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Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly included in ona axpoaura ara fllmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand comar. laft to right and top tc bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirad. Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Un daa aymboiaa auivanta apparaitra aur la darniAra imaga da chaqua microficha. aalon ia caa: ia aymboia — »> signifia "A SUIVRE". ia aymbola ▼ aignifia "FIN". Laa cartas, planchaa. tablaaux, ate, pauvant Atra filmAs A daa taux da rAductlon diffArants. Loraqua la document aat trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un aaui ciichA. il aat filmA A partir da i'angia supAriaur gbucha, da gaucha A droita. at da haut an baa. an pranant '*y 114 XI. RiKE AND Moses O. go Moose-hunting. The, Result . . . 12a XII. Rivi£:re du Loup and the Saguenay 131 XIII. Lac St. Jean. Moses O. makes a Bad Shot 139 XIV. Camped on the Tshistagama. Stein Lost 146 XV. A Caribou at Bay. Hunting by Torchlight 157 XVI. Setting Bear-traps. A Strong Fish. Odd Game .... 166 XVII. Another Caribou. Nugekt's Fight with a Lovp cervier . 173 XVIII. Bear versus Hedgehog. Karzy goes Beaver-hunting . . . 180 XIX. A Rough-and-tumble Otter-hunt 191 ' XX. The Woods-demon 200 XXI. Quebec. The Wood-sprites again. Farewell 216 // ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Father Time as an Organ-grinder Frontispiece. The Club at the Cross-Road i6 The Ram took him again and sent him his whole Length 23 On the fly 25 Massacre of the Wakeley Family . . 29 " Zeke ! Zeke ! come back ! " .... 32 Drilling Holes in the Ledge 33 Snow's Falls one hundred Years ago 37 A Maine Lake 38 Moses O. turning the Guide-post ... 42 Upper Fall, Cataract Brook .... 45 Sylvan Cascade, Cataract Brook ... 46 The Devil's Den 47 Silver Ripple Cascade, Black Brook . . 48 Screw- Auger Falls, Bear River ... 50 Steamer Welokennebacook 52 The Upper Dam 53 Lake Welokennebacook 54 Camp Bellevue, Lake Molechunkamunk . 55 Camping Out 57 Lake Molechunkamunk 58 Gentlemen Tourists' Camp 60 Interior of a Sportsman's Camp ... 61 Theodore Winthrop 62 Lake Mooseluckmeguntic 63 Spirit of Moosieluckmeguntic .... 64 Camp Henry, Rangeley Outlet ... 65 A Camp on Lake Mooseluckmeguntic . 67 A Settler's Log Cabin 68 The First Steamer on the Lakes ... 69 VAOB Trout 70 Moosehead 71 Map of Moosehead Lake 72 First Glimpse of Moosehead .... 73 Mount Kineo 74 Moosehead from Mount Kineo ... 75 Billings' Falls in "The Gulf" ... 76 Socatean Stream Falls 77 Old wooden Railroad and " Bullgine " . 78 Brassau Rapids 79 A Party we saw 81 Waiting for her Coffee 85 "Grand Dad" 88 A Happy Family. — One we didn't meet 89 Katahdin from the Lake 90 Uncle Amos and Uncle Johnny ... 91 The Ladies' Camp ....'.... 95 " Don't fire ! that air's an Ox " ... 99 Taking up Bumble-Bees' Nests . . 102 " I met the old Bear 104 The Horse biting wildly at him ... 106 01() Times on the Alleguash .... 109 In the dead Water 112 A Scene on the Alleguash 115 A Logging Camp 116 Junction of Alleguash and Aroostook . 123 "We both sprang to the Door" ... 128 On the Stage 129 All aboard for the Saguenay .... 132 L'ance k I'eau, or Port of Tadousac 133 Tadousac 134 Entrance to the Saguenay 135 ILLUSTRA TIONS, PAGB Up the Saguenay 136 Scene in Ha Ha Bay 137 Nugent 140 Lac St. Jean 141 Paraphernal^ 142 Chicoutimi 143 Shooting a Rapid T44 Moses O. gets after a Loup cervier . . 145 Moses O. <} la tortoise 147 Camp on the Tshistagama 148 Our Dining-Room 149 The Kitchen 149 The blazing Fir 151 Up in the old Fir 155 A Caribou Barren ....... 158 Barren-ground Caribou ...... 160 Woodland Caribou Hoofs 161 Wolverine 164 Hoisting her gently over 165 Big Tracks 167 rAOB Capsized 168 His Head .169 Shooting Ducks by Torchlight ... 170 Otelne Hunting Caribou 174 Beavers at Work ........ 183 Breaking a Glut 188 Up the Brook 192 Otters Fishing 195 A Loggers' Camp ....... 201 Capes Trinity and Eternity .... 205 The Wild Man 206 Statue Point . . .' 209 Les Tableaux 217 Champlain fighting the Battles of the Indians 221 Jacques Cartier ' . c 223 The Citadel 224 Famished Indians seeking Food at Quebec in 1608 227 Coasting on Toboggins 230 THE KNOCKABOUT CLUB IN THE WOODS. THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. INFORMALLY. IF our railroads, factories, flour-mills, and machine- shops were perfect in construction^ they would give forth, instead of thunderous and terrible noises, a grand, sweet music. Music is the synonym for per- fection. Last night I heard one of the most remarkable musi- cal geniuses of this century set forth the above idea at great length, and it did seem as if he made his point. " Well, what of it? " do you ask? That was what I myself asked, after the lecturer had finished speaking. "What of it? " I said. "This may be true. But what have we young fellows oi this generation got to do about it? Locomotives, trip-hammers, and fog-horns do not make sweet music; they make a grievous noise, and will go on doing so." " Not forever," replied the orator, with a grand air of prophecy. " Din, uproar, discord, and crime are the index of imperfection and error. The physical and moral forces are correlated. It is the mis- sion of Enlightened Man to reform and bring the world into harmony. We all are, or should be, workers to this end. Nature ordains this. We are happy or unhappy as we work for good music or for a racket." H THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. *' But many youngsters like a ' racket,' " said a listener. • ** That is because they are temporarily wrong-headed," replied the musician. *' But how shall we get to work to bring about this universal good music ? " I inquired. " Give us a practical idea, one we can work on. What shall / do ? " " First and always, get knowledge. Second, put your knowledge into effect to the best of your judgment. This is a duty. Travel abroad. Get knowledge. Come home, and put it into effect." Pondering this, I fell asleep at last, and later on dreamed that Fathe " Time, as a great organ-grinder, stood turning the crank of the world. It was a huge hand-organ and an enormous mill, combined. Time, hoary and gray, but with muscles like Atlas, had hung up his old scythe, and was turning, turning, with a mighty Titanic swing. Creation resounded to the grand yet sweetly-solemn strains. It was Pinafore. "I'm called little Buttercup, dear little But- tercup." As the venerable Monarch of the Ages turned on, things kept dropping out into the great universal meal-box beneath. First there came a Czar of Russia along with a lot of Nihilists, all ground fine. This batch was followed by Chancellor Bismarck with his Jews and Jesuits, ground finer still. I thought that it was on a foundation of this sort, stamped down hard like macadam, that New Europe was to be built. Then there dropped out a lot of coarse-cracked American poli- ticians : a- very corrupt, bad-smelling grist indeed. A voice like fifty millions of people shouting together, cried, " Amen I Grind 'em finer ! " But just then the grand old mill turned out a batch of strange and wonderful discoveries. New motors did the world's work. Electric lights gleamed from top to bottom of it. In the midst of the glorious illumination there popped out The Knock-about Club I INFORMALLY, J5 That waked me ; and I remembered that it had recently fallen to my lot to record the doings of this Knock-about Club and introduce it to the reader. So I arose in haste (it was already eight o'clock), and got my pen. Why is it that there is always something so inherently awkward about introductions, manage them deftly as you can ? At the outset a question of etiquette troubles me : Can I properly introduce the Club ? For, being a member, it will infallibly be held by some that I am committing the ludicrous solecism of introducing myself, without so much as a letter of introduction 1 True, I can urge that writers and historians are commonly ac- corded the privilege of introducing their characters, but must needs admit that it is a privilege they very often abuse by bringing to the reader's acquaintance some very queer people, to say the least. So much so that, for my own part, I am sometimes of the opinion that no writer should presume to introduce to his readers characters whom he would hesitate to present to his personal friends. But on this latter point I am happy to say that I can stand before the public with an easy and limpid conscience. My fellow-clubsmen are irreproachable. Each one carries a certificate of moral character in his face and bearing. Reader, — particularly y" young lady reader, — they are nice young men, whatever may be thought of the name of the Club. On the former point, and just as I was setting off to take Madam Grundy's opinion, or that of some of her leading repre- sentatives, our artist called and offered me a sketch in pencil of the Club en route for The Woods^ or rather on our journey " Down East." It occurs to me to offer a picture, which is to a certain extent true as a photographic likeness, as an informal introduction. Informal in this case, as the reader will observe, means on a bicycle : that light and airy hermaphrodite betwixt feet and wings when the road isn't too sandy. i6 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. / The locality selected by our artist-comrade for his introductory effort is a turn of the carriage-road shortly after crossing the Massa- chusetts State line into New Hampshire, at a point where a guide- board says, ^^ Exeter 11 miles. ^^ THE CLUB AT THF, CROSS-ROAD. Here we are, young ladies and gentlemen, hat m hand; and with the aid of a few brief explanatory remarks, I hope we shall be INFORMALLY. 17 able to find ourselves sufficiently well acquainted to journey on together in quest of knowledge and adventures. That, I may add, was the object of the Club's present tour: to see everything worth seeing, to hunt, to fish, to camp out and have a good time. Our Club was quite an impromptu affair. Six months ago, not one of us, save in a single instance, knew, or had ever heard, of the other members. We first became acquainted on the occasion of the "Bicycle Meet" at Boston, last summer, when we were for the week the guests of our present Captain, Mr. Harold S. Dearborn. Finding that our ideas ran in similar channels, we then agreed to spend our summer vacation together, and go down East on our bicycles — our object being, at first, to test whether a country tour on bicycles was practicable or not. When we left Boston,* on the 28th of June, we had no idea of taking so long a trip as we were finally led to do. But the farther we went the better we enjoyed it, and so in the end had come nigh penetrating to Hudson Bay itself! — not on our bicycles, however; though we ran out a spoke from the "Hub" of a hundred and ninety miles on these, to begin with. As a running accompaniment to our artist's picture, I am advised to subjoin a few facts as to the personnel of the Club. At the head of the file, so politely doffing his straw helmet, is Captain H. S. Dearborn, citizen of Boston, Junior in college, in his twentieth year, and an enthusiastic amateur sportsman, base-ball player, and sculler; withal, a good shot. Strong point, U. S. His- tory and Biographies of Eminent Statesmen. Special weakness (as far as observed) , a certain moth-like attraction toward a pretty face : in other words, has an intense admiration for beauty. Following the Captain, comes Roscoe C. Wayne, citizen of New York city, eighteen years old, fitted to enter college this year, afflicted with a rich parent, a small, silky moustache, and a belief that New York is all, or almost all, of America. Chiefly remarkable for being a good fellow generally, and liberal with his cash. No special i8 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB, weakness thus far discovered. Fairly level-headed, and prides him- self on that. After him Freeland Stein, who hails from the great city of the white shutters, marble doorsteps, and a Public Building, also marble; a thin, thoughtful youth of seventeen, yet a remarkably good bicycler, who took to his machine as naturally as a duck to water. Said to be threatened with half a million, almost any day now. Strong point, mineralogy. Has a very fine cabinet of specimen ores, crystals, gems, etc., already collected. In connection with his penchant, the follow- ing story is told of him when eighteen months old. One day he was missed, and only found after a lengthy search, sitting in a neighboring alley, crying bitterly. The cause of his young grief was, apparently, his inability to get on his feet, owing to the load he had put in his apron, the corners of which he held tightly clutched up. Being inspected, the apron was found to contain one cobble-stone, weight two pounds, two lumps of coal, two ditto of coke, eleven potsherds of stone china-ware, and about twice that number of broken glass bits. He resisted, and screamed loudly when the nurse went to scatter this treasure, and had ultimately to be carried home with the whole collec- tion intact. What is still more curious, he says he distinctly remem- bers the incident — which suggests the inquiry whether any reader, distinctly or otherwise, remembers an event occurring in his eigh- teenth month I Next follows Mr., or perhaps better. Master Frey Karsner of Cin- cinnati, our special artist, and a cousin-german of our captain. *' Karzy " is the boy^ being but just turned fifteen. We think he pos- sesses genius, and he sometimes appears to think so himself, having, like Artemus Ward, an enjoyable appreciation of his own peculiar talent. Karzy wished to go to Italy this year, to pursue his art stud- ies, having graduated from the High School of his native city a year ago. It is a question of dollars and cents, I believe. I have little doubt that a bicycle is much better for him than a palette. But his INFORMALLY, »9 heart longs after Rome and its studios. In fact, he looks somewhat like a Roman, and his nose is wholly Roman. Next to last trundles Moses O. Davis, a landed proprietor from one of the rural counties of the Hoosier section. Moses doesn't take much stock in colleges and the like, but goes in for living in. a large sense. Nothing excites Moses O., not even the Indiana election last fall. " Corn grows all the same," Moses says. The matter of another fellow's getting awfully mad with him seems always to im- press Moses as a jolly little joke : a thing to laugh at in a large, lazy way. Nobody ever saw Moses himself mad yet. There is a bet in the Club that he cannot get mad. Moses says he would like to see the man that gets him mad. He rides a fifty-six inch wheel, and is correspondingly big all over, but not yet very mature, and is prob- ably still under eighteen. As to the matter of his iige and birthday, Moses says there were so many of them in the fariiiy, that he believes the old lady forgot to set it down. He plays a cornet, and is the bugler to the Club; also plays the fiddle; but plays an autophone best of all, and remarks of this latter instrument that it is a great saving of a fellow's brains, and " makes mighty interesting music." Bringing up the rear is " No. 6," or, " the scribe," whom the artist — following nature and fact, as he says — figures as just recovering an upright position from one of his ordinary attitudes of misfortune. It is mortifying, but cannot be helped. It must be allowed that it often happens. The Club attributes it sometimes to scribe's palsy, sometimes to the bewildering deflection of light through his eye- glasses. CHAPTER I. I' i DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. BICYCLE is indeed an odd-looking vehicle; nnd to see half a dozen fellows dashing along on them at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, is pretty sure to attract ^-. the undivided attention of people not accustomed to the sight. ''Look a there, Hiram I" we heard one farmer, in a potato-field killing bugs, sing out to another gather- ing green pease the other side of the line wall. " Goih a' mighty I Only see them fellers agoing it atop of them wagon wheels ! What for 'nation' sake be they a-settin' on ? " Another time, as we were passing through M Plantation, far up in Maine, in the " greenback " region, we had got an early start one morning, and were trundling along in the wheel ruts; and our cap- tain, in the exuberance of his spirits, had put on a spurt and gone ahead. It was about sunrise. There were farms scattered here and there along the road; and the good folks were at this hour just rousing out to milk their cows. Dearborn's bicycle was a nickel-plated one ; and as he darted noiselessly along the road, an old farmer standing at the corner of his barn with two tin milk-pails on his arm, caught sight of him, and stopped short iathe middle of a mighty yawn. Probably his eyes were not yet fairly open. His old lady was coming along the path from the house with another pail. " Marm ! " he sang out to her, " there goes old Split-huf himself, straddle of a streak o' lightnin', I vumi See his old forked tail glisten ! '* DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. %\ Before Dearborn had got fairly past and round the turn, the rest of us hove in sight, in full chase. " And, marm I " shouted the old man, " here comes another of 'urn I — twin brother to him ! — and another! — and another ! Run, marm — get the Bible! " *'Marm" disappeared, but whether for the holy volume or a bumper of hot water, we did not remain to learn. The great annoyance is meeting teams. Now, a bicycle has just as good a right on the public highway as any other vehicle. But the public has not yet come to quite believe that it has. Drivers of teams often act as if they thought that a bicycler had no rights whatever which they ought to respect. It was our policy to carefully avoid all quarrels on this point. Almost always, the horses would prick up their ears, and often show signs of alarm. In all such cases, we at once dis- mounted and stood quietly by our machines. The teams would then generally pass us without further trouble. But it is necessary for the bicycler to have both patience and discretion. Especially should he use care and courtesy when meeting carriages driven by ladies. Fre- quently in the country, the farmers' wives and daughters will be met, driving to and from the village store. A Down-East farmer's horse is often a very ticklish animal, seldom more than half broken from a colt, and addicted to shying at every new object it sees. Frequently it is the farmer's pet beast, — never allowed to carry over three persons in the wagon, and they must all walk up the hills, — and in the matter of keeping and usage, sometimes fares better than the farmer's wife. One day we met a rackety old express wagon drawn by a fat, rough-haired, gray mare, and driven by an elderly woman whose face was mostly concealed within the depths of a very extraordinary bon- net. The mare saw us, stopped and began to back and prance; while the poor old lady shook the reins, crying out to her horse and to us in a very thin, distressed voice, "Whoa, dear I Whoa, dear! Du pray, 22 THE KNCCK-ABOUT CLUB. young men, git them frisky-lookin' things o' yourn out o' the road! Dolly's so timid of 'em! " In a moment we were off, and " Rike " taking " Dolly " by the bit, led her past — much to the old aunty's relief. "I dunno who you be," she said to him, " but I'm sure I'm very much obleeged to ye." Another day, while passing through the town of G , we met a Tartar. It was quite early in the morning, and the road none too good. Presently we saw a man coming toward us, driving a flock of sheep. Not wishing to scatter the flock, we dropped ofl* our bicycles and stood aside for them to pass. As the man came nearer we saw that there was one of the sheep which he was not driving exactly, but wheeling it like a wheelbarrow; that is to say, he had the sheep's hind-legs in his hands, and was making the creature walk before him on his fore- legs. It struck us as being a very odd performance. It was a large ram, with big, curling horns. " That's one way to drive a sheep ! " Rike observed. " Wal, it's a good way," replied the farmer, who was an oldish man in a drilling frock, and a very much sweated and stained palm-leaf hat. " A rather cruel way, I should say," said Rike. "You think so?" queried the old fellow, with a grin and a broad stare at our vehicles. "Yes, I do," exclaimed Rike, somewhat emphatically. " Wal, now," drawled the old man, with a quizzical look on his puckered face, "if you think I'd better, I'll let him down. I'll do most anything to obleege sech a nice-looking lot o' young fellers" — and he let the sheep's hind-legs drop. The animal straightened up, stamped one foot, and shook his head, as if the unnatural position he had been in had caused a rush of blood in that direction. Then he took a step toward us, and before we had the least thought of dodging, gave Rike a tremendous knock which pitched him sprawling into the sand between the wheel-ruts. r DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. 23 The rest of us scrambled to get our bicycles out of the way. And of all the haw-haws, I never heard anything beat that old fellow's in the drilling frock. Rike jumped up, but before he could get off his knees to his feet, the ram took him again from behind, and sent him his whole length. And again that heartless old barbarian doubled up and laughed. One might have heard him half a mile off. THE RAM TOOK HIM AGAIN AND SENT HIM HIS WHOLE LENGTH. At this we began to bestir ourselves to rescue our man. Moses O. seized a fence-pole, and in another moment would have broken the ram's back, had not the old farmer, breaking off in the midst of his laugh, shouted, " Avast youl " and running adroitly up, again gi*abbed the ram's hind-legs. Rike had got up. He was covered with dirt and much ruffled in temper. 34 M'- THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. "You are a mean old party I" he exclaimed. "If you were not quite so old and gray, I would punch your head for you ! " " O, wal now! " drawled the ram-wheeler. " If ye think best tu, ye needn't stan' fer that a mite. I ain't so old yit that I ask enny fa vers of ye." ' He was such a queer, tough old specimen, and so ready for a fracas, that we laughed — all but Wayne. " Come along, Rike," said Moses O., " or you'll get the worst of it again!" We got our comrade remounted and moved on. The last we saw of the old farmer and his ram, he was wheeling the beast up to a pair of bars leading into a pasture beside the road. Our nearest approach to an accident, which, however, resulted in nothing worse than a ludicrous tumblcj happened one afternoon on the old country road in the town of W . After climbing a pretty steep hill, there is here a long descent to northward. We had to toil up thr hill on foot. But as the descent from the top did not look very for- midable, we mounted, and with our brakes well in hand, started to run down. At the foot of the descent there is a moderately sharp turn in the road, round a clump of thick white maples; and on the lower side of the turn, just round it, stands a small district schoolhouse. School was in session at the time, and the door stood open. We bore down in grand style, at the rate of a mile in three min- utes, or less, and were soon nearing the turn. All would have gone well enough had we not had the misfortune to meet a very large load of hay, just coming round the turn, drawn by a yoke of oxen. We did not see the load till within fifty yards of it. The road was but a narrow one. There was but one thing for us to do. "Skip the gutter, Charlie! " ^^ Sauve qui -peutV "Gee, Buck!" yelled the bare-armed teamster who was driving with a pitchfork. But his gee-ing came all too late to do us any good. saw min- gone 2 load We but a f / DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. *7 We were already in the ditch. There was a tangled mass of rank raspberry bushes, bull-thistles, and mugwort across the gutter on the lower side. "Karzy," Moses O., and "No. 6," went into that — on the fly. Stein, a few lengths ahead, brought up in the schoolhouse wood-pile; while the captain went plump into the schoolhouse entry — came very near riding bodily into the arms of the school-mistress, a very comely young woman, who was coming to the door to see what was going on. It was all the work of about three seconds; and meantime, Rike, who saw his best chance on the other side of the road, had shot along the gutter past the off ox, and went clear of the load, all righ^ But his rapid passage frightened the steers. In spite of their driver's yells they sheered suddenly into the little open yard of the schoolhouse, and came near lodging the high load against the hpuse. The wood- pile stopped them, too; but the doorway was completely blockaded with the rack-cart and hay, so that our friend Harold and his bicycle were shut in there along with the school-mistress and her pupils for some minutes. What they said to each other has not yet transpired. He did not seem to us to make such prompt eflTorts to get out as one might have supposed he would under the circumstances. Yet no visible harm was done — to any one ; and we parted from our suddenly-formed acquaintance with mutual civilities, some five minutes later. But the captain was observed to look back wistfully, as we trundled away. At Berwick, where we were very pleasantly entertained over a two days' rain-storm, the old people told us many stories of the early set- tlement of the town, called by the Indians Neivichawannock, and some thrilling incidents of the Indian war. Here one of the most heroic deeds of American history was . performed by a young lady, whose name has been suffered to be forgotten. The savages were menacing Saco,and Captain Wincoln, of Berwick, with all the men of the place, marched to the assistance of the Saco settlers. While they were 28 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. gone, a party of Indians suddenly attacked the house of John Zozier, where there were gathered for safety, fifteen women and children. These all sat at the table eating supper, when the Indians were seen approaching by a young woman of seventeen or eighteen, who gave the alarm, and, closing the outer door, held it fast, while the others escaped at the rear of the house. The savages cut through the door with their tomahawks, but still the brave jirl held fast, and it was not till one of them had reached in and repeatedly struck her with his knife and hatchet, that they could gain an entrance. The girl fell at her post — dead, as the Indians thought. Finding that the house was empty, and that the others had fled, the savages gave chase, but were only able to overtake two small children, whom they killed on the spot. The girl, who had thus bravely barred the door, lay senseless for many hours, but was found next day by. some of Wincoln's party, who had returned, and was taken to the garrison-house. Ultimately she recovered from her wounds. It is a loss to our history that the name of such a heroine should have been forgotten. . , ; Here, and at Scarborough and Falmouth, the Indians committed terrible atrocities. At the latter place, on the Presumpscot River, remote from neighbors, lived a settler named John Wakely, with his family, in a log-house which he had lately built. Being, as they thought, on good terms with the Indians, they had cleared land and planted crops. Without warning, the house was attacked at noon, one day, by eight savages, and the entire family murdered in the most brutal man- ner, with the exception of one little girl, whom they took away into captivity, and who lived with them several years. New Gloucester, a day's ride farther to the north-east, was also the scene of many tragic incidents during the Indian wars. But we shall remember it best from our visit, of an hour or so, to the very inter- esting Shaker village there. DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. 3» At South Paris, where we arrived on the 7th of July, we stopped for a day to visit Mount Mica, famous the world over among mineral- ogists for its wonderful red and green tourmalines. Our comrade Stein had quite looked forward to this trip as one of the " lions " of the tour — for him; and he has prepared a brief history of the locality, which we are permitted to insert. MOUNT MICA. WHAT THE HAMLIN BOYS FOUND THERE. On the l^st day of November, 1820, two boys, named Elijah 1-iamlin and Ezekiel Holmes, — names destined later in life to become familiar through- out this country, — were searching for minerals along the foot of Streaked Mountain, in the town of Paris, Maine. They were students at the village academy, and had then just begun the study of Mineralogy. The boys had been tramping through the woods all the afternoon, having found little of interest save a few fragments of rose-quartz. Just as the sun was setting, they emerged from the forest upon the brow of a hill facing west. Here, tired from their long walk, they sat down for a few minutes to rest and enjoy the surpassing beauty of the scenery. The chill of snow was already in the air, and, rapt as the two youths had been in the grandeur of the landscape, a shiver warned them to depart be- fore the sunlight faded out. Young Holmes ran down the hill to return to the village. Hamlin was following him more leisurely, when a vivid gleam of green caught his eye flashing from an object amid the loose red dirt, on the root of an upturned tree. Advancing quickly to the spot, he perceived a fragment of a clear, green crys ,al lying in the loose earth. Its gem-like flash told him that it was no com Hon stone, and he grasped it with a thrill of delight. What wonder that the next moment he made the woodland resound to his excited call after "Zeke" to come back? And Zeke was not long coming back. At sight of the crystal his keen eye sparkled, and he fell to searching the earth about the root and beneath the leaves with that innate eagerness which always characterizes the born mineralogist. *, 32 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. But twilight, rapidly fading into darkness, descended upon the searchers, rendering one stone indistinguishable from another. " Never mind ! " said Zeke. " We will come up again in the morning." But during the night a storm gathered. At daybreak it was snowing heavily, and a thick white mantle lay on all the surrounding hills. Winter had come ; nor did the snow thaw until the next April. During all these months the two students did not speak to any one of their possible discovery. Often, as the spring advanced, they turned their eyes toward the hill, and as soon as its crest was bare, they set off to visit it again. From the tree-root, where Hamlin had found his crystal, they went up to the exposed ledge at the very crest of the hill. Here a rich sight met their astonished eyes. Upon that bare ledge, and in the loose earth about its edges, they found over thirty almost perfect crystals, which from their great beauty and trans- parency rank as true gems. They found also a great number of imper- fect crystals. In a word, our two students had discovered the new widely famous Mount Mica — • so named from the quantities of mica which subsequent blasting has thrown out. The crystals were those wonderful green and red tourmalines which have since gone to adorn some of the choicest collections in both Europe and America, and even to be set in kingly diadems. But neither of the boys then knew their value. Professor Cleveland, of Bowdoin College, was then known as the leading mineralogist of the United States. To him the boys addressed a letter, ^nd inclosed with it some of the smaller crystals. The professor at once replied, assuring them that their specimens were " ZBKB ! ZBKR I COMB BACK I " DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. 33 both rare and valuable. With boyish generosity they made up a package containing some of the finest of the crystals, and sent it to the professor, intrusting it to the late Gov. Lincoln, then a member of Congress, who was about setting off for Washington. At that early day, much of the journey to the national capital had to be performed on horseback. The governor took the package, but either he lost it en rottte^ or else it was stolen from him. It never reached its destination. There is little doubt that by some secret agency these tourmalines found their way into the cabinets of certain European mineralogists. During the two following years, a great many crystals and fragments were picked up about the ledge. Thus far, however, no attempt had been made to blast. But in the spring of 1823, Cyrus and Hannibal Hamlin (the same who has since been Vice-President of the United States), both younger brothers of Elijah, and then aged thirteen and fifteen, determined to explore the hill and its ledges. As few, if any, specimens could be found around the ledge, they bought a pound of powder, and borrowing some blasting tools, attacked the principal ledge with great spirit. It is no easy task for lads of this age to drill and blast rock. Unless proper- ly held, the drill soon sticks fast in the hole. The safe ty fuse had not then been invented. All blasts had to be loaded with a wire in- serted in the hole, which was afterwards pulled out. This tiny channel was then primed with powder, which was commonly fired by a train of swingletow, — a dangerous business at best. The two boys drilled five holes in the ledge, which they loaded and blasted out, one after the other. The surface of the ledge had looked gray 34 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. and weather-worn. But the explosions threw out great pieces of bright- colored le-pidolite^ broad sheets of mica, and glittering fragments of quarts \ and the last blast opened down to a soft spot in the ledge where the rock had become decomposed. I^"gg»"g in this with the points of their drills, they broke through into a cavity which would have held, perhaps, two or three bushels. This dusty hole was partly filled with what seemed to be sand. Thrusting in his hand, Hannibal groped in the loose stuff a moment, then drew out something which, glittering in his fingers, proved to be a mag- nificent tourmaline crystal, of a rich green color, and clear as a gem. " Hurrah I " shouted the lad. "Hurrah I We've found a handsomer one than 'Lige did I " Well might the boy hurrah. They had found the most beautiful tourma- line which the earth has ever yielded, perhaps. It was a perfect crystal, per- fect at each faceted extremity, and finely formed. In length it was two and a half inches, by two inches in diameter — a huge, clear, dark-green gem. Scratching away with renewed eagerness, the boys soon emptied the "pocket "of its contents. From it they took out over twenty crystals, of varying colors and tints, but mainly red and green. Some of these were fully three inches long and an inch in diameter, banded, or rather clouded, red, white, and green. Of these splendid gems they took out enough to nearly fill a two-quart basket; while an ox-cart was required to enable them to get home their fine specimens of mica and lepidolite. Altogether, this " find " far surpassed those found by their older brother, Elijah. The lads were jubilant, for, boy-like, they had prosecuted the blasting less for the love of beautiful specimens than for the money they expected to realize from the sale of the stones. They had learned from Elijah the names of several eminent mineralo- gists, both of Europe and America. To these they at once addressed let- ters, stating what they had to sell. And from time to time thereafter, Cyrus, who had meanwhile bought out Hannibal's interest, sold the most of the gems. What sums he received for them it is now impossible to ascertain ; for not many years afterwards he removed to Texas, where he died. But it is likely that he received, in those early days, but a comparatively trifling price for the crystals. This is all that is really known of the fate of those wonderful tourma- lines. They were dispersed over the world. Some of the finest are said to be in the famous Imperial Collection of Minerals at Vienna. DOWN EAST ON A WHEEL. 35 In 1825 Professor Shepard, then a young and enthusiastic mineralogist, obtained some fine tourmalines here. And after hnn, the ill-fated Professor Webster found one or two beautiful crystals. Here Professor Addison Verrill, of Yale College, prosecuted some of his boyhood researches in mineralogy, finding on one occasion a very fine nugget of tin weighing several pounds. A great many persons have searched and blasted the ledges ; and it is believed that crystals might still be obtained by further mining. But noth- ing obtained here of late can compare with those exquisitely beautiful gems which the Hamlin boys found. Dr. A. C. Hamlin, a relative of the family, possesses what is probably the finest collection of Mount Mica tourmalines in this country. One of his crystals is remarkable for having a red and green shaft, surmounted at its faceted "point" by a snow-white crown — a veritable queen of crystals. Mount Mica is scarcely a mountain, in the usual sense, but simply a ledgy hill in a pasture. Great heaps of broken stone attest to the vigorous search which later mineralogists have made. On the occasion of our visit I was able to secure nothing finer than a good, clear specimen of lepidolite and a bit of green tourmaline, the fragment of a crystal. But the ledges look as if they might be hugging hidden treasures within their stony bosoms. \' • ; ■ J :..',> CHAPTER II. ROUGHER AND WILDER GREW THE WAY. F we had been as expert riders as some of whom we have recently read, who crossed a broad, raging river on the ^'stringers" of a dismantled bridge, or had we possessed bicycles specially fitted to run on railroads, we might have got forward from this point much more comfortably on the rails of the Grand Trunk Railway. The wagon-road was so bad that it is a lasting monu- ment of what a bicycle can do, that we covered the distance, nine miles, from South to West Paris. But a charming bit of scenery repaid us for oUr effort: Snow's Falls, on the Little Androscoggin River. A farmer living hard by, (at whose place we pulled up for a draught of water,) told us the fol- lowing story as to the origin of the name. Over a hundred years ago, when the whites first began to come into this region, two hunters, named Snow and Jackson, went to the Falls one afternoon, either to fish or to set traps. They came up the left bank of the river, and had been peering about the ledges round the cataract for some minutes, when they espied three Indians on the other side, sitting on the rocks, with their guns and tomahawks. Both the whites instantly cocked their pieces and took aim at the redskins, but one of the Indians, discovering them at the same moment, started up, and in broken English shouted, ^^ Quarter! Me want quarter I " ** Quarter, you red skunk!" cried Snow, contemptuously. "I'll halve ye, and the devil may quarter ye I " With that he fired, and ROUGHER AiMD WILDER^GREW THE IVAV. 37 shot the Indian. But one of the other savages, firing at the same instant, mortally wounded Snow himself, who died within a few hours. Jackson escaped. The scenery, both from Mount Mica and hence- forward all along our route, was wonderfully good, sometimes really grand, with a certain peculiar and picturesque wildness,which one might travel far to find excelled. The farmer told us still | m another story of one of the early settlers here, a rather exciting tale, but one he assured us was true in every particular; and he pointed out the farm where this settler had made his first clearing. I had heard the story previously, or one much like it, and I think that many writers have made it the foundation for a thrilling back- woods tale. The following is the true version, as told in the locality where the adventure occurred. SNOW'S FALLS ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. CHASED BY A CATAMOUNT. One spring morning the setder, whose name was Jackson, set off on a twenty-mile tramp to his nearest neighbor's cabin, in what is now the town of P. 'Tiford, to procure potatoes with which to plant a burnt patch which he had recently cleared. His route lay through the woods and was marked by a line of " spotted " trees. Having procured the potatoes, he started for 38 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. I home. It was afternoon already ; but he had planned to travel only a part of the distance that day, and, spending the night in the woods, to reach home early in the following forenoon. About half-way between his neighbor's cabin and his own, at a point where is now situated one of the villages of the town of Woodstock, famil- iarly known as " Pinhook Village," was a rude camp, erected by trappers whose mink, sable, and otter lines were set all the way from New Gloucester to the Androscoggin River in Rumford. Here Jackson decided to pass the night. It was late when he reached the camp. Throwing from his back the bag that contained the potatoes, he &*:..~.-^=^ii« A MAINE LAKE. gathered wood for his fire, got his supper, and was about making prepara- tions to lie down to sleep, when he was startled by a loud, savage scream from back in the forest toward the river. In an instant he knew his peril, and his hair almost stood on end. The rude camp in which he had pur- posed passing the night was a mere bark shelter from the rain, and no pro- tection against the assaults of any strong animal. He was unarr.ed ; he had not taken with him even the axe, which is so often carried by backwoods- men. T^ie beast had smelled his fried pork. What was he to do? That scream he knew too weli, so merciless in its ROUGHER AND WILDER GREW THE WAY. 39 shrillness and strength. No wonder that the Indians called the beast that uttered it the "devil," and that the settlers adopted the name. It was the well-known panther of our northern woods. The frightened man felt that his only hope was in flight. Grasping his bag of potatoes, and a smaller bag which contained his food, he set off toward his solitary home and ran for several miles, hearing nothing of the animal, and beginning to hope that it had been content to drive him from the camp. But by and by that dreadful scream again reached his ears ; and he knew then that the animal had given chase. With increased speed he rushed forward. In a few moments the piercing shriek of the pursuing catamount rent the air again. The animal seemed to be in the trees just behind ; and fearing lest it should spring upon him next moment, and feeling the dire necessity of making more haste, the poor fellow dropped his precious bag of potatoes. Relieved of this burden, he went on as rapidly as the trail and darkness would allow. For a considerable time he heard no more of the panther. The bag of potatoes had at least awakened the creature's curiosity sufficiently to cause it to stop to examine it. A gleam of hope now came to the settler. He had little that the panther would eat ; but if the beast could be detained by that which was not food, he might, by dropping such articles as he wore, gain time for escape. ' Forward he sped. But ten miles is a long stretch. Could he accom- plish it before the panther would spring upon him? His heart beat wildly as minute after minute passed. Then again the sharp scream pierced the still night-air of the forest. So near did it seem, that he almost expected the panther would leap upon him from the trees. His little bag of provi- sions was next dropped ; and for a time it was evident that the fierce beast had relinquished the chase. But it was only for a time. Again the start" ling cry was heard in the distance, then nearer. In an agony of fear, Jack- son dropped his hat, and when the panther again drew near, his coat, and finally his vest. This was the last article of clothing which he could remove while con- tinuing his flight. As this was thrown away, the agonized man felt that his last hope was gone. On, on he rushed. The panther, uttering at intervals its fierce screams, followed after. Why the creature delayed its attack seems unaccountable. Perhaps it found no good position from which to 40 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. make its leap. Perhaps it was pla3'ing with its prey. Possibly it was too cowardly to spring upon the man unless sure cf an advantage. With des- perate energy the settler fled on. His strength was giving out. The clearing about his cabin at last came into view. Behind him he heard the quick leaps of the panther. Must he perish just within sight of his home? With a last effort of despair he nerved himself for a final struggle. In a few moments the woods ahead of him became brighter. He had reached the clearing. But between him and his home lay the river. This must be forded. He leaped the bank and plunged into the stream. As he urged his way through the water, the panther came to the clearing, and bounding across it, leaped into the stream scarcely twenty yards behind him. But here the settler had the advantage. His progress through the water -vas faster than that of the panther ; he gained a little on his pursuer. A little back from the opposite bank of the river stood his cabin. What if, even at its door, the maddened animal should overtake him ! As he reached the bank, he shouted to his wife at the top of his voice. She heard him cry out. Alarmed, and assured that danger must be at hand, she flew to the door and opened it. Up the bank at a headlong run came the settler, and gasping for breath, sprang into the house — staggered, then fell prostrate upon the floor. Quick as thought, his wife shut the door and dropped the bar into its socket. Next moment, with a shock that made the cabin tremble, the cata- mount bounded against the door. It was some time before the measures employed by his wife brought Jackson back to consciousness. Such terrible exertion as he had made would have cost a less hardy man his life. Next morning Jackson's hair, which had been dark brown, or black, was found to have turned white — either from the fright or his over-exer- tion. His little boy, six years old, said that he saw the colt look in at the window-pane two or three times after his " pa " ran home that night. No doubt the panther was lurking about the cabin. By the next day, however, Jackson was able to be astir, and wishing to get, if possible, the clothing he had thrown away, he went over the trail which had been the scene of his terrible flight. This time, with proper arms, he felt that he would not be unwilling to meet his pursuer. On reach- ing the place where he had dropped one after another of his garments, he ROUGHER AND WILDER GREW THE WAY. ^ found them torn into shreds by the panther's claws. The prov'sion-bag had been rent open and the food devoured, while the potatoes were scattered around the spot where they had been dropped. Rougher and hillier grew the road — hills such as metropolitan bicyclers never dreamed of. The day was hot. Climbing so many long hills made us very thirsty. We had frequently to call at the farm-houses for water; there was none elsewhere. Our worthy captain in particular seemed to be a great sufferer for water; he called at about every other house. But we began to observe that in this matter he was influenced much by the faces he saw at the open windows and doors. If a fair young pink-and-white face chanced to be seen at a window, the captain was always very thirsty. He would call — for water — alone if the rest of us did not care to. Indeed, he seemed to prefer calling alone; and now and then he would not catch us up for a mile or two. Chaff failed to bring him to order. The Club grew scandalized. Naturally the others did not like the idea of his running a monopoly which their modesty forbade to them; and this feeling culminated toward night in the biggest joke of the tour, a double-dyed, practical joke. Dearborn was behind — for the fourth or fifth time — when the rest of us came to where the road forked, and a rather tall guide- board, with outstretched finger, said, ^* Bryant^ s Pond 3 Miles.^^ We had planned to stop at this village overnight. The glance of Moses O. was observed to dwell, in a contemplative sort of way, on that guide-board after reading the inscribed information. "I have it! " he exclaimed with a lazy laugh. "Just hold my machine, Karzy. Fve a trick worth all of his!'^^ (^His referred to Captain Harold.) "O Moses I what is it?" we asked. " Look sharp I " said Moses O. He " shinned up " that guide-post, and wrenching off the board 42 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. with one tug of those Hoosier arms, tacked it by the protruding nails to the other side of the post. The index-finger now pointed along the other road. " That will fetch him, I reckon," Moses remarked. " See? " We saw, inwardly consented, and proceeded onward without ^^ delay. We reached the tavern at the village by the Pond, washed, and sat down out on the piazza, to f rest and wait for supper. The MOSES O. TURNING THE GUIDE-POST. captain had not come. By and by we ate supper. Still he did not arrive. We began to fear that he might have missed his toay. It was not till twilight had begun to fall that our belated one put in his appearance. ROUGHER AND WILDER GREW THE WA V. 43 "Well, wherever have you been?" the others all shouted in a chorus of reproach. "We've been very uneasy about you — very!" Dearborn carried it oft' pretty well. Whether he took it all in or not, we could not tell. He had met some very agreeable people back along, he said, and hoped %ue would all excuse him. He seemed tired, and lay down on a settee, as not much disposed to talk. After a time, Moses O. slyly beckoned the rest of us into the hall. He had taken the cyclometer off the c ptain's bicycle. It indicated for that day a little over twenty-seven miles. Those on the others, belonging to the rest of the Club, marked but fifteen and a half. No further allusion was ever made to the circumstance. But our comrade was seldom thirsty artcr that. CHAPTER III. GOOD-BYE, BICYCLES. OFF TO THE LAKES. K., ETTING off early next morning from Bryant's Pond, we pushed on to " Pinhook," where are located some of the richest of the Maine silver mines, the name of one of which, the " Sigotch," keeps itself in memory from its oddity. By nine o'clock we. had reached 'the ferry over the Androscoggin, at "Rumford Point/' in the town of Rumford. Stein asked several people whom we met here, whether the town had taken its name from Count Rumford (Benjamin Thompson), the most justly famous of American discov- erers in physics, and who first demonstrated the grand doctrine of the Correlation of the Natural Forces. No one with whom we spoke could satisfy us on this point. Any town might be proud to bear Rumford's name, for his is a fame that grows brighter year by year. The road from the Androscoggin, northward through Andover Village, is fairly good. The sand dragged us somewhat, but there are few bad hills. The road follows the valley of the beautiful Ellis River, a tributary of the Androscoggin, the latter a broad, noble river two hundred yards wide at the ferry. It is the outlet of the lake system, toward which we were making our way, and, lower down its course, turns the great cotton-mills of Lewiston. Ten miles below the ferry are Rumford Falls, (one hundred and fifty feet,) which we wished much to visit, as thej' are said to be grandly picturesque. But the river road was sandy ; and of sand we GOOD-BYE, BICYCLES. | 45 had come to have a well-grounded horror. Hills a bicjxler can endure, but a five-mile stretch of sand fills his soul with a nameless terror, and his mouth with gall and bitterness. Our bicycles were of English make — all save Karzy's: his was a forty-eight inch " Colum- bia." We had supposed, as many do, that the im- ported " machines " were the best; and perhaps they are for England. But at the end of this trip it was the opinion of our whole party, that Karzy had done his work easier than any other man in the Club. Six miles north of the ferry we passed White Cap Mountain on the right, and the Lead Mine Mountain on the left of the river valley, both fine, bold peaks, and, pushing on, reached the hotel at the village a few minutes be- fore noon, after a ride of thirty miles per cyclom- eter. Andover Village is the head of bicycle navigation. Indeed, it took pluck to reach this point even. Unless the reader wishes to do something bordering on the heroic, we would not advise him to try to go from Boston to An- dover, Maine, on a bicycle. But it can be done. UPPER FALL, CATARACT BROOK. ^6 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. We found ourselves pretty tired, and rested till after dinner, then drove to Cataract Brook, five miles out of the village. The btook, a stream large enough to turn a mill, falls down over cliffs and among rocks, after a most fantastic and picturesque fashion. Karzy found work for his pencil here. There are many drives and attractions of this kind about Andover. City people, who wish an easy, quiet summer in the country, can nowhere find a much more desirable resort. For ourselves, we SYLVAN CASCADE, CATARACT BROOK. already had a more extended programme in prospect. We wished to penetrate some wilderness, where we might find game that would furrish exciting sport. The sea-shore and summer watering-place business had been "done" to satiety by our party. We wanted something with adventure and a spice of peril in it; something to draw one out and call for a vigorous, manly effort. Fishing for perch, and make-believe hunting, had quite lost its charm for us. This time our heads were up for a genuine article in the way of sport. For- tunately we were not pinched for cash, and having two months at Our GOOD-BYE, BICYCLES. OFF TO THE LAKES. 47 disposal, were determined to see what there was in this north-east country. Bright and early next morning we were en routt, by spring-board and span, for Welokennebacook, or Richardson Lake, distant four- teen miles, by a new road through the woods from Andover Village. At this latter place we said good-bye to our faithful " wheels," which had brought us so far, and so well. They were packed up and held to await our order. Here, too, W'2 had found our trunks, containing m THE DEVIL'S DEN. our outfit for the woods, awaiting us: our double-barrelled breech- loaders, ammunition, fishing-rods, etc. Parties going on a tour to the Lakes, from Andover, commonly hire a guide. Many woodsmen, hereabouts, make "guiding" their business. We were fortunate enough to secure one of the best (whom we will call "Fred"), who furnished a tent, and an entire camping- out kit. Three dollars per day were his terms; and without care and bother to us, he bought such supplies as we would need; though of course we paid for these. ' . 48 THE KNOCK^AROUT CLUB. The forest road from the village up to the South Arm of the Lake gives a very enjoyable ride, and there is some odd scenery on the way. After five miles the spring-board halts to let passengers go to see "The Devil's Den," a strange, water-worn chasm in the ledges, near by where Black Brook roars and gurgles down. Hard by ihe Den arc several picturesque falls, where the wa'ccr has fur- rowed deep grooves and basins in the solid granite. It is said that " formerly a mill. Owned by a man named Smith, stood over it. At that time the wa- ters of Black Brook emp- tied into the Y over the wall of solid .^^.^ which formed the back, and made their escape through an opening in the rock at the lower end." The shape of the Den, inside, is like the letter U, turned sideways, with the bottom of the letter towards the brook. The wheel vvas hung in the Den, under the mill, and so near the precipice over which the water fell, as to be driven by the force of its fall. But the mill has long since fallen to decay, and the waters of Black Brook have been turned from the Den, and have worn a new channel through the rocks a few yards beyond. The bottom of the Den is SILVER RIPPLE CASCADE, BLACK BROOK OFF TO THE LAKES. 49 now partially covered with rubbish and broken timbers, that have fallen in as the building has succumbed to the ravages of time and the elements. Across the top of the Den, where the mill stood, there yet remains one large timber that spans the awful chasm. Upon this one may walk out, and get a better view of the gorge through which the waters escaped. If you are troubled with dizzi- ness, however, you had better keep off it, as a fall would be very likely to spoil your trout-lishing at the lakes. The following legend is connected with the Den. I IS THE LEGEND. Many years ago, a man by the name of Brown, who was more of a hunter and trapper than anything else, came down to Andover from Canada. After stopping in the village a few weeks, he came out here in the wilder- ness, and, with the assistance of the village people, built him a log-house. At that time Indians w< re thick about the lakes, and hunting and trapping was anything but safe business. Here Brown lived, miles from other houses, without any companion but a dog and a horse. Occasionally he would make a visit to the town, trade his furs at the stores for necessaries in the way of groceries and ammunition, and then return to his log cabin, not to be seen for another long spell. One winter and spring, two years after he had built his cabin, the Indians were particularly troublesome and daring, and Brown had not made his appearance at Andover for a long time. At the principal store, one day, a number of the villagers had accidentally met, a'.od account by parties who bait strong hooks with live fish, and leave them 'set' in the water over night. Such fishmg is condemned, however, as unsportsmanlike, and no respectable fisherman likes to be known as practising it. For that matter, too, trolling is looked upon as not exactly the square thing, the rule of fish-craft being that the fly ranks first in honor, then rod-fishing with a single hook." This opinion of trout nature is indorsed by one of the native guides of this region, in the native tongue: — "Drefliil notional crit- ters, traout be, olluz bitin' at whodger haiint got. Orful contrary crit- ters — jess like fimmels. Yer can cotch a fimmel with a feather, if she's to be cotched ; if she haant to be cotched, yer may scoop ther hul world dry an yer haiint got her. Jess so traout." It was late when we got back to camp. The sight of the blithe fire among the pines, witV its strong odors of pitch, was very cheery. Pleasant, too, was the odor of Fred's cooking. He was frying steak. Rike and Harold sat by. They had returned in advance of us and had already formed an opinion of the game. One red squirrel was their whole bag. " And for this I bought a hundred and seventy-five dollar gun! " quoth Rike, exhibiting the game. Karzy laid his trout — the size of a clothes-pin — alongside the squirrel. The guide smiled as one not wholly unaccustomed I 6o THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. to such instances. '* Shall I cook all this for your breakfast?" he inquired. But dinner was a success. It always is up here, I fancy — if there is anything to cat. As we ate, we heard thj loons (the Great Northern Diver) calling to each other out on the lake; and a colony of frogs, in a little pond-hole hard by, set up a terrific conclamation. Once we heard a distant yell, which the guide said was made by a bear. GENTLEMEN-TOURISTS' CAMP. It had grown cloudy and lowering. But our cheerful camp-fire made all bright. It seemed rather odd, however, to be sitting on logs in a forest, with night and a storm coming on. " What would my mother say to me ?" Moses O. remarked thought- fully. "She never allowed me to sit out of doors at this time o' day, for fear I would catch the *shak-.^. Ever have the * shakes 'so far east as this, guide ? " " Not that kind," said Fred. CAMPING OUT. 6i le re a For an hour or so, our guide entertained us with accounts of hunt- ing and camping out, proving himself a capital hand at a story. So numerous, indeed, were his tales, that I should despair of giving a tenth of them in the brief space allowed me for recording our week at these lakes. On looking into the tent, we found that Fred had filled it, while we were gone fishing, to the depth of two or three feet with pine boughs. On this natural mattress our blankets were spread; and here, INTERIOR OF A SPORTSMAN'S CAMP. n r not much later, we bestowed ourselves for the night. A bit of candle was set up in a candlestick contrived of a split stick stuck in the ground and a strip of white birch bark; and the tent-flap was drawn and buttoned. Talking went on for a while, then died out. The frogs peeped and growled. We all thought that we should soon fall asleep. But we did not for some reason, — the oddity of the thing, very likely. I could 62 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. hear my fellow-travellers turnings over and over. Then Stein ^ot up to make some improvement in his part of the bed. "Good many ribs in this mattress of yours, Fred," he observed. Rike, too, got up to improve, — and drew out a thick pine-branch from beneath his back. Upon that we all fell to talking again, and I think it was one o'clock before sleep fairly reigned supreme in that tent. But we slept late enough the next morning to make it up. When I waked it was light, and evi- dently late; but it was raining softly on the tent outside. All hands were Knor- ing away as for dear life. A wonderful drowsiness brooded over that interior; next moment I had surrendered to it again, and we came near sleeping over that day. Fred waked us at last, lie was getting those beans out of the hole where the kettle had stewed all night. The odor roused us out at once. That is the way to cook beans. k had nearly ceased raining, and after breakfast we set sail for Upper Dam to fish for trout again. The fol- lowing paragraph from Mr. Farrar's book had stimulated Dearborn so profoundly that he wished to try his luck at luring the " speckled beauties " at the earliest possible moment. THEODORE WINTHROP. *' At the Upper Dam you throw your fly on top of the white water, and have it seized by a ten-pounder, instead of a baby trout six inches long ; you strike hard, and the fish darts away, while fathom after fathom of your line unreels, and you begin to tremble for fear he will never stop ; he turns, and you begin to reel in, carefully and watchfully, keeping his head well up to the surface, and after many moments of exciting anxiety you get him near CAMPING our. 63 enough to successfully use your net. It is no small job to take an eight- or ten-pound trout out of swift water, vvitli a light rod, and not break your rod or lose your line. It requires skill, patience, and practice to do it; but isn't it sport? How your eyes sparkle, your cheeks flush, and how you quiver with the excitement of the moment, while battling with one of these gigantic specimens ! " One comrade more than hinted that we had not fished Metaluk LAKE MOOSELUCKMEGUNTIC. Brook correctly; and he proceeded to read us a section of instructions from a Fishermatis Manual^ which he had brought; — «* Questions in relation to fishing uf or down a stream should be decided by the condition of the stream and its borders. While casting from the shore it makes very little difference which way the stream is fished ; but in wading it is best to fish up stream, because it does not roil the water, and there is not so great liability to alarm the fish. In making a cast it is always best to draw the fly across the current, for then the drop-flies will play clear of the casting-line. This is the opinion of most good fly-fishers. First, cast up 64 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. stream along the shore, and, if the stream be not too wide, cast to the farther shore, drawing your flies across the stream, but not too fast, lest the trout be- come suspicious. In striking you cannot be too quick, when fishing up a stream. Cast first near the shore ; then a yard or two farther off; next across the stream. If you get not a rise, take a step or two up the stream and re- peat. Continue doing so until a doubt arises as to whether the trout admire your cast ; then replace one fly by another of different color from any on your cast. If that does not take, after presenting it several times, take it off and try another extreme in color. Keep changing until you hit the fancy of the trout." The wind was fresh from the south, and we had a fine sail of four or five miles to the Dam. That portion of the lake above the " Narrows " is called the Upper R'chardson, or Mollychunkamunk, Lake. Theodore Winthrop wrote it Mollychunkamug, and conjec- turing, after his humorous fashion, % as to the derivation of the name, he remarks : — "When it cleared, — when it pur- veyed us a broadening zone of blue sky and a heavenful of brilliant cloud- creatures, — we were sailing over Lake Mollychunkamug. Fair Mollychunkamug had not smiled for us until now ; now a sunny grin spread over her smooth cheeks. She was all smiling, and presently, as the breeze dimpled her, all a-snicker up into the roots of her hair, up among her forest tresses. Mollychunkamug ! Who could be aught but gay, gay even to the farcical, when on such a name? Is it Indian? Be- wildered Indip*^ , we deem it, — transmogrified somewhat from aboriginal sound by the fond imagination of some lumberman, finding in it a sweet memorial of his Mary far away in the kitchens of the Kennebec, his Mary so rotund of blooming cheek, his Molly of the chunky mug.''' SPIRIT OF MOOSELUCKMEGUNTIC. CAMPING OUT. 65 In like manner of Mooseluckviegnntic^ the name of the lake next above Mollychunkamunk, Mr. Farrar gives us the following odd tra- dition: — " A hunter, who was out after moose, met with such poor success, that he almost famished. He said, — ' I had been four days without game, and naturally without anything to eat, except pine-cones and green chestnuts. There was no game in the forest. The trout would not > ;:e /or I had no tackle or hook. I was starving. I sat down and rested m ' trusty but futile rifle against a fallen tree. Suddenly I heard a tread, turnv,il iry head, saw a moose — took my gun — tick ! he was dead. I was saved. I feasted, and in CAMP HENRY, RANGELEY OUTLET. gratitude named the lake Moosetookmyguntick." The name has undergone some modifications since its origin, but it cannot be misunderstood." Upper Dam is called very good fishing-ground. The waters in great volume plunge through the sluice-ways of the dam with a thun- derous rush, making those ytjasty maelstroms which the trout love so well. '■M KM 66 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. We fished there with both assiduity and a long-lived patience for two or three hours — and Fred caught one! It was a pretty fish, and would have weighed a pound, I think. The ten-pounders did not show that day. Next day Stein, Rike, and Karzy fished Mosquito Brook, two miles below, and Karzy caught three trouts as large as small cigars. At the end of this day's sport Moses O^ summed up as follows: — "Fellows, this is a very pretty region of country, — these lakes and mountains. But it is getting rather thickly settled with city sports- men and their camps. The game is mostly on paper. If we want to see any real sport this vacation, we had better move on." FRED'S MOOSE-STORY. AS RECORDED BY " RIKE." We had heard a great deal about moose-hunting down in Maine, and were anxious for our guide to take us to hunt the noble animal. In a gentle way he gave us to understand that moose were not quite as plenty as tliey used to be, also that there was a law against killing them i and furthermore, when pressed hard by us, he as good as told us that it would be of no use to go hunting moose then, for the best of reasons : there were no moose at present. But moose do sometimes come about these lakes ; and a few years ago, in May, 1877, our guide had had a most exciting ride after a bull moose on Lake Cupsuptic, the third lake above Welokennebacook. He was at that time "guiding" for two gentlemen named Sargent and Chase; and that morning thev were out in a boat trolling for trout. Not far off were two other boats with two gentlemen named Lewis (father and son), and two guides named Haley and Haines. It was a fine cool morning. The lake lay black and still. They were having fair sport, when Mr. Sargent's attention was at- tracted to what looked like the blanched roots of a pine stump, floating along at no great distance. "What is that?" he asked. "A moose! A big buck moose!" were the almost simultaneous excla- mations from the whole party. " Where could he have come from ? " CAMPING OUT. 67 Then came a scramble. Lines were hauled in, rods were shipped, and the guns were seized. • But a voice cried, " Don't fire ; it's against the law ! Let's catch him ! " Every paddle was at once brought into requisition. Meantime the moose, which had probably been taking a morning swim to free itself from flies, took alarm at the hubbub, and struck off for the shore. It was an eager race now. The pursuers gained, and were close upon the moose, when his feet touched bottom. With a mighty splashing, a shake and a snort, he dashed into the woods on Birch Island. w vi^iiSSiy^v „^*'^s!rVow,' jiV ,.r-.-,, r— A CAMP ON LAKE MOOSELUCKMEGUNTIC. " Head him ! " was the cry. " Head him off at the other end of the island ! " Several of the party leaped from the boats, and ran pell-mell through the woods. The moose could be heard crashing through the brush. Stimulated by the sport and by the fresh morning air, the men fairly astonished themselves with their own running. Over logs, through brush and bushes, across bog-holes and sloughs, on they scrambled ; and to drive him into the lake again they set up a chorus 68 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. of shouts, hoots, and unearthly yells, until the poor moose no doubt thought that pandemonium had broken loose. He dashed back and forth along the wooded shore. At length, hearing his pursuers closing in about him, he took to the lake again, and struck out with a tremendous splashing. "There he goes I He's swimming for the other shore! To the boats again ! " and his eager pursuers ran to re-embark. By the time they were fairly afloat, the moose had got some distance from land ; but under the energetic strokes of Fred and the other guides, well seconded by the amateurs, the distance was speedily shortened, although the ^'"•^::Jiu.j^ : A SETTLilR'S LOO CABIN. moose swam powerfully, just showing its black head and neck above water. Foot by foot they closed with him. '" Look out — he may turn on you ! " cautioned Haines. But Fred shot alongside the creature within only a few yards of him. A running noose was made of the boat's tow-line. Watching his chance, Fred threw it. By good luck it fell over the moose's antlers, and was instantly drawn tight. A wild hurrah applauded this feat, both from those in the other boats and from several sportsmen on the shore. But though lassoed, the moose was not yet captured. The creature CAMPING OUT. 69 struck off smartly, towing the boat after him. The men tried to stop him by backing water ; but his strength overmatched theirs. One of the other boats now came up and made fast to the same rope, but the moose took them both along at the same rate. "Well, let him go, if he's determined to!" cried Chase. "Let him swim, and we'll ride." In fact, they were all about tired enough to rest ; and since they could not stop the animal, they lay back and enjoyed the ride. On went the moose, up the lake, plunging through the water with heavy kicks of its broad hoofs. "Why, this is equal to steam-power ! " exclaimed Sargent. ■n ■'% THE FIRST STEAMER ON THE LAKES. Indeed, the puffing and blowing of the moose forcibly reminded them of a donkey-engine. The lookers-on from the shore did not at once comprehend the situation, moose power being such a novelty. The moose swam with both boats as fast as a person couid easily paddle a canoe. By hauling on the liie, either upon his right or left side, the course of the animal could be changed. For three miles the moose forged ahead, the hunters riding serenely in his wake. The animal did not attempt to turn on them, as they had half expected he would, but seemed intent only upon getting away. Having 70 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. thoroughly enjoyed the " ride," a sentiment of sympathy began to creep into the hearts of the sportsmen. "I say, gendemen, it's too bad to ride a free horse to death," quoth one. "That's so ! " exclaimed every voice. " There's some danger, too, of his getting winded and giving up sud- denly," said Fred. " If he should drown out here we should lose him." " Head him for the shore, then I " cried Chase. " Go for Camp Frye ! " " Camp Frye," it may be explained, is the designation given to a tourists' camp on the lake shore, after the Hon. Wm. P. Frye, Senator from Maine. It so happened that the camp was at that time occupied by Mr. Frye him- self, with his family. For Camp Frye the moose was accordingly headed, and by adroit man- agement of the line he was " grounded " near the boat-landing. So com- pletely tired out had the animal become that it offered almost no resistance when pulled out of the water upon the shore. It seemed stupefied, and gave no other sign of native ferocity than an occasional stamp of its forehoof, and by grinding its teeth. The guides say that they had never seen a larger moose. Its weight was estimated at twelve hundred pounds. The sight of a live moose fresh from its haunts was a novelty. Of course nobody dreamed of such a thing as taking the animal's life. The law of Maine, at present, forbids the killing of all wild ruminants. To have " made away " with the animal in the presence of a veteran lawgiver like Mr. Frye would have been too foul a deed to have escaped merited justice. We are well assured, therefore, that after three hours' durance the moose was turned loose to " multicrease and replenish " the forests. Having re- gained his " wind " somewhat, the old fellow departed with an exultant bound when the line was cut ; but his report to his antlered brethren con- taining his views of the morning's sport has not yet been transmitted. ■ CHAPTER V. MOOSEHEAD AND THE WEST BRANCH. EXT morning there was thick fog: lakes, primeval forest, and roaring dams, all buried — lost — in one unutterable white sea of pearly mist. Till eight o'clock and past, we could scarcely discern objects fifteen yards distant, even. Men walking about, until nigh enough to shake hands | -ji:^ it ( w l\ 78 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. is twenty miles from this place to Chesuncook, northward, and down the river. We had three birch canoes, each a little larger than the ordinary size, for we were three to a canoe. Two were new, but all three were stanch and dry. The guides had brought along low seats with backs, made of pine boards, for us to sit on amidships; but we did not like these, and chose rather the great rolls of wool blankets strapped up in the rubber .. ankets. A canoe de bouleau^ or, in Maine phrase, a "birch," is not nearly OLU WOODEN RAILROAD AND " BULI.GINE." SO cranky a craft as many believe. The Maine lakes canoes generally tip and roll less easily ihan small board boats. Once a little used to them, they are the most delightful of skiffs, for they sit on the water like a duck, and a little rare will prevent their listing. Some tourists object to them because a ,5ail cannot be used; but as a matter of fact, we sailed them on every fair wind; and I am convinced that the objec- tion is imaginary. True, it would not do to run plump on a rockj but that is a lubberly accident at best. MOOSEHEAD AND THE WEST BRANCH. 79 The Branch was low. For a mile there was dead water between banks lined with black firs; then the stream shoaled, and thenceforward we found "rips" and "bars" in plenty, all the way down to the "carry" at Pine Stream Falls. From the foot of the falls to the lake there is dead water, through a sort of alluvial bottom covered with a dense growth of firs. There were numerous frog lilies, but we saw no white ones. The bed of the stream is here very muddy; and as we drew near Lake Chesun- cook, the water itself was muddy, for a breeze had arisen and the waves were run- ning back. We now es- ■ pied a smoke over the tree- tops. The set- tlers were clear- ing and burning off the forest, getting ready for next year's crop. A little farther on, the lake opened to great e® rising BRASSAU RAPIDS. view, and we saw rude shanties along the east shore. We were in sight of Mur- phy's, or, as some said, Hatheway's, little kingdom, and on emerging from the river, on the lake proper, saw the palace itself of this backwoods potentate, upon the west shore on rising ground, distant about a mile. It was a large story-and-a-half house, with a piazza across the front side. Near by were numerous barns and storehouses. I 8o THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. Turning the bar off the mouth of the river on the west side, we crossed a bay in the teeth of a rather heavy sea. Tlie whole lake, twenty miles long, lay before us, and, to the south-east, the high, rugged peaks of Katahdin. For three or four miles down the lake, on both shores, the land is cleared and studded with shanties belonging to Murphy's subjects. Everything had a new, rude aspect. We landed m a smart surf, and withal a very muddy one. The canoes were drawn up, and we all climbed the steep and very stony path leading to the house. Several rough-looking fellows, French- Canadians, were lounging about the piazza, a part of Murphy's stand- ing army, probably. " Is Mr. Hatheway, or Mr. Murphy, at home ? " Harold demanded. He had come near saying Prince Hatheway. Alas ! Czar Itlurphy was absent. What a fate was ours ! "Could we have dinner?" Stein inquired. At this juncture Murphy's generalissimo made his appearance, and, on the question being repeated, admitted that the thing was pos- sible, and naturally to be expected. We were invited to enter — and entered. We should have been invited into the parlor, no doubt, but Mur- phy is a man of advanced ideas, and hires an annual schoolma'am to teach both his own progeny and those of his subjects; and just now the parlor was the schoolroom. Of this we were presently made aware by the escape of an unruly pupil, a wild-looking urchin, who burst forth with a howl and came tearing into the bar-room, closely pursued by the teacher, a hale young lady of eighteen or thereabouts. Little "Jake" came near involving us all in the melee, for he darted and doubled betwixt us, half frantic with terror. To put an end to the matter, Moses O. caught him and gave him over to legal authority; but he still kicked and reviled in a lively manner. Without waste of time, he was dragged away to condign punishment, as his yells soon attested. MOOSEHEAD AND THE WEST BRANCH. 8x A bell was rung to announce dinner, while we were thus en- gaged. We passed through the bar-room into the dining-hall, a large, long room, with a long table, now steaming with the whole bill of fare. A stout daughter of Ireland was in attendance. Evidently they thought we were hungry, and kindly meant to satisfy us. Every- thing by way of food was on such an enormous scale, and there were such unheard-of quantities of it, as to quite dismay Karzy, who gazed A PARTY WE SAW. about in ludicrous helplessness. I quite believe there was a half- bushel of boiled potatoes, not one of which was smaller than an aver- age apple-dumpling! with platters of fried beef and gravy, which might have sufficed for Polyphemus. The slices of wheat bread were three inches in thickness, without exaggeration; and ginger-snaps were brought on in a kind of hod. In Murpliy's kitchen they were used to feeding lumbermen and river-drivers, with appetites like a locomotive. Following snaps came a vast pie; a pie with a bottom crust like a 82 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. plank, and nearly as thick; a pie, the upper crust of which resembled, in its vast undulations, a storm}' ocean. Stein thought it would be a fine thing to study geology by. "Only look at the grand upheavals! " said he. The charge was fifty cents per plate, which, considering the quan- tity provided, was certainly " wondrous cheap, and for the money quite a heap." CHAPTER VI. UMBAZOOKSOUS MEADOWS. TWO SIDES TO A STORY. IRECTLY after dinner we took our departure, and paddled out across the mouth of the West Branch, and, keeping on to the north-east corner of the lake, entered the mouth of Caucomgomoc Stream, with a smart gale at our backs. For a mile the channel is broad, with little or no current; there is a thick growth of white birches on both banks. The Caucomgomoc then bends suddenly to the left and westward, and at this place the Umbazooksous joins it from the north-east and right. Our route to Chamberlain Lake lay up the Umbazooksous. These are Indian names, which " Marsh " thus explained the meanings of. Caucom- gomoc, or Caucomgomoctook, meant Big-Gull-Lake-Stream, since it is the outlet of Lake Caucomgomoc to the north-west; Umbazooksous signified Great Bog Stream. We soon perceived the appropriateness of the latter name, for our course was now along a small muddy brook through miles of open bog. There was barely water enough to float us, and scarcely any current. We met here a canoe containing a gentleman tourist and guide, of whom, after mutual salutations, we inquired of the stream above. Everybody feels acquainted when meeting in these wilds. Their ac- count was bad enough. Along the stream, in a score of places, there were broad plats of wild roses, of whi*. there were still a few in bloom. The mud banks were soft and bare, ani on these there squatted and hopped an infinite 84 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. army of frogs, and a few "peeps" which kept flying up a little in ad- vance of us. At one place we saw the feathers and bill of a hapless heron. About it were the tracks of a fisher, or a wild-cat. Flocks of partridges were frequently seen in the grass along the b^nks. Rike, who was in the bow of the leading canoe, shot a number with Uncle Johnny's shot-gun; also several of the "peeps," though they would make but a mouthful apiece. The stream grew still narrower and more shoal as we went on. The keels, or rather bottoms, of the canoes stirred the mud, and raised a not very pleasant odor, and at length, at about six o'clock, we came to a place where further navigation seemed quite impossible. On the right bank, too, there was ,i beaten path leading off into the fir woods; for here the open meadows ended, and higher ground, heavily wooded, began. The guides said we should have to " carry" around the place. But off in the west a heavy bank of black clouds was drifting up over the mountains. It had the appearance of being a shower. We judged it best to camp. Swarms of mosquitoes and " midges " came upon us from the low land. The prospect of a shower seemed wonderfully to add to their ferocity. We had hoped, at this season, to be free from these pests of tourists; but at times, and in certain localities, we still found them in full force. Uncle John said there were always mosquitoes on the Umbazooksous. A fire was built on the bank, where former tourists had had one, and we set up our tent a little to the right of it, so that the west wind would take the smoke out clear of us. The evening darkened rapidly, and the multitudes of frogs began their conclamation, some shrill-voiced and agreeable, but others in terribly bass gutturals. Ere long the thunder began to peal out and rumble in long reverberations, and the lightning to show in bright, vivid lines. , , UMDAXOOKSOUS MEADOWS. 85 But this shower passed to the southward, following the West Branch; other thunders, however, were muttering far up in the north- west, over Caucomgomoc. A little later, a few drops were scattered down on a sudden, and these had, or seemed to have, a singular effect. With them the mosquitoes drew off for the time being; there was a lull of the contlnu- ous hum. We seisjcd the opportunity to take our supper; but before we had finished, the torments again assailed us, fiercer than before. We were fain to flee to our tent. Those intermittent attacks of the mosquitoes must be due to electric changes in the air, not perceptible to us. As the evening ad- vanced, some animal came about the camp. We heard it several times, breaking the brush as it stepped. Nobody cared to hunt it, however; Karzy and Rike, indeed, were already asleep. Next morning, while Uncle Johnny and "Marsh" were boiling potatoes, baking biscuits* and getting up breakfast, we espied a smoke a few hundred metres back from the Ktreani, across the meadow, on a knoll covered with gum-spruces. On going out to it, we found three fellows encamped there — not tourists, but young men of seventeen or eighteen, from WAITING FOR HER COFFEE. 86 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. the settlement below, stopping there to cut and stack hay on these natural meadows. They were bright, smart-looking boys, tough and inured to pioneer life; and they had ideas and aspirations, too, in advance of the kind of life they were leading. We found them getting their break- fast and reading Ccssar in the Latin; and we afterwards ascer- tained that they were trying, while thus working their way, to fit for college. To find boys x'eading Latin and Greek in such a wilderness was a novelty which both astonished and interested us. Finding them here was the occasion of our spending a number of days at this place, hunting, digging spruce-gum, etc., for we really took a great liking to them, and the rough but sturdy and self-reliant life they led. A misunderstanding arose, however; (it was nothing more than a misunderstanding.) They took it into their heads that we were mak- ing game of their eftbrts to master Latin and fit for college. They seemed very sensitive on that point. The fact was simply that we were a little surprised at it, but really had conceived a great admira- tion for their pluck. We failed, however, to make them understand us. They grew suspicious, and kept on their guard; and finally (as we are free to own) they got one of the worst practical jokes on us that ever was sprung in those parts. Not content with the joke, too, one of them gave II away in a letter to a Boston paper. As afterwards appeared, they had some time before come by chance upon a very old stag moose, too decrepit and blind to run much, ofi:' a few miles in the woods. This venerable old grand-dad of moose they had caught and hitched up to a tree near a neighboring pond shore — for sport. But we are perfectly willing the reader should have the joke as told in their press-letter. We merely claim the right .o cor- rect a iew minor statements of theirs wherein they were misinformed in regard to us personally. UMBAZOOKSOUS MEADOWS. 87 ** Two of them [their letter referring to us states] were young medical studen,ts from Philadelphia, and another a young clerj^yman — or going to be — though you would never have known it from his actions, for the ' par- son * was the wildest of the party. " Before long these new arrivals happened to see our copy of Caesar. The ' parson ' and one of the young doctors were graduates of a university, and they wondered where that ' Ciesar' came from. No statement of ours would make them believe v/e knew enough to read in it ; so they quizzed us unmercifully, and laughed heartily at their own jokes at our expense. "We really hoped, after we found they had studied Latin, that we might learn something from them, and when they asked us to read, of course did the best we could. " Our pronunciation of the Latin amused them amazingly, particularly the ' parson.' We didn't care for his laughing, if we could only learn some- thing from him ; but I'm inclined to think that he did not know too much of Caesar himself." (There was nothing especially odd about their pronunciation of Latin, according to the English method. They read Latin fluently and well — remarkably well for boys without school-training. It is quite true that we could not teach them much, if anything, in Caesar, and we had no intention of quizzing them. They were misinformed as to there being two medical students and a young " parson " in our party.) " All of them were eager to hunt. They wanted to shoot something ; a bear, or deer, or something of that kind ; but they knew nothing of hunting, and could never even get sight of game of any size. They had expected to find the woods here full of game ; consequently they would come back every night disgusted, and the more ready to torment us about our Latin. " Then they asked us to go hunting with them, but we, of course, were too busy with our haying to comply with their request. At length we became indignant, almost angry, at their chaff, and determined to take some of the conceit out of them. We had not told them of our old blind moose; but the following night, when we got home, Ed said to them that we had seen moose signs as we came along. "'Is that so?' they exclaimed. HS THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. "'Yes,' says Ed; 'and I am sure I could beat up that moose before to- morrow noon.' " That caused them to urge us again to go out with them. " ' We have our hay to take care of,' said Vet, ' and cannot afford to spend time in that way.' " They spoke in whispers a few moments, and then offered us ten dollars if we would take them within sight and good fair range of a moose. " ' No,' said Ed. " They said no more that night, buf the next morning they doubled the C'RAND-DAD. offer. They would give us twenty dollars if we would take them where they could see and have a good fair shot at a moose. "* All right,' said Ed. ' You will promise to pay us that if we will bring you within rifle distance of a moose.' " ' Yes, yes, certainly ; we're serious.' And then they strapped on their hunting-knives and revolvers, and loaded their guns. All had elegant, double-barrelled, English sporting-guns, Purdy's make, worth a hundred and fifty dollars apiece. 1^ UMliAXOOKSOUS Af/i/IDOlVS. <9 "We to(»k them along tlie ' carry path ' half a mile or more, then round and about through the woods five or six miles, pointing out moose signs by the way. About ten o'clock we brought them round near where we had old 'grandsir' hitched on the pond shore. Ed crept along, an.l imitating his careful movements, they were presently all creeping on their hands and knees after him. By this time they were wrought up to fever-heat, and Ed A HAPPY FAMILY. — ONE WE DIDN'T MEET. led them, still creeping, through mud and rushes, until near the moose, and then we parted the reeds and gave them the first glimpse of old 'grand-dad' grubbing the bushes. "' There, now take good aim, and don't butcher the critter,' Ed whispered. "Their hands trembled with excitement as they fired, but some of their shots hit the poor old brute, causing him to utter a distressful grunt. At that IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 1.1 2.5 |50 •^" Ui Bii |2.2 m §A0 IL25 i 1.4 6" i?.0 B 1.6 9^ % >> '^-^V ^*f ^ 4> Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WIST MiAIN STRIET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) •72 4503 iV ^ 90 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. they retreated for dear life, but rallied after a few moments' listening, and closed round the animal again. They did rot dare go very near him, but fired through the bushes. Ed and Vet and I were in the rushes, shaking with laughter. They fired six or eight shots. So long as the poor brute showed the least sign of life they fired at him, for they had been told stories of moose turning on hunters. Then they ventured up, and discovered that he was hitched to a tree, and had been hitched all the time. Then there was a silence for some moments, then some talk ; but the charting was on our side now. Of course they saw the joke, but wouldn't take it. They con- sidered themselves insulted, and were very angry. The ' parson ' wanted to know whether we had any particu- lar motive in hitching up the moose. " ' So he needn't hurt ye,' said Ed. ^* They were so disturbed that we went oft' and left them. Towards supper time they came to camp, bringing ' grandsir's ' head and ant- lers. That evening Dearborn asked us if we expected to get the twenty dollars. " ' Of course,' said Ed. " ' Let us know when you get it then,' said Dearborn, coolly. " ' Didn't we keep our part of the agreement to the letter?' Ed asked. "'.What if you did?' "* Well, as we did, we expect you to keep your part;' and he stepped up quickly and took up one of their guns. 'I'll keep this for security till the twenty dollars are paid.' "There was dead silence for a while; in fact, there wasn't much more said that night. But the next morning they gave us the twenty dollars, packed up their things, and left, without even bidding us good-by. We said nothing. We had endured so much chaff* from them on our Latin that we felt we had a right to retaliate in some inoflfensive way, and we ctrtainly thought they ought to have taken the joke in good part." , KATAHDIN FROM lilE LAKE. rpVO SIDES TO A STORY. 91 It is evident that this account was written up to make the joke sound as big- as possible, and to put us in a damaging light. That it was a round Joke we never denied. From some cause there is an inaccu- racy in the state- ment that " Ed " seized one of our guns. They had borrowed one of our gu2is some days before. The twenty dollars was not paid under compulsion^ but was a free gift on our part — after we had talked over the matter together — in the hope that they would cherish no further ill-will. UNCLE AMOS AND UNCLE JOHNNY. CHAPTER VII. THE WOOD-SPRITES. A NOCTURNAL SCARE. FTER undergoing such a " sell " as this, we naturally concluded that we had better go. If we went, as our friends complain, without a formal "good-by," it is simply that we felt such a ceremony would be super- fluous, not from any premeditated rudeness. If, on ' reflection, the time comes when they shall repent of the unfeeling manner in which they practised on our innocence and inexperience, we shall be heartily glad to receive their overtures and resume friendly relations. No better earnest could be given that we are willing to take their joke in good part. We departed up the muddy Umbazooksous on our way to Mud Pond and Chamberlain Farm in a rather wilted condition. Moses O. was not heard to speak a loud word that day. He only whispered faintly once or twice, and shook his head dismally at times. Karzy wished we hadn't come that way. Rike hinted gently his fears that the aborigines were too much for us. . We didn't dare to tell our guides what had happened to us, for fear their sympathies would be on the wrong side,, possibly that they might desert us right there in the woods. " Ruined I ruined ! " Karzy would groan at intervals. " Ruined by Chinese cheap labor! " All day we toiled along that shoal, crooked, and muddy Umba- zooksous, wading and fighting mosquitoes. Four times the canoes. THE WOOD-SPRITES. 93 and everything in them, had to be " toted " across '* carries," round dams and blockades of driftwood. Both banks, too, were densely wooded with thickets of black alders, fir, and larch. It was not until sunset, and after, that we came out to Umbazook- sous Lake. Launching on this, we crossed to the north-east side, where "Mud Pond Carry," across to Mud Pond, begins, two and a half miles long. There is a clearing here where formerly was a hay farm, now partly grown up to bushes. It was dark already when we landed. Going along the path through the willow clumps to reconnoitre, Karzy espied the glimmer of a camp-fire. It looked so cheery there in that wild and gloomy wilderness, that, while the guides were getting out the canoes, we started off to see who our neighbors were. It was at some distance out across the clearing, with many intervening bush clumps and much dewy grass. At length we came through some hazels in sight of a large tent and a blithe camp-fire partly behind a thicket of fir near a haystack. Meantime our " Uncle Amos " had come up behind us, to keep us out of trouble, I suppose. " Better be kinder keerful," he advised, sotto voce. " No knowin' who they be. They might hear us a-comin' through the brush, and think 'twas some wild critter, and fire." Rike was about to hail them, when to our astonishment a silvery laugh floated across to us, and a clear, girlish voice cried, " Louis, please toast more crackers." "Whew I Young ladies!" Harold exclaimed under his breath. " Where do you suppose they came from? and what are they doing here?" " Camping out, perhaps," Stein said. " I'll bet ye 'tis the very same party that left Kineo a week ago," Uncle Amos remarked. "They ware goin' through to Chamberlain Farm. Got two guides, and had two new, large canoes." 94 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. "Know who they were, Uncle AmosV" questioned Harold. Uncle Amos didn't, but he knew their guides: Louis Soccabesori (Indian) and Billy Goss (American) . " An' Louis is a good guide," Uncle Amos added; "the best guide round the lakes, I du s'pose, if he is an Injun." "Well, hail them. Uncle Amos! " cried Rike. "This is no place for ceremony. Perhaps they will kindly give us a cup of tea." Our guide roared out a prolonged " HuUo-o-o-o tharl " Silence for a moment brooded on the opposite encampment. Then we saw two dark forms come through the firs. "That you, Billy?" Uncle Amos called out. "That you. Uncle Amos?" from so-called Billy. Without further ado we ventured to approach. Ah! but 'twas a pretty sight that then met our eyes! A large, gaj'^ly accoutred tent, a bright camp-fire, and on a carpet of green boughs, amidst the firs, four ladies cosily taking supper from off a table-board laid on the boughs and covered with a bright-colored cloth. Naturally they were a little disturbed at our coming upon them as we did, and paused from their repast in reserved silence. The two guides said nothing. Nothing said our Uncle Amos. The burden of the thing was on us. "I sincerely beg pardon, ladies, for this intrusion!" Harold exclaimed, with a bow. " We were belated over in the swamps, and your fire looked so cheery, we could not resist coming toward it." The oldest of the ladies, whose intellectual face I had at once noted, bowed courteously. But fortune was on Harold's side that night. "Pray excuse me!" he suddenly exclaimed; "but I cannot be mistaken, — am I? Is not this Miss M whom I had the pleasure of knowing at Newport last summer, and afterward at the Fabyan in the White Mountains? Or (laughing) is it the queen of the wood- J i. sprites, Queen Mab, perhaps, who I h >pe has not entirely forgot- ten — " "Forgotten Mr. Dearborn? No indeed I" cried one of the young ladies, rising with a pleased smile, and extending her hand to our lucky comrade. We were "all right" now, and soon had the pleasure of mutual introductions. In fact, we found that none of the party, upon whom THE LADIES' CAMP. 96 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. we had so accidentally fallen, were wholly unknown to us. The pleasant lady who had this jolly expedition in charge, is a writer whose works we have all come to admire; while the younger ladies were still "college girls." They had come up to Mootrehead and Kineo three weeks before, on a sketching and camping-out tour. To-night, with their guides, they were en route for Chrmberlain Farm; and very picturesque they looked in their camping-out suits, seated round their fire. Right hos- pitably, too, they entertained us that evening — a benefit not soon for- gotten by us in our belated and hungry condition. An hour later we bade them good-night — not without a secret resolve to spend next day in that vicinity. But going back to our landing-place by a shorter cut-ofF to the right, past a growth of high choke-cherry bushes, we stumbled on still another camp, near another haystack, where were four young fellows — strangers to us — students from the Harvard Scientific School, with their three guides. At first their greeting and reception of us was a little stiff. We mistrusted at once that they were hovering at a respectful distance in the wake of those young ladies, and did not blame them a bit for not relishing our appearance on the scene. Naturally they wouldn't. But they warmed toward us after talking awhile, and at length gave us so cordial an invitation to fetch up our tent and camp by their fire, that we did so, and passed a most enjoyable evening. They were fine, manly fellows. An exceedingly funny thing happened that night. These ladies, as you must know, were away off at the other side of the clearing, alone in their tent. Their two guides, " Louis " and "Billy," had come over to our side, and were spending the night with our guides. Sometime along in the night, (it must have been as late as two in the morning,) one of our new Harvard friends (whom the others A NOCTURNAL SCARE. 97 called " Robin Goodfellow ") woke up with toothache, and arose to walk about and chew cloves. In the kindness of his heart he reflected how lonely and unprotected those ladies were, with "Louis" and "Billy" sound asleep and snoring there with our guides, and he walked cautiously out toward their tent — just to see that they were all right. A few wakeful mosquitoes met him and presented bills for immediate adjustment. While negotiations of this sort were going on, he stood a moment, and at length began to be aware of a singu- larly regular sound from the direction of the ladies' tent. In fact, it sounded uncommonly like some one munching something, only very slowly and regularly. A very absurd idea seized the young gen- tleman. Ha! they are having an extra supper in there! he thought, and was on the point of calling out, "Give me some! " when the cur- tain of their tent was opened a little, very stealthily, and an alarmed whisper called, " Louis! Louis! " As the aborigine was far away, Robin at once went forward. "Oh dear!" cried the distressed whisperer; "there is certainly something behind this tent! We can hear it chewing something, and oh! it steps so heavy! Do look! But do be careful. Oh, dear me! What shall we do?" Without in the least sharing this terror, Robin started round the tent, smiling, but on turning the corner on the back side, uttered a yell and bolted! — for there stood an animal close up to the tent, as large as a rhinoceros! black as ink — a monster! At this note of masculine alarm, a chorus of shrieks arose from the tent. It burst open, and there streamed out a headlong, horrified group in long wrappers, with flying hair. The stampede came straight out where we were encamped ; and we were waked by the screams and by Robin shouting, " Get your guns! Get your guns ! " The ladies fled past our tent and stood barefoot in the dewy grass, holding fast to each other, with eyes dilating. 98 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. Rousing up, we seized each what he could first get hold of, for weapons, and sallied out in our stockings. "Out behind their tent!" Robin exclaimed. "The Lord only knows what!" We made for their tent and edged round it. , There it stood I "By the Lord Harry!" muttered Moses O. under his breath. Several guns were cocked. We were all staring hard. But the beast seemed to be gazing calmly at us. • \ Louis gave an impressive " humph ! " "Hold on!" exclaimed Uncle Johnny. "Don't fire! Why! why, you dear boys! That air's an ox ! " " WhatV "Go-'long! Hurrup! Gee, Bright! Huh Broad, away from there! " shouted Uncle Johnny, charging on the calm old bovine, and giving him some sound thumps with an axe-handle. "Hoh!" sneered Wert (another of our new friends). "This is nice! But how the dickens did that old ox get here?" That was the puzzle. We were looking for anything sooner than an ox, there. Robin was badly sold. Meantime " Billy " had taken after the ox with a long pole, and goaded him off into the woods. - "Nothing but an ox," Wert had called to the ladies. But they would not stir from the spot where they stood, for a long time; they seemed rooted there. • ' - • • "Oh! we heard him, and heard him champing so horribly!" quavered one. "Gnawing and gnawing at something!" v " Chewing his cud," explained Moses O: ' " But he kept smelling and snuffing and grabbing all along the head of the tent! " she persisted. " Pulling out the hay," said Wert, laughing. They stood a moment r A NOCTURNAL SCARE, 99 more, then all four went straight to their tent and shut themselves up in it. " They must have some cold toes standing here in the wet grass," "DONT FIRE I THAT AIR'S AN OX!" observed Moses O., gazing reflectively after them. " Louis, you had better build a fire, as near the front end oi the tent as it will answer, so they can dry and warm their feet." The Indian hastened to do so. lOO THE KNO.CK-ABOUT C{.(/B. Tfie old ox came back. In'the mortiing we espied him, standing at a little distance, chewing his cud, and gazing on us complace^itly, As if heenjoyfidthe sight of us with all his heart. By daylight he urned out to be a dark-brown ox, instead of a black one. ** Billy " thought that the Chamberlain folks had used the ox here about their haying, or to draw supplies across the " carry," and so turned him out to get his own living in the clearing. The old brute seemed lonely, and no doubt pined for the privileges of a civilized barn-yard. His curly old face and great inoffensive eyes seemed to say, " Let me, at least, look on ; for the sight of you does me good." CHAPTER VIII. nUMBLE-BEES' NESTS. STEIN'S ADVENTURES. HE ladies did not seem much the worse for their mis- adventure, but appeared not to relish any alhision to it. The subject was accordingly tabooed. It took our guides till hite in the atlernoon to tote the canoes and luggage across the long " carry " to Mud Pond. We spent "the day with our newly-met friends, and had a superb time. It was a most cosy place for. camping out, there in that old clearing, among the bush clumps and haystacks. There were numerous bumble-bees' nests in the grass and about the old stumps. We " took up " not less than ten that forenoon. The ladies helped. We would each get a great "brush" of bushes and go j;t" the bees, by guess. Nearly all got stung before the "craze" was over; and there were some of the most ludicrous scenes imaginable when all hands were fighting bees at once I We got out some fine bits of comb, with honey as clear as dew, for the ladies. ', In the afternoon — after a grand union dinner from the combined supplies of all three parties, and four ducks our friends had shot — we went across the lake in their canoes upon a gumming excursion on the farther shore. It was a great, sombre, old spruce forest, ex- tending back over the hills. In many places there were trees with long cracks and seams up their trunks, studded with fine great knobs of clear gum. We dug oflT not less than eight pounds that afternoon, — a peck basket-full, in fact. It was a novel ex- perience. Next morning we tore our- selves away — most reluctantly. G'adly would we have stayed — a month. But to stay seemed hardly the fair and honorable thing from us towards our new friends, the Harvard boys. The two parties there were just nice- ly matched off as it was, and were having a quiet, enjoyable vacation. I regret to say that one or two of our party were suffi- ciently self-confident to think that the ladies would not in the least object to our remaining; TAKING UP BUMBLE-BEES' NESTS. STEIN'S ADVENTURES WITH TWO BEARS. 103 but the rest of us overruled them, holding that it would be a breach of that delicate honor which ought always to subsist between young gentlemen in such cases. We bade them all good-bye, and wished them a, happy va- cation, hoping we might meet again next year; and so parted the very best of friends, which we might not have remained had we stayed. Crossing Mud Pond, we had a second "carry" of half a mile to Chamberlain Lake: a broad, sea-like expanse twenty miles long by four in width. The day was calm, and launching our " birches " fearlessly on the lake, we crossed to the " farm " on the north-east shore, seventy miles from any other house. Here we remained three days, mainly to gratify our comrade Stein, who became much interested in the mineralogy of the locality. He made numerous excursions to the ledges and hills about the farm, and off to adjoining clearings connected with it by cart-roads. They let him have an old farm-horse there, named "Jed," to ride. Mean- time, the rest of us fished and hunted, but saw very little game. Odd- ly enough. Stein, who was not aftei game at all, had two adventures with bears. As he was hero of these, and alone at the time, I record them in his own language. " Ben," the foreman at the farm, had de- scribed some wonderful " black diamonds " to him, and Stein had set off on old Jed, with hammer and saddle-bags, to get specimens. STEIN'S ADVENTURES WITH TWO BEARS. There was a new road for three or four miles [as he relates]. My route then led me along a disused lumber-road, which followed up the valley of a large brook. It was a very desolate, wild tract, but I readily found the ledges and the black crystals which Ben had described. These proved to be very fine, large crystals of tourmaline, some of them fully six inches long by two and three in diameter. I set off" to return a little before sundown. As nearly as I now remember, I had gone a mile and a half, perhaps more, I04 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. for the sun had now set to me in the valley of the lumber-road, when my horse, which had thus far plodded on soberly enough, stopped short and began to enort and stamp. After a moment or two I tried to urge the horse along. He set his forefeet and snorted, and while I was trying to spur him up, a large black animal — a bear, I knew at a glance — trotted out into the road from behind a clump of basswoods. Seeing us, the bear stopped, and stretched out an inquiring nose towards the horse. The animal was perhaps a hundred ftet ahead of us. I felt the horse begin to tremble under me. His ears were bent forward, every nerve tightening. I kept speaking to him, and shout- ed at the bear, which stood looking sullenly at us. I didn't know what to do ; but old Jed settled that question for me. All h'is fear seemed suddenly to turn into rage, and he bounded iit the bear like a fury. I came near going oft' his back at the first leap, but clutched his mane and hung on. The next thing I recollect seeing was the bear almost under the horse's forefeet, running and growling, the horse bit- ing wildly at him. It seemed as if we must come down plump '^n tc> the bear at every spring. IJe was right under the horse's fore-hoofs at each plunge. I should think we went a hundred rods down the road in just that way, the horse almost trampling on the bear at every jump. At length he tacked suddenly out of the lumber-road into the woods, and the horse, rushing frantically after him, dashed under some h mlocks, the low boughs of which scraped me off his back and sent me rolling into a little hollow. I got up and "I MET THE OLD BEAR." STEIN'S ADVENTURES WITH TWO BEARS, 105 listened awhile, till tht horse and bear had gone fairly out of hearing, then limped back to the farm in anything but a comfortable condition. Next morning we found the horse near the barn. One of the stiiTups was torn off, and he had lost the hammer and a part of my specimens out of the saddle-bags. How he had come off with the bear we could only guess. But I was destined to have still another bear adventure in that region. The second day after I went up to "Ben's" "diamond ledge" again, on foot this time, and was returning through partly cleared pasture-land^, when I came suddenly upon a little wee chub of a creature, with a yellow face, sharp ears, and brownish back and sides. 'Twas a bear-cub — a little suckling. It ran a few steps, and hid itself beside a stump. I played with it a while, and found that it wouldn't bite, and then thought I would carry him to the farm. So I caught him up, took him under my arm, and started. The little chap whimpered some, and soon began to squeal. I was afraid the mother-bear might be about, and so started to run. There was a sheep-path tliere which wound in and out among the bush clumps. I hurried along this path, and had gone twenty or thirty rods, when round one of the hazel clumps I met the old bear coming up the path — liked to have run plump against her! My first impulse was to drop the cub ; but as suddenly recollecting that I had heard it said that a bear would not touch a person so long as he held her cub in his arms, I clasped the little fellow close and stood still, though not a little frightened, I must needs confess. Never shall I forget the expression on that old creature's face, as she stood there not six feet from me, with her eyes fixed on mine, studying my every movement. I backed off a few steps ; she followed each step. I then advanced a step, and she fell back, always with her eye on mine. Had I put down the cub I have little doubt she would have sprung upon me. I walked round then for some minutes, holding the cub. Now that his mother was there, the little fellow did not seem to be so scared. The old bear kept right round with me, always facing me. I thought of climbing a tree, and then dropping the cub ; but there were no trees thereabouts which I could climb and hold the cub too. While I was looking about I happened to spy the roof of a shanty, built of logs, in a hollow by a brook down to the west of me. For this I started, making my way along by zigzags. On getting nearer, I saw that it was an old deserted hovel ; but I went on to the door, w^hich had a large wooden io6 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. button. As we came closer, the bear seemed to divine some stratagem on my part, for she placed herself directly in front of the door, and would not budge an inch. By going round the shanty, however, I drew her after me, and making a quick run from the back side, I opened the door and whipped 'THE HORSE BITIWG WILDLY AT HIM." STEIN'S ADVENTURES WITH TWO BEARS. 107 in, hoping to shut out the bear. But so closely did the brute come at my heels, that she shoved her way in despite all my celerity. We were now all inside together, with no better prospect of getting apart than before, that I could see. But there were two old barrels in the shanty. I began to walk round these and tip them towards the door, and at length, getting them about where I wanted them, I kicked theia both over in front of the old bear as she trotted round after me, and suddenly dropping the cub, jumped out at the door and buttoned it. I then took myself off as, fast as I could run. On reaching the farm I told my adventure. My comrades took their guns and went back to the shanty with me ; but the old bear had burst off the button and gone with her cub. CHAPTER IX. CAMPING AT THE GREAT DAM. UNCLE JOHN'S STORY. I ROM the "farm" we went down the lake to the " locks," or dam, and thence, during the day, paddled our way northward through Eagle and Churchill lakes, — both fine, broad forest-and-mountain-girt ex- panses, — camping late that evening near the ruins of the " great dam " of lumbering fame and story, at the foot of the latter lake. This was the dam which turned the chain of lakes, down which we had come, back into the Penobscot, through the famous " cut " at the south end of Chamberlain Lake. It was a vast structure of stone and huge timbers, about four hun- dred feet in length, and designed to hold back a " head " of twenty feet of water; and in spring and early summer it flowed an area of about a hundred and sixty square miles. In its day it was a terrible bone of contention between the Maine and the Province lumbermen. Uncle Johnny remembered all about it; he had worked at lumbering in his younger days, and round our camp-fire that evening he told us a thrilling story of the fierce fight which had occurred there, at the very spot on which we were now so peacefully encamping — of which he was an eye-witness, and indeed one of the combatants. UNCLE JOHN'S STORY. At that time Uncle John worked with a gang of " choppers " in the em- ploy of Messrs. Cary & Glaisher, who were then lumbering on the Alleguash, and doing a large business; for in those days lumbering operations were UNCLE JOHN'S STORY. 109 conducted on a larger scale, and through longer periods of time, than at present. They had four hundred men employed for two years upon a single job — one that was well-nigh shipwrecked by the building ok tlie great dam. As was then frequently the case, the men were hired with the under- standing that they would be paid when the logs were in the St. John booms, not before. In fact, their employers had not capital to pay until the lumber was sold. For two successive winters the Gary & Glaisher gangs had been hard at work. All along the banks of the Alleguash were "landings" piled up with logs, acres and acres of them, ready to roll into the stream. Spring was com- ing with its freshets. The swollen waters would float the lum- ber down ; and the men, long shut up in the wilderness, would see the "world" again. The floods from the Chamber- lain, Eagle, and Churchill lakes would then make this wild river-bed boil like a pot. It was the 19th of March. Word had already been passed to "break in "the landings, when like a thunderbolt the news came that the " Penobscot men " had dammed the river. Two moose-hunters brought the story. All knew what that meant. It meant ruin ; it meant no pay ; it meant the utter loss of two years' hard labor. The men were a lot of rough fellows, — backwoodsmen, Irish, Scotch, Canadian-French, and Indians, — the pos- sessors of nothing in the world save their axes, " peevies," and the few dirty rags on their backs. On first hearing the news they seemed stupefied, and sat inertly around their camp-fires for several days. But dark thoughts OLD TIMES ON THE ALLEGUASH. no THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. began to be uttered in murmurs, like the growls of wild beasts. Their employers feared for their lives, but durst not attempt to leave them. Thus for three weeks the matter stood. No work was done. The gang was sulky and grew desperate; would not hear a word of advice or remonstrance. Meanwhile a small party had been off to reconnoitre. It was thirty miles to the dam. They came back and reported that "a dam with a lift of twenty feet had been built, and every gate shut, hard and fast." This ahnouncement was received with a savage " aye I " . Then a hoarse cry arose : " Who's up there ? " "Turtlotte and six men." Not a man but knew Turtlotte, the French giant, — knew him, hated him, dreaded him. One of those terrible fellows who literally bruise their way through the world. Six feet and a half tall, so it was stated ; all brawn and ugly muscle. Head and neck like a bull ; features like a gorilla. Fist like a sledge ; with it he had time and again beep known to knock an ox down ; a fist half the gang had felt the wicked weight of. Quarrelsome by nature, revengeful as an Indian, cruel as a brute. Thus, at least, have his con- temporaries drawn him. His record ran back over a long series of fights and bloody assaults, in which he was invariably the aggressor and victor. He was even said to have killed two men ; while the number he had maimed and scarred for life was quite too large to be told of at one sitting. Those were lawless times and wild regions, it should be remembered. It was not without good reasons that the Bangor men had secured the services of this ferocious ruffian, and set him to watch over a piece of prop-' erty certainly very liable to be violently dealt with. Turtlotte and his confreres^ armed with double-barrelled guns, were guarding the new dam. The men raged and cursed. Cary and Glaisher went round among the shanties. They took off their hats to the gang. "Men," said Glaisher, "every dollar we've got in the world lays there flat in the river. So long as it lays there we can't pay ye a cent. God knows that's the truth ; and that's all there is to it." It is admitted that neither Glaisher nor Cary said a word about the dam, or hinted that it should be destroyed. But the thing spoke for itself. The movements of such bodies of ignorant men, when wrought upon by great excitements, show a strange intuitive freakishness very difficult to ex- plain. Cary and Glaisher stayed by them, though quite uncertain what UNCLE JOHN'S STORY. Ill direction the fury of the gang might take. To add to the trouble, the stock of provisions was nearly exhausted. But a few nights afterwards, about fifty men lefl the camp, unbeknown to the others. Their employers surmised where they had gone ; but nothing was said by any one. The day passed. About midnight there came a rush of water. The river rose fifteen feet in an hourl Every log floated and went whirling down the channel. The gang followed them. Water had come from some source. But where were the fifty? Uncle John relates: "Somebody waked me up about one o'clock that night. It was very dark. He said, ' Take your axe and come along, and r > foolin'.' " I got up and followed this person out into the woods. I didn't know how many there were in the party, nor who they were. Nobody said where we were going. I asked no questions. We started up the river. We had our axes. But there wasn't a mouthful of victuals for anybody. I felt queer — as if I was on a life or death business. "We went fast, part of the time at a dog-trot. I never was up that way before, and had no idea how far it was to the dam. It was thick, black growth all the way. "A little after daybreak one of the men said, 'We're 'most there;* and then I heard the plunge of the water over the dam at a distance. " We halted a few minutes to rest. We had come thirty miles and over, but nobody complained. I think that. some of the men now went ^head to see how the dam was placed. Orders were passed to string out in a half- circle' and then close up at a run. In a few minutes we came out into a clearing, where we saw the dam, with two shanties close by it, and the lake water back of the dam standing at a high level. It was barely light. We had come up to within ten rods of the two shanties, when a dog barked, and I saw the big fellow they called Turtlotte come out with a gun in his hand. He had the deepest, heaviest voice I ever heard. The moment he set eyes on us he called out to know what was wanted there. We told him, * Water, to float our " drive " down the Alleguash.' The fellow gave us a furious curse. "* Be ofFI ' said he, * or I'll give you hell-fire instead of water I' " His voice was like a trumpet, and the words seemed to come from deep down in his body. The men watching the dam with him came out. They looked like boys beside the Frenchman. 112 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. " One of our men then spoke right to the point. ' We have not come to break the darn,' said he. 'All we want '" water enough to start out our " drive," and that water we're bound to have. We'll die, every man of us, but what we'll have it. We're going to hoist these gates, and if you try to hinder us, you're "dead men."' " The men with Turtlotte did not want to fight. They called out to us that they did not. But Turtlotte defied us with the most awful oaths, and threatened the men with him, if they did not stand to it. " Then somebody sang out, ' Go for him 1 ' and about half the men made a rush at the Frenchman. He let both barrels of his gun drive among us as we ran on him. One man got three buck- shot. But nobody stopped. The mo- ment we were with- in arm's length, Turtlotte clubbed his gun and struck at a young fellow called Jack Cardi- gan. Jack was quick as light; he caught the stroke on his axe. That saved his head. It Scrawled Jack out, though. Before Turtlotte could strike again, we were on him. The men dropped their axes and ' matted ' right on to him. I never saw anything like it. We were none of us babies, but Turtlotte was a tremendous man, a perfect giant for strength. He kept throwing us oflT, heels over head. But our fellows were as desperate as he was. They leaped at him just like wolves ; and wherever they caught they hung to him. His fists went round there I I got one lick from his old paw that just knocked me clear oflf the ground. At last we brought him down ; but then we couldn't hold him. He twisted and squirmed and IN THE DEAD WATER. UNCLE JOHN'S STORY. "3 doubled under us for more than a hundred feet from the place where he first went down. " I expect we used him pretty hard. He got punched and kicked with- out mercy. There was a long hawser there, such as lumbermen call a warping-line. We took that and tied him to a spruce ; wound it round him more than fifty times, so that he could not stir a hand. After the first grap- ple, Turtlotte never uttered a sound, save gritting his t'^eth ; but he foamed at the mouth like a wild boar. " The men with him did not take any part in the fight. They stood off and watched the tussle. I expect like as not they were glad to see Turtlotte catch it. We told them to leave the place, and not to be seen there again for three days. Then we hoisted all the gates. We left Turtlotte tied to the spruce ; and I heard afterwards that he had to stand there two days." Such was Uncle Johnny's tale of "y* olden time." CHAPTER X. DOWN THE ALLEGUASH. UNCLE AMOS' STORY. |HESE lakes are the headwaters of Alleguash River, which makes out to the north here at the old dam, joining the St. John, of which it is the east fork, sev- enty or eighty miles below. We set off the following day down the river, finding very rough canoeing for six or seven miles, then emerging on two fine, long lakes, or bulges of the river, where we were able to use our rubber blankets as sails for our three canoes. The forest scenery is good here along; and our guides had numerous odd, often weird, stories to tell of old- time adventures in the *' lumbering days." One of these, told by "Uncle Amos," so impressed Karzy, from its singularity, that he has written it out — to be a warning (he wishes it stated) against playing practical jokes. Since the affair with the old moose, down on the Umbazooksous, ** Karzy " has been dead against that kind of joke. UNCLE AMOS' STORY. It this very strange but true story — as told us by Uncle Amos — has the effect of showing the foolishness and danger of playing mischievous tricks, it will well repay the trouble of telling it. The incident occurred many years ago, on the Alleguash River ; and the subject of it was a most tricksy, mon- key-like youngster, named Peter Lougee. That^ at least, was the name he gave on presenting himself to hire into the logging gang that winter. But it was not ascertained where he was from, or whether his parents, or, indeed, UNCLE AMOS' STORY, "S any of his relatives, were living. He was eighteen years old — bo he told the lumber company's agent — but he did not look over nixteen. The agent at tirst refused to hire him aH a " chopper ; " hut Peter, laying hold of an axe, showed so ready a hand and so cluun a scurf with it, that he took him without further question. The agent declared afterwards that " Peter had a droll eye in his head." A SCENE ON THE ALLE0UA8H. He was told off into gang No. 13, numbering twenty-four men, and sent up the Alleguash, early in December, under a "boss" named Sweetser. The company went into the woods for the winter, taking their supplies with them. The men were a miscellaneous gathering of Mudawaskians (French), " Blue Noses," Yankees, and a few Indians from Tobique. During the winter they were to cut the lumber on a certain tract along the river ; and in the spring they were to ** drive " it down the St. John, to Fredericton. Il6 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. m For the first few days the men were occupied in building and thatching their camp ; then began the winter's work of felling and draw- ing the logs to " landings " on the bank, ready to roll into the stream when the ice should break up. It was a good-natured gang ; that is to say, the men worked well together, and got along without " rows," or serious disputes of any kind. That is more than can Si.j^i^W"'-'' A LOGGING CAMP. UNCLE AMOS' STORY. 117 always be said where a lot of rough fellows, of all nationalities, are brought together in one camp. But during the second week an odd piece of mischief was done. On going out to grind the axQS one morning, it was found that grease had been turned on the grindstone, which hung in a frame close by the camp-door. In the "fire-bed" there was set an old pan of grease, with a swab with which the men greased their moccasins. This pan of hot grease, as it seemed, had been poured on the stone, completely encrusting it. It took half the forenoon to scour the grease from the grindstone, thus causing loss of time and annoyance. Sweetser could not find out who had caused all this trouble, even after strict inquiry; still less could he discern any motive for so absurd a trick. The men all declared that they knew nothing about it, and they appeared innocent. Sweetser told them that whoever did it, if found out, would have his time "cut" to offset the loss. The second morning after, the stone was found greased again; Then there followed great excitement among the men. " It's Old Nick himself," the "Blue Noses" said. "The thing's bewitched." The Madawaskians ** sacrSd;^' and the Indians grunted. The boss observed the gang closely, but was as much puzzled as before. He was, however, satisfied that the trick had been done during the night. He said nothing, but resolved to watch, without letting any one know it. That night he lay down as usual, but kept awake. There was no sign of mischief, and the stone was not touched. The next night it was also undisturbed. By the third night Sweetser had grown very sleepy by reason of his vigils. A little after midnight, however, he was roused by one of the men getting up from off the bunk. Creeping out quietly, Sweetser collared him in the very act of greasing the stone — the warm pan in his hand ! It was Peter Lougee, and little enough had he to say for himself. The boss gave him a sound cufling and shaking, and sent him back to the bunk, with the promise of as good a whipping as birch withes could give him, if caught at another such a trick. At breakfast in the morning, "the man what greased the grindstone" was greeted with a roar of mockery. But Peter protested that he knew nothing of the trick, and that if he did do it, he did it in his sleep. He even denied that he recollected anything of the shaking Sweetser had given him, saying that he was in the habit of walking in his sleep and doing tricks of some Ii8 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB, sort. Neither the boss, nor any of the gang, believed a word of this stor}' ; but they hardly knew just what to make of the boy. The men all smoked, and used to lay their pipes on a shelf that was • placed on one side of the shanty for that purpose. About a week after the grindstone trick, all the pipes were found to have lamp-oil turned into their bowls. Whale-oil was used in the shanty, and a jug of it was among the other supplies. Every pipe, Peter's with the rest, was well saturated with the offensive oil. It is quite needless to say that this prank made a serious commotion amongst a lot of old smokers. As it was a personal matter, Swtfetser let them settle it among themselves. The way they settled it was by taking Peter, without asking him any questions, down on to the river, cutting a hole through the ice, and " dousing him " till he could neither stand nor speak. Sweetser began to think that he had a " hard customer " on his hands ; but for the next fortnight Peter played no more tricks, and then came the most serious disturbance of all that occurred. Somebody — Peter of course — put molasses on the " deacon's seat," as they call the long bench at the foot of the bunk, on which the men sit when at table. It was poured — a most generous puddle — along the whole length of the seat. As the men rose and ate their breakfast before light (six o'clock), more than half of them sat down in the sticky stuff before it was known that it was there. Any one can imagine what an uproar would naturally arise among a lot of rough fellows like these. " Break his neck ! " was the almost unanimous sentiment. The boss was obliged to interfere, or Peter would have fared worse than he did at the ducking. On being seriously questioned by Sweetser, why he persisted in such fool- ish pranks, thus bringing on himself the enmity of the whole gang, he grinned, and said he did not know when he did it. The boss did not believe this statement. There was, besides, an odd manner about the boy, and his way of talking was not calculated to inspire confidence in what he said. At first Sweetser was disposed to flog him soundly, though he felt that even this punishment was likely to do but little good. Then he determined to give him a reduced bill of his time, and send him off down the river, feel- ing assured that the angry men would execute their threat and really " break his neck," if any new trick was played upon them. He was, however, sent UNCLE AMOS' STORY. 119 out to chop that day, and a lively time of it Peter had in dodging the chips and knots which flew most unaccountably about his head. Meanwhile, Sweetser was considering the matter. There really was not a better chopper in the gang than Peter, and the boss did not like to lose him. While he thought it over — he was a live Yankee — a bright idea popped into his head. They had brought the axes, "peevies," warping-lines, etc., up the river in a greal chest, such as lumbermen call a " wangin." It was six or seven feet long by four wide, and perhaps three feet in height. When new, the chest had been furnished with a lock, but this had come off, leaving a ragged hole in the side as large as a man's fist. The lid was now fastened in place by a hasp on the outside. That night, at about" turning-in " time, Sweetser had the wangin brought into the shanty, and the peevies and warps taken out. He then threw in a coverlet, and turning to Peter, bade him get into it, adding that in future he might consider it as his bunk, one from which he would not be able to get out in his sleep and trouble other people. But this device for keeping him quiet, though it greatly amused the men, in no way suited Peter. He refused to sleep in the chest, and, resisting stub- bornly, was caught hold of by several of the men, and put in despite his struggling and kicking. The lid was shut down and hasped. He howled at them through the hole, and they threw cold water in his face through it, till he was glad to lie down and remain quiet. In the morning he was let out. Though rather close, it was by no means an uncomfortable place in which to sleep. After this, as regularly as night came, Peter slept in his box, but almost always had to be put into it by main force, or at least sharply ordered to get in. It was, " Here, you prowling dog, be getting into that wangin ! " and not unfrequently he would have to be " wet down " before he would quietly go to sleep. On the 29th of March, the "landings" of logs were broken in, and the business of driving the lumber down the river began. The wangin, being needed to carry the tools in, was loaded mto one of the bateaux, and taken down the stream each day as far as the gang moved. The men camped each night on the shore. Peter proved an excellent " driver." He was active, quick of eye, and ready. If a " glut " was to be broken, or an eddy cleared, no man in the gang could be sent out on the stream to better purpose. X20 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB, For three nights he was allowed to camp v/ith the rest of the crew. On the third night, however, a most disagreeable trick was played, the precise nature of which it is not necessary to tell. There was a great hubbub about it, and to prevent further trouble, Sweetser had the wangin emptied of the tools each night, and Peter put in it as before. The heavy chest remained in the bateau, which was moored close to the night camp. Matters went on in this way till the "drive" was below Round Pond, about seven miles above Alleguash Falls, when one morning, wangin, bateau, and Peter were missing. The bateau had been drawn up the previous night. Maxime Thibbedeau, who had taken it down the river the afternoon before, asserted that he had made it fast to a sapling with the painter line. If he told the truth, there was reason to suppose that Peter had got loose during the night and taken French leave of them. But Sweetser had his doubts ; he was afraid that the bateau had been drawn up without hitching, and that the rise of the river had floated it off in the night. Without stopping a moment, he took three men with him and set off down the bank of the stream as fast as possible, looking sharply for the bateau, but not seeing it. They reached the Falls about nine o'clock. It is a cataract about forty or fifty feet high. In the pool below there was a great "glut" of logs, foam, and driftwood, and in this eddy they found the wangin. It was half full of water ; the old coverlet was still in it, but the lid had been burst off at the hinges, though still hanging by the hasp. The hinge screws looked as if they had been dug out from the inside with a jack-knife. That was all the clue there was. Whether Peter had dug them out, and then casting loose the boat, had made off down the river's bank, letting the bateau go over the Falls to mystify the gang, or whether the bateau floated away of itself, and Peter, awaking, had dug frantically and in vain to escape, were questions nobody could answer. Thibbedeau persisted in his assertions that he had hitched the bateau to a sapling ; but in such a case his word was probably of no great value. On the following day they came upon the wreck of the bateau, in a "logan" some three miles below the cataract. Despite these dubious omens, there was a general impression that this was but another of the strange youngster's tricks. UNCLE AMOS' STORY, 121 O'l getting down .o the settlements, diligent inquiries were made; but no one had seen him. He never presented himself to be paid his winter's v/ages. No inquiry was ever made concerning him by friends or relatives, if he had any. Sweetser made a statement to the agent, who was as much puzzled as were the men of the gang. Peter was never seen again in that locality, and what became of him. He whose eye sees all things alone knows. I may supplement Uncle Amos' story, as told by Karzy, by adding, that to the rest of our party it looks extremely likely that Peter Lougee went over Alleguash Falls, and that the poor fellow received anything but fair usage from first to last. CHAPTER XL RIKE AND MOSES O. GO MOOSE-HUNTING. THE RESULT. |HAT night we camped some six miles below the lowermost of the two long lakes, on a site cleared among the firs by some previous party of tourists, and plentifully spread with yellowed boughs. On these we — rather injudiciously — spread our blankets, and the night being very warm, undertook to sleep in the open air without the tent. But those old boughs were the lair of a most numerous family of " ear-wigs," and the warmth of our bodies soon set them crawling out to make our closer acquaintance. The result was a most unwelcome rouse-out shortly after ten o'clock, and the shifting of the camp to another site. By noon next day we emerged from the wilderness into cleared land where there were a number of settlers' houses, built of logs. Here we fell in with a man named Gourill, who called himself a hunter and guide. This person expressed himself ready to ^^ warrant" a moose to any party employing him. His terms were three dollars per day; and he so wrought upon the Nimrod-like instincts of " Rike " and Moses O. that they hired him for four days, promising to rejoin the party at Fort Kent or Little Falls, fifty miles below on the main St. John. Harold, Stein, "Karzy," and "No. 6," with the guides, continued on our route down to Alleguash Falls, where we -portaged and camped for the night. There is here a picturesque cataract of fifty feet over slaty cliffs. MOOSE-HUNTING. 123 *' Karzy " found several subjects for his pencil, next morning, while the guides were getting breakfast. From the Falls, a run of twelve miles with the rapid stream brought us to the junction with the Woolastook, or main St. John. Here we entered Madawaska and French-Canadian civilization. On both banks the land is cleared, and the quaint little farms, churches, and hamlets, stud the river all the way down to Fort Kent and far below, we were told. It is a beautiful river valley, that of the upper St. John. We found the people good-humored and quite ready to sell us unlimited fresh milk, eggs, and bread loaves; and were con- stantly meeting parties in odd black boats, called " peerogs," made each from a single large pine log. JUNCTION OF ALLEGUASH AND WOOLASTOOK. It was dark that night when we reached Fort Kent, a little hamlet on the Maine side of the river, where we found a fair hotel. Here we remained two days, waiting for our " moose-hunters " to catch up. They arrived very early the third morning, in rather sorry plight, not a little excited, and very anxious to be off at once — over into 124 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. Canada! To see Moses O. oxcited boded something alarming indeed! To our eager question s le said, "Old Nick was to pay — not fa." behind ! " Rike and he had gone back with Gourill to Round Lake, on the Alleguash, m a bateau. Here they had lain in wait for game for nearly a day and then gone to a small pond, not far back from the river and connected with it by a dead-water gap. But we have persuaded Moses O. to write out their adventure himself, and here it is: — THEIR MOOSE HUNT. Just as we came out into the pond we heard a sudden noise in the bushes on the right bank. Looking quickly round, I saw the leaves waving, and some large black animal moving. " A bear ! " exclaimed Gourill. " Quick, with your rifle ! " Rike had a Remington rifle, and I a reliable "Purdy," the left barrel of which I always kept loaded with double B shot. Before we could fire, how- ever, Gourill exclaimed, — " It isn't a bear ; it's a moose — two moose ! " The bateau was gliding forward. We all saw them now — great, black, ungainly creatures, glowering half fearfully, yet curiously, from among the willows, their huge ears rising and falling. They were not more than seventy yards away. " A cow-moose and a calf," muttered Gourill. " Take the cow I '* We both fired on the instant. " You hit ! " Gourill exclaimed. But both animals had disappeared, and we heard a great thrashing about in the swamp. Landing as speedily as possible, we went in through the bushes, and had not proceeded far when we came upon the moose lying mired in a soft bog, nearly dead. A second bullet from Rike's rifle put an end to the creature. Gourill pronounced it a good-sized cow-moose. We could hear the calf rushing about in the woods, at no very great dis- tance, uttering, at rapid intervals, most singular, trumpet-like squeaks. It seemed loath to leave the place. " Load up ! " Gourill said, " and keep quiet. I'll call him in." MOOSE-HUNTING. "5 He began to make an odd, bellowing sound through his hands. Hearing this, the calf redoubled his trumpetings, and dashed up nearer, first on one side, then on the other. It would stand for a moment, then dash away again. At length, catching a good sight of it at rather less than a hundred yards, we both fired and brought it down. It was a male, but its antlers had as yet hardly started. It was no more than half grown, and would have weighed possibly four hundred pounds. We wished to save the head of the cow, to mount as a troph}'. So Gourill cut it oflT, and also skinned the animal, and took some of the choicest parts of the meat to cook. The calf we determined to take down the river with us. It was not till afternoon that we secured our game on board the bateau, and set off down river again. " But isn't there some sort of game-law in this State protecting deer and moose ? " Rike presently asked. '* How is that, Gourill ? " It had occurred to me already that I had heard of some such legislation in Maine. "Well, I suppose there is a law," replied Gourill, making light of the matter. "I've heard there was. But, bless ye, ye needn't worry about that ; it's a dead letter. Nobody thinks of enforcing it up here. I'll warrant ye, nobody 11 molest ye." That was precisely what he told us. We got down to Alleguash Falls that evening, and camped at the foot of the cataract. A mile or two above we had passed the place where Gourill told us his family lived, — a new place, with a new frame-house and sheds. After we had camped and had supper, and got comfortable, Gourill said he guessed he would run up and see how his folks were getting along, and as he shouldn't see them again for some weeks, he would be much obliged if we would let him have a little money. We at once paid him for his services up to that night. We did not expect him back till morning. Very early next morning, before it was quite day, we were awakened by voices outside the tent, and, on lookmg out, saw three burly fellows, and threes or four hounds, examining the trophies of our moose-hunt. (^n our asking their business, one of them announced himself as the legally appointed moose-warden of that section, and took us formally into custody for violating the law of the State. The man, who gave his name as Merron, produced an apparently legal certificate of his official position. Of course we made no attempt to deny the shooting of the moose. I asked 126 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. I i v \ I what the penalty was. They said one hundred dollars for each and every animal shot ; also that we must accompany them to Fort Kent to liave the fine legally imposed and collected. Of course we felt troubled, but, being educated to respect law in all places, determined, since we had broken a law, to put the best possible face on the matter. We could not but feel, however, that in this case the law was rather un- fortunate in the selection of its executors ; for three more unprepossessing fellows we had rarely met. Indeed, they looked quite capable of collecting fines without the apology of law. And the way they had come upon us, with their dogs and guns, was far from exciting agreeable feelings on our part. However, we told them to lead on ; we would go to Fort Kent, or any other place where justice was administered, but that we had a guide whom we wished to wait for. At this they laughed and winked. Till that moment we had not sus- pected Gourill of treachery. One of the men now said that we shouldn't probably set eyes on Gourill again ; and at last Merron told us bluntly that it was Gourill who had given the information with regard to shooting the moose, and that he would get one-half the fine for so doing. After a breakfast of moose-meat, we set oflf in the bateau down the river, and reached the junction with the St. John about ten o'clock. We let our captors do the rowing, and took things eas}'. But the more we thought of the matter of our guide's defection, and the more we saw of the "moose- warden " and his posse and dogs, the more the arrest aroused our suspicions. These men were merely taking advantage of the law to fleece us and put the spoils into their own pockets. They bragged of it to our very faces, and were positively insulting in their talk. It is not pleasant to be crowed over all day long with the near prospect of losing two hundred dollars ; and by night we were in no very amiable mood. About five o'clock the warden and his confreres pulled into the Maine side of the St. John, and camped for the night at a deserted log-house, about nine miles above Fort Kent. The old house had but one room, and that very small, scarcely large enough for the five of us. The four dogs had followed us along the bank all day. To keep the hungry brutes from devouring the moose carcass, the men took it out of the bateau and put it into a " potato-hole," a few steps from the house-door. MOOSE-HUNTING. 137 Nearly all these Madawaska settlers dig a potato-hole instead of a cellar. The potato-hole, in fact, is a cellar out of doors, instead of under the house. This one was six or seven feet deep, and would possibly have held three hundred bushels of potatoes. It was simply a large pit covered over with logs and turf to the depth of two or three feet, to keep out frost. It had a thick trap-door, about four feet square, in the top, made of hewn plank. The hole was now empty ; so they dropped the carcass and the cow-moose's head down into it, and shut the trap-door. There wasn't much said that night. Rike and I made a bed of old straw and our blankets, and retired early — if going to bed in such quarters can be called retiring. Along in the night something roused me — some one whispering and talking in low tones. Our captors were consulting together. I stirred ; instantly they ceased whispering. This struck me as suspicious ; but I turned over and began breathing heavily again, though quite awake. Five minutes or more passed. Then they began whispering and talking again, and I heard the words, "Gourill will be thar and hev things all tixed. These fellers can't talk French. We kin put it through." It was the voice of the warden. " But ef ole Merron finds this out, — an' he wull, — thar'll be the mischief ter pay," muttered one of the others. " Huh 1 We'll be far enough away 'fore that time, over the line with the dosh," replied the self-styled warden ; and I heard a sound of suppressed chuckling. I lay and thought. This man, then, was not the real Merron, the genu- ine warden, nor yet his authorized deputy. There must be foul play then. We were victims of a trick. These rascals had their confederates, and were taking us before a " justice " of their own making. It was very plain to me now. It will be easy enough to denounce them, I reasoned. Yet, on second thought, our situation had an ugly outlook. We were away in a remote, lawless region, the ignorant, French country of Madawaska, where not half, nor a quarter of the people knew a word of English. The trick these fel- lows were playing was not so difficult, after all. I was not sure that we had not better have been under legal arrest than in the hands of this gang of rogues. Safer, certainly. There was no more sleep for me that night. I 128 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB, ^ ^^ -.»^" \ ->..{. V :r/:''.. We were called up early, and all had breakfast out of our supplies. In fact, they had lived at our expense ever since taking possession of us. We went down to the river-bank to wash, and here I was able to tell Rike what I had heard. He was even more alarmed than myself, and declared that we must now look to our own safety, and get out of their clutches the best way we could. And a most unexpected op- ^J^SMft^K^^^KK/t^^K^^^^ portunity offered F^BrfjfjB^^^^^^^B^^^^^^B After breakfast, two of the men opened the potato- hole and got down into it to lift out the moose ; for they must needs take that along. As I have remarked, the young moose must have weighed four or five hun- dred pounds, and the two found it a rather heavy lift to put it up through the trap-door. They called to Merron to bear a hand. He got down with them. We stood looking on a few steps off, as they were tug- ging and grunting. Rike suddenly shot a glance at me, and pointed to the trap-door. I understood him. We both sprang to the door^ banged it down over the hole in a •WE UOTH SPRANG lO THE Dw JR." SCCOnd, ttud jumpcd On it! There was a moment's astonished silence below, then such an outburst of whoops, shouts, oaths, and threats, as never arose, I verily believe, from any other hole except the "bottomless pit." They hammered at the door, swore vengeance, said they would " cut our hearts out," "drink our blood," and many other similar threats. We stood fast, and chaffed them to our heart's content. Presently, one of them began firing his pistol up through the door. At that we began to MOOSE-HUNTING, 129 pile stones and logs upon it, and did not stop till we put tiicre several hun- dred-weight. Then they changed their tune, and began to beg — promised to let us go unharmed, nnd we could take our moose with um. Wu, of course, did not believe in pr€>mises made under such circumstances. " Yesterday was your day," we told them ; " to-day is ours. Eat moose- meat till you are let out." Running down to the bateau, we wrapped the moose-hide in our blankets and shoved ofT, and were not long pulling down to Fort Kent. ON THE STAGE. IS one ran to After hearing the main points of this story in bricl', wc were not long deciding that whatever might be the rights or the wrongs in this queer business, wc had better go on at once. Accordingly, having settled with our three j'uides, who would paddle back up the Alleguash homeward, we hired the hotel-keeper to take us down to Little Falls, at the mouth of the Madawaska, in his double wagon. From this place we took passage by the little steamer and stage across to Riviere du Loup on the St. Lawrence. But ere starting from Little Falls, our two hunters mailed a letter back to the postmaster at Fort Kent, and another to the .same functionary at St. Francis. In those letters they stated that three pretended moose- 13° THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. wardens were shut up in a potato-hole at a deserted log-house about midway between the two places ; and they added that it might not be healthy for them to remain there too long, as the place was none too well ventilated. ^ We have since learned that the soi-disant wardens stayed in the potato-hole all that day and until the following morning, when a man, passing in his "peerog" close to the shore, heard their outcry and went to their deliverance. Also that they pursued us to Little Falls, threatening dire death and destruction I But they had stopped too long in the potato-hole to see us again. . 7 CHAPTER XII. RIVIERE DU LOUP AND THE SAGUENAY. ROM the northern end of Lake Temiscouata, the stage- road descends through a wild, and often rugged, forest region, to Riviere du Loup on the Si. Lawrence. Here we arrived late in the afternoon, and had barely time to get dinner at a quaint old French inn, close upon the long triangular pier, when the steamer Sag-teetJ ay, hound for the far-famed Saguenay River, whistled in. On board her we were comfortably unpacking our satchels, in three state-rooms, half an hour later. We thus saved a day, but had little time to see Riviere du Loup, which is a picturesque Province village of twelve or thirteen hundred inhabitants, and contains several summer hotels; but the Canadian watering-place par excellence is Cacouna, situated six miles to the south-west. It is the Canadian Saratoga, or rather Long Branch, being on the brackish, if not exactly salt, waters of the Lower St. Lawrence, here a broad and majestic affluent of old ocean, twenty miles in width, pouring its mighty flood onward betwixt dark moun- tains. From Riviere du Loup, the steamer stands boldly out to stem and to cross the great river to Tadousac, at the mouth of the Saguenay. It occupies two hours, this " ferry " over to Tadousac, under full head of steam: what better idea of the size and grandeur of this queen of rivers can be given? Correspondingly, too, we had here struck anot^ -t- of the grand annual streams of summer travel. On board 132 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. ] were several hundred passengers: tourists from almost every civilized country, but chiefly everywhere-going "Yankees; " wiry, tanned jour- nalists; bland, worldly-wise merchants and railway magnates — men of millions; jolly-looking clergymen, whom you never would mistrust were such till introduced as "Rev."; college graduates of the period, with satchels and field-glasses slung from their shoulders, brown, hard- meated, full of vital power, who talk of nothing save base-ball, regat- ALL ABOARD FOR THE SAGUENAY. tas, and the races; and k-st, but first seen, the American lady tourist, serene, beautiful, dressed just right for the trip, never looking heated, or excited, the only lady in the world who really knows how to travel and enjoy it. Night before last she was at Niagara, last evening in Montreal ; next week she may be en route for Switzerland, while still somewhat expecting to take in the Yosemite ere her summer vaca- tion closes. Twenty thousand miles will be covered, ard she will THE SAGUENAY. 133 return with that clear-brown tint of health, more pleasing to the eye than any of that veiled, pink-and-white, spick-span prettiness, which, a few years ago, constituted the standard of beauty. In fact, we Americans have reason to be proud of our lady tourists abroad. They do tour beautifully — and never make but one mistake in good taste or sterling common-sense: the mistake of getting captured by large- L'ANCE A L'EAU, OR PORT OF TADOUSAC. titled noodles in Europe, a mistake nearly alwa3's ending in bitter regret. Fair America for Americans, would be a happier motto. Truly no people cut so good a figure abroad as Americans; genial, self-possessed, good-humored. If a pig-headed, disobliging official is encountered, where an Englishman fumes and threatens, our American gets the better of him with a joke, or, at worst, a quizzical sarcasm. It was dusk when the steamer reached Tadousac. We had time 134 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. to half walk, half run, a mile or so about the village (in old times a Hudson Bay Fur Fort and Trading Post), fcr ten or fifteen minutes, when the whistle summoned us back. Here it may be said that in consequence of making the trip up the Saguenay during the night, we saw none of the grand, world-famous scenery on the river when going up. But coming back, three weeks later, we saw it in all its grandeur. Until then, I reserve an account of it. On rousing out in the morning, we found the steamer in Grande ' " '"1^111]?"'''^" '^" " " '^ '^" " "'"^^" glSBBSI^^SB^^Bi^^P ='^^*^^^^^MMw«fci^ ' ■■■'^ 1 ^MBJI^^^^^^^^MMHi^^WI ■HH^^^^^H^I^HB^HBRR^^H^^^^^HI^^S ■s=issst^3^^H^^^^^^\ 1 ■ i^jBu^jLiilaMil^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^MB^^^^MB SsAi^^Hv^ss^^^^^^saBa^^^^^^^^B^^^^^^^^^BSQi^v^ss^ ■ j^jv .fc-jia' ^^SBUK^^^^BUhKM^^^BB^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^^BK^B^BS^ •.,-'"*^^' ■ ' . • ?^^ . • A^a.1 i.T,T'. .r*. .iTL • - -^i;.- ••-•••^r.jc* ■ , run. -■ »«j».d, ■«■:» -"ft - .r:^^ ji^^ TADOUSAC. Baie, more commonly Ha Ha Bay, a long, deep arm of the Saguenay. When the early French navigators, Jacques Cartier and others, first ascended the Saguenay, they mistook this arm for the main river, and humorously named it Ha Ha Bay, from the great laugh they indulged in on so suddenly coming to the end of it. There is a quaint little hamlet here where we first saw the queer spectacle of ovens built up of clay on little platforms out of doors. Here, too, the French people THE SAGUENAY. 135 m m offered us blueberries in odd, long coffin-shaped boxes, holding each half a bushel or more — at twenty-five cents per box. Blueberries grow in endless profusion over the sterile, bare, or at best bushy mountains which make up this whole vast region. Geologists tell us that this was the first area of the North American continent which showed itself above the sea: so Stein read to us that morning; and KNTRANCE TO THli SAGUENAY. Moses O., after another long look around, made the remark that he thought it had showed up too soon. The Saguenay is the outlet of the great Lac St. Jean (toward which we were now heading our course), and numerous other large lakes, draining a vast area of country in that unknown hyperborean region lying far up under the " Great Dipper." The rugged grandeur 136 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. I it of its unsettled mountain shores, the profound depth of its waters, and the absence of human, even animal life, for leagues on leagues, make the Saguenay unique among rivers. It is on these natural features that its fame depends. UP THE SAGUENAY. / Bayard Taylor well says of it: — "The Saguenay is not, properly, a river. It is a tremendous chasm, like that of the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea, cleft for sixty miles through the heart of a mountain wilderness No magical illusions of atmos- phere enwrap the scenery of this northern river. Everything is hard* naked, stern, silent. Dark, gray cliffs of gneiss rise from the pitch-black water ; firs of gloomy green are rooted in their crevices and fringe their sum- THE SAGUENAY. 137 mits ; loftier ranges of a dull indigo hue show themselves in the background, and over all bends a pale, cold, northern sky. The keen air which brings out every object with a crystalline distinctness, even contracts the dimen- sions of the scenery, diminishes the height of the cliffs, and apparently belittles the majesty of the river, so that the first feeling is one of disappoint- ment. Still it exercises a fascination which you cannot resist. You look, and look, fettered by the fresh, novel, savage stamp which nature exhibits, and at last, as in St. Peter's, or at Niagara, learn from the character of the separate features to appreciate the grandeur of the whole. Shores that seemed roughly piled together out of the fragments of chaos, overhung us, — great masses of rock, gleaming duskily through their scanty drapery of ever- SCENE IN HA HA BAY. greens, here lifting long, irregular walls against the sky, there split into huge, fantastic forms by deep lateral gorges, up which we saw the dark-blue crests of loflier mountains in the rear. The water beneath us was black as night, with a pitchy glaze on its surface ; and the only life in all the savage solitude was, now and then, the back of a white porpoise, in some of the deeper coves. The river is a reproduction of the fiords of the Norwegian coast The dark mountains, the tremendous precipices, the fir forests, even the settlements at Ha Ha Bay and L'Ancekl'Eau (except that the houses are white instead of red), are as completely Norwegian as they 138 THE KNOLK-ABOt/T CLUB. can be. The Scandinavian skippers who come to Canada, all notice this resemblance, and many of them, I learn, settle here." Another writer thus characterizes it: — "^Simlight and iJear sky are out of place over its black waters. Anything which recalls the life and smile of nature is not in unison with the huge naked cliffs, raw, cold, and silent as the tombs. An Italian spring could effect no change in the deadly, rugged aspect ; nor does winter add one iota to its mournful desolation. It is with a sense of relief that the tourist emerges from its sullen gloom, and looks back upon it as a kind of vault, — Nature's sarcophagus, where life or sound seems never to have entered. Compared to it the Dead Sea is blooming, and the wildest ravines look cosy and smiling. It is wild without the least variety, and grand apparently in spite of itself; while so utter is the solitude, so dreary and monotonous the frown of its great black walls of rocks, that the tourist is sure to get impatient with its sullen dead reverse, till he feels almost an antipathy to its very name. The Saguenay seems to want painting, blowing up, or draining, — anything, in short, to alter its monose, quiet, eternal awe. Talk of Lethe or the Styx, — they must have been purling brooks compared with this savage river; and a picnic on the banks of either would be preferable to one on the banks of the Saguenay." This is really painting it a little more sombrely than we saw it. But then all persons cannot be expected to see it alike. The name Saguenay, we were told, comes from the Indian word Saggishekass (a rather forced derivation, certainly), which means 'precipices for banks. The river has depths where no sounding-line has been able to touch bottom. Near Cape Eternity it is said to be eighteen hundred feet deep. ' CHAPTER XIII. LAC ST. JEAN. MOSES O. MAKES A BAD SHOT. HORTLY after noon we reached Chicoutimi {the place of deep tuaiers), as the Indians named it. This is the head of steamboat navigation on the Saguenay, the head of all navigation, in fact; for the village lies at the foot of the tremendous rapids of Terres Rompues. \ The Chicoutimi Falls are in plain sight to the north, a band of white wrathful water showing through the green forests. Chicoutimi is the metropolis of the Saguenay country. There are eight or ten hundred inhabitants — English, French, and Indians, — a new Catholic college, and one very old church, up into the belfry of which we climbed, at the imminent jet pardy of our necks, to see a very ancient bell of which we had -heard, but failed to find it there. There are several passably good hotels. Senator Price is the great man here, politically and by virtue of ownership. The house of Price Brothers & Co. owns about every- thing here and in the outlying country. Perhaps there is not another man on the American continent who comes so near being a Grand Seignior of the olden time as this same Canadian senator. , We had noticed a well-looking man on the steamer, at whom all the officials and indigines cast looks of awe. "Who's that gentleman?" Moses O. asked the second officer. *^That! ivhy, that is Senator Price," replied the man in a low tone. 140 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. But from all accounts the Prices regnant are wise and judicious potentates. The Senator is locally known as The King of the Saguenay. While on the steamer we had made inquiries of the captain (a rather gruff official, but whom our comrade Dearborn's easy assur- ance drew into conversation), concerning guides and game up about the St. John Lake. He advised us to apply to a man named Nugent at Chicoutimi, who had taken out parties of tourists. We did so that afternoon. It proved excellent advice. The moment we saw this Nugent we knew by the "eye of him," as Theo. Winthrop would have said, that he was our man. It took but an hour to arrange all the details for a three weeks' tour camping out; he to furnish canoes, outfit, another guide — everything, in fact, even including provisions. And he simplified matters vastly by having a sufficiently good financial head on his shoulders to put all this into one bill, and say at the outset what he could do it for. That is a rare kind of man, particularly in the Pro- vinces. "My dear sir," Wayne said to him, "that's the way we like to hear a man talk. That's just the way we do in New York. Why, if your folks here were only all like you, we would a-nnex you tomorrow." His round charge for everything was a hundred and sixty dollars. I think he was ready to take off twenty or thirty dollars. But Wayne, in his delight at finding a man who mentally resembled a real New Yorker, cried out, "Cheap enough! When can we start.''" NUGENT. LAC ST. JEAN. 141 " Start to-morrow morning, if you like," replied the admirable Nugent. So the matter was settled on the spot. We had nothing to do that afternoon but see Chicoutimi. Later, we crossed over to the quaint French hamlet of St. Anne de Saguenay, on the . '■he.' side of the river; and still later, we fished for ivinintsk^ a kind of salmon trout peculiar to these waters; so, at least, the inhabitants claim. Up in the LAC ST. JEAN. great pool at the foot of Chicoutimi Falls, Stein caught five, either one of which would have weighed four pounds. Nugent furnished us with rods, bait, etc. The others of our party caught two and three, each. Here, for the first time, we began to see something like sport. Next morning we had our 'wininish broiled for our breakfast at the inn. They were delicious, better than trout even. The rapids of Torres Rompues are grand fishing-ground, and also very grand as scenery. Altogether they extend over nearly fifteen miles. 142 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. Next day we set off by wagon road, through a rough section of country, for Lac St. Jean. Nugent had provided us with spring-boards to ride on. In ad- vance was a rude vehicle loaded with canoes, bear traps, supplies, in short, the whole paraphernalia for a " big hunt." Behind it walked the Indian guide, a Mic-mac by tribe, whom Nugent had hired for an assistant, — a quiet, swarthy man of twenty- seven or eight, Otelne by name; Otelne being his Indian name and FARAPMEKNALIA Jean the name bestowed by the priest who had christened him. But for his Indian eyes, Otelne might easily have been taken for a French- Canadian, being not a whit darker of complexion than many of the latter. We were all day — a rather wearying one, though the scenes passed through were ever fresh and interesting — reaching St. Jerome, a little hamlet of lumbermen on the lake. We had left I'ne Saguenay on our right. In all there is a fall of three hundred feet along the Terres Rompues rapids. Karzy LAC ::t. jean. 143 wanted to spend a day here sketching; but the others would not hear to it. At St. Jerome we had rather close quarters lor the night at the log- house of a lumberman, a friend of Nugent; and next morning put out, with all our kit, on the lake in a large sailboat, bound for the mouth of the Perilonca. For it was up this unexplored northern river that our guide proposed taking us — to the shores of another lake, which Otelne, with a fine, guttural enunciation, called Tshistagama. CHTCOUTIMT. The Perilonca is one of six or eight large rivers which pour their waters into Lac St. Jean — one of t'.iese, the Misstassini, flowing down two hundred and fifty miles from the great Lake Misstassini, seventy-five miles long by thirty in breadti? ; Lac St. Jean seemed to us fully as large, broader perhaps. But for a lake of such size its waters are very shallow. We could often discern the bottom when miles from the shore. The scenery would, by the most, be called 144 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. dreary. Off to the north and west extends a vast level tract, clad with black spruce forests, bounded faintly, seventy miles away, by a line of low, volcanic-looking peaks. The soil along the shores is said to be very fertile; but then, the winters! We crossed the lake to the north-east on a fair wind, or rather a fresh westerly wind, and about one o'clock entered a broad, deep arm, belwcen sombre- low, alluvial shores densely wooded with firs. I" SHOOTING A RAPID. This arm is the mouth of the Perilonca; and it is so broad and deep that the wind favoring, we kept on for two or three hours longer, up to the head of the t "dead water," where "quick water" begins. Here the little sloop was left at anchor to await our return from Tshistagama. Upon this side of the great lake, and along the Peri- lonca, there is not a clearing nor a sign of human habitation. All is wilderness, the gnarled, stunted wilderness of the far north. Even in the mild summer it has a bleak aspect, and still shadows forth the ter- rors of winter here. * ^ . At this point our canoes vcame into requisition, and the ascent of the river proper — the quick water — commenced. Many " rips," some of them considerable falls, Wijre encountered. All of U3 had then to LAC ST. JEAN. H5 bear a hand to lift the canoes over the rocks, and our long, flexible- legged f um boots came into use. Night fell before many miles of this sort of thing were made* and never was a party more willing to camp and have a *Miot tea." Sailing so far in the fresh wind, on the lake, followed by our exertions getting the canoes over the " rips," had rendered us all stupidly tired; even Nugent's strong tea failed to rouse us much. The tent was pitched, and we turned in, under a lowering sky, on a bed of boughs; and I must needs own that our first night on the Perilonca was far from a cheery one. Otelne alone went fishing, and caught — as he avouched next morning — a fine large wininish. Here we first made the acquaint- ance of that ugly, thievish beast, the Canadian wildcat, or loup cervier. One of these creatures came about our tent in the night, and probably got Otelne's fish. Moses O. heard a noise among pots and tin dishes outside, and jumping up, sans culottes, seized his gun and peeped out. Catching a glimpse of some animal scudding away, he let fly after it. The report of course brought us all to our feet; but the marauder had made good its escape. MOSES O. GETS AFTER A LOVP CERVIER, CHAPTER XIV. CAMPED ON THE TSHISTAGAMA. STEIN LOST. Il HE Perilonca is a large river, as large as the Merri- mac, or the Mohawk, we judged. For forty or fifty miles back from Lac St, Jean its course is sluggish, along a deep, broad channel. Then follow " rips," or small falls, over rough, syenitic ledges, through a barren region of country up to Lac Tshistagama, twenty-five or thirty miles farther. We used up all next day, and only reached the lake the following even- ing at six o'clock. " Carry " followed " carry," round falls and dan- gerous rapids. There was no such thing as shirking hard lifts that day. At one point we had to tug the canoes, etc., up a tremendously steep bank; and here Moses O. particularly distinguished himself by walking, or crawling, up with a canoe on his shoulders, a la tortoise. Truly a set of brawny shoulders are a handy thing to have about one. On both banks and everywhere extended away the spruce and fir wilderness. There was little else for timber, and the dark-tinted funereal landscape was varied only by the whitish sides of crags and bare-peaked mountains. Into the Perilonca the lake opens on the right by a broad, sluggish *^ neck " of water. We paddled in, and then coasted along the north- ern shore for four or five miles, to a camp where Nugent and Otelne had hunted the year before. It was eight o'clock and already quite dark when we arrived — fully as tired as on the preceding evening. A rougher or wilder locality it would have been hard to find, even in CAMPED ON THE TSHISTAGAMA. 147 that wild region. All along the shore and round about were great fire-scorched and calcined rocks, with dead trees stripped of their bark; while a few hundred yards in the rear loomed a long beetling crag, showing a hundred feet of sheer precipice over the dark-green tops of the fir woods. the lake stretched away a tract iota as savage and broken. indeed, to have come to the earth — the odds and ends. was some deep and heavy done there that night. It was all Nugent called our at- or that odd yell forest, saying, Across looking every We seemed, ends of the But there slumbering in vain that tention to this o f f in the *'That'ere'sa bear; that's a ^screamer;' that's a po- humphP We were done up for that day. no hunt left in us; and so stiff and lame did we all feel on waking next morn- ing that no one except Stein stirred out that day. »The sight of that tall, whitish-looking crag had so strongly stimulated the mineralogist in him, that shortly after mid-day he got up, ate some- what of the breakfast which Nugent had kept hot for us since eight o'clock, and then went off alone on a quiet excursion, after " specimens." There was MOSES O. A LA TORTOISE. 148 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. Nugent and Otelne had gone fishing. They came back toward sunset, having caught a fine string of iuladi, as they called them, a species of gray trout; and it was the savory odor of these broiling, half an hour later, which at last roused us out. Now that we had had our " big sleep " out, we all felt pretty well and ravenously hungry. It was not till we sat down to eat those broiled tuladi^ that Stein was missed. Where he had gone nobody had the slightest idea. We shouted and fired two guns — then fell to on the fish, and were thus employed for three-quarters of an hour. Still Stein did not come. It was getting dusk; and now for the CAMP ON THE TSHISTAGAMA. first time we began to feel a little anxious about him. More guns were fired, and we made the forest resound to our shouts. These latter drew no reply from the missing man, but had the effect to call forth a most dismal howling from far across the lake, a circumstance which by no means tended to reassure us. There were some odd-voiced denizens thereabouts. Nugent himself looked a trifle grave, though he professed to us to have no fears for Stein's safety; but Otelne and he set off a few moments later, without saying anything to us. I: STEIN LOST. 149 OUR DINING-ROOM. Ten or fifteen minutes later we heard them hallooing from the top of the great crag back of the camp. The opposite shores resounded to their shouts. But we could hear no response. What to do we scarcely knew, and were in a fever of suspense. Rike and Moses O. started off after the guides; and the others went along the lake shore for a mile or more to the eastward, shouting and firing guns at intervals. Presently we saw a great bonfire on the crag in the rear of the camp. The guides had set a large, thick fir standing there on fire; and the whole tree blazed like one enormous torch, If Stein were lost anywhere within ten miles it was incredible but that he would see it, we reasoned. Distant howls and cries attested to the fact that many a savage eye was gazing wonderingly at it. To search further in the darknes3 now ap- peared to little purpose; yet this but added tenfold to our I ars. Indeed, it would be quite impossible to describe what we endured from appreheiision that night. No one thought of sleeping; and the minutes and hours dragged by in a manner too painful to speak of. Day broke at last over this, now to us sombre- looking country. Harold and Rike were for starting at once upon the search ; but Nugent wisely insisted that we must all take a substantial breakfast first. It seemed hours ere potatoes and meat could be cooked; and we were eating in haste, a prey to most dismal foreboding, and revolving THE KITCHEN. I50 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. plans for a thorough scouring of the whole country — when, who should come along the lake shore but Stein himself, looking a little jaded, but smiling. Such a shout as rose ! In our delight at seeing his face again v/e quite forgot our sleepless night for a moment: only for a moment, however. All, with good reason too, deemed that an explanation was needed- — a full and copious one. "Well, where the Big Dickens have you been?" was the ques- tion he heard in full chorus. We record the " lost one's " confession in his own language. \ [ WHERE STEIN HAD BEEN. It came into my mind (he said) that I would " prospect" that crag a little ; and as I knew none of you would care about going, I did not like to wake anybody. When I started, I thought I should not be gone over an hour. I climbed up to the top of the ledges, back here, and while looking off, saw something sparkle as bright as a star on another big ledge a mile or two back in the woods. It glistened so like a gem that I thought I would cross over and see whatever it could be. It took an hour or two to make my way across the ravines ; and when I got over, I found that what had sparkled was only a liny bit of vitreous quartz v/hich lay on the rocks, in the sun. There were many fragments of quartz lying scattered about, .ind one was a bit of true amethyst. This gave me a trail which I traced back to some other ledges, a mile or two farther ; and here I discovered the vein whence the fragments of crystals had come. It was up ten or fifteen feet in the face of the crag ; a nearly perpendicular crack in the quartzose rocks large enough to thrust in one's arm, and set on both sides, as far as I could reach, were the glossy, six-sided "points" of the crystals. The sunlight streaming in, showed many of them to be amethysts of purest water. Set in the quarcz rocks, were also many crystals of tourmaline ; and at the foot of the crag lay a massive eight-sided prism of feldspar, as large as a quart-measure. Here was a bonanza, indeed. WHERE STEIN HAD BEEN, 151 Having no drill and hammer to work with, I got a stout bit of spruce limb, and with this, and a stone for a hammer, I fell to despoiling this store- house of Nature's treasures, by breaking out the crystals and filling my pockets. (Here Stein admiringly displayed several fine crys- tals, — clear, white quartz and amethysts). "Yes, we see," quoth Moses O., not much paci- fied as yet. " Go on with your little story. Were you tinkering there all night, pray ? " It was nearly sunset (con- tinued our mineialogical comrade, looking somewhat abashed at our still unsym- pathetic faces) before I thought how late I was re- maining. Somewhat has- tily, then, I gathered my trophies and set off. Rather than climb back in and out of the ravines, I injudicious- ly resolved to go round to the south of the ledges, where there was a long, narrow pond, and so follow round lo the lake shore. It seemed likely to be a less tiresome route. But I made a great mis- "^"^ ^^^^^^g fir. take. No sooner had I reached the bed of the valley near the pond, than I found myself in an almost impenetrable swamp of cedar and alder, and sank into mud and water at every step. * It was almost dusk, too, in th^ valley. Keeping the pond in sight through the bushes, I pushed ahead, resolved to stick to this route, now that I had taken it. XS2 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. I pushed on for half or three quarters of a mile, and had come to an upturned root, covered with vi les and briers, where, years before, a large spruce had been blown down. Leaping upon this, I was poising myself to spring off on the other side, when the top suddenly crumbled beneath my feet, and I was precipitated into the hole at the foot of the root, through brush and dead vines. Instantly there was a snarl, a spit, and a growl, and several creatures leaped out from almost under my feet as I slid down. A good deal startled, though not frightened exactly, I scrambled out, having had an indistinct glimpse of two or three furry forms. Jumping upon a log, I looked around. At first, I could neither see nor hear anything of the animals. I shouted to frighten them, then whistled several times. At this I saw a head rise up from behind an old log, — a round, cat-like head, with erect ears, — and it kept stretching up three feet, at least. Then it as cautiously drew down again. Scarcely was the first one out of sight, when another, a 'ittle to the right, rose up and took a look at me. And this second one v/as hardly down when a third head, from out a dry spruce top, was stretched up, peeked at me a moment, and drew down again. I knew they were some species of woods cat. They looked both large and ferocious. I thought I would frighten them if possible, and shouted and screeched ; and while I was screeching, the brutes kept down. But when I stopped, the heads began to stretch up, one after another, again 1 I didn't know what was the best course to follow ; and while I stood hesitating, the one behind the log came a few steps towards me, and sat down like a dog, with his big silvery eyes regarding me attentively. Then both the others did the same thing, coming a few steps nearer, and sitting down, quite at their ease, just as if they wanted to be social, and were making an evening call. Determined to make a demonstration, I threw my stone-hammer at the nearest, and seemingly the boldest of the three. It just missed him. He crouched for a minute, then rose to his sitting posture again. I threw two or three of my specimens at him. The brute seemed to dodge them, crouching suddenly, then as quickly rising again. Meanwhile, one of the others approached and sat down a few steps nearer. Getting desperate, I seized a big quartz crystal and hurled it, with all my strength, at the creature. It hit him in the breast. He gave a shrill yelp ; and at this, both the others 'uttered a similar note, and skulked up towards him. WHERE STEIN HAD BEEN. 153 Taking advantage of this momentary confusion into which I had thrown my steahhy assailants, I cut and ran, having now only the bit of spruce stick in my hand. It was a terrible place for running. I tripped several times, and fell into brush, mud, and water, but jumped uf pi nged ahead again for a hundred rods or more, when coming out into a little open place, I pulled up, completely out of breath. I could not have run another minute to save my life. Scarcely had I stopped when I heard a snapping of the sticks back in the bushes, and out bounded those cats, and came lazily leaping up within a few yards of me, where they again sat composedly down, their silvery eyes bent on me in grim significance. What to do now I didn't know. If there had been but one, I would have tried the temper of his head with my stick. But I knew the three would be more than a match for me. As soon as it got dark, I supposed they would fall upon me tooth and nail. I had kept near the pond, and as I glanced hopelessly around, I saw, through the fast gathering shadows, a great stooping fir which leaned out over the water. I backed towards this, and reaching the foot of it, turned and ran up the inclined trunk to where I could catch the lowermost dry limbs, and so swung myself up twenty feet or more. Glancing hurriedly down, I saw the cats walking leisurely up near the foot of the fir. There they sat down as demurely as before. I had kept hold of my club, and I felt tolerably certain of being able to beat them back if they attempted to climb up the trunk of the fir. But the oddly-behaved brutes did not attempt to climb up to me. At intervals, one of them would come and stretch up on the trunk of the fir, sharpen his nails, then fall back and sit down again. It was soon dark, and, to cut my story short, I have been roosting uf in that old fir all night. It was anything but warm and comfortable before morning ; but I did not dare to get down ; for it was not till after daylight that my gray-furred watchers betook themselves back to their swamp. I knew of course you would be worried about me ; / came as soon as I could. Once or twice I thought I heard guns and saw something that looked like a distant fire, shining upon the sky over the top of the ridge, back of the pond. Did you fire guns for me? 154 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. "Well, I should rather say we did I " Rike observed. "I suppose we shall have to forgive you, Freeland," Mos?s O. remarked, doubtfully, " and congratulate you on your escape. But the next time you go after * specimens,' do pray let us know, or if we are asleep, leave a line or somethmg; and I should think it might perhaps be as well to take your gun along." Nugent said that Stein's " woods cats " were no doubt loup cerviers. o. CHAPTER XV. A CARIBOU AT BAY. HUNTING BY TORCHLIGHT. I HERE are no moose on the Perilonca; but hundreds of caribou range over this northern country. The cari- bou i^Rangifer Caribou) is a hir^e, gray deer, quite distinct from the common red deer of the United States, and allied, naturalists hold, to the reindeer of Lapland. They are sometimi^s killed as large as a cow, weighing five and six hundred pounds, commonly from three to four hundred. This deer is found in Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; but the great wilderness regions to the north of the St. Lawrence are their stronghold. To the westward their habitat is said to extend as far as the Great Lakes, and northward to Hudson Bay. To hunt caribou was one of the " great expectations " which had led us to penetrate this remote country. Nugent and Otelne were both professional caribou hunters, and on the day following Stein's adventure, we set off on a caribou hunt. Caribou at this season are rarely found in the woods about the Lakes. Nugent took us to wha^ he called a " barren," ten or twelve miles to the northwest of Lake Tshistagama^ where, after a long tramp through the spruce woods, and over several mountains, we came out upon a kind of elevated table-land, thousands of acres in extent, bare of trees, and covered with furze, moss, and blueberry bushes. Dry, gray, larch stubs rendered the aspect of this dreary tract still more desolate. Almost immediately upon emerging on the " barren," we descried 158 THE UNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. a herd of eight or ten animals, a mile or more away, which Otelne had no sooner set his eyes on than he exclaimed, " Chit-i-nu-zeet ! " — the Indian name for this species of deer. But they had our " wind," and were already moving off. For though the vision of caribou deer is rather defective, their sense of smell is so delicately acute that, the breeze favoring, they will detect the approach of a hunter at a great distance. The particulars of our chase after this herd — skirting the forests about the "barren" — crawling on our hands and knees through the moss and low bushes — trying by every device known to Nugent and the Mic-mac to get within shooting distance, but always failing of A CARIBOU BARREN. it — would prove more tiresome than interesting, I fear. It may best be abbreviated to the simple phrase, no deer that day. The only event of the day was the starting up of a bear by Karzy, as he was creeping through some blueberry bushes about waist high. Bruin was either asleep in the bushes, or else lazily blueberrymg; and Karzy crept — like xlade in the ballad — into his near presence before either of them was aware. The bear rose on his hind legs — and HUNTING BY TORCHLIGHT. 159 grinned. At the same instant, Karzy jumped up and stared. So rapt in astonishment was our young comrade at seeing a bear when he was merely looking for deer, that he quite forgot to use his gun — forgot he even had a gun. After mutual inspection, the bear " bowed " (Karzy says) and took his leave. It occurred to our comrade — just as the animal was turning a corner of some ledges, a hundred yards off, or so — that it was his business to shoot bears when he saw them. He then let both barrels go, the echoes of which boomer^ fa* and wide. We had brought along a supply of crackers, pressed meat n^ cans, and a coffee-pot, also each a blanket. Towards night Nugent took us off the " barren " to a little pond in the woods to camp, an^^ selected a most cosy spot in lee of a high, overhanging rock. There were a few mosquitoes; but we made very comfortable quarters, and slept soundly on a heap of fir boughs. It was just cool enough that night to rest comfortably under the blankets. Otelne rpse very early and v/ent off caribou-hunting, leaving Nu- gent to get breakfast. After a while Haiold also got up and started off on his own hook, along the pond shore. Half an hour passed, and the rest of us had just arisen, yawned, and were washing our faces, in a row, on the sandy pond shore, when we heard a gun not very far off, in the direction Harold had gone. At that we stopped short, in the midst of our ablutions, to listen. Bang went a second gun, and scarcely a minute later we heard a "halloo!" '^He's foul of something!" shouted Moses O., and we all seized our guns and ran, Nugent dropping the coffee-pot, regardless of con- tents. Away we sped thf/vugfi brush and bushes. Another halloo di- rected us. Moses O. and Nugent ran phead of the others. We heard them fire, bang, bang, and, catching up with them a minute later, saw Harold standing close against a large spruce trunk, while a fqw i6o THE KNOCK^ABOUT CLUB. 1: rods off lay a large buck caribou which Nugent had just brought down. " Did he attack you?" we all asked Harold in some astonishment. " Well, not exactly — not till I attacked him," said Dearborn. He then told us that going quietly along he had come plump upon the caribou, among some alders in the water's edge, drinking, and shot it. The animal ran a few rods, then turned, gritting its teeth and shaking its antlers. On his shooting it again, the creature dashed at him. With that our comrade jumped behind a tree and hallooed. The buck came up with- in twelve or fifteen feet, and stood grit- ting its teeth. It was bleeding free- ly, nor did it move from that position till Nugent fired at it with large shot, killing it. This was good luck indeed. Two hours later we had some of the venison — rudely cooked, it is true, but very palatable — for our breakfast. ■■* ' Otelne and Nugent skinned and butchered the deer, and in the afternoon we returned to our camp on the lake with the head and antlers for mounting as a trophy, and a pack of one hundred and fifty pounds, or more, of the meat tied up in the hide, and slung midway of a pole for convenience in carrying. Pretty tired with the tramp back to the lake, we hung the skinful BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU. HUNTING BY TORCHLIGHT. i6i It it iful of meat up to a dry limb of one of the spruces close to our camp; but the head Harold stuck upon the front pole of the shed. By ten o'clock I presume we were all soundly asleep; and it seemed to me that I had but just fairly fallen into a drowse, when a great hubbub woke me, and I heard a gun snap! Nugent was up. So were Rike and Otelne. " What's the matter? " Moses O. exclaimed. "Something's got our meat," said Rike, — "got it down and dragged it off." Nugent and Otelne had given chase, a..^i after a few minutes they came back, laughing, bringing the meat. They had run so close on the thief that he had dropped it. They now got out one of the big traps and a piece of the meat, and then, going back, set it where the creature had dropped its prize. Otelne said it was a kek-juarar- kis. " That is a wolverine," Nu- gent explained, " a carcajeu." Quiet again reigned for some hours. Just at daybrc however, we were wakened again by a horrible yelp — a whole string of them — not far off. "We've ketched him."' Nugent exclaimed; and with that we all got up and started — all except Karzy and Moses O. " Let kekwararkis skip,"' said Moses O., dreamily. " I cannot be broken of my rest for every bej.st that comes round here.*^ The animal had drapred off" the trap. It was scarcely light as yet; but Otelne soon found the trail. They had chained a clog, or short log of green wood, to the trap. The WOODLAND CARIBOU HOOFS. l62 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. animal had jerked the clog after it, leaping, sometimes, eight or ten feet at a bound — over logs and water-holes. Otelne went at a dog- trot, making it no easy matter to keep pace with him. First through a swamp, then over a high ridge and into an alder bottom, the trail led us, two or three miles, till at length we came to the foot of a deep ravine betwixt crags. Here a well-marked path leading up the ravine, winding among the rocks and through the scrubby thickets, was discovered. Not only had the creature we were following escaped up the gorge, but the place was plainly a haunt of wild animals. I think I never was at a much more dismal spot. The dim light caused it to appear really savage, arid the loud roar of a foaming brook, the black rocks, and blacker firs, shut in by rugged cliffs, made sombre scenery indeed! But Otelne and Nugent were ahead; we followed. The path, beaten by unknown feet, wound about the huge lichen-grown boul- ders that lay in the bed of the ravine, round, and even beneath the heaps of drift, and benealh overhanging trees, and logs which lay tilted across the rocks. Once or twice we had to creep and crawl to get through. I should think that we fo' lowed this ravine for half a mile, — cross- ing the brook half-a-dozen times at least; sometimes wading knee- deep, then leaping from rock to rock, or balancing ourselves on old logs. The stream here fell over a ledge twenty or twenty-five feet high. The path, turning off beneatii the overhanging cliff on the left, led into a sort of arm, or branch of the ravine, still narrower and darker. Indeed, it was so dusky here that we could barely distinguish Otelne twenty-five feet ahead of us. He stopped short, and we came plump upon him. "i b'lieve I kin see his eyes by that old root," Nugent whispered; he fumbled about, and found a dry knot which he threw. Something moved, with a quick bound, and — above the roar of the brook — I heard a snarl, and the trap rattling. i HUNTING BY TORCHLIGHT. 163 " Fah ! Smell 'im ! " exclaimed Nugent. " Don't you see his eyes ? " We were still unable to make out the eyes, but could see the motion and dark outlines of some animal beside the old root. Nugent cocked his gun, and stepped back. ** Fire at him, some of you," said he. " If you don't fetch him, I'll stand ready to." Rike fired. But I think that even Nugent himself was unprepared for what followed. For at the report, or flash of the powder, such a chorus of snarls, growls, and loud ''yawlings" burst out as never before, I fancy, smote on the ear of a hunter! The place seemed full of savage beasts. We all beat a rapid retreat back to the brook. "Thar's more'n twenty of 'em!" Nugent exclaimed. We could still hear the pack snarling and yawling. Otelne began pulling and fumbling about a pile of drift-stuff which lay at the foot of the falls, and presently we saw him strike a match. There was plenty of the drift-stuff, and he soon had a fire going which lighted up the wild gorge with baleful glare. "We'll rout 'em now! " Nugent cried, in great glee; and seizing a brand out of the fire, and swinging it over his head to keep it blazing, he advanced into the side-ravine again. "Come on behind me," he called to us, "and be ready; but be careful and don't shoot me." The snarling had stopped after our fire was lighted, but we had not gone many steps before it began again. The brutes were there yet. I fancied that the fire had frightened them away. But we found afterwards, that they could not have got away without running past us and the fire ; for we were at the entrance of a chasm that was shut in all around by steep rocks fifty or sixty feet high. At sight of the brand, the growling and snarling were redoubled. I never heard such a noise ! Nugent stopped, and then flung the brand ahead. As it flew, end 164 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. over end, in the air, we heard a great scratching of nails on the logs and stones! The brand blazed up for a moment where it struck; and then we all caught sight of an ugly-looking brute crouching on a boulder. " Shute, shute ! " cried Otelne. Stein and Harold fired, and then there was another hurried retreat. Nugent fixed the fire, took another brand, and we started into the den again. It was not diflScult to tell when we were getting near the brutes. The snarling gave us warning enough. Just as Nugent threw his second brand, one of the animals made a rush, and brushed out past us with an ugly snarl. But, coming into the glare of our fire, it turned back on us. Otelne fired, and we had the satisfaction to see the creature leap up and fall upon its back. "Good shot!" exclaimed Nu- gent. "You've settled that one;" and he ran forward, seized a club, and beat the animal on the head. It was a thick-set, black beast, with a round, squat head, short prick ears, and a rather bushy tail. We looked it over, added fuel to the fire, and went into the den again. The snarling at sight of the firelight was the luckiest thing in the world for us. It showed just where the animals were crouching. Nugent would throw a brand in the direction of the sounds. Up the brutes would jump to another rock, or another log, and stand glaring at the brand — just in a position to oflfer a fair mark. We shot three in that way. The sight of the blazing brands seemed to daze them. Two or three managed to claw their way up the rocks at the WOLVERINE. HUNTING BY TORCHLIGHT. '65 upper end of the chasm, and escape. There were, at least, seven in the den at the outset. We di 1 not try to get out the ones we had shot till fairly morning. Otelne then dragged them out. There were five of them. The one in the trap was rather the largest. We dragged that one over to camp. The fur beneath the long coarse hair was thick and fine. The animal was doubtless the Wolverine, or Glutton. HOISTING HER GENTLY OVER. CHAPTER XVI. SETTING BEAR TRAPS. A STRONG FISH. ODD GAiViE. i OWARD evening the sky darkened. It was not from clouds, but smoke. The sun was entirely obscured three hours before sunset ; and one of the closest, dark- est nights which I ever remember passing, succeeded ; it was " dark as Egypt." Nugent said the smoke came from great forest-fires in the north. "Much moss burn," Otelne remarked. Both he and Nugent told us that far in the north, in Labrador, were vast plains covered to the depth of three feet with a thick rnat of moss. At this season of the year (August) these moss- fields are sometimes burned over. Ordinarily the moss-beds are too damp to burn. It was a very strange-seeming night. In the morning the sky looked black ; nor did the sun show its dull, copper disk through the smoke pall, till near ten o'clock. There was no wind, yet fine white ashes were continually sifted down. Nugent said there was sure to be plenty of game within a day or two — driven southward by the fires. That day the bear traps were all set at ditferent points. While taking a swim early in the morning, Moses O. had seen a bear walking along on the opposite shore of the lake. Stein and he, with Nugent, had crossed over at once. The bear had moved on, but left some prodigious tracks behind him in the sand. Some of these were measured, and our two comrades returned pro- foundly impressed with the magnitude of Tshistagama bears — their SETTING BEAR TRAPS. 167 feet, at least. " Why," said Moses, " that old chap would need a No. 13 boot. He's a regular Voorhees." They set one of the traps in a " path " which they had discovered. Nugent did not chain his traps, but fastened a log of wood to them, a " clog " he called it. The lake at this place is about a mile in width. We judged it to be thirteen miles long. Here, too, there were wininish. Otelne caught one early in the morning which would have weighed six pounds. • . In the afternoon, Moses and Rike went out in one of the canoes, to try their hand at luininish — and had a rather perilous adventure. The first intimation of their trouble which the rest of us (who were taking a siesta at the time) received, was a shout from Otelne. Be- fore we got out, Nugent and he had launched another canoe and were paddling vigorously off from the shore. Out a third of a mile, or more, there was a nondescript-looking object floating in the water with what looked like a man's head on it. Our two fishermen had capsized, and were having about all they could do to keep afloat. Nugent picked them up and brought them ashore — dripping. He then paddled oack for their hats which he recovered, and also towed in a rivininish, which would have weighed at least ten pounds! — twelve Nugent set it. It was the big fish which had overturned them. Wiiile dryings Rike gave us the following points of their experience with the W2V//«e5^; — r:;-iBjN»5irT^ BIG TRACKS. i68 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. % \ CAPSIZED BY A WININISH. We had been angling patiently for some time. By getting my face down close to the water, I at length discerned the faint outlines of a large fish, a wininishi balancing himself a foot or two up from the sandy bottom, slowly, fanning and winnowing the water with its clear fins. Again and again, we dropped the meat bait in front of him, where it would almost rub his nose. He wouldn't touch it ; wouldn't even so much as smell of it. At last I let mine fall plump on his back, when, as if provoked at my persistence, he swung round, and opening wide his big mouth, swal- lowed it, hook and all, at one gulp. I jerked, and then there was a lively scrimmage. For, feeling the prick, the great fish darted away, mak- ing a great szvirl deep down in the water, and sawing the line into my fingers. The ca- noe turned with him. I held on. Moving slowly at first, our little birch began to glide oflT, faster and faster, as the big fish darted away toward the middle of the lake. I think at one time we were drawn through the water as fast as a horse could trot. But he could not continue that speed, and gradually decreased it. Then he stopped altogether. The water was black and deep here. We couldn't see the winnish. He was down the whole length of the line, and would not come to the top, but held back, like a hog. Mose took the line, and I seized the other pole to punch him. All at once he made a great rush through the water, under the canoe, giving a heavy tug at the line, which nearly jerked Mose overboard. I jumped up to catch hold of it with him. Just then the fish plunged off sidewise, quick as a flash. CAPSIZED. CAPSIZED BY A WINLMSII. 169 making the line almost "sing" ar it rushed through the water, and, — I can't tell exactly how it happened, — but the little birch box of a canoe spun round under us, rolled, and over we went, sprawling into the water. We could both of us swim, but this was such a sudden duck under that I sucked in more water than was quite pleasant, and came up blowing and strangling. The first object I spw, when I came up, was Moses' head and arms a few yards off. He was seemingly trying to swim towards me, uj«ing every effort to get to my side ; but, strange to say, he was going backwards, out into the lake ! Seeing my head bob up, he yelled, at the top of his voice, — "Help! Help I" "What's the matter?" spluttered I. " Help I He's got me by the legs I " '* What has?" "The fish — the line! Help! or he'll draw me under ! " The line had become wound about his leg somehow ; and, as the ivininish was fast on the hook, they were at a deadlock. Not exactly at a deadlock, either ; for, though swimming with all his might for the shore, Mose was getting farther out into the lake at every stroke. The fish was stronger in the water than he. I swam to him as quick as I could, and, reaching down, tried to get the line from his lef- But it was wound and snarled so securely, that, with the fish pulli.: ' '' ^ t, I could not start it. " Help I hoiU him, then ! " panted Mose, " or he'll have me under ! " So, keeping hold of the line with one hand, I struck out with the other. Together we were a little more than a match for the fish. It must have been a ludicrous sort of swimming-match, but was no joke for us though ! , Every few seconds the fish would dart aside, jerking us under for a mo- ment ; but we hung to the line, (Mose couldn't very well help it,) and foot by foot worked our way back to the canoe, where we clung till Nugent got out to us. HIS HEAD. I 170 THE KNOCK-AliOUr CLUB. It was a magnificent fish. Wc feasted on it for two clays, changing altcrnatel}' from ivininish to caribou. While we were dining that night we repeatedly heard a whizzing, rushing noise in the air. It proved to be ducks, both sheldrake and black ducks, coming into the lake from the north. The fire may have SHOOTING DUCKS BY TORCHLIGHT. hastened their flight southward. Flock after flock came down in quick succession. "I'll show ye sport!" Nugent kept saying. He rigged a torch in the bow of one of the canoes, and set up be- hind it one of our tin pans, in such a manner as to reflect the lighl forward, and leave the canoe and its occupants in the darkness. With this rig, he, with Rike and Harold, and Otelne to row, put out as soon ODD GAME. 171 as it was fairly dark. The reports of their guns immeclintcly showed that they were having sport — much to the envy of us who were left behind. They did not get back till between eleven and twelve, but were in high glee; they had shot and picked up forty-three ducks. And they assured us that these were far from being all that they had killed; in fact, numbers of dead ducks were seen afloat next day. Some of these drifted ashore. Nugent and Harold had crossed over to look to the trap set for the big bear on the opposite shore the previous afternoon. It lay un- sprung and unmolested. Next day Stein and Kar/y went over to visit it. In the course of two hours they came hurriedly paddling back. . "It's sprung I It's gone I " Karzy exclaimed. " But there's some- thing more than Just a bear in that trap! " "Don't get excited, Karzy," said Moses O. "Calm your feelings and tell us all about it. " I'm not excited," protested our young comrade indignantly. " I'm only out of breath rowing. But I guess any one might be par- doned for getting somewhat wrought up. \ye went where the trap w^as set — and found it gone. Then we followed on after it, by the marks the clog had made, away out through a thick swamp, half a mile. Suddenly, right ahead of us, not twenty yards off, there rose a cry of agony, wild, fearfully shrill and piercing. So unearthly loud had it sounded that we hardly knew where or how near it was, and stood breathless. It startled us both, very much. Then we heard other noises. There was a terrific thrashing, and clanking, and pounding of the ground! We could hear wood — seemingly great poles — breaking and cracking as if some mighty struggle was going on. "This cracking and pounding continued for several seconds, then came another terrible cry, then another, and still another; the most agonizing and blood-curdling sounds that can well be imagined. ■i! I! i 172 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. And — well — we thought we would come over and get the rest of you felloivs^ " Make a clean breast of it, Karzy," laughed Harold. " Confess that you both ' lit ' out of that swamp at just your handsomest paces." " 'Tis false," exclaimed Karzy. " Did we run, Freel ? " **No," said Stein, "we only walked — quite rapidly." All hands paddled across to see what we had caught. Landing, we followed Karzy's lead into the swamp, and presently — as we cautiously drew up to the spot where the boys had heard the cries — a deep and labored breathing began to be heard. We instantly stopped to listen. The sound continued with an occasional loud grunt. " It's the critter in the trap," said Nugent. We expected nothing less. Meanwhile, a heavy trampling and cracking of brush was heard. Very cautiously, and somewhat fear- fully, we peered through the alders, every gun cocked. "There he is," whispered Nugent, "in the trap I A great gray — why, why, why! Thunder! that's a caribou I '''' "Av/hat?" "A caribou!" / . It was indeed a large caribou buck, hung up against a root by the clog! To dispatch him was now but the work ol a moment. The animal was even larger than our first one. To set a trap for bear aad catch caribou was indeed an odd chance. Otelne laughed all the evening; and always afterwards whenever it was mentioned. " C^nbou, he tink new kind wolf grab him by leg — little small kind o' wolf, but very strong!" he would say. CHAPTER XVII. ANOTHER CARIBOU. NUGENT'S FIGHT WITH A LOUP CERVIER. N the next morning, but very early, before any one else was awake, Otelne, who was out looking for game signs, saw amither caribou come out upon the summit of the high crag back of our camp. The animal stood quiet, looking off on the lake; and Otelne, taking his gun, crept stealthily back almost to the very foot of the precipice, and shot it. Instead of bounding backward when struck by the ball, the creature gave a convulsed leap, and came headlong down the cliff, striking in the tops of some spruces, whence it fell through to the ground. Otelne ran up, when, somewhat to his astonishment, the caribou bounded to its feet and sprang off! There were copious douches of blood on the stones, however. Nugent said the animal would run a mile or two and drop. So, after breakfast, we started out to find it and bring it in. The track was not difficult to follow. The deer had fled along the lake shore; its foot-prints in the mud and the sand were plainly visible. But even after three or four miles it showed no symptoms of droppings or slackening its speed. We followed on until we came to the river (Perilonca), which it had waded at a shallow, and which we too waded, waist deep. From the other bank, straight off into the woods, still the trail led us, for at least two miles further, when we came upon the poor creature among some rocks beset by five loup cerviers! The growling and snarling these brutes were making over their 174 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. booty had caused us to pull up while still at a considerable distance. One of them was sitting up like a cat on one of the rocks; the others were tearing and eating the caribou which they had throttled already. The one on the rock looked as large as a pretty good- sized bull-dog. It had an enormously big, round head and large, yellow eyes. • ' " There's a mark for you," said Nugent to Harold. Our captain let ^^ bullet go at it, and with such good aim, that the OTELNE HUNTING CARIBOU. beast leaped up, turning a compjete somersault in the air, and fell heavily betwixt the rocks. With that the other four hopped up in sight off the caribou — for a moment; but they all skulked before we could get aim, except one, a big old "Tom." This one which seemed considerably larger and fiercer than the others, wouldn't budge, but stood growling hideously. Its great round eyes shone like silver; in fact, it looked to be no contemptible antagonist for the boldest hunter. " Don't shoot," said Nugent. " I'll show you some fun." NUGENT'S FIGHT WITH A LOUP CERVIER. 175 He whipped out his knife and cut an alder club, three feet long, and as thick as one's wrist. "Are you going to fight that beast?" exclaimed Harold. "Oh! I'll soon fix him," said Nugent, and slipping past us he walked slowly toward the lynx, holding his club ready to strike. " He'll surely jump at you! " Rike exclaimed; for the animal was snarling savagely. "Let him jump," said Nugent. "That's just what I want him to do." The lynx growled and crouched lower and lower, working its hind feet. Then it jumped; but Nugent was on his guard, and when the brute leaped, he jumped back. The animal struck on the ground a few feet in front of him, and before it could spring again the heavy, green alder came down on its head with a sounding thump which sent it sprawling. But it took fully a dozen blows, dealt with might and main, to fairly dispatch the creature. Nugent then took the body by the fore-paws, and laid one on each shoulder, allowing the hind feet to rest on the ground, thus showing the length of the animal. Its claws were hooked like those of an owl. Scarcely was the singular duel over when Stein, chancing to turn, saw a she-wolf, a large gray one, standing beside a fir not more than fifty yards off. He shot at it on the instant, but the beast leaped away. Truly, that poor caribou had been pursued by manifold hunters that morning; its carcass was so badly torn and gory, that we let it lie where the loup cetviers had pulled it down. Nugent managed, however, to cut out some steaks from one of the quarters, which he broiled for our dinner. Next day was Sunda}'; and, as it happened, the "scribe" had a little adventure of his own, though fortune rarely favors him much in that line. Stein was the man for adventures on this trip. Getting tired of lying in camp, the day being fihe, the said scribe started out for a walk. True, it was Sunday, but he took his gun; for, !i^! ■''\ h 176 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. after Stein's roosting in the tree over night, watched by loup-cerviers, we all made it a point to take our guns on going out, even for a walk. It was a comfortably warm day, but cloudy, rather thickly cloudy; and the air darkened at times as if great black masses of vapor, above the haze, were gathering for showers. Going north-eastward along the lake shore for two miles, perhaps three, he came to where a large stony brook flowed in. The water was low among great, black mossy boulders; and a little way up he found a pool, now getting dry, where there were pent up six large, tuladi trout, the very smallest of which would weigh nearly two pounds. All six of these were captured very easily, and, when strung on a stout alder fork, the}' made as pretty a string of fish as one would ever wish to astonish one's fellows with by taking home to camp. Hanging ti.is piscatorial trophy to a high fir limb, the scribe went on up the brook, reasoning inwardly on the matter of fishing Sundays, and arguing with his conscience that this could fairly be termed an ex- ceptional case, the fish being there in a hole, suffering to be caught, — so to speak, — when a rather rare object in that region claimed his attention. It was a clump of six or eight poplars, or trees res * bling poplars, standing on the high bank of the brook, eighteen or LVvCnty rods ahead, and making, in contrast v/ith the surrounding black-green spruce and fir foliage, a very notable feature in the landscape. It had been the opinion of the party that no maple or poplar grew in this section of the country. Interested in adding something new to the general fund of information, the scribe climbed the bank, with diffi- culty, for it was both high and steep, and found beyond doubt that the trees were true poplars, a foot and a half in diameter, one nearly two feet, and from seventy to eighty feet tall. But five or six of the trees were dead, or dying. There was scarcely a leaf in their tops; and the topmost limbs, too, had an odd, yellowish look. This climate is too severe for poplars, thought the scribe, these trees were winter-killed last season; and then he sat THE ''SCRIBE'S'' ADVENTURE, 177 down to observe a new object of interest, in the form of a large ant- hill, or rather ant-burrow, on the top of the bank near the roots of the poplars. There was a large hole in the dry bank, as big as the mouth of an ink-bottle, and into this the ants — a medium-sized, black species, with a certain watery reddish tint — were going in numbers. But, unlike the ants of more southern latitudes, these had not thrown up a hill at the mouth of their house. Their door was simply this round hole down into the ground, and, so far as he could ascertain by measuring with a straw, it extended straight downward a foot or more. The conjecture suggested itself that this departure from the methods of their more southern congeners, was on account of the severity of the winters, which made it necessary to their existence that their houses should be deep down in the earth, out of reach of the intensity of the frost. But the scribe had not sat long when a short, sharp shriek — an odd, querulous note — from directly over head, broke in upon his entomological study. Glancing upward he saw nothing at first, but a moment after espied what looked to be a yellow-gray bundle, the size of a peck measure, in a fork of one of the poplars, up thirty-five or forty feet from the ground. A second glance showed it to be a Canada porcupine, or hedgehog; and while he was reconnoitring the animal, he saw still another in a fork of two limbs higher up. The secret of the dead, yellowed trees was out at once. It was not a case of winter-killing, but of hedgehog-killing. These greedy animals had gnawed the bark off the poplar limbs, almost completely denuded them, in fact, and would, in the course of the month, destroy that whole rare grove. The scribe had heard of baked hedgehog, — baked in their skins, and salt) |.i. jjc a luxury among Indians. A vision of a new dish for his comrade"^ took possession of his mind. He either forgot that it was Sun4i^, or else for the moment his sportsman's instincts made ) m reckless. In a minute his gun was cocked, and, taking aim at _rtf I % •I I m % 178 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. the lowermost of the " q^aill-pigs," he fired and shot it. T e bristly little creature tumbled off the limb at once, but caught in a crotch between a lower limb and the trunk, where it hung kicking. The other, alarmed by the report of the gun and the fall of its mate, started to come down, but lost its hold, and tumbled from limb to limb, catching at each with its hooked toes. But it fell to the ground, with a sounding thump; the scribe, indeed, had to jump nim- bly out of the way. The moment the animal struck the earth it coiled itself up in a thorny ball Not lacing to strike it with the butt of the gun, the un-Sabbatarian hunter gave it a poke, when, presto! it unrolled as suddenly as it had rolled up, and made a wonderfully direct bolt for an old upturned root, and before the tardy sportsman could cut it ofi', it had made good its retreat into a hole under the root. "Well done, little fellow," quoth the scribe. "But I will make sure of your mate! " And, pulling off his shoodng jacket, he started up the poplar bear fashion, with his arms locked round the trunk. It cost some little exertion and a good deal of wriggling to get up thirty feet; and so much wriggling produced an effect on the tree which the climber had not anticipated. As has been said, the poplar stood on a high, crumbling bank, at the base of which the brook had been digging during freshets, wash- ing out the roots of the trees on that side. This particular tree leaned out a little on that side; several of them did; and by the time the hunter of porcupines had got up nearly to where the hedgehog was, the poplar began to sag over towards the stream, and the bank to crumble and slide down, — and it kept sagging over and crumbling, slowly at first, but awfully sure; and it was sixty feet down to the water, if an inch. He felt it going. How deep the water was down at the foot of the bank he could only guess. It was a still, dark-look- ing pool of deep, stagnant water. He seemed an age going down, — sailing those sixty feet through the air! Clutching the branches, he THE '' SCRIBE'S" ADVENTURE. 179 struck the water back first, head and shoulders down, with such a tre- mendous spat as nearly to knock the breath out of his body. But, luckily for his bones, he did not strike the bottom, as he had expected. It was a deep hole, and being a tolerable swimmer he got clear of the brush, came to the surface and reached the shore. But his ears were singing smartly, and altogether he did not feel like giving much attention to the hedgehog, which had disappeared in the melee. Landing, he first wrung his clothes, then sat down on the bank to dry awhile, and had nothing in the way of baked hedgehog in view to solace him for his ducking. In fact he omitted this episode entirely from his account of his walk, to his comrades, and was content to let them admire those tuladi without making any reference to hedge- hogs. A rather singular phenomenon resulted from this fall. For more than a week after that the scribe had not a little difficulty in sleeping nights. No sooner would he get in a drowse than he would dream of falling: would seem to be going — going — going down into bottom- less pools of ink-black water. The sensation was so vivid that he would sometimes jump half out of his bunk in his unreasoning fright. i^ IP was. k- '■1 il CHAPTER XVIII. BEAR VERSUS HEDGEHOG. KARZY GOES BEAVER-HUNTING. |ARZY, as it happened, had a Sunday adventure, too. His was more gamey than the scribe's, but, oddly enough, had a hedgehog in it. To the credit of Karzy it should be said that he did not start off in quest of Sunday adventures, but merely to gather blueberries. On the opposite side of the lake he had discovered a brule, or small burnt tract, in the w^oods where these berries abounded. So, taking our tin water-pail, he crossed over in a canoe to gather blueberries for dinner. While wandering about the bruU he saw a most amusing thing. It was on the hillside, in the midst of old logs and stumps, among which a rank second growth of wild red cherry had sprung up, along with a profusion of high briers. He was walking through this bushy tract, when, to his surprise, he came upon a bear, not more than five or six rods off, and a very large one, he says. The animal was smelling and nosing about a great pine stump, around which stood the clear red stems of three or four thrifty cherry trees. The bear had not heard him, being intent on something inside, or under the stump. Here was a fine chance to do some fancy hunting, especially as Karzy had Rike's fine double-barrelled " Purdy," well loaded with buck shot, but either because it was Sunday, or for some other reason^ our young comrade drew very gently down into the briers out of sight. No doubt the bear looked very big and burly. His great broad head appeared as large as a bushel basket, Karzy BEAR VERSUS HEDGEHOG. l8l says, and he very appropriately reirarked that if one were going to shoot such a bear as that, he needed bullets. So Karzy contented himself with playing the role of naturalist instead of hunter. First the bear would peep down under the stump beside one of the bleached roots, growl a little, then thrust in a paw and reach for something. Soon he began to tear and wrench at the stump, which was old and decayed. It cracked and split under the beast's great strength. Off came one side of the stump with a part of the root. It was full of ants. These came swarming out. They got on the bear, and it was amusing to see his conduct. He threw himself amongst the dry leaves, and rolled and snapped at the ants, throwing a cloud of leaves into the air. Then he would jump up and fly at the stump again, tearing and rending it with his great claws. Once or twice, as the ants swarmed out, Karzy saw him brush them into his mouth; and he began to think it was the ants the creature was digging for. But it was not; for a few minutes after he got down to the game, and with one paw scooped out a reddish, hairy ball, which he sent rolling ten or a dozen feet. At first sight Karzy took it for a woodchuck, but soon perceived it to be a hedgehog coiled into a ball, with its quills bristling. The bear sniffed it and rolled it gingerly over, but did not attempt to bite it. In this particular wild animals show themselves more sensible than dogs, which frequently get in sorry plight from worrying hedgehogs. Roll- ing it carefully over, the bear would work one paw under it, and then send it spinning thirty or forty feet. This manoeuvre was repeated some half a dozen times, when, either from accident or design, the hedgehog was hurled violently against another stump. When it fell it went out of Karzy's sight; but he thought that the shock either killed or stunned it, so as to cause it to partially uncoil, for the bear immediately begar cearing and eating it. Our comrade remained quiet (still in the role of naturalist), and in l82 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB, 1 the course of ten or fifteen minutes the bear finishdd his dinner, and then stalked off. After waiting a little longer Karzy rose from his hiding-place and went forward to the scene of the bear's operations. He found the skin of a hedgehog only. It had been torn open along the under side of the body, and the carcass nicely peeled out. We would have given a trifle to know whether the bear actually did kill anv. eat the hedgehog without getting any of the quills into his paws or mouth. It was Karzy's impression that he avoided them altogether. While on the subject of our younger comrade's hunting exploits, we may as well recount his adventure lying in wait for beavers. Nugent had discovered beaver signs, and two or three of their mud houses, in a large brook, — the same on which the scribe had had his accident climbing for hedgehogs. Several traps were set there, but nothing was caught; and one afternoon Karzy, having had a little falling out with Rike, went off to the brook alone, to watch for beavers. As these animals come abroad from their coverts chiefly after nightfall, it was Karzy's avowed purpose to conceal himself near the bank of the brook and lie in wait for them till after dark. Hence we did not expect him back till evening. Evening came; we ate supper, and began to think it was about time for him to return, when we heard a gun a long way off, in the direction of the brook. . ''\; ! , ^ ^'^ Karzy's among the beavers," said Moses O. '■ Pretty soon we heard another, and then another, and shortly after another. ' ; - ^ "He's making a tremendous slaughter," observed Rike. A few minutes after we heard still another gun. " It can't be beaver he's firing at," Nugent remarked. "They're too shy a creature to get more than one shot at in the same place." "What can he be shooting at, then?" said Stein. "You don't suppose those are signal-guns, do you?" said Harold. 'f BEAVERS AT WORK. i IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I Ui|Z8 |2.5 1^ 122 12.2 2.0 11.25 III 1.4 I m i 1.6 S^/k p % ^ '^>' ^>*' ■v > Kiotographic Sciences Corporation 33 WiST MAIN STRUT WnSTIR.N.Y. MSSO {716)i7a-4503 o'^ KAXZr GOES BEAVER-HUNTING. «8S We hardly knew what to think. Anon there came another gun. "This never '11 do, fellows," said Moses O., uprearing his long length from off the ground. " We've got to hunt that child up. He's in trouble again." Forthwith all hands set off for the brook, led by Nugent and Otelne; and three more reports, booming away at intervals, directed us to the scene of the difficulty. The bank was high here, and just as we came out on the stream there was a flash and another stunning report from down at the foot of the bank. " Well, v/hat's the matter? " Harold shouted. " Oh, I got after a beaver," was the rather disconsolate response from down in the darkness. " But you'll have to make a raft, if you can." " Make a raft," cried Nugent. "Yes, if you can. You know I can't swim," answered Karzy. On closer inspection we were able to discern Karzy pen,hed on something which we took at first for an old stump, or rock, out twenty or thirty feet from the bank; but it proved to be a beaver-house. We had quite a job of it, for it was no small matter to make a raft there in the night. First we built a fire. By good 1 "k Otelne had brought along his hatchet. We searched along the ban and found a number of dry drift-logs, which, with withes and poles, we made into a rough raft. Nugent and Moses O. then got on it and pushed cautiously out to where Karzy sat. " Get aboard here," exclaimed Moses O., rather impatiently, for he thought Karzy might have got ashore himself, if he had tried. Karzy clambered down upon the raft. " Now hold on till I get the beaver," said he. "Oh, you've got a beaver! " cried Nugent. "Oh, yes," said Karzy, quietly; " that's what I was out here after." 7«6 THE KNOCK-'ABOUT XLUB: **But how did you get out here if you couldn't get back ?" asked Moses O. ' "Well, you see," explained Karzy, somewhat chop-fallen, "I was lying in wait in the bushes, up the bank here. For an hour or two I didn't see anything. Then, awhile after sunset, I heard the water splash, and saw a beaver rise to the surface close to this house, and swim off up to a green birch tree, which had been gnawed down and lay in the water, a few rods up stream. i " I kept still, and watched him bite off a lot of branches and cut them up into sticks about a foot long. By and by he took five or six of these in his mouth, and started to swim back down to his house. I waited until he was within about ten feet of it, and then fired. I knew I hit him by the way he jumped and let go of the sticks. But he dived and got into his house. " The house itself doesn't stand in very deep water, but between it and the shore the stream here is ten or fifteen feet deep. I saw an old pine stump, with roots on it, a tremendous big one, a little way up stream, lying partly in the water. I went and hauled that clear, and as it floated I got on it, and, with a pole, pushed it out to the beaver-house; for I was determined to have the beaver. "Then I tore a hole through the sods, sticks, and dried grass, on top of the house. The beaver was down inside, not quite dead; but while I was reaching in to haul him up, the old stump got away from me and floated out of reach, and there I was." Luckily, Karzy had his gun slung across his shoulder, and was able to fire those signals of distress which we had heard. The beaver which he had secured was a fine fat one, with a tail as broad as a mason's trowel. The animal weighed nearly forty pounds. At any rate, it gave us a pretty good tug to carry it down to camp. J; - .. . : The beaver's tail, as is well known, was considered a very delicate morsel among the Indians; and we had Otelne prepare this one next ■ NUGE^NT'S BkOTHlSK MARC. 187 forenoon, in the light of all his aboriginal traditions. But it had an excessively oily flavor, with a strong suggestion of fishiness.^ It is one of those things which need ah educated taste to appreciate, and we somehow lacked the requisite degree of education. Karzy's adventure iset Nugent recalling incidents of his own younger days. Among others he told of his brother Marc's tragic death some twelve years previous. We were all' not a little atfected by his story. This "brother Mjirc" must have been a brave and gen*- erous boy. I subjoin the story in substance as Nugent told it. r .; NUGENT'S BROTHER MARC. We were at work up the Attx Lieves that spring ** driving " logs. The river was very high ; but the channel is a rough one in many places and often broken by what we used to call "centre rocks." These "centre rocks" gave us a great deal of trouble ; for the lumber lodged and jammed against them, often blocking the whole river. Then, too, logs shooting down the rapids above would strike these upstanding rocks and broom their ends, till they resembled nothing so much as a huge paint brush. Pine logs of free rift, thirty feet long, would strike half on and go in halves their whole length, so great was the strength and velocity of the mighty flood of down- driving water. Long sticks of black spruce, grazing the smoother boulders would glance up from their slippery surfaces, and fly a hundred feet, like a shuttle I The "drivers" especially dreaded a jam of logs on the rocks above Great Falls^ as one of the heavy cataracts was called ; for, to break a jam here WPS a perilous job, always attended by risk of life. As we got down towards these falls, that spring, the gangs on both banks hurried on to see the lumbei: go through. ' • ; '''"' '"" . ' ' " •'] I well recollect the sight, and how wild the rapids looked. Ice and logs were rolling down together, with the white jets flying up, while from belowi came the thunder of the falls. Squads of drivers, in their red shirts, were climbing over the crags on both sides, shouting to each other, though scarcely a word could be heard above the roar of the water, and the loud cracking of the descending mass. As yet, there was no jam in the falls, but about three hundred yards i88 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. above, a light " glut" had formed, betwixt the shore and some rocks a little ofT from the left bank. It grew fast, for the stream above was full of logs» and the eddy threw them in upon the " glut." "Now, then, who breaks this glut? — and quick about it!" the boss, a man named Mullet, sang out. It had an ugly look, as it rose and fell with the mighty rhythmic motion of the surging rapid. A great clotted mass of froth and foam was piling against the upper side. The men looked at it and then at each other. BREAKING A GLUT. " Come, look alive there ! " shouted Mullet. " Do we pay men to moon at a glut?" At that, three of the left-bank fellows, named Glam Bouchet, Ceeph Bennet, and a Tobique Indian, whom the men called "Molasses Pete," made a run for it. There had all along been a sort of rivalry between these three men. Each had the name of being a fearless and expert driver. Out they ran over the heaving logs, jumping from one to another, (pre- vented from slipping by the sharp corks in their boots), and began prying with their "peevies" (hooked levers) to start the logs off the rocks. NUGENT'S BROTHER MARC. 189 At almost the same moment a heavy "clot" of logs and ice came driving in against the glut. The shore end of the glut began to slide clear. A shout of danger arose. " Back, cours-la ! Run in ! " The Indian sprang over the rolling logs, and, slipping, went under them. But being an expert swimmer, he kept beneath the lumber, and was pulled out about a hundred feet below. But Bouchet and Ceeph Bennet were not quick enough. A great gap opened between them and the shore, and the piled-up mass of logs on which they stood swung off the rocks, and went whirling down stream. A great cry arose, "//s sont homines perdu!"' (they are lost men). "They'll go through the falls !" The crazy raft on which they stood spun round and was swept down the , rapid. Once it was dashed up near the right bank ; then, caught by a coun- ter current, it surp 'd off into mid-channel. A few rods above the brink of the cataract it struck one of the rocks, the top of which just fretted the current. A part of the logs, breaking out from the raft, went over, while the rest hung wavering against the rock. Bouchet was thrown off headlong by the violence of the shock, but he caugiil by a projecting stick and drew himself back. Bennet had cast him- self flat, and held fast. There they clung. Beneath them the falls roared and flung up wild gusts of mist. The abyss yawned at their feet. As we looked, a cake of ice struck the svvaying logs and dislodged sev- eral of them. Not more than eight or ten logs still hung on the rock. Precarious footing for the poor fellows ! A great pine stick turning end over end in the rapid, barely missed them as it fell over. They seemed to stand in the jaws of death. Old man Mullet, though a hard boss, was not one to stand still and see his men lost. " Fetch the warps ! " he shouted. " Man the bateaux ! " One of the warping hawsers, six hundred feet long, was brought. Twenty, men stood by to handle it. An end was bent to the stern of one of our two bateaux, which followed the "drive" down the river, to bring on our supplies and the " wangins " of tools. The empty bateau was then dropped down the rapids, towards where the men stood on the logs. The current dashed and beat it about, but we hoped it might reach them. The gang holding the cable paid it out slowly. The boat had come 190 THE KNOCK^ABOUT CLUB. within a hundred feet, when a drift-tree root, rolling in the flood, bore it down. Instantly it filled and was swamped. The warp had to be cut. The wreck went over the falls. The other bateau was brought, and another warp attached to it. "It must be manned I " exclaimed Mullet. " It s their last chance 1 " The men could hardly be blamed for holding back. •* I'll go myself, then ! " cried Mullet. My brother Marc was on the " drive " with me, a young fellow, not more than seventeen, but perhaps the most expert waterman in that whole section. It was he who took our bateaux down the " Weir Carry Rapids," over seven miles of water, hitherto considered too rough even for a pirogee. When Mullet said that, Marc seized a paddle and jumped into the bateau. "Good luck, mates!" he called out to us; and he took out his buck-hornr handled knife and flung it to me. I have sometimes fancied that the poor boy had a presentiment of his fate. Under Marc's practised hand, the bateau was dropped from eddy to eddy. And he would have reached the men but for a clot of drift which, suddenly fouling the bateau, forced it into the "suck-hole" at the foot of one of those dangerous centre rocks. Before he could clear the hole, a forty-foot pine stick, coming down with the swiftness of an arrow, struck the upper side of a rock, and, ending over, fell into the bateau, crushing it like pasteboard. The shore end of the warp, bent to a tree, straightened under the shock, and the men holding it were " flipped " aside like bobbins. We saw Marc whirled amid the foam, clinging to the crushed bateau, but were powerless to help him. . A moment more and he was gone,^— gone into the falls ! He was a brave lad, and died like one. But his bold effort to save his comrades was not, as we at first feared, a fruitless one. The warp, to which still a fragment of the crushed bateau hung, floated on the current, and was dashed up near the logs on which the poor fellows were clinging. Ceeph caught it,. and at once made it fast to a log. We hauled them out, clinging with arms and legs to the log, breathless and half- strangled. It required the united strength of more than twenty men to pull the log back through the current. Poor Marc's name was cut in a spruce standing close over the falls. I suppose th^t is the only .monument the lad will have.: ,,-•-' CHAPTER XIX. A ROUGH AND TUMBLE OTTER HUNT. . HAT large stony brook proved one ol' the gameyest places which we found on our tour. Tuladi by the hundred weight could be caught there in the deep pools. These fish run up into the stream from the lake, probably, since they are held to be a kind of lake trout. The morning after Karzy's beaver hunt all hands set off on an exploring trip to see what the outlook for beaver was, farther up the stream. Otelne, who had returned from a trip by canoe down to Pointe Blcuc Mission, on Lake St. John, the previous afternoon, went with us. This trip out to the settlement was avowedly to fetch up sugar and get a new spring put in one of the guns, but really to procure a few plugs of tobacco. Nugent and he had run short; their pipes were empty, and their peace of mind was gone. What slaves tobacco makes of men I A great deal of tobacco is raised in Canada. We saw the iveed growing rankly in a little garden patch at Chicoutimi I It used to be the opinion that tobacco would not grow farther north than Connecticut; but 1 should not now be surprised to hear that it was grown and cured at Upernavik in Greenland. This which Otelne procured was raised in Canada, near Quebec. Ovei-burdened, probably, with the cash we had paid him, Otelne had made another purchase, a canine one. When he first hove in sight, paddling up the lake, we thought he had a companion, some other Indian, perhaps, with him; for the dog sat up erect in the stern of the canoe. It was a wiry, shaggy, yellow and black cur, with a X93 THE KNOCK-ABOUT CLUB. curling bush tail, and a remarkably peaked nose. Otelne introduced him to us as Monsieur Krooby un ir^s bon chien. Kroob set off with us, hunting, next morning; but his career was a brief one, as will be related further on. When we reached the place where we had rescued Karzy the night before, all of the party except Rike and Nugent stopped to examine the beaver-house there; they went on up the brook and we did not overtake them for an hour. When at length we did come up -M^, • ^v^- -*^v^3*^ ._x..../^. ''^^^?l^^. UP THE BROOK. with them, it was at a great rick of drift-stuff which blocked up the entire channel, and through which the waters made their way with a deep, murmurous, gurgling noise, which we heard at some distance below. It was at a point between high, ledgy banks; and a perfectly enormous quantity of logs, tree-tops and stumps had lodged one upon another to the height of twenty or thirty feet, and extending back up stream for several hundred yards. As we came up the A ROUGH AND TUMBLE OTTER HUNT. 193 channel we espied Rike stinding high up on the drift-pile with a long pole in his h