LIBRARY 
 
 Univ-rtitV 
 
 IRVINE
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS 
 
 UNCLE LISHA S FRIENDS 
 
 UNDER BARK AND CANVAS. 
 
 A SEQUEL TO UNCLE LISHA S SHOP 
 
 BY 
 ROWLAND K . ROBINSON. 
 
 FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING CO. 
 1896.
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1889, 
 BY FOREST AND STRKAM PUBLISHING CO.
 
 M Y W I F E 
 
 THIS ROOK IS AFFECTIONATELY 
 INSCRIBED.
 
 AN EXPLANATORY NOTE. 
 
 THE Yankee is everywhere, and everywhere is heard his nasal drawl asking a 
 question or answering one. But it is a sign that the manner of his speech is 
 changing that to some readers of " Uncle Lisha s Shop" who are unacquainted 
 with a dialect once common in Vermont, and as yet by no means uncommon in 
 portions of the State, the meaning of some words and phrases used by the old 
 cobbler and his neighbors has not been clear. For the benefit of such readers 
 of this volume it may not be amiss to explain at the outset some forms of speech 
 that are least likely to be understood by them. 
 
 " Julluk" is a shortening of just like ; "god daown," "pud daown," "led 
 daown,* 1 "sod daown," and the like, aie got down, put down, let down, sat 
 down, with the last letter of the first word changed to d. " Luftu" and " lufted 
 tu " are queer corruptions of love to and loved to. "Callate," sometimes 
 4 carc late," is to intend or plan, not to compute. When a thing is sold it is 
 " sol ." The "heft" of a thing is its weight and also the greater part of it, 
 and to "heft it" is to try its weight by lifting. The word hold occurs in 
 different forms in one sentence, when you are bidden to "take a holt an hoi 
 on." " Hayth " means height, the " hayth o land," the highest land in a 
 certain section of country ; the term was often applied in former times to the 
 Green Mountain range. Creature has slight differences of pronunciation ac 
 cording to its application. A very poor or wretched person is a poor, mis able 
 creetur," a wild blade, a " tarnal crittur," a bad man, a " weeked crittur" ; 
 and a bull, when not a"toro," is as politely called a "cruttur," the " tts " 
 scarcely sounded. " Mongst em " signifies other persons beside the one or 
 more named; as, "John Doe an inongst em." To " shool" is to wander 
 aimlessly; to " flurrup " to move in a lively, erratic manner. A "heater 
 piece " is a triangular piece of land, shaped like a heater or flat-iron. The 
 "square room" is the best room or parlor. A "linter" is a lean-to, a single- 
 roofed building set against a larger one. 
 
 When a Yankee " dums " or " darns " persons or things, he is not to be un 
 derstood as cursing them ; church members in good standing do so without 
 scandal as they mildly swear " by gosh" and " by gum" and Swan," swow-," 
 "snum," "snore" and " vum." 
 
 The Canadian who learns English of the Yankee often outdoes his teacher 
 in that twisting of the vowels which, no doubt brought over in the Mayflower, 
 became so marked a characteristic of New England speech. Some words are 
 very difficult for him to master, but finally he gets the better of most, and no 
 longer says " jimrubbit " for India-rubber, or " nowse " for noise. But stove is 
 his shibboleth. To the day of his death he calls it " stofe," and the genera 
 tion that follows him can speak it no otherwise. 
 
 ROWLAND E. ROBINSON. 
 
 FERRISBURGH, VT., January, 1889.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 THE CAMP ON THE SLANG. 
 
 I. UNDER THE HEMLOCKS, & 
 
 II. THE PASSING OF WINTER, 15 
 
 III. NEWS FROM DANVIS, 23 
 
 IV. COLD WATER QUE.NCHES VALOR, 35 
 V. SHOOTING PickEREL, 43 
 
 VI. ANTOINE S REDOUBTABLE VICTORY, . . 55 
 
 VII. PELATIAH GOES VISITING, 68 
 
 VIII. SPEARING i:v JACKLIGHT, 80 
 
 IX. BREAK INC; CAMP, 89 
 
 X. A LETTER FROM UNCLE LISIIA, .... 96 
 
 XI. THE HOME RECEPTION, 102 
 
 THE CAMP ON THE LAKE. 
 
 I. THE VOYAGE DOWN THE LITTLE OTTER, 107 
 
 II. JOSEPH HILL GOES FISHING, 125 
 
 III. EXPLORATIONS, 132 
 
 IV. A NIGHT ADVENTURE IN ANTOINE S PRIZE, 139
 
 VI CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 V. THE COOK FURTHER DISTINGUISHES HIM 
 SELF, 145 
 
 VI. PELATIAH S LIFE IN THE LOWLANDS, . .157 
 
 VII. CANADIANS ON THE SLANG, 172 
 
 VIII. THE TREASURE DIGGERS, 183 
 
 IX. RECONCILIATION, 196 
 
 X. SEINING, 201 
 
 XI. SUNGAHNEE-TUK, 2l6 
 
 XII. BREAKING CAMP, 228 
 
 XIII. AT THE FORGE VILLAGE, 234 
 
 XIV. REST, . 241 
 
 XV. NEW LIFE IN THE OLD HOME 249
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 ON THE SLANG. 
 
 I. 
 
 UNDER THE HEMLOCKS. 
 
 BESIDE a low-banked water-way among the reddish-gray 
 trunks of great hemlocks, there stood, one day in the third 
 month of a year, half a long lifetime ago, a shanty of freshly 
 riven slabs with the upper ends slanted together in the form 
 of an A tent. In front of it a fire smouldered, the slow 
 smoke climbing through the branches that waved their green 
 spray and nodded their slender-stemmed cones in the rising 
 current of warm vapor. A few muskrat skins, stretched 
 on osier bows, hung drying near by on slim poles placed 
 in the crotches of stakes, and two canoes, one a light 
 birch, the other a dugout, lay bottom upward on the bank 
 awaiting the day of use. The shanty was luxuriously bed 
 ded with marsh hay and fragrant twigs of hemlock, overlaid 
 with blankets and buffalo skins, and stretching out into the 
 light were two pairs of feet, one clad in stout boots, the 
 other in moccasins. Four legs faded away in the dusky 
 interior, till, beyond the knees, the eye was puzzled to fol 
 low them.
 
 8 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Presently the boots began to stir and then the owner be 
 came dimly visible sitting up on his couch. When he had 
 crawled out and scraped a coal from the ashes into his 
 pipe, and having got it satisfactorily alight, stood up and 
 looked at the cloud-flecked sky and out on the ice-bound 
 stream, the tall, wiry form, and quiet, good-humored, 
 bearded and weather-browned face of Sam Lovel were fully 
 revealed. He half turned toward the shanty, and lightly 
 touched one of the moccasins with his foot. " Hello, 
 Antwine !" he called, " be ye goin to sleep all day ?" 
 
 The moccasins moved a little, and a sleepy voice in be 
 yond said : " Hein ? What was be de matter?" 
 
 " Git up an light yer pipe, an then le s go an see ye 
 spear a mushrat as you ve ben tellin on. Come!" and 
 Sam vigorously poked the moccasins till they were drawn 
 into shadow, then reappeared, and Antoine Basette came 
 hitching after them into the light and sat rubbing his eyes 
 as he said : " Bah gosh ! Sam, Ah dunno f Ah won t keel 
 you, Ah dunno f Ah an t ! You spile em up de bes 
 dream Ah never smell all ma laf tarn* ! Onion bilin in 
 keetly, patack roast in ashins, bull pawt fryin in paan, 
 moosrat toast on coal ! Oh ! bah gosh ! jes Ah tryin 
 mek off ma min de fus one Ah 11 heat nex , you ll hol- 
 leh Aantwine ! an dey all gone off. Ah 11 pooty mad, 
 me !" and he shook his head and smote his fists above it ; 
 but the broad grin that followed gave the lie to these angry 
 demonstrations. 
 
 Wai, I swan, it is too bad, Antwine, seein t we hain t 
 hed nothin so fur but pork an dry bread. But we ll 
 make up for t bimeby. Lemme see ; your onion smell 
 
 * This is Canuck for time.
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. g 
 
 must ha ben the skunk t ye ketched in yermink trap las 
 night. The pertater smell I d know where ye got, erless 
 twas a last year s one. The bull paout smell is in the 
 futur , an the mushrat smell is consid able present, but 
 not s much s I wish twas. But light yer pipe an git 
 yer mushrat prod, an le s go an see ye use it," and Sam 
 sang from the ballad of " Brave Wolf" these encouraging 
 
 lines : 
 
 " Chee-er up your hearts, young men, 
 
 Let naw-thing fright you ; 
 
 Be a w v a galliant mind, 
 
 Let tha-a-at delight you !" 
 
 So the Canadian got his black pipe ablast, and taking a 
 one- lined spear and an axe from the shanty, announced his 
 readiness to start. 
 
 They went out through the sere rushes, flags and sedges 
 that lay lopped by the winds and snows of many a winter 
 storm, over the frozen marsh, to where the channel of the 
 " Slang" wound clearly defined under the snow and ice, 
 like the street of an aboriginal village, with here and there 
 set beside it the huts of the muskrats. Away from the un- 
 wooded eastern bank stretched the wide, flat fields of the 
 Champlain Valley, yet dazzling white with the slowly melt 
 ing snows of the persistent northern winter, though in 
 places the pall was rent where the knolls and southerly 
 banks of the tawny earth had come to the surface again, 
 and zigzag lines of fences cropped out above the drifts. A 
 mile back the gray and dark green hills arose, and along 
 the eastern horizon ran the hazy wall of the Green Moun 
 tains, topped with the shining towers of Mansfield and 
 Camel s Hump. Westward from the standpoint of Sam 
 and his companion an uninterrupted forest of hemlocks
 
 10 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 and tall pines seemed to reach to where the Adirondacks 
 scarred steeps gleamed through their veil of haze. Over 
 the landscape bent a warm-tinted sky with fleeces of white 
 cloud drifting slowly across it before a gentle southern 
 breeze. The tempered air, a tinge of purple in the gray 
 of the water maples spray, the caw of returning crows, and 
 the long resonant roll of the woodpeckers drum-beat gave 
 unmistakable signs of the coming of spring yet many 
 days off, but surely coming. 
 
 The fall after Uncle Lisha s departure to his new home 
 in the West, Sam had taken the old man s advice into se 
 rious consideration, and finally for various reasons conclud 
 ing to follow it, he bargained for the making of a lot of 
 traps and took Antoine as partner and instructor as well, 
 for Sam had not much experience in trapping muskrats, 
 those fur-bearers being not at all plenty in the rapid, 
 weedless streams of the hill country, where all his hunting 
 and trapping had until now been done. Long before 
 sleighing gave any sign of failing they had their boats, traps, 
 and provisions hauled down to the trapping- ground, built 
 their rude but cosy shelter that was for some weeks to be 
 their home, and were now waiting for the opening of 
 small-craft navigation, when they would begin trapping in 
 earnest. They had set a few traps in the muskrat houses, 
 chopping out a small opening to the bed, whereon the trap 
 was set, and the covering carefully replaced. From the 
 houses so taken possession of rose the tally sticks, to which 
 the trap chains were fastened, like miniature flagstaffs. To 
 one not so marked Antoine now led the way. " Go steel 
 naow, Sam," he said in a low voice as they drew near it ; 
 " not mek it no more nowse as leetly mouses. Naow. 
 Ah m s goin stroke it raght in dar !" and carefully laying
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. II 
 
 down his axe, he drove the spear into the centre of the rough 
 cone of flags, mud, and sedges, a little below the top and 
 on the south side. 
 
 " Dah, seh, Sam, ant Ah tol you? Ah 7 11 gat she! 
 Ah 11 feel of it heem weegle ! Ant you ll see?" cried the 
 delighted Frenchman, and when he quit his hold on the 
 spear staff Sam saw that it was violently shaken. Antoine 
 now chopped into the house and took out a muskrat writh 
 ing in agony and biting at the cruel spear that impaled 
 him. The half-savage Canuck was in no haste to despatch 
 him, but Sam dealt the poor brute a kick in the head that 
 ended Uis misery at once. 
 
 " What for you do dat, Sam ? You wait mineet you 
 see dat leetly dev faght lak a coss ! Have it some funs !" 
 
 <( There, Antwine, " said Sam, with an expression of 
 strong disgust upon his face, " you needn t prod no more 
 on em on my "caount." 
 
 "Hein? cried Antoine in astonishment, "what for 
 Ah don t, Sam ? 
 
 " Wai, it s too durn d savage. The s too much Injin 
 baout that for me. " 
 
 "Ant you want it moosrat ? Don t dat goode way git 
 heem, an t it? Ah ll git forty, prob ly twenty so, in one 
 day ! You s pose he an t lak it jus well as be ketch in 
 traap, hein ? Pool off his laig all day, bambye heat him 
 off, den goo by, Sam, he say ! He feel bad, you feel 
 bad, ant de bose of it no good, an t it ? Bah gosh, Sam, 
 you ll got foolish motion in you head, seh !" 
 
 " Wai, I s pose I hev, but I can t help it. I know 
 trappin is onhuman business the best way you c n fix it, 
 a-ketchin critters by the laigs an lettin on em suffer, 
 but the don t seem no other way o gittin some on em.
 
 12 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 A deadfall, at knocks the life aout on em fust dab, is the 
 only human trap the is, but they hain t wuth shucks for 
 mushrat. But when you come to set for mushrat in the 
 water, theydraound quick an I guess don t mind it much, 
 bein they re so uster the water. We ll wait a spell an 
 git em that way." 
 
 Further discussion was stopped by the shouts of a man 
 who was coming toward them over the ice at the top of 
 his speed. 
 
 " Hello there ! What in thunder ye duin on ?" and 
 as he came up to them, breathless with unwonted haste 
 for he was short and fat, built, as Sam thought, more for 
 sitting than running he panted out gustily : " What in 
 thunder an guns be ye duin on, ketchin my mush- 
 rats ? Clear aout, ye cussed thieves, an le my mushrats 
 alone." 
 
 "Is this raly one o your mushrats?" Sam asked, 
 picking up the animal and examining it closely ; " 1 don t 
 see no ear mark ner brand on t, but if it s yourn, prove 
 prop ty, pay charges an take it away. 
 
 " Wai," said the new-comer, seating himself on the 
 muskrat house and wiping his hot face with his coat-sleeve, 
 " you don tb long here ; you ha no business here ! These 
 is aour rats !" 
 
 " Oh, aour rats," said Sam quietly ; " yes, they be aour 
 mushrats when we git em, not afore. You take your 
 sheer, an I ll take mine, f we c n git em. And I m 
 a-goin to git mine f I know haow." 
 
 " I tell ye," the man reiterated hotly," ye don t b long 
 here ; ye ha no business here ! Thunder an guns ! 
 you re durn d putty fellers, hain t ye ?" 
 
 " Don t b long here ? I m a Y monter, an live in this
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 13 
 
 caounty, an was horned and raised in it. Who give ye 
 these mushrats ? D you own this ere ma sh ?" 
 
 No, the visitor admitted that he did not own the marsh, 
 but he lived near it, and he and two or three other resi 
 dents had always trapped in Little Otter and the two 
 Slangs, " and the trappin here b longed to em." 
 
 " Haow many traps do the hull caboodle on ye set?" 
 Sam asked ; and after reckoning in his head and on his 
 fingers, the man said, " Baout hund ed an fifty." 
 
 " A hund ed an fifty traps on all these miles o ma sh ! 
 Wai, I guess what we ve got won t make no great diffunce 
 wi ye. & don t fret yer gizzard, my friend. The s room 
 nough for all on us, an we d like to live friendly wi you 
 fellers, but anyway, we re goin to trap here a spell." 
 
 "Who gin ye leave to camp over yunder ?" the man 
 asked, waving his hand toward the shanty. 
 
 "The man at owns it," Sam answered shortly. "I 
 do know why in Sam Hill I never thought to ask you 
 but then, you see, I hed not hed the pleasure o your 
 quaintaince till jes naow. Be you willin ?" 
 
 " Humph !" grunted the aggrieved trapper. "Camp 
 an be cussed ! Trap and be darned ! Ye won t make 
 much aouten on it, see f ye du !" and he went his way in 
 no better humor than he had come. 
 
 When he was at a safe distance, Antoine, till now a very 
 silent partner, shook his fists at his broad back, seized him 
 self by the seat of his trousers and apparently lifted himself 
 off the ice in a rapid series of short leaps, and cried in a 
 tone that he was sure would not be heard by the retreating 
 foe, " Hey ! bah gosh ! Ah wan leek you, seh !" Then 
 turning to Sam and throwing down his cap, " Ah dunno 
 what for Ah ant tink for leek dat man when he here.
 
 14 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 "Wai, Antwine, " said Sam, with a quiet smile, "I 
 du." 
 
 Then they went back to the camp, and Antoine skinned 
 the rat from chin to tail, and stretched the pelt on a bow 
 of " nanny bush," fastening it in place by upward cuts 
 through the skin and into the wood at the nether ends of 
 the bow. Then they made their tea, frizzled their slices 
 of salt pork over the coals, and ate their rude but well- 
 relished supper. After a long smoke they turned into their 
 robes and blankets. 
 
 Once when Sam arose to replenish the tire and take a 
 quiet midnight smoke, he thought he heard the sound of 
 axe strokes out on the moonlit marsh, but he saw nothing 
 and thought then no more of it. But next morning when 
 they went abroad he and his comrade found every muskrat 
 house chopped down and uninhabitable, and the few traps 
 they had set were thrown out upon the ice. Their un 
 pleasant acquaintance of the day before, and his partners, 
 had clone their night s work thoroughly. The musk rats 
 had retreated to their burrows in the banks, and there 
 could be no more trapping nor spearing in the ruined 
 houses. Antoine pranced and tore his hair, and made 
 threats of terrible vengeance. Sam said, " Wai, arter all, 
 twas kinder neighborly in em not to steal aour traps. 
 We ll wait an start long o the rest on em when the ice 
 goes aout."
 
 II. 
 
 THE PASSING OF WINTER. 
 
 SAM and his partner lounged about camp waiting for the 
 opening of the water, and there was not much to break the 
 dull monotony of those days of waiting. For the most 
 part there was little to do but cook and eat the simple fare, 
 and sit by the camp-fire trimming muskrat bows and tally 
 sticks. Now and then a chopper would stop at the shanty 
 to light his pipe, and if a Yankee, to ask no end of ques 
 tions ; or if a Canadian, to jabber with Antoine till Sam 
 was driven almost wild with the incessant jargon so unin 
 telligible to him. A mile down the creek a party of lum 
 bermen were building a raft of logs upon the ice, and often 
 to pass the time away Sam and Antoine would visit them, 
 and being expert axemen, help them make " knock downs" 
 while they chatted and joked. 
 
 One day Sam was hunting about camp for something, 
 and Antoine asked, " What you look see, Sam ?" 
 
 "I m a-lookin for a mushrat carkiss. I seen where a 
 mink s ben gallopin raound, an I want some bait for a 
 trap. 
 
 " Wai naow, seh, Sam, you goin b lieved what Ah 11 
 tol you. T ant no use for settlin bait for minks to heat 
 naow. He ll goin sparkin dis tarn year, an he ant cares 
 no more for heat as you does w en you ll goin sparkin .
 
 1 6 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 
 
 Set you trap in road where he ll goin see hees Mamselle 
 Hudleh, Sam, den you ll ketched it." 
 
 " Like s not you re pretty nigh right, Antwine," Sam 
 said, laughing, " but he might be comin hum hungry 
 arter his sparkin . I ve knowed of such cases ;" and hav 
 ing found a bait of odorous muskrat flesh he hung it over 
 a moss-covered trap in a hollow log, and next morning 
 brought in the lithe slender fellow whose brown coat of fur 
 became so fashionable and valuable in after years, though 
 then worth no more than the muskrat s. 
 
 Once they went coon hunting in the great woods, and 
 after a half day s wallowing through the soft, deep snow, 
 tracked three coons to a big hollow pine stub, and chop 
 ping it down, took out five residents and visitors, whose 
 pelts made a showy if not a rich addition to their slender 
 display of peltry. 
 
 Along the winter roadway of ice, now made the most of 
 by teamsters while it lasted, frequent loads of logs and 
 wood or empty returning sleds came and went, crunching 
 in and out of sight and hearing. To the eastward beyond 
 the wide fields, from where the smoke of farm house chim 
 neys drifted upward, came sounds of busy life : the "jing- 
 jong" of old-fashioned " Boston" sleigh bells faring to and 
 fro on the highway, the steady thud of flails in barns, the 
 lowing of cows and the bawling of calves, the cackle of 
 hens and the challenge of chanticleer ; at noon the shouts 
 of schoolboys and the mellow blasts of the conch-shells 
 sounding for dinner. To the westward were the woods, 
 their primeval solitude almost undisturbed, their silence 
 only broken by the strokes of a far off axe, followed by the 
 dull boom of the falling tree. At night the gloomy, cryptic 
 aisles resounded with the solemn notes of the great horned
 
 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 17 
 
 owls, and once or twice the trappers heard there the wild 
 caterwauling of a lynx. So forty years ago the narrow 
 Slang was the dividing line between broad fields that had 
 long been cleared and cultivated and a thousand acres of 
 ancient forest. 
 
 In this way the days passed, while the snow slowly melted 
 off the fields and the ice slowly rotted. More tawny knolls 
 cropped out in pasture and meadow, gray streaks of ice 
 came to the surface along the creek and Slang, and in the 
 woods the snow sunk lower and lower its winter litter of 
 twigs, shards of bark and slender evergreen leaves, till 
 here and^here a hummock brown with last year s fallen 
 leafage, or a mouldering log bright with ever-verdant moss, 
 came to the checkered sunlight again. 
 
 Cold nights and cold days were not infrequent, when the 
 saturated snow was crusted hard enough to bear a horse, 
 and a roaring fire was needed at the shanty front to keep 
 the trappers warmed into anything like comfort. But after 
 each " cold snap" the south wind blew warmer than be 
 fore, more crows came sagging heavily along on it from 
 their winter exile, the woodpeckers sounded oftener their 
 cheery roll, bluebirds and the first robin came, a phebe 
 called sharply for his mate and found flies enough in sunny 
 nooks to keep him busy while he awaited her coming, and 
 a dusky chorus of blackbirds gurgled out a medley of song 
 from the tops of the maples, while the tardy spring drew 
 nearer. 
 
 In these warmer days, hollow, unearthly moans and roars, 
 rising at times almost to a yell, were heard along the lake, 
 at first faintly from afar, then nearer, till every jagged steep 
 of Split-Rock Mountain echoed with the wild voices, then 
 fading away to a humming murmur in the distance. It
 
 1 8 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 was as if some tormented demon was fleeing over the ice, 
 or a phantom host of the Waubanakee was rushing in swift, 
 superhuman haste along the ancient war-path of the dead 
 nations. It was the booming of the lake, a sound strange 
 and almost appalling to Sam, who, till now, had never 
 heard it. 
 
 At last a great rain came with a strong southerly wind, 
 and the two made quick work of the snow melting, and 
 the brooks poured down their yellow floods till the sluggish 
 current of the Slang was stirred. The ice, for some days 
 unsafe to venture upon, was now honey-combed, and pres 
 ently was only a mass of loose, slender, upright spires of 
 crystal, undulating when disturbed in long, smooth swells, 
 and tinkling a faint chime as if a million fairv bells were 
 knolling its downfall. Watery patches began to show here 
 and there on the marshes, great Hocks of geese journeying 
 northward harrowed the gray sky, and ducks in pairs and 
 droves came whistling clown and splashed into the open 
 water to feed and rest. 
 
 Then one morning, when Sam and his companion 
 crawled out of the shanty, they beheld the long wished- for 
 sight of marshes clear of ice, and after a hasty breakfast 
 they launched the birch and dugout and loaded them with 
 the traps already strung on the tally sticks, and each with 
 axe and gun they set forth to coast the low shores. The 
 boats kept close together, the pine leading the birch, for 
 Antoine was now to take the part of instructor. Scanning 
 every half-submerged log they passed, he soon stopped his 
 craft alongside a fallen limbless tree whose roots still clung 
 to the bank, while its trunk slanted with a gentle incline 
 into the turbid water. Abundant sign about the water-line 
 that the long imprisoned muskrats had already
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 19 
 
 made the most of their newly gained liberty to swim with 
 heads above water. 
 
 " Dah seh, Sam, you see he been here, lot of it, an 
 prob ly he ll comin gin. Naow, chawp nawtch in de 
 lawg, so," and with half a dozen strokes of his axe he cut a 
 neat notch in the log just below the water-line, wide enough 
 to hold a trap when set. It was a pine, well preserved, 
 and the chips and notch were bright and fresh. " Naow 
 you see, w en de nawtch mek it too shone, you wan put 
 it on some weed, mud, sometings," and he overlaid the 
 cut with jj, thin layer of sodden water weeds. " Moosrat 
 he ant very cunny, but he lak see ting where he been look 
 kan o usual. " Then he drove the tally pole firmly into 
 the soft bottom, and set the trap in the notch with no cov 
 ering but the two inches of muddy water that rippled over 
 it in the light breeze. 
 
 " Dah," he said, as he resumed his paddle, " if de 
 water ant rose or don t fell, you as dat trap to-morrah 
 mornin , he tol you, moosrat !" 
 
 At the next promising place Antoine superintended the 
 setting of a trap by Sam, and pronounced it, " Pooty well 
 do, for bee-gin." So they fared on through the marshes 
 floating weeds and bristly thickets of button bush, now over 
 the submerged shore among the trunks and sprouts of wil 
 lows, water maples and ash that bordered it. Often they 
 were startled by the sudden splash and flutter of frightened 
 wood ducks that arose before them and went squeaking 
 away to some undisturbed retreat. Great flocks of the 
 more wary dusky ducks swam safely far out from shore, 
 but at the approach of the boats they too took wing with a 
 tremendous uproar of splashing and quacking. More than 
 once they surprised some strange water- fowl whose like
 
 20 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 they had never seen before, some resting wayfarer on that 
 great thoroughfare between northern and southern seas. 
 Sam s eyes ranged wider than those of Antoine, who was 
 looking only for places where traps might be set. The tall 
 Yankee laid down his paddle, took up his gun, and after 
 a second s aim at a brown lump that made a scarcely per 
 ceptible motion on an insular stump, fired. The lump 
 disappeared at the report of the gun, and close beside the 
 stump the legs of a dying muskrat pawed the air. 
 
 " Hoorah for hoorah !" Antoine cheered, as Sam picked 
 up his game. " Nev min , Ah show it to you to-naght 
 baout sun gone daown haow shoot moosrat ! Yas, seh ! 
 Call it raght up, clear cross Slang, seh, you see ?" 
 
 " All right," Sam said, " I wanter see you do it. D ye 
 shake a dish o corn at em an holler caday ! or whistle 
 em up as ye would a dawg, er haow ?" 
 
 " Nev min , Ah show you, Ah tol you truth, jes same 
 always Ah do." 
 
 Sam got two or three more shots, and then they set 
 the traps they had in their boats on logs, bogs, and the ruins 
 of houses where the rats had come to feed on the succulent 
 roots of underwater growth they had reft and set afloat, 
 and the afternoon was well worn away when they went 
 home to the shanty. Then they had a hearty supper, a 
 part of which was the roasted bodies of two of the muskrats 
 Sam had shot, and which he, much against his prejudices, 
 was forced to confess were an agreeable change from salt 
 pork. When the shadows of the tall trees touched the 
 eastern shore of the Slang the trappers took their guns and 
 went thither in their canoes, which they ran ashore, and 
 there sat in waiting for the game to appear. The fires of 
 the sunset glowed in the western rim of the clear sky, and
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 21 
 
 their mirrored counterfeit shone as brightly in the quiet 
 water below the black reflections of hemlocks and pines 
 and the fine tracery of the water maples graceful limbs. 
 Presently a shining wake cut the shadows as a muskrat 
 came up from the entrance of his burrow and cruised 
 swiftly along the western shore, whining out a call to his 
 lady love. As Sam watched the point of the lengthening 
 streak of gold and listened to the plaintive impatient voice, 
 so like the whimpering cry of a young puppy, he was start 
 led to hear it repeated close beside him. As he turned 
 cautiously in his seat, cocking his gun, he saw nothing but 
 Antoine with his lips pressed firmly together blowing his 
 breath out between them with what seemed a painful effort, 
 for he was very red in the face and his eyes were bulging 
 from their sockets. But his simulation of the muskrat s 
 call was perfect, and the little swimmer at once shaped his 
 course toward him. The treacherous call was kept up till 
 the poor fool was within four rods of the muzzle of An 
 toine s musket, which then belched forth its fatal charge. 
 " Dah !" said the Canuck, as he picked up the riddled 
 muskrat, " Ah guess heeshole folks ant be worry for heem 
 be aout sparkin naghts some more, don t it? Bah gosh, 
 ant Ah tol you Ah 11 call it, hein ?" 
 
 Shining wakes streaked the darkening water in all di 
 rections, and Antoine called half a dozen more deluded 
 victims to their doom before the gloaming thickened to the 
 mirk, and gun-sights were no longer to be seen. As they 
 wended homeward, guided by the faint light of their low 
 camp-fire, Sam swore, " By the gret horn spoon, I wish t 
 I hed the ol Ore Bed here ! It ould be fun to pop them 
 swimmin mushrats with it." (The Ore Bed was an an 
 cient rifle owned by him, bearing a township fame for its
 
 22 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 shooting qualities, Endowing its name to the many pounds 
 of iron in its barrel.) " I wish t I hed it here !" 
 
 " Wai, Ah dunno prob ly f hole J3ahtlett don t usin 
 hees big hoxens you can sen lett an get heem drawed it 
 daown here ; but Ah dunno, sleighin all gone naow, " said 
 Antoine, as the canoe bottoms scraped the landing at the 
 shanty. 
 
 As Sam lay on the buffalo skins smoking, between whiffs 
 he practised the muskrat call that Antoine had taught him 
 till he became so proficient that his tutor called sleepily 
 from his bed, " Dah, Sam, you betteh stop you foolishin , 
 fore fus you know moos rat come an bitaff you nose off."
 
 III. 
 
 NEWS FROM DANVIS. 
 
 THE quiet water shone like a broad floor of silver in the 
 early light, when the canoes left the landing next morning 
 and began to crinkle the reflections of banks and trees and 
 reddening sky. The few new-come robins sang their loud 
 "Cheer up! here and there a blackbird called " shoo- 
 glee ! from the shores, and the loud nasal quank ! quank ! 
 quank ! " of the dusky duck resounded from distant swampy 
 coves, as Sam took his course up stream where the fewer 
 traps were set, while Antoine coasted down stream along 
 the flat cape that lies between the Slang and Little Otter. 
 
 Each made frequent stops to examine the traps, some of 
 which were undisturbed ; but the greater number were off 
 the places they had been set on and out of sight under 
 water. Such, when fished up with the trap hook, brought 
 with them a drowned muskrat, his soft fur plastered to his 
 body by long soaking, and his scaly tail curved like a 
 cimeter ; or a foot, the ransom a captive had paid for his 
 freedom ; or, as valuable as this to the trapper, but not so 
 satisfying to his pride of skill, the sprung trap s jaws full 
 of sodden weeds. In one Sam found a wood duck, his 
 bright eyes wild with pain and fright. He eased the jaws 
 carefully from the leg, which was not broken, and after ad 
 miring his beautiful prisoner s gay spring attire, while per 
 haps there was a little debate between a soft heart and a
 
 24 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 
 
 pork-surfeited stomach, he said, "Wai, 1 11 be darned if 
 you ain t the harnsomest creetur at ever I see too harn- 
 some to kill in col blood ! Good-by, an keep off m 
 all lawgs this time o year," and he tossed the bird gently 
 aloft. As it went whistling and squeaking out of sight be 
 tween tree trunks and branches with twists as dexterous as 
 a woodcock s among the alders, Sam said after a long 
 breath, " Wai, Sam Lovcl, like s not you re a dummed 
 ol chickin- hearted fool ! / shouldn t wonder." 
 
 Once in the still, sunny forenoon he stopped a moment 
 to listen to a voice that came from far across the water, 
 shouting something that was meant for the song of " Old 
 King Cole." "Humph!" he grunted as he sent his 
 boat forward again. " As Joel Bartlett s Irishman said when 
 he heard the ol man tryin to sing when he thought the 
 wa n t nobody in hearin , If that bees singin , cryin bees 
 mournful ! Then clear and tuneful the long-drawn 
 cadences of an old Canadian song came echoing along the 
 woody shores. ;< That s Antwine, " Sam remarked. 
 " Suthin like singin , only it s the tune the ol caow 
 died on. F he only hed some words, n hed em sot to 
 a white folkses tune, Antwine c ld sing." The song 
 stopped as suddenly as if the singer had heard this dispar 
 aging criticism. 
 
 A little after noon he had made the rounds of his traps 
 and was back at camp, where shortly afterward the Cana 
 dian appeared with a cloud of gloom shadowing his usually 
 cheerful face, the more unaccountable that a goodly pile 
 of muskrats lay in the bow of his canoe. After dinner, as 
 they were skinning their catch, Antoine unburdened him 
 self, breaking out suddenly after a long silence, " Bah 
 gosh ! seh, Ah ll see dat mans to-day what come mek it
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 2$ 
 
 sass on de ice dat tarn, you rembler. Bah gosh ! he ll 
 bruse me all up, wus Ah never was fore, seh. " 
 
 " Bruised ye, Antwine ? Why, I don t see no marks on 
 yer face. Did he kick ye, er what?" 
 
 " Oh, no na-no, no ! He ant tawch me. He fraid 
 for know better n dat. He bruse me wid his maouths ; 
 he call me more as forty Canuck ! Tief ! Peasoup ! 
 Evreeting he mos can t tink of it ! He bruse you, too ; 
 call it you Gum Chaw. He tol me, Haow much 
 gum tek it for keep dat long chap live all day ? He 
 askit m& we settlin trap where he b long to it. We 
 tief ! Oh, Ah can tol all of it. If it ant for one 
 ting, Ah come pooty near leek heem, Ah b lieve so, 
 seh I 
 
 What was t saved the poor creetur s hide, Antwine ?" 
 Sam asked, as he tossed the last disrobed muskrat on to 
 the gory heap of carcases. 
 
 " Wai, seh, Ah tol you," Antoine replied, waving his 
 bloody knife impressively, " Ah ll be so mad Ah ll fraid 
 f Ah ll beegin Ah ant never stop fore Ah ll keel heem all 
 dead ! Den Ah be hang, jus for littly ting lak dat ! Den 
 who goin tek care of it Ursule an all dat chillens, hein ? 
 No, seh ; Ah ant goin dirty dat nasky Bastonien* wid ma 
 finger. You wan hear it talk, sing, too, bah gosh, dat 
 mek you laff t at it ; can sing more as pigs you go dat 
 way to-morreh, Ah go todder way Oh, Sam, too," he 
 cried, suddenly remembering an important bit of news, 
 " peekrils beegin play ! Ah ll see tree, four of it ! If he 
 
 * NOTE. I have no idea how this word, Canuck for Yankee, 
 is spelled. The Abenakis of St. Francis call a Yankee " Pas- 
 toniak. Probably both words mean a Bostonian.
 
 26 SAM LOVF.rS CAMPS. 
 
 be good day to-morrah, we have it some fun shoot it, an 
 more of it heat it. You ll see any ?" 
 
 "Wai," said Sam, considering, "I did see wakes of 
 tew three fish a-skivin away f m the shore, but I do know 
 what they was." 
 
 " Dat peekrils, Ah bet you head !" and he discoursed 
 at length on the spoit of pickerel shooting, while they 
 stretched the skins of the twenty five or more rats their 
 traps had yielded and hung them to dry on poles. As they 
 lounged about the camp waiting for the evening shooting, 
 they heard a loud call on the opposite shore a little above 
 a cove where two brooks contributed their waters to the 
 Slang, and the long-drawn-out call, " Sa am will ! An 
 twine !" was presently followed by the dolorous howl of 
 a dog. " If that hain t ol Drive shoot, I never heard it," 
 cried Sam, his heart beats quickening at the old familiar 
 voice, " an I ll bate that ere s Peltier a-hollerin !" and 
 running down to the landing he stooped and pulled the 
 bushes aside, and peering out saw the unmistakable, lank, 
 clothes-out growing form of his young neighbor, and sitting 
 close beside him on the clayey bank Drive, with uplifted 
 muzzle and ears drooping to his elbows, while his sonorous 
 voice awakened lowland echoes that it had never stirred till 
 now. 
 
 "All right, Peltier!" Sam answered, "I ll be over 
 arter ye torights," and called back to Antoine as he set 
 the dugout afloat, " I ll take your canew, it s stiddier n 
 mine," and in five minutes the craft ran its nose up among 
 the floating rushes at Pelatiah s feet. 
 
 " I swan ! I never thought o seein }ou here yit awhile, 
 but I m almighty glad to," said Sam heartily, as he step 
 ped ashore and grasped the hand that was stretched out to
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 27 
 
 him a half foot beyond the shrinking coat sleeve. " An 
 you too, you blessed ol cuss," as he bent down and patted 
 the jubilant hound s hooped sides with resounding slaps, 
 and pulled his long silken ears, while he looked into the 
 face whose furrowed, sorrowful lines were lighted with an 
 unwonted sunshine of joy. " What on airth brung you 
 here? Can t you git along lhaout me, ye durned ol 
 critter, hey? Come, Peltier," cutting short the hound s 
 caresses, " git right in wi your duds, if you ve fetched 
 any, an we ll go over to the pallis an g t supper fore the 
 roas beef an turkey an things gits cold. Git in here, 
 Drive, an lay daown." And Pelatiah stumbled up the 
 bank, turning toward his friend a puzzled face as he went, 
 and returned with a great half-filled carpet bag of once 
 gorgeous but now faded colors, which he handed to Sam, 
 and then made another trip, bringing down this time the 
 famous old Ore Bed. Sam s eyes shone with delight when 
 he saw the ponderous piece, ils long octagonal barrel cased 
 to the muzzle in the " curly maple" stock, its trimmings, 
 hooked heel plate, and patchbox of brass that glistened like 
 gold where hand or shoulder had brightened them with wear. 
 
 Jest ezackly what I was a-wishin for }ist d y, " he said 
 as he laid the cherished weapon in the canoe, pillowing it 
 on the carpet bag. " How come ye to think o bringin 
 on t ? But there ! I ll bate you never brung a bullit ner 
 moulds ner lead, V tain t no more use n a club." 
 
 " Wall, naow, I did," Pelatiah drawled, combing out 
 his words through a broad grin, " n the hull three on 
 em s in the v lise. " 
 
 " Good boy !" Sam said approvingly ; " naow git right 
 in an squa daown right there, an set still, for this ere 
 ol holler lawg hain t quite so stiddy s the scaow on the
 
 28 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS 
 
 mill-paund. That ancient square-built vessel, as incapable 
 of capsizing as of speed, was the only craft Pelatiah had 
 ever boarded till now, and he took his allotted place in the 
 canoe with no little trepidation, the obedient hound 
 crouching trembling and whimpering behind him. Grasp 
 ing either gunwale with a firm grip he pulled lustily on the 
 one which dipped the lower to right the long narrow boat 
 as she backed careening from the shore. " Le go the 
 sides an set still," said Sam sharply, as he headed her for 
 the shanty, " erless yewanter spill the hull caboodle on us 
 int the drink !" And Pelatiah minded, not even speak 
 ing, and scarcely breathing till he felt the land under foot 
 again. Then regarding the Slang and letting out his pent- 
 up breath with a great sigh of relief, " Whoofh ! I swan to 
 man, this is the goldarndest pawnd t ever I see ! I be 
 durned f tain t wussen crossin the Tlantic Ocean !" 
 Then turning toward the shanty he saw the array of drying 
 muskrat skins. " Gosh all fishhooks ! Where d ye git 
 sech a snarl o stockin s ?" 
 
 " Dat coats, Peltiet, " Antoine answered, now approach 
 ing and greeting the visitor, " moosrat coats. We ll trow 
 way all hees stockin . Ilaow you do pooty well, seh ? 
 Bah gosh ! Ah ll glad of it ! Ilaow pooty well all de 
 folkses up Danvis was, hein ? Ma waf he pooty well, too, 
 an all de chillens ? Ah ll glad dat !" he ran on, 
 while Pelatiah nodded the answers that his slow speech 
 was allowed no time to give. " Wai, seh, Ah ll wan sec 
 it pooty bad me. Ah ll tink great many of ma waf an 
 chillens. " 
 
 ;< Well ye may," said Sam, hauling up the canoe ; " the s 
 a great many on em to think on. Ilaow many young 
 uns hev ye got, Antwine ?"
 
 SAM I.OVEUS CAMPS. 29 
 
 " Bah gosh, Sam, Ah dunno for saitin. Ah 11 ant be 
 home for mos four week go ! You ll have askit Peltiet \" 
 
 " I wa n t there more n half n haour, n I didn t hev 
 time to count em, so I can t tell ye," said Pelatiah, fore 
 stalling the question. 
 
 " \Val, never mind naow, we ll take count o stock 
 some other time. Le s ha some supper n then go a- 
 shootin . I wanter be borin holes in some o them mush- 
 rats heads with th ol Ore Bed. Antwine, cook some o 
 them ma sh rabbits, so s t Peltier c n try em, Sam said, 
 winkingjjiard and covertly at the Canadian. 
 
 Maash rrrabbeet ?" he said, with staring eyes. 
 " Ooh ! yas !" as he slowly comprehended, " Ah ll got 
 some dat all save up," and slipping behind the shanty, he 
 soon reappeared with three pairs of small, nicely dressed 
 hindquarters of dark-colored meat. 
 
 Presently they were sizzling in the frying pan, and their 
 savory odor was pleasant to Pelatiah s nostrils, as to his 
 ears were the bubbling of the potato kettle swung on its 
 pole over the fire and the simmer of the teapot on the out 
 skirts of the coals. Then when the repast was spread on 
 and about the slab that served, as far as it went, as a table, 
 and the three seated themselves on blocks around it, Sam 
 said as a sort of grace before meat : " The man at finds 
 fault wi this meal o victuals is, like Uncle Lisher s cus 
 tomer, too durn d p tic lar. A feller," he explained, as 
 he helped himself to a potato and began to peel it with his 
 jack-knife for now that they could be kept in the shanty 
 without freezing they had potatoes "a feller come to 
 Uncle Lisher onct for a pair o right an left boots. He 
 wa n t useter makin nothin but straight boots, an when 
 the feller come to try em on, lo an behol ! they was
 
 30 SAM LOFEL S CAMPS. 
 
 both made for one foot ! The feller begin to objeck some 
 to takin on em, an Uncle Lisher he hollered so s t 
 you c ld a heard him half a mild, Good airth an seas, 
 man, you re too durn d p tic lar ! 
 
 " Hounh !" Pelatiah snorted, " I hain t a-findin no 
 fault wi your roas beef an turkey, by a jug full. This 
 ere ma sh rabbit is complete eatin . I never hearn tell 
 on em afore. It s darker meated and kinder juicier n 
 \vhaot aour rabbits be. Turn white in winter, du they ?" 
 
 " No, Sam said, soberly, while Antoine was choking 
 with suppressed laughter and cursing " dat sacrc bone 
 rabbit Ah 11 swaller in ma troat. "No, they re diff ent 
 f m aour rabbits in c nsid able many ways. They re pus 
 sier n clumsier, n some longer tailed n shorter eared 
 n what aourn be, n they hant turrible wet places so s 
 t ye can t hunt em wi dawgs, and to my notion they be 
 better eatin , as you say ;" and Sam began on another 
 quarter. We ll show you hamv we git em fore you go 
 hum. An speakin o hum, what s the news? Every 
 body toll able well ?" 
 
 The wa n t nobody sick," as Pelatiah knowed on. 
 Ilial Ilamner hed a caow die, though best one t he hed. 
 N ol Gran sir Hill, he s kinder peaked this spring, 
 though not to say sick. Braggin wuss n ever baout what 
 him n Kth n Allen clone tu Ti. n crosser n a bear wi 
 a sore head, M ri Hill says." 
 
 " All hands busy a-sugarin , I s pose? Putty middlin 
 good sugar year, judgin f m the weather here frosty nights 
 n warm days for quite a spell naow. " 
 
 Yes, sir ; hed two three o the goldarndest runs t ever 
 ye see. Couldn t scasely git away, hed to most run away, 
 sap run so, but the was father, n Jethro, n Niram n
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 31 
 
 mongst em to tend to t, n so I come. Sugar an 
 surrup ! I mos forgot !" and he scrambled over to his 
 carpet bag, and unlocking it, drew forth from its depths 
 two quart bottles and a cylindrical package wrapped in a 
 newspaper. "Them s for you, Sam will, " and diving 
 again into the recesses of the bag, he came up with a larger 
 package that diffused a garlicky odor as he tossed it to 
 Antoine, " Here s suthin your womern sent ye." 
 
 "Onion!" Antoine shouted, tearing open the paper 
 and biting one of the hot little shallots as a boy would an 
 apple. 5Dey can be no better in dis worl ." 
 
 " Why, said Sam, uncorking one of the bottles, " this 
 ere s maple sweet !" and then as he unrolled the pack 
 age a dozen little scalloped cakes of sugar tumbled out on 
 to the slab. " Much obleeged to ye, Peltier, for remem- 
 b n n on us this way." 
 
 " Hoh ! Ye needn t thank me for t. Them ere 
 lasses an sugar didn t come aouten no trees o aourn. 
 The fact o the business is, you re beholden to trees, an 
 things, at growed on the Pur n t n place, Samwill," and 
 Pelatiah leered and winked, while Sam s sunburned face 
 grew redder with blushes. 
 
 " Wai, f we ve goddone eatin le s git ready n go 
 shootin mushrat, " he said ; "I m spilin to pint the ol 
 Ore Bed at em. Haow d ye come to bring it, Peltier? 
 Didn t hear me a-wishin for it, did \e ?" 
 
 " I wish to gracious I hedn t thought on t ner onder- 
 took ! My arms n shoulders aches wuss n rheumatiz, 
 a luggin the pleggid ol ton o iron clearn f m V gennes 
 daown here! But, ye see, I couldn t get no gun no- 
 wheres tried to borrer more n twenty-five ; but they was 
 alia goin to use em, er they was aout o kilter, er suthin !
 
 32 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Then your folks said haow t I might take the Ore Bed ; 
 thought I wouldn t, I s pose. The} didn t know what a 
 durn d fool I was, n I didn t, nuther ; but I du naow, " 
 and he rubbed his bruised shoulders and perhaps wondered 
 as he stroked his aching arms if the weight of the gun 
 had drawn them a little further beyond the protection of 
 the short coat- sleeves. 
 
 " Wai, I m sorry ye heel such a job a-gettin it here," 
 Sam said ; " but naow, Peltier, every mushrat I shoot with 
 it you shall hev, an every one t you shoot with my shot 
 gun, tu. Come, let s be off !" 
 
 So they went to the other side of the Slang, where 
 Pelatiah, armed with Sam s shotgun, was set ashore at a 
 likely place, the others stationing themselves in the canoes 
 near him. It was the young man s luck to have the first 
 shot. A muskrat broke the surface not far from him and 
 swam steadily past, while Pelatiah, with a thumping of the 
 heart that made his gun muzzle wobble, after a long aim 
 fired. When he craned his neck, expecting to see the dead 
 or struggling animal, there was only a boil of water en 
 compassed with widening rings of little waves. 
 
 You shot over him," said Sam in a low voice ; " you 
 wanter sight an inch below the water-line an a leetle speck 
 ahead when they re svvimmin acrost ye." 
 
 Just then the uninjured rat came up fifteen rods to his 
 right, swimming straight away. The ponderous barrel 
 was slowly raised and cracked out its sharp repoit at the 
 very instant the small mark was covered, and the muskrat 
 floated dead, gently tossed on the wavelets of his own wake. 
 Sam soon had an opportunity to practise his newly ac 
 quired art. A rat struck out from a point above with the 
 evident intention of crossing to the west side, where per-
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 33 
 
 haps he had an appointment with some furry beauty of his 
 race. If so, he was a faithless fellow, for Sam had hardly 
 begun to sound the call before he turned and swam toward 
 the siren voice, till the Ore Bed spat out at him its thin 
 streak of fire, and he rolled over, feebly kicking his last 
 with a bullet in his silly little brain. 
 
 : There s tew for ye, Peltier," Sam said, as he got his 
 gun on end and began to reload it. " Let em lay where 
 they be till we git through ; they re deader n hay." 
 
 Antoine had a couple of successful shots and a miss that 
 set him to cursing, in turn, his gun, powder, and shot, and 
 the musrat who had been so impolite as not to receive 
 his charge. Then Sam called one within short range of 
 Pelatiah, who, carefully following the instructions given 
 him, blazed away. The water boiled again when the 
 muskrat had disappeared, and after watching the spot with 
 mingled hope and disappointment till the troubled waters 
 became quiet, and the last ripple washed the bank at his 
 feet, the latter expression took full possession of his chop- 
 fallen visage. " I can t hit nothin !" he said, in a tone 
 so melancholy that it was almost a wail. " I can t hit 
 nothin , an , I won t try agin be durned if I du !" 
 Just then a dark object popped suddenly to the surface and 
 lay motionless in the centre of the circling ripples. The 
 boy could scarcely believe his eyes when he saw that it was 
 the muskrat, " dead as a hommer, " as he presently pro 
 claimed. When they picked up the rat half an hour later, 
 they found his jaws full of bottom weeds that he had 
 grasped in his death struggle, and that had held him down 
 till the buoyancy of his dead body loosened them. 
 
 It was now grown so dark, that looking toward the 
 other shore, one could not make out where trees and banks
 
 34 SAM LOVEUS CAMPS. 
 
 left off and their reflections began, save when the ripples 
 of a wake, breaking on the shore, caught a glint of the 
 dying daylight, and divided the upper gloom and its mir 
 rored double with a crinkled line of silver. Then they 
 went to the " pallis, " as Sam had named it, and reviving 
 the feeble fire with an armful of wood, sat chatting of home, 
 trapping, and hunting, till Sam remarked, " Wai, slJncle 
 Lisher uster say, it s high time all honest folks was abed."
 
 IV. 
 
 COLD WATER QUENCHES VALOR. 
 
 WHEN Sam, the earliest riser of the three tenants of the 
 camp, crept abroad next morning the daylight pervaded a 
 misty landscape. Close by the camp the silvery gray sur 
 face of the Slang was visible, then faded off into a dull 
 white lake of fog that had for its further shore the dun up 
 land fields and jutting capes of wooded hills. Out of it 
 scattered trees arose with apparently unstable rootage, and 
 roofs of barns like stranded hulks. The hemlocks dripped 
 a slow patter of condensed mist, and the bottoms of the 
 overturned canoes were beaded so thick with it that they 
 looked as if sheathed with a coating of pearls. The light 
 air from the south, so faint that it scarcely bent the col 
 umns of rising vapor, was soft with the breath of spring, 
 and the voices of many birds uprose to welcome the 
 beautiful day the gurgle of blackbirds, the flicker s cackle, 
 the robin s clear but jerky notes, the long-drawn whistle of 
 the meadow lark away in the foggy fields, the trill of the 
 song sparrow, and the joyous warble of the purple finch. 
 A crow on a tree-top began to call his friends to breakfast 
 with him on the heap of skinned muskrats that the trap 
 pers had left at proper distance from camp, and re 
 minded Sam that it was time to make preparations for his 
 own and his companions breakfast. Me raked a few live 
 coals out of the heart of the ashes, and placing them be-
 
 36 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 side the back-log, laid some " fat" pine shavings and sliv 
 ers upon them, and after some lusty blowing got a blaze 
 started. When he began to cut the wood to feed the fire, 
 the noise of the axe aroused Antoine, who came out on all 
 fours from his lair in such a half asleep and blinking con 
 dition that Sam was reminded of some hibernating aminal 
 taking its first look at awakening nature. He said noth 
 ing till Sam hung the potato kettle over the fire, and claw 
 ing a dozen potatoes out of the grimy bag they were stored 
 in, began to peel them. " What you goin call dat dinny 
 you mek it wen you git him do, suppy or breakfis, Ah 
 dunno, me ?" 
 
 "Supper, I guess, fyou don t flax raound a leetle 
 mite n help. Wake up n get some ma sh rabbits ready 
 fore Peltier gits his eyes open nough to see what kind of 
 a critter the hindquarters growed on. T ould spile his 
 appetite t eat if he knowed they was mushrats when they 
 was livin ." 
 
 " Bah gosh !" Antoine grumbled as he shuffled away to 
 prepare the meat, " Ah 11 rudder sleep as git up in a 
 naght for heat ! Ah 11 jes beegin have it some funs 
 dreamin , you llwek it me all up wid you hole ax pluck ! 
 pluck !" 
 
 " High time to be a-stirrin , Antwine, " Sam said 
 cheerfully. Traps to go raound to, an then the fish 
 shootin you ve ben a tellin on. It s goin to be the neat 
 est day at ever was !" 
 
 " Wai, Ah don care for me," Antoine said, becoming 
 reconciled to the loss of his matutinal nap as he realized 
 what promise the morning gave. " Guess he be pooty 
 good nough day w en he come. 
 
 Pelatiah was called when the water was drained out of
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 37 
 
 the potato kettle and the frying pan was taken off the 
 coals and set upon the slab beside it. Kneeling on the 
 shore to wash his face and hands as the others had done 
 already, he asked, turning his dripping visage toward them 
 with an expression of disgust upon it, " Wha d ye du for 
 suthin to drink ? This ere water hain t fit ! I hain t hed 
 a decent drink o water sen I come off m the hills. This 
 ere stuff raound here don t hit nowheres ! 
 
 11 Julluk me, " Sam answered, " when I fust com daown 
 here. The well water an sech didn t squench my thirst 
 no moreen it ould to open my maouth an let the moon 
 shine into t. It s hard, all on t ; you can t suds a pint 
 on t with a barrel o soap ! But I m a-gittin 1 use to t an 
 the s a brook back here at dreens the snow aoutin the 
 woods that you ll find toll able satisfy in f you drink tew 
 three pailfulson t. Me "iV Antwine goes over once a day 
 reg lar an fills up. Draw up !" he continued, seating 
 himself beside the slab, " draw up, Peltier, an make yer- 
 self tu hum an help yerself. The might be better, an 
 the is wus. You ve got to wait an eat to the secont table, 
 Drive, f you le comp ny, " and the hound, who had been 
 wistfully regarding the setting of the table, crept into the 
 shanty and curled down on a buffalo skin, and watched 
 the progress of the meal out of the corners of his eyes. 
 
 When they were ready to start, Sam down stream, An- 
 ioine up stream, leaving Pelatiah to wander at his will 
 along the safe and stable shore, the sun was rising above 
 the mist and glorifying it, transmuting the gray vapor into 
 a long sun-glade of floating gold that stretched from the 
 hills to them. The night had been such a mild and dark 
 one as the muskrats delight to go abroad in upon their 
 affairs, and Sam found in his traps many a poor fellow
 
 38 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 whose wooings and nightly wandering had been ended for 
 ever since the last sunset. He was pushing his canoe 
 among the trees and water brush that stood ankle deep in 
 the shallow water, when he heard another boat scraping 
 the bushes along its course, the rubbing of the setting pole 
 on its side, and presently the form of a man appeared glid 
 ing over the water, upheld by some invisible buoyant 
 agency, which was revealed when a light skiff emerged from 
 a thicket of button bushes. Sam at once recognized the 
 occupant of the little craft as the one who had made such 
 a vigorous protest against their trapping here, and the sal 
 utation that he received left him in no doubt that this was 
 Antoine s reviler. 
 
 "Hello, Gum Chawer ! Praowlin" raound on my 
 trappin graound yit, be ye ?" the man shouted, as if Sam 
 had been a mile away. " Say, hain t ye got a chaw o 
 gum to give a feller this mornin ?" 
 
 Yes," Sam answered very quietly, turning the canoe 
 toward the skiff ; " tew on em f ye want." 
 
 When the gunwales of the two boats touched, the stout 
 man regarded the tall mountaineer with a puzzled half grin, 
 for there was a queer look in Sam s eyes, not quite in keep 
 ing with his apparently friendly movements. They came 
 abreast, and Sam rose to his feet, let go his hold of the pad 
 dle with his right hand, fronted the quarrelsome pre-emptor 
 of the marshes, and quick as thought dealt him a sound 
 ing fisticuff full in the face, knocking him sprawling over 
 board and nearly capsizing his skiff. The fallen foeman 
 floundered to his feet in the hip-deep water, and sputtering 
 out mixed oaths and water, splashed toward his antago 
 nist, who was balancing himself in the canoe, that rocked 
 violently from the recoil of his blow.
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 39 
 
 " If you come anigh me," Sam said, raising his paddle 
 for a two handed stroke, " I ll knock ye gaily west !" and 
 the man halted, doubting whether it was better to incur 
 the execution of so dire a threat, or to retreat. " Naow, " 
 Sam continued, seeing that his enemy showed little dispo 
 sition to renew his hostilities, " f you ve got what gum 
 you wanter chaw tu-day, wade ashore an I ll shove yer 
 boat tu ye." 
 
 The cold water had well-nigh quenched his valor, if not 
 his anger, and after a moment s hesitation and one more 
 look at rfie still upraised paddle, the man turned sullenly 
 and swashed his way slowly to the nearest land. The vic 
 tor in this little naval encounter, seeing the vanquished 
 crew safely landed, set about getting the water logged craft 
 into port, and with no little trouble accomplished it. 
 
 " Naow," he said, as if advising an unfortunate and mis 
 guided friend, " if I was you, I d empty the water aouten 
 my boat n my boots n my gun, n wring aout my 
 close, n go up to aour shanty n build up a good fire 
 n dry aout. N then, f I was you, I d kinder tend tu 
 my own consarns, an not be tu sassy tu folks at s a- 
 tendin tu theirn." 
 
 To this hospitable offer and wholesome advice the soaked 
 trapper made no reply, but sat down on a log and attempt 
 ed to pull off his boots. They were as perverse as wet 
 boots ever were, and yielded no more to the owner s des 
 perate tugs than to the accompanying contortions of his 
 visage, his grunts, and explosive curses. 
 
 " Gi me a holt on em ," Sam said, stepping ashore, 
 and without waiting for one of them to be held forth, 
 seized the nearest stubborn boot and began pulling at it. 
 The unhappy wearer slid off his seat, his backbone grated
 
 40 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 over the log, and he grasped wildly for some anchorage on 
 sedges, brush, and saplings, while his body ploughed a broad 
 black furrow in the mat of last year s leaves, and yet he 
 said not a word. 
 
 " Wai !" Sam puffed, stopping while both took breath, 
 " it does stick onaccaountable ! If ye won t kick, I ll give 
 ye a bootjack ?" 
 
 The man shook his head, and Sam turning his back to 
 him took the boot between his legs, grasping it at heel and 
 toe while the other set the free foot against him, and after 
 a short struggle the boot came off, and in the same way its 
 mate soon followed it. 
 
 There, I guess you c n git the rest o your duds off 
 alone, an smebby you re kinder modest, I ll clear aout." 
 Sam stepped into his canoe and pushed off. His recently 
 aggressive acquaintance, still sitting on the ground and 
 beginning to fumble at his buttons, looked after him and 
 said at last : " Wai, I swear ! you re the curiest cuss ever 
 /see ; but I guess you re white. I do know as I can say 
 that I m much bleeged tu ye bul you can trap an be 
 darned for all I care. 
 
 I m a-goin to trap," Sam said, and went his way. 
 He made the round of his traps, and at noon was at camp, 
 where he found Antoine returned and getting dinner. 
 Pelatiah soon came in triumphantly bearing by the gills a 
 huge uncouth fish with a wide mouth, eyes like a pig s, 
 coarse yellowish-brown scales, and a rounded caudal fin 
 that looked as if it had been trimmed to match the contour 
 of the thick clumsy tail. Holding up his prize at arm s 
 length for them to admire, he said, " Wha d ye think o 
 that for a mornin s work ?" then laying it down tenderly 
 and kneeling before it, " Supper n breafus ! wish I d
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 41 
 
 a-brung it hum time ernough for dinner. My maouth is 
 a-waterin for a taste on t. Oh, f I hain t hed fun alive ! 
 I was a-pokin long the bank over yunder, n I seen a 
 big wake scootin off, n then I seen him baout twenty 
 feet off a-moggin long kinder easy, s f he didn t care a 
 darn for all creation an , sir, I drawed up n let im hev, 
 ker bim ! an he rolled tother side up n lay just as still ! 
 N I was a-lookin raound for a pole or suthin tu claw 
 him tow- ward me, an , sir, he begin to wriggle n flop, 
 n I just dropped my gun n in arter him clean up to 
 my crotch, an , sir, I got him, n ain t he an ol 
 sollakor ? I wish tu gracious," bending over the fish 
 and caressingly arranging the fins " I wish tu gracious I d 
 ha brung him time enough ; wouldn t we ha hed a 
 dinner !" 
 
 You ant wan be sorry for dat, Peltiet," Antoinesaid, 
 with suppressed laughter twinkling in his eyes and almost 
 bursting out all over his face ; " he be jus good for dinny 
 nex week as las week, prob ly better. Ah dunno f he 
 ant he don be no wusser, sartin. " 
 
 " What kind of a durned critter is it, Antwine? Sam 
 asked, after examining it closely ; " I never see no sech a 
 fish !" 
 
 " Feesh !" cried the Canadian. " Dat ting don t feesh ! 
 Dat bow-fins. 
 
 " Why, Antwine," Pelatiah asked, the happiness fading 
 out of his face, " hain t he good tu eat ?" 
 
 " Heat !" he said with disgust. " Bah gosh ! he don t 
 no more good for heat you was ! No, seh, no more as 
 you boot. Ah dunno what he was be mek for only feel 
 up de water. You was bring heem here for heat ? Oh, 
 Peltiet ! dat too fun for me !" and he laughed loud and long.
 
 42 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 " Wai," Pelatiah said with a sigh of resignation, as the 
 visions of glory and feasts vanished, " I hed fun a-gittin 
 on him, an he is a reg lar ol sollaker, anyway." 
 
 " Come," said Sam, " le s eat an be off, an see f we 
 can t git a fish at Antwine 11 prove on a mud turkle, 
 f r instance he eats them riptiles !" 
 
 "Mud turkey!" the Canadian said, stopping halfway 
 from the fire to the slab with the smoking frying pan in 
 his left hand and raising his right impressively, " Bah 
 gosh ! seh, you give it me mud turkey, Ah show you some 
 soups mek you wish dis worl was big mud turkey, an de 
 sky was tip over for one big kittly for bile heem in, an 
 you was sit on aidge an heat dem soup wid moon for 
 spoon, more as tousan year ! yes, seh !" 
 
 Then they fell to, and contenting themselves with such 
 fare as they had, were soon ready to set forth.
 
 V. 
 
 SHOOTING PICKEREL. 
 
 SAM and Antoine were to embark in the log canoe, 
 while Pelatiah, still mistrusting the treacherous deep, was 
 to hunt along shore, following the directions of the experi 
 enced Canadian. But first he pulled off his trousers and 
 socks, which he wrung out and hung by the fire. Con 
 sidering the chances of another bath, he debated a little 
 whether he would not better go forth bare- legged, but at 
 last concluded, for the sake of seemliness and convenience, 
 to put on a pair of trousers that he hauled out of the depths 
 of the carpet-bag. 
 
 The sun shone with almost summer-like fervor on the 
 flat, wooded shore and clear, still shallows, where every 
 sodden leaf and weed and sunken stick upon the bottom 
 was revealed. The first frogs were sunning themselves on 
 the fringe of floating and stranded last } ear s rushes that 
 bordered the water, and on every side their crackling pur 
 arose, as continuous, if not as loud, as the thronging 
 blackbirds incessant clamor, a medley of sweet and harsh 
 notes, like the gurgle of brooks and the slow drip of water 
 into echoing pools, with the grating and clatter and sharp 
 click of pebbles tossed upon rocks. As Pelatiah slowly 
 walked along the shore, at almost every step a frog startled 
 him, scurrying over the weeds with spasmodic leaps and 
 splashing into the water. Then a shadow flitted before
 
 44 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 
 
 him, and looking up, he saw a great hawk wheeling in a 
 wide circle overhead, his wings golden brown with the sun 
 light shining through them. 
 
 "A hen hawk s better n nothin tu show," he said, 
 cocking his gun, and taking a slow upright aim. He was 
 standing almost in the water with his back toward it, and 
 the hawk s course tending behind him, he was leaning 
 backward to the utmost of his balance when he fired, and 
 the recoil of the gun set him down with a sudden splash 
 that awed all the neighboring frogs into silence. After 
 scrambling to his feet he cast a quick glance about him 
 while the returning pellets of shot were yet raining down, 
 to see if any one had witnessed his mishap, then one in 
 search of the hawk. The bird was still circling undis 
 turbed in a great upward spiral, and becoming a fleck of 
 brown against the blue. " Wet agin ! an not so much as 
 a bow fin tu show for t ! I might ha knowed better n tu 
 shot. I couldn t hit a tew-storey haouse a-flyin . But 
 I kep my gun dry, n who cares? That ere hen hawk 
 don t, sartin. " So embracing the nearest tree, he emptied 
 the water out of his boots, then reloaded his gun and went 
 forward. The wetting of his nether parts being now ac 
 complished and not to be dreaded, he was no longer 
 "cat-footed," but waded slowly and cautiously to every 
 likely looking place, resembling, as he craned his long 
 neck and scanned the water near him, some enormous 
 heron seeking his prey. A slight commotion of the surface 
 attracted his attention, and warily approaching the spot, he 
 saw the back fin and tail of some large fish gently moving. 
 " Bow-fin or no bow fin, I ll try ye," he whispered to him 
 self, and remembering Antoine s last injunction to shoot 
 at a fish " way under where he was," he blazed away.
 
 SAM LOVEL: s CAMPS. 45 
 
 Before the boil of the water had subsided he saw the white 
 bellies of two motionless fish shining out of the bubbles 
 and disturbed sediment, and splashing to them he plunged 
 his arm in to the elbow and seized the largest, and tucking 
 it under his left arm, grabbed the other. Just then he saw 
 another that had been stunned by his shot, feebly writhing 
 its fins and evidently gathering wits and strength for a 
 speedy departure. How to secure it with one fish in his 
 right hand, his gun in his left, and another fish hugged 
 under that arm was a question that he speedily solved by 
 seizing h^js right-hand fish by the tail with his teeth. But 
 the free fish, the largest of the three, had now recovered, 
 and as he reached for it, slipped through his fingers, and 
 with a great surge disappeared, leaving only its slime in 
 his grasp. After one longing, regretful look, he waded 
 ashore with his prizes, and depositing them at a safe dis 
 tance from the water, sat down upon a log and gloated 
 over them, stretching them to their fullest length, arranging 
 their fins, then turning them over, then " hefting" them 
 separately and together. They were of about five pounds 
 weight each, and most undeniably pickerel, the fish of all 
 that the mountaineer prizes most, in spite of his intimate 
 acquaintance with the clean, gamy, beautiful, and tooth 
 some trout of his native streams and ponds. His admira 
 tion of this shark of the lowland fresh waters has spoiled 
 the trout fishing in many a mountain lakelet, where the 
 survival, not of the fittest, but of the biggest, the hungriest, 
 and most fecund has been proved by the introduction of 
 this alien. 
 
 In possession of the largest pickerel he had ever seen, 
 and that of his own taking, Pelatiah had never felt more 
 completely happy. If the day had been cold, the glow of
 
 46 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 pride and happiness would have kept the wet clothes from 
 chilling him ; in the genial sunshine of this most perfect 
 of early spring days, he scarcely felt that his boots were full 
 of water, that he was soaked and sodden to the waist. He 
 heard, but only noticed as a pleasant accompaniment to 
 his inward song of thanksgiving, the frequent roll of the 
 partridges muffled drums far and near in the woods ; 
 hardly wondered what unseasonable game Drive had afoot 
 where he was making the woods resound with lazy echoes 
 of his sonorous voice. Guns were booming all along the 
 shores the thin report of rifles spitting out their light 
 charges, the bellow of muskets belching out their four 
 fingers of powder, tow wads, and " double B s, " and giv 
 ing one sshoulder a sympathetic twinge as he thought how 
 the shooter s must be aching all proclaimed that it was a 
 sad day for the pickerel that had come on to Little Otter s 
 marshes to spawn. Probably not one man of the fifty who 
 were hunting them there had a thought of what the fish 
 were there for, or would have cared if lie had. There 
 were too many pickerel, and always would be. There 
 could be no exhaustion of the supply of them nor of any 
 other fish. Any proposition to protect fish and game of 
 any kind, to prescribe any method of taking, to limit the 
 season of killing, would have been thought an attempt to 
 introduce hated Old World laws and customs. Hunting 
 and fishing were the privileges of every f reeborn American ; 
 to use or abuse whenever, wherever, and however he was 
 disposed. And he could not live long enough to see the 
 end of it, for why should there not always be fish and 
 game as innumerable in all these unnumbered acres of 
 water and marsh and woods ? Alas ! why not ? 
 
 A nearer shot, that seemed the familiar voice of the
 
 SA M LO VEL S CA MPS. 4 7 
 
 " Ore Bed," caused Pelatiah to peer among the tree trunks 
 in its direction, and he saw the log canoe not far away and 
 one of its crew taking something from the water with a 
 sheen of scales and drip of sparkling drops At first he 
 had a mind to hail them, learn their luck and proclaim 
 his own, but on second thought he felt that there would 
 be more glory in surprising them on their return to camp 
 with the actual, unimpeachable proof of his success. So 
 after watching them out of sight, he cut the brightest 
 blood-red osier twig he could find and strung his fish upon 
 it, though with the feeling that a silver cord would more 
 befit their worth and beauty. Then he reloaded his gun 
 with a most generous charge in consideration of its recent 
 good service, and went on in search of new conquests, his 
 boots chuckling at every step in their lining of water, as if 
 they, too, were rejoicing in his triumph. He soon saw 
 where a fish was " playing" at some little distance from 
 the shore, and working carefully toward it under cover of 
 an insular stump, he gained that coigne of vantage, and 
 stood with unstable footing on its roots when he saw the 
 fish -yithin short range and fired at it. The recoil of the 
 heavy charge pushed him a step backward, his foot caught 
 in a root, and over he toppled at full length with a gasping 
 grunt and a splash that drove an upward shower of water 
 drops into the lower branches of the trees. He hardly 
 waited to regain his feet before he scrambled to the place 
 where he had last seen the fish. And there it was, mo 
 tionless, belly up and bigger than those he had on his 
 string! He thought as he slipped the osier through the 
 gills and viciously toothed great jaws that he had suffered 
 none too much for such a reward, that he would rather 
 have been put to soak in the Slang for an hour than to
 
 48 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 have lost it. When he became fully possessed with the 
 sense of his exploit, he could not withhold a triumphant 
 yell, so discordant and so unlike any voice the distant 
 shooters had ever heard, that a report soon after became 
 current of "a painter a-hengin raound in the Slang 
 woods. 
 
 His gun was wet now, and he had only wet tow to swab 
 it with, and though the powder was dry in his horn, the lit 
 tie paper box of caps with a lot of foreign lingo printed on 
 the green cover around the prominent luters " G. D. " 
 (which some took to be abbreviated profanity ) was satu 
 rated almost to pulpiness. But he must try once more, 
 and so he wrung out a handful of tow and swabbed the 
 gun from complete wetness to moderate dampness, poured 
 in a handful of powder and rammed down upon it a wad 
 that needed no chewing to moisten it, emptied in his last 
 charge of shot, wadded that, and placed a forlorn hope of 
 a cap that he had blown the water out of on the nipple, in 
 which not a grain of powder showed. " Xothin like try- 
 in ," Pelatiah said hopefully, and, mooring his fish in a 
 safe puddle, he went to where a great mossy log reached 
 far out into inviting waters. He worked his way with 
 careful steps along it, crouching under overhanging 
 branches that he steadied himself by, and looking sharply 
 on either side. A basking turtle slipped off the outer end, 
 and the splash of his sudden immersion startled a fish, that 
 came with a great arrowy wake a little out from and paral 
 lel with the log. Watching the point of it, Pelatiah saw 
 in the amber shallows the great savage head and long 
 blotched sides of one of the monster pickerel of the marshes, 
 slowing up just against him. His heart almost stood still 
 as he put his gun to his yet aching shoulder. Whispering
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 49 
 
 to it inwardly, " You won t sarve mesech a dummed caper 
 agin," he leaned far forward to counterbalance the expect 
 ed recoil and pulled the trigger with might and main. 
 The striker fell on the wet cap with a dull, flat click, and 
 too late aware of a misfire to recover his balance, he went 
 sprawling into the water, the gun slanting breech up with 
 the muzzle stuck a foot deep in the soft bottom. The 
 frightened fish made almost as great a commotion in get 
 ting out of the dangerous precinct, at the first dash nearly 
 stranding itself on the weedy slope of the shore, then 
 struggling well afloat again, making a wild dash through a 
 tangle of brushes that made their tops shiver along his course, 
 then surging into the open water and departing with a 
 wake like a boat s. Pelatiah got upon his feet, and, pull 
 ing his gun out of the mud, waded ashore. The s one 
 goldarned comfort baout it," he said aloud, as lie turned 
 and sadly surveyed the yet troubled waters, "the" wa n t 
 nobuddy seen me a-kerwollopin 1 in there like a fool, n 
 I don t care !" 
 
 " Waal, said a nasal voice not three rods away, " that 
 ere was a consid able of a splotteration-ah ! There was 
 a kind of grunt at the end of the speaker s sentence, as if 
 his overcharge of words kicked. 
 
 Turning his astonished and abashed face, the young fel 
 low saw a tall raw-boned man regarding him with a grin, 
 whether serious or mirthful, it was hard to decide. 
 " That ere was an all termutable big pick ril-ah. 1 wish 
 t land o massy I d ha got here fust-ah ! I ll ha got 
 him, an you d ha lost him-ah ! But that s allus my 
 pleggy durned luck somebody er nother a-gittin in 
 head on me an a takin the bread right outen my 
 mouth-ah !"
 
 50 SAM LOi EL s c 
 
 "Kinder seems s ough we d botli on us lost him," 
 Pelatiah said, picking up his string of fish and making 
 ready to depart. The late comer strode to him, and snatch 
 ing the string from his hand and holding it close to his 
 nose, slowly turned the fish one way and another, as he 
 critically examined them. 
 
 " Honh ! \vaal," with a half-contemptuous snort, 
 " you ve had sorter half-way decent luck-ah. Themes 
 middlin decent sized fish wuth carr in hum f you 
 ha n t had no fish t eat this vear-ah. " Pelatiah was be 
 ginning to hate him. But-ah, returning the fish to the 
 owner as if they were worth no further notice, "you ve 
 got a orfle so/zlin tu pay for what you got an ha n tgot- 
 ah, an" you d orter go right straight hum an git some dry 
 close on f you ve got any-ah. It is d riffle onhealthy 
 a-gittin wet so wi your close on-ah. Like s not you ll 
 have the rheumatiz er chills mebby it ll set ye inter 
 fev n aag ; shouldn t wonder a mite-ah. Xaow, take it 
 in summer, n I luffter onstrip an go in under the dam 
 t the Holler an shaower off n then take a head dive int 
 the pawnd, n turn the ciic lation o the blood tother 
 way it makes a feller feel so neat- ah ! But this 
 traipsin raound in your wet close is tur ble bad-ah ! I 
 wouldn t git wet s you be for four dollars n seventy- five 
 cents ah ! Where baouts du ye live when you re t hum, 
 anyway ? 
 
 " Up tu Danvis, " Pelatiah answered. 
 Tu Dan-vis !" the man exclaimed ; " you don t say 
 so ? It s as much as twenty mild ofi-ah ! Waal, f you ve 
 got tu go clearn away there ith yer wet close on, you ll 
 hafter hoof it tarnal smart t git hum fore you re sick, 
 n ye can t lug them fish n yer gun- ah. You ll wanter
 
 SAM LOl f.L S CAMPS. 51 
 
 keep yer gun, I s pose, though tain t much to look at, 
 but I ll take yer fish f you don t wantcr heave em away- 
 ah!" 
 
 Pelatiah would as cheerfully have given him his heart as 
 those precious fish. ; Bleeged tu }e ; they re little bits 
 o fellers, n I guess I en k .-rry "em," he said rather 
 sarcastically, declining the generous ofiur, " fur s I m 
 goin . I got some folks a-campin up yunder, " nodding 
 in the direction of the " pallis. 
 
 " O-ah !" with a tone of disappointment. "Waal, 
 you d better go an dry off s soon s ye can-ah. I didn t 
 come a-huntin ," glancing at the ancient mu>ket he held 
 in his hand, " I come a-lookin arter some rhuts t I want- 
 ah. My womern she s a fee-male doctor, messmericle. 
 My brother, Job, junyer, he gives her the in-fle\v-ence n 1 
 puts her to sleep. X then she can look right inter \er 
 insides an read em just like a book-ah. Terms, half a 
 dollar for examernation, one dollar for proscription, cash 
 on delivery-ah. Sleepin Sairy, prubablv you ve hearn 
 tell on her. " 
 
 Pelatiah was obliged to confess that he had never heard 
 of this supernatural!) gifted woman, and tinning away went 
 toward camp as his new acquaintance muttered something 
 about " onenlighted critters." Casting a look behind, he 
 saw him walking carefully out along a log, with his gun at 
 a ready, and wondered what kind of roots he could be in 
 search of. Pelatiah s heart was not entirely regenerate, and 
 perhaps just then nothing would have gladdened it more 
 than to have seen the disparager of his luck make a " splot- 
 teration" such as he had suffered. 
 
 Arrived at camp, he made a complete change of raiment, 
 and was toasting himself in great contentment by the re-
 
 52 SAM I.Ol EL S CAMPS. 
 
 plenished fire when, late in the afternoon, his companions 
 returned. He had thought of dressing his fish, but it 
 seemed too bad to take even a scale from them before his 
 friends had seen them in their entireness. I loss lie wished 
 that he might display them on the store >teps at Dan vis 
 and tell the story of their capture, with judicious omis 
 sions, to the admiring audience of evening loungers. His 
 pride was somewhat brought down when lie saw the do/en 
 or more big fellows that Sam and Antoine tossed out of 
 the canoe, but still lie felt that he had done well, for a 
 boy, and his friends gave him generous praise. 
 
 Antoine dragged a slab to the water s edge, and seating 
 himself a-straddlc of it, slapped a large fish upon it in 
 front of himself, which he f nthwith set about cleaning, 
 while Sam and I elatiah squatted close bv and watched the 
 process. You wan scratch it, scratch it, dern peekrils 
 great many/ he instructed them out of the shower of scales 
 he set Hying. " Den w en \ou ll pull off all hees shell off 
 of it, you wan wash hcein plenty wash an scratch so !" 
 and he doused the scaled fish in the water, scraping it with 
 his knife and washing it, over and over again, till the skin 
 was quite white and free from a suspicion of slime. 
 " Somebody he ant more as half scratch off peekril clean 
 nough, den he cook it, an he ant las good of it, den 
 he ll said, dat peekrils, he don t fit for be decent ! Bah 
 gosh ! Ah show you, me !" Then he split the fish down 
 the back, cut off the head, took out what he called the 
 "inroads," washed it again, and cut it into convenient 
 pieces for the frying pan. When he had tried the fat out 
 of a couple of slices of salt pork and set the fish to hissing 
 in the pan with the bubbling accompaniment of the potato 
 kettle, an odor so savory pervaded the atmosphere of the
 
 SAM LOVEi:S CAMPS. 53 
 
 camp that it made the mouths of the hungry men water, 
 and the minutes of waiting for supper seem like slow hours 
 of starvation. The fragrance of it was wafted to the nos 
 trils of a wood-chopper half a mile away, and so aroused 
 the sacred rage of hunger within him, that he was forced to 
 shoulder his axe and go home to an early supper. 
 
 Antoine set the potato kettle on the board, and lifting the 
 frying pan from the coals, with his hat for a holder, set 
 it there also and announced supper. " Goo by, M sieu 
 Cochon ; goo by, M sieu Mash Kabbeet ; how you was 
 pooty well, M sieu Peekril ? Ah 11 very glad for see you 
 to-day, seh ! Hoorah. bovs ! The bag of dry bread was 
 brought out, ami then the three fell to work in a silence 
 that was broken only bv grunts and sighs of satisfaction, 
 the sputtering out ol fish bones, and the clatter of the few 
 implements of onslaught. At the end of it Antoine said, 
 as he prepared a charge for his pipe : " \\ al, seh. bov, f 
 Ah always feel jes Ah was naow. Ah ant never heat no 
 more ! lie ant cos much for mah boards den, don t it. 
 Sam ?" 
 
 " I expeck," Sam answered, searching lor a grass stalk 
 to clear his pipe-stem, " at it s some wi you as t was wi 
 Brother Foot tu the prayer-meetin , Brethren and sir-ters. 
 says he, as I feel naow, I wouldn t take the hull work! 
 for the feelin s at I feel ! But, brethren and sisters. I 
 don t allers feel jes s I feel naow ! 
 
 The sky had become overcast with curdlv clouds except 
 a strip along the horizon, which at sunset was a broad 
 belt of orange-red fire glowing between the dark gray clouds 
 and the blue-black bastions of the Adirondacks and the 
 frayed fringe of sombre woods ; and nearer than the 
 shadows of these, the brimming expanse of unruffled water
 
 54 SAM LOVEVS CAMPS. 
 
 glowed with the same intense color. When the trappers 
 crept into their nest, the night was dark and starless ; a 
 chill breath of northerly air was sighing in the hemlocks, 
 and the great owls were hooting a dolorous warning of 
 coming storm. Listening to them, Sam remarked as he 
 made his final yawn under the blankets, " Not much fun 
 nor profit for us fellers to-morrer, so the aowls sez."
 
 VI. 
 
 ANTOINE S REDOUBTABLE VICTORY. 
 
 THE next day s dawn came with slow reluctance to dimly 
 light a dismal landscape, over which had come one of those 
 disheartening changes so frequent in our northern latitude 
 that it sfems strange they are not expected as in the com 
 mon course of nature, rather than wondered at and spirit 
 ually rebelled against. The succession of the seasons had 
 apparently been turned backward in the gloom and mystery 
 of one night, and where yesterday spring was jubilantly 
 triumphant over the reconquest of her realms, winter was 
 reigning again. Snow had been falling for an hour or 
 more, driven by the north wind in a long slant from the 
 leaden sky to the earth, whitening the dun fields and turn 
 ing the brown and green woodlands to spectral gray, till 
 the trees looked like ghosts of the slain embodiment of 
 spring. The sluggish waves of the Slang beat with a sul 
 len wash on the wind-swept shores, but in the sheltered 
 coves a seal of leaden ice was set upon them. The wild 
 ducks, happy and content in any weather that gave them 
 open water, were splashing and diving and breasting the 
 black flood, but the land birds were in sorry plight. They 
 huddled in the thickets for shelter, and if one attempted to 
 pipe a song, its thin, half-frozen notes added no cheer to 
 the day, but rather made it the more dreary. 
 
 When Sam awoke with a dull sense of changed weather
 
 56 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 in his bones, and sat up in his bed to look abroad, the 
 picture set in the triangular frame of the shanty front, a 
 pointed bit of gray sky above white fields and black water, 
 with a foreground of snow-laden bushes, the blackened 
 stakes, cross pole and brands of the dead camp-fire, was so 
 utterly cheerless, that only the desire of companionship, 
 ever craved by misery, impelled him to arouse his com 
 rades. The hound came stretching and yawning forth, 
 and after a sorrowful look abroad and a sniff of the damp 
 air gave a dolorous whine, crept back to his dark corner 
 to comfort himself with forgetfulness of the outside world. 
 While Pelatiah suffered in silence, with unworded wishes 
 for the comfortable warmth of the kitchen stove at home, 
 Antoine loudly denounced the meteorological change. 
 " Ah 11 never see so many kin wedder in litly while all 
 ma life tarn ! What for he ant jus well be sprim 
 wen he ll get all ready, jus well as jomp raght back in 
 midlin of winters ? Bah gosh, Ah dunno, me ! Wai. Ah 
 don care, Ah s pose we ll got have it some fire on aour 
 stofe, ant it?" and getting himself together he began a 
 search, axe in hand, for some dry kindling. Chipping 
 away the weather-beaten outside of an old stump, he soon 
 got at its yellow heart, and with shavings and splinters of 
 it presently had a cheerful blaze lapping the snow and 
 dampness off the back- log. Breakfast was hardly in prepa 
 ration when the snow turned to more dreary rain, that came 
 pelting down with a dull patter, freezing as it fell. All 
 hands turned cooks and made frequent rapid dashes from 
 the shanty s shelter to the sputtering fire, one encouraging 
 its feeble efforts with a punch or a morsel of dry fuel, an 
 other giving the frying fish a turn or a shake, another 
 snatching out of the veil of smoke a hurried glance at the
 
 SAAf LOVEL S CAMPS. 57 
 
 pot that was fully possessed of the proverbial perverseness 
 of watched pots, and stood long on the order of its boiling. 
 
 When at last patience was exhausted and hunger would 
 no longer be temporized with, they made a sally and 
 brought in the half-cooked rations. The potatoes seemed 
 to be suffering an epidemic ossification of the heart, for 
 everyone had a "bone in it," and the fish, except the 
 outside and thinner parts, was raw. Antoine s onions did 
 strong and excellent service in helping out the sorry meal. 
 and when it was got through with the little party settled 
 down to making the best of the discomfort of a rainy day 
 in camp. They related the events of yesterday ; what be 
 fell Pelatiah has already been told in the last chapter, and 
 so he told it to his companions with but few eliminations, 
 for he felt no unwillingness now to let them enjov the fun 
 of his mishaps, and he with pride set forth to the fullest 
 extent the dimensions of the big fish that he had lost, a mon 
 ster that somehow seemed to belong to him almost as com 
 pletely as if he had captured him as the big fish lost by all 
 of us who go a-fishing are yet ours. Is it by right of dis 
 covery that we hold a sort of claim on them ? 
 
 Sam and Antoine had not gone far on their cruise the 
 day before when, as they rounded the point between the 
 Slang and the creek and floated slowly over the sunny, 
 wooded shallows, a party of " playing" pickerel was sighted 
 by the Canadian, who was paddling. Two or three lusty 
 fellows had the upper tips of their tails and dorsal fins 
 above water, now gently moving them, now splashing about 
 in a spasmodic flurry, then disappearing for a minute, then 
 breaking the surface in another place near by. Antoine 
 got the canoe close to them without alarming them, and 
 Sam fired into the thick of the group. The Ore Bed s big
 
 58 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS 
 
 bullet made the water boil and set half a dozen swift, ar 
 rowy wakes flying off in different directions ; but that was 
 all. Not one silvery, upturned belly gleamed out of the 
 settling sediment, and Antoine broke forth in lamentations 
 and reproaches. " Oh, sacre ton sac ! Oh, bah gosh ! 
 da s too bad. Oh, you ll shoot all over it ! Ant Ah tol 
 you more as fo honded tousan tarn, wen you ll shot at 
 peekril you ant want shot at it, heiri ? You ll want shot 
 at it where he ll ant look so f he was ! Wayonder where 
 you ll see it ! You don t can t rembler dat, hein ? Bah 
 gosh ! wen Ah 11 rip-proach you up to some more of it, ? f 
 you ant did more better as you was dat tarn, Ah 11 goin 
 shoot masef !" 
 
 "Wai, Antwine, " Sam said with a shamefaced little 
 laugh, " I never shot at one afore, n f I don t clu better 
 next time you reproach me up tu some fish, you shell 
 do the shootin . ^-proach ! Oh, golly ! wal, I ll be 
 durn d f-I s posed you d lugged any o Solon Briggs s big 
 words all the way daown here !" and moistening a patch 
 he rammed a bullet down the long barrel, making the 
 grimaces that one who drives home the ball in a muzzle- 
 loading rifle always does, as if his own interior was suffer 
 ing the leaden invasion. 
 
 : Wal, Ah don t care, Sam, Ah 11 hit dat words baout 
 so close you ll hit dat peekrils, ant it?" 
 
 " Cluster, Antwine, cluster, you knocked the head right 
 off on t !" 
 
 And so with restored good-humor they went on till an 
 other bunch of fish was sighted and got near to, when Sam, 
 aiming well under, " onhitched." Four good-sized pick 
 erel, some hit, some only stunned, rolled bellies up and 
 were got in board before they had thought of moving a
 
 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 59 
 
 fin. In such murderous fashion, approved by custom like 
 many another quite as bad, they got all the fish they cared 
 for, and met with no mischance worse than one or two 
 misfires. When they were homeward bound and both 
 paddling without change of places, as they rounded a broad 
 patch of button bushes they came suddenly upon Sam s 
 late adversary, poling his skiff slowly along and looking 
 for fish with his gun lying in front of him. His face still 
 bore the impiint of Sam s fist, but he bestowed upon them 
 a friendly grin, and hailed them with " What luck ?" 
 
 " Tol able," Sam answered, " What s yourn ?" 
 The cussedest luck at ever you see, 7 was the reply. 
 " My blasted ol gun s missed twict when 1 had all-killin 
 good chances, an one big one t I rolled up got away fore 
 I c ld git a holt on him. S pose f I didn t want one so 
 con-demn bad, I d a-got a boat- load. My folks is sick 
 [in Yankee parlance one s " folks" means his wife]. No 
 appetite t eat, n nothin 11 du but a fish, an I swear ! 
 I can t git so much as a punkin seed !" 
 
 " Wai," Sam said, picking up a good fish by the gills, 
 " we ve got more n we c n use fore they spile ; take this 
 t yer folks." 
 
 " \Vhy, naow, " said the man, poling his skiff a stroke 
 nearer, " if twan t jist as t is, 1 wouldn t think on it, 
 but if you kin spare it jest as well as not, I Id be a thaou- 
 san times bleeged tu ye, cause Seusan, she but, " stop 
 ping his craft, " I do want no more o yer cussed gum !" 
 
 " All right," Sam answered with a laugh, " we hain t 
 a-peddlin gum to-day. Haul up an git yer fish." And 
 tossing it into the skiff, he paddled away, while the recip 
 ient of the gift thanked him a " thaousan times" and 
 profanely remarked in conclusion, " You air the curiest
 
 60 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 
 
 man ever I see, I swear ! Say," he shouted after them, 
 " you c n come here n trap an be durned a thousan 
 years I" 
 
 While Sam was pondering as he paddled whether this 
 long lease of privilege pertained to trapping or perdition, 
 Antoine interrupted his meditations with the question, 
 " What you s pose mek dat mans so good nachel, Sam ? 
 What you s pose he 11 got matter wid his face of it ? Look 
 lak he strak someboddy wid it, ant it !" 
 
 " Oh, like nough he knocked it agin a tree or suthin 
 pokin raound here mongst this ere trash. An he s get 
 over bein mad cause he s faound out t we ie harmless 
 kinder creeturs." 
 
 " Dat all you ll know baout it, Sam ?" with a crafty, 
 inquiring glance as he leaned sidewise to get a look at his 
 companion s face. " What mek it got so clever so quick 
 aft he ll bruse bose of it so hard ? Hein ?" 
 
 " Oh, thunder in the winter ! no, I d know nothin 
 baout the man. Mebby he s ben tu a prayer meetin n 
 xperenced a change o heart." 
 
 " What he ll meant he ant want some gaum, hein ?" 
 
 " Plain t a-hankerin arter it, 1 s pose. What in time 
 du we care s long s he behaves hisself ? Let im go." 
 
 After several minutes of silent paddling Antoine asked 
 in a low, earnest voice, " Sam, f Ah 11 tol you some- 
 tings, you ant never tol someboddy long s you leeve, you 
 hope to dead fus ?" 
 
 " Wai," Sam answered with deliberation, " I do know, 
 Antwine ; f you ben a-stealin suthin or a killin some- 
 b dy, I don twanter hev ye tell me on t ; but f it s some 
 little thing t ain t very weeked I ha no bjections to 
 promisin an a-hearin on t. "
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 61 
 
 " Oh, no-no-no-no ! Ah ant never steal notings, an 
 Ah ant never keel someboddy sin Papineau war ; not quat ; 
 come pooty near dough dis tarn, but Ah ant keel it, do it 
 some good. You ant tol of it?" 
 
 " No, I won t tell ; ease your mind, Antwine. " 
 
 "Wai, seh, Sam," with slow impressiveness, "what 
 hail dat man his face of it, what mak heem be so good 
 nachel, Ah 11 goin tol you, seh. Ah 11 leek it dat man 
 tudder day ! 
 
 "You licked him? Why, you hain t seen im fore 
 sen the day at you was tellin me haow he sassed ye ; an 
 you said then at you didn t tech him, nor wouldn t. 
 Why didn t you tell me baout your lickin him then ?" 
 
 " Wai, seh, Ah 11 tol you, Sam. You see, Ah was 
 fraid Ah 11 keel him, Ah 11 leek it so hard. Naow Ah 11 
 fin aout he ant be dead, Ah don care for tol you. Oh ! 
 bah gosh ! Ah 11 mos keel it. Ah 11 keek it on hees face 
 wid ma tis where you ll see it. Ah 11 strak it wid ma 
 foots where you ant see it. Ah 11 paoun it, Ah 11 mek it 
 hollah, Oh, don t hurt me some more. Ah 11 be so scare 
 all dat naght for fraid he ll dead. Ah ant mos sleep 
 any, seh ! Yas, ant you hear it me tombly an grunt, 
 hein ?" 
 
 Sam was shaking, but as Antoine could not see his 
 face, he thought his agitation was perhaps caused by 
 horror at the recital of the terrific combat. \Varming with 
 the Falstaffian tale, he shook out a " B-o-o-o-h-h-h !" 
 from his pursed lips, and shouted, " Oh ! Bah gosh ! 
 Ah 11 paoun it, Ah 11 jomp top heem of it ! You ant 
 b lieve it, you come long to me, Ah 11 show you where 
 Ah 11 knock de barks off de tree wid heem, an de bloods 
 an skins an hairs all scratter raoun de graoun , "
 
 62 SAM LOVEi: S CAMPS. 
 
 Sam was no longer able to contain the fulness of laugh 
 ter that oppressed him. 
 
 " What you lafft at, Sam ?" Antoine demanded sternly. 
 
 " Oh, dear me, su/ ! Antwine, I can t helpa-laughin to 
 think what a wollopin you give that man, an a slattin the 
 graound with him, an barkin trees with him ! What a 
 massy it is you didn t kill the poor creeter !" 
 
 " Wai, Ah tol you, Ah ll feel pooty glad for dat, me. 
 Ah ll ant wan be hang for it. Say, Sam, you s pose 
 prob ly dat fellar sue me up to law for leek heem so hard, 
 hein ?" 
 
 " Wai, no, I don t hardly b lieve he will, Antwine. I 
 guess he s hed all he wants on ye. 
 
 " Wai, Ah guess so." 
 
 " Come to think on t naow, I seen him the next day 
 arter you give him sech a whalin , an I never noticed at 
 the war a thing the matter of him. Cur us, wa n t 
 it ?" 
 
 "You ll see it nex day?" Antoine asked anxiously. 
 " Wai, bah gosh ! Ah dunno t he ant show it ; prob ly 
 hees faces ant got tarn yet for swellin up an git blue an 
 black, ant it ?" 
 
 " I shouldn t wonder a mite f that was it, Antwine." 
 
 This dismal day Antoine swore Pelatiah to secrecy, and 
 enlivened an hour with the acted story of his great fight, 
 that began at this relation to assume in his mind the reality 
 of an actual occurrence. Often after their return to Danvis 
 the doughty champion recounted this exploit to half credu 
 lous audiences, and though Sam, when a listener, seemed 
 sometimes to laugh in the wrong place, he never let fall a 
 word to cast a shadow of doubt on its truthfulness. 
 
 Antoine proposed to concoct a chowder, which he prom-
 
 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 63 
 
 ised them should furnish a dinner so good as to make 
 amends for the badness of their breakfast. 
 
 " Dey ant on y but jes one ting was better as feesh, an 
 dat was be feesh wen he be cook in chowdy, cep mud 
 turkey." So putting on a heavy coat he took the kettle 
 to the shore and spent so much time there in washing it 
 that he came back with a shell of frozen rain upon his gar 
 ments, such as loaded all the branches with its dull glitter, 
 cracking and clattering with every sway of the wind, and 
 crunching under foot on the iced mat of last year s herbage. 
 Pork, fish, potatoes, crackers, and onions furnished all the 
 requisites for a chowder, a dinner all in one pot, and one 
 that needed JIG constant tending, therefore well suited to 
 the conditions of a roofless kitchen in a stormy day. When 
 it was set to seething over the now well-established fire, 
 they sat in the shelter of the shanty front, the elders smok 
 ing frequent pipes, Pelatiah solacing himself with spruce 
 gum. 
 
 " Sam will," he said after much speechless if not quite 
 silent rumination, and a long look out into the cheerless, 
 icy woods, with no sign of life in them but one red squirrel 
 chipping a cone on a hemlock limb, and too much de 
 pressed in spirit to utter one saucy snicker or defiant chir, 
 " Samwill, I sh ld think the Id be bears, an painters, 
 an an annymills in these ere woods. They re big 
 nough, seems s ough. " 
 
 "Don t pear to be much in em bigger n coons, 
 Sam answered ; " we thought we heard a lynk cncte or 
 twicte, but mebby t wa n t nothin . Like s not the s a 
 painter a-travellin through em oncte n a while praowlin 
 back an to, but I ha n t seen no signs on em." 
 
 "Tell us baout that painter t you killed, Samwill,"
 
 64 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 said Pelatiah, starting up with a sudden interest ; " I never 
 heard ye, though I ve kinder hearn tell on t. " 
 
 " Oh, the wa n t nothin baout it, only I happened 
 to shoot him." 
 
 " Wai, Samwill, tell baout it, won t ye?" 
 " Wai," Sam said, looking abstractedly into the fire 
 while he slowly filled his pipe out of a nearly-spent blue 
 paper of Greer s or Lorillard s " Long smoking," " the 
 wa n t no painter huntin baout it, only a happen-so. I 
 was a bee huntin , in September it was, n his hide wa n t 
 wuth fo pence only to look at, n I d got some bees to 
 workin in a little lunsome clearin way up n under Tater 
 Hill, n lined em int the woods, n reckoned I d got 
 putty nigh the tree, n I was saunderin long lookin 
 caref l at every tree at hed a sign of a hole in it, when I 
 seen a shake of a big limb of a great maple, n then I seen 
 the critter scrouched onto it clus to the body n a-lookin 
 right at me. I d left the Ore Bed back in the clearin 
 much as ten rods off long wi my bee box, n my hat sot 
 mighty light on top o my head as I backed off, slower, I 
 guess, n I ll go to my own fun al. Soon as 1 got him 
 aout o my sight though I don t s pose I was aout o 
 his n I made durn few tracks to the ol gun, I tell ye, 
 n then come back slow n caref l. There he sot 
 scrouched daown jest where I left him, an his durned 
 yaller eyes right on me s if he hedn t never took em off, 
 n mebby he hedn t. When I got in baout six rods, I 
 drawed a bead right betwixt em n onhitched. He didn t 
 jump, but kinder sagged daown ont the limb n turned 
 under it n le go fust one foot n then nother, n arter 
 hangin by the last bunch o claws for a minute, come 
 daown, kerflop. He clawed n flurupped n graowled
 
 S.IM LOT EL S CAMPS. 65 
 
 julluk any durned waounded cat, n I stood back n 
 gin him the floor. But his senses was all knocked aouten 
 on him, an he didn t know nough to git to me { he 
 wanted tu. I hussled nother charge int the Ore Bed 
 tol able spry, but t wa n t needed he was deader n hay 
 fore I got the cap on. An ," said Sam, after a pause in 
 which he refilled his pipe, " I faound the bee tree not tew 
 rods furder on, an tew weeks arter I took it up an got a 
 hund ed paounds o the neatest honey t I ever see." 
 And he seemed to feel quite as much satisfaction in the 
 recollection of finding the bountiful supply of wild honey 
 as in the killing of the great cat. 
 
 " By gol !" said Pelatiah, letting out his long-held 
 breath in a great sigh, I sh d thought you d a ben scairt ! 
 
 " Wai, no," Sam said, still thinking of the bees, " I 
 hain t feared o bees ; they never sting me none tu speak 
 on. " 
 
 " Dat mek me tink," said Antoine, coming in from a 
 brief inspection of the chowder, and nursing a coal that he 
 had scooped out of the ashes in his pipe bowl, " mek me 
 tink one tarn me ma brudder-law keel one dat panter in 
 Canada. We was go huntin for deer. Ah guess so, an 
 da was leetly mite snow on de graoun . Wai seh, we ll 
 see it track, we ant know what he was be, an we ll folia 
 dat, oh, long, long tarn. Bamby he ll go in hole in rock, 
 leetly laidge, you know, baout tree, fo , prob ly seex 
 tam big dis shantee was. Wai, seh, boy, Ah ll left it ma 
 brudder-law for watch dat holes, an Ah ll go raoun back 
 side laidge see all what Ah ll see Ah ll look veree 
 cafifly, an what you tink Ah ll fin it? Leetly crack 
 in rock baout so wide ma tree finger of it, an dat panter 
 hees tail steek off of it baout so long ma arm, prob ly,
 
 66 SAM LOTEL S CAMPS. 
 
 where he ll push hind fust in dat holes. An he ll weegly 
 hees tail so," waving his forefinger slowly. " Wai, Ah 11 
 tink for spell what Ah do. Den Ah 11 go cutoff strong 
 steek so big half ma wiis and two foots long. Den Ah 11 
 tek hoi dat tails an tied knot in him, veree caffly, den 
 Ah 11 run steek t rough an pull knot hard ! Oh, bah 
 gosh ! you ll oughty hear dat panters yaller an holla ! 
 Wus as fo honded tousan cat ! Yes, seh ! Oh, he ll 
 hugly, Ah tol you ! but lie can help it, he can gat it 
 loose less he pull up hees tails off. Wai, seh, Ah 11 lafft 
 at it, Ah can help it, mos Ah 11 split off ma side. Den 
 Ah 11 go raoun ma brudder-iaw, an he ll be scare mos 
 dead, an goin runned way. Ah 11 tol heem, Ah goin 
 in dat holes shoot dat panters. Oh, gosh ! he ll ax 
 me, he tore you dead more as forty piece ! Ah 11 say, 
 Ah so good man Ah 11 don t fiaid me. Den Ah 11 crawl 
 in dat holes an Ah 11 shoot it, boom ! raght tween hees 
 head ! An bamby pooty soon he ant yaller some more, 
 be all still as mices. Den Ah 11 come off de holes an 
 Ah ll tol ma brudder-law he ll crawl in an pull off dat 
 panters. He ll pooty fraid for go, but bamby he go. He 
 touch hoi of it, he can pull it cause hees tail tie, but he 
 ant know. Bah gosh ! he say, dat panters more 
 heavy as two ton ! Ah can pull it ! Den Ah ll go 
 raoun an taked off dat steek, an holla pull ! an ma 
 brudder-law pull more harder he can boom ! he go 
 tumbly on hees back, dat panters on top of it ! Oh ! 
 f he ant scare, ma brudder-law. Yas seh ! Wai, seh, 
 boy," after a pause during which no one spoke, " f you 
 ant mek b lieve dat stories you go Canada long to me Ah 
 show you de steek. Ma brudder-law he ll saved it. Ah 
 ant never tol you stories so true lak dat, seh !"
 
 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 67 
 
 " I ha no daoubt o that, Antwine ; you couldn t tell 
 a lie big nough to choke ye. Hain t that ere mux o 
 you;n baout done? I m a-gittin wolfish." 
 
 After due examination the French cook pronounced the 
 chowder ready to be served up, and it proved so toothsome 
 I hat of the whole kettleful there was hardly enough left for 
 Drive s supper. 
 
 Then with smoking and more story-telling they wore out 
 the dreary day, and at nightfall the sky was brightening 
 with the promise of a more cheerful morrow.
 
 VII. 
 
 PELATIAH GOES VISITING. 
 
 THE bright and cloudless morning had a sharp chill in 
 its breath, and the Slang was frozen from shore to shore, 
 its waters smooth with ice of the regulation thickness of the 
 first and last cold mornings of a year namely, " as thick 
 as window glass." Even in the wide expanse of Little 
 Otter there was no open water but in streaks along the 
 channel, marked by shimmering wavelets in their lines of 
 blue and gold when the first rays of the sun shot across the 
 landscape. All the hills and mountain ranges were hoary 
 as they had been in midwinter, for snow had fallen on 
 them while rain had fallen on the lowlands of the Cham- 
 plain Valley. There could be no visiting of the traps be 
 fore noon, for though the stout dugout a shapelier craft, 
 be it said, than Uncle Lisha had prophesied could be 
 turned out by its builder s hand might make its way un 
 harmed through the ice, it would cost hard work, and the 
 frail birch would be cut in shreds in making a passage 
 through it. And so, when breakfast was cooked and eaten, 
 and the slight task of washing the few dishes performed, 
 there seemed not much but loafing to fill the forenoon 
 with. 
 
 " We can t eat half o them ere fish afore they spile, 
 Sam remarked, after a long look at the hanging row of 
 dressed pickerel; "I wish t some o the folks up to
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 69 
 
 Danvis had t other half. Say, Peltier, don t ye wanter 
 take a walk an see the country ? 
 
 " Honh ! I swan, I d know baout it," with a blank 
 stare toward the far-off hills of his birthplace; "I do 
 know s I raly wanter hoof it clearn ov to Danvis t day !" 
 
 " Danvis ! Shaw ! nob dy wants ye tu. I was a- 
 thinkin mebby t ould be a pious idee to take three 
 four pickril up t ol Mister Bartlctt, at gin us leave to 
 camp here. A drcflle clever ol gentleman he is, a foity- 
 leventh cousin of Joels , an a Quaker too, but t other 
 kind, Hiksite. He lives up there in that tew-story white 
 haouse. Tain t more n a mild, n we c nset ye crostin 
 Antwine s canew, cr you c n go raound f you d druthcr. 
 Tain t fur t the head <> the Slang, er tu where you c n 
 cross on some lawgs. F you d jes livs not go an take 
 him a mess o them fish I d be bleeged tu ye. N An- 
 twine, we re e en a most aouten terbarker n crackers. 
 S posin you set Peltier acrost, n go long up t the store 
 n git the staffs o life ? X say, Peltier, the s an al-kill- 
 in slick gal up t Mr. Bartlett s !" 
 
 Pelatiah s blushes shone through the sunburn of his 
 honest face. " Oh, you git aout, Samwill !" with a bash 
 ful guffaw; "I don t care nothin baout no gals!" 
 Then, with quick forgetfulness of his denial of such weak 
 ness, as he looked down upon his worn and outgrown 
 raiment, turning his arms this way and that to inspect their 
 covering, " I do wanter go a-lookin s I du, where the s 
 any any young folks !" 
 
 : Wai, Ah don care for me," Antoine said, getting 
 promptly to his feet, " Ah guess Ah 11 lookin well nough 
 s Ah do, an Ah 11 gat ma close all ptef-fume for go see 
 de gal. Ah 11 carry dat feesh, an IMtiet go store for
 
 yo SAM LOVEi:S CAMPS. 
 
 de pro-vizhin. Ah ant see homan so long ago Ah 11 
 freegit what kan close he wore. Come, hoorah boy !" 
 He cut a forked twig from a water maple, and stringing 
 four of the nicest fish upon it led the way to the landing, 
 whither Pelatiah presently followed after hatchelling his 
 towy locks with the sparsely toothed and only comb the 
 camp afforded, and vainly attempting to pull his trousers 
 down into neighborliness with his boots. They launched 
 the dugout, and boarding it, ploughed and broke their slow 
 way to the farther shore, the ice crashing and tinkling and 
 jingling along their course, and hissing in long fissures on 
 either side. When they had landed, Sam noted that after 
 keeping together through the first field, Antoine diverged 
 to the right in the direction of the store at the Corners, and 
 Pelatiah to the left toward the big white house that shone 
 among its gray locusts and against its dusky background 
 of orchard. With his pleased half laugh and muttered 
 " jes s 1 xpected/ came a faint sigh as he turned his 
 eyes toward the white dome of Tater Hill, in whose morn 
 ing shadow dwelt his buxom sweetheart. There was some 
 comforting promise in the ranks of drying muskrat skins 
 that brought a contented expression to his face after he had 
 cast a slow calculating glance upon them. Then he gath 
 ered some turpentine from half a dozen boxed pines, and 
 melting it with grease in a bullet ladle, set about salving his 
 canoe, which had got a grievous wound from a hemlock 
 snag. He had the camp all to himself, for Drive had gone off 
 hunting on his own account, and his earnest baying could 
 be heard away upstream, mixed with the querulous whistle 
 of the woodchuck he was besieging. But Sam was never 
 weighted with any feeling of loneliness in the companion 
 ship of the woods. If, when among the patriarchal trees
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 71 
 
 and their tribes of tenants and dependents, any sense of 
 isolation made itself apparent, it was what he called " a 
 good lonesome," and he enjoyed it to-day. Out of the 
 woods came only its own voice and the voices of the wood 
 folk : the sigh of the pines and hemlocks ; the thud of the 
 partridges drum-beat, beginning with measured strokes 
 and ending in an ecstatic roll ; the soft cluck and whistle 
 of the jay s love song, intermitting with his more discordant 
 cries ; the woodpecker s note of mating time, as if he was 
 sharpening his bill with a steel for the battles love might 
 cause ; and from far away, like the jingle of many discord 
 ant bells made almost melodious by distance, came the 
 clamor of a convention of crows gathered to denounce some 
 detested hawk or owl or fox. Near by a chipmonk clucked 
 incessantly over his recent discovery of a new world wherein 
 were sunlight and fresh air ; and Sam s neighbor, the red 
 squirrel, was in high spirits with such sunshine after storm, 
 and flung at him a shower of derisive jeers and snickers 
 from the trunk of the great hemlock, where he clung with 
 spasmodic jerks of feet and tail. 
 
 You sassy little cuss !" said Sam, " what sorter names 
 be them you re a-callin on me ? I m a duin d good min 
 ter stop your chittereein with a pill aouten the Ore Bed ! 
 You ll be a suckin aigs an killin young birds wus n a 
 weasel in less n a month, you little pirut ! But you re 
 hevin lots o fun livin , n I d know s they re my aigs 
 n birds, so jaw away." And Sam lit his pipe with a 
 coal and continued the application of the plaster to the 
 canoe bottom. 
 
 Now and then the ice fell along shore with sudden jing 
 ling crashes to the level of the falling water, and as the 
 forenoon wore away and the shadows shortened it melted
 
 72 SAM LOVEL S CAM PS. 
 
 apace where the sunshine fell full upon it, and open water 
 began to ripple and shimmer in the breeze, and there was 
 a prospect of making the round of the traps in the after 
 noon if Antoine returned in time. The rent in the canoe 
 was mended, and Sam lay taking a lazy smoke beside the 
 ashes, casting an occasional glance across the Slang for his 
 companions, when a slight wake attracted his attention, and 
 he saw a small, dark object swimming past. " Naow, 
 Mister Mushrat," he said, as he crawled into the shanty 
 and brought forth the Ore Bed, " don t ye know t ain t 
 healthy for none o your fam ly raound here ?" but as he 
 crept to the shore with his rifle cocked and at a ready, he 
 saw that the lithe, snake-like movements of the swimmer 
 were not those of the muskrat. " Ah, Mister Mink, beg 
 pardon an make my manners," he said, speaking with the 
 spiteful crack of the rifle. The silent wake ended with the 
 spat of the ball, but before the first wavelet set the ice to 
 tinkling along the shore, the mink slid to the surface feebly 
 making the last struggles for his tenaciously held life. 
 That trouble in yer head is too much for ye," Sam said, 
 as, after launching the birch, he picked up the yet writhing 
 animal and gave it a finishing whack on the gunwale of 
 the canoe, " you tough little cuss. What a hard-lifed crit 
 ter an auter must be ; julluk you, only cut tu a bigger 
 partern. By the gret horn spoon ! I wish t I could git a 
 crack at one on em jes onct ! N the hain t one left in 
 the hull o these tew cricks they give the names tu, I 
 s pose. Ho, hum ! Haow many year afore the won t be 
 nothin left, I wonder ? Not till arterl m a-sleepin under 
 a blankit o sods, 1 hope. As he sighed and cast the 
 vague yet scrutinizing glance of a hunter over water and 
 banks, and it was caught by something larger than mink or
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 73 
 
 muskrat swimming toward him, nothing was further from 
 his thoughts than the old adage, " The devil is nighest 
 when you re speakin on him." "What s that ere ol 
 fool of a haoun dawg comin hum by water for? An it 
 col 1 nough to Drive, you cussed ol fool," beginning 
 under his breath to formulate a rebuke ; then as it became 
 apparent that the swimmer was not Drive nor any other 
 dog, quite holding his breath, he reached cautiously for 
 ward for the gun, which he was too experienced a woods 
 man to let long accompany him uncharged. His nerves 
 vibrated \rtth a slight tremor when the stock touched his 
 cheek, but at the right moment the long barrel hung firm 
 in his grip and the Ore Bed snapped out its sharp little 
 voice. F that hain t an auter the hain t none !" said 
 S.im, looking anxiously over the vacant water as he arose 
 and began to reload the rifle. " An I ll be dum d f I 
 hain t missed him ! I lev I forgot haow to shoot jes the 
 minute in my hull life at I d orter shot the clustest ?" 
 But now, a rod or more from where the beast had disap 
 peared, it broke to the surface again in a wild, writhing, 
 flurrying struggle, like a great fish in its death throes ; and 
 Sam, having hastily but steadily finished the loading of his 
 gun, fired with instantaneous aim at the dark centre of the 
 widening circles of waves ; then, laying hold of his paddle, 
 with a few strokes sent his craft thither, and dealt the strug 
 gling otter a downright blow with the paddle s edge that 
 took all the fight and nearly all the life out of him. When 
 he lifted his prize inboard the last otter ever killed in these 
 waters Sam was as full of happiness as Pelatiah had been 
 over the capture of his big pickerel, but he raised no shout 
 of triumph ; he only heaved a great sigh of intense satisfac 
 tion and said, " Well, there ye be !"
 
 74 SAM LOVEI1S CAMPS. 
 
 Not long after Sam had gone ashore Antoine appeared 
 on the eastern bank. The unsteadiness of his gait and the 
 londness of his voice showed that he had more than tasted 
 the storekeeper s " old Medford," and Sam watched his 
 embarkation with some anxiety ; for though a soaking was 
 not likely to injure him, crackers and tobacco would be 
 the worse for it. But he got himself and his provisions 
 safely afloat, and then, a few boats lengths from shore, re 
 membered Pelatiah, for whom he began to call : " Hey ! 
 Peltiet ! where you was be ? Come ! Hey ! Hoorah, 
 boy ! Mos suppy ready. Bed tarn for go sleep ! Wai, 
 you ll ant goin come, va r /.u diab , go to dev ! On stan 
 bose of it, hein ?" Then, resuming his devious way, he 
 lifted up his voice, sonorous and tuneful in spite of its 
 drunken huskiness, in English song, after this wise : 
 
 " Haovv dear of ma heart was de screen of ma chilshood, 
 
 When fon reggylecshin bring him up of ma view, 
 De orchy, de middle hees deep tangly wil wool, 
 An hitch bee-love spot of ma infant, he s new 
 
 "What was nex of it Ah freegit for rembler oh, Ah 
 know : 
 
 " Ilokcyhol buckle, ha-ern bung buckle, 
 
 Hoi cover moss buckle, he ll hang up de well ! " 
 
 Having got the better of this to his complete satisfaction 
 he fell to murdering the words of another cold-water song 
 high in the popular favor of those days : 
 
 Oh den r r re-sagn dem r r ro-sy wahn, 
 
 Hitch smahlin son of a daugh-taa, 
 For he ant so good for de useful blood 
 As a col of spahklin \va-taa ! 
 
 " Whoop ! Hoorah for hoorah ! Where was you goin 
 for go, can-noe ? Ant you 11 know it way for shanty ?
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 75 
 
 Prob Iy you ll get start for Danvit, ant it? Gat sail on 
 woggin, do dat !" He had become aware at last that the 
 canoe, alter making some uncertain progress toward the 
 desired port, was now headed for the eastern shore of the 
 Slang. " Here, Antwine, come here !" Sam shouted, 
 becoming anxious again concerning the fate of the crackers 
 and tobacco ; then to himself : " Hear that durn d Canuck, 
 drunker n a bumble bee, an a singin temp ance songs ! 
 \Vhat sets folks allus to singin them when they re full o 
 rum, an ongodly sinners to shoutin hymnes, I wonder? 
 Kinder ev nin things up, I s pose. An there comes Pel 
 tier ! If that durn d fool ondertakes to bring him over, 
 he ll draownd him, sartin. Peltier! don t ye tech to 
 come acrost till I come arter ye ! Come here, Antwine, 
 wi them crackers an terbarker I m most starvin ." 
 
 " M sieu Lovet, Ah 11 been mekit un petite voyage for ma 
 healthy ! Naow Ah 11 goin git Peltiet, seh," and he be 
 gan to shape his course to the best of his ability toward the 
 waiting passenger. 
 
 " Oh, come along here, Antwine/ Sam called, coax- 
 ingly, " I ve got suthin to show ye !" 
 
 "Bah gosh, M sieu Lovet, Ah ll captins dis boats !" 
 Antoine ans\vered, still paddling on his way with blunder 
 ing strokes. " Wen Ah 11 get ready come dar, Ah 11 corn- 
 in ; w en Ah ll ant get ready, Ah ll don t comin ! bah 
 gosh feesh hooks ! On stan ?" 
 
 " Look a-here, Antwine," said Sam, in a different tone, 
 and at the same time launching the birch and stepping into 
 it, " you come ashore right straight off, er I ll come aout 
 there an knock ye gaily west, an tow ye ashore! I ve 
 goddone a-foolin ." 
 
 " Oh, Sam, you ll ant gittin mad, was it ! You ant
 
 76 SA M LOVEi:S CAMPS. 
 
 wan leave you visity for roos all naglit on banks lak 
 geeses, don tit? Ah 11 goin git it, me." 
 
 " You come here !" Sam said sharply, as he pushed his 
 canoe afloat ; and Antoine, turning the prow of the dugout 
 homeward, was soon alongside. " Oh, Sam," he whined 
 in maudlin tones as he tumbled ashore, " what you was 
 tilk lak dat way for? You ll know Ah ant wan faght wid 
 >ou, Sam. Dey ant fo honded tousan man could scairt 
 me, but Ah ant wan leek ma frien seh ! Bah gosh, 
 no !" and he made an attempt to embrace Sam. 
 
 " All right," Sam said, putting him aside, " I must go 
 an git Peltier. You look a that ere annymil at I killed 
 whilst you was gone, an then lay daown an take a 
 snooze, for I know you re turrible tired with all at you ve 
 underwent. 
 
 As Antoine balanced himself before the dead otter and 
 focussed his vague stare upon it, he was at first almost over 
 come with wonder. "What you call dat, Sarn ? Pant- 
 ers ? Bears? No, he ant bears, he ll got some tails! 
 What he was be ?" 
 
 " Auter, " Sam answered. 
 
 " Oh, yas, otty, yas, what we ll call it laloutre, yas, yas. 
 Ah keel more as fave honded of it in Canada, some of it 
 more bigger as you was, but dis one so small Ah ant know 
 heem. Ah s pose you ll feel pooty plump, Sam, prob ly, 
 but he leetly fellar, not much bigger as minks was. What 
 for you ant let heem growed, Sam, hein ?" But Sam was 
 half way across the Slang, and when he returned with Pela- 
 tiah the Canadian was snoring his way into the oblivious 
 interior of the land of Nod. 
 
 You needn t git nothin for me t eat," Pelatiah said, 
 as Sam began preparations fora late dinner, " for they
 
 SAM LOVEL:S CAMPS. 77 
 
 made me eat dinner with em. Oh, my gol ! a heap big 
 ger n I c ld see over, they piled ont my plate ! They 
 hedn t heel a fish this year, n they was tumble bleeged 
 tu you, n made me bring a hull ha bushel o apples, 
 signofiders an gillflaowers, they be. I m goin to take 
 the bag hum sometime. An they thee d an thaou d me 
 jes f I was a member mong Friends s they say. N 
 old Mister Bartlett he wanter know f I knowed any stidcly 
 feller t wanter hire aout for six or eight mont s, an fin ly 
 sez he, does thee wanter? S pose aour folks ould let 
 me, Samwill, bein t I hain t come o age, an haow 
 much d I orter ast him? Say," without waiting for an 
 answer, " that gal hain t their darter, she s their hired 
 gal, but she s harnsome nough to be the Pres dent s 
 darter. She s neater n any schoolmarm ! Oh ! f Iwa n t 
 shamed o my darn d ol ragged duds, an me a stickin 
 tew foot aouten both ends on em. Shouldn t s pose she d 
 ha spoke tu me, but she ast me a hull lot o questions 
 baout my folks, an kep a-smilin jes s clever ! S pose 
 she wouldn t look at me agin, would she, Samwill ?" 
 
 "Can t tell ye, Peltier; the s no tellin nothin baout 
 what women folks 11 clu or won t du, 1 Sam answered, 
 rising and brushing from his tawny beard the crumbs of 
 the crackers wherewith he had made his dinner. " Wai, 
 1 must be off an tend to what traps I can, for that poor 
 creetur won t be no use to-day. Peltier, don t ye never 
 drink no sperits thaout ye raly need em, n that ll be 
 mighty seldom. When huntin an fishin an trappin 
 an drinkin goes together, the huntin an fishin an trap- 
 pin gits dreffle poorly tended tu, I tell ye. If he wakes 
 up ugly, you kinder saunder off an let him work it off 
 alone by hisself, erless after a little consideration
 
 7 8 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 " you d druther swat him side of the head tew three times 
 an make him behave hisself. If he thinks you re the least 
 mite afeared on him, he ll be meaner n tunket, arter the 
 way o all his dum d breed." 
 
 Giving this advice, Sam departed, and during his ab 
 sence Pelatiah comforted himself with apples and gum and 
 pleasant waking dreams. 
 
 The sun had gone down behind the woods and twilight 
 was creeping over the landscape, and the evening air was 
 vibrating with the ceaseless pur of the toads and the shrill 
 chime of the Hyla s vesper bells, before the light dip of 
 Sam s returning paddle was heard, followed presently by 
 the swish of the canoe bottom on the matted drift of rushes. 
 lie had as little to show for his voyage as was to be ex 
 pected after such an unpropitious night for trapping as the 
 last had been, and he had not had time to visit and reset 
 nearly all the traps as he might have done with Antoine s 
 help, and so Sam was not in his pleasantest mood when 
 he stalked into the firelight with his light burden of musk- 
 rats. " Hain t that durn d peasouper come to his senses 
 yit ? he said, pausing a moment to listen to Antoine s 
 snores ; " wish t he d crawled int the Slang an draownded 
 hisself ; but he couldn t he hain -t one o the draowndin 
 kind. Wai, Peltier, le s ha suthin t eat reckoned 
 you d ha got some supper ready fore naow. 
 
 "Wai," Pelatiah apologized, "I did think on t some 
 n I went so fur s to cut some pork, but I was feared I d 
 spile it a-fryin on t ; n went so fur as to wash some 
 taters, but I didn t know whether no to put em in hot 
 water or col , n the same wi the tea, n I didn t know 
 whether no it took a han ful for a drawin , erless, er more, 
 n so I didn t do nuthin sca selv, n Antwine he hain t
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 79 
 
 done much only snort n grunt. I m sorry, but I guess 
 my cumilary edication has been sorter mislected, as 
 Solon Briggs says. Cumilary ! what in J rus lem does 
 that mean, s pose ?" 
 
 " Oh, \val," Sam said cheerily, " nev mind, we ll ha 
 suthin to rights," and he soon had pork, fish, and pota 
 toes cooked and ready. " I b lieve I ll call aour sleepin 
 pardner ; he s hungry f he only knowed it. Antwine !" 
 Getting no response but a grunt, he dragged the Canadian 
 forth by the legs and shook him to such wakefulness that 
 he sat upright and stared blankly at the smoking slab. 
 "Bah gosh! where Ah ll was? Ah ll t ought Ah was 
 keel in de Papineau war !" 
 
 " You d orter ben," said Sam. 
 
 " Oh, Sam, no ! Dis was gra deal bettah for me. F 
 Ah ll dead, Ah can heat, but naovv Ah show you, me !" 
 And he did, while they ate their supper without much sauce 
 of conversation. 
 
 " Naow then, Antwine, Sam said, as they prepared to 
 turn in for the night, "I wanter tell ye one thing, f ye 
 git drunk agin whilst we re here, I ll give ye the almighti- 
 est hidin t ever you hed wi the best blue beech gad I 
 c n find --an I know where the s some neat ones !" 
 
 "Me? Dronk ! Oh, bah gosh! Ah ll ant never got 
 dronk ma laf tarn fore, nor aftyward, nor dis tarn. Ah 
 was tire, an sah, Ah was nat rally seek !" 
 
 Wai, said Sam, it 11 be better for your health not to 
 hev no more sech fits o sickness." 
 
 Then, lulled by the incessant, monotonous chorus of the 
 toads and frogs, they went to sleep.
 
 VIII. 
 
 SPEARING BY JACKLIGHT. 
 
 AFTER the cold snap came a week of soft breathed days 
 and dark, still, frostless nights, wherein the traps waylaid 
 many a nightly wandering muskrat, and the trappers har 
 vest was rich 
 
 Some of the earliest comers of birds were beginning nest- 
 building ; the wood-ducks had chosen their homes, and 
 dusky ducks in pairs sought the remotest coves, while great 
 flocks of their companions went on their way northward. 
 The crows scorned now the once prized heap of muskrat 
 carcasses, for they had entered into full possession of their 
 ancient rights, and swaggered about the fields with an air 
 of absolute ownership, and were evidently somewhat im 
 patient that their tenants, the farmers, were so slow in be 
 ginning corn-planting. 
 
 More birds came from the south : re-inforcements of the 
 dusky army of blackbirds, with flashing troops of redwings ; 
 the main body of the robins joined the advance guard, and 
 the thickets were more populous with slate- colored snow 
 birds, and noisy with their sharp metallic chirping ; and 
 there were many arrivals of later comers. The highhole 
 cackled and hammered again on his lofty perch ; the white- 
 throated sparrow called all daylong for the ever-absent Mr. 
 Peabody, and the wailing cry of the grass plover arose from 
 meadows and upland pastures. Out of nooks of the
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 81 
 
 marshes the booming of the bittern resounded over the 
 watery level, a sound so strange to Pelatiah s ears that he 
 asked, " Who be them fellers a-drivin stakes in thema sh, 
 an what be they a-duin on it for ? and was greatly aston 
 ished when told that it was only the voice of a bird, and 
 entertained an uncomfortable suspicion that Sam was fool 
 ing him till one day when he stealthily stalked the sound 
 and saw a " gob gudgeon" standing on a mass of marsh 
 drift diligently pumping out his dolorous love-song. Golly 
 blue !" Pelatiah remarked, as, when he disclosed himself, 
 the startled fowl spiang upon his awkward flight with a 
 contemptuous parting salute, " hisol pump needs primin 
 f thai /all he s got for so much fuss !" By day and by 
 night stranger outcries came from the marshes, weird 
 laughter and wild yells, the voices of unknown water fowl 
 that were never seen. 
 
 The recurved lines of the water maple s branches began 
 to glow with dots and clusters of scarlet, and the willows 
 shone with catkins of silver and gold, caskets which held a 
 treasure that all the bees of the region came to steal. The 
 grass was greening in the swales and on the warmest slopes, 
 and the farmers were ploughing in a dozen fields within 
 sight and as many more within hearing, all shouting to their 
 slow teams of oxen so vociferously that Pelatiah said, as he 
 lounged on the bank in front of the shanty : " It s eq l tu 
 a lawgin bee t hum !" and as his thoughts ran homeward, 
 led by these familiar sounds, " Darn it all ! I s pose I d 
 ort t be t hum a-helpin aour folks, but I snum, I d 
 druther stay here !" and his gaze wandered across lots to 
 the white house. 
 
 " YVal, we ll all go to rights, Peltier," said Sam ; " the 
 trappin s baout done up hain t got sca sely nuthin these
 
 82 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 tew three nights n I expec the 11 be a team arter us 
 lore the end o the week, n then we ll pull up n clear 
 aout." 
 
 " Bah gosh !" cried Antoine, " we ll ant go fore the 
 hull pawt was bit an we ll ketch lot of it ! No sah ! 
 De evelin was be gittin warm, an Ah ll know he was bit 
 pooty soon, prob ly to-naght, prob ly to-morreh naght, 
 Ah dun-no. Ah ll gat some hook an lahne w en Ah was 
 go store. Where Ah ll put dat ? Ah freegit, Ah ll be so 
 seek dat tarn !" and he began a hurried and excited search 
 among his disorderly effects for the missing tackle. 
 " Hoorah, here he was ! Naow, Sam, give me some bul 
 let for mek sinkit an Ah ll feex up for try to naght, f Ah 
 can fin som wum. Ah ll gat some pole-feesh more as 
 week go. Oh, Ah can ketch it if anyboddy can ketch," 
 he bragged as he half hitched a hook on to the coarse 
 line. " Ah was preffick feeshymans." Then he split one 
 of the Ore Bed s big balls half in two and closed it on the 
 line, which he then ligged upon a pole that had had more 
 labor bestowed upon it in trimming and peeling than its 
 original worth seemed to have warranted, for it was top- 
 heavy and as crooked as an eel. Perhaps its owner con 
 sidered this a virtue rather than a fault, and hoped that the 
 reflection of the contorted " hard hack" might entice some 
 lonely eel to its companionship ; and the eel was to him 
 what the trout and salmon are to the scientific angler. 
 Having his outfit arranged to his satisfaction he crossed the 
 Slang in the dugout to the cultivated fields beyond in quest 
 of earth worms, and Pelatiah accompanied him on his way 
 to return the borrowed bag, while the camp was left to the 
 keeping of Sam and his hound. 
 
 Sam busied himself with bundling up the dried peltry,
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 83 
 
 and Drive was as busy with ineffectual digging in the near 
 est muskiat burrow, which he did not abandon till long after 
 tho beleaguered rat had ploughed his way to safety toward the 
 channel of the Slang with a sluggish, heavy, underwater 
 wake faintly marking his furrow ; then, shaking and wiping 
 some of the dirt from his long ears and sorrowful face, he 
 sought more congenial pastime in chasing and being chased 
 by a vixen who had begun housekeeping and the rearing 
 of a family not far away. Once, rating this ancient enemy 
 of her race with ongry, gasping barks, she followed him so 
 close to camp that Sam got a full view of her in her sorry 
 and tatjered faded-yellow garb of vulpine maternity, not 
 twenty yards behind the slinking, shamefaced hound. 
 " Good-arternoon, marm !" he said ; " f twas in the fall 
 o the year, naow, yer tail ould be pintin tow-wards that 
 ere sneakin ol bundle o kag hoops, an the d be a 
 diffent stvle o music in fashion ! Good-by, marm," as 
 the vixen vanished behind the veil of hazy undergrowth ; " I 
 wish ye good luck a raisin yer fam ly, an ould like to 
 make the hull of yer quaintances come November, an ye 
 git yer good close on. Oh, Drive ! hain t you a spunky 
 dawg, a skulkin hum with yer tail atween yer laigs afore 
 a nasty little bitch fox not quarter s big as you be ! " as 
 the hound came up to him and endeavored to explain the 
 peculiarities of the situation with whimpers and more deeply 
 corrugated brow, and quick, low-swung tail beats that 
 shook all his lean anatomy. " A spunky ol haoun dawg 
 you be ! But yer julluk me, an I guess the most o tew- 
 legged he humerns. Lord ! I d druther wrastle with a 
 mad painter an to face a jawin womern, I be durn d if I 
 hedn t ! If they won t take the spunk aouten a feller, he s 
 toucher n a biled aowl !"
 
 84 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 The sun was down, and the reflected gold of the western 
 sky lay unbroken on the quiet water save where a skim 
 ming bank swallow touched it with the light dip of his 
 wing, or a fish lazily rose to an insect that dimpled it as it 
 fell exhausted in its too adventurous flight, before the re 
 turning dugout vexed the Slang into a thousand distortions 
 of mirrored sky and shores. 
 
 Antoine s bait hunting had been successful, and he had 
 an old teapot hall full of angle-worms an encouraging sign 
 of future luck, he thought ; and supper was no sooner over 
 than he betook himself to the bank with pole and teapot. 
 He charged his hook with a bait that might entice the full 
 est-fed and most indifferent bullhead in all the Slang, and 
 spitting on it for luck, sent it with a whistling overhead 
 cast straight out from shore, where it and the heavy sinker 
 plunged with a kerchug that again awoke the waves. While 
 he sat waiting with statuesque patience for a bite, his com 
 panions watched him with an interest at first quite intense, 
 but which grew languid as Antoine s form became an un 
 defined dark blur in the dusk and yet gave no sign that his 
 patient waiting had been rewarded with even a nibble. 
 
 Then they saw the flicker of a feeble light just kindled 
 away down stream on the farther shore. Presently it grew 
 from the volume of a candle flame to a brilliant blaze, and 
 then began to slowly skirt the shore, attended by its glit 
 tering red dancing reflection, and revealing one figure, one 
 side red svith firelight, the other black with shadow, stand 
 ing close behind it, and dimly suggesting another crouch 
 ing a little farther away, with a paddle that gleamed for an 
 instant at regular intervals as it was raised fora stroke, then 
 faded into the gloom. Then the light turned toward them, 
 and yawing along its course came more swiftly down its
 
 SAM LOVEi: S CAMPS. 85 
 
 own shortening glade, growing larger and sending down 
 frequent showers of sparks on either side, each spark and 
 its double meeting at the water s surface and vanishing there 
 together. The square prow of a scow became visible, and 
 a man standing therein, wielding a spear that he made a 
 show of well-intended but ineffectual paddling with. 
 
 " Hillo, Danvis !" hailed the actual propelling power 
 in the stern. 
 
 " Hello, Lakefield," Sam answered, recognizing the 
 stentoria^> voice 01 his whilom enemy, and giving him in 
 return the name of his township. 
 
 " Wanter take a leetle turn up the Slang a-spearin ?" 
 
 " Wai, I do know," said Sam, rising and going toward 
 them as the scow surged through the floating sedges and 
 butted against the shore ; " I can t spear a fish ; never done 
 sech a thing in my life." 
 
 " Oh, you needn t clu no speaiin . Jimmy 11 tend t 
 that ; he s a ripper t spear. You c n help me paddle f 
 you re a minter, an Jimmy 11 prod em. lie s wus n a 
 kingfisher ; hain t that so, Jimmy ? 
 
 Jimmy, who seemed not much given to speech, answered 
 only with a grunt, and drew from his pocket a plug of to 
 bacco, which, after slowly and thoughtfully turning in the 
 light of the jack in search of the most vulnerable corner, 
 he gnawed a quid from, and then extended toward Sam. 
 The friendly offering was declined with thanks and the ex 
 planation that Sam " didn t never chaw." 
 
 "Come on," urged the other occupant of the scow, 
 " an ha some fun an git some fish f yer breakfus. He 
 c n go tew, f he wants t see the fun. The s room 
 nough," nodding toward Pelatiah. 
 
 " Feesh for breakfis !" cried Antoine, as he jerked a
 
 86 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 bull-head out and landed it with a heavy thud on the bank 
 the pole and line s length behind him, where it protested 
 against the sudden change of elements with vigorous flap 
 ping of its tail and grinding of its jaws. " Bah gosh ! here 
 he ll was, dumn sight gre deal better as peckrils was ! 
 Ant you ll hear it grape hees tocfs ? Dat cause he ll know 
 haow good he ll was w en he ll be fry, an he ll mad cause 
 he can t heat some of it heesef. Oh, he ll good wan !" 
 as, with the handiness of one who knows the trick, he 
 grasped the fish between the thorny pectorals and dorsal 
 and disengaged the hook; "he ll humpy fellar. Dey s 
 more of it comin . All hees ree-lashin comin break frs. 
 You go spearin you wan to, Ah 11 stay here an tol T it 
 good evelin w en he ll come." 
 
 Sam and Pelatiah took their allotted places in the boat, 
 which resumed its slow and silent way over the submerged 
 marshes. The glaring light of the jack, fed at times from 
 a store of " fat" pine, out of the darkness conjured ghostly 
 forms of trees that seemed to stalk out from the shore to 
 meet them, then receded and vanished in the gloom behind 
 them. A muskrat in bootless quest of departed friends 
 halted on his course and lay for a moment with as little 
 motion as a drifting stick, regarding the unwonted floating 
 illumination of his haunts, then dived with a startling sud 
 den splash. An owl (lilted with noiseless flight like a 
 gigantic moth close lo the glaring torch, and disappearing, 
 hooted out a cry of wonder or a hoarse laugh of derision 
 from ihe more congenial deplhs of night Wood-ducks 
 sat on iheir roosts of prone trees with charmed gaze till the 
 falling sparks hissed close beside them before they sprang 
 fluttering away into the gloom, uttering wild squeaks of 
 fright. As the scow headed across a broad shallow, the in-
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 87 
 
 tent spearsman raised his spear, and as the cra[t was checked 
 in obedience to the motion, lie made a quick thrust and 
 brought in a great pickerel, whose struggles were quickly 
 ended by a stamp of his captor s boot-heel. 
 
 That s the sort, J.mmy," said his comrade in loud 
 approval. Jimmy only grunted, and a moment later hurled 
 his spear twice its length. As the boat came up to the 
 wriggling and waving shaft, he stooped, and picking it up, 
 boated a large fish. " Swago" he laconically catalogued 
 it, and stamped it into everlasting rest. 
 
 " That s the way Jimmy jerks em in," cried his friend 
 and patron. " When he runs his eye aout at cm, they re 
 goners, you better b lieve ! I argy he does it by chaimin 
 on em with his good looks. You ve noticed at he s on- 
 common harnsome. " 
 
 " Onph \" Jimmy grunted, and after some slow rumina 
 tion of his cud, speaking more at length than was his wont, 
 " Guess you hain t no gret to brag on that way, Joe, no 
 more n me. Folks calls him Time," addressing Sam and 
 indicating his comrade by a backward movement of his 
 head, " cause he favors the pictur o Time in the primer." 
 Tend right tu yer spearin , Jimmy, an don t tire yer- 
 self a talkin ," said Joe. And Jimmy raised his spear, 
 then arresting it in a half delivered stroke, said with su 
 preme contempt, " Cussed bowfin !" and the boat moved 
 on. Presently he poised his spear and announced, " Mud 
 turkle. Ol buster. Shell I ?" 
 
 " Let him hev !" shouted the commander of the expe 
 dition, and the spear went unerringly to its mark. Jimmy 
 grunted profusely as he lifted the sprawling monster inboard 
 partly by the spear and partly by a " tail holt." He was a 
 patriarch of the oozy depths, with the moss of many years
 
 88 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 clinging to his broad shell, and was vicious in appearance 
 and behavior. 
 
 "Cut off his cussed ol head," said Joe, passing his 
 open jack-knife forward, " an let him c mmence his nine 
 dayso dyin right off. Mebby you re the man atketched 
 my goslin s, you humbly ol cuss ! Haow d ye like that 
 kind o sass yerself ?" as Jimmy sawed away at the turtle s 
 tough neck just below where the spear transfixed it, while 
 the reptile clawed at the knife and hissed angrily. When 
 he was decapitated and laid upon his back the boat moved 
 on to new conquests, Jimmy taking many fine fish of vari 
 ous kinds before they reached the head of navigation, 
 where a rude, low log bridge barred their farther way. As 
 they skirted the left bank on their homeward cruise, Jimmy 
 still alert for more victims, Joe said : " Jimmy s a cuss to 
 spear, wus n a kingfisher or a blue herrin , but he won t 
 paddle er pole. Some says it s cause he s lazy, but I low 
 it s on y cause he don t like tu work !" 
 
 " Onph ! Lazy ! The wa n t nobody t ever wasted 
 the breath a tellin haow t you was lazy," was Jimmy s 
 only reply to the imputation. 
 
 When they reached the landing at the camp all went ashore 
 and stretched their cramped legs, and found the warmth of 
 the fire very comforting, for the dampness and chill of the 
 spring night had crept into their bones.
 
 IX. 
 
 BREAKING CAMP. 
 
 RADIANT in the light of the camp-fire they found An- 
 toine rejoicing over a baker s dozen of bullpouts, which 
 he was about skinning. The dressing of these fish was a 
 revelation to Sam and Pelatiah, who had never before seen 
 it done. One cut of the knife forward from behind the 
 sharp-spined dorsal, a rip down the back, a snap of the 
 backbone attended by a pistol- like pop of the bursting air 
 bladder, and the fish was stripped, beheaded and disem 
 bowelled by another motion with a suddenness that made it 
 and these two observers gape with astonishment. 
 
 Jimmy, after looking on a short time, drew forth and 
 opened his knife, and after carefully licking from the blade 
 the gummy morsels of tobacco adhering to it, sharpened it 
 on his boot and picked up a bull head, which, with more 
 cuts and a little less speed than Antoine used, he rid of its 
 incumbrances of big head, skin, and entrails to the saving 
 of some meat. 
 
 " Saves a mou f l er tew o good meat," he remarked, 
 displaying the dressed fish a moment before he cast it into 
 the pan with the others. Then, wiping his knife on the 
 ground, he shut it, returned it to his pocket, grunted and 
 lapsed into his normal silence and slow rumination, mak 
 ing no response to Antoine s comment, " Ma way save 
 tarn, an tarn was worse more as meats. Mans dat know,
 
 90 SAM LOVELY CAMPS. 
 
 say tarn was money, an paoun of money worse more as 
 paoun of meats, don t it, hein ?" 
 
 When they adjourned to the scow to divide the night s 
 catch of the spear, Antoine could not repress his admira 
 tion of the fine pickerel, and, more than all else, of the 
 great turtle. " Here, Peasoup, " said Joe, heaving it 
 ashore, where it landed right side up and began an aimless 
 journey, perhaps in search of its head, " \er pardner says 
 you eat these ere overgrowed bugs. F you want it, take 
 it." 
 
 " Oh, bah gosh !" cried Antoine, heading off the pon 
 derous present if a headless thing can be headed off and 
 hastening to tether it with a cord to a bush, " Ah 11 veree 
 tousan tarn ob-laige to you, seh ! More as Ah can tol of 
 it. Ah 11 took dat home an fat up all my waf an chillens 
 wid him, you see f Ah 11 don t, Sam." 
 
 It was noticeable that while Joe treated Sam with a rude 
 deference and respect, toward Antoine he bore himself 
 with a half contemptuous condescension hardly comport 
 ing with the mien of the conquered in the presence of the 
 conqueror ; but when their visitors had departed Antoine 
 said, with a grin of great width and satisfaction, " Ant 
 you ll see haow good dat man s have itsef every sin Ah 11 
 leek it ? Dat was de way for mek hugly mans be good, 
 you betteh b lieve so !" 
 
 The next morning s round proved the spring crop of 
 muskrats so nearly exhausted that the traps were forthwith 
 taken up and strung in rusty dozens for transportation, and 
 the disused tally-sticks went drifting away to contribute 
 their mite of driftwood to various shores. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, while Antoine s comrades were 
 assisting him in the final vivisection of the turtle, a team
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS 91 
 
 of horses came in sight hauling a lumbering wagon 
 slowly across the fields toward the farther shore of the 
 Slang. 
 
 "Hello! cried Sam, "there comes aour baggidge 
 waggin. Who is t a-drivin ? Jozeff Hill, 1 guess, b the 
 dumplin shape on him, an the way he jounces raound 
 on the seat, toes jes techin the waggin bottom. Yes, 
 that s Jozeff, after an intent consideration of the approach 
 ing teamster, who presently could be heard bumping out 
 snaiche^of tuneless song mixed with broken words of en 
 couragement and reproof to his team, as they passed across 
 the rough field. 
 
 Odn Maadnsfield Mauuiuinij onct dido ndvvell-ell, 
 N-a likeli you ugh-th I-ce knovved full wcll-n. 
 
 " Git up, 01 mare ! 
 
 " Cur-d-nell Maaryit s onli sodn, 
 
 N-a-a-abaout the aauc of t\vednti-\vodn-n-n. 
 
 "Go long, Jim, why don t ye, con ugh-sarn yer ol 
 pictur ! er be ye goin t other way, you ol snugent o the 
 de-sarts ! 
 
 Sam went over in the dugout to meet him and helped 
 him to unharness the horses and shelter and feed them in 
 the shed of an untenanted barn that stood in the middle of 
 the field. Arriving at camp Joseph was cordially welcomed 
 by the others, and soon began to unladen himself of his 
 burden of neighborhood news, to hear which now would 
 remind one of the items of a country paper of to-day. 
 While his late dinner was cooking, and while he ate with 
 full enjoyment the fried pickerel, he told them that it had 
 been " a good sugarin year fust chop wal, more n 
 midellin, anyway, " and undertook to tell how many pounds
 
 92 SAM I.O\ Ei:S CAMPS. 
 
 each neighbor had made, though, as usual, he was never 
 quite sure which neighbor it was, nor of the number of 
 pounds. Also, that " Hanner Ann Jones er her sister 
 Huldy Jane was a -goin to teach in their deestrick this 
 summer ; that Joel Bartlett an mongst em seen a bear 
 up on the side o Hawg s Back big one er little one, 
 didn t know, but they seen tew n Joel, he was a gittin 
 ready to fix up his haouse er mabby twas his barn n 
 they was a-buildin tew three new haousen for the work 
 men to the forge goin to clu maricles, er more, to the 
 forge this summer, fer iron hed riz, er was a goin ter. 
 His father s rheumatix was wus didn t know as they was 
 raly wus, but he was a sufferin more pain with em, seem 
 s ough, n he hedn t no gret of an ap tite t eat much. 
 Ol Mist Pur nton he was toll ble well this spring, an 
 Mis Pur nton she was smarter n a crickit, n the hull 
 fam ly wus well, he b lieved, though mabby some o the 
 younger feemale portion was a-gittin sorter lunsome- -like 
 nough, he didn t know. Then, wagging his head toward 
 Pelatiah, without taking his eyes from the not quite un 
 fleshed bones of the bit of pickerel in his hand : " Pel 
 tier s folks is well, I b licve, though they be gittin soiter 
 oneasy baout his not comin back hum ; guess they kinder 
 need him baout spring s work do know s they zactly 
 need him, but they kinder want him, er think mabby he 
 might s well be t hum, naow, er putty soon ; n An- 
 twine s folks an young uns is well an hearty, an was a 
 polly vooin like all git aout when I come along past airly 
 this mornin ; I think they was ; mabby twas the frawgs 
 a bellerin ov t the pawnd, but frawgs hain t a-bellerin 
 naow ; I guess twas Antwine s fam ly a polly vooin ." 
 Then, when he was relieved of the chief weight of his
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 93 
 
 gossip, he had as great a burden of questions to unload 
 concerning the luck and adventures of the trappers. 
 
 As evening drew on they all began to gather a pile of 
 wood to illuminate that night s bullpout fishing, which was 
 to be the great final event of this spring s camp life, An- 
 toine had provided plenty of bait and the angling outfit for 
 his friends after the approved fashion of his own, except 
 that possibly some of the poles were straighter than his ; and 
 at dusk they lighted their fire and began fishing. The fish 
 were plenty, and blessed or cursed with good appetites, and 
 one after another, with a sluggish, stubborn, downright 
 pull foi*life and freedom, was torn from its watery hold and 
 came walloping and creaking to land. To Sam, Joseph, 
 and Pelatiah the unhooking of one was at first a rather 
 perilous feat, and Pelatiah gave a bellow of pain when his 
 finger was impaled by the horn of his first fish. " You 
 wa n t caffle, Peltiet, " said Antoine, as the young fellow 
 came to the fire, by turns sucking and inspecting the 
 injured finger ; " dem bullpawt he s bit pooty hard wid 
 hees horn, Ah tol you ! Touch hoi of it jus sain lak 
 Ah do, you t umb an fingler hind hees side horn, you 
 palm you hand of it fore hees top horn so. Den squeezle 
 heem, haard !" and they all soon got the knack of it after 
 the added lesson of some sorely punctured hands. 
 
 The generously fed fire sent up great tongues of flame 
 licking at the gloom, and showered an upward rain of 
 sparks into the branches that waved and tossed in the rising 
 currents of warmed air. Across its dusky edged circle of 
 light, as the fishermen went to and fro, fell elongated 
 shadows of legs, here joined to the gloom as if that was 
 some enormous beast of undefined ponderous form noise 
 lessly circling about the fire, there stretched Irom where the
 
 94 SAM LOVELY CAMPS. 
 
 distorted, shadowy bodies flitted like gigantic goblins 
 among the spectral boles of great trees. On the water side 
 the poles and lines were defined against the darkness with 
 seeming unreality, as if they were the angling gear of pis 
 catorial ghosts ; and when a plunging bait and sinker or a 
 writhing outdrawn fish broke the water, and wavering shim 
 mers of reflected light started forth and vanished in the 
 blank silence, it was as if they had broken on the intan 
 gible shores of the land of ghosts. But by the cheerful, liv 
 ing fire there was life enough, and such sport as satisfied 
 these jolly but most unscientific anglers. 
 
 By midnight they had sport and bull-heads enough to 
 have satisfied greedier men than they were, and Antoine s 
 highest hopes were realixed in the catching of a great eel. 
 To have heard him vituperate the unfortunate fi.^h while 
 he was unhooking it, one would hardly think he valued it so 
 much. " Oh, kanfoun you, you hugly hoi brute snakes ! 
 What for you ant lied steel an let me sleek you tween 
 de necks, hein, you slaamy hoi coss ? You ll ant fit for 
 be decent, bah gosh, all feesh hook! Saay, you llgoin 
 be dead litlly, naow, hein? you hoi hugly !" 
 
 When he had stamped and stabbed it into a quiet ac- 
 ceptance of fale, then with a sigh of satisfaction, " Bah 
 gosh! if ma hwoman don t happy to-morroh naght w en 
 he ll got hees husbin come home an brought it bullpawt, 
 an mud turkey, an heel, it don t no uses for try mek it 
 happy in dis worl ." 
 
 Next morning the sleepy occupants of the shanty awoke 
 late, and even while Antoine was cooking the appetizing 
 breakfast of fish, the others bestirred themselves in making 
 ready for departure. And when the breakfast had been 
 made speedy way with, the canoes began to pass across the
 
 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 95 
 
 Slang with cargoes of peltry and camp gear. By the mid 
 dle of the forenoon the boats had made their last trips, and, 
 with the baggage, were snugly stowed on board the wagon, 
 the horses were hitched on, and the homeward journey be 
 gan. All but Joseph Hill, who drove, trudged beside and 
 behind the load through the greening fields that lay between 
 the Slang and the highway. They were not very jolly as 
 they set their faces toward their native hills, for who ever 
 left a camp where few or many happy hours have been 
 spent without a touch of regretful sadness ? Even the 
 hound seemed touched with this feeling, and sent wistful 
 glances Backward as he ranged the fields and snuffed the 
 faint odors of last night s fox trails. As Sam cast a last 
 look on the spot that had been his home for a month, a 
 bittern s booming and the lazy quack of a dusky duck 
 came from afar across the hazy marshes like friendly fare 
 wells, and the camp squirrel chattered from his favorite 
 hemlock a not unkindly adieu. A wreath of smoke flut 
 tered away from the dying camp-fire like a gauzy flag low 
 ered and trailing on the ground. 
 
 Not many days passed before mink and skunk and 
 woodchuck began boldly to visit the deserted shanty, and 
 mouse and chipmunk took up their abode in it. Moss and 
 lichens began to grow on the slowly rotting roof, blades of 
 grass and weeds sprang up among the brands and ashes of 
 the fireplace, and growth and decay began to obliterate the 
 traces of human occupancy.
 
 X. 
 
 A LETTER FROM UNCLE LISHA. 
 
 THE trappers tarried in Vergenncs to dispose of their 
 peltry, and succeeded in doing so on terms satisfactory to 
 all concerned, after some lengthy bargaining with the hat 
 ter, whose shop was made conspicuous by a stuffed lynx 
 set in its window. 
 
 After brief sight-seeing and the purchase of a few articles 
 not to be found in the Danvis store, they resumed their 
 homeward way. The road was long and rough, but al 
 manac and sky promised them a moonlit night for what 
 should remain of their journey after daylight had gone. 
 Their shadows in the setting sun were moving far before 
 them along the road in a grotesque silhouette when Joseph 
 Hill gave the reins to Sam while he donned his " s tout. " 
 When he had thrust himself, with a series of jerks, into 
 that close-fitting, many-caped garment, he began his cus 
 tomary, uncertain search for pipe and tobacco. 
 
 " What in Sam Hill ! he ejaculated, as he brought up 
 from the recesses of a pocket of his " gret cut" a soiled 
 and travel-worn letter, and held it at half arm s length be 
 fore his staring eyes. " What in Sam Hill ! Oh, Samwill 
 Lovel ! f I hain t kerried this ere letter fur you all the 
 way f m Danvis an so fur back, an never thought tu give 
 it tu ye ! My sakes ! I m shameder n a licked dawg !
 
 SAM LOVKL S CAMPS. 97 
 
 But the s one comfort, Huldy never writ it ; it s a furrin 
 letter, f m way off. 
 
 Sam was assured of this when he saw the big, square let 
 ter addressed in a large, laborious hand : 
 
 " SAMMEWII.L LOVE L, 
 
 Danvis, 
 Sharlott Co., 
 
 State of Vermont. 
 
 in haste." 
 
 He turned it over and over, studying the ill-written ad 
 dress and postmark and the dauby seal, puzzling himself to 
 guess from whence it had come a long while before he 
 thought of solving the riddle by the easiest way. Then he 
 sniffed a familiar odor. 
 
 " By the gret horn spoon, boys, it s sealed wi shoe 
 maker s wax, an it s f m Uncle Lisher !" 
 
 "Why, sartinly, " said Joseph, "an I rec lect naow, 
 at when Clapham tol me the was a letter for me tu kerry 
 tu ye, he looked in the Liqrish draw, where he allus puts 
 the L s, an couldn t find it, and then he looked in the 
 Sal ratus draw, I b lieve it was, where he puts the S s, er 
 mebby t was the Cinnerment draw, an at last he faound 
 it in the Shellac draw, said he put t in there, cause he 
 was feared t ould make the liqrish taste. But why in 
 Sam Hill I never thought tu give it tu ye jest beats me all 
 holler. Seem s ough I d ha thought on t fust thing, 
 but I b lieve T be gettin furgitful, erless I can t re 
 member nothin , I ve tol M ri so tew three times. I
 
 98 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 b lieve it s newrology er rhemmatiz, which I ve lied em 
 both." 
 
 While Joseph was excusing and explaining his negligence, 
 Sam was unsealing his letter with awkward care, and hav 
 ing got at its contents began to read. This was no easy 
 task, for the jolting of the wagon would have made it diffi 
 cult to follow the lines if the words had been plainly writ 
 ten in the blackest ink. But the letter had been begun 
 with pale ink and a pen that either spluttered or refused 
 to make any mark, till the writer s patience had been ex 
 hausted, and he had exchanged them fora hard lead-pencil, 
 that in its normal condition left but faint trace of its prog 
 ress over the paper, though it had evidently been weightily 
 borne down upon. Then the chirographer had licked it, 
 and produced somewhat more satisfactory results, which 
 presently failing, he had softened his obdurate pencil with 
 a more thorough moistening, and succeeded in bringing 
 out two or three words in a strong though neutral tint. 
 Then the lead would thirst by the wayside, perhaps in the 
 middle of a word, and make but a shadowy record of its 
 course, till again refreshed. The writer s moments of 
 meditation, wherein he had pensively sucked his pencil, 
 were marked by the exceeding distinctness of the following 
 word. 
 
 Photography was unknown in those days, but the best 
 instantaneous production of the camera could hardly have 
 shown to Sam more vividly than this letter did the picture 
 of his old friend with elbows sprawled over a table and feet 
 hooked into the rungs of his chair, with intent, corrugated 
 brow and mouth set into a hard circle, around which rim 
 his tongue ran in accompaniment to the slow movement 
 of his fingers, more laboriously engaged on his sheet of
 
 SAM I. OREL S CAMPS. 99 
 
 foolscap, in the production of this letter, than he would 
 have been in the familiar task of cutting a side of sole 
 leather into soles and taps. If Sam s lips could not for 
 bear a smile at the homely picture which his fancy wrought, 
 neither could his eye withhold a mistiness that made dim 
 mer the scrawled words. Reading them to himself, while 
 his companions waited for what he should give them there 
 of, they ran in this wise : 
 
 HKGAI.C.AN, HEGALGAN Co., 
 
 Wis, Feb. the 4th. 
 S. lovil ^spected frend. 
 
 i take my pen in hand to seel myself to rite thees fu lines to 
 let you no that i am wel whitch i hope this may find you the 
 saim, and all frends in danvis whitch godnose i wish to see and 
 was in for i do not addmire this boosted land of westconstant 
 none tue well not to deny but what it is most frutefie in abunder- 
 ant crops and game dear and wile tirkees prayry chickin like the 
 patter ridges to homb but larjer and so neumerrus whitch wood 
 sprise you to see and delite to hunt not to spoke of fish in plenty 
 in the lake whitch shamplane is pudil and buffalow not fur to the 
 west thair paths and wollers remane and bones whitch was kill 
 by ingeans whitch they is plenty anuff but not danjerous and has 
 not skalp me tell josier hill nor bit by snaikes nor had feavnage 
 tell him but not this that i do not like the westconstant so mutch 
 as i ekspekt i shud and Jerusha my wif is not ruggid and cherk 
 tho she take grate comfurt with georges childerin 2 nise boys 
 and 2 nise gals whitch take tuc her natterly as moste do that no 
 her as you no we are lonesum for the mowntins whitch this 
 countray is flattern a pancake, nor no woods to call woods nigh 
 to smel of a balsum a spruce a hemlok whitch our ize miss the 
 site and my noze whitch you no not small the smel now my 
 frend i want you to see joel bartlit and see if he will take what 
 he giv for the ole plase if he will bargin for it as if youself byin 
 i hav got anuff to pay up i will let you hav it on sheers me and 
 Jerusha to liv with you and hulda til we dy and you tacare of us 
 til we dy and you shal hav the plase then anser as soon as you
 
 100 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS 
 
 can and not say nuthing of this to noboddy but hulda whiten i 
 hope you are marrid most happy your frend til deth 
 
 EI.ISHA PEGGS, p s 
 
 remember me to all inqirin frends as if namd what fun we will 
 hav in the ole shop agin doos it look natteral or all run down 
 jerusha sens her love to you and speshal hulda direk to Elisha 
 Peggs in care of George Peggs Hegalgan hegalgan co. Wis." 
 
 Visions of a cosey home of his own arose before Sam as 
 he read the letter to himself, and still as he read to his 
 companions such portions as he might, there floated before 
 his mind pleasant pictures of the future the " house part" 
 of the old couple s domicile again warmed to life, and a 
 brighter life than it had ever known, the shop, with Uncle 
 Lisha on his bench hammering merrily on his lap-stone, 
 and the old visitors in their chosen places. For a moment 
 it seemed almost a reality, then vanished like smoke in the 
 wind, as he remembered how seldom happy dreams are 
 realized. 
 
 The pale half moon grew silver bright in the darkening 
 blue, high above clouds aflame with the sun s afterglow, 
 and the clouds faded to pearly gray, and gray shadows grew 
 black across the moonlit road and fields as the little party 
 journeyed slowly homeward, still discoursing of the old 
 friend so freshly brought to mind. 
 
 When they entered the hamlet it had betaken itself to its 
 accustomed early sleep, and there was no sound of life in 
 it but the thunderous beat of its heart, the great hammer 
 of the forge, nor, except. the lurid gleam of its fires, cast 
 athwart the street through the wide doors, any light of Jife 
 but the faint glimmer of a lamp in Hamner s bar-room, 
 and another as faint in a quiet house, where it was guessed 
 " someb dy was sick or a sparkin ."
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. IOI 
 
 " Do know raly which is the wust, " Joseph Hill mused 
 aloud ; " sparkin* is the most pleasantest, but it s full dan- 
 gouser n most kinds o sickness; seem s ough twas, most 
 allus. " He sighed as he cast a longing backward glance 
 to Hamner s dim beacon. 
 
 The drowsiness of the village was infectious, and for the 
 next hour the travellers were only kept half awake by the 
 jolting of the wagon, and gave up all attempts at conver 
 sation.
 
 XL 
 
 THE HOME RECEPTION. 
 
 WHEN they came to the house of Sam s father, the men 
 aroused themselves to unload his canoe and other effects 
 and bade him good-night, "or mebby good-mornin ," 
 Joseph said, unwilling to commit himself even in a parting 
 salutation. 
 
 They went their way, and left him " on the chips, " which 
 were the only garniture of the untidy yard. Sam sighed 
 as he turned from watching the departure of the wagon 
 and cast a look over the house he called his home. Its 
 nakedness and unthrift were as drearily apparent in the 
 faint light of the clouded moon as in the glare of day. It 
 had never looked homelike since his mother died, for the 
 kindly touches of her brave but feeble hand had been 
 quickly effaced by the shrew who, with unseemly haste, 
 was installed in her place. 
 
 " If she d lived," Sam said to himself, pitying his un 
 cared-for childhood, " mebby I d ha ben suthin better n 
 a loafin , shifless, huntin , fishin cretur. Fl d bed her 
 an a hum at was a hum ! But mebby it s better for her 
 as tis ; the wa n t much comfort for her here, I guess," 
 and he pitied her hard life more than his own. " Mebby 
 a womern c n du suthin forme yit." Standing on the 
 rotting step at the kitchen door he glanced upward and saw 
 the old familiar oval plate of tin on the lintel with the
 
 SAM LOl EL S CAMPS. 103 
 
 word " Mutual " upon it, and remembered how when he 
 was a boy and could first read it, it gave him a feeling of 
 kinship with the world of Danvis, for there was not a well- 
 to do fanner in the township that had not this seal of the 
 insurance company set upon it. There was one over the 
 door of the Purington homestead, and it made his heart 
 beat quick to think that he would pass under it to morrow 
 night. There was one at Joel Bartlett s, but not above the 
 entrance, for Joel felt it borne in upon him that such a 
 display of gilded letters would be entirely out of plainness, 
 and had made the insurance agent nail the plate behind 
 the kitc"hen door, where it was seldom seen. He must see 
 Joel Bartlett to morrow and learn if there was any chance 
 of buying back the old place. 
 
 He raised the latch of the unfastened door and pushed 
 it open as quickly as its creaking hinges and sagged condi 
 tion would let even him, who had learned so well Us tell tale 
 tricks. When he had closed it he listened a moment, but 
 heard no sound that betokened the awakening of the in 
 mates. There were only the slow and squeaky ticking of the 
 tall clock, the purring of the cat under the cold stove, the 
 gnawing of a mouse somewhere in the woodwork, as mice 
 had always been gnawing since he could remember sounds, 
 and the gasping, intermittent snoring of his father, that used 
 years ago to make his heart stand still as he lay listening in 
 his lonely bed, wondering if the last explosive expiration 
 was not final and he the most forlorn of orphans. 
 
 Taking from its box on the mantelpiece a home-made 
 brimstone match, and lighting it with a coal raked from the 
 ashes, he lighted the slender dip candle which he found in 
 its accustomed place by the match-box, and as its feeble 
 light illumined the kitchen s tidy discomfort, the bare
 
 164 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 walls, newly whitewashed, the few well scrubbed wooden- 
 seated chairs, the big table, Sam comprehended at a glance, 
 as he hung the Ore Bed on its hooks, that house-cleaning was 
 over, and was thankful that his return was so well timed. 
 
 The slight sounds of his entrance had not awakened his 
 stepmother ; perhaps it was the light that aroused her, 
 perhaps it was the clatter of Drive s toe nails as he sniffed 
 an inventory of the room s contents, perhaps the rattle of 
 her cherished crockery, when Sam explored the pantry 
 shelves in search of something for himself and Drive to eat, 
 but just then her voice flashed out sharply : 
 
 " Who s that?" 
 
 " It s me," he answered, and asked, " haow be yeall ?" 
 
 " Me ! yis, an high time at me come hum, I sh d 
 think !" she snarled in a sleepy voice ; " but I do know 
 s the was any p tic lar need o sneakin in in the dead o 
 night, when the s jes s many days s the s nights ; 
 awakin up folks at hevs tu work stiddy, instid of bhoolin 
 raound a-trappin , an a huntin , an a-thisin an a-thatin , 
 so s tain t work. Make thet ere pleggid haoun dawg 
 lay daown, a-trompoosin over my clean kitchin floor at 
 I ve scrubbed and scaoured half a day." 
 
 " Here, Drive," Sam said, as if he had not heard her 
 tirade, " here s a col johnny-cake, an I ll d vide \vi ye." 
 
 " O dear me, suz !" groaned Mrs. Lovel, " I wish t 
 the wa n t none o them pleggid men in this livin worl, 
 erless I wish t I was dead. 
 
 " Seein t the so many more on em an the is o 
 you, I d take the cheapest way tu git clear on em f I 
 was you, marm," said Sam, taking a mouthful of johnny- 
 cake and dropping as generous a piece into Drive s aleit 
 jaws.
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 105 
 
 " I won t die tu please you," she snapped, smothering 
 the last word in the blankets as she settled herself in the bed, 
 whose sudden spiteful creak proclaimed that she would 
 vouchsafe no further speech. 
 
 " She sartinly never done much tu," Sam said to him 
 self, as he gave his dog the last morsel of their f i ugal supper. 
 
 His father, who had not deemed it prudent to appear 
 earlier, now came forth, very quietly, a queer figure in a 
 short red flannel shirt astilt on long bare legs, bringing to 
 mind the old simile of a " shirt on a bean pole." While 
 he scratched his side with a scant handful of flannel, 
 he welcomed his son with a pleasant smile and a whis 
 pered, 
 
 "Wai, Sam will, haow air ye? Hed good luck, an 
 Lep well, hev ye ?" 
 
 " Yes; an be you well, father?" Sam answered and 
 a^ked in a whisper, scanning the old man s weak, kindly 
 luce. 
 
 " Find suthin t eat? The s some pork an beans in 
 there some eres, " indicating the pantry by a sidewise nod. 
 " Do know where she put em. Hey, Drive, good ol 
 feller !" he whispered, stooping to pat the hound very 
 softly. " You better keep middlm still, ol feller !" as 
 Drive s friendly tail -beats smote chairs and wall. " Wai, 
 I guess I 11 be crawlin back. She s putty nigh beat aout 
 a-haouse cleanin , an so be I." 
 
 Sam took Drive to his bed in the barn, and then sought 
 his own in the cheerless kitchen chamber. Home was 
 home after all, and he settled himself to sleep under the 
 sloped ceiling with a sense of usage, if not of perfect con 
 tent, in which there was a degree of comfoit. In his 
 dreams he was a boy again, and his mother s toilworn hand
 
 106 SAM LOVELS CAMPS. 
 
 caressed his weary head with the kind!} 7 , unforgotten touch 
 of the nights of long ago. 
 
 As soon as might be next day he sought an interview 
 with Joel Baitlett, and after much roundabout talk con 
 cerning weather and crop prospects broached the real ob 
 ject of his visit. He was not disappointed when Joel re 
 fused to dispose of the Uncle Lisher place at the price he 
 had given for it, for that was not the thrifty saint s way of 
 doing business. But when he offered an advance of fifty 
 dollars, then of seventy-five, and finally of a hundred dol 
 lars, and each offer was promptly refused with a declara 
 tion that Joel " did not feel clear tu sell at no price likely 
 tu be gi n him, bein it come in so well with his own farm, 
 which it was onct a part on, the original tew hunderd acre 
 pitch drawee! tu the righto Ilezekier Varney, which he in 
 some ways foolishly got red on," Sam turned away, his 
 heart heavy with hope deferred. Not yet, as he had per 
 mitted himself to hope, was the door of a real home open 
 ing to Huldah and him. 
 
 That night the lovers built nothing so grand as a castle 
 in the air, only a snug log-house up among the cheaply 
 valued acres of woodland that Sam s small savings would 
 buy. Better that, they said, than going to the West, far 
 from kindred and old friends and the beloved Green 
 Mountains. 
 
 The neighbors remarked that " Sam Lovel hedn t never 
 took a holt so afore as he did in this spring s work." 
 
 But when the slack came after planting, the old wild 
 spirit laid hold of him. " I got tu go daown there a-fish- 
 in jest oncte," was his answer to his sweetheart s opposing 
 arguments.
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 THE CAMP ON THE LAKE. 
 
 I. 
 
 VOYAGE DOWN LITTLE OTTER. 
 
 FOLLOWING out a plan conceived during his spring cam 
 paign on the Slang, when he had been amazed at the num 
 bers, size, and variety of fishes inhabiting Champlain 
 waters, Sam Lovel and some of his friends with a wagon- 
 load of camping outfit were one day slowly jolting down 
 the steep, winding road to the landing below the first falls 
 on Little Otter. 
 
 It was one of those lazy afternoons in June when all 
 nature basks in the new warmth and nothing 1 seems better 
 to all things than to be still and enjoy laziness. The bull 
 frogs sitting on the rafted logs at the mill tail only winked 
 their enjoyment of sunshine as they dozed beside their 
 voiceless brothers, the little turtles. A kingfisher sat mo 
 tionless on a fishing-stake, apparently regardless of the 
 swarm of minnows poised beneath him. A big fish, find 
 ing himself floating too near the glassy surface, broke it 
 with a languid flap of his tail as he sought cooler depths, 
 the slow wavelets just stirring the young water weeds and 
 lapsing softly on the shores. High overhead a hen hawk
 
 loS SAM LOVEVS CAMPS. 
 
 swung in a wide circle as slowly as swe.pt the lazy drift of 
 silver clouds above him, and almost at rest upon the wing. 
 The voices of the birds were hushed ; the meny bobolinks 
 jangled only occasional snatches of song in the meadows, 
 where loitering strawberry- pickers lounged in the long 
 shadows of trees, and a wood pewee in the great elm over 
 the mill was the only one of the thousand singers that sang 
 continuously, and his sweet, pensive notes seemed like the 
 fragrance of flowers, more exhaled than sung. The per 
 vading spirit of indolence had fallen upon mankind as 
 well. The miller lounged in the doorway of his mill with 
 no sign of his vocation but the dust on his garments, while 
 no sound was in the misty precincts but the drowsy mur 
 mur of the waste water dribbling from the flume ; and from 
 the wide portals of the sawmill only at rare intervals was 
 heard the creak of the sawgate, the swish of the saw eating 
 its way through the log, and the clink of the ratchet in the 
 rag wheel ; and the sawyer only moved from his jerky seat 
 on the log when it had brought him into dangerous prox 
 imity to the saw, reluctantly, and wishing the log was 
 longer. Then he arose and leaned lazily against the lever 
 that sent the carriage on its backward course to its starting 
 place, and after due deliberation set the log up an inch 
 sidewise, dogged it in place with slow strokes, and when 
 he could think of no pretext for longer delaying, hoisted 
 the gate and set the squeak and swish and clink a going 
 again and fresh terebinthine and balsamic odors afloat on 
 the air. Women lolled in doorways with elbows on knees 
 looking intently at nothing, while children, too young to 
 be at school, were taking their afternoon nap. But the 
 curiosity of these good people was ayvakened and unwont- 
 edly stirred by the arrival of Sam s party, for a camping
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 109 
 
 outfit was an unusual sight in those days, when camping 
 was not in fashion with those who were considered quite 
 respectable. Only white vagabonds and bands of Ca 
 nadian Indians who had not much better shelter at home 
 were supposed to live in shanties and tents for the pleasure 
 of it, even in the pleasantest weather. Perhaps the mem 
 ory of the hardships of the pioneers, some of the younger 
 of whom were yet living, was not enough obliterated for 
 such primitive ways of life to seem at all desirable to their 
 descendants. At any rate, the folks about the falls wondered 
 to see such decent-looking men as these coming of their 
 own free will to take boat here to go to the lake for some 
 days of vagabondizing. This they signified their intention 
 of doing when the miller and the sawyer with moderate 
 haste drew near, with some others who suddenly emerged 
 from neighboring houses, rubbing the traces of recent 
 slumber from their eyes. 
 
 Sam inquired for the owner of a roomy boat to take 
 their effects to the mouth of the creek, and the miller look 
 ing at the sawyer, said, " Wai, there s ol Uncle Tyler hes 
 got a tollable big scaow boat, an hain t nolhin much t 
 du. Mebby he d take ye daown t the san bar. S pose he 
 would, Sargent ? 
 
 " Yaas, I sh think like nough he would." 
 
 " Yes, he ll du it," the miller said very confidently now. 
 
 " Goin fishin ? Thought most likely ye was. Uncle 
 Tyler lives up yunder in that leetle haouse wi the linter 
 on the west side on t that leetle heater piece is his n, an. 
 there he is a-pokin raound in his garding. There, he s 
 comin daown t see what s a goin on thought he would 
 hain t nothin else f du. Most, on us putty busy this 
 time o year; ha no time tu befoolin raound day-times. "
 
 no SAM LOVE L S CA MPS. 
 
 " So I sec, Sam said. " C n we git somcb dy t keep 
 aour bosses a week er so ?" 
 
 " Wai, Sargent s got a parstur handy," the miller re 
 plied, questioning the sawyer with his eyes. 
 
 " Jump ?" Sargent asked. 
 
 "No, sir," Sam answered; "do wantu, an can t," 
 which statement the subdued mien of the ancient and 
 clumsy animals seemed to verify. So a bargain was made 
 with the sawyer for their keep, and Uncle Tyler being 
 now present, bestowing a slow, senile, lop-jawed stare im 
 partially on each of the newcomers, negotiations were 
 entered into with him. " They wantu hire yer boat tu 
 take cm daown tu the san bar," the miller shouted with 
 great distinctness, making it apparent that Uncle Tyk-r 
 was hard of hearing. " Your boat ! san bar !" yet louder 
 and pointing to the scow drawn up among the willows, 
 and then down the creek. 
 
 " Ooo-h !" said Uncle Tyler, slowly looking them over 
 again. " Where d ye say ye come from ?" 
 
 " Hain t said," Sain answered. 
 
 " Stanstead ? Why, that s way up beyund Canerdy 
 line ! Hoss thieves up there !" Uncle Tyler said severely, 
 turning the focus of his dull stare on to the horses. 
 
 "We live up tu Danvis," Sam proclaimed with 
 slow and loud distinctness. 
 
 "Ooo-h! Danby i" said Uncle Tyler, " way saouth 
 o here Quaker taown. Haow come ye t come way up 
 here ? Hain t Quakers, be ye ?" 
 
 " Dan-vis," Sam roared. 
 
 " Oh, ooo-h, yis ! Danvis, yis, vis, over here," and the 
 
 old man pointed vaguely eastward. Sam nodded assent. 
 
 Yis, yis, Danvis," Uncle Tyler repeated; "Danvis;
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. Ill 
 
 got iclations up there, er my ol woman has ; maounts tu 
 baout the same thing, gen ally name o White White 
 by name but not by natur dark-complected folks ; know 
 em ? 
 
 Yes, Sam knew a family answering to that name and 
 description. 
 
 Yis, I guess I c n take \e daovvn termorrer mornin , 
 arter breakfus. Sh ll want a little suthin for t ; orter be 
 workin in my gardin weeds jest a-bilin up aouten the 
 airth naow. S pose yer willin tu pay reson ble? Hev 
 
 ye got anv terbarker at s fit tu smoke ? I meant tu ha 
 
 ?, 
 
 sent up t the store an got me some, but I forgot it/ 
 
 While the price of Uncle Tyler s prospective services was 
 being fixed upon, and he was filling his pipe from Sam s 
 blue paper of " long cut," Antoine returned from an in 
 spection of the craft in the harbor, rejoicing as if he had 
 met an old friend. "Say, Sam!" he cried, "}ou ant 
 b lieved it. Ah 11 fan dat sam raf we was helped it dem 
 feller bull las spring ! Yas, sah ; bah gosh ! He ll got 
 dat lett on en of log of it, feesh hook, an hoxin s yoke !" 
 
 " J. B, " Sam suggested. 
 
 Yas! yas ! Wai, seh, Sam, f Ah ll can haiie aout 
 some boats, Ah ll goin borried dat raf s an pole heem 
 daown de crik, hein ?" 
 
 " I guess, Antwine, at necessiation won t impel us tu 
 sech ways o navigation, said Solon Briggs, glad c,f an op 
 portunity to let these proud lowlanders know that although 
 he lived among the mountains, he was not to be outdone in 
 the elegant use of their common language by any one in 
 the lake region, " for Sammywell is a-negotiratin with this 
 elderly an-cient gentleman tu export us an aour defects 
 in a occupacious boat o his n."
 
 1 12 SAM LOVERS CAMPS. 
 
 When he had done Joseph Hill heaved a sigh of relief, 
 and said aside to Sam, " Wai, I swan ! I begin tu be 
 afeared at Solon ould git stuck, an never git red of all 
 that thout chokin ! I ll be gol dum d f his thn.it hain t 
 the size of a saw lawg ; not quite the size o some o these 
 mebby," slowly measuring with his eye some of the laigest 
 logs piled in the mill yard, " but the si/.e of a middlin - 
 sized, sorter sizerble saw lawg." 
 
 Arrangements were made with Uncle Tyler to take the 
 most cumbersome of their baggage to the lake in his scow 
 next morning, and accommodations for the night were 
 found for the party at the miller s house. The remainder 
 of the day was passed by them in comfortable lounging 
 about the neighborhood of the mills, watching the boys 
 catching rock bass at the foot of the rapids, themselves tak 
 ing a hand occasionally in the sport of capturing these vig 
 orous biters, and in informing themselves concerning a 
 desirable camping ground, and the best places for fishing. 
 
 " You c n fish anywheres t the s water n ketch 
 suthin nuther, " said the miller, " but f you want a ri 
 daown good campin place, arter you git beyund the Slab 
 Hole, you turn int the left, on the wes side o the crik, 
 posite the san bar, where the s a lot o willers, an you ll 
 find the neatest place t you ever see ! Ye needn t build 
 ye no shanty, for the s rocks a-hangin over at 11 shelter 
 ye, an the s lots o cedar browse tu make yer beds on, 
 an wood ! the Slab Hole s full on t lawgs, an slabs, an 
 sticks o fo foot wood, n everything, I m kin lin tu back 
 lawgs. An there ye be, right t the lake, n right t the 
 crick, an Lewis Crik an the seinin graound not mor n 
 a quart of a mild off !" 
 
 Uncle Tyler s appointed hour of departure, " arter
 
 SAJI LOl EL S CAMPS. 113 
 
 breakfus, " came in good time, and the party was afloat 
 not long after sunrise. Sam and Antoine led the flotilla 
 in the birch and dugout, which had been transported from 
 Uanvis on their wagon, and Uncle Tyler, Solon, and 
 Joseph were captain and crew of the scow. The old man 
 steered with a paddle, and struggled with his latest bor 
 rowed pipeful of damp plug tobacco, while each of the 
 others manned an oar and wrestled desperately with it, for 
 rowing was a new and painful experience for them. Now 
 they " caught crabs/ and now they dug the bottom with 
 the oar blades, bringing up on them specimens of aquatic 
 plants that would have rejoiced the heart of a botanist ; 
 and they bumped their noses and their knees with the 
 handles, while the splashing of the water, the creaking and 
 thumping of the clumsy oars, and the grunting and puffing 
 of the rowers, intermingled with the directions of the 
 helmsman, delivered in the loud, unmodulated tone that 
 deaf persons are apt to use, made a confusion of sounds 
 most wonderful to hear. If the ancient mariner laid aside 
 his paddle for a moment to give his pipe its often-needed 
 lighting, Solon s oar was sure to be midwav in or at the 
 beginning of a stroke, while Joseph s blade was pointing 
 at some quarter of the heavens between the zenith and the 
 horizon, and presently the scow was headed for the shore, 
 her bottom brushing over the young rushes and sedges of 
 the marsh. " For massy s sake i didn t nary one on ye 
 never have a holt of a noar afore ?" he would shout, as with 
 lateral sweeps of his paddle he got the boat upon her course 
 again. " Don t dip so deep 1 Keep the blades o yeroars 
 jest onderneath the water but ye got tu stick em in the 
 water ! ye can t row in the air !" as one of them skinned 
 the surface with his blade. " Oh, for massy s sake ! can t
 
 114 SAM LOT EL S CAMPS. 
 
 ye hear nothin , er can t ye onderstan nothin ?" The old 
 man s patience was almost exhausted, when his pipe, turn 
 ing over in the unstable grip of his gums, emptied its now 
 well-fired contents upon his knee, unnoticed till it burned 
 through his trousers to his leg. " O massy ! I thought I 
 smelt suthin a-burnin !" he cried, slapping wildly at the 
 smouldering fire. His pipe dropped and was shivered at his 
 feet, and just then Joseph missed a stroke into which he had 
 put much strength and good intention, and went sprawling 
 heels up in the bottom of the scow, while his oar blade 
 came down with a thud on Uncle Tyler s pate. 
 
 " 15e ye tryin ter kill me, er what be ye tr)in t clu ? 
 Breakin my pipe, an a-knockin on me in the head, an 
 a-burnin on me up alive i Gimme a holt o them oars, 
 an git aout o that mighty quick i" crawling over the bag 
 gage toward them. " Lay daown er git aout an go 
 afoot i I don t keer a dum mite which i Ketch me 
 a-goin a-bwulin agin along o a passcl o idjits at do 
 know a noar f m a puchl n stick i Ye can t row a bwut 
 no more n a goose c n gobble i" 
 
 One bestowed himself in the bow, the other in the stern, 
 while the old man, as speechless with wrath as they were 
 with mortification, sent the boat forward with long, even 
 strokes that made the water surge under her broad bow. 
 The young lily pads danced madly on the waves of her 
 wake, and the little whirlpools that spun away from the oars 
 twisted into tangles the slender new leaves of wild rice and 
 engulfed fleets of water beetles. 
 
 The commotion on board the larger craft had caused 
 Sam and Antoine to cease paddling and wait to ascertain 
 the cause. 
 
 " What hail dat hoi can hear not in<r man ?" Antoine
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 115 
 
 asked as they looked back. " He ll don t goin t row 
 Solem an Zhozeff board over, ant it ? Oh, bah gosh ! 
 Ah 11 bet you head Ah 11 know what was de matter be i 
 Dey ll can t roar ! 
 
 " Wai, by the gret horn spoon : I sh d think by the 
 saound at he c ld roar nough for the hull three on 
 em:" said Sam, as the steady rumble of Uncle Tyler s 
 angry bawling came over the water. 
 
 " Oh, Ah 11 ant meant roar, a nowse : Ah 11 meant 
 r-r-roar dat hoi boats wid r roar i Ant you ll on stan , 
 hein ? *\>i 11 ant never see langwizhe lak Angleesh, 
 me i" 
 
 " Wai, Antwine, I never did nuther not as you speak 
 it." The scow seemed to be making fair progress now, 
 and they went on their way. 
 
 Solon, after long and intent study of the Tyler method 
 of handling the oars, at last said : " I du raly b lieve, 
 Jozeff, at I hev got a clear an intercate idee of the modus 
 upperdandy, as they say in Latin, an at I c ld naow, 
 arter a leetle practyse, expel this boat putty nigh as rapid 
 as what he does. 
 
 " Wai, it looks tollable easy, but I hain t faound it so 
 that is, not so turrible easy," said Joseph. 
 
 " Naow, she s a goin i " proclaimed Uncle Tyler, un 
 conscious of their conversation, and sending a grim but 
 somewhat mollified glance fore and aft. 
 
 "She?" queried Solon, after scanning each distant 
 shore, "who s she? I don t discover no one of the 
 femaline sect nowheres. " 
 
 " What she is a-goin ?" Joseph shouted at Uncle 
 Tyler. 
 
 " Hey ? Oh, massy sakes alive i I never see such
 
 Il6 SAM LOFEL S CAMPS. 
 
 dum d ign nt creeters. Why, this bwut is she. It hain t 
 he, is it?" and the old man was obliged to quit rowing a 
 moment to unburden himself of wheezy laughter. 
 
 " rp hat is a most cur osity idee," Solon said, alter some 
 consideration of the subject, "a-speakin of a onhumern, 
 onanimit boat as if it belonged tu any sect. I don t see 
 nothin phillysoffycable in it i" 
 
 " Wai," Joseph said, " I do know. Mebby it s cause 
 if they take a notiern tu go, they re a- goin , an if they 
 don t, they hain t, erless a feller knows haow tu make 
 em thaout lettin on em think they re bein made, which 
 it is a knack at few on us hes er mebby it s cause they 
 take a feller jest where they re a minter I do know." 
 
 " It proberbly deriginated someway aout o their con- 
 trairiness. Haowevertheless, it pears tu me it ould be 
 more properer tu call em he, bein at they hev starns, 
 which men is spoke of frequent as the starn sect. 
 
 " An then there s the baows, tu. Women allus 
 curcheys. " 
 
 "That s the way to row a bwut i" Uncle Tyler said, 
 only knowing by the motion of their lips that they were 
 speaking, and imagining that they were expressing admi 
 ration of his skill. 
 
 " Goin ahead looks easy nough," Joseph said, pon 
 dering, " but s posin* a feller wanted ter hev him no, 
 she is what he calls the dum d ol thing hev her go 
 t other way, what s goin ter be did then ? What d* yer 
 du when ye wanter back her?" loudly addressing the 
 ancient mariner. 
 
 " Hey ?" he shouted, suddenly alert and resting on his 
 oars. " Want terbacker ? Course I du, but ye broke my 
 pipe, an I can t smoke thaout you lem me have youin,
 
 SAM LOl EL S CAMPS. 117 
 
 an I hain t got no terbacker ; meant tu sent up tu the 
 store an got me some yist d y, but I forgot it. " 
 
 Joseph began whittling a plug of tobacco, and filling his 
 own pipe, handed it with flint and steel and a bit of punk 
 to the old man, who, dropping his oars, at once set himself 
 to lighting it. " Ol as he is, he hain t forgot haow tu 
 suck," Joseph remarked in an ordinary tone as he watched 
 him pulling at the pipe with resounding smacks. " Don t 
 ye see the sparks a-comin aouten his ears ? I do know as 
 I see the sparks, ezackly, but I m sartin I du the smoke." 
 
 " That s the way tu row a bwut i" Uncle Tyler repeated 
 when, having got his pipe in satisfactory blast, he resumed 
 the oars and sent the scow snoring on its way. The sound 
 of its progress was not unlike the heavy breathing of a 
 sound sleeper, the long, grating squeak of the swivels sim 
 ulating the indrawing of the breath, the gurgling swish of 
 the water during the stroke, its exhalation. " It s jest as 
 ea-sy !" 
 
 " I know it is," said Joseph, " leastways, I think it is, 
 tu look at it. I c ld set an look at ye duin on t, an 
 never git the least mite tired ; an I do know but what I 
 c ld larn, jest a-settin an a-watchin on ye. Anyways, 
 I m willin tu try larnin that way a spell. Golly blue i" 
 inspecting his palms, " the s blisters on my han s bigger n 
 ac rns, an a duni sight tenderer ! That ol dried-up crit 
 ter hain t juice nough in his hull carkiss tu make one sech 
 blister. Mebby the is in his hull carkiss, but the hain t 
 in his han s, I don t b lieve. An his back lies got jest 
 the right hump for the business. Tell ye what, Solon, I 
 b lieve ol folks is the fellers at is ezackly cal lated for t. 
 If I was tu set here an watch him till I git tu be as ol as 
 he is I shouldn t wonder f I could oar one o these she
 
 n8 SAM LOVEL S CAM PS. 
 
 boats, but I do know, it don t scascly seem, s I feel 
 naovv, as ough I keered baout tryin much afore." 
 
 When the two canoes came to where the tributary East 
 Slang somewhat widened the slow current of Little Otter, 
 Sam pointed with his paddle to the low cape, now green 
 with water maples in full leaf, even now standing ankle- 
 deep in the still brown water, whose weedy surface dully 
 reflected their greenness and graceful ramage and the 
 flash of the starlings wings that flitted among them. 
 " Up there, Antwine, is where we camped last spring, an 
 bed fun. I wonder haow it looks naow at summer s 
 come, if the shanty s standin , an whether that ere little 
 squirrel sets there a-chitterreein on that hemlock yit ? 
 Dum d f I don t gwup an see haow it looks some day ; 
 lunsomer an it did then, I guess." 
 
 " Yas, sah ! Oh, f Ah 11 ant have it good tarn dere, 
 me ! An dat de place you ll see dat crookit tree where 
 Ah 11 leek dat mans. Ah ll bet you head you can fan de 
 brark scrape off de tree yet, an dc ha rs scratter raoun - 
 prob ly de blood all wash away fore naow. 
 
 " Most likely, Sam said. 
 
 The scow having now drawn near, they passed on to 
 gether toward the lake. " I was a-cal latin ," Uncle Tyler 
 said, addressing the fleet in general, but particularly his 
 crew, " for ter troll some comin long, but you be so 
 okkerd ! I got a rig there an posserbly }ou might hang 
 on to t so s t snag a pickril, " and reaching before him he 
 took up a short pole with manv crooks in it tor its length 
 whereon was wound a stout line which had a hook baited 
 with a piece of pork rind and a strip of red flannel. 
 While he kept the boat slowly moving he unwound thirty 
 feet or so of the line, and handing the pole to Joseph went
 
 SAM I.OVEL S CAMPS. 119 
 
 on at a leisurely stroke. " The hain t no better trollin 
 graouncl in the hull crik an the is atwixt the tew Slangs," 
 he said, and as they neared the mouth of the South Slang 
 Joseph returned jerk for jerk on the trailing line with a 
 grunt thrown in. " What be I a-goin t du naow?" he 
 asked in dire perplexity, though he set his teeth and held 
 to the bending pole with a will ; " I can t get him thin 
 twenty foot on us wi this dum d little short pole." 
 
 " Girn me a holt on t !" said Uncle Tyler, dropping 
 his oars and rising to the occasion. Laying hold of the 
 pole he drew the tip far behind him, and grasping the line 
 hauled* it in hand over hand with deliberate celerity, till 
 the wide-mouthed pickerel came gaping alongside and 
 was lifted on board by the hook, forgetting to resent his 
 injuries till he dropped on the bottom of the scow, which 
 he then belabored with strokes of his tail, while he snapped 
 his ugly jaws. He was a slab-sided fellow, whose six 
 pounds of weight were spanned by two feet and a half of 
 length, but he was admired as a beautiful monster by 
 Solon and Joseph, and almost as much by Sam and An- 
 toine, who came alongside to look at him. 
 
 " Massy sake !" cried Uncle Tyler in wondering pity, 
 " it does beat all natur haow you folks does vally these 
 ere goo -for-nothin pickril ! I d a gre deal druther have 
 a neel. Wait tiil ye git aholt of a fo li paound pike, an 
 then you have a fish at s wuth a-havin ! Pickril !" 
 
 The trolling line was let out again as they went forward, 
 and to keep it clear of the weeds Joseph now ventured to 
 direct their course with commands, or rather friendly 
 advice, which would have puzzled a strictly nautical man 
 to obey or follow. " F I was you I d gee a lee-tie mite. 
 Naow haw more n ye gee. Now oar the hardest wi yer
 
 120 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 north oar. Guess ye d better oar most \vi the saouth one 
 naow guess it s the saouth one do know but what it s 
 the west one lem me see," taking a look at the sun and 
 the eastern hills " yes, oar the west one." 
 
 " Oh, go long wi your tarnal geein an hawin , an 
 your northin an saouthin !" Uncle Tyler droned loudly. 
 His father had migrated to Vermont from the sea-coast, and 
 something of his salty flavor had been imparted to his son. 
 " This ere hain t a nox cart, it s a bwut, an this side on 
 her is starb d and that s larb d er port. When you re 
 a-wantin on me tu pull this oar, holler starb d ! an 
 when you re a-wantin on me tu pull t other, holler 
 port ! But I guess you d better shet yer head alto 
 gether. Anyways, quit yer dum d geein and hawin , I 
 hain t a yoke o oxen ! " 
 
 Now came a heavy, dead pull on the line, and Joseph, 
 following the recent example of Uncle Tyler, laid the tip 
 of the pole forward, and snatching wildly at the line, 
 caught it at last and hauled it in with such haste and ex 
 citement that it was snarled in an almost inextricable 
 tangle about his feet and legs when the hook came along 
 side with a great burden of lily stems, and pads, and water 
 weed. His look of disappointment when he saw his 
 worthless catch was not dispelled when he contemplated 
 the tangled confusion of the line, and he was not com 
 forted by Uncle Tyler s assurance, " You ve got a job at 
 11 last ye till ye git t the lake, a omavlin that ere line ! 
 If you d a-had it aout a-passin the Saouth Slang, you d a 
 got one ! The s allus a good one a-layin there." 
 
 Now they were on the last reach of the channel, bend 
 ing here in a long curve through the "widema sh," as 
 Uncle Tyler informed them this portion of the stream was
 
 SAM LOVF.L"S CAMPS. 121 
 
 called. Through the willowy gateway oi the creek s 
 mouth they could see the lake, the " Bay of the Vessels," 
 with Garden Island, green and white with leaves and blos 
 soms, set like a nosegay on its shining bosom, clasped in 
 the rockv arm of Thompson s Point. They soon passed 
 the " Slab Hole, a great drift of flood wood lying along 
 the western shore, and presently landed among the willows 
 at the place the miller had told them of. They found the 
 shelter of rocks under the bluff, but decided to pitch their 
 tent, for the overhanging ledge looked like a pokerish roof 
 to sleep under. 
 
 The pickerel was dressed and fried for dinner, and even 
 Uncle Tyler, despite his unfavorable opinion of pickerel, 
 made way with a generous portion of it. The old man 
 was paid for his services, and made pieparations for his 
 homeward voyage. He pushed his craft afloat and em 
 barked, but presently came ashore again, and they returned 
 to the landing to see what he had forgotten. 
 
 " I wish t some on ye Id gim me a pipeful er tew o 
 terbacker. I m a-goin tu send light up t the store an 
 git me some jest as soon as I git hum. I meant tu 
 yiste d y, but I forgot it." For some minutes after he left 
 them they could hear the smacking of his lips as he pulled 
 at Joseph s pipe, and for half an hour longer the squeak, 
 and clank, and surge of his laborious progress, while they 
 busied themselves with the arrangement of the camp. 
 
 They had not finished pitching the tent before they were 
 assailed by swarms of hungry mosquitoes, the constant 
 warfare with which left them little time for peaceable labor, 
 and soon made it apparent that there was no comfort nor 
 rest for them in this place. Sam and Antoine made their 
 way to the top of the rocky bluff, and finding their perse-
 
 122 SAM LOl EI. S CAMPS. 
 
 cutors much less numeious, the tent and camp equipments 
 were carried thither, and their temporary home established 
 among the cedars. Northerly winds from the lake and 
 southerly winds from the cleared fields land waul swept 
 their winged enemies away and filled the air with balsamic 
 fragrance that reminded them of Danvis we oils, and 
 through the green masses of cedar boughs and meshes of 
 trunks and branches they caught glimpses of the blue lake 
 crinkled with gold and silver waves. The thin soil and 
 the rocks were spread with a soft carpet and cushions of 
 fallen cedar leaves and moss set in various patterns of russet 
 and green, and about the bases of the rocks were spiinging 
 the young shoots of mountain hinge, ready to overrun 
 them with a graceful invasion of vine and flower. 
 
 " Ah ll tol you, boy!" cried Antoine, looking with 
 admiration on the carpeting of the tent floor, just finished 
 with his last armful of cedar twigs, " f he ant mek you 
 felt sleepy for jes look at -dat beds! Oh, f we ant 
 took comfor here ! An don t dat neat fireplaces you ll 
 buil dar?" inspecting the result of the others labors 
 a broad fireplace built of flat ledge stones. " Jes as 
 handle as stofe was ; yas, seh, more handle, cause you ll 
 don t got for hopcn no door for put hwood, an you ll 
 don t got for took off no giibble for brile you pot of 
 it! Dat mek it all de hwomans in Danvit cry f he ll 
 sec it ! Naow f we can honly jes git some bullpawt, 
 dey ant notin more in dis worl we ll as for it ! But 
 Ah ll fred, me, we ll ant ketch it much dat kan , cause 
 de she one he ll settin on hces aigg naow, Ah b lieve, an 
 de he one, he ll watch of it. But Ah 11 goin try it. Ant 
 you go long to me, some of it ? 
 
 Solon expressed a desire to test his " fishcatorial skill,"
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 12$ 
 
 and the two went down the bluff, and launching the dug 
 out, paddled out to a convenient stake set in the further 
 edge of the channel. More than once as the narrow craft 
 lurched along its course and Solon grasped the gunwales, 
 he wished the broad and stable bottom of Uncle Tyler s 
 scow was beneath him, but he felt safer when the canoe 
 was made fast to the stake and the green weeds of the 
 marsh were within reach, though under them were six feet 
 of water and unfathomable mud. 
 
 " I tell ye what, Antwine," he said, drawing the first 
 full breath since leaving shore, " if I m a-goin tu persecute 
 fishin /Tm a goin tu du it in sulhin diff ent f m these 
 ere lawg and birch bark c ntraptions. They hain t got 
 no stability. I m a goin tu hev me a boat suthin arter 
 the partern o the one at that ol gentleman fetched me 
 an Jozeff an t other things daown here in, infactotum a 
 femaline or she boat, at is capacious o kerryin suthin 
 right end up withaout oncessant discumbobberation. " 
 
 " Well, seh ! Solem, f you can fan dat kan o boats 
 Ah ll willin you ll go in it ! Ah ll fred all a tain every 
 minutes you ll speel bose of it. Sect steel ! Dis can noe 
 don t fraid f you ll ant jomp an weegly every tarn he ll 
 top over leetly mites !" And Antoine swung his full 
 baited hook abroad and dropped it gently into the water. 
 Solon s splashing cast, made with an awkward motion, set 
 the canoe to rocking and his companion to swearing, and 
 reawakened his own fears. When quiet was restored he 
 got a bite, and after several ineffectual twitches hooked 
 and pulled up a broad sunfish, and as he swung it back 
 and forth, making futile snatches at it as it quivered past 
 and circled about him, always just out of reach, the danger 
 of a capsize became imminent, till the fish, by a twist, as
 
 124 5/tfJ/ LOT EL S CAMPS. 
 
 lucky for them as for it, unhooked itself and dropped into 
 the edge of the weeds. 
 
 Antoine rejoiced aloud, while Solon gazed with a rueful 
 countenance upon the spot where the fish had disappeared. 
 " Ah ll tol you, Solem, you ll ant goin feesh some more 
 less Ah ll go shore. Ah ll ant want no fun for be top 
 over here, me !" Solon agreed to content himself with 
 being only a looker-on, while Antoine fished. But the 
 Canadian s skill and patience, faithfully exercised an hour 
 longer, were rewarded by nothing better than a dozen 
 perch and sunfish, which though he cursed, he saved for 
 supper. " Yas, seh, as he drew out his hook and cleaned 
 the fragments of worms off it, tossing them begrudgingly 
 far away, and widely scattered, " Ah ll tol you so de 
 she bullpawt was all seltin , an he ant goin stop for heat 
 notin s. Wai, le s we ll go." And after winding up his 
 line, he untied the canoe and paddled into the black shad 
 ows that had now fallen along the western shore. His 
 labors faintly illumined by the last glimmers of departing 
 daylight straggling through the willows, he scaled and 
 cleaned the fish while Solon squatted near, assisting little 
 but in the tree offering of sage advice. Then they climbed 
 the bluff, bearing the slender catch to camp, where, re-en 
 forced by generous slices of pork, it furnished a bountiful 
 supper. Smoking and chat filled the short hour between 
 supper and early bedtime, when they fell into the sound 
 sleep which blesses honest campers.
 
 II. 
 
 JOSEPH HILL GOES FISHING. 
 
 JOSEPH HILL was the first to awake next morning, and 
 deliberate in all things, he a\voke slowly. While yet in 
 the drowsy borders of dreamland he imagined himself at 
 home, nd began as usual to " tell M ri" something of 
 yesterday s performances or to-day s plans. Then the 
 odor of the cedar bed beneath him and a glimpse of the 
 canvas roof slanting close above him brought a dim realiza 
 tion of his unaccustomed surroundings, more forcibly im 
 pressed upon him when he crept forth through the tent 
 flaps and saw between the tree trunks the channel of Little 
 Otter shining through the film of mist that overspread it 
 like a broad stripe of silver veiled with gauze, and heard a 
 kingfisher clattering along it, and from far out on the lake 
 the crazy laughter of a loon. Then he got cut a new 
 pipe, and filling it, began, since Uncle Tyler had taken his 
 well-seasoned cutty, the old smoker s unpleasant task of 
 mellowing the unripe clay of this. 
 
 The fiz of the damp tobacco or a mute demand of the 
 inner Joseph reminded him of breakfast, and then arose 
 the question of what that repast should be composed ? 
 Unlimited fish at all meals had been the alluring prom 
 ise of this expedition, and now there was not one fish in 
 camp to furnish even lenten fare. A noble ambition 
 seized him to provide fish for breakfast, and with un-
 
 126 SAM LOVEI S CAMPS. 
 
 wonted promptness he took a pole and bait and stole 
 away to the creek where above the Slab Hole the shore 
 and a patch of weedless water met. He looped a great 
 tangle of worms on to the hook and cast it out with a 
 splash that troubled the quiet surface, but did not seem 
 to have frightened the fish beneath it, for presently there 
 came a slow, dogged pull upon the line, which then be 
 gan to cut the water with a strong, deliberate sweep that 
 needed half of Joe s strength to check. There was a short 
 but lusty struggle, and then the angler thought he must 
 be towing ashore all the bottom of the creek, but in the raft 
 of old and young water weeds that his steadfast pull 
 stranded he discovered the foim of a great fish, \\hich he 
 pounced upon and bore well back into the grassy field 
 before he loosened his hold upon it. Then as it threshed 
 the sward with sullen strokes he gloated over it. Dull in 
 color, small-eyed, and wide-mouthed, rimmed with a long 
 dorsal fin that met the round tail where it was marked with 
 a spot of black, its captor was obliged to admit that it was 
 not handsome, but its size made amends for all lack of 
 beauty. Its weight could not be less than eight pounds, 
 and Joseph, with an angler s generosity, set it at three or 
 four pounds more. What a grand breakfast it would 
 make, all the more to be appreciated for its unexpectedness. 
 
 The place offered conveniences for dressing it, a slab to 
 scale it on and water to wash it, so Joseph at once set 
 about preparing it for breakfast, having no desire to dis 
 play it with its now useless adornments of head, scales, and 
 fins. Possibly he thought there would be no loss of glory 
 in guessing at the undressed weight. So he dressed and 
 cleaned it and bore it to camp. 
 
 He wondered a little, perhaps was rather disappointed
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 127 
 
 that none of his companions were astir to be astonished at 
 his luck, but the tent was silent except for the slow, regular 
 breathing of the sleepers, which he was sure he heard. It 
 would be an immense triumph to have the fish cooked 
 when they awoke and surprise them with a breakfast already 
 set which they had not dreamed of at all. He collected 
 some dry fallen limbs very silently, and started a fire, lis 
 tening when it cracked loudest to assure himself that the 
 sleepers were not disturbed. He got a chunk of pork out 
 of the kit and cut some slices off it, which he soon had 
 sizzling in the pan, then took them out when they had 
 yieldedlat enough, and filled their place with great cuts of 
 fish. The savor hardly answered his expectations, and 
 when he turned the pieces with a fork, unwashed since the 
 last meal, they crumbled in a way that reminded him of 
 frying frozen hasty pudding, but he was magnanimous 
 enough to blame his culinary skill more than the quality 
 of the fish. How could so great a fish be otherwise than 
 good ? Glancing frequently behind him in momentary 
 expectation of seeing some one overlooking the experi 
 mental cookery that he was almost sorry for having under 
 taken, and even wishing that M ri was in his place fora 
 little while, he urged the fire with frequent jabs of the 
 poker to do its best. " It beats Sam Hill," he whispered 
 to himself as he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow 
 and look at the quiet tent a era in, " at the don t some 
 on em wake up !" 
 
 At last the fish was done bejond all doubt, for the fork 
 went through the thickest piece without resistance, which 
 he had heard M ri say was a sure sign. And now he be 
 thought him that he had forgotten the potatoes ! But if 
 there was fish, what did it matter if there were no potatoes,
 
 128 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 nor bread, nor anything else? But there was bread 
 enough, and so he pulled aside the tent flap and loudly 
 announced breakfast. He was greatly surprised that no 
 response came from it ; more so when, with a vague fear 
 that some strange calamity had befallen his companions, 
 he peered into the dim interior and found it empty. Joseph 
 was not a superstitious man, but for a moment he won 
 dered if some judgment of heaven had come upon them 
 for such sacrilegious use of Brother Foot s old camp-meet 
 ing tent, sanctified as it must be by annual scivice in the 
 religious picnics of the past twenty years. When he 
 backed out on his hands and knees he noticed, as he had 
 not before, that all the fish poles but his own were gone, 
 and knew that his friends were out on the same errand 
 that he had been. His loud shouts, or perhaps the voice 
 less calls of hunger, soon brought them back, when their 
 admiration of his whole performance gave him all the re 
 ward he desired but the final one of gustatory approval, 
 which he hoped would soon be given. The full frying 
 pan was set out, the bread and pickles were brought forth, 
 and while Joseph apologized for the lacking potatoes, as 
 much missed at a Yankee feast as they would be at a ban 
 quet of the descendants of Irish kings, they gathered 
 around the festive board, which was not a board, but a fiat 
 rock. As each took his first mouthful he looked about 
 and saw the others furtively regarding him as they slowly 
 and dubiously tasted their own morsels. 
 
 " Wai," said Sam, the first to break the silence, " this 
 is turrible nice fish, but somehaow r nother it don t seem 
 tu be ezackly the kind o fish at I like." 
 
 " What kan of feesh you ll call dat, Zhozeff ?" Antoine 
 demanded, with a grimace of disgust. " You ll fan heem
 
 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 129 
 
 dead on de water, or he ll got so hoi he ll can died an* 
 come for you for keel heem, hein ?" 
 
 "Wai, I guess you d ha thought he was live no^h 
 an spry nough f you d a-hed a holt on him ! He pulled 
 like a yoke o tew-ye r-ol stags I d* know but three- 
 ye r-ol s an flew raound like a nigger tu a quiltin . 
 But, I swan ! it s a fact he don t taste so good s I ex 
 pected f m his looks, for I called him ri daown harnsome. 
 Anyways, he was big enough tu a ben tumble harnsome 
 f he d ha took a notiern tu run tu beauty. But I spect 
 the fault s in the cookin , er aour appetite t eat, er 
 suthin the cookin , I guess, for I never could cook 
 nothin wuth a snap, anyways. Naow, oncte when M ri 
 was gone off vis tin her folks tew three days, I ondertook 
 tu make a johnny cake, I b lieve it was mebby twasa 
 short cake ; guess the couldn t nob dy tol which twas 
 meant for an when twas done, I snum the young uns 
 turned up all the noses at it, an I ll be dum d if Liern 
 ould tech it ! I hove it in t hawgs, an they fin ly wore 
 it aout rhuttin on it raound. I wish t I hedn t never 
 ondertook tu cook the tarnal fish ! I d ort tu ben satis 
 fied wi ketchin on it. But the s nough on t left tu try 
 agin ; pitch in, Antwine, n see what you c ndu with it." 
 
 " Yes, du, Antwine, " Solon urged ; " the s no knowin 
 but what wi your cumilary skill you c ld make it quite 
 palatial." 
 
 "Ah b lieve," said Antwine, closely examining some 
 of the uncooked portion, " Ah 11 know what kin o feesh 
 dat was be. Where hees head was ?" 
 
 " Why," Joseph answered, " on the for a d end on 
 him, jest the same as any fish s an his tail was on t 
 other end on him, er most on t was, s nigh s I c n
 
 130 SAM LOVEUS CAMPS. 
 
 rec lect ; do know but some on t was on his back, though, 
 come tu think." 
 
 " Ant you ll s pose Ah 11 know dat ? Where you ll lef 
 hees head of it ?" 
 
 " Oh ! naow I begin tu onclerstand ye, Antwine. Over 
 there where I ketched him." 
 
 " Ah guess you ll on stan more better as you cook what 
 Ah 11 meant. Where you ll t row hees tail of it?" 
 
 " Oh, I d know. It s layin raound here some er s, 
 I guess," and he joined Antoine in the search for the 
 missing link. 
 
 " Dah !" cried Antoine, swooping down upon some 
 thing and then holding aloft the rounded tail with its au 
 thentic black seal, " ant Ah ll guess what Ah 11 tol you ? 
 Jes same what Peltiet shoot dat tarn he ll link he do so 
 big ! O Zhozeff, don t you bhame mek us heat dat? Ant 
 you ll see where de dev put hees t umb w en he ll peek it 
 an t row it way cause he so bad he won t have it hese f ?" 
 
 Shamefaced with downfall of pride, Joseph said, as 
 Pelatiah had on a similar occasion, " Wai, I hed fun 
 a-ketchin on him, an some, I d know but I did, 
 a-cookin on him more, anyways, n we ve hed a-eatin 
 on him. I m tumble sorry t he ain t no better eatin , 
 but I du think," he added, loath to relinquish the fish s 
 claims to edible excellence, " at the fault is mostly in the 
 cookin ." 
 
 " Wai, seh, Zhozeff," cried Antoine, throwing his hands 
 out from his breast and wide apart, as if in final banish 
 ment of the subject, " you ll ant wan be sorry for dat. 
 Ah tol you, all de mans and all de hwomans was be 
 de bes cook in de worl , have it all de bur r an peppy an 
 salt was ever mek, can mek dat bowfins fit for heat de dev . "
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 131 
 
 Upon this assurance they attempted no further experi 
 ments with the despised fish, but made their breakfast of 
 fried pork and bread. 
 
 Then they set about spending the day in accordance 
 with the chief purpose of the expedition. Sam fitted up 
 a trolling rig after the approved pattern of Uncle Tyler s, 
 a bit of his flannel shirt furnishing the red rag unprovided 
 by their kit, and trolled up and down the creek in the 
 bark canoe. Antoine, intent on circumventing the bull- 
 pouts that would not bite, made a rude spear of a cedar 
 pole and sharpened nails and prowled along the low shore 
 of the* 1 creek in quest of spawning fish, while Solon and 
 Joseph, unwilling to trust themselves in birch and dug 
 out, wandered westward along the safe and stable shore of 
 the bar.
 
 III. 
 
 EXPLORATIONS. 
 
 SOLON and Joseph fished off the rocks when they came 
 to eligible places, and caught a few perch and rock bass, 
 while they continually feasted their eyes with the wonder 
 ful sight of the lake, so immense a body of water that, it 
 seemed to them, it gave a fair idea of the immensity of 
 the ocean. This was more impressed upon them when 
 they had strolled to Bluff Point, and looking beyond the 
 promontory of Thompson s Point, saw the blue lake and 
 the blue sky meet far to the northward, with bluer dots of 
 distant islands hung between them, and the white wings 
 of sloops whose hulls were beyond the horizon. And 
 there was the tall white tower of Split Rock Lighthouse, 
 newly built, and now a pillar of cloud by day, a star by 
 night to warn mariners off its perilous rocks, and giving 
 these mountaineers a vivid realization of the dangers beset 
 ting those who go down to the sea in ships ; perils and 
 dangers that the waves seemed always whispering of as 
 they hungrily lapped the rocks and chuckled wickedly in 
 the water-worn caverns. By and by they saw a smoke 
 arising from the watery horizon, and after it a speck, which 
 at last grew till it became a steamboat, a leviathan which 
 soon wallowed ponderously past, close to the farther shore, 
 its gay flags and pennons flaunting bravely against the 
 shadowed steeps of Split Rock Mountain, a wake of foam
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 133 
 
 following the roaring paddle wheels. Some time after the 
 majestic apparition had vanished behind the promontories 
 to the west of them, the waves of its wake came in, beat 
 ing the rocky shore with slow, sullen surges, like baffled 
 foes retreating from the path oi a conqueror. Strange 
 woods set afloat far away came tossing ashore to the wind 
 row of wave worn logs, slabs, chips, and bits of painted 
 boats that lined the shores. An old shoe suggested 
 thoughts of drowned men, and white-winged gulls hovered 
 like spirits over the distant waves. It was all very new, and 
 strange,^and mysterious. These two anglers bore back to 
 camp but few visible trophies, when in the afternoon they 
 followed thither their shadows, elusive guides that were 
 now distinctly seen leading the way across broad patches 
 of clean forest floor, now dancing in vagne outline and 
 confused dismemberment on tree trunks and low branches, 
 and now disappearing in a throng of other shadows or a 
 mass of shade. But the sights they had seen better repaid 
 the time and travel spent than much bigger strings of fish 
 than they carried would have done, and they were content. 
 Antoine prowled along the shore from the Slab Hole to 
 the South Slang and to the rotting and displaced abutment 
 of the old bridge that had just given up the weary task of 
 spanning so much marsh and so little channel. He trans 
 fixed many unlucky bullpouts wriggling slowly in and out 
 of their spawning holes, and transferred them with great 
 satisfaction from his rude spear to his string of elm bark ; 
 battle scarred amazons, torn and stabbed by the horns of 
 other amazons, and lean fathers of the race of bullpouts, as 
 scarred and wounded as their warlike wives. To the Ca 
 nadian a bullpout was a bullpout, to be taken at any time, 
 by any means, and without regard to its condition. If he
 
 134 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 ever thought, as doubtless he never did, how the continu 
 ation of his most prized fish depended on procreation, 
 doubtless he would not care, for what Canuck ever did ? 
 Apparently it is their belief that fish were created solely 
 for them, and belong to them alone, and that they have a 
 right to take in any manner, as they will if they can, the 
 last one to-day, though there should be no fish for any one 
 forever after. 
 
 Antoine discovered an old scow adrift in the marsh, 
 water-logged, with red painted square prow, and stern, and 
 gunwales just above the water and overlapped with clots 
 of old weeds. By the help of a long pole, with a hook on 
 the end of it, and by some wading, he succeeded in haul 
 ing it ashore, and after bailing it and ovetturning it found 
 that with a little tinkering it would make a serviceable craft 
 for those unsealegged mariners Solon and Joseph to go 
 fishing in. A rusty fish hook, a bit of line with a ham 
 mered leaden sinker clasping its rotten strands, and a 
 soggy pine float of a seine rope found lying in the bot 
 tom, the hole and step for a jack-staff, and the charred 
 marks of fallen embers on the bow showed that it was a 
 boat accustomed to fishing in various ways, so saturated 
 with experience that it seemed as if it might impart some 
 thing of it to those novices. 
 
 " Bah gosh !" said Antoine as he sidled around his 
 prize, inspecting it with intense satisfaction and burning 
 incense of rank tobacco at bow, and stern, and sides, 
 " dat was jes de sloop for Solem an Zhozeff ! Dey ant 
 worse notin for go in can-noe, bose of it. Dey draownd 
 evreebodee an deysef dat go \vid em in can-noe ! Wen 
 Ah ll gat dis feex up wid some nail, an rag, an tuppy- 
 time, dey can teep it board over, dey can speel hese f
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 135 
 
 off f he ant sect raght tween de middly of it. Dat was 
 pooty good lucky for fan dat boats, me ! He ant b long 
 for someboddee, Ah 11 bet you head, an f he was, he 
 can have it !" 
 
 So filled with the importance of great achievements he 
 shouldered his spear and string of fish, and trudged proudly 
 toward camp, but before reaching it he made his fish more 
 presentable by stripping off their scarred skins. 
 
 As Sam with noiseless strokes paddled his canoe up the 
 great bow of the channel where it winds through the lower 
 end of the " wide ma sh" and slowly trailed his lure of 
 pork rind and red flannel along the border, marked by 
 purple young lily pads, unwittingly he crossed it, and a 
 grating succession of tugs at his hook reminded him that 
 he had been too contemplative in his recreation and had 
 gone astray into the shallow and weedy false channel that 
 runs straight lakeward from near the mouth of the South 
 Slang. He hauled in his line, cleaned his hook of its 
 burden of weeds, and retraced his way to the true channel, 
 which having regained, he paid more attention to his 
 course, and was presently rewarded by a sturdy tug that 
 had in it the unmistakable viciousness of a pickerel s bite. 
 Yet as he hauled in the line, hand over hand, the resist 
 ance was so sullen and sluggish that he was half-inclined 
 to think he was drawing in only another raft of weeds, till 
 he saw the gaping jaws splitting the surface. He soon 
 had a lusty pickerel boated, who beginning his fight too 
 late to avail aught but annoyance of his captor, hammered 
 the cedar lining of the canoe and snapped his jaws wickedly 
 till he was knocked in the head with the paddle. 
 
 Moving forward again, Sam soon had a sharp bite that 
 promised something better than the ambitious little perch
 
 136 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 that had attempted to gorge the alluring combination of 
 pork and wool, and came skittering to hand with all the 
 fight and conceit taken out of him. A little later the 
 trolling bait was nibbled and then seized by a fish that 
 proved to be of nobler metal. Swimming deep, he fought 
 every inch of his unwilling way to the canoe, which when 
 brought to he attempted to run under, but Sam foiled this 
 device, got him alongside, and skilfully lifted and swung 
 him aboard. He was of handsome form, and his small, 
 firm set scales were golden green on his sides and silver 
 white on his belly. In every way he looked gamy and 
 good, a fish created to afford both sport and toothsome 
 food. Sam had never seen his like, but rightly guessed 
 him to be the " pike," whose excellence Uncle Tyler had 
 extolled. So trolling up stream to the then well-defined 
 mouth of the South Slang, now so disguised with mask 
 of weeds that old voyagers may hardly recognize it, and a 
 little way up the channel of this begrudging tributary, Sam 
 got now and then a bite, and lost and saved some fish 
 another pike- perch and two or three pickerel. He had 
 fish enough now, and paddled or drifted anywhere, hearing 
 and seeing many things of interest to such a simple lover 
 of nature. From far and near in the green expanse of 
 marsh came strange outcries, laughter, yells, and more 
 subdued jargon, converse of unseen waterfowl, strange 
 voices of birds who were strangers to him. He recognized 
 the voices of some old acquaintances when occasionally a 
 bittern boomed, and the blackbirds grated and gurgled out 
 their notes, and when some old choir leader of the bull 
 frogs sang his short prelude and his brethren struck in and 
 bellowed a grand chorus that made all the wooded shores 
 resound. Once an old wood- duck convoyed her newly-
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 137 
 
 launched fleet of callow ducklings out of the rushes into 
 the channel just before him, and then in sudden panic at 
 sight of his larger craft took wing for cover of the woods, 
 flying low and followed almost as swiftly by her brood, 
 simulating flight with ineffectual plumeless wings, but 
 actually making their way by running like water sprites 
 over the water after her. Now and then a dusky duck 
 would splash out of the weeds with a loud alarm of quack 
 ing, but her young always kept out of sight if they had yet 
 ventured so far as the channel s edge from their birthplace. 
 There were no signs of Sam s last spring s dear enemies, 
 the mffskrats, but the floating crumbs of their midnight 
 feast, chips of the water-lily roots, and shreds of aquatic 
 weeds. Their winter huts had all been swept away by the 
 high water of spring, and only shapeless rafts of rubbish 
 grounded here and there among the rushes were left to 
 show how industriously these little water folk had builded 
 but a few months ago Their homes were now in burrows 
 in the banks, the occupancy of which was seldom indi 
 cated in day-time but by the roiling cf ihe watery entrance 
 or the sluggish underwater wake of a silent incomer or 
 outgoer. 
 
 Great blue herons sentinelled the shallows, or fanned 
 their slow way from one to another, and now and then a 
 bittern made a startled, ungainly flight from the densest 
 beds of rushes, while kingfishers scolded and clattered along 
 their jerky course or hung over minnow-haunted shoals, 
 as if suspended by invisible threads, which presently were 
 severed, and let them fall into the brown water with a 
 splashing upburst of spray. The scraggy tangles of button 
 bushes were noisy and flashing with innumerable nesting 
 redwings, sunfish and perch were incessantly snapping at
 
 138 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 the various insects resting on or hovering about the water 
 plants, and great fish surged through the rushes in pursuit 
 of prey or in swift retreat from the boat. The marshes 
 were busy with the life of their thronging tenants in the 
 happy summers of those days. Alas, that now they are so 
 silent and deserted ! 
 
 Over the tops of the rushes Sam caught occasional 
 glimpses of Antoine stealing along the shore in his nefari 
 ous bullpout prodding, "and mildly " dum cl him" in solil 
 oquy "for a wus n half Injin. " In the afternoon he 
 paddled to the mouth of the creek, and after looking at 
 the dancing waves of the sunlit bay clasped in the arms of 
 the green-clad June shores, and watching the majestic 
 sweep of an eagle wheeling above the cliffs, he beached his 
 canoe on the rushy shore of the landing and took his fare 
 of fish to camp, whither his companions soon came. At 
 nightfall they had their bountiful supper of fish, and then 
 as they smoked their pipes about the dying embers each 
 told the story of his day s outing.
 
 IV. 
 
 A NIGHT ADVENTURE IN ANTOINE S PRIZE. 
 
 NEXT morning, directly after an early breakfast, Antoine, 
 with Solon and Joseph, set out to repair the scow and get 
 her to the landing. 
 
 Meanwhile Sam kept camp for an hour or tsvo, and then 
 went out for a little trip on the bay, cruising across the 
 shallow water of the northeast shore to the mouth of Lewis 
 Creek, which till now he had not seen. Its beauty invited 
 him upstream, and when at the first bend he turned and 
 looked iorth upon the lake, through the noble colonnade 
 of ancient water maples and button-woods to the grim, un 
 shorn steeps of Split Rock Mountain, beyond the broad 
 expanse of water, without a craft in sight upon it or any 
 sign of human presence anywhere, he fancied that he felt 
 something of the sense of complete isolation from all his 
 fellows that the first white voyagers here must have experi 
 enced. But in those old days one could not have been so 
 sure of having it safely to himself, as Sam was reminded 
 by the sight of a flint arrow-head on a mud bank among 
 the rushes. For man} years after his visit to it this pait 
 of Sungahneluk retained its primitive character, and was a 
 place where one might easily imagine himself set back a 
 couple of centuries to the times when New England was 
 indeed new, when Petowbowk was the warpath of savage 
 and civilized nations, and knew not the peaceful keel of 
 commerce.
 
 140 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 An inward yearning aroused Sam from his vague dreams 
 of the past, and he plied his paddle lustily toward camp 
 and dinner. He found his comrades at the landing, to 
 which they had succeeded in floating the scow, its wounds 
 almost healed by application of rags, turpentine, and 
 grease, a medication for leaky boats imparted to Sam by 
 his Indian friends and by him in turn to Antoine. 
 
 " Dah, seh, Sam !" said Antoine, standing with arms 
 akimbo far enough away from his prize to take in all her 
 proportions at one glance, " ant dat pooty good leetly 
 sloops for de boy ? Ah 11 sail heem wid a pole all de way 
 from where Ah 11 fan of it, an Solem and Zhozeff ant be 
 some more fred of it as if he was in a middly of ten-acre 
 lots. Dey can feesh in de water naow, an took some 
 comfortubbly, ant it?" 
 
 Sam admitted the perfect safety of the craft, but ex 
 pressed some doubts as to the validity of its present owner 
 ship. " S posin some feller comes along some day, 
 Antwine, an ketches you or them a-usin o his boat, 
 what ye goin tu du then ?" 
 
 "Wai, seh, Ah ll goin tol it he can have dat 
 boats ! When Ah ll fan dat, he ant no more boats as raf 
 was, an Ah ll mek it into good boats aout of it ! Ah ll 
 bail it wid rag an tuppytime dat \vas ma hown, me ! Ant 
 you ll see ?" 
 
 Sam was not convinced, but conceded that there could 
 be no harm in using the scow till called for, and so it was 
 planned that Solon, Joseph, and Antoine should go a-fish- 
 ing in it that night at a stake just opposite the landing, 
 whose age and marks of frequent use gave silent evidence 
 of an approved fishing place. 
 
 " He was leek leetly mites naow," said Antoine, still
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 141 
 
 admiring his prize, as he scooped a few basins lull of water 
 out of it, " but he be all taght as one One Lasha boot 
 tarn he gin soak up for we ll be ready. Yas, seh ! jes as 
 taght an gra deal more comfortubbly as dat boots, Ah bet 
 your head ! Den when we gat t rough of it, Ah do know 
 f he ant jes well pull heem up in de rush for day-tarn, so 
 { some hole foolish tink he ll hown it he can see heem. 
 It was bes kan o boats for use it in de naght, don t it, 
 hein ?" 
 
 " I notice," Solon remarked, as they took their way to 
 the camp, " at Antwine calls this boat o hisn he, which 
 it seems tu me at it is a fac-smile of Uncle Tyler s boat, 
 an is intitled tu the respects due tu the femaline sect, an 
 my intentions is tu speak of it as she." 
 
 After they had eaten supper and in an unhousewifely 
 manner washed their few dishes, Sam, under canvas, fell 
 to dreaming open-eyed of Danvis s dearest inhabitant, and 
 the others, well provided with tackle and worms, went 
 fishing in the old scow. 
 
 The creek was almost as silent as the golden and black 
 reflections of sky and wooded shore that rested on its 
 bosom, and for awhile the silence was only broken by the 
 whish of the intent anglers lines and the splash of the 
 heavy sinkers that sent segments of gleaming circles to 
 break the ranks of brooding shadows along the shore. 
 Then a bullfrog sang a solemn prelude, and all his breth 
 ren of the marshes bellowed forth a resounding chorus, 
 which aroused a discordant cackle and gabble of some 
 always invisible inhabitants of the rush-screened flats, 
 whether beasts, birds, or reptiles, or all of these, one could 
 only guess, and when the chorus ended and the clamor of 
 the rude audience ceased, there came a hush as fully per-
 
 142 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 vading the evening as had the previous uproar. Then a 
 dreaming bird softly rehearsed his day-time love song, a 
 \vhippoorwill far away lightly whisked the air with his note, 
 one nearer lashed it with sharp strokes, the sound whereof 
 was presently almost overborne by the renewed bellowing 
 of the frogs, the trill of toads, and the weird outcry of the 
 unknown tenants of the marshes, only the last most in 
 sisted sibilant note of the whippoorwill being heard above 
 the pulsing waves of clamor. 
 
 " He ll leek dat poor leetly Williams pooty hard, ant 
 it?" Antoine remarked as he answered the regularly inter 
 mittent flashes of the lightning bugs signalling from marsh 
 and tree with the larger glow of his pipe, and then 
 announced with the sigh of relief that comes after long 
 waiting, " Dah, seh, sometings was bit. Ah do know 
 mos so well f Ah see it, but Ah guess it was heel." 
 After some moments of patient waiting he gave a twitch, 
 and the crooked pole writhed into more intense 
 crookedness, and after a brief struggle a tangled con 
 tortion was torn from the water and dropped into the boat 
 "Dah he was," cried Antoine, "ant Ah 11 tol you he 
 was heel? Dah he was." But where was he? Wrig 
 gling his way as swiftly as a snake from end to end of the 
 scow, he was felt here, heard there, almost at the same 
 moment, tangling the line about the feet of the excited 
 anglers, while Solon and Joseph madly stamped at him, 
 and Antoine as madly grasped for him in the gloom. 
 
 " Hit it wid you boots, boy ! Keek it wid a steek !" 
 he cried as he tried to pull toward him by the line the cap 
 tured but unsubdued prize. " Zhozeff, strak it wid you 
 boot !" And Joseph brought down his foot, clad in one of 
 the last and most solid pieces of Uncle Lisha s work, with
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 143 
 
 a crash that stunned the eel and started one of the bottom 
 boards of the scow. Their feet were getting wet before 
 Antoine had unhooked the eel, when he noticed the gurgle 
 of the incoming water and divined the cause. Hurriedly 
 unfastening the boat, he shouted frantically to his com 
 panions to pole and paddle ashoie, while he wildly clawed 
 the water with his fish-pole. " Oh, Sacre ! you ll bus de 
 boats. Zhozeff ! Pull ! Push ! Hoorah ! All of it us be 
 draown f you ant hurry for git dar firs ! Aour hwomans 
 ant see us fore we was some corp f you ant be hurry !" 
 So Antoine urged them, as the old craft, fast becoming water 
 logged, reeled and lurched toward the landing, to which 
 Sam was drawn by the alarming outcry, and reached just 
 in time to see the scow sink barely its length from shore 
 and Antoine plunge forward from the bow and wade hip 
 deep to the landing, while he roared, " Ah ll got de heel, 
 Sam ! Go an save it de boy !" Solon and Joseph came 
 floundering to land with no harm but fright and wetting, 
 and Sam, wading out a little way, hauled the boat to safe 
 beaching for the night. "Solon," Joseph asked as he 
 stood with bent body, legs wide apart, and dripping arms 
 slanting far from his sides, dismally regarding the craft he 
 had wrecked, " what sect du you call that ere cussed ol 
 boat naow ?" 
 
 " Wai," said Solon, after a little dripping consideration, 
 " she is sartinly most capericious, and consequentially I 
 shall continner tu call her a she." 
 
 " What on airth be you a-savin that ere dum d snake 
 for, Antwine?" Sam demanded, noticing the care the 
 Canadian took of the eel. 
 
 " Dat heels? Ah ll goin saved hees skin of it, me. 
 You ll wore dat raoun you backs, you ll ant never had
 
 144 SAM I-OVKL S CAAfPS. 
 
 lame backaches ! An it was de bes flail strings you ant 
 never t rach all you laftam !" 
 
 " Humph ! I ve beam tell o folks wearin snakes in 
 the hats tu cure headache, an I d jest livs as tu hev that 
 pesky thing waound raound my body. Ugh !" 
 
 " O Sam, you \vas fooler as a geese !" and then to him 
 self, as he tightened his grip on his pri/e, " Lak nough 
 you ll gat some di3 snakes in }-ou body fore you link, 
 prob ly !" 
 
 The camp-fire burned with unwonted fervor for a sum 
 mer s night, while the drenched anglers dried themselves 
 in its warmth, and Antoine vaunted himself as the hero 01 
 this latest adventure " Ant Ah 11 pooty good captins, 
 seh, to save all dat heel and de boat and de boy, hein ?"
 
 V. 
 
 THE COOK FURTHER DISTINGUISHES HIMSELF. 
 
 THE young day was not out of its swaddling clothes of 
 mist when Antoine began repairing the damages that the 
 scow had suffered last night, and the spiteful whacks 
 wherewitfi he drove home the nails were not more down 
 right and emphatic than the French and English curses 
 which he bestowed on heavy boots and slippery eels. 
 When the started plank was in place again, he drew the 
 boat into its day-time rushy seclusion and set about getting 
 breakfast. 
 
 He had privately made the eel ready for the pan and so 
 divided it that its snake-like form was not easily recogniz 
 able. It was served up smoking hot, and relished and 
 praised by all the hungry campers. 
 
 " You put in your best licks a-cookin this ere fish, 
 Antwine, " said Joseph ; "it s turrible sweet an rich, an 
 it seems s ough you d picked aout half the bones, or 
 mebby more n half, for I hain t ben bothered scacely any 
 sortin on em aout. I ve hearn tell o some ol fishin 
 critter at c ld put his hunks o fish int one corner o his 
 maouth an let the bones run aout o t other corner, an 
 keep right on fillin up comf able ; but I hain t no sech 
 knack, an git hungrier eatin ri deown bony fish do 
 know s I raly git hungrier, but it takes me a turrible spell 
 tu git satified. "
 
 146 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 
 
 " That ol feller s maouth must ha ben built arter the 
 fashion o Sile Blakely s," Sam said. " They uster say 
 the top of his head ould ha ben an islan if t hedn t ben 
 for his ears. One June trainin tu Hamner s, that big 
 John Dart sot nex tu him tu dinner, an artcr dinner, 
 when they was all settin raound smokin an gabbin , 
 Dart says, says he, I thought Sile was crazy the way I seen 
 him eatin . What made ye think so, John ? says Sile. 
 Why, says Dart, I thought t you was pokin your 
 victuals int your ear, till I d watched you a spell n see t 
 you was on y stickin em int the corner o your maouth. 
 But this is mighty good fish. What ye done tu them little 
 parch tu make em so good ?" 
 
 " Bah gosh ! you ll s pose Ah ll goin tol evreebodeeall 
 haow Ah ll cook ma feesh ? Wai, Ah guess no, me. 
 Prob ly f you an Zhozeff an Solem fan aout all haow 
 Ah ll make it ma cook, you ll ant want me some more t 
 all ! Den you ll said, Antoine, Ah guess dey wan seen 
 you up to Danvit pooty bad; goo bye. No, seh ! 
 Ah ll ant so fool lak dat for spile em up ma trades !" 
 
 "I du b lieve, Antwine, " said Joseph, casting a long 
 ing glance at the last savory morsel in the pan, " at if 
 you d ha tackled that ere bowfin you d ha made it cock 
 r yal, e namost fit for President Van Buren t eat." 
 
 " It was a dumn d sight tu good for the ol Locofoco 
 cuss as you cooked it," said Sam, who was a stanch 
 Whig ; " I wish t he hadn t nothin better n raw bowfin t 
 eat !" 
 
 " No, seh ! Ah ll can mek dat kan fecsh fit for be 
 good, Ah ll hown it up dat ! But you ll all gat done for 
 heat ant it? Den Ah ll goin tol you somet ings mek 
 you feel good of it in you stomach," and Antoine regarded
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 147 
 
 his friends with a bland smile, while he ground between 
 his palms a grist of tobacco. " You ll rembler haow 
 you ll bruse me for heat mud turkey, ant it ?" 
 
 " Antwine ! said Sam in a voice expressive of deep 
 disgust, " you don t purtend to say at you ve ben a-feed- 
 in us on mud turkle ?" 
 
 "Ant you ll rembler," said Antoinc, waving away the 
 question with the hand unencumbered with tobacco, " ant 
 you ll rembler haow you ll mek me fooled Peltiet wid 
 mash rrrabit, hein ? Sam nodded a reluctant assent. 
 
 " \Val, seh, was dat any more wus for mo fid you mud 
 turkey ? * And Sam shook as slow and reluctant a nega 
 tive, and added with a sigh of resignation, " Wai, it was 
 good if twas mud turkle." 
 
 " Yas sah !" said Antoine, getting to the other side 
 of the fireplace as he filled his pipe anil scooped a coal 
 from the ashes with the bowl, " it was a grea deal more 
 wusser as dat. It was snaikes !" 
 
 " Antwine !" said Sam, rising to his feet, while Joseph 
 and Solon sat apart growing pale with qualms of their re 
 volting interiors, "if 1 ever b lieved a word t you say, 
 the Id be a Canuck fun al." 
 
 " What for ant Peltiet mek Yankee fumernl ? You ll 
 long nough Sam for mek it good one, prob ly two of it. 
 Cut you off, } ou 11 mek fun for two day. Sermon so long 
 you was evreebodee go sleep an have it good tarn, hein ? 
 Wai, seh, Sam, you ll ant goin keel me for teached you 
 snaike was good for heat, ant it? You wait Ah 11 tol ) ou 
 what kan snaikes he was be. He ll ant striked snaikes, no, 
 seh. He ll ant be addlcr snaikes, no, seh. He ll ant be 
 common kan watry snaikes, but he kan watery snaikes, 
 what you call snaikes. He was be heels ! Dah, Sam,
 
 148 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 
 
 you ll ant wan keel me naow for do you so good. Prob ly 
 you ll wan kees me, but Ah 11 ant let it, cause Ursule be 
 mad f Ah ll have somebodee kees me cep him. " 
 
 " I d ort tu kill you, Antwine, but the dum d eel was 
 good, an I knowed t you was lyin --l allus know that 
 whenever you speak, I hain t no more dependence on ye 
 n ol Amos ]ones hed on his two boys when they was 
 helpin on him tend mill. Joab, says he, hev ye tolled 
 this grist? Yes, sir, says Joab. Jethro, says he, 
 hev ye tolled this grist ? Yes, sir, says Jethro. You 
 both lie so like thunder I can t b lieve a word ye say, n 
 t make sure on t I ll toll it my sell, an the ol critter Id 
 scoop aout another thirteenth." 
 
 " Lookin at it phillysophicably," said Solon, " it 
 hain t saitin at we hain t beholden tu Antwine for over- 
 comin our nat ral antiquity tu eels, which they lies long 
 been a populous food of human mankind. Aour bein 
 prejudicial tu em hain t exclusive proof at they hain t 
 good. Hain t that so, Jozcff ?" 
 
 "I hain t quite settled en that p int," said Joseph. 
 " Not knowin at I was eatin eel, I liked it wal, I 
 could eat it. Naow at I know it is eel, I b lieve I ll try 
 that last lunsome piece in the pan, an see f my stomach 
 goes agin it," and so saying he began upon the remaining 
 moisel, picking the few and easy bones with critical delib 
 eration. Then wiping his lips with the backs of alternate 
 hands, and his hands on the legs of his trousers, while he 
 regarded Antoine benignantlv, " I do know ezactly whether 
 it s in the eel or the cookin , but it is sartinly good, an 
 f you ll du the ketchin an the cookin , I m willin t du 
 what eatin I can in my feeble way. The ketchin , mind 
 ye, Antwine. Sam Hill ! haow the tarnal critter went
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 149 
 
 scootin mongst aour laigs. Ugh ! I d liveser handle a 
 snaike !" 
 
 " What dat nowse ?" Antoine asked, turning an atten 
 tive ear toward the creek. 
 
 The regular squeak and splash of approaching oars was 
 presently heard by all, and they went down to the landing 
 with the hope of gelling some news of the upstream world, 
 or with a curiosity to know who was passing. In those days 
 the sluggish current of Little Otter often slept day in and 
 day out among its rushes, undisturbed by oar or paddle of 
 fisherman, and the infrequent boat that awoke it to a 
 ripple was worth looking at. Our friends had seen no 
 craft but their own since Uncle Tyler s departure till 
 now. 
 
 The dumpy figure now approaching in a scow propelled 
 by slow, laborious strokes, often withheld while the rower 
 turned his head to mark his course, had a familiar look 
 to Sam and Antoine, and when abreast of the landing he 
 became aware of them, and his gaping face was lighted up 
 with a grin of pleased recognition, they perceived it was 
 their last spring s adversary of the trapping grounds. 
 
 " Hello ! Danvis, who d ever ha thought o seein you 
 here ; n here s Peasoup, tu ! Hello, Peasoup ! 
 
 Antoine silently congratulated himself on his discretion 
 in not having disclosed to Solon and Joseph that this was 
 the antagonist whom he had vanquished in the great fight, 
 which he had more than once told them of, for the man 
 carried himself most unseemly for a conquered foe, and 
 Antoine was quite ashamed of him. 
 
 " Wai, I m glad t see ye," the new comer said, heading 
 his boat for the landing and bringing her into it with a 
 swash, "but I never thought o seein you this time o
 
 150 SAM LOVEVS CAMPS. 
 
 year, though I was a-thinkin on ye when I come past the 
 East Slang." 
 
 " Yes, we hed consid able fun up there last spring," 
 Sam said, " one way n nother, a-spearin an a He 
 was at a loss to name another sport without referring to 
 possibly unpleasant topics. 
 
 " A-trappin an chawin gum, an bathin ," said the 
 new-comer, helping Sam out and shutting the eye nearest 
 him in a long tight wink that comically distorted that side 
 of his face. 
 
 " Wai, yes, so we did, come tu think on t ;" and then, 
 as if to think of it long might not be pleasant, and with a 
 desire to change the subject, Sam asked : " Fishin much 
 nowadays ? 
 
 " Fishin ! Wai, I guess not much. Don t git no 
 time." Sam remembering that this man s nickname was 
 Time, thought he might find it difficult to induce himself 
 to make so great an effort as to go a-fishing, for he looked 
 the very personification of la/mess. 
 
 " I hain t fishin ," he exclaimed, lifting his feet ashore 
 while he sat on the broad bow of his boat. " I kinder 
 thought I d go daown t the san bar an git me some sand 
 tu make some mortar. Ben goin t patch my stiller wall 
 these ten year, but can t never git no time, an I kinder 
 thought I d look along some for my scaow boat at went 
 off in the high water last spring. Somebody er nother 
 tol a-secin it daown this wav in the ma sh, but I p sume 
 likely some cuss has stole it fore naow. Hain t seen 
 nothin on t ? Painted red onctc, an fixed for a jack, an 
 burned some here for ad where sparks fell on t. Not quite 
 so big s this one t I borricd, but a good sight better. 
 Hain t seen no sech boat?" His slow, inquiring look
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS, 151 
 
 rested last and longest on Antoine, whose mind was now 
 greatly perplexed, for he doubted not that the boat he had 
 found was the one now desired and sought for by this 
 man, and it lay within twenty feet of them, where if its 
 owner arose to his feet he must ste it, so evidently placed 
 with intention of concealment that they would all be dis 
 graced. Making the best cf disagreeable necessity, he 
 hastened to speak before one of his friends could : 
 
 Yas seh !" he cried, grinning a well-simulated ex 
 pression of pleased surprise, " Ah ll b lieved Ah ll fan 
 dat boat, pruppus for you, seh ! an Ah ll rippair it all up 
 so he was mos better as he was new. F Ah ll had some 
 paint Ah was paint it for you, but he was look pooty good, 
 Ah tol you. Jes looked here !" leading the way to it 
 and beating aside the rushes with both hands. " Ant dat 
 heem ?" 
 
 " Her, Antwine, " cried Solon, correcting him " her is 
 the properest sect to speak of a boat in. " 
 
 " Oh, go todev ! Dis boats ant dat man s waf, ant it ? 
 He ll gat no diffence what you ll call it heems or she, 
 prob ly." 
 
 " Wai, I ll be blest if that hain t my ol scaow, " said 
 Father Time, after critically examining the craft and then 
 sitting down on its cinder-scarred bow, with a satisfied and 
 restful air, "I m almighty obleeged tti ye, Mr. Peasoup, 
 for takin so much trouble to save it for me an fix it up, 
 tew. 
 
 " Bah gosh ! Ah was glad of it, seh, an de honly ting 
 Ah ll was sorry for Zhoxeft an Solem. Dey can bose of 
 it sit up on ma can-noe ! Dey can git on Sam t all ! 
 Ah do know haow dey ll goin to fishin s naow, less 
 Ah ll buil 1 raf for it."
 
 152 SAM LOVEVS CAMPS. 
 
 " I p sume likely you was cal latin tu fetch my scaovv 
 up tu me jest as soon s you faound aout who owned it, 
 wa n t ye?" Time asked, casting a comical leer on An- 
 toine. 
 
 " Dat was so !" Antoine said, emphasizing each word 
 with a gesture. " Ah ll ask it prob ly t ree, prob ly four 
 mans f he ll b long to it. Ant it t ree, four, Sam?" 
 winking at his friend and beginning to count imaginary 
 persons on his fingers. " Le me see yas, Ah b lieve 
 four, hein ?" 
 
 " You might f you happened tu see em," Sam said 
 aloud, adding in an undertone to himself, " Dum d fa 
 Canuck hedn t druther lie n t tell the truth, any time, 
 an f he c ld make the hull toot on us lie for im he d be 
 happy." 
 
 " Hain t these fellers water faowl nough tu keep right 
 side up in your cannews, Danvis ?" Time asked, indicat 
 ing Joseph and Solon by a sidewise jerk of his head. 
 
 " Wai, they hain t much uster boatin in anything but 
 stun boats an" lumber waggins, " Sam admitted. 
 
 " Wai, f t 11 be any commodation tu ye, I ll leave 
 that ere scaow for ye an go hum in mine. It rows easier 
 n that, an* I guess Gage won t want his n for a spell. It 
 won t tip over no easier n it rows, an it ll du tol able well 
 for still-fishin ." 
 
 " Me an Solon s a thaousan times bleeged tu ye," 
 said Joseph ; "we don t want to du no tippin over ner 
 not much oarin , an it ll du us fustrate ; f the bottom 
 hain t made tu come aout when you ketch eels, I d a 
 leetle druther hev it n yourn. " And in reply to Time s 
 inquiring look he related the mishap of last evening to the 
 great amusement of that worthy. When he had had his
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 153 
 
 long, lazy laugh out he arose, and looking awhile at the 
 sandy point not far below said, with a yawn, "Wai, I 
 b lieve I won t go daown t the san bar t day ; I ll git 
 rowin nough by the time t I git hum. I can t stan it 
 t row much it makes me sweat. I c n fix that suller wall 
 arter hayin . If you ve got some good worms dug, le s g 
 wup t the maouth o the Slang an ketch a mess o pike. 
 They d orter bite t day. We ll go in the two scaows. 
 What d ye say ? Me and Peasoup in mine an the rest 
 on ye in t other. 
 
 His proposal being accepted, they brought bait and 
 tackle from camp and embarked. Antoine took the oars 
 at the bidding of Time and pulled the smaller scow in the 
 lead. The other followed, paddled by Sam with the awk 
 ward aid of Joseph and Solon. It required all Sam s 
 strength and skill to keep her at all on her course, and 
 even so they had ample opportunity to view the landscape 
 on every side. When at last they reached the stakes at 
 the South Slang and moored their boats there, they had 
 no great luck in fishing, as Time and Antoine prophesied 
 they would not when they remarked several villainous- 
 looking gar pike swimming about just beneath the surface. 
 Yet now and then a pike-perch was tempted to venture 
 underneath and past these visible terrors and seize the 
 greater danger hidden in the loops of fat worms, when if 
 by the awkwardness of his captors he was not swung over 
 board to freedom, purchased with a torn lip or jaw, he 
 presently found himself floundering in the bottom of the 
 scow. Once Antoine hauled up an ugly ling, which Sam 
 told Joseph was " one o his bowfins at had forgot his 
 scales," but Antoine oracularly informed them that this 
 " was de mudder of de heel," for thus he had long since
 
 154 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 settled to his own satisfaction the vexed question of the 
 generation of the eel. 
 
 " You re sartin at eels come f m lings, be ye ?" Time 
 asked in a tone that plainly indicated his unbelief in this 
 theory. 
 
 " Yes, sah ! Ah 11 seen it !" said Antoine. 
 
 " Wai, they don t ! Du ye want I sh ld tell ye where 
 eels come from ? 
 
 " Ah ll ant want you. Ah ll know all of it," Antoine 
 said, but the others signified their willingness to be in 
 formed. 
 
 " Wai, then," said Time, " eels comes f m clams, them 
 fresh-water clams at you c n see thaousan s on any day 
 daown yunder in the shaller water to the san bar. J kno\v 
 it, cause I ve seen hunderds o little eels in em, not 
 bigger n pin points." 
 
 " Haow you ll know he was heel f he ant more bigger 
 as pint pins ?" Antoine roared in the big voice the Canuck 
 assumes when he would make himself terrible. 
 
 " Where du eels come from, then ?" Time loudly de 
 manded. 
 
 " L-l leeng, ant Ah ll tol you ?" Antoine roared again, 
 lifting himself from his seat with a grip of both hands on 
 the seat of his trousers. 
 
 " Clams ! clams ! clams !" Time bellowed in a cres 
 cendo so vociferous that it frightened the skimming swal 
 lows from their pretty sport in the neighborhood of the 
 boats. 
 
 " Say," Sam said in a lull of the storm of words, " f 
 you fellers don t stop hollerin so, you ll hev ol Uncle 
 Tyler comin daown here tu see what the rumpus is, not 
 to say nothin o scarin all the fish aouten the crik. "
 
 SAM LOVEI. S CAMPS. 155 
 
 Indeed, the day was too pleasant to be disturbed by even 
 the discussions of science. 
 
 Across the sunny blue sky drifted only silver shreds of 
 clouds, too thin to cast a shadow on the sunlit marshes, 
 and shores, and quiet \\ateis ; throughout the rushy level 
 the marsh wrens discordantly rejoiced over the building of 
 their cunning nests ; in the woods the wood and hermit 
 thrushes rang silver bells and breathed celestial flute notes, 
 and the jangle of a thousand bobolinks came from the 
 meadows. 
 
 The peaceful spirit of the scene presently took possession 
 of our anglers again, and they plied the gentle art in such 
 serenity of mind as its father might desire, till the conch 
 shells of half a dozen farmhouses reminded them of dinner 
 time. 
 
 Then Antoine transferred himself to the larger craft, and 
 Time, declining an invitation to return to camp and dine 
 with them, took to his oats, though with much less stomach 
 for rowing than for dinner. 
 
 " Oh, say !" Sam called to him as the lazy wake of his 
 departure began to stir the rushes, " f you hev a chance 
 tu send word tu a young feller <> the name o Peltier 
 Gove at s a-workin for Mr. Bartlett up on the stage 
 rhud, tell im t we re here, an tu omedaown f he can." 
 
 " All right," Time answered, when his ears had thor 
 oughly digested the message. 
 
 Long after he had passed out of sight they could hear 
 the splash of his oars and his voice unmelodiously cheer 
 ing his labors with the song of " Old King Cole." 
 
 The shadow of the bluff was creeping toward the north 
 east when they reached camp, and when the fish were 
 dressed, cooked, and eaten, the day was too far spent for
 
 156 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 the undertaking of any further great affair, so they paddled 
 the scow out of the creek on to the shallows of the bay, 
 and there passed the remaining hours of the daylight in 
 the comfort of perfect laziness. When the mountains 
 loomed black against the afterglow of the sky, and the star 
 of Split Rock light began to shed its crinkled ray across 
 the darkening waters, they paddled into the gloom of the 
 landing. 
 
 Presently the camp-fire lit up the tent front, the tree 
 trunks, the canopy of leafy branches, and the little circle 
 of mossy ground, frayed into the surrounding darkness : all 
 of the world that they then cared to have illumined for 
 them.
 
 VI. 
 
 PELATIAH S LIFE IN THE LOWLANDS. 
 
 Soox after his visit to Sam and Antoine at their trapping 
 camp, Pelatiah had returned to Lakefield and taken service 
 for the season with Friend Bartlett. The smiles of the 
 pretty fcired girl, the memory of which had almost as great 
 a share as the wages offered in luring him from his moun 
 tain home, had thus far continued to brighten his life and 
 make his faithful toil light, since it was rewarded morning, 
 noon, and night by the sight of the face that had become 
 to him the most beautiful, by the sound of the voice that 
 was the sweetest in all the world. 
 
 One Sunday morning in June the peace and quietness of 
 the day seemed to have reached their fulness in and about 
 the Quaker homestead. Pelatiah sat whittling on the 
 platform of the well with his back against the pump, just 
 breathing " Old Hundred " through his puckered lips. 
 Near him stood the fat and sedate old horse which he had 
 just harnessed to the " shay," and by his side lay the fat 
 old dog, who ; in semblance of sleep, was waiting to ac 
 company his master and mistress to meeting. He could 
 hear hardly a sound coming from the open doors and win 
 dows of the house. The buzz of a bumblebee imprisoned 
 by the raised sash of the kitchen window war, loud enough 
 to well-nigh drown the almost noiseless footsteps of Friend 
 Rebecca Bartlett as she moved to and fro in preparation
 
 158 SAM LOVELS CAMr S. 
 
 for departure, though occasionally above these was heard 
 the cautious, long-diawn clearing of Friend John Bartlett s 
 throat, accomplished with care that it should be thor 
 oughly though not too loudly dene, parrly as practice for 
 the same performance during the stillness of meeting, and 
 partly as a reminder to his wife that he was waiting for her. 
 The hens in the dooryard clucked and crated in subdued 
 tones, and the old red rooster, though his gay leathers 
 were sadly " out of plainness," kept as decorously " in the 
 quiet," as if he was a member of his owner s sect. Two 
 or three frivolous swallows twittered and swooped in pur 
 suit of floating feathers, but the great bod) cf the tenants 
 of the eaves were holding a silent meeting on the barn roof. 
 The bobolinks in the meadow, beyond the influence of 
 the First Day atmosphere of the staid homestead, withheld 
 not a note of their merry songs, meant, perhaps, only for 
 world s people and naughty strawberry pickers, but the 
 robins in the apple-trees were as voiceless as the unstirred 
 leaves, and the catbird skulked in silence along the row 
 of currant bushes. Pelatiah wondered if the pump would 
 utter its usual discordant shriek, and was almost tempted 
 to raise the handle. Then through forgetfulness or impa 
 tience he whistled aloud a few notes of the old Psalm tune, 
 and Rebecca came to the door tying the strings of her 
 " sugar scoop" bonnet. 
 
 Peltiah," she said in a mildly severe tone, thee 
 needn t whistle for Bose, he s right there by thee ! Thee 
 may bring up the horse now." 
 
 While Pelatiah pocketed his knife and arose, brushing 
 the shavings from his trousers, she went back to free the 
 bumblebee from its glass prison, brushing it down the 
 lowered sash with a folded handkerchief which exhaled the
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 159 
 
 faint odor of diied rose leaves. " Now, get off with thee, 
 thee foolish thing!" she said, as the bee blundered away 
 into its regained paradise of out-door June. 
 
 The chaise lumbered up to the horse-block, and the 
 good couple got on board, Bose soberly wagging his tail 
 as he superintended their embarkation. 
 
 " Don t thee think thee d better go to meeting, Pel- 
 tiah ? Rebecca asked, getting the young man within the 
 narrow range of her deep bonnet. She asked him this 
 question every First Day morning, and was regularly an 
 swered, ll \Val, no, inarm, I guess not this mornin ." 
 
 They slosvly got under way, and when they were out of 
 earshot of the hired man, Rebecca remarked : " Peltiah 
 seems like a steady young man, but it is a pity he isn t 
 more seriously inclined." 
 
 " lie s a master hand with a hoe," her husband said, 
 looking down the even rows of his young corn, where not 
 a weed was to be seen among the green sprouts that reg 
 ularly dotted the mellow soil, " and I do know as I ever 
 see a better milker." 
 
 Pelatiah was anticipating a day of perfect happiness, for 
 the girl, whose name was spelled Louisa and pronounced 
 Lowizy, had as good as asked him to go to the woods 
 with her for young wintergreens. That morning when he 
 brought in the milk and they were alone in the cheese 
 room, she had said there were " lots of em up in the 
 maounting" the rocky hill which Lakefield folk honored 
 with that name, for a mountain they must have, and this 
 of all the hills in town came nearest being one " lots an 
 sacks of em, an anybody might git a snag of em if they 
 was to go up there naow. She wish t she had some, but 
 she dasn t go alone, for she knew she should git lost, an
 
 160 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 the was an ugly toro in Austin s pastur ." Pelatiah felt 
 that he would brave all the bulls in Lakefield to gather a 
 handful of aromatic leaves for her, but he had not the 
 courage to tell her so, and only said he wouLl get them 
 for her if he knew where to find them. Whereupon she 
 giggled and said that she would go and show him where 
 they grew, and that then, if there was time enough and she 
 could " stan it," they might go to the Pinnacle, where 
 they " could see all creation an part o York State." So 
 it seemed settled that when chores were done and the old 
 folks had gone to meeting, they should go " a-browsin , " 
 as Pelatiah inelegantly termed it. 
 
 Now he was waiting for her, while he conned gallant 
 phrases and neat compliments, and thought just how he 
 would tell her that he " liked " her. How easy it all was 
 now, as he rehearsed it to his heart, but he knew that op 
 portunity would frighten away all utterance, and he reviled 
 himself for a bashful booby. Yet he felt himself brave 
 enough in the face of real danger, and if the terrible bull 
 that kept all the berry-pickers out of Austin s pasture would 
 but attack them he would show his devotion, how he 
 would defend her even at the cost of his life. If the bull 
 was put to flight then she would faint, as in such cases 
 young ladies always did in the stories he read, and he 
 would bear her in his arms to the nearest brook and bathe 
 her face till he brought her out of her swoon. He had 
 never carried a young lady in his arms ; Lowizy was a 
 buxom maiden, no light weight certainly, but he thought 
 he could manage such a precious burden, though it would 
 be more easily done if she could be induced to ride pick 
 aback, which, however, would not be in accordance with 
 the established usage of the stories. When she was re-
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 161 
 
 stored to consciousness, opened her eyes and saw him 
 bending over her, what if he could not help pressing his 
 lips to her pale cheek ? He blushed to think of it, and 
 wondered if she would ever forgive him. If he should be 
 badly hurt, who but she would nurse him ; and if he died 
 how could she help but grieve for him ? The thought of 
 it almost made him shed a tear for himself. But then it 
 was very likely that the bull was a harmless bugbear whose 
 viciousness was an invention of the owner of the field, and 
 would give Pelatiah no chance of heroic deeds. So he 
 drifted back to imaginary commonplace opportunities, till 
 Lowizy^ame to the door more bewitching than ever, in a 
 pink calico dress and a white apron with two little pockets 
 stuck upon it like swallows nests made of snow, useless 
 but pretty. 
 
 Just then a young fellow, seated in a square-boxed wagon 
 of amazing height, drove up at a pace which seemed reck 
 less, considering how far above the ground he was perched ; 
 and as recklessly he sprang down to the ground, endanger 
 ing the straps of his trousers, the long swallow tails of his 
 blue coat streaming upward and the brass buttons flashing. 
 He drew near to Lowizy, who greeted him too warmly and 
 with too great a display of her best manners, Pelatiah 
 thought, as he stood aloof glowering at the new-comer, 
 while the two conversed earnestly, though in a tone too 
 low for any word to reach his ear. Then she ran into the 
 house ; and Pelatiah s heart grew sick with a foreboding 
 of disappointment. He tried to whistle in token of indif 
 ference, but his sullen pout wouldn t be utilized as a 
 pucker, and though defiant and attempting to fortify him 
 self with the inward assurance that he was as good as the 
 finest dandy of the lowlands, he could not help feeling
 
 1 62 SAM NOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 mean and awkward as he contrasted his suit of sheep s 
 gray, new though it was, and as much too long for him as 
 all former clothes had been too short, with the gay and 
 fashionable apparel of his till now unsuspected rival. It 
 was exasperating to see the feliow take out a cigar, and 
 having decided which end to light, begin to puff it ; and 
 then with his thumbs in the arm-holes of his waistcoat 
 strut back and forth beside the wagon. " Tew high an 
 mighty tu take a noticte on me, hain t ye? For all, the top 
 o your plegged shiny hat hain t so high as the seat o yer 
 wagon box !" Pelatiah inwardly addressed him. " Oh ! 
 you re a gol buster, hain t ye ? I ll bate a cooky I c ld 
 heave ye ov the top o yer dum d ol \vaggin ! 
 
 All unconscious of such disparagement and of everything 
 but the fine figure he must be making, the rustic little 
 dandy strutted in his pride till Lowizy reappeared with 
 some new finery added to her attire and a useless little 
 parasol in her hand. When he had gallantly assisted her 
 to scale the steps of the wagon and the " boost," as 
 Pelatiah to himself termed the feat, had been accom 
 plished, he climbed in. Not till the fine equipage began 
 to turn in perilous haste did Lowizy bestow a word or 
 glance on Pelatiah. Then as she spread her parasol she 
 looked back, and said : " Mr. Gove, when the folks re 
 turn, tell em that my maw is quite sick an I ve got to go 
 hum ahem go home an see her." 
 
 "I guess her maw hain t turrible bad off," Pelatiah 
 said bitterly, when a few moments later he heard her laugh 
 ringing down the road as merry and care free as the song 
 of the bobolinks. So sick at heart that his knees were 
 weak, he leaned on the door-yard fence and watched them 
 out of sight. So the stories he had read of the fickleness
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 163 
 
 of women were not fictions, but simple truth, were they ? 
 It was hard to learn it by actual experience, hard to lose 
 the simple faith that all things are as they seem, that affec 
 tion may be no more than an outward show, and kind 
 words have no meaning. His honest heart was so sorely 
 hurt that the counter-irritant of anger could not cure it 
 now ; there was no present cure for it, but he bethought 
 him that there might be a balm for it in the sanctuary of 
 the woods, to which he had often fled when assailed by 
 lesser ills. He would not go to that contemptible little 
 mountain of Lakefield, to be continually reminded there 
 of the happy hours he had been cheated of, but to the 
 great woods westward, deep and dark enough to hide him 
 from the false, hateful, wicked world. 
 
 He cast the unaccustomed summer burden of his thick 
 sheep s gray coat on the nearest plum-tree of the door- 
 yard, and in the regained freedom of shirt-sleeves felt his 
 heart somewhat lighter as he pushed toward the Slang. 
 On a fallen tree he crossed its narrow upper channel where 
 the border of the green marsh was gay with the purple 
 blossoms of flags, where a lonely heron stalked in fancied 
 seclusion, and where a bittern, perhaps his last spring s 
 acquaintance, startled him almost off his balanced foot 
 hold, with her affrighted squawk and sudden uprising to 
 her labored flight. 
 
 Breasting the undergrowth of the bank, he was soon in 
 the midday twilight of the ancient forest, where brooded 
 a solemnity greater than within any temple built by hands, 
 a silence deepened rather than broken by the summer note 
 of a chickadee, the chimes of a wood-thrush, and the sigh 
 of the unfelt breeze in the tops of the great pines and 
 hemlocks.
 
 1 6^ SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Pelatiah took his way along an old lumber road, where 
 sled tracks and footprints of oxen, made in the latest of 
 last spring s sledding, were almost overgrown with forest 
 herbage, and every mossy cradle knoll was starred with the 
 white flowers of dwarf cornel or glowed with the blood- red 
 drops of the partridge berry. 
 
 It made his recent wound twinge again when he came 
 upon a patch of wintergreen, the " young-come-ups" 
 showing the tender tints of the first unfolded leaves among 
 the rusty and dark-green leaves and plump crimson berries 
 of the old plants. What happy moments he had thought 
 to spend gathering the freshest and tenderest for the girl 
 who had so cruelly forsaken him. He could not taste nor 
 touch one now, and was sure he never could again, for 
 even the sight of them made him sick. 
 
 On either side of the way stood old friends to welcome 
 him great hemlocks, maples, whose sweets only the Ind 
 ians and squirrels had tasted, poplars shivering with the 
 memory of a century s winters, towering elms and bass- 
 woods, and all the graceful birches. He saw also a few 
 great pines which had thus far escaped the lumberman, 
 hickories with sharded trunks, and noble white oaks, all 
 strangers to him in the woods of Danvis ; but he missed 
 his familiars, the spruce and balsam firs, their songs and 
 the odor of their breath. A shrewish jay came to scold 
 him, a squirrel to scoff at him, a shy wood bird, some 
 constant dweller in the forest s heart, flitted near and 
 watched him with timid curiosity ; a mother partridge 
 made a fluttering pother almost at his feet, while her cal 
 low brood dispersed like a sudden spatter of fluffy yellow 
 balls and magically disappeared. 
 
 \Vith no purpose of reaching any particular point he
 
 SAM LOl EL S CAMPS. 165 
 
 wandered on, holding his way along the dim woodland 
 aisle till it led where sunlight and blue sky shone from the 
 outer world through the green-gold leaves and netted 
 branches of the marsh s palisade of water maples. 
 
 Passing under these he saw the creek, the bold bluff at 
 its mouth, and beyond a broad blue strip of the lake. 
 When his eyes became used to the sunshine he saw figures 
 moving beneath the bluff on the farther shore, and heard 
 voices that somehow seemed familiar. There was no mis 
 taking Sam Lovel s voice when presently he loudly called 
 Antoine s name, nor the Canadian s when he answered. 
 
 Pelatiah hastily mounted a huge fallen tree that reached 
 well out into the marsh, and shouted lustily, " Hello, 
 Sam ! Antwine ! whoop ! Come over here. It s me, 
 Peltier. 
 
 The figures became motionless in attention, then drew 
 together in brief consultation, then one detached itself 
 from the group, a paddle banged against a boat s side, a 
 canoe drew out from the landing, came swiftly up the 
 channel and swished into the wide marsh in front of him. 
 
 " I never was so glad tu see am body in all this ever- 
 lastin world, 1 said the heartsick and homesick big boy as 
 his friend Sam stepped on shore and shook hands with 
 him. " Of all folks I never hed no thought o seein 
 you, an me on yshoolin raound in the woods jest tu kill 
 time." 
 
 " If you d ha come yist d y you Id hed a good chance 
 tu kill Time, for he was a-fishin with us. That feller, 
 you know," he explained, answering Peiatiah s inquiring 
 look, " at come a-spearin in our camp las spring. His 
 real name is Joe suthin -er-nuther, but his pardner called 
 im Time cause he favors Time in the primer, an so we
 
 166 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 du, not tu git him mixed up \vi Joe Hill. He s a clever 
 cretur , but lazier n a fattin hawg an slower n col 
 m lasses. Wai, Peltier, hao\v bejou gittin along? Like 
 your place ?" Sam asked, seating himself on a log and 
 making ready for a smoke, deferred since he left the camp 
 landing. 
 
 "Wai, yes," Pelatiah said, slowly considering his an 
 swer, " yes, I hev liked i.t fustrate. " 
 
 " Hev liked it? You hain t hed no fallin aout wi the 
 folks, I hope." 
 
 " No, not no fallin aout wi them. Do know haow 
 t I could, for they re the cleverest folks in all creation." 
 
 " Wai, that pretty gal hain t gigged back on ye ?" 
 
 No answer but a look of woebegone sheepishness. 
 
 " Oh, shaw, Peltier, nev mind a gal s tantrums. You 
 an her 11 be thicker n tew hands in a mitten, t 
 rights. 
 
 " No, sir ! not never no more !" Pelatiah replied with 
 spirit. " I won t stan bein fooled by nob ddy, if they 
 be harnsome. " 
 
 " My !" said Sam, " she was harnsome as a pictur !" 
 and then, doubtful whether he was quite loyal to Huldah 
 in such admiration of another, qualified it by adding, 
 " but the s them ats jist as harnsome." 
 
 " If she s harnsome as a pictur, she s decaitful as a 
 snake, an I won t stan bein fooled !" 
 
 " Oh, yes, you will, Peltier ! They ll fool a feller agin 
 an agin till he gits so s at he likes bein fooled. She s 
 jest begun on you an you hain t got use to t, but you 
 will, see f you don t. But come, le s go over an see the 
 rest on em. They ben a-talkin an surmisin baout you 
 all the mornin . Come, I ll git you raound by kyow
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 167 
 
 time." And Sam, leading the way to the canoe, shoved 
 it afloat and stepped in. 
 
 Pelatiah took his place and was surprised at the little 
 trepidation he felt on finding himself fairly embarked on 
 the broad channel. 
 
 " Why, Peltier, you keep the tarve o the canew lots 
 better n you did last spring," Sam said, approvingly. 
 " Guess you ben a-practizin , hain t ye ?" 
 
 " Hain t ben in a boat sence," Pelatiah said. " Guess 
 it s cause I don t care f I be draounded. 
 
 " Oh, sha\v, Peltier : F you was tu git spilt aout you d 
 claw f<1f shore an holler like a loon. Folks at s got 
 your ail is allus a-\vantin tu die, but they enj y dyin so 
 much at they hain t in no hurry tu hev the job finished 
 up. You ll wanter live forever when you git t eatin the 
 fish Antwine s a-cookin . Pike an pick ril at ould 
 make a man s maouth water tu see, though the s more 
 fun for me in the ketchin an in the eatin . But I du eat 
 em to make a good excuse fur ketchin more." 
 
 Pelatiah was warmly welcomed by his friends, and almost 
 forgot his misery while he listened to the news they told 
 of folks and affairs at Danvis. The fish were as good as 
 freshly caught and nicely cooked fish could be. When 
 they had eaten he was taken along the bluff to see some 
 thing of the wonders and beauty of the lake, which im 
 pressed him even more than they had Solon and Joseph. 
 
 Antoine, with the air of its chief proprietor, expatiated 
 on the immensity of its waters and its commerce, but more 
 on the numbers, variety, and excellence of its fish. 
 
 " More as t ree honded tousan of it, prob ly, an all 
 de kan dat ever was hear of it, cep whale an dry cod- 
 feesh, Ah guess. Ah II lak dat lake, me, cause he ll gat
 
 1 68 SAM I.OVEVS CAMPS. 
 
 so much fcesh, an cause one en of it steek raght in 
 Canada ! Yes, sah i wen nort win blow he ll breeng 
 wave from Canada, where Ah 11 was baun, w en Ah 11 was 
 leetly boy, where Ah 11 married my Ursule an where Ah 11 
 faght w en Ah 11 growed up for be hugly i" 
 
 They urged Pelatiah to get a day off during their stay 
 and spend it with them, which he promised to do, if pos 
 sible, even though it cost him the glories of the Fourth of 
 July at Vergennes. 
 
 In good season to get him home by chore time, Sam 
 embarked with him in the log canoe and paddled up 
 stream and into the East Slang. Such a change had sum 
 mer wrought here that he hardly recognized the scene of 
 last spring s exploits. Where then the wide water stretched 
 from shore to shore, was now a green, rushy level, divided 
 only by a narrow channel that crept with many turns on 
 its sluggish way to the creek as if any other course or none 
 at all might as well be taken. The scraggy clumps of 
 button bushes were now green islands in the marsh and 
 populous with gay and noisy communities of redwings. 
 The western shore bristling with naked branches when he 
 last had seen it, now was softly rounded with all the lux 
 uriant leafage June could give it, and the old camp was 
 just discernible embowered in leaves and shadows. A 
 narrow boat-path leading to it and a clumsy log canoe 
 drawn ashore there showed that the landing was yet in use. 
 
 Pelatiah was set on shore farther up stream on the east 
 bank at an open place to which he guided Sam, informing 
 him that it was known as the " John Clark place," and 
 was a famous resort for bullpout fishing in May. Here it 
 was agreed that Sam should meet him next morning, if 
 the hoped-for day s leave of absence were obtained, and
 
 SAM LOVEVS CAMPS. 169 
 
 then he went his way and was soon heard " whaying" the 
 cows home. 
 
 On his return voyage, Sam ran in at the landing, from 
 which he noticed that a well-trodden path led away into 
 the woods. Though the place showed disuse and wore 
 the changes wrought by the season, the greenness and 
 bloom of early summer where so lately had been the brown 
 and naked gray of early spring, there was much to remind 
 him of the pleasant weeks he had spent there. There 
 were whitened piles of muskrat bones, picked clean by 
 many a big and little scavenger of the woods, cast-away 
 stretchefs and tally sticks, scales, and mummied heads of 
 fish, and Antoine s old fish poles. There were sticks of 
 left-over firewood close by the ashes and brands of the last 
 camp-fire. The shanty kept its form, though the slabs 
 were losing the fresh hue of newly-rifted wood. The bed 
 ding of straw had grown musty and was pierced with pale 
 sprouts of such unthreshed kernels of grain as its latest 
 tenantry of wood mice had spared. 
 
 While Sam sat smoking a meditative pipe, his old ac 
 quaintance, the squirrel, became aware oi his presence and 
 gave him a characteristic welcome, snickering and jeering 
 and making such an ado that his wife and children came 
 to learn the cause of it. 
 
 " Hain t ye shamed to be sassin your betters afore 
 your young uns ?" Sam addressed the bright-eyed native, 
 " but I d know s I be yoar better, an Fm glad to see 
 ye fur all your sass." 
 
 Approaching footsteps drew his attention, and presently 
 an old man came shuffling along the path bearing on his 
 shoulder a long unwieldy contrivance of basket work. He 
 was unmistakably Canadian, an older but less sophisticated
 
 1 70 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Antoine, who still wore the baggy homespun woollen 
 trousers, red belt, and russet leather moccasins of his 
 native land. When Sam accosted him, his startled halt 
 was so sudden that he nearly dropped the long basket and 
 uttered a prolonged and very emphatic " Saacre !" but, 
 catching sight of him, seemed to consider the accident a 
 good joke. 
 
 " Ah ! Ha, ha, ha ! you mek scare M sieur i Bon 
 jour, bon jour, M sieur. You poot good, aujourd hui, 
 M sieur! Parle/-vous Fran^ais, M sieur? Non ? Ila, 
 ha, ha ! me no parlez Anglais ver good. Me come 
 Canada las piintemps. Coupai le bois pour M sieur 
 Eartlette. Choppai de hwood. Onsten ? Ila, ha, ha : 
 Gat petit maison la, leet haouse, " pointing backward 
 along the path and then beating his breast rapidly, " Jean 
 Bisette, me. Me, ma femme, all lone, lone. Got 
 garfon, boy, come here long tarn, me can fan , me sorry, 
 oh i sorry, sorry. You no see it, prob ly, M sieur?" 
 
 "Whaty you cally you gassaw s name?" Sam 
 asked, in a tone so loud that he was confident his French 
 must be understood. 
 
 " Hein ? Oh ! Oui, oui, oui i Son nom est An 
 toine, Antoine Bisette. You no see it, M sieur?" he 
 asked, anxiously. 
 
 " I ll bate a cooky at aour Antwine s his boy," Sam 
 said to himself, " but f I tol him so an it turned aout 
 he wan t it Id be awful disappintin tu the ol cretur i" 
 Then shaking his head, added aloud, " No, do know s 
 I ever did. F I du I ll let ye know. What on airth 
 be you agoin tu git in sech a dum d basket as that ?" 
 
 Evidently his question was not comprehended, and he 
 hastened to make it plainer with louder voice and simpler
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 171 
 
 phrase, " Whaty for dat baskeet?" which at last the old 
 man understood and explained that his long basket was a 
 fish trap. 
 
 Then he pushed off in his canoe and busied himself 
 with setting it in a gap at the point made by two thickly 
 set rows of stakes tunning obliquely across stream, and 
 Sam went his way homeward. 
 
 Night was falling. The channel was strangely widened 
 in the uncertain light ; its marshy borders far away vague 
 and mysterious among the brooding shadows of the wooded 
 shores, and the reflection of the first eastern star danced 
 along his wake before he reached the landing.
 
 VII. 
 
 CANADIANS ON THE SLANG. 
 
 THE camp was astir early next morning, so early that 
 Antoine was prancing about the fire with a frying-pan of 
 fish before the morning breeze had swept the cobwebs of 
 mist off the marshes, and so early that, when breakfast was 
 announced, Joseph Hill remarked : 
 
 " I never did set no gret on gittin up in the night t 
 eat a meal o victuals that is, f I ve hed supper in kinder 
 decent season. Not to say but what I kin gin ally eat 
 hearty that is, tol able hearty but mornin naps, when 
 you wake up jest nough tu sense t you hain t got tu git 
 up, is turrible comf table, an I hate bein cheated aout 
 on em. But I ll try tu rise tu the casion, " and he 
 crawled into place by the stone table. 
 
 " Some skeety talkin was mek me gat up hairly dis 
 mornin ," Antoine said, in explanation of his early ris 
 ing. 
 
 " Skeeters talkin i" said Joseph. " I never heard em 
 du nothin but sing, an dum d poor singin at that ; I d 
 know but it s good nough singin , but I don t like the 
 tune. " 
 
 " Wai, seh, boy, Ah ll hear it talk dat tarn, an Ah 
 hear all what he ll said. Fust w en dat leetly nowse 
 woked me up, Ah ll ant know what he was mek it. Den 
 Ah ll fan aout he was four skeety standlin on top of
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 173 
 
 it me an Sam, an Solem, an Zhozeff. Dat one standlin 
 on Sam say, Dis man hide so tough Ah can steek ma 
 beel in it. De one standlin on Zhozeff say, Ah can 
 push ma beel in dis one, but Ah can tol what Ah ll 
 get, bloods or water or sometings, an guess he ant know 
 hese f what he got hees inside of it. De one bore Solem 
 say, Ah ll bore hole in dis mans an de win blowed 
 aout of it so he ll mos knock ma head off Den de one 
 sect on me, he say, Ah ll bore in dis one very easy, an 
 he gat more bloods as dey was water in de lake, an it lase 
 more better as wines. Come here, boy, dey nough for all 
 of it. *Den dey ll come on mean Ah ll gat to jomp 
 ap pooty quick !" 
 
 "It s lucky they waked you," said Sam, " seein at 
 I ve got tu gwup betimes arter Peltier. An come tu think 
 on t, I forgot tu tell ye, Antwine, at I see a feller up t 
 the Slang at come f m the same place t you did, I guess. 
 Like nough you know him." 
 
 " He come f m Saint Cesaire?" asked Antoine with 
 interest. 
 
 No, he didn t give that name, but he come f m Can- 
 ady, eiles he s strayed away f m Uncle Lisha s Colchester 
 P int. He looks ol nough for that. " 
 
 " From Canada ! You ll s pose Ah see evreebodee in 
 Canada ? Dat mos bigger as Danvit prob ly, an you ll 
 ant know evreebodee lieve dar, ant it, hein ?" 
 
 " Wai, no, not quite all on em, an the s some t I 
 du know at I wish t I didn t. But I was a-tellin on 
 him baout you," Sam continued, indulging in a white 
 lie, " an he claimed at he knowed a man o the name 
 o Antwine Bisette. Like nough he lied, I ve knowed 
 Canucks at did git a leetle mite off m the act al facts
 
 174 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 sometimes, but I guess you d better gvvup long vvi me 
 an see him. " 
 
 " Frenchmans ant never lie," Antoine protested with a 
 great flourish of gestures, " fore he ll be here Iqng nough 
 for leatn it of Yankee, cept once a while mebby he ketch 
 it of Injin. Injin lie lak a dev ." 
 
 " Wai, they re turrible easy tu larn, some on em. " 
 
 " He ll gat good school mom fer dat w en he ll gat 
 Yankee !" 
 
 " Wai, nev mind baout that naow, you d better gvvup 
 an see him, an when you git through parly vooin 
 you d orter heard me an him talkin French ! you c n 
 come daown where Peltier did, an some on us ll g 
 over n git ye. Come on. " 
 
 "Wai, Ah guess Ah ll goin ," Antoine said, arising 
 after relighting his pipe. " Ah ll wan talk French wid 
 somebody fore Ah ll fregit of it. An it don t healt y for 
 Frenchman s talk so good Angleesh Ah do, all de tarn." 
 
 They were well on their way before the touch of the 
 rising sun began to transmute their broad path of silver 
 into one of gold, and it was just gilding the roots of the 
 old hemlocks and patches ot the forest floor when the 
 canoe crushed through the rushes to the old camp landing. 
 Antoine had no sentimentality to expend on the place which 
 had given him all he could ever expect from it, and was at 
 once ready to follow Sam. 
 
 They had not gone far along the path when the sunlight 
 of a little clearing shone before them, and then they saw a 
 small log-house with whitewashed Fides and notched 
 shingles along its eaves. Coming nearer, they saw an old 
 woman at the door wearing a white cap and short while 
 gown which Sam wondered at, whether meant for day or
 
 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 175 
 
 night attire, and then an old man, on all fours, weeding 
 an onion bed close beside the house. When presently -he 
 sat upright to fire \\ith flint and steel a bit of punk to light 
 his pipe, his leathern old visage became plainly visible. 
 
 " There, du ye know him, Antwine ?" Sam asked, in a 
 low tone. 
 
 The younger Canadian s face, which had till now 
 shown only amused curiosity, suddenly flashed into an 
 expression of recognition and strong emotion. 
 
 "Ah, mon Dieu ! " he cried huskily, " c est mon 
 poupa ct ma mouman !" and he ran forward to the old 
 people. p 
 
 " Iluggin an kissin on em julluk any little boy, " 
 said Sam with a quaver in his voice, and with tender 
 memories of his own mother who had been asleep under 
 the graveyard sumachs since he was a child, he retired be 
 fore the rejoicing trio came fairly to their speech. As he 
 went his way back to the boat, the three voices broke forth 
 in such a confusion of incessant gabble that he could not 
 help laughing and remarking, " By the gre t horn spoon ! 
 A flock o blackbirds, no, nor all the noises in the ma sh 
 put together, hain t a-primin . " 
 
 He was glad to find Pelatiah waiting at the " John Clark 
 place," his unhappiness somewhat lessened by the pros 
 pect of a day s outing. Sam had had the forethought to 
 bring trolling tackle along, and as they fared slowly down 
 stream Pelatiah trailed the lure along the border of lily 
 pads and listened to the story of the discovery of Antoine s 
 parents, and thought it almost as wonderful as a story in 
 a book. 
 
 He struck a large pickerel, and had the luck, in spite of 
 his flurried awkwardness, to get it safely into the dugout,
 
 176 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 
 
 and rejoiced exceedingly in its capture and in Sam s praise 
 of his skill, as well as in anticipation of ihe display of such 
 a trophy on his return to Friend Bartlett s. He would 
 like, he thought, to see that little dandy spark of Lowizy s 
 struggling with such a fish, almost as big as he, and as 
 likely to haul him overboard as to be hauled inboard. 
 Was it possible that Lowizy might feel a sympathetic pride 
 in his achievement ? He had fancied that his heart was 
 steeled against her blandishments, some of which had 
 been vainly expended on him last evening, succeeded by 
 an air of injured innocence that proved as ineffectual. But 
 now he began to feel a forgiving softness and some twinges 
 of remorse. He began to frame excuses for her conduct, 
 and accused himself of cruelty in answering her in mon 
 osyllables, and for not having filled the wash-boiler for her 
 before he came away. Sam dispelled this silent mood by 
 proposing plans for the spending of the day. " I ben 
 kinder wantin tu go aout tu Gardin Islan ever sen we 
 ben here," he said as he sent the canoe on her way with 
 slow strokes of the paddle, never changed from side to 
 side, but steadily delivered on one side without a percep 
 tible deviation of the bow from its direct course. 
 
 " The bay s as still as a mill-pawnd tu-day, an s posin 
 you n me take a v yage aout there in the scaow ? We 
 c n git back afore noon an then fish long \vi Sole an 
 Joe till it s time for you tu go hum." 
 
 The prospect of voyaging more than half a mile out into 
 the immensity of the lake was rather appalling to Pelatiah, 
 but his faith in Sam was unbounded, and the prospect of 
 setting foot on a real solid island was as alluring as an 
 adventure of discovery, and so after a little deliberation h<* 
 fell in with the proposal.
 
 SAM LOVEL: s CAMPS. 177 
 
 Arriving at camp, the plan was broached to Solon and 
 Joseph, who at once declared that they had no inclination 
 for so perilous a voyage. 
 
 "It s still nough naow, " said Joseph after a careful 
 inspection of the cloudless sky, " but the s time nough 
 for it tu up an blow like all git aout fore we c ld git aout 
 there and back agin, an the s no knowin what dum d 
 caper that pleggid ol she-boat Id take a notion tu cut up 
 if the win did blow. I b lieve I d druther look at the lake 
 f m one side an f m the middle. You c n see more on t 
 tu oncte that way, an I b lieve that ll sati fy me tol able 
 well, though f I felt jullukgoin I p sume to say I d go." 
 
 Solon advised keeping to the shore or near it, and gave 
 it as his opinion that the contemplated visit to the island 
 was "an attemptin of improvidence." They were told 
 of the meeting of Antoine and his parents, and Solon de 
 clared it was like the " return of the prodigy son, only 
 proberbly the wa n t no calf infatuated for the o-casion." 
 
 " This was more as t orter ben cordin tu my idee," 
 said Joseph, " a sorter meetin half way, an nob dy 
 a-gittin tuckered a trav lin as that ere Sciiptur young 
 man did. " 
 
 While Pelatiah tethered his precious pickerel safely in 
 the shallow water, Sam got a lunch of bread and pork, 
 some poles, lines, and bait from camp, and the two set 
 forth in the scow. Sam took the oars, a rough pair of 
 Antoine s fashioning, which Joseph Hill said " it wouldn t 
 be no sin tu warship, for they wa n t like nothin in 
 heaven or airth, erless the was some more somewhere at 
 Antoine hed made," and Pelatiah took his first lesson in 
 steering with the paddle. 
 
 " Con-faound it !" he cried, when in spite of his best en-
 
 I 78 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 deavors the boat had veered to half the points of the com 
 pass, " I can t make the ol boat p int nowhercs ! I don t 
 b lieve it s half broke !" 
 
 "Why, Peltier," Sam said, amused, though half-im 
 patient with his awkwardness, " you haint no cause tu say 
 that, for you make it p int most every wheres. " 
 
 " I b lieve," Pelatiah remarked, " at they call it steer- 
 in cause the con-faounded thing acts so much like steers 
 at hain t broke. It do know gee f m haw." 
 
 " Uncle Tyler, the ol feller at fetched Sole an Joe 
 an to ther duds daown in his scaow, says t a boat don t 
 know gee an haw, but it does starb d and larb d. My ! 
 f you d a-heard him hollerin at em you Id a-thought t 
 was Cap n Peck a-trainin his lloodwood comp ny. " 
 
 Pelatiah improved rapidly under Sam s patient instruc 
 tion, and was soon able to keep the scow quite closely 
 headed for the island, whose rocky shore, green trees, and 
 blossomy shrubs steadily loomed larger, nearer and more 
 distinct. 
 
 While they were on the shallows, frequent touches of the 
 paddle on the sandy bottom, assurances that connection 
 with the solid earth was not yet severed, had given Pelatiah 
 a feeling of safety. But now that the paddle could not 
 touch the bottom, the clams and their slowly traced tracks 
 faded out of sight in the deeper water, the ripples of sun 
 shine no longer crinkled the sands with gold, and there 
 was nothing but water to be seen beneath the boat save 
 where some great rock dimly showed in the green depths, 
 like an ugly monster lying in wait for a victim, he wished 
 himself on land, and was glad enough when the scow 
 grated on the rocky slant of the island s southern shore. 
 He could hardly tell whether such isolation was quite
 
 SAM LOVEi: S CAMPS. 179 
 
 pleasant, but it was a new and strange sensation to have 
 this little patch of rock and scant soil all to himself and 
 Sam, but for its few inhabitants, the birds and reptiles, 
 mice and perhaps a family of minks, for they saw one 
 gliding along the shore, as lithe and silent as a snake. 
 
 They made the round of all its borders, the sheer wall 
 of the north shore, where storm -bent cedars and birches 
 clung along the brink, and the long incline of rock on 
 the south shore, where thickets of flowering shrubs made 
 a breastwork of bloom just behind the line of driftwood 
 and pebbles thrown up by the high water of spring. They 
 explored ^he interior, where a goodly growth of almost all 
 the deciduous trees of the region was unaccountably 
 nourished in the thin red soil. In one place they noticed 
 that a pit deep enough for a grave had recently been dug, 
 but for what purpose they could not imagine. They 
 carved their names and the date of their visit on the largest 
 
 O 
 
 white birch in characters which some later comer might 
 possibly decipher. Then they fished off the eastern and 
 western points of the island, catching perch whose armor 
 of green and gold was darker and brighter than those of 
 their brethren of the creek. 
 
 Once when Pelatiah cast his bait into a wide fissure of 
 the submerged rocks it was seized in a sudden onset that 
 reminded him of the biting of his familiars, the trout. But 
 this was a lustier fellow than any denizen of Danvis 
 brooks, one that would not be jerked out overhead at the 
 first stroke, but clung to the water tenaciously till, the 
 line s length away, he broke the surface and sprang thrice 
 his length above it, then regained his watery grasp almost 
 as soon as the parted wavelets closed above his bristling 
 dorsal fin. It was no exercise of skill, but only stout
 
 l8o SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 tackle and a strong pull that overcame him, yd Pelatiah 
 was none the less exultant when at last he hauled his prize 
 out on to the rocks and pounced sprawling upon him, as 
 Sam said, " Julluk a boy ketchin a frog. " 
 
 "This must be a Swago, as they call "em," he said 
 when its captor ventured to quit hovering over the goodly 
 three-pound bass, and gave him a chance to examine it. 
 "Seems s ough that feller speared one julluk this that 
 night las spring, an him an Time called it a Swago. 
 They say they re the beaters of all the fish in these waters, 
 on the hook or on the table, an by the way this one 
 skived an flurrupped raound I jedge they ve got the fust 
 on t right. Cordin tu their tell, Lewis Creek s chuck 
 full on em, an I \vanter hev a slap at em one day fore 
 we g hum. " 
 
 After awhile, when both had tired of trying to catch 
 another bass, the pulsing rumble of a steamer s paddles 
 was heard, and they hurried to the west point to see her 
 pass. Compared with the little steamboat he had seen at 
 Vergennes at the time of Uncle Lisha s departure, and 
 the only one he had seen till now, this was a leviathan. 
 Pelatiah thought he could never tire of watching her ma 
 jestic progress as, with flags and pennons flaunting bravely 
 in the sunlight, she spurned the vexed waters behind her 
 in a long line of foam. Gayest and most conspicuous of 
 her bunting shone the stars and stripes, and it made his 
 heart swell with pride to see the flag of his country floating 
 above so grand and beautiful a craft, and he was proudly 
 thankful to be even the humblest of Yankees. 
 
 So intently did he and his companion regard the steamer 
 that it was not till she had passed out of sight and the 
 waves of her wake began to beat the rocks at their feet
 
 SAM LOVEUS CAMPS. j8i 
 
 with sullen surges that they noticed what a change had 
 come upon the sky, how silvery domes of thunder heads 
 had reared themselves above the mountains, shadowing 
 some in a blue black as sombre as the bases of the great 
 cloud temples had become, till mountain and cloud were 
 an undistinguishable, looming mass of blackness. The 
 south wind which had risen from a scarcely perceptible 
 waft of soft air to a breeze that ruffled the lake and briskly 
 stirred the leaves was now hushed, and no sound was 
 heard but the slow wash of the steamer s wake and some 
 voices of shore life, faint, occasional, and far away. It was 
 as if natrtre was holding her breath in expectation of some 
 outburst of her elements, presently voiced by a threatening 
 growl of distant thunder, rolling along the western horizon. 
 
 "Wai, naovv, " said Sam after a brief survey of the 
 storm signs, " I guess we d better be pickin up an 
 pullin foot for camp ; I d know but we ll ketch it as 
 tis. " 
 
 Gathering their tackle and fish, they hastened to where 
 they had landed, but the boat was not there. She had 
 only been fastened by grounding her bow on a rock, and 
 the wash of the steamer had set her adrift. Standing at 
 the water s edge, with craned necks, they speechlessly 
 watched her drifting away, her oar handles bobbing up 
 and down and creaking and bumping with the swells as 
 if plied by some invisible mischievous water sprite. 
 
 By the gre t horn spoon ! if we hain t in a boat 
 mow," Sam said, as he exhaled his long held breath. 
 
 " I wish tu Lord o massy we was in a boat," Pelatiah 
 said dolefully, " erless we never d a-ben anigh one. I 
 won t never git inter one o the con-faounded things agin, 
 I snum !"
 
 182 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 " You ll hnfter f you ever git away f m here, erless 
 you wait till the lake freezes." 
 
 " I don t s pose we will git away for a good spell f we 
 ever du fore we starve tu death ! Tew reg lar Robi son 
 Crusoes we be, an not a clum d goat on this pleggid islan l 
 Oh, dear me sux !" Pelatiah wailed as a new and greater 
 anxiety fell upon him. " What be I goin tu du baout 
 my chores? The won t be nob cly tu help milk, an Mr. 
 Bartlett an the hull toot on em 11 think I m the meanest, 
 lyin skunk in all creation." 
 
 " Wai," said Sam, " we can t help it naow and hev tu 
 make the best on t. Joe and Sole won t dast tu come 
 arter us, but when Antwine gits through parly vooin with 
 his ol folks, f he ever does, he will. \Ve c n eat fish 
 an play t we own the islan till someb dy comes. Lc s 
 go an see haow it gits long stormin ," and he led the 
 way to the west point.
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE TREASURE-DIGGERS. 
 
 FROM the dark clouds a veil of rain had fallen, com 
 pletely hiding the distant mountains and the farthest 
 western shore, while it had begun to flatten the nearer 
 crags o Split Rock into a sheer wall whose even tint of 
 dull gray was broken only by the white shaft of the light 
 house and the dull flash of the waves which the coming 
 wind hurled against the point of the rugged promontory. 
 Beyond the advancing veil, whitecaps gleamed out of the 
 obscurity, and out of it scudded a sloop with close-reefed 
 sails and anchored in the shelter of Thompson s Point. 
 
 When the frequent flashes of lightning quivered down 
 from the sky, it was as if the veil was torn with jagged 
 rents that for an instant revealed a conflagration of the 
 universe. Incessant peals of thunder rolled in repeated 
 bursts and muttering growls, swelling, and dying in 
 echoes from cloud, mountain, and headland, with a con 
 tinuous undertone of the roar of wind and waves on dis 
 tant woods and rock-bound shores. The wind, yet unfelt 
 by the castaways, sent the hurrying clouds in a wide, ma 
 jestic sweep across the sky till all the sunlit blue was blot 
 ted out and the landscape was overspread with a gloom 
 more awful than the darkness of night, flashing into in 
 stants of distinctness when wind-swept waves, and clouds, 
 and trees, for a pulse beat, stood still in the white fire of
 
 184 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 the lightning. Then cat s-paws ruffled the black, still 
 waters near them, a brief patter of big drops fell like leaden 
 plummets on water, rocks, and leaves, and then all at once 
 the lake seethed at their feet, the lithe branches of the 
 birches streamed to leeward of their bending trunks, and 
 the sturdy cedars tossed in brief resistance as the long- 
 driven slant of the storm burst upon them. 
 
 Sam and Pelatiah w r ere drenched before they could reach 
 the partial shelter of the nearest clump of cedars, which 
 only broke the force of the wind, while every branch and 
 twig seemed to become a conduit to pour, dribble, and 
 drip down their backs and upon their knees, every raindrop 
 the tree caught. 
 
 " I don t s pose it s nothin tu what they hed time o 
 the flood, said Sam, wiping his wet face with a wetter 
 coat-sleeve, " but I du feel more n I ever did afore for 
 the poor creeturs at was aouten the ark. " 
 
 "I guess I ve got tu the hayth o wetness," Pelatiah 
 said, as with his chin on his knee he regarded the water 
 overflowing from the tops of his boots, into which his 
 trousers were tucked, fer my boots is a-runnin over. 
 Oh, con faound it, I d ruther milk all aour caows in the rain 
 an tu be squattin here, like a draownded goslin , jes fer 
 fun. Dum sech fun !" 
 
 With such dolorous discourse and with watching the 
 storm they whiled away a half hour of discomfort. 
 Through the loop-holes of their poor shelter they could 
 see nothing but the blown and pelted trees and rocky 
 bounds of their island, and a little beyond these the seeth 
 ing, angry sweep of the waves, whose white crests and 
 black furrows faded into the gray downpour and fleeting 
 drift of the rain, and it was as if this patch of recks and
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 185 
 
 earth was all that was left to them of the stable world 
 whose blue mountains, green woods, and fields and sunlit 
 waters an hour ago had shone about them. Then the 
 fury of the wind abated somewhat, the rain hissed less 
 angrily upon the hurrying waves, the torn clots of black 
 clouds swept more slowly across the sky, grew more infre 
 quent, then had all passed by ; the nearest headland was 
 dimly revealed, vaguely defined shores reappeared and 
 again clasped the bay, a distant field was lighted by a 
 gleam of sunshine and shone through the vapor in golden 
 green, the leaden hue of the waves turned to living blue 
 and green, and as the last growl of the retreating storm 
 was muttered among the eastern mountains, the sunlight 
 came sweeping over all the landscape. 
 
 Sam and his companion crept from under their roof of 
 dripping branches and stretched their cramped limbs in 
 the genial warmth of the rekindled sunlight, while they 
 scanned the lake in hope of seeing some friendly craft that 
 might come to their rescue. But no vessel of any sort was 
 in sight, save the sloop that had taken shelter inside 
 Thompson s Point, and which, if not beyond their hail, 
 was unmindful of it, for it now spread its white wings to 
 the fresh northern breeze and sailed away to the southward. 
 
 Her captain and crew they had never had speech with 
 nor seen, but at such a distance that they were unrecog 
 nizable specks, presumably men, who might be white or 
 black, brother Yankees, Yorkers, or Canadians, for all 
 they could make out concerning them, but they, too, had 
 suffered the fury of the storm, and as the bellying sails 
 bore them away, passing out of sight behind the cliffs, a 
 heavier sense of loneliness fell upon Sam and Pelatiah. 
 
 Sam comforted himself with a pipe, a solace which
 
 1 86 SAM LOVEVS CAMPS. 
 
 was denied Pelatiah, as was also the rumination of his cud, 
 for which he vainly searched his pockets, remembering at 
 last that he had given his only remaining piece of gum to 
 the faithless Louisa. Far better, he thought, than if he 
 had it, if she was now chewing it and was reminded by it 
 of him. Would she feel any anxiety concerning him if 
 he did not return that night, as it now seemed probable he 
 could not, and be sorry that she had been unkind ? Or 
 would she and all of them think that he was careless of 
 his word or had deliberately broken it ? This seemed the 
 likelier chance, and again he groaned aloud, Oh, con- 
 faound sech fun ! 
 
 Standing on the south shore and looking toward the 
 mouth of Little Otter, they saw two figures on the beach 
 to the westward of it which they made out to be Solon and 
 Joseph. They were moving excitedly about in the neigh 
 borhood of an object which Sam presently guessed to be 
 the scow, stranded on the shallows. The favoring wind 
 bore Sam s hail to them, and though their answer could 
 not be heard, they could be seen frantically swinging their 
 hats, delighted at the assurance of the safety of their 
 friends, and Sam laughed to think of what he could not 
 quite see, how Joseph was prancing about like an uprcared 
 mud turtle, and of the big words he knew Solon must be 
 uttering. 
 
 Then they were seen to wade out to the scow, bail out 
 the water it had shipped, board it, shove it into deeper 
 water, and then, with a heroic endeavor to practise the les 
 sons of Uncle Tyler, attempt to row to the island. It 
 soon became evident that they might as well have under 
 taken so to voyage to the moon, for they, clawed the air 
 more than the water with the oars, making no progress,
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 187 
 
 but in irregular circles, which, if they should become wide 
 enough, were as likely to take them out into the broad 
 lake as to the island. 
 
 Sam became more alarmed for them than for himself 
 and Pelatiah, and roared to them to get back to the shore 
 if they could. When they comprehended his instructions 
 they were fortunately in shoal water, and more effectually 
 using the oars as setting poles, they happily succeeded in 
 beaching the scow on the sands at the foot of the bluff. 
 Then Sam shouted to them in well-separated words, slowly 
 delivered between his hollowed hands : 
 
 " Wjjen An twine gits back (if he ever does an 
 hain t parlyvooed hisself to death," taking his hands down 
 and also taking breath as he addressed this aside to Pela 
 tiah), " hev him come over arter us with the 
 scaow ! Du you hear?" 
 
 When they had taken time to ponder the message, Sam 
 caught their faint "yes" making its way against the buffets 
 of the wind. 
 
 " Naow, Peltier," he said, " le s dress aour parch you 
 wanter save that Swago right here where the sun 11 dry 
 us, an make us a fire an hev us a hot dinner. The 
 punk in my wa scut pocket s dry s bone spite o" all this 
 ere flood, n we c n git a fire aout o suthin, I guess. 
 
 In the lee of the blooming thicket they set about scaling 
 their fish. So absorbed in their occupation or with far- 
 away thoughts they took no note of the unobtrusive sounds 
 about them, the wash of the subsiding waves, the rustle of 
 the leaves, and the songs of the vireos among them. Once 
 they thought they heard mixed with these the thump of 
 oars, but listening they heard no more. 
 
 Presently they were startled by the tramp of stumbling,
 
 1 88 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 heavy feet, the noise of spades and a crowbar thrown 
 down, and then as one pair of feet came to a halt quite 
 near them, a loud nasal voice broke out : 
 
 " Oh, look a-here ! John-ah, Job-ah, here s seas an 
 oceans an thaousan s o Seneky snake rhut, I vaow !" 
 
 A voice that greatly resembled that of the first speaker, 
 though it sounded more familiar to Pelatiah, answered 
 impatiently : 
 
 " Oh, dum your Seneky snake rhut ah ! Wegotsuthin 
 at s more caount an or nary rhuts tu tend tu ; what the 
 Bible calls the rhut of all evil is what we re arter ah. Come 
 here an le s git tu diggin right stret off, fore some darn 
 fool comes shoolin raound. I ruther guess, Jethro, at 
 you an Job, Junior, hed better dig, an f ll keep watch, 
 bein at I m the sharpest sightedest an t the spine o 
 my back s kinder lame-ah." 
 
 Peeping under the bushes, Sam and Pelatiah saw, stand 
 ing quite near them, a tall, awkward lout, who with a face 
 expressive of green conceit and low cunning regarded the 
 patch of medicinal heibs that spread their broad leaves 
 before him, and just beyond him, above the undergrowth, 
 the heads and shoulders of two others of the same unfin 
 ished strong build, the same expression of conceit and 
 cunning, with a little drying of the greenness that more 
 years had given, unmistakably elder brothers of the one 
 who had spoken first. 
 
 I hain t a-goin tu dig a dum d inch-ah, " said this 
 one, still gloating over his discovery of herbs, an aromatic 
 root of which he had pulled and was crunching with swin 
 ish voracity, " erless I m a-goin tu hev a third o all the 
 money we git ; so there. " 
 
 " Naow, con-faound it all, Jethro-ah, " said the "oldest
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 189 
 
 brother, coming nearer and halting, while the swing of 
 his arms gradually abated like the subsiding beats of a 
 pendulum, " what s the use o your bein a nat ral born 
 fool, if you know anything? Who tol us where we was 
 a goin tu find all the money at Bennydick Ainil hid 
 here, when he was a-retreatin -ah ? Wa n t it Sairy, 
 Sleepin Sairy, when Job Junior hed gin her the in- 
 flewernce-ah ?" 
 
 Evidently Jethro could not gainsay this, and maintained 
 
 a sullen silence. "Wai, then," his brother continued, 
 
 t wouldn t be no more n fair fer her tu hev half on t, 
 
 for haow ld we ever ha faound it f t hedn t been for 
 
 her-ah ? Say, you darned off ox-ah !" 
 
 " Wai, we hain t faound it, hev we-ah ? We ve got tu 
 dig for t, hain t we-ah?" Jethro demanded with a sar 
 castic grin. 
 
 " Gol dum ye !" cried John, " we would ha hed it f 
 you d hel your plegged gab-ah. A speakin jest s the 
 crowbar hit the chist, an then of course it moved, jest s 
 any tarnal fool might ha knowed it would-ah. But we re 
 a goin tu git it naow f you c n keep yer hed shet a spell, 
 an all t we ast is a quarter on t for Sairy, jest a ekal 
 divided quarter, n one fur me n one fur }ou, n one 
 fur Job Junior ah. An that s more n fair. Neow, 
 hain t it, Job-ah ?" 
 
 " Wai," answered Job, " I low t is that is to say fur 
 you, bein at Sairy s your womern, which it jest in fac 
 gives you half a hull half-ah ! I wanter ast, naow, who 
 give Sairy the mess miricle inflewernce-ah ? Twan t 
 you, not by a jug full." 
 
 " Jest so," said Jethro. 
 
 " Ah, wal-ah, strickly speakin , it wa n t exakly me,"
 
 190 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 the eldest reluctantly admitted, " but I furnished the 
 womern, which she is the mess miricle subjeck." 
 
 "I m goin tu hev a third on t, " Jethro emphatically 
 reasserted, " erless I ll go an tell Annernius, an break up 
 the trade for the islan , which I can, bein at the hain t 
 no writin s drawed yit. So there-ah." 
 
 This threat seemed to strike dumb him whom they called 
 John, but after swelling and choking with rage for a little, 
 speech returned. 
 
 " Job an me bed ort tu kill ye an heave ye int the 
 lake, so we bed ah !" but Job did not assent to this simple 
 method of settling Jethro s claim, and John went on some 
 what less angrily. " Wai, condum ye, take a third, take 
 it, you tarnal hawg, an be dunr d, f you wanter take the 
 bread aputen your brother s maouth at s allers bin your 
 guardeen an the mainstay o the fam ly sence the ol man 
 yer father, Job Senior, died ! Take it, but go to diggin 
 fore some fool comes gawpin raound. An keep yer 
 head shet when ye git tu diggin !" 
 
 Sam now whispered to Pelatiah that if they were to get 
 these men to help them to return to the mainland it would 
 be best to enter upon negotiations at once, before the 
 treasure seeking was begun, and of which they must pre 
 tend complete ignorance. 
 
 Crouching low, they stole silently away to some little 
 distance and then "noisily made their way toward the 
 money-diggers, who were now gathered about the pit, which 
 Sam and Pelatiah had noticed in their survey of the island. 
 
 " Haow are ye? I m turrible glad to see ye !" Sam 
 said heartily. 
 
 " Where in thunder an chain lightnin did you come 
 from-ah?" demanded the eldest of the brothers, surprised,
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 191 
 
 shamefaced, yet half defiant. "What ye duin here? 
 Clear aout ! This is aour islan ! we jest bought it, an 
 \ve hain t a goin tu low anybody on it stealin cedar pos s 
 an raisin Cain-ah. We ll sue em fur trespuss yes, sir, 
 we will, an you d better put er. " 
 
 Sam hastened to explain that he and his comrade had 
 come there fishing, that their boat had gone adrift in the 
 storm, and that all they wanted of the island was to rid it 
 of themselves ; now how much would they ask to set them 
 ashore at the mouth of Little Otter ? 
 
 " Wal-ah, " said the self-constituted mouthpiece of the 
 three, "*ve come here a-fishin tew, got aout o worms, 
 an come ashore tu dig some here, " indicating the pit with 
 a sweep of his aim. " We allus carry tools for diggin 
 worms," with another sweep in the direction of the spade 
 and crowbar. "A man orter be prepared for everything 
 when he goes a fishin , but the hain t many at knows 
 nough tu be. Naow, 1 you d ha ben prepared-ah, you 
 wouldn t ha got ketched so." 
 
 " Wai, no," said Sam. " If we d ha fetched lumber 
 an tools to build another boat, we d ha ben all right, 
 but seein at we didn t think on t, haow much be you 
 goin tu charge tu take us over t the crik ? We got some 
 fellers over there at s expectin of us, an we re willin 
 tu pay you reasonable tu take us over. " 
 
 " What be you a-duin on here so many on ye-ah ? I 
 don t like the looks on t. Don t ye tech nothin on this 
 islan , not a cedar pos nor not one stun-ah, nor dig 
 none, for we cal late tu pastur sheep on t, an we don t 
 want it all tore up-ah. It s all aour n tu hev an tu hoi , 
 we, aour heirs an signs forever, et cetery un soforth-ah. " 
 
 Sam reasserted that he and his friend coveted nothing
 
 1 92 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 that the island contained and repeated his query as to the 
 sum demanded for taking Pelatiah and himself away from 
 it, to which John did not at once reply, but continued to 
 ask questions, for his inquisitiveness was as craving as his 
 acquisitiveness. " Where du ye live when you re t hum ? 
 I don t remember seein ye afore tu taown meetin , nor 
 trainin , an I don t b lieve you b long in Lakefield ah. 
 You ve got a kinder furrin aspeck, so to speak- ah. Oh, 
 you live in Danvis, du ye, an come a-fishin , hey ? Come 
 to think on t this young man does look kinder iamiller, 
 an I b lieve I see him a-sloshin raound arterpickiil up t 
 the East Slang las spring. Wan t ye ? Say-ah ?" 
 
 Pelatiah nodded an affirmative. 
 
 " Wai," he continued, while he meditatively pawed the 
 earth with his big boot, " it ll hender us consid able, but 
 we wanter be commerdatin , an seein it s you, we ll 
 take ye over fur, le me see, wal, tew dollars in money, 
 seein it s you-ah. " He announced his terms as if a sud 
 den burst of generosity had overcome his better judgment. 
 
 "Seein it s us," said Sam, with calm indignation, 
 " we ll stay here till the lake freezes over an Tophet teu, 
 fore we ll pay you tew dollars for a half hour s rovvin !" 
 and without further words he and Pelatiah turned away. 
 
 They had gone some distance and Pelatiah was suggest 
 ing that they should take the boat without leave, or, as he 
 put it, "kinder borrer it for a spell," and make their 
 escape, and then, towing it back with their own, restore it 
 to the owners ; when they heard some one hastily follow 
 ing them in a clumsy attempt to do so stealthily. Look 
 ing back they saw Jethro struggling through the under 
 growth, his arms at full swing where there was space for them. 
 
 " Say-ah ! Hoi on-ah !" he half-grunted, half -\\his-
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 193 
 
 pered, and coming up to them, continued in the same 
 tone, " I ll take ye over for seventy- five cents in money- 
 ah, f you ll give it tu me right in my own fist. Will ye, 
 say- ah ?" 
 
 " I ll give ye fifty cents," said Sam, " an pay ye soon 
 as you start. " 
 
 " Wai, gol dum it, fifty cents, then. The ol capt in 
 wouldn t gi me a cent f he d got tew dollars. You shy 
 raound tu the boat in the cove on the north side, an I ll 
 come in less n no time. Naow, don t ye let em see ye, 
 an I ll fix it slicker n goose grease." And he retreated 
 while Sar* and Pelatiah, gathering up their tackle and fish 
 silently, made a wide detour and gained the rendezvous. 
 As silently they got on board the scow of the money-dig 
 gers and, ready to shove it off if discovered by the two 
 elder brothers, awaited the coming of the younger. Him 
 they heard saying loudly, " I guess at I d better go an 
 see f them critters don t hook the scaow, " and then come 
 threshing his way through the brush to them. He clat 
 tered over the stony beach, shoved the boat off, floundered 
 on board, took the oars, and after a few back strokes which 
 sent the craft well away from the shore, addressed his 
 brothers in a tone which was not intended to reach them, 
 " There, consarn ye !" 
 
 But their suspicions had been in some way aroused, and 
 they came hammering down to the shore in hot haste while 
 Sam was handing over a Spanish half dollar to the exul 
 tant Jethro. 
 
 "Come back here, you old heap, you," shouted the 
 irate mainstay of his family, as he stooped and picked 
 up a stone so big that his big hand could hardly grasp it ; 
 " Come back here or I ll " Jethro jeered at him a de-
 
 IQ4 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 risive guffaw, and the missile was thrown at the retreating 
 boat with a cast strong enough to reach it, but it fell to 
 one side and only splashed the occupants. A few more 
 strokes took them beyond the reach of anything more 
 harmful than angry words, which John and Job continued 
 to hurl at them as, with Sam at the steering paddle, they 
 swept around the west point of the island and headed tow 
 ard the mouth of Little Otter, defined by the light green 
 of its willowy gateway. 
 
 Jethro s brothers followed the shore, keeping the boat 
 in sight and continually pouring after it a volley of threats, 
 opprobrious names, and words that came as near curses as 
 church members might venture to use. 
 
 " You d better save your breath and keep your temper, " 
 Sam advised, "an go tu diggin your worms. An 
 when you git tu diggin don t ye speak. F you du they ll 
 move, an you won t git em. " 
 
 This hint that their secret was known was enough to 
 silence them without the threat thrown after it by Jethro, 
 whose patience was becoming exhausted. F you don t 
 shet up and stop yer sass, " he shouted, resting on his 
 oars, " I ll go right stret an tell Annernius the hull o 
 you know what, dum ye. So, there naow-ah !" 
 
 Then the island became so quiet that a party of crows 
 faring across the bay ventured to alight there, while Jethro, 
 whose strength was as ox-like as his motions, sent the scow- 
 surging onward with strong, slow strokes. 
 
 When with a long swash, like a restful sigh, she came 
 to the landing, Solon and Joseph were there to welcome 
 their friends, undemonstrativelv, but heartily, and to com 
 fort them with that balm which we are ever ready to give 
 but never to receive " I told you so. "
 
 SAM LO PEL S CAMPS. 195 
 
 The day was now too far spent for Pelatiah to get back 
 to his evening chores, so he was easily persuaded to wait 
 for the supper for which some hours ot Crusoe life had 
 given him a sharp appetite. Jetliro was hospitably invited 
 to remain and partake of it, and was nothing loath, improv 
 ing the opportunity as one to whom such generous fare 
 seldom came. " Dum em," he said, when, uncomfort 
 ably full fed, he arose from the stone table, "they d be 
 madder yit f they knowed haow much I d bed t eat. 
 But they dassent kill me, an they can t lick me, so 
 there-ah." With this fraternal comment and without a 
 word of Panics or good-by, he departed. 
 
 " Perlite s a pig," said Sam as the sound of their 
 guest s departure changed from clumsy footfalls to as 
 clumsy oar-beals. " Wai, I don t want tu say nothin* 
 agin my breed, but it s all in the fam ly, here, an I will 
 say that of all mean critters a mean Yankee is the meanest. " 
 
 While Sam was making ready to transport Pelatiah on 
 his homeward way, Antoine was heard lustily hailing the 
 camp from the eastern shore, and Pelatiah proposed to 
 cross the stream to that point with Sam and make his way 
 thence through the woods, thus saving his friend the long 
 voyage up the creek and Slang. Sam thought this inhos 
 pitable and a non-fulfilment of his promise, but Pelatiah 
 insisted that he had had quite enough of boating for one 
 day, and would much rather feel the solid earth under his 
 feet. So he was landed where Antoine was waiting with a 
 load of Canadian news that he at once began to unburden 
 himself of. 
 
 Breaking loose from the thread of a story just begun, 
 Pelatiah went his way into the gathering twilight of the 
 woods.
 
 IX. 
 
 RECONCILIATION. 
 
 PKLATIAH had not been brought up in the woods to be 
 scared by owls, as he had more than once assured himself 
 as he stumbled along the darkening wood road, half- 
 carrying, half trailing his big pickerel and bass, but he 
 fancied that their hollow hoots had never sounded so like 
 derisive laughter, "Ho! ho! ho! Ho! ho! ho! 
 ho!" repeated by one another till the echoes joined in 
 the dolorous mirth. A whippoorwill, far away on the 
 border of the forest, was not insisting on the summary 
 chastisement of poor Will, but repeating this new culprit s 
 name with sharp reproachful reiteration, " Pel-a-tier, 
 Pel-a tier, Pel-a-tier!" The trill of a toad rang in his 
 ears like a long-drawn jeer, and the bellowing of the bull 
 frogs along the Slang was shaped by his fancy into solemn 
 words of rebuke, advice, and warning, " Didn t go hum ! 
 No, no ! Go hum ! Go hum ! Don t du it agin, agin, 
 never agin !" Not a word of comfort for the poor fellow 
 among all these voices of the night, that followed him out 
 of the gloom of the woods, and, looking up to the sky, he 
 saw the stars blinking at him with unpitying eyes. 
 
 Shellhouse Mountain, which but yesterday he had de 
 spised as a hillock that would be but a pimple on the face 
 of old Tater Hill, now uplifted on a vague foundation of 
 shadows and asserting itself as a bound of the visible
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 197 
 
 world, stood before him and frowned upon him like a 
 dark, scowling brow. The lights that dotted the highway 
 went out one by one, as the farm folks went to bed but a 
 little later than their poultry. The living world was forget 
 ting him, or cared nothing for him, the good-for nothing 
 fellow who had broken his word, and Bose was barking 
 as if he scented a stranger. Yet it heartened him a little 
 when, prompted by his faint shadow, he looked over his 
 right shoulder and saw the thin crescent of the new moon. 
 In confirmation of this lucky sign, he presently discovered 
 a light shining from an upper window of the big white 
 house,^Lowizy s window, he was sure, and, perhaps too 
 anxious to sleep, she was waiting for him. Yes, now he 
 saw her form, a lovely silhouette set in the frame of the 
 casement. She was looking for him, and he was only 
 restrained from calling to her for fear of arousing the 
 household. He would have ventured to whistle just once 
 if his tremulous lips had not refused to pucker. Then 
 the silhouette faded to a shadow and the light was put 
 out. As he entered the door-yard Bose ceased barking, 
 and came whining and panting to welcome him, and 
 assure him that he had, at least, one friend there, and 
 who, following close at his heels, superintended the hang 
 ing of the precious fish in the cool, safe corner of the 
 woodshed. In those happy times when tramps were un 
 known, farmhouse doors were never fastened at night, and 
 in summer were often left open, as Friend Bartlett s 
 kitchen door was now. So pulling off his boots at the 
 threshold, Pelatiah silently went in and made his way to 
 his bed in the kitchen chamber. 
 
 The blithe chorus of the robins had not long been ring 
 ing in the dewy freshness of the early morning, when
 
 198 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Pelatiah was astir an hour before any other member of the 
 family. First he cleaned the fish so nicely that Antome 
 could have found no fault, and then he drove up the cows 
 from the night pasture. He was milking his second cow 
 when Friend Bartlett appeared with his pail and stool, and 
 he was glad lo see no shadow of displeasure on his em 
 ployer s kindly face, to detect no tone of reproof in his 
 cheery voice when he addressed him. 
 
 " Well, Peltier, thee didn t get back quite so airly as 
 thee expected, did thee? I didn t hardly think thee 
 would, for when I was a boy an uster go a fishin , if they 
 bit, I hated ter go off an leave em, an if they didn t 
 bite, I wanted ter wait till they did. " 
 
 " Oh, I m awf l sorry, Mr. Bartlett, an shameder n I 
 c n live, but I couldn t help it !" and he went on explain 
 ing his mischance, forgetting to milk old Spot till she 
 thought he had done with her and moved on. When he 
 went to the cheese-room with two filled pails, by some 
 lucky chance, Lowizy was there, blushing like a June rose 
 and never handsomer than now. 
 
 " O, Peltier!" she cried, coming toward him, radiant 
 with a pleasure that surely could not be feigned, and so 
 shone upon him that the last icy corner of his heart melted 
 at once. " O, Peltier! I m dreffle glad ter see ye! I 
 was afeared at you was draownded an I never slep one 
 wink all night a-thinkin on t !" 
 
 " Would you ha cared f T was draownded, Lowizy?" 
 he asked, trembling so that his unsteady hands poured 
 half the milk outside the strainer and a little on the 
 floor. 
 
 " Don t ye slop !" she said, sharply, and then in a ten 
 derer tone, " Don t ye think I would? But you never
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 199 
 
 thought o me onct a-worryin while you was hevin high 
 jinks wi your frien s !" 
 
 " I swan tu man !" swore Pelatiah, as he set down his 
 last-emptied pail, " the wa n t a minute at I wa n t 
 a thinkin baout you while I was a-fishin , an when we 
 was hove away on a deserlate islan , an a-wishin at I 
 hedn t ben cross an at I d filled the wash biler for ye. 
 O, Lowizy, I was mean, an I m sorry, an I won t never 
 du so agin, an I wish t you c ld forgive me, but I don t 
 s pose you ever can." 
 
 She could not withhold forgiveness so humbly asked. 
 She rushed to him with upturned face and put her arms 
 astride his neck, one cream-bedaubed hand holding the 
 dripping skimmer, the other the half filled basin, and as 
 the tins clashed behind his head he held her in his arms 
 and kissed her. 
 
 " Peltier ! Hey, Peltier ! Bring back them pails !" 
 Friend Bartlett shouted from the cowyard gate. 
 
 As the heavenward-soaring lark, pierced by the cruel 
 shot of the gunner, falls fluttering down to earth, so at 
 Friend Bartlett s impatient call Pelatiah dropped from the 
 rose-tinted clouds whereunto in delicious affright he had 
 been upborne, and went stumbling through the dooryard 
 knot-grass, while a still, small voice repeated Sam s words, 
 "They ll fool a feller agin an agin. But his heart 
 whispered that this could not be fooling, and then, as he 
 sat down to his cow, sang inwardly to him this sweet as 
 surance, while the dancing streams of milk kept rhythmic 
 time to the song that no one else in all the wide world 
 could hear. 
 
 At breakfast, Rebecca Bartlett s placid face beamed 
 kindly upon him as she said : " Thank thee, for the nice
 
 26o SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 mess o fish thee brought, Peltier, but I m sorry thee had 
 such a tryin time. We see it stormin on the lake and 
 felt a good deal concerned about thee, thinkin thee might 
 be out in a boat, and more so when thee didn t come 
 back, for we knew thee would if thee could. " 
 
 The gloom of night was gone, its dolorous voices 
 hushed. Sunlight flooded the earth, and the soft air was 
 full of the joyous songs of birds. Could this world, now 
 so full of light and joy, and warm with love and kindness, 
 be the same that so lately frowned upon him ? He would 
 never doubt the signs of the moon again, and never 
 Lowizy. 
 
 When the next Sunday came, Pelatiah again declined 
 to follow Rebecca Bartlett s suggestion that he should at 
 tend Friends meeting. Yet he heard something of the 
 simple service, for he was wandering with Lowizy along 
 the western rocky slopes of Shellhouse, where, hidden by 
 the leafy screen of the woodside, they could look forth 
 across the pasture to the gray and brown shingled sides of 
 the old meeting house, through whose open doors and 
 windows came the voice of the preacher, whose spirit was 
 moved most audibly. To-day, certainly, the green and 
 flowery aisles of the woods were pleasanter than that barren 
 interior, and distance softened to tunefulness the doleful 
 cadence of the sermon. 
 
 The " young-come-ups, " though a week older, had 
 lost nothing of their pungent sweetness. In fact he, who, 
 a week ago had thought he never could touch one again, 
 now was sure they never tasted so good. If at times the 
 low song of the pines seemed to voice solemnly the words, 
 " They ll fool a feller agin an agin," he shut his ears to 
 it, it was not sung for him.
 
 X. 
 
 SEINING. 
 
 THL night after Pelatiah left them, Sam, Solon, and 
 Joseph were not lulled but tired to sleep by Antoine s in 
 terminable rehearsal of Canadian news, in which their 
 chief ^interest was that it might come to an end. It was 
 very confusing to hear that " Ma brudder-law, he ll come 
 dead wid some small poxes," and then, " Ma brudder- 
 law, he ll goin bought it farm in T ree River," and " Ma 
 brudder-law gone work in mill in Mass chusin, " "Ma 
 brudder-law, he ll want it ma fader an mudder come 
 leeve long wid it in Ogdenburg, where he ll go las fall. " 
 But when some question was asked concerning the resurrec 
 tion and ubiquity of this remarkable person, Antoine cried : 
 
 " O sacre ton sac ! Ant you ll s pose Ah ll gat more 
 as one brudder-law. Ah ll gat more of it as Ah ll got 
 chillens !" Poor, indeed, would be the Canuck of mature 
 age who had not at least a dozen such relatives. 
 
 Antoine s recital of the various fortunes of his brothers- 
 in-law was by no means finished when sleep closed the 
 ears of his unwilling listeners, and he abruptly ended the 
 first chapter. 
 
 The camp was hardly astir next morning, nor Antoine 
 well out of his nest, where incubation of long stories had 
 silently progressed, when he began to cackle over the lives 
 and adventures of his sisters husbands and his wife s
 
 202 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 brothers. Even the long-enduring patience of Joseph Hill 
 could not keep that kindly man from uttering a sound that 
 might be taken either as a groan or as a grunt caused by 
 the exertion of stooping to light his pipe. 
 
 " I du most wish I do know, but I du quite," he 
 said, as he arose and fostered with his fingers and atten 
 tively regarded the kindling spark, " at }our sisters hedn t 
 never merried or your womern hedn t hod no brothers, an 
 then you wouldn t ha ben pestered a-tellin baout em 
 nor we a-listenin !" 
 
 " It would be conjugal tu my feelin s if they wa n t 
 quite so numerical," Solon remarked, and when Antoine, 
 quite unabashed by these hints, began to tell of his fif 
 teenth " brudder-law, he ll gettin long fus-rate, he ll gat 
 two twin, t ree tarn," Sam broke out : 
 
 " Dum yer brother-in-laws ! You ll starve us tu death 
 on em. We can t live on em. Hurry up an cook the 
 breakfas , an let them set a spell !" 
 
 Whereupon Antoine fell into a fit of sulks which silenced 
 his tongue while it increased the unnecessary banging of 
 the frying-pan and the clattering of the tin dishes. But 
 these were sounds which his companions had long been 
 accustomed to and had learned to philosophically endure. 
 Joseph Hill remarked that " it make him feel sif he was 
 tu hum, an hed tol M ri at she couldn t go tu see her 
 mother, er go tu a fun al ten mild off. " 
 
 " Did you ever da st tu ?" Sam asked. 
 
 " Wai, I da st tu, but I do know s I ra ly ever did," 
 Joseph replied after due consideration, while he poked the 
 fire with a stick that might serve to relight his pipe ; " but 
 if I hed, I know th Id ha ben jes sech a clatteration, 
 the stove an things ould ha ketched it. "
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 203 
 
 And Solon, as one having had experience, assented. 
 " Yes, it is the nat ral natur of most all created creturs tu 
 make a audible noise someway when they re mad women, 
 Canucks, babies, bulls, and the hull toot ; if they can t du 
 it vocabulary, they ll hammer an kick an carummux. A 
 mud turkle, naow, at hain t got no visible voice, ill cuss 
 jest as wicked, a-snappin his onspeechless ja\vs. It seems 
 as ough the wa n t nothin denied the comfort o cussin , 
 somehow. " 
 
 Though Antoine vented his ill humor on his utensils, 
 no flavor of it was imparted to the food he prepared, but 
 on th^ contrary a quality that restored his good-nature be 
 fore the breakfast was half eaten, and its effect on the 
 others was such that they would have listened with pa 
 tience, if not absorbed interest, to a further account of his 
 Canadian relatives and friends. 
 
 This was to be a busy day, for to morrow they were to 
 break camp and go at least as far as the Falls on their 
 homeward way. For their credit as fishermen and for the 
 pleasure of their friends at home, they must take with 
 them fish enough to give each neighbor a mess. Danvis 
 would expect every man of them to do his duty and bring 
 it a pickerel. 
 
 If the angle alone was depended on, this expectation 
 was unlikely to be realized, for the moods of fish were un 
 certain. Solon and Joseph had not the acquired skill nor 
 the gift of luck with hook and line, and Sam and Antoine 
 could not fish for all Danvis nor the half of it. Therefore, 
 it was decided that they should this day put their trust in 
 the greater certainties of the silver hook and employ the 
 fishermen who were hauling their nets every day near the 
 mouth of Lewis Creek. Then Sam hoped he might run
 
 204 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 up that stream and try titles with some of its abundant 
 bass, as he had more than ever wished to do since witness 
 ing the fighting qualities of Pelatiah s Garden Island prize. 
 
 As he looked eastward from the top of the bluff beyond 
 the broad creek and above the wall of woods, the first ob 
 ject that met his eye was Shellhouse Mountain, and it 
 struck him that the outline of its long crest, rising from 
 the north end with one short curve and another longer 
 one to the rounded highest point, thence sloping away to 
 the south, greatly resembled a huge fish. Not far away a 
 kingfisher hung steadfast for a moment on vibrant wings 
 above the shallows, then dropping like a plummet, arose 
 almost with the upbursting splash of his plunge, and pres 
 ently proclaimed his good luck with a metallic clatter of 
 his castanets. A fishhawk, cruising vigilantly above the 
 channel, suddenly swooped and tore from the water a prize 
 so heavy that, in labored retreat, he barely gained the cover 
 of the woods in time to escape the swift onslaught of an 
 eagle, lord paramount of all air, water, and earth hereabout. 
 
 " S posin you tackle Shellhaouse naow, " Sam said as 
 the baffled tyrant wheeled sullenly from pursuit, "I ha 
 no doubt you feel big enough t think it wouldn t be 
 more n your sheer if t was a fish. " 
 
 Sam accepted these omens as auspicious of a good day s 
 fishing, verifying what he had already felt in his bones, 
 and was in haste to be off. 
 
 He embarked in his canoe, the others in the scow. 
 Going out of Little Otter and rounding the willowy sand- 
 point, the two craft fared across the bar toward the seining 
 ground. Near them on the right curved the flat shore, 
 marked here by willows, farther on by a pale of rushes, the 
 border of a great marsh that was walled south and east by
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 205 
 
 the ancient forest on the north, by the great water maples 
 and button- woods of Lewis Creek, a bay of rank marsh 
 herbage, with islands of button-bush dotting its fresh ver 
 dure with clumps of darker green. The water was so 
 shallow, that oars and paddle often touched the bottom, 
 crinkled with a golden net knit by sunlight and the light 
 northern breeze. 
 
 Such voyaging was much enjoyed by Solon and Joseph, 
 who had a wholesome dread of deep water. As the latter 
 watched the swarms of minnows flashing their silvery sides 
 and attended by the shadows that swam in a darker school 
 beneath them, slipping through the tangled meshes of 
 sunshine threads, he said : " Wai, naow, I call this a 
 sorter sensible place for ridin in a boat, where you c n see 
 what s a-goin on onderneath of you, an if you take a 
 notion tu, er git tired o ridin , er your boat gits tu cuttin 
 up, you c n jest git right aout anywheres an go afoot an 
 go off an let your ol boat cut its carlicues, or -if 
 you re a min tu, take a holt o the rope an halter break it 
 till it gits waywise, er lead it ashore. Ef I was a-goin ter 
 hev me a lake made a puppus, I don t b lieve I d hev it 
 no deeper nowheres an this is right here. Ye see, the 
 couldn t nob dy git draownded in t thaout they wanted 
 tu bad nough tu lay daown, an the Id be water nough 
 fer fish at wa n t tu big, an nough tu drink, thaout twas 
 better n this is. " 
 
 " O, bah gosh ! Zhozeff, what you talk so foolish ?" 
 cried Antoine, " what kan o lake you s posed dat was be 
 you ll have it ? De feesh be so scare for see you, he ain t 
 bit. He cook hees back wid de sun in de summer, in de 
 winter he be freeze wid de ice. Haow you ll s pose stim- 
 boat goin travelled, if de water so thin he was here ?
 
 206 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Haow you ll s pose ma brudder-law comin from Canada 
 in hees bateau ncx fall for git happlc ? Hcin ? He ll 
 comin f he can git ma nudder brudder-law come long 
 of it. Ma fader hees toP me." 
 
 " O, \val, Antwine, the fish ould git tame arter a spell 
 an when the backs git tew hot they c ld turn over, an 
 they Id keep good in the ice an be s good s new in the 
 spring. An I hain t got no steamboats nor bateaux, I 
 like tu know the airth is under me an the water not so 
 deep at like nough it s Chiny water on t other side. But 
 you c n hev this lake jist ezackly as it is. " 
 
 " Yes, sah ! jes as he was, dis pooty good lake, Ah toP 
 you. An , seh, " swelling with the pride of proprietor 
 ship, " ant you ll know de fus man clat fan dis lake was 
 Ferrenchman ! An it gat hees name too-day ! Cham- 
 plain ! Dat ant Yankee name, don t it ?" 
 
 "Was he a brother in-law o yourn ?" Sam asked, 
 being within short earshot. 
 
 " No, seh, cause he ll ant, cause he ll dead great many 
 while go. But prob ly f he ll leeve two free honded 
 year an see ma seester Marie, he ll was be ; O, she ll 
 han somes, more han somes as Ursule ! More han somes 
 Ah was. 
 
 " The contower of her complexion an featur s must be 
 most superguberous, " Solon remarked. 
 
 "What I m a wonderin is," said Sam, " if the is any 
 body in Canady at hain t your brother- in law, Antwine. 
 Seem s ough we d hear d of nough on em tu fill it 
 
 O O 
 
 chuck full, an some on em has got craowded aout int 
 the States. 
 
 " Wai, sah, boy," Antoine answered, dropping his oars 
 and making a pretended computation on his fingers,
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS 207 
 
 "Ah ll b lieve dey was two, prob ly t ree. Dere was de 
 priest in Saint Cesare an ma aunt, an Ah ll freegit who 
 was tudder one. But prob ly you ll ant b lieved Ah ll 
 gat some brudder law ! You ll come to Canada long to 
 me Ah ll showed you, boy. " 
 
 "Them ere clams," said Joseph, still contemplating 
 the bottom, "must be tumble happy cretins. Never in 
 no hurry, never wantin to go nowhere, knowin t they 
 couldn t git there f they did. Tu hum, wherever they git 
 hove tu, all alone an never giitin scolded. I do know, 
 but it don t seem s ough they could cuss, Solon, f they 
 hed casion tu. " 
 
 "You protrude your finger int the maouth an see f 
 they don t profane with a audible feelin . The masculine 
 paower o their jaws is astonishin . " 
 
 "I wonder if the tarnal things is good t eat," said 
 Joseph, yet interested in the unio with which the sands 
 were populous, and everywhere marked with the tracks of 
 their slow and apparently purposeless tiavtl, " er whether 
 they wasn t made for nothin only enjyin life." 
 
 "Ah ll try for heat it, but Ah ll ant never heat it," said 
 Antoine. " He ll tender lak jim-rubbit, * an ta se rnos 
 so good. Ah ll bile one of it two nhour, then Ah ll chaw 
 it two nhour, an he ll ant got no difference Ah can feel 
 of it ! Moosrat heat it an tink dey can be no better, an 
 dey 11 said sheephead feesh heat it, but Ah do know f he 
 can brek hees shuck, me. He can have it he ll want it. 
 Ah ll ant quarly for heem wid it. Here we ll was !" 
 
 The scow swept prostrate the rushes and made a land 
 ing that it might feel at home in, the canoe was beached 
 
 * India-rubber.
 
 208 SAM LOVEL S CANTS. 
 
 alongside and the party landed. Before them a long in 
 curved beach stretched away to the north, ending at a 
 rocky point. The waves of immemorial years had thrown 
 up the sand into a low breastwork that resisted now their 
 own assaults on the marsh behind it, wherein flourished 
 a rank growth of rushes, sedges, and other aquatic plants, 
 nourished by the undisturbed muck of their own decay. 
 So close along the waterline that their wave-washed roots 
 were spread like a tangled net upon the sand stood an 
 irregular row of great water maples with tower-like trunks, 
 buttressed, loop-holed, mossed, and lichened by age, 
 scarred by the battering rams of ice that the lake had hurled 
 against them, with tops wind-torn and decaying, but yet 
 sending up new smooth trunks and abroad with youthful 
 vigor a graceful ramage of branches and fresh leafage as if 
 they might endure for a thousand years. They are gone, 
 now, and their ancient sites are marked only by rotting 
 stumps on the barren unshaded shore. A. meaner and 
 deadlier foe than time, or wind, or waves has sapped their 
 foundations, and years ago they were peddled out at so 
 much a cord by their avaricious owner, who begrudged 
 even the sands the shadow of a tree. 
 
 There were two gangs of seiners on the beach. The 
 three men composing one gang were Canadians, those of 
 the other Sam at once recognized as his unpleasant Garden 
 Island acquaintances, who it would seem had not yet 
 unearthed Arnold s hidden treasure or were masking their 
 new opulence with this humble avocation. However it 
 might be, he had no desire for further intercourse with 
 them, and he and his party at once began negotiations 
 with Antoine s compatriots. 
 
 Their chief was an old fellow of large build, of greatest
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 209 
 
 dimensions at the hips, tapering thence upward to his ears 
 and downward to his bare feet. It was from the interior 
 of this widest region, apparently, that his broken English 
 was laboriously upheaved to the surface with intermittent 
 guttural grunts. His face bore a grim expression of good 
 nature and also a pock-marked red nose that much re 
 sembled in shape and color an immense strawberry. His 
 younger assistants, who were clearing the net of sticks, 
 weeds, and clams, and folding it on the broad stern of 
 their scow, appeared to be his nephews, for they frequently 
 addressed him as One Theophile. 
 
 " Haow de du ?" Sam saluted him. 
 
 "Ough! How do," Uncle Theophile grunted in 
 labored response, and then glibly gave in French an order 
 to one of his nephews. 
 
 " Hevin any luck tu-day ?" Sam inquired with an as 
 sumed languor of interest. 
 
 " Make, ough, one haul, ough ; gat dat, " Uncle The 
 ophile answered, pointing to a bushel basket half full of 
 pike-perch and pickerel. 
 
 "Wai, that ll du tol lable well, " Sam said after tilting 
 the basket till some of the bottom fish were exposed and 
 critically examining the gaping mass, " haow much be 
 you goin tu tax us for, wal, say four haul ?" 
 
 "Ough, twanty-fav cen haul," Theophile answered, 
 coiling the elm-bark seine ropes on the beach, " fo haul, 
 ough, dollar." 
 
 " Prehaps, " said Solon, " at them other angulars aout 
 yunder hain t so pecuniary in the charges. Le s go an 
 see them." 
 
 Theophile comprehended the spirit, if not the matter of 
 the proposal.
 
 212 SAM LOVE US CAMPS. 
 
 glittered on the gray sand in a great heap of mother-of- 
 pearl, emerald, silver, and gold. 
 
 " Dah, sell !" said Antoine, proudly, when the net was 
 emptied, " ant Ah ll mek it pooty good hauls ? Ah ll de 
 boy can ketch de feesh ev ree way Ah ll man to ketched 
 it ! De hookanline, de spear, de nets, Ah ll gat no differ 
 ent of it me !" 
 
 Though no one else claimed the credit or even a share 
 of it, all were much gratified by the successful haul except 
 the Canadians who had really made it. They seemed to 
 feel no pride in it, but rather to begrudge having given 
 their patrons so much for their money, and went sullenly 
 about clearing and making ready the net. 
 
 " What s the matter ails your friends, Antwine?" Sam 
 asked, noticing their sour looks. 
 
 " Wai, seh, Sam, Ah do know f prob ly it ant mad 
 cause Ah ll ketched more feesh he was. " 
 
 " Like nough ; I never thought on t, though." 
 
 " But Ah ll ant to blem f Ah ll know more as he was, 
 ant it? Dat was way Ah ll was be mek, sides leetly 
 maght Ah ll was larn. " 
 
 A lumber wagon, whose jolting course across the fields 
 had for some time been heard, now appeared, grinding its 
 slow way over the sand to them. It was freighted with 
 half a dozen back- countrymen eager for fish, who, seeing 
 this seine employed, halted near the treasure-seekers and 
 began negotiations with them. These were presently seen 
 preparing to make a haul, while the new comers unhitched 
 their horses and fastened them to the hinder end of the 
 wagon to eat their bait of hay in the shadow of the 
 maples. This acquisition of patronage by their rivals 
 further increased the ill-humor of the Canadians, and the
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 213 
 
 sight of a big jug taken from the wagon and passed 
 around, added bitterness to their feelings. 
 
 "1 tell ye what," said Joseph, thirstily watching the 
 passage of the social stoneware, " them ere fellers knows 
 haow tu go a-fishin ." 
 
 "Shaw!" said Sam, "nob dy never fished no better 
 nor hunted no better for bein full o sperrits. " 
 
 "But," argued Joseph, "if they don t hev no luck, 
 they c n hev some fun, an they re kinder prepared to 
 stan disapp intment, seems s ough they wus. An jes 
 look at that ere feller at s got a holt on t naow, the one 
 at fetched you an Peltier f m the islan , hain t he ? Sam 
 Hill! won t he never le go on t? I ll bate his mother 
 never licked him for a-holdin his breath. I don t b lieve 
 she ever did, not so much as she d ortu anyway. It s a 
 pity to waste good sperrits a wettin sech mean sile. I 
 c n smell it clearn here an it s ol Medfo d!" he said, 
 sorrowfully, as he sniffed the favoring north breeze. 
 
 "Oh! don t feel so bad, Joseph," said Sam, "like 
 nough t ain t nothin but water arter all or mebby cider. " 
 
 " The hain t nob dy dum d fool nough tu fetch water 
 tu the lake, I don t b lieve, an if it s cider thet s better n 
 water, the bes way o keepin apples the is. But t ain t, 
 it smells julluck a mad bumblebee. " 
 
 " An it s wus n a nest full o mad bumblebees when 
 it gits top on ye, said Sam, whose poor father had suf 
 fered much from the touch of that w-hich biteth like a ser 
 pent and stingeth like an adder. 
 
 " Ah ll bet you head !" cried Antoine, who had been 
 intently scrutinizing the new arrival, " dat was One Lasha 
 hoi Bob hawse ! Yes, seh ! An dat beeg feller was dat 
 long John Dark dat bought it w en Ah ll want bought it.
 
 214 SAM I.OVEi: S CAMPS. 
 
 Hoorah, Zhozeff, le s we ll go visit dat hoi hawse. Ah 
 do know f he ll ant give us introuduce of dat jawgprob ly, 
 hein !" 
 
 " Wai, ta keer at you don t get tu well quainted. 
 An naow you c n go ahead an git your tother hauls, an 
 I ll gwup this ere crik an see f I c n ketch a bass. I m 
 spilin for a tussle wi one on em." 
 
 "Wai, naow, Samwell," said Joseph, "seems s ough 
 you was foolish tu go off an leave sech fishin s this for 
 the onsartinty o not ketchin nothin . It don t seem s 
 ough you c ld find no better fun n this. " 
 
 "It s a good nough way tu get fish, but t ain t no 
 gre t fun fur me. The best part o fishin is lackin . 
 The hain t no fair play baout it, an it makes me feel 
 kinder mean. " 
 
 "Wai, naow, Samwell," said Joseph, pondering, while 
 he searched for his pipe in every pocket but the one it was 
 in, "seems s ough f I was a fish, an it mos seems s 
 ough I was a-drinkin nolhin but water, at I d livser be 
 swep up kinder easy in a net wi a hull lot for comp ny 
 in misery an tu befooled wi a worm or suthin wi a hook 
 inside on t, an then hev my jaw half tore off, julluck ol 
 Darkter Wood, pullin a back tooth." 
 
 "I wa n l considerin on t fin the fish side," said 
 Sam, " but fish does hcv jes much fun a-foolin us as we 
 du them. Why I ve seen an ol Beav Medder traout 
 laugh clean tu the end of his tail when he d peeled my 
 hook bare naked, an I b lieve them ere Swagos is up 
 tu jes s much fun s a traout is. " 
 
 "Oh, wal," said Joseph, who, having found his pipe 
 and got it between his teeth, was now exploring his pockets 
 with both hands for his tobacco, " if vou re only a-goin
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 215 
 
 where in Sam Hill is my terbarker ? goin to give the 
 fish some fun, go ahead ; I guess they ll hev more n you 
 will, but I d know, mebby they won t be there. They 
 never be when 1 go a-fishin erless they stan off an gawp 
 like a fif calf t hain t got no te u"
 
 XL 
 
 SUNGAHNEE-TUK. 
 
 WHILE his friends attention was divided in watching the 
 progress of their own haul and that of their neighbors, 
 Sam departed in his canoe, paddling up the lower reaches 
 of the stream, where the dipping willow-tips scarcely bent 
 to or rippled the slow current, and the reflections of 
 trunks and leaves stood motionless on the glassy stream till 
 the boat s wake set them a-quiver, as its slanted bars of 
 golden light climbed rushes, ferny shores, and giay tree- 
 trunks and then dissolved in green and gold among the 
 sunlit leaves, or a gar-pike, watching with wicked eyes the 
 advancing prow, stirred them with the slow ripple of his 
 sullen retreat. Then a muskrat voyaged from one shore 
 with a freight of weeds trailing from his jaws and undulat 
 ing with his wake, then sank with it to the underwater 
 doorway of his home and left his wake fading in slow pul 
 sations above him. A green heron, startled from an over 
 hanging branch, went flapping awkwardly along the nar 
 row lane of sky while his distorted double flapped more 
 awkwardly along the lane of water. 
 
 There was no sign nor sight of the outer world but the 
 frayed stripe of blue sky overhead, one glimpse of Camel s 
 Hump set in darker blue against it, and, seen for an instant 
 through a break in the green and gray wall of trees, Mt. 
 Philo s crown of pines and shorn sunlit slopes.
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 217 
 
 The solitude was very pleasant to this simple lover of 
 nature who in certain moods was happiest when alone, 
 yet not alone, for he felt a perfect companionship with the 
 woods and their inhabitants close about him. There were 
 other fishers than he but for whose busier plying of their 
 craft he might have forgotten why he had come, so satis 
 fied was he with the lazy voyaging. A heron stood with 
 poised spear in an outlet of the marsh waiting for luck 
 with an angler s patience. An alert mink slid from the 
 bank, cleaving the water with an almost noiseless plunge 
 as if he were a brown arrow shot into it. Not so a king 
 fisher, ^who proclaimed from afar his coming, just swerved 
 from his jerky course for the boat, then hung for a mo 
 ment in quivering poise and dashed down so close that the 
 spray of his noisy plunge fell in splashing drops not twice 
 the canoe s length from her prow, then flew to a raft 
 of driftwood and perching upon its topmost stick bragged 
 as loudly of his minnow as Antoine might of an eel. 
 
 Sam had passed one landing which showed in its forked 
 rests for poles, brands, and ashes of fires, heads and scales 
 of fish, much use as a fishing place. Now he came to an 
 other where the stream bent from north to west, just above 
 a little islet, whose willows, great elms, water maples, and 
 one noble button-wood were bound in a tangled cordage of 
 grape-vines. Here were the same signs of frequent fish 
 ing. An old boat that had long since made its last fishing 
 and trapping trips lay rotting at the bank, with fish at 
 home under its sunken stern and remnants of muskrats 
 recent feasts on its mossy thwarts. Landing here he fished 
 from the shore, and having no bait but worms, for a while 
 caught only perch. These bit vigorously enough to raise 
 high expectations, sadly disappointed when the brief spurt
 
 218 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 of resistance was over and the fish came swinging ashore. 
 But when such trivial warfare ceased for a while and there 
 came at last, after a brief toying with the bait, a downright 
 tug and then a strong up-stream sweep of the line that 
 made it sing and the cedar pole trembled to the shrill song 
 as it bent in his grasp, Sam felt assured that he was con 
 tending with a bass without the proof presently given. 
 The water was smitten underneath, shivered into crystal 
 drops as the gallant fish shot thrice its length above the 
 surface, raining crystals from every fin till the circling 
 wavelets of upburst and plunge met. Though Sam s 
 weapons were of clumsy strength, he fought his antagonist 
 fairly as he often had large trout with lighter tackle, not 
 heaving him out overhead as boys do sunfish, but tiring 
 him out with the long, uncertain struggle which, if we are 
 to believe the only testimony that we ever hear, is as much 
 enjoyed by the fish as by the scientific angler. 
 
 "There," said he, when he had gently lifted the ex 
 hausted bass ashore, "you didn t git away, did ye ? It 
 mos seems as if you d oner, but I guess I m glad you 
 didn t. By the gre t horn spoon ! You re harnsome as 
 a pictur an you fit like a coon !" If there were other 
 bass here they r scorned such humble fare as worms, and 
 after offering in vain the finest in his box, Sam re- em 
 barked and voyaged farther up stream. There was a 
 stronger current to make way against, running between 
 higher banks, overhanging in a fringed network of roots 
 of old trees that shaded them, elms with great buttressed 
 trunks, water maples so nearly like them in form that it 
 needed a second glance to assure one that they were not 
 elms ; oaks that had showered down mast to feed wood- 
 ducks in a hundred autumns, clumps of basswood, lusty
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 219 
 
 sons of the dead giant whose mouldering stump they stood 
 around, and here and there towering button-woods, shining 
 spectre like among the shadows, more like ghosts of other 
 departed giants of the forest than like living trees. 
 
 Stream and banks beautified each other with shadow, 
 with mirrored greenness of leaves, graceful bend of trunks 
 and limbs, with quivering rebound of sunbeams from rip 
 ples again and again repeated till they flickered out in the 
 translucence of pools or the gilded green of leaves. Every 
 reach disclosed new beauty and promised more beyond 
 when the glitter of the stream flashed forth from the shad 
 ows q a bend. 
 
 One who sees it now for the first time, can hardly im 
 agine how beautiful Sungahneetuk was then. One who 
 saw it then and now beholds its abomination of desola 
 tion, the shrunken current crawling between banks avari 
 ciously shorn of all their trees, of their last green fleece of 
 willows, worthless dead, but priceless to him who loves the 
 beauty that the hand of Gotl has wrought, can but wonder 
 why some awful retribution has not fallen upon the spoil 
 ers, nor can he withhold his own feeble curse, wishing that 
 he had the power of God to enforce it. 
 
 A railroad in Vermont was almost undreamed of then, 
 and there was no shadow of coming destruction brooding 
 over the peaceful woods and waters, nor did the thought 
 enter Sam s mind to mar his enjoyment of the sylvan 
 scene, that it ever would be changed but by growing older, 
 nor lose anything but by the natural decay that in some 
 way compensates for all it takes. 
 
 Now and then, where the bottom faded out of sight in 
 a swirl of dull green under tangled threads of sunshine, he 
 invited the bass to taste his worms, but they would not,
 
 220 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 though he frequently saw them hanging near his bait on 
 waving fins, then moving away in leisurely disdain. 
 
 Presently he descried on the bank above him another 
 angler who was just slipping a fine bass on to the withe 
 that already held a dozen or more. When he had again 
 tethered them in the edge of the stream, he took up his 
 pole and stole cautiously along, carefully scanning the 
 water. Sam landed and followed, watching him in the 
 hope of learning something from one so successful, if he 
 were not so by sheer luck. As Sam diew near the man 
 saluted him with a nod given over his shoulder, showing a 
 face beaming with good humor, for how could a man who 
 had caught a dozen bass wear a sour visage ? 
 
 "I kinder wanter see haow you du it/ Sam said in 
 alow voice. "I never ketched but one Swago in my 
 life. 
 
 The fisherman looked at him in pitying wonder, then 
 laughed a little and beckoned him nearer. He pointed to 
 a little basin scooped in the sandy bottom and cleared of 
 every large pebble and water-logged weed and stick. A 
 bass hovered always near it and sometimes over it, and 
 now charged furiously upon a perch that had intruded on 
 the sacred precincts, pursued it out of sight, and in an 
 instant returned. When a sodden water weed drifted into 
 the precious basin, she seized it before it could lodge 
 there, and, carrying it beyond the down-stream rim, drop 
 ped it where it was borne away by the current. 
 
 "That ere s a bed," said Sam s new acquaintance. 
 " Naow, see here," and sheathing his hook with an un- 
 looped worm, he dropped it quietly a little above the bed 
 and let it drift down on it. The fish rushed at it, seized 
 it, and darted away with it, but before she had time to
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 221 
 
 drop it the angler struck sharply, and almost in the same 
 instant landed her on the grass behind him. 
 
 " Thet s the way tu du it," the fisherman said, as he 
 unhooked the fish. 
 
 " \Val, it does take the rag off m the bush for quick 
 work," said Sam ; " but I don t ezackly git a holt on t. 
 Does these here Swagos live in them places all the time?" 
 
 " Laws a massy, no ! Them s the spawnin beds, 
 where they lays the aigs. Don t you see this one s just 
 ready tu lay hcr n ?" and Sam now noticed that the bass 
 was profusely voiding spawn in her struggles. 
 
 "She d stick tu it like teazles till they was hatched an 
 a spell arter, an not low nothin on t. Then they clear 
 aout, an arter the middle o July you won t see a Swago 
 bass in the crik till long airly in the fall. Then the 11 
 be some little fellers not biggei n rock bass." 
 
 "Wai," said Sam, with a sigh of disappointment, "I 
 allers thought it was a pleggid mean trick tu ketch traout 
 on the beds, an I guess this hain t no better." 
 
 "But it ketches em, an that s what a feller wants," 
 argued his companion. "Come along an we ll find an 
 other bed, an you try it once, jest for greens. " 
 
 " Wai, I do know but I will jest once to see f I can," 
 and they went slowly along the bank till another bed and 
 its guardian were discovered. 
 
 Sam did exactly as he had seen his instructor do, and 
 soon was fast to a good three-pounder. This, however, 
 was not torn from the water as the other had been 
 though the guide shouted, "Slat er aout ! You got er 
 hooked good. Slat er aout !" but was vanquished in a 
 fair fight and then drawn gently to the shore. Sam un 
 hooked her tenderly without taking her from the water,
 
 222 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 then watched her as, lying on her side, she feebly waved 
 her fins, then stood still a moment as if dazed by the re 
 covery of freedom, and then, as she surged away and van 
 ished in a flash, he addressed her : 
 
 " Good-by, marm. Nex 1 time you see a worm in your 
 nest you poke it aout wi your nose. " 
 
 "What in thunder d d ye let er go for?" his com 
 panion demanded in a vexed tone, when his astonishment 
 found other expression than a blank stare. 
 
 "That s the way t du it," Sam answered quietly ; " 1 
 jist wanted tu show you haow. " 
 
 " Wai, I swan ! you mus be a dum d fool !" 
 
 "That s what I ve tol myself a hunderd times," Sam 
 replied rather sadly, but with good nature, "but I can t 
 help it, an so I hain t tu blame for it. Wai, I guess 
 I ll be goin . I m bleeged tu )e for what you ve showed 
 mean tol me. Good-by." 
 
 Looking back as he turned the first bend he saw the 
 bass-catcher still staring after him in motionless amaze 
 ment, but could not hear him saying to himself, " Some 
 poor crazy creetur at orter be in Brattleburrer ! Nex 
 thing he ll be clraowndin hisself !" 
 
 Past landing, island and quiet shores the canoe slid 
 down stream in greater solitude than it had voyaged up 
 ward. The kingfisher had ceased his clatter, the full-fed 
 mink fished no more, the heron had flown to his mate in 
 the tall pines, and the muskrat was asleep in his burrow. 
 There was a sluggish stir of life when the turtles slid off 
 the logs with a clump and an unctuous splash, and in the 
 lazy float of myriad insects drifting against the sunlight 
 like a veil of gauze in the unfelt wafts a suggestion of 
 life somewhere in the boom of a bittern far away in the
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 223 
 
 marshes, in bird songs sung in distant meadows. Smooth, 
 even swells from the lake barred the channel of the last 
 reach with glassy undulations, that slowly heaved up and 
 down the broken reflections of clouds and trees and stirred 
 the rushes with a whispering rustle. Now an azure band 
 of the lake was disclosed, and Garden Island, shining 
 against the shadowed steeps of Split Rock Mountain. 
 Then the talk and laughter of the seining party was heard 
 faintly, then louder as he drew nearer, and presently Sam 
 landed and was with them. 
 
 The later draughts of the net had not been quite so suc- 
 cessfu.1 as the first, and this giving of less for what they 
 received had had a happy effect on Uncle Theophile and 
 his nephews, and as Solon, Joseph, and Antoine were quite 
 satisfied with what they had got for their money, the ut 
 most good humor prevailed. Sam was derided for the 
 small visible result of his expedition, but he had brought 
 back much that his companions could not see, nor would 
 have cared for could they see, wherewith he was too well 
 content to mind their jeers. 
 
 Dart and his fiiends had good luck with the money- 
 diggers seine, which was yet being hauled for them, while 
 they took their ease on a log of driftwood eating their late 
 dinner of fried fish. 
 
 "Hello, Lovel ! haow du you taller* these days?" 
 Dart accosted Sam, as he sauntered over to their wagon 
 to have a closer look at old Bob. "Come an ha some 
 grub with us, won t ye ? Lots on t sech as t is. " 
 
 "No, thank ye, I hain t no casion. I jest wanter see 
 the ol hoss a minute. Him and his n s ol frien s o 
 
 * Tallow.
 
 224 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 mine. The oP feller s slick as an auter, " Sam said, pat 
 ting the shining black side of the venerable beast, who 
 gave him a low whinny of recognition. 
 
 " Wai, he hain t starvin , an I guess he hain t tumble 
 sorry at he lives long wP Dart stiddy your Canuck over 
 there. Say, Lovel, the s a jug of O-be-joyf l under the 
 buff lo, pull it aout an take a snort ; I ess it chippers 
 yit. Tain t none o Hamner s hoss medicine an t 
 won t kill ye in yer tracks ; take a holt. " 
 
 " No, thank ye, I hain t dry," Sam said. 
 
 " Hain t? Wai, it allers makes me dry tu go fishin , 
 kinder sympathizin wi the poor critters I ve ketched, I 
 s pose, " Dart said as he got upon his feet, brushing the 
 crumbs from his broad breast and wiping his mouth. 
 "But I don t go often. F I did, an eat s many s I 
 hev tu-day, the wouldn t be no fish. If you won t take 
 nothin solid nor wet, hev a little smoke, " and opening a 
 big blue paper of tobacco, he offered it to Sam. 
 
 " Ben here a week hevin fun alive, Briggs an mongst 
 em tells me. Wish t I d knowed it afore. Didn t know 
 ye wa n t t hum till I seen ye, but I hain t seen nob dy 
 f m your way in a fortnit, " Dart went on when they had 
 lighted their pipes and seated themselves on the wagon- 
 tongue. " Got fish-hungry an thought we d come daown 
 an fill up fore hoein . That ere s Putnam ; mebby 
 you do know him wi oP close on. Do know why he 
 didn t put on his Sunday-go-tu-meetin s tu come fishin , 
 but he s got his thirty-five-dollar rifle in the waggin, the 
 Lord knows what for, wropped up in tew blankets. Oh, 
 say, hain t that ere young Gove livin somewhere raound 
 here? Thunder in the winter ! F you didn t make the all- 
 firedest shot at ever I see. Seventy- five rod if t was a foot !
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 22$ 
 
 "You mean tu Hamner s shootin match ? " said Sam, 
 trying to wear a look of innocence; " I didn t shoot no 
 turkey, it was Peltier." 
 
 " Oh, beeswax ! You go tu grass !" cried the giant, 
 giving Sam a gentle whack on the shoulders that nearly 
 knocked him off the wagon-tongue. " Don t ye s pose 
 I c n tell the mark o the CM Ore Bsd ? Beeswax !" 
 Then he arose and dragged the jug from its seclusion. 
 " Come ! Take suthin ; I ben wantin tu treat ye ever 
 sence, for that shot done me more good n a quart. " 
 
 " Thank ye jest as much as if I drinked a quart, but I 
 don t never drink nothin ." 
 
 "\e don t never? Wai, the least mite in the world 
 won t hurt ye. If you live s long s I hope ye will, you ll 
 git awf l dry," said Dart, pulling out the corn-cob stopple 
 and swinging the jug to his lips over his arm. " An 
 here s a-hopesin at you will. I don t see," reseating 
 himself after tucking the jug in its nest, " haow on airth 
 you c n stan it wi that Canuck o your n. He knows so 
 much he makes a feller feel like a tarnal fool. This ere 
 ol puke at s a-haulin for us knows more n he orter. 
 Ben tellin me tween hauls haow t he d a spellin book 
 bate he can t spell baker all planned aout, an fust he 
 knowed aout come Webster s, julluk what his n was goin 
 tu be ! Then he said to wait a spell till the steamboat 
 went long an it ould scare all the fish in the lake in 
 here an we d get the almightydest haul ! But your Mis 
 ter Antwine come over an sot aout tu tell this old dick- 
 shinary more baout fishin an he d ever dreamed on, and 
 both of em got madder n settin hens. It was fun for 
 us, only the bilin -over consait made us feel smaller n 
 was comf table, I du b lieve at these Yankeefied Ca-
 
 226 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 nucks thinks at the Almighty has tu ask some one on em 
 every mornin what He d orter du that day. An each 
 one on em thinks he ll be the nex one ast, an cal lates 
 tu be a leetle might ahead in tellin . Blast em ! I wish t 
 the was a wall twixt the States an Canady so high at 
 nothin but angels could fly over it ! Mighty few o these 
 creeturs we d see then." 
 
 " Wai, Antwine ain t no angel, do know s he ever will 
 be much o one," Sam admitted, but loyal to his com 
 rade, added in his behalf, " Arter all, I druther hev a 
 dozen sech Canucks as him, or that ol Duffy, an tu hev 
 one sech Yankee as them at s haulin for you, jest as full 
 o ign ance an consait as any Canuck wi aout no fun nor 
 no humern streak in em but what a hawg s got. They 
 be dum d hawgs, they eat like em an act like em an 
 I ll bate they got brussles on the backs longer n your 
 finger. 
 
 "Oh, I don t dote on em," said Dart, "they ain t 
 mine. I m only usin on em. But we ve got them an 
 tew many sech an can t help it. But it seems ough we 
 hedn t orter ketch the slops o all creation as we du." 
 
 So they drifted into talk concerning national affairs ; but- 
 belonging to the same political party, there was not differ 
 ence enough in their views to create an interesting warmth. 
 In town politics, too, they found each other holding the 
 same opinion, that their last year s representative "hedn t 
 ortu die a ye rlin ," but should be re-elected this year. 
 Then the seine came in, and less important matters gave 
 way to the excitement of this event. 
 
 There was a heavy job of fish-cleaning and packing to 
 be disposed of before the morrow s departure, and time 
 and tide and Uncle Tyler would wait for no man, so Sam
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 227 
 
 and his comrades bade farewell to their townsmen and 
 voyaged across the bay to camp. 
 
 There on the flat shore, under the willows, jack-knives 
 were plied till the sands were silvered with the incessant 
 shower of scales that only ceased falling when the grounded 
 star of Split Rock shed its ray across the darkening lake, 
 mingling its steadfast beam with the fading reflections of 
 the sky s afterglow.
 
 XII. 
 
 BREAKING CAMP. 
 
 THE cobwebs of mist on the marshes had not caught a 
 sunbeam when the camp was astir next morning, for the 
 smoke of its fire arose earlier than the sun, that had only 
 gilded the tree-tops above it when breakfast was ready. 
 The meal was eaten in unwonted silence. There were no 
 plans proposed for the day s sport, for there was to be no 
 sport, and no one attempted to joke, for though the pros 
 pect of getting home was pleasant to men who had seldom 
 been so long away from it, there was some heaviness of 
 spirit attending the last of these days of care-free life, days 
 without beginnings and endings of chores, nor filled with 
 worry nor weary toil, days of hand-to-mouth living and 
 such primitive unthought of to-morrow as the heart of the 
 best-tamed man loves and yearns for when its last drop of 
 old, wild blood awakes as it sometimes will, and tingles 
 through his civilized veins. This uneliminated atom still 
 holds us to kinship with nature, and though it may not be 
 the best part of us, without it we should be worse than we 
 are. He who loses all love for our common mother is, 
 indeed, a wretched being, poorer than the beasts. 
 
 When breakfast was eaten, the frying-pan, kettle, and tin 
 plates were cleaned as they had not been before since leav 
 ing the home cupboards, for they were soon to undergo 
 the inspection of house wifelv eyes, which the glamour of a
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 229 
 
 hundred pickerel would not blind to the imperfections of 
 man s careless or unskilful scullionry. 
 
 I tell ye what, said Joseph Hill, as he scraped away 
 with a clam-shell at the bottom layer of a week s accumu 
 lation of burned grease, " I m a-goin tu tell M ri at we 
 hedn t got no soap, an the water here is hard, nough 
 on t an tew much, but it s hard an won t take a holt o 
 grease, no mor n it does yer stomerk. " 
 
 "The way at oliogernous grease conjoles in a dish 
 when it ketches it away f m hum is suthin beyond my 
 misapprehension," said Solon, while he swabbed a plate 
 with a stick of firewood. "It s suthin at nothin but 
 the female mind o womern c n rassle with. Consarn the 
 dishes ! Let s sink em in the crik, accidental." 
 
 "Then we d ketch it wus," said Joseph, as he began 
 scouring his frying-pan with a stone. " I druther send 
 this an stay myself, an tu go hum wi eout it. M ri s 
 allers tellin how t her gran ther, I don t know but t was 
 her gran mother, fetched it from C nnect cut an cooked 
 basswood leaves in t in the scase year.* Sam Hill, you 
 take it, grease an sut an all, an leave me here ! 
 
 Antoine, on his knees scouring knives and forks by 
 thrusting them into the earth, said : 
 
 " Wai, Ah don care for me, cause you see, boy, Ah ll 
 was be de cook an Ah ll ant risponsibilitee for de clean, 
 hein, Solem, ant it ?" 
 
 "Wai," said Sam, wiping out the kettle with a hand 
 ful of leaves and packing a dirty shirt and a pair of socks 
 in it, " I hain t responsible tu nob d y. " 
 
 * A season when all crops failed, and the early settlers of Ver 
 mont were reduced to pitiable straits, was long remembered as 
 the Scarce year.
 
 230 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 "But jour time s a-comin , young man, an you wanter 
 be gittin ready for t. H. P. is the fust letters of her 
 name, an she hain t thick under the nail an won t be 
 when the s a L. sot tu em. You ll see !" said Joseph, 
 and his words had a portentous ring as he delivered them 
 into the frying-pan held close before his face while he 
 anxiously inspected its interior. " I r aly du b lieve at I 
 c n see iron, leastways I ve got daown tu signs o the fust 
 breakfus. If folks only hed sense nough tu du the cook- 
 in on sticks an coals an hot stuns an eat off m chips 
 an birch bark, they Id take more comfort in livin , seems 
 ough they would. If they didn t hev quite so much 
 present enj yment, they wouldn t hev so much dread o 
 the futur . Anyways, I wish t this dum d ol fryin -pan 
 hed stayed in C nnect cut if M ri s gran ther an gran - 
 mother d hed tu eat the browse raw. Seems ough I did, 
 most." 
 
 To Sam occurred the happy thought of taking the dishes 
 down to the lake shore. There, with the abundance of 
 sand and water, the labor of cleansing went on more satis 
 factorily to the men, but greatly to the discomfort of as 
 many sandpipers. These flitted back and forth past them 
 on down- curved wings or stood astilt in the shallow verge, 
 jerking out cries of alarm with every beat of their wings 
 or tilt of their slender bodies. 
 
 About the middle of the forenoon, Sam looking up 
 stream from the camp, where he was busy packing blankets 
 and outfit and more odds and ends than he remembered 
 bringing, descried a boat in the farthest bend. At first it 
 seemed stationary, with oars rising and falling in purpose 
 less strokes, like a great waterbug waving its antennas for 
 the mere sake of motion. But it was drawing nearer ; the
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 231 
 
 red flannel back of the rower s vest could now be made 
 out, and the rise and fall of his straw hat, and the thump, 
 squeak, and splash of his oars could be heard, and the 
 surge of the water before the broad bow of the scow. And 
 then forsaking the long curve of the channel and striking 
 right across the marshy cape, that is half water and half 
 weeds, it headed for the mouth of the creek. Sam was 
 certain enough of the rower s identity to shout to his com 
 rades that Uncie Tyler was coming. 
 
 They went to meet him at the landing, when gaping 
 with his deaf stare at his course, though he who is known 
 as Time was steering for him, he sent the scow ashore with 
 a final stroke. Time s salutation shouted at the top of 
 his voice was, " Any of you fellers got any terbarker fer 
 this ol critter ? He begged the last mossel t I hed an 
 hour ago. " 
 
 Uncle Tyler took his pipe from the seat beside him, 
 knocked the ashes out on the gunwale, and came rheu- 
 matically ashore with his left hand extended. 
 
 " Massy sakes alive ! I sent up tu the store for some 
 by Sargent s boy, but he forgot it ! That tarnal boy 
 can t never remember nothin , an I d orter knowed bet 
 ter n tu sent by him." 
 
 " I m glad it wa n t you at forgot for oncte," said 
 Joseph, who by a lucky chance had at the first at 
 tempt hit upon the right pocket and handed over his last 
 depleted paper of long-cut. Uncle Tyler was soon com 
 forting himself with what most mitigated his chronic un- 
 happiness,- a pipeful of what it pleased him to call " bor- 
 rered terbarker. " 
 
 " Naow hurry up an be spry," he said, " for I d orter 
 be tu hum a-workin in my gardin."
 
 232 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Time explained that he had come to steer for Uncle 
 Tyler, and to get Gage s boat, which he was willing to 
 steer up the creek, if some one would row it. As for his 
 rowing that was out of the question, for it made him sweat 
 to row. Sam freely offered him the services of Solon or 
 Joseph, either of whom would certainly do their share of 
 sweating at the oars. 
 
 "Them fellers?" asked Uncle Tyler, who could hear 
 some things much better than he could others, and now 
 glared balefully on his companions in the previous voyage 
 hither, " Massy sakes ! They ll row ye int the woods, or 
 cross lots, wi the hawin an geein ! Do know one eend 
 of a bwut f m t other !" 
 
 " Haow is anybody tu, special in the case o one o 
 these ere femaline boats which one end s the fact smile 
 o t other?" Solon demanded, for he would rather suffer 
 the pains of rowing than such disparagement of his skill 
 and knowledge. But Joseph did not resent it, and only 
 said, regretfully : 
 
 " I m feared you re right, Uncle Tyler. We can t 
 row. We wantu a\vf 1 bad, but we can t ; leastways, I 
 can t wi aout studyin on t more. Ha some more tor- 
 barker, won t ye ? 
 
 It has not been told who rowed that boat up the Little 
 River of Otters, nor whether it ever reached its home port. 
 
 Brother Foot s camp- meeting tent had been taken down 
 and packed, and with all their other effects and the box of 
 salted fish put on board the scow, and they were ready to 
 depart ; but Sam had forgotten something, which obliged 
 him to revisit the site of the camp. He was ashamed to 
 tell it was only for a last look. 
 
 The downfall of noontide sunlight splashed the floor of
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 233 
 
 the woods with gold around silhouettes of branches, twigs, 
 and leaves, bent over the rocks and crinkled along the last 
 year s leaves they were laid upon. Between leaves, 
 branches, and tree- trunks, were shown, in fantastic shapes, 
 patches of sky and lake, and all the sunlit outer world. 
 Birds sang blithely of their happy life, and mingled with 
 their songs carne from far away sounds of the life and stir 
 of the world, and yet this place seemed lifeless. 
 
 How lonesome and forsaken it was ! The carpet of old 
 brown leaves worn by frequent footsteps down to the black 
 mould of dead years, strewn with tobacco paper, broken 
 pipes, and fish-bones, the castaway ridge-pole of the tent 
 lying like a fallen roof-tree athwart the matted bed of 
 cedar twigs whereon they had dreamed dreams pleasanter 
 than life, so deserted now that a chipmonk ventured to 
 explore it. It seemed to Sam almost like the ruins of a 
 house wherein he had dwelt for years. 
 
 For old acquaintance sake he tried to light his pipe in 
 the ashes of the fireplace, but the last ember was dead 
 and only exhaled a faintly pungent odor of smoke. 
 
 " But I m comin agin !" he said, and as he hurried 
 down the steep footpath, a vireo sang behind him as if to 
 call him back.
 
 XIII. 
 
 AT THE FORGE VILLAGE. 
 
 ON the afternoon of the next day, the wagon bearing 
 the fishermen and their camping outfit made its lumber 
 ing entry into the street of the straggling hamlet known 
 to all Danvis folk as The Village, when the horses halted 
 in front of the store, more in obedience to the custom of 
 their lives than to the long-drawn persuasive " whoa !" 
 that Joseph Hill uttered. When they had almost come to 
 a stand-still, most of the inhabitants had become aware of 
 the arrival, and hastened forth to welcome their townsmen, 
 now safely returned from adventure in foreign parts. The 
 storekeeper, atilt on the hinder legs of his chair, absorbed 
 in the latest New York paper but little more than a week 
 from the press, came down with a resounding bump of 
 his boots and the forelegs of the chair when, glancing over 
 the top of his sheet, he saw who the newcomers were, and 
 descended to greet them, carefully folding and pocketing 
 his precious paper as he went down the steps. His clerk 
 deserted a customer, a boy who was endeavoring to nego 
 tiate the exchange of an egg for a fish-hook, and hurried 
 out to the edge of the stoop to look at the fishermen and 
 their fish, whither his customer followed him, and being a 
 born angler as well as a boy, could not forbear climbing 
 the wagon to feast his eyes upon the monsters of Cham- 
 plain. Observing him, Sam at once recognized a younger
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 235 
 
 brother of the gentle craft and the only son of Widow 
 Wiggins. 
 
 " Here, bub," he said, taking a goodly pickerel from 
 the box, "take a holt o this an kerry it hum tu yer 
 marm ;" and the boy depaited in a daze, so thankful for 
 the gift that he forgot to utter his thanks, forgot to take 
 egg or fish-hook, and forgot even his own identity as he 
 ran homeward with eyes on nothing but the biggest fish he 
 had ever had in hand, till he stubbed his bare toes on a 
 stone, got a " stun biv" on his heel in trying to recover 
 himself, and then went sprawling in the dusty road. But 
 his rize had suffered no injury but a little griminess, and 
 he forebore even a whimper as he limped home with it al 
 most as proud as if he had caught it himself. 
 
 One and another tended toward the centre of interest, 
 some sauntering thither with assumed indifference, others 
 with no attempt to disguise their haste to be first to see 
 and hear. A brawny, red-shirted bloomer, clean and off 
 duty for the day, slowly detached himself from the at 
 tractive precincts of Hamner s Hotel and strolled toward 
 the store, stopping half-way up the street to light his 
 pipe with one of the newly introduced friction matches. 
 The little shoemaker whose business had increased since 
 Uncle Lisha s departure to such a degree as to seriously 
 interfere with his favorite occupation of fishing, arose 
 from his bench at the first glimpse of the returning 
 anglers, spilled an almost finished boot off his lap, and 
 rushed forth bareheaded to have his heart torn in twain by 
 envy and admiration. Every boy of the neighborhood ran 
 thither at top speed, while every woman looking out of 
 window or door wished that she might as decorously do so 
 rather than poorly content herself with no nearer approach
 
 236 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 than to her own or her neighbor s door yard gate. Two 
 or three bethought them of some twopenny article, never 
 so much needed as now, and making themselves seemly 
 with a hasty stroke of the hair, donned their log-cabin sun- 
 bonnets and clean aprons and hastened to the store. A 
 farmer riding along the street jn his ox-cart hawed his slow 
 team to the side of the wagon, and clambered out to get 
 a closer view of fish that weie almost as strange to him as 
 the wonderful fishes of the sea whereof he had heard or 
 read. Indeed such an interest was aroused by this arrival 
 that every one within sight who might on any pretext 
 leave his affairs did so and drew near, and for a while all 
 sounds of labor ceased, except the heavy thud of the forge- 
 hammer. Even that seemed to slow and hush its ponderous 
 throbbing for a little, as if the forge, too, was listening to 
 the stories of the capture of the fish, drawn in laconic an 
 swers from Sam, more fully from Solon in words that his 
 hearers had never found in their spelling-books, and from 
 Antoine with an embellishment of facts and an invention 
 that set his hearers agog and abashed his comrades. 
 
 " Wai ! If these ere men folks don t beat all natur !" 
 said one goodwife to another, to whose gate she had come 
 for companionship and ease of mind. :< Jest a-runnin 
 crazy arter some fellers at s ben tu the lake a-fishin . 
 Your man s gone an my man s gone, an they re all gone, 
 an there s Sally Goodwin a-scootin over, purtendin at 
 she s got tu git some sallyratus ! Mongst all them men ! 
 Oh, my sakes !" 
 
 " Hain t that ere that Sam Lovel?" the other asked, 
 without relaxing the intentness and severity of her frown fixed 
 upon the wagon across the way. " I sh d think he d better 
 be tu hum with his folks stiddy loafin raound here !"
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 237 
 
 " Why, du you s pose he s heard ? I don t b lieve he 
 has, for they say at he s a real good-hearted feller, f he 
 does fish an hunt. You know it was him at faound the 
 little Pur n t n gal." 
 
 " Hmp !" snorted the other, " course he s heard ! 
 But what does he keer for anythin but fishin an huntin ? 
 It s my pinion at he lost that Pur n t n gal hisself a pup- 
 pus tu find her an make up with Huldy, an the s others 
 sides me at thinks so. An if she hain t ben through the 
 woods an took up wi a crooked stick ! An oh, dear, 
 tu think at poor Mis Level s troubles is over ! I s pose 
 she ^ hed baout as tough a time on t as most on us with 
 tew sech goo -for-nothin creeters as oF Tim Lovel and 
 that ere Sam. It s bad nough tu raise a body s own 
 child un, thaout takin on em secont han ." 
 
 " Wai," said her neighbor, " I kinder guess at 
 S manthy kep up her eend o the row wi em, an didn t 
 make it none tew pleasant for em. She had a tongue, 
 hung in th middle an sharp both eends. Why, f there 
 hain t my man comin wi a fish ! An there s yourn 
 comin wi one, tew. Why, my sakes ! An I ben hank- 
 erin for fish. 
 
 " Yis, fish, tu be sure ! An I ll bet they paid twicte 
 what they wus wuth ! Say, you," addressing her hus 
 band, as he drew near and proudly held forth a big pick 
 erel for expected admiration. " You ben a payin them 
 scalawags more n the price o good broadside pork for 
 that ere fish ?" 
 
 "No, sir!" her husband replied stoutly, "not a red 
 cent ! They gin it tu me ; er Sam Lovel did. They re 
 a givin on em away tu ev ybody at ll take em, an 
 hain t much trouble fin in customers."
 
 238 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 " Wai," his wife admitted, " that hain t so bad s I ex 
 pected, but you might ha got more." 
 
 " Has he heared what s happened tu his haouse ?" the 
 other woman asked, when, after admiring the fish her hus 
 band had brought, her thoughts reverted to what had been 
 uppermost in the minds of the gossips. 
 
 " My goodness gracious !" the good man ejaculated, 
 and his face grew blank with the shock of suddenly re 
 membered propriety and neglected opportunity. 
 
 " I don t b lieve nob dy ever thought tu tell him ! 
 Here, Lizy, take a holt o this fish, an I ll go an tell 
 him." But when he returned to the store he saw that his 
 news was forestalled. 
 
 Sam s face had become decorously serious, though 
 showing no sign of grief, and he and his companions were 
 silently making haste to depart. For when the tide of 
 excitement had ebbed and almost every one had borne 
 away his present of fish, the storekeeper, slowly ascending 
 the steps and considering what cheapest return he might 
 make for his two great pike perch, bethought him of news 
 that might cancel his obligation. He was almost certain, 
 as he recalled the unconscious air of the late comers, that 
 they had heard nothing remarkable. 
 
 "Oh, say, Lovel," he said, returning and putting one 
 hand on Sam s arm, as he reached over the wagon box, 
 " hev you heard f m hum to day ? Hev you met Tom 
 Hamlin tween here an V gennes ?" 
 
 "Heard f m hum? Met Tom Hamlin?" Sam re 
 peated with a puzzled air. " We hain t heard nothin , 
 nor met nob dy but three four forge teams ;" and then 
 anxiously, " the hain t nothin happened tu father, hes 
 the ?"
 
 SAM LOVEUS CAMPS. 239 
 
 " Wai," said Clapham, considering, " the hain ttuyour 
 father, an then, agin, the hes not egzakly tu him, but 
 tu his wife. " Then after a little pause, " Not tu break 
 the sad news tew suddingly, she died and departed this 
 life at twenty minutes arter nine this mornin . She come 
 daown here," he continued, while Sam stared at him in 
 dumb amazement, " yist d y arternoon in her usuil state 
 o health an vig rous intellects an in her own waggin, 
 a drivin her own hoss, an arter purchasin some neces 
 sary articles, started humerds in c nsid able of a hurry, 
 bein it was a gittin towards night, an abaout a half a mild 
 this^side o your haouse she eyther run onter a hawg 
 a-wallerin in the rhud an upsot, or the hoss got skeered 
 of the hawg suddingly uprisin an a woof ! woofin an 
 upsot the waggin, which it broke the spine of her back or 
 neck, causin instantaneous death in a few hours. When 
 the hoss come runnin hum with the empty waggin, your 
 father went in sarch of her an found her layin unconscious 
 with a paound o my best young hyson an five paound 
 o white sugar scattered an spilt promiscous in the rhud, 
 all completely spilte, sir. It s a tumble thing for your 
 father, sir. He sent Thomas Hamlin off this mornin tu 
 tell ye the sad news, an it s sing lar t you never met him. 
 He must ha went the turnpike, an you come the shun- 
 pike, or maybe you missed one other in V gennes." 
 
 " It s more sing lar at some on ye didn t tell me fust 
 thing," Sam said with some bitterness ; " stiddy lettin me 
 stan raound here s f nothin d happened ! Jozeff, f 
 you n Solon n mongst ye 11 go long wi* the team n 
 leave my duds tu your haouses, I ll put for hum the 
 nighest way. Give the fish where you re a minter, only 
 leave a few good ones tu Uncle Amos Pur n t n s. I m
 
 240 SAM LOVELY: CAMPS. 
 
 dreffle sorry for father. And he swiftly took the shortest 
 homeward way. 
 
 His tall figure was a speck against the sky on the shorn 
 crest of a hill, when his companions, resuming their jour 
 ney, looked to see what progress he had made. 
 
 " Goes s if he was pintin fur a runway," said Joseph. 
 " Wai, I s pose it s kinder upsot Timothy Lovel a losin 
 his wife so onexpected. Proberbly it hes, if she wa n t 
 none tew clever an even-tempered. I do know but she 
 was even-tempered, allus mad, an I s pose he d got 
 wonted tu her. I ve knowed a sheep an a hawg tu get 
 wonted, runnin in the same lot jest one summer, an the 
 sheep ould blaat, an the hawg ould squeel whence ever 
 they got sep rit. " 
 
 " Yes," Solon said, heaving a sympathetic sigh ; "it 
 is sartingly tough indeed tu be called tu mourn the loss 
 of a secont pardner, an she took away so simultaneous ; 
 momentarily as it ware. Oh, dear ! the hain t nothin 
 sartain about the humern life o man but its onsartinty." 
 
 " Yas, sah ! it was pooty bad lucky for mans los hees 
 waf sometam," said Antoine. " But Ah dunno for Tim- 
 aty, me. Hees waf pooty hugly w en he man to mos 
 always. Ah dunno f he be too sorry. Naow Ah dunno 
 f Sam an Hudly ant be marree raght off an kep de 
 haouse for hoi man ! Hein, boy ? Bah gosh ! Ant 
 dat de bes way of it, seh ?" 
 
 Very likely the others were thinking of the same thing, 
 but Joseph did not word his thoughts, and Solon, slowly 
 shaking his head, said : 
 
 " Not in no onseemless haste, they do want tu. "
 
 XIV. 
 
 REST. 
 
 SAM drew near his home ; its outward discomfort never 
 more impressing him than now, as, coming across lots, he 
 approached the rear of the house where litter and make 
 shifts ^vere most displayed. There was a clutter of broken 
 crockery and useless tinware pitched from the back door 
 into the vigorous growth of weeds ; a cart-wheel with half 
 its felloes gone, set upon a sagging post and bearing some 
 dishcloths and a couple of milk-pails ; two or three barrels 
 laid upon their sides with pales driven in front served as 
 hen-coops, wherein as many unhappy hens were in a con 
 stant worry concerning their wandering chicks, a worry 
 intensified when a cat prowled past toward the house with 
 so much more than ordinary uncanny feline stealth that 
 Sam s flesh crept as he watched her creeping, halting, 
 listening, always intent on something unseen within the 
 house. When he hurled half a broken earthen milk-pan 
 at her, she crouched and glared wickedly at him an instant 
 before she scurried away through the weedy cover. 
 
 One of the half dozen neighboring women who had 
 come to help, coming to the door caught sight of him, and 
 crying out : 
 
 " Why of all this worl ! If here ain t Samwill !" at 
 once retreated to inform the others of his arrival. 
 
 He hastened toward the front of the house in search of his
 
 242 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 father, his footsteps brushing the rank mat of mallows that 
 had almost crowded out the fox lilies his mother had 
 planted. As he was recalling the time of year and mark 
 ing the very spot where he sat when he watched her at her 
 toilsome recreation, he caught sight of some one among 
 the currant-bushes just beyond the cherry-trees and half- 
 tamed wild plum-trees of the garden. A finer if not a 
 keener sense than the cultivated instinct of the hunter in 
 formed him that it was Iluldah, though he could not sec 
 the face nor even the outlines of the figure. lie was close 
 to her the next moment, only the sprawling hedge of cur 
 rant-bushes between them, and when she turned her 
 blushing face toward him it expressed more gladness than 
 surprise, for her thoughts were just now so fixed upon him 
 that she knew he could not be far away. When some 
 things had been said that need not be written, Huldah, 
 picking at the half-grown stems of currants in her pail, 
 said, with downcast face, " I don t s pose it looks jest 
 right for me tu come here, Sam, but it did seem s if some 
 women folks ort tu come f m aour haouse, an mother sot 
 ri daown an said at she could n t du no more n come 
 tu the fun al, an so I come, nn" I can t help what folks 
 says. I hed tu. An them women in there hes ben try in 
 tu joke me ! a-jokin sech a time ! I would n t stay with 
 em, an come aout tu pick some currants for sass. The 
 hain t half growed, but the 7 hain t no rhubub. I wisht I d 
 fetched some; we ve got sights, but I never thought." 
 Then, starting suddenly, " Why, you hain t seen you 
 father. Jes tu think o you stan in here talkin tu me an 
 you hain t never seen him yit !" 
 
 Going to the front of the house, Sam found his father, 
 where he was almost sure he should, leaning forlornly on
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 243 
 
 the sagging gate-post, gazing abstractedly at nothing when 
 not casting a casual glance up or down the road. 
 
 "Wai, father, haow be ye?" he asked, putting his 
 hand on the old man s shoulder. 
 
 " Why, Samwil !" turning with a little start, and taking 
 his son s hand, " I wa n t spectin on ye so soon. You 
 must ha started fore Tawmus got tu ye ? I m awf l glad 
 you ve come, for this ere s knocked me gaily west. You 
 never liked her none too well, I know, an I know t the 
 wa n t no love lost, but won t ye go in an see her? She 
 looks turrible peaceable more so n I most ever seen her." 
 
 Saifi could not refuse this common mark of respect ex 
 pected of all who came to the house of mourning, and 
 followed his father into the house, stopping on his way 
 through the kitchen to greet the women whose tongues 
 had been busy with the gossip which was the chief com 
 pensation of their labors. When the two men entered the 
 room they suddenly ceased conversation, which was always 
 carried on in low tones and whispers, as if they feared they 
 might awaken her who had fallen into eternal sleep. The 
 wives of Solon and Joseph were of the number, and they 
 asked some questions concerning the welfare of their 
 husbands. 
 
 Sam remarked they met him with rather an air of re 
 proof. Whether they blamed him for not being at home 
 at the time of the accident, or for having inveigled their 
 husbands from their homes, or for having met Huldah in 
 the garden, he could not guess. " Ary one s nough tu 
 raise the quills," he said to himself, in resentment of their 
 coldness. " Womern fashion, but the s one womern t 
 ain t that way," and he went with his father into the mys 
 terious presence.
 
 244 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 When he saw into what serenity the hand of death had 
 moulded the face that he had always seen so fretfully un- 
 restful, he marvelled at the undreamed-of kindly possibil 
 ities of the harsh features, and all resentment of past injuries 
 was swept out of his heart. He forgave her and wished 
 he might ask her to forgive him for hard and angry words 
 that now could never be recalled. It came upon him sud 
 denly how repentance may come too late for the soul s 
 perfect comfort. 
 
 When the father and son came out of the " square 
 room" some of the women had already gone, and two 
 were putting on their bonnets in the first preparation for 
 departure. 
 
 " I b lieve the hain t nothin more t we c n du naow, 
 Mr. Level," said Solon Briggs s wife, as, holding her chin 
 aloft, she carefully knotted the strings of her log-cabin 
 sunbonnet. We ve got ev y thing fixed up { the watchers. 
 Mis Gove and her man s a-goin tu set up tu-night, an 
 we ll stop s we go long an tell her where t she c n find 
 ev ything f the luncheon. There s the last pie t poor 
 Mis Lovel ever made onderneath a pan on the top shelf in 
 the butt ry. You an Samwil d orter eat a piece, each 
 on ye, an the s nut-cakes t we fried tu-day oh, dear 
 me suz ! who knows t they hain t the last ones t we ll 
 ever fry ! an who knows which one ? in a stun jar on 
 the floor. An the s some o them plums at poor 
 Mis Lovel put up poor woman, she ll never put up no 
 more, an the trees is jest loaded this year ! why couldn t 
 she ha ben spared ? but like s not they ll all blast fore 
 fall settin by the butt ry winder. We d stay an git 
 supper f you an Samwil, but we got tu g hum, me an 
 Mis Hill hes, tu tend tu aour men. Jemimer Bartlett 11
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 245 
 
 stay an git it, an like s not, casting a sidelong glance at 
 Sam, " she ll hev help f m younger han s. Wai, M rier, 
 we mus be a-goin , but I guess t we d orter go int the 
 square room a minute fust ;" and they let themselves in, 
 opening the door just wide enough to squeeze themselves 
 through, " Cats does act so !" Mrs. Briggs apologized in 
 a loud whisper. 
 
 Presently they came forth, with awed faces, from the 
 room whose solemn stillness their hushed voices and light 
 footfalls had scarcely broken, and without many more 
 words went their way. 
 
 " Such a muss as the 11 be wi them men s dirty clo s 
 an dirty dishes jest makes me sick tu think on ! Don t 
 it you, M lier?" said Mrs. Briggs to her friend with a 
 tone more cheery than such a prospect seemed to warrant, 
 when they were fairly out upon the highway. " It ort tu 
 be a comfort tu S man thy at she hain t got tu clean up 
 arterSam, but tain t likely she realizes. Oh, dear, them 
 things !" 
 
 " If Mr. Hill s only fetched hum that fryin -pan, I 
 sh ll be setisfied," Mrs. Hill said. 
 
 Friend Jemima Bartlett and Huldah got supper ready, 
 and the four sat down to it, the three world s people in 
 voluntarily joining the sedate Friend in her silent grace 
 before meat. When in almost equal silence the meal was 
 eaten, and the dishes washed and put away, it was time 
 for Huldah to go home, and so late that Sam could not 
 but offer to go with her. When he came home, the night 
 had deepened into all the darkness that night can when a 
 starlit sky overarches the world, but the world had never 
 looked brighter to him, nor had his path through it ever 
 lain so pleasantly before him. After going to the barn to
 
 246 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 quiet Drive s doleful howling, he entered the kitchen and 
 found there Pelatiah s father and mother, who were to 
 " set up" to night, and Joel Bartlett, who had come to 
 settle the arrangements for the funeral and then accom 
 pany his wife home. 
 
 The visitors made transparent attempts at cheerful dis 
 course, while decorously avoiding lightness of conversa 
 tion, and discussed crop prospects and forecast the weather 
 from the moon s signs and the last days of the past month. 
 The Goves had many questions to ask concerning their 
 son s welfare, and listened with intense interest to Sam s 
 account of the Garden Island adventure, with a feeling 
 that they had almost become famous as the parents of a 
 new Crusoe. 
 
 Sam told Joel and his wife something of their lowland 
 relatives, for whom they felt a kindly regard, but had had 
 no unity with nor had ever visited since the memorable 
 " separation," when good Quakers first began to hate one 
 another for difference of religious opinion. When the 
 " Uncle Lisher clock," which since the " vandevv" had 
 stood in the corner of ihe Lovel kitchen, warned for nine 
 with a solemn clank of its machinery, the two arose as if 
 moved at once by the spirit, and made ready to depart, but 
 still Joel had something on his mind, as was shown by the 
 tighter pucker of his lips. 
 
 " Thee 11 halfter make pervision for a haouse-keeper, 
 Timerthy, thee an thy son, an it s a-goin tu be a trial, 
 I tell thee as it hes ben a trial tu thee tu hev thy com- 
 paniern took from thee. An I feel a consarn tu advise 
 thee tu not be hasty. It s better for thee an thy son tu 
 endure privations, discomforts, yea, an triberlatierns for 
 a spell an for thee tu make a hasty ch ice of some on-
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 247 
 
 worthy womern kind tu minister tu your temporal wants. 
 It has ben a weighty matter in my mind, an I wa n t 
 clear till I laid it afore thee. " 
 
 " I hev hed sech a consarn," his wife said when he had 
 done, " but all this arternoon I ve felt easy in my mind, for 
 it hes ben bore in upon me that the 11 be a way pervided, 
 an I m clear that Samwil 11 provide the way at a proper 
 time," and her quiet face beamed benignantly on Sam for 
 a moment. 
 
 They went their way, and Sam and his father betaking 
 themselves to bed, the watchers were left to their vigil. 
 Tim house became silent but for the ghostly sounds that 
 always pervade old houses in the night time, and were now 
 so much more awful and mysterious in this one that Ashbel 
 Gove and his wife felt more comfortable when their chairs 
 were drawn quite close together. 
 
 " It s a tumble long time sence me an you sot up 
 tugethcr, Manner ; an arter all it don t seem so dreff l 
 long nuther," he whispered, and surprised the good 
 woman by taking her hand. 
 
 On the third day after Mrs. Level s death, the Lovel 
 house was filled with Danvis folks who met " at ten 
 o clock at the house," to pay the last tribute of respect to 
 their deceased neighbor. 
 
 Timothy Lovel was appalled at the greatness of his loss 
 when he heard the minister recount the virtues of his de 
 parted wife. Indeed, no one of the company breathed a 
 word against her, if there was none to be said for her. 
 One good soul, casting about for something to say in 
 praise of the dead without doing violence to her own con 
 science, whispered to her neighbor : 
 
 " S manthy was baout the spryest womern t ever I seel"
 
 248 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 Some of the sumacs that grew at will in the uncared-for 
 burying-ground were displaced to make room for her, and 
 she was laid beside Sam s mother on the hillside, a pleas 
 ant and restful place, for all its loneliness, where longest 
 the birds sang and the bees delved above the silent sleep 
 ers, and where latest the sunlight fell upon the peaceful 
 graves.
 
 XV. 
 
 NEW LIFE IN THE OLD HOME. 
 
 THE Lovel house, which for many years had not been a 
 very cheerful one, was now more lonesome than ever. 
 The two men, the hound and the cat were its sole inmates 
 for rxjany weeks, except when a neighborly housewife came 
 to wash, iron, and bake for them, and Sam realized as 
 never before how different were the " good lonesome" of 
 a solitary camp-fire and the dreariness of a womanless 
 hearthstone. 
 
 When the good people of Danvis had been for some 
 time expecting it, it happened of a Sunday that the in 
 tended marriage of Samuel Lovel and Huldah Purington 
 was " published " at the town house, in which, for lack of 
 a church, all religious meetings but those of the Quakers 
 were held. 
 
 A week later there was a quiet wedding at the Purington 
 homestead. Not more than twoscore guests were pres 
 ent, mostly relatives of the bride and groom, but quite 
 enough the groom thought when he stood up before them 
 and Squire Bascom. He went bravely through the 
 ordeal, though in such trepidation as had never before 
 assailed him. He also stood manfully at his post, while 
 a dozen young men enjoyed their first and last opportunity 
 of saluting his bride, and more girls offered him their lips 
 than he had ever kissed before.
 
 250 SA M I.OVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 " I couldn t never ha went through sech a job fur 
 nob dy but you, Huldy," he told her at the first chance of 
 a word in private. " Never ! An by the gret horn 
 spoon, I won t never agin fur nob dy !" 
 
 There was no display of gifts, for there were none but 
 the silver spoons given by the bride s parents, for in those 
 days wedding guests were invited for their presence, not for 
 their presents. 
 
 There were white bride s cake and black groom s cake, 
 and no end of more substantial good cheer for all. 
 
 Later in the evening, by some chance a fiddle and fiddler 
 came in conjunction, and those so disposed had an oppor 
 tunity to prance with some regard to the time and tunes of 
 " Money Musk," " Hull s Victory, the " Backside of Al 
 bany," and many another tune that has outlived its dancers 
 of those days. The inspiring voice of the fiddle soon rid 
 Sam of his bashfulness, and when he was as well rid of his 
 coat he cut the pigeon-wing in a fashion worthy of legs so 
 used to nimbly climbing Danvis hills, and Iluldah tripped 
 as nimbly with him. 
 
 Much pains had been taken that an invitation should 
 reach I elatiah Govc, and he had taken no less to be pres 
 ent. As he went home from the wedding with his mother, 
 he stammered out a confession that he was engaged to a 
 "gal as harnsome as a pictur an smartern a steel-trap, 
 an her name was Lowizy. " 
 
 "Why, Peltier!" cried the good woman, stopping 
 short and facing him in almost breathless amaxement. 
 " Why, my sakes ! You re tew young tu think o sech a 
 thing ! Y r father an me was much as ten year older n 
 you be when we was merried. " 
 
 "Wai, what on t? You tew lost ten year o good
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 251 
 
 times at you d ha* bed, an we hain t a-goin tu be fools 
 cause you was not by a jugfull, maw. " 
 
 Wedding journeys were not the fashion in Danvis in 
 those days, and that of Sam and Huldah was only from 
 her father s house to that of his, and was quite uneventful. 
 Perhaps it was made on foot across lots, or on top of one 
 of the lumber wagon loads of the bride s " settin aout, " 
 of quilts, blankets, and linen, all home-made ; feather 
 beds, each with its thirty pounds of good live-geese feath 
 ers ; the big and little wheels and the reel and many other 
 articles that had long been set apart as Huldah s. 
 
 $he was duly installed as mistress of her new home, and 
 now Timothy Lovel could smoke his pipe in peace in his 
 own kitchen, or in the square room if he chose, and 
 Drive might take his ease undisturbed in the best patch of 
 sunlight that fell upon the floor. 
 
 A great deal of the Purington thrift seemed to have been 
 transplanted with its new mistress to the tumble-down 
 place, which out-doors as well as in began to brighten 
 into a pleasanter home than its old inmates had known 
 for many a year. 
 
 Huldah was intently counting the stitches on her needle, 
 held close to the candle that faintly illumined the close of 
 the short summer evening. Sam had succeeded in the 
 discovery of a sheet of foolscap whereon the flies of more 
 than one season had recorded their summer s sojourn, and 
 he was now rummaging the top shelf of the cupboard in 
 quest of a pen. 
 
 " The hain t no pen in this hull haouse, I du b lieve, " 
 he acknowledged at last, "but here s a quill, an when 
 you an me went tu school you was a master hand at 
 makin pens, an s posin you try agin. My knife s big
 
 252 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 
 
 for a leetle han , but the leetle blade s keener n a brier, 
 an you c n whittle aout suthin ; I c n write baout as well 
 wi one thing s another." 
 
 " Why, Sam Lovel, I can t make a pen," said Huldah. 
 " What be you in sech a tew to write ?" 
 
 " I ve put it off tew long a ready, " he answered, " an 
 naow I m a-goin tu set ri daown an write a letter tu 
 Uncle Lisher tu come. Him an Aunt Jerushy c n hcv 
 the back bedr m as we talked, an he c n hev the linter 
 for a shop. 
 
 " An they ll be most welcom s fur s I c n make em," 
 said his wife, " an I shan t never take no comfort s long 
 s I m a-thinkin o them poor ol lunsome folks a-dyin o 
 humsickness in that hatef l West. We won t never go there, 
 Sam," rocking forward, with knitting dropped in her lap, 
 and putting both hands on her husband s flaxen poll, while 
 she looked straight into his gray eyes. 
 
 " Not, never, Huldy, " he answered. " If you was 
 with me I d know but I c ld stan it a month or tew 
 aouter sight o these maountains, " as looking out of the 
 window his eyes dwelt fondly on the western mountains, 
 a looming mass of blackness against the darkening sky, 
 and in whose jagged crest the evening star lingered for a 
 moment more of shining ; " but not for long, noways. A 
 Green Maountain boy I be an a Green Maountain boy 
 I ll die, an take pride in t." 
 
 With a sigh of satisfaction, Pluldah rocked back into 
 the fuller light of the candle, and after some intent exam 
 ination of quill and knife began a careful whittling of the 
 goose-feather. While Sam watched the fashioning of the 
 pen, and in his mind framed the words it should write, he 
 pictured to himself a renewal in the " lean to" of the old
 
 SAM LOVEL S CAMPS. 253 
 
 comradeship that had existed in Uncle Lisha s shop. For 
 he was too young to know that old times can never return 
 in all their fulness, and .that the happy, care-free days of 
 youth, once spent, are gone forever.
 
 Two Vermont Books 
 
 By ROWLAND E. ROBINSON. 
 
 DANVIS FOLKS. 
 
 A CONTINUATION OF " UNCLE LISHA s SHOP " AND 
 
 "SAM LOVEL S CAMP." i6mo., $1.25. 
 
 "The author s familiarity with Vermont has been shown by his 
 contribution to the American Commonwealth Scries. But he knows 
 not only Vermont s geography and her political history, but her 
 country folk through and through, their thoughts, their language, 
 and their warm hearts. "Danvis Folks" is a series of rural happen 
 ings bound together and made into a more or less continuous nar 
 rative, and its chief ingredient is drollery, good, clear, sheer fun. 
 Grant her Hill with his pa tridge; Josie bracing himself for the 
 extracted tooth; Uncle Lisha s summing up of the West vs. the East; 
 the paring-bee and its lesser bees, fishing, hunting, and again the 
 quiets of home." Pottland Transciipt. 
 
 VERMONT: A STUDY OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 IN AMERICAN COMMONWEALTH SERIES. l6mO., $1.25. 
 
 "The circumstances in which Vermont became a State make its 
 history particularly interesting. . . . Not only does Mr. 
 Robinson write of great State events, but of those smaller domestic, 
 social, and economic features of human life, in which the real history 
 of the people was made. In this way he constructs two or three 
 chapters that are quite as interesting as those headed Ticonderoga, 
 Bennington, or The Highway of War. It is a brightly written, 
 clear, and interesting volume. New York Times. 
 
 Sold by all Booksellers. Sent, postpaid, by 
 
 HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO., BOSTON. 
 ii East jyth Street, New York.
 
 
 DATE DUE 
 
 GA YLORD
 
 000 550 600