
His days were passed afoot in the forested hills, along lonely little lakes, following dashing trout-brooks or studying the United States Geological Survey maps which were not always accurate in minor details of contour, and sometimes made a mockery of the lesser water-courses, involving him and his surveyors in endless complications.
Sometimes, toward evening, if the weather was mild, he and Portlaw took their rods for a cast on Painted Creek--a noble trout stream which took its name from the dropping autumn glory of the sugar-bush where the water passed close to the house.

There lithe, wild trout struck tigerishly at the flies and fought like demons, boring Portlaw intensely, who preferred to haul in a prospective dinner without waste of energy, and be about the matter of a new sauce with his cook..