Excerpt from The War Eagle: A Contemporary Novel For the life here is very primitive. A dozen years ago these shores were clothed with am unbroken forest; twenty years ago the only voyagers on the lake were Indians in their frail canoes. A few are still here; they come about midsummer, erect their tepees on the shore, and go hunting in the hills. To-day, all along the lake side, there are ranches, each one Of which rep resents incalculable labour. Men have come here one by one, nearly all Of them English, unaccustomed to physical toil, but eager for adventure. They have had to cut down the forest trees, blast out the stumps, col lect mountains Of stones from the land, build their own houses, plant their orchards, establish their own forms Of social life. I am living in one of these home-built houses; it is called a shack. An English cottager would probably regard it with disdain, for it is built of rough wood, and has the appearance of a large chick en-house, except for a verandah that runs along its front. But it has a garden and lawn, and a runnel of pure mountain water flows past its door, and from its always open windows is seen a great panorama of hills and woods. I wake every morning with delight, and watch the great cone of mountain to the north flame like a torch; I sleep with that blessed sound Of running water in my ears, and the fresh breeze upon my face. What can I ask more? I am happy: happier far than I ever was in cities. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.