Big Salmon Lake hooked on a feelin'

The further Mac went in the region, the more desolate things seemed. The cheery Winters wasn't perturbed yet, though. Perhaps he should've been, given his track record with hunting his entire life, but the big man was currently wrapped up in intrigue and the charm of a new land, and even dire conditions couldn't send him away until he'd had a taste of it. The life of a loner was hard but he was determined to add to his collections of facts and tidbits, starting with the locust swarm and its profound impact here.

He meandered between bare shrubs and around exposed rocks, carrying himself toward the shimmering surface of a lake just down the hill. With limited knowledge of the region he was in, Mac was excited by the prospect of fresh water, for it meant he would not go thirsty anytime soon. The lake was massive, stretching for miles in either direction, and its pebbly shore was cool against his paws. He wasted no time plunging into the shallows, making quite the racket with his wet tail whipping against his hindquarters.

As he turned back toward shore in preparation to dunk his muzzle and drink deeply, Macintosh spotted Dingo, a short-haired tan-red creature with cheeks and throat painted white, poised at the lake's edge and taut as a bowstring. The man's murmur went unheard, but Mac was buoyed by the good mood that cool water brought, and he cheerily called out, "hoy!"