bp Jflt. Robinson. VERMONT: A Study of Independence. In American Commonwealths Series. With Map. i6mo, gilt top, $1.25. DANVIS FOLKS. A Novel. i6mo, $1.25. IN NEW ENGLAND FIELDS AND WOODS. i6mo, $1.25. UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. i6mo, $1.25. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. BOSTOX AND NEW YORK. UNCLE LISHA S OUTING BY ROWLAND E. ROBINSON AUTHOR OF " UNCLE LISHA s SHOP," " DANVIS FOLKS," ETC. BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY (Cfre fitoErjsi&e JDrejsjs, Cambri&oe 1897 COPYRIGHT 1897 BY ROWLAND E. ROBINSON ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. PLANNING THE CAMPAIGN 1 II. A REKINDLED CAMPFIKE 9 III. ALONG THE SHORE 15 IV. THE DUCKS OF LITTLE OTTER .... 23 V. A WAY STATION 32 VI. VISITORS IN CAMP 42 VII. THE CANADA BOAT . . . . . .54 VIII. A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. R. R. . . . 61 IX. LE FEU FOLLET 74 X. THE CANADA BOAT DEPARTS .... 83 XI. THE EAST SLANG . 03 XII. A SPORTSMAN 10-3 XIII. A WILD GOOSE CHASE 118 XIV. MUD TURTLE 135 XV. A DAY INLAND 158 XVI. STORY-TELLING 170 XVII. UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH GO VOYAGING . . 182 XVIII. A CRUSOE OF THE MARSHES .... 199 XIX. AROUND THE FIRE 213 XX. SUNGAHNEETOOK 223 XXI. AN INLAND EXPLORATION 243 XXII. UNEXPECTED VISITORS 262 XXIII. WOMEN S DAY 276 XXIV. THE CARAVAN . 289 2046115 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. CHAPTEE I. PLANNING THE CAMPAIGN. THE company in Uncle Lisha s shop, after dis coursing of hunting and lamenting the decrease of game, lapsed into a meditative silence, which was broken at last by Sam Level s deep-toned, deliber ate voice. " I tell ye what, I m jest a-hankerin tu go daown tu Leetle Otter Crik, a-duck-huiitm . Don t ye remember, Antwine, what a mess on em the was, a-hengin raound, that spring we was a-trap- pin ? The must be sights on em there in the fall, when the wild oats is ripe." The Canadian grunted emphatic assent without interrupting his energetic pulls at a pipeful of damp tobacco till it was in full blast ; then he gave further testimony. " Yas, seh, dey was great many dauk dat tarn, but naow dey was two dauk quarrly for every wil 2 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. boat, an dey was more as bonded taousan busliil wil boat." " That s ruther more n I should ha sot em at," said Uncle Lisha, punching a hole in a patch with a crooked awl and inserting the bristle of a waxed end. " But I ve seen slews on em on the ma shes, an I do know s you re lyin much, for you, Ann Twine. Why don t ye go, Samwil, you an Solen an Jozeff an Peltier an mongst ye ? Ye might jest as well as not, right arter ye git y r corn cut up, an stay a good spell, fore tater diggin ." " Bah gosh ! Ah 11 go, me," cried Antoine. " Ah 11 can show you haow for shot de dauk ! Ah 11 was be preffick mans for kill dauk, me." " Me an yer father an the women folks c ld git along wi the chores, julluck rollin off m a lawg," Uncle Lisha continued without noticing the Cana dian s self -invitation, " an I don t see as there s no thin tu hender ye goin ." Sam pondered the proposition for a considerable time before he replied with a question. " Why won t you go, Uncle Lisher ? The chores hain t no gret, an I c ld git Billy Wiggins tu help du em." " Me go ? " said Uncle Lisha, casting a quick glance 011 Sam to see if he meant what he was say ing. " Good airth an seas ! I m tew ol tu go skylarkin raound wi a passel o boys ! I should jest sp ile the rest on ye s fun. Better take yer father, Samwil." PLANNING THE CAMPAIGN. 3 "You couldn t snaike him daown there wi a yoke o oxen. He d a sight druther stay long wi the women folks. You would n t spile no fun, an if we settle on goin you got tu go tew." " Yas, seh, you jes good leetly boy as we was, One Lasha," Antoine declared for his further encouragement. The old man sat meditating for some time with idle hands upon his knees before he answered : " Wai, the hain t no denyin but what I d luf tu. I use tu squirmish raound them ma shes con- sid able when I was a whippin the cat daown there thirty year ago. An I sh ld luf tu see the folks. I p sume tu say the s some at hain t fergot me yit. But I guess I d ortu stay tu hum an help yer father an the women folks." He heaved a sigh of resignation and gave the patch a resolute punch with the awl. " You need n t let that hender ye," said Pelatiah Gove, " for I c n turn tu an help m if the s any extry job." " Why, you 11 go long wi us, Peltier," said Sam. Pelatiah shook his head in slow but determined negation. ^ No, I don t want to go not down there," and they all knew why. " Wai, you 11 go, Jozeff ? " Sam asked. The first response was a dubious squeak of the rickety chair as Joseph Plill shifted his position in slow perturbation of spirit, and then as he leaned UNCLE LISHAS OUTING. cautiously aside to inspect his unstable seat, as suring himself in an undertone, " I ruther guess t won t, not yit," he answered : " Wai, I s pose I d ortu, an then agin I s pose I heel n t ortu. I d ortu go an git rested up, which I hain t hed no chance sence hayin . Then agin the s lot tu du at I hain t seemed to git raound tu, an father he s kinder peaked, do know but he s sorter failin , do know s I ever see him quite so docyle. An I do know as M ri an Bub c ld git along wi the chores erless they c n punch that ere Lige Kellick tu help em some, they can t never git him up tu, in the mornin , the lazy shote. But I do know ? s father d let me hev his gun, if Bub Id spare it. He s a-whangin raound wi t ev y chance he gits. But if the ducks is as thick as you tell on, it seem s ough a feller c ld git feathers nough tu fill a tick, an that s jest what M ri wants. I got tu make that the main p int in talkin on t over with M ri, an I can t answer fer sartain until I du, but I m hopesin the feathers 11 fetch her." " An what du you say, Solen ? " Sam asked. Solon Briggs heaved a sigh so deep that it served to clear his throat as well as to express regret. " Well, I m obleeged tu say that my goin on sech a taower has got tu be forewent, because I have heretobefore gin my bonafied promise tu Mis Briggs, betwixt hoein s, tu take her over tu Adams PLANNING THE CAMPAIGN. 5 to visit her folks, if she d wait till after hayin , which she hevin done so, I can t intricate myself aout on, hon able." " I s pose not," Sam admitted, " but I s pect all on us at goes hev got tu talk aour women folks raound fust. They geii ally hev objections tu stag parties. If it hain t the work at ortu be done, it s your health. Stag parties is turrible onhealthy." " Bah gosh," said Antoine, straightening and swelling himself to his greatest dimensions and speaking in a big voice, " when Ah 11 took motion Ah 11 goin somewhere, mah hwomans make off hees min Ah 11 goin , an ant said not ing f he ant want hees head slap." " "Wall," Solon said, " my idee is, at moral per suasion goes furder n rambumptiousness in argyin wi femaline folks." " Antwine s got the advantage o most on us," Sam explained, " in hevin of him a he wife at s twicte as big as what he is." " O Sam, no he ant, too ! Ah tol you, seh, Ah 11 took it w en he was young an Ah 11 brought it up for suit me, not hesef . Ant you see, hein ? " " Wai, I cal late the truth on t is, she s glad tu git red on ye as often as she ken," Uncle Lisha said as he rubbed down the seam with the handle of the awl. " It pears ough aour huntin party was sim mered daown tu Uncle Lisher an Jozeff an An- 6 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. twine an me, anyways, for Peltier won t an Solon can t an mebby the can t none on us, not for sar- tain fore we find aout what aour women folks says. But s posin we du go, we want tu Lorry Pel tier s scaow boat over t the pond, haint it, Pel tier ? for Uncle Lisher an Jozeff, an me an Antwine 11 hev my canew, an we c n Iwud them an aour tent ontu a waggin an drive daown within tew rod o where we camped when we went fishin , an git aour team kep somewher s nigh." " Why, Samwil, you ve got us so nigh there a ready, I can e enamost smell the campfire," said Uncle Lisha. " We don t want tu kerry no gre t v riety o per- visions," Sam continued, " jest some pork an taters an a leetle smidgin o bread tu start on we c n buy bread o the folks daown there when we git aout, an , le me see " " An onion ; Ah 11 drudder not have had any- t ing as not had onion, me." " Of course, so s t you c n be strong whilst we suffer," said Sam, and went on enumerating the necessaries of the trip. " An a slew o paowder an shot an caps an waddin an blankets an lemmc see what else? " "Why, Samwil, you goin tu du julluk t other feller at went a-huntin ? He got already tu start wi his ammernition Iwuded intu his pockets, an tu make sure he hed n t forgot nothin he went PLANNING THE CAMPAIGN. 1 over em all. Here s my shot, says he, a-slappiii his hand on one pocket, an there s my paowder, a-puttin his han on another, an there s my caps. All right, an off he went till he come tu the woods, an a pa tridge a-stan in on a lawg, not six rod off. By thunder ! says he, I hev forgot suthin , an it s my gun. " "Yes," Sam said, "guns might be bendy an we 11 have us some, an le me see " " We want tu kerry a gre t big bag tu put them ere feathers in," said Joseph Hill ; "I do know as sech an almighty gre t bag, but a tollable mid- dlin -sized sort o bag ; but I ve got tu kerry a bag for em if I don t kerry nothin else, cause the heft o my argyment lays in them feathers. An Sam- wil an Uncle Lisher," he leaned far forward and spoke in a loud, impressive whisper which was em phasized by a prolonged creak of the unstable chair, " you don t want tu say nothin baout it tu your women folks, cause they d up an tell M ri an then daown ould go my shanty." He settled back in his seat with spasmodic chuckles, to which the chair responded with a series of short squeaks, then its legs began to slip and sprawl apart ; there was a gathering sound of splitting and breaking wood fibres, till with a final crash and resounding bump chair and occupant went down to the floor together. " I m almighty glad on t," Uncle Lisha roared, 8 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. almost like an echo of the brief sudden uproar. " I wish t it had bruk two year ago, the dumb d squeakin thing. Open the stove door, Peltier, an chuck in the pieces fore some tarnal fool sets tu mendin it. Hurt ye any, Jozeff?" " Wai, not ra ly," Joseph answered, looking helpless and foolish as he sat amid the ruins. " I sot daown a little sollider an I cal lated tu, an it jarred me some, an I b lieve I bit my tongue, seems s ough." " Where was de litlin struck? " Antoiiie asked ; and Aunt Jerusha, appearing at the door of the kitchen, cried out in a tremor of anxiety : - " What in the livin airth ! Has the stove fell daown ? Lisher Peggs, be you hevin a fit? " " It s that dumb d chair, an I m glad on t." " It s fort nate at the linter hain t underminded by no suller," said Solon, as he viewed the wreck, " or Jozeff might have been promulgated into the dep s." " Sam Hill ! " Joseph ejaculated, as he began to push aside the wreckage with deliberate hands pre paratory to rising. " Ef that wan t a kerwollups ! Wai, I guess I 11 g hum an kinder begin tu hint tu M ri baout the feathers. Don t seem s ough I sot daown on none that time sca cely." And as he went forth the other visitors departed after him. CHAPTER II. A REKINDLED CAMPFIRE. THE household divinities proved kind, and when Sam s cornfield had lost its semblance to a miniature tropical jungle and had taken on the likeness of a village of aboriginal wigwams, he and his friends set forth for the lowlands in the chill, vaporous stillness of a September dawn. The silence continued undisturbed save by the echoed rumbling of the wagon over the first mile or two of the road, and from the woodside by the clamorous assault of crows upon some furred or feathered enemy. At length the travelers began to hear other sounds of life, first the muffled indoor clatter of a stove being made ready for lighting the fire, inter rupted by the creaky opening of a door as the half- clad fire-builder peered forth to see who was faring abroad so early and to wonder why, if not to ask. Then the sleepy voice of a cowboy arousing the herd while he was but half awake, and presently the clattering of milk-pails, the clank of bars, and creak of barnyard gates. Next came from kitchens 10 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. appetizing sounds of breakfast-getting and voices of women, high-pitched above the clatter of table ware, the screech of frying-pans, the songs of kettles, and the punching of reluctant fires. A little later, the voices of children arose, drowsily at first, then breaking forth in all the volubility of refreshed life and action, and the day was fairly begun for every one. Then people were fallen in with on the highway, faring one way and the other, and men and teams were seen going afield. By and by conchs and horns began to sound at farmsteads far and near, the long-drawn dinner call, that, though not for our travelers, reminded them that they were hungry. They halted in the first inviting wayside shade to feed their horses and themselves, and unhurried by the sequence of after-dinner chores ate more deliberately even than they did at home, aiding digestion by slowly ruminated mouthfuls, while their eyes wandered over unfamiliar surroundings. Then they went forward, the course of the day marked by one and another visible or audible sign as the progress of their journey was by the chang ing landscape, till at mid-afternoon they were in the level lowlands with their own mountains as blue behind them as the nameless peaks of the Adiron- dacks before them. " The lay o the land here is consid able like the West," Uncle Lisha remarked to his companions A REKINDLED CAMPFIEE. 11 as they lumbered between broad fields of pasture, meadow, and stubble land, after crossing Little Otter for the last time at its lower falls. " Oii y the s more woods an what the is where I was. I cal late this ere s a good enough country for most anybody tu live in, level nough so t you need n t roll off, an hills an maountaiiis so s at your eye sight don t git tired a trav lin t the eend o the airth. But I d know but what I d hanker arter the smell o spreuce an balsam if I lived here." " Dey ant got no Injin or greasily bear here, prob ly," Antoine remarked by way of comparison with the West. " Sho, Ann Twine, the wan t no Injins tu hurt nob dy where I was, an them grizzly bears is way aout furder where the s buffaloes an wil Injins." " Ah 11 s pose dey call it greasily bear cause it was so fat, ant he, prob ly?" "Wai, no, I cal late they call em grizzly cause they re so almighty tough an chuck full o grizzle. They say you can shoot em so full o lead at they 11 sink in water afore they 11 die." " Bah gosh, dey more wusser as you hoi sprim gawn bear ant he, One Lasha ? " The sun was low in the west and cows were com ing home through goldenrod and aster bordered lanes and dusty highways when the travelers jolted over the ruinous Slang bridge. Half an hour later they were at the old campground on the rocky 12 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. bluff, its place still marked by a russet mat of de caying cedar twigs and the stone fireplace which Aiitoine was delighted to find in serviceable con dition. He at once got the necessary provisions and utensils from the wagon and set about get ting supper while the others unloaded the wagon and pitched the tent. Sam drove away to the nearest farmhouse to find keeping for the horses, and after a while came stumbling out of the gathering gloom into the light of the campfire, to which his nose guided him as well as his eyes, for Antoine s cookery diffused a far- reaching savory odor to direct and hasten the steps of a hungry man. The camp had already taken on the cheerful aspect of an established abiding-place, blankets and boxes having been stowed inside the tent. In front of it Uncle Lisha and Joseph sat, comfortably smoking their pipes as they quietly watched An- toine prancing around the frying-pan and potato kettle, while his shadow sprawled along the ground and leaped from trunk to branch in ever-varying grotesqueness of form and motion. " Git a put-uppance fer the hosses, did ye, Sam- wil ? " Uncle Lisha asked, making room for Sam on the fireside log. " Yes, I got em turned aout tu paster arter some coaxin , Sam answered, seating himself in the proffered place with a sigh of satisfaction. " But A REKINDLED CAMP FIRE. 13 I du hope we c n keep Antwine away f m there, fer I m af eared if he hears much o the ol feller s talk at owns the place he 11 larn tu lie. Why, he tol me, a-lookin as honest as the cooper s caow, haow at he was a-patchin the ruff of his barn, to day, an somehaow er nother he begin tu slip, an kep a-slippin , an could n t stop himself no way, till jest as he went over the eaves, feet fust an face daown, he ketched a holt o the aidge o the shingles with his teeth, an there he hung till they fetched a ladder, an he clumb daown." " What ye think o that, Ann Twine ? " Uncle Lisha asked the Canadian, who was cocking an alert ear while his eyes were intent upon the sput tering frying-pan. Antoine blew away the smoke with a contemptu ous " Pooh, dat ant noting ! Ah 11 gat brudder- law in Canada was more strong of his jaw as dat. One tarn he run away wid hees hoss an it broke loose of hees woggin, an he touch hoi of de line wid hees toof an hang on de woggin wid bose hees han of it, an , seh, dat hoss run more as mile fore he stop it up. Come, gat ready for heat you suppy. Fetch de bread an de onion, Sam," and he whisked the frying-pan from the fire to the flat rock that served as table, then poured the water from the potato kettle and set it beside the pan. " I ruther guess, Samwil," said Uncle Lisha, as he arose and moved toward the supper, " at you 14 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. might let Ann Twine g wup there if you hain t feared for t other feller." As they smoked their after-supper pipes and planned the morrow s campaign, in every lull of conversation they could hear the quacking and splashing of the host of ducks feeding in the marsh, and now and then the pulsing whistle of swift wings as a belated flock came in from the lake, and then the restful sounding splash as the newcomers settled upon the water to join the feast ing horde. And when the tired campers fell asleep on the bed of cedar, these sounds still ran through their dreams, a thread of reality woven into the misty fabric. CHAPTER III. ALONG THE SHORE. THE campers were astir betimes in the silver dawn that they counted of greater worth for their use than a golden day. After a hasty breakfast, Sam and Antoine embarked in the canoe at the landing above the Slab Hole, where the boats were unloaded the night before ; but Uncle Lisha and Joseph preferred the stable land to the fickle waters, and prowled westward along the lake shore as slowly and almost as stealthily as a couple of aged mud turtles might have gone over the same ground. Peering out upon the bay through loopholes of the cedar-clad cliff, they saw great flocks of ducks riding safe and far on the glassy water. The nearest were a triple gunshot out of range of this shore, while many were so tantalizingly close to Garden Island that the dusky lines cut the re flected brightness of the island s autumnal splen dor. " Good airth and seas ! " Uncle Lisha whispered, as he and Joseph crouched on hands and knees, 16 UNCLE USJLfVS OUTING. peering through the branches with longing eyes at the distant flocks, " ef we was on y jest on that ere islan . I wonder if we hed n t better go an git the scaow bwut an go way raound an come up on t other side ? " " Wai, I do know baout it," Joseph whispered dubiously. " It s a good way off, seem s ough it was, an the weather might change cousid able fore we could git back. I hain t no gre t appetite for water, not sech a sight on t, an I don t b lieve I want tu go aout moiigst so much on t, not sca cely, anyways, not tu-day." " Wai, I wish the wind ould change an come aouten the north, an blow em over here er suthin ." " Ef we hed us some corn an kinder hove it over the bank, mebby it ould call em up tu us." But as they had not the means at hand for trying this experiment and as no favoring gale blew the ducks within range, but they on the contrary began to waddle out by dozens upon the shelving shore of the island to bask in the sun, the two sportsmen reluctantly withdrew from their point of observa tion and pursued their way along the cliff to where it slopes to the low shore of a shallow bay. Here grew some hickory - trees bearing a profusion of nuts as foreign to Danvis as the fruit of a cocoa palm. As Uncle Lisha and his companion were filling their pockets with the fallen nuts, they sur- ALONG THE SHORE. 17 prised a gray squirrel who was rasping out his breakfast on a lower branch and now retreated to a hiding-place among the topmost leaves. They were at once filled with a desire to secure him as a trophy and a toothsome addition to camp fare, and so with guns at a ready they went slowly around the tree, scanning every branch and intricacy of leafage, often fooled almost to the point of firing at some semblance of the object of their search, but never quite discovering it. " Wai," said Uncle Lisha at last, grounding the butt of his gun and leaning on the muzzle while he gazed wistfully up into the tree, " the critter s up there somewheres, sartain, fer he hain t got no wings an the hain t no tree he could jump off intu. Naow, Jozeff, I b lieve if you d go down there tu the lake an git a han f 1 o stuns, I c ld fling em up in there an start the critter aout so s t we c ld shoot him. I use ter be tol able hendy flingin stuns." Accordingly Joseph set his gun against a tree and made for the shore with all speed, which he did not abate till he had crashed through the fringe of cedars and come out upon the stony beach. Then to his intense disgust a great flock of teal arose almost at his feet in a flurry of alarm at the noise and sudden apparition, and went whistling away far over the bay. Joseph stared after them open - mouthed but speechless, till surprise and 18 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. chagrin took audible expression in a long exhaled " Gosh ! " and then, with eyes following the swiftly retreating flock : " Who in Sam Hill spected you was here ? Wai, there goes one lot o M ri s feathers." Heaving another sigh, he turned his back upon the lake, and picking up an armful of stones re turned to his companion, inwardly berating himself at every step and groaning over the lost opportu nity. Uncle Lisha s arm still possessed enough of the strength and skill of youth to dislodge the squir rel with a few well-directed missiles, and Joseph brought it down after a pottering aim of the long gun. " You done well, Jozeff, an your father d be n praoud on ye if he d seen ye," said Uncle Lisha as he picked up the squirrel and held it forth for the successful sportsman to feast his eyes upon. " Father ! " cried Joseph ruefully. " Gosh, ef he d ha seen what I done er ruther what I did n t du, he d kick me higher n Gilderoy s kite, if t won t for the rheumatiz in his laigs. I went a kerflummuxin daown yunder through the bushes right slap ontu a snag o ducks at I might jes V well crep up tu an shot if I d on y spected they was there. I bate ye the was more n ten paound o feathers on em. But haow easy they did kerry em off, though." ALONG THE SHORE. 19 Uncle Lislia lamented the chance which had de prived both of distinguishing themselves, but con soled Joseph by assuming an equal portion of the blame. " An iiaow, who knows but what the critters 11 come back there arter they git over their scare. What fetched em there oncte 11 fetch em ag in. Le s go an sed daown there an wait." Joseph readily assented to a plan which required so little exertion, and the two sat down behind the screen of evergreens, where through an opening in the bushes they could command a view of the shore and the rushy border of the bay in front of them, and so for half an hour they sat enjoying their pipes and a whispered conversation no louder than the stir of the breeze among the treetops, the patter of the falling leaves, and the break of the ripples on the beach. Suddenly these dreamy sounds were overborne by a pulsing, sibilant beat, prolonged in a whistle of set wings, which ended with a resounding, fluttering splash, as a flock of twenty or more teal settled upon the water within forty yards of the ambuscade and swam to and fro in busy inspection of their surroundings. " Aim int the thick on em, an when I caouiit three, fire," said Uncle Lisha in a trembling whis per as he and his companion cautiously poked their guns through the bushes and took deliberate aim. " One tew three," Uncle Lisha counted, and with the sharp expiration of the last word his 20 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. ancient queen s arm belched forth its mighty voice. Joseph Hill pulled lustily at the trigger of his half-cocked piece, shutting both eyes tighter as the pull became more desperate, and bracing his nerves for the inevitable recoil which must follow such a reluctant discharge. " Sam Hill ! " he ejaculated, when at last he desisted and opened his eyes to see a half dozen victims of Uncle Lisha s shot floating belly up and the affrighted survivors scurrying away in wild flight. " It don t seem s ough this plagued ol gun was use to shootin ducks. It don t pear tu want tu go off at em." " It wants tu be cocked fust, Jozeff," Uncle Lisha remarked, casting an eye upon the unready weapon, as they rushed from cover to secure the game. " Cock her an let flicker at that waounded one. It s a-floppin clean aouten reach." Joseph stared a moment in chopfallen dismay at the lock of his gun, then cocking it and leveling the long barrel to careful aim, put a merciful end to the struggles of the wounded duck. By the aid of a pole and a favoring breeze the sportsmen were able to gather their booty, seven plump teal in all, which they ranged side by side and gloated over with as complete satisfaction as if the green beauty spots on each wing had been as many emeralds. Then they tied the birds in two bunches, to the smaller of which the squirrel was ALONG THE SHORE. 21 added, and these Uncle Lisha magnanimously per mitted his less successful comrade to carry as if it were his rightful trophy. So laden, and quite content to try their fortune no further, they set forth toward camp. As they drew near it Joseph broke a long interval of silence. " I ve kinder be n a-thinkin on t over in my mind, Uncle Lisher, at like nough, mebby, it ould be jes s well not tu say nothin baout my not cockin my gun ; I do know but mebby it ould be full better not tu, Ann Twine s so kinder ag- gervatin ." " Good airth an seas, Jozeff, I won t say nothin ! Ef the ol f uzee hed n t sot back so, I should n t knowed whether it was me or you at fired, an I sh d thought you hed if you hadn t said nothin . It s lucky you did n t er we would n t ha got that ere waounded one. Pshaw, I won t say nothin , Jozeff." The camp was silent and deserted but for a chipmunk that sat clucking contentedly on the rock table after a feast of crumbs. The fireplace gave forth neither smoke nor warmth, but only the faint breath of new-made ashes and freshly-charred wood. The slovenly array of frying-pan, pot, and tin plates stood cold and untouched since breakfast, and it was evident that Sam and Antoine had not returned since the morning departure. 22 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " My sakes ! " said Joseph, as he viewed the unhousewifely scene with a kind of a shamefaced satisfaction, "I m glad M ri hain t here to see aour housekeeping. She d have a tantribogus fit, most seem s ough she would." "Wai," said Uncle Lisha, "the is a diffence twixt men folkses haousekeepiu an women folkses, as a gen al thing. Where the hain t, the s suthin wrong wi the man er the womern. If it s a wo- mern a keepin haouse like a man, she s a regular sloven, you may depend ; an if it s a man at keeps haouse as a womern ort tu, he s jest as sar- tain ter be a he ol maid. Naow le s eat a col bite an then light up a fire an heat some water, an kinder git the thick on t off in these ere dishes. It s tew bad Drive ain t here tu help us." After fortifying themselves with cold potatoes, raw pork, and onions, they set manfully and unskill- fully to the task of dishwashing, which was in a manner accomplished in the hour which intervened before the return of their friends. CHAPTER IV. THE DUCKS OF LITTLE OTTER. WHEN Sam and Antoine paddled out from the landing a thick film of fog lay upon marsh and channel, undulating in the almost imperceptible breath of the morning breeze, but disclosing the dun and green rushes and glassy water the canoe s length away, beyond which color and substance dissolved and vanished in the pearl gray mist. Now a vague form loomed up in the marsh s edge till it shrunk to the solid reality of a muskrat house, then again became unreal in the veil of vapor. To the voyagers eyes there was nothing substantial but themselves and their canoe and the little circle of glassy water sliding smoothly into the fog before, rippling a widening wake into the fog behind. Now and then the raucous quack of dusky ducks was heard calling to their befogged mates, and the rustle and splash of some unseen life occasionally stirred in the marsh; but far or near there was no sound telling of human presence save the tink ling drip of the paddles or the scratching of a weed 24 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. along the canoe s side, or a few whispered words of consultation. So for half an hour they drove the arrow of their wake through the fog till at a turn of the channel Sam saw the ripple of another wake ruffling the water before him, and following it toward its point discovered five dark objects appearing as if hung in the mist. In two cautious noiseless motions he laid down the paddle and took up his gun, then aimed and fired just as the ducks, now suspicious and restless, were pivoting, on the point of taking flight. As the smoke slowly lifted it disclosed two ducks killed outright and one fluttering toward the marsh with a broken wing, while two drove away into the fog, uttering wild quacks of terror. An- toine stopped the cripple with a timely shot, and then sent the canoe forward with a few dexterous strokes of his paddle till Sam could recover the dead birds. The report of the guns was followed so quickly by the roar of myriad wings, as a mighty host of waterfowl uprose from the marshes, that it seemed a part of the echo which rebounded from along the wooded shores and far away among the distant hills, and then for a few moments the air was filled with the whistle of wings as the disturbed flocks circled above the almost invisible intruders or set forth in flight toward the lake. " Wai, there ! " said Sam, after listening till the THE DUCKS OF LITTLE OTTEE. 25 confusion of sounds subsided to a faint whisper of retreating flight and the splashing flutter of laggards suddenly alarmed at finding themselves alone, " I guess we started aout the last duck in the hull crik, an might as well go back tu camp. The can t be no more, the hain t no room for em." " Oh, Ah 11 tol you, Sam, dey was roos top one nudder, an dey ant honly top one flewed off yet," Antoine answered in a low voice. " Naow we go in de ma sh for load off aour gaun." With a few strokes they sent the canoe her length among the wild rice stalks to insure greater steadiness while they stood up to reload their guns. The sun was rising, and the first level beams paved a gilded path and pillared and spanned it with resplendent columns and arches of mist as it lifted and wreathed in the light wafts of the uncer tain air, and now through and beneath the rising vapor a stretch of the channel shone in a curving line of silver, still barred with fading ripples of the canoe s wake. Sam s eyes were following it as he capped his gun, when suddenly he crouched upon his knees, whispering hurriedly : " Scrooch daown, Antwine, th s su thin comin ; I m goin tu try em if they don t light." Antoine bent, his head low as a flock of teal came stringing down the channel in arrowy flight, and Sam, aiming a little ahead of the leading bird, pulled trigger. The hindmost teal in the line 26 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. slanted downward, and, striking the water with a resounding splash, lay motionless when the impetus of its fall was spent. " Wai, if that don t beat all iiatur ," Sam said with a gasp of surprise. " That ere duck was ten foot ahind o the one I shot at. What sort o ducks du ye call em, Antwine ? " " He come fore you call it dis tarn, but w en he ant, you call heem steal dawk in Angleesh, Ah b lieved so. He was plumpy leetle feller," Antoiiie remarked as he picked up the bird, when Sam had reloaded and the canoe was again in mid-channel. " An a lively breed they be, tu shoot a-flyin ," Sam commented, as he examined this victim of chance. " T ain t 110 use a-shootin at em. You got to shoot way off int the air ahead on em, an let em run ag in your shot. Naow be we goin tu poke along er lay low for em ? " " Wai, seh, it bes was dis tarn o day, we go long kan o slowry. Long mos to evelin was be de bes tarn for hide in de ma sh, w en de dauk come for hees suppy. Naow, you be ready for shoot an Ah 11 paddle de camioe, me." They had not gone far up the channel when the canoe in its stealthy progress came close upon a dusky duck sitting among the wild rice, where she might have remained unseen and unsuspected but for her alarm. As she sprang with a startling splash and flutter clear of the rank marsh growth, THE DUCKS OF LITTLE OTTER. 27 Sam thought to profit by his experience with the teal and fired too far ahead his mark, making a clean miss. He stared at the escaping duck and Antoine offered the consoling comment : " Dat fel ler ant run ag in you shot, prob ly." Sam repeated his mistake with two or three more rising birds, but got two more in a sitting shot at a flock of wood duck discovered in a nook of the marsh, and then to Antoine s great disgust easily knocked over a coot that stupidly permitted them to paddle within short range. " Dat feller ant worse you paouder, Sam. You see he gat mout mos lak hen was, an hees foots some lak hen, some lak dauk, an he 11 ant t oddur t ing or one. Ah 11 spec prob ly it was hens try for be dauk, or dauk try for be hens, an he 11 ant mek up very good. He mek some good fedder for Zhozeff. Hello, Sam, you ll know dis place, ant it ? " he asked with eager interest as he came to a narrow tributary channel with fishing stakes set on either side. "Wai, if it hain t the East Slang, sure as guns," said Sam in joyful recognition of their old trapping ground. " I tell ye what, Antwine, we mus go an take a look at aour ol hum stead," and Antoine turned the canoe s prow into the nar rower waterway and followed its lazy meandering among the broad level of the marsh to where the sluggish current creeps between narrower margins 28 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. of wild rice, rushes, and sedges flanked by open fields on the east and, at that time, by almost un broken forest on the west. At the nearest point of this shore they found an opening to their old landing and pushed the canoe to a berth alongside a clumsy dugout which gave evidence of recent use in a fish-pole and line and a basin of earth in which a few angle-worms were crawling and reaching vainly for a way of escape over the edges of rusty tin. A well-worn footpath led away through the bushy border and under the hemlocks. " Prob ly some more mah rellashin, Ah guess," said Antoine. " One o your brother-in-laws. Mebby we 11 go an look him up bime by. I b lieve I ve heard you tell o hevin one or tew. But le s gwup tu the ol shanty," and he led the way to the familiar spot. It was not hard to find, for the moss-grown slabs were lying in a crushed heap upon the broken ridge-pole, and in front a patch of ashes filmed with moss, nourishing fireweed whose silver-winged seeds were now drifting alee on the light breeze, marked the place of the old campfire. Beside it was the log seat, softer than it used to be with decay and a cushion of lichens. They seated them selves upon it, looking around upon the desolation with half melancholy interest while they slowly filled their pipes. THE DUCKS OF LITTLE OTTER. 29 " It looks so as if de folks was all dead gre t many year go, an it seem so we was de folks," said Antoine ruefully. "It mek me feel lone- sick." " Yes, it does make a feller sort er lunsome, a mournin for the feller that was himself oncte." " Dat true as you livin , Sam. Bah gosh, seh, it ant seem if Ah was me, w en Ah 11 re mbler dat leetly boy in Canada wid hees fader an mudder, young folks dat dance all naght, an Ah 11 gat honly one brudder-law, an de summer las mos all de year an de winter ant never too long cause Ah 11 happy every day. Oh, Ah 11 ant dat leetly feller. Den w en Ah 11 growed big mans Ah be naow Ah 11 ant know much an can spik Ang- leesh more as frawg ; dat ant de sem feller Ah was naow, for know much anybody an spik jus lak Yankee. Den Ah 11 faght in de Papineau war more liugly as dev , naow Ah 11 was peaceably mans, honly w en Ah 11 was get mad, den dey want for look aout, everybody but you, Sam. Oh, Ah 11 was been great many feller, me." " We re gen ally tew folks all the time," said Sam, following a climbing wreath of tobacco smoke with meditative eyes. " One is the feller at we know an t other s the feller at other folks knows, an most on us is almighty shy o showin the one at we know tu other folks. By the great horn spoon ! I das n t hardly look at my Sam, myself, 30 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. he s got so many mean streaks in him. Hello, there s aour ol squirrel, er one at looks jus like him, a-snickerin at your Antwine er my Sam this minute." He pointed with his pipe at a red squirrel that was jerking himself into a frenzy of derision on the trunk of a hemlock. The sun and the breeze had burned and blown the mist away and the day was bright with the beauty of late September, the clear blue sky, the first autumnal tints of the unthinned foliage bor dered with the lesser glory of woodside goldenrod and aster, the marshes with their broad masses of bronze and russet and gold, unbroken, save where the scarlet flame of an outstanding dwarfed maple blazed among the colder tints, and the verdure of the grass lands, as green as in June. Such sounds as were heard were distinctive of the season and some were conspicuously absent. The flute of the hermit and the bells of the wood thrushes were silent. The booming of the bittern and the chorus of the frogs no longer sounded over the expanse of marshes. Birds that rejoiced melodiously over the earth s fresh luxuriance in June uttered now only brief notes of farewell to the kindling glory of her ripeness. Only the blue bird sang, and with a mournful cadence. The crows cawed lazily, jays squalled apart or in united vociferation, chickadees repeated their own name, nuthatches piped their nasal call, woodpeckers 1* THE DUCKS OF LITTLE OTTEB. 31 hammered with voiceless industry and never a rat tling drum-call ; these and the squirrels were the only tenants of the woods who gave audible evi dence of their presence. Across the fields from distant farmsteads came the regular thud of flails, and from one barn the clatter and roar of a new-fangled threshing ma chine ; and there was also the rumble and clatter of farm wagons and the bawling of plowmen, shouting as if their oxen were deaf or a mile from their driver. Piercing through these larger sounds there could be heard the shrill voice of cockerels practicing their yet unlearned challenge, and the yelping of wandering flocks of turkeys harvesting the half torpid grasshoppers and glean ing the grain fields. Every sound that came to the ears of Sam and his companion, as they unconsciously listened, was as indicative of the season as the visible signs of the year s ripening which met their abstracted eyes. " Wai, Antwine," said Sam, arousing himself and knocking the ashes of his pipe upon the grave of the old campfire, " Le s go an see if you ve got a new lot o relations settled here," and Antoine, nothing loath to undertake such quest, followed with him the path into the shadow of the hemlocks. CHAPTER V. A WAY STATION. TANGLES of hobble bush sprawled over the russet carpet of hemlock leaves, gayly flecked with variegated rattlesnake plantain, overtopped by yellowing sarsaparilla ; and a crowded cluster of scarlet berries, still upheld on their withered stalk, marked the place where the fiery bulb of the In dian turnip was hidden. There were moss-covered cradle-knolls and mouldering trunks of the old trees whose uprooting had formed them, with trees already old growing upon them. Great mats of sphagnum were in the hollows between, and all were the characteristics of the undisturbed floor of the ancient forest. For all these Sam had a keen eye, noting the difference of forest growth here from that of his own hill country and speaking of it to his compan ion, but never of the beauties of nature, for, with the deep and tender feeling of the true lover, he could not prate of the charms of his mistress to the common ear. Antoine enjoyed them with an undefined touch A WAY STATION. 33 of the same feeling, but more than the symmetry or majesty of a tree he saw the axe helves in the hickory, the baskets in the ash, the plank in the hemlock and pine, and the medicinal virtues of the prettiest plant were more to him than its beauty. Ten minutes leisurely walking brought them to a clearing of a few acres where some young cattle were pastured. They left off grazing on the ap proach of the strangers, whom they curiously re garded for a moment and then scampered into the woods in a flurry of alarm. A small log house stood in the middle of the clearing with a pole- fenced garden patch in front wherein some cabbages flourished in the virgin soil in spite of poor tending. A few beanstalks drooped their frostbitten leaves over the clattering remnant of dry pods, and the withered cucumber vines, linking together the dropsical overlooked fruit, showed with what ram pant growth and how riotously they had gadded abroad under the summer sun and showers. A thin wreath of smoke trailed upward from the low chimney, diffusing a pitchy, pungent odor even to windward in the light breeze, and the merry notes of a fiddle, accompanied by the sound of jigging feet, came through the open door. " Bah ffosh, de smell an de nowse was kan o O 7 Frenchy, don t it ? " Antoine remarked as they drew nearer ; but he started backward with an exclamation of astonishment when, still unperceived 34 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. by the inmates, he cautiously peered in at the door. " Oh, dey was too da ks color mos for mah rellashin," he whispered as he fell back to Sam s side, " Dey was nigger ! " Sam stole forward and looked inside. Sitting with his back toward the door was a lithe-figured and very black negro, energetically playing a fiddle, which divided his attention with a taller and more strongly built man of the same race, who was put ting his whole soul into the elaborate execution of a jig, occasionally exhaling his breath in a gusty puff that was almost a deep-toned whistle, while the fiddler expressed his delight in the performance by frequent squawks of laughter. Presently the dancer finished with a grand flourish and a final bump of his quivering heels, and slouched across the room to refresh himself with a draught of water from a pail that stood in the corner, while his comrade hugged his instrument under his arm and rocked to and fro in a spasm of delighted laughter. " Oh, ah, oh, Lord," he gasped, " if that don t knock the spots out 11 all the dancin ever I ever did see. Oh, oh, yah, yah ! oh, Lord ! " " Wai, yas, honey," said the other modestly, as he dropped heavily into a creaking splint-bottomed old chair, " at s er de way dey wu ks de heel an toe down in ol Firginny. Now, I se gwine for to sing ye dat ar liT song ag in, so s you can ketch A WAY STATION. 35 de chime wicl you wiolin," and he began to sing in a deep sonorous voice, beating time with his palms upon his knees, while the other felt for the air with uncertain touches of the fiddlestrings. " De coon fas sleep in de holler ob de gum, Whodar? Who dar ? Brer Fox come a-scratchin roun de do ob his home, Who dar knockin at de do ? De coon cock he eye an he listen wid he ear, Who dar ? Who dar ? Who dat a-\vantin ob somebody hyar ? Who dar ? Who dar a-kiiockin at de do ? Dat s me, Brer Coon, so prepar for to die, Who dar ? Who dar ? " Coon squirt bacca juice plum in he eye, Who dar ? Who dar, knockin at de do ? Taters in de ashes, cawn b ilin hot, Who dar ? Who dar ? Come ter yer supper, table all sot, Who dar ? Who dar, knockin at de do ? Brer Fox run blin , smash he head g in de tree, Whodar? Whodar? Oh, you ain t de man I se wantin for to see, T ain t me, t ain t me, knockin at de do . " Yas, sah," the tall negro remarked, when the song was ended and cordially applauded by his friend, " w en dey is bout fawty niggahs jes a-shoutin dar ar, yer could jes set an listen at em all night." Unwilling longer to play the eavesdropper, and loath to leave such entertaining company, Sam stepped forward and knocked on the doorpost. 36 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. f " Good-mornin , he said. " Scuse me for in- terruptin , but me an my friend stopped tu see ,f we c ld git a drink o water. This ere crik water s p isen, I b lieve." Both negroes had arisen suddenly when Sam knocked, the taller with an alarmed, alert look, as if in quick consideration of a way of escape, the other with an abashed yet half-defiant air. The first seemed assured of no evil intention by a glance at the visitor s quiet, good-humored face, and stepped backward with a questioning smile 011 his own no less good-humored visage. " Water ? Course you can hev some water. My stars ! haow you did scare me," said the vio linist, emphasizing each sentence with a chuckle and a jerk of the head. " Did n t s pose anybody was in a mild o here. No, sir. An me an my cousin was sort o keepin house whilst the ol woman an the coon s gone. My brother hain t been tu see me afore, I do know the time when, an we allus hev to hev a little fun when he does come. Oh, I forgot you wanted some water. T ain t the best water in the world," he apolo gized, as he brought a brimming dipper of milky- looking water, " but it s some wet." Sam sipped with gingerly lips, but found it better than the clearer, weedy-tasting creek water, and gave it as cordial approval as one could who had been accustomed to the crystal springs of the mountains. A WAY STATION. 37 " Ha some, Antwine ? It s pooty good water fer the time o year," but Antoine would not be prevailed on to help him with this excuse for their call. "This feller an me," Sam explained, indicat ing his companion by a sidewise nod, " come up the Slang a duck huntin , an he kinder wanted tu see the haouse where he faound his father, so we come over. He did n t know but what he d find some more relations here." " Wai," said the negro, chuckling as he cast a quick quizzical glance at Antoine, and jerking his head emphatically, " he is kind o dark complected, but he don t look like any o aour folks at I re member. I don t claim no relationship, but mebby he does." " Oh sa-cree, cochon noir ! " Antoine growled explosively. " The hain t nothin stuck up baout me, an if he c n prove it I 11 own it," continued the negro, giving no evidence if he comprehended that he was called a holy black pig. Another person now quietly appeared at the door, a placid-faced middle-aged man in red flan nel shirt-sleeves that contrasted oddly with his broad-brimmed hat and sober-hued waistcoat of unmistakable Quaker cut. His sudden appearance did not seem to surprise the negroes, whom he accosted pleasantly, while he saluted Sam and his 38 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. companion with more reserve, regarding them with some wonder. " Well, James," he said to the master of the house, " so thee s got company, has thee ? And who might thy friends be ? " "That s more n I c n tell ye, Mr. Bartlett. Only one on em s arter a drink o water an t other s lookin for his relations." "I guess you don t remember us, Mr. Bartlett," Sam said, rising from his broken-backed chair and extending his hand as he smiled on the puzzled face of the Quaker. " Me an this man shantied on your land here one spring, four, five year ago. We was a-trappin mushrat. Peltier Gove come tu see us an hired aout tu you. My name s Sam- wil Lovel, an this ere s Antvvine." " Why, dear me, yes," said Friend Bartlett, his face brightening with recognition as he shook Sam s hand. " I thought I d seen thee somewhere. And this man too. Why, his father and mother lived in this very house a whole year." " Oh, yas, yas," cried Antoine. " Ah 11 fan it here, an Ah 11 ant spec more Ah 11 was for fin it in mah soup, me. He live long to me naow, an he smaat lak boy, an so was mah mudder." " That s clever," said Friend Bartlett, and then to Sam, " And Peltier, how s he ? He an Lowizy are married, I s pose." " Wai, Peltier s abaout so," Sam answered soberly, "but he hain t merried. Lowizy s dead." A WAY STATION. 39 " Thee don t say. Wai, that s sad, to be sure," Friend Bartlett said in a grieved voice. " Poor child, poor child. It will grieve my wife to hear it, for she set great store by Lowizy. And Peltier was a stiddy, clever young man, poor boy. He must be greatly cast down." After some further conversation with Sam he turned to the negroes and his eyes fell upon the fiddle. " Well, James, thee has been entertaining thy visitors with music, has thee ? " He bent over the instrument curiously and touched the strings with one cautious finger, withdrawing it with a start and an abashed face as they gave forth a resonant chord. " Well, it s rather a pleasant sound to worldly ears, I dare say," he remarked, and then in a low voice to the man whom he called James, but who was Jim to the world s people, " thee should be careful about attracting strangers to thy house, James, while Robert is with thee." " I had n t no idee the was a livin soul within a mild o here, Mr. Bartlett ; no, sir, I had n t," Jim protested, with many an emphatic jerk of the head. " They popped right on tu us as if they d riz right aout o the airth. I hain t none afeared o the tall feller, but I do know bout that gabbin Frenchman," and he cast a suspicious glance at Antoine, who, unconscious of unfriendly scrutiny, was leisurely whittling a charge of tobacco for the waiting pipe between his teeth. 40 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " I come down to fix up the fence a little and look at the young cattle," Friend Bartlett explained to the company, as he went to the door and picked up his axe which he had set down there. " Friend Samwel, I d like to speak with thee a little about Peltier," hesitating over the untruth of the pretext. " I feel clear to trust thee," he said in a guarded voice when Sam had followed him apart to a comfortable leaning place on the fence, " but I ain t quite so clear in my mind about thy companion." He paused a little, abstractedly hewing the withered leaves off a sunflower stalk. " The fact is, that tall colored man is a fugitive from slavery, and might be in danger if some folks knew he was here." " I spected where the critter come from," said Sam, " but ye need n t be afeared o me tellin on him, Mr. Bartlett, an I don t b lieve Antwiiie would either, not tu mean no harm. All at ails him is he s tew full o his gab." " Well, Samwel, thee must caution him. It would be sad if anything should happen to hinder this poor man s getting to Canada." " I guess the hain t 110 danger o that, Mr. Bartlett." " More than thee thinks, perhaps." Friend Bartlett glanced cautiously toward the house before he added, " I feel free to tell thee that strangers have been seen not many miles off that we mistrust are looking for him." A WAY STATION. 41 " Du you b lieve it ? " Sam asked in surprise. The Quaker nodded. " Wai," Sam drawled out, " I rutlier guess they won t ketch none o their stray black sheep up this way not if I c n help it." " Thank thee, Samwel ; but I think if nobody lets out the secret they won t be apt to discover his hiding-place. Try to keep thy companion s tongue bridled for a few days. Now, I won t hin der thee any longer," and the Quaker moved slowly toward the house. " Come, Antwine," Sam called, " le s be a-mog- gin ," and Antoine coining forth, the two began to retrace their way to the landing. " Farewell," Friend Bartlett called after them, " thee tell Peltier what I told thee and remember me in kindness to him, will thee ? " CHAPTER VI. VISITORS IN CAMP. AT the edge of the woods Sam turned and took a careful observation of the clearing. " I s pose the s a landin daown there on the crik baout as nigh as the one on the Slang, hain t the ? " he asked. " Wai, Ah do know, prob ly. Yas, Ah guess yas. What you wan know, hein ? " Antoine an swered and asked. " Oh, nothin , on y I was a-thinkin if the canew was there we c ld git tu camp quicker. My stomerk s cryin cupberd if that feller s water is victuals an drink. Haow is t wi your n, An- twine? You hain t lied even water tu stay it." " Bah gosh ! " cried the Canadian with hungry zest, " Ah 11 can heat one of dat dauk raw an hees fedder." " That ould hurt Joe s feelin s ; he wants all the feathers for a peace offerin tu M ri," said Sam, lengthening his strides till a glimpse of the open sky beyond the landing was seen, when he slack ened his pace and peered cautiously out upon the open marsh. VISITORS IN CAMP. 43 " Hsssh," he whispered, drawing back and slowly sinking upon his haunches, " the s a hull snag o ducks a squddlin raound not four rod fin the canew. We c n crawl up an git a crack at em." Crawling side by side, they wormed their way within short range of at least a dozen wood ducks that were swimming, diving, and bickering over choice morsels in the narrow pathway of water that made from the channel to the landing. Then tak ing deliberate aim at the thick of the flock, they fired at the word given by Sam. Above the rolling cloud of smoke they saw but five terrified survivors scurrying away in scattered flight, and beneath it when it lifted seven dead and wounded unto death, all of which they speedily secured, even to one poor cripple that skulked among the weeds and was mercifully dispatched by a stroke of a paddle. "There, Antwine," said Sam, as the canoe floated out upon the channel, " you set for ad ; I done all the shootin I want tu." Thus disposed, they paddled down the Slang. As they passed the trim newly built muskrat houses, almost every one of them had a tally stick stuck beside it marked rather conspicuously by a bit of birch bark inserted in a cleft at the top. " Dat was Injin fashi n," Antoine commented, " an Ah bet you head dere was some of it trappin raoun here." " Jest their shifflin way, ketchin lots o half- 44 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. growed ones. But the s plenty o white folks at s jest as bad. I wonder where the creatur s is campin . I sh d like tu run on tu em." " Oh, Sam, you 11 want great many t ing, ant it ? You 11 fan two nigger an one Quakers to-day already, an naow you 11 want Injin. Say, Sam, what kan o nigger you call dat beeg one, hein ? " " I do know s anything more n a tol lable black one. Why ? " "Wai, seh, he ll gat cliff nt of aour kan o nigger. He 11 ant spick Angleesh sem lak you was an me an dat odder nigger. Oh, Ah tol you, Sam," he said impressively, and looking over his shoulder at his companion, " Ah 11 b lieved he was slave runaways nigger from Souse Mericay." " Sho , Antwiiie, you du git cur u s ideas int your noddle." "Wai, Ah 11 b lieved dat, me," said Antoine decidedly. " Wai, s posin he is," said Sam carelessly, " let him run ; I shan t stop him." " Prob ly de mans dat hown it was willin for give feefteen, prob ly twanty-fav dollar. Haow many you s pose, prob ly ? " " I s pose," said Sam with impressive earnest ness, "if a man was mean nough tu du sech a sneakin job he d ortu be sunk in this ere crik, an I cal late that s as mis able a death as a fellow could die. If you want tu keep friends wi me, VISITORS IN CAMP. 45 Antwine, don t you tell nob dy at we seen secli a man not nob dy." " No, no no, Ah 11 won t tol mah waf , no, sah;" adding after some reflection, "honly One Lasha an Zhozeff, prob ly." " Wai, if you must tell someb dy er bu st, I s pose they d be as safe as anyb dy. But don t ye open your head tu no strangers. Naow, remem ber." " Dat all Ah want. But Ah 11 tol you, Sam, it mek me felt kan o mean for keep all Ah 11 know for mahsef." " Hoi on," said Sam, steering the canoe close to the marsh where a muskrat house stood in a narrow environment of open water, " there s a poor leetle mushrat not so big as a haouse rat, all wopsed up in a mess o weeds where he can t draown ner git away." As the canoe ran alongside, he reached out and carefully disengaged the trap and its struggling captive from the entanglement of marsh weeds, and after a brief inspection pressed the spring till the jaws opened. When the little prisoner found himself free he made off with scrambling splash into the marsh as Sam gave him a parting admoni tion. " There, you poor little devil, go your ways an grow bigger. Naow, Antwine, wouldn t a feller be meaner n pusley tu put that leetle chap back int the trap ag in ? " 46 UNCLE LISUA S OUTING. " Yas, prob ly," said Antoine ; " but Ah 11 ant spec de Injiii t ank you much, prob ly, ant it ? " " Wai, I wan t ezacldy considerin the Injin s feelin s." Their way down the Slang and creek was un marked by even an unsuccessful shot, for the few ducks they saw arose too far out of range to tempt them to the trial of the uncertain chance. Now and then they were startled by the sudden uprising of a heron beating upward with labored strokes of his broad vans in a long slant to level flight over the marshes, or the frightened squawk of a bittern jerking himself into the air and stumbling through it on awkward wings to a safer retreat. A countless dusky swarm of blackbirds rose up from their busy feeding among the rice in a sudden cloud and with a dull roar of innumerable wings, as if a mine had exploded beneath the flock. When they rounded the last great bend and came in sight of the bay, they saw a large craft with a single square sail coming in toward the mouth of Lewis Creek. " Hurra for Canada," cried Antoine joyfully, after regarding it intently for a moment. " Look, Sam, dat was Canada boats." " What makes you think so ? " " Oh, Ah 11 know it by hees sail jes easy as you can tol nigger by hees skin. Yankee boat ant got square sail lak dat more as he wore botte VISITORS IN CAMP. 47 sauvage or heat pea soup. Prob ly, he brought some salt for sol it or come for bought some happle, prob ly, bose of it, Ah do know f he ant. Ah 11 gat brudder-law was be captain for one of it. Mebby dat was be mah brudder-law, mos likel . Ah 11 go see to-naght f Ah 11 ant in de morny, me." " Wai, I 11 go with ye. It s turrible interestin tu look at furrin shippin , an that looks like an ol buster, nigh s big s a canawl boat." " Oh, dey was beauty boats," said Antoine proudly. " Ah 11 tol you, dey was mek de water roar lak One Lasha w en he sleep." Presently they were at the landing among the willows under the bluff, a place made familiar to them in their summer fishing trip of a previous year. Thence, laden with guns and game, they climbed the steep to the camp, where they were loudly welcomed by Uncle Lisha and Joseph, who generously congratulated them on their success, though it abated the pride of their own achieve ments. " Wai done, boys." Uncle Lisha slowly counted the ducks, carefully inspecting and observing each and inquiring its kind. " You did du fust rate, sartain. But what sort o critter s this ere? " he asked, picking up the coot and minutely examining it. " Ann Twine, hev you be n a-robbin someb dy er nuther s henrwust ? " 48 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. " No, One Lasha," said the Canadian, one hand busy with the potato kettle and frying-pan, while from the other he snatched hasty mouthfuls of bread to appease the cravings of his fasting stom ach, "dat was you good boy Sam, an Ah 11 tol it he don t ought for do so weeked. But he want for pracsit for shoot, so he 11 shot de folkses hen. What you t ink for dat, hein ? " " No, t ain t a hen nuther," the old man decided, " but it looks more like one an some o these ere patent new-fashion Chinee faowls does. Clapham s got a rwuster at come f m Boston at he calls a High-shang er hang-shy er some sech a name, at don t look no more like a civilized barndoor faowl an you du, Ann Twine, an when he does what Clapham calls crowin , it scares child en. I never heard sech a on arthly yollopin ." "Wai, One Lasha, dis t ing was kan o fool dauk. Dat hees nem of it. We jus brought it home for de fedders for Zhozeff." " Wai, me and Jozeff lies picked em all off m them leetle baby ducks at we got, an don t you b lieve both on ye at he was so savin at he pulled the pin-feathers aout with his teeth, an we got pooty nigh a piller case full, an the ducks is dressed, complete. Haow be ye goin tu cook em, Ann Twine ? Rwust em, er bile em, er fry em ? I m kinder hankerin for some hot victuals." " Wai, Ah 11 b lieve Ah 11 goin for fry it, for VISITORS IN CAMP. 49 be quickes way for our hongry," said Antoine, laying the split teal in the frying-pan with a gen erous lump of Danvis butter from the Lovel dairy. " Come, Sam, ponch de fire. Zhozeff, pull up you stump an chaup off some hwood. Hoorah." The fire was properly replenished, the potatoes boiled merrily, the frying-pan screeched, and An toine pranced around them fully impressed with the importance of his office, while the others sat on the fireside log hungrily watching him with their backs to the world. " I do know as ary one on us told ye at we lied comp ny whilst you was gone," Joseph said. An toine held an attentive ear above the crackling of the fire and the turmoil of cookery, upon which he kept his intent eyes, shielded by one protecting hand, while the other, armed with a fork, urged the process of cooking with frequent prods and shakes of the contents of the pan. " Wai, sorter comp ny er vis ters er callers, mebby you might call em. Tew fellers they was at come a-saunderiii up an sod daown an smoked a spell an peared turrible sociable. Hed guns, they did, kinder huntin , but was inquirin if the was colored man livin anywher s raound here, o the name o Jeems suthin er nuther. What was t, Uncle Lisha?" " I do know," Uncle Lisha replied, " I tol em at we hedn t had tune tu git quainted wi the white folks, let alone the niggers." 50 UNCLE LISUA S OUTING. " Color man," cried Antoine, lifting his voice above the roar and crackle of the fire, the wallop ing of the pot and the sizzle of the pan, and mak ing it very audible though his back was turned to his hearers. "Bah gosh, me an Sam was visit some black color mans an hear of some red color mans. An , seh, de black color mans leeve raght over dere behin de hwood, pooty clos neighbor of us, seh. He gat for stay wid heem one slave nig ger dat was run way wid hese f all de ways from Sous Meriky, an oh, he would dance you never see to beat it w en t udder nigger was fi le more better as dat leetly humpy Palmer feller. An dat beeg slave run way nigger was sing jus lak black yallerbird, sem as de gros riche lady gat in leetly wire coop. Oh, Ah 11 tol you f Ah 11 hown dat nigger, Ah 11 ant took more s feety dollar for it, no, seh." As Antoine ceased, Joseph slowly turned in his seat to reach a stick of wood and was confronted by two men standing close behind the unconscious group. " Sam Hill ! " he ejaculated. " Here they be naow ! Where in tunket did you come from? Dumbed if you did n t skeer me, anyway ! " The other members of the camp household were as much surprised as Joseph, but Sam was most disturbed, for he felt almost certain that much of Antoine s disclosures must have been overheard by VISITORS IN CAMP. 51 the intruders, whom he suspected were hunting larger game than ducks. " Beg pardon, gentlemen," said one of the new comers, a brisk, wiry little man with a sharp face and a business-like, official air. " Don t wanter intrude, but we d jes like to light aour pipes t your fire. Can t scare up a match betwixt us. Got a flint an steel, but lost aour punk," and with out waiting for permission he stepped to the fire and thrust a dry twig of cedar into it, wherewith when ablaze he lit his pipe and then offered it to his companion, a tall, sallow man all of whose move ments were deliberate if not indolent, except those of his restless, searching eyes. " Here, Clark, light up. This ere s better n punk or a match." But Clark had just begun to whittle a charge from a huge plug of peculiar light-colored tobacco, very different, as Sam noticed, from the black nail rod and twist to which he was accustomed, and he also noticed that the stranger s pronunciation of the few words he spoke bore a marked similitude to that of Jim s guest. When he had generously offered his " raal ol Firginny leaf " to each and lighted his own pipeful, so fragrant that those who refused regretted having done so, the visitors seemed in a hurry to go, but he who was the spokesman returned, after they had gone a little way, to ask in Yankee fashion for the loan of the scow. 52 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. " I s poso you could n t let us take you scaow boat a spell to go aout an see f we could n t git tew three ducks, could ye ? We hate to go hum thaout a feather. They ll make fun on us so. We can t git a thing huntin long the shore." Sam shook his head. " I in turrible sorry, but we got tu use aour boat jest as soon as we git some grub." " We d fetch it back in a couple o hours," urged the man whom his comrade called Baker. " Guess you c n let us have it as long as that, can t you?" " No, got tu use it right off," said Sam. " Come, Antwine, hain t ye got the victuals most ready ? We want tu be off tu rights." Reluctantly relinquishing the design of borrow ing the boat, Baker and his comrade hurried away up the bank of the creek. Sam watched them with unfriendly eyes till they disappeared among the trees beyond the landing, saying to himself as much as to his companions : " Consarn em ! They won t git no boat o aourn tu hunt niggers." Uncle Lisha and Joseph stared at him in puzzled inquiry, and Antoine, with an abashed face, de voted himself to his cookery. " What is t, Samwil ? " the old shoemaker asked at last. " I can t make head nor tail on t." " Why, you know what they ast you, an you VISITORS IN CAMP. 53 heard what Antwine said baout the darkies an so did they, a-sneaking up behind of us at just that onlucky minute ; heard all they wanted tu er they d ha ast me some questions. They re arter that ere runaway chap, an I don t cal late we re a-goin tu help em much, be we ? " Uncle Lisha snorted a contemptuous negative, and Joseph Hill said : " It don t seem s ough that was what we come here for, not ezac ly." " Prob ly Ah 11 s pose, Sam, you blem me all up, but Ah tol you, sell, Ah 11 ant to blem. Ah 11 ant s pose dere was anybody but wese f goin for heard me tol One Lasha an Zhozeff de new, an Ah mus tol dat," Aiitoine said in deep dejection, as he set the dinner on the table and the hungry crew gathered about it. " Oh, I do know s I blame you none. The hain t no use in cryin over spilt milk, an we 11 jest tend tu aour business an let other folks tend tu their n, if it hain t the pootiest at ever was. Say," he continued, as if dismissing the subject, " when we git done eatin le s take the scaow boat an all go over an see that ere boat f m Canady." CHAPTER VII. THE CANADA BOAT. WHEN the dinner of one course was finished, the simple service of iron and tinware was left un washed without fear of disparaging feminine com ment, and the voyagers embarked, Sam and An- toine at the oars, Uncle Lisha steering with a paddle, and Joseph as passenger and general ob server. In these capacities he took his ease so far as he could with a hand on either gunwale and hitching from side to side at every slight lurch of the stanch craft. This he continued to do after the black depths of the creek were passed and they voyaged across the shallow head of the bay, where the oars grated on the sandy bottom and the golden mesh of reflected sunshine twisted and tangled its elusive threads among the caddis worms and mus sels, a half arm s-length beneath the rippled sur face. One of the rowers leaned over the side to watch a shoal of minnows, and slightly careened the boat, when Joseph frantically pulled on that gunwale and hitched toward the other side. " Good airth an seas ! I du b lieve if you was THE CANADA BOAT. 55 sot in the middle of a islan you d be af eared o tippin over, Jozeff. Du, for massy sake, set still, erless lay daown in the bottom." " I tell ye what, Uncle Lisher," and Joseph let out a long-held breath, " sech a mess o water makes me kinder skeery. I do know as it s skeery ezactly, but kinder narvous. I don t seem tu hev no use for no more water n what I wanter drink an wash me in, an that hain t sech a turrible sight. But it does look dreffle neat," and his eye dwelt with satisfaction on reflections of the painted shores flickering downward on the rippled lake like many colored inverted flames blazing into a nether sky. Over among the red maples of Lewis Creek could be seen the naked mast of the Canadian craft, its gay pennon lost in . the brilliant foliage that it flaunted against. But the incessant gabble of the crew and their snatches of French songs would have guided our voyagers to the vessel with out any visible indication of its whereabouts, and following it up the stream a little way beyond its last bend, they came to the boat at its moorings. The jolly little captain was very polite, and wel comed them as possible apple sellers in English quite as good as Antoine s, if somewhat different from it, having evidently been drawn from a well not entirely undefiled with h s. " Mek youse f welcome, mah frien ," he cried, 56 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. with his shoulders lifted to his ears and his palms hospitably spread. " Go hall hover mah boats. He was you boats, han e was good boats, hif Hah say hit mahse f. Oh, e good sloops. Han if you gat happle for sol Hah ready for bought she han paid you ten cen pour baskeet f she was mos hall red happle, han medjy him mah baskeet, hant ol more as t ree peck," and he gave a contemptuous kick to a basket which could hold at least a bushel and a half. The visitors gave the odd-looking and not very cleanly craft as complete inspection and as unstinted praise as would satisfy their curiosity and her captain s pride, smothering themselves in the garlic- reeking cabin as long as they could hold their breath and then stumbling forth into the fresh outer air. " I hain t got no apples tu sell myself," said Sam to the little captain, " but I do know but what I c ld send you a man at has. Come aout this way a minute, won t ye? Say, captain," he continued when they had got beyond the hearing of the others, " haow long afore you re a-goin back to Canady ? " Sam picked up a stick and began whittling it, wherefrom the shrewd Canadian, hav ing had some experience of Yankees, augured that a trade was impending. " Wai, Hah don t mos know, me. Mos likel Hah go day hafter iiex day hif de peop brought THE CANADA BOAT. 57 dey liapple. But," he continued, curiously watch ing the shavings curl slowly away from the keen knife, " hif you can sen it me some very good red happle, Hah could waits hanodder one day." " No, guess I don t want tu keep you waitin , said Sam. " Be you goiii stret hum ? Goin tu stop anywhere on the way ? " " Ah, no, no, no, bien no. Hah han goin let mah happle rot fore Hah cood sol she. Hah go fas Hah cood." " S pose you c ld take long a passenger tollable cheap ? " " Wai, seh, mah fren ," said the captain after some consideration of the proposal, " hif de mans was clever for behave hese f, han paid me one dollah fore e go, Hah will took it, me, han dat was more sheaps e can go hin stimboat, yas, bah t under ! yas, more sheaps e can go foots." " Yes, if you feed him, that s reasonable nough," Sam assented. " Oh, no, no, no," cried the captain, " for dat e mus heat ese f. Hif Hah heat im, Hah mus hask more as dat." " Wai, then, we 11 hev him eat himself," Sam agreed with a chuckle. " I sh d wanter be tollable well paid myself if I d got tu eat him. All right, captain, I guess he 11 be here baout the time you start," and having concluded the negotiation he threw away the neatly whittled stick and pocketed his knife. 58 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Mos likul your frien was be goin on Canada for ees ealthy," said the captain, shrugging his shoulders and winking at Sain. " He s a-goin there tu extend the ary of free dom," Sam answered with an imperturbable coun tenance. " Oh, yas, yas," and the little captain tried to cover Ms pockmarked visage with a mask of pro found wisdom as he inwardly phrased the words, "send de hary freedom," and mentally inquired of himself, " What says the holy tall Bostonais ? " Sam and the captain returned to the boat, where Antoine and his compatriots who, though not old acquaintances, had mutual knowledge of some were swimming with violent gesticulations in a babbling torrent of gossip, on whose brink Uncle Lisha and Joseph sat in gaping, wondering silence, now turning their puzzled faces upon the Canadians, now slowly upon each other. Their amazement increased when the captain also plunged in and contributed his full share to the confusion of tongues. " Good airth an seas ! " Uncle Lisha gasped in a loud whisper to Sam, " it hain t no more like talk an a passel o hens hevin a cacklin bee in the mornin , an I can t pick nothin aout on t on y now an then a wee an a sackeree. I b lieve the dumbed critters is jest pertendin they re a-talkin an don t understan one nother no more n THE CANADA BOAT. 59 they would if they was a-whirlin hoss fiddles at one nother." " Wai, they pear tu git ahead wi the vis tin some way," said Sam, regarding the animated group with an amused smile. " I do know fer sartain," Joseph remarked, after deliberate consideration, " but I kinder cal - late the heft o the conversin is done by signs, an the gab is jest hove in for sort o fillin . Seems s ough that was the way on t, but mebby t hain t." " Wai, they beat ten women tu a quiltin ," said Uncle Lisha, " an I give it up. Say, Samwil, you be n a-buyin the boat? " " Wai, no ; on y a sheer on t. Cal lated it ould be handy for Joseph to go huntin an fishin in." Their attention was attracted to a heavily laden wagon that came jolting over the rough pasture, announcing its approach with a rumble and creak that began now to be heard above the voices of the Canadians, till at last their interested attention was called to the fact that a customer was arriving. "Wai, if there hain t a load of apples comin a ready," said Sam. " I guess this feller sent on word ahead at he was a-comin . We 11 wait an git a pocketful an then be off." While the captain and his customer were pitting Canuck and Yankee shrewdness against each other in sharp bargaining, Sam and his comrades tasted, and selected their pocketsful of ^the mclknvest 60 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. and least sour of the common fruit, that but for the advent of the Canada boat would have gone to the cider mill, and they then departed. Antoine went most reluctantly, for he was still oppressed by unspoken words. As they fared forth on their return voyage, Joseph, slowly withdrawing his lingering gaze from the alien craft, remarked : " So that ere s a he boat, is t ? "Wai, I swan I can t make aout haow on airth a feller s a-goin tu tell which f m t other. I ruther guess at boats is julluk fish ; the he ones an the she ones looks jest alike tu the onedicated, or nary eyes ; seems s ough that must be the way on t." When they were at home again for so they at once began to call their temporary abiding-place they fell to picking their ducks a task whereof many hands made light work beguiled by Sam s and Antoine s relation of the circumstances of the day s incidents. " Naow," said Sam, laying apart a couple of the finest ducks, " if the hain t no objection, I b lieve I 11 take them ere up tu Mr. Bartlett. There s more n we c n use anyway. Mebby it 11 be kinder late afore I git back, but you need n t tew, if it s dark fust, on y jest set aout the lantern tu one o the landin s." There being no demur, he embarked at once on this mission. CHAPTER VIII. A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. R. K. THE shadows of the trees that skirted the west shore stretched far across the marsh and channel as Sam drove the canoe up the creek with quick, strong strokes, quite regardless of the throngs of incoming waterfowl that swept past him or those already arrived that arose from the marsh on either hand and the open water before him, for he had left the temptation of the gun behind him. When he entered the East Slang all lesser shadows were dissolved in the overwhelming shadow of the Adi- rondacks, and when he stepped on shore at the old camp landing the twilight was thickening into gloom in the woods, through which he took the now dimly-defined path and hastened toward the log house of the negro. When he came in sight of it, it was a dark blotch in the clearing against the faint light of the afterglow, with one spot of light in it, where a candle shone from its single front window. As he approached he heard the voices and frequent laughter of his acquaintances of the morning, with 62 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. the softer voice of a woman sometimes breaking in. He knocked at the door and the voices were sud denly hushed, and in the stillness he heard the puff that blew out the candle, followed by excited whispers and cautious steps across the floor. He knocked again, and the woman s voice demanded : " Who s there ? " " It s me ! Sam Lovel ! the man at was here this mornin . I want tu speak tu the man they call James." There was more whispering before Jim asked, jerking out the words with the characteristic ner vous twitches of the head that Sam could almost See in spite of the intervening door : " What d you want ? Be you alone ? Can t you talk through the door ? " " I don t want tu holler," said Sam in a low voice, answering the last question first. " It s suthin baout the man at you call your brother er cousin. He wants tu be makin himself sca ce raoun here. I m all alone, an you need n t be afeard tu open the door." After more whispering inside, the door was un fastened and cautiously opened far enough for Jim to thrust his head outside and assure himself of Sam s identity and that he was alone. Then the door was held wide open and the visitor invited to enter by a jerk of the head and motion of the hand. The door was closed so quickly behind Sam that it A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. E. E. 63 nearly caught the skirts of his coat. By the glim mer of light from the stove he saw the lilting, dancing negro of the morning transformed into a stern, threatening giant confronting him with an axe uplifted above his shoulder. The figure of a woman shrank behind the stove, with a child, wide-eyed with fright and wonder, clinging to her gown. " You need n t be afeared tu light your light an see who I be," said Sam. " The hain t iiob dy else." While Jim relighted the candle with a splinter the others looked intently at Sam, as his features grew distinct in the increasing glow, when being assured that his honest face masked no evil pur pose, the tall negro lowered his axe, and the woman, a handsome mulatto, sat down and took the child upon her knee. Sam told them of his suspicion that the visitors at camp were in search of Jim s guest, " and naow," he said in conclusion, " the chances is they 11 be here arter you to-morrow. I ve laid in with a feller tu take ye tu Canerdy on his boat, but he won t go afore to-morrow night or nex day, an you 11 hafter lay low either in the woods or up tu Mr. Bartlett s. I cal late his haouse is the best place, an I come tu take ye up there an tell him abaout gittin on ye off, an if that suits ye we 11 be a-moggin soon as you c n git ready." 64 UNCLE LISILVS OUTING. " I se ready," said Bob, snatching his hat and coat from a peg on the log wall and moving toward the door. " It don t take Bob long tu pack his trunk, no sir," Jim said with a nervous laugh. " Lord, haow you did scare me when you knocked. Twice in one day is baout often iiough to scare a man in one day, yes, sir ! But naow you re putty nigh scarin of me ag in. You s pose them fellers r ally was huntin arter Bob?" " I se ready," Bob repeated as he drew a small pistol from his coat pocket, and turning stooped to the candle light to examine the cap. Replacing it in his pocket, he turned to Sam and said : " I s pec s you re gwine ter sot me cross de run, Marse Lovel?" " The run ? Oh, the Slang ; yes, I was cal latin tu, an tu go up tu Mr. Bartlett s with ye. I want tu see him. My canew s up there tu the landin ." " What ! you did n t never come clean raound to the Slang to-night ? You might ha come right acrost the crik no time." " I did n t know who might be a-watchin ," Sam answered. " The longest way raoun s the surest. Come, le s be a-moggin ." " I se done b en ready," said Bob. " Goo -by, Nancy; goo -by, little Jimmy. De good Lawd bress ye an ta keer on ye." He shook hands with the woman and laid his A SIDE-TEACK OF THE U. G. E. E. 65 huge hand on the child s curly head, and then stretched it out to Jim. " Goo -by, Jeems, er is you gwine long ? " " You stay along wi me, Jim," said the woman anxiously. " I guess mebby you d better," said Sam. The two negroes looked at him suspiciously, and exchanged questioning glances. " I guess I 11 go a piece," Jim said, with an emphatic jerk of the head. "All right, suit yourself. I only cal lated it ould look better if anybody come. S posin you put the light oaut ag in, so the can t nob dy see us goin aout." Jim blew out the candle and the three went out into the night, now lighted only by the stars and the flicker of the northern lights. They took their way across the clearing at a brisk pace, Jim taking the lead as being most fa miliar with the path, Sam next, and the runaway in the rear. The latter cast frequent glances be hind and started nervously when an alarmed bird fluttered suddenly from a bush, or some night prowler scurried among the fallen leaves and dry twigs, while Sam and Jim held steadily on, quite regardless of such harmless sounds. Feeling their way more slowly along the unseen wood path, they came to where they saw the stars again, then saw them repeated in the still water of the channel, and C6 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. then were at the landing. There was a soft splash in the channel like the cautious dip of an oar. " Fo de Lawd," Bob gasped, starting back and thrusting his hand in his pocket, " dem fellers out dar layin fo me. My Gawd, Marse Lovel, you ain t de man to fool a pore niggah what s bein hunted to de eends of de airth ! " and he tried to scan Sam s face in the dim starlight, but holding aloof in a half-crouching attitude that might be a preparation for either a fight or a run. " I guess it hain t nothin but a mushrat or a duck," Sam whispered, looking intently in the di rection of the sound, " but mebby Jim lied better shove aout there in his canew an see." Jim pushed his dugout to the edge of the chan nel and presently jerked back a loud disjointed whisper. " Everything s all right. Jist as clear s a Chris tian s eye. Yes, sir, jist egzackly." With this assurance Bob took his place in the canoe where Sam had already kneeled, with his paddle in his hand, and he now pushed out and laid his craft alongside of Jim s. " I do know jest where I m a goin tu land," lie said with a questioning inflection. " You go up baout fifty rod an you 11 come tu the John Clark place, where ol John Clark allus used tu fish. You can run right up to the hard bank there. Mr. Bartlett s is the furdest north A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. R. R. 67 in that string o lights. You put right straight for it an you 11 strike a big holler where a brook runs, which you cross it an follow up the north bank an you 11 hit the secont road right by his haouse. I guess I won t go no f urder an I 11 bid you good- by, Bob, an good luck to ye." " Goo -by, Jeems ; ta keer yo se f, boy." They shook hands across the gunwales and the bark canoe slid silently up the channel, breaking the smooth surface with wake and paddle strokes that set the mirrored stars a-dancing and startled the sleeping ducks to sudden, noisy flight. With out greater incident the brief voyage was made, and the two men set forth across the fields, guided by the house light and the deep-cut watercourse to which they presently came. They approached the first road with scarcely a precaution of secrecy, for there was not a house upon it nearer than the tavern at the corner, where the bar-room lights shone out with hospitable gleam. They were beginning to climb the fence when they heard the sound of a wagon and voices in low but earnest conversation close at hand and drawing nearer. Then they saw the intermittent glow of a pipe, and as they sank back and crouched in a weed-grown fence corner they caught a whiff of its odor. " Fo de Lawd," Bob whispered, sniffing it eagerly, " I hain t felt de smell o no terbacca lak dat sence I done lef Ol Firgimiy." 68 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. Sam laid a cautionary hand on his arm. " What be they talkin baout ? " The wagon stopped almost in front of them, and as its clatter and the footfalls of the horse ceased, the guarded voices of the occupants were distinctly heard. " I tell you the rwud cross lots is consid able furder on," said one. " The hain t no gap ner barway here, fer I c n see stakes an caps tu ev ry corner." Sam held his breath while he knew that two pairs of eyes were closely scanning the fence and the very corner where he crouched beside his com panion, whose hand he could hear stealthily creep ing to the pocket that held the pistol. " I reckon yo ah right," the other occupant of the wagon said at last, and Sam recognized the smooth voice of the quiet visitor at camp ; " but pears like we d come fah enough." " No, sir," the other rejoined emphatically, " the s a reg lar rwud when we come tu it, an it runs through a paster. This ere s a medder ; I can see a stack a-loomin up." " All right," the other conceded, " go ahade and hurry up yo cakes, f oh I 11 be bound Baker and his man s thah with the boat foh now." The driver spoke sharply to his horse, and the wagon went rattling down the road at a rapid pace. A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. E. E. 69 " Wai," said Sam, rising and letting out his long-held breath, " I cal late you stayed to Jim s baout as long as was healthy for ye." " Sho s yo bawn, Marse Lovel ! Dat ar man saoun des lak Cap n Clahk," Bob whispered ex citedly. " De shaapes man faw huntin niggahs dey is in all dem pahts. Lawd, if I did n t t ink he was lookin right squaar at me." " Wai, he hain t a-huiitin on his own groun , an that makes lots o odds. My sakes, won t they hev fun a-hoofin on t raound the head o the Slang in the dark! It would be tew all-killin bad if they should break the necks a-tumblin through the woods." When the two came to the broad stage road, no one was astir in the quiet neighborhood, and leav ing Bob hidden in an adjacent fence corner, Sam went to Friend Bartlett s kitchen door and knocked. He heard the familiar sound of a pipe rapped on the stove hearth, then stockinged feet bumping across the floor, and the door was opened by a shock-headed Irishman. " Good evenin ," said Sam. " Is Mr. Bartlett tu hum ? " " Noa thin," the man answered. " He s gahn to the village bey ant t a timperance matin . It s a moral reformed droonkard they calls him, bes lacter n ." " Wai, I sh ld like tu see Mis Bartlett, then." 70 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Is it the misthres ? Thin it s herself that wint wid him. Divil the wan o thim in it but the daughter an mesilf an the gyrl." " When do you think they 11 be back ? " " Divil a know I know. I 11 hould yez the price of a quart, the moral reformed crather 11 be afther blatherin till nine o clock, yis tin, be gob, an they 11 be to hear the last wurrud." Sam s heart sank at the poor prospect of com municating with Friend Bartlett. " You was sayin suthin about his darter. Is she a growed- up woman or a leetle gal ? " he asked. " It s a fine lump of a wummun she is, thin ; nearly as big as the mother, an it s herself has the 1 arnin . She been to schule to all the Nine Partners." J " Wai, then," said Sam, " I can t du no better n to see her if you 11 ask her tu step tu the door a minute." The Irishman, going to the door of another room, spoke to some one therein, and presently a handsome young woman came forth. Her plain dress wore some un-Quakerly adornments, but her face was so kindly that Sam felt sure she must be in full sympathy with her parents in all benevolent work. " Good evenin , Miss Bartlett ; I fetched up a 1 A celebrated Quaker boarding-school situated in the township of Nine Partners in the State of New York. A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. 11. E. 71 couple o ducks tu your father, an I wanted tu speak tu him abaout a little business," " Yes," she said, with a questioning affirmative, as she took the proffered ducks. " Thee may leave any message for father with me. Why, these ducks are very nice, and I m sure he 11 be very much obliged to thee. What is it thee wants me to teU him ? " " It s a kinder private business," said Sam, looking past her at the Irishman, who stood near the stove with an attentive ear turned toward them. " An if you d jest step aout an shot the door a minute." " Michael, won t thee please take these ducks down cellar and hang them up ? Are n t they nice ones ? " Margaret Bartlett said, and then to Sam, as Michael, taking the ducks and a candle, disap peared in the cellarway, " Won t thee come in ? " Sam declined and she stepped out, closing the door behind her. " You tell your father," Sam hastened to say in a low voice, " at ther s som b dy arter that nigger an they ve faound aout where he was hid, so I fetched him up here." " The colored man at James s ? Where is he ? " Margaret asked anxiously. " Thee must n t let Michael see him. Father does n t think he can be trusted in such matters." " No, somehaow paddies hates niggers. I do 72 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. know why. I don t hanker arter em myself, but I hain t no grudge ag in em. I did n t cal late tu hev nob dy see him but your father, an hid him in the fence aout here. But he can t stay there all night, an what be I goin tu du with him ? " " Thee must put him in the barn, in the bay on the west side of the barn floor. No one will go there, and I 11 tell father when he comes." " All right, an you tell your father at I ve laid in wi a Canuck at s a-buyin apples tu take the nigger tu Canerdy in a day or two. Your father 11 want tu take daown a Iwud to-morrer an find aout when, an we 11 git the nigger there tu rights." " I wish thee would n t call colored people nig gers," said Margaret. " Why," said Sam, " that s what he calls him self, an I rather guess from his looks he is one. Good-night. I 11 mow him away all right." Groping his way into the unknown interior of the barn, guided only by feeling and a knowledge of the common internal arrangement of barns in general, Sam led his charge to this safe retreat, and bidding him good-by departed on his devious, dark, and solitary way back to camp. As he silently passed the landing where Jim s dugout lay he saw the light of a lantern glimmer ing unsteadily along the wood path and heard the hunters returning in bad humor from their un successful quest, stumbling and grumbling over the rough trail. A SIDE-TRACK OF THE U. G. E. E. 73 " Wai," said Sam to himself, as he listened to their floundering progress up the wooded bank of the Slang, " you faound the holler tree, but the coon wan t in it. By the gre t horn spoon ! I d ha gi n a fo pence tu ha be n there an seen em an seen Jim shake that head o his n." When he reached the mouth of the Slang he heard the regular sound of oars and saw another light steadily advancing up the channel of the creek, shining far along the quiet water before it, while glittering reflections flickered out like floating sparks where the wake stirred the rushes. Sam ran his canoe into the weeds till the other boat had passed. The lantern shining on the face of the man in the stern revealed the features of Baker, the other visitor at the camp. " You planned it fust-rate," Sam soliloquized again, " but it s a dre f l poor night for huntin niggers. Oh, you cussed slinks ! I don t lay it up so much ag in that other feller, for that s the way he was brought up ; but you - - V monters - huntin niggers ! Damn ye ! I d luf ter sink ye in the mud ! " So, by turns boiling with wrath and chuckling over the discomfiture of the slave-hunters, Sam pursued his way to where the candle was burning low in the socket of the tin lantern which was hung out to beacon him to the upper landing. CHAPTER IX. LE FEU FOLLET. THE northern horizon was glowing with the pulsating flame of the aurora, and the dark forest of the eastern shore echoed at intervals with the solemn challenges of the horned owls, remotely answered by their brethren who held sway over the sombre realm of the Porterboro woods that stretched their dark expanse along the west bank of the South Slang and beyond the sluggish rivulets of its source. " Cordin tu the signs we re a-goin tu git some sort o fallin weather," Uncle Lisha remarked as he gave an eye and ear to these prognostics of a storm. " The north n lights is shinin tol lable bright," said Joseph, peeping through the trees at the celestial display. " If the sun hain t crawled raoun an sot back side o Canerdy. Roarer Borer Alice, Solon calls it." Antoine rolled himself off his seat on to all fours, and in that position intently regarded such glimpses of the flickering arch as could be seen LE FEU FOLLET. 75 between the tree trunks that stood in black relief against it. " Wai, Ah 11 ant hear it roar, me, but Ah 11 can see it bore some in de sky. Dat was what Solon prob ly call it de borer Alice for, ant he ? But Ah do know what for he ll call it roarer, hein." "Wai, the fact on t is, Solon val es words cord- in tu the bigness more n the meanin , seems s ough," Joseph explained, while Antoine, turning his searching gaze to the creek, descried a light moving about in the black shadows of the farther shore. " Look, see dar ! " he said in a suppressed tone of alarm, as he pointed to the moving light. " Dat was de feu follet ! " " Few follies is better n many, Ann Twine," said Uncle Lisha ; " but that ere hain t nothin but someb dy nuther wi a lantern." " Oh, no, no, no, One Lasha, dat ant be lamprin, sah ; dat was feu follet ! Ah, do know haow you call it in Angleesh, but he was very bat t ing, Ah tol you." " What is t, Antwine ? " Joseph inquired ; " sort of a one-eyed lew grew critter sech as you was a-tellin us on oncte?" The Canadian watched the light till it vanished in fitful gleams among the woods, and then, heaving a sigh of relief, he turned and stooped to the camp- 76 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. fire to rekindle his neglected pipe before he an swered. " No, seh, Zhozeff, he 11 ant so hugly for keel someboddy lak de loup garou ; he more kan o funny for foolish somebody. Ah 11 had some experiments of it mahse f, an Ah 11 goin tol you of it, me." Before seating himself at the fire he looked again in the direction where the light had disappeared. If he had been given the vision of an owl he might have seen a boat with two figures in it stealthily landing at the farther shore ; but the faint light of the aurora, that barely defined in dimmed silver the course of the channel, revealed nothing to him. " Wen Ah 11 was leeve in Canada," he began, as his pipe responded satisfactorily to his energetic drafts, each ending in a smack like the stroke of a paddle blade upon the water, " one tarn, w en Ah 11 han t more hoi as twenty year an was goin for see de gal one naght he ant Ursule, but nudder one dat Ah tink more of as evry body dat tarn," he paused a moment in dreamy retro spect of long past days when eyes were bright and cheeks were rosy that now were dim and faded, and then resumed, " wal, seh, All 11 was rode long on mah leetly mare. Oh, he was good one, Ah 11 tol you, for draw, for rode, for go fas ev ryt ing cep t rashin machine, dey ant gat it den, an it was kan o daks in de naght, an LE FEU FOLLET. 11 Ah 11 see lit over in mah fader hees farm where dey was be some swamp side of de meader. Ah 11 ant know if he was somebody steal de hay or what he was do, but Ah 11 t ink he ant gat some beesiness dar, an Ah 11 go see what he was do. So Ah hitch mah hoss dat was, mah mare on de fence an gat on de lot for see what Ah 11 see. " Ah 11 go very softie as leetly maouses, but more f urder Ah 11 go de more furder de lit was go. Den Ah 11 beegin for run fas , but he run more faster as Ah was, an den Ah 11 gat mad an run more an more faster, an de more Ah run de more Ah 11 gat mad, an de more Ah 11 gat mad de more Ah 11 run an holler sco ndrel name to it an tol it for stop, an what beesiness he got, go to diab for see his one ev ryt ing Ah can tink, me, but he jus jomp raoun dis way, dat way, on de swamp an say not ing, only mek notion, an dat mek me so mad Ah 11 run on de swamp at it. " Ah 11 fregit Ah 11 gat on all mah bes clos . Ah 11 gat mah new moccasin, mah bes tow traow- ser, mah han some shirt mah mudder weave prup- pus, an , sell, fus, Ah 11 stubble mah toe an sloop ! Ah 11 go all over, raght on de black mud an water. Den Ah peek up mahse f careful, an w en Ah scoop de mud off mah heye, Ah 11 see de lit go dance way off cross dc swamp where somebody 78 UNCLE LISILVS OUTING. can never go, an den Ah 11 know it was de feu follet, an Ah feel f Ah 11 ant wort much, me. " Wai, Ah go back where mah mare was, spluck, spluck, in my wet moccasin, an seh, mah mare he ant dar. He gat scare an run home, an Ah gat for go foot all de way ; spluck, spluck, all de way. My clos all sp ile up so Ah 11 can go for see de gal dat naght, an scm naght nudder feller go an see it an cut me all off, so Ah 11 lose it. Dat was pooty bad lucky for me, but not so very bad, for den Ah 11 go marry Ursule, an she more as feef ty paoun bigger as dat gal." " Why, man alive, what you was a skivin raoun in the ma sh arter wan t nothin but a jack o lan tern. I s pose it s fox-fire at s broke loose from rotten wood an sich, an goes fluripin an driftin raoun . But what you seen over yonder was jest someb dy wi a lantern, Samwil s niggers a-fishin , like s not. I wonder what s come o Samwil," and Uncle Lisha got up and moved restlessly about, peering out upon the creek and toward the landing. " Good airth an seas ! I don t see what in tunket he wants to be a rarin raoun nights for, when honest folks ort tu be abed. I would n t never ha come here with him f I d s posed he was goin tu cut up so. I m a dum good min tu go tu bed an let him go tu thunder, I snum I be ! " Preparatory to the execution of this threat he LE FEU FOLLET. 79 retired into tlie tent and spread his blankets, but presently came forth, sat down by the fire and lighted his pipe, emitting snorts of impatience be tween silent intervals of listening. The owls had quit their dismal calling, and not a sound was to be heard from the woods or waters save the occa sional splash of a fish or a waterfowl or a muskrat busy with its nightly labors. " What ye s pose has become o that ere tor mented boy ? " Uncle Lisha demanded sharply, after some inward fuming at the apparent apathy of his companions, " or don ye car whether he s draownded or lost in the ma sh ? Why don t ye say suthin ? " " Wai, Ah guess Sam gat hoi nough for took care heese f of it, prob ly," Antoine answered with some sharpness. " He 11 ant leetly boy, ant it ? " " I was kinder meditatin it over in my mind," Joseph said apologetically, " an I don t seem tu feel r al y oneasy baout Samwil, ner yet ezackly easy, it don t seem s ough. It s a-gittin con- sid able kinder late, an then ag in it hain t so late as it might be." " I wish t I lied a rope hitched raoun his neck, I d fetch him, almighty quick. I don t see what in tunket s come o him," and Uncle Lisha stumped about, making the circuit of the fire, and gazed out into the surrounding darkness. " Wai, it s high time honest folks was abed, and I in a-goin right stret off." 80 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. Again he retired within the tent, where he could be heard laboriously pulling off his boots, and with deep-drawn sighs disposing his stout form upon his low couch. But not many moments elapsed before he reappeared in his stockings. " Wai, One Lasha, you ant so hones you t ink you was, ant it ? " Uncle Lisha deigned no reply to the Canadian but asked anxiously, " Hain t that ere tarnal boy come back yit? Wai, I swan." Then after a moment of intent listening, "Wai, I m a dumbed good min to holler, anyway. I c n make him hear if he s alive within a mild o here." As he drew in his breath for a mighty shout they heard disturbed waterfowl, one after another, nearer and nearer, taking sudden flight, the flutter of uprising and cries of alarm continually drawing nearer, till at last the thump of a paddle was heard at the landing, and then the lantern began to sway and undulate, now hidden behind a tree or knoll, now shining brighter till its sprinkled light dis closed Sam s illuminated legs quite close at hand. " Wai, folks, here I be," he announced as he let the full light of the candle upon his face through the open door and then extinguished it with a puff. " An high time at you was," and Uncle Lisha spent his hoarded breath in a growl. " What ye be n shoolin raound these ere ma shes for, a LE FEU FOLLET. 81 ketchin the fever 11 aig an freezin tu death ? I m a tarnal good min ter shake ye, so I be. Sed daown there by the fire an warm ye whilst I put on some more wood. An say, Ann Twine, hain t ye got a col duck for him an a hunk o bread? I know he s hungry." " I hain t a mite hungry, ner cold nuther," Sam declared, seating himself by the fire and preparing for a restful smoke. " On y a leetle mite tired. I stayed tu Mr. Bartlett s longer n what I meant tu an it s kinder slow poky work a-keepin the channel in the dark specherly in the Slang. I m sorry you got worried." " Sho, I wan t worryin none, but I was a leetle riled," said the old man as he ran his hand down Sam s long shank. " Why, your laigs is kinder damp. You want to dry em good fore you go tu bed ! I m a goin naow, tu stay." " Ho ! ant worry ! " Antoine scoffed. " Bah gosh, seh, he was be fusster, fusster raoun more as one hoi sheekin wid one hen." " Yah, if you ever tol the truth folks ould b lieve you oncte in a while," Uncle Lisha growled back from the depths of the tent, where, after a prelude of sighs and yawns, there came a regular succession of sounds wherewith he was wont to pro claim his presence in dreamland. " Wai," said Joseph sleepily, " I s pose if I don t never go tu bed I shan t never git up, an 82 UNCLE LISIIAS OUTING. it s the wust o goin tu bed at you du hafter git up some time er nuther," and he went to join Uncle Lisha. " Say, Sam," Antoine whispered cautiously, " Where you was, hein ? " Sam cast a scrutinizing glance upon him as he answered, "Why, up to Mr. Bartlett s. Where d ye s pose. Le s go tu bed." CHAPTER X. THE CANADA BOAT DEPARTS. IN prompt fulfillment of the night s prophecies, the morning, dawning dully through a thick veil of clouds, brought a drizzle of rain. This fell with such a drowsy patter on the canvas roof that the inmates of the camp felt little inclination to bestir themselves till impelled to do so by hunger. Then Sam and Antoine crept out and after in specting the lowering sky set about building a fire and making other preparations for breakfast, though Uncle Lisha advised a cold bite in the shel ter of the tent. " No, sah," Antoine objected as he moved around the fire, quite regardless of the slow drizzle of rain except when the drip of an overhanging bough aroused a spiteful sputter of the pan wherein two split ducks were frying. " We 11 ant goin for discourage do inside of us wid col victual w en de rine comin on de aoutside. Ah tol you, if mans wan have hees heart warm he 11 gat for had hees stommack warm. Ah 11 can faght wort four cen fore Ah 11 gat good breakfis wen Ah 11 was in Papineau war." 84 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. " Ner arter, nuther, I guess," Uncle Lisha com mented, but Antoine took no notice of this imputa tion of a lack of valor. " But w en Ah gat good big hot breakfis behin mah gaun, den Ah tol you, dey gat for ta careful if dey ant wan me for hurt it." " Sho, Ann Twine ! I cal late," said Uncle Lisha in sentences interrupted by the labor of drawing on his boots, " at it s a dum foolish business ugh ! I got tu grease these ere boots a fillin up wi good victuals m-m-mugh ! They re stiffer 11 sap troughs afore a feller goes aout a-fightin an run the resk on t bein wasted s posin he gits killed. Then again, s posin a feller hed tu run, he d stan a better chance if he was light-loaded. There ! you be on, an ye don t come off ag in till you re iled, if I hafter rub ye with a fat duck ! " " Ah, One Lasha, you ant know not ing baout war," cried Antoine, lifting the potato kettle off the fire and emptying the water from it. " Fetch de dauk in de coop, Sam. We 11 can t sit aour table in de rine," and he swung the kettle over Uncle Lisha s imperiled legs to a place inside the tent and Sam bestowed the sizzling frying-pan be side it. Peering under his glasses, Uncle Lisha forked a potato on to his plate as he snorted contemptu ously, " Honh ! do known nothin baout wars ! THE CANADA E OAT DEPARTS. 85 Why, you poor ig ii ant infant, I was a sojerin wi in a mild o here afore you was borned. Yes, sir, the Hawley place hain t a mild f m here, where we was posted, a-watchin for the British, an abaout a mild furder is Fort Casin, where they come an fit an got licked tew. I m a-goin tu take Jozeff over there an show it tu him some day. An wan t I tu Plattsburgh ? Sho, Ann Twine, your leetle Poppynew muss wan t the jab of a paigiii awl tu what we lied them times. Lord, if you c ld ha seen them ships arter they fit. The mas s an sails an riggiii all tore tu rags an kin lin wood, an the decks kivered wi blood wus n a slotter haouse. An the poor waounded critters, aour n an their n. It wan t no putty sight tu look at. It made me praoud nough tu bu st tu see the stars an stripes a-flyin over all them ships, but when I see them ere poor Britishers waounded an dyin fur from hum an their women folks, it took all the spite ag in em clean aouten on me." " You t ink prob ly dey heat too much breakfis , ant it, One Lasha ? so he can run." " I do know haow t was wi them, but we lied n t lied none tew much, I c n tell ye," Uncle Lisha answered as he sawed laboriously on the thigh of a duck with a dull knife, and was reminded to remark, " I tell ye what it is, boys, it was a terrible good idee they usetcr hev when I was young, o cuttin up the meat victuals intu maouthfuls fore 86 UNCLE HSUA S OUTING. it was put ontu the table, an then let ev b dy fork for hisself aouten one dish. It saved lots o time an rastlin wi tough meat when folks was in a hurry tu git aout tu the work." " Ah 11 ant want for chaup more as de meat for mahse f, bah gosh," Antoine declared. " The uster be some tollable lively hustliii , tusslin for ch ice pieces," the old man continued, reminiscently. " Father useter tell of a neighbor o his n at said liaow he d broke his child en s temper wi maple sugar. One mornin father hap pened in of an arrant, when they was eatin the breakfas , all a-fishin the fried meat aouten one dish, an the ol man hed got him the best and big gest maou f ul in the hul lot ontu his fork, when one o the boys up an flipped it off an hed his fork into t an into his own maouth with t quicker n scat. Father lowed the maple sugar hed worked fust rate. Wai, I b lieve I ve hed enough for oncte. Ann Twine, be you a-goin tu eat all day ? " " Ah 11 was been lis lin to you, One Lasha," Antoine answered, settling himself to his work. "Naow Ah 11 was goin for heat. Dat was de bes t ing we can do w en it was rine, cep go fee shin ." " An I cal late tu stick right by ye, Autwinc," said Joseph from behind a duck s wing that he was gnawing, holding it with both hands. " I hain t the kind er man tu desart a friend in no sech THE CANADA BOAT DEPARTS. 87 scrape, don t seem s ough I was, not as I feel naow." Uncle Lisha filled his pipe and went out to enjoy it by the fireside under shelter of his blue umbrella, and Sam, after providing a present supply of firewood with a few axe-strokes, wandered out to the bluff overlooking the creek. Through the windows of the woods, mullioned with gray trunks and curtained with gay branches, there could be gained narrow glimpses of the nearer marsh, tinted with many blended colors and dotted with green islands of button-bush ; then the broad channel, leaden gray under the sunless sky and drizzling rain, the dull expanse broken here and there by ducks reveling apart or in companies, enjoying the weather that set all the rest of the world a-moping. Beyond was the farther border of marsh and then the sheer wall of forest, making the horizon against the low sky that enveloped far mountains and nearer hills in common obscurity. The yellow poplars and the scarlet pepperidges shone through the veil of rain as if yesterday s sunshine was still held in them to brighten to-day s sombre monotony of gray. Like outlooks on the lakeward side revealed only the dull expanse of gray water receding into the gray mist toward unseen shores, except where Gar den Island loomed, blurred and undefined, between UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. shrouded water and low sky, with one yellow-leafed birch flaring like a beacon half quenched on the western point, and off the eastern point a black rock, like a fast-anchored buoy. Farther away, Long Point lay like a fallen cloud afloat on the water, moored to the stable earth by nearer drawing shores of rock and sandy beach and the willow-clad bar of Little Otter. Here and there were dots and lines of swimming waterfowl on the unreflecting surface of the bay, and occasionally a flying flock faring out to safety of wide waters or into the abundance of the marshes, dissolving in the mist or materializing out of it as they went or came. A scattered company of crows straggled in slow flight athwart the screen of rain and mist ; a king fisher hung in stationary poise against it, then plunged like a plummet into the water, and far out on the shallows a heron stood waiting in statuesque patience for breakfast to swim to him. Far or near there was no visible sign of human life, nor amid the continuous purr of the rain, the contented gabble of the ducks, the whistle of pass ing wings, the raucous call of some estray or lag gard, and the metallic clatter of the kingfisher, was there any sound of it except from the quarter where the Canadian boat was taking in its cargo. Thence through the heavy vaporous atmosphere came the lumbering of laden wagons, the rumble of THE CANADA BOAT DEPARTS. 89 their discharging freight, and then the brisk rattle of departing empty wagons, all mingled with the shouts of teamsters and the vociferous jabber of captain and crew. For one who had no apparent reason for being interested in fruit trade, Sam was uncommonly well pleased that the rainy day was not hindering it, and having assured himself of the fact he re turned to camp. Uncle Lisha still sat by the fire, the staff of his umbrella resting across his shoulder while he dili gently greased his boots with the tallow in the bottom of the lantern, the accumulated drip of many candles, Joseph and Antoine looking on with interest from the tent door. " You don t want tu burn your boots, Uncle Lisher," said Sam, standing by the fire and letting the water from his hat brim drip into it. " There s more profit tu you in hevin other folks burn up their n. I do b lieve I smell burnt hither." " I guess they hain t gittin tew hot," said Uncle Lisha, running his finger over the soles. " Makes me think o the feller at went tu a neigh bor s a-visitin wi a pair o bran new boots on, which for all he spread em aout on the stove ha th, an stuck em top o chairs, the wouldn t nob dy notice em, an so when he see they wan t a-goin tu say nothin abaout em, he up an says, says he, Ye need n t think strange if ye smell new luther. Wai, Samwil, what ye diskivered ? " 90 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Nothin but water an ma sh an woods, lookin lunsomcr n they did a hundred year ago, fer there hain t even an Injun in sight. I heard the French man Iwudin his boat, though." , " Wai," sighed Antoine, " All wish Ah 11 was be apples, me, so he was bought me an took it to Canada. But so as Ah can do dat, Ah guess Ah 11 do nex bes an go f eesh some bull pawt. You 11 goin long to me, Zhozeff ? We go on de scaow, an took some funs." Joseph looked out upon the dismal drizzle with a rueful countenance and answered, " Wai, I don t sca cely seem tu feel like goin , not ezackly. It s kinder oncomf table an sorter exposin a-fishin in the rain, an I m mortal afeared o ketchin a eel. I like tu eat em, but I swan I don t lufter ketch em." " Oh, come, Zhozeff," Antoine urged in a persua sive tone. " If you ant want for ketch it, Ah 11 ketch it, an you can ketch de udder leetly feller. Come, Zhozeff." " Wai, I ruther guess I won t, I m bleeged tu ye," and Joseph settled himself more comfortably in his seat. " I don t pear tu hanker much fer fishin tu-day. Mebby Uncle Lisha 11 go, er Sam- wil, mebby." But Sam shook his head in decided negative, and Uncle Lisha audibly declined : " Good airth an seas ! You don t ketch me goin fishin fer THE CANADA BOAT DEPARTS. 91 scch fish in sech weather ; I hain t a loon er a shell duck." " Den, bah gosh, all Ah 11 ketch Ah 11 heat all," Antoine declared and went out to grub for worms in the adjacent pasture. After a while he returned from a successful quest, and getting a hook and line from among his stores he cut a cedar pole and set forth. Presently his camp mates heard the creak and splash of his departing oars, then a hollow clank as they were dropped in board, and then the rattle of the chain being wound about the nearest fishing stake, and then they imagined that they heard the whistle of his line and the spang of his heavy sinker as he made the first vigorous cast. Two hours later he appeared, dripping but happy, bringing a number of dressed bull pouts which, fried to a turn, he did not devour alone as he had threatened, but shared with his companions. The afternoon was spent in the tent. Uncle Lisha discoursed of the past and Antoine of vari ous men in Canada who were always the heroes of his tales, while in the breaks of conversation Sam several times went but for the ostensible purpose of a general inspection of the weather, though the examination was mostly confined to the direction of Lewis Creek. Late in the afternoon the wind freshened from the northeast, the tossed branches dropped sudden showers upon the canvas with a startling, ripping 92 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. sound, and amid the sullen murmur of the wind swept woods and the louder patter of the driven rain could be heard the regular wash of the rising- waves and the shrill whistle of frequent flocks scudding in from the lake. Then Sam saw the Canada boat gliding down the unseen channel, the great square sail stalking between the trees like a gigantic ghost, till at last it walked forth upon the vexed lake amid the taller phantoms of mist and vanished in the thronging host. Sam reentered the tent with a satisfied visage and remarked : " Wai, that ere Frenchman s got started fer Canerdy with his apples." " An like nough a blackbary," Uncle Lisha added, with a significant twinkle in his eye. CHAPTER XI. THE EAST SLANG. DURING the night the rain ceased, and the morning broke through rifted clouds which slowly scattered in white-fleeced flocks and drifted away across the azure field. Though the storm had par tially stripped the trees of their ripened leaves, they seemed none the less brilliant when the un veiled splendor of the sun fell upon them, for each unfallen leaf had gained more intense color, and like every branch and twig sparkled with innumer able drops of liquid crystal. Leaving their companions to the pursuit of sport on shore, Sam and Antoine took their guns and went down to the upper landing, where they were surprised to find a couple of blanket-coated swarthy men, just landed from a bark canoe, bending in tently over the dew-beaded bottom of Sam s up turned canoe and conversing in unintelligible, low, and musical tones. " Dar was you Injin, jes Ah to? you," said An toine triumphantly. At their approach the Indians turned toward 94 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. them without any manifestation of surprise, and one of them, a good-looking man of middle age, greeted Sam with a pleasant smile of recognition. " How do, Lovet ? Know me ? Me Joe Tock- soose. Make um dat canoe five, six year go." " Why, yes ; so you be," said Sam, giving him a cordial hand ; " but I never s posed I d run ag in ye here. Trappin , be ye ? " " Yaas, ketch um moosquas, some." His companion ignored the presence of the white men after the first glance at them, and turned his back upon them and pottered lazily over a useless rearrangement of the traps and muskrats in the bow of his canoe. His low-browed face was sullen, his little eyes as cruel as a snake s, and he looked as if he might be a savage brother rather than a civilized descendant of his barbarian ancestors. " You no trap um musquas ? " Tocksoose asked. " No, hunting ducks. Shot many, hev ye ? " " No, rather have musquas. Better for eat. Better for skin. Shoot um plenty duck ? " " Wai, some. Hain t hunted a tumble sight. Where be you a-campin ? " " Up dar," the Indian answered, pointing toward the Slang. " Make em good canoe. Very good bark. Come see some day." " Nawah, Tocksoose," the other Indian growled with gruff impatience as he shoved the canoe afloat and stepped into it. TUE EAST SLANG. 95 " Onli-onli, me come," Tocksoose answered, and followed his companion. " Goo -by, Lovet, come see canoe," and getting clear of the weeds they paddled away as silently as if they were ghosts of their long-departed progenitors haunting the changed scenes of their earthly life. The Indians went across and down stream, examining and re setting their traps in houses along the border of the marsh. Sam and Antoine shaped their course up stream, finding no game on the ground which the trappers had just passed over, but after passing the South Slang ducks arose, singly and in flocks, frequently enough to give them all the shooting they could wish. But they missed much oftener than they killed, for Sam had not acquired the knack of cut ting down his birds in the moment that they labored upward from the rushy covert before they began to climb the air in a swift ascending slant, or scurrying away in swifter level flight, when he continually made the mistake of shooting behind his mark. Antoine always dwelt long on his aim, and when he attempted a shot at a single flying bird, poked after it till it was out of range and then lowered his wabbling muzzle or blazed away into empty space. Now and then a duck succumbed to Sam s shot and came down with a headlong, surging splash into the marsh, perhaps to be lost in the 96 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. even sameness of the sedgy level, perhaps to be retrieved after a groping search in the maze of wild rice stalks or denser tangle of more diversified marsh growth. Achieving such indifferent success, they came to the East Slang and entered the nar row channel, when a dusky duck arose from the weeds on their left with a prodigious flutter and outcry of alarm. Sam caught aim and fired in the instant during which she hung almost station ary after the upward spring. Confident of the correctness of his aim, he was surprised and dis gusted beyond measure to see the heavy bird con tinue her flight, climbing the air almost perpen dicularly and with continually increasing speed to a height at which she looked no bigger than a swallow. " "Wai, by the gre t horn spoon ! " was all he could say, and Antoine "offered such soothing con dolence as one is apt to receive when he has made an unsuccessful shot. " Wai, Ah 11 was spec for see it tombly, he was so beeg lak geese an so close Ah can mos stroke it wid mah paddle. Prob ly you 11 was hit it, but he was fool dauk an ant know de way for fall, so he fall up, prob ly, less prob ly he was gat tire of dis wicked worl an goin look for de angel. Bah gosh, he mos gat where dey was." They were still watching the towering bird when suddenly her wings closed spasmodically and she THE EAST SLANG. 97 came down like a plummet, striking the water so near them that the canoe was sprinkled with the upbursting shower of spray, while in the centre of the circling wavelets the inert, lifeless bird rose and sank like a balancing scale. Again Sam ejaculated, " Wai, by the gre t horn spoon ! " and Antoine was surprised into an expres sion of astonishment. A close examination proved that the bird had been hit by a single shot, which had bored the brain. " Jes Ah tol you," said Antoine complacently ; " you 11 was mek him crazy in hees head of it, so he 11 ant know de way for fall. Ah 11 know what hail it jes soon Ah 11 see him fall up dat way, me." Sam s gun was reloaded, and they were again moving forward when a small, dusky-hued water fowl swam boldly into the channel before them within short range. " HoF on. Don shot," Antoine said in a low but intensely earnest tone as Sam leveled his gun on the easy mark ; but as the words were spoken the trigger was pulled, and out of the cloud of smoke the shot rained upon the spot from which the daring fowl had instantaneously vanished. " Dar," cried Antoine in supreme disgust, as the rebounding echoes came rolling back from hill and woodland, " Ant Ah 11 tol you ? What for you shot at dat mis bly leetly hell-davver ? You can t keel it more as hit litlin , an if you 11 was gat it, 98 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. he ant wors more as not ing t all. Naow he gone daown for see his fader, de dev , an in min ute he come back for laft at you. Dar." And there indeed the uncanny, keen-eyed, sharp-billed head popped just above the surface two gunshots away, swimming for the marsh, where it presently disappeared. Then they were startled by a rush of multitudi nous swift wings, and a great flock of teal swept past, following every turn of the channel in their arrowy flight till they alighted with a long, re sounding splash fifty rods farther up stream. Standing up and peering cautiously over the marsh, Sam saw the flock swimming in the channel oppo site to a clump of low-branched trees on the east ern bank. " They hain t six rod from a good place to crawl up tu em," he whispered, as he settled back on to his knees and took up a paddle. " Le s run int the brook here an land an tackle em from the bank. If we git a good lick at cm we won t want tu hunt no more to-day." They landed on the bank of the brook and held across the field till the clump of trees were in range with the place where the teal had alighted. Turn ing at a right angle, they advanced cautiously in this direction and were soon close behind a screen of low-hanging oak branches, looking between which they saw at least a hundred unsuspecting teal THE EAST SLANG. 99 swimming and feeding within easy range, the blue wings gleaming in the sunlight in brilliant contrast to the dull color of the general plumage. "You pour it hit the thick on em a-settin ," Sam whispered, as they silently cocked their guns, " an I 11 let em hev when they rise." Antoinc nodded and poked his gun through an opening to what he imagined to be a perfect aim on the thickest huddle of the flock. Sam felt a pang of contrition for the impending slaughter of the innocents, but held his gun ready to do his part in it. The roar of Antoine s gun was prolonged by the roar of a hundred pairs of wings starting to simultaneous flight, and quickly echoed by Sam s discharge. Rushing forward to the verge of the marsh, the shooters peered eagerly under the lift ing cloud of smoke and saw one solitary wing- tipped teal struggling toward the cover of the marsh through the frost-blackened lily-pads. An- toine had quite overshot the sitting birds, and Sam, aiming at the whole flock, had missed all but the chance-struck victim. As far up stream as there was water enough to float one, it must have been alive with ducks, for now the air was swarming with them, a disturbed congregation, uttering cries of alarm, some circling about in confused flight, some making straight away over the woods to the two creeks, and some following the course of the stream, passing overhead and before the chopfallen gunners. 100 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. " Sam, bah-a-gosh ! " Antoine ejaculated in most abject self -disgust. " Le s we load off aour gaun an shot one nudcler. We gat too fool for leeve some more." " By the gre t horn spoon, Antwine," Sam replied in utter contempt of their performance, "we couldn t hit one nuther erless we helt the muzzles o aour guns in aour maouths. We might s well go an git the canew an see if we c n find that ere waounded duck," and he began carefully reloading his gun. " Dat dauk ? You maght jes well hunt for haystack wid needle as hunt dat dauk. Nobody fan him but mink or prob ly de hawk. What for you load off you gaun ? Bah gosh ! Ah 11 ant load off mah gaun some more. He ant so good as stick hwood. Ah, sacre hoi damnashin gaun ! " Antoine growled at his musket and han dled it as if with an intention of smashing it on the nearest tree, but at last shouldered it. Sam finished reloading and remarked as he set a cap on the nipple : "It hain t no use o blamin it ont the guns, Antwine." They took the shortest way to the canoe, each engaged in the unprofitable silent self-communion which is a common but not happy experience of sportsmen. To what one of the brotherhood does not the missing of a lost opportunity come like a THE EAST SLANG. 101 ghost to haunt his waking hours and trouble his dreams ? Their moody silence was continued as they pad dled down the Slang, each plying the paddle industriously, quite regardless of every chance of a shot offered by rising or passing birds. Of the last there were not a few, for a boat was coming down the creek, disturbing the waterfowl with more frequent shots than Sam had ever heard except at a general muster of the militia, or had Antoine since the Papineau war. "It was prob ly some boy jes shot for mek nowse," Antoine commented. The heads of the two occupants of the approach ing boat could now be seen above the wild rice that hid craft and channel. Presently a pair of wood ducks sprang into the air a few rods in ad vance of the moving heads, one flying to the right, the other to the left, and in the same instant the polished barrels of a gun flashed upward in the sunlight, a jet of smoke puffed out, followed by another as quick as a finger could shift triggers, and as the double report rolled up wind to their ears the two canoe-men saw the ducks tumble limp and lifeless back into the marsh. Three more ducks, alarmed by the echoes that rebounded from the wooded shore beside which they were resting, got up together at long range, but the alert sportsman picked up a second gun and brought 102 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. down two with the first barrel and with the second hit the last of three so hard that it came down with a long slant in front of the canoe now emer ging from the Slang. Sam finished the wounded fowl with a charge from his long single-barrel and exclaimed in reply to Antoine : " Boys ! I cal late that feller s a man, an one at understand his business. By mighty! don t he jest clear the sky o ducks ? Le s let him go ahead, for I d a dumb d sight druther see him shoot an tu shoot myself, leastways as I pear tu shoot tu-day." CHAPTER XII. A SPOKTSMAN. The wild duck, as he scuds along, Seeth thine eye of black, And cries with shrill, despairing tone, Don t shoot, old boy, I m coming down ; I know you. Cousin Jack ! " E. J. PHELPS. " HERE s another duck o your n," Sam ad dressed the stranger as the other boat drew near. " You pear tu git ev y bird at you p int at." " No, not quite," said the gentleman, for such he was, and a handsome one too, with keen black eyes and finely cut features and an easy graceful bearing. " I ve heard of men who did that and heard them tell of doing it, but I never saw them do it. But you d better take this bird, you re quite welcome to it." "No, thank ye," said Sam, " me an this man s a-gittin more shots an we c n tend tu. My, you d ortu seen us make the feathers fly up the East Slang." Sam felt that open confession might ease his soul. " Don you tol him, Sam," Antoine whispered 104 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. hoarsely. " Ant we shem nougli for had we an de dauk know it ? " "Wai, go ahead, mister," said Sam, and the other boat took the lead. " He hain t got him no gre t of a paddler," Sam remarked as he watched the clumsy propelling of the larger craft, paddled now on one side, now on the other. " I sh d like tu put him raound a spell." There were ducks enough scattered among the wild rice to afford fair shooting, though the great flocks had returned to their daytime haunts, the dusky ducks to float on the wide waters of the lake or to bask on its rocky shores, whither the teal ac companied them, while the wood ducks congregated in the embowered lagoons of Lewis Creek, the South Slang, and Goose Creek. There, in listless enjoyment of seclusion, they swam lazily in the shallow pools, checkering the green scum of float ing duck weed with a network of water paths, or sat in sleepy rows along the mossy trunks of fallen trees, oftener disturbed by a swooping hawk or prowling fox or mink than by man, the enemy and destroyer of nature. Sam marveled at the celerity with which his rival made his shots, only missing often enough to prove that there was no magic in the skill which Sam expressed admiration of, in spite of the humil iation of seeing 1 himself so far outdone. A SPOETSMAN. 105 " By the gre t horn spoon, he s a buster ! " he exclaimed, as two ducks, rising at once on either side of the channel, responded to a double shot with folded wings and a downright fall. " But I sh ld like tu try him a hack with a rifle." "Oh, t undur, Ah 11 tol you it was jes he s gaun," growled Antoine contemptuously. " F Ah 11 had gaun sem lak dat Ah 11 show you, me." " I s pose his gun does ha suthin tu du with it, but I swan I b lieve arter the ducks git him 1 arnt, they d jest faint away and tumble daown if he p inted a stick at em." Sam and Antoine ran the canoe among the rushes under the willows of the lower landing alongside the craft of the sportsman, who had pre ceded them by twenty minutes and was now at the foot of the cliff with his boatman making prepara tion for dinner, the first plucking a fat young wood duck, the other gathering dry fuel out of the abun dance of driftwood. " Naow, mister," said Sam, as he fed his admir ing eyes on the handsome English guns whose like he had never seen before and his fingers itched to lay hold of, " why don t ye come up tu aour fire an cook your dinner ? It 11 save ye a lot o fussin , an Joseff 11 be mighty glad o them feathers you re a-wastin . He come a-feather huntin , least ways he s a-savin of em for tu keep his wife good- natur d. Fetch your stuff right up where it s 106 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. handy cookin an wo 11 put a couple o extry taters in the kittle for ye." The stranger was drawn to Sam by the attrac tion of one honest sportsman to another, and there fore nothing loath to accept the invitation. Carry ing the half-plucked duck in one hand and one of the guns in the other, and followed by his man carrying a covered basket, he climbed the steep path with his host in the lead. They found the camp untenanted, for Uncle Lisha and Joseph had not yet returned from a land expedition along the shore in the direction of the Slang bridge, upon which they had set forth with the intention of stalking ducks in the pond holes of the marsh or lying in wait for incoming flocks. Antoine soon had a fire blazing on the stone hearth, which he shared with the guest in the prep aration of the two dinners. The gentleman now proved himself a thoroughly accomplished sports man, for when his end of the fire sank to a glow ing bed of coals he broiled his neatly dressed duck as skillfully as he had killed it, and its delicate aroma asserted itself above the grosser odor of Antoine s cookery. When the double meal was served he made twofold return for the acceptable potatoes in dainties from his basket, and when all were so well fed that necessity of providing another meal seemed too distant to be worth thinking of, A SPORTSMAN. 107 he passed around cigars that were more fragrant than roses. While all but he smoked them with the awkwardness of unaccustomed use, he half won Sam s heart with well-told tales of his shooting ad ventures in all parts of the country, and completed the conquest by interested listening to Sam s stories. When Sam hinted he would like to paddle him up the South Slang the offer was gladly accepted. So the two set forth in the sportsman s boat, leav ing his boatman and Antoine to amuse themselves as they would, an arrangement to the liking of both, as it gave Antoine an opportunity to ask many questions, he being tormented with an itching curi osity as much as any Yankee ever was, and the boatman, a lazy fellow, would as lief be paid for doing nothing as for earning his money. Sam plied his noiseless paddle with right good will up the narrow channel, whose brown waters here and there turned sharply in its almost current- less course to long curved or straight reaches that ended in other turns among the rice and sedges. Now there would be a stillness that was absolute but for far-removed sounds of farm life or the sky ward scream of a hawk, a mote of bronze slowly circling as if adrift in an eddy of the upper air ; or, nearer, some unseen stir of life among the rushes, the slow scratch of a weed against the boat s side, or the smothered gulp of a disturbed mud fish 108 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. beneath the prow. Then the silence was broken suddenly enough to startle the steadiest nerves when, splashing and fluttering, squeaking or quack ing in wild alarm, wood duck or dusky duck tore its way upward through its tent of sedge or rice- stalks. Then the ready gun made its quick selec tion, puffed out its smoke and thunder, answered itself like an echo with a second report, and two ducks dropped back limp and lifeless within the circling wavelets of their own uprising, while the echoes rebounded between the wooded shores, and far and near frightened ducks arose, bitterns took wing with guttural squawks, rails set up a clamor ous cackle, and for a few moments the marshes were alive with noisy commotion. Then, while the echoes died in the distance, the ducks settled again in the marsh before or behind the boat, the babble of the rails ceased, the last wads were driven home with a diminuendo of hollow thuds, and after the sharp click of the recapped locks, the silent boat moved 011 into a new silence, again and again to break it. Now it slid under the low span of a bridge, now came to the mouth of Goose Creek, almost closed between its jams of floating bog that undulated with the boat s wake with a faint rustle of sedgy swells. As the craft squeezed its way up this narrow water path, here, closed by a movable island of bog that was swung aside like a gate to give them passage, there, crowded by a tangled A SPORTSMAN. 109 jungle of button-bush, the hunters saw in trodden ooze and the windrows of shed plumage evidence of the throngs of waterfowl that made this natural fastness their nightly resting-place. There were now only a few stragglers early to bed or late to rise one of whom, cut down at long range, they had infinite trouble to retrieve by wading over the treacherous bog. In one place a woodcock had bored the muddy margin with his long bill and chalked it with his sign, which was scarcely noted before he sprang with a twittering whistle and was cut down with a snap shot of the alert sportsman. Then for the first time Sam had an opportunity to admire and closely inspect what had until now been but an elusive, vanishing myth, and wondered why his new friend should gloat more over this little bird than over a great duck. Yet he himself had just declared that he would be prouder to kill a wild goose than to kill a bear, as much to the astonish ment of the other. They followed the crooked labyrinth of Goose Creek till it forked into two branches, both too narrow to give passage to anything bulkier than a duck or muskrat. They made their way back to the Slang, which from this point to its source was the eastern boundary of a large tract of primeval forest, a level sameness of gloomy evergreen woods. Where the channel parted in two unbeatable 110 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. tributaries, one coming out of the cold heart of the forest, the other from the sunny bosom of the fields, the Indians had made their camp. A num ber of stretched muskrat skins were hung- about it, the thin smoke of the spent fire drifted up among the hemlock boughs, the canoe was drawn up to the bank with its two paddles stuck in the mud beside it, and the two Waubanakees, full heirs of their wild forefathers laziness, were pottering indolently over some piece of handicraft. " They re a-makin a canew," Sam said, after watching them a little ; " want tu go an see haow they du it ? " and his companion assenting, he turned the boat inshore. The Indians were aware of the approach of vis itors, but gave no sign of it when the boat ran alongside the canoe and the occupants stepped ashore, nor did they till the duck-hunters had come close to them, where they were kneeling on a patch of hard-trodden bare earth. Then Sam s old ac quaintance turned his good-humored face to them a moment and greeted them with a low-spoken " Quiee," but his sullen companion did not lift his eyes from his work. The top frame and gunwales and cross bars of a canoe lay on the leveled piece of ground, and the Indians were driving stakes at the ends and at the intersections of the cross bars. Having accom plished this, they filled and lighted their pipes and A SPORTSMAN. Ill deliberated upon the next step to be taken in the task, conversing in the soft, low tones of their own language. At last he of the sour visage picked up a hatchet and went into the woods, which enfolded him out of sight in their shadowy embrace as if he belonged to them. It did not seem likely that the white men were to see more of the art of canoe building to-day. So Sam s friend bought a couple of bows and a half a dozen arrows for his two boys : waiting till Tocksoose finished the last with a crooked knife which he held with his palm up and drew towards him, and the dexterous use of which was worth seeing. Then they reembarked and set forth down stream as the shadows of the hemlocks were crawling up the eastern bank. " Now, Lovel," said the sportsman, " I want to show you that I can handle a paddle too, so give it to me and you take my gun and see how it suits you." Sam was as happy with the beautiful gun in his hands as a lover with his sweetheart, and fondled it with as much delight, sighting it on various inani mate objects and trying again and again the smooth elastic movement of the locks. An awkward splash of the paddle, that was for the most part fairly well handled, startled a duck to flight at long range, and Sam, pottering a little over his aim, made a clean miss. At the report, one nearer, but doz ing over his crop full of wild rice, floundered to 112 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. flight through the rent bower of sedges. Sam covered him neatly, but his finger found the wrong trigger and there was only a hollow snap of the empty barrel. Yet he kept his wits enough to make a second trial, and the big dusky drake came down with a downright splash that told of sudden and merciful death. " A good shot," was the sportsman s commenda tion as he turned the boat s prow into the weeds, but Sam was not very proud of it after a bad miss and a worse blunder. " The s a most tew many trickers for my fin gers," he said as he retrieved the dead bird with an oar. " The gun can t du it all, if it is an almighty good one. It wants the right man behind it." " It s got a very good one there," the gentleman said. " All the trouble with him is he has learned to shoot a rifle too well to cut loose without half taking sight, as we shotgun fellows do." So few ducks had come in since the up stream passage of the hunters that it was scarcely worth while to be on the watch for them, and they both paddled leisurely down the channel, chatting as they went, while the one smoked his fragrant cigar, the other his satisfying pipe. " How would you like the life of our red brethren back there ? " the sportsman asked. " Wai, they don t appear tu be fretted much," said Sam. A SPORTSMAN. 113 " No, they re contented ; food enough for to day and a few pipefuls of tobacco ; rich with a hundred muskrat skins. Perhaps it s the happiest life a man can lead, and perhaps the happiest is the best." "Wai, no," Sam dissented. "It ll du weU nough for a play spell naow an ag in ; but it hain t jest the sort o life for a stiddy business, leastways not for white men. Oh, I d know, if a man had n t nob dy but himself and things had n t gone jest right with him, but not if the s anyb dy at he cares for. I hev wished I was an Injin, but I don t naow. An I ve tried it tew, for a fortni t runnin , up t other Slang. An it beats all haow easy a man settles daown tu that way o livin , an I b lieve a man s consid able like a tame fox oncte he gits loose he gits wild ag in mighty easy. I feel it a-comin on every time I git int the woods, some sight or some smell at you can t sca cely see ner smell, a-wakin up suthiii that s b en asleep sence the Lord knows when. T waii t in my fa ther, an . I do know s it was in my graii ther, only as he hed tu hunt some for a livin . T ain t no wonder at you can t tame an Injin so t he 11 stay tame, wi a hundered generations o wild blood a-r arin up in him wus n we c n guess. An t ain t none tew easy for us tu quit livin that way arter bein in t a spell. Why, it s jelluk leavin the hum at I was born in an reared in, tu clear 114 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. aout from a camp at I ve stayed in a week, an if I come acrost it arterwards it makes me feel sort o lunsome." He blushed through his sunburns and laughed a little bashfully at his confession of weakness, but the smile on his companion s face was sympathetic. " Yes, we ve got a drop of the old wild blood in us," the latter said, " and for my part I m thankful for it, and I don t take greatly to folks who haven t got it or are ashamed of it. Of course it won t do to let it get the better of us all the time, for there is n t much bread and butter in it, but it is n t best to smother it out. It s good sauce for the bread and butter." " No, it won t du," Sam said with a sigh of res ignation. " A man at don t du nothin much but hunt an fish an trap is lierble tu be a pooty shif less creetur ; clever an good-natur d mebby, but turrible shif less. Like s not I d ha be n one of em myself if it had n t ha be n fer hevin a good woman, not tew sot, but reason ble in goin ag n it. As a gin al thing women folks pears tu be kinder onfavorable tu huntin an haoun dawgs an sech, an I d know but they was made so a puppus tu keep us kinder in baounds. Then ag in the s women at it s enough tu drive a man off int the woods tu git red o their everlastin hetchelin ." His companion laughed and began to speak, but stopped with a sudden cautionary " Sh-h there A SPORTSMAN. 115 comes a flock of teal," as lie bent low and turned the boat close behind a tall bunch of weeds. " Give me my gun," he whispered, and just as he got it in his hands the swift-winged little ducks came like a flash, following the channel as if it was a road, till at sight of the boat they swerved away and upward from it. The ready gun sprang as quickly to the shooter s shoulder, and as it touched it spat out its double report and six dead and wounded birds tumbled out of the thinned ranks into marsh and channel in a rapid succession of splashes. When the game was picked up the hunters went on to the mouth of the Slang, where the boat was run into the tall weeds to await the evening incom ing of the ducks. The flight was already begun, giving as frequent shots as a reasonable man could desire, and much more difficult for an unpracticed hand than when the birds were flushed from the marshes. From the moment when a flock first became visible, like a dark thread drifting up from the horizon of wooded shores beyond the Bay of the Vessels, then became a chain of motes, and the first faint sibilation of hurrying wings dawned on the hearing, till it grew loud and emphatic, and every advancing form became a distinct bird, there was time enough for nerves to be steadied and gun to be ready, but not to find an easy mark in the 116 UNCLE LISUA S OUTING. strong-winged fowl, sweeping past with the impetus gained in two miles of flight with a favoring breeze. Not every one of the sportsman s shots brought down its bird, for now and then there was an un mistakable miss, and sometimes when a chance was taken at long range the pellets could be heard pat tering against the thick plumage, yet the stout bird swept on in uninterrupted flight. The shooter showed neither impatience when he made an ineffectual shot nor exultation when with more frequent occurrence the stricken bird came down in a curved slant and plunged through weeds and water to its last alighting. After a while he gave the gun to Sam, who, profiting by instruction and experience, made some shots good enough to afford consolation for the bad ones, and then they quit their ambuscade and paddled down to the landing under the willows. The last sunlight was on the eastern mountains and the sportsman made haste to depart on his homeward voyage, he and Sam parting with a mutual desire for further acquaintance and future days of sport together. " Say, Sam," Antoine whispered eagerly, burst ing with news he could scarcely contain till the others were out of hearing, " you 11 ant ast it, did you ? You 11 ant know who he was, ant it ? " " No," said Sam, " I did n t ask him no ques tions." A SPORTSMAN. 117 " Wai, sell, bah gosh, lie was be de biggest 1 yer dey was in Vairgeniie. Dat feller tol me." " Git aout Antwine," said Sam, " lie hain t no liar. He s abaout as nice a man as ever I see." " Oh, Sam, ant you oii stan Angleesh ? Ah 11 ant say he lie, but he big 1 yer. He goin be judge, prob ly gov ner, mebby." CHAPTER XIII. A WILD GOOSE CHASE. UNCLE LISHA and Joseph set forth in the belt of trees that shaded the west bank of Little Otter from the Slab Hole to the South Slang, so intent upon the performance of doughty deeds that they skulked with bent backs till the ache could be endured no longer, and with a loud sigh of relief they straightened up just at the very time and place to disclose themselves to a flock of ducks that were enjoying the seclusion of a marsh-locked pool. Startled by the sound and the sudden appa rition of human forms arising within forty paces of their retreat, the ducks sprang into the air with a simultaneous splash and vociferous outcry of alarm. In no less surprise the two gunners stood gaping at the retreating flock, then with one accord they squatted with lowered heads till the whistle of departing wings grew faint in the distance, and then turned their humiliated faces full upon each other. " Sam Hill ! " Joseph ejaculated, " what a chance it seems s ough we most lied." A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 119 " What a couple o dumb d dodunks we be, more like ! " Uncle Lisha responded in intense dis gust. " Naow le s go long an use aour eyes an act as if ducks had some tew." With this determination they proceeded, yet more cautiously, stopping frequently to examine the marsh before them, with heads as gradually uplifted as grass rises after the pressure of the foot. At last they discovered a pool similar to the one at which they had exposed themselves so unwarily, and a careful reconnoissance disclosed a flock of twenty or more dusky ducks taking their ease on the reed-hedged pool, some asleep, their broad bills resting on their round breasts, others leisurely sounding the shallows with elongated necks for choice tidbits, while a few alert old drakes carried their wise heads high, in constant vigilance. The hunters squatted for a brief, whispered plan of attack, and, having arranged it, moved forward, stooping low, to occupy the spot selected for the onslaught. There was one place in the line of approach where the screen of weeds was so low that it could only be passed without discovery by crawling, and when it was reached the hunters went on all fours, not on hands and knees, but on hands and feet, hitching their prone guns along step by step. Now, though their heads were quite out of sight of the ducks and the ducks 120 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. unseen by them, their posteriors were fully exposed to the view of the vigilant sentinels, who, at the sight of these two strange objects undulating slowly forward above the tops of the rushes, at once sounded the alarm, and the whole flock sprang to wing with an uproar of splashing, fluttering, and quacking. The unlucky hunters halted without a change of posture, and listened in dismayed silence till the tumult of departure had subsided, before they ven tured to drop upon their knees and look in the di rection from which the sound of retreat had come. Then they arose and gazed upon the deserted pool, whose nearest semblance to life was in a few scat tered feathers drifting across the quiet space. " Wai " - Uncle Lisha exhaled the word, after holding his breath a long time "I sh d like to know what on this livin airth scairt them ere ducks. They never seen nor heard us, that s sartain." " I swan to man, I do know," Joseph said, " erless they smelt us, an it don t sca cely seem s ough sech tough-nosed critters could smell much anyway. But I d know. S-s-s-s-h ! See that ere tormented gre t hen-hawk ? Mebby it was him scart em. H-s-s-h ! " He sank his voice to a whisper as a marsh hawk came cruising low along the rushy level in such intent quest of game that he did not see the two motionless figures, and then A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 121 with an upward slant alighted on a dead treetop within close range, still scanning the marsh and unconscious of danger, while Joseph cautiously got his gun ready and took deliberate, deadly aim. As his executioner staggered backward from the recoil of the deadly charge, the pirate tumbled from his lookout and fell with a swift, feathery thud on the hard margin of the shore, where Joseph pounced upon him in utter recklessness of beak and talons that still attempted revenge or defense. " Gosh darn him ! " he groaned, as the talons of one foot closed in a dying clutch upon his wrist, and then, as he strove to loosen it with the free hand, that also was caught by the other foot. Then the bird s head drooped, the fire of his eyes went out, but the death grip of his talons was not relaxed, and Joseph, helplessly manacled, turned to Uncle Lisha for relief. " Wai, you be in a fix. But I could n t help a-laughin if it was a-killin ye." Joseph could see no cause for laughter, as the claws were withdrawn one by one, accompanying each withdrawal by a groan or a suppressed " S-s-s-s-p." " You re as bad off as the feller at ketched the bear," Uncle Lisha remarked, as he deliberately performed the surgery. " Ye see, he follered a bear track intu a hole, an the feller at was a-huiitin along with him he stayed aoutside. I ve 122 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. ketched a bear, lie hollered from inside. All right, says t other feller fetch him aout an le s see him. I can t fetch him, says he. Wai, says t other feller, come aout yourself. I can t, says he, he s got a holt on me an won t let me, says he. There, naow, I ve got ye onhooked." With an unaccustomed display of temper Joseph seized the hawk by the legs and repeatedly banged the lifeless head against the nearest tree. " Good airth an seas ! What ye duin that for ? He s deader n a smelt." " Wai," said Joseph, looking rather foolish as the heat of his wrath abated, " I kinder thought mebby I d better let him onderstan at the s a herearter for hawks jes s much as the is for other folks. I m a good min ter give him another polt. Dum him. Haow he hurt my wris s. Why, he hain t nothin but feathers ! " he exclaimed, when he had taken time to try " the heft " of his prize. " You might nigh abaout chuck him right intu a bed jest as he is, seems s ough. Anyways, he s wuth a-hevin ." While reloading his gun he proposed lying in wait by this pool for whatever might chance to come to it, but Uncle Lisha longed for fresh fields of con quest and also thirsted for a draught of drinkable water, which he hoped to find at some spring, and so marched along the bank, leaving his companion to conduct alone his own plan of the campaign. A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 123 Joseph seated himself comfortably on a log close to the tallest weeds and did not wait long before a bittern came flapping lazily over the marsh and alighted in the edge of the pool. He had never had so near a view of one and knew not what manner of fowl it might be, but it looked worth killing cither for picking or eating. So he trained his gun upon it, and at the discharge it wilted down like a lopped weed. When with some difficulty he drew it within reach by the aid of a pole, he was some what disappointed in its weight, but he said to him self : - " It looks nigh nough like one o them ere new fangled Hang-shy rwusters tu be jes s good t eat, which it hain t sayin no gre t for it, an then the s the feathers, what the is on em, so I guess I hain t done so bad arter all, don t seem s ough I hed." He had scarcely composed himself to another season of waiting when he was startled by the roar of Uncle Lisha s gun, and after a vain attempt to repress his curiosity shouldered his gun and game and hastened forward to learn the result of a shot so loud that he felt sure it must have achieved something great. Uncle Lisha had not gone a furlong alone when he came upon another patch of open water, where he saw a flock of large fowl, alarmed at his approach, crowding into a watery path that ran channel ward into the depths of the marsh. He 124 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. managed to get a slow aim upon the entrance just as the last bird was disappearing in it and fired. There was a clamor of consternation, a wild scurry through the rushes, but the nearest bird only beat the sedges convulsively with its broad pinions for a moment and then stretched lifeless head and wings upon the bending weeds. When Uncle Lisha realized how grand a feat he had accom plished he could hardly withhold a shout of exulta tion, and when Joseph came panting upon the scene he let it out in a great roar. " Good airth an seas, Jozeff, I hev act ally shot a wil goose, I du b lieve ! " " Sam Hill, you hain t, Uncle Lisher," cried Jo seph, standing on tiptoe and craning his neck to the utmost. " Not a ra al wild goose, you don t mean. Wai, I snore, if it don t look like one, seems s ough, jest as true as you live ! " " Why, of course he s a wil goose, er was. He s tame nough now, though," said Uncle Lisha, with proud assurance. " An naow we got tu git him. I s pose the mud s more n forty foot deep aout there, but I 11 git him if I hafter stay here till the ma sh freezes. Naow le s git some slabs an things an lay aout tu him." Laying aside their guns, they brought slabs and boards with which the spring floods had plentifully strewn the shore, and with no little labor bridged the treacherous marsh, till Joseph, a little the A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 125 lighter and the least clumsy of the two, gained an unstable footing to the prize, which he lifted, and, cautiously edging his way along the narrow cause way, bore it to the shore. " There," he said, plumping the gray goose down at the feet of its slayer, who squatted before it, caressing it and feeding his eyes upon it, " I don t b lieve I wanter kerry it on such a rhud no furder. It don t seem s ougii I would, tu hev it, not sca cely." " Wai, I would, clean tu Dan vis ! Good airth an seas, won t it make Samwil an Ann Twine s eyes stick aout when they see it, an them a-shootin nothin but leetle insi nificant ducks. But there ain t no two ways baout it, I got tu ha some water, er choke tu death. Le s go over tu that ere haouse and git us a drink an then mog along back to camp. Why, it s the haouse where Sam wil left the hosses tu. They re sorter neighbors, an I da say it will please em tu see this ere faowl, for it hain t ev ry day at folks gits a chance tu look at a wil goose clus tu. Why, what s that ere you got beside your hen-hawk ? Come to think on t I did hear ye shoot ag in." In the ela tion of his own success he had not noticed the addi tion to Joseph s bunch of game, nor had Joseph, in the midst of excitement and labor, thought to call attention to it. " That s more n I can tell ye. That is, for 126 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. sart in. He looks consid able like one o these ere Hang-shy rhusters, but I don t s pose he is sca cely, cause I never hearn tell on em a-rimnm wiT as I remember on. Mebby it s one at got strayed off f m hum." " Wai," said Uncle Lisha, after a critical exam ination of the bird through his glasses, " I cal late it s a mud hen." "Mebby it s a mud rhuster," Joseph suggested. I could n t say of which sect, but of that spechy. Wai, le s be a-moggin , for I be dryer n a graven image, so t I can t spit nough tu enj y a smoke." Thereupon they assumed their burdens and trudged across the fields to the farmhouse, which stood foremost in a straggling village of outbuild ings. In response to Uncle Lisha s knock at the open kitchen door, a pleasant-looking woman came out of a cloud of fragrant steam that arose from a brass kettle of cider apple sauce upon the stove. She wore a blue sock on her left arm like an im provised mitten, but the needle caught into the heel and a dangling loop of thread showed that she employed the intervals of watching her cookery in darning the family footwear. " Good arternoon, inarm," said Uncle Lisha. " We stopped in tu see if we could n t git a drink o water." She looked the visitors over a moment to assure A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 127 herself whether they were of the sort to be served with a tin dipper or a pitcher and glass, and then, removing the sock as she went into the pantry, presently returned with the daintier service, which the old man s honest and respectable face seemed to warrant in spite of his shabby clothes. " That ere s turrible good water for the time o for this part o the country. We be n a-hunt- in , he continued, as he held the glass to be re filled the third time. " We be n a-huntin an got tormented dry. It s turrible dry work a-huntin , partic ly when you re all the time in sight o water t you can t drink. An I do know but what it makes a feller drier tu shoot a wil goose. I do know as you ever see one." He lifted his trophy from where he had dropped it in careless con- spicuity and held it up before her. " Why, you done well, did n t you," the matron said. " T ain t often folks gits em. But I ve seen em afore. Aour folks ketched one oncte an we kep him tew, three year, I guess, an he mated along with aour tame geese an we ve got one o the mixtur yit. Why ! " with the final exclama tion the expression of pleased curiosity in her face hardened to one of unpleasant surprise. " You jes le me look o his neck," and laying hold of it and raising the feathers she disclosed a red string tied around it, at sight of which Uncle Lisha s heart sank with a sickening qualm. 128 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Yes, sir," she said, " you ve be n an killed aour ol half-bred garnder. Be you some o the folks that s a campin daown here ? " " Yis, marm." " Well, I guess Mr. Harris 11 be raound there and settle with you for killin of his garnder. He sot consid able by him." " Good airth an seas ! " Uncle Lisha whispered in a suppressed roar, as if he feared that he might be heard at camp. " Don t for massy sake let him come raound there talkin abaout my shoo tin of his goose. Where is your man ? I c n settle with him for t right here. You go an fetch him." Mrs. Harris hesitated a moment in fear that they might depart in her absence, then bustled away and presently was heard calling her husband in the back yard. Then their voices were heard approaching in low dialogue till Mr. Harris ap peared entering the kitchen from the rear. He was a large, raw-boned man, his shoulders stooped with excessive labor, his fingers hooked like claws ready to pounce upon a hard task or an elusive shilling, while his broad coarse face strove to put on a mask of guileless good humor. He greeted them as if they were all old friends, grinning more effusively, Uncle Lisha thought, than the situation seemed to warrant. " Du, sir," Uncle Lisha responded, and pro ceeded at once to business. " My name s Lisher A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 129 Paiggs, an this ere s my neighbor, Jozcff Hill, an we live tu Dan vis when we re tu hum. Jes naow we re a-campin over here. We don t make a busi ness goin raound killin folks poultry as a gin al thing, but it pears we hev your n, and naow we want tu settle for t. What d ye cal late the life o your goose is wuth ? We don t want the car- kiss." " Wai, I d know," Mr. Harris pondered, with a subsiding grin. " Come in and sed daown. T won t cost ye notliin . Won t ye ? Wai, I don know ezackly. That ere was a tumble goose tu lay an take care o goslin s. I never see sech a"- " Mr. Harris," his wife said in a severe under tone. " As I ever see sech a case for layin an carin for goslin s as she was." t Mr. Harris," his wife said in a deeper tone of reproof, and covertly punched him in the back, " it hain t a goose ; it s a garnder." "Hey," gasped Mr. Harris, his smile fading out, but as quickly returning. " Why, yis, land, yis ; so t is. But I tell ye what, Mis Harris she sot a tumble sight by him, I tell ye." "Wai, wal," and the old man spoke a little im patiently, " it don t make no diffunce haow much your garnder laid or your womern sot. What I wanter know is what he was wuth a-livin an 130 UNCLE LISHA S haow much he s wuth dead, an I 11 pay ye the diffunce pervided I c n raise the money, and he drew from his pocket the heart case which served him as a purse. ~\Val, naow. I don t know ; le me see,* said Mr. Harris, weighing the goose in his hand and feeling its breast. ; He hain t turrible meaty, and I carc late he 11 be tougher n tripe, an it 11 cost abaout as much tu chaw him as he s wuth. Then ag in, lookin at it from a opposite p int o" view, he was lierble to continer a-livin a consid able number o years, which he was the more valuable in that respeck." " The s the feathers ! Joseph suggested, with a view to bettering his friend s bargain. " The s an awful snarl o* feathers on that ere goose, which it seems as ough they cl ortu be took accaount on in the trade. Xaow if you was a min tu call it even, I do know but I *d be willin tu throw in this "ere faowl at I got." He held up the bittern before Mr. Harris, who viewed it at first with wonder, then with intense disgust, which his bland smile could not conceal as he exclaimed : " Land, what be you a-goin tu du with that plaguey stake driver? Xo, I guess I don t want him. I "11 tell ye what, Mr. Peggs, seein it s you an you re a stranger, you gi me a half dollar an we 11 call it square." Uncle Lisha heaved a sigh of relief, and empty- .1 WILD GOOSE CHASE. 131 iug the heart case into his palm he sorted out the requisite sum from the handful of ninepence and fourpence half-penny bits, cents, and half cents which had been gathered in the mending of many boots and shoes. Mr. Harris counted the much divided half dollar over twice and carefully scru tinized a doubtful penny of Canadian coinage before he reluctantly acknowledged the payment of the debt, and Uncle Lisha felt free to depart with out the trophy which he had borne hither in the pride of his heart. Now as he trudged back to camp empty-Banded, while Joseph bore his own spoils in humbleness of spirit, he spoke but once and then only with heartfelt emphasis : Damn the goose ! " They found the tent and its environs silent and deserted, and after appeasing their hunger with a cold bite Joseph sat down to pluck his fowls. He had not been long so employed upon the bittern when Antoine and the boatman came strolling up from the landing. " What you goin do wid dat t ing ? " Antoine asked, after curiously watching him a few mo ments. k "Wai," said Joseph, as he carefully plucked out the last feathers, " I kinder thought arter I d got the feathers saved, I d take an dress it an cook it an see haow it ould eat, jes for the fun on t." Antoine wrenched his ulterior with a groan of 132 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. intense disgust, and, snatching the bird from Jo seph s hands, tossed it away with all his might. The lank form, with neck and legs asprawl, went clattering through leaves and bushes in a great curve, till it was lost to sight, and was heard to fall with a dull final thud on the sands below the cliff. " Dar, dat was de bes way for cook up dat kan o vittle. You 11 was cook some bowfins one tarn, but you 11 ant goin for stink de fire wid dat mud hens, bah gosh, no." Joseph s eyes followed this last featherless flight of the bittern and dwelt a while on the point of its disappearance before he turned upon the Canadian and said reproachfully, but without a trace of anger in his even drawl : " Naow, Aiitwinc, seems tu me that ere is a tarnal mean kind o caper, an I do know but what I d ortu take an fling ye ov the laidge arter the bird, but it might kinder break frien ship, an I guess I won t. But I mus say it sorter seems tu me at for a feller at cooks eels an mud turkles, an I do know but frawgs, you be dumb pertic lar, an , as you might say, nicer n you be wise." Wai, seh, Zhozeff , Ah dun know f Ah 11 ant prob ly d ought for tol you fore Ah t row it," Antoine said apologetically, " but, sah, if you 11 heat dat t ing he was mek you sick lak hoi dev . You 11 ant goin heat dat hawk, ant it ? " he asked, as Joseph drew the bird toward him with evident intention of plucking it. A WILD GOOSE CHASE. 133 " It hain t sartain but what I will if I seem tu hanker arter sech victuals," Joseph answered ; " but anyways, if you hain t no objections I m a-goin tu save the feathers, which is what I m arter in partic lar." " Naow, Zhozeff, Ah 11 goin tol you de trut ," Antoine said, with impressive seriousness and an accompaniment of emphatic gestures. " If you put de hawk fedder wid de dawk fedder he heat it all up." "Sho , Antwine?" " Dat jes as true as Frenchmans heat onion," Antoine asserted in the face of Joseph s incredulous stare. " Wait for Ah 11 goin tol you. One tarn Ah 11 was leetly boy an leeve in Canada, mah mudder was mek it some bed . fedder of geese s fedder an she was gat it mos all stuff up but leetly maght he ant gat nough fedder. Den mah fader was keel two hawk was come raoun for ketch de chicklin, an mah mudder was pull de fedder for feenish his bed of it. It was very nice plump beds, an dey keep it for de bes one for w en company come see it, an nex year mah gran pere an gran. - mere come for visit all iiaght, an , sell, gran - mere was gre t big hoi hwomans, an w en he come on de room in de morny he was r-r-r-rubby, r-r-r-rubby hesef an grunt very hard, an w en mah mudder ax it what de matter, she say de bed rope cut him all in chonk, cause de bed fedder was 134 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING, so t in, an mah mudder was supprise mos for be mad for have it say so baout liees bes bed, but w en he ex-amine he fin honly de hawk fedder, de res it was all heat up. Yas, sah, Zhozeff, dat jes true you leeve." " Wai," said Joseph, continuing the employment which he had still pursued while listening to the story, " I c n keep em sep rit an put em in a piller. Mebby if a feller slep on it t ould keep him f m bein hen-pecked nights." When Sam returned and the sportsman and his oarsman had departed, a hot supper was prepared and eaten, after which the party sat around the cheerful campfire and recounted the day s adven tures, from which were judiciously eliminated the episodes of Joseph s encounter with the hawk and Uncle Lisha s goose shooting. CHAPTER XIV. MUD TURTLE. IN the morning, when eating breakfast, no plans were laid for spending- the day, and after the meal no one made the usual preparation for departure, but all idled about the camp as if without a present object in life but the mere pleasure of existence. The day was one to invite indolence, the sun bathing the earth in such a mellow warmth that it soon dispelled the morning chill and left no use but pipe-lighting for the fire, which burned with a lazy flicker of transient flame and lazier drifts of smoke jets from snapping embers and brands. Unruffled by the breath of the sleepy air, nor broken at all save where some waterfowl languidly cleft their surface with a silent wake, lake and creek bore the motionless doubles of painted shore and reedy margin, and the deeper azure of far peaks and cloudless sky ; while from the tranquil scene arose no busier sound of life than the lazy call of a duck or the faint noises of farms so remote that they seemed beyond it. Near at hand, but no more obtrusive, there was a drowsy hum of warmed 136 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. flics and the slow chirps of crickets and the light scurrying of a chipmunk among the leaves. " "Wai, seh, boys," said Antoine, breaking the silence of the circle as he arose and stretched him self with a yawn, " dis was too pooty day for lose it. What all you goin do wid it, hein ? " " It is a turrible neat day an that s a fact," Joseph declared with unwonted decision, after a slow and careful contemplation of earth and sky. " An I be thankful at we hain t obleeged tu waste it a-workin . It allus did kinder seem tu me as ougli s if it was a-sorter heaviii away o the Lord s blessin s tu spend a ri daown pleasant day a-work in . Some at I misused that way years and years ago lays heavy on my conscience yet." " Naow, Jozeff, don t be 110 harder on yourself an what other folks is," said Uncle Lisha, in mild sarcasm. " You must have an almighty tender conscience an an almighty good mem ry. I can t remember but precious few such misduin s tu lay up ag in ye." " Wai, the s more n I wish t the was," said Joseph, staring retrospectively into the smouldering embers as if they represented the cold ashes of the past. "It does seem s ough it was weeked, most specially long in the fall, an winter comin on, when the won t be no rale pleasant days aou door tu speak on, for a feller tu be a-breakin of his back diggin taters, a-humpin up ag in the blue sky, with MUD TURTLE. 137 his nose an eyes tu dead tater tops an naked silo, when ev y thing looks so putty all around, an it a niost the last chance o seein on t, or putty nigh, mebby. Then take it in the winter when the does come one o them kinder stray days at got left over aouten fall, er comes afore its reg lar time in spring, a feller do want tu be a-tunkin at a tree julluk a woodpecker, an lose all the good on t, ceptin what sunshine soaks intu his back. Then ag in come spring you jest wan tu thaw aout an git the good on t yourself, an not be tapped julluk a maple an have your sap b iled daown for other fo kses benefit. Take it in summer, it s tew hot most o the time tu work, anyway, an when the is a comf table day it seems s ough a feller ort tu jest lay in the shade an see things blow an grow an git ripe erless go a-fishin , which I would n t in no boat of nary sect, not for ri daown enj yment, don t seem s ough I would, not if they bit faster 11 you c ld yank em." " Dat was de bes comfortable Ah 11 can took in dis worl , me," Antoine remarked, while Joseph took breath, " jes for feesh, an hab de feesh do hees half." " I don t s pose it s sca cely right," Joseph con tinued, " but sometimes it most seems s ough I putty nigh wanted tu cuss the man at invented work ; he sartainly did begin a tormented sight o trouble." 138 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Not no gre t for you, Jozeff," Uncle Lislia commented, and went on to say, " I do know as I hanker arter work, but if I lied me my tools here an a shoe tu mend, jes for knittin work, I cal late I sh ld enj y myself tol able well." " Work kinder goes ag in the grain when it in terferes wi huntin , Sam said, thrusting a cedar twig into the dying embers and watching its tardy kindling, " but then the work gives a better relish tu the huntin when you git it." " One Lasha spikiii baout de shoe mek me t ink prob ly Ah 11 bes was gat mah t read-needle an men mah traowser," bending to inspect his frayed knees, " bah gosh ! Ah wish mah clo s was grow up jes sem lak you skin w en you tore it. Ah do know all what Ursule goin said w en he see mah traowser all wore off so. Ah guess Ah goin tol him it cause Ah 11 been pray for him an de chil en so much. It take good many pray for go raoun all of it, ant it? Wai, Ah guess Ah em-broider mah knee." Then having got needle and thread and lighted his pipe, he sat down to the uncongenial task. " Dis mek me rembler one " he began, and then interrupted himself with a sharp indrawing of breath and an imprecation, " S-s-s-p, Sa-cre ! " as he jabbed the needle point into his knee. " Dat mek me rembler one man Canada." " Good airth an seas ! I was a-hopcsin you d MUD TURTLE. 139 forgot him for oncte," Uncle Lisha shouted with such emphasis that it arrested the flow of anec dote. Antoine suddenly became silent and plied his needle with sullen diligence. " Wai, you might as well trot him aout, Ann Twine," the old man said, moderating his tone, " th won t be no gettin red on him naow." Thus encouraged, Antoine went on with his story, while his audience listened with more inter est in the manner of his telling than in the matter. " Yas, sah, dey was one man Canada, one tarn, an if you 11 ant b lieved it Ah can tol you nem de place w ere he live, honly Ah 11 fregit now. One tarn in de fall his waf was mek it new pair clo s all over, new shirt, new coat, new traouser, everyt ing. De hwomans he feel putty plump cause he 11 weave it all heese f, an cut it all up an sew it togedder heese f, an he lak for look at hees mans w en he gat all on, for go on cle market. " One day w en he go, jes fore he 11 ready for start, he 11 hear hees leetly dog bark very hard in de hwood not more as leetly way from de haouse. He was terribly hunter mans, an t ink prob ly de dog was tree up a coon. So he 11 took hees hoi fusee an run off for shot it a minute, an bah gosh, w at you t ink ? " It was pant er, hoi big feller, hugly lak meat-axe. But de mans he 11 ant scare for run. He p ant hees gaun an pull it, an de flint jes 140 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. go pluck. An de pant er jomp on de man, scroonch, an tore off all dat new clo s not more as two ninches wide. Oh, bah gosh, Ah 11 tol you, haow dat hwomans was feel bad w en she see it all spile up dat clo s she was be so troublesome for mek. Dat was too bad. " Dar, sah," he said as he regarded his needle work with proud satisfaction and caressed the grin ning stitches, " Ah 11 b lieved dat was mos as han - some as if Ah 11 had quiltiii party work man knee. All Ah 11 fraid for was Ursule t ink All 11 gat some oder hwomans for sew me up." "Did the man get hurt much, Antwine?" Jo seph inquired. " De man ? Oh, he was be keel, Ah b lieve so. Wai, Ah guess Ah 11 goin han some mail oder knee so hees brudder ant be shem of it. One Laslia, if you want it Ah 11 sew you clo s. Ah 11 was be preffic tailor man, me." When the last stitch was taken he sawed off the thread with his tobacco-clotted knife, put the nee dle carefully away, and then studied all the land scape with an undecided air as he said : " Wai, Ah do know if Ah 11 go feeshin , or pick some wa nut, or borry some happle, or go long up de crick for see wat Ah 11 see. Ah guess Ah do dat," he said, coming to a decision as his eyes dwelt on the shaded level shore. " Any of it goiu long to me ?" MUD TUETLE. 141 " I guess I 11 jes laze raound tu-day," Uncle Lisha said after a little consideration, and Joseph after larger deliberation concluded to stay and help him, for " it seemed s ough it was consid ablo of a hefty job o sittin raound for a man o Uncle Lisher s years tu ondertake alone." " If I had Drive here I d set some o these Lakefield foxes tu dancin tu a Danvis tune," Sam said, studying the lay of the land with a careful eye, " jest tu see haow nigh I ve guessed the run ways. As it is, I believe I 11 poke along up tu Mr. Bartlett s, an take em a pair o ducks." Failing to induce any of them to accompany him, Antoine shouldered his gun and set forth alone along the shore of the creek, making stealthy approach to every marsh-locked pool that offered harbor to a duck, and searching every nut-tree for squirrels. But the waterfowl were abroad and the squirrels at home, so he continued his quest be yond the imperceptible junction of the shores of creek and Slang. Now and then he was startled by a bittern spring ing in awkward haste from the marshy covert, or by a heron launching himself to stately flight from some still pool ; but he did not care to chance the uncertainty of a flying shot on such poor game, nor did he discover anything worthy of capture till he came near the log causeway that formed the ap proach to the Slang bridge. 142 UyCLE LISHA S OUTIXG. There he came upon a monstrous turtle scram bling along in a ponderous haste, the eldest patri arch of the marshes, bearing moss of a century s growth upon his venerable back. Autoine rejoiced at the discovery of such noble game and hastened forward to secure it, but the wary old turtle imme diately faced him, and pivoting on its hinder legs met every attempt of his assailant to seize him by the tail with quick out-thrusts of the head and vicious snaps of the ugly jaws. " Bah gosh, you 11 ant felt very good-nachel, dis morny, ant it, One Mud Turkey ? " cried Antoine, with growing respect for his venerable antagonist. " "Wai, Ah 11 goiii give you somet ing for bit ant so soft Ah was," and laying aside his gun he went in search of a suitable stick. Taking advantage of this cessation of hostilities, the turtle retreated to the bare border of the marsh and began burrowing into the soft muck with such speed that he was more than half his length out of sight in it when Antoine returned after a very brief absence. Laying hold of the turtle s tail, the stout Cana dian tugged with hiight and main before the crea ture s obstinate resistance was finally overcome and he was drawn forth and laid sprawling helplessly on his back. One end of a stick was now offered him, which he seized savagely, and was dragged thereby well up on to the grassy bank, where An- MUD TURTLE. 143 toinc took counsel with himself concerning the present disposal of his captive. " F Ah 11 took you home jes you was, you ant han some for look, an prob ly (ley ant t ink you was fit for heat. But meat jes han some anybody, so Ah 11 jes honly took dat for mek you quaint of de boy. Ah 11 was very sorry for you, One Mud Turkey, but Ah 11 obleege for cut you necks. You was took you las ride on you hown foots, an you 11 ant pull some more leetly dauks by hees leg of it an bit hole on hoi homans geeses prob ly. Oh, ant you shem for do so gre t weeked ? " Thus hardening his heart for the execution, he drew out the turtle s neck to its fullest extent by the unreleased grip on the stick and severed it at one stroke, with little apparent effect on the crea ture s vitality, and proceeded to dress the meat, using the broad shell as a trencher whereon to be stow it. Having completed this task and washed his hands, he felt need of the refreshment of a smoke and made preparation therefor, but then discovered he had neither matches nor punk, though he was provided with flint and steel for firing the latter. In this extremity, with appetite whetted the keener by disappointment, he looked about for the means of relief, and discovered in a bushy clearing at no great distance a forlorn little cabin. A wisp of smoke writhing from the low chimney 144 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. promised fire enough to light a pipe, and Antoine made toward it, bearing his spoils till he came to a safe place of deposit in a fence corner. It was a squalid habitation, indicative of shiftless poverty. A path led to it, bordered on one side by some stunted rows of frost-bitten corn, on the other by hills of weed-choked potatoes, and close to the threshold a starved heap of pine roots, the sole miserable representative of a woodpile in the midst of the abundant forest. The place of miss ing panes in the single sash of the only front window was filled by a weather-beaten straw hat and a faded, tattered remnant of calico in some sort emblematic of the occupants, Antoine thought, when he entered after knocking on the sagged door that could neither be quite opened nor quite shut. A tall, gaunt, hollow-eyed woman and a tallow- faced boy of similar habit and features sat smoking short pipes by a scant open fire, and turned their listless faces toward him without surprise, scarcely with curiosity, as he accosted them. " Good morny, ma m, dat was very nice day dis morny." " H m, I s pose so," the woman assented dubi ously in a dolorous, monotonous tone, " for them at s well nough t enjoy it. We hain t, me an Jul us." " Ah 11 very sorry you ant felt better," said MUD TURTLE. 145 Antoine, with an expression of deep concern in his voice ; " f Ah could lit mah pipe Ah 11 was felt better, me. Ah 11 ant gat some fire." He held forward his pipe to indicate his need, and the old woman poked the embers with a stick, hitching her rickety chair aside to make room for him. Antoine scooped up a coal and puffed dili gently a moment before he asked : " What was be de matter of it, ma m ? " " Oh, it s the rheumatiz in my limb, an Jul us is peaked. No appetite for nothin but terbarker. I s pose it s me a-growin old an Jul us a-growin so fast grows lak a weed, he does ; la ge of his age, an sma t as he is la ge." She regarded her son with stolid admiration, while he, sucking his black pipe persistently, as stolidly received her praise of physical and mental growth and the visitor s hearty confirmation of it. " Yas, ma m, he 11 was smart boy, lak steel traps, an he beeg lak hosses. Ah 11 b lieved he be man fore you was, ma m." " I do know haow in this livin world he grows so, without no more nourishin victuals," the fond mother continued. " We hain t had nothin but pertaters an johnnycake an green corn t eat for a fortni t. My limb has pained me so t I wan t able to arn nothin duin for the neighbors, an he hain t able to work no time it takes all his stren th a-g;rowin so we hain t hed no meat victuals." 14G UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Dar was plenty dauk an feesh," Antoine sug gested. "Haow be you goin to get ducks without no gun ner nobody to shoot it ? " she drawled, with out changing her monotonous tone. " Er ketch fish when you ain t able ? Fish hain t no nour ishment neither, if you hain t no fat pork to fry em in." " Dar was a lot of mud turkey," Antoine further suggested. " Mud turkles ! " the old woman exclaimed with an expression of intense disgust in voice and fea tures. " D you s pose we d eat mud turkles ? H mp ! I d livser eat snake ! " Antoine felt indignant at the starved crone s contempt of what he considered a choice delicacy, but inquired blandly : "Prob ly you ll ant lak cheekin pooty good, ant it ? " " Why, yes, me an Jul ; us can eat chicken, the white meat, if the hain t no skin on t." " Wai, naow, Ah 11 tol you, ma m, dat was purty good lucky, cause you see Ah 11 was gat some cheekin all dressed up dat Ah 11 was carry to mah frien on de camp, an Ah 11 be glad for give you some of it f you len me dish for fetch it." The old woman nodded assent, and pointed over to the table with the air of begrudging a favor. Taking a broken blue-edged -plate from the table MUD TURTLE. 147 that was scant of everything but untidiness, An- toine went to bring the alms. " Ah 11 can help it," he sighed as he knelt be fore the improvised trencher, and reluctantly se lected a generous portion of the lightest colored meat. " F Ah 11 goin taught it for heat mud turkey Ah mus beegin wid de bes . Ant he look jes lak cheekin ? Bah gosh, he was cheekin, honly he grow on mud turkey." He carried his gift to the cabin and presented it to the old woman, who, after a critical inspection, began preparing it for the pot ; while her son awoke to such interest in the prospective repast that he sauntered out-doors, and with the dull axe pounded some pine roots into suitable lengths for the fire, which being kindled he sat down again to the restful enjoyment of his pipe and the growing fragrance of the seething stew. An toine wished he might stay and see with what relish it was eaten, now he was sure his half kindly deception was not suspected, but he could find no excuse for tarrying longer. " Wai, ma m," he said, as he dallied long over the fire with the relighting of his pipe, that he might inhale the odor of the pot, "you cheekin smell very good, an Ah hoped he tas e more better as he smell, prob ly, an Ah 11 hoped you 11 gat over your limb. Ah . 11 had one of it one tarn in 148 UNCLE IISHA S OUTING. mah knee, an he was very bad t ing for had. An Ah 11 hoped you boy grow long an wide. Good morny, bose of it." " Thank you, an I m obleeged to you," the old woman said, with some cordiality. " I s pose you could n t fetch a drawin o tea if you come this way ag in ? " Julius withdrew his rapt gaze from the steam ing pot to cast an inquiring glance on the depart ing visitor, who went his way pretending not to hear the request. Antoine took up the precious burden, which had been somewhat lightened by his generosity, and bent his careful steps campward, praying that he might fall in with nothing worth shooting, and compelled an answer to his prayer by refusing to see a chance for a shot. He would not look to the right when a partridge clucked and stirred the leaves with deliberate footsteps among the under growth close beside his path, nor to the left when an unsuspicious squirrel barked and squalled in the nearest hickory, nor turn his eyes toward the marsh to seek the cause of the bickering and splash ing that was going on behind the screen of sedges. So, without interruption, he came to where he saw the white tent shining like a welcome beacon among the trees. He presently found Uncle Lisha and Joseph basking in the sifted sunshine, the one trying to content himself with idleness, the other making no effort for the full enjoyment of it. MUD TURTLE. 149 Antoine set down the shell of meat before them and exclaimed as he pointed proudly toward it : " Dar, sah, Ah 11 fetched you somet ing for heat dat was victuals." " Good airth an seas ! " cried Uncle Lisha in surprise, " where did ye git some fresh meat ? You be n where they was a-boocherin ? I ain t heard no squealin , an it ain t no pork nuther. What is t ? " " No, sah, One Lisha, Ah 11 be n butchy mase f, an he 11 ant squeel nor beller, an he was pork an beefs, an wal, dey was fave kan s of it, but Ah 11 fregit toder, cep cheekin ; Ah 11 guess he was all gone prob ly. Ant you mek aout you min of it, Zhozeff ? " " Wal, I don t seem to make aout ezackly," said Joseph, deliberating on all fours over the heap of meat and swaying and crouching in various points of observation. " Mebby it s beef, but I guess it s pork, an I do know but it s veal, some on t, an like nough t hain t nary one. I do know." " An you 11 was gat him baout raght, an it was more better as all. It was mud turkey ! " Joseph recoiled upon his haunches aghast at the revelation, and Uncle Lisha exploded a snort of disgust. "You ll ant want for stick you nose up fore you gat it in you mout ," said Antoine, as he set about his cookery. " You ant w en you smell heein, an w en you heat you be happy." 150 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. His companions watched him in silence that was a protest against his operations while he put the meat in the pot and set it on the replenished fire, when after a final approving glance he relegated to them the further care. " Ah b lieved Ah 11 goin keel dauk over on de bay, me, an if you 11 was goin loafer raoun here you can jes well keep de kittly bile, Zhozeff, an One Lasha keep you from heat all up of it," and when Joseph after pondering a while did not refuse the duty, Antoine shouldered his gun and strolled out of sight among the trees. When the sound of his departing footsteps could no longer be heard, Joseph started up with unusual agility and whispered wheezily, " Say, Uncle Lisher, it don t seem s ough we orter eat that dumbed hejus riptyle jes tu please him, does it naow ? " The old shoemaker shook his head in decided neg ative, and he went on, " Wai, then, I tell ye what, le s take an empty aout the consarned mess an put in some duck meat in place on t ; he won t never know the diff ance. Seem s ough it wan t no more n sarvin him right, seein what a haow- delow he made baout me a-cookin that bowfin an would n t let me cook my own mud hen, which if it was of the mud specie was nough sight better lookin faowl an what a mud turkle is." " I hain t no objections," Uncle Lisha said, " for I don t like the idee o bein bleeged tu eat what MUD TURTLE. 151 I don t want tu. But we won t heave it away ; we 11 jest hide it till we git aour dinner eat, an the critter c n sit up nights an cook an eat his n if he wants tu." The conspirators at once set about carrying out their plot, emptying the present contents of the pot into a pan which they hid inside the tent, and substituting therefor the fraud.. Wings, skin, and larger bones were rejected, and no flagrantly incon gruous member put in except one gizzard, which Joseph popped into the bottom layer. When all this was accomplished in haste and fear of dis covery, and the pot again set to boiling, the two sat down to tend it with more leisurely care, but were hardly settled in their seats when they heard cries of distress arising from below the cliff. " Oh, One Lasha ! Here, Zhozeff, come fas you can ! Oh, Ah 11 broke off mah leg, bose of it ! Ah guess mah arm, prob ly. Come, quick ! " Greatly alarmed, they hurried down the steep path with a speed so unwonted that it endangered their own limbs. They searched the foot of the cliff, expecting at every step to come upon the help less form of their comrade. " Ann Twine ! Ann Twine ! where be ye ? Grunt if ye can t speak," Uncle Lisha called loudly, but no response came. " Wha d the dumb fool wantu go an tumble off o there for? He might ha knowed it ould 152 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. pooty nigh kill him. Mebby he is dead, poor cre - tur ; I wish t we d ha let his turkle be jes as he fixed it. ? The most careful search failed to discover An- toine or any trace of him, and after a meditative silence Uncle Lisha broke out : " Consarn his pictur , he be n a-foolin on us wi his dumb French cadidoes. T would n t no more n sarve him right if we hove him over the rocks an his mud turkle after him." " Er make him kerry us up on his back," Jo seph suggested as they toiled up the path. " Seems s ough that d suit me tol able well." They rested themselves while they watched the pot, and in the middle of the afternoon Antoine returned, tired with tramping and sharp set for the aldermanic feast. "Darned cunnin caper, wan t it, a-hollerin bloody murder the way you did ? " cried Uncle Lisha, and wondered at the innocence of the Cana dian s face as he answered in surprise : " Me ? Ah 11 ant holler, but Ah 11 felt holler all de tarn, an de more Ah 11 smell dis de more Ah 11 felt so. Ah guess it was loon you hear. Ah 11 see one of it. Or wal geeses, prob ly ; dar was big drove of it roos on de lake tween de li t- haouse." " Ann Twine," Uncle Lisha said sadly, " you be the lyinest sarpent I ever see." MUD TURTLE. 153 The others watched Antoine furtively as he eagerly sniffed the steaming pot and peered into it, but they saw no shadow of suspicion on his intent face. "Dar, sah, One Lasha, an too you, Zhozeff, ant you 11 cure you foolish all de tarn you been smell dat mud turkey git ready for heat ? Oh, Ah tol you he grea deal more better as dauk an he jes tendry as cheekens," he continued, as he prod ded the contents of the pot with a fork and then lifted it from the fire to the centre of the table. " Naow, Zhozeff, brought de plate an de bread an de pettetto, an git ready for beegin. Come, One Lasha." " I can t help a spleeuiii ag in it, Ann Twine, but I in goin tu try it a hack, jest tu please you," said Uncle Lisha, taking his place with feigned reluctance, and Joseph followed in like manner, after performing his part in furnishing the table. Each helped himself sparingly and took tenta tive morsels, while Antoine fell to with unques tioning faith and good appetite. The latter was so fully shared with him by his companions that they soon forgot their pretense of aversion and vied with him in the onslaught, and exchanged know ing winks when he extolled the excellence of the dish and smiled upon them in ^benignant triumph. When hunger was appeased, Joseph began to be uneasy under the burden of his secret and troubled 154 UNCLE LISHA 1 S OUTING. to know how to relieve himself of it, when Antoine gave him the opportunity. " Dar, sah, One Lasha, Zhozeff, naow you was be heat it, ant you willins for hown he was putty good, hein ? " " Wai, tol able, when a feller s hungry nough not to be p tic lar," Uncle Lisha admitted, " but I don t call it nothin stror iiary." " Tu tell it jest s t is, Antwine," said Joseph, after due deliberation, " it r ally don t seem s ough it was a tumble sight diff ent f m duck." " Oh, he ant, ant he ? " cried Antoine. " Oh, Zhozeh, what for you ant talk sem you heat? You was heat more as you was in two day fore. Naow, what for you 11 ant howii dat mud turkey was grea deal more better as dauk, hein ? " " You won t go tu r arin up and gittin mad f I tell ye ? " Joseph asked, swelling with suppressed laughter and hitching a little nearer to Uncle Lisha, who was chuckling audibly. " No, sah, Ah 11 ant never git mad raght after dinny, special w en he was mud turkey. Dat always mek me good-nachel," Antoine magnani mously declared. " Wai, you hed n t ortu, cause you know you was consid able uppish abaout me a-cookin my mud hen an haow you went on consarnin a bowfin at I fried one time, an it don t seem s ough ary one looked wus n a mud turkle or a eel, so it don t MUD TURTLE. 155 seem s ough you d ortu rare up much when I tell ye it hain t nob dy nor nothin but duck we be n a eatin ." " Oh, he 11 ant, ant he ? Wai, he was putty good dauk," Antoine remarked, with imperturbable coolness. " It wan t nothin else, an the way on t was, you see, me and Uncle Lisher kinder spleened ag in that ere turkle so it did n t seem s ough we could eat it, hungry as we was. So, arter you was gone, we jest emptied it aout n the kittle an filled it up wi duck, which it Is what you be n a-eatin . But we did n t heave away your turkle meat. It s in the tent yender, an you c n eat the hull caboodle on t." The two conspirators curiously watched their victim, with the expectation of seeing him burn with wrath or wilt with shame, but he calmly con tinued the careful cleaning of his pipe without speaking until he assured himself of a free draft by vigorously blowing and sucking. Then grin ning benign an tly on them while he whittled and ground a charge of tobacco, he said : " Wai, naow, Ah 11 goin tol yo . Ah was mek four peoples heat mud turkey to-day, an dey ant know it. Fus , w en Ah dress him up Ah 11 fan hoi hwomans an hees boy; dey ant mos got not ing for heat, but dey can heat mud turkey, oh, no. De good meat walkin all raound ant quat 156 UNCLE LISHXS OUTING. good nough for it ; dey mus had clieekin, an de hoi hwomans an hees boy, dey was very satisfy. Den All 11 brought de res an , bah gosh, you was very kin for cook it an help me heat it, w en Ah 11 know you 11 ant lak it for heat mud turkey." " I tell ye, Ann Twine, it wan t turkle ! " Uncle Lisha cried in some heat. " We would n t eat the dumb stuff, an so we changed it, jest as Jozeff says." " Dat was so, for Ah 11 see you do it, me. Yes, sah," he continued, complacently regarding their astonished faces. " Wen Ah go way Ah 11 fregit mah pipe an Ah 11 come for gat it an see you an Zhozeff was fuss wid de pot, an Ah 11 hid behin dat bush till you gat it all fix as you want it. Wen you 11 hear me holler you 11 ant fin me, ant you ? Dat tarn Ah 11 come back here quick an Ah 11 swap de meat ag in, an , bah gosh, sah, you ll gat lot of dat mud turkey inside of you." " Ann Twine, you re a-tellin one o your lies," said Uncle Lisha incredulously. For answer An- toine brought forth the pan of duck from the tent and set it before them. " Dar," he said, pointing to the gizzard conspic uously displayed on the top, " has mud turkey gat gizzar ? Ant Ah 11 see you put heem on de pot, Zhozeff ? Ant Ah 11 see you poke for it when you heat, hein ? Oh, you was lak de gizzar very MUD TURTLE. 157 much, Zhozeff, but you 11 ant fin it lionly but jcs de chip Ah 11 put in for improve mah storee for be true," and after a moment s search at the bottom of the pot he fished out a cedar chip on the point of his fork and held it triumphantly before their faces, whose expression of blank amazement broad ened to imbecile grins, while Antoine laughed up roariously. "Oh, One Lasha! Oh, Zhozeff! Ant you putty smart for foolish me an gat foolish you se f more as Ah was," and he pranced about in an ecstasy of triumph, while Uncle Lisha groaned in disgust. " The dumb thing makes me feel crawly. I shall be a snappin at ye fust ye know." " Wait, Ah 11 look see if de moss beegin for grow on you back, One Lasha. Oh, don t you go crawl 011 de ma sh," as the old man stumped down the path to the landing. " Say, Antwine," Joseph said confidentially, " it don t seem s ough the d be any use o tellin Sam- wil. If you won t say iiothiii I won t, an we 11 come it on him." But when Sam came he stumbled upon the fresh turtle shell, and remarked as he kicked it aside : " Hello ! be n a-havin mud turkle, hev ye. Wai, gi me some if you got any left. I al ays be n wantin tu try it." CHAPTER XV. A DAY INLAND. SAM put his gun in the canoe for company or from force of habit, but took no pains to find use for it. His paddle strokes fell so noiselessly that the waterfowl sitting in the edge of the marsh were first notified of his approach by the sight of the canoe s prow nosing its swift way past their hiding-place, or of the paddler s slightly swaying figure and the flash of his dripping blade. Others dozing full-fed were not aroused till the wake of the canoe shook the walls of their rush wigwam, and then with shaken quacks and squeaks of terror sprang to needless flight. A flock of low-flying teal came upon him so suddenly that he instinc tively ducked his head as they swerved upward and swept over him, and great fish dashed from beneath his stealthy keel with a startling surge. Then he saw the two Indians a little way before him, paddling slowly and halting at every muskrat house, in such leisurely conduct of their affairs as if the bright day were endless and the genial season to have no following: of storm and bitter A DAY INLAND. 159 cold, less provident than the muskrats, in no more haste than the lazily migrating waterfowl. Their voices, attuned to nature s, sounded no louder than the rustle of their paddles in the sedges as he ran alongside, and they then, first aware of him, showed no more surprise at his sudden appearance than if a weed had drifted past. " Quiee," Tocksoose gave greeting, and grinned a friendly recognition as he dropped a quarter- grown kit from a trap into the canoe ; but his comrade did not so much as turn his sour face toward the newcomer. " It s tew bad to ketch sech leetle runts," Sam remonstrated. " They hain t wuth fo pence." " Me no ketch um, mebby od man ketch um. Mebby mink ketch um," said Tocksoose. " Me like um git fo cen , as od man got twenty cen , nex year. LiF moosquas mo better for eat as ol one." "You might as well preach tu the minks an foxes as tu these critters," Sam thought, driving his canoe forward with vigorous strokes that soon brought him to the mouth of the East Slang, into which he passed and made his way up the narrow, winding channel. Rounding a bend, he came to the foot of a long reach, in which nothing animate could be seen astir but a solitary grebe wrinkling the glassy surface in widening circles at various points of departure and return, in his explorations 100 UNCLE LISILVS OUTING. of the nether watery world. Sam let the canoe drift at the will of the idle current, while he curiously counted the moments of the agile diver s disappearing. Then his wandering gaze became fixed on a great hawk that came cruising low over the apparently tenantless marsh. With short, restrained beats of his broad pinions the falcon ranged the silent cover till suddenly, with a sharp, downward slant he swooped into its depths, wherefrom, in the same instant, with a clamorous outcry of affrighted squeaks, a hundred wood ducks burst upward with a startling, thunderous roar of wings, threshing water, sedges, and air. As suddenly as they had risen they settled with a resounding splash in the open water of the channel, where they sat mo tionless, silent, and alert. The baffled marauder mounted heavily from the weeds, and wheeling a moment above the vigilant congregation, each member of which was ready to dive at any sign of attack, he recognized the uselessness of a further attempt and sullenly retired. The swimming ducks offered a rare opportunity for a deadly shot, but Sam admired so much the adroitness with which they had foiled the onslaught of the hawk that he hesitated to take advantage of it, and while he hesitated they became aware of the presence of a more fearful danger than that which had threatened them from above, now lurk- A DAY INLAND. 161 ing close beside them, and again simultaneously sprang into the air. Then Sam instinctively got his gun in hand, and taking aim at the nearest duck that was laboring upward pulled the trigger ; but the cap responded to the stroke of the hammer with only a faint, lifeless click, and before it could be replaced by another one the tardiest laggard was well out of range. When an anathema had been bestowed upon the worthless cap and its maker, Sam tried to make a virtue of the misfire and be glad that it had happened, and thus at tempting to fool himself with his own hypocrisy, came to the landing, marked as a place of resort by the ashes and spent brands of fishing fires that had burned in the spring nights when bullpouts were biting. Measuring the height of the sun, it occurred to him that he might enjoy the excitement of the arrival of the stage-coach by going a little out of his way to Friend Bartlett s, and therefore he held across the fields at a brisk pace toward the tavern, at which the coach halted for a change of horses. As he came to the high rail fence of a stubble field, he surprised a small flock of wild pigeons busily picking up the scattered grain. He had but a glimpse of them on the ground, their backs shining in the slanting sunlight like variously tem pered burnished steel, when, with a simultaneous clapping of wings, like a burst of applause, they 1G2 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. took flight. He fired into the thick of the flock, and four birds tumbled out of it. He strung them through the under mandibles on two of the long tail feathers tied together at the tips, and hastened on with his burden increased in weight, but more in beauty ; for the pigeons were old males, with ruddy breasts and brilliant upper plumage that shone with varied hues in the shifting lights. It soon had another quite as unexpected addition, for as Sam skirted the brink of a hollow, where a brook looped a miniature intervale, in uncertain quest of easiest passage, a partridge, an early wan derer from the woods, burst out of the fringe of trees like a cannon-shot from a palisade and flew straight for the home coverts, now with a blur of rapid, quivering wing-beats, now with set pinions, till Sam, dropping his load and aiming far ahead of the fleeting mark, brought it to the pasture sward in a long incline, as if alighting naturally ; but it struck the ground with a rebounding thud, which filled his heart with the pride that always comes to him who brings this noble bird down from its flight. He made haste to pick it up and go on his way, for he could hear the unmistakable far-sounding cluck of the approaching stage-coach and see the neighborhood gathering at the tavern. When he reached it he was not the latest comer, for two panting boys came running in honest undisguised A DAY INLAND. 1G3 haste, followed by another, who urged his bare legs to greater speed with sharp commands and vigorous cuts of a switch while he impersonated coach, horses, and driver. After them came a be lated grown-up idler trying to stay his steps to a deliberate pace, and from his shop across the road the aproned cooper came bareheaded, with his short-handled adze in his hand and diffusing a wholesome odor of the pine staves and ash hoops of cheese casks. Now came the stage-coach, the four horses at a brisk trot, the red and yellow body rocking with stately motion under the burden of passengers, bag gage, and mails, and greatest of all the driver, known from one end to the other of his route by every one, some of whom had the distinction of being known by him. lie pulled up the horses before the low stoop, and throwing the reins to a hostler, descended from his lofty seat to open the door of the coach for such passengers as chose to alight and stretch their legs while the horses were changed. Hospitably welcomed by the smiling landlord, clean-shaven and in shirt-sleeves spot lessly white, all availed themselves of the chance except a woman dressed in deep mourning who held a little boy with long wavy flaxen hair and a brunette complexion, seated upon her lap. He stared out wide-eyed at the juvenile groundlings, envying them their freedom no less than they his 164 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. distinguished position as a stage-coach passenger, while there was a silent interchange of bashful smiles. Two of the passengers were spruce city men, wearing their well-fitting garments with the accus tomed ease that a sharp-faced old lawyer wore his shabby suit of black, and an air of half contemptu ous condescension toward three farmers who like himself were representatives-elect to the Legisla ture on their way to the State capital. These three were already counting the cost of the honor as they longed for the daily comfort of shirt-sleeves and old clothes, and wondered how they could bear the burden of coats for four long weeks, and what they should do with the strong, hard hands that till now few days but Sundays had found unem ployed. Even now one got his knife open and searched the ground for a bit of soft wood to whit tle, while another resumed interrupted work upon his finger-nails, which gave promise of employment for some time to come. There was also a bluff Englishman, who at once caught sight of Sam s birds and asked many questions concerning them, as did the city men he, with a sportsman s inter est ; they, with a hungry relish of whatever smacked of wild life. To the untraveled mountaineer the stage-coach, with the mud and dust of other and distant towns upon its wheels and painted sides, and bringing A DAY INLAND. 165 hither dwellers in great cities and men whose home was beyond the sea, was as strange an object as a ship come to quiet port from the turmoil of the ocean and the busy world beyond it, with the salt of the sea waves still upon its decks and the breath of foreign atmospheres not yet quite exhaled. The sight and touch of it gave him a dreamy vision of scenes that he could never chance to see, and with such respect for its strangeness he marveled at the bold familiarity of the boys, who pranced and capered as horses at the empty pole, thrust out like a stripped bowsprit, while one enjoyed a blissful moment of regal glory on the box. The little child inside the coach was teasing his mother for something, and she, after an unavailing attempt to quiet him, asked Sam now sitting alone on the long bench of the stoop if she could get a drink of water for the child. He at once brought a brimming glass from the bar-room, and with a careful eye upon it as she stretched forth her hand, he saw a narrow band of unmis takable mulatto skin between the glove and the sleeve. He gave a quick start at the unexpected revela tion, that spilled a little of the water, and cast a quick, inquiring glance at the black-veiled face. The woman, as quickly divining the cause, hastily drew her sleeve down to her glove. The boy drank eagerly and she finished the glass under her ICG UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. veil, returning it with a trembling hand to Sam, who reassured her with a significant shake of his head and a hand upon his lips. The stage-coach had a new interest for him now, but he did not betray it by staring inside it. The fresh horses were brought out and put on, the travelers took their places, the rural represen tatives flurried with fear of being left, the lawyer, the Englishman, and others with the easy delibera tion of owners, for whom the coach must wait. The driver climbed to the box, cracked his whip, and the heavy conveyance rolled gayly away. The landlord, the hostlers, and the spectators watched its departure to the first turn of the road. " By grab ! Dan don t drive a livelier team an that on his route, I 11 bet," said the landlord, with drawing his admiring gaze from the retreating coach. " Got quite a load o rep sent tives," another re marked. " Don t know s they look much better n aourn. Wonder if he s goin by stage." " M dah," one answered, evidently not a sup porter of the successful candidate. " He s a-goin tuckernuck, with his own team ! " " By jolly ! " the fat cooper ejaculated, " I wish t I had what it cost tu paint that ere English man s face. You wouldn t ketch me a-wheltin hoops." " That ere womern was turrible afeared o show- A DAY INLAND. 167 in her face," the youngest man of the party said; " but she need n t ha be n if she s as good-lookin as her boy." " Some widder womern, proberbly," the land lord said oracularly, and the company dispersed slowly, except the boys steps were hastened by the imperative rap of the schoolmistress s ruler on the rattling window sash of the schoolhouse. While the corner hamlet lapsed into its ordinary quietude Sam took the road, and presently came to Friend Bartlett s. The peaceful atmosphere of the place was not disturbed by his approach. The fat dog arose from his basking-place on the sunny side of the horse-block and walked forth to meet him with a slow, non-committal wag of the tail, which was quickened to a friendly greeting when the game was sniffed and Sam s knee had passed olfactory inspection, and then escorted him to the door with dignified cordiality. Rebecca Bartlett met him with a pleased smile lighting her placid face as she recognized him. " Why, this is Samuel, is n t it ? Well, I m real glad to see thee. I ve wanted to talk with thee about poor Pelatiah ever since John saw thee. What, thee has n t brought us more ducks? " " Wai, yis, marm," said Sam, " ducks was what I started tu fetch ye, but I run ontu a few pigins an a pa tridge, an did n t know but you could 168 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. work cm in some way. Pa trklge is pooty dry- meated, but pigiiis makes tol able pigin pies, aour folks thinks." " Thee has got a partridge ? Now I am glad," she declared with great satisfaction and increased interest, as she raised the bird from the bunch and felt the plump breast with a critical hand. " It s what neighbor Corbin s craving, and nob dy s been able to get him one." " Onwell, is he, inarm ? " " Oh, yes, he s very low," said Rebecca, modu lating her voice to due solemnity. " It s con sumption, and it is n t likely he can continue long, but he thinks a partridge is all he needs to make him well. Thee knows how it is with people in a decline. Now, if thee s willing, I 11 send it to him." " Why, sartinly, Mis Bartlett, it s yourn to du jest what you re a min tu with ; an I 11 sit ri daown an pick it an dress it." " No, thank thee, Samuel ; I think it will please him to see it jest as it is. He s been a great hunter. Perhaps it would be better for him now if he had given his thoughts more to weightier matters ; but it has seemed hard that he could n t have one partridge now, when he used to get so many, and for other people too. Margaret ! " " Yes, mother," a soft voice answered out of a light stir of housework inside, and in a moment the A DAY INLAND. 169 daughter appeared, without a trace of its recent performance upon her neat attire. A shade of anxiety fell upon her face as she recognized the visitor, to whom she gave friendly greeting. " Why, how does thee do ? " and then turning questioning eyes to her mother, " no bad news of of the apples, I hope ? " " No news ary way," Sam answered. " I see em git a good start tow-ards Canerdy." " No, it s nothing about them," said Rebecca, " but Samuel has brought us more ducks and some pigeons and this partridge, which seems almost providential. Now thee put on thy bonnet and run right up to neighbor Corbin s with the partridge, will thee ? While thee s gone I 11 get these pigeons ready and make a pie for dinner. If thee s a mind to help me pick em, Samuel, we can talk about Pelatiah, and thee 11 stay to dinner with us." Sam was not loath to accept both invitations, and followed Rebecca to the woodshed. Half of this was floored with plank, neatly swept, but thickly scarred with axe wounds where misdirected blows had fallen along the border nearest the chip-lit tered ground, on which the tiers of wood arose to the base of the cobwebbed rafters, to which phoebe- birds nests of past summers clung in various stages of dilapidation. The cheese-press stood at one end of the floor, the lever weighted with worn- 170 UNCLE LISHA>S OUTING. out plow-points, making occasional spasmodic, creaking descents, presently followed by an in creased trickle of whey into the keeler. A work bench stood at the other end, with a vise and a few tools upon it, under a dusty window, a rack of augers and a sickle, and a corn-cutter made from a broken scythe. Along the walls between the cheese- press and the work-bench hung various utensils of the dairy and the kitchen, divided by the kitchen and cheese-room doors. Elderly hens made cau tious incursions into this debatable ground be tween indoors and out, where nests were tolerated if once established. Rebecca sat down 011 the chopping-block and Sam on the saw-horse, and they stripped the feathers from the birds into the same basket ; and so, with hands and tongues employed together, economized time like two gossips at their knitting. " Poor thing," Rebecca exclaimed, pitying a wound she had uncovered of resplendent feathers, " it does seem cruel to kill such pretty creatures, but they do pick up a great deal of wheat, and they make excellent pies. And now tell me about Pelatiah. Was he greatly cast down ? " She sighed deeply and made piteous little sounds with her tongue against her teeth, as she listened to the story of Pelatiah s disappointment and Louisa s death, and when it was ended said in soft, motherly tones : A DAY INLAND. 171 " Ah, poor souls, how sad ! Pelatiah was very kindly and faithful, but I used to wish he was more tender. He did n t go to meeting with us very often. I hope he is softened. Louisa was a pleasant young woman, but light. Poor thing! poor thing ! " " Well, Peltier ain t no gre t hand tu go tu meetin , but I wisht there wan t no worse folks in the world. And he s as tender-hearted as a gal." " There, now, I 11 get the broom and sweep thee off," though Sam protested that he was quite clean enough. " My," she exclaimed, as she supple mented the vigorous sweeping of Sam s legs by the application of a moistened forefinger, " how feathers do stick to woolen stuff. Now I guess thee 11 do." Now Margaret returned glowing with the fresh ness of the morning, but sobered by recent speech with one who was near the end of life s journey. " Well, my dear, how did thee find David this morning ? " " Very feeble ; but he brightened up wonderfully at the sight of the partridge, and says he shall be able to shoot them himself in a little while." "Ah, poor man," Rebecca sighed, "he s done with all such things." " He wanted me to thank thee," Margaret said to Sam. " Why, it was n t me. It was your mother an you. But I be sorry for anybody at wants to go 172 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. huntin an can t. That is tough. It ould dn him more good tu shoot one pa tridge an to eat a dozen." " I don t quite see how that could be," said Margaret, with a questioning smile. Sam answered by asking : " Why, would n t you druther pick one wild posy at you s arched for yourself an tu hev a hid harnful fetched tu ye ? " " Oh, yes," and being a woman Margaret shifted ground. " But I can t understand how people can enjoy killing things, such pretty things as par tridges." " They hain t no prettier n posies, an it kills posies tu pick em. But that ain t what you pick em for. It s to hev em." " But it does n t hurt the posies," she argued. " That s more n we know, bein at we hain t posies, not all on us," and Sam s honest admiring eyes completed the compliment. " Well, child, we must be doing," said her mother, admonished by the deliberate chime of the kitchen clock. " Samuel, will thee go and visit John Bartlett or will thee come in and read the Liberator and the Anti-Slavery Standard, or maybe thee d rather read Thomas Chalkley s Journal, or some account of early Friends. Thee 11 find them very improving." Sam saw Margaret making a wry face at the A DAY INLAND. 173 mention of these works, as if at recollection of some unpalatable dose of childhood, and wisely decided to seek recreation in the company of living rather than departed worthies. He found Friend Bart- lett in a stony field behind the orchard, persuasively urging a yoke of deliberate oxen who moved with a slow, ponderous progress, in apparent unconscious ness of the plow behind them, though the tense chain creaked under the constant strain, the share groaned and grumbled a subterraneous complaint among the stones, and Michael, bending between the handles, grumbled and cursed in as continuous an undertone, which he took good care should not be loud enough to call a reproof from his employer. Sam was greeted with quiet cordiality by Friend Bartlett, and, accommodating his long legs to the pace of the procession, enjoyed a peripatetic visit till the mellow conch sounded for dinner. Michael s presence had prevented their speaking of what was uppermost in their thoughts, and now that he went to the barn with the oxen John Bartlett said : " Well, I guess our colored friend must be safe over the line by this time." " They went off a-kitin , anyways," said Sam. " An I tell you what, Mr. Bartlett, I b lieve the s a couple more on em a-p intin for Canerdy right in broad daylight," and went on to tell of the two stage-coach passengers. " Thee don t say ! In the stage this morning ! 174 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. I had a letter from one of our friends in Middle- bury saying that he had a woman and her child in his house and would send em along as soon as it seemed safe. But I did n t think he d venture to so soon after they were hunting for Robert and in this way. It was a pretty bold stroke, I say for it." " Mebby it s the safest arter all, an the won t nob dy mistrust at hain t on the lookout, for the woman keeps her face clust as ever you see, and the young un s as white as as any white young un," and Sam instinctively looked toward the east as if he could see through the " Pinnacle " to the Danvis hills, where his own flaxen-haired boy played safe and free in the shelter of the Green Mountains. " They 11 go right to one of our friends in Burlington, and he 11 put em aboard of the steam boat that 11 take em right to St. John s," said the other. " Come, let s go to dinner." The neatly served meal and its decorous prelude of silent grace forcibly reminded Sam of the differ ence between home life and camp life, and just then the latter did not seem quite the best, and it set him to longing for his own fireside. This long ing continued to abide with him when the quiet afternoon was half spent and it was time for him to return to camp, for which he felt a kind of dis gust, not lessened by the impression of his enter- A DAY INLAND. 175 tamers unspoken conviction that his present recrea tion was a sad waste of time. He could not take their view of it any more than they could under stand his, but he craved their good opinion, and could not be satisfied with mere toleration. Till he was out of their sight, half way across the fields, he felt a shame that he was ashamed of. Then a westerly waft brought him the heartening fragrance of the autumnal woods the odor of pine and hemlock and ripe leaves. Far behind him he heard the returning stage-coach clucking like a hen bringing home her brood, and presently after, the joyous clamor of the freed school-children, for the stage-coach was the school-mistress s clock. Unheeding the incoming waterfowl that swerved aside or upward from their impetuous flight to pass him, he paddled steadily down the channel, his constant wake gilding the silver water far behind him with pulsing reflections of the sunset that were reflected again in flickering shafts of duller gold dropping aslant down the paling of marsh, and so he came to the end of his peaceful voyage. CHAPTER XVI. STORY-TELLING. THE company had been sitting around the fire for some time in meditative silence, Antoine espe cially in such deep thought that the pipe between his set teeth had gone out for lack of draft. He was racking his brain for the invention of a change in the bill of fare, which had become monotonous with continual repetitions of roast duck, fried duck, and stewed duck till each variation needed a good deal of Spartan sauce to make it palatable. At last he spoke, without removing his pipe from his mouth or his gaze from the fire. " Cheekin pie was good, an Ah 11 b lieved dawk pie was good, but Ah 11 ant tas e. F Ah 11 gat hoven or bake pans an somet ing for mek crus , an board for roll it, an peg too, an some pepper we 11 fregit for brought, an t ree, four necessity t ing Ah 11 can t rembler, Ah bet you head Ah 11 was mek you pie to-morry you can heat nough of it, prob ly. Ah 11 got de dawk." " It kinder seems," said Joseph, his mouth watering for the prospective feast, "as it looks STORY-TELLING. 177 naow, you d hafter make us a pie aouten clear duck, but I d know fer sartain." " You might spare him some feathers for crust," Sam suggested. " Wai, M ri could n t, though I da say they d make tol able light top crust." "Ann Twine s. pie is some like the feller s soup at I hearii tell on," said Uncle Lisha, fumbling absent-mindedly on the log beside him for a shoe- peg. " He was a-travelin an got short o money, or mebby he was a reg lar beggar, I do know, but ary way, he stopped tu a haouse an ast for some- thin tu eat, an they wouldn t give him nothin . So he ast em if they would n t lend him a kittle a spell an a spwun, so s t he c ld make hisself a kittle o stun soup, an so they did just tu see what he d du. Wai, he built him a fire side o the rwud an sot a kittle o water a-b ilin , an he took an washed a stun baout s big as his fist an popped it int the kittle, an sot an watched it b ile a spell, an then he dipped up a spoo f l an tasted on t. " It s proper good, says he, but it s kinder fraish, an I wish t I hed a leetle grain o salt tu put into t, an they went and fetched him a han f 1 an he put that in. " That s a gre t improvement, says he, a-tast- in ag in, but it would n t hurt it none if the was a hunk o meat in t ; any sort of a scrap at you 178 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. was a-goiu tu heave away. I hain t partic lar. An so they fetched him a good hunk o meat an he hove that int the kittle, an then says he, I s pose you d jes s live s I d pull one o them ere turnips over there ? This ere soup s goin tu be putty strong o stun if it don t ha some vege tables in t. " So he went an got him a turnip, an whilst he was abaout it he got an onion, an he cut em up an chucked em in. An when he got it b iled he eat nough tu last him tew days, an says he, a-rubbin of his stomerk, The hain t nothin at makes better soup n a good stun, wi a few leetle additions, an I m much obleeged tu ye for the use o your kittle, says he." " Dat was mek me rembler of one man Canada," said Antoine, scooping up a coal with the bowl of his pipe and pulling at it with resounding smacks. " I 11 warrant ye," said Uncle Lisha, " I never knew nothin at did n t." Antoine gave no heed to the remark, but at once began his story when his pipe was in blast. " You see, dar was one mans ant very good up, an he 11 ant gat not in for heat on his haouse cep one pea for all his waf an ten chillens. He tol hees hwomans for put de pot on de stofe an full him up wid water an put dat pea on it. Den bambye w en he beegin fo bile he look on de pot an see dat pea jomp raoun all lone, he say, Dat STORY-TELLING. 179 leetly pea was look lonesick, an Ah 11 goin see f Ah can fin somet ings for hees company. " So he go in de naght to nudder man s barn, where dey was keel bif critter an hang it for cold off, an he was cut good chonk an take it on his haouse an t row it in de pot long to de pea w en his waf he 11 ant see. Bambye w en de pea was bile plenty an his waf beegin tas e for heat, he say : " Bah gosh, Ah 11 ant never see so pea lak dat for mek soup, me. An de mans tol him : " You 11 ant never gat raght kan o pea fore. " " I guess it must be the water in your tew soups at makes me think o the way that ere little Wat Palmer got a pint o rum aouten Hamner here a spell ago," said Sam, as he broke a dry branch across his knee and slowly fed the fire with the pieces. " It wan t good rum, I 11 bate ye," said Uncle Lisha. " Wai, sech as it was, he got it aouten Hamner for nothin , which is more n most c n du, an he got drunk as a bee on t an then tol haow he done it." " Wai, haow d he come it on him ? " " Wai, Wat he was dre f lly dry an not a red cent in his pocket nor nob dy tu treat him. So he gits him tew pint bottles jest ezactly alike an fills one on em wi water an sticks that intu one cut-tail pocket an the empty one int t other an marches up to Hamner s bar s promp s a major 180 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. an calls for a pint o the best rum. Bern so promp Hamner cal lated at of course lie was goin tu pay ri daown, an so he drawed the sperits an handed it over to Wat, an he tucked it in his pocket, and says he, Mr. Hamner, you jest chalk this daown ag in me an I 11 pay for t the nex job o fiddlin I git, and Hamner said, not by a jugful, he would n t, an if Wat wan t goin tu pay for t then tu jest hand it right back. Wat, he begged hard, but it wan t no use, the money or the liquor Hamner would hev, an so Wat gin him the bot tle o water, a-partiii with t as ough t was his heart s blood, an off he went wi the rum, an in an haour was drunker 11 a hatter, an Hamner poured the water intu his barrel, never mistrustin , but a-ticklin himself at he d saved iiinepunce, an so he hed, r al y. But it bothered him haow Wat hed got so all-fired drunk." " Wai, sell, boy, if de folks dat was went to Hamny ant gat more as pant water in de barrel rawm, it won t hurt dem." "Wai," said Joseph, "it kinder seems as ough another pint o" water was a leetle mite more n Hamner s rum ould stan , accordiii tu my rec lec- tions o the taste on. t, but I d know, mebby it will." The company became silent again, each busy with his own thoughts, till Aiitoine began to sing as if to himself what may have been an improvisa- STORY-TELLING. 181 tion, but was more likely a free translation of an old song : " All tarn w en de leaf turn yeller It mek it kan o lonesick, me, For t ink w en Ah 11 was leetly feller An go sleep on mail mudder s knee, Dor, dor, dor, petit ! Dor, dor, dor, petit ! Same hoi song she sing to me. " Den de folkses an de medder, An de ribber an de tree, Beegin swimmin raoun togedder W en mah mudder sing to me, Dor, dor, dor, petit ! Dor, dor, dor, petit ! So he sing his song to me. " Sometam Ah 11 wish for be dat bebby, Jus de sem Ah 11 use for be. Ah 11 ant care f he scol it, mebby, F Ah 11 hear mah mudder sing to me, Dor, dor, dor, petit ! Dor, dor, dor, petit ! Jus sem he use for sing to me. Sem mah mudder sing to me." Antoine pocketed his pipe and yawned sleepily, " Wai, dis ant mek any dawk pie. All 11 b lieved Ah can mek it jus as fas f Ah go sleep," and he made his way into the tent, whither the others presently followed, Sam lingering last to scan the patches of starlit sky between the branches, and forecast the morrow s weather. Then, while the dying fire snapped itself out and the dancing shadows sank into the universal gloom, the tired hunters were lulled to sleep by the slow wash of waves and the low song of the cedars. CHAPTER XVII. UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH GO VOYAGING. UNCLE LISHA woke early from a troubled dream of slaughtered geese that when picked tip changed to a leering, disagreeable man clad in a garment of feathers and a red woolen comforter tied about his neck. As the unpleasant vision dissolved in the vanishing mists of dreamland, his awakening senses realized the dim, chilling dawn of the autumn day, its silver promise of golden hours, its absence of bird songs, the near stillness stirred but not broken by far-away sounds, the raucous call of dusky ducks, the chiming whistle of a flock of golden- eyes already on the wing, and the crazy laughter of a distant loon calling the sleeping winds. These sounds became more separate and distinct when he crept forth into the open air without dis turbing his companions and stood shivering by the cold fireplace. He heard what more attracted his attention, the rustle of quick nervous footsteps in dry leaves near by and a sharp " K-r-r-r, quit, quit, quit, quit " that at once told their origin. He cautiously drew his gun from the tent and went in UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 183 stealthy pursuit of the partridge, which led him down to the brink of the cliff before it burst into flight and went clattering far out of sight among the trees. Uncle Lisha stared a moment into the brief dis turbance of branches along the bird s aerial path, and then through a narrow aperture in the green wall of cedars he turned his eyes upon the lake, always an object of admiration to him, a dweller among the mountains. He saw Split Rock and the farther shore of the bay becoming distinct in the growing light, and looming above the low-spread veil of mist, whose nearer frayed edge dissolved in the silvery sheen of the water, smooth as glass, yet gently undulat ing with long swells that were not perceptible except as they swept downward the lengthening reflections of Garden Island trees, or washed the sands with recurrent, slumberous murmurs. As he peered out upon the tranquil scene through the narrow casement of boughs, he heard a sonorous gabble of voices mingled with the soft wash of the swells, evidently close at hand, yet coming from an unseen source, for there was no living object in sight but a small flock of ducks crinkling the glassy surface with their wake just in the edge of the mist. Raising himself on tiptoe and looking nearer, his heart almost choked him at the sight of five noble geese standing midleg 184 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. deep in the sandy shallows almost beneath him. One tall old gander stood on guard, stretched to his utmost height, while his companions delved in the submerged gravel. With breathless caution the old man trained his gun upon them. Remembering all he had ever heard of the danger of overshooting in downhill shots, and aiming low at two that stood in range, the trigger was pulled, the mimic thunder rolled across the bay, and as the multiplied echoes came tumbling back from distant hills and shores the lifting smoke unveiled two sprawling forms floun dering in the shallows and a brief vision of the survivors climbing skyward with flurried wing- beats. He knew not how, but with a speed and safety that seemed in him miraculous, Uncle Lisha de scended the cliff and secured his victims. " There you be, anyway ! " he panted as he stood exultantly regarding them, "an if you re tame wiT geese you re almighty smart ones, an if any dumb man claims ye he 11 be an almighty smart one if he gits ye away f m your Uncle Lisher ! " Casting a furtive glance around, he gathered them by the legs, carefully examined their necks for any hidden mark of ownership, and made all haste along the beach. Though he had not far to go to reach camp, his breath was well-nigh spent, his short old legs were weak, and his arm ached with a UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 185 pain that lie was proud of when he had climbed the steep path, and bracing himself for a final effort, held up his game before his gaping comrades. " There, boys," he cried, " haow 11 that du for a fore breakf us job ? I tell ye it s the airly bird at gits the worm. These ere geese is the birds an I m the worm." Then in response to a shower of questions he related all the incidents of his exploit, while each of his companions " hefted " the geese separately and together and burned with envy or glowed with admiration. " An naow le s ha some breakfus , he cried when the recital was concluded, " for it s hungry work a-huntin geese an strainin work a-luggin on em, as you may not know, but I du." " I s pose you won t hev no bjections tu my hevin the feathers if I 11 pick em ? " Joseph asked as they sat around the stone table, and between bites he turned his eyes upon the geese, and with slow rumination calculated their yield of down. " Not a ident cal feather comes off m them geese till they gits tu Danvis, an Jerushy an the hull consarn on em sees em jest as they be, feathers an all. No, sir," the old man continued with increasing emphasis, as he waved the half- picked thigh of a duck in the direction of the sub ject of his remarks, " the ain t a-goin tu be nothin duberous abaout them ere geese, ner nob dy a-twit- 186 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. tin on me at they re someb dy nother s tame geese at I shot." " Prob ly you 11 goin prove it by de smell of it too, One Lasha ! Dey was git purty hoi nough for smell w en you gat it home." " I 11 resk but what they 11 keep three, four days, an you 11 be a-goin hum by that time, won t ye, Samwil ? " " Yes, I guess we 11 git nough on t by that time," Sam. answered. " An I would kerry em jest as they be if I was you, for they re better worth showin an anything we ve got erless it s aourselves. What be you an Jozeff goin tu du t day? Me an Antwine s a-goin up the Saouth Slang tu hunt some an see the Injins make the canew. Want tu go long up in the scaow ? " " No, I don t sca cely b lieve we du, du we, Jozeff? I be n a-cal latin tu gwup the crik a piece some day an see an ol feller at I useter know time o the war at I hain t seen for fifteen year, an I guess if Jozeff s a min ter go an hunt along up that way hi the scaow, we 11 go. I d ruther see an ol friend an all the dumb b ilin o Injins in the Nited States, an I don t care no gre t baout seein em make a canew. If t was mocker- sins, it might be interestin . What say, Jozeff ? " Joseph pondered long before he answered, cast ing doubtful glances out upon the creek while he slowly mopped his plate with a bit of bread. UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 187 " Wai, I do know, sca cely, Uncle Lisher. Du you understan haow tu oar a boat an gee an haw it ? Cause ye see I don t, an the plaguey dumb things goes a-shoolin raoun jest where they re a minter, a dumb sight contrayer n a hawg, seem s ough. I cal late they got it baout right when they called em she. I do know but what it can be 1 arnt, but I kinder reckon a feller s got tu hev the gift o maiiagin on em, same as o women folks, which some hain t ner can t git. Naow if t was M ri er Ruby, I should know jest haow tu go tu work, but darn a boat, anyways." " Good airth an seas, Jozeff, t ain t nothin to manage ary one. You jest got tu humor em, that s all. I can run that scaow boat anywheres on this ere crik, I bate ye." " Wai, if you c n du it, it s all right, an I 11 go, but if you hafter depend any on me, we shan t git anywheres ner nowheres else." Joseph s doubts being overcome, they set forth on their voyage, Uncle Lisha at the oars, shaping his course by frequent glances over his shoulder. The weather was in the genial mood that autum nal days often assume as if to make amends for later sullenness and turbulence. The sun shone warm and bright, and the genial air was stirred by so light a breeze that it only wrinkled the outer channel with ripples that flashed back the sunlight and repeated the azure of the sky in quavering 188 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. lines of blue, cut athwart by gold and russet reflec tions of farther woods and nearer rushy margins. The marshes were webbed so thick with a veil of spiders weaving that they looked as if a hoar frost lay upon them, while the sun threw a glade of bur nished gold across the broad silvery level, broken by the curving seam of the channel and the brown domes of the muskrat houses. Uncle Lisha pulled an even, steady stroke, but a noisy one, with a creak and splash that awoke echoes and aroused flocks of wildfowl, while the boat snored placidly on its course, its broad bow seeming to exhale long respirations as it met the ripples with a decadent surge. A party of crows came out of the woods, cruising overhead in a brief tour of observation, whereof they made discordant report as they flapped back to cover. A kingfisher sallied from his perch to meet the voyagers with a rattling volley of clatter that did not cease till he slanted in upward flight to a steadfast poise above a shoal of minnows, into which he presently plunged like a plummet, and then retired in silence to his Lenten breakfast. So they pursued the voyage, Uncle Lisha too busily employed and Joseph in too great trepidation for much conversation, till the mouth of the South Slang was passed, when the latter cleared his throat and remarked : " I tell ye what t is, Uncle Lisher, it kinder UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 189 seems s ough a feller d feel consid able stiddier an safer on one o them ere mushrat haousen an what he does a-bolancin hisself in this ere plaguey ol wobblin boat, seems s ough he would." " He would n t git fur on one on em, I don t cal late," the old man answered. " Mebbe he might git fur in em," said Joseph, feeling guilty for venturing to pun in such a peril ous situation ; but Uncle Lisha did not deign to notice it and he continued in serious vein. "But ye see I hain t wantin tu go nowher , on y tu git aout ont the land ag in, which the hain t no chance o duin here, ceptin I land on one o them mushrat haousen." Uncle Lisha vouchsafed no answer, but half turned in his seat to study his course, thereby slightly tipping the scow. " Sam Hill ! Look aout ! " cried Joseph, pulling hard on the gunwale. " You 11 hev the dumb tot- tlish consarn t other side up fust ye know ! " " Go long wi your nonsense," Uncle Lisha an swered. " You could n t tip it over." In proof whereof he wagged his head and shoulders from side to side and raised a wash that shook the boat, yet not so much as it did Joseph. " For the Lord s sake stop it, Uncle Lisher," he pleaded, " I can t swim no more n a grin stun." " Nob dy wants ye tu. You jes sit still an I 11 navigate ye." Uncle Lisha smiled benignly as he resumed his stroke. 190 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Set still ? It don t seem s ough I could, no more n on a hetchel, an the tarnal boat won t let me. Say, Uncle Lisher, I wanter git aout an set on a mushrat liaouse till you come along back. Like nough I c ld shoot a mushrat er suthin ." " Sho, the would n t none come anigh ye." " Wai, I don t care if they would n t. I ve rid fur nough, an don t want to go nowheres ! You back up tu that big one an le me git aout. My back aches an my laigs cramps, an I m dizzy- headed an sick tu my stomerk an I don t feel very well myself. You le me git aout." " Why, Jozeff, be you in ri daown airnest ? " Uncle Lisha asked, resting his oars. Joseph s scared face gave sufficient answer without supple ment of speech. " Yes, I be. It seems s ough I would n t ask for nothin in this world an tu be sot on suthin at would n t tottle every time I drawed my breath or rolled my eye. You jest lemme git aout." " Sho, now don t be sech a fraid-cat. It hain t more n a miled furder tu where we re a-goin , an then you can huff it back tu camp, crost the bridge an so raound." " I tell ye I ve rid fur nough. You back up an lemme git aout. Come now, du, Uncle Lisher. Whoa ! Back ! S-h-s-h ! Dumb the plaguey ol contr y thing ! Whoa ! Hush ! " " Wai, if you will, you will, I s pose," Uncle UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 191 Lisha said, stopping the scow s headway with a great surge of the oars and backing her in the direction of the largest muskrat house. "But you 11 git turrible lunsome, an you can t move raound none." " I ve moved raound nough tu last me a month. An I 11 be contented as a clam a-waitin fer ye. Seems s ough I would till till the ma sh froze, so I c ld walk ashore." The slanting stern of the scow slid up the sloped side of the house, and Joseph, hitching his gun. along beside him, crawled out on all fours to the top, where he seated himself with a sigh of intense relief. " There, naow, if t wan t fer thinkin o gittin away f m here, I sh ld be as independent as a man on the taown. You need n t hurry none baout comin back. Seems s ough I wanted consid able time tu git settled an rested up an look raound." " Guess you 11 git settled an sick on t fore I git aout o sight. If ye du, you holler, an I 11 come back an git ye. Good-by." Uncle Lisha bent to his oars and with a strong pull, assisted by a push of Joseph s foot, resumed his course, continuing it with moderate speed till quite out of sight, in momentary expectation of a recall. He passed the mouth of the East Slang and the long curve of the reach above it, when he came where shore and channel became neighborly 192 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. at a sandy landing, the cleanliest of all the old homestead ports that the inland voyager finds be tween the lake and the first falls of Little Otter. He pulled in at the foot of a great elm and stepped out on the flint-strewn shore, stretching his legs and straightening his back before he beached his boat and climbed the breast-high bank, which was cut to a steep incline by the wash of the spring floods, and overhung with a fringe of naked roots of shrubs and grass. A level meadow lay before him, the rank after math dappled with purple heads of the second blos soms of clover and starred with late daisies. Be yond it a farmhouse and barns nestled among locust, cherry, and apple trees, and a footpath led to it from the landing. This Uncle Lisha followed till the old house assumed a familiar appearance as he ap proached it from the unaccustomed direction. The smoke of an outdoor fire drifted up from behind a row of cherry-trees that bordered the garden, and with it broken clouds of steam that diffused a savory odor of mixed cookery, the old-time hog s hotch-potch of pumpkins, potatoes, and apples. When his feet brushed the plantain and scuffed the chips of the back yard, Uncle Lisha came close upon the source of the smoke and steam, a great potash kettle slung to a thick pole by a log chain over a brisk fire of stubborn odds and ends of the wood-pile. A wiry little man of about his own UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 193 age was sidling around the windward side of the fire, punching it here with a wooden poker, kicking it there with a quick thrust of his cowhide boot, and then, pulling a hat apparently as old as himself well over his brows and sinking his chin deep into the grizzled ruff of beard that surrounded his throat, stooped and peered into the bubbling kettle, getting brief glimpses of wallowing chunks of pumpkins, bursting potatoes, and dropsical apples. He was in this position as Uncle Lisha approached in the rear, and touched him lightly on the most prominent part of his person with his gun. The guardian of the kettle was not at all startled, but only called out without turning his head : " Hy, ye leetle sarpint, tryin tu skeer yer gran - , dad, be ye ? " Uncle Lisha touched him again, when, making a sudden clutch with his free hand, he caught the stock of a gun. Then he quickly faced about, the look of surprise growing on his face when it met the complacent grin on another face as old as his own and on a level with it. The expression of blank amazement softened to one of pleased recog nition when the visitor roared : " Good airth an seas ! Abil, don t ye know me ? " and the host responded in a higher pitched but as hearty a voice : " Why, Lisher Peggs, you goo for nothin ol sinner, is it you ? Where n time d you come 194 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. from, an haow be ye, anyway ? " and the hands of the old friends clasped each other in a vise-like grip. " I never thought o it a-bein nobody ner nothin but some o the young uns a-foolin . They re keen ones, I tell ye. But, by hokey, I m glad tu see ye. Where d ye come from, anyway, an haow be ye ? " Abel Benham ran on in an un interrupted flow while he lugged a block of wood in front of the fire. " There, set ri daown an make yourself tu hum. Got yer pipe ? Wai, here s some terbarker. Light up an le s have a smoke." While he filled his own pipe he stood off and made a critical examination of his friend, beaming upon him a slow smile of approval. " Wai, ye look jest as nat ral as an ol shoe. Leetle older an a leetle fatter, but jest as humbly as ever. Where d ye come from, anyway ? " Uncle Lisha accounted for his presence, and the two fell into a discourse concerning past experiences till Abel bethought him of another hospitable of fering. " Say, there s a berril o cider at s worked some. T hain t very sartain, but it s better n water. Won t ye ha some ? " He brought a brimming quart dipper of it, from which they drank in turn, and Uncle Lisha gave it the usual compliment of " being good for the time o year," while he thought of poor Joseph in thirsty isolation. They ate the mellowest apples UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 195 in the variegated fragrant pile that was flanked by a yellow mound of pumpkins on one side and on the other by a great heap of potatoes, blushing a dusky red through the clinging soil. When con versation lagged Uncle Lisha was taken to see the hogs, which were duly admired and their weight guessed, while a treat of back-scratching and corn nubbins made the visit a mutual pleasure. Then the dinner -horn sounded, and the visitor was forced, not much against his will, to partake of a bountiful meal, served in civilized fashion, which he realized was the better and more comfortable way, for he was beginning to tire of eating with his fingers and sleeping in his clothes, and of the un tidiness of womanless housekeeping, and he was glad to eat food nicely cooked, unseasoned with smoke and ashes, off a clean plate, in the compan ionship of women and children, and finish the meal with a dessert of pumpkin pie, so dear to the Yankee. Now and then he had brief mental visions of Joseph munching his dry, unsocial repast on the roof of the marsh dweller s hut, and felt some qualms of pity for his friend s solitary plight ; but both were as fleeting as they are apt to be when one in the midst of plenty considers the condition of the wretched. Not till he noticed how his shadow had length ened while he smoked and chatted beside the wan- 196 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. ing fire did he realize how long poor Joseph had been left in solitary exile. Then he bade his friend farewell and set forth on his return. With a long and strong pull Uncle Lisha sent the scow surging down the channel, and though he grew scant of breath with the unwonted exertion, he abated not the length nor strength of his stroke till he drew near the place where his comrade had been left, frightening scores of ducks to unnoticed flight a furlong in advance of his noisy progress. Then he began to look forward, the lifted oar blades dripping a dotted wake while he turned his head, or trailed, bumping the gunwales and creat ing a succession of miniature whirlpools while he twisted his short body for a long look ahead. Dis covering no one, he became anxious, but tried to quiet his feelings with the idea that he had mis taken his reckoning, and again plied the oars vigorously, casting frequent glances on either side. Presently he passed a muskrat house that he was sure must be the one upon which he had left his companion, for it was the largest in the neighbor hood, and the weeds in front were pressed flat where the boat s stern crushed them down, and in further proof of its identity a piece of paper that had held Joseph s luncheon lay on the shelving verge, one sodden half, anchoring the other that fluttered in the light wind. Uncle Lisha checked the boat s headway with a UNCLE LISHA AND JOSEPH VOYAGING. 197 backward stroke and headed toward the house, call ing out as he approached it, with his face over his shoulder, in a deprecatory tone : " There, naow, Jozeff, you need n t try tu hide ye. You can t skeer me wi your foolin . Git right up an git right in here." There was no response, and as the bow grounded with a soft, semi-elastic bump he called again, rather impatiently, at the same time getting upon his feet and facing about : " Come, naow, quit your foolin an git in here." His face became blank with amazement as he peered over the top of the muskrat house and saw only the naked slope of its farther wall. " Good airth an seas, has the critter got asleep an rolled off an draownded hisself ? " he cried in real alarm, then took an oar and gently prodded the shallow water on all sides, but met only the soft resistance of the oozy bottom. " Shaw, he couldn t never," he assured himself. " T ain t deep enough, an he d ha left his gun. But what on airth can ha become on him ? If he d ha waded ashore he d ha left a track in the ma sh like a tew-year-oP steer, an he could n t git through the mud, anyways. The hain t be n no boat come along at he da st go in. Where in tun- ket has the critter gone ? Jozeff ! Jozeff ! Jozeff ! " he lifted up his voice and called, first accenting and prolonging the first syllable, then the second, 198 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. and then both, but there came no answer save the mocking echoes repeating his call from the woods. " Con-dumb the tarnal fool ! Wha d he wanter go tu roost on a mushrat haouse for anyhaow, julluk a cussed mudhen ? " the old man growled in a tremulous voice when he had taken breath after futile listening. " And wha d I ever let him for ? I d give all my ol boots an shoes tu see him a settin in this ere boat ag in. Yis, sir, I would." He looked long and carefully all around far and near, and then shoved off into the channel and re suming the oars pulled lustily toward the camp. CHAPTER XVIII. A CKTJSOE OP THE MARSHES. JOSEPH HILL stretched his cramped limbs with a sense of great relief to both body and mind while he watched the scow pass out of sight around the next bend, and caught the last glimpse of Uncle Lisha s hat rising and falling with slow regularity behind the tops of the marsh growth. The clank and splash of the oars faded out of hearing, and as far as he could see or hear he was the sole human occupant of the marshes. Now and then a duck could be heard quacking a lazy call to comrades or uttering a startled note of alarm, and occasionally the quick, pulsing whistle of passing wings, and far away on the lake the wild cry of a loon, and high overhead the petulant scream of a hawk. Close at hand there was an infrequent rustle and splash of some invisible inhabitant of the marshes, but Joseph listened intently before he could catch the faintest sound of human life, such as the rumble of a distant wagon or ox-cart, or the mellowed shout of the teamster coming to him as if from a different world from that which held his 200 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. indolent environment. He was quite contented with the isolation and the quietude as he sat at ease on the soft but stable roof smoking his pipe and patiently waiting for something to come and be killed. Presently a huge pickerel appeared like an appa rition in the dooryard of the muskrat, his cruel eyes and mottled sides shining with a magnified gleam through the clear, still water that barely covered his dorsal fin. Joseph had a mountain eer s admiration for this species, and deemed such a specimen a worthy trophy. His heart almost stood still as he realized the opportunity for secur ing such a noble prize. He made a cautious move ment to bring his gun to bear upon it, but the wary fish detected it and dashed away with a sudden surge that tore the smooth surface into boiling eddies. Joseph dodged as if a blow had been struck him and gasped his disappointment. " Gosh darn the luck ! Wan t he a wolloper, though ! Wai, the hain t no feathers on him, any way!" Comforting himself with this qualified consola tion, he set to patient waiting again, with some hope that his recent visitor might return. The last ripple subsided and the schools of minnows, recovered from their fright, began to dart back into the restored quiet of the pool, when its sur face was moved by the sluggish undulation of an A CRUSOE OF THE MAESHES. 201 under wake, then silently broken as a muskrat s head appeared, regarding the strange occupant of its abode with a grim curiosity that would have been alarming if exhibited by a larger animal. The creature remained quite motionless, while Joseph with the utmost caution raised his gun to a deadly aim, and at such short range that it occurred to him, as his finger tightened on the trigger, that the furry skin would be riddled into worthlessness, and he had no desire for wanton destruction. " I shall blow ye all tu flinders, I know I shall," he whispered to himself as his finger relaxed. His left foot was drawn well under him, his arm rest ing across his bent knee and supporting the long gun barrel. " If he d swim off jes a leetle mite furder," he soliloquized as he looked straight into the fierce deep-set little eyes, " it seems jes s ough I might." Suddenly his heel slipped down the sloping wall, the gun barrel as suddenly descended, and the muskrat dived with a splash like the plunge of a ten-pound shot. It is said that the scream of a panther and the plunge of a muskrat will startle the steadiest and most accustomed nerves as often as heard or seen, and Joseph jumped as if he had suffered the double shock. " Gosh all Connecticut ! " he ejaculated, gasp ing as if he himself had been plunged in the cold water. " Why don t ye scare a feller aouten his 202 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. boots ! I snum, I most wish I d ha let ye hev, an spottered ye all over the ma sh, seems s ough I did, a most." Gradually he recovered his equanimity and now gave his attention to feathered game ; but though he lay close on the back side of the house, hoping that some passing flock or single bird might chance to alight in the channel within gunshot, all such espied him and veered off with swifter flight or climbed higher above him, giving his poor ambus cade a wide berth. Only once a flock of teal, following the channel in low flight as if it was a path, flashed past him, slanting lower with set wings to alight, but dropped out of sight beyond the next bend before he heard the fluttering splash that told of their descent. After a while they re appeared, swimming down stream in a devious way, circling, ducking, diving, and nibbling the water, till at last they started with a sudden impulse directly toward him. His gun was leveled upon them, the muzzle gradually lowering, and shaking with the tumultuous beating of his heart as they drew nearer. Now they were almost within certain range, and his finger began to press the hard trig ger and his teeth were set in expectation of the inevitable recoil, when all at once they became sus picious of the singular appearance of an old felt hat showing above the top of a muskrat house, and with one accord sprang to flight and vanished like wind-blown smoke. A CRUSOJK OF THE MARSHES. 203 "Wai, it does beat Sam Hill what tarnal luck I du hev right stret along this hul endurin day! But them wan t nothin but leetle pindlin teal. I b lieve the wan t ; not much meat on em, an the feathers mere nothin ! But I swan, I wish I d ha got em ! " Half an hour passed, and he was drowsy with lying in the warm sunshine, when he was aroused by a stir of the rushes close by the nearest musk- rat house, and then saw a large dusky gray duck swim out of the weeds and climb boldly and delib erately to its top. The slow upward movement of Joseph s gun was arrested by the thought that this could not be a wild duck, and he congratulated himself that he had not obeyed his first impulse. " It s a dumb putty idee, folks a-lettin the poultry run loose, hither an yon, an then make folks pay for em when they git shot accidental." Then Joseph addressed the duck aloud : " Do ye know at you come almighty nigh a-gittin shot, you ol fool?" The bird stood bolt upright and stretched its neck to the utmost, and Joseph, clambering to the top of the house, swung his hat and shouted lustily : " G long home, you ol fool, fore someb dy shoots ye ! Shew ! " The duck squatted and sprang into the air with rapid wing-beats, uttering discordant quacks of 204 UNCLE LISUA S OUTING. terror, and shrank to a wavering speck in the dis tance, while Joseph gaped at the vanishing form in blank and speechless amazement. " The very ol scratch is in everything ! " he said at last, and sat down, laying his gun aside as if he had no further use for it. " Dumbed if I try tu shoot anything, an I wish t Uncle Lisher d come along back." He took his luncheon from his pocket and ate it slowly, more to pass away the time than to appease hunger. The droughtiness of the repast was aggra vated by the abundance of unpalatable water that surrounded him, clear and bright to the eye, but saturated with rank-flavored weeds and nauseous to a mountaineer s palate accustomed to draughts from ice-cold springs. The channel was ruffled by the light northerly breeze, and as he watched the swift ripples continually flickering past it seemed as if he on the artificial islet was being carried as rapidly in the opposite direction by the current. At times slight tremors were imparted to the house by some violent movement of its inmates, and this added to the impression of its instability till Joseph s head swam, and he could not convince himself that he was not afloat, though his relative position to surrounding objects remained unchanged. " I don t see why in Sam Hill Uncle Lisher don t come along ! Wonder f he s hired his board up there? I know this ere haouse hain t A CRUSOE OF THE MARSHES. 205 floatin off, but it seems jes s ough it was, an I do know but what them tormented mushrats is undermindm on t, an 11 let me daown kerswash fust I know ! Shew ! Ye plaguey leetle torments, scat ! " he shouted as he pounded the side of the house with fists and heels. So passed an hour of discomfort and apprehen sion, relieved at last by the welcome sound of an approaching boat, which he doubted not was the long expected craft of Uncle Lisha. But when with provoking slowness it appeared around the bend, he saw an unfamiliar figure stooping and rising to the deliberate strokes of the oars, that, though wielded with the skill of an experienced oarsman, shrieked and clanked in doleful discord in their unlubricated swivels. Two short fish-poles protruded from either side, and the fisherman, who wore a black felt hat and a red-backed waistcoat, now and then ceased rowing to overhaul his lines, and once to boat a big pickerel that Joseph could hear thrashing the boat s bottom to the accompani ment of the shrieking swivels when their music was resumed. Joseph had an impression that he had seen the ancient hat and red-backed waistcoat before, and when the boat passed him and its occupant s pro file was revealed, he recognized the stolid features of Uncle Tyler, with whom he had had a brief ac quaintance during a previous voyage on these 206 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. waters. Remembering the old man s deafness he hailed him lustily, but the unconscious face gave no sign and the regular rise and fall of the oars was uninterrupted. Joseph drew in his lungsful of air and let it out in a hail that would have done credit to Uncle Lisha himself ; but if the old fisherman heard it, he mistook the direction from which it came, for he turned his head the other way. " Hello there ! " Joseph repeated ; " come he-ere ! Help ! murder ! fi-er." But Uncle Tyler did not become aware of him till he had rowed quite past, and saw him prancing about on the narrow footing of the muskrat house and frantically swinging his hat. " Was you a-speakin tu me ? " he bawled in an unmodulated tone as he ceased rowing. " What ye want ? What ye duin on top o that ere mushrat haouse? Where s your bwut?" " Hain t got no boat ! Come back here an git me!" " No, I hain t got no terbarker. Sent up tu the store by a feller tu git me some last night, but he forgot it. Smoked my last pipeful a-comin long daown." " Gol dumb it, come back here an take me int your boat ! " Joseph howled till his voice cracked. " I 11 give ye all the terbarker I ve got," and he beckoned with his hat, reinforcing the signal by A CRUSOE OF THE MARSHES. 207 waving a blue paper of Lorillard s long cut. This had the desired effect upon the old man s compre hension, and after carefully winding in his trolling lines, he put about and ran in to Joseph, who crept eagerly but cautiously on board the scow. " Git hit the starn there ! " Uncle Tyler com manded. " Int the what ? " Joseph asked at the top of his voice. " Int the starn ! the starn ! " Uncle Tyler re peated as loudly, indicating the direction with all the fingers of one hand. " Starn ? " Joseph repeated, still unenlightened, as he crouched 011 hands and knees beside the an cient mariner and shouted in his ear, while he scanned the after part of the scow with a puzzled face. " I don t seem tu see iiothin . Guess you forgot tu fetch it, did n t ye ? " " Good land o massy ! You do know no more baout a bwut an a hen ! " Uncle Tyler declared in disgust. " Go an set daown in that ere seat. That ere s the starn an t other eend s the bow, an this ere s midships. There, sed daown an gin me that terbarker." Joseph obeyed the last command first and crept to his designated place, steadying himself with a hand on either gunwale as he picked careful foot steps among seven or eight large pickerel that lay dead or at the last gasp on the slippery floor. 208 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. These he had time to admire while Uncle Tyler leisurely filled and lighted his pipe, remarking as he did so : " I sent up tu the store for some terbarker las night by a feller, but he forgot it." " You are some nigher gittin on t an you was four, five year ago," said Joseph. "If I don t disremember you forgot tu send for it then. I should n t wonder but what like nough you d git ye some in four, five year more." But the old man chose not to hear him till he asked in no louder voice, " Why did n t ye stop the boat when I hollered fust ?" " Did ye holler afore ? Wai, naow, I hear d suthin , but I reckoned t was n t nothin but Har ris s bull a-bellerin . I wan t a-lookin for nobody rwustin on a mushrat haouse. Haow come ye here anyway ? " " I got left here," Joseph shouted. " Deaf in yer left ear ? Can t ye hear me ? Turrible disagreeable tu be deaf, I s pose, most ev rybody speaks so low naow-er-days. I ast ye haow ye come here on this mushrat haouse ? Onderstand ? " " Come in a boat ! Got on here tu shoot ducks ! " " Ooh, tu shoot ducks," said Uncle Tyler, back ing his scow into the channel. " Yes, yes, spected tu find ducks in a mushrat haouse ! Wai, wal, A CRUSOE OF THE MARSHES. 209 that s a cur us idee." The old man gave way to an expression of mirth which was like the laughter of a ghost, being without sound. Having got his boat and his pipe well a-going, Uncle Tyler was enabled to observe his passenger more closely, when a gleam of recognition lighted up his stolid face. " Good land o massy ! " he mumbled, trying to speak with the pipe wabbling between his gums and then letting the oars trail that he might re move it for freer speech. " I b lieve I ve seen you afore ! Wan t you daown here afore, last year or year afore, or some er s along there, you an another feller at did n t know no more 11 you du baout a bwut ; gin me a polt top o the head wi an oar hain t you one on em?" He took off his hat and searched for the exact spot on his bald pate as if to establish evidence or refresh his memory. " Yes, I b lieve I was one o the ones," said Jo seph, and proceeded to give a loud and brief account of himself and friends, to which the old man, as he plied the oars, listened as well as he could with his pipe preventing the opening of his mouth, which he apparently depended upon as much as his ears as an organ of hearing. When Joseph concluded with the relation of his latest adventure his auditor fell into another silently boisterous laughter, which brought on a violent fit of coughing, and after that he recovered speech. 210 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Oh, good land o massy ! You must be sick for tu think ducks ould come tu ye settin right in plain sight. Wai, wal, you must be sick ! I 11 tell ye haow tu shoot ducks if ye won t tell nobody. You jest take an shove a slab way aout int the aidge o the ma sh an sprinkle a mess o oats onto t, an you fix ye up a bough haouse so t you can rake it eendways, an bimeby when the ducks dis- kiver the bait and git wonted they 11 come there reg lar to feed, an then you lay low fer em airly in the mornin . Mebby you 11 ketch a hull slabf ul on em a feedin tu oncte, an then, sir. you c n rip up the hull magazine. That s the way tu shoot ducks ! You c n git em that way ! Any lunk head can ! Naow you take an let aout one o them trollin lines an ketch a pickerel. You do know s you can ? Wal, any dumb fool can heng a-holt of a pole, an yarn in a fish arter he s ketched hisself . I guess you can, an you d orter git a good one a-goin by the Saouth Slang." Joseph was diffident, but otherwise not loath to accept a chance of redeeming his ill luck, and awk wardly paid out one of the clumsy lines while his skilled companion handily got the other to its work, though his attention was also given to keeping the boat moving in its proper course, his pipe in blast, and a critical oversight of Joseph s management of the tackle. " I do know ezackly," the latter shouted, bring- A CRUSOE OF THE MARSHES. 211 ing his mouth to bear on the other, after some in tent moments of watching his line, "but it most seems s ough I druther ketch a whoppin big pickerel an tu shoot a duck, seems s ough I druther, tu-day." " Wai, like nough you 11 git you re druther," Uncle Tyler responded, and sure enough when his lure was trailing past the mouth of the South Slang it was arrested by a sullen, vicious pull that made the stout pole bend like a drawn bow and brought Joseph s heart into his throat at one leap. Remembering the lesson of a former year, he drew the tip of the pole forward till he could lay hold of the line and then hauled it in hand over hand. Then amid a conflict of hopes and fears he saw a monster pickerel coming toward the boat with jaws as wide open as if he had an intention of swallowing it and the crew. Good fortune and a stout line and hook combined to favor Joseph in getting the fish on board in spite of flustered awkwardness, and he was fairly faint with pride and thankfulness when he saw his prize at his feet threshing the bottom of the boat and snapping the wide jaws, toothed as cruelly as a wolf trap. In the midst of his excitement he did not notice that Uncle Tyler had quit rowing and was calmly hauling in his own strained line till, with an easy motion, the old man lifted a fish as big as his own into the boat, remark ing as he did so : 212 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. " That s the way tu ketch a pickerel ! " Thence to the landing at the willows the voyage was occasionally enlivened by the capture of a fish, and arriving there, Joseph offered the hospitalities of the camp to his rescuer, unlimited tobacco and such victuals as the place afforded in the absence of the cook. In consideration of their mutual obligations, they became very friendly and conversed so con stantly and loudly that the arrival of Uncle Lisha s boat was unheard, as was his no less noisy ascent of the path, slipping, stumbling, and puffing asth- matically. " Good airth an seas ! Be you here, Jozeff ? I snum, I never was tickleder tu see a man in this livin airth. Why in time did n t ye stay where you was till I come ? What d ye wanter git on there for anyway ? " With alternate expressions of mirth, vexation, and rejoicing over his safe return, he listened to Joseph s relation of the adventures of his exile, which Joseph ended with a solemn declaration that he would never again under any circumstances embark in any craft smaller than a canal boat, no matter how he might be tempted by fish or fowl. CHAPTER XIX. AROUND THE FIRE. THE two uncles of all their acquaintances got on exceedingly well together, for it transpired that Uncle Tyler had been a Plattsburg volunteer, which was a close bond of friendship, and in their exchange of reminiscences he had no difficulty in understanding the other, who, he said, " talked jest as folks used tu." " Some on em says at I m a-gittin deaf, but I tell em it s cause they don t speak plain. The don t nobody, sca cely, naow-er-days. But I can hear you a-talkin jest as plain as I could hear the cannon tu Plattsburg. An the wan t no trouble o hearin them, was the ? " " No, ner the hollerin nuthcr," said Uncle Lisha. " Da you reckerleck haow that minister hol lered ? " continued the other. " He come from over your way somewher s, cap n of a comperny he was, all the menfolks of his congregation his comperny was, an he got em all squatted daown behin a stun wall, an when the British come 214 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. a-marchin up, some on em kep a-stickin of the heads up an a-peekin at em, an the minister he kep a-tellin 011 em tu lay low, but they would n t, for all naow an ag in one on em would git a chunk o lead in his head which it spilte him fer fightin , till bimeby the minister he got mad an damned em up hill an daown an grabbed a mus- kit an swore he d shoot the fust one at peeked over the wall. Yes, he did ; damned em right tu the heads. An so arter he got hum they hed a church meetin an hauled the minister over the coals for cussin , an by gol, sir, they voted tu scuse him, cause they lowed his swearin was a military needcessity." Uncle Tyler indulged in such immoderate silent laughter over his story that he brought on a violent fit of coughing, from which he recovered after so protracted a struggle for breath that his enter tainers were relieved to see him depart homeward before he should die on their hands. " He s a crabbed ol creetur, but he s got his goodp ints," Uncle Lisha remarked, as they watched him rounding the great bend, his pipe in full blast and puffing with the regularity, if not quite the volume, of a high-pressure steamboat. "Deaf folks an blin folks lives in worlds by theirselves, still worlds an dark worlds, an I cal late it makes a man sort o crabbed tu live by hisself. But the ol creetur lies got his good p ints." AROUND THE FIRE. 215 " Yes," Joseph assented, " so he lies, an it kinder seems s ough his best ones was oarin a boat an ketchiii fish, an I do know but borryin ter- barker in a way at you can t deny him, cause he allers meant tu ha lied some o his own. But he is a tumble man tu oar a boat an a turrible man tu ketch pickerels. I do know s I ever see a more one. An iiaow I s pose these ere at he helped me ketch has got tu be dressed." He heaved a sigh of resignation as he slowly drew his jackknife from his pocket and as slowly opened the rickety blade, while his eyes made deliberate selection of a worthy subject for his skill. This he laid upon a convenient slab, and began the task with increased courage when he saw Uncle Lisha opening his knife with an evident in tention of lending a helping hand. As they scraped gray-green backs, spotted sides and silvery bellies to an even whiteness, and beguiled the most irksome of the angler s labors with friendly dis course, they heard Sam s return heralded by occa sional shots faintly echoed far up the Slang, then saw the infrequent puffs of powder smoke whisked away by the wind before the tardy report burst on their ears, with briefer intervals, till the light birch canoe came swimming, swift and silent, around the last bend like a great duck, and glided into port close beside them. Antoine rejoiced over the prospective change in 216 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. the bill of fare from fowl to fish, and promised such skill in cookery as should no less gladden the others. "Oh, bah gosh. Ah 11 tol you, Zhozeff," he cried, as he sidled around with his arms akimbo when they were not engaged in gesture, and his head tilted to one side and the other, in inspection of the progress of the work, " w en you 11 gat dat peekrils scrope so he white lak snowballs, Ah 11 goin cook him so you 11 wish you was kingfish n bird an heat feesh every day, all de tarn, sem lak one man Canada." Uncle Lisha scraped his fish softly while he lis tened in expectation of a story, but Antoine seemed to have forgotten that he had one to tell, though the old man prompted him with an interrogative "Wai?" " Wai," he repeated after a while, " I ve allers be ii wantin tu hear suthin abaout a man in Can- erdy, an if you ve got anythin tu tell le s hev it. But whilst you re a-talkin , Ann Twine, you might be a rippin one o these ere fish." " No, seh, One Lasha, Ah 11 can t oversaw de work an tol de storee an work mahse f all de once." " Wai, tell yer story then, if you ve got it thought up. You wouldn t half clean the fish if you sot aout tu." " Wai, seh, One Lasha," Antoine began, as he AROUND THE FIRE. 217 deliberately filled his pipe, " great many while go, w en de tarn was hoi , dar was one man Canada was lak for feesh so much he ant do mos not ing but dat. Wen his corn ought for be plant his waf was plant it, if he gat plant t all, an he go feeshin . Wen his corn was ought for be hoe, he go feeshin . Wen it was tarn for cut off, his waf cut it off, an de mans go feeshin an de sem for husk it, an jes de sem for rip his wheat, an t rash it, his waf he do it, all of it. An w en his hwood was ought for be cut he go feeshin in de ice. An w en de Govny want it for go faght de Hinjin an de Ang- leesh, he 11 run way an go feeshin , so bamby de pries he ll gat mad at it an he tol it f he ant have hese f for be so shiflin , he goin turn it into kingfishin an den see f he 11 gat nough feeshin . " De mans he some scare an promise for be better, fore soon he fregit an go feeshin all de tarn jes de sem. Den de pries , Oh, haow he 11 was mad an turn dat man into kingfishin raght off. De man he was supprise prob ly, for feel hese f such leetly feller all cover wid fedder, but pooty soon he feel glad for t ink he 11 ant gat for wear clo s dat was trouble for git, an can go feeshin all de tarn. " He go up de river, l K-r-r-r-r, an he go daown de river, K-r-r-r-r, an wen he see leetly feesh, baout so big he can swaller, splosh , he jomp on it an flew on a tree for heat it an say, T ank you, Pere Jerome, it was funs for be kingfishin . 218 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. When he was flew pas hees hown haouse on de river an see hees waf homp hees back hoein an rippin in de sun an hees chillren cry for hongry he 11 holler K-r-r-r, jes lak he was laught at it, he such gre t wicked. " Wai, seh, he 11 had good tarn all summer an long in de fall fore it come col . Den he ant hear de sing bird yaller any more cause dey all gone cep de jay an de hwoodpeckit ; den de river froze on top, but he 11 ant know nough for go to de warm wedder. He guess he was be liable for stay jes long anybody. One morny de river was be froze on top, but he 11 ant know when lie go for his breakfis an he go K-r-r-r, lookin for see some f eesh, an bamby he 11 see leetly f eesh swim under de ice an he holler K-r-r-r-r an go firs head raght on top of it, Floop, an bus his head on de ice an broke his brain all off an dat was de en of it." " Sho, Ann Twine, you d a gre t sight better be n a-dressin fish an a-wastin your time a-tellin sech a dumb lie ! " Uncle Lisha commented. "Naow you rence em off an kerry em up tu camp, fer Jozeff an me lies done aour sheer." While Uncle Lisha made his way to the water side with hands and knife held abroad till he stooped to cleanse them, Antoine began washing the fish, protesting meanwhile : " Oh, One Lasha, you was want me tol it. You ABOUND THE FIRE. 219 was jes lak man feeshin an git leetly bite, an he keep feeshin for ketch it, an w en he ketch it, it was punkin seed, an he mad cause it ant bull pawt. It bes was for be satisfy. Naow, hurrah for de suppy ! " With that they bore their fish to camp, where Sam had preceded them and got the fire in full blast. Presently Antoine pranced around it in a culinary ecstasy, while the others watched him in rapt regard and grew hungrier with every whiff borne to their nostrils from the screeching pan. When at last they sat down to their rock table Uncle Lisha heaved a sigh of satisfaction as he adjusted his spectacles for detection of bones. " Ah-h-h ! This ere s suthin like. The fact on t is, I ve eat duck till I m a-gittin web- footed." " An bah gosh ! Ah 11 pull up some fedder on mah back dis morny. Ah 11 was put it on Zho- zeff s bag if you ant believed it." " I swan, Antwine," said Joseph, " if you 11 let em grow all over ye, I 11 pick ye at the halves." " Say what you re a mintur," said Sam, " a good fat duck hain t tu be sneezed at. I cal late them leetle teal ducks is the ch icest eatin , and wood duck next, an black duck next, but any on em s good enough for poor folks. Arter all, the s more fun in gettin on em an the is a-hevin on em, same as it is in most all huntin an fishin in 220 UNCLE HSILi S OUTING. the true sperit. I guess it s a feller s soul at enj ys it. But then ag in the s dawgs at enj ys it, and folks says they hain t got no souls, but I don t b lieve it." " Ner I nuther," said Uncle Lisha. " I ve seen some dawgs an some hosses at thinks more n some men du an reasons aout things tew." " Yes," Sam continued, " an jest think o hurnern fools an tew-legged hawgs a-goin tu heaven, an good dawgs at thinks an dreams an sticks tu ye through thick an thin a-goin aout intu no thin . It hain t no fair shake ! I cal late dreamin is a sign of a soul. The body s all asleep, but the s suth- in keeps a-goin on a-thinkin arter a fashion, an what is t if t hain t a soul ? You never heard a hawg du nothin on y snore when he sleeps, but you ll hear a leetle bird in the dead o night an darkness a-singin aout on his rwust suthin he hed left over from daytime, so faint an fur off, you know he s asleep. An a dawg 11 show at the s a part on him a-huntin in his sleep jest as much as folks feels tu be when they re asleep. A dawg s got some advantage over us in not hevin no gun tu git off. It s cur us at a dream gun never will go off. You pull till you shet your teeth an eyes, an when the hommer falls it goes daown abaout s quick as a wiltin weed an abaout as heavy, an your dumb gun won t go off. But what I was a-goin tu say, a haoun dawg 11 foller a fox all day an all ABOUND THE FIEE. 221 night a-singin. glory halleluiah all the time, an when you shoot the fox afore him he 11 on y jest chaw his backbone a minute an give him a shake an then curl up an lay daown as comf table as a kitten an jest as contented. His stomerk s as empty as a contribution box, but his soul is satis fied jest as much as a man s is. But I m a-losin my chance o gittin my supper, a-gabbin ! Shove the fryin pan this way, Antwine." When they had their fill of fish they enjoyed their loaf by the fire and recounted the day s do ings. Sam and Antoine told of the Indians pro gress in canoe-building, Joseph his brief experience of Crusoe life, and Uncle Lisha of his visit to his old friend and his alarm at Joseph s disappearance. " I did n t know but them ere nigger hunters hed kerried the creatur off," he said, " but I knovv d they d bring him back arter they d tried workin on him an boardin on him a spell. But I tell ye I was glad tu find the creatur a-hollerin to that ol Tyler, cause I feel kinder caountable for his safe-keepin ." " I druther hev a deaf man tu talk tu an not tu hev nob dy, if it is strainin work," said Joseph, caressing his throat with a tender touch. " Gol, my throat s all furred up." " Dat was feeshbone, prob ly. You 11 ant wan heat more hurry as you spoke, Zhozeff." After planning how to spend the morrow, which 222 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. was to be their last day in camp, they turned into their blankets and drowsed into restful sleep to the sound of the crickets faint, monotonous complaint and the fleeting whistle of passing wings. CHAPTER XX. SUNGAHNEETOOK. SAM S comrades were in delicious, semi-torpid enjoyment of a morning nap when he quietly left his place among them and, after making a break fast of stealthily gathered fragments, set forth in fulfillment of a promise made to himself of a day alone in Sungahneetook, the fish-weir river of the old Waubanakees. He was not unsocial, but yet at times was fonder of solitude than of company. Like a true lover of nature, he desired not to go with a crowd to woo his mistress. Creek and lake were thickly shrouded in a tat tered web of mist whose gray shreds slowly undu lated in the motionless air, disclosing near glints of unruffled silver water and farther away brief glimpses of russet and green marsh, beyond which the unveiled forest glowed in the faint dawn with all the divers hues of autumnal flame. Every sin gle-pointed willow and many-pointed maple leaf was giving its contribution to the slow shower of crystal drops that pattered on rushes and fallen leaves, or tinkled on the quiet waters. The soft 224 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. continuous sound was punctuated at intervals by the louder voices of awakening life, the sharp whistle of passing wings, the raucous diminuendo of a duck s call. Then came from afar inland the challenge of a cock, the mellow lowing of kine and quavering bleat of sheep, or from the lake the clatter of an anchored sloop s capstan, the echoed voices of her crew, mingled with the crazy laughter of a loon. To these drowsy sounds of awakening day Sam added the dip and drip of his paddle, as with head above the mist that wreathed the canoe he shaped his easy course across the shallow head of the bay. Then he entered the stream s gateway, gorgeous with the autumnal colors of the water maples. Looking around and backward, he could imagine himself in the solitude of the primeval wilderness, for there was no visible sign of man s intrusion on the wooded banks at either side, nor on the silent lake, nor on the rugged crags of Split Rock Moun tain, and these were the bounds of vision. A few rods up stream the illusion was dispelled where the cleared bank opened to an old pasture. The turf was cut with wheel tracks of wagons that had brought apples to the Canadian boat, signs of her recent presence that set Sam wondering how it fared with her contraband freight. Passing the next bend, he was between wooded shores, where ferns and other moisture-loving SUNGAHNEETOOK. 225 plants crowded each other in rampant growth. Ducks frequently arose before him, singly and in flocks, taking wing from the water or jutting logs, out of range before he discovered them or could bring his unready gun to bear on them. He saw that shots were only to be got by prowling along on foot, and ran in behind a little island that hugged the left bank. It was crowded with great trees ; most conspicuous among them was a tower ing elm and an immense buttonwood, whose trunk shone unearthly white amid the forest shadows, like the ghost of a giant, and all were embowered in a tangle of wild grapevines. As Sam stepped on shore he caught a glimpse through the treetops of a flock of ducks whistling with lowering flight toward some spot below him and back from the stream. Thither he cautiously made his way and presently saw an open space among the trees, toward which he made a stealthy approach under cover of a clump of alders. When he reached this he discovered a narrow lagoon lying close before him. It was some twenty rods in length, bordered by a growth of wild rice and cov- vered with duck weed. A great branchless tree lay lengthwise of it at the nearer end, an inviting roosting -place for wood ducks, a score of which were occupying it with heads uplifted and alert, or comfortably resting on their mottled breasts or tucked beneath their wings, the males resplendent 22G UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. with bright color, the females shining with gilded bronze, yet all strangely inconspicuous in nature s nice adjustment to their environment, never failing to blend them with the hues of her changing sea sons. As many more swam idly to and fro, mesh ing the green scum of duckweed with a network of watery paths. If Sam was aware of a qualm of conscience it came too late to withhold him from the unfair chance, and he raked the log with such deadly aim that more than half its happy crew tumbled over board, killed outright or, in the last extremity, splashed aimlessly, sorely wounded, struggling in stinctively toward the cover of the weeds, while the affrighted survivors jostled each other in flurried flight, knowing not what to make of the catastrophe which had befallen their comrades, but wheeled and pivoted in confused wonderment till Sam came forth to secure his victims, when they took flight, yet returned to circle and hover overhead, reluctant to leave a haunt where man so seldom intruded. Another shot fired to secure a cripple served to convince them of its present unsafety, and when Sam bore away his abundant trophies he left the pool as silent and deserted as it is to-day, when it is known to every gunner of this region, and even the poor heron and bittern avoid its pre cincts. After depositing the ducks in the canoe and fol- SUNGAHNEETOOK. 227 lowing the bank a little farther, Sam came oppo site a landing where a scow was moored and a dugout lay with its nose in the bank. On the level sward a seine was spread and a man was kneeling upon it, busily engaged in mending it. A little boy with hair like sun-burned tow stood watching the net-mender and making frequent proffers of help that were ungraciously refused. The man s inquisitive eyes soon made him aware of Sam s presence, but he made no sign of his dis covery except to bawl out without raising his head : " Haow d du, Capt in Tawmus," and he did not change his position till he had finished the rent he was tying. Then he threw down his netting needle and rising to his feet came to the bank with a peculiar awkward swaggering gait and a swing of the arms that continued after he stood still, like the slowly ceasing vibrations of a pendulum, mo tions by which Sam recognized an old acquaint ance, one of the money diggers of Garden Island. The child followed the man to the bank, divid ing his gaping attention to the stranger with in spection of a cedar fish-pole that was set with its sharpened butt in the bank and supported by a crotched stick at the water s edge. He skipped from one occupation to the other with an awkward agility that seemed to have been acquired in dodg ing gratuitous cuffs. He drew out his hook, spat 228 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. upon it, and cast it with such faith and skill of a true angler that Sam s heart warmed to him, the more for his forlornness. " Why, goodness gracious-Peter-ah ! " the man cried in dull surprise, " I took ye tu be Tawmus Baker, an consequently I called you Captain Taw mus. Haow s your folks-ah ? Crops tol able good ? I do know s I c n call your name. What is t when you re tu hum, anyway-ah ? " Sam gave him the desired information and he continued : " You don t say ! A-huntin ducks, be ye ? Wai, you won t git none. The ha none-ah up the crick ner nowheres. I be n daown the crick myself an all I got was this ere-ah." He took a coot out from the log canoe and held it aloft for Sam s inspection. " I do know what sort o critter he is, but I m a-goin tu see haow he 11 eat. I fooled that ere duck, sir. He sot right aout in plain sight, but I went a-sploshin along in the ma sh an a-lookin t other way, an made him think I was arter su thin else, an I got right up tu him. Fooled him, I did, by gracious-Peter ! The hain t no use in your a-goin up the crick ner daown the crick nuther," the man declared, giving meantime no more attention to the presence of his child than he would have done to that of a dog. " I m bleeged tu you for tellin me, but I guess I 11 go long up a piece. I kinder want tu see SUNGAHNEETOOK. 229 what the crick looks like, an I don t care no gre t abaout ducks anyway." " "Wai, go and be darned," the other snarled, " but you might jest as well leave your gun-ah. An you 11 come tu a gut o the ma sh at you can t git acrost-ah." In spite of such discouraging advice Sam went on with his ready gun in the hollow of his arm, and his thumb and forefinger on hammer and trigger, and a watchful eye on the stream as each bend unfolded a new reach. He crossed the formidable gut at one stride, and at the next turn came to a long westward reach down which the rising sun shone full in his face, dazzling him with level beams that sheeted the rippling water with a sun glade of wrinkled gold, and glorified the mist with more and brighter colors than the rainbow bears, all minutely mirrored in the innumerable drops that beaded every twig and bejeweled every leaf. Shading his eyes with his hand, he searched the resplendent reach to its farther end, and there dis covered a figure skulking swiftly along the bank. The form and motion, though revealed but in glimpses, were unmistakably those of his late inter locutor, whose purpose of forestalling Sam was easily guessed. " Wai, go and be darned," said Sam, quoting the man s ungracious godspeed with a chuckle. " I guess I 11 lay low right here a spell." 230 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. A group of lusty basswoods, sprung from the mouldering parent tree, overhung the bank with a drooping spread of branches, and Sam crept be neath the leafy tent, stretching himself on the green sward to wait at ease for what might come to him. The monotonous babble of a shallow rapid not far above him, and the softer irregular swirl of deeper water around a half -sunken log near at hand, were the loudest sounds that reached his ears for a while, and then the quiet of the morning was broken by an echoing roar, and before the echoes ceased there was a rush of wings, recurring again and again as flock after flock of frightened ducks came hurrying past, unseen but in fleeting glimpses through openings in the branches. At last there was a clattering splash of an alighting flock, and in a few moments he discovered them swimming down stream toward him. When they came near enough he fired into the thick of them, with a result that would have sickened with envy the heart of his rival had he beheld it. Six ducks lay feebly beating the water with their wings, or clawing the air with upturned paddles, and a seventh dived and fluttered down stream in a futile attempt to escape, till Sam reloaded his gun and ended its struggles. Then with the aid of a pole he gathered in the game and again retired to his ambuscade. Laying his loaded gun within easy reach, he sat down to the enjoyment of a comfortable smoke, idly watch- SUNGAIINEETOOK. 231 ing the patch of water gliding past him, tangling in its eddies the quivering reflections of the other shore with floating frost-painted leaves, some water logged with far voyaging, others newly launched and buoyant, sailing across the current in wafts of the breeze till stranded on the bank or swept on ward in the stronger current. Then as silently, but more swiftly and suddenly, and scarcely less gayly colored than the drifting leaves, a flock of wood ducks swam into the narrow arena. After tacking up stream a moment to in spect an evidently favorite resort, they crept in on to a willowy sand spit that jutted down stream and formed a tiny cove almost beneath Sam s hiding- place. Instinctively he stretched his hand toward his gun, but withheld it as he became more inter ested in watching the unsuspicious birds crowding and jostling each other for the best places, then one after another standing upright and shaking out their wings, then settling down and preening their plumage. They were so near him that he could see the flash of their bright eyes, the red and olive markings on the drakes bills, the colors of their crests, and almost count the arrow-shaped spots on their breasts. " By the gre t horn spoon ! " he whispered to himself, " they re tew harnsome tu spile, an they re so dust tu, I sh ll knock em all tu flinders. I ve got nough anyway, seven here an leven in 232 UNCLE LISUA S OUTING. the canew, so what s the good o murderin ? But they be turrible temptin ." Just then he caught sight of the money digger at the bend above. It was evident that he saw the ducks, for he stopped a moment, then cautiously backed away and began a wide detour to reach a point opposite them. Sam drew a stout piece of a fallen limb to him, carefully balanced it in his hand, and then watched intently the crest of the other bank. After a considerable time the crown of an unkempt head slowly arose from behind a log of driftwood stranded among the trees in the spring freshet, and then a pair of eyes slowly scan ning the shore till they fixed 011 the object of their search, then sank out of sight, then reappeared behind the rusty barrel of a slowly leveled musket. As Sam saw a brawny hand reaching out to cock the clumsy hammer after assured aim, and wondered that the audible double click did not alarm the ducks, he threw the club at them. Be fore the hurtling missile splashed in the margin of the sand spit the ducks sprang into the air, uttering quavering wee-uks, wee-uks of alarm. For a moment the musket held to its blank aim, then was uplifted as the disappointed gunner slowly arose to his feet and came out upon the bank, craning his neck up stream and down stream to discover the cause of the mischance, till at last he drawled : SUNGAIINEETOOE. 233 " What in all smutteration scairt them ere ducks-ah?" and then after vainly waiting for an answer, " Gol dum the tarnal luck." Shaking with smothered laughter, Sam watched the man vent his disappointment in stamping and fuming, till at last he saw him depart, bearing a couple of ducks, the sole trophies of his stolen march. Sam resumed his exploration of the stream, and after coming to a great raft of driftwood that bridged it he discovered another little lagoon in the edge of the narrow intervale, so close to the level upland that it was shaded by its hemlocks, and ducks and partridges were near neighbors, each in their favorite haunts. Then he came to banks clad with willows, and they in turn with wild grapevines, purple under neath with clusters of frost-ripened fruit. Out of one of these wild bowers a partridge and a wood duck took sudden flight from their interrupted feast, one making for the woods, the other for the water. Sam tumbled the duck back among the willows by a snap shot that he was prouder of than of those which had given much greater scores. The next bend of the stream disclosed the ma jestic peak of Camel s Hump through the vista of a willowy bank and a pine-crowned knoll, and when the hunter had warmed his heart with a long look at the grandest of his beloved mountains he turned 234 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. back, for the landscape was beginning to show more farmsteads than woods. The way back over a path once traveled seemed so long that Sam had been expecting to come upon the bowery island for some time before he caught sight of its ghostly guardian buttonwood shining afar off through the shadows of the water maples. He was about to shorten the way by a cut across the bend when he heard the agonized scream of a child. It apparently came from the landing, and he bent his steps that way with a premonition that help was needed. He was running at top speed when he came to the place and at a glance saw the dugout adrift slowly rocking on the agitated water with a cedar fish-pole floating near it. With eyes intent on the water he dropped his burdens and threw off hat and coat and waistcoat. In the same instant a scared little face and a pair of clutching hands broke the surface. Mak ing a long leap, Sam plunged and found himself not beyond his depth, but so near it that he could swim faster than he could wade, and a few strokes brought him within reach of the child. He caught him by the hair and bore him to the shore. The little fellow had life enough in him to impede his rescuer with wild clutches and to cling desperately at the grassy margin when he was brought within reach of it, so that when Sam had SUNGAHNEETOOK. 235 dragged his own waterlogged self up the steep, slippery bank he had less trouble in pulling the boy up it than in bringing him to it. The poor little fellow had not much breath to spare, but plenty of water, to rid him of which Sam laid him across a log and gently rolled him from side to side, his patient moaning and crying feebly between fits of strangling. When he had recovered speech and natural breathing and a disposition to cry continually, Sam took him up tenderly in his arms and carried him toward the house, which stood a quarter of a mile away behind a straggling orchard, whose unpruned lichened trees were as old, forlorn, and neglected as the weather-beaten house and ruinous barn. " Haow old be ye ? " Sam began, catechizing his charge. " Seben, goin on eight." " Haow come ye in the crik ? " " Fishin ," was the laconic response^ and then with sudden interest the child added, " Say-ah, d ye git my fish-pole ? " " No, I had all I wanted tu git you." " Wai, you d ortu git it. The s an ol roncher on it-ah. Pulled me right in. They 11 lick me for losin on t, ah," the boy whimpered. " No, they won t, nuther. Don t you worry, they ll be glad nough tu git you. Naow, you look a-here. You re tew leetle a feller tu go 236 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. fisliin alone. Your father d ortu known better n tu left ye. The won t allers be somebody raoun tu pull you out. Don t ye go again. Naow, don t fergit." Sam gave him a gentle shake to empha size his injunction, and the boy nodded assent. Then discovering they were drawing near the house he struggled to get down. " You lemme go," he whimpered, " I wanter go an dry me. Marm 11 lick me for gittin wet." " By the gre t horn spoon ! if she does I 11 draowned the hull fam ly. Haow many on em is the ? Wai, nev mind, you keep quiet," Sam added, guessing the computation was beyond so young a head, when he saw a full half-dozen tow- thatched heads swarming out of the door to stare at him a moment and then vanish as suddenly as a litter of frightened woodchucks. A gaunt, unkempt woman appeared, shading her inquiring eyes and blank, wondering face with both hands till she recognized the visitor s dripping bur den. Then her face grew white with terror and she wailed out with her hands piteously out stretched : " Oh, Joby s draounded ! Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! " " No, he hain t draounded, marm," Sam declared in a cheery voice, " but he s almightedly soaked an you d better dry him off an put him tu bed." Her face became a little less woeful, yet she would not be assured, but cried out : SUNGAHNEETOOK. 237 " Oh, Joby, hain t you draownded?" " No, marm, I hain t," the boy answered feebly. " Yis, you be tew draounded," she protested. The children gathered behind her in an awed semicircle that broke to let Sam and their mother pass in, and closed in again in their rear, while he kicked a rocking-chair to a place by the stove, motioned her by a nod to be seated in it, and put the child in her lap. " You take off his wet clo s an put him tu bed," he commanded, " an I 11 roust up the fire," and while she began to obey him he fed the cracked old rotary stove with an armful of wood. " Sis, you run aout an git a han ful o catnip an steep it up in a tin o b ilin water," he said to a girl of twelve who stood staring at him in abashed amazement, then addressing the mother, who was struggling with the clinging ragged garments : " You give him a good lot on t, hot as he c n take it." After seeing the catnip tea a-brewing, Sam went to the barn and took off and wrung out his clothes, affording an interesting spectacle to three of the boys who followed and watched him through the half-open door till he dispersed them by throwing one of his boots at them. When he returned to the house, shivering, but no longer dribbling a trail by which he could be traced, he found his late audience of the barn 238 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. giggling in safe retreat behind the stove, the pa tient in bed, and his mother administering doses of hot catnip tea, with the comforting assurance that " he d ketch it when his pa got hum." " I don t care," poor Joby whimpered under the blankets ; " I wan t a mite tu blame. I got holt of a ol roncher an he yanked me in, so naow. I wish I d got him. He was a ol roncher." And he began to cry piteously over the loss of the fish and the impending chastisement. " There, there, bub, don t ye take on," said Sam, shivering over the stove. " If your fish hain t le go when I git back there, I 11 haul him aout and lay him on the bank for ye, an your pa won t tech ye, I know. It s bad nough tu git draounded thaout bein licked for it. Boo ! it s consid able cool bathin this time o year ! " " Why, you be cold, hain t ye ? " the woman said. " I was so took up wi Joby I never thought. Won t ye hev ye some sperits ? We hain t a drop in the haouse, but won t ye hev some ? The s some camfire ; that ould kinder warm ye. It s warmin ." Sam declined the spirits that were not and the camphor that was. " You need n t think I hain t obleeged if I hain t said so," the woman said, looking more gratitude than her words expressed, as she followed him to the door. " If his brother was here I d tell your SUNGAHNEETOOK. 239 fortin an not charge ye nothin . His brother gives me the influence. I hev secont sight." " You d ort tu hev looked fur enough ahead tu kep your boy from tumblin int the crik," Sam said as he left her, and she called after him : " Wai, I foreseen he was a-goin tu git draounded, an I ve said so all summer." Sam warmed himself with a run to the landing, where he had the luck to find the dugout stranded on that side. He picked up the boy s pole with a big pickerel fast to the line, and leaving it conspic uously displayed on the bank, crossed the stream. When he had rescued the child he noticed the scow and seine were gone, and concluded that the owner was seeking for better luck in fishing than in duck hunting. He picked up his things, and was soon afloat in his own canoe. As silently as the outsped current the canoe glided down stream, and Sam with eyes constantly alert scanned banks and water without discovering anything worthy of note till, upon rounding a bend, he found himself close beside a man kneeling by a hollow log on the verge of the bank. It was the negro Jim, who, as the bow of the canoe slid noise lessly into his field of vision, turned a startled face toward Sam. " Good Lord, Mr. Lovel, haow you did scare me ! " he exclaimed with emphatic jerks of his head. " You pear tu be allus a-scarin of me ! 240 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. My Lord, haow you did scare me that night." He laughed as if at the recollection of an excellent joke, then became suddenly serious. " But t wan t nothin to what come arter ! No, sir ! " He dropped his voice to a lower but no less emphatic tone and came nearer Sam, who held the canoe by an overhanging bough. " Baout half an liaour arter I come back four fellers come a-r arin hit the ol shanty, lookin arter Bob. Yes, sir ! Where s that nigger you be n hidiii ? Where s that nigger ? No niggers here but what belongs here," says I ; me an Nancy an the young un, an them s as many as I can tend tu. But no, I was all sorts of a lyin nigger, an they knowed I d got him hid, an through the haouse they went, up stairs an daown, an under the bed an hit the butt ry ; but nary Bob nowheres, an mighty good for some o their healths at the wan t iiaow, I tell you. One spell they d cuss an nuther spell they d coax, but ary way they could n t make me know nothin , an bimeby they cleared aout, an you d better b lieve I wan t sorry; no, sir, not one mite. An I tell you what, Mr. Lovel, I don t want no more o my Southern relations tu come a-visitin on me ; no sir ! They re tew interestin tu white folks ! Nancy an the young un is all the darkies I want tu bother my brains with." " You hain t heared nothin but what he got away all right ? " Sam asked. SUNGAHNEETOOK 241 " Mr. Bartlett thinks he did, sure, an he says that nigger hunter s gin it up an cleared aout. I guess Bob s shakin his heels in Canerdy by this time, don t you, Mr. Lovel ? " " I hope so," said Sam, and then with profes sional interest in the other s evident employment, " Hain t it middlin airly for trappin mink ? " " I reckon they 11 du me more good naow n they will if somebody else gits em by m by," Jim said, with repeated and decided jerks of the head. " Wai, they hain t my mink," said Sam, loosing his hold of the branch and letting the canoe drift away. " Ta care of your relations when they happen along." " Yes, sir, Mr. Lovel, I will, sartain, but I don t want tu see none of em, no, sir," and chuckling and wagging his head he resumed the setting of the trap as Sam drove the canoe on its course. A smart breeze ruffled the green water of the bay with waves that flashed like fire in the broad glade of the low sun and flecked the far blue of the lake with leaping whitecaps as the canoe slid over the long undulations of the shallows toward her port. , A flock of golden eyes took flight before her, their wing-beats ringing like the quick clangor of tiny bells, and flocks of teal and dusky ducks whis tled past, coming in early on the favoring breeze from their day s outing on the lake. One by one 242 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. a company of herons forsook the shallows beneath the cliffs and sagged on slow vans toward the woods of Little Otter, and high above all an eagle made stately progress through his aerial realm. The wash of waves was left behind when the canoe entered the creek, and presently it slipped in at the landing, where Sam found his friends already returned and awaiting his coming. CHAPTER XXI. AN INLAND EXPLORATION. OF the remaining inmates of the tent Uncle Lisha was the first to arise, for after threescore years of partial disproof he was still a believer in the maxim that inculcates the benefits of early rising. He lighted the fire and made a trip to the waterside, returning therefrom in the glow of recent ablution and the exertion of lugging a pail of water up the steep path before his companions came stumbling forth, yawning and blinking in the secondary stage of reviving consciousness. " Bah gosh ! One Lasha, Ah guess you 11 was try for ketch nudder waum dis morny, ant it, hein ? " Antoine asked, rubbing his eyes with one hand and searching his pockets for his pipe with the other. " If you an the worm ever meets, he 11 haftu du the s archin . Come, Ann Twine, le s git us suthin t eat time nough tu call it breakfus stid o dinner. You an Jozeff go an wash ye whilst I git the taters on. What is t this mornin , duck or fish?" 244 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Feesh was de quickes , cause he all ready for jomp 011 de pan." " An best, seem s ough, arter duck so con- tin al ? " said Joseph. " I m kinder thinkin ducks would n t be much caount if t wan t for the feath ers, that is, for a stiddy thing. But I du lufter shoot em, though." " I should like tu know haow you know youdu," said Uncle Lisha, counting out the potatoes from the sack. " Three for Ann Twine come, hyper, an when you git back I 11 tell ye what we 11 du tu-day tew for Jozeff, an one for me." In due time the fish was fried, the potatoes boiled, the tea brewed, and the little company gathered around the stone table. " What I was a-cal latin was," Uncle Lisha be gan, and then deferred speech while he cooled the tea in his tin cup with a gusty blast accompanied by a vigorous shake, " at we d take a rantomscoot over west tu where we was stationed time o the war. I kinder want tu see the place ag in, an it ould be interestin tu you an Ann Twine, an we c n take aour guns along an mebby shoot suthin nother, an a bag, an pick up some wa nuts, which they d be a proper good treat tu the folks up hum. What d ye say to it mongst ye ? " " Ah 11 ant want for go feeshin s, an Ah 11 ant want for go hunt on de crik, an Ah 11 willin for go loafer long to you, One Lasha." AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 245 " Most anything 11 suit me," s.aid Joseph, " if it hain t goin in a boat, which it don t seem as ough I would du under no circumstances exceptin in the case of a reg lar ol Noer flood, an then I b lieve I d climb the last tree fore I d trust myself tu any tarnal boat, he or she, smaller n the ark or a steamboat, which I do know nothin baout, or leastways a canawl boat, at I hev ventured ontu." So, being of one mind, when breakfast was eaten and the act by courtesy called dishwashing had been performed, they set forth westward across the fields and by the woodside, where ferns and asters invaded the grass land, and the timothy and clover crept into the shadow of the woods. As, advancing abreast, they climbed a knoll and their heads arose above its crest, Antoine s quick eye caught sight of a gray squirrel running from the woods to an outlying hickory. " S-s-h ! " Antoine whispered, " go softie till he gat on de tree, den we supprise him an kill it." These tactics were successfully carried out as far as the surprise, but the beleaguered squirrel hid so closely among the topmost leaver, that the besiegers were imable to discover it. A random shot was fired into the thickest bunch of leaves, and the frightened squirrel sprang to the ground. Recov ering in an instant from the shock of the desperate leap, it scudded away to the cover of the woods at a rate that defied the pottering aim of two guns, 246 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. and their futile charges raked the turf far in its rear. Of course the event reminded Antoine of one man in Canada whose adventure he proceeded to relate, while the others, crawling on their hands and knees, gathered the fallen nuts. " You see, seh, boy, he 11 was huntin jus sem lak we was, honly he was hunt for bear an he was lone, jus one poor leetly Frenchmans stid of two fat hoi Yankee an one big hugly Frenchmans. Wai, seh, he foller bear tracks where it go in hole, an he 11 was si do n for wait of it come off de hole so he can shot it. Wen he 11 set t ree, prob ly two naour, he beegin for gat dry, an he stan up hees gaun gin tree an go on de brook for drink, an , seh, de bear happen for gat dry too, an it come off de hole an gat raght tween de mans an de gaun, bah gosh ! An dat mans he 11 had for run home an lef hees gaun. What you t ink for dat, hein ? But dat ant so funny lak nudder man Canada. He was gat bag jus sem we was, honly grea deal more bigger, an " Oh, shet your head, Ann Twine. You d a dumb sight better be a-pickin up wa nuts an tu stan there a-makin up lies." " Dat jus what Ah 11 was goin for do, but you an Zhozeff gat it all pick up. Dat was too bad ! Hoorah, le s go scare some more squirly." Going forward, they soon came to the head of the bay, which was memorable as the scene of AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 247 Uncle Lisha s and Joseph s first duck shooting. To-day its only visible occupant was a solitary heron so slowly wading the glassy shallows that he scarcely broke the perfect contour of his mirrored semblance. He was in long range of a clump of cedars, under cover of which Antoine made a stealthy approach, and was just on the point of firing when he was discovered by the wary heron, who launched himself upon the air in a long up ward slant of labored flight. Antoine followed him with uncertain aim, and only pulled trigger when the bird was hopelessly out of range and a hundred feet above the lake. But to the wonder of the three beholders, as the shot whistled past the heron he turned a half somersault, and with beak back drawn for a stroke came tumbling and sprawling downward in apparent helplessness. Antoine raised a shout of triumph, Joseph began to congratulate himself on a handsome addition to his stock of feathers, and Uncle Lisha had already upon his lips a rebuke for the wanton destruction of a harmless and worthless bird, when to his delight, the others disgust, and the amazement of all, the heron was seen to recover himself after a tumble of twenty feet and resume his even flight. The sudden terror that seized him, when to his ears the whistle of the hurtling shot was the rush of an eagle s pinions, was relieved when he saw no foe above him to repel, and with regular wing-beats 248 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. he climbed the long incline of retreat, till indrawn neck, broad vans, and trailing legs were blurred in a wavering speck of gray that vanished behind a cedar-crowned headland. " Bah gosh," Aiitoine ejaculated, recovering speech and suspended respiration, " what yo s pose mek dat feller git over be keel so quick, heiii? " " I m dumb glad on t, Ann Twine. What d ye w ntu pester that poor ol lunsome crane for ? He ain t wutli the paowder you burnt, an don t trouble nob dy." " Seem s ough he kerried off a mess o feathers at I d ortu had," Joseph sighed. " Ah 11 bet you head he s gone off for die." " Of ol age, I hope," said Uncle Lisha. Going a little farther, they came to a small rock- walled cove, where a rude fireplace and an inverted washtub gave evidence of a family washing place. Here they sat down to enjoy a restful smoke. They were aroused from their reverie by shrill out cries of distress arising from a little distance, and hastening forward through the fringe of woods to learn the cause, they discovered a girl of ten or eleven years with a younger child on a great pine stump in the middle of the field, where they were besieged by a gaunt old ram, who, uttering hoarse bleats, made frequent circuits of the tower of ref uge, which now and then he butted with blows that sounded like the strokes of a beetle. AN INLAND EXPLOEATION. 249 Uncle Lisha and his party advanced to the rescue with loud shouts, which at once attracted the attention of the ram, but did not daunt him in the least, for no sooner did he find himself threat ened by an attack in the rear than he charged upon his assailants so fiercely that Joseph and An- toine fled with all speed to the shelter of the woods, whither the ram followed in hot pursuit. Antoine climbed nimbly up a low-branched tree, while Jo seph sought refuge in a thicket of cedars, wherein he was assisted, as he scrambled on all fours, by a blow that drove him into the evergreen curtain quite out of sight of his pursuer. Having routed the main body, the doughty champion turned and charged upon Uncle Lisha, who, as unable as he was indisposed to run from an enemy, still held forward to the rescue of the children. He had almost reached them when the elder child cried out in great alarm, " Oh, look out. Look out, mister, he 11 hit ye. Oh, dear." As Uncle Lisha faced about, his antagonist was close upon him, coming at full speed with lowered head and assured aim, but the old man stepped aside and dexterously caught the ram by one horn as he passed. The sheep made vicious sidewise thrusts and struggled desperately for liberty, and though his captor was made to take some unsually lively steps his hold could not be loosened. 250 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Say, sissy," Uncle Lisha called in broken words and sentences, " you git daown consarn yer ol picter an fetch me a club er a Oh, you won t git away erless your horn comes off - stun an I 11 give him all the hommerin he wants. You das n t ? Wai, then, you an bubby git daown an clipper fer the fence. I won let the ol tor ment git away. Clipper, naow. Ann Twine ! Jozeff ! Come ere an fetch me a club er a stun. Oh, you plaguey fraid-cats. I wish t I c ld sick him ontu ye. I d let him drive ye int the lake, I swan I would." " Seems s ough you might kinder tie his laigs, Uncle Lisher," Joseph suggested, venturing to peep from his hiding-place. " Tie yer granny ! I don t kerry ropes raound wi me." " Put it on de bag, One Lisha, an tie de bag," Antoine shouted. " Fetch me the bag and I swan I will," Uncle Lisha responded. " It bes was you hoi him hees hin leg of it an Ah 11 shot it, bah gosh ! " Antoine now proposed. " Honh ! You want tu pay for him ? Well, I hain t a buyin mutton. Oh, you dumb slinks ! You hain t spunk nough tu break up a settin hen ! Come along here, you tarnal ol sarpent," and de spairing of receiving aid, Uncle Lisha led his cap tive about the field while he searched for a suitable AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 251 weapon. This he found at last in the form of a good-sized stone, wherewith he belabored the ram s nose till the fight was quite taken out of him and his only desire was to escape. When this became evident to Uncle Lisha he released his prisoner, who made a speedy retreat for a short distance and then partly turned about as if with some intention of renewing hostilities. The old man hurled the stone with such true aim that it struck him full on the ribs, knocking the breath out of him with the last vestige of valor, and he retreated on the ends of his toes, with his back humped and his head violently shaken, and his stumpy tail wiggling till it imparted a tremor to his whole body. "There, dumb yer ol Meriner picter, hev ye got nough on t ? " Uncle Lisha shouted, while his victory was cheered with cries of delight by the children, who had watched the progress of the bat tle through the rails of the fence, and by Joseph and Antoine with more discreet celebration, less likely to attract the attention of the ram. " I guess you might ventur aout here naow," Uncle Lisha called as the two men edged along the border of the woods, and he picked up the gun which he had dropped at the beginning of the en counter. " Oh, I m shamed on ye," he continued when with frequent backward glances they rejoined him and led the way toward the fence. " Tew 252 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. gre t growed-up men afeared of a poor, insi nifi- cant sheep." " Wai, sell, One Lasha, Ah 11 goin tol you, Ah 11 ant was be fraid of it, but Ah 11 know f Ah 11 was gat mad, Ah 11 keel it, me, an Ah 11 ant want it for pay it. Ah 11 glad Ah 11 ant gat mad. But Ah 11 mos was w en, Ah 11 up dat tree." " Wai, I never had no knack o gittin along wi sheep, never seemed s ough I hed," said Joseph. " I could n t never drive em ner call em. Don t you cal late they be turrible contr y critters, Uncle Lasher ? " The victorious champion vouchsafed no answer but a contemptuous snort, and now that the fence was crossed took the lead in the direction of a ram bling old gray farmhouse whither the children had gone. " That ere s the haouse where aour officers got the put-up-punce," he said, presently recovering his usual tranquillity of temper. " We common folks slep in the buildin s when we wan t aout on the P int. We 11 g aout there w en I git me a drink, for it s turrible sightly. The use tu be a good well o water here twenty-five year ago, an if it s here yit I want some on t, for I got consid - able he t up tusslin wi that ol rip." As they approached the house a comely young matron came to the open kitchen door, welcoming them with a pleasant smile and a cheery voice, AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 253 while her keen eyes made a quick but comprehen sive survey of the group. " Good-mornin , gentlemen. You re the ones at drove that cross ol buck away from the chil dren ? " " Yes, ma am," said Antoine, coining to the front with his politest manners ; " we was be de zhontemans." But Joseph had not the effrontery to claim much of the glory for himself and Antoine, and said, jerking his thumb toward Uncle Lisha, " He done most on t, ma am. Ye see, he kind o seemed tu hev the fust chance, an so he took it." "Yes, I know," the young woman said, grow ing red in the face with suppressed laughter ; " Janey here told me all about it," and the little girl retired from view behind her mother, who con tinued addressing Uncle Lisha. "I m dreffly obleeged tu you, sir. But set your guns in the shed an come right in, all of you, an have a fried cake an some cider." " Thank you, marm, I guess we won t go in," said Uncle Lisha ; " but I would n t go ag in a nut cake, for I hain t seen one for a week, and I be turrible dry, which fetched me here ; but you need n t put yourself aout tu git cider, water s good nough for us." " T ain t no trouble," and the woman bustled in, closely followed by the children, and returned with 254 UNCLE LISHAS OUTING. a heaped pan of doughnuts, fresh and hot from the kettle. "Naow jest help yourselves whilst I go an draw some cider." " Don t ye," Uncle Lisha expostulated, "water s plenty good enough for us." But the hospitality of their hostess was not to be restrained, and she presently brought a brimming pitcher of cider, to the great satisfaction of two of the party. " I m af eared these fried cakes lies soaked fat," she said, breaking one and examining it critically when her guests were served. "They be fat- soaked," she declared in a grieved tone, " but mebby they 11 go better n none, if you hain t had none lately." " Queen Victory could n t make no better," Uncle Lisha declared, " nor yit the President s wife, an I da say nary one on em gits so good, for I s pose likely they depends on hired gals tu make em." And his companions heartily seconded the praise. " It looks consid able nat ral raound here," he said, as his eyes roved over the old house and its surroundings, " on y jest a leetle older n it was twenty-five, mebby thirty year ago time o the war, anyway when I was here long wi the m lishy." "You don t say ! " his hostess cried. " Why, I can jest remember a-seein the soldiers here all raound, an haow scairt I was ! My ! " AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 255 " It hain t posserble ! You don t look as if you could ha be n borned then," Uncle Lisha gallantly declared. " Wai, I was then," she answered with a pleased little laugh, " an I remember seein the soldiers here an the British boats way acrost the lake an hearin the cannons firin over tu the P int." And so the two fell to telling of scenes that had been impressed distinctly on the memory of one in the prime of manhood, and no less so on the infantile mind of the other. " Wai, we shall haftu be a-goin ," Uncle Lisha said, turning away reluctantly, " I want tu take these men aout ont the P int here where they can see the broad lake." " An you want to go to the landin . It s got tu be quite a place, with a hoss boat a-runnin on the ferry to Grog Harbor." " A hoss boat ? You don t say ! Wai, that s suthin I never did see, ner these men nuther, I 11 warrant. We re a thaousand times obleeged tu ye for the nutcakes an cider, marm." " An so be I tu you," said she heartily. " I tell aour folks they d ortu kill that ol torment. He s treed me oncte, an naow I take a club when I go where he is ; but aour folks say he ain t cross, on y jest notional." " Darn sech notions," said Joseph, caressing his recent bruises ; "I wish t he d got em aouten his head fore I met him." 256 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " Why, Jozeff , you did n t exactly meet Mm, he kind o overtook ye," said the old man, with a merry twinkle in his eye. " Wai, good-day, marm ; " and they strolled away to the woods and the end of the point where the sheer wall bears its green crown of cedar high above the lake. The broad bay lay before them, and beyond the bold promontories of Thompson s Point and Split Rock the broader lake stretched far north to reach the sky. The lake was ruffled by a north erly breeze, and the white sails of the sloops and schooners running before it, or beating against it, gleamed against blue waves and sky, but among them all not one such imposing tower of canvas as Uncle Lisha had seen when the British brigs were swooping down on their expected prey. " Why, they looked julluk meetin haousen, a-comin over the water, an the gunboats swarmin raound em looked sassy, I tell ye. I s pose aour folks was afeared they might land a mess o sojers here an go over cross lots tu where aour ships lay in t other crik an destr y em, an that s why we was posted here. But they never come a-nigh us an kep right on to where the was a good lickin a-waitin for em, an they got it, tew." When Joseph had crept to the verge of the cliff and ventured one brief glance downward where the waves chuckled wickedly in the low-roofed caves, he was ready to go, and they wended their AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 257 way to the ferry just in time to see the horse boat come splashing into port, the four horses plodding their unprogressive journey on the revolving wheel, whose foothold always slid away beneath and be hind them, and continually returned in a perpetual round of monotony. A drove of cattle in the first day of their long journey on the hoof to Boston markets crowded the deck with their drivers and a few other pas sengers, while the captain steered his craft in austere silence till he shouted " Whoa " to his crew, who was the driver of the horses and passed the command to them, whereat they stood still and the boat surged up to the wharf with a bump that jostled all her animate freight and shook some profanity from the lips of her commander. When the boat was made fast there was a stir of preparation in the group of prospective passen gers on the wharf, while the cattle swarmed ashore, urged by their drivers and followed by their other fellow voyagers edging after them, step by step, in slow impatience, and all regarded with impartial interest by the little company of spectators. These presently turned their attention to a tin- peddler, who was driving his red cart aboard bound on a trading expedition among the foreigners of the other shore. A bunch -of brooms stuck upright in the hinder end of it, like the banner of the Dutch admiral, yet emblematic only of a peaceable 258 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. conquest of housewives hoarded rags and dried apples, some spoils of which were already gathered in sacks and bales on the roof of the cart. The ped dler was a much less important figure in the world than either the sharp-faced wool-buyer or the oily old cheese speculator who now led their horse and buggy aboard, but he and his red cart with its visible proof of traffic were greater objects of interest to the spectators, as was the grizzled old hunter who had outlived the deer of Vermont, and with his gaunt hounds, so long-eared and sad-faced that Uncle Lisha regretted Sam s absence, was on his way to put his long rifle to its old use in the still happy hunting-grounds beyond the lake. After the ferryboat had waited a while for a possible additional fare, which indeed came at top speed from the door of the stone tavern, the cap tain gave the order to the crew, the crew cracked his whip and shouted to the horses, who began their stumbling tramp, and the boat paddled off on her course. As the loungers dribbled away, some to the socialities of the barroom, others to their homes, and the lowing of the cattle and the shouts of the drovers were blended in the distance, Uncle Lisha and his comrades strolled in the direction of the farmhouse. " I do know but it s ridin a free hoss tew fur, but I m a-goin tu ask em for a pocketful o them AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 259 apples at s a-layin on the ground," the old man said. " Looks s if the was more n they knowed what tu du with." " All raght, One Lasha, Ah 11 go on de lake an wait for you an Zhozeff, an mebby Ah 11 shot some dawk." So saying, Antoine skirted the orchard on his way toward the shore while the others went to the house. There they lingered a while to talk with their hostess, and then, their request being cheerfully granted, they filled their pockets with mellow apples and went on to join Antoine. Their steps were hastened by the roar of his gun, and they found him rejoicing over three plump teal which were the result of the shot. After giving the particulars of the exploit, Antoine shouldered the bag, which had grown plethoric since he left them, and picking up his gun and game, set forth to camp. " Why, Ann Twine," Uncle Lisha remarked as the Canadian trudged on before him, " you hev be n spry tu git three ducks an sech a snag o wa nuts sen you left us. You hain t shucked em, I know by the bulge on em, but it don t seem s ough you d ortu took quite so many thaout askin ." " Was Ah 11 ask it de squirly ? He was all de one gat it," was the laconic answer. Arriving at camp without further incident, 260 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. Antoine flung down his burden with a sigh of relief, exclaiming as he straightened his shoul ders : " Bah gosh, dat happle pooty heavy for carry ! " " Apples ? " Uncle Lisha repeated in surprise. " Is them apples ? Where on airth did you git em?" " Wai, seh, One Lasha," said Antoine, with an air of supreme satisfaction, " Ah 11 was peek it up while you was ask for it. Ah 11 t ink dat was save tarn prob ly, an if dey 11 ant give it, dat was save de happle. Hem, One Lisha?" " So you went an stole them folkses apples," cried the old man indignantly. "You tarnal mean, mis able creetur, I m a good min tu make ye kerry em right stret back. I be, I swan ! " " Ah 11 can do it, One Lasha ; Ah 11 too tire, me. But if you 11 want for carry it, Ah 11 was help you load it on you back." " Ann Twine," Uncle Lisha roared with kin dling wrath, " you pick up them apples an kerry em stret back where you got em, or I 11 shake ye aouten yer boots ! " and the flash of fire in the gray eyes implied certain execution of the threat. Antoine at once swung the bag up on his shoul der and started off with it in suEen silence. It is probable that he went no further than fairly out of sight, and then emptying its ill-gotten contents spent the hour of his supposed journey in a com- AN INLAND EXPLORATION. 261 fortable nap ; but Uncle Lisha s conscience was relieved. The remainder of the day was spent in idling about camp, till at sundown the party repaired to the landing to watch for Sam s return. CHAPTER XXII. UNEXPECTED VISITORS. " WAL, here you be, boy," said Uncle Lisha, " an I m glad tu see ye, for it s a-gittin consid - able ca julluky aout yender for your milkweed pod. Good airth an seas ! What a snag o ducks you got ! Sixteen, sebenteen, eighteen, nineteen ! Yes, sir ; nineteen ! Jullook o there, Ann Twine ; he s skunked the hull caboodle on us! Le me see, you got three, an me an Jozeff wal, we hain t caounted aourn yit." " Pooh, dat ant notings ! " said Antoine, con temptuously poking the pile of ducks with his toe. " Ant he 11 gat hoiily nanteen dawk in dat crik all to hese f ? Dat ant much for do, an what leetly feller dey was ! One tarn w en Ah 11 leeve in Canada Ah 11 keel forty wid club ; yes, seh, an dey was gre t beeg feller. Yes, seh, dey was geeses." " Sho, Ann Twine, I guess they was in the aig." " No, seh, dey was in Canada, sem Ah 11 tol you, an if you 11 ant b lieved me Ah 11 goin tol you de trute. You see de way of it, he come on UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 263 stubbly graoun for pick de hoat was jus sow, an he steek hees foot on de mud so he can pull it, an den he froze heem fas cause it mos winter ; so den Ah 11 ant not ing for do honly knock hees head of it." " What be you a-tellin ? " Uncle Lisha groaned. " Oats jes sowed on stubble in the fall ! Du, fer massy s sake, lie reason ble if you must lie." " Oh, One Lasha ! " Aiitoine said, in an injured tone. " If Ah prove mah storee you 11 ant b lieved it. Haow you s pose mans was goin for rembler everyt ing was happen in hees laftam w en he happen so many, hein? It was two tarn Ah 11 keel forty wid stick, one tarn in de sprim an one tain in de fall ! Come, le s go on de camp. De patack was mos all bile, prob ly, an de dawk ready for Cook. Sam, you wan save dis leetly feller ? " touching the ducks again with a scornful toe. " Sam Hill," said Joseph, just finding words to express his admiration. " If that ere hain t a harnsome mess o feathers. Samwil, if you 11 let me pick them tu the halves, M ri 11 be more n willin at I come, or leastways she d ort tu be, seems s ough." " You c n hev the hull on em tu feather your nest, for all me," Sam replied, cringing from a fresh contact with his wet trousers in a way that attracted Uncle Lisha s attention. " Why, Samwil," he cried, as he laid a tentative 264 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. hand on one of the legs. "You ve be n in the water. Hes that ere mis able aigshell be n a spillin on ye? I allers said it ould. I wish t the dumbed Injin contraption was smashed finer n a barn fore it draounds ye." " It never tipped over wi me yit," Sam pro tested. " I went int the water a purpose." " A-wadin arter ducks ? You tarnal fool, this time o year? " "No, I didn t," Sam answered doggedly. " Wai, then, what did ye for ? " " Wai, if you ve got tu know, the was a leetle chap tumbled int the crik a-fishin all alone, an I hed tu fish him aout, tu keep him from draoundin , an it iiat rally was sort of a wet job." " I wan t cal latin tu scold ye for no sech a thing, Samwil," Uncle Lisha said in a low voice as he laid his hand on Sam s shoulder, " but you d better go an dry ye off by the fire." And so they all set forth toward the camp, these two leading the way. As they drew near it they were astonished to hear the unmistakable sound of female voices, and singularly familiar ones. Sam coming first in sight of the place signaled silence and a halt to his companions, who gathered close at his back, and all stood and stared in wonder not unmingled with dismay upon the unexpected invasion of the camp. Two women were nosing about, turning their UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 265 sun-bonnets like telescopes this way and that in diligent inspection of every object, now focusing a common centre of interest, now separately, in search of new diversions and discoveries. These move ments were accompanied by remarks which were not very flattering. The faces were indistinct in the depths of the sun-bonnets, but there was no mistaking the forms, motions, and voices of Aunt Jerusha and Huldah. " I don t b lieve they ve swep up sence they be n here," said the first, making a slow inspection of the fireplace and its littered surroundings. " Swep ? " the other returned sarcastically. " Why, they hain t got so much as a hemlock broom, I warrant ye, which they might easy enough, for jullook at the cedar a-growin all araound." " I know it," Aunt Jerusha acquiesced, " jest as good if not full better, not scatterin itself so bad." " An will you look at that ere fryiii -pan ? " cried Huldah, holding off the utensil with gingerly hands at a distance, yet bringing the muzzle of her bonnet to closer inspection. " I can caount the leavin s o three cookin s in t, plain." " Sam Hill, hain t I glad M ri hain t here tu see that ere," Joseph whispered, " an acre o feathers would n t caount ag in leavin on t so ; wal, mebbe that s settin on t high, say half an acre." 266 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " An see them pertaters. I 11 be baound they re all b ilin tu pieces," cried Aunt Jerusha, fluttering over to the pot and peering into it while she blew away the steam. " Yes, they be, true s you live. Can t you take em oft 7 , Huldy ? " " T ain t likely there s no sech a thing as a holder. I da say they use a bunch o leaves or a dirty stockin ," said Huldah, rushing to the rescue of the potatoes ; " but thank goodness I ve got my apron," and she whisked the kettle off, keeled it and set it by the fire in a trice. " Or mebby the hats," Aunt Jerusha suggested, still dwelling on holders. " Jest think on t, Lisher might ha fetched his luther apron." And Uncle Lisha gave Sam an appreciative dig in the side with his elbow. Then the two women backed off a little to take a comprehensive view of the scene, making inquiries and responses of, " Did you ever ? " and " No, I never," till they fell into a fit of laughter which they were obliged to sit down to finish, while the spectators made a silent exchange of imbecile grins. When the camp inspectors had exhausted their mirth, they discovered the tent and flew to it. Now their heads were thrust far inside in minute inspection, now withdrawn and the muzzles turned to each other with divers nods and shakes of assent and dissent, accompanied by spasmodic movements of their bodies, all of which gave evidence of invid- UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 267 ious remarks and indulgence in unseemly mirth. All this was endured in silence by the spectators of the inquest till the older woman began poking at the contents of the tent with a long stick, when Uncle Lisha could restrain himself no longer, but rushed forward and shouted at the top of his voice : " Hello, you women ; what you duin in there ! " Thereupon the intruders backed out of the tent, and facing about showed the rightful occupants a far bolder front than they could muster, caught as they were in all unseemly ways of housekeeping. " Why, Lisher Paiggs, haow du ye du ? " cried Aunt Jerusha, beaming upon her husband, and Huldah called out heartily : - " Haow be ye, Sam, an all of ye ? " " Good airth an seas, is that you ? " Uncle Lisha shouted. " Why, I thought you was couple o schoolgals a-snoopin raound. Wai, seein you ast, I do know s I m none the better for seein you, considerin haow you talk abaout aour haouse- keepin ." " Wai, naow, Lisher, you can t deny but it s a leetle mite thick under the nail," said his wife. " By gosh, Aunt Jerrushy," cried Antoine, com ing to the front, " you was come de wrong day. Dis ant aour day for wash de dish. We jes daown to de lake for see if dere was waters nough for wash to-morry, an we make off aour min we got for wait till he rise." 268 UNCLE LISIIA S OUTING. " Haow come ye tu come, anyway?" Uncle Lisha demanded. " Sed daown an make your selves tu hum, an tell us baout it," and he waved them hospitably to one of the fireside logs. " Aour gal 11 git tea ready tu rights. Come, Miss Ann Twine, you want tu be gittin aout your sweetcakc an plum sass an jell, for we got comp ny." " Ah 11 gat all of it in de pettetto keetly, an de res of it Ah 11 gat pooty soon," Antoine answered promptly, and began bustling about the fire, heat ing the frying-pan and scouring it with a stone as he would never have thought of doing but for the presence of the guests. They eyed his move ments, but politely refrained from audible comment. Then seeing the ducks, they fell into a poultry- wives admiration of them. " My, I never see sech harnsome ducks," cried Huldah, " an you got all them sence you come here ? " " Why, I got these til-day, jes myself, an I do know what the rest on em has got," Sam answered, and then Huldah detected the condition of his nether garments, and she took him to task forth with. " Why, Sam Lovel, what in this livin world you be n a-duin to your trowses ? You be n wadin hit the river with em? An the water jest as cold as ice. An you ve be n a-duin on t every day sence you come here an got the rheumatiz UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 269 tucked ontu ye an the phthisic an nob dy knows what all, jest tu shoot a duck. You 11 ketch your death jest as sure as you live, for a few leetle mis - able ducks. You shan t never come here again, not if I c n help it. Hain t it a caution. Naow you go intu that tent an take right off them trowses an hand em aout tu me an le me dry em an you cover up in the blankets till they be. I should think you d know better an should n t ha s posed Uncle Lisher d ha let ye." Before Sam could say a word in his own defense he was judged and sentenced, but when Huldah stopped to breathe Uncle Lisha put in a plea for him. "Naow, Huldy, you quit a-scoldin on him, for he hain t be n in the water afore sen we be n here, an he went into t tu save a leetle boy from draoundin . I guess that ere leetle sha ver s mother wouldn t wanter hev Samwil scolded." Huldah s voice shook a little, and the look she gave her husband was anything but reproachful as she said : " Why, Sam, haow d I know ? You set ri daown here by the fire an dry ye an tell me all about it. Folks hain t half so apt tu ketch cold if they let the clo s dry on em. Le me fill your pipe for ye. Did you run a tumble resk? Did he come all right ? Haow old was he ? " These and many more questions he was called 270 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. upon to answer as he toasted his legs between whiles of keeping them out of Antoine s way, who as nearly as could be was on all sides of the fire at once. At the same time Aunt Jerusha hovered about him, intent on motherly offices from which she could not be diverted until Uncle Lisha had shouted at her three times with increasing volume of voice. " Haow come ye tu come ? Good airth an seas ! that s what I want tu know," while Joseph could not find a chance to inquire after the wel fare of his father or to ask what message M ri had sent. "What was t you was sayin , father?" Aunt Jerusha asked at last, yet still giving her attention to Sam. " Haow d we come ? Why, we tackled right up the waggin an come along. But we never tol nob dy at we was a-comin here. The d ha be n objections, no eend on em, if we d ha tol . Hedn t you better pull ye boots off, Sam- wil, an stick ye feet up on that chunk ? An so you see, Huldy she hed some dried apple at she wanted tu trade off, an we jest fixed it up betwixt us at we d fetch it daown tu Vergennes an stay over night tu Cousin Chase s an then come here ! An so we did, an here we be. Hain t you glad tu see us ? You don t act as if you was, not tur- rible." UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 271 "Why, yes, we be tew," Uncle Lisha protested ; " but you see, you took us kinder onawares." " We did n t hev time tu put on aour tother do s," said Sam. " Wai, tu tell the truth an not no jokin abaout it," said Aunt Jerusha, "we fetched daown all on ye s tother clo s as fur as Cousin Chase s, an there they be." " You did n t never, Jerushy Paiggs," said her husband incredulously ; but she nodded repeated affirmatives and smiled serenely. " Wai, then, what did ye for ? Be you goin tu sell em or be you goin tu take us to meetin or a-visitin , or what is t? " " No, not nary one," said she after a moment s enjoyment of her auditors mystification ; " but tu the caravan at s comin nex day arter tu-morrer. We cal lated you d plan tu go to t, an we d go tew, on Bub s caount. His gran pa an gran ma s goin tu fetch him, an we wan t a-going tu hev you raound in your ol ev yday clo s." " Good airth an seas, if I had n t clean forgot it ! " Uncle Lisha declared in genuine surprise at his forgetfulness of so important an event. " Seems s ough I did kinder think on t when you was a-carummuxin wi that ol ram," said Jo seph ; " but I hain t thought on t sence an I do know when afore." " Forgot it ! " Aunt Jerusha exclaimed with 272 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. mild scorn; "that s a likely story, an it all pic- tered aout in red an yaller ev ywheres. Any ways, it is naow up tu Danvis even on tu folkses barns, an ev ybody s a-goin ." " On Bub s caount, I s pose," her husband re marked, bestowing a wink upon the company. " I do know what we d all du if it wan t for that boy." " I don t nuther," Aunt Jerusha assented heart ily. " But it don t signify. " We re all a-goin an a-goin lookin somehaow. Oh, you needn t think me an Huldy did n t fetch aour tother bun- nits," as she detected a quizzical glance at the gingham sun-bonnets. " An you needn t worry none ; we made cal lations on your not bein pre pared for comp ny an laid in wi the folks where we left aour hoss and waggin tu keep us over night in case you didn t hev spare beds." " We got feathers nough, seems s ough," Jo seph said, " but I don t know baout the tick, not sca cely." " An we fetched along a loaf o bread an some butter, an some b iled aigs an some quick pickles," Aunt Jerusha continued, casting a doubtful eye upon Antoine s panful of fried duck, " cause we did n t know but what you might be gittin short ; but I will say it smells better n it looks. Be ye gittin dried off, Samwil ? They be rael socierable folks where we left the hoss. Harris is the name UNEXPECTED VISITOES. 273 I b le so, an they peared tu be consid able quainted wi some on ye." She cast a quizzical glance around, ending at Huldah, who shook her head. " Why, good land ! what hurt 11 it du ? Don they all know what they done? " "What in time be you a-drivin at?" Sam asked. Huldah still shook her head and gave at the same time a deprecatory " S-h-h," but Aunt Jerusha persisted in telling her tale. "Why, nothin , only them folks was a-tellin haow t an ol man an a fat man come there one day with a wil goose at they d shot, praouder 11 tew rhusters, an come tu it was a tame wil goose at them folkses hed. Oh, my sakes ! " She ended with a fit of laughter in which Sam and Antoine joined as they comprehended the gist of the story, while the heroes of it looked foolish, though Uncle Lisha tried to make light of it by saying : " Sho, women folks 11 b lieve anything you tel em. That ere Harris 11 lie faster n a hoss c n trot. What was that ere yarn he tol you, Sam- wil?" But he failed to divert inquiry and was obliged to admit the truth of the charge. Yet he was consoled for this humiliation by the admiration that his real wild geese drew forth when he ex hibited them, and Joseph s store of feathers were given unqualified praise. Then Antoine announced supper and the em barrassed hosts led their guests to the repast, which 274 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. they attacked with no great zest, having seen the cook wipe on his trousers the fork with which he turned the contents of the pan, and use his hat for a holder. Yet they praised what was set before them, while making a meal mostly from the pro visions they had brought with them. Then they helped to clear the table and made the dishes cleaner than they had been since their first use here. After this all the company gathered around the fire, the men smoking, Aunt Jerusha regaling her self with snuff, Hulda unwontedly idle for lack of knitting, while all the latest Danvis news was told and with judicious omissions all the adventures of the camp, and so well did the visitors enjoy their first taste of this life that they decided to lodge in the tent, where a luxurious bed was prepared for them with a double allowance of cedar twigs. At sundown the north wind died, but the pulse of waves still beat upon the beach in regular re currence above the slumberous murmur of distant shores. A company of bitterns were performing a farewell rite on the eve of migration, uttering un couth squawks as they wheeled high above the marshes in awkward gyrations, and frequent flights of ducks were whistling past and splashing into channel and marsh. The busy air was filled with sounds that were strange to Huldah s ear ; the shuddering cry of a screech owl and the sad monotony of the crickets UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 275 were the only familiar ones among them all. These with the slow wash of waves were the voices that her dreams shaped themselves to, when with a lingering sense of strange environment she fell asleep. CHAPTER XXIII. WOMEN S DAY. THE full light of morning had chased the shadows from the camp and even possessed the recesses of the tent when the drowsy inmates awoke and crept forth yawning and shivering in the un- suniied air until the rekindled fire warmed them. Then the women folks got the tidiest breakfast the camp had ever known, and when all save Antoine, who sulked on his faded laurels, had eaten it with great relish, Huldah went out and feasted her eyes full of the wonder and beauty of the lake, where it doubled painted shores in the glassy mirror of near waters, its far expanse melt ing into ethereal hills and further sky, where dis tant islands hung in the blended azure. Then while Joseph and Antoine, forlorn bach elors by brevet, kept camp, the reunited couples embarked in the scow for a cruise along the shore of the bay. The experience gained while voyaging on the canal and the Western lakes put Aunt Jerusha quite at ease on these quiet waters, and with such WOMEN 1 S DAY. 277 an example before her Huldah was too proud to show any trepidation and too sensible to affect it. " Wai, Huldy," said Uncle Lisha, watching her as he steered while Sam wielded the oars, " you be a nat ral born sailor, an you never in a boat be fore, I 11 warrant. Why don t you jump raound and squawk ev time the boat jiggles ? " " Why, I hain t no time tu, the s so much tu look at," said she, her eyes roving far and near over the unfamiliar landscape. " Hain t them pine- trees ? We don t hev no sech tu home. An if there hain t the Hump, for there can t be no other like it an hain t that Tater Hill ? My, what a ways off they be, so blue they don t look much nigher n the sky. I should hate tu live so far from em all the time. Oh, look at that boat, an hain t that a black man in it ? It sartainly is," and she pointed across and up stream to where Jim was paddling out of his marshy harbor. " Why, yes," said Uncle Lisha, " that s one o your husband s friends, Huldy. You d admire tu see what comp ny he keeps when he s daown here, - Injins an niggers an I do know what all." " Quakers an lawyers an shoemakers," Sam supplemented. " An you hain t no idee what cadidoes he cuts up," the old man continued, regarding his audience with a solemn countenance, " a-fishin leetle boys aouten the crik, an wuss n all, what you don t 278 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. never want tu tell nobody, a-helpin Quakers steal runaway niggers away f m the owners. Yes, sir, he done it an he da s n t deny it," and Uncle Lisha frowned benignly on the culprit. " Why, Samwil," Huldah said, in a low voice, beaming affection and admiration upon her husband, while Aunt Jerusha laid a gentle hand upon his shoulder. " "Wai, no wonder both on ye s mad an he shamed, but we won t tell on t if he don t du it ag in," said Uncle Lisha. " Sho, Uncle Lisher, what nonsense hev you be n a-s misin up," Sam demanded, with a bold assump tion of innocence. " Good airth an seas, boy ! don t ye s pose I know brand when the bag s on tied ? Wha d ye go over tu that Canuck s boat for? Sellin apples proberbly. Wha d ye kerry them ducks up tu Bartlett s for ? Thought they was starvin prob erbly. What made ye so tickled when ye seen the Canuck boat p intin for Canerdy ? Turrible glad tu git red on him, wan t ye ? Oh, you be almighty cunnin , hain t ye ? " Sam s downcast eyes discovered something on the boat s bottom which promised a change of the subject of conversation. " Why, if there hain t a trollin line an hook wi a piece o pork rin an red rag on t all rigged for fishin . It must be Antwine had it, but I don t WOMEN S DAY. 279 know when. You put it aout, Huldy, an mebby you c n ketch a pickerel." " Me ? My goodness, I could n t never. I ve ketched traouts, but I can t never ketch a pickerel, I know. Would n t I feel big tu, though? " The line was let out, the boat was slowed down to the proper rate of speed as it skirted the chan nel, and Huldah held the hand line with a grip that showed a determination to be hauled overboard rather than relinquish it. When the boat reached the mouth of the creek her resolution seemed about to be tested, for the line tightened suddenly with a jerk that drew her arms out to their utmost stretch. " Whoa ! whoa ! Back up your waggin, Sam," she cried. " I ve got ketched on a lawg or the hull bottom of the river." "You hain t nuther ! " shouted Uncle Lisha, at once recognizing the cause of the intermittent strain. " It s a fish, an an ol solaker. Pull stiddy, Huldy, stiddy. Oh, good airth an seas ! If you c n on y git him ! Keep a tight line on him ! " " I sh ld think he was a-doin that," said Huldah, her voice shaken by the beating of her heart, though she presented an outside appearance of coolness. Foot by foot the big pickerel was drawn toward the boat till the cold gleam of his wicked eyes could be seen, and then by Uncle Lisha s di- 280 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. rection he was given line, then hauled in again till the old man could get a grip on his gills and toss him into the boat. Huldah gave a great gasp of relief and was ready to cry for pride when Sam swung his hat and gave a lusty cheer that was echoed by Jim, who had been watching the struggle and now came paddling over, jerking his head and laughing and offering congratulations while yet twenty rods away. " I tell ye what, Mr. Lovel, he is a good one ! " Jim cried, as he ran his canoe alongside the scow and looked at the fish with a sort of proprietary pride and with almost as much satisfaction as if he had caught it. "Yes, sir, he is a good one, Mr. Lovel. Is it Mis Lovel at ketched him ? Well, ma am, you handled him just as well as ever I ever see anybody. Yes, sir, you did. Couldn t 110 man done better could n t myself. Naow, if you want tu try it, you might troll aout raound the island. Mighty good place that is for ol big fel lers," and Jim emphasized every item of praise and advice by a jerk of the head, continuing both till the crew of the scow passed out of hearing, and Huldah remarked, still gloating over her cap tive : " Wai, Uncle Lisher, Samwil might find wus comp ny, for he pears tu be a real sensible, candid sort of a man." When they entered the lake Aunt Jerusha was WOMEN 1 S DAY. 281 induced by much persuasion to take the line and a chance of distinguishing herself. She held it anx iously and under continual protest of inability to do so at all. " I can t hold it so t any fish 11 ever bite, I know I can t. If anything gits a holt of it, I shall lose it, I know I shall. You d better take it, Huldy ; you ve got used to t ! There ! There ! There s suthin a nibblin ! No, the hain t nuther. I knowed the would n t nothin , never ! My land ! The is tew ! Lisher, Samwil, Huldy ! I ve got him. He 11 git away ! He 11 pull me in ! " With frequent abortive snatches at it, she fran tically hauled in the line, that yielded to her spas modic efforts with a heavy, sluggish resistance. Uncle Lisha unconsciously lifted the paddle from the water, Sam quit rowing, and Huldah withdrew her admiring gaze from the fish at her feet, and the three spectators watched the struggle with intense interest. " Lisher Paiggs," cried Aunt Jerusha with un usual sharpness, " why don t you take a holt an help me stid o settin there like a scairt fool ? " In ready obedience to this demand, Uncle Lisha underrun the line with the paddle and brought it to hand, and then slowly and carefully hauled it in till, reaching down to the surface, he lifted the bur dened hook and swung inboard a big clam. " Wai, ol woman," said he, collapsing from 282 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. high expectation to deep disgust, " you hev done it, hain t ye ? " With his knife he loosened the vise- like grip of the mussel and was about to toss it overboard. " Here, don t ye never, Lisher Paiggs," cried Aunt Jerusha, suddenly recovering speech ; " you gi me that. It s jest what. I wanted." " Good airth an seas, Jerushy, wha d ye want on t ? You can t eat one on em 110 more you could a chunk o soaked so luther." " No more I don t want tu. You jest clean the meat aout on t an heave it away an gi me the shells. There," she continued when possessed of them, and holding them up she regarded them with unaffected admiration, " them s jest what I be n a-wantin ever sen I be n a-haousekeepin , for they be the completest thing tu scrape aout a kittle an tu skim milk an tu scoop sugar at ever was. Mother hed some at she fetched f m Rhode Islan , an I ve allus be n a-wantin tu git a holt o some. Naow I ve got em, an I d a great sight druther hev em an a fish at 11 be eat right up. Naow, Lisher, you heave that ere fishin thingumbob int the water ag in an I 11 ketch Huldy some clam shells." Aunt Jerusha did not succeed in fulfilling this benevolent intention, for they were now in deep water, but as they coasted along the gray northern wall of Garden Island she was thrown into a second WOMEN S DAY. 283 fever of excitement by a livelier tug at the line. This time it was a pickerel, which, by dint of stout tackle and good fortune, was brought to boat, and in spite of her protested indifference to such a capture, she rejoiced over it exceedingly. They landed on the island, and with Sam acting as guide explored its interior. The garden-like bloom of its shrubbery no longer verified the island s name, but there were evidences of it in the abundant black clusters of viburnum berries and scarlet haws of wild roses, and there were yet enough blue and white blossoms of asters to make the place pleasant to flower-loving women. The money diggers pit in the centre of the island was a place of interest to the men, for whom a hole in the ground always has a fascination. Then all went over to the east end, where Aunt Jerusha found some stranded clam-shells for Huldah, cleaner and brighter than her own, and all found arrow points of flint on the narrow strip of gravelly beach. " It does beat all natur haow the critters made em ! " said Uncle Lisha, pondering over a hand some hornstone arrow-head. " We could n t, wi all the tools we got, an I hearn an ol feller tell aout West at the Injins done it wi a sort o bone thingumajig, jest by pushin on t with the hand, an he claimed he d seen em at it, but I d know baout it. That ere d make a toll able good gun- 284 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. flint, an I guess I 11 keep it. An naow," he con tinued, after trying the flint with his knife and pocketing both, " if you ve looked at posies an cur osities long enough le s go over int the bay yunder an g up tu the haouse where I was yist - day an git some apples for the women folks. They re dre df l clever folks up there." This plan being approved, the party voyaged across the tranquil bay, and then making a detour to avoid the realm of the warlike old Spaniard, went across the fields to the house. As they drew near they sniffed a familiarly pleasant and pungent odor of smoke and lye which led them to an outdoor fire where Uncle Lisha s yesterday s acquaintance was boiling soap. Uncle Lisha introduced his companions, who were cordially welcomed by the mistress, without an apology for the man s hat and coat she wore, ex cept to say : " If you ever made soap you know folks don t want tu dress up much for it, an you c n see I hain t." " I guess you don t want tu," said Aunt Jerusha sympathetically. "It is turrible messin , clarify in the grease, an the lye 11 take the color aout 11 eve ything it teches." " An so onsartain," Huldah added. " You never know whether it s a-goin tu be soap." " I know it," cried the housewife. " It is the WOMEN S DAY. 285 provokin est ! Your lye 11 bear an aig like a cork, an your grease 11 be all right, an yit they won t be soap. I wonder what s come of my man. If you men folks could find him mebby it ould be more interestin an aour gabbin . He went tu git some chunks. Soap-b ilin s a good time tu burn up chunks. Gid Gid-eon ! where be ye ? I guess he 11 come," she said, after listening a mo ment ; and then returning to the subject of soap- making, " Some says it s cause the wind s north, but I do know. Anyways, it does act onaccount- able." " I believe the witches or the OF Cat hisself gits into t," Aunt Jerusha declared. " Same as intu cream sometimes," said Huldah. " Solon Briggs says at a piece o silver money 11 drive the witches aout o that, an mebby it ould aout of soap." " Wai, I m goin tu see whether it s soap or not," the soapmaker said, tucking her dress between her knees, pulling her hat over her eyes, and blow ing the steam away while she dipped a few spoon fuls of the contents of the kettle into an old saucer. This she stirred and cooled with her breath, watch ing it anxiously, while her feminine guests looked on with almost as much interest, as the liquid drib bled in a thin stream from the spoon. "Mebby they was beech ashes," Uncle Lisha suggested, regarding it and the disappointed and vexed face of the matron. 286 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " No, they was most all ellum," she answered. " Plague on t, it don t look like nothin ." " Wai, the hain t no better ashes than ellum, so it ain t that," said the old man. " Try a leetle dash o water in t," Aunt Jerusha suggested, and when this was done the liquid at once thickened in the saucer and the face of the fair soapmaker relaxed to an expression of supreme satisfaction, which was sympathetically repeated in the countenances of her visitors. Gideon now appeared with an armful of refrac tory outcasts from the woodpile and the little girls at his heels. He was introduced in the same breath that the good tidings were communicated to him, and he rejoiced also, while the little girls si lently welcomed their doughty old champion with bashful smiles, and, nibbling finger tips and apron corners, shyly made the acquaintance of his com panions. When the guests were comforted with apples and stayed with flagons, they went over to the ferry harbor and beheld with intense admiration that maritime wonder, the horse boat, arrive and depart. Uncle Lisha recounted once more to Aunt Jerusha s willing ears the events of his life as a soldier, and she was proud to be on the very ground where he began his military career, and de clared with great satisfaction : " This was nough tu pay her for comin ," while Sam and Huldah WOMEN S DAY. 287 were so much interested the old man felt himself quite a hero. Then they strolled back to their own humble craft and coasted along shore toward camp. Long before they saw his figure idly pacing the beach, they heard Antoine s sonorous voice doing its best with some words of the " Exile of Erin " which he had picked up somewhere : " Dar come on de beach a poor eggshell of heron, De dew on hees chin rub it heavy an chill. For he caount on he side his two rib a pair in, An one dar alone in de wind by de hill." He was at the landing to receive them and was profuse in his compliments to the anglers when their trophies were shown him. " Bah gosh, Aunt Jerrushy ! Bah t under, Ma am Hudly ! You bose of it beat One Lasha an Zhozeff an Sam for feesh, an mos me, w en Ah ant try. Prob ly if Ah 11 was go wid you, you ketch lot of it. But you do pooty good, Ah tol you." "Yes, they did, sartain," said Uncle Lisha. " An you d ort tu seen her haul in a clam. He fit like a good feller, but t wan t no use, the ol woman was tew many for him an she muckled him. An both women s a heap better sailors an Jozeff is." " Zhozeff," said Antoine, with supreme con tempt, " Ah 11 was jes soon try for mek feesh 288 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. walk on de graoun as for mek Zhozeff be sailor mans. An all de tarn we keep haouse to-day he worry, worry for fraid you be draown on de lake." The next morning the preparative bustle of de parture began, and though no one openly confessed it, each felt a shade of sadness as the place grew bare and desolate where such pleasant hours had been spent. " It beats all natur haow a feller gits wonted tu a place where he s bed a good time, an hates tu leave it," Sam said, as he turned away, "but it s hopesin we 11 come ag in." " What s sass for gander s sass for goose, an when you come ag in I m a-comin tew," said Hul- dah decidedly. " If de hwomans was comin , Ah 11 ant, me," Aiitoine declared ; " it was spile up all de funs for try for live too pooty." " Wai," Uncle Lisha sighed, " it hain t noways likely at I 11 ever come ag in." " But if ye du, Lisher, I m a-comin tew," Aunt Jerusha said, as they departed. The last ember snapped out in dull explosion and the last thin wisp of smoke dissolved in the colorless air, and amid the silence of desertion the falling leaves began the slow obliteration of man s transitory sojourn. CHAPTER XXIV. THE CARAVAN. TOWARD the middle of the afternoon Uncle Lisha and his friends entered the outskirts of the little city, where the unusual appearance of a camp ing outfit attracted considerable attention and was generally believed to be one of the side shows be longing to the coming caravan. It presently gathered a following of boys, and when Sam drew rein in front of Cousin Chase s tidy house these were joined by several grown-up and no less curious idlers, and all surrounded the wagon in an interested group. " It s a nigger show, I bet ye," one boy confi dently asserted. "Yah. What you talkin bout?" cried an other contemptuously. " It s the Injin show ! Don t you see the canew ? An that black feller up there s one of em ; the ol chief, he is." " My, don t he look ugly, though ? " loudly whispered another, staring in fascinated horror at Antoine, who, overhearing these remarks, at once fell into humoring them. 290 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. " Yas, sah, Ah 11 was big Injin, me ! Ant you see liaow Ah 11 was sca p dis hoi mans ? " He lifted Uncle Lisha s hat, displaying the shining bald pate, and then after a moment s impressive silence continued, " Wai, seh, boy, Ah was tore off you hairs jes lak dat f you ll ant ta careful. You want for hear me spik Injin more better as Angleesh ? " Cangra musquash nawah alamose woisoose chunkamug peskegan. Ooop ! " His audience listened with deep admiration to the first specimen of aboriginal eloquence which they had ever heard. " You want to go on and turn to the left to get to the show ground," said a florid gentleman of leisure, dressed in a drab fur hat, blue coat, and tightly strapped trousers, and he pointed up street with his cane, which he then tucked under his arm, while he took a pinch of snuff and meditatively surveyed the occupants of the wagon. " I hope you folks don t have any tight-rope dancing and the like," he continued with a deprecatory air. " That s contrary to the laws of the State, you know." " Wai, naow, that s tew bad," said Uncle Lisha in a grieved voice, and indicating Joseph with a jerk of the thumb, "for this ere young man is turrible hefty on the wires." The florid gentleman thought he recognized the THE CARAVAN. 291 blush of modest merit in Joseph s abashed face, and with a sly wink at Uncle Lisha said in a husky undertone : " We might fix up a leetle private entertain ment in a barn you know, to-night. Select and quiet, you know." " No, sir ! We re law-abidin folks," said Uncle Lisha with virtuous decision. " Say, can any on ye tell me whether no Ab m Chase lives in this ere haouse. Good airth an seas ! If he don t come an tell us where tu go pooty soon we sh ll hefter hev a show tu git red o the folks." " Say, mister," an eager boy whispered, clutch ing Sam s knee, " if I d fetch water for your hosses, won t ye let me go in for no thin , me an my little brother ; he hain t bigger 11 nothin ! We hain t got no money. Will ye, mister ? " " Why, bub," said Sam, " we hain t no show. We jest come tu see the show, that s all." The boy stared incredulously into the honest face till assured there was no guile in it, and then retired in disappointment, leading his little bro ther. Now the front door of the house opened and Abram Chase came hurrying out in a state of ex citement quite incongruous with his smooth-shaven face and plain, neat attire, when he found his Cousin Jerusha s husband and his friends standing unwelcomed at his threshold and surrounded by a crowd of curious idlers. 292 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. " God zounds ! Lisher, what be you settin there for ? Why did n t ye come right in ? Back up a leetle an haw right in here an drive tu the barn. Clear aout, boys. What be you a-hengin raound here for?" As he opened the great gate and the wagon was driven into the barn the crowd realized its mistake and dispersed, the blue-coated gentleman saunter ing up the street in dignified indifference, while the boys made a joke of their disappointment and tried to out- jeer one another. " Ya-ay, Kelly, how much s the tickets to your Injin show ? Ya-ay ! " and Kelly retorted : " Ya-ay, Smithy, baout as much as it 11 be to git int your nigger show. Ya-ay ! " and both factions shouted " Ya-ay ! " with a clamor like that of a congregation of crows, and Uncle Lisha was im pressed by the depravity of town boys in calling each other by their last names. "Well, Lisher, haow be you, anyway? " Abram Chase inquired, when, after a bustle of general hospitality, he found time to give attention to in dividuals. "An haow be you, Samwil? An hain t this Joseph HiU ? " " Wai, I don t sca cely seem tu know whether no it s me r a Injin r a balance master r some other sort o show feller," said Joseph, feeling his head and looking at his short, stumpy legs to assure himself of his identity. " I was beginnin THE CARAVAN. 293 tu xpect Uncle Lisher cl hev me a-stannin on my head r a-turnin summersets fore I knowed it." " Bah gosh, Ah 11 give more for see dat as all de show dey had to-morry," cried Antoine. With that he departed to his numerous compatriots in the " French village " at the other end of the town, and the others went into the house, where Cousin Chase s good wife was entertaining Jerusha and Huldah. Henceforth till bedtime these town mice and country mice compared experiences, now to the envy of one, now the other. When morning came no one thought of any thing but the great event of the day already her alded in the gray dawn by the rumble of the heavy baggage vans. Habitual early risers were out be times full clad, to admire the teams of large, hand some horses and gayly painted wagons, and slug gards came forth half dressed with garments in hand and unshod feet, rubbing sleepy eyes and fum bling at buttons with alternate hands as they blinked at the lumbering procession with a fellow feeling for the drowsy drivers and the weary show men asleep on the jolting piles of canvas. The vans rumbled past, transferring the present interest to the show grounds, and the brief excite ment of the street subsided temporarily while the citizens breakfasted. Then the first influx of sightseers came hurrying 294 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. in, fearful of being late, though they reported the caravan two miles behind, delayed at the last stream by the elephants refusing to cross the bridge. Gradually the incoming tide of sightseers increased, some on foot, whole families in heavy farm wagons, and young fellows with their sweet hearts in the cumbersome single pleasure wagons of those days, some of which had boxes shaped like bread trays, others square ones substantially framed and paneled, with high-backed seats cush ioned with russet-colored leather and perched at such a lofty height that ascent and descent were not to be lightly undertaken. At last the grand triumphal chariot appeared, blazing and glittering with scarlet and gold, and drawn by four white horses driven by a liveried driver, behind whom the band was enthroned, blowing lustily on brazen bugles, French horns, trombones, and ophicleides, all in time to the thun derous beating of a bigger drum than had ever been heard at a general muster. Then came two ele phants, one of whom bore a howdah in which the lion tamer sat dressed like a Roman gladiator and quietly smoking an incongruous pipe. These were followed by four camels ridden by Arabs, whose genuineness became doubtful when one was heard to address his beast with " Git on wid yez, ye spal peen." Then came the train of closed mysterious cages, some silent, others giving forth growls and screams of strange beasts and birds. THE CAEAVAN. 295 Close upon these came a crowd, hurrying for fear of being late, though it was two hours before the advertised opening of the show. Uncle Lisha and his party, reinforced by Mr. and Mrs. Puring- ton, Sis and her nephew Bub, were early upon the ground, eagerly enjoying all the novel sights and sounds of the busy scene. Here was an excited group of Canadians, inter spersed with a sprinkling of cool-headed Yankee jockeys, gathered around three or four sorry nags that looked as if the impending changes of owner ship could make little difference to them or any one else. " Wai, Joe," drawled a solemn- visaged man, after an examination of one of these animals from all points of view, " it kinder looks tu me s if your hoss hed got the heaves tucked ontu him consid - able bad." " Yas, Harrum, e got some o dem," the owner, a jolly little pock-marked Frenchman, frankly ad mitted in a husky voice, " mais, dey ant hurt him mite. You oss e hoi , hoi every tarn e hoi , Har rum, and e gat splavin lak geese egg." " Sho ! That hain t nothin ," said the other ; " I c n blister that off in a week, smooth as the palm o my hand. If you want my hoss bad nough tu gi me a dollar, we 11 call it a trade." " Oh, Harrum ! Swappy de oss pour de oss," the little man pleaded. 296 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. " No, I got tu liev a dollar tu boot." " Ow Ah goin give you more as Ah gat ? " Joe asked piteously. " Ah geeve you half dollar, dat all Ah gat, me." He held up the coin before the other, who took it with a sigh of resignation, saying, " Wai, seem it s you, Joe, but I m jest the same as givin away my hoss," and each began unharnessing his horse amid the congratulations of friends. The little group of Danvis people passed on to where a peddler mounted on a cart was auctioneer ing his wares. " Oh, just look what I ve found tucked away in a corner, an I thought the last blessed pair was sold yesterday," he cried, stretching to arms length a pair of puckery rubber suspenders that smelled in fernally of sulphur. " Just look. Stretch like a deacon s conscience. Long enough for any man. Short enough for any boy. Oak-tanned luther ends an gold buckles, I guess, but mebby they re brass. Don t let your women folks wear their fin gers aout knittin galluses for you, but walk right up an buy a pair of these beautiful e-lastic sus penders, worth one dollar tu any man, but I sell em for half that money, an tu-day, seein you all want tu save a quarter to go hit the show, I 11 let you have em for quart of a dollar a pair, an I 11 say no more an take no less." Such a generous offer was not to be withstood, THE CAEAVAN. 297 and the new-fangled suspenders were passed out to the crowding purchasers till it seemed as if the red cart could have been laden with nothing else, yet the enterprising proprietor was continually discov ering some new article, and each more tempting than the last. Now it was a ring or brooch, now some cheap and tuneless instrument, now pocket- combs, side -combs, and back -combs, jackknives, distorting hand glasses, song books, lives and con fessions of criminals, and so on, changing as often as interest flagged. There were numerous booths where refreshments of mead, spruce beer, and great cards of good old- fashioned yellow gingerbread were temptingly dis played, and the familiar, obese, and blue-frocked figure of Old Beedle was present, dispensing foam ing glasses of innocuous beer from a cask in the tail of his wagon, and with them such kindly words and genial smiles that it seemed to his juvenile customers as if they were receiving a great deal for a cent. There were peripatetic venders of apples in bas kets, and home-made molasses candy on boards, both wares cried by the youthful Canadian dealers at the usual price of "Two of it, one cen piece." Noisiest of all were the tooters, vociferously pro claiming the wonders of the side shows, the fat woman and the strong man, the albino negroes and the man without arms, and the waxworks of Mon- 298 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. sieur Jonsiii from Paris, all of which were now on exhibition and each to be seen for the small sum of twelve and one half cents. The twanging of the banjo, the thumping of the tambourine, the voices of the performers and the laughter of the audience sounded smothered and echoless as they beat against the canvas walls, yet were most attractive to the outsiders who crowded about the narrow entrances. As Joseph Hill stood in rapt admiration of the colossal portrait of the fat woman, counting the coins in his pocket with his fingers, he was startled by hearing his name called in a familiarly impera tive tone, and looking in the direction from whence it came saw the gaunt form of his father standing upright in a lumber wagon, brandishing his cane toward him with one hand and with the other re straining young Josiah from leaping to the ground. Maria, who with her daughter Ruby occupied a portion of the seat from which the patriarch had risen, was frantically shaking a handkerchief to ward her husband, and Pelatiah, who as driver sat in front with two of the smaller children, had his breath indrawn and his mouth made up, to add his voice to the family call. " "Wai, if this don t pooty nigh beat Sam Hill," Joseph exclaimed, as he hastened over to them. " Seem s ough I thought o most ev b dy a-comin , but I swaow, I never thought o you a-comin , father." THE CARAVAN. 299 " You did n t, hey ? An you could n t hear me when I did come, a-gawpin at that ere pictur ," Gran ther Hill scolded in a cracked catarrhal voice. " What is t a pictur on, anyway ? A elephant dressed up in women s clo s? I 11 bate they hain t got no sech a critter." " It s the fat lady, father," Joseph explained, " an the white niggers. Haow come ye tu come, father ? " " Fat lady and white niggers," the old man repeated scornfully. " By the Lord Harry, what is this cussed world a-comin tu when shes at goes raound showin their carkisses like hawgs tu a cattle show calls theirselves ladies, an niggers calls theirselves white ! I come cause I was a mine tu ! Did n t you ? Did you s pose the wan t nob dy but you a-comin ? Don t ye s pose Josier wanted tu come, an Ruby an t other young uns, an du you s pose I was goin tu let em come daown here along wi M rier an Peltier and git lost an eat up ? That would be smart ! " " Why, I m glad you come if you can stan it," Joseph declared. " Be you middlin well ? An you, M ri an Ruby, an mongst ye, an you tew, Peltier ? Oh, M ri, if I hain t got the almighted- est snarl o feathers ! Wai, not sech a turrible sight on em, but sech neat ones you never did see a most." "Yonder comes Lisher an Jerushy an Lovel 300 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. an his wife an young un, all comin tu ask what I come for, I 11 lay a guinea," said Gran tner testily, " an if there hain t that ere cussed Pur nt n woman an her man. I hain t nothin ag in the beasts, but I swear I wish t they d eat her. Young Gove, drive your hosses up tu the fence an hitch em ! Sed daown, Josier, fore I knock ye daown. G long ! " The horses were driven to the nearest hitching place and given a bundle of hay from the hinder end of the wagon, whose occupants were by this time overtaken by their townsfolk in spite of Gran - ther Hill s attempts to elude Mrs. Purington. " Wai, I should think you d a hed more regard for your health, Capting Hill," the tired dame panted, fanning her hot face with a folded hand kerchief, " an I don t see what you let him come for, Marier. It s jest flyin in the face o Provi dence." " Damn my health, marm, it s ol nough tu ta keer of itself," the veteran declared, standing very erect and looking fierce. " Haow d ye s pose M rier was goin tu help herself ? The hain t nob dy flew yit ; but I wish t the Lord Harry they would, higher n Gilderoy s kite, an never light this side o glory halleuyer." " I m dreatful glad you come, Cap n Hill," said Sam, shifting Bub to his left arm that he might shake hands with the old man. " They say the s a bustin old painter an some wolves." THE CARAVAN. 301 " Yis," said Uncle Lisha, " an some Injins ; but they won t le ye kill em, cause they hain t got but a few." " Hev they got all them ? " the veteran asked eagerly. " Come, let s git aour keerds an g w iii t the carryvan afore the young uns dies o waitin . Take a holt o my hand, Bub. For a d, march." As they approached the thronged precincts of the ticket wagon and Sam detached himself from his party to enter into the struggle for tickets, he was accosted by his impecunious youthful acquaintance of yesterday, who was now standing forlornly apart from the crowd with his little brother, looking with o longing eyes at the blue and yellow cards as they were passed to the outstretched hands by the im perturbable ticket-seller. " You waii t one of em, was ye ? " said the boy, with a melancholy smile of recognition. " Hello ! " Sam responded cheerily. " Hain t you shavers goin in ? " The boy shook his head in sorrowful resigna tion. "The big fellers got all the jobs, an I hain t got no money." "You wait here till I come back," said Sam, after a moment s hesitation, and then shouldered his way into the crowd, through which his tall, strong figure enabled him soon to reach the wagon. Presently emerging from the press somewhat 302 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. flushed and rumpled, but smiling, he returned to the boys and handed the elder a couple of half tickets. " There, bub, you an the little chap go in an see the hull caboodle on t," and Sam rejoined his friends before the boy could give audible ex pression to his thanks and astonishment. Joining the drifting tide of mixed humanity, our Danvis friends were carried with it inside the great tent into a world of strange new sights, sounds, and atmosphere. If this was not the perfumed breath of Araby, these were the beasts and birds and reptiles of the tropics and far countries of the earth, this medley of discordant sounds that frightened chil dren and startled their elders, the natural every day voices that had shaken the torpid air of Indian and African jungles. The keepers, who walked unconcernedly in front of the cages and were the familiars of the uncouth elephants and camels, bore such impress of strange experience and wide travel as made them quite different from ordinary mortals, and speech with them an overwhelming honor. " Yes, that ere is a boar constructor or animal condor," Solon Briggs explained to his neighbors, whom, with his wife, he had joined near the front of the cage in which a great serpent was coiled. "I s pect that was the specie that onderminded the humern race of mankind by temptin of Eve, cause you see he s cal lated by the dimensions of THE CARAVAN. 303 his len th for reachin arter apples. An that ere is the rile tiger, so called on account of his allus bein riled, an that critter that s got stripes jus like him is called zebray on account o his resem- blin a jackass. An anybody ould know them was lierns, only the female specie hain t got no mane. An hain t them elephants the curisest freak o hurnerii natur ? It does appear at if they was pervided with another pair of visible organs in the behind of em they might perceed back ards jest as well as for ards, hevin a tail on each end of em. That ere is called the backteryan camel on account o his hump." " Poor creetur s," said Aunt Jerusha, " I should think they d git dre f 1 tired o goin humped up so all the time." " Them is what they kerry water in when they cross the de-sart of Sary she t was Abram s wife," said Solon. " Briggs must ha made most o these ere animals hisself , I consait, he pears tu know so much abaout em," Gran ther Hill growled sarcastically. " Come, Josier, le s go an look o the painter an them wolves ; I want tu see suthin at I know suthin abaout myself. There ! " he continued, as, leading his grandson and followed by Sam and Pelatiah, he halted in front of the cages of these animals, " that s the sort o pussycat an dogs at used for tu be a-yaowlin an a-yollopin raound yer gran - 304 UNCLE LIBRA S OUTING. ser s campfire when he was on airth the fust time. Ah, ye ol yaller cat ! You sneakin whelps ! Yer gre t gran marms knowed me." He shook his cane at them, and the panther spat at him and the wolves slunk into a corner as if each recognized in him an ancient enemy of its kind. Presently the attention of all was drawn to the performance of the elephants, when one huge beast made its majestic progress around the ring with a howdah full of delightedly frightened children, and the other walked with slow and ponderously careful steps over the prostrate form of the keeper. Then a pony ridden by a monkey ran in the ring, at which time Antoine made his appearance. Having been entertained by many friends, he had arrived at a condition to fully enjoy the show. Now he was in a bellicose humor, thirsting for a hand-to-hand encounter with the bear, now he was affectionate, desiring to embrace every one, includ ing the equestrian monkey. " Say, Sam, Ah wan kees dat leetly nigger. Ah luv heem more as Ah luv mah fam ly, bah gosh ! Ah 11 was nabolition mans, me, an Ah 11 wan stole dat leetly nigger. Sam, ant you wan help me stole dat leetly nigger ? " and so maundered on till, to Sam s great relief, his attention was directed to the band and he began to dance in front of it, dividing the attention of the audience THE CARAVAN. 305 with the clown, who, with the ring-master, made the nearest approach to a circus that was then per mitted in our virtuous commonwealth. The humor displayed by the clown in his ancient jokes and repartees was irresistible, and when after turning a succession of somersaults he ran his painted nose against a centre post of the tent Aunt Jerusha declared : - " He s the quickest witted man I ever see, but the clumsiest creetur for one at s so spry by spells. Eunice Pur nt n, if you ve got your cam- phire bottle, you le me hev it an I 11 go an rub some on his nose, for it s painin on him turribly, I know it is." Mrs. Purington never ventured far from home without her bottle of camphor and smelling salts, and possessing herself of the first Aunt Jerusha hastened forth to offer a balm for the supposedly injured member, while audience and actors looked on in silent wonder. " Here, you poor distressed wretch, le me put some o this sperits o camphire on t your nose. It ll take the soreness aout if it does make it smart some," she said, approaching the clown, who left off his lamentations to stare at her in dumb surprise. " Le me rub some on t right on," she urged, " or put it on yourself if you d druther." " Thank you," he said politely, " if you d be so good, just a drop," and he soberly submitted to the 306 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. operation while the paint came off his nose on to the tips of her fingers. " Thank you, dear old lady," he said in a low voice, " and bless your kind heart. It s done me ever so much good." He returned her to her place as politely as if she had been the finest and fairest lady in the land, and then tripping back to the centre of the ring he propounded another conundrum. " Why is the old lady s heart like my nose ? " " Wai, sir, why is it ? " the ring-master de manded. " Because it s tender, of course," was the answer, and there was tremendous applause. " Oh, dear, it s tew bad, it s tew bad ! " Aunt Jerusha sobbed, almost in dismay at having at tracted such general attention, " but if it done him a mite o good, I hain t sorry." Now the performers retired from the ring, the lively measure of the galop changed to a solemn andante, and the audience breathlessly awaited the grand event of the day. There was a clang of bars and an opening door, and the lion tamer entered the den, driving the snarling beasts to one end of it, from whence they came one by one at his command and sullenly per formed their parts. " Oh, dear suz ! " Mrs. Purington wailed in a tearfully restrained voice, " they re a-goin tu eat him, I know they be, an the show folks expex it. THE CARAVAN. 307 That s what makes em play so solemn on the music, jus for all the world like a fun al hyme tune. Say, mister," she piteously appealed to a showman who stood near, " won t you go an tell him tu go right aout o there ? It don t seem as if I could stan it tu stan here an see him eat up right afore my face an eyes." " Don t be alarmed, ma am," said the showman, " there s no danger. The last man they heat was so tough and disagreed with em so bad, they ain t ankered harter human flesh sence. More n hall that, Err Driesbach is a Dutchman, han the beastises can t habide the smell o sailrkraout." She only half believed this and kept her smelling bottle in hand till, greatly to her relief and that of most of the audience, the brave lion-tamer backed out from the royal presence, and the band burst forth in a jubilant strain so loud that it set the elephants to trumpeting and all the carnivora to roaring and howling. Every one was glad that this part of the show was over, but alas, it was all over, and even now the shutters of the cages were going up and the canvas walls were going down, and the crowd dis persed except the few who lingered for a last look at the camels and elephants, and such as were fooled into parting with their money to see the hurried, final exhibitions of the side shows. Before the afternoon was much further spent the 308 UNCLE LISHA S OUTING. Danvis people were on their homeward way, and a little after nightfall their own mountains closed around them and again shut them in from the busy world of which they had had such a brief but memorable glimpse. Rtoerjsibe CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A. ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO. 028 602