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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre fllmte A des taux de reduction diff«rents. Lorsque le document est trop granri pour Atre reproduit en un seul cliche, 11 est fllm« A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 32 X 1 2 3 4 5 6 cvr^ i / i ^ Ai, / I. I. \ /54.' a-^'^'^:^f- '^•^' ' ' / , > , ( Cly-y^ a/iM^^ ^ / ii^ ■ . ' ///tu^ / ■ ri , ,A^ ■ . i. i <. ■ • /r'' - ' \ u ' / {. ^. .' U^^n-^ T I ! A T O TJ K, '! OF THE THAMES Written and Illustrated with A Faber's B. b.. By professor BLOT. -0«C»<>- gonbon, (Dnt.: ADVERTISER STEAM rKKSSKS, lUCIfMOND STREET. 1881. 28802 CHAPTER I. A .MAfJNIFCENT WATER STRETCIf. |N a lovely morning in June the Number Thirteen l.ullod out utKler the shadow of Kensington Brid.re day on the Thames. ^ Crossing the "Forks," "where brook and river meet" and rounding into the channel, the sail was set to a fair hreeze from the north, and our tiny vessel joined a strean. of fancy craft which hurried with st.am, sail, oars or pa^ arranged in small and light parcels, for convenience in handling. In half an hour, therefore, an imposing diffi- culty had been reduced to the mere recollection of a little vigorous exercise. We were afloat again on the lower level below the dam, and already into fresh trouble, for an ugly httle rapid was encountered at once; swift, shallow anil stony. We were through it in a few seconds after havin- decided how to attack it, f«nd were at ooce in deep still vvater again. Half a mile beloAv lies Egg Island, under the shadow of a high, wooded cliff, with some grand cedars and some wonderful springs. The island makes a jn-ettv picture -bestfrom below-with its masses of trailing emerald vines and single picturesque tree. A perfect paradise lor boys is this locality ; with fishing, hunting, bathing and superabund- ance of wild fruits in their seasons : June berries, May apples, ])lums. blackberries, raspberries, hazel nuts, to say nothing of neighboring cherry and apple orchards. This is in the Byron Valley, a charming spot seen from the sur- rounding hills-a long, scattered village smiling and dozin- in the summer sun. '^ We found the mill dam at Byron but a slight obstacle. It is very low, and we crossed by sliding the boat over the «li|.pery, wet timbers without unloading. Just here is the shallowest part of all the rive,-, where, as far as the uosing diffi- i of a littio lower level 31" an ugly lallow aud "ter having deep, still under the cedars and bty picture erald vines or boys is iperabund- rries, May its, to say 3. This is 1 the sur- ind dozinsjf t obstacle. it over the ere is the the ugly jable than c-f^-^^. V *;'.*>», (; 1 '-Hti-'-^m '"^'..^fcUii^i,*^ li^ ■ \. V ■3' J KILHOHTH. 7 oars, an«.l one passenger better tlian two, Imleed, for several miles below this the stream is a succession of quiet pools and rapid, stony shallows, where the boat hook came frequently into requisitiou. At Cassidy's Hill we entered the wilderness. A fringe of spruce and pine forest encircles its ruocred base and flings itself with many bristling landslips into the encroaching stream. High, hilly banks, heavily timbered, are on either hand, pierced by many rivulets with picturesque pools and tinkling waterfalls, tumbling over their rocky beds from the high levels. The stream gathers strength and volume with every mile, until the rapids begin to look formidable. They are sometimes swift and steep, sometimes so crooked as to tax our skill to the utmost to avoid shoaling or upsetting, again they are deep and full of boulders submerged just sufli- ciently to throw the water into great waves. Some of our escapes seemed almost miraculous. Occasionally the iron- shod keel would graze a sunken rock with a shock that made everything jingle, and we were in despair of getting through without a wreck. The boat took no serious harm however, and after a few miles of this kind of excitement we began to take the matter more philosophically. Kilworth is a picturesque little village, lying in the lap of an imposing hiU at the mouth of Springer's Creek, a stream which, by furnishing a readily available waterpower, was the original excuse for being of the village. The waterpower has, however, long since given way to more manageable and reliable steam, and on rounding a bend into full sight of the village, a blast from the mill whistle at once welcomes the voyager and informs the waking inhabitants that there is something unusual going on ; accordingly by the time we arrived at the head of a difficult rapid which begins opposite the mill, we had a respectable congregation of loungers 8 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. !•■! m lii eady to applaud our skill or lauoh at our awkwardness as^ he case nno-ht be, as we do.lo.od about amonost the hu^. boulders w Ineb iill the swift current. Kihvortb is a typictl country village, excepting- only its very pretty situation A mill, a store, very retail in its transactions; a blacksmith sho,) ; perhaps more than a dozen houses, ranging in every .stage of repair and decay, from the smiling fresh white gao ed, vine and rose decked residence of the miller, down to the gray-bleached, two-roomed, half sunken cabin, which was probably the initial of the village. Pigs were flapping the flies ou of their winking optics by the roadside. an3 cows were sharing with them the delusive shadow of a flat- topped hawthorn, for the day was intensely hot. Geese, with their fluffy, yellow progeny, waddled in dotted lines owards the cooler river. Children plentiful, brown, bare- legged and stmw thatched. A few men were loitering about the^ blacksmith shop and mill, discussing the pro t abilities of the strangers' business ; nobody busy except the women, and they were in the cherry trees, at the clothes lines, or the cook stove. The village is old. so every house IS embowered in trees or clothed in garments of honey- suckle, ruse and myrtle, hollyhock spires and sunflower tops were nodding over fences with suggestions of the full sum- mer glory of a mouth later. The hill rises as we continue our journey, and becomes more precipitous as the stream washes closer to its base, until It becomes a frowning cliff of grand proportions, Avooded with Jinden and elm and spruce, and crowned by that grandest of Canadian trees, the white pine-seen here at its best It rises high above the deciduous foliage and forms a character- istic feature of the scenery for the next twenty miles JSow on one side, now on the other, the cliff rises to a majestic heiglit, covered from rocky base to summit with -7' ' 1 ' M ''f ; 1 ■1 l' 1- " ••^■9 'Yi.^ '4' J* 'dness as jhe huge ' typical bion. A iCksmitli in every 1 wliite. OAVU I, wliieh m\c[ ide, aud f a Hat- Gee id I'm se. es bar( 3 pro j- ipt the cloth hou es be honey- er tops 11 siiin- ?-, until d with dest of St. It racter- miles. 5 to a : with ■ !'!' i ! j j A LAKE BED. & primeval forest trees, preserving in their .stern and rug-ed wildness the Canada of old times, suggestive of bears and paiiitod Indians. For ten miles not a house can be seen trom the river, nor scarcely a trace of human habitation It 18 a thin fringe of wilderness, which, from the river view, IS perfect and complete as were the unbroken wilds of a hundred years ago. Occasionally a duck or two would start up from some dusky pool where the water lay still and deep and go whirring off into the distance or soaring in wide' circles to the tree tops, to settle again in the same spot when we had passed out of sight. A red fox, drinking on a little tongue of sand bar, looked up startled, with ears erect and disappeared instantly in the underbrush. Bubbling shallows still alternated with roaring rapids, but there was always water enough to float the boa^ though we had many narrow escapes from smashing on the big ba'J-e boulders or upsetting on the sunken ones which would catch for an instant the keel of the boat and swino- it round broadside to the current unless the motion was j)romptly arrested by the paddle. Six or eight miles below Kilworth the changing current of the stream has left a broad stretch of meadow land— the bed of an ancient kke— level as a billiard table. Its velvety turf and the scattered white willows above it were glowing in the warm afternoon sunlight, the cliff above and beyond lay dark and blue in a cloud shadow, while a line of ripple glittered at its base like molten silver. Nearer a magnificent group of white- stemmed sycamores with glowing blotesque foliage rose from the line of emerald sod. Nearer still the stony clltf swept upwards, dark and strong, with a sudden curve, and the glorious pines on its summit were stretching their slender arms into the sky ai)ove our heads. That silver line we found on ne ^r approach to be a. I 10 A Torn OF THE TJrAMKS. formidable rapid, swift and long, ihv it was still hoilin^ and flittering where we lost sight of it round the bend, halt a mile away. So sketch books were put away, baggage nicely adjusted to balance well and into it we rushed. Now here now there, wherever the stream offered water enough for a clear passage, often drifting resistlessly in the current where no passage seemed to be, and miraculously escaping without a scratch. Once, when a wreck .seemed inevitable, when all our efforts were unavailing to get out ot the course <,f a Huge rock ahead, a side current struck our bows just in the nick of time, and the next instant the inevitable was ivced- mg harmlessly far astern. The water dashes about the rocks with a deafening noise in these rapids, and becomes white with foam, so that when we finally rushed, with the velocity ot a cataract, into level water we found the surface entirely covered with the white flakes, and for miles beyon.l the cur- rent and eddies were marked by floating lines and dots of .yellow white foam. li 1 l)oiIing and bend, halt a ^ggage nicely Now here, enough for a jrrent where nng without i table, when 3 course of a sjust in the e was ri.'ced- jut the rocks 3ornes white the velocity face entirely ond the cur- and dots of CHAPTKR Ul. WISFIFNG WELL. ^T^HE sua was still hi<.h in the western sky as wo V^ rounded a .sudden curve at the foot of this rapid, .^ but an enormous bank, crowned with its tufts of opened on the nver. Great mas.es of rock flunc. wildly tue Zrj "'''""^ '■^•^'" ^^^ -^-'' overhung by sp uce and cedar, cast their black shadows into the deen «. water which lay motionle.ss about their flet. lomZ twihght had succeeded the intense afternoon sunli..ht Perfect .-epo.se followed the rush and tunmlt of desLmfiug TiJlTnl T" fr '"^^ ^^ '''' '"^"^ ^"^ ----I — c1 edt of f '" ^" '-''''^"' '^^'^*«°^^' ^^<^h the silver above all a fringe of scattered pines flung upwards its dense athoinlcss blue Slowly our little craft crept down on the dnftmg around a promontory of foliage, the finishing touches were put on the picture, for there, flashing white^hrugh ow-bendxng cedars, a cascade leaps from the summit of a ftoneVaT ;,'""'" /'"^' ^^*° '^1^^^^ ^ ^^^ broken enveloped m a whte cloud of mi.st, lay a boat with figures Znd a^ '; '" f "i ^" "'^'' ™ «^-^^^P^"^ -i^'' "Plifted vessel nnT; t/" the^moment anchored the little ^essel, another told as a mass of black, with a little fringe ' If ! ■ i- i '■ : - I ' i 12 .\ T()UI{ OF TJIE TJIAMES. /••"••'■■■• ji 11 i ! hi lit 'It giiiy Ixard; a tliird ii^airo was a splash of Avaim saliuun and satlion sluuvl, with a dot of rod iH.ider; hut hist and nuar.'st, i.cilV'ctly i-olitvc] on tlio durke.st shadow of the rock, and '^lowiu-; in a stray hoain of li-lit which filtored throu-h the tree tops, a slight, -racoful figure in dotted blue, a mass of amb.-r haii- trailed back into a single plait, a dal> of uplifted pink face in the din: semi-shadow of a dainty httle hat of yellow straw. The picture was complete. Tt IS a beautiful cascade, an.l every eye was turned up- ward in the fascination which always belongs to inanimate motion. We pause.l for a l.jiig time, drinking in the beauty of the scene, enveloped and unobserved in the sound of rushing and falling waters which fills the air, and consti- tutes a kind (,f iilence of its own. At last, laying a hand on the nearest oar, "Well ."rank," I said, "what do you think of this i" "^ Frank answered without stirring, as though still un- satisfied with his deep draught of beauty, but with a tone hushed, as if awed by the sulilimity of the scene, " The love- liest face I evei- saw, by jove :" I looked again, or rather for the first time, at the face indicated, and it was indeed a lovely face— the sound of a voice had startled the girl, and she was looking round— but what a revelation was in the discovery. Surely— I i o^d my- self—we do not see alike. A lovely face, cerinl^.W. but whv was it to me until now only a dot of pink harmonizing per- fectly with its surroundings, but subordinate even as\ dot t<. fhe glowing yellow of the straw which shaded it. A hti. spot of pink and yellow against cold blue greys of wca-;!, ,^.u- roc', stained in water lines of red and sulphur yellow; .t.v-.„ked an.l festooned with emerald and olive green -uc /sos and litnens, flashing wet with reflected lioht or glowing purple and brown in iron-stained crevices. Even ish of waim "Ut; but last t sliailow of vhieli Hltei-L'd • lotted bliu', ! plait, a dal> ■ of a dainty niplete. IS turned u]>- to inanimate n the beautv he sound of , and consti- y'nv^ a hand ^'llat do you igh still un- with a tone ■, " The love- ', at the face 2 sound of a round — but — I iii^i my- iily, but whv onizing per- ^'en as a dot aded it. A ue greys of md sulpliur i and olive iected light. vice.->. Even iM I gaze MEETING OLD FRIENDS T' all this agaiu only a patch of varied grey in the slmclow of towering masses of sombre greens an.l russets which filled the picture. While here beside me sat one to whom that ittle pmk and yellow spot was the whole picture; to hhu that spot of pink was made up of pearly greys and soft, creamy reflexes; a delicate ripple of rose, deepening into violet shadows, emphasised with a touch of carnati^m for the mouth, liquid brown eyes, a nimbus of fluffy hair chest nut in shadow, glowing amber in the light ; a delicate out- hne of a girlish profile, uplifted in unaftected wonder and aumiration the ve.y soul glowing tlirough it in a trance of pleasure. What to him were the black shadows in the water the curling drifts of misty spray which floated in widenino' circles across the still water; the solemn and evei-da,-kenin: blue au.ve; the shimmering of sage and russet and olive in wt-, T t!"^' ^""^"^'' ^^^ ^^^' ™ '"^'"^ background to him. While 1 had been looking at nature in one of its most beau- tiful and impressive moods, my young friend had been look • mg through nature up to nature's God. In that entranced gaze upon the face of this innocent girl he had seen the perfect expression of a pure young heart rendering to its Maker the homage of an all-absorbing pleasure in the con- templation of His works. He had declared it to be the ovehest face he had ever seen, and had sworn to it. This thought passed like a flash through my mind, and I made a mental note to think it out some time while I was bowino- i to the party in the boat-for at the sound of a voice the girl had turned with a shy and startled look, which instantly changed for a bright smile and nod of recognition. A few strokes of the oara brought the boat* alongside of each other, and we had nearly drifted under the cascade and got a drowning in the pleasure and inadvertence of raeetino- old mends. * I 11 if: ]4 A TOUR^F THE THAMPJS. nil Tho party consisted of Colonel Lawrie and his wife and jounoest daiiffhtei-, with a figure in blue serge, who acted as boatman, cook and handy man generally, and they were trymg to get a week of summer comfort on the river. " We have been seeking solitude these two days," said the Colonel, " and have taken an overdose of it, so you may well believe we are overjoyed to see you, Professor. This spot had nearly given the finishing stroke to the remnant ot our good spirits, and sent us packing home again. Listen to the goblins :" and he raised his hand towards the crest ot the fall, where the water was moaning in che hollow rock. " Now, tell me, you who love the river and know it so well,how such a charming and romantic spot can exist within a tew miles of a populous city and remain utterly unknown to its people, even by name ?" "Colonel," I replied, assuming the air of profound know- ledge which the question seemed to demand, « if you will give me an hour, or an hour and a half, of your undivided attention after dinner, I will tell you. The short answer to your question is the grim trutli that our people either lack the love of nature, or the time to gratify it, for we are a busy and uniomantic people, so that when some enterprisino- ex- plorer discovers this spot for himself he says little abo'ut it tor want of sympathetic listeners. Nevertheless, the place IS known to most of the elder inhabitants by name and tradition, though few have ever seen it, owing to its in- accessability. By the way, how did you get here with this large boat and fragile carco ?" " Nothing easier; shipped at Kilworth, answered the Colonel. " See that now : you must have heard somethin- about the place." ° hold.i NAIADS AND J)tlYADS. i - " Alas :" I continued, " hoNv times change. I foar the spot must .ow lose its ohiofest eharm-it.r solitude-fo have I not discovered here this very day M^hat the place ooks upon for the h'rst time in its existence-a par y of tounsts The ,enius ol the place looks upon you vvith'^is may and woll may he moan and ^.urgle in his hollow cavern! 01 where the tourist comes wood nyn.phs and naiads fiee, to make room for the gate-keeper and the pea nut man." "Ladies and gentlemen," I said, rising with mv subi.^r-f '• t .s IS the Wishing Well, and if you hap%n olnl't e oldest anhal.tant, just n.ention that name to him, and p e pare for the recital of a tale of the most blood-curdHn. horror ; but listen now :" I said, repeatin<. the vesture • n1 words of the Colonel, "listen to the! gobliSs, twil ^h^^ and laugh up there in their secret recesses." Sureb- there was something uncanny about the plac. All listened intently for a moment to the moaning, rus'.' mg. tinkling and sighing, in which there was amplt. scope tor a lively imagination to hear anything. The twilight was rapidly deepening? and a chilly o-ust t.egan to sweep fitfully up the river with a suugesLi of coming storm. The party began to feel uncomfortable ^^as It a Clime r asked Colonel Lawrie, who was A TOUR OF THE THAMES. ha.l dropped, and he was listening with eyes oars «n 1 i>o . I'ai'don me. madam. We will oamn ^,^1.+ ^ ^irinood. We wdl pass the night where the onhV.r. ^ alive fo see it- " ' ^' '^ "'^ *"■« »" oh-uclf.e'i",Ti'„ ' .''';™''''""'' "• *■»'• "- C°'»-' beg- tc' iron, Mis. Lawne, wiio now declare.] that wo reallv mn.f „ at onee^that .ho would „„t ea,„p ,so near a wl^^g ?! .No, not foranythin — »w - ■ w g j ia tm mn tk m i f i M ommmmamttmtm #fe*-v ^^ ■■■■■' tWm V. •**B*(tJ-*> flM.'AH' • : ■■.'(v-»K-, .■,• ■, . J ■■•.. ■»*»*"<»J»rt»-*te««'fcjtji»Ai*'.*i»*%f»*i>.f-rtj»fci^.* .•«V«M*MlVVl^'»'>4^iN IftlSiiAU, ( * ■ '^iii n wii yxUD ' M w w ii .nwin i^ inm i m .n w i o w MMiiw iiiW i w ii * mi ' n ti mnm i "m h i * h »i. i i ! i. roe spl an( CU] no shr Wh roc' the den the wa< con rod and clin prec dist ing iitfi line into fron pe its w THE FOUNTAIN HEAD. 17 fiieal ready we sliall all he as luingiy as hunters ; there is a splendid campground on the flats over there. " Yes, sir. Shall a put oop t' tents ?" " It may possibly rain. Yes, you may put up the tents noAv. Professor Blot and his friend will take tea with us, and we will come over in his boat,— but first hand me out a cup." Then we began to scramble up the rocks, and found it no easy task to work a way through the tangle of weeds, shrubbery and fallen timber to the summit of the cataract! When at last we all stood safely on a little plateau of bare rock, into which the v/ater had worn for itself a deep channel, the hill still towered high al)Ove our hca.ls, and with its dense foliage threw a mysterious obscurity of gloom upon the source of the stream. A little further up we found the water gushing out of two miniature caverns, worn by the constant attrition of centuries into the hard conglomerate rock ; the two springs soon unite into a bed of solid stone, and the stream goes tumbling downwards over a steep in- cline, until it takes its final leap over the face of a sheer precipice, and we could hear it as we stood there, faint with distance, beating itself to spray on the shelving rocks or tail- ing with a hollow roai- into the river, as the wind blew it fitfully h-'her and thither. Colonel Lawrie seated himself beside the little gravel- lined basin at the fountain head, and as he plunged his cup into the liquid crystal, he remarked : " You drink your wine from a glass because it is best from a glass, but you take your beer or your stout from a pewter mug,— when you can— so, if you will drink water in its perfection you must use a tin cup." Then he raised the cup to his lips, it was a quart one, B L H 18 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. beaded and d„pp;„g with the cool fluid-" and if you live a hundred years you will never taste better water than this" then he rmsed the cnp.refllled it, and offered it to MrsXawri; wish.'"*''^' ''*'"''" '-'-™'''™''^ ^'^ 'J''"g'>te'-, "you didn't ta,t."^!f T '^''^ ^ '^""^■" '"' ^^■'■■'=-^' "«">' ^«« only a taste, without ceremony, to see if the water and the cup L the gobhn., were quite in accord-and they were. Now ma dear, what is your wish r" i>ow,ma "I wish we may have water enough to get over the rap.ds without those ten-ible jogs on the rocks 7 have been m mortal terror these two days whenever we have come within sound of the roaring water." while' fh?'' ^"" '"'^ ^"^ "" '"•°'"""^' M'^ ^"^i"" I «aid. while the cup was being replenished, "let me advise you particularly to specify a good one, husbands are terribly com- Jul, It IS only the good ones who are scarce ; so I caution vou to specify the quality," ui-ionyou " Thank you ; and leave it to the eoblins to decide what IS a good husband for me ? No, no? If I wish for a husband I will further mention all the particulaTrl to his profession, for instance, his tastes, habits, personal ap- pearance and bank account ; indeed it might be best to mention his name at once, just to the goblins," and she aughed merrily and unaffectedly, a sweet, rippling laugh slie had, free and careless as the song of a bird. " No I must think of something else to wish for. Papa says I am main, !' ^ '' ' "f ' ™'' housekeeper, the comfort and mainstay of his age and all those things. I wish he would change his mmd for I am afraid he means it," and she would have laughed again but Mamma Lawrie broke in quickly with. a n n T a w i M i m m* i mMm» t m» m m%msmmmmmi^^m axmkm tmi m mm m mt»mi m m M m tM^^ in "' '-^'^.liS^S^^^P^^.v 4^:-. %^:---'--' •i^dwe^;''^?*^ HI It I 1^ i GOOD WISHES. 19 " Now drink, love." The incipient laugh ended in a little scream, and she threw the water out with a terrifiettained a competence. He wa.« 1 i 21) A TOUR OF THE THAJ1K.S. rc|)iito.l to be vorv wealtliv li t , , Wm,olf,yetIc.,ul, not he n w , •' '"' "" '"' ''"^^''i'*' t«.lie,l exactly with the ora 7 ,'"*'' ''•' ""= ""■"'"! -i»l' « Hwe i,. b.,;i„e.:'' V:; :::, ;;"'^ ''"'"-' »'ni .h.hh,es occinre,! to ,„c_ah well wT '^'""■acter, and it just dui ex,.e. a »uh.it. ^ j^ w;::;: ! '"".r '' "" '■'•*"•'' Rohevt ,li,, a, he was l,i 1 ' i 1 '"'"■'■ quart, an,l then took ZllfcZ^ ''■ "" '"™^ ^ ya,,l'afd;;."'' "^•' "^' "■'■'""-' -" wo,. !■ „,y Uck "'l'"'l. Pl«ce,I a little eroekntt. "■'"' "" '''°-"''' it» place with a stone ami tl^e f,'"' """^ '"°'^'«'' '* '" sione, anil then scramhiej away. ^^*lfc w .»*v. ■-l>»»l" H | i i \ "v, o rnj c n \ /, «.-.^.. n»-*-... i !ll CHAPTER IV. TOURISTS. tFEW minutes later the boats were drawn up on the shelving, gravelly beach of the south^ shore, where 0- thin, blue smoke was curling up through the iune- berry tops. A white gleam of canvas was flickering through e egantine and hazel bushes over a low, sandy bank, and a pleasant odor of birch and sassafras filled the air. The wind was sighing heavily in the pines on the hill and the silver-edged cumulus had climbed high into the sky • no longer blue, but stained throughout with a lurid hue from the setting sun. The signs were too evident to be disregarded, so, much as we affected to despise the canvas the tent was pitched without delay ; pegs well driven home, to resist the inevitable wind, and guy ropes left a little oose, to allow for tightening when wet. Then we made a little trenc.1 to.drain away the water and avoid flooding the floor. A heavy mat of willow twigs was laid down for a mattrass, the bedding was unrolled, and we were ready for the Worst. -^ _ A figure in blue serge then announced, "Tea's ready sir. so promptly that I feared we had kept him waiting He piloted us mto a roomy tent, with a fly projecting over the en ranee, the walls looped up for the sake of the breeze and a lantern hung from the ridgepole, shedding a soft, quiet light over an exceedingly pretty scene. A dainty tea table decked with silver and crystal and flowers and ferns, and graced by the equally rare novelty under canvas-the ladies I was amazed and delighted at the unexpected tableau " I 22 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. cream and su^ar f. • ' ^^^^^^' ^''^- ^awrie, with the freedom of « rIT . f ^^^^^^ason, and living you '^l *tC X"^f -■■ f-'. "we are equally e„.pable equipment f tit it;"''»'=7<=^ "> «>^ matte,- of camp thing more ^Ttkl b! i!" 'f """"'^ '^ ^« ""- »y- knife, fork. spoon-ana lotme ° T™" * """■ ' ^"'"'' ^ ™''°' ™'= ^'^e-have we anything else ?■■ admitted tZtZll '7'"'''"''' P'"''^""- ^"^ " ^S^^ Po V xranK, with a non-committal air Lolonel Lawrie laughed outnVht '• i„ j , you have a tent ■ inrl r .? , , ""'Snt- Aye, and perhaps robes and pate„; ruhb n f ' ™'"'''' '' y" J-ave buffalo 'arder; and sl^ :'';;/':,t'^^ -^ ^ ^"ed ham in your and a fork > and 12 "^1^^. ""'' ''''''■ ^""^- ^ P'ate ? you forgotten :'r fl,rhun'f 'h "l- «"' "'^ ' H»™ West, of twenty 1; l!o I T ;■' '^'■"'■'^""'■' '" "'^ f"'' ^^ere content wUh a riflf a b ! T T '"'' ^"""^ ' ""■' ™ larder, an army blanket ll" '"'"' ""'' " "«'« ^'^ *»'■ « %'ain. or bU the place; we are in no hurry about anything bein^ .ntent only on enjoying time as it flie,. If peopfe com! aong and patronizingly call u., tourist, we are con ent"o pass as tourists ; we know that they are doing the very same thing under the disguise o( science or literature or art th! merest subterfuge, not h,lf so respecUble as to be an ,1™':: "I amtllf"'* f "w- ."°" '■'"*''■ «"'I»''i"tonce." I said, I am half inclined to beg pardon for having applied that nncoinplinientary epithet to a party who°ar!' so veit nitl'' "y "' '■P°^^'■•i"y'"« themselves-a thing touriste never do Your genuine tourist is always bent on the one sole object of getting through. He w-ouldn't miss anythin. hat IS down m the guide book on any account, but tl,: thing else the cleverer he thinks himself. He takes his tour as a job, and works harder at it than he ever does at his profession, still " " Say no more," broke in the Colouet. who fancied that a new indictment, stronger than " the tourist," would follow that word '' still." " Your apology is amply sufficient, anl on my part, having suggested that a pleasure trip under the guise ot science or art was somewhat lacking in the flavor of honesty I retract the expression, and admit that a wan- dering bookmaker or artist may occupy the same moral level as a legitimate tourist." men come Ttlone toast I the tips of musquitoes lie sake of iome again, e are tired, liing, being iople come content to very same )i' art ; the an honest e," I said, plied that so very ig tourists Q the one anything ■; but the lo ' some- takes his r does at cied that Id follow ient, and mder the he flavor it a wan- le moral ;-2|:pS»Ste3S«,fe^;- ... :^^ %ji -m \ \' J „ .„, / .•' \ sV *' / s. i r i . ! i. fl u\ I! ; PIONEER TOURISTS. 24 "Stilf rVr '" ^"■"'"'""a: *» »»y. I wa-^ not to be balked. !5t,Il. I eame m. you unawa.e» to-day, and found you ail capped m adu,b.atio„ of one of „atu,e-.s loveliestC"rk jm one of you seemed to bo reading a description of U I^uld'^Lool ir'T"' -'^^•"^ *°'" "- «- 'J-at it was hold a field , , ? . ^r *'"•" "° ''y'-'-Sl"-^'-. one of you heldahedglas., wh.ch had evidently been in u.se That servjceablo boat with its cargo of trunk., and ca,„n «,u ,t a«o looked precisely as if it was checked ■ tbro,;^ •' Ti : h boatman bunself looked like one of those guides who tell such surpnsmg traditions and regard y„„° w th s™h them. Your travellmg dresses, abundance of wrans and many httle etcetera, were all evidences by which rinew you to-I mean, which for the moment led me to fancy vol ™« t be tourists; and when I perceived that the sucL- of your enterprise in trying an unknown route would brin down swarms of imitators next summer, I mentaUy pS pionec, to„r,sts as .t werc-so that there was nothing, after f P^Sr" '" """'' °- '--'-'^'''^'y ^" ">« -me. a. CHAPTER V. SHIPWRECKED. 'V until its hollow I„„?!°/°r'"' ''°™ '" '"■"■'fa. the trees drowned the musL rf th "'%™f '"S "f ""d .„ P"t down the festooned Zai rf r"*f- ^^I-'' ial securely, so that we were neXfi f? '"" """^ ^^^^ed it -d rain; but in a telt The I™ '"^""^ *>* --d and withal the tumult of tt !C T"' '" ""^' ^° "^. • that it became neeessar; to rise on!" ""''' ^""'' ^ *" all. Under these circumstaCs T- ™'°'' '" ^ ^'^"^ *» tea was finished with litTle wl " '"' '^'""^'" *at the had uotieed earlierl^bat Lni 'twT ™'""''"' '"^""^^ I good spirits, was very o^eti^J^rV'^^^y " '"" »< Frank had scarcely snok™ f '" ""' "^''ing. while So, the table havtgtLre„r?M"'''^*^^-''d-^ct* gold-rimmed glasses-:: veT: 1,*^^ ^f™ ■^™-<' •>- v.o!et blue eyes and clear Edll 7 ^""' ^'' ^"f. matronly air as she sat ZZ """"P'exion, and refined light. Her daughter took I"^ ""^"^ «"^ ™hdued lal ' her.almostontof s^htwhTr^'?' "■"■ "'^"^^ "eside her, for the sake ff colani™ k'* ^''^''='' «'»»« "hout talking. ™mpan.onship and convenience of 7™L!^rti:,;rng It ;i;t r ^-^^ --'^ '» ^^ *aad „£ the deMcate "weT ^Weh^ » " °^ ^^'""■''"on a CHILLS AND SHIVERS. 27 nvas roof torrents, wind in bert bad taked it 5th wind so near, h a din leard at hat the lough I full of . while irectlj. aed her 3r soft, •efined, lamp- beside about ice of to a ;ion a itriv- ces — a refuge in trouble or embarrassment-a reason or excuse tor anything she likes or dislikes to do." "Just PS tobacco is to a man," answered Mrs. Lawrie only the tobacco is a real refuge, while fancy work is only a flimsy and artificial pretence of entertaining oneself. You may smoke if you wish, gentlemen." rru "T^"'/^^® ^'S^^^' «^ ^^a" I «ent^ for your pipes?" The Colonel assented cordially, and he took a cigar himself and proceeded to light it. just to put his guests in counten- ance. No, said Frank, " thanks, we will smoke after the storm, when the ventilation is better." " O, we don't mind; papa often smokes in the tent." Miss Lawne seemed to be speaking out of the folds of mammas shawl, she was so completely out of sight. Our host tried to frown, but it ended in a smile, and he placed his hand caressingly en his daughter's head, while Mrs. Lawrie controlled her features by commencing a chattv ramark to Frank. Ah, those skeletons, they all keep a cup- board full of them, big or little, and give us an occasional peep through the crannies. " My child you are telling tales out of school," the affectionate father was saying, when we became conscious of voices amid the tumult outside, faint at first, but gradually coming nearer. o j The storm, the intense outer darkness, the wildness and complete isolation of the spot had already prepared a ground- work of nervous excitement, which now culminated in one of those delightful horrors which accompany a well told ghost story. Little chills and shivers chased each other up and down the surfaop nf mir qr,of,.Tnv -t-i f--. y ^ "V '^'^"^'^"1} , aHu lur a moment 1 could feel a bristling about the roots of what hair still re- n I :■ 28 m i I ! A TOUR OF THK THAMES. *-yoVw f"''''"*^- ""-."tell vo'. tha', J , less yo sleep wi' me an' ni.'i ' *^ "» fwrn . But t,,e seraage,- was not. , ■'"' ''"' '^'"'Se.I «,-st. expeote ,„n ; stiii nearer ,J T, '!""'« ■» breathless always happens su,l,le„lv' w ^r, '"'"'^ - ""> expeetld ""■ust through n, •^.' ™ '* ''»'"' hapijoii , fi, --reiytiedfo irr^' "'' ''" '»'■ ^0^ 1 ^t >--»"<■ Wank .:!ZZ:T\ ^'--ayounift T''ei?dittif::::reTfr^r^'^'"''''°'' -'« '^e pa^, »d held up her hands iBamat ! "™'-''' "^ ^'■'"'e paler -O -tounded. as mueh at™ rr ' , '"^ "'"^ -' '" «' the eommotion his appearand! Tf ""■''»™t"ient as at "VKlently something cfrer"'=^ "' P™''™^''. There ,.a' doing here r "• '^ ^"'^'-'i- "What the, deuce a..e y„. '>"" "m :' ~1-. *'*™'' ' -». »Jeed. My boa. ■ soaked and 71 " *" 'hrough • mv M ,. ' '" s,,„--^Wentadrymateh.'B,rf,,^lte:^- -«r'""""'"^^"'''"'''''^---Hohert ^hy don't you oo to th^ ^ " e'^ to the next town ?" 'j^' r. - ^ne Colonel ^ '»y com- '■ terror, ae, and he ^o room d first. >ice came deathless expected face was ad been ng face, d close, 'eaminor party. ?if .still paler, silent as at e Was ■ you at is I aro the )ert, •nel TRIBULATION. 29 vllr""""' "" ^"" ■""" '» ^^''g- the „„wo.co„,e "No," reflected our host-, " T nor,'* * desperation He Ld t " /^ "^ ''' ''""'' '" ^'''^'■ by a cuTve In ft , f ''l^'-"*''^^. -Wch waa only hidden Colonelto,: wr 'fnd '"'" '" '"''"" "'"--P-.-the getting out of hi ^°" T^ «"g'-»t"Iate yourself on =■". won't do you anyLr:hrtietrar L^:ar:^ n.ind t?e"utper 'r? X"'" "'^'■^^" -■'''• Oh. never supper, 1 rn not hunfi^rv Tf -.-«„ i, ^-i"'£,«J. It you have a spare h n \ ! i 30 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. 1X-" '"' " '-' "°™" --^ *»™ -P ■'l' right in the had been having out of the fellow', miaeiy ^ lato w Z'""' ?' """P"'"' '"'"'"y- »»■ *'« i' -"« getting very loon il^ Th "f 7"' * '""'"■" '^" "-^-Ua, and wf veiy soon had the unfortunate rubbed down ^\^\. a ^ and .towed away snugly i„ the blanketr '^ *""'"' 11 jght in the blankets, if glad to be luiet fun I ^as getting ilia, and we dry towels CHAPTER Vf. THE MURMUR OF THE WATERFALL. )NE wakes early in camp. There is no closing of the blinds o exclude the light and continue night fur- fS;!- '''*' ^^.! ^^y- '^^' ^''^ ^'^^ «f light penetrates the thin canvas as if it were glass, and momentarily increas' ing m strength, effectually banishes all thought of dozincr oneself awake. It w. Sunday morning, and^heunwa! fx3 b "'' ' ^^^^"^ *^ "^^ ''''' -^^ '^^^ -- o extieme buoya 3 .. spirits which one can only feci in the Ll^ ! ; TJ' ?"°" "^'^"^"^ ^^"^^^ ^ refreshing sleep and threw back the flaps of the tent. ^ A dazzling stream of light poured in. The cataract opposite was now flashing white in the ITn!? I. 11 .' ^"^ 'uf ' '"''" ^'^^^'""^"^ ^"s hued, and the whole hillside was ablaze with color and light. Robins were warbling their plaintive rain cry; a kingfisher flashed by with his rattling scream, and hundreds of small birds were whistling piping and chirping in the maple tops: the air was still full of glistening moisture after the storm and t^ river was covered with that thin, hazy mist whi^h is the sure precurser of a lovely summer day. Frank had tumbled out, and was expanding his lunas with the keenest enjoyment of the fresh bracing air Z visitor had covered his head and was taking a fresh turn in the blankets, so we took our clothing in our hands, Frank and I, and stole silently across the little strip of woods to a bend where the sun shone full and we were out of 2ht of the camp. And such a bath as we had. Ten feet of pure F t 32 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. the fountain of youT ™'"' '"'"'''' ''^'^"'^ ™ejike fu,tht:;:;ratip::7o:^"V'''^™"'-^«^^->^^^^^^^ George's cross • r„hlT ' ?, '' ''"'" '" *''« fr™' of St :s::7o::!::;:Lt^^~i-'"-^^^^^^^ , loaded the canoo pushed into the .stream just to„t;:ur «'"■'''' "■"" ^°""»^ ^"•"-" -- Lawrie,inwl,id'l,e Zkl" ^ "'* ''"°''="""" '<> ^"'""^l wet .sailor suit ot he ,tv "'"' "'"™'™« *«» "' tl>e were large en „" h to io ™"' '™" "?' ™^ ™»' ^^ ^'^ youth; his bagli „ "..fuseT ™ ''""f "' ■'"'" "S"'-^ "^ «» ami altogether he Lrrt it ! '''"*' "^ '" "'« ^nees, % -es^ed . a:i":t;^i:LrStnror -'■ ^ -- previ^rlr: «"! "naceustou,ea exer«on of the day was warm eto"!h t: sTlT "" ' ""''""" '-'■ The dense shade of the !rove was tn' "7 '■^«"'=-'«^». .vet the We had papers andll? ""' "'°"«'' *» ""^ '""""S- and ^aasXanrc;::^r:;a:aXrrsr"' "--^^^ passed quickly and ag.'eeably ' °"'"'^' '" ""^ '•"^^ had trln'ut't Jtr "" '7'^ '^^"-'" —-«-■ ■■emarks, and Lilt sfon"?' f*™'''' ■""• '"'•■i™"'^d foliage had btun to s, ^'^ J ''''"'° "'' ^™' '^^■'™« and had fettled dlC trttrC I! iJt ^""' ^"" '"^ ^"'^ the little cascade had begun t^fiU a, 'r'™° ™°' ' ^''^"" ffluraur and tiukle some of „ V ''"*"' ^""' ''^ figure on the .,„n,JT>^ ""'" ''™'''' "f » '"oving o u lue summit ol the onnosite <.|ifr p n • . " oui- eyes a hazy speck di,„k- i lollowing with y -spLek, duuly .seen against the sky through at inviofor- ^s one ]ike feM' yards ovm of St. nd strono-. 5 previous bagg&ge, m. rkin was ' Colonel an in the and coat e of the e knees, a news- of the t. The yet the ivitinar. imocks ;he day I'sation jointed is and Jcamp when th its ovinar with I'ough I I! Ill I ASTONISHED. 33 shimmoring tree tops, we soon discovered it to be a boy with blue overalls, a shirt, a big straw hat, a stick and a dog singing and booting and whistling to Towser; slashing with the stick at burdocks, bees and butterflies, he was the perfect impersonation of boyish delight. But just where a break occurs in the trees, where the cliff forms the sky line and he came into full view ol the camp, the howlin<^ suddenly ceased; dog and youth stood outlined against the sky petrified with amazement. Twenty minutes after- wards I happened to glance upwards again in turning the page ; he still stood motionless and mute in the same spot then, as if an inspiration had seized him, he dashed off in a run, the dog at his heels looking back with an absurd air of apprehension. " We shall have company soon," I said, for I well knew from experience the result 6f the marvellous tale the urchin would have to tell. The young men looked enquiringly. I answered nothing, for the we'ather was warm ; but by-and-by, just as we were shaking out our napkins after a lunch of cold duck and biscuit, the youth appeared again-silent this time-and followed by three men, also silent, who came and stood m a row on the brink of the cliff, staring wildly at the unaccountable phenomena of boats and tents and well- dressed people where such things had never been seen before. For an hour they stood there, and thought the matter ove- then they sat down and talked it over Presently others joined them, and later in the day some bunday-clad women and children added themselves to the group All through the afternoon the bit of bare cliff was beaded with heads, and its edge fringed witl. a row of dangling brogans. ^H 84 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. The extraordinary irruption of remarkflW. .^ * was evidently the one topic of conversIZ fo. ^'^'''' ment made by one of our party ZZt^^^^^^^^ denendpH nn if t-i .l "^ watcftecl as if a wairer surprise a.d enquiry. •• ViXr "'"'™'"°" '""'' "' the cliff?" ^*'^™ ' J""" "^^ *"»' up on Now I had, once or twice diin'nnr +t,„ il ^e |i.h o. an opera „a.. ^^2J^ ^XZ X tor the instant her eye caught mine hpr ln„i, '•™'*<^'"''s, surprise changed to a Lie of m" h ev "t h anT:' answered with the rather inconsistent que" f'oh have you seen them ?" 4"««"t> a . uji ! that «.ey didn. throw do^lt n^l Ll ^Z^' He was thmking Of Visitors at the "Zoo'' hn«f "^''^'fu ^'' *^'^ ^°^°^ ^^^^ Mr- I^awrie?" asked our ^T"\ ,^J^°---d^ressed her husband as Colonel her father had been in the regular army while Mr jT ' only an officer of militia. The CoLT': ^^1;:^ e strangers very move- if a wager fien Robert md spread under the «ve all sat iss Annie, 'fternoon ; ning." ? look of thes like m up on 1, caught e flap of e taking leet this ' mseious, nnocent and she " Oh ! i of nay ^rprised read." ed our I el, her ie was 5 river. . ..... ,., ^ y,.y, ■*S '?! t MISTER ELDERKFN. SO that Mrs. Lawiie could not see the subjects of the sation. He answered without look 35 conver- ing up : — "They are discussing the question whether we arc genuine pirates or Christian campers in disguise. Evidently they have nr, intention of going just yet. and will set a night watch presently." And so on. It appeared we had taken almost as much interest in our neighbors as they had taken in us, and I could not help wondering whether the balance lay in our favor or theirs, whether our affected indifference or their genuine unsophisticated w under seemed the least commend- able. After supper, when the warm glow of summer evening began to steal into the purpling shadows, when the water was flashing the burning yellow of the lower sky into the brown reflections of the dark rocks, I saw Annie sitting in the stern sheets of a boat, whose stern rested high and "dry on the pebbly beach. She was toying aimlessly with an oar, whose blade rippled the water into a million sparkles of gold, and was chatting gaily with the young men on shore about some of those precious trifles which invent themselves for the occasion and take wing again, too flimsy to be remembered. This was the opportunity I had been lookincr for all day, for Mrs. Lawrie, the Colonel and I still sal in the shadow of the awning. " Speaking of our neighbors," I said, " which is quite customary and proper on a Sunday afternoon, who is this ililderkin r "Mister Elderkin ? Oh, Professor don't you know Mr Llderkm ? He is a son of Randall Boggs Elderkin, Esquire of Chipney Boggs, in Wessex, and grandson of the famous General Boggs, who, they say, cut such a conspicuous iio-ure ! I IV su A TOl'R OF THE THAMES. at Vaterlou Ho moves in the very first ciroles „t London soco.y, and IS reported to I. w„rtl,_„l,, I don't knowho," mueh„,„„ey Ho is in th,- Imperial Ocoidental Banl.and .s eo„ ..lorod l,o the ,;reat catcl, of tho times. Mr. Law „ can toll y,,u all about i.in,, though ho won't draw a tiZr- .ng portra,t for 1 would only own it to you. Profossor-In LawZ' "' "" '"""^-"'^' ''^ "' "" ^---» -th Mr Mr. Lawrie dopreeated tho insinuation. 'H,. jitlv ploaso ; don t he too broa,i in your assertion.,, or too rash in' your conolusions. Now I rather like young kdorkin ' "But not as a son-in-law." rrnn/ ^""T^"'' "" ^on^^bofly else's son in-law. He is good-natured, moral, rich and an Englishman. Very lod qualities in a son in-law." ^ery good " Then why^ " -whv'lM,t? "''*'■' r\ ■'■ '' ''^ --P'y - n^b-Ious answer H ' •""l^veloped oonundrun, without any answer. However, my daughters have ohoson for them selves so far, and have ohoson well, and if one of themZl but there s no use in diseussing improbabilities ; in anv case I dare say she would have wit enough for two .so .Z wU Ujhe _matter pa.,s. Now, Professor, who is your y„u4 fellow "ci:lT-'''=''^f ■ :^™»"' ^'S^'^"^- - "iee young o people. He has yet his name and fortune to make but j'uu Will one day hnd it pleasant to remember fh^ firv,^ i^nown him to show one weakness and fhnf ,'c r. pardonable at his age, though injud^rs' he is I C'''"' He is y good IM r» i NO JOKE. ar " In love ? How interesting. And pray who has been so very fortunate ?" " Tliat,' I answered, " is the singular thing about it- He doesn't know himself. He is mopish and moody, and is constantly devising schemes for her discovery. He c) rises about over the continent on the smallest encouragement of a clue, but as yet he has discovered nothing." "Professor you are not joking r' questioned Mrs. Lawrie. " Do tell us all about it." " I assure you, Mrs. Lawrie, it is no joke to him, for he can think or talk nothing but his unknown inamorata, and unless he succeeds in discovering her the consequences ma}^ be sex'ious." " But how did it all happen ? Do tell us." " Quite simply. He was sketching somewhere down east last summer. New Hampshire, I think, when he met with a party of young ladies, cousins and aunts and so on ; and it seems that wherever he went they would be sure to find him there accidentally, unless he happened to find them there first. They were all more or less artistically inclined, so they formed an acquaintance and got along very well together. It seems, also, that one of the young ladies, a very young one, a mere girl, was a real paragon of womanly graces. She was beautiful and wise and accomplished, and, I suppose, everything else attractive ; quite bewildering, no doubt, to a youth of his tastes and temperament. Well, it so happened that while they were stopping at the same hotel, somewhere in the mountains, h-^ took a three days' trip into the wilds, a common occurrence, and when he re- turned the ladies were gone— quite as usual. But he did not find them at the next stopping place, nor the next, nor the next ; and then he made the frightful discovery that he was in love, and he hadn't the lady's address. He knew her i i w 1; 38 A TOUK OF THE THAMES. 'i;= V 'I name ; ho musfl.ave told it to me, but I forget it h.st now He went back to the hotel where he had last »ee„ her au^' ::: n%tr?:r r r. '- ^- '°^^ -• I any, 01 l\ew Vork. He rushed off to New York and a er .mmeU.se trouble, found Mr.,. So-aud so's abod -W a t r the fan,, y had .sailed for Europe. However th nam the,e he lost the clue, and has never since been able to find the ri™"nd';r' '" f'lf.'y'"^''S t-i'ight, and discussed the rive and the probabilities of getting through Colonel Lawne became enthusiastic over the idea, confident o s"c push through a, far as possible. Said he: "Mrs Wie's w.sh as been granted ; last night's .storm has !^veu nn ot er loot o water, quite enough to make the .^pids ZZ ably passable. It would certainly he diflicr.it to get back s,"': to"° t )" " '"^ ■"S'-'"""J^ '" *«> geniu ofThe H» ing to neglect so good an opportunity." " I ""St be stirring early to-morrow," I said' "and I had better turn in. I will say good-bye „;w, fo 'we ll be mdes on our way before you are awake." then "T/h "',?"' '"'" *''" P'"^"™'-'' °f yo"'' -^orapany, down" ^''""'f*" '*"" *» "■''™' '"g-'h- all the way down. Mr.s. Lawne se. med disappointed ^ said h n r f*" °™'''°'''' y°" '"'f'"-' 'h" day is out" r the Colonel, " with your sketching and geologizing auk ^tan,z,ng, you will not travel muc°h faste^r thfrwo do We nnght camp together every night, at least." „.U I *l '"" "''*^'" ' ""'' ^"^ ^'"' 'f y°" ^"11 allo>v us to elect the camp grounds; but we will at least wish ."od bve for the present, Mrs. Lawrie." " • " Good-bye, Professor." if tal wa a its floi wa nai yie wa wh tan tre val asc an| can pat me, wai hea its sut anc per dea hai THE VALE OF ROSES. 39 " Good. bye, Colonel." " Good-bye, Professor. Bon voyage ; and— say, can't you take Elderkin with you ?" The moon was nearly at the full, and the dark hillside was filled with flickering half tones and mysterious shadows, with here and there a blasted hemlock spreading its bare white arms into the upper air. A thin film of mist floated in circling drifts on the surface of the stiU, dark water about the foot of the glistening casr.ae. One of nature's loveliest and most solemn phases. But I did not yield to its seductive temptation, and in ten minutes more I was sound asleep. How long I had slept T know not— but not long- when I became dimly conscious of a strain of music— dis- tant, soft, and sighing through the moonlit air— fading, trembling, dying, and I was asleep again, v/andering in the vale of roses. Again the strain rose nearer, swelling clear aud sweet on my slumber-tinted senses, as the voice of an angel, awaking me with a thrill of luxurious delight one can never feel under any other circumstances. It was a clear soprano voice singing a familiar ballad, pathetic and sympathetic, tremulous and touching, and to me, laden with tender memories of a long-ago happiness. It was a painfully sweet retrospect. Then the voice commenced another stanza, and I could hear an under tone of accompaniment. Nearer and Ic^ider it swelled, until it developed into a rich, strong baritone, subdued as it should be— quietly subordinate to the tender and tearful leading voice— a perfect accompaniment to perfect ballad singing. Then I could hear the words of the dear old song. A youth has returned to his boyhood's haunts, H.rif\ is wnilinrp liici cif-v>irr>"'s •'■■-i 4-'^a. ~,~^ 1-' - i l — !.-, 1..^ Ill,, ,30^ii(^vTj3 iiO tne njiuiiigiit uioon ; — " Here is the fountain, the honeysuckle, the tree where I in 40 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. carved out our names, hce the same still • but whero n? where, art thou India May ?" ' ''' ^^'' I have never heard the ansv/er. I raised the flap of the ten^ i liffio .111, sileniiy gK.ling i„.sh„ro, t,. where ah, Iv . *^ !? "* with _„„,b,.e,la. were wa,;,., on Z belt ™" ^"""" ''^° erj h,;.autiful out there, but I ,1 — -v ,., y,^iy M'-auuiul out thprp Kllf T was sleepr and a ]iH' 'V;vi t , .. "leie, out 1 ^ -^ f ^^^^"- ^^0'. -'O I curled into the bJacI ets and was soon as eep p. -Uii «^ac..ets, .A lil ii I ■ Iti' h CHAPTER VII SUMMER RAIN. S the first sunbeam silvered the dewy foliage on the J^^ \r,F"^''"^ ^^ ^^"^"^ ^^' ^^l^^l^i^g beach at Wish- 5 ing Well Camp. We had persuaded, or rather compelled, Oscar Elderkin to accept an invitation to ac- company us for this day. Robert had just turned out, and hatless and unkempt was prodding the smoking backlog into a fire with a frying- pan. The Lawries were still wrapt in slumber, apparently, for none of them had yet made an appearance Frank and I were at the oars, Mr. Elderkin at the rudder, his canoe towing astern. " Good bye, Robert." " Good bye, sir ; " and having no hat he waved an adieu Avith the frying-pan. The air was cool and bracing in the early morning, and we bent to the oars with a rare se^ of muscular enjoy- ment. The white tents were quickly receding into the distance, when Frank suddenly dropped his oars and waved his hat above his head. I looked up and saw a white arm and whiter handkerchief glistening in the opening of thJ larger tent. ■ Oscar Elderkin looked round to see what had attracted our attention, but the speck had disappeared. " What was it ^ ' he asked. , "Robert," exph-aned Frank. A silver line, which had been visible from the camp proved to be only a short, stony ripple, which we passed ! , i: ■1 ., ( 42 A Tor; Of IliE I'HAMES. li without slacking speo.l ; so on we flew in the Ion. „„„. shadows of elms an,, sycamores and hig Cg at y lis and nnder long stretches of red willow .;? Juvberrv where the river crossc. the flats an.l oottom lands'^ Z strangely wild appearance of the river e,,A, .7 , be ow Wishin, Well, where the laT bTc L" , Ter"' d mo.^ gently slop,ng; where farms are occaaionally cleared cat«: ™""' '''"■ '"' '"^ '^"'S-eadowsare .otld wUh from tU^:::::tw zr;e''''*r"' ^v"''' -^""^ fact suggestive of mivth- «'"'"'^"y "«'"■ "-« highway, a truss bridge crosses the river ; te cl: t gt o7itT S head of a steep rupid. swift and somewhat dTfficult ot t We passed it safely l,y crabbing • lown that i, h„ , mg the boat, after unshipiin^ the r,.i f ' ^'"™' backwards : thus, by rorrC p™ X' ^ ^"r'*'' ^°™ motion of the boat beco. 1'^!, ™ "P ^''■"'» *>>« with the further adv^n te^e' that tht" ™' "'""'^'^-"0, course, for a rudder 1^07*', *''^* "'^ ™^«'- <»° see the Having discovered th, m tL;. Z Z^ ^^ ^•^';f^- for the descent of all rapids whik seemtS^-l.'U"""'^'' "* Safely arrived in still water again emomHtK. k , and went aAore for a rest. While ^ !k t '" and I w..e;;fot birtrp^r^pr^ " "^ ^^<^' A long, dusty, ^a-avel road stretched intermiDablv in ih. south, under a glittering white sky • straiX «. across the low flat^. and curving ofr, ^ I ^"^ ^'''^'^ ' cina cai > inggentiy into the swelling up- A NEW IDEA. 4S lands beyond. Tn and out amongst dark apple orchards and groups of Lombard poplars, flanked on either hand by sweep- ing lines of yellow ripe grain and sheep-dotted pastures. On the flats a lot of men and women were tossing a field of late cut hay into shocks, and nearer, at the end of the bridge, a handsome team of heavy bays were leisurely ap- proachmg, with a huge load of fra-rant clover behind them • a pitchfork stuck upright in th. top, and a i cd-shirted driver lying almost buried in it. "A capital bit for Frank, it will help to make the ugly bridge presentable," I told myself, so I managed to stop him on the bridge." " Morning." '.''be man nodded. " What township is this ?" I asked. " Whoa ! whoa !" Hey ? " What's ' ' name of this township ?" " Which L aship ?" " Right here. What do you call this place ?" " Well," he said, slowly, as if collecting himsolf for a great mental effort, " it ain't any township just here; fact it ain t any place in partic'lar. That medder over th. c's Delaware, but that sand bank ahead there's in Lol>o and the house ; :^rost the road, that's in Caradoc," pointing to a grove of locust trees with a film of thin grey smoke curling out of It, but there was no other sign of a habitation. " This must be the townline, then ?" "Yaas, the townline." Then with sudu n interest: " Say, mister, what's that man doin' with that l.ig book?" pointing to where Frank sat up to his neck in Spearmint and timothy. " O .'" said r, " he's drawing the landscape." 44, A TOUR OF THE TIIAMKS. ^' TlK. ,licken,s he i«; an.l will he put dou-n the cows'" " An' the sheep ?" the ,;;s,i:: ■;_!i^':. «^'''^ "-" f™-— ■• *-^ -,.„ «„ " But that c.,ra don't belong to us," interrupted the ,„an. matte, but I continued : - See : H,,'., looking up here now ■ Well 111 be goWanged/Meclarcd the man, "„„' that mortga... am't ,l„e for six u,onth, yet. G'lang I J; tu " And he drove away fully convinced that the arti't was makmg an inventory of hi., property. ^rove^' A vJ:"" 'rff '° ''^ '"■'" ''°"^^ '" 'he locust „>ove. A yellow-bearded man and a com.Jy white-aproned won,an were teaching a red calf to drink, in the m dX of a clover lawn ,„ front of the wide, white-chinke.l lo" h ,„t acurly-heade, toddler and a Scotch ,.ollie looking'grlv ly tocad, baeon, so they said ; and, yes, they would sell some Delaware was five miles by the road, they didn't know how a. bj the river; he had never been in a boat in his life hi was born ,n this house, and had always lived he iu Ta?; ::rsl""V"'''r"^'- ^''''"''-'^'"-'p'- tiecalf .ohcshowed me his pigs; pink, small-limbed and cfean ; forty or fifty of them ; I admired them honesUv and then had to decline, repeatedly, his invitation t„S;:"' ». Jl ". "'''''f ""^ '*'^' "»''''' I ™« stagfferin,, under a load of provender of various kinds. 0.s°ar wa°s itul asleep with his hat over his fiee «„,) v i . •' = his sketch witK o , , "" '"ee.and Frank was finishing lus SKetcn with a darker hue of »rev .],.„„ *i, i. ■ WW the dark pines of the Komokt'IilZ/iXd;'':;- „,« -^ !•!) SUMMER RAIN. 45 " That means rain," I said, observing now for the first time how the web of glittering cirri' which had covered the sky an hour ago had been gradually thickening, until the sun had become obscured and the dark blue distance looked ominous. He tossed the sketch to me, while he was hastily packing. It was a nice bit of effect ; all the foreground glowing with light and color, as he had at first seen it • all the distance cold and dark in the shadow of the weepin<. ram cloud. He had managed the difficulty of the ugl^ bridge capitally— he had left it out. " We can be in Delaware in an hour if we try, and find shelter there until the rain is over." "Why can't we camp right here, while the grouml is dry ? enquired Oscar, who was awake, and filling his immense meerschaum. "We can; but there is neither wood nor water here ana we must have both to make a cup of cofliee." Reluctantly we took to the boats again. Oscar, with his light canoe, was soon far ia the lead. Four miles, and we began to look eagerly forward; six miles, seven-and each curve of the river brought fresh disappointment. No town m sight yet, and it had begun to sprinkle, with a fair prospect of continuous rain ; and just then appeared a fence, bu, t solidly across the river. It had been built at low water, and was well spiked together; a formidable obstacle. A hatchet soon disposed of an upper rail, but the next was partly submerged, and every blow sent sheets of spray into our taces ; so we had ng alternative but to drag the boat over It— a tedious operation-and when that was done the mm was coming down in torrents. We had to take a drenching, after all. However, we were already wet, and could take no further harm. It could not now be far to tiic village, and we bent to the oars again, in the enjoyment i6 A TOUR OF THI THAMES. the sun would occasionally burst thmnJh l ?"!'' be an enormous mass of driftwood, piled by tZ L 1 1 many springs about the bole of a «and ^H "pouauanowneek wbil l *^ sycamore tree, the freshets JceraiiLT^r' ' ''°™ '='™"^' ^^''- yellow against a Z'Le:;™r:r"f>"^' T'"'" the wet surfaces caught the^alkS; J^:' I Ifn t s:ir':tthTi:ar "^'^'''' ^''''^°- ^^"^ d"r'at"wT'f '"-""^'^ "'"^"'^ »-"°- flali ngint dewy an Whitenmg willows, aspens quiverin-r „,! a™:t::;:'n' ''i^ r'^' '■""'"»" - thel-an :n't h ' Then the still water would break into »rav breezes running h.ther and thither, then into line, ofCnle T It would blend into a ma.s of dull eyen Iv a.^d'^tt ' T rain would come pelting down a Jn f L .K 1° .' appeared on the Jestern hori.on^^d soo'n't etaLtd'^:'! nants of storm cloud were scurrying, pink and pur^C ^Z across the wh.te-barred .enith; then we concluded thafl' must haye passed the yillage in the rain. The sun re-appeared, and masses of steam ber-an to rise from the r.yer surface. We paused at the oars afdl^ted w.th he stream around a rapid curye, when, lo. Th kl had changed to glittering silver again, and a tall m 11 „„ I tal bank reared itself against the ligbt ■ bey"„d it » dnrung, tin dome and a spire, and the d Lref him ly! and gables of Delaware. We had reached si Ite 7w and the storm was over. *' CHAPTER VII T. IN CLOVER. t EL AWARE is a triangular village in the neck of a peninsula where a long, sweeping bend of the river \r) *"' ™'*- "^^ baited the anchor with the dead mgger and fished for shark,, and lived on them till we struck the const nf Ro^k • , -ds.» Then he knoc^TL^^.r^, ^f tL^lt: nencod to refill ,t. It was Elderkin, in so«'-wester, pea- watu , he was always correct in matters of clothes. a.ain^I°ff ' ' '''■'" '"''"° P"''"=''"^"' ^'^ ''""'«! -™y aga n at Oscars urgent entreaties. He feared that his heft ous reputation might suff-er if we remained longer in the pJace. » The boats had taken in a good deal of water during the taTl' tH r 'T^ ™--t-n that the rain had ^ne- tiated the tarpauhn, and our bedding was drippin.. wet so .spiead them m the sun as soon as the grass was dry. Every- thing was still streaming and steaming with moisture, for Uie sun was now glowing in the zenith, with an intensity which made us grateful for a breeze which had sprun.. up as we could now dispense with the oars ; and we did so gladly, after the long pull of the moruino-. o The breeze freshened, and we were soon tearing alon^r ata great pace, though it needed the exercise of <^)nstant Mgilance to avoid capsizing, as the stream curved to the p f'> right &ide pictu desci bedd tages line ! hous grair press full! cock! ■" }:, ( ind all s€ with eithe shap ness mad( hurr who] hous nor A bulk for i does idea hope will PLASTIC PLANK. 49 right or left, and the gusty wind took us suddenly on this side or that. This is an interesting portion of the river in its pastoral picturesqueness, but, for want of local names, difficult to describe. The loveliest vistas of willow covered banks, bedded in tangled weeds and grasses ; glimpses of white cot- tages through embowering apple orchartJ?^ ; hills of bold out- line sweeping up into the sky and diH^mce, specked with houses and barns, nestling shoulder ^cv in fields of ripe grain ; nestling is the word, for that is the characteristic ex- pression of farm houses in summer time , when fields are full to the fence tops, and foliage is iht its best. Poke weed, tocklebur and burdock or sweet briar, sno vball and flower- ■■ ,;.• currant, creeping over the sill^ and nodding into the indows ; myrtle and hop- vine festooning eaves and porches all seemingly intent on hiding the ugly nakedness of art with the lovely drapery of natui'c. For American cottages of the first generation are seldom either pretty or picturesque, except in decay. The plank shapes everything ; its rigid outline, sijuare angles and bare- ness of expression, impart themselves to everything which is made from it, that is, everything which is made from it in a hurry. It would be unfair to charge the material with the whole fault when we find other wooden countries building houses of logs and planks, which are a joy to look upon ; nor would it be wholly true or just to charge the American builder with a want of the artistic instinct. In Switzerland, for instance, a man builds him a house of planks, but he does not stop with a mere box, he is not content with the idea of .shelter alone, for all his present joys and future hopes are centred about his domicile. He knows that he will occupy it as long as he lives, as will his children after n 60 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. mtels and h>» ■after,, mto grote«,ue ornaments ; he chisoh hemlb ,n o senpture text, for the perpetual admon ton and comfort of those .vho will follow him ; he carries out Us roof on every s.do for protection fro.n sun and rain ; hi, son adds a wmg and h.s grandson a gallery. The weather wil" bleach the exposed pine to the very shade of grev, which by contrast makes the yellow, and red, of the p otected t,mbe,-s to glow with color. The n.oist atmosphere' encom' ages the growth of mosses and lichens, which oon cover the damp shadows with a fretwork of green and g„!d. and between art and nature the building of plank, becomes a thmg of beauty But on the contrary, the man ,vho build! a hou.se of logs or planks in America expects to own a better one .„ a year or two, of brick or stone perhaps, therefore he puts on ,t no more work than is necessary to keep out the weather. The scorching sun and dry winds of summer vie w.th the p.ercmg frosts of winter in destroying any vestige of mossy growth which n.ay gather in its crevices, so i snaply bleaches, and were it not for the wonderfully luxuriant summer growth oi foliage the structure would be as bare and ugly the year round as it is in winter. One thmg the builder might do for art. and should do, in com- mon honesty : let him whitewash it, and all his neighbors and every traveller who passes that way will bless him. That the American man is not devoid of the artistic mstmct. the second and third generation of houses w prove. With increasing leisure he is able to look about him .shed. With increasing wealth he become, able to gratify hia long repressed craving, for the beautiful. He build, a house; and so far a, he can. it represents the ideal resultino- from his greater or less knowledge of the real. It will be i^ carves his he chisels imanition ies out his 1 ; his son ither will y, which, protected i encour- cover the jo]d, and scomes a 10 builds 1 a better before he out the mer vie ' vestiffe es, so it derfully ould be r. One in com- ighbors im. artistic es will mt him ccomp- gratify [lilds a sultinfif 11 be in l)e mi wl ex arc tra \ i be! stii lin Joi pet thi ow aft lUL bar roo slo] fen the ben line besi v/a( intc ru.it ban russ .SL'(;U TASTK. 51 the Italian style probably, with a ^ ,iinan or Gothic tower perhaps, Sw i s gables aud a Mansard roof, and it will re- mind him ot one of those noble aggregations of ma,-mry wiiich have been the growth of centuries of want.s and exigencies ; who.se every towr marks an era, ^^ ■ every archway has a history, and whuse every .stone i cal with traditions and memories of a hoary past. The new house will have panellings in the (,nieen Anne style, an Eliza- bethan .staircase. Linoleum floors of Moresque design, and stucco ceilings in the modern French manner, with "stencil- lings on the waik^ suggestive of Jap.in, Greece and Owen- Jones. Ro.sewood pianos, walnut furniture, Brussels car- pets of Per.sian design and Scottish manufacture. All the.se things will l.int loudly at the po.sse.ssion of taste in their owner, and Jii all th- best room, superbly-frame.l chromos, after the great masters, will prove it sufficiently. It was high noou wh* Ji we decided to go ashore for lunch. An excellent .pot had been discovered^on the north bank, where a crystal rivulet trickled out from under the roots of a densely-folhtged young linden, over an evenly- sloping bank of cK.ver and timothy, capped by an old snake fence, half buried in grass and weeds. There we unpacked, and .spread to the sun and breeze the tent and bedding, and everything that might be thereby benefitted. Then we spread under the ample shade of the Imden a frugal lunch of ham sandwich, spiced with that best of all sauces, hunger, and moistened with pure cold v/ater from the spring at our feet. The opposite shore was bare and stony, 8loi)ing back mto a hill slashed with gravelly gullies from base to sum- m.it, and crested by a small house with large and numerous barns. ^ Its thin, soiled sides were covered with splashes of russet greens, reddening sheep sorrel, dots of emerald mal- II ; I ,' IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I lit ■U u 110 11:25 i 1.4 — 6" 1 2.0 m 1.6 ^ 7a ^ ^1-' ^> Phrifnirirqrkhiirt 1 iiwu^^clpill^ Sciences Corporalion 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MS80 (716) S73-4S03 ^ <- V V> V >J* O^ j I '^' '^ TOUR OF THK THAMES, lows and streaks „i' ..mnle Ktm. ■ '- with a» ,„uch Ila,-,„ :, S:; -'■—.-'' rosardin, collectoia. '-"'•Paion a.s ,1 i,,.. had been tax ''■'"^y 'iMi'li^'l that H-c u-eie .■;,•»,■ .1,; , . long '«t;„„ a team „f ho,- !,.! °'' '^°' ""'^^ ■"" •li»tant|,ath,and„l„n,,th.. wlol 17 7"'""« ''""■" " -ow ,a, half .,„h„,e,.^d „„ ^^ ,; f Ijt' " 'T" "" old .,ia„ and two b„v., cam„ >,»..„■ i, "'» same tunc an «"iii-. t„a«ist the d !:;:;';::«': ''""'■• "™- f»- a,., ™t on the fence, and were "„„ L rT''™"^- '"'"^ »" o.m,e up the river hank wi ^VT ^^l " "'''«''''"'• ^•■■''" •■l'e,uintette«ata„d !tared In. T "",'"' ^'""■'''"' ""'I noxt half hour. A Co, rv L ,' , "' '""^ "''»' f™' "'" »!■-. 'br the tean:'::H:mlrv'''"'''r ""•'"•'■"■"■' >-J-ont„the.ow-hLt:S^T!ir,C' wl'^-re the graas was dee,, aZZ ,'"' ^ ''""'^ 'P°'. ti.e abandon of a .seho^ ^r I 2 "•^"" "^" '' -'* "" with the delij^ht of a child oV '," ' "*""""'' "^ '<■■ ::t:::::^--'---«>i.'."^^.e;:tirr,it -i">in« into^vi'^rot r: x: :tfV '"^'■"? •'>""^'' J""»"g hand, across the blue .,, "'-^ f^™' ""d motion ; «^^n.».-owsbe„eat,:t;:-:,-tf::7.r:;: ^ a flash of e soon after 1(1 roo'ardin''- ad been tax r it was nut fig down .n a rotten old "•me tinioan fences and T^hoy all ?hbor -v.-lio ulder; and at for the sir opinion his percl)^ md drove 'e all felt ady spot, t with all v^ed in it, aps, who condition 3d cloud- ross the of vapor %ing, motion : to their ace— all ■%;.v 4- 4^:^m^"^-'^ ■'*** ..»»iW!»:!s,^' '■''''■^^r !?.;:. ;l>vv rv): ill r« THK IXDKH \V«»IUJ). sa rojou.,n. together in the exquisite consciousness of mere existence Far above them str, tche.I in serene repose a web or myria.l rippled cirri, ril,l..d lik. the sanug the clover blossoms alighting now and then with a rasping soun.j. When it found a stranger in the grass it looked surprised, and started lor tresh pastures, giving me a spiteful little bu>CK as it passed my ear. Then a couple of black ants attracted my attenlion • nervous, hasty, up one stem, down another, hither an.l tlnther, as if searching for something lost and ur-ently needed. I followed them into the dark recesses under the tangle of vegetation, and became aware of the swarming woiW which lives in clover. Fgly, emwling, Hat bodied fnghts. which shun tl.o light; little tilmy beings, that look like woven glass, and float about without any apparent effort; brown, horny beetles cf many patterns, moths, grubs and worms; this under world is densely jmcked with life. VNhat a catastrophe must it be when .some ungainly monster like myself lies down and ruthlessly crushes out of exist- ence thousands, perhaps millions, of lives at every roll. Too lazy to moralize I took another roll, and lookincr down the stream I could see it winding in and out between t.!ie promontories until it lusL itself in a silver glint of the i, ! I! Hll "^hallow A TOL'R OK THE THAMES. ■':i;i'l':?.'"^'"«-'''---'i>,,i,t«„co. "•^'flections with J >t'r over its surface, ,] XeartT, littlt o H' to oin tlio cJou.l sJjad "H-s an.l spJaslies „f .lusl. verted trees and sky o\vs 'niinin^^ the y ^'»ey, or Hying ""til the Avate . on tlie hillside, when tl a^'am heo-an to c^low throu-h th tl le J iido br '• was a perfect '""■'■•*'■ •'i.ifain ; an(] le m- e grey a<'ain. on ■ !"'' '™'- "- picture ,0 ,,iec.,. -•'o;.y, to .hid, thr;-:vi":,riT„n' -- 'r ^'"«'"^' -^ «i"oe I l<„t ,,y JX L • r' "f, "■"''■" "^"'"^^l- "t-'-'M to think how nnm". , ," '^'" '■'^*'""-' »•«» -it .uu,t have l,o„ro, 2 :T ''":' 'T'-' '-"'« '-"t time '"'- '"t- since, a bu " Z^t 1 ""=, '^'"--PPi ■ «" J ;-li«. a.«in the,., uL ^^LZ'^ ^^ ' '™="' '" J" the sl,a.l,.w of a to«-J; i Lou.s.ana i( was. '---.^ or ye„,.vi„;cr 7e ^tr/"""' "■^' ■•-'■ «ta.ue,l with cHnwen an.l ,,, , , '''"y'™*: rock-,s, .-onnia, -.istn. r :,<:,' feVw,' '"'T^ '""' »"'""ng themselves on the ,oek-v T t' '" thousan.I.s, ■■i.-'^ «t'oi .sun.aeh 1 ;a , faw^' "if " ^'"'""^ '" *« "nes, vine., wl,ich eli,„l,e,| „ !L ''•'">^\<"<''i « clou.l.s eC H-;.wI,iei, h„n, i„ C ; ,,t ™.- 8"'" and pecan ■»"' tm.10,1 in sweeping ,i„e., to ^ ^^'■"'^' --'•'- %ot:;t;,:i:L::::j;te::ra::n f ^^^-"-'^ - '»os.sy beav,l.s were swavi ,'"'"' "■''P'''^-'^- ^'wxe Hii'Le.'. a strip o, ,.,1 Xl iTT- ,"■' ™"""-« *»<'"«•»• airr, little '•"in^' the or ilyiiig ■n the in- the ,'ain, Avaiitoii a'l at^'ain, vs of our inging a mony in verhead. — r was ast time pi; an<] nge.l to it was. 10 (]eej) I'ock.s, ? with 'isuiuls, I to the •uds of poeaii anches )s and wliose tdows. ^ seen loun- atinof 31-, all li I £1 CASCO HAT. u ^. md, hushe.1 m the ruHh an.l ripple and surge „( w.te,, in the c«nebmke.s at ,„y f„et. Then the rush and ripple take, on a rythra.c swell, and it is summer afternoon on the shore ot Caseo Bay, The lung swell of the Atlantic is rolling majesfcally ,n and flinging itself into snowy spray on tht ¥m«y .-ocksiroeks glistening white in tl Lnlight gW„.g w,th coppery hues in their ,shadows, breaking in promontories of tender green, and delicate purplish gLT i^ZZ7 """ f'"'"' "-"'-""o- of every delightful' mt untd they are lost ,n the flat, grey shadow of a cloud y ng low on the hori.ou. White gulls are sailiug over the serene blue : white winged yachts are waiting idlv fo 1 breeze m the orting; white-ela.l children are picking .shellt and pebbles on the l^ach close at hand, Shafted'spn,:! .«ht their amber torches against a low-barred sky and cast the.r reflected shadows down on the glassy swjl' thro .I^ s™t°/sfa"" ""' P"'"'' """ "-^ "- '-"day tints of the watef "*rf ■' ""'''"5 ""'°'' '' """'y *•'' """"^ of faIli-8 water. It ,s a great cataract, tailing from the ere '. of an enormous precipice, beating into rain in its swift d scent then mtcspray, and finally into mist, floating in gralfii wreaths up or down the mvine with the fickle wind „ nsmgin grand columns out of the twilight valley tot^i the glittering snow peaks in the sunlight of the nnner against the grey vapor, .Swi.,s guides and English tourists Stor' ""w""''' '^\'"'' ^P"^""^ Oem'oise..^": h' .og down the valley with delicious suggestions of home. But no; this is an Knglish meadow, and its breath is nch and sweet, as of old f.r -v i i '» "ream is ei, as oi oia, 101 yonder the chalk glistens M if 56 A TOITR OF THE I„amk.S. c«P.s. which betoken a s, all C . f"'^,'' "'''' '^''' -'»t« M,e, .ve.h..a.,. i:" en'e :: rif :f^*" J^''^'^'"^- sha(J(,w,s, tho,li,staMthea.llan.I ^ ^'"'"" '^•'vaucing horses are Uunyln, att to 1 7 '""^''"- ^^'^''''^ -^^ ^ain ; it is time to I, ""''''' '''' ''^^ Au.u inmnnent "Time to go, Professor," Jt ,,.„, p, , . . , I awoke with astonish.u.nt. EMerkin's voice, and TJie shadow of the h"nrl»n i i north to the oast. Eve .,21? "'l'" '"'""' ''■'"» "« the breeze was, till f,e h" 1, j",;™" ■'"^'"•'' '"'» «■« boats move. '*"• *'"J "'« >■"""« meu i.npatient to ants,";:;! ':i' t tri:;?,'?'' ■">• ^•'""- -a. f„„ of fcit eross. Twenty yea,' al '?'? '" "■"->• J°">'- I .noo.e in the o,>en'ai^, b,; 1. h :' he" '"' '"""■ ^o'- " ilai'k, slaty I tlif white t' toppling^ ani the »e boats ationt to le full of joint. I tT for a o damp CHAI'TKH IX. q^N-CK we ,top|>«l to j-et .son.c l,ait wlierc two men w..ro P ""glm,g „„ a hillsLle. U w„h „ ,i,.|, looking ^ V '>lack sod-a i.romisi,,^- piacf lor tli,. ),„it wc wa„l,.,l rhe men we,v „,toni,l,e,l at sight of ou.- t,i,„ e,„ft,„n,l l,,.! Lt ,' ,''"r, "" "' '"■''• "■■'"' "'">• '»■! 'I"ite n,as. I)et,o t by water, one of them deiivere,! hi, opinion. Sai.l he— I eant .ee the sense in it, anyway; you eouhl „„ el.eape,. by railway." whieh we eouM not deny. Th."^ tT J'm '"" '"/";!' "' ""-• '"»"'""""-'l"- headquarters of the Muneey Indian Reserve- ^and assure.l us o „ ki.rlly reeept,„n by the Pastor an,i Superintendent. We thani=«on natives. This c ff I' f. '""'' "' " « "^'led I'y th~ «heer from t w L'f elet !"' f^ "" "-«' "'"•"- "'■-idge which l;:t ^ 4"!;"/"™""" '«'■' several miles. StraicrJit «, «„ '^ ^°'' ^ ^^ach of "■oping banks, the tlift ^sl „:Te;:l''t r'' ^'^P'^' ■■e.1 »nnset at the e.Ure,„e end ^ttlTZl " P"'* "' maybe he edge in long, THE SUGAR RUSH. 69 Further on a man in butternut jeans was undressing oy the water side. *" " Hey : Want to get across ?" shouted Frank. " Yes, if you don't mind," assented the man. So ho got in, and while we were putting him across he told us that the banks were high and spriugy and the stream swift for miles down. We began to wish ourselves well in camp. " But '" said the taan, "you can camp in my sugar bush over ther;. 11 you like. " on ]" "".7f T ''^'^ ;"^"' ''''''^ ^''^'' ^' ^' J"'«P«J ashore, and we 11 take you back." .en«,!r ''^!'^'' ^)' ""? ''^^' ^""■^^"^S «P his cows and .epaiating them from the calves and heifers, we talked t]>e matter over. The bank was about thirty feet hi.h and rather seep but darkness would soon be ^upon us,''and it would then be impossible to find a camp-ground at all, so we decided to stop and make the best of it. And while the cows were swimming the stream a little further up and the young cattle were lowing disconsolately after them we unloaded the boats and tugged the baggage up the hill', the man and his little boy Jake assisting. "Why do you pasture your cattle across the stream when you have so much bush pasture here ?" I enquired ' • ho '< ^/ '^,^t.^"'T "■'''''' ^^'' '''''' '^ ^^^y «a»'" ^^^^^ he. btonetish s cattle comes over here to paster, an' mine goes over to his place ; they all'ays do it." Stonefish was an Indian neighbor I remembered then that "distant pastures seem the fZTtK? ''''"^''' '^'^' '"""'^ ^^^"^^^^"1 «Pots we had rejected between this and Delaware. However, the camp turned out very well. 1 had taken the precaution to keep a piece of dry pine driftwood for the 60 A ToUlt OF THE THAMES. mil Purpo.se, so we had a roarin. bla^e in . ^^-^J •^eut a little fellow for ehen'e 'R '', '"^"^''^•^- ^'- -on a,s we landed, aud by T lin .'"' '^"^^^^ ^^'^'^ -« .s...cured-back to the whuil ' "'" ^^"t had been ^-^ after the rain, 11'^;^;^^ ^^^ ^^ ^or it w^ ''""gjy enough to do it justice "'' '"^^ ''' ^^'-« all The boy had brou.rht back wiH. k- . ■same pattern-one older the oth "^ '''' ''^'''^ ^^ ^J^e '•osy and chubb^-, with scant n !"" y^^^Sev-hazel eyed *• ^^^n, Pet;;, ;t r^a^yrr tt '^ ''- --- :% nan. ain't Pet.,^;^^^^^^^^ - . O r"f' '^'"^" ^''^''' called you PetT " r ■ , O shucks : Dad calls us all P^f ? V ^ ''''^' 'ny name's Paul/' ^" ^'^"^' ^ -'^en he's in a hurry . 1^ Pete,'' asserted the eldest. ^ate -n^rSll^lta^f ^"V " -' "^^ «^-er Pictera ?" *• '='"' ' <=ome dowu aa' see the ;;Hmvdi.Uhe know wo had pictures r ' ^", uacl seen Vmh tt^ • / --^..»..ewa.;t.tre^;::i-»'^ I'»»l." look at my boots r."' ^^^^"' "-^ *■"* P™- -•e.,.eti„etopjo;;:i,«x,^^^^^^^^^^^ ., t '^" ^"^>' eoine too r Yes, don't forget Lucy." An " *^ il > .'■' "- 'em ^^ What's a shiveree ?" demanded dinnnutive Jake. " Sha : do' know what a shiveree is W^,- „ u xi. , variety of expression in the arms of . .tiuf i .■ The little fellow had, no doubth: rd mfetTZv'' about the "horse fiddle" «nH },o , ^^^^^"^^ elusion th.f f^ . V ^ "'''^ ^""'Ped at the con- clusion that this must be one. It soon turned out however to be a guitar for little Jake could not keep his fin'er off' tiZ iTttL^lTh^f ^^ '' "^ ''^'^- '-- --^^ .^ ^^^j; You scamp," he exclaimed, ''drop that. Or, no, bring How I should have liked to examine that fellow's ba^ gage ; every day he turned up something new I rhou2' until then, it was all clothes. thought. He took the guitar, as he lay on his back on « niin f bedding, and after torturing the strings nfn ^l iiuj, uie strings into some semblance ExNCORE. 03 of harmony, he began to tinkle out a l..t of those pretty trifling arrangements whicli all guitarists know by heart '; he played pretty well too. Warming with his subject he' got up and seated himself on the commissary chest ; then put a capit astra on the neck of his instrument and inserted a strip of paper between the strings, and he had a capital banjo. I knew it was to be a comic song, for he was makin^r a hideous face, supposed to illustrate the expression of Mn "Nicodemus Johnsing" when he met the "bumberumble bee." Then he commenced to sing, and performed all the antics to which comic singers are addicted ; he rolled his eyes, twisted his mouth, swayed his body about and flun,; his legs into the air like the vanes of a windmill, exaggerating the ex- hibit for the astonishment of the three young-slers, who stood, fairly screaming with delight, on the opposite side of the fire. With the last note of his song he struck an atti- tude of intensified absurdity, supposed to represent the very essence of funniuess, as understood by the stage darkey. What was our surprise, and Elderkin's dismay, when a perfect shower of applause burst from the darkness of the maple grove, above, below and all around ; clapping of hands, and cries of "more, some more," and then came trooping down the hill about a dozen frolicsome young men and girls, as full of fun and mischief as youth and health could make them. Elderkin was disposed to be dignified after recovering from his first collapse, but he could not resist the infection of such laughing good nature. Our visitors simply took possession of the camp, and we had no choice but to fall in with the humor of the thing. I used to enjoy a romp and a racket, but had years ago forgotten its flavor, and pre- ferred now to be a quiet spectator of these modern goings - I put on my slippers and spectacles, and tried to I- i on G4> A TOUn OF THE THAMKS. ■scene, a/ W we e I f r""' '" ""°"' "'■"■-' ' ''«" ™«"' ' What ,ove,Aai^ ^ rha7r;rf ™-T'- ''^■■"'■ bloomy complexion wi.l! ' '''" " "<=''■ P'^*'=''- tawny ,l,„k rr„ , " f"gsesti„n_j„.t the least-of scene to' th '=?''"r'^'''"S '"""d in good company. The beerJobL ""n '"'""' ™' ""' ™ fortunitefit had been Mobbed m mp.dly with coIor_a brilliant bit it effect 7Z. "■Thr"ar"""'"r' ''' ""' °^ ">^ youths^: u' •iKe s. 1 hen arose a chorus of recognitions. e Jake; a S/tlly snt, and ART CRITrCISHf. w Then there was a laugh, and another recognized Bill himself by h,, blue overall,,. It was woude.ful But stay, one .,age youth with pants tucked in his boots, had an objection. '"f!'"''' '""' '''"'« wrong about it," said he, .solemnly ■ th red ought to boa telegraph pole on the edge o' that knoll. Iveclumithu;dredso'tiuie.s." There was no denying it; here wa.s a palpable error Presently one of the girls made another discove>y don't tl " ""k' °'"v'"' ""''•" '^''^ »»'<»■ "Aunt Hettie don t have no such waahin's as that » in bafrelal'r'M''" "'"'"' ''"'" "° ^''"'"'^'- ^he fences were n bad repair ; there was gr>.,s where it should be « taters ■" he sky never looked like that at Uncle Jake's ; there wl^e tc,o many w.llows and not enough cedars, knd ^on F nally Lucy summed up the .sense of the n.eetin- with I don t hke th,s picture at all." So it was i.„o,„i°niou,l v turned down and they were next lavishing thSr""! e,™ a row ot white geese making their toilet on'the waLTed^ The geese were declared to be perfection, '■ but the .shlddet wasn plam enough." This referred to the snarkZ' reflecfons .n the water which were spiritedly broken wiC a sad defec that we eould not tell whose geese they were Of course tins was all amusing from its absurdity aJart criticism generally is. -osuiiiHy, as ait Frank was convulsed with inward laughter and he told me^afterwards how like a marionette sh"ow1i « m UG A TOUR OF IHE THAMES. N to hiui. And r had to confess tliat the nmnnikina did tl.eir part well. Somebody callcnl for a song, and we insisted that our Z M tn , ''"^' ''' ™' ™ ^^''''^ '^ «» condition that Mr. Elderkin should accompany with the guitar Well, what shouM it be ? One of the youncr ladies demurely asked Oscar if he knew " How to put on Tirs " «aid 7" >I '' \ ^ '' X ^"" ^ '"" P^">^ anything." and he sa d ,t with such a charmmg air of confidence that they believed him fully. ^ So the whele company sang the wretched thing and enjoyed it. ° The next thing was a jolly boating song with a full chorus, and at its conclusion we were again surprised by a round of applause This time from across the stream, faint with distance, and echoed and re-echoed from the sand cliffs above, finally winding up with a genuine war whoop seemingly a mile &way. ^' Looking out from our elevation we could see the moonlit plain of the Indian Reservation, with lights twink- f , !'' ^f. .^^'''' ^^'^"^'^ ^ •^^^■'^ ^'^^' ^vhich lay in undulating folds as^ far as the vision could penetLe. Whopps and yells came back in appreciative response, as ong after song floated out on the quiet nigl.t, softened no doubt by distance, to something like harmon v. i r v.,,s late -after midnight-when some one proposed t. go 'home and I had just politeness enough left to ask for one more song. It was soon sung, and away trooped the merry party .'. o the dark vistas of the maple bush, Elderkin having .. jnteercd to show them out with a lantern. ' vank rut on another log and we turned in, and were f^ooa •• .:;;jiv.g mto sLvp with a delicious murmur in our ears MISSTN(J. G7 heir I of .u»I,i„K water, uuUM singing an.i an occa»i,>nal laint tmkk c.f ilistaut cow liells. It might have 1,.,.,, two or three hours hotore 1 began to tool an unpleasant consciousness of something wroug^a .-ort of uneasy l,alf-wuking nightmare, desiring to help han,rrf'"^"T^'' '"" ''"■^'"""' 'y -^^P fron? stirring han I o> foot There was a tl,un,,,ing an,l pounding and oanng ou s.de, and ,,rodigiously l„ud l.reathing ; then I beean,e stdl more conscious that there must he -.„„,.thin.- wrong. 1 couhl hear faintly, as if through the : oe tZ ao agon,™,g cry of distress, which I seemec to have hearf ■e ore. T, en I sat bolt upright in terror, for the g„v rlpea of the tent had been sudde.dy jerke,! loose, and the .anvM seen,ed to be tumbling about our ears. " Hay : O'lang : Oct out :■• Krank was yellin<» ootsi.Ie le a t'7"'"' ""' "'" ™'=^^' "■- »!' c-rsed I; a ^upeiannuated gray mare, which had taken a notion to browse around the tent, and had become entan.ded "tl e a> mto the gray, early summer twilight. The fire was , ,„t and the air was chilly. Oscar -''"^ ^''''""''" "'""'^ ^' "^'^^°^ " ^^«^^^^^>^' " -here's "nJ n^i V"'"''"^" '"^^^''^ ^^'^''^' »• Wank surpris. probably he has stopped for the night at the farm hoC I was alarmed. The cry of distress I had heard was omn.ou.s. The treacherous river was running bla k 2 swift be ow us and it was easy to see that a fllse sip in bank. While we were talking it over the cry was repeated away off, up on the hillside-a voice faint an"^ hoarsfwUh shouting, and ending in a doleful wail of despair " That's hiui, k^, lost/' and Frank returned the cry 1 I ; ■ '^ (i8 A TOUE OP THE THAMES. w thacheery whoop and a whistle through his fingers. We p. ed sticks on the fire in the intervals of shouting toguW the wanderer, and presently we eonld hear the dry ch ps eraekhng as some one ean.e stumbling through the bush and soon after, Elderkin emerged on th! level plateau oUe camp. He was chilled to the bone, his white ducks drin P.ng with the dew and torn ftom his limbs, a a tern in ,1 hand and a most woebegone expression of countenanc We could not laugh ; his distress was so evident and genuine He stood before the blazing logs, turnin. now L hen to thaw the other side, and told us how he iradTnde taken to escort some of the girls to their home and had missed his path in returning. This was his Hr.tZ-T of life in the woods, and, ae'cording to his acco , •^^I'rd d^ptli, had been bewildered in a thicket and stuck in a mo- rass. As he began to get warmer and dryer he remembered about the howling wolves, when Frank suddenly inZin I him With a question ; "teiiujuui ''How far did you have to go with the girls ?" Oscar hesitated a little and then answered candidly "T should think about five miles." canaictiy, l o-.fr ^''^•''T^ ^^"^"^ '"'^' '^«^*' ^^'^ ^^"<^^ has a genius for getting into scrapes. e«"iu'> lor lH«i*«>M«;<4 >i.«>AV'W«j-.*s,,w»,i«if>iiM.«i»i; '•s-)i^ttti«4*M»'*iik ^laxncifu/Muxsai^^ CHAPTER X POT POURRI. l"h,r" 71 ^?^ "'"'" "" '"™'''^'J ""t next mom- At lunch, I ventured to broach the subject of moving on "All summer ?" "Then," continued he, "as we arp nnf ..^,„- time.I propose to go back to DjawaM' "' '-"""' "Go back? Preposterous! That would be acrainst every pnncple of ethics, art, morals and good usa J Go back indeed ! What for ?" ^ ^® " To get shaved." 3how;t:^;vln^— ^Cw^^f- '-^^ w""^'' w(:spr:h:;:t:trrruri: Besides, I continued, " we could not possibly i?et ,m trth^itthtr;^ zr^J-^ — gramme and go on, dont^ou ii^fw^h" mrFr::;!'" -"■ ll'li 70 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. prised toC'v'^r' ''"^""' "^ ^^^^^1^' ^^* -- -- prised to see him hesitate and to hear his answer. "Professor, there are a few bits up there which I would not wdhngly miss, but we came down in such a hurry ylster myself, to go back a few miles, but, as you say the rami are nnpassible,so I will just walk acrass theVg b „d' can t be fa, and I will be back again in time fof supper " .n . 7^,^^^^^^«3^" I replied, "yon will do nothing of the Zen OH ^^ f: '"^ '^'^^^'^^'^ ^^ ''^^ - twins to a do.en others we shall meet with on the way down. You are too generous to compel Oscar and I to spend another day in this unlovely and tiresome place." ^ "Oh rio." said Oscar quickly, Til go with him and we'll be on hand all right for supper." "You'll see Wardsville before you see your supper un- :;Vdeft\hV.b^ '^'^^-^ ^' '''' ^^°«p-'^'" I --:; confident that the young men were merely chaffing. "Besides," I suggested, "if we stay here another nieht we shall be compelled to reoeat U^t n^rlf ^ ' additions." ^ programme with Oscar colored a little, and presently annourced his willingness to abide by the decisioli of the Ljori^ Frank Z^tZ^ ^"' ''''\'''^' '^ always -fou/d it Lt agi^eeable in the long run to let Professor Blot have his own "Then." said I "as you both really desire to remain I too. will agree with the majority; so we will stay he're /onder comes little Jake, prospecting." ^ fh T, *^^^ J^^d «"ddenly become as anxious to go as BASSWOOD HONEY. 71 was sur- I would T yester- ) propose e rapids bend, it supper." f of the ins to a n. You iher day nd we'll )er, un- swered, r night, Qe with led his Frank it most lis own aain, I, f here. go as e soon The current was strong and the breeze still fair, but we made little headway. With one excuse or another we were hank, I duck which had 2::df eietif: :;"* ""^ "" "^ ^■■"^ had found an old sal' h«l f '°°"= adventures. He had placed a rotd log t'rj' ''^ '"''''"°''' ""^ ''- the suit of duck was l be 1 l^nrZ^ Z7 '"' Is that a scare crow nr ar.^ clothes r I enquired. ' ^"^^ J"^<^ ^'y^^S your " ^®"°' Professor, are you there ? Oh pray go on with your drawino.. T V ' °^''^'' "^^'^^^ military „.atters.^int^dTo'w^^ tribute on all vessels navi 'tinVr "^ ? ''"^ ^"^ ^^^ to the sentinel, ^ry trfsri «''' ^"''^- ^^^^' ^^^ Brace up !" ^ ^''"™^ * "^^^^ warlike attitude. ah-o-yr"" "' ''"' '^'"'^ ' ^^^^'^ ^- ^gain, "Ship ti^e^:ts:i^Zt^3;tiir^^ Its passengers. When she wlnt on t ^ T '"'^ ^^^^'^^ passing the point, the saH wen^ ov:r L I'l m'' ^'1" familiar outlines of Col. Lawrie at Ihl' T, "*^ '"^ *^^ i^awrie at the rudder, and the ladies. nd patches, le Canada oped into ilf well on horn over ;o an im- fie mossy unravel pleasant bIj busy bank, I )f white •es. He and he ion, and it. ig your ■ mind, erstand id levy e, sir," titude. " Ship round liding after e the ladies i i A PBIZE. 78 ctallenge. Elderkm, m a suit of navy blue with anchors on ho w,do collar and a shiny hat with streamers, waa stead :plkin7trpr '"^ "''' " '■"" °' '■^-'-^ «- '- " of th'ufdt, "'"''' '" '"' "■"P''"'''' '" " ^''^ '"'<'"''^'' '«^ '»»^^ " Ahoy !" " What ship is that ?" returne^i'thf,^''';"'"^' ^J ""'" "" ^"P"'' °'- »">othing.» returned the Colonel, falling in with the humor of the thing yellowtnYn;" "'"" ' ^'' '"^ ^<"°"'' ^^^ " "^ -<• " What's your cargo ?" " Silks, jewelry, nitro-glycerine " "Heave to, or I'll blow you out of the water" yelled oy signting the log cannon at him. natir X^' Tu^'f •" '"'' '^' ^^^^^^^' ^° «^««k conster- nation. Stand by to go about !" Hard aport your helm ' gracefully mto the cove and made fast to the projecting log. I have no chance," said the Colonel. " against such a formidable armament, so I surrender at di^cretL' all ht T^ handshakings and congratulations, for we were all heartily glad to meet again, Mrs. Lawrie enquired • Wow far do you intend going to-day ?" "No further than this, I believe; my young friends have taken a lazy fit. and are going into camp on the '! ! I site bank. oppo- 74 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. Papa saw the suggestion ■s iavorable, and it would be wise to uTitL ^^-'^rT. find It warm rowing tliis weathe." *' "'"'"'<' -ight aak Professor S;'": 1™ to"-'^' °" '"'"' ^ ^"™ Wrl^^'-rdthe^TtLT'ttt' "*'*'■"■■ """"^^ ■'" »f- morrow." gentlemen can pick you up to- Biot"is':„l:i:r:^rt:;Cr"" ^'"' *'-'' ^'■*- believe, but for me-lettCwith'';::: --""'■ "°"-' ^ " Gentlemen," cried Frank, " this is desert, 'nn • of the enemy. I object IST. t V^f®^*^'<^» ^n Presence i^„ 1.. ^"'-yecc. iNo, I consent. If Mr FM^«i • leave his sentinel for company I shall be ^' 1 '"^ ""'^^ pensated. Good-bye, OscL."'! M^LerkTw ", """ climbing into the crowded boat J' oSye T '^?'^ will bring your canoe." ^ ' *^® sentinel " Jove," exclaimed Oscar "T k„j j^ ^scar, I had forgotten the canoe. liss Lawrie, ly drooping evel green- le, but you ■ii day, be- Tlie breeze we should e trip too ig on 3'ou d in Mrs. 'u up to- the invi- viJl never e inscrut- Pi'ofessor Qotion, I presence fkin will an corn- already sentinel 3 canoe. DESERTED. 76 and I shouldn't have had a collar to my neck." Then he scrambled out ajiain. The instant he was ashore Robert puslied off and Colonel Lawrie called out, " Sorry we can't take ' you Elderkm, we should be over-loaded ; see you to-morrow." Robert was hoisting the sail again. § ^ "Professor," cried astonished Elderkin, "you're not going to desert us, are you ?" "If he does." retorted Mrs. Lawrie, "you set the pre- cedent when you deserted us." " Deserted ?" returned Oscar, in a crescendo voice, for the boat was quickly receding-" Better say abducted; they pulled down the tent over my head, in the middle of the night, live o'clock it was, and rolled me out because they wanted their blankets. I had to jro " The latter part of this speech was yelled at the top of his voice, and we all laughed at the young fellow's frenzy • especially Robert, who seems to enjoy young Elderkin's misfortunes. Mrs. Lawrie could only shake her head to Oscar's arcni- ment, and Annie wave a farewell before the curving ba'lik shut him out of sight. " Did you really treat Mr. Elderkin so cruelly ? " asked Mrs. Lawrie, with a twinkle in her eyes. " If we did," I replied, " we also treated him to a grand sunrise." " A rare thing for him," said the Colonel. "Well, to do him justice, he enjoyed it; Oscar is a tair shot and a very successful angler, and on these facts I tound a good opinion of him, he shows glimpses of the genuine Rosierueian spirit. A TOOn OP TOE THAMES. cans, through prayor aTd Vat J'"1 ^'"■''' "- Ro-sicrJ* constant searching after tru " """"j' "*' 'i™". and "old eom„u„i„o with; Let: e'J"'" f""^ ^^^ei f -here, except i„ America ZlTo h " '""',r™«'"'^^'' ^^'T ' and powerful." '" "'''y "« 'he most numerous " ^u' you don't believe ;,.?„•• „ "Certainly Ido.*/''^'''"'"^"'-^" about the fairie; he wm brabf't ' T' ''' *'™'"^ *«" ^u too are an artist." ^'' '" '''"«' ^o" some, for you '^.-1^^;:;:^;- rufh"- *'■■' '- '^- -« «aid Colonel Lawrie. ' "' ^'^^ ^^^u manage it," I answered " Tf i- "■an is always I love of'nT ""'"'^^"'™'- ^our sports -t. Colonel, Isaw ;'o:'„::l":' "'^"'"- '■^ ''"°- " or ■"g. with three poor mt?e,h-^*^°' ^f""-" day's fish pound of them altogethei a„d ^^' '" ^'""' hasket. n„t ^ splendid day. I didt^ppos':'' h'"'*"'" *" '"'™ <=-' » of your labor lay i„ tbosefish'a mea, 7'Tk """ "" '■'''■'"■<' Or, how often have you taken ! , . ""* ■="■ P'-ohably -re lucky killed a dCntclXe^ "'°°""«' »" ■'f ^^^ ^;"7'/'''*heyg„againeve.yyear;rPT'''^^'''<'-ver , -hie Pleasure Of telling r^^ruHr 11: tZ! THE SIXTH SENSE. 77 rkin a Rosi- nature." )nel. the spirits I naids, elves fie KosieriiV f ^ives, and enabled to Ized every t numerous k teil you e, for you t that he tnage it," tr sports- ws it or 'j'sfish. fc, not a ^e had a reward obably. i if you never people ent of ' more after- t »uble Nt ,i ■.'"''• '"' '""'•' "• PV I""' f"-- t"s iovc, of ,,I • T° '°"" ""' "^ "••■' JO'"- ''P"'-'-^'™" i» « Tb ana 7r''r''T"^ if l.e goes alone I know l,i,n w Kh of S„I "tM ""'"'"'"^ "'^e'' 1"= «e,o in the F ,il th"'t 7 ° '""'' "'^ SoUin, at Wishing Well ? for l„m the brook sing,. He convene, with tho winds tvery lumgana every nmiiiraate thing i» to him possessed would be to hnn the dead thing which philosophy declares Hi?iif:-isl:"7'i"r ''r"""' ""^ ^"""'j--" "' p"'-"™ pie ely he can enter >nto that world the more consummate Wm Le'? ■ /;™^' " ■^""^""' "•->■ '>">■ •■"f-"'J» f h ddenTecret t, 'f ' •"'' '='"'^' '"'''''*-^ ^"^ '""''^t" in the tree t ' ' , ™' ""'^ ''''' f"'"'""" ^ ""=y ""'l '» '"•" n the fee top., and caress hin, i„ the breezes ; they lurk in oml r.t 'T! "■"' '""""" '" '"^ "'»»''■'. -'" -h flrpaut ff r f'"™ Ji^J-^f'-'ly -.iects hi, work, or mo til ol • ; "p' '™" *" ^'''"'' "- conten,ptuous mortal to a s ngle ghmpse. Without this finer sense this arar^eo* . "'"■7-""» "vify his canvass, then he is pe"e ves on vVr "f T' °'' T^^- "^ '^ "" "'^ -'-'■ »'• peiceives only the shadow of nature." oneslr^abrto""""!.'" ''" "'■ P^"'-^-- "-at you favored 1 !!' ■!■'■ 78 A TOUIl OF THE THAMES. I! " ^^'''- •^^^^"*^' I exclude no one who can hear me from the charmed circle. Do you remember wondering only a few days ago, about thoee filmy shadows which were float- ing through the air of a cloudless summer day ; I confess now that I looked for them in vain, though I had often before seen them, and was able to explain the phenomenon. That was simply keenness of vision. But you called them unhappy ghosts, and felt in them the gloomy premo- nition which was their essential spirit ; a forewarning of the storm which drenched us on the following day That was a revelation of the faculty of which I am speaking. Once I was one of a party who were " assisting" as thev say in France, at a sunset. At the supreme moment, when the whole sky was suffused with a wondrous glow of color grading through every tint of the chromatic scale until it died m the leaden depths of forest shadow ; when every heart was thrilled by the divine and inexpressible beauty a certain man,-I will not name him-gave vent to his feel- ings m words. He said it was a nice drab, and thought he would have his new wagon painted like it. Or again ! Look at that group of trees in the distance ahead. There s a noble dome of white maple with all the anatomy of its diverging brandies seen in perfect detail against a clear grey sky, flanked by a rounding mass of Hwamp elms with drooping limbs, and a Lombard poplar straight and tall, their shadows broken and softened by a inass of feathery willows into the water, which reflects it all again like a mirror. There are the materials out of which any landscape painter of average ability and moderate industry would make you a pleasing picture. But to set down the physical and palpable facts of the case is one thing, to endow it with life is another thing. It must be the touch of a master which sets the leaves a-rn«tling and A NATIVE. 79 ar me from 'ing only a were float- ; I confess had often lenomenon. you called my premo- tvarning of Jay. That eaking. ig" as they aent, when y of color, lie until it "hen every >le beauty, to his feel- ihought he le distance th all the feet detail g mass of ird poplar ined by a reflects it lis out of modei'ate 5ut to set se is one must be Jiog, and the water flowing and flashing ; who can pour down the sunlight and fling his gauzy veils of air across the distance ; and a master of still subtler power who can show you the muscular energy of the giant trunks, the lithe grace of mounting young saplings, and the resilient spring of stem and foliage, which tells the story of youth and strength ; who can show you the majesty, the aspiration, the solemnity of individual expression ; who can make his trees to throw up their hands in gladness, and all things to rejoice in the consciousness of their existence ; who speaks to the heart and to the intellect. The man who can do that can see the fairies. He who cannot see them in nature will look for them in vain in pictures; they are not ot his world. Where are you going now ?" Colonel Lawrie had headed the boat to the wind, and the flapping sail had nearly carried my hat overboard ; the question, however, wa.: not addressed to the hat. "We must be near Wardsville now, and I want to enquire of this youth about a camp ground," indicating a dusky figure which squatted motionless on the bank. It was a half-clad Indian lad, speechless and utterly overwhelmed with astonishment at the apparation before him. " Have you any good water here ?" asked the Colonel. The boy never moved an eyelash. The Colonel re- peated the question in German with a like result. Then he tried Latin, and had almost remembered the Chinese word for water when the boy recovered himself, and said that there was "plenf wata' right heah," pointing to a spring close under the lee of a dilapidated board shanty on the stonj' hillside. "How far is it to Wardsville?" " O : I dunno ; heap far— more'n twenty mile." 80 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. " Have you ever been down there ?" ;;No;neva'binthe., Adam, he go sometime." Who s Adam ?" " Dad." I Does he go there and back in one day ?" ^eget.b;L5^;t:ri;^--'-^-^^^en canoe?" ^^^' ^"^ "^uch he coss, dat ^^ About a hundred dollars," I told him. 'Tunder!" was all he sairl r,o+i • " We shall see him a^ain " ,ai,l tK. r. i ■ next bend;" and sure enon^l, '., ^"'''"'='' ""' *« half .nile further dowr^' n" "' ™""''^'' " '"™ " the bare hill crit ZI-' ?''' "'"' ""> '"d «ta"'Jing on from the .vested; ttaSTh ,' ^'^' ^'""^'"^ '"'^ °^- » ".- .,ee. in the dTst^. ^7^1:1^1^^^ shallot/at. ^l.ttaT'l^rT';™^ " '''■'--•'-"- sail and Robert and°I *IY T "«'"*■ ^^ '°"'='«1 ">» kppttherudd . "w lldtntr:^ "'"^ ^"■°"^' ^-"i" get steering head Jy an V l ^° '"•'=^" J"^'™<">gh to like a rocket. ^' ""^ '"'*' «"'»' '™hing down it wate;;forHL:ttl'''''^''i'"™™' ™<"™'y- "Back ck when to ask OSS, dat i tackle compre- ss as he 'at the !urve a ing on is eyes iecame is life. broad, k1 the erfect a ^ cattle ned for )ed, the :. The ying in iviting. ng as- •at and e din- ank to * . •#. Ml I I i~iiiirr''TiBTiniEliirlii ri '! I'l ; III 1 i THE SUNSET GLOW. 83 examine the rapids, the Colonel and I,and were soon joined by Mrs Lawrie. We went farther and stayed longer than we in- tended, and only returned when Robert had repeatedly au- nounced to all the country round about that dinner was ready. When we returned to camp, lo I four tents stood in a row, and Elderkin in his shirt sleeves was manipulatin<^ a .ong handled frying pan over the fire; Robert lookin.r^on with a cynical smile in his face and a skimming ladle in his hand; and up there on the bank, between the dark locust stems, Annie Lawrie was sitting in the rosy glow of sunset with a large portfolio before her, and Frank Lightred was bending beside her, eloquent with voice and gesture, teach- ing her to see the fairies. After dinner, or supper, or whatever is most appropri- ate to the hastily prepared but delicious evening meal a good fire of drift-wood was put on, tobacco was called into requisition, ostensibly to repel the mosquitoes; rugs were spread on the grass and the party gathered round to com- pare notes and post up the log. Many were the taunts which Oscar and Frank had to endure for the desertion of their fortified camp, and many and ingenious were the ex- cuses pleaded in extenuation : none of them, however hintmg at the truth. "The problem is now solved," said the Colonel; "the Thames is navigable downwards as we have proved' and with canoes upwards, probably. From WardsviUe to its mouth I have travelled the river before, and we shall now have plain sailing." The stars were burning big and bright in the sky • the moon, low in the east, was looking at us along a path of Its own tremulous reflection; but the dew was falling heavily, the fire was sinking and Elderkin was aettin- nut his guitar, so I turned in. ° ^ lil ;! i, CHAPTER Xr. i: 11 OM-A PODKIDA. i^^u^V .^''^'^'•' ^^''^^ '^m up, Tow.ser. Hey! I - W hat the blazes ! G'iang with you." This was our mo.nintf salutation "from some un- known voice m the u.eadow above. It was accompanied by the trampling and lowing of cattle and the barking of dogs. I hastily donned my indispensables for the purpose ot reconnoitering. Robert was out ^rst however. " Wots the row ol' mar ? " he roared, as he"passed the door of my tent. " Dang it man, what d'ye mean by kickin' up a racket like that ? " ^ j n "HylHoy: Fetch 'em back, Towz'. Drat the bla- med skittish cntters. G'iang here ! " " Shut up yer rattle trap, " shouted Robert. " Dan. • ye If ye wake the ladies I'll mash yer mug into putty. Shut up. ! Get out . And some cur went off howling and yeh) • ing in compliment to Robert's aim. The strange voice suddenly ceased, and having found my eyeglass, I emerged in time to witness a tableau! Robert had not stopped even for his indispensables, but rushing madly up the bank to investigate, he had pissed through a bed of Canada thistles, and his bare feet and le^s were full of the stinging points. He was dancing and ges- ticulating up there amongst the locust trees, and denounc- 'ZT u ? li' * "^'^T"' *°^ "^varnished Saxon, a stout and ruddy old fellow who stood in speechless amazement, craz- ing alternately from the camp to Robert, a.s if uncertain of his own identity. owser. Hey ; Ll." )m some un- iccompunied barking of the purpose jr. e i)as.sed the n by kickiri' 'at the bla- utty. Shut ig and yelp ving found eau. sables, but had passed et and leI;KI). 85 It soon appfaiiid that tlie cattle iu beiuy drivon to water had become frii,ditened as aoou as they had can^dit isif-lit of the tents, and stampeded in every direction, to the annoyance and surprise of their owner. The dogs were ytdping in the distance, collecting them together again. The stranger soon found his tongue, and replied to Robert's remarks in equally choice language, and the two would have come to blows had I not interfered at once. Robert, however, still smarting from the thistle stints, and humiliated by the farmei s allusion to his .scant attire, was determined to have it out there and then. " Robert," I whispered, " the ladies will be coming out.'' He wilted at once, and dodged behind the nearest tree trunk. I apologised to tho stranger for the trouble we had un- intentionally givo liim, and proposed to help him to drive the cattle down to water. But the more conciliatory I was the more abusive he became, and when he finally suggested trespass and damages. Colonel Lawrie interfered and re- quested him, peremptorily, to " Stop !" and he stopped. The Colonel looked him over carefully and said : " My bucolic friend, you have occupied for twenty years this land which does not belong to you, and for which you pay neither rent nor taxes. Wait. I know. Just look at your deed, and you will find that your farm commences twenty feet from high water mark, consequently these flats are public land. You claim to be a law abiding citizen, yet you come here at an hour when honest folk should be asleep and attack a peaceable party of ladies and gentlemen with unprovoked abuse, and indulge, amongst strangers, in the vilest pro- fanity. A deacon, indeed ! How do you think all this will sound before a police magistrate this afternoon ? for it will 86 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. I II? be ..duty to have ,ou arrested as soon as we reach the "Arrested; What' for?" "For a,mult and attempt to blackmail." 'ofra„:er;h:r:„X'"^"'^''°"'^^"'""'"-'--p-it'« limbs on the f iUstde aJT, f *'"' """ ^"" firing hi, "friverwater,andhl;jw!^^,; ?'''"■''" '" S»' ^ 1«' the purpose Ju,t then^ ^ . ""' °" " ''^'^ ^"»k'=° kg for hi^ naJo, indi^tg%^ttosrot' "■"-''-% -"^0 urgent want of some Wnd „f , '^PT'™ P^-'tomime his Elderkin began tHauthfrn f' "?'''"=' '■> '''^ wi«!>j9j)i HI 'I I I'i ll l»fi ima\ EARLY MORNING. 87 "Good morning, Miss Annie," raising his dripping hat with the utmost coolness. " Didn't expect the pleasure of seeing you out so early. I've been taking a morning bath, you see." "Good morning, Mr. Elderkin," she replied; "I wouldn't bathe in such dirty water if I were you." After breakfast Oscar begged my company for a walk to Wards ville, where the boats would meet us. I consented willingly ; for he had gotten himself up very becomingly, in a suit of tweed, and looked quite presentable. Tho morning was cool and dewy, and a fresh breeze wr,« iing with the sun ; birds were chirping and warbling tm' mng ; the air was full of country odors and sounds ; the face of nature was all a-smiling, fresh washed in dew- one of those rare occasions when a walk is really enjoyable. I soon discovered the object of Elderkin's flattering invitation. "Professor," said he, "I stand no chance at all; that fellow keeps her talking about pictures and things, as if she cared anything about such nonsense. Three days now I've been looking for a chance to get a word with her, and eveiy time the opportunity comes I am just in time to see him walking off with her." " But why don't you talk to her if you wish ? If Frank talks art you can talk music, or amuse her with some of your funny stories." " Oh !" interrupted Oscar, " it isn't funny stories I want to tell her; nor music, nor art, but something far more interesting to me— to both of us, perhaps." " What 1" I exclaimed, a new light breaking upon me. " You don't mean " I'l';: 88 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. f . lilii "But I do mean to sav p«^^ to" _;- .0, and want toS wl~ - " "^^' '"^ '«'- my W and p„t her iiteie a..^ .t^ t 'el "''' ■"' "" ■■it-.s^La'rre/cr'r.'''^ ^■"'<""' ---«>, ^0 it was about a doU-how t^e fl ""^' T '™ y^^* no longer a child." *^^ '' «'»'' now she is ■no a hint of where thi were . lit" ' . f '• ^^"' g«-- river, expectmg to have hirl l1'^' "f. ^ '"""^^'^ °" ""o her or fail in the attlpt A^d ""'^!'"'''«™ined to win unde^tand that he isnftantd "now"? ' ""'' ^'^'"-<' '™!;i:;;'''--'°-''on"rtw:;;oi?o:ir„id'^T i»on t mention it," I said "««) * ^ .^snould— dertake to manage that for ;'; Buf I ^ ^^^ "^ "^- you a hint, too; FvB.nk LiX a "" * "^'"^ ^^^ing another girl." ^ ^'^^*'"^ ^« «^adly in love with " No ?" " Yes He i Jrl Mountains, tot summer S°don^' h"'*, ^"^ '" '^^ "^^^ « good selections ehuX; 127'':'^ '"'"""^ '«"«'». and shops, indicating a eomnll '"■"'' '"" "^ ^'"■'es which seized all the riverTownswhrtl Tf''' -""^^^^ railway directed travel in tea nl! ' *""'•*'"« "^ 'he -y. is only three miles dlVLrho^-^'W I and have little girl td sat on )> OD, warmth, Bii years y she h ure you 'ie gave I on the ^ to win 'ightred Id keep 3uld— " rJI un- giving B with White '- is all odern lotels, stores ilysis f the N^ew- usses CASHMERE. viUage ar,tm 11'''' T"^' ■^'"■''■' -'"" *°'-'ed the fish hooks. aZr t at Cb::;' ^""'^^ '^"'"''^ "' depart We fou.d the ^ ^ a,lT„\;\r;VT'j '" Robert in charge of the "Froli,." .1 r"^ • ''"'^S*' roadj gone to the village. ' ^*"''' ''"'''6 "'- ... ^'',* morning was fortunately cool for H,.r„ sailing breeze and m„ f„. j -i "^' "'as no g eeze, and wo found it necessary to take the oars wnen we arrived at Cashmere EWo,-n„ mg alone the e,)„„ „<■ n. .''"""^' J^'derkm was prospect- h/had ,'ui*ki;t itt-oSt '"' ""' "' ''«'" -"- which "hrXruTr"" ""^ '"' "' "■« *>«". '"-"gh lower lev7 """^ '" " ^"'■'°"'- ""brnken body, to the ;; Portage ? ■■ queried F™nk. as we ranged alon-side by the gt;"tL wZ t "^"t'"' "/- »" -"/ Xo- echt feet IVy u' " ™°°"' ""<' ">" J-"'' ^^ only about an impassabri^ra^'::^?,^"'! ^'^'P ''»"'' »' »"'' »d, other look at thetZ and?.' .7' *^"' "' *"* »■'- safely. * *""* """"Sht it possible to descend i* 90 fill m m 11' ■•r A TOUR OF THE THAMES. "You go first," suggestea Frank "an^ it « ^ , swamp we'Utry it." ' *°^ ^^ ^o" Jon't "I would in a minute," replied Oscar, "only " " You're not afraid, of courso " friends to make a portage here " "^ ana .Me, .i tro^VS L'a t'Xtl^-" and ara^o'^MolT 'T"'; 'T""" "' '"« P^*^ «- with the facts at the presenTd^f. ^/'"^. ^'' description appointing. ^ ^^^^' ^^ ^°""d Cashmere dis- Canadlrarrw:;^^^^^^ '-' -' ''-' "P relic of steam and bridges. '" "*'"'* ''ay'^ <>« the IZ:Zf"t:f ■'"'''', " ^""'"y *"- »f business on pHan^m ^r: iir^r ;:r LtLt^r "^ : legend " Pntif nm^^, » • 1.1 ^ore-iront the ancient ^ ' ^^^^ ^JP'<^> m shadowy letters Ruf oin » t. • 3h«tte.» are umbLg frt, tt !i ^'' '""^ """ ''^ vestiges of blue and 1.1 ■ ?! '''"<'°«^. and the last j-«, rixio aic liuccering in FISH. 01 ou don't be the the gap '0 to my r unload - he apron s. )ets time ! by his heroine icription lere dis- relic of a brisk agitan lays of ness on i by a incient : It is lutters lat its le last nrtues lug in the dejected breeze which still visits the place. Whoever mounts its deserted stair or treads its regulation platform does so at peril of life and limb. The pretty village is in rums and its inhabitants literally gone a-fishing" What they do in the intervals, when fish are not in season, does not appear on the surface. And they will argue that mill dams are no obstruction at all to fish which are bent on reaching the spawnin.^ grounds where they first saw the light ; that a perpendicular leap of eight or ten feet is mere pastime to them, and that when proper fishways are provided they move up and down without being conscious that their rights are interfered with. This IS probably all true from a theoretic standpoint but It remains a fact thct Cashmere-the site of the lowest dam_is the head of the net fishing on the Thames, and that enormous quantities of fish are taken there with the seine, m the season, of course. Evidences of the fishin.. in- dustry were lying around in the most unprofessional care- essness in the shape of ropes, nets and boats, indicating, that at least a portion of the fishermen follow the callinrr en amateur. ° For miles below the village every eddy and every an^le of the river was occupied by an enormous dip net hanging. Idly under its bows, and bleaching in the sun and wind waiting for the next season's work, perhaps ; or for the' leisure or pleasure of its shiftless owner to stow it away Bothwell was evidently near; for hereabouts began to crop out the forlorn monuments of the now historic " Oil rt u~ u^**' .singular display of unadvised speculation which bill t a city in a single season and destroyed it in a single night. Here and there over the cultivated plain the bleachin- derricks were pointing like warning fingers, to their obvioi^ 92 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. 'lifi knt- w irll -,ted capital a,/a„?,:f,;i"fi'L,f J™™*"' ^"««-"''- "' oocas^z-r^l^x: "i:; ' '*■ »"^ ^- '»• - ordinary davii^ht etfll Th^-^, ""P'^'^'^'T'e "nder as being the last elevat "n atl tl.^' '^ ""'^ '•^"■"^'""'le »-. .e .a„ „eet witHl;!^ Jt -^ ?,- nearf:::! ol'a^iri ^t^dir^Zf T --""- • source of supply „f the P«eiou Iff-I" Z/ 1""'^'' reservation. wt~h:d?i!:r:tr "h'^" rain-furro^ed clay on the south dde^ '' '*"™ '«"'' "^ The school was taking its reca«<, »„^ u pretty and interesting lookin' CZ' . ' """'"'''■ " an airing in the acacia grov ^hi^h Th JerbT.; T ■?""« school-house Lob- cntf»„«= '^"' "'»"e'i and settlement. gener^vwSo.r""'" '"'"•■' "-" ">e dening abouf S'l^ Ztt anXf ^T f ™ ^'■ bleeding heart luoin., „i„t. j f. °"y'"'*»' 'arkspnr. oMfaslnedth'rinC:t™r.ft.""^''^ '-^^'^ every angle, tell the old story over a^in "'"^ ** An old man. bareheaded, with a°coh ni,^ • v was hoeine notatrw... in . i P'P* '" '"s mouthy to kno. sfmeth nT S M "'"'"'*''■ ^0^*" "-f^d the old man ^ """ ^"P^™""™. so he addressed "Hello. Adam." V: / V -V^ •.'* ■■ytmc'f } • I i ' I'il (iVlKT \KI<;irBOKS. 93 name's Tobias.' said the Indian, with somo "Canyon tell me the meaning ,,f that "My dignity. "All right:" inscription ? " " No," answered the man "f ^onV i i ^ my boy, he can read ii ..""ait : '■ ™'' *"" '^'''"'' ^^^^•' Don't you fin it „„„,,..a„tto live so near a ..-ave- " ! they very q, i,. Mny-kr^'g ova' there " renhVrl ,1, tttre^ '' ^^^" ^^" ''-''' ''' -^' refuLrrot t Returning to the boats we met several specimens of the worthless ' Injun,' the kind which figures in nohW . r>.W .a .e„ e„eV,.rof rireSVilTt:;: buttons, and a plug hat, much past its prime I J witi . either shirt or shoes ; he raised his hat .ZZ a"r of 1 P .s.an and asked for ten cents with the freshness ^f In OH Londou beggar. We gathered from him that is dris "' the freak of some oil nrince nf H>a « •. who had been struek by Anthonys '^" "'"™* «»««•" (probably) Freneh aneetL t "m reTeri ttf '" T^ the outfit having long since disapprTd.' "^ ^"'^ "' »he Jt' '""""^'""y "f ">« thing was still further increased when, having passed on. the necks of two black Tn»I. were.vea.ed, pro,rudingfr,m his dangling c:a'':ilp!:ke: .uchtt:;t.tf -strxi: zj^t^^^ many years a nromin^nf l.pTIti ^^'^'^ ^^^^^°' ^^^ . ..vRv..„„,,^, iijis been transformed III t it'l 04 A TOUil OF THE THAMES. all the glorv of bucksWn ,„• f ^^, 5 *'"' "°'<"' I"™™ » 'Iry and leveSt;„I^i'. flltrr ^r"" '" """^ "^ ■nay be discovered hv 7,^-; "'"' <'■''*"» '"^Uon where the watir wh^h «''amm.ng the broken river bank find, it, JaT^ZntZ' '^ ■"" "" '"'"^- °°"' without 'ioultilZ^ ZZ:IhT\TT ■• *"'"'"« of the original forest frees ''^ ^^' '^"^^'''S roots ^ I* was a »x r:; r:::rtv^7i- Ireezy, vaporless-everv detail „, T"""' ''^y- "^'oudiess, ■sharply as the blades Jf ^Zflt f'^'r ™'"°S "^ ■eapers sounded ples^ZCZrn 7, ^ '"""'• ^'"^ '»"° "^ of scarlet machiner^adf T''" ^'"''^ * *««'' wMtehorses,yee;::::i;r-t:-^^^^^ their ;:i:orThad::'lT'fb ''""'■ "^^^^ --hesjent «™oked till the Frtt came „ u "".""' ""' ^''"' »<» ourselves to join Cr cot;:," ^'^"■'' """ *■>- - •'««™d ^o"^^'i» our boat/'said Frank •"r.lor,+ * we'll take the canoe in iow." ' ^ ^^ ""^ '°''"'' ^"^ iillfl iji- !(. :Ii sign— a cu- ed brave in still adorns its original P is now a ict location "iver bank, irface, now ' ; draining lying roots sunned ihe mping. cloudless, cutting as le hum of a streak rown and ches, lent 'ead and bestirred the his- . though man had BALLAST. But Oscar demurred. He wniil.l 1,^ j- said, the boat was so small 1,71 t "T""'"* "'• '«' would run better «.,•»,» 1» ""'"8'" """ ^''o'ic _ un better «.th a bttle more weight to windward Profess^" Zt^r jZ':: t:i t ":'r " ' "^^^ -■''''' I-ightredwiUbeg,arf;rl"'"-"' ^™ '^™"' - app^t::; ^ZiedT 'X! ZZ^ '\ '"^ ^•*' a bouquet of lobelia and irh • but T T' ■'"''^^'"' amused expression on her hrif.av:U Cthith h^"'^ pation scarcely accounted for ""*' ""="- awdt^Se:i;r:::e^Tr^^^^^^^^^^ company. Elderkin h«d i.t \u ?, ^^udding away in clesperafe e Jt to keep ^^^^^^^^^ -« -king Robert, who was steerl. thf ^ ', '^T''T '^'''^"'^^ ^^ desperate efforts to avTid^tm^^^^^^^^ ^"' "^'^^^^ ^^^^"^ After repeated and futile warnings to Oscar to o-Jv. L' more sea room, Robert suddenly pulled un bT.! ^ , " putting the helm bnrrl , "^f ^""'''^"P ^^« ^"g sail, and red that DO sail. 3n), and IVii i CHAPTER XII. I ■ , Lcy A SERENADE. GREAT irre^ofular curve of three or four miles in ex- 5^ tent, forms a peninsula whose neck is partly e) occupied by the village of Tecumseh, better known nLf . Z ""™.^,?Plied to it by the Post Office Depart- ment, ' Thamesville. • ^ .11 nl^ '' ^/-^^^^nt walk, when it is pleasant walking at aU, across the neck of this peninsula, taking the villag! .. There are many relics of the American invasion and of e der inhabi ants are justly proud ; there is also a pic- tu esque mill ,s.te at Cornwall's creek, from which the mill has long since disappeared, dissolved by the slow processes of nature into its original elements. processes The village is a smart little railway town, with a very t ous and agressive than its rivals along the line, but not otherwise remarkable. ,■ .nd 1^7^;.^^'^^^ Thamesville simply consisted of a log tavern and an Ind n graveyard, at the intersection of an inLrtant to Lake Erie, at Morpeth, with the Thames river road the aTeTof^f. ^' ^'^ ^'^^"^ P^"^^-^^ ^-^ ^"- h advent of white men in America. bv Z^'' ^«J" Kent, " the garden of Canada," as it is called the extraordinary fertility of the soil on every hand, as well miles in ex- j: is partly iter known ice Depart- walking at B village en sion and of which the 'Iso a pic- 3h the mill ^ processes T^ith a very >re preten- le, but not log tavern important southward ' road, the 3efore the t is called idencos of id, as well ■r • fl THE MOWER. 97 1 I ,,1^ ' "^'"'^ *■"' ^'"'"''^'^ fe™;"-- of early day.,, wh.ch has reduced much of the firet cleared LT.^, the condition of a desert. ^ ^ The moment the Thirteen touched the shore Elderkin intention o walking across the neck. He was takin.- time hL t rtr^ 'n accordance with the hint I had'X^n h.m.^that M,..and Miss Lawrie intended doing theCe The ladies joyfully accepted his escort, and havinir agreed where to meet again, we continued our coal 1;! c|«et graveyard, shaded by two magnificent .hi wCs sTab He LTr" ™" "S Si-ass amongst the mounds and slabs. He told us that the willows had grown from a teamsters g«i, broken and stuck in the ground afledrfv ;!: i^' weT 'r !,'" ^^ ■^""---'^ ' ^— yeais ago. We passed under the shadow of a noble line of m^hty sycamores, which fringe the bank for a m le Xh *ca ey white bases buried in a luxuriant growth of 'vZ and^swept in trailing hnes in the margin of the rushing a tratl' and T^ °' '^" ■'™°'' * ^^ '" " ^"""^ ^a» takinc. up a trawl and had made a great haul of catfish, of from "two to foun>ounds ea.h; real evidence that we we're th:rhelow Churches, school houses, mills and thrifty looking home where\;:t:esTe iTird'rrt"''^"'''" *^™<'^ again. Presently some immense .saw mills, with their • 98 A TOVK OF THE THAMES. accompanying duster of dwellings, loomed nr at the ™" xtop. Will jou bo kind enough to get it for me l" tent It*tt'f^' ^""'T'- ""''"■"'y •' "»<■ ''" -«"* to hi, tent at once, to prepare for the errand, as I supposed A few yards further down the hank we found a nin,. Lawrie. She was still sitting at the foot of fh . and Oscar was seated on the gra. nlite. h s ^fZId ^'^rpfrtT/h^rr" ''''"'■' "* - ^<'""' "^-"-^ mnlll?' V'^"^^ ^""' ^'^ ^ ^"^'<^^-'^« feeding time with mullet ai.d suckers; and though these ihh nuJL •sidered as essentially " pot " fish hi \ ^ """ game about them, yet thev tnn,i„ *i \ interesting We had tai. al'Zt 'it^ZfZJZ Cofcnel hooked a big-monthed, black, spikey catfish begin' flTLr"""'"'^"'" ''■ ""•"^ "'- ''i'^-us things cat 11"''^'"'^ T "" '''""'y' '•'"-g'' th^^ night prowlin.^ cat fish IS much esteemed by pot hunters. ° Elderkin had just gone to his quarters, and I could hear h.m rummaging about the baggagi above us he wa ZT pornt"^ g"itar, determined to make the m'ost^orMsf The evening bad settled down to a stillness so nerfecf that not a r.pple broke the surface of the gl^ I'erto stop. Will ent to his >secl. ind a nice 'j seat near I adjusted all things, 3 for Miss sycamore, ce turned ght of its un- and •'as doincr me with '' be con- .rticle of •^s very hen the i things rovvlinfi- o ild hear as get- his op- )erfect, 3r , the v*^ \ A VISITOIl. 101 ail- svas still full of that opalescent li^ht ^vl,ich foil warm day ami a cJoudless sunset in JunT ft'' "" asainst tho reflected sky, ^''^"'^ "'""'"«■' Frank soemed to l,e gaining, favor with Mr. t. • for she was gracious t,. Iihn thCt „i L t, , ; ''"■• waikiag up aud down the eve swa fa„ , ^7, "' !""•' «.* the syca„,ore. M... Lawri^ltrd a mt,: ""^'' ""- "It IS actually chilly," she said. .slmirit'd'^no r ' ""' " ^''"^'■" ■'"="«-'^<' ^'-^k ; - where ••and'7::^ll get rih:'' t^' r^"^: '-' ^"-".-eat. Her daughter^had wrap, e'd he, iuir """' ^""'" ''"''•"''• w^^ •. she had takeu Sut' her' o^ t :; mZ ^''"' ^''""•'• herjeanino- with one extenrllT • ^^"'^ '^^^"'^ ^^side wki„g„uriutothe^r:'::i,=;h:i:"«-n;r pieasrreX:'te:;t^:'rr'-°;,^°^''«-'-'-- was sitting. hug^iugUrklrestC It t-itt/T"'; ^^ pipe in his mouthlisteiiin- t„ .. „ ■ * '*''°''' ''"r S™ly, long and b„n; ^ho'" ;: ^'n '*'' ''•' * ^'""«" '' mess kettle. opposite on an inverted « Evenin' gents," said the ,„a„ ;.. hope I ain't intrudin-." iiii 102 A TOL'R OF TFfK THAMES. We assured him to the contrary. " I'm yer landlord," he continnod • " i;».. • *i . , "P t/.a,.." wavi.,,, hi, ,„•„„ t,„v.a ; road W 1T' "0 sl,a„ty, l„n cheerfully took his "..M I'j, ' """ "" ' I see yer camp, an' it 'jiiin.l..,! r,„ *• i i • J'-l to co,ne down and see yer ' '' ''' '''''''' '''' ' "Been in the army rciueried the ColonoL 'No. Californy; six years thar." "Jn the diggiij(r8 ?" " Yaas, di-^.in' an' prospectin.' Ju can.,, all th > r sonietinies in a a.nn+„ .■ ' ^'' ^lie tmie : an old ^^.iZ:t^:^z^"Tr^^' \ t '"■^''- '•■■' yo« bet. What's thatr '" ' '" '""^'^ ^ ^anady, It was the iinerle of FIrloi-l-;,.' "vean.ore tree behind ll *='"""'■ "' "'^ f""' »' the " Gad •" ejaculated the stranwr " v^ yo" ^".". _ T..en he rattled o,! ah„° t hi„I rdTis'Lf"'^' IXr™"^ e,|oyi„, a ra. treat l!":^ TZ «oe "^^i^ tre"li:;X' 'f '^^ '"'■'^^'- That was the stunmnr. i , °"° «™''" »" "t ^ hundred do la™ [ I t'° ?'™' "'"' ™"''' '"^^ «-"> '' -thinUhen ri'UdTintfh' ""'■ '' ~'"' ^™^* like it, just to get rid o, el Th„t '""l' '"' ''"'^"'' ""'^ ain't «o badjy ,^- a t , T » If,,™' '^"''^ y"" W' ' tlmtl (,„r„t r„L if;. • '' "" ""^ "'"'"■'• """^k call the K;:;:; te," ''' ''^^ "«■ "-'^ f™' ^ -""n't J ^", udLK i,nar, within ton ^-nov nn t Jeer was about the oLly moat "-e luJ !" ' ""■' "' '■">■ ^ HLcit \\c naj, eeptm once in a SHOOTlNfJ A HEAR. 103 lat shanty ■ could seo lies, so't I lie time ; ish. I'm Canady, ot of tlie in style, i belong- a new myself. on it ? worth a 5 worth ns more ago. I er back 'ouldn't V in my 8 a hoy 3e in II v,!., e wc killed a l,a,- or a porko,-. m.\ 1 ever kill a bar > Well, I come M.irhty „igl, it „nce. H.nv ni..l, ; Well I'll just tell yer. Ye see the old ™„„ 'a,! bro^.-ht up a'so" f on, I etro.t. It was i„ the spring, a., she was irubbin' about the woo,ls with as fine a litter of pi„s as ever vLu wed had ; but all at once we begun to n.iss 'era-fron, a dozen they got down to eight-and then to five, and the^ up again I was the same thing next niornin'-pen down an ony three pigs left. Well, that thing kep' on till wo had ony one pig. so I says to my brother (he^< dead now poor fellow this twenty year), says I, • r„, g„i,, t„ Cy^ that bar for we knew by his tracks 'twas a T,ar. Says I .you 11 set up half the night, Til set up f other half an'' well have him sure, for he's bound to come after to her p.g. Agree.], says he. So when it come dark we tied the pig in the edge o' the woods, right in front o' the winder for ,t was ony a little elearin' ,hen. We loaded the shot' gun an the riflo, ao' fixed everything handy, an' I wen. bed. Well, eome 'bout midnight, my brother woke me up an said he hadn't seen uothin', so I .sot down at the winde to watch an he went to bed. 'Twas awful solemn .settin' thar in he dark watchin' that little white grunter in the moon ight, svieaki-,,' an' squealin', for he never stopped a rnmute the hull night. Well, I .sot thar hour afterTou. till I begun to git awful .sleepy. All at once I thought I .een some „u> stir in tlie shadder, an' I levelled my rifle on the pig Very soon I did see somethin'. It was a bio- black bar. sure enough, .snuflin- an' smellin' round an' round the pig, an eomm sometimes, near enough to club him; but son ehow I couldn't, to save me. shoot that b'ar. I tried my 101 A TOOK OP THE THAMES. deadest to pull the trk™er ■ but •(„. less as Ihe pi, it,elf r V ^ ''° "'"' ^ ™« «« help, that thi„/uV he ok " l"': '°"S ^ *»»''• " kep- •R-t;sa;she' , ™t TheuTV""'^ '" '"^ ™- doylight. The iVar was c^oneTn" ™ ."^ ' " ™' ^'"^ the hull time an- d.-emptlt all '- " "" ''^ P'"' I'" ^'^P bedtZ:'L::ttu°°' '■"- - ^^^ ^-t-y; it. ., towu;^^::r-!.ti:!":v7'r"''''^^- ^"—^ take our corn tha. to „" to udV' r"'"'- ^"^ '^^^ *» all-ay^ had plenty meat an^rh ' • ™ ' ''^'' " ""''^- ^o Wo kep- a W sCp t thetoo!'. fh^ ^ ,'''*" ""' "°™- clothes we wore outeu it them fei; T * ' ""'" ="' *^ tender voice, which would I,,! T ' ^^ ™''''«' "' * B string wa a Me «„ " M T T'' "'"^'""'' °"'^- '"■' Mne, h'e continued ,:^le h s'vtl L^ t""'" "^ «■-- husky in the damp air He was no '«^='mn.ng to get melody when Frank In d A '^ '^ ™' ^ ''"" A^d of firelight. ^ "^""'^ "''»'"«■'='' i"to the circle of .estl';:;"tt'.ieStht :'"l f-rl -'-r-' «- ^--rlo his shoulder. ' ""' ""* ''"' '"^-'l caressingly on 'as as help, uld a kep' the i-oom. was broad • I'd slep ^; it's my he nearest ''e had to 3ok. We an' corn, e ail the ed a pair ught we i« guitar J were a key a led in a only his of mv- ■ to get flood of irele of Lawrie gJy on e. "I ^S fatj irihrCb;:!' '^"''^" -« ^"^ "«■» »»* -weh pocket." ^ "'""t'oned ,t that I had it then in „.y 1' f ?' at beauty; '^i he don't )ook which I did not hen in my CHAPTER XIIT. STILL WATER. ^,/r EXT morning we were stirring early. The rising ^^ sun showed large and red through purple mistt 0" tl^e distant edge of the wide, flat landscape. Mists were n.sing from the river and lying in flakey folds aloDg the level meadow; barring the dark woods and melt- ing the blurred grey horizon into a yellow sky. Elderkin was the last to turn out. He appeared while Mrs. Lawne was dispensing the coffee, whose delicious aroma blended with the fragrant woodsy odors of the fresh earth and burning bark. He was quite himself again, and bowed with a great flourish to the ladies ai.d enquired after their respective healths with his usual solicitude. No allusion was made to the malappropriate episo'"•''■ and variety to the vi.stas o7t ,'«,""' "'" S*''= S'aee Pfcturesciue, one-streeted-iaf "','"■'"■«■ 0™a-'t.nal ■squares of checkered coll ^' '''"^'^ *'>^ ^"k with fashioned wooden t™,«s whfch f'"" "^'^'^'^'^ ™ oW - l-a.. stopped tog^a'tar^'j" "7'S'-°™">-e. >t gu.*ed ont in a perennial ™ • , '"°' ™'er where Sracef„l e,„„p „f slplT™ ^rfhe^FM- 'Y *^'*^- °'' " bank. * ' ''^"^'i <^'ie i^rolic drew up to tlie " I I'emember this nl.i^o " • i ^ , -ed to be a track h ? t, ;, "f ^^^^"^^ ^--ie. " There on the way to Chathan; nd Vl '"7^ '^^^ '^ ^he river here." '' '"^^ ^ <^"ce had a narrow escape "Is this the place?" asked Mr^ _ inconsistent. '^^'■'- ^^^^'^e, interested but "^oteJI us, Papa." pJeaded Annie. 'f ie first ton lone of the n the Uj>per es of clear, •quent; the y mile, and A distant the water ; talJ and for it was •ds rolling 3- Forest igar busii ave grace 'ccasioual tnk with ing iron i an old ^'n there, »■ where ter of a p to the " There le river escape ied but NARROW ESCAPE. 100 "It was nothing worth telling," he answered. " A broken strap or something startled the horses, and they jumped over the bank here, instead of keeping the track and ran away down the middle of the river, dragging the dnver for half a mile-for he hung on to the ribbons like a terner-and scattered the rest of us in all sorts of attitudes. One had a broken head, another a sprained arm, while I escaped with a terrible fright." "How did they escape drowning >" querie-l Elderkin, speaking for all of us at once. "Drowning? How could they drown?" queried tile Colonel, in turn. "I'm afraid you are stuffing us," said Elderkin ; " there must be twenty feet of water here now." •' So there was then," assente.l the Colonel, " but it had two feet of ice on it, for it was in winter. Didn't I say so s *^ There is a picture in one of the galleries-at Munich, I tJnnk-by one of the early Flemish masters ; a head of bhrist. It IS brown with the grime of centuries, and fur- rowed by the inevitable seams of age and past neglect; but neglect or time has not been able to efface the ineffably sweet expression of the divine features. The eyes are closed ; the drooping lashes resting on the tear-wet cheeks pale with the pallor of death. You gaze, iascinated by th^ wonderful power of melancholy in the picture; and slowly as you gaze, you become conscious that the sad, soft eyes' are fixed upon you with a look of the most profound sorrow. The face and the look will haunt you ; but return as often as you will, you can never again see the eyes as you first saw them, closed and wet with tears. How curiously the most inc^mg-uous ideas sometimes re- no A TOUR OF THE THAMES. ffc.1l cur to tl,e memory. 1 was rc.uinde.l of the laetiue hy the sirmlarmenta^ effort. a.s J tried to r..ali.o H.i idea of two .•etot.ce. Here was the Jimpid liquid .virling iu grace! f..I eddies about our bow., smiling with a myriad dimls on Its mobile lace, flashing back th^ sunlight in' .. veJgZm a .d glowH.g green and golden in its profounder depths about the purp.. shadows of the .swinging bo.,,, x,.i the trees, gorgeous in their royal mantle of full .ununer .eafage, majestic m then- mas.es of light and breadths of ..ist shadow ; twinkhng, trembling, tossing masses of .nd J term and name. Two feet of ice ^ The mim, refused to grasp the idea under the conditions. In th. actual presence of all tins hving beauty to substitute the dark steeh lines of wine swept ice, drifted snow piled in furrowed bank, do d of bhndmg snow dust flying before a howling blast that cracked a.d screamed in the naked benches of tl!eTl^ Th. v.;,on refused to appear, and 1 could see around me .ncrea.K>us and wondering faces, slowly recovering I. om the shock- of a mental cold bath. ^ This was at Kent Bridge. Our next stop was at a cove formed by an ancient and long discarded bed of the liver, similar to the one near London We found it difficult to penetrate the dense masses of water weeds and mosses, but the lare loveliness of the place well repaid the effort. Acres of pure white water Mel scented the air with their peculiar delicate perfume. There w re elegantine and convolvulus, lobelia., iris, and spider a^ yelW ' " " ^'" '""'"^^ ^'"'-^^^' ^^-' -^^^^> Annie Lawrie was in ecstacies, and Oscar Elderkin was he humble servant, only too happy to scratch his hands w.th he dogroses, and wet his blue flannel sailor jacket to the elbows in securing choice specimens of lilies i STILL watb:h. -'tiiie by the i% ^\ V\^< ^ ^ 4 1.0 1.1 i« 12.0 III us u 11:25 i 1.4 i m 1.6 _x IC ^*. ^1» ■^^ Sciences Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. MSSO (716)872-4503 I A ,owed pohtely. as is the custom of his race. " Good morning," said I. "Mo'nin", sah." " Fishinir ?" "Yessah." Promptly and gravely. " Have you any bait to spare ?" " No, sah ; don't use no bait." " I see. You are usin^ a net, I suppose " " No, sah." " What are you fishing for, then ?" «Itam of .sheet hghtning on a summer night. Then he iltngTJr^^^^"' ^"' -"^^-^^^ '^ P-^ ^^- bottom with aw logs, wh le fioatmg down to the milk, frequently become water soaked, and sank; that in years gone by they Ze ral V tir? '^; trouble of raLsi'ng; tL the^ ^^ t ikes a b """'"' °'^' ^"* *^^* he sometimes walnut, ongmally cast into the water to save the trouble of bui-nmg, and that he was doing very well at the busine.ss w 1 low? "T7' r^'r^^"'" ^°' ^""^^^ ^" ^ g'-«^- «f tall vil mvs, wHh a beach of clean white sand! overgrown teher up with beds of blue .stramonium. We were'near^ vhe,? "'i?"; f'' '"""^^ ^''^^^^y ^' the last place ^vhele we might land without trespassing s, and haiid- of an oyster ked up and ant, like a Then he ottom with )ld us that tly become they have are gene- sonietimes )le trees of trouble of i business, ve of tall jvergrown '^ere near- last place 11 THE REGAITA. 113 A peasant hour we spent there with ham sandwich, coid fi.h and pickles, biscuit and cheese ; walking about in the httle ^^ove, and pelting with sticks, stones and hard names, a herd ol too inquisitive young cattle, which seemed to share the universal instinct to plunder the tourist " Look here, Oscar," said Frank, looking up from the neM^spaper he was reading, "there is to be a regatta at Chatham to-day. Why don't you go in for the canoe race you must be in splendid training now ?" " Jove, you're right. It wouldn't be a bad idea. Just for fun, you know." win.'" ^*'' ^"^ '"^ ™^ ^''^' """"^ ^^ ""'^^ *" ^^y ^""^ «^« yo" Elderkin's vanity wa^ tickled. He could see himself flashing by the winning post like a parti colored meteor, amid the plaudits of the crowd and the approving glances of Miss Lawrie, covered with perspiration and glory. So he decided to paddle, ard we left him behind to dress for tne race, as he expressed it. CHAPTER XIV. THE CANOE RACE. |HEN we reached Chatham, early in the after- noon the Park waa thronged with a gaily- colored crowd of holiday-makera iM^„tZ,tu regatta, which was the cent™! evenf oTthe dky ' from the river,alheit only the ..vor^troVKf teT palaces are presented to the view. Brass bands we^ rend ing the a,r with their blatant tones, and the rivlrl ° d" ahve w,th c«ft of every description, from Te DetoU e._ steamer to the paper shell of the eX We had to run the gauntlet of thousands of curious eyes as we rowed quietly down, threading our way thr™l the hvely throng. Evidently we presented a new tZtl v.s.tor, and probably looked a little out of place 7n S a gay scene, w.th our well-laden boats piled with trunks hat boxes carpet ba^s and camp kettles. Under the bridge densely packed with humanity, along by the cro^fd' wharves and between lines of swarming°steLers Jd it lit r'n "Tk"' r"*"" " passage,%nd drew up Ta sheltered angle beneath some great warehouse.,, in obedience :: " oeC ;iT. °' '"-' "'«"'°- --- -^ ~'^t The races were already in progress, and we were s^rcely settled ma good position for seeing when a Tck of .double scull" contestants came rushing past, pink n the after- ith a gaily- ntent on the • picturesque )osing show- King street were rend- iver seemed the Detroit he embryo of curious ay through 3W type of in such a runks, hat the bridge^ 3 crowded 3 and mer- V up in a obedience eremonies, we were in a flock ast, pink^ M i' '■ THE CANOEIST. 115 white, blue, ami red ; the first two boats neck a.ul neck the second and third following at short intervals Thev' were gone almost before they could be analyze.l into sepa rate groups. A roar of cheering followed them into the distance hke roilmg thunder, an.l then began to roll back again as the contesting boats again en.erged from a mass of crowded vessels, and swept past with a grand flotnish of muscular ac ion. one boat far in advance, two others con- tending hard for second place, the fourth not in sicrht When the result was announced from the judge's boat the cheermg commenced again, and was taken up at the other end of the course like an echo, just as it would if some other crew had won the race. The next was a four-oared race, three crews contest- ing, and was almost a repetition of the first. They started at a pistol shot, one boat taking the lead at the first stroke and losing it in less than a minute. The enthusiasm of the crowd was contagious ; we cheered with the rest when the rear boat forced ahead, and strained forward to keep lem in sight. * " There they come again," cried the crowd directly and ad eyes were bent to note the new position of the boats. So intense was the excitement that no one seemed to notice a gady dressed canoeist who camo paddling leisurely down the middle of the course, until some one above raised the ci^y, clear the track." The canoeist kept his way with perfect mdiff-erence, his thin white arms gleaming under a short-sleeved pink rowing shirt, and a perky looking vel low cap, with the tiniest excuse for a nib, sitting well over his bump of self-esteem, a bare white forehead, eyeglasses 111! The A TOUn OF THE TWAMES. cmw,I Wgan to yell at hin,, "HanlH,,: Oet Clear tlie track • " au.I out ! turned h.s h„w a„,l ,li.,a,,peared in the shelter nt a hn-e -thin Hv/yar.. of hL' , tr':' ■„::: ri r ;:r he brought h,» paddle round with a desperate awoe . in n,l ' ...g to go back again ; too late again ; one of the «1 ui air ady altered it, course to pa«s behind him. nTmitr still have been sale, but the crowd raised such a row ha the youth became bewildered, and pawee aecident occupie,! but an ms(ant-a strangely suggestive look came over he face of the youth. A picture recurred to me of a voun. t';':" *"?'""''• ^"'""""^ -'* ™'-. thrust th,::' the opening of a tent in the dim light of a lamp, and Se couU give utterance to ray thought M,.. Lawrb exclaTmed Great mercy, it is Mr. Klderkin." >-'»imea, TulT^l' *^- ""^ '^S^^^i him, and leaping into the Thirteen, he seized an oar and pushed off with the enerri of a desperate occasion. •»"" me energy snr!^\"f'"'uTT ''""" """^ •'«''PP«'«-ed beneath the surface, and while boats were swarming round the soot and grappling with oars and boat hooks, several men had bol% in I THE HODY. 117 jurnpcl in to the rescue, an.l we.v divin- al.out i„ search of the reinams. Meanwhile the renmins ha.l re-a,,,.eare.l at «ome .hstance heh,w. an- tne town, and we are not yet ready to go " ofcer?n:o:trZ::°";"'"""' -''-"-police -naster --thenttorcrre^x::,:--;:- ' liung limp liow do you i-Ipquin, and J red simply, the specta- ^lc• Colonel, tlie ridicu- cia])es had o go into nner." s grinning ^rank has ' go." te master le course, it of sight* 81 ai F E m w be VL CHAPTER XV. DISCOVERED. , TRANK was in immensely good spirits, and as we pulled leisurely down the stream, he began to hum _ the refrain of a song which I had heard on a certain moonlight night but lately. His thoughts, though pleasant were far away, and when his g ended almost in a si^h' he looked up with a conscious flush and laughed gaily. '^ ' " Well, Professor," said he, « you have been lecturing me for moping, and now you look grave because I am ioUv What shall I do to please you ? " "Laugh away, my boy ; I am glad to see you getting back your color and your old gaiety. I was only v/ondering that our little trip should have turned out so well for you." He answered flippantly, "Oh! The Thames air is salubrious ; recommend it to all your friends." I was reflecting that our trip was fastnearing its close and that Oscar had not yet had the "fair chance" I had promised him, and was puzzling myself for a way to caution ^rank as to the state of affairs without compromising "Come, Professor," said Frank, in his own serious manner, " there is a ' but ' in your voice if not in your words. Why should I not be jolly when life looks so bright before me ?" ^ " You should, of course ; but I cannot quite comprehend ow 1.. s„ou.d ,.ave brightened so wonderfully for you in one abort week." 120 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. i I . It was a delicate subject to touch, and I feared to see the old weary expression come into his face again but to I was a little hurt bv his levifv f.^,. t i. j x i a.mo3t pai„.ul intcest i^ ht unllt^ J , t t;! ^ that h,s present conduct seemed nothing short of LraKude I spoke more plainly, "What." said I, "has CoZoi your unlcnown inamorata > Was the wound so sHght tl» a few days of fresh air could cure it ?" That touched hira. He looked serious at once "Professor," he began ; and immediately I could see a smile of amusement getting the better of his gravity "I was hoping that yon wouJd guess that I had discovered her. Did I never tell you her name ?" "Certainly, you must have told me; but stran'colone. ^ -7 rouna th^v J?.ank could talk weU. when the crust GENIUS. 123 when the inked our Jursionists h sight of Iden ava- vondering ; or flush- i local pa- 3US — that ' locality, igabonds, m clothes potatoes 'Hd they luttering id a '^'•en- Jcaine of fhly res- lists who e would ere. »rbed all ling pic- vere the ecovery ed very f called Q order lad ac- le crust , of his rather excessive reserve was broken through I no- ticed however, that the Colonel generally did most of the talking himself. " Genius," said he, is only a certain high development of mental qualities ; it is the same thing whether directed to science, law. art, or war. You talk of special aptitudes as essential to success. They are not so. A taste for philosophy may give a bent to the natural activity or a love of beauty ipay lead the mind in another direction but I mean to say that the quality of mind required to lead armies to victory, might, if properly directed, succeed equally m grappling with the problems of science or art or that the mental force expended in the production of a preat picture, might equally lead to the amassing of wealth in mercantile pursuits, or the attainment of success in what- ever direction it may exert itself. What you call a special gift, is merely a slight warp of the mind, leading in this direction or that in preference to other directions, and gen- erally deciding the profession of its owner, but altogether unimportant to success. Your genius, or man of talent en- tirely without that mental warp will succeed in any pursuit Mmd, I don't object to painting ; I simply point out that it IS a lucrative profession only to the very few, and that the majority who follow it, wear out their lives in comparative poverty, m longing and disappointment." "Your vie of the matter is not quite fair. Colonel," said Frank. « There are poor painters, to be sure, and many who are poor in mor.. senses than one ; but there have lived many painters who have spent their lives in contented poverty, and attained glorious fame after their labor and SUtleriUcr were enderl T onn]i rya-va --» .1 T ^ r •_• -ii_c_. ! touM name vuu a long list of brilliant painters of our own century who were unknown 124 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. M.7Lal\ ?, r'' "" "•'"•■" «■-"»- '^ °- -know. not J 1 « '" ""'-'• *''^" "'■'' «ko Hies. Did yon ever not.co the fl.es on a win,lo«. pane ! The flv k\ IZ iroe, anJ >,! ?■■ I '" '" S" "l'^'"''" ^nJ "head he wouM Jt , "■"' '"^ "*™°' P"^"* *^ gl-^ "Way. If he roon and t.»r™ Tf *'""'' '' '■™'- "'^ "^ ^ack into the flydoTtoroto , ?* '" ""^ °P^"' -'"' ""-» f- "" hrsee diiww^ Z' °"'" «"' •'^ ""'^ »° «■»« fo'- that ; n^ TooJ, f ^ "' ""^ '™y °"' « *''"»g>' this glass ^ exhaZ '"."^"r"'' ""'• '^'^ P"*- «h''"-l -°il he' there. We are all doing the same thing, every one of J- t^z ztiT t:' ^"-^ ^-^^^ *j-' iur^ilee,' later w" , '^ '"""'« '""^ '■«'>' '■°'"'- Sooner o ater we come bang against the inevitable pane. If we hit .t qnarely under fnll s^eed, it either kills or rn nsTs not we work and sweat, and go hnngry and thk ty and all " "7'!'" ^"rf"^ ^'""'^ ■ " "«•'"■ »P-pei-haps. After a , contmned he, laughing, "onr argument^ are al assumed that the great aim of life is the amassing of money whereaa that is, in faet, only a means'-tn the real e^d tlfe' iv acknow- that your J you ever is a very anly room loor.s, and ahead he ■e ho will e he will -y- If he into the discover n for all for that ; is glass ; until he will die e of us ; distance, )oner or we hit s us; if sty and but we > a way After ire all ^e have money, nd, the , ^S.' ' 4 ■-■■ \:?-' \ ' 4' V ■■■-■'■' M. 'I, AN artist's reward. 125 attannncnt ot happiness. Now. an artist whoso heart is in his work, finds his rewanl in it. and his works live after and all the wealth which genius can command cannot avai to do more than that." f .1 ^"1; """il'"'^ *^' ^°^""'^''' '^^^^ admirable paternal forethought, " ,f a man can attain both the means and the end he blesses all who su.round him, as well a.s himself." CHAPTER XVII. THE LIGHTHOUSE. JHE whole camp was awakend early next morning at an unseasonable hour by the noisy chatter of a «o^o"y of chipmonks, whose domain we had in- vaded. They were swarminy over the limbs of the butternut trees, under whose shelter the tents were pitched barS and sweanng like diminutive terriers. Throw ngdow^ showers of leaves and sticky green nuts, and behavil^ generally m an impudent and aggressive manner E^en Elderkm tumb ed out into the chilly fresh air at an Tour aitthrbX:^^ ''-' '' r-'-' -"^^^ -W of n.^"^''' ^? '"^^'i'^' ^''"^^^* ^^^'^"^ i» theintervals of peeling potatoes and turning the dutch oven, he was pel - ing the squirrels with sticks and butternuts ^ eiderkm seized a blackened tin coffee pot by the spout -for in a moment of forgetfulness some one had allowed the handle to melt off-and having filled it with frelh water, took it to the fire. ^ IV^^tV" ^"?.'''"' ^°' '"^ ''^'' ^<' '^^^ he cheer, if tL Tog fire"" ^' "''"^ '' '^^" °^ *^^ ^-^»-^ P-^ , . ''^^""V^ .°"' f ^^^'<^- I ai"^ got no room; 'side J .nit goin t mak' tires for all Ameriky!" Robert was not in his best humor that morning He gathered up his buckets, and marched away towafds thi nearest house for fresh water, but af ter a ^few s p , he looke. ..ok and sa d repentantly ; " I aint got no room bu ye Ct;i . bn'-J an' mak' a fire o' yer own. " • i'. i! CHERnrFS. 127 orning at ter of a had iu- mttemut barking g down Dehaving '. Even an hour to sleep ntervals 'as pelt- e spout allowed h. fresh cheer- !st part I "Hit '. He ds the ps, he m, but ■ log. Oscar took him at his word and brought away the back When Robert returned and found his fire about out and the ,.< I! ti m if' BON JOUR. 129 is consequently a decided feature of the locality, just as a single tall mountain will in some districts appear to back up every scene and close every vista within sight of it. Lower the banks sink, until the arable land disappears in marshy cow pastures, and only occasionally a fisherman's hut finds solid earth enough for itself and the skeleton wheel on which the nets are hung to dry. Approaching one of these miserable habitations, we saw an old man pushing off" from the shore in a dory- looking skiff made of boards. He was bent with age and handled the paddle feebly with his thin hands. Long white hair streaming from under a little black skull cap, framed his pinched and wrinkled and sallow face. I remember one starlight night in Boulogne, when, having landed at the Custom House quay from the London tidal boat, there was the usual rush for the railway station. Crossing the new stone bridge I became in some way de- tached from the hurrying crowd, and ventured to enquire the way— in the best French I could muster— from a blouse clad figure, who approached, smoking, from the opposite di- rection ; " Monsieur, Voulez vous me montrez la gare de la Chemin du Fer du Nord ?" He answered promptly; "Right forninstye,afye hadn't shtopped to jabber ye'd be there now !" I was not more surprised on that occasion than on this ' morning, when, in answer to our " good morning," the little old man lifted his skull cap politely and answered, " Bon jour Messieurs, II fait bien ce matin ; " and so it did. We shewed him the fish we had caught that moraing with trolling hooks, expecting to surprise him. He regarded I 130 i'iii A TOUK OF THE THAMES. the^tolo of a fru.tless exponent in rodaiming these l^hy The breeze was fresh and steady there wh»r» .1, was no otetructio.. and we scudded Z„ ^ZoZ music of rippling water under our bows " ^ ' cHip of some startled water hen. ^ The banks disappeared, and instead only a line of mar^h wi'fK +1,^ * I- *; , '' oniiiant July mornino- vuth the fresh cool breeze on our cheeks, sunlight dancing thetloS Ir^r"',™""^ '° ^heenyrfflectioJof tae glowing color of wind swept herbage; above all the wide expanse of cloud-flecked sky, i„,pire°l 'us with such a fnleb-T?'^"^"""*''^"'''"" "''" "'^-hole paryw,^ ,m the highest spirits. "^ •' ^ After a week spent in the narrow, tree-shadowed chan- nel of the upper nvor, this seemed like an escane Tl prison Once, when the fii«t sound of breaking waves on the distant beach reached our ears, Elderkin IZan waved his cap, and gave vent to his feelings in "I iL "n the ocean wave," He dropped alongside of the Fro c and told Mis» Lawrie how he loved the ocean and yaeh J^d >nie of his own f sight, and the ere and there, ed cabin, told ? these mai-shy where there gaily to the voice or labor n- whispering casional ' chip line of marsh Iges of every xpression of rtening on a ily morning, ght dancing ^flections on ove all, the i^ith such a ! party was owed chan- jcape from ', waves on touted and "A life on Frolic and :hting, and 1 ,1 ¥ ill 11 III 111 I m HUMBUG. LSI related some tales of terrific sciualls and narrow escapes in a voice which might be heard a mile. Ho had rigrged a sail on the canoe Indian fashion, and the light vessel (airly fiew over the water. Thus we arrived all together at the lighthouse, where a stone laden barge was moored to the rotton old pier, and the captains of several vessels which lay outside were Idling about, waiting for a tug to take them up the river. They lounged under the shadow of a swinging sail evidently regarding the new arrival with interest. ' Lawrie^'''^' ^^^ ^^^^^^"^ outside?" enquired Colonel " 'Twas putty lumpy when I come in just now " answered a brown old man. " That's my brig yonder » pomtingto the offing with a look which seemed^ demank surprise and admiration. The Colonel accordingly looked flattered. " Yes ; an' part owner. I come off to telegraph for a tug. D ye see any tugs at Chatham ?" Yes ; he remembered two at least. " It's all right," said the captain. " Where ye bound ?" " Detroit." " Um : Where you from ?" " London." " What ! In them boats ?" " J ust as we are." The whole crowd of loungers laughed outright. " Humbug," said the captain. 132 A TOUR OF TPTE THAMES. Just then a dirty, freckled, red-headed hoy protruded himself out of the companion way, and said "Dinner I" and the mariners unceremoniously went below. We took lunch together on the pier, and prepared for departure. Frank was to finish the journey in the Frolic, and Oscar in his canoe, while I should return by rail, taking back the Thirteen. We could see the station from the lighthouse, a little creek winding towards it through the reedy plain. Frank, indefatigable, was at work again, and the party were waiting for him to finish his sketch. It was a pencil outline of a bit of local topography— a long line of gleaming water, barred across with wide extended beds of feathery rushes, under a gleaming sky, its edge beaded with a line of dotted trees, seemingly detached from the earth. The foreground was an angle of the crazy old wharf, the freckled faced lad nursing his knees on its edge and looking vacantly out to sea with open mouth, the lout to a dot. The sailors had gathered around, as idle people always gather about an open air sketcher, and were delighted with the portrait. "Come here, Dan, and see yer picter." shouted the captain of the brig. Dan came as he was bid, with a sheepish air and a grin of tickled vanity. " Gosh !" was all he said. " Get out the man's hght," said the captain, noticing that the boy's shadow fell on the paper; "don't you know nothin' ? He can't make picters when the sun ain't shinin'." " I thought he did it with that pencil," said the boy, looking apologetic. loy protruded id "Dinner."'" prepared for in the Frolic, ly rail, taking on from the through the md the party pography— a with wide [earning sky, s, seemingly an angle of nursing his 3a with open 3ople always lighted with yer picter." h air and a in, noticing you know sun ain't id the boy. •,w>.j,»« «»,««« w^l^j.^^^^m^^j,,,,^. »%»i>wy I m ill Hiai ^ t,y|i iiii u i » »wW).i««,MrtMv^,M>».< V'i. uivri ; M^U" I A>l ..•■•\ ' *mw «n n «ii«mi M I I <»ifcwy,.t.;urn,, '•StMOlXfK^A'q^VYStf* iii pi 'I S if ' li ' III PAUTINU. 133 "So he does, bnt its the sun as makes the picter," explained the captain, believing that he was witnessino- the production of the wonderful photograph. Elderkin was the first to l'O. " Professor," said he in parting, " I did not know you a week ago, but it seems now as if we were very old acquaint- ances." " I trust we may be so," I replied. Oscar, I continued, feeling that I owed him some sort of an apology for ray part of the contretemps at Thames- ville, " I promised you to — er— a ." " To give me a chance as it were," he interrupted, " Yes, just so." And I want you to understand that I really tried to do so. It was only by the merest accident . "Don't mention it Professor," he interrupted again, " I quite understand, and shall always be grateful for your good intentions. There's another ihing I wanted to say myself before we part, if you don't mind, as an old friend of the family. ' There's just as good fish in the sea .' " " As ever were caught." I completed the sentence for him, with a hearty grasp of the hand, pleased to see him able to take his disappointment so philosophically. " Professor," cried the Colonel, from the other end of the pier, " You may as well come to the mouth of the river with us." It seemed a pleasant thing to do, so I went. For a half mile further immense beds of ru.shes extend into the lake, and mark the presence of the bar, which defines the liver channel. Lonrr befon; we reached the end of them, as we rowed leisurely down, the ground swell I'Si A TOUR OF Tirr-; TIfAMKS. i!: lilll •t* 'i| became very perceptible, and about the same time Oscar Jilderkm came rushing back with sail and paddle. " What's the matter V cried two or three at once. He braced up with an evident effort. "Oh I remembered an engagement." he said, without looking round. He was pale, and liis eyes seemed starting froin their sockets. We were alarmed; and stopped to see him work his way to the wooden pier, climb upon it, and lie down, as if utterly overcome. The sailors gathered round him, and we could hear them jesting and laughing over the ■»>. valid. "Just what I expected," chuckled the Colonel; "that httle shell of his was too light, and the motion was too much for him." " Poor fellow," sighed Mrs. Lawrie, " he seems to be never out of trouble." " I must bid you good-bye now, my friends," I i^aid "If we go farther out, I shall not be able to come alono-- side." *= " There is considerable sea on," said the Colonel ; ". but we are all pretty fair sailors, and if this wind holds we shall be in Detroit river in three hours." Annie Lawrie, dear child as she had always been to me, gave me her soft little hand, and then laid the other upon it ; for she, too, had something to tell me before we parted. The tale was told in a glance ; for a tiny ring, glisten- ing with brilliants, encircled her forefinger, where no riucr had been before. ^ A rosy glow rippled into her cheeks as she looked frankly into my face foi the approval which I knew she ) tinio Oscar Idle. at once. :t. "Oh, I lout lookiiiix itarting from i to see liim n it, and lie thcred round ling over the )lonel ; " that bion was too seems to be nds," I j^aid. come alonff- •lonel ; 'I but 3lds we shall ays been to id the other e before we ing, glisten- ere no ring she looked I knew she =->'>^5-. -:? tan ^y.:^- tm^.^^.. ^-f"' THE LIMITLESS HORIZON. 13c earnestly desired, and tears sprang into the beautiful brown eyes as I answered their appeal. What could I do but approve ? They were both dear to me as my own offspring could have been had fate been kinder to me. " I am very glad," I said. " Heaven bless you, my children." ^ ^ A figure in dark blue serge was hoisting the sail ; and like a steed which feels the spur, the Frolic careened to the breeze, and sped away into Lake St. Clair. I followed them out to the end of the rush beds, where the waves were breaking white on the bar, and answered the fluttering cambric until it became a speck in the distance, and the sail disappeared in a glow of sunlit water on the limitless horizon. APPENDIX. i ilBiii J* ;'j BUSINESS. ^T is a matter for surprise, that a tour of the Thames n;i should be a novelty to attract widespread attention and even much incredulous comment. The trip was accom- plished with such ease and pleasure, as to demonstrate the availability of the route for a regular summer tour. Without doubt, the most interesting portion of the river is the forty miles between London and Delaware em- bracing the principal rapids, the Wishing Well cascade' and the wild scenery of the Komoka hills. Two or three days may be spent in the journey advantageously, and the boats can be returned from Longwoods station, distant only a few miles from Delaware. The requisites for camping are few and simple ; though It one wish to travel en Prince, the capabilities of the route are abundant. Any kind of boats which can be handled at the port- age, may be used, though canoes are preferable, as being more manageable in the rapids. The ' Number Thirteen ' was a light skiff of only thir- teen feet in length, and was (^uite large enough for three persons, and ample baggage and camp equipage. Two or three such parties, travelling together, would find the trip a most enjoyable one ; for many hands make light work and the trouble of making camp and cooking is very little more ivv a dozen than for two. A tent is not indispensable, the Thames ad attention, p was accom- lonstrate the tour. rtion of the elaware, em- cascade, and c three days id the boats it only a few iple ; though of the route it the port- le, as being f only thir- h for three e. Two or i the trip a work, and little more lispensable, li APPENDIX. 137 though often very comfortable in stormy weather ; a boat turned upside down, makes a capital shelter in an emer- gency, and will quite answer the purpose, if the party is bent on roughing it. The trip may be so divided as to avoid the necessity of camping altogether, if the object be merely to get through. For instance : pass the first night at Delaware. To do this, it would be necessary to leave London very early. The dis- tance is about forty miles by the river— a good days work on a clear course ; in this case there are many delays and obstructions on the way. Wardsville may be reached for the next night with comparative ease ; the distance is about forty miles, but the current is swift, and there are few obstructions. To Chatham, forty miles further, is an easy stage, with nur ;3rous villages on the way. Thence to the lighthouse, where the Thames enters Lake St. Clair, is seventeen miles ; or Detroit, forty miles from Chatham, may be reached the same evening. Such a trip means hard work and endurance. A much shorter division would therefore be advisable if summer comfort is an object. There is an excellent camp ground opposite the Wish- ing Well cascade— the most romantic spot on the river— where the first night should be spent if possible. The second camp might be in the neighborhood of the Institution, at Munceytown, before entering the rapids. There are many tempting spots, but springs are rare in that vicinity. The third night might be passed in the Wardsville region, where it will most likely be found necessary to climb to reach a good camp ground. 138 A TOUR OF THE THAMES. Springs are abundant about Thamesville, below. rather than above, and there will be no difficulty in finding grassy banks or gravelly flats easy of access. It should be observed that neither Wardsville nor ihamesville are visible from the river. The fifth camp should be located on some of the clean sandy beaches, a few miles above Chatham, or on some of the low pasture lands a few miles below. There are no springs m that region, and it would be advisable to lay in a supply of water during the afternoon, or to camp not too lar from a well. If the journey extends beyond the Thames, the next camp will be on the low, level shore of Lake St. Clair which IS available everywhere, for the water is pure and cool 1 hence, an easy stage brings the tourist to the G W R dock at Windsor, where the boats and belongings may be placed in charge of the Company. A sail is occasionally of use all the way down but it cannot be relied on for progress until Lewisville is passed where the banks are low and the river wide. The most formidable obstacle on the route is the dam of the London Waterworks ; it is necessary to make a port- age there ; for this reason the boat should not be heavier than the party can carry conveniently. The portage is not d.fl^cult on the north side. The dam at Byron can be got over without unloading; the one nt Cashmere is a little more difficult, though not serious; when the wafer is hic^h It will be necessary to make a portage on the south side, tlie' distance is only a few feet, however. All the serious rapids occur within thirty mile« of Loudon ; they are often swift and full of bouldei-s, but not s. 'ville, below -rather 7 in finding grassy r Wardsville nor wme of the clean, tn, or on some of V. There are no Ivisable to lay in to camp not too 'haraes, the next e St. Clair, which 5 pure and cool. to the G. W. R. longings may be s^ay down, but it isville is jmsscd, Dute is the dam to make a port- not be heavier e portage is not ron can be got mere is a little water is high, e south side, the thirty miles of ulders, but not '*''-rji',;iS«A<'i i M'PENDIX. ViU SO dangerous as thcv look. There would probably be suffic- ient water on them at any time, if the boats are not too heavily laden. Still, an easy passage over the upper r-;ver would be more certain earlier in the season or imme- diately after a rain. If oars are used, the method indicated at page 42 is the best and safest way of getting down In running down with canoes, the bulk of the load should be stowed well astern, so as to avoid catching on the sunken rocks, and swinging round broadside to the current an accident which is sure to end with an upset. Nothing but experience will avail to meet the numerous emergencies which arise in running the rapids ; one has need of a keen eye, a brain quick to decide, and a hand prompt to execute. fh. J^' «°iy;3.^nger-beside the minor ones of smashing • the boat or taking an involuntary bath-is that, in case of an upset, of being thrown under some ot the huge boulders and held there by the force of the current; th^ wate! on the rapids is rarely more than two feet deep, until the danger from this source has been passed. The commissary department need give little trouble Fresh provisions can be obtained at any of the villages or at the farms along the route. Fish are so abundant as to soon become a drug. Bass is the favorite game fish above Cashmere; lower down, pike, pickerel, and sturgeon are common enough early in the season. Wild ducks are occa- siona ly met with all the way down, and they are especiX plentiful on the flats about the mouth of the river. ^ Abundance of dry pine and drift wood will be found along the banks and piled against the^bridges; a supply should always be secured during the day to start the oven ing camp fire. 140 A TOUR OF TllK TJIAMES. I Make small fires when camping- in the woods, and be careful to extinguish them thoroughly when leaving. It is necessary to comfort -