I 
 
GIFT OF 
 Harry East Miller 
 

 <t$a^4 
 
 ■J 
 
t^t @bitroni)acft ZaUe, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 THE STORY THAT THE KEG 
 TOLD ME, 
 
 ami 
 
 THE STORY OF THE MAN IVHO 
 DIDN'T KNOIV MUCH. 
 
JOHN NORTON THE TRAPPER. 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG 
 TOLD ME 
 
 AND 
 
 THE STORY OF THE MAN WHO 
 DIDNT KNOW MUCH 
 
 25p W. 1% 1% a^urrap 
 
 Author of "Daylight Land," "Adventures in the Wilderness" 
 
 "How John Norton Spent His Christmas" 
 
 "Deacons," etc., etc 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 DeWOLFE & FISKE COMPANY, 
 
 PUBLISHERS. 
 
• « • •< 
 
 • • • • • c 
 
 r t t t c f e , 
 
 Copyright, i'^^o, 
 By CUPPLES 8: HURD. 
 
 A// Rights Reserved. 
 
 v\ 
 
 c^ (^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 C^.s^N -V. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Intrc 
 
 >DUCTIOX 
 
 vii 
 
 THE STOKY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 
 I. 
 
 The Keg 
 
 1 
 
 11. 
 
 The Miser . . . . 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 III. 
 
 The Miser's Eear 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 IV. 
 
 The Miser ix the Woods 
 
 
 
 30 
 
 V. 
 
 JoHx iSToRTOx the Trapper 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Old Trapper's Ambush 
 
 
 
 56 
 
 VII. 
 
 Finding the Miser 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 VIIL 
 
 The Miser's Confession 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 IX. 
 
 The Death Watch 
 
 
 
 95 
 
 X. 
 
 The Funeral 
 
 
 
 100 
 
 THE MA^ who DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 I. The Beaver's Lodge 
 II. An Animated Bush 
 
 III. Camp Life 
 
 IV. The Hunt 
 V. The Rescue 
 
 VI. The Ovation 
 VII. The Eace 
 VIII. The Lad's Triumph 
 
 iviSlSOO 
 
 111 
 
 129 
 144 
 162 
 177 
 194 
 210 
 231 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 IX. The Shooting Match . 
 X. The Shooting jNIatch . 
 XI. The Match for the Silver Horn" 
 
 XII. The Ball 
 
 XIII. The Parting 
 
 PAGE 
 
 249 
 
 269 
 290 
 311 
 330 
 
 Part III. 
 
 XIV. Some Old Folks . 
 XV. Henry's Ambush . 
 XVI. The Thunder-storm 
 XVII. Crazy John . 
 XVIII. A Prophecy . 
 XIX. The Catastrophe 
 XX. The Lad goes Home 
 
 353 
 366 
 383 
 400 
 411 
 420 
 442 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 TV/TY Publishers have requested me to prepare a 
 brief statement concerning my literary work, 
 especially that portion of it relating to the character 
 known as John Norton the Trapper — and the stories 
 called the " Adirondack Tales." They represent that 
 there is an unusual curiosity and interest on the part 
 of many touching this matter, and that a brief state- 
 ment from me, as the author of them, will please many 
 and interest all who read my works. 
 
 I know that many thousands of people do feel 
 in this way, for my mails for several years have 
 brought me almost daily a most agreeable correspon- 
 dence concerning not only the character of John Nor- 
 ton the Trapper, but of the general scope and char- 
 acteristics of my literary work ; and because of this 
 personal knowledge I do the more cheerfully comply 
 with my Publishers' request, and will, now and here, 
 set down as briefly as I may what seems likely to be 
 of interest to those who read this volume. 
 
 The first volume ever published, of my writing, 
 was by the house of Ticknor & Fields, in 1868 I 
 
viii INTBODUCTION. 
 
 think, and had for its title " Murray's Adventures 
 in the Wilderness." This was the book which first 
 brought the Adirondacks to popular notice, and did 
 so much to advertise that now famous region to the 
 sporting and touring classes of the country. The 
 noticeable thing as to this volume is that it was not 
 prepared by me for publication, and while writing the 
 several chapters I had no idea that they or anything I 
 should ever write would be published. I was then in 
 the clerical profession, and was stationed at Meriden, 
 Conn. I had at this time a habit of composing each 
 day, when my duties permitted me the leisure, some 
 bits of writing wholly apart from my profession and 
 work. They were of the nature of exercises in Eng- 
 lish composition, a*nd had no other interest to me than 
 the mental refreshment it gave me to write them, and 
 the hope that the doing of them would assist me to 
 imj)rove my style in expression. They were constructed 
 slowly and rewritten many times, until they were as 
 simple and accurate as to the use of words as I could 
 make them. I enjoyed the work very much, and the 
 composition of those little bits of description and 
 humor delighted me probably more than they ever 
 have the readers of them. By an accident of circum- 
 stances they were printed in the Meriden Recoi^der, 
 and beyond pleasing a few hundreds of local readers 
 
INTB OB UCTION. ix 
 
 made no reputation for themselves whatever. At least 
 I never heard of them or gave them any thought. It 
 was owing to James T. Fields that their merit, such as 
 they had, w^as discovered and that they were given in 
 volume form to the world. Of the reception the little 
 book met with at the hands of the public I need not 
 speak. As to it I know no one was more surjjrised 
 than I w^as. It made the Adirondacks famous, and gave 
 me Si nonide Illume \A\\<!\\ has almost overshadowed the 
 name I was christened with. What pleases me most as 
 to it is the thought that it helped to introduce healthier 
 fashions of recreation and brought thousands into close 
 and happy connection with Nature. 
 
 Of several volumes of sermons that were published 
 while I was in the clerical profession I make no men- 
 tion, for I do not regard them as literary productions. 
 They represent only a temporary popular demand, 
 and as compositions only the low average possible to 
 an overworked man, compelled by his duties to do too 
 much to do anything well. 
 
 The volume known as the '^ Perfect Horse " was, I 
 believe, with the exception of Hiram Woodruff's little 
 volume, the first attempt made by an American author 
 to teach the breeders of the trotting horse in this 
 country the true principles and correct methods of 
 equine propagation. It had a large sale, and I have 
 
X INTBODUCTIOK. 
 
 reason to think helped the country to needed knowl- 
 edge. To me it only stood for years of wide and 
 close studentship of the question and a benevolent 
 endeavor. 
 
 The prompting motive in the preparation of " Day- 
 light Land" was this : — The little book, ^'Adventures 
 in the Wilderness," was publishad in 1868, I think, and 
 under circumstances such as I have explained. I had 
 no thought at that time of becoming an author. The 
 several chapters of that little volume were written as 
 exercises in composition. I was, at the Avriting of 
 them, only some twenty-six years old. I knew little of 
 life or nature, and absolutely nothing of what literary 
 balance and fitness mean. My knowledge of wood- 
 craft was then slight, of the American Continent 
 slighter yet. Naturally the book, because of the 
 fame it won, became, as years passed, my knowledge 
 grew apace, and my power of expression ripened, 
 a regret to me. It did not in any sense repre- 
 sent me as an author. This feeling was shared by 
 others who have regard for my writings, especially 
 along the lines of description and entertainment, and 
 I was urged to compose a volume of the same general 
 character as my first little book, that should be a 
 fairer and happier expression of myself as an author 
 in the lighter moods of composition. It may inter- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 est some to learn — especially young authors and 
 literary folk — that "Daylight Land" had for its 
 prompting cause the feeling that it was not fit for me 
 to be permanently represented in descriptive writing 
 and in composition of the lighter sort by that little 
 book which has gone so far and done so much of 
 good in many ways, but which, because of the rea- 
 sons stated, has always been extremely unsatisfactory 
 to me. 
 
 I will now come directly to the character of John 
 Norton the Trapper and the " Adirondack Tales." 
 
 I was once at a luncheon at which Mr. James T. 
 Fields presided. Several clever literary men of more 
 or less prominence were present. Mr. Emerson w^as 
 there, and in answer to the query, " What makes 
 a story a great story," said : " A story which will 
 make the average reader laugh and cry both is a 
 great story, and he who writes it is a true author." 
 The definition struck me, when I heard it, as a very 
 proper one, and it has influenced me in my choice of 
 subjects and methods of treatment ever since. 
 
 Another question discussed at that table was this : 
 " Why must the feminine element be introduced so 
 constantly ? " or, as one of the witty lunchers phrased 
 it, " Why must every author forever introduce a 
 woman into his story ? " 
 
Xll INTB OD UCTIOX. 
 
 This was discussed at length, all assuming that such 
 necessity did exist. 
 
 I had not engaged in the spirited talk, being well 
 content to listen. This Mr. Fields noted, and insisted 
 on " Parson Murray," as he facetiously called me, 
 giving his views. I re23lied that I would sooner keep 
 silent, especially as I did not agree with the verdict o£ 
 the table. This attracted a surprised attention, and 
 I was compelled to say " that I did not see the need 
 of introducing a woman into every story, and that I 
 believed a story meeting Mr. Emerson's definition of 
 a great story, viz., one which would make the read- 
 ers of it laugh and cry both, could be written without 
 a woman appearing in it, and that in some masculine 
 natures was a tenderness as deep, a sympathy as sweet, 
 and a love as strong as existed in woman." And I 
 added, " Mr. Emerson has forgotten that in a book 
 with whicli, as he was a clergyman for years, he is 
 perfectly familiar, there is a picture given of two 
 men who ' loved each other beyond the love of 
 women.' " 
 
 Not to dilate further, from that day Mr. Fields 
 never ceased to urge me to " attempt that story," and, 
 being most friendly to me, — and to what young 
 person with any talent was he not ever a friend, — he 
 would say, " I tell you, Murray, try and see if you can 
 
INTBODUCTIOY. xui 
 
 write that story, not a woman or the hint of one, good 
 or bad, in it, for it may be you might succeed, and if 
 you should, you know what Emerson said ; and I would 
 like to be the publisher." Prompted by this kindly 
 thought for me, and moved by assisting circumstances, 
 I wrote the " Story of the Man Who Didn't Know 
 Much.'* It was composed amid the pressure of jour- 
 nalistic as well as clerical labors, by being dictated to 
 a type writer, and appeared in the weekly issues of the 
 Golden Rule, a journal of which I was editor and 
 owner. It gave great satisfaction to the readers of 
 the paper, and increased its circulation appreciably. 
 Of its literary merit, if it has any, the readers of this 
 volume can judge. The pleasantest thought to me, 
 perhaps, concerning it was the fact that Mr. Fields 
 came one day to my study and in his genial, earnest 
 way exclaimed, " Murray, you have done what you 
 said could be done ; you have written a story up to the 
 level of Emerson's definition, for I have read it from 
 beginning to end, and laughed and cried over it 
 both." It is doubtless owing to this story and the 
 success of it, more than to any other cause, that my 
 mind was turned toward literature as the field in 
 which I could work with the greatest pleasure to 
 myself, and perhaps with the largest resultant benefit 
 to mankind. The character of the Lad was sketched 
 
XIV lyTB OD UCTIOX. 
 
 with the desire to illustrate the beauty and moral force 
 of innocence and simplicity, as contrasted with great 
 mental endowments. It was from listening to the 
 playing of the greatest master of the violin in modern 
 times, Ole Bull, that I conceived the description of 
 the Lad's violin and his manner of playing it at the 
 ball. The great violinist expressed to me the delight 
 the reading of the passage gave him, and jokingly 
 declared that he enjoyed it all the more because it 
 was composed by a man who couldn't play a note 
 himself ! 
 
 Of John Norton — and this must stand as answer to 
 all the interrogations that have been put to me con- 
 cerning him — I have this to say. I never saw any 
 such man as John Norton, never saw one so good as 
 he is, in my vision of him, never saw one that even 
 suggested lihn. He is a creation, pure and simple, 
 of my imagination. But though I never saw such 
 a man, he nevertheless stands for an actual type. 
 Big-bodied, big-headed, big-hearted, wise, humorous, 
 humane, brave, he types, to me, the old-fashioned 
 New England man who, having lived his life in the 
 woods, has had developed in him those virtues and 
 qualities of head and heart, of mind and soul, in 
 harmony with his life-long surroundings. Through 
 
INTB OD UCTION: XV 
 
 him, as my mouthpiece, I tell whatever of knowledge 
 I have of woodcraft, whatever appreciation I have of 
 Nature, and whatever wisdom I may have been taught 
 by my communings with her silence. This is all I 
 know of John Norton the Trapper. The " Story thaj? 
 the Keg told me " was composed simply to introduce 
 the character of John Norton to the reader, to present 
 him, as it were, to the reader's eye, and prepare him 
 to appreciate his characteristics. 
 
 The '^ Adirondack Tales," as outlined in my mind, 
 consist of six volumes, three of which are already 
 written and await publication, the other three I 
 hope to complete within the next five or six years. 
 The Canadian idyls, of which the " Doom of Mam- 
 elons," is the first in order, will consist also of six 
 volumes, three of which are nearly completed. In 
 them I treat of the myths and traditions of the abor- 
 iginal races of America as located especially in the 
 northern section of the continent. It is not likely that 
 much, if indeed any part, of what I may write will be 
 granted a permanent place in the literature of my 
 country, nor am I stirred to effort by any ambition or 
 dream that it may. I shall be well satisfied if, by what 
 I write, some present entertainment be afforded the 
 reader, a love of nature inculcated, and encouragement 
 
XVI I^'TB OD UCTIOX. 
 
 given to a more manly or womanly life. As my ex- 
 pectation is modest, I am the more likely, perhaps, to 
 live long enough to see some small part of it, at least, 
 realized. 
 
 W. H. H. Murray. 
 BuRLii<rGTON, Vt. 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE KEG. 
 
 " There is society •where none inXrudes." — Byron. 
 
 TT was near the close of a hot, sultry day in midsum- 
 ^ mer, which I had spent in exploring a part of the 
 shore line of the lake where I was camping, and the 
 tortuous inlet which led into the same ; and wearied 
 with the trip I had made I was returning toward the 
 camp. There was no motive for haste, and I was 
 taking it easily. Indeed, I was in that quiet, con- 
 tented state of mind, into which one easily falls in the 
 woods, where his labors are dictated by his amuse- 
 ments and his physical necessities, and not by the 
 duties which carry with them obligation ; and I had 
 done little more than drift with the lazilv-movino- cur- 
 rent. The quiet inaction, slow as it was, corresponded 
 Avith my mood ; and I felt almost a regret when my 
 boat floated out from between the shrubby banks into 
 the open waters of the little lake. 
 
 It was a very secluded sheet of w^ater, hidden away 
 between the mountains, not marked on the map, and 
 whose existence was entirely unsuspected by me until 
 
2 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 in liiy aimless wa)i(lecings I had a few days before 
 accidentall}; stumbled upon it. Indeed, I doubt if in 
 ^U ctliM woods ^tKer^ js, another sheet of water so shut 
 in from observ^ioil arid so likely to escape the eye, I 
 will not say of the tourist and sportsman, but even of 
 the hunter and trapper. It was because of this fact 
 that I had fallen in love with it. Here was silence 
 undisturbed by any noise of man's making. Here I 
 could escape the prying eyes of idle and provoking 
 curiosity. Here I could watch the habits of ani- 
 mated nature and study the mystery of her charm 
 without interruption. And here the wisdom which 
 man learns independent of utterance — the wisdom of 
 the unspoken and the unknown — might, so far as I 
 was fit, be received by me. 
 
 The first day on the little lake I spent in paddling 
 around its shores, in close scrutiny of them. In every 
 bay into which I successively paddled I expected to 
 find a hunter's cabin. On every point I doubled I 
 looked for a sportsman's lodge. I circled every island 
 in my sharp quest. But in vain. There was not a 
 cabin or lodge, a charred coal or mark of a guide's 
 axe or trapper's knife in the entire circuit. Aston- 
 ished and incredulous, I devoted another day to the 
 examination. I even landed at every spot where 
 Nature had suggested a camp-ground, and searched, 
 with trained eye, for the evidence of man's visitation, 
 but found none, not even the least trace. Springs I 
 found, cool as iced water and clear as crystal ; but 
 neither mark of axe, nor knife, nor fire. 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 3 
 
 Convinced at last, I paddled out to the middle of 
 the lake, feeling, as I watched the sun go down, the 
 shadows deepen, and the stars come out, that I beheld 
 what no human eye had ever looked upon : a place 
 un visited by man from the foundation of the world. 
 In such a place the sense of time passes from you, and 
 the sense of eternity is experienced. The years you 
 have lived, the years of the world, are as if they had 
 not been, and you seem to be coexistent with the birth 
 of material things. For are not the mountains around 
 you as they were when God called them up out of the 
 depths ? And is not the sky above them the same ? 
 And the great, round sun, what has changed it? Yea, 
 and the water, is it not as it was when its parent 
 springs first poured it forth ? In such a place one 
 realizes that it is toil and worry and the grief of living, 
 and not years, which make us grow old ; for behold, 
 the years rest lightly on whatever is free of these. For 
 that which does not work or weep is forever young. 
 
 And so it came about that the feelino- that I was 
 the only man who had ever visited this lake was so 
 forced upon me by what seemed indisputable evidence 
 that I accepted it as a fixed fact. The idea took utter 
 possession of me, and became a part of my conscious- 
 ness. There was not a sign of man or of man's com- 
 ing or going, on the shores, and therefore I knew man 
 had never visited it. To me this was an absolute fact, 
 as sure as life itself. Well, as I was savinof, it was 
 near sunset when my boat drifted on the current that 
 flowed with easy motion from the little inlet, out upon 
 
4 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 the quiet bosom of the lake. The sun was ah'eady 
 sinking in the west, and the pecuHar silence which 
 attends the close of a summer's day in solitary places 
 possessed the atmosphere. The heat was fast leaving 
 the air and the coolness of the coming night was 
 growing perceptible to the senses. My camp was only 
 a short mile down the lake, and toward it, with easy 
 stroke of the paddle, I urged my homeward course. 
 " To-morrow," I said to myself, as I paddled along, 
 " I will leave the lake. It is too lonely, even for me, 
 and its steady, unbroken silence day after day is get- 
 ting oppressive. I am undoubtedly the only man that 
 was ever on this sheet of water ; even the deer here do 
 not know what sort of an animal I am, and the rats 
 will . scarcely get out of the way of my boat. I will 
 move out of this to-morrow, nor will I stop until I 
 find some traces of my kind." 
 
 Thus muttering to myself I paddled along, watch- 
 ing the reflections of sky and clouds in the clear, 
 unruffled depths beneath, and thinking of the cent- 
 uries in which they had received and reflected back 
 the changes in the firmament suspended above them. 
 I had already come to the point on the other side of 
 which my camp lay, when my paddle, as it moved for- 
 ward for another stroke, struck against something 
 floating in the water. I might not have noticed it, 
 perhaps, but for the fact that it sounded hollow as my 
 paddle struck against it. Curious, because of the 
 peculiarity of the sound, to know what it was, with a 
 quick turn of my wrist I reversed my paddle, checked 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 5 
 
 the boat in its course, and with a sharp stroke sent it 
 backward along the Hne of its wake. As I repassed 
 the object I reached down, and finding I could raise 
 it, lifted it into the boat. I will confess I started as if 
 an electric current had been shot unexpectedly into 
 me. It was a KEG ! 
 
 Now, finding a keg in some places w^ould not be 
 very surprising : in a ship yard, for instance, or in a 
 cooper's shop, a farmer's cellar, or in a liquor saloon ; 
 for in such places kegs are plentiful and you expect to 
 see them. Nor would it have astonished me if I had 
 met it on a frequented river, or in any place where 
 men come and go ; but to find a keg on this lonely 
 lake, where I felt man had never been — where no 
 living soul had ever existed — was, as you will admit, 
 reader, a startling experience. Nevertheless, there it 
 was — a real keg, with oaken staves and iron bands, 
 wdth a bottom intact, and perfect in all respects save 
 that the head was missing. As I recall it now it is 
 really laughable the way I sat and stared at it. I 
 rubbed my eyes to make sure of my sight. I tapped 
 it with the blade of my paddle and rolled it half 
 over and then back again, to make sure that it was 
 what it seemed. 
 
 Convinced at last, I sat and looked at it, question- 
 ing. Where did it come from ? How" did it get there ? 
 Who brought it, and when, and for what purpose? 
 Where is he who brought it ? Is he living or dead, and 
 where is his camp ? These and like interrogations I 
 put to myself as I sat in my boat on that lonely lake, 
 
6 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 in the growing darkness, looking at that keg. " Well," 
 I said at last, speaking aloud, as one quickly forms the 
 habit of doing when alone, " well, sitting here and 
 staring at it don't answer such questions, nor satisfy 
 my hunger, either ; and I had better shove into camp 
 and get supper." 
 
 When supper was over and the necessary wood for 
 my fire laid in for the night, I went out for a while 
 upon the point, as was my wont, for a quiet smoke, and 
 to observe the appearance of the night. 
 
 Of the beauty of such a place and hour those vA\o 
 never journeyed beyond the haunts of men know 
 nothing. The sky was without a cloud. The air was 
 breathless. Even the pines had forgotten in slumber 
 their mournful plaint, and stood like so many shad- 
 ows, dense, motionless, and dumb. The water was as 
 motionless as the atmosphere. It received the heaven 
 as a mirror receives a face. It stole and appropriated 
 the lustre of the firmament, and borrowed from the 
 bespangled sky an ornamentation for its blank spaces 
 as glorious as the heaven's own. The sky was blue- 
 black, and out of its cerulean gloom the pointed stars 
 shot gleams of many-colored fire. The mountains, 
 sombre and vast, rested on broad bases whose founda- 
 tions were laid in everlasting silence. The odors of 
 the forest filled the damp air like incense. A loon far 
 down the lake, as if oppressed by the all-pervading 
 silence, poured into the still atmosphere the prolonged 
 sound of its mournful call. It entered into the air 
 and lingered sadly for a moment, then passed away, 
 
THE SrOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 7 
 
 making the silence that followed even more profound. 
 Deeply affected by the spell of the lonely place and 
 the hour, I rose from the stone on which I had been 
 sitting, crossed the point, and returned to my little 
 camp. 
 
 I busied myself for a moment or two in starting my 
 fire, and when the flames of it rose clear and strong 
 I seated myself with my back against a pine, and half 
 reclining gazed off upon the lake. As I thus sat 
 watchinof the reflection of the fire-lio-ht in the Water, 
 my eyes fell upon the keg. It seemed, in some sort, 
 a kind of companion to me, alone as I was ; a visible 
 bond binding me to my kind ; a reminder of the life 
 that men were living in the great, roaring, busy world 
 outside and beyond the lonely lake on whose silent 
 shore I then was lying. It reminded one of life, — or 
 what men call life, — the getting and the giving ; the 
 saving and the spending; the loving and the hating; 
 of the thousands far away. I fell again to wondering 
 where it came from, and by whom it was brought over 
 the mountains, and for what purpose ; wondering what 
 its history was, and what had become of him Avho once 
 handled it ; — whether he were living or dead, and a 
 hundred other things such as one might fancy in such 
 a spot, in such an hour, looking at such an object so 
 strangely found. It may be I was awake ; it may be 
 I was asleep ; but as I w^as thus looking steadily and 
 curiously at it, and wondering strange things about it, 
 it seemed to cliange its appearance, and become differ- 
 ent from a keg ; even a MAN ; a little man ; a very 
 
8 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 little man, — a man not more than eighteen inches 
 high, with the queerest little legs, and the funniest 
 little body, and the tiniest face one ever saw, — but 
 still a man. And, then, standing bolt upright and 
 looking straight at me with its little gleaming eyes, 
 that glowed like glistening beads, wonder of wonders ! 
 it opened its diminutive mouth, and began to talk ! 
 
 THE STORY OF THE KEG. 
 
 " I suppose," it said — and as it began to speak it 
 leaned slightly toward me as a man might in lifting 
 himself upon his toes — and its ludicrous-looking face 
 took to itself a grave expression, funny to see, — ^' I 
 suppose," it said, " that you are very much astonished 
 to hear me talk, as a man can, and to know that I even 
 have a mouth at all ; but I have, sir, a very good 
 mouth indeed, and a tongue inside of it, too, as you 
 will learn before I have done telling my story. For 
 I have seen and heard strange things, both before and 
 since I came into these woods, and had many queer 
 experiences, of which I propose to tell you if you will 
 only sit still and hear me, and not go clean off to 
 sleep as you seem inclined to do. yes," it contin- 
 ued, " I desire to tell you my story ; the story of the 
 man who brought me here ; why he did it, and what 
 came of it ; and how he lived and died. And it is a 
 very sad story indeed ; and it pains me even to recall 
 it." And here the Keg lifted one of its little, thin 
 hands, and placed it with great emphasis upon its 
 heart, " but it contains a lesson which it were well 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 9 
 
 that all men, who strive to be rich and are growing to 
 love money, should hear, and I trust that what I tell 
 to you to-night, you will some day tell to them ; and 
 I trust it will do them good, and be a warning to 
 them, and make them wiser than was the poor man 
 who once owned me, and who died right here on the 
 point off which you found me, — peace be to his soul ! 
 and, indeed, I think he did find peace in the end, 
 although he found it by a weary way, and a steep 
 one, and one which led him nigh into hell. But I will 
 go back to the beginning and tell you all just as it 
 happened, and the reason of things as I safv^ and felt 
 them lono- years as^o. 
 
 " The earliest remembrance I haye of myself is of 
 the cooper's shop where I was made ; and a nice-look- 
 ing keg I was then, too, although you may not belieye 
 it judging by my present appearance. But that was 
 many years ago, and you must remember that years 
 wear the life and beauty out of kegs as much as they 
 do out of men ; and although I look so worn and 
 wTakly now, yet I can recall the time that my staves 
 were all smooth and clean, so that the oak grain 
 showed clearly from top to bottom of me, and my 
 steel hoops were as bright and shiny as steel can be. 
 I have had many hard knocks since then, and seen 
 hard usage enough to drive the very staves out of me 
 time and again ; but the cooper who made me made 
 me on his honor, and took a deal of honest pride in 
 putting me together, as every workman should in doing 
 his work. And I remember as if it w^ere but yester- 
 
10 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 day — for I have laughed over it many a time when 
 I had poor reason to laugh at anything — that when I 
 was finished, and the cooper had sanded me off and 
 oiled me so that m}^ sides fairly shone, he set me up 
 on his bench and said to his apprentice boy : ' There, 
 that keg will last till the Judgment Day, and well on 
 toward night at that/ 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 THE MISER. 
 
 " Some lone miser visiting his store 
 Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts, it o'er." 
 
 Goldsmith. 
 
 " Well, one day, a few weeks after, a man came 
 into the shop and asked the master : ^ Have you a 
 good, strong' keg for sale ? ' And he put the question 
 in such an earnest, half-spiteful, and half-suspicious 
 way, that I fairly started within my hoops, and opened 
 my eyes wide to take a good look at him ; and a very 
 peculiar man I saw, too, I assure you. He was quite 
 a young-looking man, not more than forty years of 
 age ; of good height and strongly built. He was a 
 gentleman, evidently, although his face was darkly 
 tanned and his clothes were old and threadbare. His 
 mouth was rather small than large. His lips were 
 thin and had a look of beino; tio;htlv drawn over the 
 teeth — at least it seemed so to me. His chin was 
 very long, and was joined at the base to large, strong 
 jaws. His hair was brownish-black, and not over- 
 abundant ; indeed, I am not sure that he had not 
 even then beo'un to ©tow sliohtlv bald. But the 
 
 O O O ./ 
 
 remarkable feature of his face was his eyes. They 
 were blue-grey in color, smallish in size, and set in 
 deep under the arch of the eyebrows. How hard and 
 
12 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 steel-like they were, and restless as a rat's ! And 
 what an intense look of suspicion there was in them, 
 
 — a half-scared, defiant look, as if their owner felt 
 every one to be his enemy, against whom he must 
 stand on his guard, and whom he might at any instant 
 have to fight and kill. Ah, what eyes they were ! and 
 how they came and went to and from your face, and 
 shot their glances at you and into you — ay, and 
 through you, too. I grew to know them well after- 
 ward, and to know what the strange, wild light in 
 them meant ; hut of that by and by. 
 
 " ' Have you got a good, strong keg to sell, I say ? ' 
 he shouted to my master, who was hammering away 
 at a barrel so that he had not heard the man enter, 
 much less his question. ^A good, stout keg?' said 
 my master, as he turned around and looked squarely 
 at the questioner. ' I should say that I had, Mr. 
 Roberts ; do you Avant one ? ' ' Yes,' returned the 
 other, ' I do, but I want a strong one, — strong, do 
 you Jtear .^' — and he took a step toward my master as 
 if he meant to strike him. ' Strong enough to hold 
 the devil himself if he were in it, or a sinner's hope of 
 heaven, either, if you like that better,' and he sneered 
 the sentence out as if the blessed hope of Paradise 
 were fit only to point a fool's joke. 
 
 " ' Well, I don't know much about the devil, Mr. 
 Roberts,' rejoined my master, — ^ not so much as you 
 do, it may be ; and as to one's hope of heaven, I 
 don't build kegs to keep that in ; but there's a keg,' 
 
 — and my master tapped me with his mallet until I 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 13 
 
 rang clear as a bell — ' that I made with my own 
 hands, from the best o£ stuff, and I said to the boys 
 when I finished it that it would last till the Day of 
 Judgment ; and I verily believe it will, if white oak 
 staves and steel hoops can last that long.' 
 
 " ' I didn't ask you anything about the Day of Judg- 
 ment, or anything else the long-winded parsons talk 
 about and frighten their cowardly followers with,' 
 snarled the other. ' All I want is a o'ood, strons: keg* 
 — stronof as can be made of wood and iron — and if 
 that keg is what you say it is, I want it and will take it, 
 if you won't cheat me at the bargain, as I dare say 
 you would like to do ; what is your price, eh ? ' Well, 
 the price was set, the money paid with a muttered 
 protest, and Mr. Roberts hoisted me up under his arm 
 and hastened with me out of the shop. 
 
 " Well, you can imagine that I felt very anxious 
 about myself, and wondered as I was being hurried 
 along where I was being taken, and what use I was 
 to be put to ; but I made up my mind to do my duty 
 and hold whatever my new master should give to my 
 trust, so that my maker might not hear ill of me ; 
 but I little thouoht what was to befall me, or what I 
 should have to bear as the years went round. For 
 I have S9en dreadful sights in my time, and beheld 
 things too awful to relate. For I have seen the un- 
 doing of a man, and the wreck of a human soul ! 
 
 " Well, as I was saying, my new master hurried me 
 along without stopping to speak to any one, although 
 we passed many, and I noticed that no one of all we 
 
14 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 passed spoke to him, but looked at him coldly or 
 wonderingly, and that he, whenever we were about 
 to meet any one, whether man, Avoman, or child, only 
 clutched me the more tightly and hurried on the 
 faster. At last we came to a common-looking sort of 
 a house, set hack from the road, with a very high 
 fence built clear around it, and a heavy padlock on 
 the gate, and great, strong, wooden shutters at every 
 window. Into this my master entered and set me 
 down carefully upon the floor. This done, he went 
 back to the door and locked it, and drew two large 
 iron bolts or bars across it, securing them most care- 
 fully in the sockets. He then went to every window 
 and examined them to see if each was fastened. He 
 carefully examined every room and closet, even look- 
 ing into the ash-hole and the oven in the chimney. 
 Then lighting a candle he went down into the cellar, 
 and after that up into the attic, carrying the candle in 
 one hand and a great club or bludgeon in the other. 
 
 " By this time I had made up my mind that I had 
 fallen into the hands of a maniac, and that my new 
 master was insane. Leastwise I did not know what 
 to make of him, or what was to be the upshot of his 
 strange ways. After a while he came back to the 
 room where he had left me, and took me up and set 
 me on the table; and starting the upper hoop pro- 
 ceeded to take out one of my heads. At this I was 
 thoroughly frightened, and kept my eyes on him 
 wherever he went, as I wanted to see Avhat his strange 
 conduct meant, and what he would do next. When 
 
THE STOIiY THAT THE KEG TOLD 3IE. 15 
 
 he had taken one of my heads out, he went to an old 
 drawer under the cupboard and got a large sheepskin, 
 with the wool closely clipped ; and with a pair of large 
 shears proceeded to fit me wdth a lining of it. I must 
 sav that he did it wdth remarkable cleverness, and. that 
 when he w^as done wdtli me I was lined as well as any 
 tailor could have lined me. But what it all meant I 
 couldn't guess ; and so I watched and waited. For 
 you will admit that no keg was ever treated as he 
 was treating me, and that I had good reason to be 
 surprised. 
 
 " After he had done linino; me with the soft skin 
 he seemed more easy, and less nervous, and he put his 
 hands inside of me and examined his work and was 
 evidently pleased with it ; for he rubbed his hands 
 together, and his eyes glistened, and he said to him- 
 self : ' There ! I call that a pretty good fit ; I don't 
 think old Tim, the tailor, would have done it better.' 
 And then he lauohed to himself and rubbed his hands 
 together again as if he had said a very funny thing. 
 By this time it was well on toward night, and he kin- 
 dled a fire in the fireplace — a very small fire it was, 
 only a little, thin blaze made of three or four short 
 sticks which looked as if they had been picked up in 
 the roadway, and a handful or two of chips. But 
 small as the blaze was he manaoed to heat a little ket- 
 tie of ^vater by it and cook a cup of tea, which he 
 placed upon an old board table alongside of a loaf of 
 bread, and then he sat down by the table and began 
 to eat the bread and drink the tea. And this was all 
 
16 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 the supper he had, and I thought it very strange that 
 so large a man should be content with such a supper ; 
 but I grew used to the sight afterward, and ceased to 
 wonder, as you will when you know the cause of his 
 frugality. 
 
 After he had done eating, he wrapped the remainder 
 of the bread carefully in a piece of paper, and put it 
 away with the little tea-kettle in the cupboard. And 
 then he went to the door and re-examined the bolts, 
 and looked closely at all the shutters, Avhile I stood 
 and wondered Avhat his strange actions meant, and 
 why he was so anxious that the doors and windows 
 should all be fastened so tightly ; for the neighbor- 
 hood was a good one, and the people law-abiding, so 
 much so that the doors of half the houses in the vil- 
 lage were never locked at nights, even from one year's 
 end to another. 
 
 \yiien he had done all this, he brought the club or 
 bludgeon that I had seen him carry up stairs with him 
 when he went up into the attic, and laid it on the 
 table beside me, and also a large, thick knife, with a 
 strong, horn handle, which he had taken from the 
 mantelpiece where it had been lying ; and then he 
 went to the ash-hole in the chimney, and brought the 
 ash-pail, which was full of ashes ; and he went to 
 the cupboard, and brought an old, earthen jar ; and 
 from under the bed he fetched a bas^ ; and from a 
 chamber overhead he brouofht a small box : and from 
 the cellar he returned with a sack, all damp with 
 earth. All the while I kept my eyes well open, you 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD JIE. 17 
 
 may believe, wondering what it all meant, and what 
 there was in the pail and the jar and the box and the 
 bag and the sack. AVell, when he had these all side 
 by side near the table, he sat down, and out o£ the ash- 
 pail he took a small pot, and having blown the ashes 
 off it with great care, he turned it bottom upward on 
 the table, and — merciful heaven ! what do you think 
 was in it ? 
 
 Dollars ! Gold Dollars ! 
 
 Then he took the bao^ and untied the cord that 
 held the mouth, and emptied it upon the table, and it, 
 too, was full of dollars — gold dollars ! And then, 
 one after the other, he opened the jar and the box 
 and the sack, and out of each and all he j)oured a 
 great stream of bright golden dollars ! Oh, what a 
 pile of them there was ! What a heap they made ! 
 How they gleamed and glistened ! How they jingled 
 and rang ! How they rattled and clinked as he 
 poured them down upon the dark boards ! And how 
 his eyes gleamed in their deep sockets as they saw the 
 golden stream, and how the thin lips drew apart as the 
 dollars flowed out, until his teeth showed their line of 
 white back of them, and his hands shook and trem- 
 bled as if palsied. 
 
 It was a dreadful sight to see him sit down, and 
 leaning over the table, run his hands under the yellow 
 heap and lift the pieces up so that the bright bits 
 flowed over and out of his hollow palms and ran down 
 through his parted fingers in shining streams. And 
 then to hear him laugh as he played with the glisten^ 
 
18 Aj^.^oxdack tales. 
 
 ing coin ! How mirthless his laughter was — hard 
 and sharp and ringing like the metallic ring of the 
 dollars itself. Oh, it was dreadful to think that a 
 human soul could love money so. And he did love it 
 — wildly, madly love it, — love it with all the strength 
 of his stronof nature. And this he did not disouise 
 nor deny to himself ; hut admittad it, and gloried in 
 it, too, with a most wicked and blasphemous glorying, 
 as the Arch Fiend himself is said to glory in his own 
 sin. 
 
 He would take a dollar up and look at it as a father 
 might at the face of his favorite cliild, and pat it with 
 his palm, and smooth the surface of it with a finger- 
 tijD as if it could feel a caress. Ah m3, 'twas dread- 
 ful ! And then he would take a piece up and talk to 
 it, and say coaxingly, '' Thou art better than a wife ;" 
 and to another, " Thou art sweeter than a child ;" and 
 to another yet, " Thou art dearer than father or 
 mother." And to the great pile of shining gold he 
 would say, as he leaned over it, " my beauties ! the 
 parsons may say what they please, but you are better 
 than a far-off heaven." Ah, such blasphemy as I 
 hsard that nioht ! How the sweet and blessed thino-s 
 of human life were derided, and the things that are 
 divine and holy sneered at ! 
 
 At last he fell to counting them, and by the way he 
 did it I knew he had done it often ; done it so many 
 times that he counted as men do things by habit, — 
 mechanically. He would say, '^ Oxe, Two, Three, 
 Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, — 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 19 
 
 GOOD! One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, 
 Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, — GOOD ! " And so go 
 on, faster and faster, until his breath was gone ; and 
 then he would catch it again, and start anew. " One, 
 Two, Three, Four, Five; Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, 
 Ten,— good ! " Oh, it was awful to think of an 
 immortal beino- lovino; MONEY so ! 
 
 For a long time he counted on ; counted until his 
 hands shook, and the sweat stood thick on his fore- 
 head, and his eyes gleamed and glowed as if he were 
 mad. And perhaps he was mad, — as all men are who 
 live for gain, and whose hearts are fired with the awful 
 lust for oold. So he counted on. And when he had 
 counted all, — even to the very last, — the old dark 
 boarded table was covered thick with little piles of 
 tens; and he arose with a jump like a maniac, and 
 stood abov^e the table and shouted until the old house 
 rang again, — 
 
 " Sixteen Thousand, Six Hundred and Sixty- 
 six DOLLARS ! Sixteen Thousand, Six Hundred 
 AND Sixty-six DOLLARS ! " 
 
 AVell, after a while he sobered down and became 
 quiet, and began to pick the dollars up and pack them 
 away inside of me, — carefully, one by one, as a 
 mother might lay her children in their beds to sleep, 
 — and this he kept on doing until the last shining 
 coin had been taken from the table, and I was full to 
 the very brim. Then he put my head in its place, 
 and drove tlie upper hoop on snug, and put me in the 
 bed, and the great knife under his pillow, and, blow- 
 
20 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 ing out the light, lay down beside me, and, putting one 
 arm across me as if I were a child, fell asleep. And 
 over the old house in which the miser lay clasping me 
 to his heart, I knew the stars were shining ; and 
 beyond the stars, with eyes that never slept, I knew 
 that the great God was looking down upon him and 
 me. 
 
CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE miser's fear. 
 
 " I greatly fear my money is not safe." — Shakespeare. 
 
 " Increase his riclies and his peace destroy, 
 Now fears in dire vicissitude invade, 
 The rustling brake alarms, and quivering shade, 
 Nor light nor darkness brings his jiain relief: 
 One shows the plunder and one hides the thief." —Johnson. 
 
 Well, things went on in the same fashion day 
 after clay, and night after night, but getting worse 
 all the time. My master did little Avork, and of 
 course earned little money, — only enough to buy his 
 bread and tea, with now and then a little piece of 
 meat. He seemed to have no desire to get more, but 
 was only anxious to keep what he had. And about 
 this he was so anxious that it kept him in a fever of 
 excitement all the time. For days he would scarcely 
 go beyond the doorway ; and if he saw a man coming 
 along the road he would hasten in, close the shutters, 
 and bar the door, as if he feared the man was a rob- 
 ber, and was coming to rob him. And indeed this 
 was his feeling. He was never for an instant free of 
 the fear of losing his money. He would mutter about 
 it in the daytime, and he would mutter about it in the 
 night when he Avas asleep. Many a time hav e I heard 
 him, in the dead of the night, when the old house was 
 as still as a tomb, suddenly break out and say, " Oh ! 
 
22 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 you don't want my money, eh? You came for it, 
 you know you did, and you hope by crying to get it 
 out of me ; but you sha'n't have a dollar of it ; no, 
 not a dollar ! D'ye hear ? — if it would save your 
 soul ! " And then he would put out his arms and 
 wrap them around me and strain me to him, muttering 
 and murmuring about his " Beautiful dollars. My 
 own, own DOLLARS ; they want to get you from me. 
 I know them ; but they shall never do it, for I would 
 kill them if they tried." And he would grind and 
 grit his teeth, and hoarsely repeat the word, " lilU, — 
 kill,^' as he sunk again into a heavy sleep. 
 
 It was bad enou<>h to hear his mutterinir when all 
 was quiet and peaceful, and his sleep was undisturbed; 
 but when the night was stormy and wild, and the 
 wind made the old house shake, and the rain was 
 slashed in oreat sheets aoahist the windows, and the 
 timbers in the framework creaked and groaned, — at 
 such times he would toss and moan in his bed, shriek, 
 and clutch me with his fingers, leap up and strain and 
 tuof and strike as if he were wrestlinof with an unseen 
 person, who was striving to carry me away. Indeed, 
 waking or sleeping, he was tormented with a deadly 
 fear ; and the fear was born of the suspicion that 
 some one would succeed in stealing me, and the treas- 
 ure in me. 
 
 And this suspicion it was that had poisoned his 
 whole life, and made him hate his kind, and driven 
 him into the wretched strait he was in when I came 
 to him. And a more wretched strait no mortal was 
 
THE 8 TOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 23 
 
 ever in ; for what is worse than the suspicion of one's 
 kind, even of one's wife and chikl; yea, and of the 
 man of God himself, whose love for you is as God's, 
 — the deep, steady, ministering love of the soul ? 
 x\nd this was just his case, as I found out one day. 
 It came about thus : — 
 
 It was summer ; and for the sake of comfort — for 
 the old house w^as damp and close — he had left the 
 door wdde open, and, seating himself in his chair, had 
 fallen asleep. Indeed, I w^as rather drowsy myself, 
 and was fast dropping off into a nap, when I heard 
 my master give a horrible yell, and leap with a fright- 
 ful oath to his feet. My eyes, as you can imagine, 
 opened with a snap ; and the sight I beheld nearly 
 upset me. In the doorway stood a man and a 
 woman ; and by his dress I knew the man to be the 
 old village pastor, and the woman I soon learned was 
 my master's wife. For a minute my master stood 
 looking at them, and then he said abruptly, " What 
 in the Devil's name did you come here for ? " 
 
 " John," said the woman, " your child, Mary, is 
 dying ; and I thought you, wdio are her father, might 
 want to see her before she passed away ; " and her 
 voice choked, and I saw her breast heave with sup- 
 pressed sobs. 
 
 ''- Dying, is she ? " said my master brutally. " I 
 don't believe it : it's a trumped-up story of yours to 
 get me away from here, that you may steal my gold ; 
 but you can't fool me with your lying, and you might 
 as well get away from here, both of you." 
 
24 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " John/' returned the woman, — and as she spoke 
 the great tears came into her eyes, and her hands 
 twitched convulsively, — " John, I never lied to you 
 or to any one, in my life, and you know it. Mary is 
 dying, as the parson here can tell you ; and I dare not 
 let her die, and not give you a chance to see her ; for 
 she was the last one born to us, and you did love her 
 before the cursed love of gold in you drove from your 
 heart all other loving. And I said the father should 
 see the child before she dies ; it is his right ; and so I 
 have come and told you. And besides, Mary herself 
 last night spoke your name in her slee}), and talked in 
 her wanderings of you ; and this morning she said 
 suddenly, ' I wish I could see father before I die. I 
 dreamed of him last night ; it was an awful dream ; 
 and I wish I might tell it to him before I go. It 
 might be it would do him good, and win his heart 
 from his dreadful gold.' And so, John, I got this 
 man of God to come along with me, that he might 
 bear witness to my truth, and perhaps speak a word of 
 wisdom to you." 
 
 While the woman had been speaking, my master 
 had stood looking at her with the same scowl on his 
 face, and the same hard, suspicious expression in his 
 eyes. Not a muscle changed, nor a line softened. So 
 he stood a moment, glaring at them ; and then he 
 said to the minister, wdio was leaning on his cane, — 
 for he was old and weak, and his head was white as 
 snow, — " Well, what have you got to say ? " 
 
 "John Roberts," said the old man solemnly, "I 
 
THE STOEY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 25 
 
 have much to say ; for I bring a message, not from 
 your dying child, but from your living Lord. I 
 remember when I baptized you as a child at the altar, 
 on the day your pious parents gave you in holy 
 covenant to God. And I remember when I married 
 you to this woman here, your wife ; and I remember 
 your early promise, and the happiness you had your- 
 self and made for others, until the lust of gold 
 possessed you. And I have known your downward 
 path, and how that w^hicli God meant for good 
 became, by your perversion of its use, an evil to you, 
 — yea, an evil which poisoned all your life, and 
 changed the course of it ; turned you against your 
 friends, made you brutal to your wife and child, and 
 brought you to the gate of hell, where you now 
 stand, — a miserable miser ! All this I have watched 
 and seen and known ; and all this I have warned you 
 against time and again in past years, and in the name 
 of Him who was sold to death by a miser like yourself. 
 And now I call upon you to repent, and by true 
 repentance and deep contrition find mercy in Him 
 whom you have sold out of your heart and life, and in 
 whose eyes you are another Judas, yet lacking repent- 
 ance. Repent, therefore, and return to your right 
 mind, lest a worse thing fall upon you, and the curse 
 of your life be doubled upon you in your death, even 
 that as you are now deserted of man, you may in that 
 dreadful hour find yourself deserted of God. And 
 as for your child, as your wife has said, she is dying, 
 and she has asked for you. She bids you come to 
 
26 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 her before she dies. For God has spoken to her in a 
 vision, as he did to some of old, and revealed to her 
 what shall be if you repent not, — a dreadful death, 
 in a wild spot, with no one nigh, and a darkness 
 round about you in your death-hour like the darkness 
 that surrounds the damned, — all this she has seen 
 with eyes prepared by the mystery of the Unknown to 
 see it ; and I pray you, therefore, as one standing be- 
 tween the living and the dead, that you come right 
 speedily and see your child, and hear her message, 
 lest she die, and leave it unspoken, and what she has 
 seen in vision be realized in fact, and you be lost in 
 death even as you are already lost in life." 
 
 He paused, and his face shone as one who speaks 
 beyond the measure of the spirit of man, — even by 
 the measure of the Spirit of God, — and his aged 
 hands shook ; and when he had ended, his lips con-, 
 tinned to move, as one who follows an exhortation 
 with an audible prayer. 
 
 But my master remained unmoved. He heard the 
 words of his old Pastor as he had the words of his 
 wife, with the same scowling, sinister look in his eyes, 
 the same set doggedness of face, the same sneering 
 expression on his lips. He stared at them a moment, 
 and then shouted : — 
 
 " You LIE ! both of you, — you want my money, 
 you mean to steal it from me. Everybody wants it ; 
 there isn't an honest man in the world. All are 
 thieves. All love gold. You do. I know by your 
 looks you love it. You can't fool me by your tears 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEO- TOLD ME. 27 
 
 and your preaching. You get out of this house or I 
 will kill you," and he swore a horrible oath, and 
 stepping back a step he seized the bludgeon and 
 swung it round his head, and stamped his foot upon 
 the floor and swore at them again ; his eyes glowed 
 like hot coals, and the froth hung on his lips. The 
 woman ran screaming from the house, but the old 
 pastor stood his ground, and faced him, and said : — 
 
 " John Roberts, thou art a doomed man. Thou 
 hast denied the truth and resisted the Spirit, and 
 Satan hath thee in full possession. The lust of gold 
 that destroys many is in thee strong and mighty, and 
 only God can save thee, nor he against thy will. 
 Repent, or thou shalt perish in a lonely spot, on a 
 dark night, with none to help nor hear thy cries ; 
 and thy gold shall perish with thee." And so saying, 
 he turned and slowly left the house. 
 
 For a moment my master stood, and then he rushed 
 for the door and locked it, and slid the great strong 
 bars into their sockets ; and then he came and lifted 
 me upon the table, and patted me with his hand, and 
 laughed and said : " My gold ! my gold ! " And 
 when night came he took my head out and poured 
 the shining pieces upon the table, and played with 
 them for Hours ; and then, as was his fashion, he fell 
 to counting them by tens in the same manner as was 
 his custom, saying : " One, Two, Three, Four, 
 Five, Six, Sevex, Eight, Nine, Ten, — GOOD ! " 
 until he had counted them to the very last one. As 
 he counted the frenzy grew on him, and when his task 
 
28 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 was over, and the old darkwood table was all yellow 
 with the gold pieces lying in stacks of ten, he was 
 wild in the joy of his terrible lust. He leaped and 
 danced around the glistening coins, and shouted till 
 the old house rang : ^' Sixteen Thousand Six Hun- 
 dred AND Sixty-six ! " 
 
 And then he put them all back within me, fastened 
 my head in tightly, laid me in his bed, laid himself 
 beside me, and, puttnig an arm around me, he fell 
 asleep. And I knew that over the old house the stars 
 were shining brightly, and that above the stars the 
 Great God, with eyes that never slept, was looking 
 calmly down on him and me. 
 
 But when he woke in the mornino- he was not as he 
 had been, but more nervous and savage-like. He did 
 not unbar the door during the wdiole day, or open the 
 heavy shutters an inch, but kept all closed and dark. 
 And he was muttering and talking to himself all day. 
 He had the look of one who was planning some deep 
 plot, nor could I make out what it was ; but I caught 
 enough of his talk to know that he was more suspi- 
 cious of losing his money than ever, and trusted no 
 one, but was afraid of all men, known and unknown, 
 and was thinking and planning how to make his 
 money safe, and get me to some spot where no one 
 could steal me. Once I heard him say : '^ All men 
 are thieves. I suspect them all. No one with money 
 is safe among them. They will get it yet, unless I go 
 where they cannot find me." Aad then he w^ould 
 curse bis kind, and swear. 
 
THE STOUT THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 29 
 
 At last lie suddenly stopped in his tramping up and 
 down the room, and shouted : — 
 
 " I'll go, go where they cannot find me. Go where 
 I can be alone, and can count my money as much as I 
 wish, in the broad day, under the bright sun or stars, 
 and see it glint and glisten in the bright light. 
 Won't that be glorious! — to be alone with my 
 money, where I can spread it all out in broad day and 
 see it shine, and count it over and play with it, with 
 no one nigh to scare me nor make me hide it away, 
 for fear of its being seen and stolen. Men, curse 
 them, are what I dread. I will go where there is not 
 a man ! " 
 
CHAPTER lY. 
 
 THE MISER IN THE WOODS. 
 
 "Gold, gold, gold, gold, 
 Bright and yellow, hard and cold." — Hood. 
 
 " After this he said no more, but packed up the few 
 things he had, and rolled me up in a blanket, and put 
 me in a sack, so I could neither see nor hear a single 
 thing that was done or said, and that is all I' know of 
 what happened for many a day, only I knew by my 
 feeling that I was being carried, carried, CAR- 
 RIED, over rivers and mountains, and through forests 
 that were wide and deep, until one day I felt myself 
 put in a boat ; and on we went, day after day, night 
 after night, until one afternoon, I knew not when, 
 neither the year nor the day, the boat stopped, the 
 bag in which I was was carried ashore, and, for the 
 first time for many a day, I was taken out of it, and I 
 saw the sunlight once more, and behold ! I was on the 
 very point off which you this evening found me." 
 
 And here the keg paused a moment, as one who is 
 tired of rapid talking, or oppressed by mournful mem- 
 ories ; and it made a motion as if it would sit down, 
 but did not. But it put one little hand up to its chin 
 and rested for a moment so, and I thought it fetched a 
 little sigh, but of that I am not sure, for it might 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 31 
 
 have been a puff of wind playing with the uppermost 
 tuft of some neighboring pine, or the sputtering of the 
 fire, for that matter ; but in a moment it began again. 
 
 " You must pardon my stopping a moment, but I 
 have not done much talking for many a year, and it 
 really takes the breath out of me ; moreover, one of 
 my heads is gone, and that makes a great difference 
 with a keg, I assure you ; for we are like a great many 
 men who manage to get along with one head, but no 
 one sees how they do it, and all heartily wish they had 
 another in addition to the one they have, and a better 
 one too. And besides I am getting rather old, and I 
 doubt if I live much longer ; for ever since I have 
 been standing here, by the fire, I have felt that I 
 might fall to pieces at any moment;" and the keg cast 
 an anxious look doAvn over itself, and then, as if par- 
 tially strengthened, went on : — 
 
 " Well, things continued very much as they were 
 at the old house for several weeks, and my master 
 seemed happy in the thought that he had got beyond 
 the reach of men and the danger of their stealing me 
 and what I had in me. Every day when the sun 
 shone brightly, he would take me down to the point 
 yonder, from beneath the shadow of the pines, where 
 the sun shines clearly, and pour the treasure out in 
 one great pile and play with it by the hour. It 
 seemed to please him greatly to see the yellow coins 
 shine and shimmer in the briofht lisfht, and he would 
 lie in the sand and watch the sparkling heap by the 
 hour, and count it all over and over again, and laugh 
 
32 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 and shout while doing it as he used to do around the 
 old table when we were in the house. And it seemed 
 more dreadful to me than ever before, for here every- 
 thing was so still and solemn, and the sky seemed so 
 grave, the sun so strong and bright, and the moun- 
 tains so vast and majestic, and all things so sugges- 
 tive of God and Eternity, that it seemed blasphemy 
 for a human beino^ to be thinkino^ so much of his 
 money. Indeed, the sky and water and mountains, 
 and even the trees, seemed to have eyes and to be 
 looking straight down at him as he sat there in the 
 sand counting his money, as if wondering what use it 
 could all be to him. 
 
 But after a time I could see that a change was com- 
 ing over my master. He grew grave and quiet, and 
 moved about in a noiseless way, very unlike his old 
 fashion of acting- and talkino^. He left oif countinor 
 his money for days at a time, and when he did count 
 it, it was in a listless manner, just the reverse of 
 his old-time fashion. He would even go away and 
 leave the yellow heap on the sand unwatched and 
 uncared for, while he sat looking at the shadow of 
 the mountain in the water, or lay stretched at full 
 length on his back, a stone for his pillow, his hands 
 crossed on his breast and his eyes gazing fixedly up 
 at the heavens. You may imagine that I was very 
 much puzzled at all this, and wondered what it all 
 meant, for I could see that something was preying on 
 his mind, and that a great change was coming over 
 him. 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 33 
 
 One day lie came, and packing the gold within me, 
 put the head in with the greatest care ; and when it 
 was done, he stood looking at me a moment and then 
 said, " I think I will never open you again," and he 
 said it in such a sad sort of a way that I was vastly 
 puzzled. Indeed, I did not believe him, hut fancied 
 that he was not feeling over-well, and was low-spirited 
 because of it, and that when he came to himself he 
 would come around and count what was in me as 
 happily as ever. But a greater surprise was in store 
 for me ; for when he went to the camp, which was in 
 this very place you have here to-night, he did not 
 take me with him, but left me there alone on the 
 beach. I did not think much of it at first, for I said 
 to myself, he will be back by and by and carry me in 
 with him to the camp as he always does ; but the 
 minutes passed and kept j^assing and still he did not 
 come, and at last I gave him up and decided that I 
 must pass the night where I was, alone. Well, as you 
 can fancy, I felt very strangely in view of it, and 
 rather nervously, too, for I had never spent a night 
 alone by myself since my master owned me, or outside a 
 house or tent either, for that matter ; so as I have said 
 I felt a little nervous about it. But I made up my 
 mind to be as brave as I might and put as good a face 
 on the matter as I could. But it was a very strange 
 experience I had that night, and one I have never for- 
 gotten. You see it was the first night I ever spent 
 alone in the wilderness, and it made an impression on 
 me I shall never forget;, and although I have since 
 
34 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 passed many nights alone in this soHtary spot, yet 
 never has there been one to me Hke that first one. 
 The shadows of the mountains were so dark and 
 heavy that they appeared to burden the lake as with a 
 ponderous bulk, and the very water that reflected their 
 vast sides seemed oppressed by their presence. The 
 sky was blue-black ; a grave and sombre sky it was. 
 In it only a few stars shone, and those with shortened 
 beams. The silence was like an atmosphere. It 
 rested upon the mountains, brooded on the water, and 
 slept amid the shadows of the still trees. And yet, 
 dark as it was, I felt that in it there was an eye, andj 
 silent as it was, I felt that out of it would come a 
 voice — an Eye that looked in steady but un wrathful 
 condemnation upon me, and a Voice that spoke in 
 solemn judgment, although with inaudible tones. 
 
 It seemed as if the sin of my master was being 
 charged upon me, and that the whole universe was 
 visiting upon me its contempt. sir ! I saw strange 
 sights that night, and heard sounds that made me 
 shrink in fear within my hoops. Bands of angels all 
 robed in white, and flying on white wings, came and 
 stood poised in the air above me, and pointed at me 
 with their white hands, and as they gazed, their sweet 
 faces dihited with horror. Devils, too, great black 
 beings and things that were shapeless, whose faces 
 were those of hell, and eyes bloodshot with torture, 
 came, and poising above me, would point with their 
 black fingers insultingly downward, and laugh with 
 horrid mirth j then sail away until their black wings 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 35 
 
 faded in the farther gloom. And I heard moans m 
 the air as of a woman moaning- for bread ; and 
 prayers as of a dying child, dying with a dread at 
 her heart for some one whose sin lay on her soul ; 
 and sounds as of many noises mixed in one ; prayers 
 and curses, oaths and snatches of hymns. And out 
 of the stillness of the outward space — the stillness 
 of the far-off and the far-up and the beyond, I 
 seemed to hear a great voice continually saying : 
 " The man that loveth money overmuch is 
 DOOMED. The man that loveth money ovehmuch 
 
 IS DOOMED." 
 
 " At last the sun rose, and right glad w\as I to see 
 it, but little did I dream, wdien I saAv it come up over 
 the mountain yonder, what would happen before it 
 rose again. For of all days in my life that was the 
 most eventful, and I do not expect you to believe me 
 when I tell you wdiat took place in it ; but I shall tell 
 you the truth, nevertheless, and of things just as they 
 happened. 
 
 About ten o'clock in the morning my master came 
 to the point where I w^as, and his face w^as as I had 
 never seen it before. It was the face of a man who 
 had suffered much, and was suffering. His hair lay 
 matted on his damp forehead ; his eyes were blood- 
 shot ; his teeth set, and his mouth white at the 
 corners, while his hands were clinched as the hands of 
 one in a spasm. He came and stood directly over me, 
 and in a voice hard and strained said : — 
 
 " For thee, thou cursed gold, I have wasted my life 
 and ruined my soul." 
 
36 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 This he said many times. Then he walked away 
 and stood and talked to himself ; and I heard him 
 say : " He said, ' Unless you repent, you shall die on 
 a dark night, in a lonely spot, with no one nigh.' " 
 And he kept repeating, '^ On a dark night, in a lonely 
 spot, with no one nigh." And then he would look 
 around him at the trees and the mountains and the 
 solitary shores. 
 
 After a while he began to walk up and down the 
 point, and wring his hands and smite them on his 
 breast, and cry out : " Oh ! if I could do it ! Oh ! 
 if 1 COULD do it ! Perhaps there would be hope for 
 me ; perhaps there would be hope for ME ! " And he 
 would em})hasize the ME in such a plaintive, pitiful 
 tone as was never done, I think, by man before. 
 Once he got down on his knees, and clasped his hands 
 together, and I wondered what he was going to do, 
 for I had never seen a man in that position before, 
 and it looked so queer ; but in an instant he leaped to 
 his feet and cried : " NO, NO ! It is no use. For- 
 giveness is not for me ; forgiveness is not for me." 
 
 And so the day passed, and a fine day it was, too, 
 for though my master was in such trouble, and the 
 grip of a dire distress was on him, yet the sun took 
 no note of it, but shone as brightly in the sky, and 
 the trees swung as merrily to and fro as the breeze 
 blew through them, and the ripples ran laughing 
 along the curved beach as if there were never such a 
 thing as human trouble in the world. 
 
 Toward night, just before the sun went down, my 
 
THE SrOFY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME 37 
 
 master came, and taking my head out, stood for a 
 while looking at the gold within me ; then he said 
 slowly to himself : " Perhaps I may have strength to 
 do it ; perhaps I may have strength to do it." And 
 then he sat down on the sand and gazed far off, as 
 one whose thoughts are not in his eyes. And there, 
 in the one spot, without moving, he sat, while the sun 
 went down, the shadows of evening settled slowly and 
 darkly on shore and lake and mountain range, until 
 at last night like a mantle lay darkly on the world. 
 There, in the stillness, my master sat, his face hidden 
 by the gloom, thinking — I knew not what. At last 
 he moved ; and, as if too weak to rise, crawled along 
 on the sand to my side, and steadying himself on his 
 knees, he placed his hands together, and lifting his 
 face to the dark blue heaven above, found speech, and 
 beo^an to talk to One I could not see : — 
 
 " Thou, who art the Lord of this great world ; 
 whose eyes see every creature thou hast made ; and 
 whose ear is oj^en to their cry, see me to-night and 
 hear my prayer. Bound have I been, and bound I 
 am, to sin. My soul, pursued by evil, knows not 
 wdiere to flee. My life has been a hell, and out 
 of hell I seek deliverance here and now. Come to 
 my aid or I am lost ! Save me in mercy or I am 
 doomed ! Give thou me strength, for I am weak, 
 and may not do what I would do, without thy aid. 
 Out of this stillness speak to me. Here wdiere no 
 man may hear, hear thou my cry. Thou Lord of 
 heavenly mercy, lend me thine aid ! " 
 
38 ADTBOXnACK TALES. 
 
 He paused, and rising to his feet, lifted me, and 
 started toward the bushes where he kept his boat, 
 and placing me in it shoved out upon the lake, 
 and paddled toward the centre, saying slowly and 
 solemnly to himself : — 
 
 " Lend me thine aid, Lord ! Lend me thine 
 aid ! " At last we reached the centre of the lake, 
 and having checked the boat, he sat for a moment 
 without saying a word ; then lifting his face upward 
 he said in a low, sweet voice : '' Dear Lord, thou 
 hast given of thy strength. I thank thee," — then 
 raised me in his arms and " — 
 
 A rattle and a crash, as of pieces of wood falling 
 suddenly in a heap, and my eyes came open with a 
 snap. My fire had smouldered down, and a thin 
 column of blue smoke was rising, unattended by 
 flame, in a wavy spiral through the air. The moon 
 had found an opening in the pines overhead, and was 
 pouring its white beams upon the whiter ashes. The 
 keg I had picked from the lake, heated by the fire, 
 had shrunken in its staves until the rusty iron bands 
 afforded them no support ; and shaken by the slight 
 jar of a crumbling brand, or falling pine-cone, per- 
 haps, had tumbled inward and lay in a confused heap. 
 I rubbed my eyes, stretched out my chilled legs, and 
 said to myself : " What a queer dream ! I really 
 thought that keg was talking to me. If it had kept 
 on much longer it would have persuaded me that the 
 old fellow, its master, or his ghost, is actually on this 
 lake now. Egad ! I think it would start even my 
 
THE STOBT THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 39 
 
 pulse a little to see a man in a boat on this lake to- 
 nioflit." 
 
 Half laughing to myself at the silly suggestion 
 that my fancy had made, I rose to my feet, stretched 
 myself, ya\Yned, and stepping down to the edge of 
 the water looked out upon the lake. I am not 
 ashamed to say that I started, and the blood chilled a 
 little in my veins at what I saw. There, off the 
 point, within twenty feet of where I found the keg, 
 loas a boat and a man sitting in it — motionless as 
 if earned from the air I 
 
CHAPTER Y. 
 
 JOHN NORTON, THE TRAPPER. 
 
 " Nature's ncl)lenian." — Thompson. 
 
 Well, I will admit that I was surprised, greatly 
 surprised, for 1 knew that there was not a living- 
 being on that lake at sunset — nor had there been 
 for days, or years for that matter : for there is no 
 place in all the world, save cities, where man can go 
 and stay even a night and not leave marks of his pres- 
 ence, and on all this lake shore there was not a trace 
 of any human being. Yet in spite of all this evidence 
 forbidding the supposition, there sat a man, paddle in 
 hand, in a boat, not forty rods from where I stood. 
 I knew that I was well concealed from view, for the 
 shadows in which I stood were as dark as the matted 
 branches of the rich cedars that lined the lake shore 
 and projected outward over the water could make them ; 
 and so I kept my station, without moving an inch, and 
 watched. 
 
 For a full moment the boat lay on the level water 
 as if it had groAvn up out of it, and was a part of the 
 lake itself, so steadfastly did it hold its place ; and I 
 could well guess what was passing in the mind of him 
 whose form was as motionless as the boat, but whose 
 eyes I knew were searching every inch of the shore 
 
THE STOnY THAT THE KEd TOLD ME. 41 
 
 line, and whose thoughts were as busy as his eyes. 
 He had evidently come round the point as little ex- 
 pecting the presence of man as I had anticipated his, 
 and some flitting spark, or the gleam of some coal, — 
 or likelier yet the thin filament of blue smoke rising 
 from the smouldering and ash-covered embers, — had 
 cauoht his eve and brouo'ht his boat to a stand as 
 quickly as a reversed paddle could do it. In a 
 moment the boat began to move ; so slowly, so 
 easily, so steadily, that the eye could scarcely detect 
 the movement. I laughed silently to myself to see 
 the familiar motion of ambushing a camp from the 
 water side, done so skilfully. For whoever he was, 
 or whatever his errand, the man in that boat knew 
 how to handle a paddle as only a few ever learn the 
 art, — to perfection. His body never moved. The 
 bent posture of it never changed. His head kept its 
 fixed position. The arms worked from the shoulder- 
 sockets, and were lifted with a movement so slow and 
 gradual that the eye which would measure their exten- 
 sion and return must needs be keen of sight, nor lose 
 its observation by a wink. The boat did not start — 
 it simply ceased to stand still; but that fraction of 
 an instant at which it ceased to stand still and besfan 
 to move no human eye could tell. Slowly, slowly, 
 so slowly that at times I doubted if it did move at all, 
 the boat came floating on. For ten minutes it had 
 been moving, and yet it had barely covered as many 
 rods. Then the motion of the arms died out in the 
 air, and the boat again stood still. But the body of 
 
42 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 the boatman still kept its fixed position, and the arms 
 still hung suspended in the atmosphere, where they 
 were when the will o£ the paddler had checked them. 
 
 " By Jove ! " I said to myself, " that man acts as i£ 
 he wants to murder some one, or fears some one will 
 murder him : but he understands how to do a job like 
 the one he is at, and I would like to know^ how long 
 it has taken him to learn that use of the paddle." 
 
 A few minutes passed, then the arms began to rise 
 and fall again, and the boat stole slowly into motion. 
 Again ten rods were covered ; and again the little boat 
 came to a pause. It was now barely fifty yards away, 
 and the full moon made it an easy matter to study 
 quite closely both the boat and boatman. The boat 
 was of the common build, sliarj) at either end, low- 
 sided and light. In the bow was a pack-basket, 
 while a hound lay crouched in the middle. A rifle 
 w^as resting across the paddler's knees. Of his face 
 I could discern little, because the moon was at his 
 back. In a moment he laid the paddle softly across 
 the boat ; lifted his rifle as noiselessly from his knees, 
 and rose slowly to his feet. All this had been done as 
 only a skilled boatman and woodman could do it : not 
 a jerk or awkward motion in the process ; it was done 
 coolly, deliberately, and without the least suggestion of 
 a sound. 
 
 " Few men could have lifted themselves from their 
 seat in a boat like that in the style he has done it," I 
 said to myself, " and few dogs would lie as that dog 
 lies, in a boat manoeuvred as that has been for the 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 43 
 
 past twenty minutes, without stirring nose or foot. I 
 wonder he has not scented me." 
 
 That very instant, even as the thought was passing 
 in mv mind, mv ear cauodit the sound of the lowest 
 possible whine from the hound ; but his body never 
 stirred, and his nose, active as it must have been, never 
 lifted itself a hand's width from its resting place on 
 the bottom of the boat. 
 
 "Halloo, the camp there!" said the man in the 
 boat suddenly. "Be ye sleepmg or dead, man or 
 ghost, Avliom I find in this lonely spot to-night?" 
 
 " Not dead, or asleep," I answered, speaking from 
 the dense o-loom of the overhano-incr cedar ; " but 
 wide aAvake and watchful as it behooves a man to be, 
 in a place like this, mth a man ambushing his camp 
 in the dead of nioht. Put down your rifle and 
 come into camp if you Avant to. The sound of a 
 human voice coming out of your throat makes me 
 feel friendly, whoever you are. Come in, and I will 
 stir up the fire and we can see how w^e like each 
 other's looks." 
 
 So saying, I stepped back to where my wood was 
 piled, and proceeded to thrust a dozen pitchy knots 
 and a huge roll of white birch-bark into the embers. 
 The few remainino^ coals beneath the ashes cauo^ht 
 eagerly at the pitch thus thrust against them, and 
 after an instant's sputtering the inflammable mate- 
 rial leaped suddenly into a roaring flame. As the 
 blaze shot upward, I rose from my knees, on which 
 I had dropped to give the embers an encouraging 
 
44 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 puffj and the man, leaning on his paddle-staff, with 
 the hound crouched at his feet, stood before me. 
 
 For a moment we stood and looked at each other, 
 as two men might, meeting for the first time, at 
 such an hour, in such a place, — looked each other 
 over thoroughly, from head to foot, and then sat- 
 isfied, at least on my part, I said : — 
 
 " Old man, you are welcome." 
 
 "Thank ye; thank ye," replied my visitor. "I 
 shouldn't have dropped in upon ye in this onseemly 
 way, and at sech an onseemly hour, but the line of 
 yer smoke took me onawares like as I turned the 
 p'int yender, for I didn't expect to find a human 
 bein' on these shores, and I half-doubted ef a 
 mortal man was here, till my hound got yer scent 
 in his nose aud signalled me that flesh and blood 
 was nigh. And so I ax yer pardin for comin' in 
 on ye as I did, more like a thief than an honest 
 man ; but I have memories of this spot that made 
 me think strange things, and fear that all was not 
 right. Young man, what may yer name be ? " 
 
 " I am called, when at home, Henry Herljert," I 
 said, " but you can split it in the middle if it 
 would fit your mouth better in that way, and take 
 it half at a time, and call me Henry or Herbert 
 as you please ; for I know one about as well as I 
 do the other, and answer to either pretty readily ; 
 and since you are getting on in years, and are old 
 enough to be my father, with a good liberal margin 
 at that, you had better take the first half of it; 
 
THE SrOli Y rilA T THE KEG TOLD ME. 45 
 
 and so, if you please, you may call me Henry for 
 short." 
 
 " Well, Henry," said the old man, and there came 
 a beaming look of good nature into his eyes as he 
 s^ioke, \yith the least t^vinkle of humor playing in 
 and penetrating the beneyolence of it, " I am gittin' 
 pritty well on in years, and ye don't seem much 
 more than a youngster to me, although ye haye 
 managed to git a pritty good growth in the time ye 
 haye been at it; and perhaps their comin' and goin' 
 has put some things inside my head that boys can't 
 be expected to git, while they haye been whitenin' 
 the outside of it; so, mayhaps, it is well enough 
 that I should call ye by yer Christian name, as ef 
 I was yer own father ; although I have never had a 
 boy of my own, or a wife or home either, for that 
 matter ; onless ye can call, these woods a home ; for I 
 have seed sixty years come and go sence I came into 
 them, and the Lord has cared for me in summer's 
 heat and winter's cold through them all, — so well 
 that I haven't had a wish for other company than 
 I have found with the animils and thino^s He has 
 made, or for any other home than He has builded 
 for me by His own hands." And the old man 
 paused a moment, and looked lovingly down at the 
 hound Avhich lay stretched at his feet, with his muz- 
 zle resting on his paAvs, as if, in the dog, I could see 
 one of the companions which had supplied with 
 affection a heart that had missed the love of wife 
 and children. 
 
46 ADIEOXDACK TALES. 
 
 " Yis," he continued, " the woods have been a home 
 for me for the number of years that measure the Hfe 
 of mortal man, and there be leetle in them I haven't 
 seed, and few be the noises that natur' makes that my 
 ears haven't heerd ; and I know all their paths and 
 their ways as well as a man in the settlements knows 
 his door-yard. But that ain't neither here nor there," 
 — as if he was conscious of having fallen into a mus- 
 ing mood, and would check himself — "that's neither 
 here nor there," he continued, " and I am glad to 
 have run agin ye here to-night, although the seemin' 
 of things was agin me. For I did ambush yer camp 
 as a thief or a half-breed might ; but I was taken on- 
 awares by yer camp smoke, and startled, as ye would 
 well understand to be reasonable in me, did ye know 
 what I know of this spot, and the strange goin's on 
 that has been here years agone, as I know them ; and 
 it seems queer to me to find a livin' bein' to-night 
 where I thought there was only a dead man's grave. 
 But I am glad to have run agin ye, Henry Herbert, 
 for I have heerd of ye many times in the last ten 
 years, as one who loved the woods and the way men 
 live in them, and knowed the proper use of a rifle, 
 and how to handle the paddle as some born to the use 
 of it never larn it ; and I have heerd that yer eye was 
 keen and finger sure, as a hunter's should be, and that 
 ye let no buck run off with yer lead, but dropped him 
 dead in his tracks where he stood — which be marcif ul 
 and decent in a man who handles a rifle. And I have 
 heerd, mor'over, that ye loved to be alone, and to find 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD 3IE. 47 
 
 things out that natur' never tells to a company ; and 
 that ye boated up and down through the Avoods all 
 by yerself, sleepin' where night overtook ye like an 
 honest man, and I knowed that I should some day 
 cross yer trail and jine ye ; but I leetle thought to 
 run agin ye here to-night, for I'd no idee that mortal 
 man knowed this lake, save me and him whose body I 
 buried here eleven years gone this fall." And the old 
 man paused, seated himself on the butt of a log, and 
 gazed with a solemn look in his face into the fire. 
 
 I did not feel quite like breaking in on his medita- 
 tions, whatever they might be ; and so I stood and 
 looked at him. In a few moments he began : — 
 
 " I ax yer pardin ef it be axin' too much of ye, but 
 I've fetched my boat through fifty mile to-day, and 
 it's nigh on twenty hours sence I've tasted food : not 
 but that I could have had enouo^h — for I run aofin a 
 buck on Salmon Lake this arternoon jest as the sun 
 was goin' doAvn, that was big enough to keep a Dutch 
 parson in venison for a w^eek, and that sizes him pritty 
 big, as ye know, ef ye ever camped with one of 'em " 
 — and the old man opened his mouth and laughed a 
 peculiar, good-natured laugh, that showed more on the 
 face than it gave forth noise — " but I was in a hurry 
 to git through here and couldn't stop to dry him, and 
 I never settle lead into any cretur I can't use for 
 meat, onless it be a fur-bearin' animil or a wicked pan- 
 ther. So I jest paddled up to him ontil I could flirt 
 some water onto his shoulders, and I landed about two 
 quarts on his back, and the way the cretur jumped sot 
 
48 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 my eyes swimmin'." And here the old man laughed 
 again m his own peculiar fashion. '' But, as I was 
 sayin', I haven't tasted food sence the last day daw^n, 
 and feel sort of empty like ; and somehow latterly the 
 nioht mists seem to grit into me more'n thev used to 
 when I was younger, for age thins the blood, and cools 
 it, too, for that matter ; an' ef ye feel like botherin' 
 yerself that much ye may cook me a pot of tea and 
 give me a cold cake, ef one be lyin' round ; and ef ye 
 huppen to have a bit of buck ye fear Avon't keep till 
 mornin' I guess I could keep it for ye in a spot where 
 I've put a good deal of the meat in the last sixty 
 year ; " and the old man laughed again, in his hearty, 
 noiseless manner, as if greatly pleas3d at his own 
 homely and innocent wit. 
 
 " Old man," said T, " you just sit on that log a few 
 minutes, and I will give you a drink of tea that will 
 warm your blood as if forty years had been taken from 
 your record ; and as for cold cakes, I don't keep that 
 article, but here is some batter — and I uncovered a 
 pan standing a little back from the fire — "that will 
 make cakes so lis^lit that you will have to hold them 
 down with your fork ; and look at that " — and I swung 
 out of my birch bark cupboard a roll of tenderloin 
 steak twelve or fourteen inches long — "I'll spit that 
 for you so that it will dissolve in your mouth, and go 
 down your throat like honey ; and you and I will have 
 a feast that will make us feel as full as a doe in the 
 lily-pads, — for I know^ wdiom I have for my guest to- 
 night as well as if you had told me your name, and right 
 
THE STOEY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 49 
 
 glad am I to have the best shot that ever drew bead, 
 and the best boatman that ever feathered paddle, and 
 as honest a man as ever drew breath, in my camp, 
 and there's my hand, and you are welcome to all I 
 have in my pack, and to all I can do for you, John 
 Norton " — and I stretched my hand out to him, 
 who met its palm with his own in a hearty, hunter- 
 like grip. 
 
 " Well, well," laughed the old man, as he re-seated 
 himself on the log, while I bestirred myself Avith prep- 
 arations for the meal, " I sorter suspicioned that ye 
 knowed who I was, but I didn't know for sartin ; for 
 ye carry a mighty steady face, and ye didn't let on 
 with yer eyes what ye was thinkin' about, as most 
 youngsters do ; but I take yer welcome in the same 
 Avay ye give it, and ef old John Norton can do any- 
 thing to make yer stay in the woods more pleasant-like 
 to ye, or larn ye any trick of beast or bird, or tell ye 
 anything of natur's ways that ye haven't larnt as yit 
 — ye may depend on it, young man, that he will larn 
 it to ye ; " — and so saying he relapsed into silence, 
 but watched me steadily as I kept on with my work. 
 
 In a few minutes the bark that served for a table 
 was put in front of him, with the plates and cups, the 
 pepper, salt, sugar, and such other luxuries as my 
 pack afforded, and I poured the old man a cup of the 
 best that ever came from Formosa, while I kept on 
 turninof the cakes and the steak. 
 
 " Well, now, that's the best tea I ever tasted, for 
 sartin," said the old man, as he sipped the stimulat- 
 
50 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 ing beverage — " it's as smooth as spring water, and 
 goes down a man's throat as easy as an otter goes into 
 a crick. I never tasted drink that the Lord hadn't 
 made, for sixty year of my life, bnt latterly, 'specially 
 at night, or when over-tired, it does seem to me that 
 a few leaves of tea jediciously steeped as ye have done 
 it, sort of streno^thens the water and makes a kind of 
 improvement on the Lord's own work, ef it be right 
 for a mortal to say so ; leastwise," he added, as 
 he took a deeper quaff, "this is mighty pleasant 
 warmin' to the ribs, and sort of makes a man feel 
 inhabited-like inside, and not empty as a cabin with 
 nobody in it;" and the look of placid contentment 
 that came to the old man's face was a picture to see. 
 
 By this time the meal was ready, and we sat down 
 on either side of the bark table, in the glow of the 
 firelight, to eat. 
 
 " Henry," said the old man, as he drew his hunting 
 knife throuoh the tenderloin roll, and marked the 
 ruddy juices that oozed out, and the puff of odorous 
 steam which ascended as the blade clove it, " this meat 
 is cooked hunter-like, and sort of encourages the teeth 
 to git into the centre of it. I have often noted that 
 cookin' was a kind of gift, and couldn't be larnt out 
 of books, no more than holdin' a rifle or featherin' a 
 paddle properly can be larnt in the settlements. The 
 Lord gives one man one set of gifts and another 
 another, and cookin' and huntin' be things of natur', 
 and not of readin', and they don't often go all of 
 them to one man, although in yer case, Henry, the 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD 3IE. 51 
 
 Lord has been very marciful and aracions-like in his 
 treatment of ye, — for I have heerd ye be a great 
 scholar, and love the knowledge that the schools give ; 
 and I have many things I want to ax ye of — things 
 I have heerd, but that seem onreasonable to me ; but, 
 depend on it, Henry, the best gift the Lord has given 
 ye is yer love of natur' and the things that go with 
 it — a keen eye, a quick finger, a strong back, and a 
 conscience that can meet him in the solitude of these 
 waters and hills and not be afeered ; for a wicked man 
 can't bear the presence of the Maker of these soli- 
 tudes, as I have good reason to know" — and here 
 the old man paused a moment and gazed steadily into 
 the fire. " Yis," he resumed, " it is w^onderful that he 
 should have gin ye the love of books and of natur' 
 both, but I dare to say he has his favorites, as I have 
 often noticed mothers have among their childun, and 
 I can see jest how^ it may be with him ; but how he 
 came to give ye the gift of cookin' wdth all the other 
 ones, is wonderful, and I can't understand it, but — " 
 A Ions:, loud cry, which beo-innino; with a thin whine 
 and swelling into a terrific yell, arose into the still air, 
 from the other side of the lake, held possession of the 
 atmosphere for a full minute, then died away in suc- 
 cessive echoes, leaving the stillness deeper than before 
 the terrible sound disturbed it, broke suddenly in upon 
 the old man's speech. For a full minute he sat 
 motionless, wdth his fork half-way between the plate 
 and his mouth, and his mouth half-opened to receive 
 it, and not till the last imitation of the frightful 
 
52 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 scream had died away along the hills that bordered 
 the head of the lake did a muscle of his fioine move. 
 
 " Yis, I know the varmint, and an ugly one he is, 
 too. I heerd him in the balsam thickets as I come 
 down the inlet, and he trailed me for a full mile, 
 as they will when hungry ; but the cretur was too 
 cowardly to show himself in the mash where the moon 
 would tech him, for a panther has a keen nose for the 
 smell of powder, and he scented the muzzle of my 
 rifle and knowed I had a wepon. I hoped he would 
 show himself a minit, or that the swish of the mash 
 grass as he tramped through it would make a line for 
 me, for I thought I knowed his whine, and I said to 
 myself, Ef he gives me half a chance I'll let light 
 into him, and sort of square accounts with the cretur 
 that's been some time standin' ; but he is a cowardly 
 chap and — " 
 
 Again the terrible scream leaped into the air, — 
 this time wild and savagely fierce at the start, and so 
 harsh that it seemed to tear the silence into shreds in 
 very fury ; and the last hoarse aspiration of it was so 
 terrible in its wrathful strength that the trees, water, 
 and air seemed to shrink back and shiver in terror at 
 its injection into the peaceful atmosphere. 
 
 " Ay, ay ! I know ye now," continued the old 
 man, " and a truer hound than ye murdered for me 
 eleven year agone, come next month, never nosed a 
 track or guarded a hunter's camp. Ye can yell till 
 ye be hoarse, but if the Lord spares this old body, 
 and my eyes don't get dim for another month, I'll 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 53 
 
 look ye up some day and give ye the contents of a 
 grooved barrel that carries a half-ounce bullet, and 
 chambers eighty grains of powder, and ye shall larn 
 the difference between a hunter used to tlie sio;hts 
 and a poor hound that has nothin' but his teeth and 
 his courage to fight ye with. I guess," continued the 
 old man, as he rose to his feet, " I had better bring- 
 up my pack and my rifle, for I noted by the direction 
 the echoes took that the brute yender be trailin' down 
 the lake, and he may cross the outlet at the foot and 
 scout up this side, for his cry shows he be hungry, and 
 he has seen our lire and may think that he can play 
 his capers on us ; but he will find the two liveliest 
 morsels he ever tried to put his teeth into, the var- 
 mint ! " and lauohino' to himself at his own tliouo;ht 
 he started for the beach. 
 
 '^ Henry," said he, as he stood leaning over the 
 end ^of his boat, " come here and we will li'ist this 
 boat into camp. I dare say I am foolish, but some- 
 how I sorter feel that this lake shore isn't quite the 
 spot to leave an honest man's boat on. I can remem- 
 ber when to have did it would have cost a man his 
 boat and scalp, too, onless the Lord marcifully kept 
 his eyes open with dreams." 
 
 In a moment the boat was placed where the old man 
 wished it, and settino- his back ao-ainst its side for a 
 support, he unlaced his moccasins, and thrust his 
 smoking feet out toward the fire. Taking a pipe 
 from my pocket, I filled it with a choice brand of 
 tobacco I had in my pouch, and proffered it to him. 
 
54 ' ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 '' Thank ye, thank ye, Henry," said he, as he made 
 a motion of rejection of the offer with his hand, " I 
 thank ye for the kindness ye mean in yer heart, but ef 
 it be all the same to ye I won't take it. I know it be 
 a comfort to ye, and I am glad to see ye enjoy it, but 
 I have never used the weed ; not for the reason that I 
 had a conscience in the matter, but because the Lord 
 gave me a nose like a hound's, and better too, I dare 
 say, for I doubt ef a hound knows the sweetness of 
 things, or can take pleasure from the scent that goes 
 into his nostrils. But he has been more marciful to 
 man — as it was proper he should be — and gin him 
 the power to know good and evil in the air ; and smell- 
 in' has always been one of my gifts, and I couldn't 
 make ye understand, I dare say, the pleasure I've had 
 in the right exercise of it. For ye know that natur' 
 is no more bright to the eye than it is sweet to the 
 nose ; and I've never found a root or shrub or leaf 
 that hadn't its own scent. Even the dry moss on the 
 rocks, dead and juiceless as it seems, has a smell to it ; 
 and as for the 'arth, I love to put my nose into the 
 fresh sile, as a city woman loves the nozzle of her 
 smellin'-bottle. Many and many a time when alone 
 here in the woods have I taken my boat and gone up 
 into the inlet when the wild roses was in blossom, or 
 down into some bay where the white lily cups was all 
 open, and sot in my boat and smelt them by the hour, 
 and wondered ef heaven smelt so. Yis, I have been 
 sartinly gifted in my nose, for Fve always noted that 
 I smelt things that the men and women I was guidin' 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 55 
 
 didn't, and found things in the air that they never 
 suspicioned of, and I feered that smokin' might take 
 away my gift, and that ef I got the strong smell of 
 tobacco in my nose once I should never scent any other 
 smell that was lesser and finer than it. — So I have 
 never used the weed, bein' sort of naterally afeered of 
 it ; but what is medicine for one man may be pisen for 
 another, as I have noted in animils, for the bark that 
 fattens the beaver will kill the rat ; and so ye must 
 take no offence at what I've said, but smoke as much 
 as ye feel moved to, and I will scent the edges of the 
 smell as it comes over my side of the fire, and so we'll 
 sort of jine works — as they say in the settlements — 
 ye do the smokin' and I'll do the smellin', and I think 
 I've got the lightest end of the stick at that." And 
 the old man laughed in every line of his time-wriiikled 
 face at the smartness of his saying. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE OLD trapper's AMBUSH. 
 
 •♦ I am out of humanity's reach ; 
 I must finish my journey alone, 
 Never hear tlie sweet music of speech — 
 I start at tlie soiuul of my own." — Coicper. 
 
 '^ 
 
 So we sat on either side of the fire, filled with that 
 contentment which pervades tlie mind when the body 
 has eaten its fill of hearty food, and the process of 
 diofestion is a'oino* forward under the conditions of 
 perfect health and agreeable surroundings. For sev- 
 eral minutes we sat in silence, too physically happy 
 on my part to think ; and the Old Trapper seemed to 
 have undergone a change of mood, for the play of 
 humor had left his features, and his countenance had 
 settled into a solemn repose. 
 
 '^ I was thinhin'," he said at leno-th — "I was 
 thinkin' of things that happened here long years 
 aofone, when I fust come throuo-h this lake. I can tell 
 ye, Henry, strange doin's have been done here, and 
 my thoughts have been on the back trail for several 
 days now, and I had a feelin' come to me that I 
 ouo^hter visit this lake, and sorter see how thinjrs 
 looked ; for there's a grave over there on the p'int, 
 that I made with my own hands, and I buried the 
 body of a man in it that had no mourner at his 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 57 
 
 funeral, onless me and the hound, there, might be 
 counted as sech. And I thought I Avould come 
 through here and see ef the grave wanted mendm', 
 although I dare say it lies quiet enough, and ondis- 
 tarbed, for I built it up in good shape, and sodded it 
 over as the man gave me word to do ; — not that he 
 ordered it, but because 1 knowed it was his wish, for 
 he said the day he died : ' I wish wdien I am gone my 
 grave might be sodded as they sod them down on the 
 coast where I was born.' And I said to him, ^ Don't 
 worry on that score, for I will make it as ye tell me, 
 so far as me and the hound can do it ; ' and then he 
 told me liow^ he wanted it done, and I will say he 
 talked rational-like from the way he looked at it, and 
 I did it jest as he told me, as the hound there would 
 bear witness ef he could speak ; and somehow latterly 
 I got the feelin' into me that I oughter come through 
 here, and sort of see to it, and that's the reason that 
 I am here, although sence meetin' ye T have wondered 
 ef I warnt brouoht here to meet the livin' and not the 
 dead ; for the Lord don't always tell what he starts us 
 on a journev for, or what we are to find at the other 
 end of it, for the tarmination of things be marcifully 
 hidden from the beginnin', and the two eends of a trail 
 never look alike." 
 
 AVhile the Old Trapper had been thus moralizing, 
 he had risen to his feet, and turning round with his 
 back to the fire he stretched a hand out toward the 
 lake, saying : — 
 
 " It is not often, Henry, that ye see so bright a 
 
58 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 moon a:s that, even here in the woods where the air be 
 as pure as the Lord can make it ; and it calls up 
 memories. It is eleven year this very night that me 
 and the hound slept here, and a solemn ni^lit it was, 
 too, for the man had died at sunset, and his body lay 
 right there where the moon whitens the 'arth by that 
 dead root. — God of heaven, Henry, what is that?" 
 
 The old man's startled ejaculation brought me to 
 my feet as if the panther were on me, and glancing 
 at the spot he had indicated by his looks and gesture, 
 as the exclamation tore out of his mouth, I beheld 
 only the scattered portions of the Keg. Not know- 
 ing what to make of the old man's excited action, I 
 said : — 
 
 '' That ? that is only a keg I picked uj3 in the lake 
 this evening." 
 
 For a full minute the Old Trapper stood gazing 
 steadfastly at it, and then he stepped to the spot where 
 the remnants of the keg lay, and picking up a stave he 
 contemplated it a minute or two in grave and solemn 
 silence, and then returning to the fire he reseated 
 himself on the log, and still holding the piece of wood 
 in his hand, said : — 
 
 " The ways of the Lord be mysterious, and His 
 orderin's past findin' out ; and some of His creturs be 
 born for good and some for evil, and how He ontangles 
 the strands in the end is bey end our knowin'. But 
 perhaps in the long run He brings the wrong to the 
 right, and so makes the evil in the w^orld to praise Him. 
 Ah me ! ah me ! what a load the man carried while off 
 
THE ST OB Y TEA T THE KEG TOLD ME. 59 
 
 the trail, like a blind moose walkin' in a circle ; but 
 before he tired I reckon he struck the blazed line 
 that led him to the Great Clearin'. Leastwise, it 
 looked so." And the old man paused, gazing fixedly 
 at the bit of the keg that he held in his hand. In a 
 moment he resumed : " I have a mind, Henry, to tell 
 ye the story of the man who owned that keg once, as 
 far as I know it, and onless ye feel sleepy-like I will 
 tell ye what happened here years agone, and what I 
 know of the man whose body lies buried there on 
 yender p'int — for a strange tale it is, and a true one, 
 and the teachin's of it be solemn." 
 
 I w^as thoroughly awake by this time, and urged 
 the old man to proceed. After a moment's silence 
 he beo^an : — 
 
 " Well, it's now eleven year agone that I was 
 drawin' a trail through the woods from east to west, 
 and I did a good deal of my boatin' in the night, for 
 the moon was full, and I always had a sort of hankerin' 
 for the night work ever sence I slept on the boughs ; 
 for natur' looks one way in the daytime, and another 
 w^ay in the night-time, and no one knows how sweet she 
 can be to the nose, and hoAv pleasant to the ears, and 
 how han'some to the eyes, onless he has seed her face, 
 and heerd her voices, and smelt her sweet smells, in the 
 nio'ht season. I've alwavs noted that those who knowed 
 natur' only by daylight knowed only half her ways, 
 and less than half, too, for that matter. For in the 
 evenin' she gits familiar and confidential-like with one, 
 and talks to him of herself and her ways as she never 
 
60 ADIEONDACK TALES. 
 
 does in the daytime. For iiatur' has a great many 
 secrets, and she's timid as a young" faan, and ye've got 
 to creep into thickets, and lay yer hoat up under the 
 banks of streams, and lie down in the mash grass 
 when all be dark and still, if ye want to hear her 
 whisper to ye of her innermost feelin's. The Lord 
 only knows how many times I have ambushed her in 
 her hidin' places as a Huron would a camp, and caught 
 her at her pranks. Ah, Henry, ye have no idee how 
 many things I have larnt of her in the night-time, or 
 how frisky and solemn, both, natur' can bo betwixt 
 the settin' and risin' of the sun. 
 
 Well, as I was savin', I'd been over to the east 
 boundaries of tlie woods, nigh on to the Horricon 
 waters, where I did a good deal of my early scoutin', 
 to sorter see how the brooks and wood-ways looked 
 agin, but it Avas a sorry time I had of it, for the 
 settlers had pushed in, and their mills was on every 
 stream, and their painted housen stood under the very 
 trees where I used to cook \\\\ venison with no sights 
 or sounds around save those that natur' lierself made. 
 And ye can well believe, Henry, that I was glad to git 
 away from what I went to see and be back here where 
 my ears couldn't hear the sound of axes and the fallin' 
 of trees — yis, I was mighty glad to git back where 
 things was quiet and peaceful-like, and the cruelties 
 and divilments of men that have no respect for 
 things the Lord has made hadn't come to distarb the 
 habits of natur'. 
 
 Well, as I was sayin', it was eleven year agone, and 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD 3IE. 61 
 
 ill this very mouthy and \yell on in the night, that I 
 came down the inlet yender into this lake. And the 
 moon was nigh on to her full, and everythin' looked 
 solemn and white jest as they do to us now, and the 
 Lord knows I leetle thought to meet mortal man in 
 thesa solitudes when I run agin what I am to tell ye of. 
 
 I was paddlin' down this side of the lake, keepin' 
 well under the shore, list'nin' and thinkin', and happy 
 in my heart as a rat in the water, when I heerd the 
 stranofest sounds I ever heerd come out of bird or 
 beast. It was a kind of murmurin' noise that run 
 out into the stillness an' sorter capered round a minit, 
 an' then run back where it started from. Ye better 
 believe, Henry, I sot and listened as a man listens 
 scoutin' alone in the night-time in these woods, when 
 he gits a sound in his ears that he can't make out. 
 Yis, I sot and listened ontil I was nothin' but ears, 
 and the very stillness beat on the narves of my head 
 as I have heerd the roll of the waves on the lakes 
 beat on the beach. But for the life of me I couldn't 
 make it sound nateral, nor tell what animil it be- 
 longed to, and it took the conceit out o' me to larn 
 that there was a cretur in the woods whose mouth 
 didn't tell me its name and habits. 
 
 Arter a while I got the true direction of it, for a 
 sound o^oes as straisfht from its startin' to the ear as a 
 bee from a wind-fall or burnt clearin' o-oes to its hole 
 in the beech, and I said to myself as I lifted my rifle 
 to my knee, that I would ambush the cretur and find 
 out what mouth had a lang-uao-e in it that old John 
 
62 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 Norton couldn't tell the meanin' of. So I laid my 
 boat up in the direction of the sound as ef my life 
 depended on the proper use of the paddle. I hadn't 
 gone more than ten rods afore the noise stopped, but 
 I'd fixed it in the line of a dead Norway, and I 
 knowed I could put my boat inside of fifty feet of 
 where the cretur lay. I never acted more sarcum- 
 spectly nor fetched an ambushment more easy and 
 sartin, and in a shorter time than it takes me to tell 
 ye I had my boat under the p'int of that bank there 
 within ten feet of the shrubs, wdth mv finoer on the 
 trigger of a rifle that goes easy in an on sartin am- 
 bushment. There I sot a full minit knowin' I was 
 inside of fifty feet of the cretur, with my eyes and 
 ears as open as they should be in such sarcumstances. 
 Then I lieerd a kind of crawlin' sound as ef the brute 
 or reptile was trailin' himself along the sand ; and I 
 knowed ef the wiggle of a bush would give me the 
 line I could open a hole through him. It might have 
 been ten feet that the cretur crawled, and then he 
 stopped, but I had fixed him well in mind and felt 
 sartin I could drive the lead where it ought to go. I 
 had got the breech of my rifle to my face, and my 
 cheek was settlin' to tlie stock, when the cretur 
 opened his mouth, and by the Lord of Marcy, Henry, 
 / cUskivered I had ambushed no animil at all, hut a 
 mo7:tal man /" 
 
 Long before the Old Trapper had got to this point 
 of his narrative 1 had become profoundly interested in 
 his recital. For he told the story as men born to 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD 31 E. 63 
 
 the AYOods tell their tales o£ personal adventure — 
 with a natural eloquence o£ tone, feature, and gesture 
 which only those have whose experiences have been 
 narrow but intense, and who speak from the simple 
 earnestness of untutored and therefore unfettered 
 power. His narrative had been told from the beginning 
 in two languages ; one verbal and the other pantomimic, 
 and he had carried me along with his story as it ad- 
 vanced as much by that which addressed the eye as by 
 that which entered the ear. He had gathered warmth 
 and energy of expression as he had gone on, until I 
 found myself moving in sympathy with the visible 
 action of his features, body, and hands ; and when he 
 reached the climax of his discovery I shared to the 
 full in the excitement of his pantomimic action, and 
 doubt if the shock of surprise which he had experi- 
 enced eleven years before in his boat under the bank, 
 off the point which lay in the moonlight full in view, 
 was much greater at the startling discovery he had 
 made, than was mine. So we sat looking full at each 
 other across the camp-fire, our faces tense with mutual 
 excitement, as if we were actual sharers in the aston- 
 ishing discovery. 
 
 " Yis, Henry, a man was there, a man on that p'int 
 where I expected to find only an animil ; and his 
 words, as they come out of his mouth into the still air 
 of the night, strong and clear as a man in the rapids 
 calling for help, was words of prayer. I've been, 
 Henry, in many ambushments in the seventy years 
 I've lived, and I've been in peril from inimies behind 
 
64 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 and afore ; and more than once have I met the rage 
 of man and beast and been brono'ht face to face with 
 death onexpectedly ; but never sence my eyes knowed 
 the sights, or my life depended on the proper use of 
 my faculties, was I ever so taken onaw^ares or onbal- 
 anced as I was under the bushes there on yender p'int 
 eleven year agone, Avhen I heerd the voice of that man 
 I had mistook for an animil break out in prayer. It 
 was of the Lord's own marcy, Henry, that I Avas not a 
 murderer of my kind, for my finger was on the 
 trigger, as I told ye, and my eye was getting onto as 
 trusty a barrel as man ever hefted, when He opened 
 the cretur's mouth wdth the sound of His o^vn name. 
 For a minit the blood stopped in my heart, and my 
 hair moved in my scalp ; and tlien I shook like a man 
 with the chills, ontil I drew from the guard of my rifle 
 a finger that had never quivered afore, for fear I 
 should explode the piece and distarb the man in his 
 worship. 
 
 I sot and heerd the man from beginnin' to eend, 
 and I larned, under the bushes that night, how 
 hard-put a mortal may be by reason of his sin. For 
 the man prayed for help as one calls to a comrade 
 w^hen his boat has gone down under him in the 
 rapids, and he knows he must have help or die. 
 I've been a prayin' man, Henry, as one should be who 
 lives here in the woods wdiere the Sperit of the Lord 
 is everywdiere and in all things ; but I never prayed 
 as that man prayed, and it larned me that wdiat is 
 prayin' to one man isn't prayin' to another, for the 
 
THE STOHY THAT THE KEG TOLD JIE. ^5 
 
 natur' of our wants settle the natur' of our prayin', 
 and the habits of our Hfe makes the trail to His 
 marcy level or steep. And this man was climbin' a 
 steep trail, and his soul was strugglin' on a hard 
 carry, I tell ye; and the words of his cry come out 
 of his mouth like the w^ords of one who is lost onless 
 somebody saves him. It's dreadful for a man to 
 live in secli a way that he has to pray in that 
 fashion ; for we ought to live, Henry, so that it is 
 cheerful-like to meet the Lord, and pleasant to hold 
 convarse with him. 
 
 So I sot in my boat ontil he was done, and then 
 I huo'o^ed mvself close in under the bushes, for I 
 heerd him coming down toward the shore, and I 
 know^ed he must pass nigh where I lay in the am- 
 bushment. And he did, — ay, so nigh that I could 
 have teched him with my paddle, and he had some- 
 thing heavy in his arms, for he staggered as he went 
 by, as ef put to it for strength. In a minit I heerd 
 him shove a boat out of the bushes onto the water, 
 and gettin' in, he pushed off onto the lake. He led 
 straight off into the centre of it, and I trailed him 
 in his wake, for the moon had got back of the 
 mountain here to the rioht, and I was detarmined 
 to see what his queer goin's-on meant. Well, when 
 he had come nioh to the middle of the lake he laid 
 his i3addle down, and lifted somethin' into the air, and 
 turned it up endwis3 and poured what was in it out. 
 I larntk, afterwards, what it was he lifted into the 
 air, and what it was he poured out of it, for he 
 
66 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 told me with his own lips, and under seeh sarcum- 
 stances, and at a time, when mortals be apt to tell 
 the truth ; for he told me on his death-day, when 
 he lay dyin', and I never knowed a man, white or 
 redskin, that didn't talk straight as an honest trapper 
 countin' his pelts, when he had come to the last blaze 
 on the trail, and his feet stood on the edge of the 
 Great Clearin'." 
 
CHAPTER YII. 
 
 FINDING THE MISER. 
 
 " Sagacious bound." — Virgil. 
 
 '' Well, I didn't make myself known to him that 
 niglitj for I felt onsartin as to the natur' of the man ; 
 and beside, I conceited I had no right to step in sud- 
 denly upon a man in the midst of his troubles, of 
 whatever sort they might be ; — for it always seemed 
 to me that a mortal had a right to have ownership 
 of his own grief, and to shet the door of it agin 
 the whole world, as much as a hunter in his own camp 
 has a rioht to shet the door of his lodsre. So I shied 
 off furder into the lake and made camp for the night, 
 or what there was left of it, on the island yender. 
 
 Well, in the mornin' I bestirred myself, and started 
 my fire ostentatious-like on the side of the island next 
 the p'int, and it made as much smoke as ef it had been 
 built by a boy from the settlements, or a college lad 
 in his fust trip to the w^oods, whose tongue runs to 
 words, and whose fires are all smoke, — for I wanted 
 to call his eyes over my way and let him know that 
 there w^as a human on the lake, and one that didn't 
 seek concealment like a thievin' half-breed on an honest 
 trapper's line ; for a fire here in the woods is like the 
 little keerds that the girls in the settlements, I have 
 
68 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 been told, send round to their friends to ax them to 
 drink tea with them, or jine in a jig : a gineral invite 
 to come in and feel at home. So I piled on the timber 
 in a wasteful way, and dropped on a bit of punk now 
 and then, until, 'twixt the blaze and the smoke, I 
 warrant a hunter's eye, even in peace time, not to say 
 a scout's when the redskins are loose, could have seen 
 it ten miles away. But the man on the p'int never 
 took the hint, and well enouo^h he mightn't, for I 
 arterwards larned that he never saw either blaze or 
 smoke, for he was lyin' in his lodge back there in the 
 swale, with his thoughts far away, and his eyes on 
 other lights than such as the hands of man kindle. 
 
 Well, I cooked my breakfast for my hound there 
 and me, and while we was eatin' it we both kept 
 thinkin' of the man on the p'int ; for a dog of 
 breedin' knows what his master's thinkin' about, and I 
 could tell by the movements of the hound's nose that 
 the Lord was blowin' knowledge to him from the other 
 side of the lake, and that his thoughts were not on 
 the meat he was eatin', but over there where him and 
 me had fetched our ambushment the night afore. So 
 arter we had finished eatin' and cleaned things up, we 
 stood around a while and kept our eye on the p'int for 
 some friendly sign, and both me and the hound felt 
 sort of disapp'inted-like, and the least bit oneasy in 
 mind as to what it all meant ; for it seemed mighty 
 queer that the man should make no sign, not to say 
 show himself, when he must have knowed that we 
 wanted to be neighborly. So arter a while we put off 
 
THE STOJRY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 69 
 
 toward the p'int, cletarmined to see for ourselves Avhat 
 sort of a cretur be was, whose behavior had been so 
 mighty onusual the night before. And I paddled 
 over straight for the bushes wdiere I know^ed his boat 
 was, and, sure enough, there it was plain in sight, 
 where I felt it must be. 
 
 Then I went ashore and began to poke around, and 
 the trail was plain enough for a man from the settle- 
 ments to follow with his eyes half-shet ; for it led 
 from the boat straight up the hill, under the pines and 
 dow^n into the sw^ale back of it. So I pushed along, 
 keej^ing an eye open for the shanty that I know^ed 
 must be nigh, and soon sot my eyes on it, sure 
 enough ; but it w^as no shanty at all, only a mis'rable 
 old tent. I will confess, Henry, that it rather sot me 
 agin the man, wdioever he w^as, wdien I saw^ him livin' 
 shet up in a canvas bag, like a rat in his hole in the 
 spring freshets, when he might have housed himself 
 in a bark lodge, dry and airy, with one side open as a 
 house always should be, arter my w\ay of thinkin' ; for 
 it's a great blessin' to be able to see the bigness of the 
 w^orld in wdiicli ye be livin', and breathe the air as the 
 Lord blows it to ye fresh and strong from the slope of 
 mountains and the cool water level. And I conceit 
 that whoever lives in a canvas shed that's damp and 
 sw^ashy as last year's mash grass, must be a very sense- 
 less or wdcked bein', who don't know how handsome 
 the world is, or else wants to hide himself from the 
 eyes of man, and of the Lord, too, for that matter ; 
 for an honest man in the woods builds his lodge so he 
 
70 ADIEONDACK TALES. 
 
 can see and be seen by day and by night, because he 
 loves the sun and sky by day and the stars by night, 
 and has no reason to hide himself or his traps from 
 the Lord, or from his own kind, — which is open and 
 noble-like, as I onderstand it. So when I seed the 
 mis'rable and nasty old tent, where the bark was 
 plenty and willin' to be peeled, I felt suspicious of the 
 man, and conceited that the man's morals wasn't what 
 they should be. But in spite of my suspicionin' I 
 detarmined to go on and nose the man out ; and I 
 said to myself : ^ What right have you, Old John Nor- 
 ton, to set in jedgment on a fellow mortal, and before 
 even you have seed him ? It may be the man is igno- 
 rant of the ways of the woods, and knows no better 
 nor a babe how to care for himself; or perhaps he 
 has been onfortunit and needs help more than jedg- 
 ment.' 
 
 So I pushed ahead and laid my hand on the rag of 
 a door and drew it aside in a frank sort of a way, and, 
 by the Lord, Henry, the man lay dead before me ! 
 Leastwise I thought he was dead, for his eyes was half- 
 shet and half-open, as a dead man's should be who 
 has died onattended, and his face was as white as the 
 moss on the rock wdien the moonshine is on it. \yell, 
 Henry, it was a solemn sight, I can tell ye, and one 
 that made me ashamed of my suspicionin' of the man, 
 and I trust the Lord forgave me the wicked thought I 
 had had of a fellow mortal because he hadn't showed 
 himself on the p'int, or called on me at my camp, 
 when all the time the hand of death w^as heavy on 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ^fE. 71 
 
 him, and his legs were as strengthless as the reeds on 
 the mash when the frost has smitten them. 
 
 Well, I stood at the door of the tent and I on- 
 kivered my head, as a mortal should in sech solemn 
 sarcumstanees, for I verily thought the man was dead ; 
 hut the hound, there, knowed better, for the Lord has 
 given a sense in sech things to a dog that he with- 
 holds from the master, for the hound, arter standin 
 respectful-like behind me a minit, as ef he would not 
 be too forrard or shame me by his better knowledge, 
 pushed in to the side of the body and put his nose to 
 the cheek and then just turned his eyes up to me and 
 wao'o'ed his tail. Ah me, it's wonderful what larnin' 
 the Lord has gin to the creturs he has made, and 
 how often they know more nor their masters ; and 
 here was a dog who knowed the livin' and the dead 
 better than I did, though the body was the body of a 
 mortal, and not of his kind. 
 
 Well, when I seed the hound move his tail, happy- 
 like, I knowed the man was not dead, however nigh 
 he might be on to it ; and so I stepped in quick as 
 powder ever barnt and h'isted the man up, and took 
 him in my arms, and carried him out of the mis'rable 
 tent into the fresh, cool air, and laid him down in the 
 warm sunshine on the p'int, and fell to chafin' his 
 legs and his wrists, and pressin' on his chest, and 
 sprinklin' water in his face ; and I blowed in his nos- 
 trils, and did as a man should in sech sarcumstanees to 
 one of his kind. 
 
 But he was mighty weak, and all the strength he 
 
72 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 had was in his eyes, for he couldn't move hand or 
 foot, more nor a huck with a bullet throuirh his 
 spine the mornin' arter he is shot. And it was a very 
 solemn sight to see a full-grown man lyin' on the 
 sand with all natur' lively around him, and he onabla 
 to move a leg, or lift a finger ; and it showed that the 
 body of a mortal has no more life in it than a List 
 year's beaver's hide, when his sperit has left it ; and 
 it was awful-like to see a fellow bein' dead in every 
 member of his mortal frame but his eyes, and all 
 there was of himself lookhi' steadily out of them at 
 ye. But I felt he would fetch around arter a while, 
 for the sun was warm and the wind fresh, and I bol- 
 stered him up so it would blow straight into his mouth 
 and nostrils, and I said to myself, Ef natur' can't 
 bring him to, nothin' can. And so I felt cheerful- 
 like, and pretty sartin that between the sun and warm 
 sand and wind we would get his members warmed up 
 and agoin' agin afore long ; and the hound thought 
 so too, for when the man fust opened his eyes the 
 animil knowed it was a good sign as well as I did, for 
 the cretur no sooner saw them open nater'ly, than he 
 scooted a circle round the body in the sand lively as a 
 young pup at play, and then he stopped in his foolish- 
 ness and let a roar out of his mouth that migflit have 
 been heerd over to Salmon Lake ; and then he came 
 back and sot down on his ha'nches closa by the man, 
 and watched him as 'arnestly as I did. Every few 
 minits he would look up at me with a happy sort of 
 look in his eyes and fetch a wag or two with his tail ; 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD :\IE. 73 
 
 and it was mighty cheerful and eneonragin' to see the 
 animil act so, and made me feel sort of chirpy myself, 
 as I sot in the sand watchin' the man, for I knowed 
 the hound was a truthful dog, and was wise in his 
 gifts, and Avouldn't lie agin the vardict of them, and 
 I conceited that the man would pick up and be able 
 to talk, if the dog said so. 
 
 Well, arter a while the man begun to pick up for 
 sartin, for the blood come back into his skin, and his 
 fingers begun to open and shet easy-like, and he put 
 his tongue out and w^et his lips nater'ly as a man does 
 arter sleep in a hot lodge. I sarched my pack and 
 found some tea a city w^oman gin me the summer 
 afore for a sarvice I done her on the Racquette, 
 which was no more than any man would do for a 
 woman, but which she said she shoukl never forgit 
 till her dyin' day, — and I guess she never will, 
 for I found somethin' she had lost that lay near her 
 heart, and I never knowed a white woman, or squaw, 
 neither, for that matter, forgit a man wdio done them 
 a sarvice in that direction ; — well, as I was sayin', I 
 sarched for the tea the city woman had gin me, and 
 steeped a cup of it for the man on the sand, and I 
 made it strong as the leaf would make it, for I 
 knowed it would help natur' to rally, and make him 
 strono' enouo'h to take nourishment, and set his tonoue 
 goin', ef sech a thing could be by the Lord's appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 So I gave him the drink^ and it took hold on him 
 at once. It was really amazin', Henry, how the yarb 
 
74 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 put life into him as ef it had the Lord's own power to 
 call the soul back into the mortal frame and set the 
 members of it workin'. Yis, it was a marvel to see 
 the power that natur' had put into a few withered 
 leaves — for the more he drank the better he felt, and 
 by the time he had come to the bottom of the cup I 
 could see that the man was nigh himself agin, and 
 likely enough to begin to talk ; and sure enough, in a 
 minit he made a effort to speak, and arter one or two 
 trials he got his tongue used to the motions, and said : 
 
 " Old man, who be ye, that has called me back 
 from the gates of death and summoned me from the 
 borders of the grave ? " 
 
 " My name," I said, " is John Norton, and I be 
 nobody but a hunter and trapper who has done 
 nothin' but live in a nater'ly way and sarve his kind 
 when the Lord gave him a chance ; and as for 
 bringin' ye back from the border of the grave, I think 
 ye was pritty nigh onto it, and me and the hound 
 yender, and the tea I steeped for ye, did mayhaps 
 give ye a lift in the right direction — though it 
 mustn't be overlooked, ef ye be cur'us in the matter, 
 that the sun and Avind done their part to bring ye to ; 
 and I dare say the Lord in His marcy has done more 
 than us all, for ye sartinly would have died ef He 
 hadn't gin the hound the sense to know the dead 
 from the living and helped us in our endivors. And 
 now, friend, what may your name be, and what game 
 did ye have in mind when ye pushed your trail from 
 the settlements into this lonely lake ? for I see from 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 75 
 
 the sioiis that ye know notliin' of the woods, and I 
 marvel that a man of your ignorance should leave the 
 ha'nts of jour kind, and I dare say kindred, and resk 
 yourself in these out-of-the-way places, which be pleas- 
 ant to them who know them, but resky to them that 
 doesn't ; so I ax ye your name, and why I find ye 
 here alone and onprotected as ef ye hadn't a friend on 
 the 'arth." 
 
 " John Norton," said the man, "my name is Roberts, 
 John Roberts ; and I have not a friend on the earth, 
 nor do I deserve one, for I have forfeited the love of all 
 that ever loved me, by my evil acts, and the Lord has 
 visited upon me the punishment I deserved by sejDarat- 
 inof" -me from them. Yea, out of mv sins has come 
 judgment, and my evil thought has been the pit into 
 which I have stumbled. But the mercy I had forfeited 
 has been shown me, in my guilt, and the peace of the 
 Spirit that made and lives in the universe has been 
 breathed into me from these mountains and the sky 
 and the majesties of nature in the presence of which, 
 glad that my mortal life is ended, I lie dying ; " and 
 the man turned his eyes on the objects he named with 
 the look of a hound in them when he meets the pleased 
 face of his master. 
 
 " John Roberts," I said, " I do not understand ye, 
 for the beauty of natur' is sech as to make men wish 
 to live and not to die, and though I trust I may be 
 willing to go when He calls, still I can't conceit of any 
 place pleasanter or more cheerful-like for a human 
 bein' to live in than these woods, and I hope He will 
 
76 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 let me stay here, scoutin' round, as long as His plans 
 tecliin' me allow of, and, as for that matter, ef He 
 should forgit us altogether I don't conceit that me and 
 the hound would be very onhappy or feel cheated-like, 
 but would hold it as a kind of a marcy, and keep on 
 enjoyin' ourselves and sarvin' Him in the way of 
 natur's app'intment ; and as for friends, I haven't an 
 inimy in the world but a thievin' Huron I cauofht on 
 the line of my traps last winter, and shortened his left 
 ear half an inch with a bullet, and a miser'ble half- 
 breed or two I've larnt the commandments in a similar 
 manner. But outside of these, me and the hound 
 there be in peace with all the 'artli, and feel cheerful 
 and pleasant-like toward every livin' bein', except the 
 panthers, — yis, always exceptin' the panthers, that we 
 keep a kind of runnin' account with, as the pedlers 
 say in the settlements, and square up whenever we git 
 a chance." 
 
 "Ye see, Henry," continued the old man, " I wanted 
 to chirk him up as much as I could, because he was 
 mighty weak still, and I thought that low sperits 
 would sot him back agin, so even the hound and me 
 couldn't bring him to ; and so I talked the least bit 
 frisky-like, and took on as ef I felt ondistarbed. But 
 he knowed better all the time ; for he looked at me 
 with his eyes fixed solemnly on my face and said : — 
 
 " Old man, I know you can't understand, because 
 you have lived an innocent life, and according to the 
 light you had you have walked in the path of right- 
 eousness, and the peace of the upright is in your heart, 
 
THE STOr.Y THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 77 
 
 and the liobt of it is over all the world, and makes 
 it desirable to your eyes. And I can well understand 
 that you need no other life than the one you lead, or 
 other heaven than the lovely scenes which your gifts 
 and your manner of life have taught you so well to 
 enjoy, and I can understand, too, how you cannot 
 grasp the meaning of guilt as those Avho sin against 
 lio'ht feel it : the ofuilt of a man who has resisted God 
 and hardened his nature by a cursed passion, and hated 
 what he should have lov^ed, and loved with lusting 
 what he should have hated — for you have been as a 
 child, and the Kingdom of Heaven has come to you 
 with the years, because your aging took not the simple 
 innoceucy of childhood from you. But I have lived 
 so that memory is only fuel to remorse, and the earth 
 a constant reminder of my guilt ; and hence I would 
 seek mv heaven in the foro-etfulness of death, and 
 anticipate another land beyond the grave, in hopes 
 of finding escape from Avhat torments me here, and 
 havino^ ministered unto my life the boon of a new 
 start. And you must know that there are those in 
 the world beyond the trrave Avhom I have wrono;ed, 
 
 I/O O •' 
 
 and the load of their wronging lies heavy on my soul. 
 I would find them, and on my knees ask their pardon ; 
 for, old man, even God himself cannot undo the struc- 
 ture of our minds, or perform duty for us, and I feel 
 that the forgiveness of Heaven cannot make me happy 
 until I have the forgiveness of my wife whom I de- 
 serted, and of my child whom I, with curses, refused 
 to see in her dying hour. 
 
78 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 And you should kno\v, old man, that I am dying, 
 and I long to die ; nor do I ask aught save that I may 
 have strength to tell you my story, and give you a few 
 directions ; for it will ease my soul to talk while dying, 
 and I know it will delight you to hear of the goodness 
 of that God whom you, in simple reverence, worship, 
 and to learn from the lips of a dying sinner that the 
 w^oods you so love have been to him the means of his 
 salvation. So sit you down, old man, and listen closely, 
 for I am weak, and I w^ill tell you the story of my life ; 
 — why I am here, and what you are to do with what 
 is left of me and mine when I am gone from here, as 
 I soon shall be, forever.' " 
 
 Well, Henry, I seed that the man was in solemn 
 'arnest, and I knowed the Lord was apt to give a 
 mortal nioh death a foreknowin' of the" time and 
 order of things techin' his departur', and I conceited 
 the man was right in his idees, and that it would 
 be onreasonable to resist him ; so I sot down on the 
 sand by his side and said, ' Well, friend, I allow there's 
 reason in your words, and John Norton is not the one to 
 argger agin a dyin' man nor distarb his thoughts with 
 foolish talkin'. And it may be ye have come nigh 
 the eend of the trail, as ye say, and ef so I sartinly 
 advise ye to onload yerself of whatever bears heavy on 
 ye ; for a man should enter the Great Clearin' with 
 nothin' heavier than his rifle about him, and ready 
 for whatever sarvice the Lord app'ints. And as 
 to the directions, ye may give me as many as ye 
 have to tell, and ef it be wdthin range of mortal 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 79 
 
 power it shall all be clone as ye tell me ; for I have 
 sot beside many a dyin' man arter the scrimmage 
 was over, and heerd his words, and not one, white 
 or redskin, friend or inimy, can riss in the jedg- 
 ment and say John Norton didn't do jest as he was 
 told to do. So you jest go ahead and ease yer mind, 
 John Roberts, and me and the hound will listen, 
 and as we larn yer wishes so will we do, even ef 
 the traps ain't sot on the line next winter, or the 
 trail of yer arrand takes us into the onnateral noise 
 and diviitry of the settlements:' 
 
 So I promised the man, Henry, and kept my word, 
 as the hound, there, knows, for he heerd it all 
 and seed it all arterwards, and it was done jest as 
 the man app'inted. And this is what he told me as 
 he lay on the sand, with me and the hound hstenin'. 
 
CHAPTEK VII 1. 
 
 THE miser's confession. 
 
 " One impulse from a vernal wood 
 May teach you more of man, 
 Of moral evil and of good, 
 
 Than all the sages can."— Wordsworth. 
 
 "^My father, John Norton, was a miser, althongh 
 the world never knew it ; but he loved money, and all 
 his life was spent in getting it. He lived to be an old 
 man, and Avhen he died he was buried from the meet- 
 ing-house — for he was a deacon in the church — and 
 the minister preached the sermon, and told the people 
 of his thrift and economy, of his industry and sobriety, 
 and held him up as an example, Avhen I knew, and all 
 who kne\v him knew, that he was sober when others 
 drank simply because he was too stingy to drink, and 
 that his industry was all selfish, and that his economy 
 was miserly. I only tell you this to let you know 
 whence I <iot my love of money, and how the lust of 
 gain came in me. It was born in me, John Norton, as 
 much as the power of scenting was born in your hound ; 
 yea, giyen me at birth from the miserly nature and 
 habits of a father who was a church member, and 
 whose character and mode of life were praised by the 
 minister when they buried his body. 
 
 He left me all his property, for I w^as his only child ; 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 81 
 
 and no one save me ever knew how mucli it was, for it 
 was largely in gold coin that he had hidden away, and 
 which he told me of and where to find it, by whisper- 
 ing it in my ear when he was dying. I was thirty 
 years of age before he died, and the property fell to 
 me ; and until I had the gold myself, and had seen it 
 and counted it, I had lived a happy life ; for I w^as 
 married to an angel, and had three children, and a 
 happier family never lived than we were before the 
 gold came to me. But no sooner had I gotten it into 
 my possession than I began to love it. Yea, the sight 
 of the coin started the lust for it in me, and woke to 
 full life the awful appetite for it wdiich was in him and 
 which he had transmitted to me. And the love for 
 that gold grew on me as T handled it ; — and handle it 
 I did, until it became a passion with me. I used to 
 get up nights when my wife w^as sleeping and go down 
 cellar where I kept it in a large pot, and count it over, 
 and push my hands into it, and laugh to hear it rattle, 
 and to see it shine in the candle lio-ht. And the love 
 of it grew^ and grew and grew, until I loved nothing 
 else. And with the oTowth of the dreadful lust in me 
 there grew a suspicion of men and women, because I 
 had got it into my head that they w^ould steal it, until 
 at last I grew suspicious of my own wife and children, 
 even to such a desfree that I drove them out of the 
 house and forbade them ever to cross its threshold 
 again. You say I w^as mad. Yes, I w\as mad — mad 
 w^ith the awful madness of one in wdiose heart is a 
 terrible and wicked love ; a love that entices him and 
 
82 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 seduces him from good unto evil, and finally becomes 
 stronor-er than conscience — strono^er than affection for 
 wife and children — yea, stronger than his fear of God. 
 Yes, I was mad in that way, and the madness grew in 
 its fury until it became a continuous frenzy, and my 
 life one hell of raging fear, suspicion, and hatred of 
 my kind. I need not tell you all, for you would not 
 understand it; you could not understand it, for you 
 have never handled money nor known the love of it, 
 and are as a child in your knowledge of such an ex- 
 perience. At last I came to these woods ; came driven 
 by the frenzy of fear lest men should steal my money ; 
 came, not from the love of nature, or the longing for 
 a peaceful, quiet, innocent life ; but in order to be 
 where my money would be safe, for my money was my 
 god, my life, my heaven, and I feared some one would 
 steal it, and so i brought it here because no man was 
 here. How did I brino- it ? I brouoht it in a ke<r ; a 
 keg stout and large, and lined with my own hands; 
 and that keg was my altar, my shrine, my god. John 
 Norton, remember it's a dvino' man that is talkino- to 
 you, when I tell you that here, on this very beach 
 where I noAv lie, and you sit, I have sat in the bright 
 sunlight and in the solemn moonlight, too, and counted 
 my money by the hour, and laughed and danced 
 around it as a devil might ; yea, I, a mortal man, have 
 danced around a pile of money like a heathen round 
 his idol, with the great blue sky overhead, and beyond 
 the sky tlie greater God looking solemnly down with 
 His all-seeing eyes upon me and my gold.' 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 83 
 
 And here the man paused, Henry, a minit, and he 
 panted Hke a young faan in her fust race with the 
 hounds, for he was overtalkin' his strength, and I 
 feered he would die for sartin ef he didn't fetch 
 up a bit and git rested ; so I thought I had better 
 give him a lift in the right direction bv talkin' a 
 leetle myself, and I drawed at a ventur,' like a man 
 who sends the lead by his notions of the sound, 
 when it's too dusky to get his eye into the sights, 
 and said : 
 
 Ef I was in your place, Mr. Roberts, I would sot 
 down and rest a bit, for ye be travellin' with a big 
 load over a rough carry, ef I am any jedge, and ye 
 be gittin' sort of shaky-like in yer legs, and ye 
 will come down in a heap pritty soon ef ye don't 
 steady up a bit and take it a leetle easier ; for me 
 and the hound mean to fetch ye round yit ; that 
 is, ef the tea don't gin out, and the Lord's app'int- 
 ments be not agin it. So ye jest hold up a minit 
 or two, and rest while we stir in a few more leaves 
 of the yarb, and steep it for ye easy-like, for tea 
 can't be hurried no more than a slow hound in the 
 beginnin' of a race, before he's got the scent warm 
 in his nose, and his faculties w^orkin'. No, the yarb 
 is spunky and knows its own importance, and w^on't 
 stand rouoh treatment ; and ef ve bile it a bit its 
 vartu' is gone, for a wallopin' pot spiles the tea ; so 
 ye give me and the hound time to do the thing up 
 accordin' to the rules and practices of correct obsar- 
 vation, and we will give ye a lift that'll make ye 
 
84 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 grateful to us both ; aud I don't catch the pith of 
 your last sayin' about the eyes of the Lord bein' 
 terrible as he was lookin' at ye, and I can't conceit 
 of it, nohow. Now, the eyes of a panther be terrible, 
 sure enough, and I have lined the sights by 'em 
 when they barnt a hole in the darkness ; and I 
 have had many a clinch with a Huron in a scrim- 
 mage, when I w^as younger, when the blood of his 
 savagery was up, and his eyes was as red as an 
 adder's ; but the eyes of the Lord, as I have seed 
 'em in the works of his hand, have always been 
 strong, for sartin, but gentle and mild as a mother 
 doe when her faan is friskin' around her ; and I 
 can't conceit of the face of the Lord as bein' terrible, 
 nor understand how a mortal could be afeered to 
 have 'em on him.' 
 
 And all the while, Henry, I kept preparin' the 
 fire for the tea. But the man broke in on me, 
 and said, — 
 
 ' Old man, leave off preparing that tea and hear 
 me. Naught that you can do will prevent my dying, 
 for it is written that I die this day, and I feel 
 within my soul that my hour is drawing nigh. Leave 
 off your preparations, therefore, for your efforts can- 
 not save me from death, nor would I have it other- 
 wise if I could. I want you to listen and hear my 
 w^ords, nor move again until I am done.' 
 
 So I sot down agin, and the hound came and 
 sot down on the other side of the man, and then he 
 began to talk : — 
 
THE 8T0BY THAT THE KECi TOLD ME. S^ 
 
 ^ John Norton, I came to these woods a miserable 
 miser. There was in all my life but one love, and 
 that was for money. Money I loved, loved it with all 
 the strenofth of my nature. For a ears I had thouo-ht 
 of notliino" else, and cared for nothing" else. For 
 years I had no joy but the fierce joy of seeing 
 it and c juntiug- it. To me my money was all there 
 was in the whole universe worth loving, — the one 
 idol of my soul. I brought it here because no man 
 w^as here, and hence knew it could not be stolen. 
 With it safe I Avas happy. With it secure I asked 
 no higher boon. I was not only a miser, but I 
 was hardened in all my nature. The lust of gold 
 had eaten out all other cravino^s. All noble affec- 
 tions, all tender sympathies, all truthful qualities, all 
 charities and fine emotions had been banished from 
 my bosom by this all-absorbing passion. I was only 
 a shell of a man inhabited by one great devil. This 
 devil in me had his fierce joy, his tormenting sus- 
 picions, his rending rage, his agonies and his pangs ; 
 but no trace of humanity, no fibre of charity, no 
 possibility of peace. Thus possessed, I came to this 
 lake. You must not think I had not been entreated ; 
 for man and w^oman had alike be^n faithful to me, 
 and with prayers, with tears, with w^arnings and 
 exhortations had striven to deliver me from the devil 
 within, and bring me to my right mind. But neither 
 man nor woman, neither wife nor child, nor the 
 Spirit of God acting in and through these could 
 make me see the greatness of my sin, or the emptl- 
 
86 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 ness o£ my passion, or the vanity of my life. These 
 I could resist and had resisted. Man could not 
 master the devil in me or drive hhn out of my soul. 
 
 But here the demon was met by other agents 
 and agencies he could not resist, and here the 
 devil in me was mastered. By whom and what? 
 By Nature, I reply, and by the irresistible majesties 
 of God in Nature. Here the greatness of my 
 surroundino-s made me small, and the immeasurable 
 sjDlendors above me at night, and the glories around 
 me by day, made my gold seem contemptible. Not 
 that these influences came to be felt at once ; not 
 that the conviction produced by them was sudden, 
 for it was not ; but slowly, subtly, and in a way I 
 could not fight ; with a power I could not resist, 
 out of the silence of space, out of the blue sky 
 and the uplifted mountains, out of sunrise and 
 sunset, out of the Avater and the air, out of the 
 solemn nights and the succession of splendid days 
 there came regeneration to my soul. Within me 
 was born in this mystical way a sense of larger 
 and holier things, and moods of worship, and gener- 
 ous thouolits, and lonoinos for what was fine and 
 far ahead ; so that, involuntarily, and before I was 
 aware, a change came to me in my likes and feelings, 
 and I beheld as with eyes newly opened the signifi- 
 cance of things, the use of life and the true applica- 
 tion of its lessons. I said my eyes were opened ; and 
 they were, so that I who had never thought of 
 the beyond and the coming, but had lived in the 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 87 
 
 here and the now, was compelled by a force within 
 me to look constantly np and ahead into the great 
 unseen and unknown. And this force within me I 
 could not resist ; it was stronger than my will and 
 mightier than habit, and, forced by its energy, I 
 yielded. And then out of the unknown and the 
 unseen there came forth, as the blaze of a beacon 
 from darkness and distance, a vision, and it scared 
 me at first to face it, but at last I was able ; and 
 the vision that blazed out upon me from tlie darkness 
 and the distance, terrible in its brightness, w\as the 
 Vision of Immortality, 
 
 John Norton, this vision haunted me. The vision 
 of life beyond, stretching on forever and forever, un- 
 intermittent and endless, lay like a mountain on my 
 guilty soul. And out of the conception came an 
 awful scrutiny that searclied me through and through 
 like a knife. And out of this searching, amid agony 
 and pangs, was born a Conscience ; a Conscience 
 which pinched me like a vice, and wrung groans and 
 cries of remorse out of my mouth, until, at times, the 
 silence of the night was filled wdth my moaning. It 
 was the silence that did it, old man ; for the silence 
 was more than silence ; it w^as GOD. I could not fly 
 from it ; I could not escape its rebukes ; I could not 
 hide myself from its solemn upbraidings. It con- 
 demned me for the life I had lived ; it upbraided me 
 for the passion I had nursed ; it threatened me with 
 the censure of a just and holy verdict. Here, on this 
 point, in the midst of the aU-surrounding silence, I 
 
88 ADinOXDACK TALES. 
 
 found my Judgment Day. Here my mind lost the 
 petty measurement of time, and took to itself in 
 perfect sensing" the realization of eternity. Here I 
 wrestled with the Spirit that has not form, and strove 
 with the Energy that can never be incarnate ; the 
 Spirit of Justice and Love commingled with the 
 energy of God. Here, old man, I strove ; here I was 
 overcome ; and here I yielded ; ay, yiekled to a test. 
 And the test was this : that I shoukl deliberately, 
 with mv own hands, empty into the waters of this 
 lake the gold I had loved like a devil ; and to keep 
 which, without fear of losing it. I had been self-ban- 
 ished from my kindred and kind and had come to this 
 Icju'ly like. Yes, I yielded ; yielded to the power I 
 coukl not resist ; the power of the Lord who made 
 and inha])its these woods, and whose presence I saw 
 and felt in their beauty, and majesty, and silence. 
 And I cried unto Him to whom I had yielded, for 
 strenotli to do the test ; cried unto Him on my knees, 
 with my hands on the keg that held the gold, for 
 strength to deliver my soul from its horrible spell, and 
 pour it — -every dollar of it — into the waters of the 
 lake. And He gave me strength, old man, — even in 
 answer to my prayer did He strengthen me to do the 
 deed which, being done, delivered me from the spell 
 of the power that had held me, and from the bondage 
 to the terrible lust. And last night the battle was 
 fought, and the victory won, and I was dehvered from 
 Hell. For I prayed unto Him, and he listened and 
 heard ; and I lifted the keg and carried it to mv boat, 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEa TOLD ME. 89 
 
 and paddled to the iiiiddle of the lake. And there, 
 with hell and heaven to see, I lifted the keg in my 
 arms and held it out over the water, and poured the 
 gold I had worshipped into its depths. And there 
 and then, when the deed was done, the blessing of the 
 Lord came on me, and His marvellous peace stole into 
 mv soul. It came to me from the air, and the water, 
 and the skv ; from the bosom of the white moon- 
 liirhted stillness ; from the motionless woods and the 
 shores ; from the air around me and the infinite spaces 
 above and beyond ; came to me, Old Trapper, from 
 the outbreathings of that God who is Spirit, and in 
 whom the innocent and the forgiven live, and move, 
 and have being.' 
 
 Here the man came to a halt, Henry, and he looked 
 into my eyes as ef he wanted to see ef I understood, 
 and arter a minit or two he said, ' Old Man, do you 
 understand me ? ' 
 
 ' Well,' said I to him, ' I can't say that the trail of 
 yer talk is altogether plain to me, Mr. Roberts, but 
 me and the hound has kept our eyes on ye as ye 
 blazed along on the line, and I guess we have got the 
 ofineral direction of it. I can see for sartin that ye 
 had a rough trip, and a heavy pack to carry, and ye 
 must have found it hard backin' at times. It seems to 
 me ef ye had onloaded earlier xa would have fetched 
 through in better shape and saved valuable time, for 
 ye look to me like a man who hasn't got over the 
 carry 'til dusk, and can't be of much sarvice to the 
 camp 'til another sunrise ; but I think ye have got 
 
90 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 across for sartin and be out of the woods, and that's 
 a good deal to say of a man who has been lost and 
 fooled away half his day by walking in circles, and I 
 re j 'ice that ye be where ye be, and know Avhich way 
 the trail leads arter this ; and ef ye be sartin of the lay 
 of the land ahead and know where the line ye be on 
 leads to, ye oughter feel contented and happy-like, as 
 I dare say ye do, Mr. Roberts.' 
 
 ' Yes, I do feel contented and happy,' said he, 
 ' happier than words may tell. My sin has been 
 great, but the mercy of God is greater, and I feel I 
 can trust Him here and beyond. I have lived as no 
 man should live ; but here, on this beach to-day, my 
 life will end, and when I am gone you may think of 
 me as a sinner whose sin was forgiven and whose soul 
 had found peace.' 
 
 Arter this he didn't say much for some time, but 
 lay with his eyes lookin' up to the sky and a quiet 
 sort of a look on his face. I conceited the man was 
 thinkin' of things, and it may be of people, a good 
 ways ofP, and that it wouldn't be right to distarb him 
 in his meditations. But arter a while I said to him, 
 for I felt a leetle oneasy on the subject, for I feered 
 he would forgit it, — ' Mr. Roberts, ye spoke about 
 some directions ye wanted to give me, and perhaps ye 
 had better say what ye have in mind on the matter, 
 so me and the hound may know jest what ye want did 
 by and by; for we shall mind and do jest as ye tell 
 us, ef it be within the range of our gifts, and death 
 don't overtake us on the arrand.' 
 
THE STOBT THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 91 
 
 Well, arter a leetle Avliile he turned his ej^es on me 
 and said : ' I suppose it don't make much difference 
 where or how my body is buried, arter I am gone ; do 
 you, Old Trapper ? " 
 
 ^ Well, no, I don't think it does, Mr. Roberts, when 
 ve git right down to the gist of the matter ; but every 
 cri^tur is born with his prejudices, and has his own 
 idec^s of what is right and proper teching things to 
 b3 done ; and I conceit the Lord allows a man to 
 fetch his line about where he pleases in p'ints of 
 parsonal jedgment ; and ef I was in your place I 
 should have my own way about my burial, and have 
 every thin' did straight and systematic-like, accordin' 
 to my own idees of the thing. Now, me and the 
 hound there has our own notions about the treatment 
 the mortal frame should receive arter the sperit has 
 left it, and we conceit that it should be treated as a 
 Huron treats his lodo^e when he is about to move out 
 of it forever. But we can o^uess our notions wouldn't 
 suit ye nor seem reasonable-like, because ye was edi- 
 cated another way, and I have always noted that a 
 man sticks to his 'arly edication as a moose sticks to 
 his gait. So we won't distarb ye with our idees ; but 
 do jest as ye tell us to, even ef it be agin reason, as 
 me and the hound understand it.' 
 
 Well, the man seemed to be sort of encouraged to 
 say his mind out arter what I had said, and arter look- 
 ing at the sky a wdiile, wdth his eyes half-shet, he 
 said, — 
 
 ' Do you know, John Norton, for days I have been 
 
92 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 haunted with the fear of dying alone ; I dare say it is 
 foolish of me, but I can't help it, nevertheless, and I 
 praise the Lord that He has sent you to me in the 
 hour of my need. The sight of your face helps me 
 inexpressibly, and the sound of your voice has ban- 
 ished the terrible loneliness from my soul. Yes, I 
 shall die happy, now that the companionship of my 
 kind is given me in death. When I am gone I want 
 you to give me a decent burial, as they do down on 
 the coast where I was born. And the way of it is 
 this : They dress tlie body in good clothes, and put it 
 in a coffin, and they read a chapter or two from the 
 Bible at the house where the man hved, and the min- 
 ister prays and the choir sings. Then they take the 
 coffin to the grave and bury it, and they generally 
 have a prayer at the grave ; and they sod the grave, 
 and put a slab of stone at the head, and plant flowers 
 on the mound. I know, old man, that you can't do 
 all this, and you needn't try. Only do the best you 
 can, that is all ; especially bury me so the wolves can't 
 get my bones ; and say a few pious words above the 
 grave.' 
 
 Well, arter this he said nothin' for a full hour, 
 and I said nothin' neither, for it was plain that his 
 feet was on the very edge of the Great Clearin', 
 and I felt it was nateral for a man standin' at the 
 very eend of the trail to want to look around him 
 in silence awhile ; and so I said nothin', for I feered 
 to distarb his mind as he stood lookin' into the 
 etarnal world. By and by he said : — 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 93 
 
 ' Old man, the hour is ahiiost come when I must 
 go, and the way ahead is dark. I see no light 
 and no helper. What can I do ? ' 
 
 'John Roberts,' T said, for I could see by the 
 look of his face and the fear in his voice that he 
 was in trouble, like a boy lost in the woods, ' stick 
 to the trail and keep yer eye on the blazed line 
 of His marcy. Don't hurry, but take it slow and 
 sarcumspectly and trust to the markin's. I have 
 heerd said that the carry ye be on led through a 
 valley, dim and dusky as a stretch of pine land by 
 night, but that the man who stuck to the line would 
 fetch through all right. And remember, that me 
 and the hound isn't fur behind, and sartinly the 
 Lord ain't far ahead ; so stick to the line, and don't 
 swing a foot from the trail, and ye Avill sartinly 
 strike risin' land afore lono^ and see lioht.' And I 
 moved close up to his side and lifted his head into 
 my lap, so he could catch his breath easier ; for 
 he was laborin' heavily, and I knowed he couldn't 
 stand it much longer. 
 
 So I sot in the sand holdin' his head, and the 
 hound sot at his feet, and w^e both kept our eyes 
 on the face ; and arter our fashion I prayed for the 
 man, and put the case before the Lord in a strong 
 sort of a w^ay, I can tell ye. 
 
 Well, arter a while a great change came over his 
 features. He opened his eyes and looked into my 
 face in a happy way as if he had seen a new sight, 
 and a smile crept over his lips, and his countenance 
 softened like the clouds arter storm, and he said : — 
 
94 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 ' Old man, old man, I see light ahead ! ' And then 
 he drew a long, contented sort of a breath, moved 
 his legs out easily in the sand, sort of rolled his 
 head gently over in my lap as ef goin' to sleep, 
 closed his eyes, and his sperit, without groan or 
 struggle, stole out of the body in which it had 
 lodged so long in trouble, and passed through the 
 clear light and pure air up to its Maker. And that 
 is the way, Henry, he came to the eend of the trail, 
 and I reckon he found the Lord of marcy waitin' for 
 him at the edge of the Clearin'. 
 
 So I sot in the sand, with the head in my lap, 
 closin' his eyes, and the hound, accordin' to his gifts, 
 came and put his nose agin the cheek, and then 
 walked down to the eend of the p'int, and sot down 
 on his ha'nches, and lifted his nose into the air 
 and lamented." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE DEATH WATCH. 
 
 " In vain the she-wolf stands at bay ; 
 The blinded catamount that lies 
 Higli in the houghs to watch his prej^, 
 Even in the act of springing, dies." — Bryant. 
 
 " Well, Henry, I didn't do nothin' about the 
 burial until next day, for I thought it looked more 
 decent-like not to hurry the matter of entarment, 
 and, m or' over, I conceited it was no more than 
 reasonable that me and the hound should hold a 
 council over the matter ; for there's nothin' helps a 
 man's jedgment more on any p'int, whether it be 
 a funeral or a scrimmage, than to set down and talk 
 it over with a companion ; and me and the hound 
 has consorted so much together that we understand 
 each other and never differ on the main p'ints of a 
 case — although I do think that he lost a panther 
 last fall by gittin' the scent wrong eend to in his 
 nose, and leadin' off like an unlarned pup on the 
 heel of the track ; but the hound thought otherwise, 
 and mayhaps I was mistaken. So I went down on 
 the eend of the p'int where he was lamentin' accordin' 
 to his gifts, and put it to him that we had better 
 camp just where we was, on the trail, and lay over 
 
96 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 till another clay, and I give him the reasons for 
 it systematic-like from beginnin' to eend, and made 
 the p'ints plain accordin' to the natiir' of the ease, 
 and we both agreed to it. And we jined jedgment, 
 furthermore, in this, that the body oughter be carried 
 to a camp and watched and not left on the p'int 
 for fear the varmints would oit to it over nioht and 
 mistreat the corpse. So we went back to the body, 
 and carried it to my boat and laid it down on some 
 boughs I had cut for it, and the hound followed 
 on keerful-like and sot down at the feet of the 
 body, and I got in at the other eend and shoved 
 off, and so we fetched the dead over the water 
 till we come to this pine knoll, and here me and 
 the hound come ashore with the body, and sot 
 about preparin' for the death-watch we knowed we 
 must hold over night. 
 
 Well, Henry, it was sorter new work, ye see, for 
 me and the hound ; for though I have buried many a 
 man in the trenches arter the fight, and though I have 
 kivered up a good numy redskins off and on in my 
 life, yit I Avasn't very handy at the mournin' equip- 
 ments of the settlements. But I have seed many a 
 gineral laid out on his bier, in the old wars, with his 
 uniform on and his sword by his side, and the death 
 sentries on duty, and the muffled drums all beatin' ; 
 and I conceited that though Mr. Roberts wasn't a 
 gineral, nor even a privit in the ranks for that matter, 
 that he should be treated in an honorable way now he 
 was dead. 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 97 
 
 So I cut some crotches and drove 'em into the 
 ground, and made a frame o£ small white birches 
 about the size of a bier, and on these I put a layer of 
 balsam and cedar boughs, and over these I scattered 
 pine tufts until I had a bed fit for the dead or livin', 
 gineral or privit, and I laid in plenty of hard wood 
 for my fire, and some pitch knots, for I said to myself, 
 ' Ef the animils come round I will have to shine up on 
 'em, and defend the corpse ; ' for I feered the pan- 
 thers — for this lake be a great spot for the varmints, 
 and 'leven year agone there was sartinly as many as 
 there be now. And arter I had got the bier ready I 
 laid the body on it, and bolstered the head up nateral- 
 like, and then me and the hound sot down to supper, 
 with a dead man at the table. AYe didn't waste time 
 in the eatin', for the sun was already down, and by 
 the time we had cleaned things up night had come. 
 
 Well, Henry, I took my stand at the foot of the 
 bier, and kept my death-watch, rifle in hand, steady 
 as a sentry on duty, save when I stirred the fire or 
 lighted a pine knot. For the animils was oneasy, as 
 they always is when a corpse is round, and I needed 
 the pine knots more than once, and some of the var- 
 mints got the tech of lead and the smell of powder 
 that night, I tell ye, for they was full of their divil- 
 ments, and made me and the hound as wakeful as ef 
 we was surrounded by inimies." 
 
 " Did you really have to kill anything ? " I asked, 
 speaking for the first time in an hour ; for the Old 
 Trapper had told his story with such naturalness of 
 
98 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 intonation and gesture that he had hekl me spell- 
 bound by his narrative — for no one could hear him 
 tell the strange tale he was telling and not be carried 
 along by the movement of it, — and now that he was 
 evidently reaching the climax, I feared I should miss 
 some detail of his experience which being omitted 
 would mar the narration, so, hoping to hold his utter- 
 ance to the line of actual occurrence, I said, " Did you 
 have to kill anything that night ? " 
 
 " Well, yis, I did," he replied. " I bored a hole 
 through a dog wolf over there on the beach, arter I 
 had borne his onnateral howlin' as Ion 2^ as a mortal 
 could ; and I dropped a cat from that dead cedar, 
 arter me and the hound had stood the stare of her 
 eyes for ten minutes or more, and about two in the 
 mornin* a litter of panthers crawled in on us ontil 
 the bush seemed alive with 'em, and I lifted the scalp 
 of the biofofest of the drove, arter he had oot within 
 forty feet of the corpse and paid no more attention to 
 the brands I pitched at him than ef they was tufts of* 
 sod ; so, with a pine knot all afire in one hand, to 
 show me the sights, I drove the lead in between his 
 infarnal eyes in a style that taught 'em all manners 
 for the rest of the watch. Yis, Henry, we had a 
 solemn and lively time of it, for sartin, that night, 
 and at times it looked as ef there would be no funeral 
 the next day ; leastways, none that me and the hound 
 would attend, onless we made one for ourselves ; but 
 we stood to our post, and between the brands and the 
 lead and the help of the Lord we brought the body 
 through safe 'til sunrise. 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 99 
 
 But it Avas mighty solemn wateliin' by the body all 
 by myself on the shores of this lake here that night ; 
 for at times the animils would make the air roar and 
 scream, and the mountains to yelp as ef the upper 
 world was inhabited with cats and w^olves and pan- 
 thers, and then they would suddenly become quiet, 
 and the w^orld round about was nothin' but silence 
 with the moon shinin' through it ; and the dead man's 
 face w^as white as the moon and still as the air, for 
 his troubles was over and the marks of them passed 
 from his featur's when his breath went away. And 
 so me and the hound kept our w^atch by the dead, 'til 
 the sun riz in the east, and the hour had come for the 
 funeral." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE FUNERAL. 
 
 " And let there be prepared a chariot-bier, 
 To take me to the river, and a barge 
 Be ready on the river." — Tennyson. 
 
 " The fust thing to do was to fix on the spot for the 
 grave, which took leetle time to settle, for it seemed 
 iTateral that the body should lie nigh where it had 
 lived ; and natur' sartinly had made a fit spot for it 
 jest up on the bluff, off the p'int ; for it was clean 
 and sweet there, and the pines was always singin' 
 overhead. And ef a man is to be buried under- 
 ground arter he is dead, which me and the hound 
 hold to be onreasonable and heathenish-like, I conceit 
 he should be laid in a sightly spot, with a good out- 
 look to it, and not stuck away in a swale or mash as 
 ef he was no better nor a cat, or a root-eatin' hedofe- 
 hog. So I shaped me a spade from a slab I rived 
 from a pine the lightnin' had levelled, and digged the 
 grave deep in the dry sand under the pines, and filled 
 it half full of pine stems and cedar twigs, and other 
 sweet-smellin' things that growed around ; and on the 
 green stuff I flung in an armful of white lilies I 
 plucked in the bay, to make the bed look cheerful and 
 fittin' for a mortal to lie in. When this was done I 
 come back to this spot and did to my boat what I had 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KE0 TOLD ME. ^ ,., ,M)1 
 
 done to the grave ; made it green, and sweet, and hand- 
 some, with the growths of natur' that had pleasant 
 scents in 'em, ontil the boat was nigh on to full. And 
 then I lifted the body and laid it at length, and put 
 the hands alongside each other on his breast, and, 
 with the hound in the bow of the boat and me in 
 the starn, I swung out into the lake, and with easy 
 stroke lined a course straight as an arrow could go 
 toward the p'int. And so, without the presence of 
 wife or child, or kin of any kind to attend him ; 
 without bell, or drum, or priest, the man who had de- 
 sarted his home and fellow-bein's went towards his 
 grave. 
 
 Well, arter a while the boat teched the sand, and the 
 hound got out ; and I shoved it up a leetle further and 
 I got out ; and liftin' the body in my arms I carried it 
 up the p'int, and climbed the knoll till I come to the 
 grave, and I laid the corpse down on the pine tufts 
 and the lilies. And I recalled all the man had told 
 me about the singin' and the prayer and the Book, and 
 I did the best I could, under the sarcumstances, to fol- 
 low the trail of his directions, and I knowed ef I did 
 the best I could accordin' to my gifts, the sperit of the 
 man would overlook the rest; but I felt sartin that 
 somethin' oughter be said out of the ordinary run of 
 human talkin', or the man wouldn't be more than half 
 buried arter 'twas all ended. And the hound seemed 
 to jine with me in the idee, for he looked up in my 
 face in a questionin' way, as ef askin' when the sar- 
 vice was to begin. So arter a minit I got down 
 
10^ ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 on my knees and told the Lord what I thought was 
 jedicious. I think I can recall jest about what 1 said 
 word for word, for my mem'ry is good, and a man 
 don't talk over-fast, Henry, in secli sarcumstances, 
 and it has all come back to me sence I sot here 
 to-night as ef it w^as but yisterday I buried the man, 
 and I can gin ye the words pretty nigh. Yis, I 
 got down on my knees by the edge of the grave 
 and said : — 
 
 ' Great Sperit, here lies the body of one of Thy 
 creturs. His 'arthly ways was known to Thee, and the 
 wrong of his wickedness was not hidden. He seems 
 to have straightened the trail of his misdoin' in 
 the eend, and fetched through to the Great Clearin' 
 as a mortal should. But me and the hound knowed 
 leetle about him, and jest how he came to Thy pres- 
 ence w^e couldn't see, but it sartinly looked hopeful. 
 Here me and the hound has brought his corpse 
 for entarment accordin' to orders, and the trail at 
 this p'int is dim, but we mean to fetch through to 
 the eend of this job with Thy help. So jest give us 
 a lift at this talkin', that the corpse may have a 
 sarvice as is becomin'. Bless us in our endivors, 
 and let Thy peace, which is one, as I understand 
 it, with Natur's, come on this grave I am buildin' and 
 here rest ontil the Jedgment Day. Then squar' 
 accounts with the man, not by the line of give 
 and take, so much for so much, but by the line 
 of marcy and of overlookin' of scant skins in the 
 man's count ; and don't forgit to reckon easily wdth 
 
THE STORY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 103 
 
 me and the hound, for we be rather onsartin con- 
 sarnin' the bhizes on this Ihie, and suspicion we 
 may git wrong eend to afore we fetch through. 
 So be marcif ul to us three ; — to the man because 
 of what he did, and to me and the hound for 
 what we didn't know how to do. Keep all varmints 
 from this grave, — sech as cats and wolves, — espe- 
 cially panthers : onless I be here to attend to 'em, 
 in which case ye may let 'em come rampin' round as 
 much as the creturs please, and I'll agree to keep 
 them orderly. Amen.' 
 
 " Well, Henry," said the Old Trapper, after a pause, 
 " do ye think 1 did the honest thing by the man ? I 
 did the best I could accordin' to my gifts, and I sartinly 
 trust the corpse was satisfied." 
 
 I could see that the Old Trapper was troubled in 
 regard to the matter more than he chose to confess, 
 and knowing how impossible it is for one totally un- 
 accustomed to forms of any kind to fall into the 
 grooves of formal utterance, I could fully understand 
 how profound must have been his embarrassment in 
 attempting to conduct a funeral service according to 
 the" rules and methods which prevail in civilized, not to 
 say fashionable, communities, and as I looked into the 
 simple, guileless face of the Old Trapper, which showed 
 doubt, perplexity, and pain in its every wrinkle and 
 furrow, I felt that I was authorized to go as far 
 as I could truthfully in the way of comfort ; so I 
 said : — 
 
 " I think you did excellently, John Norton ; and I 
 
104 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 doTibt not the spirit of the man was well satisfied with 
 what you did to honor his body at its burial, and I 
 know that the Lord understood your circumstances and 
 gave you f idl credit for the beautiful spirit of obedi- 
 ence to the dead man's wishes you showed in foUowinof 
 his instruction." 
 
 " Well, I am mighty glad ye think so, Henry. I 
 have felt oneasy on the matter for eleven year, for I 
 f eered I had got off the track altogether in the sarvice, 
 for I had a dim line to trail by, as the man's talk 
 wasn't very plain to me to start with, and the hound 
 was no more help in the matter than an unlarnt pup is 
 to a hunter on a dry track. Yis, I sartinly feel easier 
 in the matter arter what ye have said, and the Lord 
 knows I meant only good to the man, and tried to be 
 respectful to the corpse. 
 
 Well, there isn't much more to tell ye. Arter the 
 sarvic9 I put some green boughs over the body, so that 
 the dirt wouldn't tech it, and filled it up easy-like and 
 as gentle as I could. And Avhen the fillin' Avas all in 
 I went and cut some sods with my huntin' knife, with 
 the flowers all growin' in 'em, and made the grave as 
 green and pritty as natiir' could be, and than I took 
 position soldier-like and let off my piece as a kind of 
 farewell, and the hound lifted up his voice and gave 
 one lament ; and the sarvice was over." 
 
 Here the old man paused ; and as I stirred the fire 
 the flame leaped up and showed the features of his 
 time-beaten face in clear relief. And a remarkable 
 face it was, and such as is seldom given to man save 
 
THE 8 TOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 105 
 
 when nature produces her noblest work. It may 
 interest some who have been in these pages introduced 
 to him, and who will meet him further on in many 
 scenes, both of peace and war, and who w^ill grow to 
 love him for the purity of his nature, and the courage 
 of his conduct when exposed to temptation on the one 
 hand and peril and death on the other, to have a pen 
 portrait of one thus connected with their imagination 
 and their memory. 
 
 John Norton was, even in his seventieth year, over 
 six feet in height, but so symmetrically proportioned 
 in his physical stature that, great as it was, it was 
 neither awkward nor ungainly. Temperate in his 
 habits, and constant in the exercises which develop 
 and retain muscular poAver, he was even at the time 
 of our story a marvel of physical strength. But 
 for the fact that his eye may have lost a trifle 
 of its earlier brightness, and that his hair, once black 
 as a raven's wdng, was now sprinkled with threads of 
 grey, it would have been impossible to believe he 
 had reached the period of three score years and ten, 
 for his form v>'as still erect, his step elastic and his 
 voice clear and strong. His face was of that square, 
 strong shape, such as you see in a few of the older 
 men still living in New England, but wdio are fast 
 passing away, and with them we fear the type of 
 self-reliant and indomitable character they represent. 
 His eyebrows were large and abundant, and projected 
 over the eyes. The eyes themselves were grey and 
 chano'eful in color according^ to the mood of the 
 
106 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 speaker. His nose was large, and straight and full 
 at the nostrils and broad at the base. His mouth was 
 ample and in a marked manner suggestive of power. 
 His chin was round and handsome. Into this noble 
 and remarkable countenance time had channelled 
 many a line, and the years had spread the repose 
 of age without weakening the aspect of determined 
 strength. In color the skin was of course bronzed, 
 but of so pure a tan that the blood showed almost 
 as plainly as in an untanned countenance. And as 
 he sat at the close of his narrative gazing into the 
 fire, with his face almost solemn in the gravity of 
 its expression, I said to myself as I gazed steadily 
 at it, revealed in its every line and wrinkle as it 
 was by the clear blaze, " I have never seen so noble 
 and remarkable a countenance among men." I grew 
 to love it in subsequent years as a son loves the 
 face of a father in whom is no guile. 
 
 At last he started from his reverie and said, 
 " Henry, the morn be comin', for I feel the changes 
 in the air that tell the beginnin' of day. Let us 
 heave the rest of the loos on the fire and stretch 
 ourselves for a nap, for natur' has her rights and 
 must be dealt reasonably with. We will sleep now, 
 and by and by I will show you the man's grave." 
 
 I did as he requested, and then, stretched at full 
 length on either side of the fire, we fell asleep. 
 
 The sun was hiofli in the heaven before I awoke. 
 I rubbed my eyes to make sure of my sight as I 
 started up, for breakfast was ready, and the Old 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 107 
 
 Trapper sat on the log patiently waiting my awaking. 
 The old man divined my thought, for he said : " Nay, 
 nay, Henry, ye need not feel hurt because I got 
 the start of ye ; for sleep to the young be sweet, 
 and I could not Avake ye 'til natur' was satisfied. 
 But the eyelids of the old rest lightly on their balls, 
 and the rays of the sun wakes me quicker nor a 
 bugler's note rouses a sojer. So me and the hound 
 have been stirrin' about, and between your pack 
 and mine w^e have got a meal fit for a king. So 
 jest take a dip in the lake off that rock there, and 
 we wdll try the vartue of the victals." 
 
 After breakfast Avas over, the Old Trapper said, 
 " Come, Henry, w^e wall go to the grave, and I will 
 show ye wdiere the body of an unhappy man lies 
 buried. I warrant the hound remembers the spot 
 as w^ell as I do." 
 
 A few minutes brought us to the point, wdiere 
 we landed. The hound being in the bow of the 
 boat, had touched the shore first, and mounted the 
 bank. No sooner had he reached the top than he 
 lifted his nose into the air, turned around once in his 
 tracks as a hound wdll when searching for knowledge, 
 then started in a straight line for the bluff. 
 
 " Ay, ay, I know^ed the dog w^ould recollect the 
 spot," said the Trapper, " and there he goes on a 
 trail that's been wdiitened by the snows of eleven 
 winters as ef he was arter a buck jest started from 
 his nest in the moss. It's sartinly wonderful wdiat 
 sense the Lord has ghi to his creturs, sech as the 
 
108 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 beaver and the dog-. Even a wolf in the darkest 
 niofht can tell the toe from the heel of a track, 
 and I have seed the wild horses on the prairies act 
 as sarcumspect as ef they was reasonin' mortals." 
 
 At this point the long solemn cry of the hound 
 rose into the air and rolled in mournful cadence 
 over the lake. The Old Trapper halted a moment, 
 and then as he turned toward me, he said : — 
 
 " Ye see, Henry, the heart of the dog- be true to 
 his memory of the spot. I have heerd many a dog 
 give vent to his grief over the grave of his master, 
 long years arter it was made, and it should larn us 
 mortals to be true to what we have promised the dead, 
 and keep their graves green and sweet arter they be 
 gone. Henry, I feel a leetle oneasy lest somethin' of 
 ill has happened to the corpse on the bluff. Come, let 
 us go and see." 
 
 So saying, he started for the knoll, and I followed 
 on. We soon reached the upper edge, and the grave, 
 with the hound sitting on his haunches at the foot of 
 it, was before us. The Old Trapper's face brightened 
 as he saw it had not been disturbed, for, except that 
 the mound had shrunken somewhat, and the green 
 growths of nature were more luxuriant, it was evi- 
 dently the same as when it had been fashioned eleven 
 years before. 
 
 The Old Trapper paused as he reached the head of 
 the mound, and leaning on the muzzle of his rifle, 
 said, '^ Henry, the Lord has sartinly been marciful, 
 and kept the grave ondistarbed, and natur' has made 
 
THE STOBY THAT THE KEG TOLD ME. 109 
 
 it handsomer than it was when me and the hound left 
 it ; and a sightly spot it is, and a cheerful one for a 
 grave to he in, for the view up the lake he a good 
 one, as ye see, Henry, and the pines overhead keep 
 up a pleasant sort of a darge. Yis, it sartinly is a 
 cheerful spot for a grave, and ef me and the hound 
 could make it seem reasonable to us we would sartinly 
 pick some sech spot as this to lie in arter w^e be dead ; 
 but it don't squar' wnth our notions of right and 
 wrong, and we can't make it nohow, though we have 
 held many a council over it. Still a grave makes 
 solemn and instructive company for a mortal, espe- 
 cially for one as old as me and the hound ; and it may 
 be a leetle overhaulin' the pack, and goin' over the 
 count of the years Ave have lived sence w^e left this 
 grave, w^ouldn't do either of us any hurt ; and as it is 
 a matter that the youno- and them that has lono^ life 
 ahead of 'em ain't much interested in, perhaps it 
 may be as w^ell that ye go back to the camp and pack 
 things up for a start, Henry, for we will take to the 
 boats when me and the hound has done with our med- 
 itations." 
 
 Appreciating the wish of the Old Trapper to be for 
 a brief time alone, I retired down the knoll, and 
 entering the boat was soon at the camp. As I 
 stepped ashore, I cast my eyes across the bay to the 
 bluff, and then I uncovered my head. The Old Trap- 
 per, w4th the hound looking steadily into his upturned 
 face, was kneeling at the head of the grave, engaged 
 in prayer. 
 
THE STORY OF 
 
 THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 
 
 Part I. 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE BEAVER S LODGE. 
 
 " For men like these on earth he shall not find 
 In all the miscreant race of human kind." 
 
 — Homer, Pope's translation. 
 
 It was early autumn^ and the avoocIs were just 
 beo'inninof to take to themselves the varieo^ated colors 
 which make our northern forests a wonder to foreign* 
 ers and an annual delight to those who live within 
 sight of their glorious changes, when two men might 
 have been seen forcing their way through the under- 
 brush of a tamarack swamp, which divided two small 
 lakes near the centre of the wilderness. On the 
 shoulders and head of one was balanced a birch 
 canoe, larger than the average make, while the other 
 was literally loaded down beneath a monstrous pack- 
 basket, which was not only full of camp and trapping 
 materials, but had tied to it a dozen and one articles 
 of culinary and camp use. In a few moments the 
 man under the canoe came to a halt, and laying it 
 gently on the ground, he turned to his companion and 
 said : — 
 
112 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 " Come, Henry, let us halt a miiiit and git breath. 
 This is sartinly a tough carry, and ye be loaded like a 
 sinner at the Day of Jedgment, when, as I have heerd 
 the missioners say, mortals will be summoned into 
 court with all their divilments on top of 'em. And 
 while ye have nothin' that an honest man need be 
 ashamed of, even in front of the Lord, yit I will say 
 that ye be mightily heavily cumbered with the fixin's, 
 for sartin, and yer legs must feel in a rebellious state 
 agin sech treatment as ye've been givin' 'em for the 
 last mile ; for ef there's anything that will set the sin- 
 ers in a man's thighs twitchin' and sort of knottin'- 
 up like, its fetchin' a carry tlirough a tamarack swamp 
 like this, with a whole camp on his back, and no 
 bottom wutli speakin' on under ye. That's right, — 
 settle down there on that bog and squirm out of the 
 straps and ease yerself awhile. I'll bet that the wales 
 on yer shoulders be red as a rat's hide when the meat 
 has peeled with it ; and as for yer neck, the infarnal 
 basket, Henry, has rasped it like a file. How do ye 
 feel inwardly, for I know ye smart outwardly?" 
 
 ^' 0, I feel all right," replied his companion. " Of 
 course the straps have cut into me a little, and the 
 basket has worn through the cuticle somewhat, I 
 guess, by the feeling on my neck ; but I am good for 
 the distance between here and the lake, wherever it is ; 
 and when we get through, if it is a decent place to 
 look at, we will take a rest and a good strong meal 
 too, for I am as empty as a last year's gourd." 
 
 **' I like the sound of yer talk, Henry," said the old 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 113 
 
 man, whom our readers will have easily recognized as 
 John Norton, the Trapper, and his companion as 
 Henry Herbert. " I like the sound of yer talk," con- 
 tinued the old man, laughing ; '^ and I can well 
 believe ye ; for ye have the look of a man whose 
 loadin' is all on the outside and none of it in, and I 
 should ventur' the opinion that a pound or two of that 
 steak ye have in the basket there, jediciously spitted 
 and eaten slowly, 'twixt proper allowances of corn 
 cakes and spring water, reinforced with a few leaves 
 of the tea, would round ye out and make ye look 
 sort of inhabited-like ; for I have always noted that a 
 man with no victuals in him looks like a desarted settle- 
 ment, — kinder lonesome, and a good deal as ef a 
 funeral was o;oin' on inside of him. But another 
 ofood lift will brino' us out of this snarl of tamarack 
 and put our feet onto the beach of as handsome a 
 lake as the Lord ever made, even here in these woods, 
 where He does seem to have did His best, and kept at 
 it a long while, too ; for I think, 'twixt trappin' and 
 boatin', I've been on a thousand of 'em off and on in 
 the last forty year ; but a prittier one than lies ahead 
 of us never had its springs set runnin', ef I am any 
 jedge. So crawl into yer straps, Henry, and I will 
 give yer pack a h'ist, and we will see how soon we can 
 fetch out of this divilment of bushes ; for a tamarack 
 swamp is the divil's own work in natur' for sartin ; 
 and ef a man who be nothin' but ordinary, and hasn't 
 been favored in pious edication, can bring a boat or a 
 pack through one of 'em and not get sort of strong 
 
114 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 and 'arnest-like in his speech, it is because the Lord is 
 onusually marciful to him while he is at it." 
 
 So saying, the Old Trapper lifted the canoe on to 
 his shoulders, and pushed determinedly on through 
 the dense thicket, whose dried, thorny branches 
 scraped and rattled against the bottom and sides of 
 the canoe, until the noise might have been heard miles 
 away. 
 
 At last, after twenty minutes or so of desperate 
 struggling, in which the strength and temper of both 
 must have been severely taxed, the Old Trapper 
 burst out of the opposing brush, and cast the canoe 
 upon the yellow sands of a beach which curved its 
 line of gold around the northern shore of a lake. 
 In an instant, Herbert tore his way out of the 
 swamp, and without saying a word, settled, with the 
 pack still on his back, into the soft sand. His 
 pantaloons were seriously torn, his hair was full of 
 moss dust and bits of dried twigs, while his face was 
 fairly white with weariness. 
 
 " Well, Henry,'' said the Old Trapper, as he looked 
 at him, after having unbuckled the straps which 
 bound the pack to his companion's shoulders, "ye 
 look as ef ye had been in a tussle that taxed ye, 
 and yer breeches seem as ef they had got the wust 
 of it for sartin. I have never liked the tailorin' 
 of the settlements, for I have never seed any of their 
 work that would hold when a man was in the centre 
 of a tamarack thicket, or a windfall, and got sort of 
 'arnest-like in his feelin's. Summer afore the last, 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH. 115 
 
 a man from the coast, that I run agin in a mighty 
 weak condition, and sort of nussed back to life, sent 
 me a box of stuff, and it had for sartin a great 
 many useful things in it, sech as traps, powder and 
 lead, not to speak of tea and other yarbs for medi- 
 cine. Yis, he sartinly put in a good many things 
 accordin' to reason, and useful to a man of my 
 gifts ; but he missed the trail entirely in one thing, 
 for he sent me, all done up as pritty as could be, 
 and tied with red string, a whole suit of garments 
 that he called black cloth, or wide cloth, or some 
 sech name, not to speak of a hat like the chapeau 
 the militia wore fifty year agone, and which I could 
 no more keep on my head in this bush than a 
 beaver could keep his fur in spring-time. But I 
 felt sartin the man meant it for good ; and to sorter 
 please his mem'ry and show proper feelin' in the 
 matter, I sot apart a day to celebrate the man's 
 good-heartedness ; and I got into the things, hat 
 and all, and ef ye b'lieve me, Henry, when I looked 
 in the glass I didn't know myself. And I said, 
 ' John Norton, be this you ? ' And I marvelled, 
 Henry, that a mortal could so change himself by 
 a few clothes that he should be strano^e in his own 
 eyes. But the thing that ssemed queerest of all 
 was that the hound there, that ye know be a knowin' 
 dog, and a obsarvin' one, too, who had been foolin' 
 around with a young faan in the thickets for exercise, 
 come in, and seein' me settin' in a cheer, hat and 
 all on, whirled his tail round and let a threatenin' 
 
,116 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 roar out o£ his mouth that made the cabin ring, 
 and he showed his teeth in a way to make the 
 flesh of a cowardly half-breed creep. Yis, Henry, 
 to think that a few city garments could change a 
 man so that even his own hound wouldn't know him 
 ontil he heerd his voice, and act'ally got his scent 
 in his nose. I have spent a good many hours 
 wonderin' about it, I tell ye. Well, Henry, I never 
 tried on the coat and hat and vest agin, ye may 
 believe, for they was useless to one of my gifts, and 
 made the hound onhappy ; but I did think the 
 breeches would sarve me awhile, for they was roomy 
 and looked as fine and tough as a doeskin ; and 
 so I detarmined to give 'em a try. I put 'em on 
 one mornin' when startin' on a still hunt, and by 
 the Lord, Henry, when I got back at night there 
 wasn't any breeches on me, leastwise notliin' to 
 make a fair show on a man in. the settlements. It 
 was amazin' how they went to pieces. The briers 
 went through 'em as ef they was paper. I left 
 them all along the line of my trail as a bear leaves 
 his fur in the beo-innin' of summer. And it larned 
 me a lesson techin' the tailorin' of the settlements 
 which I shall never forgit. And ever sence we started 
 on the trip I have felt onsartin about yer garments, 
 and though they have held on agin all expectation, 
 yit, sooner or later, I knowed they would play a 
 prank on ye and gin out sudden-like. And ef ye 
 will take my advice ye will let me make ye a good 
 pair of buckskin I've tanned with my own hands, and 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. \Vj 
 
 I warrant you will never get a brier through them or 
 feel oneasy about your appearance in company." 
 
 While the old man had been talking, Herbert 
 had remained stretched at length upon the sand 
 with his head bolstered against the pack-basket, 
 recovering his breath and gazing with eyes which 
 drank in the loveliness of the scene around him. 
 It is doubtful if he had even heard half the Old 
 Trapper had been saying, so absorbed was he in con- 
 templation of what would seem, to one unaccustomed 
 to such scenes, more like a picture from Fairy Land 
 than an actual landscape of the earth. The lake 
 was perhaps a short mile in length, and bordered 
 with hioh hills both on the eastern and western 
 shores. The whole northern end was in the form 
 of a sickle, and ornamented with a beach of sand of 
 brightest yellow. The southern and eastern shores 
 were bordered with a marsh whose deep green grass, 
 brightened here and there with various colored flowers, 
 stretched far out into the shallow waters of the lake. 
 The shores were thickly wooded with evergreens, 
 while here and there a maple, far up the hillside, 
 flung out its flame of color, as a roj^al banner, planted 
 in some ivied recess of an ancient castle, mio^it wave 
 its rich blazonry forth to the passing breeze. At 
 last, as if his soul had drunk its fill of the sur- 
 rounding b3auty, Herbert rose to his feet, and still 
 gazing off upon the water, said : " Old man, this is 
 lovely ; by what name is this lake called, or has it 
 no name? I have never seen a sweeter sheet of 
 water." 
 
118 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 " I am glad ye think so, Henry/' rejoined the Trap- 
 23er ; " for I have always conceited it was about the 
 best the Lord could do in this line, and many be the 
 days and nights I have spent on its quiet shores, for I 
 have knowed it off and on for fifty year ; and the fust 
 time I ever sot eyes on it was under sarcumstances 
 calculated to make a man remember it, I tell ye ; for I 
 was hard pressed by a pack of redskins, and I and a 
 comrade held our own aoin 'em here for two davs and 
 two nights, and we put our marks onto the biggest 
 part of 'em in a way the Lord will remember in the 
 Jedgment, for they did awful murder here ; and I 
 sunk in the water there, off that p'int, as handsome a 
 body as the Lord of Life ever made, ef her skin was 
 red and her father the chief of the thievin' Hurons. 
 And as for the name, it is a name wliich the Indians 
 give to it, arter what happened here in the scrimmage 
 I have told ye of ; for they say, and there be white 
 men who swear to the same, that in the month of 
 July, on the 25th day, jest afore dawn, a white figger 
 can be seen comin' up out of the water, and that it 
 w^alks over to this beach and then across to where yon 
 stream comes in, through the alders there, and then 
 floats back abreast the p'int and sinks out of sight ; 
 and they call it the ' Lake of the Lovely Spirit/ 
 And I can well believe the sperit is lovely, for she was 
 lovely in life ; and I don't see why dyin' should mar 
 the beauty of the Lord's creturs. Yis, it sartinly is a 
 handsome lake, and its shores are thick with mem'ries 
 to me. And right on this very beach, ay, jest here 
 
THE MAX WHO DWy'T K^^OW MUCH 119 
 
 where we stand, I had a tussle with half a dozen red- 
 skins Avhich came near bein' my last, and a life was 
 ofiven for mine, and another met the death that was 
 meant for me, here. But I squared accounts with the 
 last of the scamps thirty year agone, and that's sar- 
 tinly consolin' to one who' remembers, as I do, the 
 cruelty of the divils, and how they did murder with- 
 out cause and ao-in reason." 
 
 " Well," Herbert responded, "" the lake is certainly 
 beautiful, and appropriately named, too, if what men 
 say occurs here, and I will make you tell me the 
 history of your fight on this lake fifty years ago 
 some day, and all about the death of the beautiful 
 Indian girl, if the memory is not unpleasant for you 
 to recall. But now I am hungry and feel as if the 
 sooner we get a fire started and some meat cooking 
 the better it Avill be for my feelings." 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," rejoined the Trapper promptly, 
 " but not here, lad, but toss yer pack into the canoe 
 and I will paddle you over to where yon stream comes 
 in through the balsam grove, and you will find a 
 camp all ready for us onless the snows has broken 
 down the lodge poles, or some onlarnt city man has 
 stolen the bark off the roof for kindlin's." 
 
 In a few moments the two were in the canoe which 
 the Old Trapper was urging with an easy stroke 
 across the glassy surface of the unruffled water, and 
 shortly the canoe was run ashore in th3 green grass at 
 tlie mouth of the little rivulet which with a faint 
 musical gargle flowed through the balsam grove under 
 the alders into the lake. 
 
120 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 " There, Henry/' exclaimed the old man, as he 
 stepped ashore and cast his gaze around him, " This 
 looks home-like for sartin. Many be the days and 
 many be the nights I have lodged here, both in winter 
 and summer, and I have never seed the time when the 
 mouth of this little brook didn't give me fish, or the 
 shores of this lake didn't keep me in venison. And 
 as for ducks, and geese, and wild fowl in their season, 
 Lord-a-massy, Henry, the water us3d to be black with 
 'em ; and I have taken the head of many a duck off 
 with my bullets, sittin' right here in the door of the 
 lodge ; and ef ye noted the ledge back of here as I 
 paddled in, ye saw the home of more panthers than 
 any other spot in the wilderness. Many a night have 
 I laid here in the lodo-e and lieerd their cries and 
 screams as they scrimmaged with each other, or held 
 their ugly feasting over the body of a buck. Yis," 
 continued the Old Trapper, as he lighted a match and 
 applied it to a bunch of dried twigs he had piled in 
 the fire-place, " I have kindled my fires here by flint 
 and steel instead of lucifer matches, and started a 
 blaze under different sarcumstances than we be in to- 
 day. Come, Henry, do ye fetch some water from the 
 brook and I warrant ye will find it cold as the iced 
 drinks of the settlements, and we will have the pot 
 bilin' and the steak cookin' in no time." 
 
 Both men now applied themselves to their respec- 
 tive tasks, and in a brief space of time they were sitting 
 cross-legged on the ground, with a bark between them 
 covered with food smoking hot. Without delay Her- 
 
THE MAX WHO DID XT KXOW MUCH. 121 
 
 bert addressed himself to the eating with the quick, 
 earnest motions o£ hand and teeth of a man who is 
 desperately hungry and in the enjoyment of perfect 
 health. 
 
 The Old Trapper sat looking at his young compan- 
 ion a moment with a look of broad but benevolent 
 humor on his wrinkled features, and then picking up a 
 corn cake he placed a bit of the brown luxury leis- 
 urely in his mouth and said : — 
 
 " It does my old jaws good, Henry, to see ye so 
 familiar and off-hand-like with the vict'als. A parson 
 I or"uided last summer used to think it onoTateful not 
 to say grace afore he teched a morsel, and he lived up 
 to his idees of right and Avrong, for sartin, for he 
 never failed to say grace over his plate before he 
 tasted it ; but he had a powerful strong hold on lan- 
 guage, and I used to conceit many a time that he 
 overdid the thing a leetle. Ye see, Henry," said the 
 Old Trapper in a confidential tone, as if half-talking 
 to himself, " the man was chock full of words, and 
 gave tongue like a young hound on his fust track, 
 and he sort of spilled over because he was so full of 
 'em. The least chance to sav somethino: relis^ious 
 joggled him, and I do think I have heerd the man say 
 his prayers so long over his plate that his vict'als 
 act' ally cooled afore he got to 'em, and that's what I 
 call darned foolishness, put it any way ye mind to. 
 
 Now, Henry, I never cook a steak or bile a tater 
 or brown a flapjack that I don't sort of have a 
 pleasant feelin' in'ardly to the Lord for His marcy 
 
122 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 to me; and sartin, I never sot my teeth into the 
 crumpy edge of a brown corn-cake like this and 
 didn't feel how pleasant and cheerful a thing it is to 
 live ; for a cake like this is toothsome eatin', and ef 
 the meal isn't too fine, there be chunks of the karnals 
 lyin' around in it that tha teath git into, and the 
 tongue intarprets the real vartue of the corn in a 
 way that sartinly ought to make a man grateful for 
 the faculties the Lord has gin him and the sweet 
 o-rowths of natur'. 
 
 But as for a man stoppin' to ontangle a string of 
 pious words when his stomack is empty, and he feels 
 like a cellar with no house over it, and the steam of 
 the hot vict'als be strong in his nostrils, why, Henry, 
 I must say that it seems to me to be agin' natur' 
 and reason. My idee is that the Lord knows all 
 about our feelin's and can see the grace of the man's 
 heart goin' up as the vict'als go down, and that He 
 loves to see us dip in hearty-like, and as ef we 
 enjoyed the smoli and taste of the things He has 
 made to grow for us ; and ef words must be said, 
 I conceit that they should be said arter the man is 
 full, and is ready to sit back and feel religious-like ; 
 but as to ^vastin' time in layin' hold of the Lord's 
 marcies when they be all smokin' hot and afore ye, 
 and the wind is coolin' 'em, I don't conceit that the 
 Lord expects any sach foolishness from men of sense 
 and jedgment." 
 
 So the two men sat eating and talking in the wise, 
 humorous fashion of American backwoodsmen, until 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 123 
 
 they had satisfied the demands of nature. They 
 then washed the dishes, and having repacked the 
 basket restored it to the canoe, and stood one at 
 either end of it ready to Lxunch it forth on the 
 level water and resume their journey. This they 
 did in a moment, and were soon on the bosom of the 
 lake, whose unruffled surface reflected like a perfect 
 mirror the blue sky and white clouds above, and 
 the autumnal glories of the hills on either side. 
 
 "I tell ye for sartin, Henry," said the Old Trapper, 
 as he lifted his paddle from the bottom of the canoe, 
 and passed it with the easy motion of long habit 
 into the water, " I tell ye, for sartin, Henry, that we 
 shall have some fun afore Ave git through this trip ; 
 I feel the comin' of it in my bones as a hound gits 
 the fust stray whifPs of the true scent in his nose, 
 and opens on it musical-like. I'm mighty glad ye 
 be with me and can stay in this year till the snow 
 drives ye out, and later, too, ef ye have a mind, for 
 I must confess that I take to ye mightily, and the 
 trail will be lonely and the old lodge empty-like, 
 when ye be gone. Now, I have a idee that we had 
 best swing across to the Saranacs, and see what's 
 goin' on there, for ye remember we heerd 'em 
 talkin' in the camp we ambushed on the Cranberry 
 waters, of a boat-race that the city folks was p'ittin' 
 up on the Saranacs. Ye see, Henry, ye pull a 
 mighty clean stroke and a strong one too ; and 
 though I have held the paddle back of a good many 
 men who was handy with the ash^ I never felt a 
 
124 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 boat g-it away from under me as fast as ye make it 
 when ye fairly sot yer strength onto the blades, and 
 I would give the best furred beaver's hide I shall 
 trap this Avinter to see ye cut out a stroke for two miles 
 and return, with those cocky Saranac chaps ; for they 
 think they can outshoot and outrow all creation, and 
 it would be doin' the Lord's sarvice to take a leetle 
 of their foolishness out of 'em, as I feel ye can do ; 
 and ef they would only let me in, too, I tell ye, 
 Henry, twixt ye at the oars, and me at the paddle, 
 we'd eenamost drive the bottom-board out of the 
 boat, and show 'em what an old man and a young 
 one used to the woods, when they jine works, can 
 do," and the Old Trapper gave a flourish with his 
 paddle, and passed it into the water with an energy 
 that fairly lifted the canoe half off the water. 
 
 " Well," rejoined Herbert, '•' I like your plan, and 
 we will push through as you say, for one spot is as 
 good as another to me, and I would like to see the 
 races and take a hand in them, too, if you wished ; 
 but I would like to see a beaver lodo;e before we o^o 
 out, and you know you said I could see one almost 
 any day." 
 
 " Sartin, sartin, I did," returned the Trapper, " and 
 ye shall see one inside of thirty minits if the vaga- 
 bonds have done their summer w^anderin' and got 
 back to their homes ; for there's a leetle pond here, 
 away to the right of the carry, 'twixt this and Mud 
 Lake, from which I have taken many a hide, and I 
 never skeerd one of 'em by careless trappin', and so 
 
THE MAX WHO DWX'T KXOW 3IUCH. 125 
 
 they keep comiii' back every year, as they will e£ ye 
 don't distarb 'em by any foolishness, and I warrant 
 a dozen of the brown-backed rogues be playin' in 
 the water this very minit. Ay, here we be at the 
 carry, and w^e will leave the canoe, and see ef we 
 can ambush the pond." 
 
 A swift walk of twenty minutes brought the Trap- 
 per and his companion to a point where the old man 
 paused, and turning to his comrade, he said in a whis- 
 per : — 
 
 " There, Henry, jest over that pine knoll is a bit of 
 mash with a pond in the centre of it, and the grass 
 grows tall, but there's not a bush on the whole lot, 
 and we must crawl for it ; and ef there's any way ye 
 can make yerself flatter than another, I sartinly 
 advise ye to try it. Ef ye break a stick as big as the 
 stem of yer pipe, Henry, ye will see no beaver 
 to-day, for they be mighty timerous animils, and their 
 ears and eyes be as open as a Huron's in the midst of 
 an ambushment. So be keerful, lad, and ef yer gifts 
 be as good at crawdin' as they be at shootin', ye shall 
 be lookin' into the eyes of a beaver within forty feet 
 of ye inside of ten minits. Now dowai to the 'arth, 
 Henry, for we sartinly have got to snake it." 
 
 So saying the Old Trapper sank to the earth, and 
 being followed in the action by his companion, the 
 two began to work their way noiselessly over the knoll 
 and into the tall grass of the meadow. 
 
 It would have been an interesting spectacle to one 
 unaccustomed to exhibitions of woodcraft to have 
 
126 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 stood on that knoll and seen with what patience and 
 skill the two men worked their way onward through 
 the tall grass toward the pond. Not a twig snapped, 
 not a rustle came from the withered grass, and scarce 
 a movement of the pendent blades revealed that two 
 human bodies were passing onward toward the edge 
 of the pond. Two-thirds the distance had been 
 covered, when the Old Trapper paused in his course, 
 and noiselessly passing his hand backward along his 
 side beckoned with his fingers for his companion, who 
 had been trailing in his wake, to move up to his right. 
 This he did, and the two men lay stretched side by 
 side, motionless as logs, in the tall grass. The Trap- 
 per put his lips to the ear of his companion, and 
 breathed, rather than whispered into it : — 
 
 " Yis, Henry, ye be a nateral woodsman, for sartin, 
 and ye can crawl like a Huron, and I rej'ice in yer 
 gifts. Ye remind me of a lad I had as a comrade in 
 the old war, and a truer hearted boy, though a red- 
 skin, never drove a bullet into a grooved barrel. 
 Many a time has he and me crawled our way out of 
 danger when the inimy was round us on all sides, and 
 athirst for our blood ; but the lad himself couldn't 
 have fetched this trail stiller than ye have done. By 
 the Lord, Henry, I wish we had men and not beavers 
 to crawl onto, for this sort of business stirs memory 
 and blood both in me, and my hand has act'ally slid 
 tow^ard my knife handle more than once sence I 
 started, as ef there Avas a inimy somewhere lyin' close 
 in the grass, wdien I know a human bein' isn't within 
 
THE MAX WHO DID XT KXOW MUCH. 127 
 
 forty mile of us ; and there's notliin' more harmful 
 than innercent beaver in front. Now, Henry, let yer 
 very breath go down into the sod, for the edge of the 
 pond isn't fifty feet away." 
 
 To these whispered reflections the young man made 
 no reply save with his eyes, and in an instant the two 
 bodies slowly and without noise began to move on 
 throuo'h the o^rass. 
 
 Five minutes may have passed when two human 
 heads moved slowly and partially out of the grass that 
 grew with rank luxuriance on the edge of the pond 
 and hung pendent over and drooped its points into 
 the water. Several beaver were swimming hither and 
 thither in the water, while several others were busily 
 engaged in mending the dome of their home. 
 
 The Old Trapper put his lips to the ear of his com- 
 panion again, and said, " Ye see the activity of the 
 creturs, Henry, and how they work wisely accordin' to 
 the sense the Creatur has gin 'em. Do ye see the old 
 feller with the white patches on his sides and the light 
 spot atween his ears. Ef he would only turn round, 
 ye would see he had no tail, for he left it in my trap 
 two year agone, and how he steers himself in swimmin' 
 the Lord only knows. I would give the best horn of 
 powder in the cabin to see him try to circle this pond 
 once. I doubt, lad, ef there be another man in the 
 woods that could fetch himself through the grass to 
 the edge of this pond, and not distarb the watchful 
 creturs. I would like to see the man that could do it, 
 for sartin. Jest stay where ye be, Henry, while I 
 
128 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 move a foot or two to the left to git a glimpse back of 
 the lodo^e." 
 
 So saying, the Old Trapper rolled slowly over till 
 his back was turned to his companion. He rolled 
 over, but moved not an inch beyond. His face sud- 
 denly sharpened with excitement, his nostrils dilated, 
 and his hand sought the handle of his knife in earnest, 
 for there, not three feet from his face, was the face 
 
 OF ANOTHER MAN^, AND A PAIR OF BRIGHT EYES WERE 
 GAZING FIXEDLY INTO HIS ! 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AN ANIMATED BUSH. 
 
 Dressed in living' sreen. 
 
 •' Thou comest in such a questionable shape that I will speak to thee." 
 
 —Shakespeare. 
 
 A FLASH of lightning is not qnicker than was the 
 motion with which the Old Trapper sprang to his feet, 
 knife in hand, and, as he struck the perpendicular, he 
 exclaimed : " Henry, lad, up with ye, and set yer eye 
 into the grass here and see as fine an ambushment as 
 a Huron ever made. Look at his eyes, boy, and tell 
 me ef ye can name the name of the cretur, and what 
 be the parpose of his divilments." 
 
 The motion of the Trapper was not quicker than 
 that of his companion, as he rose from the grass to the 
 old man's side ; and certainly no astonishment could 
 be greater than his, as, following the direction of the 
 old man's finger, he saw the gleam of eyes gazing, 
 as it were, from the very roots of the marsh grass into 
 his face. 
 
 For a minute the two stood starino- into the o^rass 
 where lay the body of the man, into whose very reach 
 they had crept without the least suspicion of his pres- 
 ence. The countenance of Herbert showed blank 
 astonishment and surprise too great for speech, with 
 such a startled expression as nature would bring to the 
 
130 ADTFOXDACK TALES. 
 
 face of one unaccustomed to such a sudden summons 
 as the cry of his companion had been to him. The 
 look of the Trapper's face showed neither astonish- 
 ment nor alarm. If, on the instant of discovery, he 
 had felt either, its expression had j3assed from his 
 countenance, and in its place there had come to his 
 features the look of profound curiosity. He was evi- 
 dently studying, with the full force of his faculties, the 
 trick or arrangement by which the man, whose eyes 
 alone were visible, had been able to so conceal himself 
 that even by those who were then looking downward 
 upon him, not a square inch of his garments could be 
 seen. In a moment the Old Trapper opened his mouth 
 and began to laugh in his silent but hearty fashion. 
 For several seconds he indulged himself in his self-sat- 
 isfactory merriment, and then, turning to his compan- 
 ion, he exclaimed : — 
 
 " By the Lord, Henry, the cretur, whoever he be, 
 has the gift of concealment, for sartin ; for he has 
 larnt a man, whose head has whitened on the trail, a 
 trick the Hurons never dreamed of; and it might w^ell 
 take the conceit out of me ef aae had not larnt me the 
 wisdom to know my ignorance. For here be I, a man 
 who has never lived in the settlements, but lived ac- 
 cordin' to my gifts in the woods, and has seed a tliou- 
 sand ambushments, and knows all the tricks and divil- 
 ments of the redskins, and the cretur at our feet here 
 has larnt me a lesson in liidin' whose vartue sets my 
 eyes swimmin'. See, Henry, the cunnin' of the cretur. 
 Bless me, lad, ef he hasn't wove the very grass into 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 131 
 
 Lis breeches ; ay, and into his shirt, and the hair of 
 his head, too ; ontil the very mash is not greener nor 
 more sod-hke than he. It's marvellous that a human 
 bein' could so convart himself into a bog, that a man 
 with my gifts and my trainin' might eenamost have 
 crawled over him and not felt the shape and w^armin' 
 of his body. 
 
 " Come, friend," exclaimed the Trapper, as he drew 
 back a step and motioned toward the man at his feet, 
 with a hand that still kept its hold on the knife, 
 '^ Come, friend or inimy, whichever ye be, suppose ye 
 h'ist yerself from the bog and show yerself in yer nat- 
 eral form, as the Lord made ye, that w^e may see what 
 sort of an animil ye be that has crawled to the edge of 
 this pond with the whole mash on yer back, and de- 
 ceived the eyes of one born in the woods." 
 
 As the Old Trapper uttered this exclamation, the 
 grass upon which they were gazing, with eyes that lost 
 not a motion, became agitated. A quiver ran through 
 a section of the turf at their feet, and then the body of 
 a man, covered from head to foot with grass and bits 
 of sod, deftly woven together in the semblance of a 
 mantle, rose into the air and stood upright before 
 them ; but the strange covering with which he had 
 clothed himself still clung to his garments, so that it 
 was impossible to discover the size and shape of the 
 man, or what might be his actual appearance when 
 entirely rid of his strange metamorphosis. But it was 
 plainly seen by the two men who stood staring at the 
 astonishing figure before them that the man was af 
 
132 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 extraordinary height, and that his arms, at least, were 
 unusually long ; but beyond this, little could be 
 guessed of his proportions or real appearance. 
 
 " And now, friend," continued the Trapper, as he 
 stood eying the wonderful figure before him, " ef the 
 grass isn't nateral to ye, and hasn't growed into yer 
 skin so it would hurt ye to part with yer heathenish 
 raiment, and especially ef ye have got any breeches on, 
 and yer ribs be kivered w4th a waistcoat, suppose for 
 our information and yer own comfort ye sort of shake 
 yerself free from what don't naterally belong to ye, and 
 show yerself to us jest as ye was afore ye stole the 
 kivering of the 'arth to sarve ye in yer cunnin', — that 
 the lad here, and me, may know what sort of a man 
 ye be ; for though I have lived in the woods sence I 
 was born, and have consorted with whites and red- 
 skins alike, nigh on to eighty year, and have seed all 
 the tricks and divilments of Injin cunnin', yit I be 
 ready to confess I never seed a man look as ye do, or 
 onkivered, afore to-day, sech an ambushment as ye 
 made for the beavers here on the edge of this pond. 
 So shake yerself out of yer kiverin' and show us yer 
 nateral figger, or I shall sartinly lay hold on ye and see 
 what's the color of yer hide myself." 
 
 In obedience to this exhortation of the Trapper, 
 the strange being, who had not yet opened his mouth, 
 but had remained staring at the two in front of him, 
 began to quiver from head to foot. He shook him- 
 self, as a dog shakes himself, from extremity to 
 extremity ; the vibrations began at his head, from 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 133 
 
 which, as the agitations grew, the grass spires and 
 bits of sod began to fall in a shower, and as the 
 motion w^orked its way down the body on its way 
 to his feet, so did the strange covering fall away 
 from him, until with a kick and flourish of his feet 
 the last adhering tufts and pieces of bogs and 
 patches of swamp-moss flew from his limbs, and a 
 creature of astonishing height, clothed in buckskin 
 from toe to neck, stood forth plainly to view. 
 
 As the strange process of freeing himself from 
 his unnatural but cunningly w^rought covering had 
 gone on, and while the agitation was at its height, 
 and the air around the man was literally full of 
 the grass and sods and moss he was shaking from 
 himself, the Old Trapper yielded to the sense of the 
 humorous that was natural to him, and beginning 
 with a smile and a twinkle of the eyes, the expres- 
 sion of mirthfulness deepened and spread until it 
 possessed his broad face and convulsed his stalwart 
 frame. He drove his knife into its sheath, and 
 putting his hands on his knees laughed a laugh 
 that brimmed his eyes with irrepressible tears. In 
 this laughter — from the very contagiousness of it 
 perhaps — his companion joined, and had there been 
 a spectator to the scene, he would have perceived the 
 strange spectacle of two men, standing on a marsh, 
 on the edge of a beaver pond, bent and swaying with 
 mirth, while in front of them stood a man of immense 
 height and length of limb, but unusually lank in 
 proportions, and with a countenance that moved not a 
 
134 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 line, nor changed a shade in its look of simple and 
 almost solemn gravity. 
 
 " By the Lord, Henry," exclaimed the Trapper, 
 " ef the youngster isn't made up of grass and roots 
 and yarbs ! He is nothin' more nor less than a section 
 of the mash on legs, and where there's depth of sile 
 enough in him to support sech a crop is more than I 
 can see, for he isn't thicker than a rived shingle, and 
 another shake would send him into etarnity." And 
 the Old Trapper fairly surrendered himself to the 
 merriment of his mood, and laughed and roared until 
 the woods that bordered the marsh rang hollow to the 
 sound. 
 
 Indeed, there was much in the appearance of the 
 man, whoever or whatever he might be, in front of 
 them, to provoke the mirth to which Herbert and 
 the Trapper were so freely surrendering themselves, 
 especially when taken in connection with the attend- 
 ant circumstances of the scene. In height he was at 
 least six feet and a half, but of such spare and ex- 
 tremely slim proportions that he apjDeared of even 
 greater height. As for flesh, it could not with truth 
 be said that he had much of any on him, for he seemed 
 to be altogether made up of bones, skin, and sinews. 
 His legs were of extraordinary length, even as con- 
 trasted with his immense height, and his arms fairly 
 matched his legs. His hands were flat, with long, 
 slim lingers and enormous joints and knuckles. His 
 chest was narrow and his shoulders decidedly stooping. 
 His face was beardless, and, strange to say, well 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KNOW 3IUCH 135 
 
 and regularly formed in its features. His mouth was 
 rather small, chin pleasantly rounded, his eyes a light 
 grey in color, his head fairly rounded and covered 
 scantily with fine, lightish-colored hair. On his upper 
 lip was a downy growth, scarcely discernible against 
 the blonde skin that seemed incapable of taking tan 
 or receivins: those characteristic lines which life and 
 exposure bring to the average countenance. The 
 dominant expression of his face, and it spread its 
 soft mildness over every feature, was a look of pro- 
 found simplicity — the simplicity of one utterly guile- 
 less, and whose innocence is the result of passions 
 unexcited, and possibly of capacity too limited to 
 receive the temptations and seductions which are 
 supposed to assail and be received by the majority 
 of mankind. Whether it was the normal expression, 
 a natural constituent of the youth's countenance — 
 for he could not have seen thirty years — or whether 
 it was because he did not understand, and was pained 
 at the somewhat boisterous mirth of the two men 
 in front of him, was uncertain ; but over his face, 
 especially in the unsteady light of his eyes and 
 around the corners of his mouth, was visible the 
 slightest possible expression of plaintive deprecation, 
 as if he suffered in being laughed at, and yet knew 
 not why he was the object of their mirth, and had 
 not the strength of self-assertion to resent it, even 
 if he did know. It was the hurt, deprecating look 
 of a lovino' animal, intellio'ent enouoh to receive the 
 pain inflicted by the ridicule, but unable or unwilling 
 to defend itself from the infliction. 
 
136 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 The Old Trapper perceived what seemed to be pass- 
 ing in the mind of the singular being in front of him ; 
 he checked his laughter and his , face settled into its 
 accustomed gravity. He even made a motion that 
 had in it the grave significance of an apology, and, 
 after gazing closely but respectfully at him for a 
 moment said, in the direct fashion of a hunter's 
 speech, and in a tone that had in it the vibration of 
 astonishment, — 
 
 « Who be ye?" 
 
 For a moment the man made no reply, but stood 
 looking first at the one and then at the other. At 
 last his eyes fixed themsel-ves mildly but steadily 
 upon the honest countenance of the Trapper, and he 
 replied : — 
 
 " I AM THE MAN WHO DOn't KNOW MUCH." 
 
 " Well," returned the Trapper, " ye be singularly 
 named for sartin, and I dare say honestlv, but ye are 
 the fust man I've ever met on the 'arth, whether he 
 was born in the woods or the settlements, that would 
 own up to his lackin's or confess to his foolishness. 
 And as to ye not knowin' much, ye sartinly know 
 enough to ambush a beaver pond when the water is 
 alive with the rogues, and the top of their lodge sen- 
 tinelled by the father of the tribe, who larnt the folly 
 of carelessness in a way a beaver isn't apt to forgit 
 when he left his tail in my trap two year agone ; and 
 that's givin' ye credit for larnin' that few men in the 
 w^oods have to-day, not to speak of the parsons and 
 other great men of the settlements, who could no more 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 137 
 
 fetch a trail across this mash to the edge of this pond 
 here and not skeer the critters than they could stop a 
 Avild pigeon in its flight Avith a single bullit, with all 
 the larnin' of their books to help them. And let me 
 tell ye, lad, for it may comfort ye ef ye be short of 
 larnin' and feel the lack of it powerful-like, there isn't 
 another man 'twixt the Horricon and the great plains 
 that could so sink his body into this mash and kiver it 
 with grasses that old John Norton, when fetchin' an 
 onsartin ambushment, would crawl within reach of 
 his knife, ef he was hostile, and lie within a yard of 
 him for three minutes and not know of his presence. 
 And was it not for the cunnin' of yer trick and the 
 fact that years has larnt me that the gifts and the 
 larnin' of mortal man is imparfect, I should be 
 kivered with shame at the thought that I act'ally 
 rolled over agin ye afore I knowed the grass within 
 reach of my arm was inhabited. So, comfort yerself, 
 lad, for ye be sartinly gifted as few be in crawlin' and 
 hidin', for ye have done what was never done afore 
 by white or redskin, in peace or war, sence my eyes 
 knowed the trail, or my nose larnt the difference twixt 
 the smell of dead grass and the body of a mortal. 
 But why be ye here, lad, and where be ye bound?" 
 
 But the youth made no reply, but stood and stared 
 at the old man, with mouth half-open and eyes filled 
 with surprise. At last, without answering the interro- 
 gation of the Trapper, he said : — 
 
 " Be you John Norton, the Trapper ! I've heard 
 of you since I was a boy on the farm, by the great 
 
138 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 sea, and men told great tales of you, and one man 
 said you saved his life way off in the West, where the 
 land is all flat and the Indians are thick as the s^rass. 
 And partly because they laughed at me at home after 
 mother died, and partly because I wanted to find you 
 and live with you, I ran away and came to the woods 
 here, where I've been these twelve years trying to 
 find you. And now I have found you, and you said 
 I did well in crawling onto the beaver here, I'm so 
 happy." And the poor fellow paused as if overcome 
 with very delight. And then he looked wistfully at 
 the Old Trapper, as if he would ask a favor, which he 
 feared would not be granted, took a half-step toward 
 him and said timidly, '' John Norton ! please, may I 
 take one of your hands?" 
 
 " Lord bless ye, lad, of course ye may. And ye 
 needn't think it's any great honor either, and ef I can 
 do ye any good, or gin ye a lift in any way, I will do 
 it for sartin, and there's my hand on it," and the 
 Trapper stretched out his broad palm to the youth, 
 who took it in one of his long bony hands and clasped 
 his fingers round it with a closeness of grip that would 
 have crowded the bones out of place in a weaker 
 structure, while his face was absolutely radiant with 
 delight. 
 
 " Ay, ay, shake away," exclaimed the old man, 
 laughing as he saw the pleasure on the young man's 
 face and felt the power of his grip, " ye've got a grip 
 like a bear-trap, and ef ye was as strong in yer back 
 as ye be in yer fingers ye'd be a tough one to meet 
 
THE MAX WHO niDX'T KXOW MUCH. 139 
 
 in a scrimmage when yer blood was up, the whoop of 
 3^er inimies was sharj) in yer ears, and ye warmed to 
 the w^ork. And now, wdiat can ye do and what can I 
 do for ye, my hoy? for tall as ye be ye seem no more 
 than a boy to one wdio has seed seventy year come and 
 ofo, and w^hose head is whitenin' with the snows of the 
 winters he has lived." 
 
 " I can't do much," responded the other, " for I am 
 not smart, but silly, and I never could learn at school 
 like my brothers, although I got through my letters ; 
 and mother, who never scolded me because I was dull, 
 learnt me to read the Bible, and I haven't forgot what I 
 read, either. But I can w^ork at almost anything you 
 may put me at, and if you will only let me live with you 
 I will do anything you tell me. And I had great luck 
 at trapping last year, and I have as nice a boat as was 
 ever built, and a bran new^ rifle, and traps enough to 
 set a twenty-mile line ; and I love the woods and you, 
 for I have heard of your goodness, and if you won't 
 laugh at me because I am silly, nor blame me w hen I 
 make mistakes, I will work for you as long as I live." 
 
 While the poor fellow had thus been running on in 
 his entreaty, the Old Trapper had stood looking stead- 
 ily at him ; and over the calm gravity of his features 
 there came, as the youth proceeded, the look of supreme 
 tenderness, as if the spirit of the mother, to Nvhicli the 
 speaker alluded, had actually taken possession of the 
 Trapper's heart, and was pleading within his bosom in 
 behalf of her unfortunate boy. For a moment after 
 the youth had done speaking the Trapper stood gazing 
 
140 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 at him in silence ; then he said : " Boy, ye may come 
 with me, and whether ye know leetle or much, be quick 
 or slow in larnin' and doin', I will be yer friend. Ye 
 may not be knowin', and I honestly doubt if the Lord 
 has favored ye in that respect, for sartin ; but His gifts 
 are not all in one direction, and the cunningest beaver 
 hasn't always the deepest fur; and He has sartinly gin 
 ye an honest face and a sperit as innercent as a faan's, 
 and that goes f urder in His sight, both here and in the 
 warld to come, than a knowin' head and a cunnin' 
 tongue, as I jedge. So ye may go to yer boat, wdiich I 
 conceit to be in the outlet, and we will fetch our'n over 
 the carry and jine ye as soon as we may. And Henry," 
 continued the Old Trapper, as he turned toward his 
 companion, " do ye take the hand of the lad ; for the 
 Lord alone knows the parpose He has had in bringin' 
 us together in this ambushment, nor where the trail 
 that leads us from this mash will tarminate." 
 
 At the word of the Trapper, Herbert had advanced 
 and took in a frank, hearty way the hand of the youth, 
 who seemed greatly embarrassed at the friendly over- 
 ture, but who nevertheless extended his hand to Her- 
 bert's grasp, but in a timid way that characterizes the 
 act of a bashful and shrinking spirit. 
 
 " Ye sartinly don't look much alike," remarked the 
 Trapper, as he stood looking from one to the other of 
 the young men, so nearly the same in age, and so totally 
 unlike in other respects. " No, ye sartinly don't look 
 alike, and yer gifts be wider apart than yer looks, and 
 I marvel that the Lord should gin to one of His ere- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 141 
 
 tiirs SO much and so leetle to another ; but I dare say 
 He has His reasons and acts with jedgment in the 
 matter, though to a mortal who knows only what he 
 sees, it looks unfair and agin reason. But the mis- 
 sioners say — and I conceit there may be truth in it — 
 that things on the 'arth got twisted by some divilment 
 or other in the beoiunin' ; but that afore lonsf the 
 Almighty will straighten things out, and he who has 
 leetle shall have much, and the last shall be fust ; but 
 it will take a good deal of overhaulin', as I jedge, and 
 I don't see jest how it is to be fetched about, though it 
 ought to be, for sartin. Come, lad, ye go yer way to 
 yer boat, and we will jine ye as soon as we can fetch 
 the canoe and the pack over the carry." 
 
 Thirty minutes later, Herbert and the Trapper had 
 crossed the carry and stood on the bank of the stream 
 where they had expected to find their new acquaint- 
 ance, but no one was in siolit. Thev had traversed 
 the carry in that noiseless fashion Avhich a life of 
 caution, natural to those who depend for their food 
 and safety on the stillness of their movements, quickly 
 makes habitual, and now they were standing, the Traji- 
 per leaning on his paddle at the end of the canoe ready 
 to launch it forth on the stream, and Herbert, rifle in 
 hand, on the extreme edo^e of the bank waiting^ for the 
 word to embark when the old man should shove off. 
 For several minutes they stood listening for some 
 sound that should reveal the coming of their comrade ; 
 but no sound could be heard, save the rustle of the 
 beech leaves overhead, and the squeaking of some 
 mold mice in a bog near at hand. 
 
142 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 "I say, Henry," said the Trapper at length, in a 
 low tone of voice and scarcely above a Avhisper, " where 
 do ye think the lad is? Here we be on the outlet 
 where we told him to meet us, but I see no signs of 
 the boy. What shall we do ? — Hoot ! here he comes ! 
 The lad has his gifts, but he isn't parfect at the paddle 
 yit, for I sartinly caught the sound of it in the sand, 
 where the stream shallows into the lake. Ye will see 
 him round the bend in a niinit, or the hole in my 
 ears has growed up." 
 
 Surely enough, in a moment the boat came round 
 the curve, and was laid alongside of the bank wdiere 
 they stood. In the boat was a pile of traps of various 
 makes and sizes, and just from the maker's hand; for 
 they had the new, fresh look about them which even 
 one season's use would take away. A pair of oars of 
 uncommon length, and admirably modelled, trailed from 
 their rowlocks. A rifle of unusual size and weight, 
 with horn and bullet-pouch, was lashed with buckskin 
 thongs to a resting-place evidently made expressly for 
 it, along the right side of the boat, which was itself 
 extraordinarily long and narrow, being fully seventeen 
 feet in length, and not more than three feet in its 
 widest section at the centre, and the lines on which it 
 was built were perfection itself, for fast running. A 
 hound, of great size and beauty, evidently a cross 
 between the Irish and German breed, sat upright on 
 its haunches on the forward thwart. As the boat 
 moved easily up to the bank at his feet, the Trapper 
 said : — 
 
THE :\IAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 143 
 
 " Well, lad, ye be well furnished for sartin, though 
 yer boat is too long to work easy in the cricks, and 
 would make a good many backs ache on the carry. 
 Yer traps be all right, although a leetle too newish for 
 raal sarvice, but a few months' usin' will limber them 
 up mightily. The dog is a good un, and I marvel 
 where ye found him, for next to Rover here, he is the 
 bio'orest doo- of his cross I ever seed in the woods. 
 I think ef they consort well together and are 
 friendly we will let 'em drive one buck this fall in 
 company for the sake of their music, for a hound's 
 mouth has a great many tunes in it that are worth lis- 
 tenin' to on a frosty mornin', ef I am any jedge. Yer 
 rifle looks biggish to one who has larnt that a heavy 
 barrel don't make the l?ad go any furder, but it has, 
 as I see, a big bore, and chambers a handful of powder, 
 and that's in its favor when ye want to do long 
 work on a windy day, or ye be on the pint of squarin' 
 accounts with a panther. Ye needn't git out, lad, but 
 shove down the crick and we will follow. We be 
 pushin' through to the Saranacs to see the boat-race 
 there, and take a hand in it, too, it may be, and we 
 must camp to-night thirty mile from here, and the sun 
 is on the west side of the pines already. We shall 
 have time to be better acquainted afore we git 
 through." So saving, the Trapper launched his canoe, 
 and the two boats disappeared down the crooked 
 stream. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CAMP LIFE. 
 
 " In Nature there is nothing melancholy." — Coleridge. 
 
 It was nigh sunset when a boat, followed closely by 
 a canoe with a paddler at either end of it, shot out of 
 a bay that indents the western shore-line of Big Tup- 
 per, near its southern extremity, and headed toward 
 the falls made by the water that comes tumbling out 
 of Bog River, over the ledge of rocks which impedes 
 its easy entrance into the lake below. Both boat and 
 canoe were being propelled at a rate which showed 
 that the man who bent to the oars, and those who 
 wielded the paddles in the canoe behind him, were ac- 
 customed to the work they were at, and were not dis- 
 posed to loiter. The lake was as smooth as if no rip- 
 ple had ever stirred upon its surface, and the clouds 
 which lay in rolls and patches overhead, crimsoned on 
 their western sides by the red rays of the declining 
 sun, and dark on the other with the gloom of the com- 
 ing night, were perfectly reflected in the still depths. 
 The bay out of which they had come was speckled 
 with the highly colored autumnal leaves which the 
 winds of the day had blown from the maples that 
 lined the upper end of the cove, and lay like great 
 flakes of crimson snow, that could not sink nor melt, 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW 3IUCH. 145 
 
 on the blue-green surface. Through the still air came 
 the roar of the falls in solemn murmurs, now swelling 
 with full volume of sustained sound, and anon sinking 
 and dying away until the ear almost lost the direction 
 of the smothered swell. The mountains to the east 
 stood forth in all their grand proportions, their vast 
 sides from base to summit red Avith solar flame, and 
 their peaks showing sharply in outline against the 
 dusky blue of the remoter sky. The mountains to the 
 west were already dark with the growing gloom, and 
 their ponderous shadows stretched half across the 
 lake. 
 
 " I tell ye, Henry," said the man who, kneeling in 
 the bow of the canoe, was wielding his paddle with the 
 precise and leisurely but powerful stroke of strength 
 and consummate skill, and who was none other than our 
 old friend, the Trapper, — ^^ I tell ye, Henry," said he, 
 addressing, without turning his head or varying his 
 stroke, his companion in the stern, " the lad pulls a 
 • strong stroke, ef it be rather slow and not so snappy 
 as is jedicious in a light boat. His gather isn't very 
 lively, for sartin, and his head sort of lops down on 
 his chest, but his boat runs on an even keel, and he 
 reaches for a good deal of water. I conceit we had 
 better flirt this birch up to him a leetle and let him 
 know that we mean to git to the p'int soon enough to 
 take supper with him anyway. Do ye lengthen yer 
 stroke a foot or so, Henry, and give me the beat of a 
 leetle livelier tune, back there, as the fiddlers say, for 
 the paddle in the bow must take its hint from the pad- 
 
146 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 die in the starn, onless ye would have yer hoat rockin' 
 like a cradle in the settlements." 
 
 To this injunction Herbert yielded a ready assent, 
 and set the Trapper a stroke that gave him a 
 chance to put his enormous strength into his paddle. 
 For half a rniliute not a sound was heard, save the dip 
 of the paddle blades as their thin edges were whipped 
 into and out of the water, and the hiss of its parted 
 surface as the sharp canoe flew through it. Up and 
 down the paddles flashed. They rose and fell with the 
 precision of machinery, and, driven by their powerful 
 pressure the canoe fairly flashed through the dusky air. 
 For a moment it gained rapidly on the boat — so rap- 
 idly that in an instant the beak was within a dozen feet 
 of its stern, and the Trapper called good-naturedly to 
 the man who was working soberly at the oars ahead : — 
 
 " Look out, lad, we be comin' for ye. Henry has 
 sartinly took the floor in 'arnest, with his moccasins off, 
 and has sot my paddle agoin' to the motions of a jig 
 that the parsons in the settlements never danced to. 
 We don't want to run ye down, lad, and spill yer traps 
 and yer dog into the water ; but yer will have to 
 lengthen yer stroke, and put a leetle more snap into 
 yer gather, or we shall bunt ye in a minit." 
 
 '^ I don't care if you and Henry do bunt me," 
 returned the man at the oars, " for I know you are 
 only in fun ; but I'd just as soon run faster as not, for 
 the sooner w^e get in the sooner we will have something 
 to eat — audi am real hungry; — but I don't think 
 you can catch me, for I've got a first-rate boat to run, 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH 147 
 
 and my oars are very long, and I'll lengthen out a bit 
 if you say so." 
 
 While he had been saying this, in a simple, quiet 
 tone of voice, with not the least vibration of excite- 
 ment in it, he had been lengthening his stroke and 
 quickening his gather, until by the time he had done 
 speaking he was pulling with a sweep and finish that 
 no one could have believed possible to one so spare of 
 frame and so awkward in his habitual motions. 
 
 By this time the two boats were fairly flying, for 
 The Max Who Did'nt Kxow" Much had set him- 
 self a stroke which a professional coach would have 
 called nearly perfect, — long and strong, and evenly 
 pulled from beginning to end. The immense length 
 of his body and arms, taken in connection with the 
 size of his oars, enabled him to get and keep a hold 
 on the water a fidl yard ahead of where an ordinary 
 stroke would begin, while the blades remained in the 
 water until they had passed nearly to the stern of the 
 boat and were ready to trail. His recovery was cer- 
 tainly not quick, but it did not linger at any point, 
 and was made with the precision of machinery, while 
 the blades dropped into the lake as if it was oil, for 
 not a drop was disturbed on the surface, and the grip 
 they got on the water was strong as pressure could 
 make it from the start. It was a stroke such as no 
 one that had not the Lad's enormous length could 
 deliver, and which would require far greater strength 
 than his, probably, to sustain ; but if it could be kept 
 up, no mortal man of shorter build could live a race 
 out with him. 
 
148 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " I tell ye, lad," said the Trapper, as lie put the 
 strength of his powerful frame into the paddle, until 
 the polished staff bent to the strain, as a foil bends 
 when the fencer suddenly drops his weight on to it, — 
 "' I tell ye, lad, I have seed many men pull oars on 
 these lakes and on the great rivers of the West, too, 
 when death was in full chase astarn and they had good 
 reason to do their best ; but I never seed a man pull 
 sech a stroke as ye be puUin'. And ef ye had a leetle 
 more thickness across the chest and around tlie small 
 of yer back, I don't believe a man on the 'artli could 
 hold even with ye for a mile, onless the divil was arter 
 him, and the Lord of Marcy gin him a lift. Now, 
 here be Henry and me, who have our gifts, and among 
 'em I sartinly reckon the jedicious use of the paddle 
 ain't the least ; and onless he has forgot himself, I 
 dare say he is doin' his share. And I know that ef I 
 should put another ounce into my stroke I should likely 
 break as tough a paddle as second growth ash ever 
 made ; and that would be a bit of foolishness, as I 
 jedge. And yit ye hold yer own agin us handsomely, 
 and it sartinly looks, as I see the swing of yer stroke, 
 and git the reason of it, that ye might let out another 
 link or two ef sarcumstances raally called on ye for it. 
 I tell ye, Henry," continued the Trapper, as he turned 
 his face a trifle toward his companion and lowered his 
 voice, " I've always held that two paddles, used with 
 reason, could beat any two oars in the univarse. But 
 the lad, here, is sartinly holdin' us even, and, I do 
 believe, he has act'ally gained six good inches in the 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 149 
 
 last twenty strokes ; and ef yer paddle will bear it, I 
 sartinly advise ye to pnt a leetle more force into yer 
 stroke, as I shall into mine, e£ the staff in my hands 
 goes to pieces ; for I'll never own up that one man at 
 the oars can beat two at the paddle, ef I be one of 'em, 
 and the ash holds together. So, Henry, quicken yer 
 stroke agin, and drive the stick ye have in yer hands 
 into pieces, as I sartinly will mine, onless we bunt the 
 lad fair and square, so as to start the paint on his 
 starn-board, within the next fifty rods." 
 
 The Old Trapper was evidently warming to the 
 work, at the thought that one of his favorite notions 
 was in peril, and the manner in which he flashed his 
 paddle blade far out ahead, as he finished his summons 
 to Herbert, showed that his next stroke would test the 
 strength of his paddle beyond what ordinary wood 
 could stand ; but the stroke was never delivered, for as 
 his body rosa into the air and extended itself forward 
 for the full exercises of his immense powers, a sharp, 
 quick quiver ran through the canoe from stem to 
 stern, and, yielding to the tremendous sweep which 
 Herbert gave to his guiding blade, swooped so suddenly 
 aside from the line of its previous course that any one 
 less accustomed than the old man to the frail thino- 
 would have lost his balance and been pitched headlong 
 into the lake. 
 
 '' What is it, lad, what is it? " exclaimed the Trap- 
 per, in a hoarse whisper, as he felt the signal run 
 through the canoe, " and where away is he ? By the 
 Lord, Henry," continued he, as his eyes caught sight 
 
150 ABIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 of an object standing out in bold relief on the shore a 
 hundred rods, perhaps, to his right, " a bigger buck 
 never wet his hoofs in the water or made his bed in 
 the moss ! Ye have did this thhig sarcumspectly, lad, 
 and larnt an old man the foolishness of talkin' and 
 actin' like a person without eyes when his belt is slack 
 from emptiness, and there's no venison in the pack. 
 That's right, Henry, git round into place and take yer 
 rifle and leave the paddHn' to me, for yer eye be keen 
 and yer hand steady, and the buck, there, is an old un 
 and has seed man afore, and ye will have to shoot a 
 far shot and put yer bullit where it ought to go, or 
 we'll sup without meat to-night, for sartin." 
 
 The actions of the two men thus suddenly and 
 unexpectedly interrupted in their race were character- 
 istic, and perfectly illustrated the habits of those who 
 depend on the alertness of their senses for their 
 profits and their food in the woods. 
 
 The eyes of Herbert, even amid the excitement of 
 the race, acting in harmony with a law of habit which 
 had in it, from constant practice, the force of nature, 
 had never shortened the rano;e of their observation, 
 but searched with occasional olances the aatherino- 
 gloom of the western shore for some such presence as 
 they had at last — in the extreme end of a little cove 
 heavily bordered with cedar and balsam — discovered. 
 With instinctive sagacity he had shied the canoe to 
 the left, out into the lake and away from the buck, 
 and in such a manner that, when it came to a stand, 
 the end in which he was sitting would bs pointed 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH 15V 
 
 toward the game. Thought is scarcely quicker than 
 the motion with which the Old Trapper, the instant 
 his eyes caught sight of the buck, had slid from his 
 kneeling posture into the bottom of the canoe, where, 
 now sitting, he was ready for the advance. Herbert 
 had no sooner delivered the stroke with which the 
 eanoe had been turned from its course and checked in 
 its career, than, sliding his paddle into it, he changed 
 his position to the reverse of what it had been, and 
 with a motion of his hand unlashed his rifle from its 
 fastenings and lifted it to his knees. Thus, in an 
 instant as it were, the change had been effected, and 
 the difficult job of paddling np to a wild deer in day- 
 light was about to be attempted. 
 
 Thus they sat, ready for the start, but before they 
 started the Trapper delivered himself thus character- 
 istically : " Henry, we have made seventy mile sence 
 we've tasted food, and the meal be scant in the bag, 
 and the pork no bigger than the text of a parson's 
 sermon ; and the pack of the lad yender — Avho hasn't 
 larnt what we be up to yit, for he's pullin' the same 
 stroke he was when we quit, as ef he had no eyes in 
 his head, and etarnity was afore him — has more 
 traps in it than biscuit, and though traps be good 
 enough in their way, yit they can neither be br'iled 
 nor spitted, and I'm as empty as a horn with not a 
 karnal in it. I sartinly hope ye may be able to sink 
 the lead into him in a spot where it will weigh most. 
 Now, lad, I will git ye as nigh as I can, and give ye 
 the favor of all the light there is, and I have strong 
 
152 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 hopes of yer gittin' him, for yer gifts at shootin' be 
 sartinly wonderful. I know ye be jeclicious in cal- 
 culatin' distance, and I've never seed ye miss a cretur 
 ye drawed on yit, but it's mighty dusky for close 
 work, and I sartinly won't blame ye ef ye miss him. 
 Don't lift yer piece till I signal, for I know the habits 
 of the cretur and will keep my eyes on him. I shan't 
 give ye the sign till he's about to jump. So when ye 
 git it, boy, don't be long in findin' the bottom of yer 
 sights, and remember to allow for the darkness. I 
 hope, with the feelin' of a hungry man, that ye'll hit 
 him, Henry, for I am sartinly empty and the cravin' of 
 natur' is strono- within me. Now do accordin' to the 
 gifts the Lord has gin ye, or three men will go supper- 
 less to bed." 
 
 As the Trapper concluded his speech the canoe 
 began to move toward the buck, but with a motion so 
 easy and true to the line of its progress tliat, to one 
 looking at it in the direction of its movement, the 
 movement itself could not be perceived. The arms of 
 the Trapper were sunk well over the sides of the 
 canoe, and his paddle played in the water, without 
 revealing its motions, as noiselessly and almost as 
 invisibly as do the webbed feet of the Northern Diver. 
 His body was so held as to place Herbert's form 
 exactly between the buck and himself, so that neither 
 the motion of the canoe, as it slowly floated forward, 
 nor the body and motions of the paddler, could be 
 seen. Herbert sat in plain view, with his rifle across 
 his knees, and his finger within the guard ; but his 
 
THE MAX WHO DWy'T KXOW MUCH. 153 
 
 body was as motionless as if carved out of the air, 
 and the features of his face, even, were stiffened into 
 the rigidity of marble. Thus the canoe glided into 
 the deepening shadows of the western shore and the 
 mouth of the little cove, directly toward the game. 
 
 At the farther end of the bay stood the buck, his 
 feet deep in the brown sands, and his antlered head 
 lifted, as if in proud challenge, into the air. His 
 posture was one of haughty interrogation as to what 
 the dim object gliding in upon him might be, and 
 superb defiance of it. Twice he lifted a fore leg 
 and drove his pointed hoof into the sand, with the 
 expression of lordly impatience at the ignorance or 
 audacity of those who dared disturb, by their bold 
 presence, his royal privacy. And as the canoe floated 
 still nearer, twice he lifted his brown muzzle and blew 
 a blast from his resounding nostrils that tore fiercely 
 through the still air, and made the woods behind 
 him rino' aoain, while the mountain across the lake 
 received the wrathful sound, and passed it back in 
 diminutive modulations to the spot whence it came. 
 Once he started, as if some terrible suspicion had for 
 an instant broken over the ramparts of his courage 
 and stormed into the very pavilion of his kingly 
 spirit ; but it vras only a passing weakness. He gave 
 one jump ; then stopped, planted himself as if inca- 
 pable of fear ; lifted his nose high up, and blew again 
 a wrathful challenge to the rude intruders, while the 
 hair on the line of his back ridged in wrath, and his 
 feet smote the beach like hammers. 
 
154 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 In the meanwhile the canoe floated as noiselessly on- 
 ward as a feather, and with a steadiness of motion that 
 never varied a hair's width. Even Avhen the buck 
 jumped, not a muscle of Herbert's face moved, and the 
 finger wdiich lay lightly on the trigger could not have 
 been steadier had the hand to which it belonoed been 
 incapable of feeling. Thus the man in the bow held 
 his position with rigid fixedness, and the man in the 
 stern w^orked his paddle with the same even and steady 
 play of the waist. But when the buck blew his second 
 challenge, after he made his bound, and the progress 
 of the canoe was fast brino;inof liis liead in line with 
 a beech, whose silvery-white leaves furnished a back- 
 ground that would sorve to bring out his head in par- 
 tial relief at least, the paddle of the Trapper stopped 
 its movement, and settled to a trail, and when the on- 
 w^ard progress had lifted the antlers to the level of the 
 silver leaves, the least possible quiver ran along the 
 sides of the canoe. 
 
 For a second after the signal was given, Herbert 
 moved not a muscle, and then the rifle jumped to his 
 cheek, and before it woukl seem possible for his eye to 
 have found the line of the sight, tlie fiery flame leapt 
 into the dusky air, and the mountains rang wdth the 
 rattling echoes of the sharp explosion. The buck 
 never jumped, but dropped in his tracks as if his legs 
 had been cut from under him, and lay in a limp heap; 
 for the bullet had entered between the eyes and torn 
 its passage through the spinal column as it passed out. 
 The Trapper said not a word until he had reached the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW 3IUCH. 155 
 
 spot where the dead deer lay, and had examined both 
 the entrance and exit of the bullet ; but after he had 
 bled the game, and had wiped his knife free of 
 stain, he turned to his comrade, and said : — 
 
 " I knowed ye could shoot well afore to-day, for 
 I've seed ye do shootin' that would put to shame many 
 who boast of their exploits with the rifle, but Avhat ye 
 have done here on the buck shows the parfection of 
 the wepon ye carry, and that your gifts lie in the 
 direction of a grooved barrel. I sartinly thought ye 
 was waitin' a leetle too long on the cretur arter I gin 
 ye the signal, and my in'ards sort of shrivelled with 
 disapp'intment at the idee of losing him, but I conceit 
 the reason of yer waitin' now I've seed where yeVe 
 drove the buUit, and I confess ye mixed yer brains 
 with yer powder and shot with reason and jedgment, 
 for the body showed dim agin the bank and the white 
 leaves of the beech here made his head yer best chance ; 
 but the chance was none of the best, and I honestly 
 question ef there's another man in the woods that could 
 have did as ye have done considerin' the darkness and 
 the distance. Yis, yer gifts in shootin' be sartinly 
 oncommon, and I trust ye feel grateful to the Giver of 
 them. This buck is as big as natur allow^s, Henry," 
 continued the Trapper, as he laid hold of his legs to 
 roll him into the canoe, " and his antlers will make the 
 eyes of the folks in the settlements stick out." 
 
 In ten minutes they were off the point on which a 
 rousing fire was burning, while the Lad, for so the Old 
 Trapper had named him, was plying his axe vigorously, 
 preparing wood for the night. 
 
156 jiBIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 " Well, lad," called the Trapper from tlie canoe, as 
 it swung: in toward the shore where a stretch of sand 
 made the landing safe for the frail and heavily-laden 
 vessel, " so ye stopped rowin' arter awhile, did ye ? 
 The last I seed of ye ye was goin' it as ef ye had taken 
 the job for the Avinter, and was putting yer best licks 
 into the beginnhi'. The sight of yer 'arnestness sort of 
 warmed me up, and made my eyes see nothin' but the 
 eend of your boat. And ef it hadn't been for Henry 
 here we should have run by as big a buck as ever wore 
 antlers, and gone supperless to bed. Come down, lad, 
 and take a look at the cretur, for he is as big as an 
 ox, and the fat lies as thick on his ribs as ef he had 
 fed in the cornfields of the settlements. There will be 
 some strong and 'arnest movements of teeth on this 
 p'int to-night arter the meat has cooled a trifle, or else 
 ye and Henry has had better eatin' than I have sence 
 we left the pond of beavers." 
 
 Two hours later three men mioht have been seen 
 reclining around a huge camp-fire, Avhose flame rose 
 directly upward in a steady column, illuminating the 
 branches of the great pines overhead, and around, and 
 casting its bright reflection far out over the surface of 
 the lake. 
 
 " Yis, this be Tomahawk P'int, Henry, of wdiich ye 
 have heerd me speak afore ; and right back here in 
 the swale is ' Bloody Spring.' And it be well named, 
 too ; for, though its waters be cool and pure as natur' 
 ever brewed, yit I remember the day when its depths 
 was red with mortal blood ; for a dreadful scrimmage 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 157 
 
 was fought here years agone^ and the dead lay thick 
 around it, as the cones on the ground to-night. Yis, I 
 was young then ; but I did my part accordin' to my 
 gifts, and I was one of the few that come out aHve ; 
 for 'twas a close thing, hand to hand, and the powder 
 gin out on both sides afore 'twas ended. And we took 
 to the knife and the clubbed rifle, for blood was hot 
 that day, and marcy was leetle thought of by redskin 
 or white, and few of us come out with full veins, I 
 tell ye." 
 
 " What did you fight each other for ? " said the 
 Lad. " I think it wrong to fight ; don't you, John 
 Norton ? " 
 
 '^ Sartinly, lad, sartinly, under ordinary circum- 
 stances, and in peace time ; but there be times when 
 it's necessary to draw blood, especially in self-defence, 
 in a large sort of a way, as I understand it. But it's a 
 dreadful thing to take a mortal life, I'll allow, and I 
 never lined the siohts on a man when it didn't seem 
 to me, all things considered, that he had lived long 
 enough, and should git a taste of the jedgment ; but 
 I will confess that when things git close, and ye have 
 to take to yer knife, and there be two to one agin ye, 
 a man hasn't much time to arger the question of right 
 and wrong, and I dare say in secli sarcumstances I 
 have used the riHe-stock and the knife a leetle loose 
 and careless-like ; and I recollect the awful scrimmage 
 we had here sixty year agone as ef it was but yester- 
 day, and it v. as a most onreasonable and bloody battle, 
 for sartin, for when 'twas ended I was the only man 
 
158 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 who could keep liis feet, and I had three bulUts inside 
 of me, and a knife blade driven into my shoulder here, 
 with the handle broke squar' off in front, and the p'int 
 stickin' out of my back. But it wasn't our fault, for 
 when their powder gin out the Hurons came at us 
 with their tomahawks, and they outnumbered us four 
 to one, and we had to show the scamps the borderer's 
 grit, and we did, for I sent the last of the vagabonds 
 into etarnity with marks on his throat and a hole in 
 his side, which told the Lord as plain as writin', I 
 reckon, that John Norton was sarvin' him in 'arnest 
 on the 'arth. But, lad, yer sperit be right, and it be 
 better to live in peace with yer fellowmen, if ye 
 can. 
 
 " That's what mother used to say to me," replied 
 the Lad, and the good Book says : ^ If - thy - enemy 
 
 - smite - you - on - the - one - cheek, - turn - to 
 
 — him - the — other - also ; and - if - a - man — take — 
 away - thy - cloak, - give - him - thy - coat - also.' 
 Haven't I said it right, Herbert?" 
 
 " Yes, you have said it rightly, word for word," 
 replied the other. 
 
 " I knew I hadn't forgot it," continued the Lad, 
 with the least possible inflection of pride in his voice, 
 " and I know it is a wise saying, for last fall a bad 
 man got on the line of my traps, and stole my skins as 
 fast as I could catch them. And one day I caught 
 him stealing a mink, and I went up to him so still he 
 never knew I was nigh until I touched him, and he 
 jumped as if he had been shot ; and drew his knife on 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 159 
 
 me ; but I didn't fear him, for I knew I was right, and 
 he w\i^, wrong, and I told him 'tw^as wicked to steal, 
 and that if he wanted skins I would give him some 
 rather than he shoukl steal them, if he would go to the 
 cabin. And he went, and I made him up a roll of 
 good nice ones, and in the morning, when he was 
 about to go away, I gave the roll to him ; but he 
 wouldn't touch it, but said he would never steal 
 another skin as long as he lived ; and I don't believe 
 he will ; do you, John Norton ?" 
 
 " I shouldn't think he would, k^d, ef he has any 
 in'ards to him," returned the Trapper, as he looked 
 steadily into the guileless face before him, " it sartinly 
 worked well in yer case, but I don't conceit that rod 
 would fit every bore. Now, I've read the Bible off 
 and on for seventy year, and, take it all in all, it's a 
 pritty reasonable book, although there be portions of 
 it that I can't make sense of, and now^ and then ye run 
 agin a sayin' that's sartinly onreasonable, and the varse 
 the lad has quoted, Henry, be one of 'em. I've 
 thought a good deal over those varses, and I've ruther 
 settled down to the opinion that either the words have 
 got into the book by mistake, or else that the Lord 
 didn't know much about the cost of jackets, and sech 
 like garments. For it's sartinly agin reason to tell a 
 man who has had his waistcott stole to oive the vagfa- 
 bond that stole it bis shirt also ; especially ef it be late 
 in the fall, and thread be scant in the cabin. Now, I 
 run agin a half-breed on the line of my traps last 
 winter, and he had a fisher in his thievin' fingers, and 
 
160 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 I told him to drop it or there would be trouble. I 
 reasoned with him about the onrighteousness of the 
 act, not exactly as the lad would, perhaps, but I gin 
 him a bit of my mind which I dare say was equal to 
 Scriptur', under the sarcumstances. AVell, two weeks 
 later — and I had lost a dozen good pelts in the 
 meanwhile, — I caught the scamp fishin' around for a 
 beaver that had run out into the pond with one of my 
 chains to him, and I conceited the thing had gone fur 
 enough, and I put my mark on him so the Lord 
 shouldn't have any doubts who he was, and who he 
 stole from, when he should come sneakin' into the 
 jedgment, even ef I shouldn't be round to testify in 
 the case. The lad's way is a good un, for sartin, ef 
 it will work ; but bullits is cheaper than pelts, and I 
 shouldn't offer a roll of good skins to any thief I 
 ketched at my traps, Scriptur' or no Scriptur'. I tell 
 ye, powder makes a louder sound than pious words, 
 in the ears of a sneak when fingerin' pelts that don't 
 belong to him. What say ye, Henry ?" 
 
 "I say we had better go to sleep, now, and 'talk 
 some other time. But before we turn in, what think 
 you of a hunt in the morning. The hounds take 
 kindly together, and would run a buck to water in 
 an hour. We could take the body out and sell it 
 at the Saranacs, or jerk it here before we start ; for 
 there's two days yet before the races. What say 
 you both?" 
 
 The idea was a pleasing one both to the Lad and 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 161 
 
 the Trapper, and after a few moments further can- 
 vasshig the matter, they wrapped themselves in their 
 blankets, and with their feet almost in the warm 
 ashes, and with uj covering but the sky above 
 their heads, fell asleep. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE HUNT. 
 
 " The bounding elk, whose antlers tear 
 
 The branches, falls before my aim." — Bryant. 
 
 Morning in the wilderness. The east was rosy red, 
 save where a hiyer of clouds lying athwart the rising 
 light cut it from north to south with its black plane. 
 The mountain summits to the east were crested with 
 reflected fire, while the snow which crowned them 
 with its cold beauty blushed at the kiss of the 
 ardent morning. The lake was one vast valley filled 
 with fog. The impenetrable fleece possessed the in- 
 tervening space from shore to shore, and even masked 
 the lower mountains from sight. The trees dripped 
 lazily. The gaily tinted leaves of the maples in the 
 coves, without cause, let go their hold upon the stems 
 and floated in indolent, zigrzao: motions downward. 
 The squirrels in the thickets were waking the tiny 
 echoes with their noisy chatterings. At intervals 
 the harsh shriek of the king-fisher disturbed the air, 
 while now and then a loon sent forth its weird call 
 from amid the feathery fleece. Soon the sun let 
 loose its energies ; the red beams marshalled them- 
 selves upon the eastern crests and then charged 
 downward in fiery squadrons upon the fog. Into it 
 and through it they dashed. They trampled it under 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 163 
 
 foot, opened broad lanes from shore to shore, cut 
 into it rioht and left and sent it flyino-. The warm, 
 vibrant life Avas too much for the cold, inert deadness, 
 and in a brief space the mighty orb of day stood 
 forth in the blue sky in all his glory. The lake lay 
 plain to view, but its surface still smoked ; the dead 
 air became a current, and waves of thinnest vapor 
 rolled along the smooth surface. Here and there a 
 shortened column of denser mist rose from the water. 
 In the bays and around the shores of the coves 
 where were the inlets, a few vagrant patches might 
 be seen stealing like detected guilt away. Thus Day, 
 bright and clear, Avith all it brings of light, and 
 warmth, and renewed life, had triumphed over its 
 gloomy rival. 
 
 Just as the fog began to lift from the surface of the 
 water, a boat with the Lad in it shoved out from Tom- 
 ahawk Point and started down the lake. As it glided 
 forward the Old Trapper, who was in the act of charg- 
 ing his rifle, paused a moment with his palm on the top 
 of his ramrod, and said : — 
 
 '' Now, lad, don't ye forgit Avhere ye are to watch ; 
 Henry will lie off the big rock, and ye must place 
 yerself inside the island, so ye can see well down the 
 lake. I shan't start the dogs 'til I find a big un, and 
 he won't run fur ef he's fat and ' Sport ' be as ye say 
 he is in a race ; and I warrant ^ Rover ' won't fool 
 away time, for I can see by the look in his eye that 
 he's hungry for the scent, and will be crazy when he 
 gits it warm and strong. Keep yer eyes ojjen, lad, 
 
164 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 for I shall drive in a big iin, and ef ye be as good at 
 shootin' as ye be at rowin' ye'll kill him afore he gits 
 within a half a mile of the lake ; " and the Trapper 
 laughed at his own conceit. "I tell ye, Henry," he 
 continued, as he drove the bullet home, still keeping 
 his eye on the receding boat, " the lad has his gifts, 
 but it's wonderful that the Lord should do 'em up in 
 that sort of a fashion ; for he's onnaterally lengthy to 
 begin with, and looks as ef he was built in sections, 
 and as ef the sections was not half put together at 
 that ; but his sperit be right, an' he sartinly pulled a 
 stroke last night that was amazin'. There, Henry," 
 he continued, as he carefully capped the tubes, " I 
 didn't like the way the bullit in the left barrel felt as 
 I sent it down, for it Avent onsteady ; but the one I 
 have put into the right was a beauty, and it drove even 
 and true from muzzle to chamber as a bullit should 
 drive. So now, ef ye be ready, take yer rifle and the 
 dogs, and we will start the canoe. The sun has eat up 
 the mist, and it's high time the pups was out." 
 
 In a moment the canoe, containing the Trapper, 
 Herbert, and the hounds, left the point and in five 
 minutes was across the bay. The Trapper stood hold- 
 ing the dogs in the leash on the rock for an instant, 
 and said : — 
 
 " Ef I was in yer place, Henry, I would lie well off 
 here abreast of the rock, for the runway comes out by 
 that ledge there, and more than one deer have I seed 
 take the jump fly in' ; and ef the dogs play fast, as I 
 think they will, — for I shan't start 'em ontil I start a 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 165 
 
 buck from his nest, — and ef he shouki take water 
 here ye will see as pritty a sig'lit as a hunter ever seed, 
 and one to make yer eyes brighten and the blood in yer 
 veins to tingle." So saying the Trapper disappeared 
 with the dogs in the thicket, and Herbert, acting on 
 the old man's suggestion, paddled sixty rods out into 
 the lake, and lifting his rifle to his knees, waited. 
 
 Thus Herbert sat listening. The morning had 
 brought no wind, and the lake stretched in level 
 expanse, unruffled, from shore to shore. Objects were 
 not wanting to amuse the eye. A partridge strutted 
 out on the trunk of a huge pine that projected out- 
 ward from the shore, ruffed its neck, clucked, spread 
 out its fan-like tail, and raising itself to its highest 
 stretch, drummed with nervous strokes of its wings, 
 loud and long, with evident pride at its brave perform- 
 ance. A family of wood-duck, a mother and six 
 younglings, of full size but lacking the beauty of 
 older birds, led by the lordly drake in full plumage — 
 his crest of purple and bronze alive with color, and 
 his whole body, as the warm rays of the sun smote 
 upon his back, ablaze with brilliance, fairly converting 
 him into a bunch of floating radiance — swam in 
 Indian file around the outer rock and continued on 
 their course, until their tiny w^ake faded from sight in 
 the inner cove. 
 
 A great Northern Diver, that had dived from some 
 unknown point, rose for air within six rods of Her- 
 bert's station, shook the water from its eyes, flattened 
 itself an instant in suspicion as it caught sight of the 
 
166 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 canoe, and the motionless man sitting in it ; then, 
 reassured, rose on its webbed feet, shook its narrow 
 wino'S, showinof the rounded fuhiess o£ its snoAV-white 
 breast, and the spotted beauty of its back ; then 
 settled back upon the water, thrust its head pkiyfuily 
 beneath the surface, withdrew it, hfted its black bill 
 into the air and laughed its w^eird, witch-like laughter, 
 till the honest hills mocked wickedly in reply. So 
 Herbert sat, observant of nature's doings, with eyes 
 that lost not a motion on lake or shore, and with ears 
 open to receive the slightest sound. 
 
 At last it came. One instant, and the hills em- 
 bodied silence ; not a vibration stirred above their 
 motionless pines. The next, and the hollow air rang 
 as if with the notes of a dozen bugles suddenly blown 
 by practised lips, clear, strong, and full, from the 
 signal. 
 
 No initial yelp, no whimpering and doubtful pre- 
 lude, prepared the listener's feelings for the coming 
 peal ; but loud, and long, and full, as voice of hound 
 could make it, when the game starts from his nest in 
 close and maddening view, did the clarion peal ascend. 
 It rose above the pines, and liUed the upper air, rolled 
 down the ravines an avalanche of softening sound, 
 swelled up above the peaks, and ran in minor ripples 
 of noise alono- the rido;es, and even sent its waves of 
 melody across the level lake, breaking at last, and 
 dying away in melting reverberations on the farther 
 shore. The cheek of Herbert flushed, his eyes 
 lighted, and the blood within him tingled in its every 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 167 
 
 vein, as he heard the glorious cry. Again and again 
 did the sounds swell upward, and roll down the 
 mountain. Peal on peal, torrent, eddies, and cataracts 
 of tuneful noise, did the hounds send rushinof and roll- 
 ing out into the resounding air. Onward in swift 
 career they tore. Now flying along a ridge, now 
 plunging into a deep ravine, where the thick balsam 
 branches half-smothered their clarion cry ; now stream- 
 ing in swiftest race down a steep slope, while above, 
 the air fairly quivered, torn apart and shivered into 
 tuneful fragments by the imperious summons of the 
 dogs' hot throats, beneath. 
 
 Thus went the race. And with feelino^s which 
 only a hunter knows did Herbert sit and mark its 
 changeful course, — holding his very breath to listen, 
 when the sounds made aerial angles, expecting each 
 turn would brino; the doers' mouths toward the lake. 
 At last the buck, pressed by the hounds, doubled 
 short upon his course, — which had been upward, as if 
 he would climb the crest and seek refuo-e in the west- 
 ern lakes. He turned, and shot with all his speed 
 along the very runway the Old Trapper had mentioned, 
 straight for the lake and the ledge ; abreast of which 
 Herbert, eager and ready for his appearance, sat. 
 Down, down he came, and after him the hounds. It 
 was plain to Herbert that the dogs had held their 
 own from the start, and were running in full sight 
 of their game. Onward and downward came the 
 race. Buck and doo's and noise came on too-ether. 
 The mountain flowed with sounds. The steep decliv- 
 
168 ABIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 ity resounded with the rush of the vocal torrent. 
 To north and south the echoes barked and roared. 
 The owls flew up into the dazzling sun affrighted by 
 the tempest of noises that swept and eddied under- 
 neath their gloomy roosts. The ravens, with waver- 
 ing wings, fluttered above the trees, harshly croaking. 
 The white gulls, sailing on circling wings far overhead, 
 screamed their shrill interrogations to each other, and 
 soared yet higher. 
 
 Thus, with bay of hounds, with scream and croak 
 of bird, and volleying echoes pouring down straight 
 toward the shore, came on, like a tornado's flight, 
 the hurrying race. Soon the sound of parting brush 
 was heard ; of crackling steins, of dead wood crashed 
 wildly through, of vault, and plunge, and all the 
 noises which an impetuous race down a steep mountain 
 side, on a still morning, makes. Nearer and nearer 
 the uproar came ; until it reached the very limit of 
 the brush, and, breaking through the interlacing 
 shrubbery, w^ith antlers laid well back, eyes on fire, 
 tongue hanging out, froth flying from his open 
 mouth, the buck, with a hound at either flank, burst 
 out upon the rock, and with a mighty leap flung 
 himself, with all the momentum of his flight to help, 
 full thirty feet into the waters of the lake : not 
 unaccompanied ; for the dogs — strong in structure, 
 and brave in their breeding, with courage hot as 
 their heated blood, — took w^ater as boldly, if not 
 with such length of leap as had the game, and whim- 
 pering as they swam, still held their swift pursuit. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 169 
 
 In the canoe Herbert sat motionless, until the buck, 
 with plunging' and nervous leaps through the level 
 water, had covered two-thirds the distance that lay 
 betwixt the ledge and boat, then the rifle jumped to 
 his cheek, and the quick explosion ripped the air 
 asunder with its fierce concussion. 
 
 The head o£ the buck dropped, as the hammer 
 fell, and lay motionless ; while the hounds, giving 
 each a sharp, cpiick bark, turned back, and swam 
 contentedly towards the shore. 
 
 The race was over ; and a brave one had it been. 
 Herbert, having lashed his rifle to its fastenings, 
 paddled to the game, feeling that the morning and 
 the evenins: had oiven him the two best shots he 
 had ever made, and the two largest sets of antlers he 
 had ever seen. 
 
 It was a difficult job to ship his game ; but the lake 
 was as smooth as glass, and the canoe of large size, 
 and Herbert had taken too many deer from the 
 water not to know the method of proceeding. He 
 careened the canoe well over one side, and laying 
 hold of the buck by the tail and haunches, lifted 
 him, with a skilful motion, upward. The hams of 
 the buck were already above the surface, and level 
 with the edge of the canoe, when, with a quick 
 and nervous energy that only a deer can exhibit, 
 he delivered a kick with his hoofs against the side 
 and stove it through, as if it were but paper, and 
 sent Herbert head-foremost over the horns of the 
 animal into the water. 
 
170 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 The position of Herbert was now one of extreme 
 peril. The ballet had struck the deer, but at such 
 an angle that it had not penetrated it, but glanced 
 upward into the air, only stunning the creature for a 
 moment. The instant that the head of Herbert rose 
 to the surface, which it did almost within the reach 
 of his horns, and worse yet, of his sharp-edged hoofs, 
 the buck, with a snort of pain and rage, his back 
 curved and bristling, plunged at him. Sudden as 
 had been the catastrophe, and startling as was the 
 peril, the self-possession of Herbert had not left him ; 
 for he came to the surface, knife in hand, and ready 
 for the rush he knew would come. As the creature 
 lunged at liim, by a dexterous movement he flung 
 himself aside, and lifting himself in the water, drove, 
 with all the strength of his arm, the blade downward, 
 aiminof at the root of the neck. But the motion of 
 the buck was swifter than he calculated for, and the 
 blow falling a foot behind the point aimed at, the 
 knife struck against the shoulder'-blade with a direct- 
 ness and force which parted the handle from the hilt 
 and snapped the blade off short in the middle. A 
 sound almost like a groan escaped the young man, 
 as he dashed his wounded hand, lacerated by the 
 broken fragments of the horn handle, into the water. 
 But no time was left him to consider, for quick as a 
 flash the deer turned and again plunged at him. 
 For several minutes the unequal contest raged. The 
 garments of Herbert were pierced and torn in a dozen 
 places ; the flesh of his cheek was opened by the sharp- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDXT KXOW MUCH 171 
 
 poiiit3cI prong of the buck's antlers ; and before he 
 could lay hold of his neck, or get alcngside of him, 
 one of his sharp-edged hoofs had lanced across his 
 chest and torn the flesh to the very bone. The young 
 man hesitated no longer, but lifted his voice with all 
 the force given him by the thought of his peril, and 
 shouted till the startled air rang to the cry : 
 " John Norton ! — John Norton ! — help ! " 
 The call of Henry was sent forth with all the power 
 of a man from whom it is wrung by the emergency of 
 extreme peril. The cry rose into the air with a volume 
 and energy that filled the hollow atmosphere with 
 waves of sound, rolled far down the lake, and smote 
 aoTiinst the mountain side with such directness and 
 force that twenty echoes gave it back with startling 
 distinctness. 
 
 The Trapper was well down the mountain and 
 within fifty rods of the shore when the terrible call of 
 his young companion — whom he had grown to love 
 as if he were his own son — smote upon his ear. Well 
 did he know that nothing but the direst extremity 
 could have extorted a call for assistance from Herbert 
 — much less such a cry as that. Not knowing what 
 was the cause of it, nor hesitating an instant, he 
 dashed for the lake with a recklessness and velocity 
 which would have been perilous to one of less vigor 
 and aoilitv. Over prostrate trees and boulders he 
 leapt, tore his way through a wind-fall, as if he em- 
 bodied the violence which years before had caused it, 
 burst through opposing thickets, and with a mighty 
 
172 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 leap over a monstrous pine that blocked his way, with 
 bared head, and hair streaming behind him, and with 
 his rifle at a trail, but ready for action, stood upon the 
 rock. The scene which met his gaze blanched his 
 cheek to the whiteness of coming death ; for there, 
 forty rods from the rock on which he stood, was 
 Herbert struggling with the buck in the water, while 
 the canoe was rods away and full to the brim ; and, to 
 make it more startling, the Lad, who was pulling with 
 all his might toward the spot, was a half-mile down 
 the lake. 
 
 A single glance revealed to the Trapper the true 
 state of things, and showed to him the extreme peril 
 of his companion ; for well he knew the desperate 
 strength Herbert was putting forth to avoid the horns 
 and sharp-pointed hoofs of the wounded and frenzied 
 creature with which, with desperate efforts, he was 
 contending ; and the blood that streamed down his 
 face, plainly visible from where the Trapper stood, 
 bore witness that he w\as not altogether unhurt. He 
 hesitated not an instant, but lifted his voice into the 
 air with an energy of utterance which sent each word 
 with the momentum of a cannon ball across the level 
 water to the fast-coming boat. 
 
 " Pull, lad, for the love of God !" shouted the 
 Trapper ; *' lengthen yer stroke and quicken yer 
 gather, or yer comrade will die afore yer very eyes ! 
 Pull, lad, pull ! and may God give ye strength for 
 the deed ye must do." 
 
 The stentorian voice of the Trapper reached the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 173 
 
 ears of the Lad as if lie had been but a few rods 
 away. The energy of the appeal, as truly as the 
 revelation of peril to Herbert that it made, broke into 
 his habitual indifference, as a bomb exploding unex- 
 pectedly in the inner court of a secluded palace startles 
 those within. For, although he had been pulling a 
 stroke such as the Trapper had never seen pulled even 
 before the cry had reached him, yet no sooner had the 
 call of the old man sounded, than, as if power had 
 indeed been given him of God for the moment's need, 
 the boat actually jumj^ed into the air as he bent to his 
 stroke and fairly flew over the water as he swept it 
 along. The Trapper's eyes glowed, as he saw the 
 tremendous stroke of the Lad, for he kncAV that two 
 minutes would bring his boat to Herbert's side. 
 After an instant, with a heart full of hope, he turned 
 his gaze from the on-coming boat toward his companion 
 in the water ; but a look of agony swept into his face 
 as he saw that Herbert was weakening, and that he 
 was even then barely able to keep his hold on the 
 horns of the buck. 
 
 '' Hold on, Henry, and hold up a leetle longer, for 
 the love of God," the old man shouted, " the lad is 
 sartinly pullin' with the strength of Heaven in his 
 stroke, and will be at yer side in a minit. Lie close to 
 the cretur's ribs ; keep one hand over his shoulder, 
 and hang to his horns with the other, and the Lad will 
 save ye yit." 
 
 For an instant there was no reply. Then feebly 
 and faintly, so unlike the ordinary tone of Herbert's 
 
174 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 voice that the Trapper started as if an electric current 
 had entered him, as his ears received the thin, waver- 
 ing sound, — feebly and faintly over the water came 
 the words, steady and even in tone, but low, as if 
 spoken in mortal weakness : 
 
 " John Norton, shoot the buck ! " 
 
 '' Ay, ay, Henry, I've thought of it ; but ye be 
 full forty rod from where I stand, and the lead must 
 pass within six inches of yer head. No, no, boy, it 
 isn't best, onless yer blood is oo^in' fast, and yer 
 strength eenamost gone. It's a picked bullit I've got 
 in the right barrel of my rifle, — praise the Lord, — 
 and I might perhaps do it, but the odds be agin me ; 
 but ef ye can't hold on, and yer jedgment says it's yer 
 only chance — as it sartinly is ef ye can't, for the buck 
 would kill ye with a single thrust of his foot, ef ye let 
 go, — I say, H«iry," repeated tlie Trapper, as he drew 
 back the hammer of his rifle, and pressed the trigger 
 to the set, " ef ye can't hold on, and yer jedgment 
 says it's yer only chance, I'll do my best, and may the 
 Lord in His marcy steady me for the deed. So ef ye 
 can't hold on, say the Avord, and John Norton will 
 shoot for yer life : and his own, too," continued the 
 old man to himself, '' for I wouldn't be a minit behind 
 the boy, ef he went to the jedgment with my bullit in 
 his brain." 
 
 A moment the Trapper waited for Herbert's final 
 reply. His face was white as ashes, while the rifle in 
 his hand shook and trembled like a tamarack in the 
 wind ; and then, from over the water, feebler and 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH. 175 
 
 fainter even than before, came the same calm, steady 
 tone ; and out of the air, as it passed, the old man's 
 listening ear could catch the words : — 
 
 " Shoot the buck ! " 
 
 The Trapper hesitated not an instant. He drew 
 himself to his full height, advanced his left foot, lifted 
 wdth an easy sweep of his arm his rifle into the air, and 
 as the barrels dropped into his extended palm, his 
 cheek settled to the stock, and his eye, without a quiver 
 in the lid, ranged along the sights. For an instant 
 the rifle lay on his palm as motionless as if fastened in 
 an invisible vice, and then a fiery stream spurted from 
 the muzzle, and the sharp crack rang out on the morn- 
 ing air. He had shot for a life, and, so far as skill 
 could do, had saved it ; for the bullet, passing so near 
 Herbert as to lift a lock of his hair, buried itself in the 
 buck's brain under the root of the horns. 
 
 The Trapper saw Herbert fall away from the deer, 
 — saw he had still strength enough to make the 
 needed motions to keep himself afloat, and then he 
 turned his eyes in the direction of the coming boat. 
 It was within twenty rods, and the Lad was pulling a 
 stroke which seemed to tlie Trapper to have in it the 
 energy of more than mortal power, but miraculous as 
 it was in its length, sweep, and quickness of recovery, 
 the body of the oarsman rose and sank to the motions, 
 as if no excitement had stirred his ordinary simple 
 composure, and the long blades entered and left the 
 level water with a precision and finish that tossed not a 
 drop of spray into the air, while the line of the eddy- 
 
176 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 ing wake astern led as straight from the spot from 
 which he had started far down the lake to the body of 
 Herbert, as a line could have been drawn on a level 
 floor by skilled direction. The Lad gave three more 
 strokes, and tlien dropping his oars to a trail, he hfted 
 himself, in all his ungainly height, in his boat and 
 turned his eyes forward, searching for the head and 
 body of his friend; but above the level water Avas 
 neither body nor head in sight, for Herbert had 
 
 DISAPPEARED 1 
 
 " Where is Henry ? " said the Lad to the Trap- 
 per. 
 
 The Trapper made no reply : indeed, it is doubtful 
 if he could, for his tongue clove to the roof of his 
 mouth, and his rifle dropped from his hands on to the 
 rock as if it had been only useless iron. 
 
 " Where is Henry ? " repeated the Lad, as his 
 boat glided on ; bnt before the words had fairly left 
 his lips a gleam came into his face, and with a motion 
 quick as an otter when he lifts for the dive in the 
 midst of the h )unds, he launched his body into the 
 depths of the lake. 
 
 The feet of the Lad had scarcely disappeared be- 
 neath the surface before the Trapper, with a mighty 
 leap from the rock on which he stood, had also taken 
 the water and was swimming wdth tremendous strokes 
 toward the now empty boat. 
 
CHAPTER y. 
 
 THE RESCUE. 
 
 One that I have saved fnnn drowning." — Shakesjjeare. 
 
 The Trapper had covered half the distance be- 
 tween the shore and the boat, and was swimming 
 with the strenofth and swiftness of one swdmmino^ 
 for a hfe, when the head and shonklers of the 
 Lad came to the surface as a diver emero'es from 
 the depths when struggling" with a w^eight. As the 
 old man saw the face of Herbert, his head lying life- 
 less on the bosom of the Lad, he jumped half his 
 length out of the water in the eagerness of his joy, 
 and shouted : " Ye have saved him, lad ! Ye have 
 saved him ! The Lord of marcy has helped ye, and 
 ye have saved yer comrade ! Can ye hold him up 
 a minit, — can ye hold him, I say, till I can reach 
 the boat and bring it to yer side ? 
 
 " Of course I can hold Henry up, " replied the 
 Lad, in a simple, quiet tone, as if he w^ere only 
 doing an ordinary service. " He had got a good ways 
 down before I caught up with him, but I got hold 
 of him finally, and fetched him up. I'm a httle 
 short of breath, for you called so loud to me that I 
 knew you wanted me to come right along, and so I 
 pulled real hard. But you needn't worry about my 
 
178 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 letting Henry go, for I'm a first-rate swimmer, and 
 don't feel tired a bit." 
 
 " Pulled hard ? " murmured the Trapper, as he laid 
 hold of the stern of the boat, which he had reached, 
 and with a strong skilful movement lifted himself 
 astride of it, when he instantly seized the paddle and 
 started it toward the Lad ; '' I think ye did pull hard. 
 Ye have did what no other man John Norton ever seed 
 could do ; and the Lord, whose eye has been on this 
 lake this morn, will remember ye, lad, when he gives 
 his rewards to them who did well on the 'artli ; and I 
 sartinly hope I may be there to give my idees of yer 
 conduct, and put a few words in as to yer stroke. I 
 don't believe the Lord would refuse to hear the jedg- 
 ment of an old man Avho seed the thing from begin nin' 
 to eend, either. There, lad," continued the Trapper, 
 as he swept the boat alongside and checked it with a 
 reverse stroke of his paddle, " give the boy to me, and 
 do ye swim to the other side, and steady the boat 
 while I lift him in." So saying, the old man passed 
 his strono; arms under the shoulders of Herbert as 
 tenderly as a mother might prepare to lift a sleeping 
 child, while his eyes fixed themselves on the pallid face 
 with an intensity as if they would penetrate the mortal 
 frame to see if the soul still hovered within. 
 
 The Lad promptly obeyed the old man's directions, 
 and in an instant the body of Herbert lay stretched in 
 the bottom of the boat, while his head was supported 
 by the lap of the Trapper. Li another instant the 
 Lad, with surprising agility, climbed over the bow of 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW 3IUCH 179 
 
 the boat, and, sliding into his seat, Laid hold of the 
 oars, and with a long, strong stroke started toward 
 the point which they had left scarcely an hour before, 
 and above which a thin volume of blue smoke from 
 their smouldering camp-fire was still ascending. 
 
 The Trapper had, in the meantime, unbuttoned the 
 collar of Herbert's shirt, and laid his hand over the 
 heart, searching for evidence that life still held her 
 uncertain residence within. 
 
 *^ You don't think Henry is going to die, do you ? " 
 said the Lad, as he laid to his stroke till the lono^ 
 blades of his oars bent to the pressure. 
 
 " No, lad, no ; not ef the Lord be mindful of the 
 livin'. The boy be too young to die, and the 'arth 
 needs him ; for his gifts be wonderful, and I have 
 heerd said that thousands love him in the settlements. 
 And I know," he continued, " that there's an Old 
 Trapper here in the woods who loves him, as he hasn't 
 loved man for forty year, and never thought to love 
 agin this side the great Clearin'. No, no; he mustn't 
 die. I've reckoned on the boy's company for many a 
 year yit, when he comes to the woods, and conceited 
 that perhaps the Lord of marcy would let him be nigh 
 when me and the hound start on the trail that leads 
 into the dim Valley. Take him by the feet, lad, lift 
 easy, and we will bear him to camp. Yis, yis, I know 
 now why the Lord brought us three together at the 
 pond of the beavers." 
 
 While the Trapper had been thus half-talking to 
 himself, the boat had run in, on to the beach off the 
 
180 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 point, and the two men, by a common movement, had 
 lifted Herbert in their arms and borne him to the fire. 
 
 For nearly half an hour the two worked over their 
 inanimate companion, striving to bring the departed 
 breath back to his motionless nostrils, and to start the 
 ^sluggish current of his chilled blood to its accus- 
 tomed movement ; but his limbs still remained limp, 
 his eyes closed, his nostrils inactive, and the features 
 set in the quiet, rigid smoothness which marks the 
 countenance of one who has passed forever from the 
 mortal tenement which his presence had once made 
 animate cind lovely. Still, above the heart, the skin 
 was warm, and the palm lightly placed over it could 
 interpret the faintest movement within. It was as if 
 the spirit, called suddenly away from its recent home, 
 still lingered with its foot on the threshold to take 
 one more last and tender look at the loved abode it 
 was about to leave forever. The face of the Old 
 Trapper was grave with the gravity of one who, while 
 determined to hope on, nevertheless feels that one by 
 one the evidences which warrant hope are failing him, 
 and that he will soon be standing in the presence of 
 an overwhelming calamity ; while the countenance of 
 the Lad, as he came and went on his hurried errands, 
 as directed by the Trapper, who, naturally from his 
 age and experience had assumed the management of 
 the case, showed the agitation of one through whose 
 dull senses the sharp edge of a dreadful fear was 
 slowly but surely making its way. 
 
 " Lad," said the Trapper, in a voice so hollow and 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 181 
 
 solemn that the one he addressed started, while his 
 hand that was holding a cup of w^arming water over 
 the fire, shook and trembled ; " lad, I fear that the 
 boy be goin', and that you and me will be here with 
 the dead afore the shadows of the mornin' be short- 
 ened." 
 
 " John Norton," said the Lad, " God won't let 
 Henry die if we ask him not to ; for the Bible says : 
 ' Ask, - and - it - shall - be - given : seek, - and - ye - 
 shall - find : knock, - and - it - shall - be - opened ; and 
 if you say so, 1 will go back of the lodge and ask Him 
 to make Henry live. I know I'm not wise and don't 
 know much, and I suppose a great many folks would 
 laugh at me if I should try to pray, but I know what I 
 want God to do to Henry, and I guess he can under- 
 stand me, even if I do spell out the words, and get 
 stuck sometimes on the big ones. Shall I go and try, 
 John Norton ?" 
 
 " Yis, yis, lad," replied the Trapper, while his 
 voice shook, and the great tears came into his eyes and 
 rolled down his weather-beaten cheek, " pass me the 
 cup with the brandy in it, and then do ye go back of 
 the lodge and tell the Lord the best ye can of yer 
 troubles, and ask him to give us a lift in our endiv- 
 ors ; and put the case before Him as strong as ye 
 can, lad, and don't forgit to spell in all the Scriptur' 
 ye remember, especially them varses where he has 
 promised to help the children of 'arth when peril be 
 nigh. And while ye pray I will keep rubbin' and 
 pourin' the hot drink into him, and it may be, betwixt 
 
182 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 US both, with the help o£ the Lord, and the drink, and 
 the rubbin', we'll fetch Henry back to the land o' the 
 iivni . 
 
 The Lad did as the Old Trapper had directed. He 
 poured the last drop of brandy in the flask into the 
 heated water, passed the cup to the old man, and then, 
 with a face to Avliich absolute trust and undoubted 
 hope lent illumination, he retired behind the lodge, 
 and kneeling down on the stem-matted sod, he linked 
 his awkward fingers together, and lifting his guileless 
 face upward, he closed his eyes, and with many a 
 stammer, but with directness of entreaty and earnest- 
 ness of faith which kept his si)eech straight to the line 
 of his wish, prayed : — 
 
 " Father - in - heaven, - mother - tokl - me - to - al- 
 ways - call - you - Father, - I - want - you - to - hear - 
 me - while - I - tell - you - what - I - want. Henry - 
 is - dying - and - Ave - both - love - Henry, - and - you - 
 can - save - him - as - well - as - not, - for - you - are - 
 able - to - do - anything. The - Saviour - told - us - 
 that - whatsoever - ye - ask - of - the - Father - in - my 
 
 - name - that - will - he - do - unto - you. I - and - 
 John - Norton - ask - you - to - bring - Henry - back - 
 to - life, - noAV, - right - off. It - is - written, - 
 according - to - thy - faith - be - it - unto - you - and - 
 I - have - faith, - I - don't - doubt - a - bit, - I - know - 
 you - will - bring - Henry - to. - Lord, - thou - hast 
 
 - been - our - dwelling - place - in - all - generations. 
 Thou - art - a - present - help - in - times - of - trouble. 
 Establish -thou - the - works ° of - our - hands, - estab- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 183 
 
 lisli - tliou - it. Help, - Lord, - for - our - strength - 
 faileth. Deliver - us - from - evil - and - thine - shall - 
 be - the - glory - forever. " 
 
 The Lad had got so far, and as he had gone on in 
 his simple, laborious, but accurate and direct Avav of 
 petition, his face had changed by reason of a glow, 
 and sweet, fine light, that had come into it and 
 spread in softest radiance over his upturned coun- 
 tenance until his poor, simple face actually shone 
 as those of old who talked with God. The Spirit 
 which is not of man, and which finds its home in 
 the humble breast and can give wisdom to the feeble 
 minded, had entered and filled his soul with its own 
 fine fervors ; and to what passion of entreaty it might 
 have lifted him can be known only to Him who knows 
 to the full the exalted and sublime energfies which out 
 of the mouth of babes and sucklings have perfected 
 praise ; and at this point the voice of the Trapper 
 interrupted him. 
 
 " Lad, lad, hold on and come here ! The Lord 
 has heerd ye, for the blood be sartinly stirrin' and 
 the sperit of the boy has come back to the body, 
 and life be movin' in his members. Hurry, lad, and 
 see the answer to yer prayer. Be quick, or the Lord 
 will be here ahead of ye." 
 
 The w^ords were barely out of the Trapper's mouth 
 before the Lad, with the beautiful shining in his face, 
 was kneelino- at the feet of Herbert and o-azino- with 
 steady yet glowing eyes into the pale countenance, into 
 which the slightest possible flush had already come. 
 
184 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 Thus Herb~^'t, with the Trapper still holding with 
 supporting hands his head, with the Lad kneeling 
 at his feet and the hounds standing on either side 
 of him in grave attention, lay, while the warmth of 
 renewed life grew within his breast and sent its 
 reviving fervor through the chilled currents of his 
 veins. 
 
 In a moment a quiver ran through his frame, 
 his chest rose to a full inspiration, his eyes slowly 
 opened, and fixing them first on the Lad, and then 
 on the face of the Trapper, his lips moved slightly, 
 and he said in a tone barely above a whisper : — 
 
 "John Norton, lohere am /.^ " 
 
 '^ In the land of the livin', boy, in the land of 
 the livin', praise God ! " responded the Trapper. '' In 
 the land of the livin' and here on Tomahawk P'int, 
 with the lad at yer feet and the pups on either 
 side, and myself at yer head ; and now take a 
 swallew more of the drink and then w^e'll tuck ye 
 away in the blankets and pile the hot stuns round 
 ye, for ye have had an onmarciful soakin', and been 
 in a scrimmasre which taxed ye like a clinch with a 
 Huron, and ye need warmth and rest, for sleep 
 and heat is the best doctor in the world to one 
 who has been in a tussle and come out weak and 
 sore as ye be. I warrant ye will be frisky as 
 a young pup arter ye have had a good, long sleep. 
 
 It was past midday when Herbert awoke, and roll- 
 inof himself out of the blankets in which he was 
 
THE MAX WHO DIBX'T KXOW MUCH. 185 
 
 swathed from head to foot, and shoving aside several 
 of the heated stones which had been placed in a row 
 on either side of his body, rose to a sitting posture, 
 and looked about him as a man called suddenly out 
 of death. His sleep had been such as the strong 
 and healthy experience after complete exhaustion — 
 an oblivious slumber, which had blotted so many 
 hours from his life, — a chasm stretched across the 
 plain of consciousness, deep and wide, whose either 
 side was unconnected with the other by even the fila- 
 ment of a dream. On the other side of the fire, some 
 distance away, the Trapper and the Lad were seated 
 talking in subdued tones and casting an occasional 
 glance toward the spot Avhere their comrade was slum- 
 bering. The hounds lay stretched side by side in the 
 sound sleep of dogs resting after a race. The three 
 rifles were leaning against a small pole a few feet from 
 the fire in such a position that the heat might best 
 penetrate the barrels. In a moment Herbert took in 
 the position of things and with a light laugh said : — 
 " You didn't mean to bake me, did you, friends ? " 
 " Not egsactly," returned the Trapper, '' but we did 
 mean to heat ye up pritty well, Henry ; leastwise, we 
 sartinly meant to dry ye out and season ye a bit, for 
 ye was mighty well soaked, I tell ye, and we thought 
 a good sweatin' would open the seams and let the 
 dampness out of ye, for ye was eenamost waterlogged 
 when the lad fished ye up from the lake, and so we 
 fenced ye in with the heated stuns, and between them 
 and the fire and the warmth of yer body the blankets 
 
186 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 have been smokin' like a dishcloth in the snn. Now, 
 boy, how do ye feel, and what more shall we do for 
 
 ye?" 
 
 " I feel first-rate," Herbert replied, " save that my 
 chest smarts as if a hot gridiron Avas tied across it, 
 and my right hand here is puffed up like a toad-stool. 
 Have you got the buck from the water, and Avliere is 
 my rifle? " 
 
 " The buck is in the boat, and he's a big un too, 
 and there is yer rifle, clean and dry from muzzle to 
 breech-pin, ready for the powder ; for I said to the 
 lad that I knowed the fust thing ye would ax us 
 about would be the leetle gun, for I know yer love for 
 the piece, and it desarves all the care ye give it, for 
 two truer barrels was never spliced together. My ears 
 could tell the crack of it among a thousand. And now 
 what shall we do, for ye be captain of this squad, and 
 me and the lad wait for yer orders ? " 
 
 " I think," Herbert replied, " you had better skin 
 the buck, and save his hide and head, but the body 
 burn or bury, for I never wish to see it, much less 
 taste a morsel of it. Then cook us a rousino; dinner, 
 for I am as hungry as a shark; and after we have 
 eaten our fill, I propose that you fix me uj) some kind 
 of a bed in the bottom of the boat, and we will go on 
 toward the Saranacs, for day after to-morrow is the 
 boat-race, and although I don't think, by the way I 
 feel, that I shall pull an oar in a month, yet you and 
 the lad can enter, and I can see the fun as an out- 
 sider." 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 187 
 
 '^ I think ye talk like a gineral," said the Trapper, 
 as Herhert ended. '^ I had sot my heart on seeing 
 you and the lad pull agin those Saranacers, hut ye he 
 in no condition to handle the ash, for sartin, but the 
 iiid is, and he can larn 'em a lesson they won't for- 
 git, or I'm mistaken, and ef I can find a good boat — 
 though my gifts latterly lie more in the direction of the 
 paddle than the rowlocks, — yet, ef the lad won't pull 
 onless I do — and he says he won't — I will try the 
 boastin' chaps a lick, and ef I can only get the kink 
 of the lad's swing, and the length of his sweep, I will 
 show 'em what an old man can do, who boated in 
 these waters afore their fathers was born." So saying, 
 the Trapper, with the Lad, rose from the log, and 
 addressed himself to the preparation of the meal. 
 
 The sun had passed the meridian when the boat, 
 with the Lad at the oars, the Trapper at the paddle, 
 and Herbert lyino- at leno^th on a soft couch of balsam 
 and cedar boughs, with the two hounds at his feet, 
 shoved out from Tomahawk Point, and started down 
 the lake. It was such a day as can be seen nowhere 
 in the world save amid this forest of the North, and 
 from no point of view to such advantage as from a 
 boat as it glides easily along on its course through the 
 middle of one of its larger lakes. 
 
 The water Avas as smooth as if no wave had ever 
 rolled across its tranquil surface, save Avhere a loon in 
 diving, or, in rising from his dive, sent from himself, 
 as the hving centre, an undulating circumference out- 
 ward. On either side the shores lay in deep 
 
188 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 repose, as if the very trees were sleeping' in delicious 
 trance. Over them the mellow haze of autumn was 
 spread wide-cast as the peace of heaven. Above, the 
 mountains rose, with their peaks cutting the cooler 
 air, bathed in the blue atmosphere. The islands 
 looked, from the distance, as if they were floating on 
 the water — hu^e rafts of invisible timber freiohted 
 with mossrcovered rocks, evergreen shrubbery, and 
 near their centres with great pines. Around the 
 edges of several, the white birches, with their yellow 
 leaves, stood out in bold relief against the surrounding- 
 green. The air was mellow and soft, and scented 
 with the odors of ripened leaves and dying grasses, 
 while now and then the quickened nostril caught the 
 smell of odorous smoke blown from some distant 
 camp-fire. Overhead, the white gulls wheeled in 
 snowy circles lazily. In the upper sky the falcons 
 soared on even wing. And now and then, higher yet, 
 the watchful eye would catch the sight of darker and 
 lengthier pinions, and follow the majestic movement 
 of the bald eagle, as, on stately and motionless vans, 
 he swung" around in his aerial circles. 
 
 Throuoh such an enchantin(r scene, and as the 
 livino\ watchful centre of it, our three friends moved 
 along, the Lad pulling a long, easy stroke, and the 
 Trapper keeping time with his paddle. They had 
 proceeded on their course a full mile before either 
 spoke a word, and then the Old Trapper in a low tone 
 said : — 
 
 " Many be the seasons I have passed in the woods 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 189 
 
 sence I struck the eastern shore of the Horicon, more 
 than threescore year agone, and many be the men I 
 have seed fall by my side, and many be the narrer 
 escapes I have had from death by bullit and water 
 both, but I tell ye, Henry^ I never seed a man deliv- 
 ered from greater peril than ye was in this morn, 
 and the lad's rowin' and divin' saved ye for sartin, 
 onless, as it seems reasonable to do, ye «et a share 
 down to his prayin', for arter he had fished ye from 
 the lake yer sperit was as nigh gone as it could be and 
 not be act'ally in the jedgment. Yis, the lad sartinly 
 saved ye." 
 
 "1 hope I did help," said the Lad, ^' for it would 
 be awful to have Henry drown with both of us in 
 sight. I don't know what we could have done had 
 he died; but I don't think my rowing or diving 
 would have done any good had it not been for your 
 shooting the buck, John Norton ; I think your shoot- 
 ing saved Henry, and I don't see how you could 
 have shot so well. I am sure mv hand would have 
 shook dreadfully." 
 
 "The sarcumstances was agin me, for sartin, lad," 
 responded the Trapper, " for the distance was too fur 
 for close work, and the buck was mighty Hvely, 
 but the bullit was a good one and the air so clear 
 that I could act'ally see the curl in the cretur's hair 
 at the roots of the horns Wien I sot my eye into the 
 sights ; and Henry, weak as he was, knowed enough 
 to lop his head aside a leetle to make a path for the 
 lead, and the Lord used my gifts, and the habit of 
 
190 ABIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 sixty year of shootiii' in cloud and shine, in deadly 
 scrimmage, and playful practice when the horn was 
 full and lead plenty, to furder His purposes of marcy, 
 jest as He used my rubbin' and the brandy to help 
 the lad out in his prayin' and Scriptur' sayin' back 
 of the lodge." 
 
 " Don't you believe," interrupted the Lad — " Don't 
 you believe, John Norton, that God can do anything 
 He wants to wdthout our helping Him a bit ? " 
 
 " Sartinly, lad, sartinly, ef He only had a mind 
 to, for I have seed enough of His power w^hen He 
 put out His strength amid the scenes of natur' to 
 conceit He can do anything. For I have seed the 
 wind cut a sw^atli through the woods as a man in 
 the settlements cuts a path tlirough the grass with 
 his scythe ; and I have seed the frost pry up acres of 
 rocks and sile w^ith the trees all standin' in them 
 and slide 'em down a mountain as ef they was on 
 greased skids ; and I heerd a man, who was a furriner, 
 say once, that in his country at times the very 'arth 
 under one's feet got onsteady and shook like a half- 
 breed wdth the ager, ontil a man couldn't keep his 
 legs ; but I have my doubts on that p'int, and I told 
 him so to his face, for it don't seem reasonable that 
 the 'arth, wdiich hasn't any bowels or narves, should 
 have any sech kind of spasms, or git colicky like. 
 Still, ef the Lord raaly set about it in 'arnest it may 
 be He could make the very 'arth quiver like a human 
 bein' in pain ; but the 'arth is a big thing, and can't 
 be handled round careless by anybody, as I conceit," 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 191 
 
 " But," again interrupted the Lad, " don't you 
 think that God can do anything without our help- 
 
 in 
 
 g 
 
 ? 
 
 " Well, no, lad, ef ye want my raal idee on the 
 matter, I don't," returned the Trapper. " Leastwise, 
 He seems w^llin', I notice, to jine works with His ereturs, 
 when He has any special job on hand, that needs raal 
 'arnest and lively work to git it done in time to answer 
 His parpose. Now, Henry's scrimmage with the buck 
 is a case in p'int. For Henry had sartinly got into a 
 pretty tight fix, ef I am any jedge, and e£ he was to 
 be saved it had got to be done in a jedicious and 
 lively manner. So the Lord jined w^orks with ye and 
 yer gifts, and ye sartinly did yer full share, for ye 
 pulled an amazin' stroke ; and how ye got yer feet into 
 the air so quick, considerin' the length of yer legs, is 
 wonderful, and can be accounted for only on the 
 ground that divin' is one of yer gifts — and ye yerself 
 has said that the bullit I druv in under the buck's 
 horns helped matters considerably." 
 
 "But, but," exclaimed the Lad, feeling he was 
 beinof" outreasoned, but none the less steadfast in his 
 simple faith, " don't you think the prayer did any 
 good?" 
 
 " Yis, sartinly, lad," promptly replied the Trapper, 
 " I think ye be gifted in that way, and that the Lord 
 heerd ye, but," continued the old man, as if he feared 
 he had made a fatal concession, and in common with 
 all theologians was inclined to maintain his point, 
 right or wrong, — "but ye must remember that yer 
 
192 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 prayer was well mixed in with my rubbin', not to 
 speak of the stimulant and hot stuns. No, no, lad, 
 the Lord couldn't have got along without yer pullin' 
 and divin', and the buUit and the rubbin', anyhow. 
 Could He, Henry?" 
 
 The only reply Herbert made was to move his hand 
 slightly under his cheek ; for, lulled by the easy dip 
 of the oars as they came and went in their measured 
 stroke, and perhaps by the murmur of the low, ear- 
 nest voices above him, yielding to some subtle but 
 unknown law of reception and impartment by which 
 the slumberous peace of surrounding nature entered 
 into and possessed his senses, the young man had 
 sunk into a restful sleep. 
 
 And thus, past the anchored islands, with their 
 w^alled rocks ; past the mouth of sleeping bays ; past 
 beaches of golden sand ; through the yellow autumnal 
 haze, the boat moved on, until it entered the easy 
 flowing stream of the beautiful Racquette, then with 
 all its loveliness unmarred by the devastating hand of 
 human selfishness. Thence upward against the easy 
 current the boat sailed on. Up long stretches of level 
 water, whose surface was strewn thick with leaves 
 that flamed with color ; while, underneath, the depths 
 reflected the fiery hues of the overhanging maples, — 
 up over the glancing rifts whose first noisy ripples 
 awoke the sleeper, and sailing in easy curve around 
 the great bends the boat went forward on its course, 
 until, as the shadows began to darken on wood and 
 stream, it reached a sj)ot where the pines came to the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T RXOW MUCH. ' 193 
 
 water's edge, and stood like great sentinels, with arms 
 at rest along the bank, as if within their dark recesses 
 the Genii o£ the woods had their pine-guarded home. 
 Here the three men landed, and with rapid movements 
 made ready for the night whose dark wings were fast 
 drawing their gloom-bringing flight between the earth 
 and sky. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE OVATION. 
 
 «' His life was gentle, and the elements 
 So mixed in him, that Nature niiglit stand up 
 And say to all the world, This was a man." 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 Evening in the woods, on a still September night. 
 In front, a river, which sends its current deep and 
 dark, with steady pressure, against the base of a hill, 
 as if it would undermine its broad foundation and 
 float it off. A beach of sand where the bend in the 
 bank curves sharpest. Ten feet above, a narrow, level 
 stretch of land — a natural terrace — with great pines 
 growing thereon, whose trunks rise clean of limbs, 
 and straight as the masts of a ship, full eighty feet, 
 then tuft themselves in heaviest foliage. From the 
 inner edge of the level space the hill lifts, steep and 
 far, a thousand feet ; but even to the ridge the pines 
 grow thick and strong. On the level bank a camp-fire 
 burning brightly, and with an energy that lifts the 
 flame, in a fiery pillar, ten feet upward. The light 
 and shade play ghostly hide-and-seek amid the distant 
 trees and neighboring thickets. Above the river, 
 through the opening in the trees made by its width 
 from shore to shore, a space of sky, dusky and dim, 
 in which large stars burn and glow as diamonds set in 
 
THE ^lAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 195 
 
 jet against a swarthy forehead. Around the fire, our 
 three friends, engaged in conversation, their voices 
 pitched to a low key, but animated and earnest in 
 tone. 
 
 " I tell ye, lad," said the Trapper, " ye oughter 
 pull without me ; rowin' comes nateral to ye, and yer 
 stroke is sartinly wonderful. I never seed anything 
 like it. Ye can walk a boat alono^ for lialf a mile 
 quicker than any other man livin', ef I am any jedge, 
 but ye don't look to me as ef ye was put together for 
 a long race, and I conceit a four-mile stretch would 
 blow ye, for ye be mighty light in the middle, and yer 
 chest be too thin by half. Ef ye had the shoulders of 
 Henry, here, I would wager my last horn of powder, 
 and my bullit-mould into the bargain, that ye could 
 beat 'em at any distance ; for I have seed Henry fetch 
 his boat, loaded deep at that, for three mile agin a 
 wind that whitened the lake from shore to shore, and 
 never weaken on a stroke. What do ye say, — lad, 
 can ye pull a long course ef the rogues set us 
 one c 
 
 " I don't want to pull at all, John Norton, nor go 
 nigh them, for I know they wdll laugh at me and call 
 me names, because I ain't handsome and smart. The 
 last time I went out with my skins they bothered me 
 dreadfully about my legs and hands, and hadn't it 
 been for Sport, I don't know but they would have 
 hurt me ; but if they touched me even so much as 
 with a fish-pole, Sport showed his teeth at them. He 
 bit one of them badly because he tried to push me 
 
196 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 into the water. It hurts me to be laughed at, and 
 called names, and besides — " • 
 
 " Lad," interrupted the Trapper, " ye be with John 
 Norton this trip, and though I hope I can take a joke 
 in good natur', as a reasonable man should, and hold 
 that the bullit and knife should be used keerfully, 
 and only agin inimies ; yit, a noisy mouth and a loose 
 tongue need to be larnt manners occasionally, and ef 
 they start any of their foolishness at ye there'll be a 
 scrimmage, for sartin, that they won't forgit for the 
 tarm of their nateral lives, even ef the markin's of the 
 knife has to be put on to some of 'em. No, lad, ye 
 ain't goin' to be imposed on this trip, I can tell ye. 
 Come, Henry, what do ye think, for yer jedgment be 
 good on sech a p'int, — Can a man, with the build of 
 the lad, pull a long course?" 
 
 "I don't think his build, as you call it," re- 
 sponded Herbert, " is especially against his chances. 
 It is not bulk of frame, but sinews, and stroke, 
 and pluck that win in a long race ; and, as you 
 say, the lad is a natural oarsman and his stroke is 
 simply perfect ! You see, it's a saving stroke, as we 
 call it, for he doesn't waste an ounce of strength 
 in pulling it, and however long and sharp it is, I 
 notice he pulls it even from dip to finish, and his 
 boat moves on a level keel and cuts the water like 
 a knife. I dare say there will be several fine oars- 
 men in the race, but I am confident the lad can 
 beat them, if he will only try. And moreover, I 
 doubt if there will be a man of them, John Norton, 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 197 
 
 who can beat you, either, especially if the course 
 is a long one ; for though you don't think much of 
 the oars, yet you pull a very strong stroke indeed, 
 and are cool, and that counts in such matters ; for 
 a level head and a stout heart win many a race, 
 and especially wdien the course is long and the race 
 a hot one. I think, therefore, the lad is right, 
 when he says he w^on't pull unless you do ; for I 
 know a man pulls better wdth a friend by his side, 
 especially if he is timid and is in a strange and 
 perhaps a hostile crowd ; and I think a word from 
 you would be w^orth the race to him if the finish 
 should be close and the shores noisy. You under- 
 stand, John Norton. " 
 
 " Yis, yis, Henry ; " returned the Trapper, while 
 a glance of mutual intelligence passed between them ; 
 "yis, I understand wdiat ye mean, and yer idees be 
 sound, and jedgmatically spoken, too, for in my 
 young days I used the oar myself, and pulled in 
 a good many races, and never pulled in a race I 
 didn't win, either. But the paddle is the raal in- 
 strument for the hunter and scout, and my gifts 
 sartinly lie that way ; but your W'Ords has reason in 
 'em," said the old man, as he looked into the face 
 of the Lad, the features of w hicli were entirely lacking 
 in shrewdness and the positiveness of a resolute will. 
 " Yis, your words sartinly has reason in 'em, and ef ye 
 can find a boat for me with rowlocks and oars that 
 will hold, I'll keep the lad company. — Yis, yis, 
 Henry, I heerd 'em afore they reached the bend ; it's 
 
198 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 some boat comin' up the river. We'll hear their 
 hail in a minit. — I'll keep the lad company, I say, 
 and I'll do the best to beat him, too." 
 
 " Halloo, the camp there ! " shouted a voice from 
 the middle of the river. 
 
 " Halloo it is," returned the Trapper, without mov- 
 ing an inch from his recumbent posture, or scarcely 
 lifting" his eyes. " What do ye want, and what can 
 we do for ye? " 
 
 For a minute or more there was no rej^ly to the 
 question of the Trapper, but a confused murmur of 
 several voices in quick and whispered conversation, 
 and the noise as of several boats huddlinyi: toofether 
 was audible to those on the bank, and then an in- 
 terrogation came out of the darkness : — 
 
 " Ain't you John Norton, the Trapper ? " 
 
 " Well, it may be I am, and it may be I ain't ; 
 but the chances favor the idee that I be John Norton," 
 returned the Trapper, " leastwise the signs p'int in 
 that direction ; and now let me ax you, who be ye 
 that travel at night — and a chilly one at that, — 
 and where be ye goin' as ef the day wasn't long 
 enough for yer business? " 
 
 " We are bound for the Saranacs," replied the 
 voice, "" to see the boat-race, and it may be take a 
 hand in it ourselves. Shall you be there your- 
 self ? " 
 
 " Yis, I shall be there ; " returned the Trapper, " and 
 ye may tell 'em so ; and ye may say that I mean to 
 pull myself, ef they don't bar a man because he ain't 
 
THE MAX WHO DTDX'T KXOW MUCH. 199 
 
 pulled a race for forty year, and has as many white 
 hah's as black in his scalp." 
 
 '' All right, John Norton, we'll tell them so ; but 
 you'll be wiped out, sure ; for there's to be some New 
 York perfessionals there, they say, and a mighty slim 
 chance any of us chaps stand besida them, I reckon." 
 And with this discouraging prediction the boat started 
 on up the stream. 
 
 Not till the last murmuring sound of their rather 
 noisy progress died away did the Trapper speak ; then 
 he said : " Ye see, Henry, what's in the wind. There'll 
 be buzzin' in the hive when they hear I am coming 
 out and mean to pull, too. I thought I'd poke 'em 
 up a leetle, anyhow, and I warrant I've did it ; for 
 there be some old men livin' yit who remember the 
 times we had on the Horicon waters fifty year agone, 
 and they'll tell 'em what John Norton was at the ash 
 afore these waters was knowed by 'em in the settle- 
 ments. I tell ye, Henry, it seems foolish for a man of 
 my years to say it, but ef ye can find a boat for me 
 that suits yer jedgment, I'll have a lick at them perfes- 
 sionals, hit or miss. It'll be an etarnal shame ef them 
 city boasters beat the men born in the woods, and on 
 their own waters, too. What do ye think of it, Henry ; 
 is there a chance for me and the Lad ? " 
 
 " I certainly think there is a chance for you both, 
 John Norton," replied Herbert, '^ and a good one too. 
 In the first place, you are both in good condition and 
 are used to the boats, which the professionals are not, 
 and that's in your favor. Then again, a four-mile 
 
200 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 course is a long one to pull in these Adirondack boats, 
 and wind and grit and sheer strength count favorably 
 against any extra skill the professionals may have. If 
 the lad only had your muscular power and grit, or 
 you had his stroke, I would bet my last dollar on 
 either of you." 
 
 " Ay, ay, Henry, that's jest it. Ye have sartinly 
 struck the trail right eend to, and gin yer opinion like 
 a jedge in a school-house. I tell ye what, lad, I must 
 git yer stroke. Leastwise, I'll study the reason of it 
 to-morrer as we go up, ef ye'll put in a lick or two 
 occasionally. And ef ye see the perfessionals beatin' 
 me, lad, and them that was born in the woods about to 
 be shamed afore the men, ay, and the wimmhi folks too, 
 and I give ye the word, wdll ye pull accordin' to the 
 gifts that the Lord has given ye, boy ?" 
 
 " I don't w^ant to pull at all, John Norton," re- 
 sponded the Lad, '^ and I don't know how I shall 
 feel, for I never pulled a race, and I know that 
 they will laugh at me ; but I won't see you beat by 
 anybody, and I'll pull as hard as I can, if they 
 seem likely to do it. But I guess you can beat them, 
 and I w^ould rather have you beat than tD beat 
 myself." 
 
 " No doubt, no doubt," replied the Trapper, in a 
 tone that plainly showed the great relief he felt at 
 the promise he had succeeded in getting from the 
 Lad. '^I tell ye, Henry, the thing be settled. The 
 perfessionals shan't take the prize out of the woods, 
 ef the Lad and me can help it. Come, let's to bed. 
 
THE MAX WHO DWX'T KXOW MUCH 201 
 
 What a marcy it is to sleep in seeli a chamber as 
 this, where ye can breathe all the air ye want to 
 without robbing anybody, and there's no danger that 
 the roof wdll fall in onto ye." 
 
 So saying, the Old Trapper stretched himself on 
 the ground strewn thick with fragrant pine stems, 
 and, with a small bag of meal for his pillow, sank 
 quickly into a slumber which many a king on his 
 soldier-guarded couch would envy. His companions 
 followed his example, and in a few moments the 
 three were resting in soundest sleep. But the river 
 still flowed on, incapable of weariness. The stars 
 still burned with undiminished fervor, and over the 
 sleepers' heads the pines continued to make their 
 soothing plaint. In the cities, men Avere cursing 
 and fighting, but Nature, strong and safe in her 
 innocence, rested in holy peace. 
 
 It was well on to noon of the next day when our 
 friends entered the waters of the LoAver Saranac. 
 The Trapper was at the paddle and the Lad at the 
 oars, and the long, sharp boat, loaded as it w\as, 
 passed through the w^ater at a rate few boats ever 
 keep for any distance. 
 
 " I tell ye, lad," remarked the Trapper, " ye had 
 the right idee of a boat for straight runnin' in yer 
 head Avhen ye shaped the bottom board for the one 
 we be in ; for it sartinly gits through the w^ater in a 
 way that's surprisin'. In a crooked creek it must be 
 a mighty onreasonable thing to handle, and I conceit 
 that none but a prayin' man, and one keerful in the 
 
202 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 use of his tongue, could manage it for any length 
 of time and not git 'arnest in his speech ; but for 
 open waters and a straight run it's parfection itself. 
 I'd give a dozen of my best pelts for another jest 
 like it for to-morrer." 
 
 " You are right," said Herbert ; it's just the boat 
 for straightaway work, and I mean to get one as 
 near like it as I can for you to pull in to-morrow. It 
 looks heavy, and most would pick a lighter one ; but 
 a long boat is the thing for a long race, and long 
 oars, too, with wide blades, if one has power and grit 
 enough to pull them strong. Where shall we stay 
 to-night — at tlie hotel ? " 
 
 " The Lord forbid ! " exclaimed the Trapper. " It's 
 nigh on fifty year sence I've slept under a shingled 
 roof and smothered within the walls of men's buildin', 
 and natur' and reason be both agin the doin' of sech 
 foolishness ; for there be good camps nigh the upper 
 eend of the Lake, where we can eat and sleep in 
 peace, and where the hound and the Lad can have 
 contentment ; for the dog be a knowin' dog and 
 understands his rights, for his blood is without a 
 cross of low stuff in it, and he can't bear the 
 mongrels and half-breed curs of the settlements, 
 nohow, and the tramp of feet and the buzz of voices 
 distarbs him as much as it does me. And a man who 
 isn't an Indian should think of the comfort of his 
 dog and plan for his happiness, as I conceit. Yis, 
 we'll go into camp, and arter we have eaten our fill 
 and made ready for the night we will go down to the 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 203 
 
 hive and hear the senseless things buzz awhile. May- 
 hap I shall find a few yit livin' who have slept on 
 the trail with me and heerd the crack of my piece 
 in a scrimmage when powder was powder and every 
 bullit was worth its weight in gold." 
 
 It was well on toward the close of the afternoon 
 when the Lad's boat, containing our three friends, 
 came out from behind the " Three Sisters " on its way 
 toward the rendezvous. At the hotel all was expecta- 
 tion. For a great crowd had gathered in anticipation 
 of the morrow's races, and the thought that they were 
 to see the celebrated Trapper and Scout of whom they 
 had read and heard so much, but whom they had never 
 seen, stirred them with the feeling of intense curiosity. 
 The three guides that had hailed the camp on the 
 Racquette the evening before had brought the word 
 that " Old John Norton " was not only coming, but 
 that he was o-oino' to enter the free-for-all race, and 
 pull against the professionals. This raised the excite- 
 ment to fever heat, and the feeling became intense. 
 Indeed, two parties had already sprung up. In the 
 crowd were several ag^ed men who remembered the 
 great fame which the Trapper had as an oarsman 
 fifty years before, when they and he were young ; 
 and, to interested groups during the day, they had 
 been narrating the stories of his skill, enormous 
 strength, and unrivalled agility, exhibitions of which 
 they, with their own eyes, had seen, as called forth 
 by the supreme exigencies of deadly conflicts in hand- 
 
204 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 to-hancl fights, or in the playful but manly games of 
 peace. And the conviction of these old men — some 
 of whom had not only been overtaken by age, but 
 also by the vicious habits of civilized life — was well 
 expressed in the strong assertion of one of their 
 number, who closed a heated verbal contest with a 
 gentleman from the cities with " I tell ye, sir, there 
 is not a man on God's 'arth can beat John Norton at 
 the oars." 
 
 On the other hand the professionals had their advo- 
 cates. Fine, spruce, college boys ^' doing the woods" 
 in jaunty straw hats with broad bands of blue ribbon 
 round them, and twirling little rattan canes in their 
 dapper, thin fingers ; English tourists, strong-built and 
 burly, in checked suits of woollen stuffs, several of 
 whom, affecting the heavy sportsman's style, lugged 
 about their double English-made rifles, " such as 
 Girard used in the jungles, you know," while their 
 cartridge belts sagged, heavy Avith lead, as they 
 tramped back and forth along the piazza in broad- 
 soled, broad-toed, gaiter boots, with spotless, leggings 
 reaching from ankle to knee ; quiet city gentlemen, 
 lawvers, bankers, clero^vmen, whose knowledo-e of boat- 
 ing extended no farther than seeing or reading a 
 newspaper account of the annual race between Yale 
 and Harvard in their long, pencil-like shells. These, 
 with here and there a single exception, all discussed 
 the race as if lying between three professionals that 
 were already entered to pull. Even the guides, over- 
 awed by the high-sounding word, " professional," and 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW 3IUCH. 205 
 
 by the marvellous stories of their ability at the oars 
 which were passed from group to group, Avere intimi- 
 dated to such an extent that of all their number, 
 representing as it did nearly every boat in the wilder- 
 ness, two brothers alone had entered. And hence, 
 although their sympathies were strongly with the 
 Trapper, they readily admitted that the "profession- 
 als " Avould win. But though his party was in the 
 minority as to numbers, its spirit was self-asserting in 
 the extreme, and not a few sportsmen and guides, who 
 had seen him pull his boat against a wind that 
 scooped the water into the air, as steadily as if the 
 lake lay level to his stroke, or thrust it up a stretch 
 of rapids where the water quivered with the swiftness 
 of its descending flight, took stock in his chances 
 and endorsed the saying of the* old chap who in his 
 excitement, born of argument or liquor — perhaps it 
 would not be kind to inquire too closely which, — had 
 declared that there wasn't " a man on God's 'arth 
 could beat Old John Norton at the oars." 
 
 Thus stood the feeling and the crowd when the 
 boat, with the Lad at the oars and the Trapper at the 
 paddle and Herbert amidship, came out from behind 
 the " Three Sisters " into plain view of the hundreds 
 that were watching for their appearance. 
 
 Nothino; could excel the fineness of the tribute 
 which the crowd, composed of several hundreds, were 
 unconsciously paying to the fame of the Old Trapper ; 
 for as the boat came on the talking ceased, even the 
 giggling of a knot of young misses, who had been 
 
206 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 flirting with sliameful ostentation with a couple of 
 underofraduates from Harvard, was cheeked before 
 they were aware of it, by the sudden silence Avhicli 
 had fallen on the densely packed throng ; and amid a 
 stillness more impressive by far, when associated with 
 a popular assembly, than the loudest cheering, the 
 Lad's boat drew on. The Lad was pulling the same 
 nonchalant stroke as was his custom, his head lop23ed 
 as usual on one side, and his body doubled up as if 
 shrinking to get away from its own enormous height 
 and ungainly appearance. But the professionals, 
 who, with observant eyes, were watching the approach, 
 noted that the oars were of unusual length, that the 
 blades were nearly twice the customary width, and 
 that they entered and left the water with a precision 
 which nothing but long experience can give, while in 
 their recovery they passed along the level water with 
 an evenness which bore witness that the wrists that 
 guided their return were educated by years of practice. 
 As the boat came on so that the several forms could 
 be recognized, one of them drew a long breath, 
 nudged his companions, and whispered : — 
 
 " I'm glad it isn't the Trapper that's handling those 
 oars." 
 
 The old man was seated in the stern of the boat, 
 and using his paddle with an unconscious grace ; but 
 it is certain that, beyond a slight sense of the 
 ludicrous at the peculiar reception that he and his 
 companions were meeting, he did not appropriate the 
 fineness of the compliment that in it w\as being ren- 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 207 
 
 dered him. For in his own eyes he seemed but an 
 ordinary person, and one to whom belonged the least 
 possible amount of popular applause. He was bare- 
 headed as usual, and the full exposure of his counte- 
 nance and forehead, as the bright sun fell on him, 
 made it possible for the gazer's eye to take in the 
 noble majesty of a face to which years had brought 
 no weakness, and unto which they had given a char- 
 acterization and dignity truly imposing. 
 
 " Ay, ay, the bees have swarmed, for sartin, this 
 time, Henry, and the wdiole hive is empty. By the 
 Lord, lad, they look like a bunch of frightened 
 Hurons huddlin' together in the midst of a sudden 
 ambushment afore they have had time to think or get 
 to shelter. Hoot ! There's more colors in their gar- 
 ments than the squaw of a chief would have at the 
 feast of the Succotash, and the toggery that some of 
 them chaps has on would make a moose beller, — but 
 why be they so 'arnest-like in their looks, boy, and 
 what be the sense of their silence ! " 
 
 To this interrogation Herbert made no reply, for he 
 understood the pent-up excitement of the crowd they 
 were aj^proaching, and knew that the explosion was 
 sure to come at the proper moment ; and he would not 
 for the world have robbed himself of the pleasure of 
 seeing the Old Trapper's surprise. He therefore made 
 no reply. The boat by this was within twenty rods of 
 the landing, and was gliding rapidly in. The Lad, 
 affected by the silence, and surprised at it, suddenly 
 trailed his oars, and half-turning in his seat lifted his 
 
208 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 face upward to see what was the cause of it. The 
 Old Trapper, surprised at the extraordiliary conduct 
 of the crowd, and not dreaming of the real reason of 
 it, also intermitted his stroke and brought his paddle 
 to a trail, while his eyes went and came from object to 
 object as if in the presence of an enemy. 
 
 Thus the boat slowed its progress and came nearly 
 to a pause within fifty feet of the landing, when, 
 suddenly, an old white-headed man, dressed in humble 
 garb and leaning on a stout stick, who stood near the 
 outermost angle of the pier, and who had been shading 
 his eyes for a moment from the western sun that he 
 might assist his failing sight, and gazing fixedly at the 
 countenance of the Trapper, whose features he had 
 not seen for thirty years, flourished his stick in the 
 air, and exclaimed with a voice that shook with the 
 intensity of his emotion : — 
 
 " John Norton ! He saved my life at the battle of 
 the Salt Licks forty year agone. Three cheers for 
 John Norton ! " 
 
 And then, as if the cord which held the crowd to 
 silence had suddenly snapped and yielded to the pres- 
 sure of the pent-up excitement, or as if the edged 
 words of the old veteran had cut it like a knife, a 
 cheer arose which burst the stillness into fragments, 
 and, thrice repeated, rolled its roar across the lake, 
 and against the distant hills, until their hollow caverns 
 resounded again, wdiile on the instant a hundred white 
 handkerchiefs, waved by wdiiter hands, sprung into 
 sight and filled the air with their snowy flutterings. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX' T KXOW MUCH. 209 
 
 It was then, when the mighty cheer broke forth, 
 and while tiie roar of it was around him, that the Old 
 'Trapper realized the honor which by silence and voice 
 alike was baing shown him. Herbert's eyes were on 
 him with the glad watchfulness of one who knew 
 what was coming, and knew also how totally unpre- 
 pared the old man was for the reception, and was 
 curious to note his bearinof of it. For an instant the 
 color came and went in the Trapper's face as in the 
 face of a girl whose beauty, at her entrance to the 
 parlor, has brought every eye in admiration upon her. 
 The least possible quiver played on the edges of his 
 lips, and a gleam as of a fine light shining from 
 within came into his eyes. And then he rose and 
 stood at his utmost height in the boat, erect as a pine 
 which has come to its fullest girth, ripened its fibre to 
 toughness, but has not as yet felt the weakening of 
 coming decay. So the old man rose and stood for a 
 moment, in acknowledgment of the greeting, with a 
 grace and dignity that a trained courtier might have 
 envied, but could not assume, while the eyes of the 
 multitude had time to take in the size of his splendid 
 proportions, and the grave majesty of his countenance; 
 and then he settled to his seat and the boat moved to 
 the Ian din o". 
 
 " By heaven ! " exclaimed the professional to his 
 companions again, '' if the Trapper can handle the 
 oars like that chap in the bow, we are beaten ! " 
 
 And this was John Norton's reception. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE RACE. 
 
 " A larger scene of action is displayed." — Virgil, DrydeiVs Translation 
 
 It was high noon at the Saranac, and a brighter 
 day was never seen. The sky was so intensely bhie 
 that it fairly gleamed, as if, like woods of compact 
 fibre, it was capable of taking polish. In it the sun 
 stood and shone with self-asserting brilliancy. It 
 glistened, scintillated, sparkled, as if its rays were 
 actually frosty. The sky above was wintry. The 
 cold of the North was journeying southward, like her 
 feathered couriers on lofty wings. The upper atmos- 
 phere was chilly, but on the earth summer still tarried 
 with its hazy warmth and slumberous airs. The heat 
 came from the earth rather than from the sun, and 
 lingered like a happy child near the mother that gave 
 it birth, and from whose bosom it would not fly. The 
 lake had not stirred a ripple. It took its mood from 
 the atmosphere, and matched perfectly. The air was 
 thickened as with golden-colored smoke. It was not 
 common air ; it was incensed, aromatic, pungent. 
 The nose found strange, spicy scents in it, and 
 breathed it in slowly, as a delicate mouth receives 
 cream, not to swallow, but to taste. No one could 
 breathe such an air simply for the purpose of ordinary 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 211 
 
 life, — mere respiration, — but as one breathes per- 
 fume ; receiving- its delicious sensation as a luxury, 
 and drawing each breath, not for life's, but for joy's 
 sake. In front of the hotel, across the lake, the hill- 
 side flamed. The leaves had a ripened glory, rich as 
 that which the old painters, with their ardent colors, 
 painted into the faces and around the heads of their 
 saints. Along the shores, blown by previous winds, 
 the brio^ht-colored leaves lav thick : some Ivino- limp 
 and flat — patches of crimson on the dull water — 
 some half-immersed, while others, curled and curved, 
 floated jauntily on the surface, as if they could 
 scarcely bear to touch the element on which they 
 rested. Nature, on tree and water, and in the air, was 
 lavish of her highest tints ; even the gray moss on the 
 rocks, and the gray rocks themselves, looked, with the 
 golden colors on them, almost gorgeous. 
 
 On some the beauty of the day was not lost. But 
 the noise and excitement of the sport had shut the 
 eyes of most to its extraordinary charms, or caused 
 them to look upon it from the purely utilitarian stand- 
 point of a tin pedler from New Hampshire, who, 
 hearing of the great gathering, and having an eye 
 for business, had made a forced drive of fifty miles 
 in the hope of finding a market for his wares, and, 
 having sold his last kettle, was now giving his undi- 
 vided attention to the cause of his good fortune, and 
 who, after a profound inspection of the surroundings, 
 pronounced it a " blamed good day for a race." Nor 
 was he wrong in bis estimate. It was a good day for 
 
212 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 a race, and a long race at that. For of wind there 
 was none. The water was level as water mioht be, 
 and the an- was of that genial quality that one could 
 breathe under the necessities of violent exertion, even 
 with gasps, and not have it " cut " windpipe or lungs. 
 It was high noon, and the " free for all " Avas to be 
 pulled at one o'clock. The entries w^ere closed the 
 evening before and stood seven in all : the three 
 professionals ; the brother guides, known as Fred and 
 Charlie, respectively ; the Old Trapper, and the Lad. 
 When the names were announced from the front 
 piazza to a highly interested crowd, which numbered 
 every man and boy, guide and gentleman on the place, 
 the other names were received with cheers, but the 
 greeting given to the Lad was peculiar. When the 
 chairman of the committee of arrangements announced 
 it, it was heard by the throng in dead silence, none 
 knowing to whom it applied ; but when the chairman 
 in response to a question from the crowd explained 
 that '' it belongs to the tall young man that came in 
 with Mr. Herbert and John Norton yesterday," the 
 most extraordinary explosion, and one characteristic 
 of an American audience, followed. It was not a 
 cheer, nor a groan, but a monstrous roar of good 
 nature, astonishment, contempt, and mirthfulness all 
 combined in equal measure. 
 
 Literroofations crossed and recrossed each other in 
 the air. The old chap w^ho had started the cheer 
 for John Norton the previous day w^anted to know 
 " which section of the boy was to pull, the upj^er or 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 213 
 
 lower half,' for no Saranac boat would hold both 
 halves of him at once." Remarks more or less witty 
 were made as to the leno^th of his leirs and arms, the 
 enormous size of his hands, and the lath-like shape 
 of his build. Many of these remarks were directly 
 or indirectly addressed to the Trapper, as the only 
 one who could give information who and what the 
 Lad was. 
 
 The old man bore the badinaoe of the crowd for 
 several minutes with immovable good nature ; and it 
 was not until the hilarity — passing dow^nward from 
 the better class to the coarser and half-drunken hano^ers- 
 on that can always be found in a crowd at a country 
 hotel — began to be tinctured with vulgarity, if not 
 with abuse, and the questions put with offensive direct- 
 ness to the Lad himself, who w^as standing timidly 
 behind him, that he made any reply. But then he 
 stepped suddenly aside, bringing by the motion the 
 Lad into full view, and laying one hand lightly on his 
 shoulder and stretching the broad palm of the other 
 out, he said : — 
 
 " I sartinly hope I can take a joke, either on my 
 own account or on account of a friend ; but there's a 
 p'int beyend which it's axin' a good deal of human 
 natur' to stand. And a few of ye noisy chaps, in this 
 matter of the lad's rowin' to-morrer, has gone about 
 fur enough, and I'd advise ye to fetch up, or ye'll sar- 
 tinly git yerselves into trouble. And sence I've got a 
 chance I might as well stop a leetle nonsense that the 
 lad has told me ye practised on him when he come 
 
214 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 out with his pelts last spring; and so I'll jest say — 
 and there be a few here who will tell ye that John 
 Norton is apt to keep his word — that ef this boy by 
 my side, whom I call the Lad, but who calls himself, 
 ' The Man Who Don't Know Much,' ever comes here 
 agin, and any of ye git careless in yer speech toward 
 him, I'll come out and settle the matter with them 
 that does it, and in a way they won't forgit while they 
 live on the 'arth." 
 
 It was five minutes of one o'clock, and the seven 
 boats were already in position, and the seven oarsmen, 
 excepting the TrapjDer and the Lad, had their oars at 
 a rest. The course ran strai^-ht down the lake to a 
 line of seven buoys, so that each boat had its own 
 buoy to turn, and thence back again to the line at 
 which they were now stationed for the start. The 
 length of the course was, therefore, just four miles ; 
 two out and return, a longer race by half than was 
 ever before pulled on those waters. The fact alone 
 increased the interest of the spectators, and provoked 
 a deal of discussion. Since the previous evening, 
 divisions had taken place in the opinions of the crowd, 
 and every competitor but the Lad had his backers. 
 The professionals, of course, had the majority still, 
 but the Old Trapper was well backed, especially by 
 the older men among the natives, and by the ladies of 
 the hotel, upon whom the simplicity of his manners, 
 and perhaps even more, the greatness of his fame, had 
 made a profound and most favorable impression. But 
 the two young guides, Fred and Charlie, did not lack 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 215 
 
 supporters either, — the f orraer because of his enor- 
 mous strength, which had already given him a brill- 
 iant local reputation, and because, although he had 
 never pulled in a public race, he was nevertheless 
 known to have such command at the oars as few 
 attain, and none unless they have a natural aptitude 
 for the work. Herbert believed that Fred would win 
 the race if any accident should happen to the Trap- 
 per, and if the Lad should, through timidity, fail to 
 exert himself ; for the young man had been his guide 
 several seasons and li3 had assisted him with sug- 
 ofestions in masterino^ a stroke which allowed his enor- 
 mous strength to expend itself to the best advantage. 
 Indeed, many of the spectators were aware of this, 
 and in default of Herbert's pulling, himself, w^hich 
 was the subject of keen and universal regret, Fred 
 was looked upon as in a certain sense his represen- 
 tative, and was backed accordingly. His brother, 
 although of lighter proportions, had already won in 
 many races, and was known as one of the best, if not 
 the best, oarsmen among the guides, and his party was 
 strong in numbers and equally strong in hope, includ- 
 ing as it did nearly every visitor from an adjoining 
 hotel, and every guide in the St. Regis region. 
 Indeed, as between the two brothers, Frad and 
 Charlie, and the Trapper, the guides and dwellers in 
 the w^oods were well represented, and they felt that 
 the chance of their champions winning the prizes over 
 the professionals was as good as it could possibly be, 
 and they backed their men with all the earnestness 
 
216 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 of their earnest natures and the talkative confidence 
 of local pride now thoroughly aroused. The Lad had 
 not a single backer, with the exception, strange to say, 
 of the professionals themselves ; for even Herbert did 
 not feel persuaded that he would pull with energy, 
 and therefore said nothing openly of his chances. 
 But the professionals, who had Avatched his stroke as 
 he came down the lake th3 day before, and knew 
 nothing of his timid temperament, inwardly feared 
 him more than all the others, and decided among 
 themselves that he was their real antagonist, though 
 of this they said nothing to others, but through a 
 " silent partner " they " hedged " on him in the bet- 
 ting which quietly and without the least publicity had 
 been indulged in to a considerable extent, especially 
 among the guests of the hotel and the city visitors 
 from the adjoining houses. The boats in which the 
 several contestants were to pull were by no means of 
 the same length or shape, for the conditions of the 
 race allowed them to " take their pick," and each had 
 followed his own inclinations. The three professionals 
 had picked the lightest boats they could find, and 
 those in which they sat averaged about sixty pounds 
 and were some thirteen feet long. Charlie selected a 
 light one belonging to a lady, one of the guests of the 
 house, of lapstreak build but narrow and low, made of 
 Spanish cedar, polished till it shone like glass, twelve 
 feet in length and weighing only forty-six pounds. 
 The other guide, Fred, pulled his own boat, over fif- 
 teen feet in length, and which weighed eighty pounds 
 
THE MAX WHO DTDyr KXOW MUCH 217 
 
 and more. For the Trapper, Herbert had selected 
 one of precisely the same length and weight, while the 
 Lad sat in his own, that measnred seventeen feet and 
 upward and weighed over ninety ponnds. 
 
 The Trapper had with him his rifle, from which 
 no argument of Herbert — because of the extra 
 weight it added, — could separate him ; and in the 
 stern of the Lad's boat sat Sport, the hound, with 
 an expression of such gravity as only a hound's 
 countenance, when in repose, can show ; as if he had 
 been elected to preside as judge over the race, and 
 felt to the full the grave responsibility of the position 
 and its accompanying dignity. 
 
 The number of the spectators was a wonder to all, 
 and entirely unanticipated. For although it was 
 expected that a large crowd would be present, yet 
 the gathering had grown into unprecedented and 
 enormous proportions. Where the people came from 
 was a mystery. It seemed as if not only had the 
 wilderness sent out every guide and party camping 
 in it, but as if every hotel in the whole region had 
 emptied its guests upon the waters and shores of the 
 Lower Saranac, and that even the outlying villages 
 had poured their entire population into the same 
 receptacle. The long, wide piazzas of the hotel, the 
 wharf, even the roof of the boat-house, swarmed with 
 human beino^s. The shore on either side of the lake 
 was also lined with spectators for the distance of a 
 half a mile, while on the waters of the lake itself, 
 stretched on either side of the course, which was duly 
 
218 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 protected from infringement by guard-boats stationed 
 at suitable distances by the committee of arrange- 
 ments, at least five hundred boats hiy loaded deep 
 with eager spectators. From a flag-staff in front of 
 the hotel the Stars and Stripes hung pendent in the 
 still air, a drapery of glorious color in the bright 
 sunshine, while numberless smaller flags and showy 
 streamers flecked the air with their rich shades 
 everywhere. Nature and man seemed in rivalry and 
 strivino^ to outdo each other in contributinof most to 
 the spectacular glory of the scene. 
 
 Such was the position of things at five minutes to 
 one o'clock, — the seven boats in line, and the seven 
 contestants waiting for the word, with every eye 
 among the thousands fastened upon them amid a 
 silence as profound as if by some supernatural power 
 every man and trace of man had been suddenly 
 banished from the spot, and nature had returned to 
 the uninterrupted silence of her primeval solitude. 
 
 " Now, boys," said the Trapper, speaking to the 
 two brothers on his right, " ye must remember that a 
 four-mile race be a good deal of a pull, and the go-off 
 isn't half as decidin' as the come-in. I don't conceit 
 we can afford to fool away any time even in the fust 
 half-mile, for them three perfessionals have come 
 here to row, and they look to me as ef they had 
 a good deal of that sort of work in 'em ; but it 
 won't do to git flustered at the start, and ef ye see 
 fit to f oiler it, I will set up a jedgmatical sort of a 
 stroke which will send us out to the bys yender with- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH. 219 
 
 out any rawness in the Avindpipe or kinks in the legs. 
 Still, ef ye don't think ye be pulling fast enough, 
 take yer own lick, — for in seeh matters the best 
 jedgment may prove like a hound off the scent, and 
 I wouldn't spile yer chances of wallopin' them per- 
 fessionals, to-day, for all the money on the 'arth. 
 And in sech a race as this is likely to be, it's only just 
 and reasonable that every man should foller his own 
 notions, and act accordin' to his gifts. 
 
 "Do you think w^e shall win, Old Trapper?" said 
 Fred in a low tone. 
 
 " I dunno, I dunno, boy ; I sartinly dunno," re- 
 turned the Trapper in a tone scarcely above a whisper. 
 " I like yer build, for ye be broad in yer chest and 
 thick in yer loins, and yer jawbone is a big un, and 
 that means ye have got plenty of grit, as I have 
 obsarved natur'; but I don't like yer oars. No, I can't 
 say I like yer oars, specially that left un, for there's a 
 knerl in the shank of it that ouohtn^ to be there, 
 and I fear the pesky thing will play a trick on ye at 
 the finish. But Henry has great confidence in ye, 
 and Henry knows what rowin' and oars be, for sartin. 
 I'd give every skin in the cabin ef the boy was atween 
 me and the Lad here, ay, and throw in a dozen or 
 two of my best traps to boot." 
 
 " Your oars are big enough to hold, anyway," 
 rejoined the young man, " and I hope to heaven you 
 will win." 
 
 " Thank ye, boy, thank ye. It is well spoken in ye. 
 Yis, I sartinly shall try, for it would be a mortal shame 
 
220 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 to have the prize go out of the woods, for the piece be 
 a likely one to look at, and they say it has a long 
 range. And ef nothing gives way I'll give 'em a 
 touch of the stuff that's in me for the last half-mile 
 that will make 'em git down to their work in 'arnest, 
 ye may depend on't. But ef anything happens to us, 
 or we can't do it, I have great hopes of the Lad here, 
 for his gifts be wonderful at the oars, and ef he will 
 only pull as I seed him the day afore yesterday he'll — 
 
 '^ Ready, there /" said the sharp, clear voice of the 
 Starter. " Beady, there, for the ivord /" 
 
 " Ay, ay, ready it is," replied the Trapper, as he 
 advanced his blades well ahead ready for the signal. 
 '' Now, lad," whispered the Trapper hoarsely, " don't 
 ye forgit yer promise, and ef anything happens, or ye 
 see I can't win, and I give ye the word, John Norton 
 will never forgive ye ef ye don't pull like a sinner 
 runnin' from the jedgment," 
 
 " Ready there all of you. One, two, THREE. 
 GO!" 
 
 At the word, " Go ! " the seven boats started ; but 
 not together. The oars of the three professionals 
 dropped into the water as if their blades were con- 
 trolled by one man, and their stroke was so tense and 
 quick that the light boats fairly jumped ahead like 
 three arrows shot from one quivering string. But 
 lightning-like as was their stroke, it was no quicker 
 than the one that Charlie, the guide, had delivered, 
 nor had tliev thrown an ounce of vio^or into theirs 
 which he had not also put into his ; and the little boat 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 221 
 
 in which he sat had the best of the send-off by at least 
 a foot. The other guide and the Trapper had been 
 slower to get away — as in reason they must, being in 
 heavier boats, — and were at least a full length behind 
 before they had fairly got into motion. Nor did 
 the Trapper seem to be anxious to make up the lost 
 ground, nor to care if he lost more ; for his stroke Avas 
 long, steady, and to the lookers-on it seemed leisurely 
 pulled. The Lad was the last to get off, and his 
 stroke was even longer, easier, and more deliberately 
 delivered than the Trapper's ; and so careless and un- 
 gainly was his appearance, and so little snap did he 
 evince, that the crowd, who cheered the passage of 
 the others as they swept past, laughed and groaned 
 and roared their fun out at him as he swung non- 
 chalantly along. For forty rods the race continued, 
 without change in the relative positions of the seven 
 boats. The professionals pulled a quick, sharp stroke 
 of forty-odd to the minute, which was precisely 
 matched by the young guide, and the gain of a foot 
 he had at the send-off he still held almost to an inch. 
 A prettier sight than the four leading boats presented 
 never gladdened a boatman's eye, nor stirred the 
 gazer's blood. The eight oars flashed, dropped, and 
 flashed again as the oarsmen swept their blades ahead, 
 as if their motions were regulated by machinery, while 
 their heads and bodies rose and sank with automatic 
 precision. Some rods behind, the Trapper and Fred 
 were pulling side by side and stroke for stroke, — • 
 long, strong, and steady. 
 
222 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " I tell ye, boy," said the old man to the young 
 guide by his side, as he half-turned his head and 
 threw a glance forward, ^Hhem perfessionals have 
 got their match for quickness in yer brother, ef I 
 am any jedge, and ef he's got wind and grit they'll 
 like him as leetle as a half-breed likes the pill of 
 the doctor ; for the more they chew him the bit- 
 terer he'll taste. It does mje good to see the boy 
 hang to 'em. Lord-a-massy ! how the folks be yell- 
 in', and the wimmin themselves be screechin' like 
 squaws at the maize dance. Yis, yis, boy, I under- 
 stand ye ; but don't ye worry ; four mile is four 
 mile ; and it's a long oar and strong back that's 
 goin' to win this race, and no clipper-clapper work 
 that's makin' the folks screech so ahead ; but ef ye 
 be narvous we'll lengthen out a leetle jest to show 
 'em that we ain't more than half asleep." " Come, 
 lad ! " called the Trapper to his comrade astern, 
 " don't ye mind the foolishness they be saying to 
 ye and the dog, but h'ist along a leetle faster, for 
 w^e be goin' to let out a link or two, and I feel a 
 leetle easier to have ye nigh enough to catch the 
 reason of yer stroke and feel the ease of it in my 
 elbows. " 
 
 So saying, the old man set his comrade a stroke so 
 long and sharply pulled that the tw^o boats fairly 
 doubled their rate of speed, and in a minute were end 
 and end with the boats ahead, while the exhibition of 
 strength thus made, taking the spectators, wlio had 
 begun to look upon the race as lying between the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 223 
 
 four contestants in front, by surprise, brought a 
 roar of astonishment and wild delight from their 
 mouths that fairly lifted the air as with an explo- 
 sion. But here and there a watchful eye, and pre- 
 eminently that of the " silent " partner of the pro- 
 fessionals, noted that, rapid as had been the move- 
 ment of the two boats forward, as impelled by the 
 tremendous spurt of the Trajjper and Fred, and 
 although the Lad still swung along in his nonchalant 
 manner, yet when the.sjiurt had ended and six instead 
 of four boats were now in line, the boat of the Lad 
 was in the precise position as regards its nearness to 
 the Trapper that it had been from the beginning of 
 the race. And seeing this — a very instructive fact 
 to one of his profession — he proceeded to " hedge " 
 yet more. 
 
 " There ! " said the Trapper to the young guide at 
 his side, as the two boats came up even with the other 
 four, and he had breathed himself a moment, " I guess 
 we'll ease up a leetle, for the time to raally pull hasn't 
 come yit. I tell ye, boy, ye needn't be afeered about 
 the race. That rifle is goin' to stay here in the woods, 
 and I sartinly hope ye may git it, too ; for ye have got 
 the raal grit in ye, and yer stroke be so much like 
 Henry's, that when ye let out back there I almost con- 
 ceited the boy himself was pullin' yer boat. No, no, 
 boy ; don't say a word, but keep yer breath to yerself, 
 for ye'll need it all at the finish. No," continued the 
 Trapper, as if talking to himself, " I don't need the 
 piece, and Henry has as good a one already as man 
 
224 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 ever handled, and a good rifle ain't got every day and 
 is better than a fortin to one of yer years. Yis, boy, 
 you let me set ye the stroke, and I'll bring ye in ahead 
 of them chaps, and of yer brother, too ; for it's agin 
 reason that a light boat and a quick stroke should win 
 agin a long boat and a long oar, with sech a back and 
 sech grit as ye have. So save yer breath as much as 
 ye can for the finish, and the rifle shall be in yer cabin 
 to-night, or my name ain't John Norton." 
 
 " Now," resumed the Trapper after a moment's 
 pause, " there's the Lad back there that can beat us 
 both, but his sperit is agin it, for he thinks it would 
 tickle an old man like me to wan the prize, and so he 
 won't pull. Jest watch his stroke, boy, and obsarve 
 the reason of it. Did ye ever see a boat run like 
 that with sech leetle effort ? Lord bless the lad ! it's 
 a marvel how the Creatur can put so much power into 
 sech an onreasonable body. — Easy, boy, easy, let 'em 
 git ahead ef they want to. The comin' in is what 
 decides a race, and I'll give ye a stroke on the last 
 half-mile that'll make 'em feel like an over-fed hound 
 in a hot chase." 
 
 Thus the boats rushed on their way, each running 
 as straight towards its appointed buoy as a bullet 
 could fly ; while the multitude, now^ far astern, w^atched 
 with eager eyes and bated breath the receding race. 
 As the boats passed farther and farther down the lake 
 the murmur of renewed conversation arose ; wdiile 
 speculation, guesses, and strong assertions as to who 
 would win were heard on all sides. It was evident 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 225 
 
 that the party of the Trapper Avas abeady in the 
 ascendant ; for the spurt he had made, and which had 
 carried his boat with such a rush up even to the front, 
 had revealed the tremendous power of the man, and 
 shown that age had not weakened, to any extent, his 
 enormous strength. The old men in the crowd, whose 
 sympathies were naturally enlisted in behalf of their 
 former comrade, were nearly beside themselves with 
 delight, as they saw him rush his boat forward. They 
 swung their hats ; they shook each other's hands ; 
 they cheered with their thin, tremulous voices ; they 
 actually wept, while the old fellow, who had repeated 
 it at least twenty times before, again asserted, " I tell 
 ye, there isn't a man on God's 'artli can beat John 
 Norton at the oars." 
 
 At last a man with stentorian lungs, who stood on 
 the ridge of the boat-house, shouted with all the power 
 of his voice : " They have turned the buoys ! They 
 have turned the buoys ! The professionals and Charlie 
 are ahead ! " At this announcement a silence fell on 
 the multitude for a moment, and then the buzz and 
 murmur of mingling voices again arose. 
 
 " How far behind is John Norton?" said the old 
 chap on the wharf. 
 
 " He and Fred are four rods astern, at least," bel- 
 lowed the man in reply. 
 
 " Where's the Lad ? " asked the " silent " partner, 
 in a clear tenor voice. 
 
 " 0, he's out of the race," said the man on the roof. 
 " He's full five rods behind the Trapper and Fred." 
 
226 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 At this the " silent " man with the tenor voice looked 
 puzzled. He took a cigar from his pocket, and, as he 
 coolly struck a match on his boot-heel, those standing 
 near heard him mutter : " Ten rods astern ! His 
 stroke is a winning stroke. What's the matter with 
 the fool?" 
 
 By this time the boats were plain to the view, and 
 the stillness which had settled on the crowd which, 
 with eager eyes and shortened breath, watched their 
 coming, was so profound as to be absolutely oppressive ; 
 for the contestants were barely a mile away, and every 
 boat, and even the action of the several boatmen, was 
 clearly visible. 
 
 " There, boy," said the Trapper to the young man 
 at his side, " ye have trusted to an old man's jedgment, 
 who played the game we be at afore ye was born, and 
 I told ye, comin' down, the piece should be in yer 
 cabin to-night. The time has sartinly come for us to 
 show the grit that's in us. Be ye ready for the stroke, 
 boy?" 
 
 The guide made no reply, save a quick, sharp nod 
 of his head and a slight tightening of his lips, while 
 his heavy brows lowered darkly over his eyes. 
 
 " All right," said the Trapper ; " ready for the 
 word ; long and quick ; now ! " 
 
 The swoop of a hawk into the thicket after its prey 
 is scarcely swifter or straighter than was the rush of 
 the two boats, in which the old man and the young 
 guide sat, to the front, until their bows lined exactly 
 with those of the other four. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 227 
 
 " Easy, easy now," said the Trapper. " Git yer 
 breath, boy. Yis, Henry was right ; ye be grit from 
 yer head to yer toes. The rifle is yours, or John 
 Norton — " 
 
 A groan of pain and rage interrupted the Trapper. 
 He threw a glance to the left and the cause was appar- 
 ent. The oars of Charlie were trailino- while the 
 white shirt that he wore was spattered all over with 
 blood. His tremendous exertions had broken a blood- 
 vessel, and from mouth and nose alike jetted with 
 every gasp the sanguine tide. 
 
 " Never mind the boy," hoarsely whispered the 
 Trapper ; " they'll pick him up. The piece must stay 
 in the woods ef yer Avhole family dies. These chaps 
 pull well. Now, boy, put yer strength to yer oars, 
 and pull yer arms out of their sockets, or win. Ready 
 for the word ? Noio I " 
 
 The young man obeyed the Trapper to a fraction. 
 He threw the full force of the enormous strength, for 
 which he was noted, into his stroke. The cords of 
 his large neck swelled and stood out like ropes ; his 
 nostrils dilated ; his face fairly sharpened to the effort ; 
 but the sudden vio;or of his stroke was too much for 
 the wood. The miserable oar, to which the Trapper 
 had alluded, parted wdth a crash. The guide was 
 thrown upon his side on the edge of his boat ; the 
 boat careened, swayed, swooped suddenly aside, and 
 the young man, unable to recover his balance, rolled 
 headlono' into the lake. 
 
 The Trapper was now thoroughly aroused. The 
 
228 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 boats were within a hundred rods of the home line, 
 and the Lad was fully ten astern. The roar of the 
 crowd was deafening. The professionals were pulling 
 grittily. The old man's eyes fairly glowed ; through 
 the roar of the multitude, who were literally frantic 
 with excitement, his ear caught the voice of Herbert 
 callinof clear and strong^ : -7- 
 
 " John Norton, now is your chance ! PULL ! " 
 The old man gathered liimself for a supreme 
 effort. His blood was up and the lion in him fairly 
 aroused. Never before was such a stroke pulled, and 
 never before was such a catastrophe. The blades 
 were too broad and strong to yield ; the boat was too 
 heavy to get away quickly enough ; the oars too 
 strong to part at the stroke ; his tremendous effort 
 tore the roivlocks from the (jumcaJes as if they had 
 been 2^cqjer, and the Trajyj^er measured his length in 
 the bottom of the boat! 
 
 The catastrophe was so unexpected and overwhelm- 
 ing in its character that it hushed the roar of the crowd 
 as if an awful visitation had terrified them to silence. 
 Even the professionals intermitted a stroke and the 
 Lad turned his face ahead. The old man had risen 
 and was standing erect in his boat, still holding the 
 huge oars in his mighty hands. His eyes flamed ; 
 his face was bloodless in the wdiiteness of an unutter- 
 able rage ; he shook the heavy oars in the air as if 
 they had been reeds, and shouted with a voice that 
 rose like the roar of a desert lion challenging 
 combat : — 
 
THE :\IAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 229 
 
 " Lad, now pull for John Norton's sake and save 
 his gray hairs from shame ! Pull, with every ounce 
 of strength the Almighty has gin ye, or the honor 
 of an old man be gone." 
 
 It were worth a thousand miles of travel and 
 a year of life to S3e what followed. It seemed 
 as if the strength of the Trapper, through the 
 medium of the awful appeal, had actually been im- 
 parted to the Lad afid put at the disposal of his 
 skill. His head suddenly sat erect on his shoulders. 
 His body straightened as if fashioned in perfect 
 symmetry. His stroke lengthened to the full reach 
 of oar and arm. The oars bent like whip-sticks. The 
 flash of the blades on the recovery was so quick 
 that the eye caught only the gleam. His boat 
 sprang, flew, flashed, and as it jumped past the 
 Trapper, the old man again wildly shook the oars 
 he clutched in his hands, and shouted : — 
 
 " Go it, lad ! The honor of the woods be on ye ! 
 Gin it to 'em ! Ye'll beat 'em yet, sure as Jedgment 
 Day!" 
 
 Except the voice of the Trapper not a sound was 
 heard. The feelino- Avas too intense. Men clinched 
 their fists until their nails cut the skin of their 
 palms. They never felt the pain. Women fainted 
 where they stood or sat. No one noticed them. One 
 of the professionals threw up his oars, crazed by 
 the excitement. The other two pulled in grim desper- 
 ation, their faces white as chalk, but grit to the 
 last. They pulled, but pulled in vain, for the boat 
 
230 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 caught them within fifty feet of the hne and shot 
 across it half a length to the front. 
 
 The race was over and the rifle would stay 
 in the woods ! 
 
 For an instant not a sound was heard. Then such 
 a shout went up as was never heard before from 
 human throats. The noise tore and stormed throuo-h 
 the still air, rolled and reeled this way and that ; 
 exploded again and again, imtil the very heavens 
 quivered and shook ; while amid the uproar the 
 sonorous voice of the Lad's hound sent forth its 
 gladsome challenge as if he shared the joy of the 
 crowd and appreciated the honor it w^as paying to his 
 simple-minded master. 
 
 The " silent partner" on the wharf spat out of his 
 mouth the stump of the cigar which, without know- 
 ing it, he had bitten in two in his excitement, took a 
 fresh one from his pocket, lighted it, and muttered 
 to himself, — 
 
 " I'm glad I HEDGED I " 
 
CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 THE lad's triumph. 
 
 " Your grace has laid the odds on the weaker side." — Shakespeare. 
 
 The scene which followed is indescribable. Hats 
 and caps went into the air in clouds, handkerchiefs 
 fairly whitened the shores, the wharf, and the front 
 of the hotel, men yelled, women clapped their hands, 
 dogs barked, guns exploded, while amid the uproar, 
 confusion, and babel of indistinguishable noises, in 
 some way — no one could tell precisely how" — the 
 boats of the contestants reached the landino- and the 
 oarsmen, every one of them save the Old Trapper 
 white and tremulous from their tremendous effort, 
 stepped or were helped ashore. 
 
 The crowd, like all American crowds, when greatly 
 and happily excited, was generous to an excess, and 
 gave to each a reception whose warmth and enthusiasm 
 were sufficient to have broken down the barrier of 
 professional pride, and remove from vanity itself the 
 sting of defeat. Even the professional who had lost 
 his head in the awful excitement of the last moment, 
 and thrown up his oars in mental bewilderment, was 
 not excluded from the ovation, for it was felt that the 
 circumstances had been so extraordinary that it fur- 
 nished an ample excuse for his aberration. Indeed, 
 
232 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 the crowd felt that every man had done his best, and 
 given an exhibition of skill and pluck seldom witnessed, 
 and were determined to slight no one in the award of 
 their praise. 
 
 But it was evident that if the Lad had won the 
 prize, the Trapper, in the latent thought of the specta- 
 tors, still carried the honors of the race ; for the ease 
 with which he had pulled the race up to the moment 
 of the catastrophe, and the astonishing exhibition of 
 strength which had caused it, had made such an im- 
 pression on every one, that all were unanimous in the 
 feeling that, but for the mishap, the old man would 
 surely have won the prize himself. As to the exhibi- 
 tion of the skill and energy of the Lad, there was but 
 one opinion ; nothing like it had ever been seen. 
 The distance he was behind when the Trapper yelled 
 for him to pull ; the weight of his boat, increased as 
 it was by the weight of his hound ; the vim and grit 
 with which the two professionals fought it out ; all 
 these points and others were mentioned by the crowd 
 in swift succession, and the more they thought of it 
 the more astonishing did the performance seem. Had 
 they not seen it, they would not have believed it. 
 The professionals themselves said that they did not 
 understand it. That he came in ahead they admitted, 
 but how he did it they could not tell. The " silent " 
 partner, when questioned by his panting companions 
 themselves, took the " Victoria " he was coolly smok- 
 ing from his mouth, drew them quietly aside, and 
 while a gleam came into his eyes, said : — 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 233 
 
 '^ The fool has the champion stroke of the world ! 
 1 saw it as he went clown the lake." And then he 
 looked steadily for a moment into the anxious faces of 
 his friends, knocked the ashes from his cigar and said 
 in the calmest of tones : " Don't worry. / hedrjed ! " 
 
 At the landing the tumult was uproarious. Above 
 the heads of the jam the countenance and shoulders 
 of the Trapper could be seen, while his arm was 
 stretched to its fullest length to reach the extended 
 hand of Herbert, who was vainly struggling to get to 
 his side. 
 
 " Yis, yis, boy ! " shouted the Trapper, " I know 
 what ye would say, but luck was agin me. It was 
 the Lad's day for sartin. Did ye see him pull, Henry, 
 arter I yelled at him ? Was there ever secli a stroke 
 and sech a gather on the 'arth afore ! Didn't I tell ye 
 we'd have some fun on this trip ? And the pond of 
 the beavers, — do ye remember the pond of the beavers, 
 boy ? " And the old man laughed with extended 
 mouth, while, in the ecstasy of his happiness, he con- 
 tinued to Avring the hand of his companion, whose 
 face was as radiant as his own, and whose grasp was 
 nearly as strong. 
 
 In the meanwhile the Lad was sitting in his boat, 
 with his face still white from the effects of his recent 
 effort, and shrinkinof timidlv back from the extended 
 hands that Avould fain have lifted him bodily upon 
 their shoulders and borne him into the hotel in 
 triumph. 
 
 " Stand aside, stand aside ! " shouted the Trapper, 
 
234 ADTBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 as he pushed his way through the jam as if they who 
 composed it had been only reeds on a marsh, " stand 
 aside for a minit and let the arms of the man he saved 
 from bitter thoughts lift the boy from the boat. 
 Come, boy," continued the Trapper, " let the man 
 who lost the priz3 by his foolishness carry ye ashore, 
 and bear ye to the jedges, who be waitin' to give ye 
 the prize." 
 
 So saying, the old man, with no more effort than if 
 he had been lifting a babe, swung the Lad up to his 
 shoulders, and facing the crowd he shouted : — 
 
 " Here be the man who calls himself ' The Man Who 
 Don't Know Much,' but that he knows enough to pull 
 a four-mile race is mortally sartin. And when he 
 comes out agin with his pelts, I know ye will remem- 
 ber his deed this day, and treat him as he desarves ; 
 for he has made good the honor of the woods agin 
 strangers, and kept us who be of the wilderness, 
 whether trappers or guides, from shame." 
 
 The answering cheer of the men who were around 
 him, rising loud and long, satisfied the Trapper, and 
 as he started up the bank and pushed on to the front 
 of the hotel where the judges were, he said : 
 
 '^ Ye hear 'em, lad, ye hear 'em ! There'll be no 
 more laughin' at ye when ye bring out yer pelts, for 
 ye be a man among men arter this, for mortals git 
 fame by an act, and a single deed can keep their mem- 
 ory better than the hewed stuns in the grave-yards of 
 the settlements. Here I be, and here's the lad," said 
 the Old Trapper, as he placed the boy by his side in 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 235 
 
 front of the judges. ^' Here's the lad who won the 
 race, and it may be ye have somethin' to say to huii." 
 
 " Young man," said the chairman, who stood hold- 
 inof a beautiful rifle in his hand, of the breech-loadino* 
 pattern whose fame for accuracy and range had just 
 begun to challenge the admiration of the world, as it 
 has since retained it, " young man, who are you ? " 
 
 The Lad lifted his eyes from the ground on which 
 they had been steadfastly fixed, and looking timidly 
 into the face of the speaker, said in a deprecating 
 voice, " I be The Man Who Don't Know Much." 
 
 The sfentleman reo^arded him for a moment amid a 
 stillness which enabled each word to be plainly heard 
 by every person in the immense throng, and then 
 said : — 
 
 " Where were you born, my boy, and where are 
 your parents? " 
 
 ^' I was born by the sea in the State of Connecticut," 
 responded the Lad in his peculiar, quiet, halting man- 
 ner of speech, " where father lives still, I guess, but 
 mother has gone away into heaven." 
 
 A sliofht tremble of ao^itation rustled throuoh the 
 crowd at the answer of the Lad ; and one old chap 
 standing in the inner circle, and whose highly colored 
 visao'e o-ave unmistakable evidence of his habits, 
 jammed his thumb and forefinger into his eyes, and, 
 passing them downward, blew a clarion blast from his 
 nose, muttering something about the " blasted sun 
 shining into a feller's eyes so he can't see any- 
 thin'." 
 
236 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 - " Where did you learn to row, and who taught you 
 your stroke ?" said the gentleman. 
 
 " I never learned to row, as I know of," replied the 
 Lad, " and no one ever told me about a stroke ; but I 
 always loved to be on the water, for the water never 
 laughs at me, nor calls me names, and I guess it come 
 sort of natural for me to pull a boat." 
 
 " That's it, jedge, that's it," interrupted the Trap- 
 per. " It comes nateral for the lad to pull an oar, 
 and the Lord has sartinly gin him gifts at rowin' as 
 he has the otter at divin', and a beaver in steerin' ; 
 for there's an old dog beaver on a leetle pond, nigh 
 the Dreary Lake, that manages to steer himself with- 
 out a tail, for he left it in my trap two year agone, 
 and a beaver must sartinly be gifted in steerin' ef he 
 can navigate himself, especially in a current, Avithout 
 his tail. Yis, especially in a current," reiterated the 
 Trapper, and he laughed to himself at his own conceit. 
 
 " Well, young man," continued the gentleman, 
 " you have certainly won the race, and in a most 
 wonderful manner ; for you have won it against men 
 who make the art of rowing a study, and follow it as 
 a profession. And you are entitled to this beautiful 
 rifle which was offered as the prize to him who should 
 win the race. Can you shoot any, young man? " 
 
 " I can't shoot as well as Henry, or John Norton," 
 said the Lad ; " and I suppose there are many men 
 here who can shoot better than I can ; but I like to 
 shoot, and I shoot a great deal better than I did a 
 year ago." 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 237 
 
 *^Well, well, my boy, I'm glad to hear that you love 
 to shoot, for this rifle has been thoroughly tested by 
 the maker, and he says it will shoot a mile and kill. 
 And in presenting it to you, in the name of the 
 donors, allow me, in their name, to express the hope 
 that you will find it a noble piece, and learn to 
 shoot as well as you can row." And the gentleman 
 advanced and placed the rifle in the hands of the Lad, 
 and then stepping back, stood as if expecting some 
 reply. 
 
 The Lad stood a moment holding the prize in his 
 hands as if he could not realize that it was his, and 
 then, as if his mind had slowlv taken in the meaninof 
 of wdiat had been said to him, and more yet, of the 
 silence, he looked timidly up at the crowd, and then 
 he turned his eyes appealingly to the Trapper. The 
 old man understood the entreaty of the look and 
 said : — 
 
 "'' Ye see, jedge, the lad isn't much at talkin', 
 for his gifts don't lie in that direction; but ye may 
 take the word of an old man that he thanks ye all the 
 same and will sartinly use the piece as a man should 
 who 'arns his livin' by the use of his wepon and his 
 traps. And now, if ye haven't more to say to the 
 lad, we'll go to our camp, for it's too crowded and 
 noisy here to suit one of my gifts, and besides the sun 
 is settin', and the wood for the night must be got in, 
 and supper cooked. Come, Henry ; come, lad ; let's 
 aw^ay to the boat." 
 
 So saying, the Trapper and his two companions 
 
238 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 entered their boat, the Lad at the oars, and the 
 Trapper at the paddle, as nsual, while Herbert and 
 the hound occupied the middle. The boat turned 
 the angle of the wharf and headed up the lake, the 
 Trapper wielding his paddle with a natural grace that 
 no art could imitate, and the Lad pulling the same 
 long, leisurely stroke that had drawn the eyes of the 
 professionals to it the day before. Not until the boat 
 had disappeared behind the Three Sisters did the 
 crowd cease to watch its receding form, but Avhen 
 it had passed behind the islands and disappeared from 
 view, the throng broke up into knots, and until late in 
 the evening continued to canvass the day's proceed- 
 in g^s. 
 
 It was evening, and on an island that lay half-way 
 dow^n the lake our three friends had made their camp 
 and were now seated around their cheerful fire, con- 
 versing upon the great event of the day. The strong 
 blaze brought out their faces in clear relief, revealing 
 the features of each, and even the changing expres- 
 sions of their countenances as they came and went, as 
 the conversation proceeded. Now and then the coun- 
 tenance of tlie sturdy Old Trapper would yield to the 
 pressure of his inward mirth, and his mouth would 
 open to its widest stretch, while his body swayed to 
 and fro, showdng that he was fairly convulsed with 
 laughter although his mouth emitted scarcely a sound. 
 His two companions yielded with all the abandon of 
 woodmen to the moods of their companion, and the 
 roars of Herbert and the shorter and quicker cachin- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 239 
 
 nations of the Lad revealed how entirely they were 
 surrendering themselves to the hilarity of the occasion. 
 
 " I tell ye, lad," exclaimed the Old Man, '' ye gin 
 it to 'em in a way they'll never forgit till their dyin' 
 day. I sartinly thought etarnity had come when I 
 went into the bottom of the boat, for I'd sot onto 
 them oars in a business sort of a v;ay, and the thump 
 I got riled me tremendously. I was madder than a 
 hornet punched out of his nest by a pole, when I ris 
 up, and I felt like a Huron at a war dance. They 
 act'ally say that I flourished them oars as a Dutch 
 woman does her broom-stick when a neicj-hbor's cow is 
 rummaging among the bean-pods in her garden. Did 
 I do it, Henry ? Tell me, boy, did I act'ally do it ? " 
 
 " You did, for certain," answered Herbert, laugh- 
 ing until he fairly choked ; " yes, you did flourish 
 them over your head like whip-sticks, and you fairly 
 hopped up and down in the boat as if you were crazy, 
 John Norton, although at the time no one noticed it ; 
 for you see we Avere all mightily wrought up, and 
 what seems funny to think of now that it is all over, 
 seemed only natural and fitting at the moment it 
 occurred. I never saw such excitement, and doubt if 
 I ever do ao^ain. I was cool enouo;h until vour row- 
 locks gave way, but then I became as wild as the rest. 
 My own ribs seemed to crack when you went into the 
 bottom of your boat." 
 
 " Did they, boy ! did they ! " ejaculated the Trap- 
 per ; " you see, I had reckoned for sartin on yer 
 guide's winnin'; Henry, for the boy has a stroke eena- 
 
240 ADIIiOXDACK TALES. 
 
 most as good as yourn, and he's a ripper to pull, and 
 I thouofht the race was in our own hands. I had 
 detarmined the young man should win, as he sartinly 
 would, hadn't it been for that pesky oar ; but when I 
 seed him roll into the lake, and I heerd the sound of 
 yer voice, Henry, callin' on me to let out, it stirred 
 every drop of blood in my skin, and I pulled an 
 onreasonable stroke. When I called on the lad my 
 grit was up as ef I was in the smoke of a scrimmage, 
 with the odds agin me. Lord-a-massy ! how strange 
 it is that a mortal man, and a man whose head be 
 whitenin', too, should git so 'arnest over secli a playful 
 matter." 
 
 " I think," said the Lad, " I ought to give the rifle 
 to Fred. I know he wanted it badly, and he would 
 have won the race if it hadn't been for his oar's break- 
 ing. Don't you think I had better give it to him, 
 John Norton ? " 
 
 " Not by a long shot ! " returned the Trapper, 
 '' ye won the race, and won it when none of the rest 
 of us could win it, and the rifle is yourn by right, 
 and yourn it shall be till yer dyin' day. And may 
 the Lord of marcy keep that day far from ye, lad, 
 till yer face be as wrinkled and yer head be as 
 white as mine." 
 
 '^ But," responded the Lad, whose face became 
 almost beautiful as the light of the sweet thought 
 within him flashed into it, fairly illuminating its 
 ordinarily simple listlessness, " the Bible says it's 
 ' more - blessed - to - give - than - to - receive,' and I'm 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 241 
 
 sure it's an easy way to be blessed to give away a 
 gun that only cost me a few strokes to win." 
 
 " I tell ye, lad," exclaimed the Trapper, " the 
 Lord forgive me for sayin' it, ef it be wrong, — 
 but the Bible don't say anythin' about boat racin', 
 and yer Scriptur' will be the death of ye yit. No, 
 no, ye don't git the true trail of the varses, lad. It's 
 downright foolishness, and I conceit that it's act'ally 
 sin for a young man like ye to give away a rifle that's 
 worth forty mink skins and can send a bullit a mile 
 and kill. I tell ye, lad, the Scriptur' be all right ef 
 ye understand it and be strong-headed enough to hold 
 it steady, but ef ye ain't, it's like a overloaded rifle to 
 a weak shoulder : it hurts the man who uses it more 
 than it does the feller at the other eend. Good 
 common sense is better than Scriptur' in matters of 
 rifles and rowin'." 
 
 " But," returned the Lad, " it will do Fred more 
 good than it will me, besides — " 
 
 '^ How do ye know ? How do ye know ? " inter- 
 rupted the Trapper, " how do ye know that the boy 
 has any gifts in handlin' the piece, and what right has 
 any man with a grooved barrel ef the Lord hasn't gin 
 him the right idee of the wepon." 
 
 " But how do you know I can shoot any better than 
 Fred can ? You never saw me shoot." 
 
 " Hoot, hoot," retorted the Trapper, '^ didn't ye 
 show me a roll of skins ye had hid in the holler pine 
 on Tomahawk P'int, and didn't I note that them 
 which didn't show marks of the trap had three holes 
 
242 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 in the head, instead of the two the Creatur had put in 
 'em. A man must have gifts to put his bulht through 
 the head of a mink, in the shade and shine of actual 
 shootin' ; and when ye emptied yer piece at Pine 
 Ridge, day afore yesterday, to freshen yer loadin', 
 didn't I see the knot ye shot at, and that ye drove yer 
 bulHt into the very hole where the stem once stood. 
 I sartinly don't conceit that ye can shoot as well as 
 Henry here, whose gift he onusual, and whose piece 
 be parfect ; nor as well as myself, whose eye has 
 knowed leetle but the sights for sixty year, and whose 
 narves has been steadied on the scout, and in the 
 scrimmage ; but ye sartinly have the gift in ye ; and 
 while I don't expect ye will ever handle the rifle as ye 
 can the oars — still, be governed, lad, by the jedg- 
 ment of an old man and don't fool away a promisin' 
 piece for the sake of a few varses of Scriptur'. For 
 although it don't load at the right eend to suit my 
 notions, yit Henry says the barrel is a good un, and 
 ye remember that the jedge said it would carry the 
 lead furder than man could see." 
 
 " What about the match to-morrow? " queried Her- 
 bert. " Didn't I hear you half -promise the judges 
 you would come down and shoot for the purse, and if 
 you do, w4iy shouldn't the lad shoot with the rifle he 
 has won to-day ? " 
 
 " Yis, yis, Henry," replied the old man, '' I did sort 
 of promise, — that is, I said we w^ould come down and 
 see the shootin', but I didn't say we would shoot, and 
 I told 'em why. For I didn't think it fair that you 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 243 
 
 and me should shoot agin the boys and the city folks, 
 for ye know they couldn't git a thing ef we was on- 
 reasonable enough to shoot agin 'em. — Lord-a-massy, 
 how careless they do handle their paddles on the Sara- 
 nac ! That bungler has grazed the rim of his boat 
 three times in as many minits, or my ears have growed 
 up. A bell on the eend of his paddle-staff wouldn't 
 make more noise. Do the fools think we be asleep 
 like a Frencher in a drunken fit, that they must make 
 sech a racket comin' into our camp." 
 
 " Camp ahoy ! " cried a voice from the darkness. 
 
 " What of it, what of it ? " returned the Trapper. 
 " Don't stay there callin' with a voice ye might hear 
 to the Upper Carry. We heerd ye comin' afore ye 
 started, and the noise ye made as ye came up the lake 
 eenamost drowned our talkin'. Come in, come in, and 
 tell us what ye want ! " 
 
 " You don't compliment the paddling of my guide 
 much, John Norton," said a man, as he sprang ashore 
 and joined the group at the fire ; " we didn't expect 
 you knew of our appearance until I hailed, for I'm 
 sure we came in very still — " 
 
 " Still ! " interrupted the old man, '' I heerd the 
 gratin' of his paddle shaft agin the boat when ye 
 passed the Three Sisters, and that's a mile away ef it's 
 a rod. And ye've spit a dozen times sence then, ef ye 
 have once, not to speak of the noise ye make when ye 
 hitched on yer seat, and the crack of yer match when 
 ye lit yer cigar. I've seed the time on this lake when 
 a dozen Huron canoes would have been hangin' round 
 
244 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 yer wake had ye so much as rubbed yer hands on the 
 legs of yer breeches or moved yer foot on the bottom 
 of yer boat on a night like this ; but what do ye 
 want, and what can we do for ye ? " 
 
 " I have come, " said the man, " by the request of 
 the judges of the matches to-morrow, to urge you and 
 your two companions to enter the list and shoot for 
 the prizes. The shooting will be at all distances, from 
 fifty to a thousand yards, and there's twenty prizes in 
 all, from a flask of poAvder to a purse of a hundred 
 dollars in gold, and everybody says you must come or 
 the affair will be a failure. All of us have heard of 
 your skill, Old Trapper, and hundreds of people, some 
 of them foreigners, have stayed over just because you 
 are to shoot, and the judges say you must come." 
 
 For a minute or two the Trapper made no reply, 
 but sat gazing into the fire, then lifting his eyes to 
 the face of the messenger he said, " Now, friend, John 
 Norton never lost a chance to shoot in his life ef it 
 was just and reasonable for him to do it, and many 
 be the matches I have shot, and many be the pounds 
 of powder and bars of lead I have won, not to speak 
 of money and other things which stir the pride and 
 vanity of man ; but I ax ye ef it would be fair to the 
 rest, for Henry, here, whose piece be parfect and gifts 
 onusual, and me, who have used a rifle for nigh on 
 seventy year, to shoot agin boys and city folks who 
 can't be expected to know how to bring out the fine 
 p'ints of a rifle, and who have sot their hearts on the 
 prizes c 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH 245 
 
 " But, John Norton/' returned the man earnestly, 
 " you mistake — some of the best shots in the woods, 
 and half a dozen gentlemen from the cities, with 
 great reputation for skill, are entered. And better 
 yet, two Englishmen, who have won prizes in their 
 own land and have never been beaten, have entered 
 also. Indeed the bettino^ is two to one in their favor. 
 And the ladies are crazy to see you shoot, and 
 charged me to say that you must come down and 
 contend for their prizes, at least, a hundred golden 
 dollars in a silken purse and a horn of solid silver 
 with a deer and hound in full chase engraved on it. 
 If you don't come down they declare they will come 
 up in a body and bring you down in the morning." 
 
 " Well, well," returned the Trapper laughing, 
 " ef the wimmin folks be raally in 'arnest in the matter, 
 and ef 'twill make them happier to see an old man 
 shoot, they shall have their way for sartin ; so tell 
 them that we will come down and jine in the fun, 
 me and Henry and the lad, all three of us. The 
 gold is nothin', but the Englishers shan't git the 
 horn ef a man who has spent his life in the woods 
 can win it. But I give ye notice — and ye may tell 'em 
 so — that the raal trial will be atween Henry and me." 
 
 " They want the lad to bring the rifle he won 
 to-day and shoot too," said the messenger as he 
 turned toward his boat. 
 
 " Ay, ay," said the Trapper. " The lad will be 
 there, and they'll hear the voice of the piece when 
 the talkin' begins." 
 
THE STORY OF 
 
 THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 
 
 Part II. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE SHOOTING MATCH. 
 
 "And still as each repeated pleasure tired, 
 Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired." 
 
 — Goldsmith. 
 
 The morning opened bright and clear, and every 
 indication pointed to an eventful day. The best 
 marksmen of the woods were there, guides and sports- 
 men alike, and among them were not a few known to 
 be extraordinarv shots and o;ood at all distances. The 
 prizes were numerous and so divided among different 
 classes that nearly every one who had skill in shoot- 
 ino' mio'ht enter for some one of them, with a fair 
 expectation of success. Local pride and personal 
 favoritism were warmly enlisted in connection with 
 many of the contestants, and each group of heated 
 partisans warmly backed their man. The two great 
 prizes were to be shot for after the minor ones had 
 been allotted. The former was called the " Lonor 
 Range" prize, because the distances to be shot by 
 the contestants for it were five hundred and one 
 thousand vards. This was a distance far oTeater than 
 any of the guides, or sportsmen either, had ever seen 
 shot, and the majority of them unhesitatingly declared 
 that " there wasn't a rifle made that could throw a 
 bullet a thousand yards." 
 
250 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 One old fellow known as " Old Bill," wliose reputa- 
 tion for close shooting and hard drinking was uni- 
 versal, declared that " a feller would have to climb a 
 tree to see the mark at sech a distance." And when 
 pressed by a young man with the assertion that the 
 Englishmen would certainly shoot the distance, ad- 
 mitted that " them darned Englishers might possibly 
 do it, if they had fetched in a cannon, but no regu- 
 lar rifle, sech as a decent man wanted to lift, could 
 throw lead any sech distance, nohow." 
 
 Indeed, it was universally understood by the crowd 
 that this long-range prize was especially gotten up for 
 the " furriners," as the guides called them, and that 
 no one would enter ao;ainst them. This had been 
 the feeling up to the time the messenger returned 
 from the Trapper's camp; but when he got in, and 
 standing on the front steps of the hotel announced 
 to the hundreds who had been eagerly awaiting his 
 coming, what John Norton had told him to say — 
 which he did, like a true herald, word for word — the 
 state of opinion underwent a sudden change, and a 
 great excitement sprang up. If the announcement 
 had simply been that the Trapper himself was to 
 shoot, it would have entirely changed the aspect of 
 things, but when it was proclaimed that Herbert w\as 
 to join in the shooting, and that the Lad would 
 compete, with his new rifle, it was felt by all that 
 new, unknow^n, but potent elements had been intro- 
 duced into the problem. As to the abilities of the 
 Lad, all were in entire ignorance ; but after a thor- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 251 
 
 ough canvassing of the possibilities, the prospects 
 were pronounced as against him : for his pliysical 
 shape, his youth, and timidity were all considered as 
 precluding the possibility of success against such men 
 as he must contend with. Still, every one felt kindly 
 toward him and wished him luck. 
 
 Of Herbert more was known, and what was known 
 was in his favor. Gentlemen there were who had 
 seen him shoot in target practice on the club ground, 
 and some of them in prize matches, and they declared 
 he had never yet lost a match, and, barring accidents, 
 could not be beaten by anybody at long-range shoot- 
 ing, they didn't care who the man might be. Guides 
 were there who had seen him shoot in actual hunting, 
 by day and night, in heat and cold, on land and when 
 tossing about in his light boat on uneven waters ; and 
 with these there was but one opinion, and that was, 
 that, shooting his own rifle, he was the quickest and 
 surest shot that ever came into the woods, and that 
 old John Norton himself couldn't beat him. These 
 views they backed to the full extent of their means. 
 
 On the other hand, many — and these represented 
 the majority — believed that the Englishmen would 
 certainly win the long-range prize, and that the Trap- 
 per would as surely take the silver horn. But wdiat- 
 ever might be the views of the individuals that com- 
 posed the crowd, all were agreed in the opinion that 
 the morrow would prove a great event, and the shoot- 
 ing be the best ever seen in the wilderness. 
 
 The professionals who had pulled in the race the 
 
252 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 day before had, with their companion, remained over 
 to see the shooting, and for the " excitement of the 
 thing," as the imperturbable gambler affirmed. But, 
 for once in his life, he was actually in doubt how to 
 proceed, and his disgust was correspondingly pro- 
 found ; but his ears w^ere open to every remark made 
 by those who knew anything of the principal parties in 
 the match, and a close observer might have noticed 
 that, leisurely as were his movements, nevertheless his 
 quiet, placid face could be seen on the edge of every 
 group as soon as it was formed. At last he drew his 
 companion ' aside and said oracularly, but with the 
 quietest of tones : — 
 
 " Herbert wins the Long Range, but hedge on the 
 Trapper. The Old Trapper Avill probably win the 
 horn, but hedge heavy on Herbert." So saying he 
 took the cigar from his moutli, flung it into the grass, 
 and mounted the stairway leading to his room. 
 
 There was one matter which quickened intensely 
 the interest of the crowd : wdiile the conditions of the 
 shooting for every other prize were duly advertised in 
 the programmes which had been posted up by the 
 committee of arrangements in every convenient local- 
 ity, the conditions of the contest for the silver horn 
 w^ere not announced, save that it was stated " that the 
 shooting for this prize, given by the fair ladies of the 
 hotel," as the announcement gallantly read, ^' would 
 be at distances not exceeding forty rods, and must be 
 done ofP hand." And then the poster significantly 
 added ; ^' If the shooting be close there will be several 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 253 
 
 contests of an unusual character, which will not be 
 announced until after the emerg^encies of the com- 
 petition elicit them." It is impossible to say whether 
 the extraordinary vao'ueness of the announcement, or 
 
 I/O " 
 
 the language in which it was written, caused the most 
 comment among those whose education had been of 
 too limited a character to make their tono-ues familiar 
 
 o 
 
 with polysyllabic words. The probability is that the 
 feelings of the largest part of the native population 
 were expressed by a young guide from Brown's Tract, 
 who, after deliberately and rather painfully spelling 
 out the " Announcement," turned to a companion a 
 little less cultured than himself, with the startling 
 interrogation : " I sai/, Bill, who is this feller they call 
 Emergencies, anyway ? I haint never heerd of him, 
 has you? " 
 
 It was ten o'clock of the morning, and the shooting 
 was to begin at half-past ten. The several distances 
 had all been measured, the targets prepared, the mark- 
 ers and judges appointed, and everything was ready. 
 The thousand-yard range had been measured — ap- 
 proximately, — and it stretched from the lawn in front 
 of the hotel to a large rock on the opposite side of 
 and some distance up the lake. From the wharf to 
 the target-rock, buoys had been anchored, at the dis- 
 tance of five rods apart, into which little flagstaffs, 
 some five feet high, were set, w^hile to the top of each 
 was attached a crimson-colored streamer. This had 
 been done at the request of the Englishmen, who 
 feared the wind mio-ht arise and tliev should need the 
 flaofs to show them the direction and force of it. 
 
254 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 It was ten o'clock to the minute, and the crowd, 
 which was only a trifle smaller in point of numbers 
 than on the preceding day, were all grouped in front 
 of the hotel, crowded on the piazzas, clustered on the 
 roof, or located in whatever position offered the best 
 opportunity to watch the firing, and to note the results 
 of it. They were evidently waiting the appearance of 
 the Trapper and his companions, for the buzz of con- 
 versation was constant but not loud, while nearly every 
 face was turned toward the point at which the coming 
 boat would first show itself. 
 
 All at once from the roof of the hotel a voice 
 sounded sliarj) and clear : — 
 
 " There they come ! all three of 'em ; there they 
 come ! " 
 
 And on the instant the murmur of conversation 
 ceased, and every eye strained itself to catcli the first 
 glimpse of the coming boat. An instant more and it 
 came sweeping out from behind the island in full view, 
 the Lad pulling a stroke longer and quicker than was 
 his wont, as if thos3 in the boat knew not the precise 
 time and feared they might be late ; while the Trapper 
 was wielding his paddle with a freedom and energy 
 of motion that matched the earnestness of the Lad. 
 Under the combined pressure of the oars and paddle 
 the boat was beino; driven throuoh the water at an 
 astonishing rate, and came racing onward with a veloc- 
 ity which stirred a hundred exclamations from the 
 mouths of the crowd. 
 
 The three professionals and their companions were 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 255 
 
 standiuof on the outer ano^le of the Avharf, watchino\ 
 with eyes that never winked, the approach. For a 
 full minute they said not a word, and then the o-amb- 
 ler, without taking his eyes from the boat, said : — 
 
 " There ! see the fool row ! Where does he keep, 
 in his slab-sided body, the strength to pull that stroke 
 so easily ? and where did he get the hint of it ? I tell 
 you. Bill," he exclaimed, with the least tremor of excite- 
 ment in his voice, " I've seen the best scullers of both 
 countries, and I've never seen a stroke I'd put up so 
 much money on as that one he pulled yesterday, and 
 which you can get the hint of now. What a joke 
 'twould be if the fool can shoot, too ! Bill, I'll go you 
 two hundred to one he beats the Enoiishmen for the 
 
 o 
 
 purse ! 
 
 " Bob," returned the one he had addressed, " you are 
 crazy. The stroke is a winning stroke, for he proved 
 it yesterday ; but it doesn't stand to reason that such 
 a lath-like, long-legged, awkward cuss can shoot ; and 
 so you may regard that little matter you propose, of 
 two to one, as done.'" 
 
 " Done it is !•" retorted the other, and turning away 
 on his heel, carelessly, he glanced at a little blue-cov- 
 ered book he held in his hand and muttered : " Well, 
 I can't lose much whoever wins, for I've hedo-ed on 
 them all." And then he laughed at — from his point 
 of view — the extraordinary oddity of the precaution. 
 
 In the meantime our three friends in the boat were 
 holding a very important consultation, and one which 
 decided, as the event proved, one of the two grand 
 results of the day. 
 
256 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 " Easy, lacl, easy," said the Trapper, " ye be piillin' 
 as a pig^eon flies when he sees the hunter's smoke and 
 hears the whisthng o£ the lead in the air. Ye have 
 got to do yer best to-day, and ye'll need a steady narve 
 and a even pulse when the work begins ; for them Eng- 
 lishers have got guns eenamost as big as cannon, they 
 say, and can hit the size of a man's head furder than 
 they can see. Do ye really conceit, Henry, that we 
 had better all three shoot for the puss agin the 
 Britishers?" 
 
 " I certainly do," responded Herbert. '' The more 
 we are the better our chances ; for it is in shooting as 
 it is in rowing, accidents will happen, and who knows 
 that there may not be as many to-day as tliere were 
 yesterday ; and where would the lad's rifle be now if 
 the two hadn't been made three ? Yes, I certainly 
 think we should all enter ; for the English gentlemen 
 are noted shots and have never been beaten, and the 
 messen<rer said last nio^lit that the bettino; was two to 
 one in their favor." 
 
 '^ Who cares ! who cares ! " exclaimed* the Trapper. 
 " I tell ye, Henry, there isn't a Britisher livin' can 
 beat a American shootin', ef the wepon has a grooved 
 barrel ; but still I like the jedgmatical way ye talk, for 
 it shows ye be cautious, and caution is a good thing 
 afore a scrimmage, and a mighty mean thing in it. 
 But what can we shoot with, boy? for though the 
 pieces you and me carry be as parfect as man ever 
 made, yit they can't send lead the whole length of the 
 Saranac, for sartin, and a thousand yard be a bigger 
 
THE MAX WHO DTDX'T KXOW MUCH. 257 
 
 distance than I ever sighted for, onless it be now and 
 then in fun, or on a ventnr'. " 
 
 "We will use the lad's rifle, all three of us," 
 responded Herbert. " The conditions give each con- 
 testant his choice in respect to the rifle he uses ; and 
 all we have to do is to name his gun as our choice, 
 when we enter for the thousand yards prize." 
 
 " But do ye think the lad's gun will hold up to that 
 distance ? It won't weioh an ounce more than ten 
 pounds." 
 
 " It isn't the weight of a rifle, John Norton, that 
 decides its range, but the way it is made, and the 
 quantity of j)owder and amount of lead it can bear. 
 I have a gun of the same make at home that weighs 
 only eight pounds, and I have shot it twelve hundred 
 yards, and put every bullet of the string into the size 
 of a beaver's hide." 
 
 " Well, well," exclaimed the Trapper, " I s'pose I 
 must believe ye, Henry, but it sartinly seems wonder- 
 ful to me that lead can be throwed so fur wdth any 
 sartinty. But what about the sigh tin' of the piece, 
 boy ? — for it's no better nor a smooth bore ef it beant 
 sighted fust." 
 
 " I thought of that," returned the young man, 
 " but we can manage it. You see, each contestant is 
 allowed three ' sighting shots,' and that gives us nine, 
 all told, and it will go hard w^ith us if we can't know 
 where w^e are shooting before the ninth shot, especially 
 as the range is across the water." 
 
 " Ay, ay, that it will. I w^arrant ye will find the 
 
258 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 centre with yer three hulHts alone. But look, boy, 
 and tell me what be the meanin' of them leetle flaos 
 fastened to the logs yender ? " 
 
 " Those are what long-range shooters call ' wind 
 flags/ " replied Herbert, " and they are very useful, 
 too, when the wind blows. I shot a match last fall 
 when I had to allow five feet for the ' drift ' of my 
 bullet, and I won the match simply because I studied 
 the flaofs better than the others." 
 
 "It's reasonable, yis, it's sartinly reasonable, what 
 ye say, Henry,". said the Trapper after he had pondered 
 the matter for a moment ; " and still as it is now, ye 
 be likely to need them afore the day eends, for yester- 
 day was a weather-breeder for sartin, and the wind 
 will be liftin' by spells by and by, or natur' forgits her 
 promises over night. But ef the wind does rise, 
 Henry, ye must intarpret the motions of the flags to 
 me and the lad, for we be ignorant as babes of their 
 language. Lord-a-massy ! " continued the old man, " it 
 will be strange for John Norton to shoot by the words 
 of another and not by what his own eyes tell him ! " 
 
 By this time the boat had nearly reached the wharf, 
 and amid the cheery and multitudinous greetings of 
 the throng, prominent over all being the greeting 
 which the ladies, from window, doorway, and piazza, 
 with fluttering handkerchief and clapping of hands, 
 gave the Old Trapper, whom they had, wdth that 
 enthusiasm for which, in cases where their feelings 
 are moved by strong preference, their sex is noted, 
 named " Our Champion." 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 259 
 
 In the midst of this pleasant recognition the Okl 
 Trapper, Herbert, and the Lad stepped ashore, and 
 with their rifles in their hands proceeded to the front 
 of the hotel where stood the committee. 
 
 " Well," said the Trapper as he and his companions 
 swung into line in front of the judges, '' here be me 
 and the boys armed and equipped as ye see for sar- 
 vice. I didn't mean to barn a karnal of powder 
 to-day, but last night yer messenger said that there 
 was to be a puss of money and a silver horn shot 
 for, and that the wimmin folks want to see an old 
 man, whose head has whitened in the woods, use the 
 wepon a leetle which he's handled for sixty year. 
 And so I said to him that me, Henry here, and the 
 lad would come down and jine in the fun, not 
 enough to spile the sport of the others, but jest 
 enough to make things lively a leetle — especially for 
 the Britishers, which he told us was goin' to have 
 everything their own way." 
 
 " What do you want to shoot for, John Norton," 
 said the chairman of the committee of arrangements, 
 " or do you wish to compete for all the prizes ? " 
 
 " Lord bless you, squire," exclaimed the Trapper, 
 " we wouldn't spile the boys' sport for the world. 
 No, no ! let the people shoot, and git the prizes as 
 they can. Henry and me wouldn't hinder 'em ; but 
 the 'lad, here, wants a leetle change to support his 
 rifle with ; — for a new rifle in the woods is a good 
 deal like a new wife in the settlements, it takes a good 
 deal of money to keep it goin'; and me and Henry sort 
 
260 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 of thought we'd jest jiiie in with him to steady his 
 narves a bit and make a sure thing of it. So ye may 
 put us three down for that puss of money. Then, 
 about that silver horn, ye see me and Henry both 
 want it bad, and it's goin' to be nip and tuck at ween 
 us which shall git it when the raal shootin' begins, 
 and I sartinly hope ye wont set up any barn door to 
 shoot at like that on the rock there, but give us some- 
 thing small enough to try our gifts, that the ladies, 
 here, may see us bring out the fine p'ints of the rifle. 
 So ye may put us all three down for the puss and 
 Henry and me for the horn, and ye'll sae shootin' 
 wutli seein' afore the Englishers tote them both off." 
 
 It was one o'clock, and eighteen of the twenty 
 prizes had been shot for, won, and distributed. The 
 contest in several cases had been sharp, the result 
 close, and not a little extraordinary shooting had been 
 done. Indeed, the average had been very high, so 
 high that it won from the Old Trapper, who, with 
 Herbert and the Lad had closely watched the several 
 contests, his warmest commendation. 
 
 " I tell ye, Henry," said he as the firing ceased, " I 
 have seed more good shootin' to-day than I ever seed 
 in the settlements afore. Some of them pieces must 
 be nigh on to parfect, and some of them city boys 
 need nothin' but edication to make them raally larned 
 and useful men. But, Lord bless me, what can ye 
 expect from a boy born in the city and edicated by 
 the school teachers of the settlements, who know 
 nothin' but letters, and figures, and parsiu'. Lord-a- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX' T KXO W MUCH 261 
 
 massy, Henry, I've seed them perfessers that couldn't 
 tell a mmk from a fisher, or the difference atween a 
 hound's foot and a wolf's track. It sartinly seems sinful 
 for a man to live in the world and be so ignorant of 
 its signs and its ways. Ye be the only one, Henry, I 
 have ever met that had the knowledge of books and 
 of natur', too, and I should eenamost doubt — " 
 
 " The contests for the Long Range prize will now 
 begin. The several contestants will take their places 
 and listen to the rules that govern the shooting," 
 shouted the chairman of the committee of arrang^e- 
 ments. 
 
 In a moment the five contestants were standinof in 
 front of the judges, and the rules were read as 
 follows : — 
 
 "1. The shooting to be at two distances — five 
 hundred and one thousand yards. 
 
 2. Each contestant has his choice of rifles. 
 
 3. Shoot any way they please, except with a table 
 rest. 
 
 4. Order of shooting to be decided by lot. 
 
 6. Three shots allowed at each range for sighting. 
 
 6. A snap or miss-fire to count as a shot. 
 
 7. A string to consist of ten shots, — measurement 
 of each string to be from the inner edge of each bullet 
 hole to the tack. 
 
 8. To miss the target altogether rules the shooter 
 out of the match. 
 
 9. The prize to be awarded to the man with the 
 lowest total in the measurement of the twenty shots." 
 
262 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 Such were the rules as read by the chairman. 
 After reading them amid a profound silence, he pro- 
 ceeded to insert several slips of paper between the 
 leaves of a book, and, holding it out to the five men 
 in front of him, he said : " Gentlemen, you will now 
 draw lots for the order in which you will shoot." 
 
 The slips were drawn, and it was found that the 
 two Englishmen had drawn numbers one and two ; 
 the Lad had drawn three ; Herbert, four ; the Old 
 Trapper, five. 
 
 At this point the judge announced that the "sight- 
 ing: " shots would now be made. The Enolishmen 
 fired each one shot, and the Avliite disk of the marker 
 showed them within eight inches of the tack, — seeing 
 which the crowd sent up a roar of astonishment, and 
 the marksmen announced that they didn't care to 
 shoot the other two shots allowed by the rules. The 
 noise had scarcely subsided before Herbert, stretching 
 himself at full length upon the ground, and resting 
 the barrel of the Lad's rifle over a log some eight 
 inches in diameter, on which he had previously laid 
 his hunting jacket, and resting with his elbows braced 
 in the form of a V, exploded the piece. The marker's 
 disk showed the shot directly in line two feet below 
 the tack. 
 
 "Good enough!" said the Trapper, "put in 
 another cartridge, and h'ist the sight a leetle, Henry. 
 The piece has sartinly got the trail, but is runnin' with 
 her nose a leetle low. Give her a lift, boy, and try 
 her agin." 
 
THE 3IAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 263 
 
 While the Old Trapper had been talkmg, Herbert 
 had been elevating the sight, and the last word was 
 hardly out of the old man's mouth before the piece 
 again exploded, and the '^ tick " of the striking bullet 
 came sharply back through the still air. The disk 
 again went up, and this time rested exactly over the 
 centre of the target. 
 
 " By the Lord, Henry ! " exclaimed the old man, 
 while a smile ht up his wrinkled face, '' the gun's a 
 good un ef she does load at the wrong eend. She 
 minds the sights as a canoe does the paddle, and she's 
 got a voice like a Dutch woman when she's angered. 
 Wipe her out, boy, Avipe her out ; for a smutty barrel 
 bothers the bullit, and we'll show the Englishers that 
 a gun in the hands of a woodsman can throw lead as 
 straio'ht as a cannon." 
 
 o 
 
 This was said in reference to the stranofer's rifles, 
 that were of heavy English make, w^eighing sixteen or 
 eighteen pounds. 
 
 " What rifle are you to shoot, John Norton ? " said 
 the judge. 
 
 " W^ell, squire," said the Trapper, " ye see that 
 although the pieces that Henry and me use be parfect 
 to a sartin distance, yit they wasn't made to shoot 
 round the world, and yer ranges here be beyend the 
 power of their barrels to cover ; and as ye want to see 
 the lad's rifle here put into sarvice, we conceited we'd 
 all three use her, and see ef she was wuth takin' into 
 the woods. And as Henry here seems to have got 
 the p'intin' of the piece about right, and there isn't 
 
264 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 any time to spare, ye may begin to call off as soon as 
 ye please, and let the talkin' begin. I feel as ef I'd 
 like to git my eye into the sights pritty soon, myself." 
 
 " The shooting for the five hundred yards range 
 will now begin," said the judge. " All the specta- 
 tors are requested not to indulge in loud talking 
 lest they disturb the marksmen. I shall call each in 
 his order, and no one will shoot until I call his num- 
 ber. Number One ! " 
 
 One of the Englishmen, a fine-looking man of 
 about forty, deliberately laid himself on his back, 
 rested the muzzle of his rifle between his feet, that 
 were crossed, passed his left arm under his head, 
 grasped the stock of his rifle with his hand, and 
 taking deliberate aim, fired. His companion, when 
 called, took the same position, and the marker's disk 
 showed that both bullets had been lodo^ed within the 
 eioht-inch diameter rin^: which surrounded the tack. 
 The exhibition of skill was too fine to be received in 
 silence, and the crowd broke into a cheer at the 
 result. 
 
 " The Englishers call that shootin', do they?" said 
 the Traj^per in a low voice. '' Yer way of shootin', 
 Henry, be bad enough, for sartin ; although I allow 
 there is reason in yer elbow-rest, as ye call it ; but I 
 never expected to see a man shoot in that kinked-up 
 fashion. They look more like a turtle lyin' on its 
 back than human bein's. Why — " 
 
 " Number Three ! " called the judge. 
 
 Amid a silence as profound as if each spectator had 
 
THE MAX WHO DTDX'T KXOW MUCH 265 
 
 been suddenly turned to stone, the Lad stretched 
 himself beside Herbert on the grass, and imitating his 
 position, set his eye to the sights. One instant, and 
 then the explosion came. The next, and the marker's 
 disk settled to the target within four inches of the 
 tack. The yell that succeeded was simply tremendous. 
 
 " Well done, lad ! " shouted the Trapper, as he 
 brought his hand with a mighty slap against his 
 thigh, while his mouth opened to its widest stretch. 
 '^ Ye'll give them Britishers the cramp in the small of 
 their backs ef ye can stick 'em in in that style. Now, 
 Henry, h'ist her nose a leetle and show 'em the fine 
 p'ints of the piece." 
 
 '^ Number Four ! " called the jndge, as soon as his 
 voice could be heard. Herbert had already his eye 
 at the sight when the word was given, and before the 
 sound of the caller's voice had died away, the gun 
 exploded. Again the disk settled to the target, 
 showino; that the bullet had divided the distance be- 
 tween the hole made by the Lad's ball and the tack. 
 
 It was a full minute before the judge could make 
 his voice heard, for the tumult of a thousand open 
 mouths was in the air, and the noise was overwhelm- 
 ing. Amid the uproar the Old Trapper's voice was 
 the loudest, for he Avas wise enough to know that the 
 gun was working well and could be relied on, and 
 that his two companions had the match in their 
 hands. Indeed, so strongly was this fact impressed on 
 his mind that he bent down to Herbert, who was still 
 lying on the grass, and said : — 
 
266 ADIIiONDACK TALES. 
 
 " I tell ye, boy, ye've got 'em. The barrel is a true 
 un, and ye and the lad don't need any help. I ain't 
 goin' to shoot." 
 
 " John Norton," said Herbert, " you talk nonsense. 
 The lad isn't certain, for he never shot a match in 
 his life, and this is the short range. At the long 
 ranofe the £fun may not work so well, and some acci- 
 dent may happen. Remember your own fame. A 
 thousand people are looking to see you prove your 
 skill. Besides, I want to see you shoot, myself. 
 Above all, I want these Englishmen to see what an 
 American gun can do." 
 
 "Well, well, Henry," interrupted the Trapper, "ye 
 shall have yer way. Clean the piece and shove in yer 
 cartridoe. I never thouoht John Norton would shoot 
 a rifle that was loaded at the breech-pin." 
 
 " Number Five ! " shouted the caller. " Silence. 
 John Norton is to shoot." 
 
 The old man took the piece, and turning to the 
 caller, he said : — 
 
 " Ye see, squire, I've never handled the piece, and 
 ef ye have no objection I would like to run my eye 
 through the sights, for new sights to the eye be a 
 good deal like a new knife in the mouth, — ye have to 
 use it awhile afore ye git used to it." 
 
 " No objection ; you can look through the sights as 
 long as you wish." 
 
 The old man lifted the rifle to his cheek and low- 
 ered it again. This he did several times ; at last he 
 said : — 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 267 
 
 " I can't say, squire, that the piece balances jest 
 right, for it's a leetle too heavy at the breech and too 
 straight in the stock, and the barrel is colored a leetle 
 too high, and it sartinly loads at the wrong eend ; but 
 the sio:hts be rio^ht and the air be clear as the Lord 
 ev^er makes it. A man ought to do eenamost any- 
 thin' with a true barrel, to-day. Now a hundred rod 
 is a good range, for sartin, but the board yender be 
 well placed, and the white shows as clear as a gull in 
 the air. Now Henry says the gun shoots full three 
 inches under, and advises me to hold up, and the boy's 
 jedgment is onusually good in sech things. And I 
 shall be governed by him in the matter, and ef he be 
 right the lead ought to be found pretty near the tack, 
 ef the powder barns quick, and nothin' onnateral hap- 
 pens ; but the credit of the shot will half belong to 
 Henry, ef his advice be correct. Now, ye may git 
 yer eyes onto the board as soon as ye please, or the 
 bullit will git there ahead of ye." 
 
 In spite of the Trapper's advice not an eye in all 
 the throng turned toward the target, but remained 
 steadfastly fixed on the marksman. Nothing could 
 be finer than the old man's appearance as he straight- 
 eired his form to its full height, advanced his left foot 
 and lifted the barrel into the air. SloAvly and easily it 
 settled into the broad hand extended to receive it, 
 stood fixed for an instant, as if it was a part of the 
 atmosphere itself, then burst out its explosion. Before 
 an eye in all the crowd had turned to the target, the 
 gun, wdth its muzzle still smoking, lay resting in the 
 
268 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 hollow of the old man's arm, while his hand, from 
 long habit, was involuntarily feeling for the powder- 
 horn to recharpe the barrel. 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 THE SHOOTING MATCH. 
 
 "On thee the fortunes of our house depend."— Virgil. 
 
 But recollecting themselves in an instant the spec- 
 tators, as with one movement, tnrned their gaze at the 
 target. The marker stood in front o£ it for a moment, 
 and then he waved the disk upward and downward, 
 endino; with a flourish into the air over his head. 
 
 " John Norton ! " exclaimed the judge, " you have 
 missed the target entirely, and I regret to say you are 
 ruled out from farther shootino\" 
 
 " Missed the target ! " said the old man, while the 
 silence of the crowd was absolutely oppressive, and 
 every word could be heard by the listeners. ^' Missed 
 the target ! " repeated the Trapper, " that would be a 
 good un, and somethin' the Saranacs wouldn't forgit 
 in a day. No, no, jedge ; it's a big distance, I'll allow, 
 but the air be clear, the sights showed plain, the pow- 
 der barnt quick ; and the piece, considerin' it loads at 
 the wrong eend, be a good un. Henry told me to 
 allow three inches, and ef the boy was right, as he is 
 likely to be in sech a matter, yer marker there oughter 
 find the lead in the black around the tack." 
 
 At that instant a shout came boomino: over the 
 water. For a moment the marker was seen swinging 
 
270 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 his hat over his head, and then the wliite disk was 
 placed squarely over the centre of the target. 
 
 The roar that the crowd sent upward into the air 
 was j)ositively deafening. It lifted the atmosphere 
 like an explosion^ and swelled as it rose until the 
 upper air was filled with the enlarging sound. Again 
 and again did the crowd explode. Cheer upon cheer 
 chased each other across the lake, and rolled their 
 aerial waves aofainst the distant hills. Amid the 
 tumult the Old Trapper, whose hand Herbert had 
 grasped, and was shaking with unconscious vigor and 
 energy, exclaimed : — 
 
 '' Lord ! Henry, did tlie folks think that a man who 
 has used the wepon all his life, till his liead be white- 
 nin', could miss a board as big as a door on a day 
 like this ? I tell ye, boy, ef the wind won't lift, and 
 the piece works well, I'll drive every bulllt of the ten 
 inside the size of a sasser. Lord-a-massy, Henry, 
 what a grip ye have ! The lad and me has seed ye 
 when yer fingers hadn't pinch enough in 'em to break 
 an egg-shell." And the old man laughed heartily at 
 his own thoucrht. 
 
 Presently the crowd regained their composure, and 
 the shooting proceeded with regularity and precision. 
 In less than an hour the string was shot, the judge 
 had measured the distance of each of the marksmen's 
 bullets from the tack, and announced that he would 
 declare the score : — 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," said he, " the score of the 
 shooting at five hundred yards stands as follows : 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 271 
 
 Total distance of the ten shots from the tack for 
 Number One, is 60 inches ; Number Two, is 58 1-2 
 inches ; Number Three, is 55 inches ; Number Four, 
 is 17 inches ; Number Five, is 17 1-2 inches. Mr. 
 Herbert leads the score at the five hundred yards 
 range, beating Number One, 13 inches ; Number Two, 
 11 1-2 inches ; Number Three, 8 inches ; Number Five, 
 1-2 inch." And then he added : " We will now adjourn 
 the shooting for twenty minutes, at the end of which 
 time the shooting at one thousand yards will begin." 
 
 During the intermission speculation raged, and the 
 discussion as to the chances of the several contestants 
 was warm. All agreed that the Trapper's shooting, 
 firing as he had '' off hand," was never equalled. Such 
 steadiness of nerve all admitted was never seen before, 
 and that his string' would stand forever unrivalled. 
 But still, it was claimed that no human beino: could 
 shoot one thousand yards "off hand" and stand any 
 chance beside men accustomed to the distance, and 
 shooting from a rest. On the other hand the partisans 
 of the Trapper asserted that so clear was his eye, so 
 steady his nerves, and so perfect his control of the 
 piece, that he could shoot, and would shoot, at the 
 longer as well as he had at the shorter distance ; and 
 they backed him at any odds against everybody but 
 Herbert. 
 
 In respect to Herbert, the backers of the Trapper 
 admitted that he might win ; indeed, they went so far 
 as to own that he probably would. Like the Trapper, 
 he had shot with great steadiness; his bullets being 
 
272 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 " bunched " a little under, as the Trapper's were a 
 little over, the centre ; and the manner in which the 
 old man treated him, as truly as the words of praise 
 he had sjioken in his behalf, had made a profound 
 impression on the throng. So that as between the two 
 no bets were made, all admitting that it was, as the 
 Trapper said it would be, " nip and tuck " between 
 them. 
 
 The Lad rose in popular favor with every shot he 
 made. Indeed, his shooting had improved from the 
 start, and his last three bullets had been driven 
 within three inches of the tack and so close to^rether 
 that their edges touched. This had not escaped the 
 notice of our " silent " friend, who had watched the 
 Lad as the contest proceeded and the excitement 
 grew, and noticed that whether the crowd was noisy 
 or still the look of placid simplicity never left his 
 face, and when he sighted the last shot, not a muscle 
 in his face even tightened, nor the least particle of 
 stiffness came to the long, awkward finger as it rested 
 on the delicate trigger. Profoundly impressed by 
 these facts he was " laying heavy on the fool," as he 
 expressed it. 
 
 Still, the Englishmen had strong backing. They 
 freely admitted that the American gun shot " beyond 
 all precedent," but they as stoutly held that " no 
 breech-loading arm, and especially of so light a char- 
 acter, could possibly compete at a thousand yards with 
 such guns as they were firing." And this judgment 
 was endorsed by many among the spectators. Indeed, 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 273 
 
 the majority, for the reason above mentioned, still 
 stood with the strangers and confidently asserted that 
 " they would surely and easily win at the thousand- 
 yard range." 
 
 While the crowd were thus discussing the chances of 
 the several contestants, nature was busy in introducing 
 new and potential elements into the contest. The sky 
 that had been cloudless suddenlv darkened, and o-reat 
 black patches began to float through the firmament. 
 The winds were unloosed and gusts began to spin 
 themselves in eddying courses across the level lake. 
 The flags on the staffs, that had hung all the morning 
 pendent, or clung in coils around the slender sticks, 
 began to flap and flutter, one instant streaming free, 
 the next sinking into utter repose. What made it still 
 worse, the winds were changeful. One instant a breeze 
 would blow straight up the lake, the next a gust 
 would spin fairly athwart the range. The Englishmen 
 hailed this with* unconcealed delight, thinking that 
 their long experience on windy ranges would tell 
 strongly in their favor. Even the Old Trapper, as he 
 watched the rising wind, got uneasy, and calling his 
 two companions to him, said : — 
 
 " Now, Henry, ye see the wind be risin', as I felt 
 sartin it would afore long, and the Englishers be 
 tickled, for they conceit they can beat us, as they sar* 
 tinly can me and the lad, in calculatin' the force of 
 the squalls. What say ye, Henry, can ye match 'em 
 in watchin' the flao-s ? " 
 
 " You needn't worry, John Norton," replied Her- 
 
274 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 bert, '^ I've had as much experience with flags and 
 windy ranges as they have, and I doubt if they can 
 beat me at the business. But I warn you both to 
 remember that the wind exercises a great influ- 
 ence on the fliofht of a buflet at a distance of one 
 thousand yards — greater than one would suppose 
 unless he has had experience of it, and that you must 
 shoot wdien and wdiere I tell you, no matter how 
 strange the direction may seem to you. Of course it's 
 a little awkward, but if you will obey me I think we 
 can beat them at their own game, wind or no wind." 
 
 ^^ Don't ye fear about that, Henry," responded the 
 Trapper ; " I'll shoot where ye say, ef ye tell me to 
 shoot into one of the winders of the tavern here. So 
 ye jest give us the word and the lead shall go where 
 ye say, ef I have to send the buUit over to the Upper 
 Saranac." ^ 
 
 '' The shooting at the long range will now begin," 
 shouted the judge. "Each man is allowed three 
 sighting shots, and they can shoot them when they 
 please, taking advantage of the lulls between the gusts 
 of the wdnd." 
 
 The marksmen were already in their places, and in 
 a few moments the Englishmen had made their trial, 
 and with success. Herbert watched his chance and 
 shot each of his three shots when the flaos hunof 
 unmoved on their staffs. His last two bullets had 
 struck within two inches of each other, eight inches 
 under the centre. He was delighted at his good luck, 
 for he knew that the least trifle of elevation would 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 275 
 
 give the piece the centre range, and he announced to 
 the judge that the Trapper, the Lad, and himself were 
 ready. 
 
 In a few moments the firing began. Number One 
 put his bullet within ten inches of the tack, directly 
 to the right, and was cheered. Number Two nearly 
 duplicated the shot, only his bullet " drifted " to the 
 left. He, too, Avas cheered. Indeed, the crowd was 
 in excellent humor and ready to be pleased with any- 
 thino\ Besides, the rang^e was so much beyond the 
 capacity of ordinary guns that even to hit the target 
 seemed to most of the spectators a wonderful exploit, 
 and to plant a bullet within a foot of the tack was 
 enough to set them yelling. It was now the Lad's 
 turn, and the wind was blowing up the lake with 
 decided violence. 
 
 " Hold on, lad ; hold on," said the Trapper. 
 " Wait till Henry gives ye the word and then fire 
 where he tells ye, ef yer bullit has to go round the 
 Three Sisters to git at the target. This shootin' by 
 flags and orders, and with a gun that loads at the 
 wrong eend, be squaw's work anyhow ; but the Eng- 
 lishers must be beaten ef we have to shoot in pla- 
 toons — " 
 
 " Ready, lad ! " said Herbert, sharply. " Aim two 
 feet under — in direct line, — .^^'^•" 
 
 The astonishment of the crowd was intense, and 
 their consequent noise deafening, when the marker's 
 disk showed the Lad's bullet but five inches from the 
 tack — directly below it. 
 
276 ADTBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 The Old Trapper said not a word. Indeed, he had 
 no opportunity ; for Herbert had instantly inserted 
 another cartridge, and before the marker had fairly 
 sunk from sight, his piece exploded. Quick as a flash 
 the marker lifted his disk and set it to the tarpfet in 
 the identical spot he had laid it for the Lad's shot. 
 Indeed the two shots — by one of those strange occur- 
 rences which occasionally happen in shooting — had 
 penetrated the target so near the same point that their 
 edges actually cut into each other. 
 
 The exhibition of skill on the part of the marks- 
 men, and of the extraordinary accuracy of the rifle 
 itself, and the intelligence Avliich Herbert brought to 
 watching the flags, made a profound impression on 
 the thiono:. The Enoflishmen themselves came over 
 and looked curiously at the gun wdiich had proved 
 itself able to project its bullets with such force and 
 precision. It was several minutes before anything 
 like order prevailed, and then the judges called out — 
 
 " Ninnher Five ! '' 
 
 " NoWj Henry," said the Old Trapper, as he lifted 
 the piece, '' ye give me the true p'ints of the case, 
 as the lawyers say, or I wouldn't give a cent for the 
 vardict. It's a big distance, for sartiii," continued 
 he, as he ranged his eyes over the water to where the 
 target stood. " Yis, it's a big distance, and I marvel 
 that so small a gun can bear the charging she does. 
 Didn't ye say, boy, she barnt a hundred grains, and 
 fine karnelled at that? A hundred grains! Why, 
 Henry, I've toted a piece nigh on to twdce the heft of 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH. 277 
 
 this that didn't chamber a thimbleful, and carried a 
 bullit no big-ger than a pea. Yis, yis, I begin to see 
 the reason of it. A hundred grains ! why it's enough 
 to carry a bullit half-way to Tophet, ef the muzzle 
 of the piece had the right lift to it. Ay, ay, Henry, 
 I understand. Don't be oneasy, boy ; when ye give 
 the word, ye'll find me ready ; but when a man has 
 nothing else to do it doesn't hurt him any to talk a 
 leetle, as I conceit, especially ef he talks to himself 
 and in a jedicious manner — " 
 
 "Ready!'' said Herbert. ^- Level with the tack, 
 — three feet to the right, — fire ! " 
 
 The piece exploded with that word. Indeed, the 
 explosion actually drowned the voice that pronounced 
 it. It was all done so quickly that it seemed incred- 
 ible that the Trapper could have sighted. 
 
 " Ay, ay, Henry," said the old man laughing, as 
 Herbert glanced interrogatively uj) at him ; '' level it 
 was, and three feet to the right, jest as ye told me to 
 do it. The piece was held as ye said it should be, 
 though where the bullit has gone the Lord only 
 knows. For the range ye gave sartinly brought the 
 sights full three inches off the board, and I had all of 
 West Bay to sight at." 
 
 What more the Old Trapper would have said, had 
 he not been interrupted, will never be known ; for he 
 was interrupted in the midst of his sentence by a yell 
 so wild and strong that it fairly startled him. His eye 
 glanced quick as a lightning flash toward the target, 
 and beheld, as he did so, a perfect explanation of the 
 
278 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 enthusiasm of the crowd. The bullet, driven witli 
 terrible velocity through the air, had traversed its 
 thousand yards of flight, and, so nicely had Herbert 
 calculated the influence of the wind and the resultant 
 drift, and so exactly had the Trapper obeyed him in 
 his aim, that it had penetrated the target almost at its 
 central point ; for the disk of the marker lay directly 
 over the tack. 
 
 It is but truth to say that of all those in the crowd 
 not one was more astonished than the Okl Trapper 
 himself. The idea that so smaU a barrel should be 
 able to project its buflet the distance of such a range 
 and enter it so accurately at the point aimed at, was 
 a revelation to the old rifleman's mind. He looked at 
 the piece, as it lay balanced in his mighty hand, and 
 then measured with observant eve the lenoth of the 
 range, W\t\\ features whose expression revealed the 
 thouofht that was within. 
 
 " I'd never believed it, Henry. No, boy, I'd never 
 believed it, onless my own eyes had seed it done. I'd 
 never believed that a barrel not twice as biof as a sol- 
 dier's ramrod, and but a leetle heavier, could have 
 throwed an ounce of lead across that distance. They 
 say strange tlnngs have been found out, and many 
 inventions diskivered in the settlements sence I fust 
 struck the trail. But among them all there can't be 
 a greater, no, there can't be a greater than this leetle 
 gun that has set a man, who has used the rifle for 
 sixty year, and thought he knowed all the strong 
 p'ints of the wepon, to marvellin'. No, I'd never 
 believed it ef I hadn't seed it with my own eyes." 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 279 
 
 In this manner the match proceeded up to the sixth 
 shot. The shootino^ had continued in favor of the 
 Old Trapper and his companions as opposed to the 
 Englishmen. The American gun was proving its 
 superiority over the English ones with each successive 
 discharge. But as to the three that shot it the closest 
 observer was in doubt as to Avhich was leadinof his 
 companions. The shooting of the three as directed 
 by Herbert had been remarkably even ; for so skilled 
 was he in watching the flags, so exact was his judg- 
 ment, and so promj)tly did his companions respond to 
 his directions, that their shooting had been distin- 
 guished by all the accuracy that would have attended 
 their practice on a perfectly calm day. The English- 
 men had shot well, but they had been unable to gain 
 any advantage over the Americans by reason of any 
 superior knowledge touching the atmospheric influ- 
 ences on the flight of their projectiles, while in point 
 of skill and capacity of their guns they were evidently 
 inferior to their rivals. The Old Trapper, as the 
 shooting proceeded, was in his element, and appeared 
 to the best possible advantage. Noble and generous 
 as his nature was, there was nevertheless in it that 
 quality of ambition which gives to rivalry the keenest 
 relish, and he enjoyed with intense delight the idea 
 that he was " beatin' them Britishers." Indeed, he 
 was full of jokes and comments as the match pro- 
 ceeded ; and shot after shot revealed the accuracy of 
 the gun he was using, and the fine discrimination with 
 which Herbert was directino- the bullets. 
 
280 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 " I tell ye, Henry," he exclaimed, as the marker's 
 disk revealed the fact that his sixth ball had struck 
 within four inches of the tack, " I tell ye, Henry, ye 
 be sartinly gifted in readin' them flags, and yer jedg- 
 ment in the matter of squalls be as good as a Dutch 
 woman's with a dozen children. I eenamost think ye 
 have got an understandin' with the dark of the 
 weather techin' the way he's to blow. Now, ye told 
 me to hold a foot over the target, and I obeyed ye 
 like a Hessian privit, that knows nothin' but the 
 orders he gits from his sargeant, but I was mortally 
 sartin that that bullit wouldn't fetch up this side of 
 Upper Saranac ; and there it be, as the boy yender 
 says, stickin' close to the tack. I say, jedge," 
 exclaimed the old man, as he turned to the gentle- 
 man who had charge of the matcli, '^ suppose ye send 
 down to the barn-door yender, and have a leetle meas- 
 urin' made that we may have some idee of how the thing 
 be gittin' along. It ain't necessary, ye see, to strain 
 the gun, because enough be enough. And as we can't 
 all three beat, we would like to know how the thing 
 stands, or we may all come out alike ; and ye can no 
 more divide a puss of money than ye can a beaver's 
 hide. While it be fust-rate for one, it won't split up 
 wuth a cent for three. So I sartinly advise that ye let 
 us know where we be, or we may have to shoot this 
 whole thino; over ag^in." 
 
 This request met with universal approbation ; and 
 in a few moments the several strins^s had been meas- 
 ured, and the scores put into the hand of the judge, 
 who announced the following results : — 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX' T KXOW MUCH. 281 
 
 " Number One, six shots, total, 58 inches ; Number 
 Two, 64 inches ; Number Three, 50 inches ; Number 
 Four, 48 1-2 inches ; Number Five, 49 inches. 
 
 ^* Ye see, Henry," said tha Trapper, laughing^ " the 
 LaJ has got the raal gift in iiim, and he is arter us in 
 'arnest. I conceit we shall beat him ef he don't otow 
 any in the next four shots ; but ef he gets a leetle 
 mora length he'll head us, sartin as fate. It would 
 be the queerest thing I ever seed ef we three should 
 go out abreast. It would take considerable figurin' — 
 yis, it would sartinly take a good deal countin' of 
 lingers to divide that puss out there, so that all of us 
 could have as much as we want. We shall have to 
 squint a leetle closer, boy, or the lad will beat us at 
 our own ofame." 
 
 " I hope he will," said Herbert, " for I never saw a 
 man of his age and inexjjerience at long-range shoot- 
 ing take to the work so handily. But there are four 
 more shots to come, and while the Englishmen are a 
 good ways behind us, still it is any one's match as yet. 
 They have shot well, and the least mistake on our 
 part in estimating the force of the wind, or the least 
 unsteadiness in our aim, may give them the prize." 
 
 " The shooting will begin," called the judge. 
 " Number One ! " 
 
 • The rifle of Number One cracked at the word, and 
 the marker's disk showed it a centre shot. 
 
 " Well," said the Trapper, grimly, '" he's found the 
 mouth of the tunnel at last, anyway." 
 
 " Yes," replied Herbert, " and he may find it again." 
 
282 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " Number Two ! " cried the judge. 
 
 And the bullet followed so closely the flight of his 
 companion's that the white disk settled again squarely 
 over the centre. 
 
 '- Good enough," said the Trapper. " Them two 
 auofers fit the same hole." 
 
 " Number Three ! " shouted the judge. 
 
 " Wait/' said Herbert to the Lad. " A foot to the 
 left ; level with the tack. Fire ! " 
 
 The Lad obeyed to the letter. The result justified 
 the judgment of Herbert. Again the disk settled 
 over the centre. 
 
 '^ There'll be a winder through that barn-door/' said 
 the Trapper, "afore we're through. Now Henry, 
 make a leetle more room for the daylight atween the 
 sash." 
 
 " Number Four ! " called the judge, somewhat 
 excitedly. 
 
 For a moment Herbert waited. The flaw passed 
 and the long line of crimson flags hung pendent on 
 their staffs. The crowd stood breathless. The Old 
 Trapper bent forward with his eyes on the distant 
 target as if with unassisted vision he would fain mark 
 the entrance of the bullet. And then the sharp, clear 
 click of the hammer as it struck the rim of the car- 
 trido'e sounded on the air. 
 
 The gun had failed to explode ! 
 
 The excitement was so intense that a cry that 
 sounded like a groan rose from the throng. 
 
 " Death and jedgment ! " exclaimed the Trapper. 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 283 
 
 It was all he said, but into the expression he had put 
 the emphasis o£ such disgust that the crowd from a 
 sudden revulsion of feeling laughed and roared. 
 
 '- There, I am out of the match," said Herbert 
 calmly, as he rose to his feet and extended the rifle to 
 the Trapper. '' I trust that you and the lad will 
 have better luck, but shooting is full of chances, and 
 you never know until the score is counted who has 
 won." 
 
 " Give me the bearin' of the wind, Henry," said the 
 old man grimly. " This is what comes of usin' a 
 piece that loads at the wrong eend. I sartinly expect 
 the breech-pin will blow out this lick. Now, an 
 honest gun — " 
 
 " Ready," said Herbert. " Don't fool now, John 
 Norton. Steady — cover the tack — fire ! " 
 
 At the word the old man pulled the trigger, but 
 no explosion followed, but instead, only a sputtering 
 sound ; for the cartridge w^as a false one, there not 
 being a grain of poAvder in it. The percussion alone 
 ignited, and driven by its feeble force the bullet went 
 barely a rod and then dropped idly into the water. 
 
 The look of disgust that swept over the Trapper's 
 face as he dropped the gun on to the ground perfectly 
 reflected the state of his feelings. The cords of his 
 neck ridged, his countenance flushed wdth vexation, 
 and the muscles of his face twitched. For a moment 
 he stood glaring down at the gun as if he w^ould 
 stamp upon it in his rage, while the great crowd, 
 hushed to silence by the double misfortune, watched 
 
284 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 him, half-frightened at the exhibition of repressed 
 passion they beheld. At last the humor of the man 
 prevailed, his tense muscles relaxed, and an indescri- 
 bable look of fun softened the rioid lines of his face 
 and beamed in his eyes. 
 
 " Well, Henry," he said, " the pesky thing managed 
 to git the vict'als out of its mouth Avithout wrenchin' 
 itself, anyhow, and that's a good deal for a gun that 
 is loaded in the settlements and shot in the woods to 
 do." And the Trapper, who had now regained his 
 habitual balance, laughed in his silent fashion, good- 
 naturedly, as he picked up the piece and handed it to 
 Herbert. 
 
 " Yis, jedge," he continued, as ho turned his face 
 toward the hotel, '"' Henry and me be out of the match, 
 ye needn't tell us that. And I am sorry for the sake 
 of the ladies that I couldn't shoot the match out, but 
 I've lived too long amid the onsartinties of life to be 
 soured at disapp'intment, and ef they'll be patient 
 they shall see some shootin' yit atween Herbert and me 
 that'll make 'em clap their pritty hands and remember 
 the difference between a riHe a hunter can trust his 
 life to and a miserable invention that loads at the 
 wrong eend. And I take ye all to witness," continued 
 the old man earnestly, " that the boy and me shot 
 this thing out like men who understood the vartues of 
 a grooved barrel, ontil the gun failed us. But the lad 
 still has a chance, and I sartinly hope the gun will act 
 like a rational piece for the rest of the match, for the 
 boy needs the money," So saying the Trapper folded 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 285 
 
 his arms and turned his face toward the distant 
 tarofet. 
 
 The Lad rose to his feet, and coming to his side 
 said : — 
 
 " John Norton, I'm real sorry the rifle has acted so 
 to you and Henry. Shall I shoot the match out or 
 stop now ? I don't feel like shooting- when you .and 
 Henry can't." 
 
 '' Lord bless ye, lad," said the Trapper, '' of course 
 ye must shoot the match out. Ye ain't to blame for 
 the gun actin' so. Henry," said the old man, " come 
 here. What do ye think, — can the lad win the puss 
 yit?" 
 
 For a moment Herbert made no reply. He looked 
 steadily at the Lad, and seeing that his face revealed 
 not the slightest trace either of fear or excitement, he 
 answered : — 
 
 " The thing is likely to be very close, close enough 
 to try the nerves of the steadiest man living ; but the 
 lad is ahead, and if I make no mistake in directing 
 him, and he shoots as I tell him, the chances are cer- 
 tainly good for his winning." 
 
 " Lad," said the Trapper, and a gleam of repressed 
 feeling shot from his eyes, "I can't bear to have them 
 Britishers beat. Can ye shoot as well as ye have been 
 shootin' ? " 
 
 " I don't know why I can't," said the Lad, " I feel 
 well, and if you will only sit down beside me, and 
 Henry will tell me where to aim, I think I shall shoot 
 as well as I ever shot in my life." 
 
286 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 " Set clown beside ye? " said the Trapper laughing. 
 " Lord bless ye, lad. I'll set on top of ye, e£ ye want 
 me to, and it will help ye any. Come, Henry, git yer 
 eyes onto them flags, for the shootin' must begin." 
 
 " I know," said the judge, " that I express the senti- 
 ments of all this large company when I say that I 
 profoundly regret the misfortune that has befallen two 
 of the contestants, but by the rules of the match they 
 are ruled out, and the three that remain must com- 
 plete their strings. They will therefore prepare them- 
 selves." 
 
 " Number One ! " 
 
 The wind was now blowing almost a gale, and the 
 shot struck fully ten inches from the centre. 
 
 " Number Two ! " called the judge. 
 
 The second Englishman shot with no better result. 
 
 " Number Three ! " 
 
 " Wait ! " said Herbert ; " now, ready, — three feet 
 to the rioht — six inches above the centre — fire ! " 
 
 " Well, Henry, ye didn't git that quite right, for 
 sartin," said the Trapper, " but the lad did as well as 
 the Britisliers, anyway." 
 
 " The wind was a twisting one," answered Herbert, 
 " and I couldn't tell exactly where the strength of it 
 lay." 
 
 " Was I to blame? " said the Lad. 
 
 " Not a bit, not a bit," answered the Trapper ; " ye 
 shot as well as a mortal could, and ye haven't sp'ilt 
 yer chances a bit. I think the puss will go down to 
 the camp yit ef yer gun doesn't bust." 
 
THE MAX WHO DWX' T KXO IF MUCH. 287 
 
 Aofain the marksmen were called off in order, and 
 the result was nearly the same. It was still " any- 
 body's match." Oifly one shot remained, and the ex- 
 citement back of and around the marksmen was in- 
 tense. 
 
 The Eno4ishmen arose and walked about a minute. 
 They talked a little with their friends. Their faces 
 were a trifle pale. Herbert stopped in swabbing the 
 piece to wipe the sweat from his forehead. The 
 Old Trapper looked steadily at him, and said, in his 
 ordinary tones, while his features tightened, " I'd give 
 twenty beavers' skins ef I had the loadin' of the next 
 cartrido'e." 
 
 The Lad, still stretched in all his awkward length 
 on the ground, fixed his mild eyes on Herbert as he 
 was wiping his face, and said : " What makes you so 
 hot, Henry? Do you feel sick, anywhere?" 
 
 " I suspect he does," said the Trapper. ^* The fact 
 is, lad, I don't feel quite right myself. Not that I've 
 got any great pain, anywhere, exactly, but I feel sort 
 of hollow-like at the pit of the stomach." 
 
 " Mr. Herbert," said the gambler, as he struck a 
 match and pulled a cigar from his pocket, unconscious 
 that he had one already in his mouth : " I hope you 
 won't make a mistake about them little flags. I've 
 gone my last dollar on the lad, and I'd like to leave 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " Gentlemen," said the judge, and his voice was far 
 from steady, " Gentlemen, will you please stand back 
 from the marksmen ? The decisive shots must now be 
 
288 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 made, and I can see you are greatly excited. The 
 marker reports that the strings are very close, and a 
 centre shot will decide it. I shall«noAv call : — 
 
 " Number One ! " 
 
 Even as the call came the wind suddenly died out. 
 The flags clung to their staffs ; and, seizing the oppor- 
 tunity, Number One fired. 
 
 It was signalled as only seven inches from the tack. 
 
 " Number Two ! " shouted the judge. 
 
 Still the flags hung downward ; the rifle cracked, 
 and the white disk was set four inches from the centre. 
 
 Still the flags were motionless ; but the trees on the 
 western shore of the lake swayed and bent, while the 
 roar of the coming wind was plainly heard by the 
 crowd who, in front of the hotel, stood holding their 
 very breath. The Old Trapper, knowing that the 
 gale would cross the range in an instant, and indig- 
 nant at the tardiness in giving the call, turned half- 
 over on the grass and shook his gigantic fist at the 
 judge, while his face fairly flamed. It is only justice 
 to say that the man was too excited to speak. 
 
 " Why don't he give me the word?" said the Lad, 
 in his quiet, simple voice. 
 
 " Cover the tack ! " said Herbert, in a steady voice, 
 though the lips that pronounced the words were white. 
 " Cover the tack — wait for the word — ready ! " 
 
 " Number Three ! " shouted the judge, wdtli a voice 
 that fairly broke into a scream, from the tremendous 
 effort he Avas makino; to articulate. 
 
 The Lad never stirred. His body stretched to its 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX T KXO ]V MUCH. 289 
 
 full length was as limp as if it contained not a muscle ; 
 his eye was at the sight ; his long finger against the 
 trigger. The gale had struck the lake and was 
 careerino' onward toward the flao^s. The air was full 
 of dried stems and flying leaves. The Old Trapper's 
 eyes were fixed on the whirlwind and his fingers half- 
 buried in the sod. 
 
 " Ready !" said Herbert. " Fi — " 
 
 The full sound of the word was never heard. The 
 crash of the rifle drowned it. Not a lip moved until 
 the marker lifted the disk, and after looking a mo- 
 ment placed it exactly on the centre. 
 
 " Glory to God ! " yelled the Trapper, as he jumped 
 to his feet, and seizing the gambler, who happened to 
 be standing within reach, lifted him into the air and 
 held him at arm's leno-th with a sino^le hand while he 
 swuno^ the other over his head. '' The Max Who 
 Don't Know Much, and the gun that loads at the 
 wrong eend, and the puss of money, will go to John 
 Norton's camp together ! HURRAH ! " 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE MATCH FOR THE SILVER HORN. 
 
 " When Greek joins Greek then comes the tng of war." — Nathaniel Lee. 
 
 The tumult which attended the eh)se o£ the long- 
 range match at last subsided. The Lad was pro- 
 nounced the winner of the ladies' purse, and the poor 
 shrinking fellow was overwhelmed wdth congratula- 
 tions. He kept close by the side of the Trapper as a 
 timid boy does by the side of hig father on his first 
 experience in a city crowd. And in truth it must be 
 said that the old backwoodsman was an ample protec- 
 tion. Lideed, it was touching to see how utterly 
 childlike was the attitude of the Lad toward the 
 Trapper, and how fatherly was the bearing of the eld 
 man toward the simple-minded youth. In the one was 
 timidity, entire unacquaintance with men, and the 
 painful sense of his own awkwardness and lack of 
 ability. Li the other was the bold front, perfect self- 
 reliance, and superb balance of a man of extraordinary 
 physique, endow^ed by nature with shrewdness and wit, 
 and furnished with the faculty of discipline which a 
 long life spent in reflection and mingling with men in 
 serious undertakings alone can give. Because of this 
 contrast, perhaps, the evident affection of the younger 
 for the older was the more touching, and the crowd 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 291 
 
 was not slow to perceive and be impressed by the unu- 
 sual and interestinof connection between the two. It 
 is hard to say which was the stronger feeling in the 
 bosoms of the spectators who had Avatched the contest 
 and the two men ; admiration for the Trapper, or pity 
 for the youth who, while lacking in ail those attri- 
 butes of body and mind which command applause, 
 had nevertheless given such unmistakable evidence of 
 skill, generosity, and genuine power. Even the gamb- 
 ler, who, luider the hard, smooth complacency of cun- 
 ning selfishness fostered by his professional practice, 
 had a noble, if a cynical, nature, came to the Lad and 
 insisted on " dividing the little pile with him," as he 
 expressed it ; and strove in vain to make the Lad take 
 an enormous roll of greenbacks which he extended to 
 him. 
 
 " Look here, friend," said the Trapper, as he 
 pushed the money back to the gambler, '' ye better 
 put that roll of rags into yer own wicked pocket, for, 
 though I don't wish to say anything oncivil to ye or 
 hurt yer feelin's, yit I sartinly conceit that ye don't 
 git yer skins by honest trappin', but by stealin' 'em 
 out of traps that ye never sst ; and though yer 
 practices may be accordin' to the ways of the settle- 
 ments, yit ye should know that they don't squar' 
 with the idees that honest men have in the woods. 
 And ef ye will take an old man's advice, whose head 
 has whitened in gittin' an honest livin' accordin' to 
 his gifts, ye had better quit yer tricky habits and 'arn 
 yer money in a straighter fashion, or it will be likely 
 
292 ADmOXDACK TALES. 
 
 to go hard with ye in the Jedgment, when ye be 
 questioned about the way ye got yer j)elts and yer 
 profits on the 'arth. And I hope ye will take the 
 advice in the sperit it's certainly given ye." 
 
 " Old man," said the gambler, as he coolly stuffed 
 the bills into one of his capacious pockets, " your 
 advice is certainly worthy of consideration, and I have 
 sometimes thought I had better take a new deal and 
 jjlay a straight game ; but there's one or two points to 
 be considered first, and I don't feel that I shall be in 
 quite the right position to go it alone until you and 
 Mr. Herbert have got through wdth the little business 
 you are coming to ; and if you can give me a point 
 or two as to how the thing will come out, you will 
 encourage me to reach a right conclusion in the 
 matter, and put me in a condition of mind to give due 
 weight to your judgment." 
 
 " It strikes me, friend," returned the Trapper, " that 
 ye be haltin' atween two opinions, as the missioners 
 say, and be likely to go to the divil arter all, ef ye 
 don't fetch up with a sharp turn afore long. And as 
 to this matter atween Henry and me, I won't tell ye a 
 word, for it's nip and tuck, and neither the boy or me 
 know which will win ; for the pieces be parfect, and 
 all that can be done with grooved barrels both of us 
 can do. And whether the horn Avill go to the settle- 
 ments, or stay in the woods, no mortal can tell, and 
 what is better, neither of us care ; for I dare say ef 
 the boy wins it he will give it to me, and ef I win it 
 the Lord knows I'll give it to him." 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 293 
 
 " All right," said the gambler, " I'm much obliged 
 to you for your advice, and I guess I'll play cautiously 
 and bet on the chances." 
 
 It is hard to say which feeling predominated in 
 the Trapper's mind, — vexation at the thought that 
 the gambler had outwitted him and actually got the 
 "chances" out of him, or a sense of humor at the 
 shrewdness of the man, for his countenance showed 
 both feelings in equal proportion. He was about to 
 reply, when the call of the judge summoned him to 
 the front of the hotel where the shootino; was to be 
 done. The old man left the spot, and, finding Her- 
 bert, the two proceeded to the lawn, where the com- 
 mittee of arrangements had already roped off a space 
 from which the marksmen were to shoot. 
 
 " Well, squire," said the Trapper, as he and Her- 
 bert reached the judge's stand, " me and Henry have 
 put in our appearance accordin' to orders ; and be 
 ready to do whatever ye ax us to do ef it be in the 
 line of our gifts. And as the sun isn't apt to fetch 
 up when it's fairly got started down hill, ye might as 
 well set us agoin' as soon as ye can ; for the light will 
 be dim afore long and ye can't bring out the fine 
 p'ints of a rifle onless ye have plenty of sunshine ; so 
 ef ye've got anything to tell us our ears be open, as 
 the Hurons say, to yer words." 
 
 " Ladies and gentlemen," said the chairman of the 
 committee of arrangements, '' w^e have now come to 
 the last match of the day ; and, we think we may 
 safely say, without disparagement of the shooting 
 
294 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 which we have already witnessed, the most interesting 
 match of the day. The prize is a horn of pure silver 
 that will hold a pound of powder, and is beautifully 
 engraved, as you see, with an elegant sketch of a deer 
 and a hound in full chase. It is the most valuable 
 prize which has been given ; and one of the most 
 beautiful results of artistic skill that I have ever seen. 
 The shooting for this prize must be off hand and at 
 such distances as the committee shall announce. The 
 contestants, — no one else having entered, — are these 
 gentlemen whose presence has done so much to enliven 
 and make memorable the sports both of yesterday and 
 to-day. The object of the committee in this match is 
 to show to all the spectators, especially to those gentle- 
 men who have visited us from abroad, what the Amer- 
 ican rifle, in the hands of skilled men, can do. In 
 other words, we desire to tax the skill of the contest- 
 ants, both in respect to accuracy and quickness of aim. 
 We are fortunate in having been able to secure the 
 presence of two men, one of whom has been noted for 
 half a century as one of the best if not the best rifle 
 shot in America, and the other of whom is known to 
 many of us as being an extraordinary marksman, in 
 reference to whose skill no hii>lier endorsement can be 
 given than his companion and rival in the match has 
 freely bestowed. The two contestants, I need not say 
 in this allusion, are Mr. Herbert and the Old Trapper, 
 John Norton. And it is safe to predict that we shall see 
 a very fine and exciting contest, — the strong friend- 
 ship existing between the competitors making it all 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 295 
 
 the more novel and delightful. The shootmg will be 
 of a character that cannot be decided by measurement 
 in inches and fractions of inches, but must be left for 
 decision to the judgment of the committee ; and even 
 of the two marksmen themselves." 
 
 "That's it, jedge, that's it, — me and Henry knows 
 wdiat shootin' is, and either of us be parfectly Avillin' 
 to ow^n up beat ef the p'ints of the case be plain. Ye 
 see, he and me understand each other ; and though the 
 boy might Ije too modest to say it, yit in his innermost 
 feelin's he knows jest as well as I do that it's nip and 
 tuck atAveen us ; and that a slow barnin' cap or a 
 holler bullit that'll bust in the air or go onsteady is 
 more likely to decide the matter than any difference 
 atween us as to quickness of eye and tech. And I 
 want ye all to understand that while we shall shoot 
 honest and true, each doin' his best, and leavin' his 
 chances to fortin, yit w^e don't care the tail of a beaver 
 which wins, and look upon it more as a cheerful divar- 
 sion, or a leetle camp practice on a lazy day, than any 
 contest atween us." 
 
 "Yes, yes," said the judge, "we all understand it, 
 John Norton. \\ e all understand how it is between 
 you and Mr. Herbert, although he will not feel 
 offended if I say that we do not credit him with such 
 skill as your reputation has secured to you. But 
 Avhichever way it goes we will look upon it as a bit of 
 friendly sport between you and not as an antagonistic 
 contest. For, whichever wins, we know that we shall 
 have an exhibition that wdll show us wdiatever is pos- 
 
296 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 sible in rifl2 practice ; and it is proper for me to an- 
 nounce to the company, and to say to you, that as the 
 object is to bring out your skill in the best light, we 
 shall feel permitted to consult you as the match pro- 
 ceeds, if circumstances make it necessary." 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," said the Trapper, " ye may ax 
 us anythin' ye be a mind to, and ye'll find our heads 
 as clear as a quill on the p'ints of the case. Only git 
 to work as soon as ye can, for natur' has got the sun 
 goin' down hill, and he's h'istin' along like a thievin' 
 half-breed with an honest trapper at his heels." 
 
 " The shootino; for the silver horn will now besfin," 
 said the judge, " and the first trial will be at fifty 
 yards. Two shots from each marksman. The target 
 is a four inch diameter ring of white, centred by a 
 tack with the head the size of a bullet." And as he 
 spoke the target was placed at the distance mentioned 
 in such a way that the sun lighted it perfectly. The 
 two men stood side by side, each holding in his 
 hands his favorite gun, a double rifle with both 
 " open " and " globe and bead " sights, both made 
 by Lewis, of Troy, and so nearly alike that were it 
 not for the slioht difference in the ornamentation of 
 the stocks they could scarcely have been distinguished 
 one from the other. The lock of either could be 
 worked with or without the " set." 
 
 " I hope," said the Trapper, " ye have got more 
 than one tack in that keerd-board, or ye had better 
 start a boy for the carpenter shop." And as he spoke 
 the muzzle of his rifle was lifted into the air, dropped 
 
THE 3/.LY WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 297 
 
 suddenly into the palm of his outstretched hand, and 
 exploded. The target, as the Trapper had predicted, 
 fell at the explosion to the ground. 
 
 A murmur of delight rustled through the crowd. 
 
 " No, no ! " said the Trapper. " No, no, jedge, ye 
 needn't send the hoy for the tack, for the hole that 
 the lead made shows daylight through it, and I 
 warrant that Henry has a key that'll fit it." And 
 even as he spoke the rifle of Henry rose to its aim, 
 with a motion hut a little less careless apparently, 
 than had been the movement of the Trapper's, and 
 exploded, and the bullet passed so neatly through 
 the orifice made by the former that scarcely a splinter 
 was stirred around the ragged edges of the hole. 
 
 "• That's a true piece of yourn," said the Trapper, 
 " and many a scrimmage with the redskin have T 
 had when its crack would have been better than a 
 psalm tune in my ear. Yis, the two pieces be pitched 
 on one key, as the fiddlers say, when they be tuning 
 for a jig." And while he had been talking, the rifle 
 had again been lifted, settled into his hand, and at 
 the closino; word cracked strono^ and clear. The 
 smoke had not vanished in the air before the piece of 
 Herbert responded, and the first trial was over. 
 
 " There, jedge," said the Trapper, "ye'll find that 
 hole bored by a sharp auger and cut in a business-like 
 way. I shall sartiidy be surprised ef, when ye put yer 
 eye to the hole and turn it up to the sky, ye can see 
 any shape in it but what four bullets ought to make 
 when they foller each other as straight as young otters 
 swimmin' a crick." 
 
298 ADIEOXDACK TALES. 
 
 The board was inspected by the judges, and then 
 it started on its mission among the crowd. And as 
 the Old Trapper had predicted, no eye could detect 
 that more than one bullet had passed through the 
 opening, unless, perhaps, it were slightly eidarged and 
 freer of splinters than would been the case had but 
 one bullet penetrated it. 
 
 The Trapper and Herbert cleaned their rifles and 
 recharged them with the painstaking carefulness of 
 men who thoroughly understand how delicate are the 
 causes which command success in such work as they 
 were now being called upon to do ; and how the 
 slightest neglect in the treatment of their guns would 
 endanger success. Indeed, if the two pieces had been 
 animate and sensitive to their touch they could not 
 have handled them with greater care, nor treated them 
 with more tender regard. 
 
 " All right, squire," said the Trap})er, as he lifted 
 the piece into the hollow of his arm, " Henry and me 
 be ready for any other leetle playfulness ye may p'int 
 out to us." 
 
 " Has any one a pack of cards," said the judge. 
 " Perhaps our friend here has some," — and he 
 turned to the gambler, who chanced to be standing 
 near him. 
 
 " It is very singular," said our silent friend, as he 
 drew a pack out of his pocket, " that I happen to 
 have such an article about me. I don't remember 
 how they happened to get into my pocket. I presume 
 that my wife made a mistake and put them in instead 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 299 
 
 o£ something else about the same size, which she has 
 a fondness for advising me to carry around with me. 
 If these aren't colored just right," said he, as he 
 pulled out another pack, " it may be these will suit 
 better. Or, if the Old Trapper, whom I owe some- 
 thing for good advice he has given me to-day, would 
 fancy a more neutral tint, I'll just step up to my 
 chamber and see what there may be in the bottom of 
 the trunk." 
 
 "Lord, Lord!" said the Trapper, "ye haven't a 
 cart-load of the pesky picturs have ye? Them leetle 
 keerds will sartinly be the death of ye yit ; and I dare 
 say this be the only honest use they was ever put to. 
 As for the color, it don't make any difference, jedge, 
 ef Henry and me can only see the spots through the 
 sights." 
 
 In a moment the deuce of spades was fastened to 
 the target, by a tack driven at an equal distance 
 between the spots, and the crowd stood expectant. 
 
 "I want to have ye understand," said the Trapper, 
 " and I want the wimmin folks to understand, that me 
 and Herbert don't call this anythin' more than com- 
 mon shootin', for the markin' shows plain and the 
 light be good, and the distance no greater than the 
 eye can manage. But it's good enough, perhaps, to 
 start with, and it may be " — and here his piece 
 exploded — " we'll git down to some raal fine w^ork 
 arter a wliile. No, no," continued he, as the target 
 tender was about to inspect the target, " ye needn't 
 look at the leetle keerd, for the buUit be in the upper 
 
300 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 spot, and the reason it don't show is because the patch 
 of ink be bigger than the hole that the lead made. 
 Come, Henry, git the lead out of yer gun, for we 
 don't want to fool away any time in gittin' ready to 
 do some raal shootin'. There, jedge," continued the 
 old man, whose words had been scarcely divided in 
 their utterance by the crack of Herbert's piece — 
 '' now there be two bullits that be eenamost as big as 
 the markin's on the keerd, and yit ye'll find that ye 
 can't see even the grease stain that the lead made 
 when it passed through, beyend the black. It may be 
 handier for the boy to bring the keerd in ef he has 
 that tack drawed for him, and so to save time we'll 
 start it a leetle." And even with the words the 
 smoke burst from the muzzle of his rifle, and the card 
 fluttered downward to the earth. 
 
 It is impossible to describe the feelings of the spec- 
 tators. The shootin o' had been so accurate as to 
 astonish them ; and yet the aim of the marksmen 
 had been so quick that it bordered apparently on 
 carelessness — the carelessness of studied art, or else 
 of men who, in doing what they had done, had not 
 felt themselves called upon to bring into exercise the 
 resources of that ability which had given to one a 
 fame beyond question, and had made for the other 
 the reputation of being the only man who could com- 
 pete with him. 
 
 The committee conferred apart for a moment, and 
 then they produced a bottle, and turning to the 
 Trapper, the judge said : — 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KNOW MJJCH. 301 
 
 " We have heard, John Norton, that you have been 
 seen to uncork a bottle Kke this with your bullet at 
 fifty paces." 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," said the Trap^Der. " It be no 
 great thing to do, and I dare say Henry, here, has 
 done the same hunduds of times ; and it ])e the 
 only way in which a rifleman can use the bottle and 
 keep the sartinty of his aim. For there's nothin' 
 that upsots a man's narves more than drinkin', and I 
 never seed a man, who was a rum-drinker, have eyes 
 wuth a cent when ye come down to fine work — 
 'specially on a windy day. But Henry and me will 
 uncork as many bottles as ye want us to, and we'll 
 never start a flake from the nozzle, and we won't 
 upsot a bottle nuther." 
 
 The Englishmen who were standing by, and who 
 were getting intensely interested in the shooting they 
 had already seen, plainly stated to those standing 
 nigh their utter incredulity that such a feat could 
 be performed. And in courteous phrase they plainly 
 stated the same to the committee, and even to the 
 Trapper himself. 
 
 " Look here, jedge," said the old man, " talkin' 
 about it won't do it, and the thing can be did, you 
 can depend on't. But ef ye want to see Henry and 
 me git right down to work, and ef ye want to see 
 what barrels w^e've got to squint over, ye had better 
 bring out some of them bottles whose corks be wdred 
 down ; for while eenamost anybody, who has the gift 
 of handlin' the rifle, can uncork the common bottles, 
 
302 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 yit it takes an oncommon barrel, and a sharp eye and 
 a finofer that knows how to work with it, to draw one 
 of them wired kind. But it can be did, and here be 
 the men and here be the guns that can do it " 
 
 The murmurs and ejaculations which ros3 from the 
 crowd revealed the fact that the incredulity was felt 
 not only by the Englishmen, but by the spectators 
 also. Indeed, discussions started on the instant. 
 Here and there a voice w\as heard declaring the cer- 
 tainty of its being done. Here and there a guide 
 positively declared that he had seen Herbert do it. 
 And the gambler, acting true to the instinct of his 
 profession, boldly declared, with mock seriousness, 
 that he " had no faith in the bottle, and would back 
 the Trapper against it two to one." 
 
 While all this had been going on, the clerks of the 
 hotel had produced four champagne bottles, whose 
 corks were quite prominent, but most thoroughly wired 
 down ; and, having been inspected by the English- 
 men and the committee, they were jilaced on the 
 railing that ran round the lake side of the wharf. 
 
 " Now," said the Trapper, as he tapped the stock 
 of his rifle, " there ain't but two guns in the woods 
 that a man could depend on to do sech a job, and 
 they be twins. And there sartinly ain't but two 
 men who can draw them corks in the way the boy and 
 me will sartinly do onless something onusual happens. 
 Henry," said the Old Trapper, '' ye take the one to 
 the left, and be keerful of the glint of the sun on 
 the nozzle; for it's likely to divart the aim. Now, 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 303 
 
 jedge, ye put yer eyes onto that cork, and I'll give 
 ye the silver horn ef ye can tell where it goes to." 
 
 If there had been any carelessness in the action of 
 the Trapper and Herbert in their previous efforts, 
 there certainly was none now in the movements of the 
 young man as he prepared to perform the extraordi- 
 nary feat that he was called upon to do. 
 
 The crowd became breathless. The silence was as 
 profound as it could possibly be. He straightened 
 himself to his full height, advanced his left foot, 
 pressed the trigger to the set, and, lifting the rifle to 
 his shoulder, passed his eye into the sight, andj with 
 a motion as true and precise as if the muzzle was 
 beinof moved in steel o-rooves, the barrels beo'an to 
 pass from right to left toward the cork. And even 
 w^ien it exploded, the rifle was still in motion, and so 
 little had the discharge disturbed the marksman that 
 the motion, with the same precision, contained an 
 instant after the bullet had been sped. The bottle 
 waved a trifle on its base, spun half-round and stopped, 
 and the eyes of the spectators saw the froth of the 
 spirited contents, no longer restrained, foaming out of 
 the mouth. 
 
 " I am sorry ye started the bottle, Henry. Yis, I 
 am sartinly sorry ye started the bottle ; and I don't 
 understand the reason of it, boy. I should eenamost 
 think that ye wasn't quite parfect in yer narves to- 
 day, onless I had watched ye in yer aim. AYhat was 
 the reason of the joggle, Henry ? Did the tumbler 
 creep a leetle, or wasn't the tube quite free ? " 
 
304 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 " The wires over the corks are unusually strong," 
 said Herbert. 
 
 " It may be so/' said the Trapper. " E£ ye say it's 
 so, it must be so, and we'll see ef it be so in a minit, 
 for the same thing don't happen twice onless there be 
 reason in it." 
 
 The old man paused. He looked an instant at the 
 minute mark ahead of him, drew himself up, advanced 
 his left foot lightly, and as his huge frame came to 
 its perfect balance — in a pose that an artist would 
 have loved to sketch, — he swept his rifle upward, and 
 dropping it into his extended hand, it rested there for 
 an instant, while his eve settled into the sio-ht, and 
 then burst out its flame. 
 
 So intense was the nervous tension on the part of 
 the spectators that nearly every individual member of 
 the crowd actually jumped as the rifle cracked. The 
 bottle swayed, spun round, tottled for an instant, then 
 stopped, while the froth spurted sharply a foot or more 
 into tli3 air. 
 
 " That's enough," said the judge. " That's enough," 
 he repeated ; and the Englishmen nodded as he looked 
 at them, " I have seen what I never would have be- 
 lieved had I not seen it." 
 
 " Yis, yis," said the Trapper, " it be enough ; and 
 ye see the boy was right. The wire be strong, as he 
 said, and the corks set deep in, and the thing can't be 
 did without jostlin' the bottle. But ye give me a 
 common bottle and a common cork, and Henry and 
 me will snap 'em out for ye without startin' a ripple 
 on the liquor inside." 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 305 
 
 ^' Now," said the judge, " we will give you a flying 
 shot. And the man that stands the test will get the 
 silver horn." 
 
 " Ye'll have to split it, then," said the Trapper ; 
 " for I can see that Henry's warmin' to the work, and 
 his piece be workin' to parfection. What be the trial, 
 jedge?" 
 
 " It is this," was the reply, and he took a couple of 
 potatoes from his pocket and handed them to the 
 Lad. 
 
 " All right," said the Trapper. '' Yer language be 
 as plain as the pictur' talk of the redskins. Now, 
 lad, toss 'em straight and toss 'em high. Henry, you 
 take the fust un, and I'll take the second. Now, 
 lad, wait for the word. Ready with yer piece, Henry. 
 One, two, three, heave ! " 
 
 At the word the Lad pitched the potato. Upward 
 it soared, and as it came to the a^ex of its flight, 
 Herbert's rifle cracked, and the potato disappeared. 
 
 " Heave agin ! " said the Trapper, and while the 
 potato which the Lad pitched earnestly into the air was 
 still going up, the bullet of the Trapper caught it and 
 drove it into a thousand pieces ! 
 
 "There," said the Trajiper to the judge, "Henry 
 showed ye the science of the thing, for he waited as a 
 man should, when life or honor depend on his shot, 
 and took it at the proper p'int. And I showed ye the 
 trick of the thing, and shot as a man who is over-sure 
 of his game, and don't wait till his jedgment tells him 
 to act. Yis, the boy's shot was a jedgmatical one, 
 
306 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 and shows that he mixes his brains with his powder 
 when he shoots ; and that will sartinly win agin haste 
 ef there be chances enough. I don't think that ye 
 know for sartin who has got that horn yit, jedge ! " 
 and the Old Trapper laughed till his great strong face 
 fairly beamed with good-nature. 
 
 " Come, jedge, what have ye got next ? The 
 pieces be ready, and the horn don't know whether 
 it's goin' to the settlements or will stay in the woods 
 yit." 
 
 " We've got but one more," responded the judge, 
 " and the committee did not dream that they would 
 have to resort to it. Nor do we suppose now that it 
 will be of any avail, for we firmly believe, as do all to 
 whom we have mentioned it, that it is beyond the 
 possibility of human skill to accom])lish. The target 
 will be a flying one, and it will not be revealed to you 
 until it is in swiftest motion ; for we shall place your 
 backs to us and deliver it over your heads. You may 
 take positions ; and we trust you will not blame us if 
 the trial should seem unreasonable." 
 
 " Lord-a-massy, jedge, Henry and me don't care 
 what ye start agoin' over our heads, for there be 
 nothin' that goes so fast that a bullit can't overtake it, 
 onless it be another bullit ; and ye may heave anythin' 
 ye be a mind to and sot it travellin' as fast as ye please, 
 and I warrant that we'll stop it for ye afore it gits a 
 hundred feet from the muzzle of our guns. Come, 
 boy, back up ; the Lord only knows wdiether it be a 
 stun or a panther that the jedge has got in his hands^ 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 307 
 
 and the sooner the thing gets in motion, the quicker 
 we'll git our eyes onto it." 
 
 The two men stationed themselves in front of the 
 judge with their backs tow^ards him — each in posi- 
 tion, and each rifle at a poise. In a moment the 
 crowd actually shook and SAvayed with tumult. 
 Laughter, and roars, and exclamations such as '' That 
 isn't fair ! " " Yes, it is too," " Let them try it anyhow. 
 There isn't much danger that they'll hit it." 
 
 " Are you ready, gentlemen ? " said the judge. 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," responded the Trapper, " let 
 her come, jedge ; panther or stun, or whatever it be, 
 the pieces will bust ef they wait much longer." 
 
 " Ready 'tis," said the judge. " Noio ! " 
 
 He opened his hands, stretched over the heads of 
 the two men. A whirr, a buzz, a roar of wings, and 
 a brown object glanced through the air straight from 
 the two men as a bullet could spin. 
 
 A flash of lightning is not quicker than was the 
 motion of the two guns, as they were swept to their 
 level. The explosion of one of the pieces, at least^ 
 did not wait. The partridge had not gone a hundred 
 feet before the bullet of Herbert's gun overtook it, 
 and actually blew it into fragments ! 
 
 The Trapper had not fired. He had checked him- 
 self in the very act of pulling the trigger — his rifle 
 dropped into the hollow of his arm, and turning to 
 Henry, he said : — 
 
 " The life that the Maker gives them be sweet to 
 his creturs, Henry, and may the Lord forgive ye for 
 
308 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 takin', without cause, the life that ye cannot give back 
 to the bird. No, no, boy, I don't blame ye ; ye was 
 taken onawares, and it was quick work, and I come 
 near jinin' in the murder myself. I tell ye, squire," 
 said the old man, as he turned to the judge, ^^ye have 
 did an onwise thing, and in yer merriment made an 
 innercent man do a deed he would not naterally do. 
 No, no, the horn isn't worth a life to John Norton, 
 even ef that life be the life of the smallest of God's 
 creturs ; onless the takin' of it can be of sarvice to 
 man." 
 
 The Old Trapper had said this with all the solemn 
 gravity of a man who was speaking from the convic- 
 tion not only of principle, but of life-long practice, 
 and as one who had forgotten in the larger and graver 
 thought the smaller and lighter one of the sports 
 around him. And as he closed, he turned to Henry 
 in the act of speaking ; but Herbert — who, while he 
 sympathized with the old man's sentiments, and deeply 
 regretted that, betrayed by the suddenness of the 
 event, he had unnecessarily taken a life — was never- 
 theless anxious, lest, in the mind of some of the 
 crowd, not to say in the mind of the judge himself, 
 the Old Trapper's fame might suffer, checked him by 
 the motion of his hand, and pointed his finger out 
 over the lake. 
 
 The old man's face lighted, for he saw not only 
 what Herbert had pointed at, — a large fleecy plume, 
 that, torn from the skin of a bird, Avas still drifting in 
 the golden air, — but also the generous thought of his 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 309 
 
 companion's heart for him. He turned to the judge, 
 and said : — 
 
 " Do ye see, jedge, what the boy means ? Do ye 
 see that bit of down floatin' out there across the sun, 
 that came from the back of the bird? The boy 
 wants me to shoot at it ; for he fears lest the man 
 whose head has whitened in the woods should lose his 
 fame here to-day ; and I'm glad he has did what he 
 has did, for while it's nothin' he can't do himself, yit 
 it is enough to show these ladies, here, and yerself, 
 too, that John Norton's finger didn't quit the trigger 
 when he lined the sights on the bird because he feared 
 his lead would go wild. 
 
 " Now, Henry," he continued, " yer heart be right 
 toward an old man, and he'll remember yer thought 
 in his behalf when the miles be atween us, and ye be 
 in the settlements amid many and I be by the fire in 
 the cabin alone. Yis, boy, it's nothing ye can't do, 
 for ye have mastered the wepon, and ef I could live 
 my life over, I would ask no better way of spendin' it 
 than to spend it together with ye in the woods, for yer 
 piece and yer heart be both true. Yis, ye sartinly could 
 do it, but ye sartinly couldn't do it quicker than this ! *' 
 — and with a motion so quick that those who stood 
 nighest to him started back, the old man jerked his rifle 
 into the air, and before it would seem it were possible 
 for hand and eye' to have come into conjunction, the 
 smoke belched from the muzzle, and the golden- 
 colored plume that had come from the poor bird's 
 back, lying swathed as it was in the warm red rays of 
 
310 ABIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 the declining sun, darted forward through the air as if 
 a minute jet of wind had struck it in the centre, and 
 when it stopped the two halves floated off and stood 
 inches apart. 
 
 The shooting was ended. The voice of the judge 
 only expressed the unanimous feeling of the crowd 
 when he proclaimed " that no further trial could with 
 propriety be made, and that the silver horn would be 
 given to the two contestants ; leaving it in their hands 
 as their joint property." 
 
 A happier conclusion, or one more gratifying to 
 Herbert and the Trapper, or to the spectators, could 
 not have terminated the day's sports. In connection 
 with the announcement the committee of arranofcments 
 further proclaimed that in honor of the occasion the 
 proprietor of the hotel would furnish an entertainment 
 to the guests of the house, and the visitors from the 
 adjoining houses, who could make it convenient to 
 remain, and that the evening would be spent in merry- 
 makino" — of Avhich music and dancing: would form an 
 attractive and prominent feature. In short, they pro- 
 posed to have a ball ! 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE BALL. 
 
 *' Then music arose with its voluptuous swell."— Byron. 
 
 It was evening — dark, cool, and starry. The earth 
 and Avater lay hidden in the dusky gloom. Above, 
 the stars were at their brightest. They gleamed and 
 glowed, flashed and scintillated, like jewels fresh from 
 the case. Their fires were many-colored — orange, 
 yellow, and red : and here and there a great diamond, 
 fastened into the zone of night, sent out its intense, 
 colorless brilliancy. Through all the air silence 
 reigned. The winds had died away, and the waters 
 had settled to repose. No gurgle along the shore ; no 
 splash against the great logs that made the wharf ; no 
 bird of night calling to its mate. Outside all was 
 still. Nature had drawn the curtains around her couch, 
 and, screened from sight, lay in profound repose. 
 
 Within all was light, and bustle, and gayety. From 
 every window lights streamed and flashed. The large 
 parlors were alive with moving forms. The piano, 
 whose white keys were swept by whiter hands, tinkled 
 and rang in hveliest measure. The dance was at its 
 height ; and the very floor seemed vibrant with the 
 pressure of lively feet. The dancers advanced, retired, 
 wheeled and swayed in easy circles, swept up and 
 down, and across the floor in graceful lines. 
 
312 ADIBOKDACK TALES. 
 
 Amid the happy scene tlie Old Trapper stood, his 
 stalwart frame erect as in his prime ; while his great 
 strong face fairly beamed in benediction npon the 
 dancers. For his nature had within its depths that 
 fine capacity which enabled it to receive the bright- 
 ness of surrounding hapj)iness and reflect it again. 
 
 It was a study to watch his face, and mark the pas- 
 sage of his changeful moods : surprise, delight, and 
 broad, warm-hearted humor, as they came to and 
 played across the resjionsive features. The man of 
 the woods, of the lonely shore, and of silence, seemed 
 perfectly at home amid the noise and commotion of 
 human merry-making. 
 
 At last the music died away. The dancers checked 
 their feet. The lady who had been playing the piano 
 rose wearily from the instrument and joined a group 
 of friends. The music was not adequate. The notes 
 were too sharp ; too isolate ; they did not flow to- 
 gether. There was no sweep and swing, nor suavity 
 of connected progress, in the strains. The instrument 
 could not lift the dancers up and swing them onward 
 through the mazy motions. 
 
 " I tell ye, Henry," said the Old Trapper, as he 
 turned to Herbert, who was standing by his side, " the 
 pianer isn't the thing to dance by, for sartin. It 
 tinkles and chippers too much ; it rattles and clicks. 
 It don't git hold of the feelin's, Henry; — it don't 
 start the blood in yer veins, nor set yer skin tinglin', 
 nor make the feet dance agin yer will. It's good 
 enough in its way, no doubt ; but it sartinly isn't the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH 313 
 
 thing to lift the young folks up and swing 'em round. 
 The fiddle be the thing ; — yis, the fiddle be sartinly 
 the thing. I would give a good deal ef w^e had a 
 fiddle here to-night, for I see the boys and girls miss 
 it. Lord-a-massy ! how it would set 'em agoin' ef we 
 only had a fiddle here." 
 
 " John Norton," said the Lad, who was sitting on 
 a chair hidden aw^ay behind the Trapper, " John Nor- 
 ton," and the Lad took hold of the sleeve of his jacket 
 and pulled the Trapper's head down towards him, 
 "would you like to hear a violin to-night?" 
 
 " Like to hear a fiddle ? Lord bless ye, lad, I guess 
 I would like to hear a fiddle. I never seed a time I 
 wouldn't give the best beaver hide in the lodge to 
 hear the squeak of the bow on the strings. What's 
 the matter with ye, lad ? What makes ye look so, 
 boy ? " 
 
 Well might he ask the question, for the Lad's face 
 was absolutely radiant. His eyes w^ere glowing and 
 his lips fairly apart as if with suppressed eagerness, 
 the eaoferness of restrained excitement. 
 
 " John Norton ! " said the Lad, and he drew^ the 
 old man's head still closer to him until his ear was 
 within a few inches of his mouth, " I love to play the 
 violin better than I love anything in the world, and 
 I've got one of the best ones you ever heard, out there 
 in the bow of the boat." 
 
 " Heavens and 'arth, lad ! " ejaculated the Trap- 
 per, " did ye say ye could play the fiddle, and that ye 
 had a good one out there in the boat ? Lord-a-massy ! 
 
314 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 how the young folks will hop. Scoot out there and 
 git it, boy, and Henry and me will let the folks know 
 what ye've got and what ye can do." 
 
 The Lad fairly flashed out of the room. He was 
 gone in an instant ; and in a few minutes he had 
 returned, bearing in his hands a bundle which he 
 carried as carefully as a mother would carry her babe ; 
 but brief as had been his absence it had allowed 
 sufficient time for Herbert to communicate Avith the 
 master of ceremonies and for him to announce to the 
 company present that the great lack of the occasion 
 had fortunately and unexpectedly been supplied ; for 
 the young man who was with Mr. Herbert and John 
 Norton not only knew how to play the violin but 
 actually had one in his boat and had just gone to get 
 it, and would be back in a moment. The announce- 
 ment was received with applause. White hands 
 clapped, and a hundred ejaculations of wonderment 
 sounded forth the surprise and pleasure of the eager 
 throno". And when the Lad came stealinii" in, bearin<r 
 his precious burden, he was received with a positive 
 ovation. 
 
 It was amusing to see the change which had come 
 over the looks and actions of the company at the men- 
 tion and appearance of the violin. The faces that 
 had shown indifference and the look of lanoniid weari- 
 ness freshened and became tense in all their lines ; and 
 on their heads again animation sat crowned. Those 
 who were seated jumped to their feet. The conversa- 
 tionalists broke their circle and swung suddenly into 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 315 
 
 line. Eyes sparkled. Little happy screams and minia- 
 ture war-whoops from the boisterous youngsters rang 
 through the parlor. In eye, and look, and voice, the 
 popular tribute spoke in honor of the popular instru- 
 ment, — an instrument whose strings can sound almost 
 every passion forth : the quip and quirk of merri- 
 ment, the mourner's wail, the measured praise of 
 solemn psalms, the lively beat of joy, the subtle charm 
 of indolent moods, and the sweet ecstasy of youthful 
 pleasure, when with flying feet and in the abandon of 
 delio'ht she swinofs, circles, and floats throuo^h the 
 measures of the voluptuous waltz. 
 
 In one corner of the parlor there was a platform, 
 from which charades and private theatricals had 
 been acted on some previous evening, and to this the 
 Lad was escorted ; and strange to say his awkwardness 
 had departed from him. His form was straight. 
 His head raised. His shambling gait steadied itself 
 with firmest confidence. His long arms sought no 
 longer feebly to hide themselves, but held the pack- 
 age that he carried in fond authority of gesture, as 
 a proud young mother, whose pride has banished bash- 
 fulness, carries a beautiful child — a child that is her 
 own. So the Lad went towards the raised dais, and 
 seating himself in the chair, proceeded with deliberate 
 tenderness to uncover the instrument. 
 
 An old dark-looking one it was. The gloom of cen- 
 turies darkened it. Their dusk had penetrated the 
 very fibres of the wood. Its look suggested ancient 
 times ; far climes ; and hands long mouldering in dust. 
 
316 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 It was an instrument to quicken curiosity and elicit 
 mental interrogation. What was its story ? Where 
 was it made ? By whom, and when ? The Lad did 
 not know. It was his mother's gift, he said. An 
 old sea-captain had given it to his mother. The old 
 sea-captain had found it on a wreck in the far- 
 off Indian Ocean. He found it in a trunk — a 
 great sea chest, made of. scented wood and banded 
 with brazen ribs. And in the chest, with it, it was 
 rumored the mariner had found silks, and costly fab- 
 rics, and gold and Eastern gems, — gems that never 
 had been cut ; but lay in all their barbaric beauty, 
 dull and svvarth as Cleopatra's face. Thus the violin 
 had been found on the far seas — at the end of the 
 world, as it were, in companionship of gems and 
 fabrics rich and rare ; and in a chest whose mouth 
 breathed odors. This was all the Lad knew. 
 
 " Henry," said the Old Trapper, " the lad says the 
 fiddle is so old that no one knows how old it is ; and 
 I conceit the boy speaks the truth. It sartlnly looks 
 as old as a squaw whose teeth has dropped out and 
 whose eyes are half-shet, and her face the color of 
 tanned buckskin. I tell ye, Henry, I believe it will 
 bust ef the lad draws the bow with any 'arnestness 
 across it, for there never was a glue made that would 
 hold wood together for a thousand year. And ef that 
 fiddle isn't a thousand year old, then John Norton is 
 no jedge of appearances and can't count the prongs 
 on the horns of a buck." 
 
 At this instant the Lad dropped the bow on to the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 317 
 
 strings. Strong and round, mellow and sweet, the 
 note swelled forth ; starting with the least filament 
 of sound, it wove itself into a compact chord of 
 sonorous resonance ; filled the great parlors ; passed 
 through the doorway into the receptive stillness out- 
 side ; charged it with throbbings — thus held the air 
 a moment ; reigned in it — then called its powers back 
 to itself ; drew in its vibrating tones ; checked its un- 
 dulating force ; and leaving the air by easy retirement 
 came back like a bird to its nest and died away 
 within the recesses of the dark melodious shell from 
 whence it started. 
 
 When the bow first began its course across the 
 strings the Old Trapper's eyes were on it ; and as the 
 note oTew and swelled he seemed to o^row with it. 
 His great fingers shut into their palms as if an unseen 
 power was pulling at the cords. His breast heaved 
 full. His mouth actually opened. It was as if 
 the rising, swelling, pulsating sounds actually lifted 
 him from off the floor on which he stood ; and when 
 the magnificent note ebbed and finally died away 
 within the violin, not only he, but all the company 
 stood breathless : charmed, surprised, astonished into 
 silence at the wondrous strain they had heard. 
 
 The Old Trapper was the first to move. He 
 brought his brawny hand down heavily on to Her- 
 bert's shoulder, and with a face actually on fire with 
 the fervor stirred within him, exclaimed : — 
 
 " Lord-a-massy ! Henry, did ye ever hear a noise 
 like that ? I say, boy, did ye ever hear a noise like 
 
318 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 that ; where on 'arth did it come from ? Why, boy. 
 'twas as long and solemn as a funeral, as 'arnest as 
 the cry of a panther ; and roared like the nest of 
 hornets when ye poke 'em up with a stick. If that's 
 a fiddle I wonder what the other things be that 
 I have heerd the half-breeds and the Frenchers play 
 in the clearin's." 
 
 Well might the Old Trapper be astonished. The 
 violin of unknown age and make was one among ten 
 thousand. It was a concert to hear the Lad tune it ; 
 which he did with a bold and skilful touch, and the 
 exactness of an ear which nature had made exquisitely 
 true to time and chord. His bashfulness was gone. 
 His timidity had departed. His awkwardness, even, 
 went out of body and arms and fingers with the 
 initial note. His soul had found its life with his 
 mother's gift ; and he who was so Aveak and hesitating 
 in ordinary moments found courage and strength, and 
 the dignity of a master, when he touched the strings. 
 At last the instrument was ready. And with a flour- 
 ish bold and free he struck into the measures of a 
 waltz that filled the parlor Avith circling noise, and 
 made the air throb and beat — swing and swell, 
 as if it were liquid, and unseen hands were moving 
 it with measured undulations. 
 
 There was no resisting an influence so sweet, subtle, 
 and pervasive as flowed from that easy-going bow, 
 as it came and w^nt over the resounding strings. 
 Couple after couple swung ofP into the open space 
 until the entire company were swinging and floating 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 319 
 
 through the dreamy and bewitching measures. The 
 god of music was actually in the room, and his strong, 
 passionate touch was on the souls of those who were 
 floated hither and thither as if blown by his invisible 
 breath. The music took possession of the dancers. 
 It banished the mortal heaviness from their frames, 
 and made them buoyant so that their feet scarce 
 touched the floor. Up and down and across, from 
 side to side and end to end they whirled and floated. 
 They moved as if a power which took the place 
 of wings was in them. They did not seem to 
 know that they were dancing. They did not dance ; 
 they floated ; flowing like a current moved by easy 
 undulations. Their hands were clasped. Their faces 
 nearly touched. Their eyes were closed or glowing. 
 And still the long bow came and went, and still the 
 music rose and sank, and swelled and ebbed as easy 
 waves advance, retreat, and flood again, breaking in 
 white and lazy murmurs at twilight on the dusky 
 beach. 
 
 Herbert stood still ; but his eyes were lifted, the 
 gaze in them was far away, and one foot beat the 
 measure. Beside him stood the Trapper. His arms 
 were crossed ; his eyes were on the bow that the Lad 
 was drawing, and his body swayed, lifted, and sank in 
 perfect harmony with the motions and the accompany- 
 ing sound, with a grace which nature only reaches 
 when the will is utterly surrendered to a power that 
 has charmed the stiffness and tension out of the frame 
 and made it yielding and responsive. 
 
320 ABIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 At last the music stopped ; and with it stopped each 
 form. Each foot was arrested at the point to which 
 the sound had carried it when it paused. Each 
 couple stood in perfect pose. The motive power 
 which moved them was withdrawn, and the limhs 
 stood motionless as if the soul that gave them anima- 
 tion had retired. They had been lifted to another 
 world — a world of impulse and movement more airy 
 and spirit-like than the gross earth, — and it took a 
 moment for them to struggle back to ordinary life. 
 But in a moment thought recalled them to themselves, 
 and they realized the mastery of the power that had 
 held them at its will, and the applause broke out in 
 showers of happy tumult. They crowded around the 
 Lad — strong men and beautiful women, — gazing at 
 him in wonder ; then broke up into knots talking and 
 marvelling. In the Old Trapper's face, as he gazed at 
 the Lad, a strange look came, — the look of a man to 
 whose soul has come a revelation so pure and sweet 
 and clear that he is unable at first to compass it with 
 his understanding. lie came close to the Lad, and 
 sitting down on the edge of the platform, put his 
 hand on the knee of the youth, and said : — 
 
 " I have heerd most of the sweet and terrible noises 
 that natur' makes, boy ; I have heerd the thunder 
 among the hills, when the Lord was knockin' agin the 
 'arth until it jarred ; and I have heerd the wind in the 
 pines and the waves on the beaches when the darkness 
 of night was on the woods, and Natur' was singin' her 
 evenin' psalm ; and there be no bird or beast the Lord 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 321 
 
 has made whose cry, be it lively or solemn, I have not 
 heerd ; and I have said that man had never made an 
 instrument that could make so sweet a noise as Natur' 
 makes when the Sperit of the universe speaks through 
 her stillness ; hut ye have made sounds to-night, lad, 
 sweeter than my ears have ever heerd on hill or lake 
 shore at noon or in the night season, and I sartinly 
 believe that the Sperit of the Lord has been with ye, 
 boy, and gin ye the power to bring out sech music as 
 the Book says the angels make in their happiness in 
 the world above. I trust ye be grateful, lad, for the 
 gift the Lord has gin ye ; for, though yer tongue 
 knows leetle of speech, yit yer fingers can bring sech 
 sounds out of that fiddle as a man mio^ht wish to have 
 in his ears wdien his body lies in his cabin, and his 
 sj^erit be standin' on the edge of the Great Clearin'. 
 Yis, lad, ye must sartinly play for me when my eyes 
 grow dim, and my feet strike the trail that no man 
 strikes but once, nor travels both ways." 
 
 At this point the announcement of supper was 
 made ; and the company streamed towards the tables. 
 The repast was of that bounteous character customary 
 to the houses located in the w^oods, in which the 
 hearty provisions of the forest were brought into con- 
 junction with and reinforced by the more light and 
 fanciful cuisine of the cities. Fish and venison pre- 
 dominated. There was venison roast and venison 
 spitted, and venison broiled, venison steak and venison 
 pie. Trout broiled, and baked, and boiled ; pancakes 
 and rolls ; ices and cream ; pies and puddings ; pickles 
 
322 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 and sauces of every conceivable character and make ; 
 ducks and partridges ; coffee and tea whose nature, we 
 regret to say, was discernible only to the eye of faith. 
 In the midst of this abundance the Old Trapper was 
 entirely at home. He ate with the relish and hearti- 
 ness of a man whose appetite was of the highest order ; 
 and whose courao-e mounted to the occasion. 
 
 " I tell ye, Henry," said the old man, as he trans- 
 ferred a duck to his plate, and proceeded to carve it 
 with the aptness of one who had practical knowledge 
 of its anatomy, " I tell ye, Henry, the birds be gittin' 
 fat ; and I sartinly hope the flight this fall will be a 
 good un. Don't be bashful, lad, in yer eatin','' he 
 continued, as he transferred half of his bird to his 
 companion's plate, " ye haven't got tlie size of some 
 about the w^aist, but yer length be in yer favor, and ef 
 ye will only straighten up, and Henry don't gin out, 
 there'll be leetle left on this eend of the table when 
 we have satisfied our hunger. I don't know when the 
 cravin' of natur' has been stronger within me then it 
 be this minit ; and ef nothin' happens, and ye stand by 
 me, the Saranacers will remember our visit for days 
 arter we be o-one. It isn't often that I feed in the 
 settlements, or git a taste of their cookin', but the 
 man Avho basted these birds knowed what he was 
 doin', and the fire has given 'em jest the right tech ; 
 and the morsels act'ally melt in yer mouth." 
 
 The spirit of feasting was abroad. And the 
 eatinir such as would astonish the dwellers in cities. 
 Wit flashed across the table in answer to wit. Mirth 
 
THE MAN WHO DTD NT KNOW MUCH 323 
 
 rippled from end to end of the room. Laughter 
 roared and rolHcked adown the hall. Jokes were 
 cracked. Fun exploded. Plates rattled. Cups and 
 glasses touched and rang. Even the waiters as they 
 came and went in their happy service caught the 
 infection of the surrounding happiness and their 
 laughter mingled with that of the guests. 
 
 The great pine branches and the evergreens nailed 
 against the corner posts and wjeathed into festoons 
 along the walls shook and trembled in the uproar as 
 to the passage of winds along their native hills. And 
 the huge bucks' heads, whose antlers were tied with 
 rosettes and streaming ribbons, lost the staring look 
 of their great artificial eyes and seemed as they looked 
 out through the interlacing boughs of cedar and 
 balsam as if life had returned to them, and they once 
 more were animate. 
 
 In about an hour the company streamed back into 
 the parlor, with a mood even livelier than that which 
 had characterized the early hours of the occasion. 
 Their minds were in the state of highest action, and 
 their bodies needed but the opportunity for rapid 
 motion. Even the Lad had caught the infection of 
 the surrounding liveliness, for his eyes and face glowed 
 with the light of quickened animation. 
 
 " Have ye got any jigs in that fiddle, lad," said 
 the Trapper ; '^ can ye twist anythin' out of yer instru- 
 ment that will set the feet travellin' ? It seems to me 
 that the young folks here want shakin' up a leetle ; 
 and a leetle of the old-fashioned dancin' will help 'em 
 
324 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 settle the vict'als. Can ye liven up, lad, and give 
 'em a tune that will set 'em whirlin'." 
 
 The only reply of the Lad was a motion of the 
 bow ; but the motion was effective ; for it sent a tor- 
 rent of notes into the air, which thrilled through the 
 body and tingled along the nerves like an electric 
 shock. The Old Trapper fairly bounded into the air ; 
 and when he struck the floor his feet were flying. 
 Nor was he alone ; the jig had started a dozen on the 
 instant ; and the floor rattled and rang with the tap 
 of toe and heel. 
 
 " Henry," said the Old Trapper, " hold on to me 
 or I shall sartinly make a fool of myself. The lad be 
 ticklin' me from head to foot, and my toes be snap- 
 pin' inside of 'the moccasins. Lord, who'd 'a' thought 
 that the blood in the veins of a man whose head be 
 whitenin' could be sot leapin' as mine be doin' at this 
 minit by the scrapin' of a fiddle." 
 
 The Lad was a picture to see. His bow flew like 
 lightning. His long fingers drummed and slid along 
 the strino's of the violin with bewilderiniy swiftness. 
 The little instrument jetted and effervesced its melody. 
 The continuous and resounding noise poured out of 
 it in tuneful bubbles. The air was full of tinkling 
 fragments of sound. The Lad's body swayed to and 
 fro. His face glowed. His eyes flashed. The sweat 
 stood in drops on his forehead, but still the bow 
 snapped and crinkled, and the instrument continued to 
 burst in musical explosion, while the floor shook ; the 
 windows rattled ; the lamps flared and fluttered, as the 
 dancers chased the music on. 
 
THE 2IAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 325 
 
 " Heavens and 'arth ! " said the Trapper. " I can't 
 stand this," and breaking from the hold that Herbert 
 had on him he whirled himself ont to the centre of 
 the floor, and with his face aflame with excitement, 
 and his white hair flying abroad, he led the jig men 
 off with the lightness of foot and rapidity of stroke 
 that forced the music by half a beat. The effect was 
 electric. The room burst with applause, and the Lad 
 fetched a stroke that seemed to rip the violin asunder. 
 It was now a race between the violin and the dancers. 
 One after another fell out of the circle as the moments 
 passed, until the Trapper was left alone and was cut- 
 tino' it down in a fashion that both astonished and 
 convulsed the company. More than one of the spec- 
 tators went on to the floor in paroxysms of laughter. 
 Herbert, bent over with his hands on his knees, was 
 watching the Trapper with mouth stretched to its 
 utmost, and streaming eyes. The gambler was jump- 
 ing up and down, utterly beside himself, calling for 
 odds. 
 
 It is impossible to say which would have triumphed, 
 had not an accident decided the contest and brouofht 
 the jig to an abrupt termination. For even while the 
 Lad was in the midst of the swiftest execution, the 
 hind lesrs of the chair in which he was sittino- were 
 whipped from their fastenings, his heels went into the 
 air, and he turned half a somersault backward, and 
 the music stopped with a snap. 
 
 It was minutes before a word could be heard. 
 Hoars and shrieks, and screams of irrepressible and 
 
326 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 uncontrollable merriment shook the house from founda- 
 tion to garret. The Lad picked himself up, and for 
 the first time since they met Herbert saw his placid 
 countenance wrinkled and seamed with the contortions 
 of uproarious mirth. The sluggishness of his tempera- 
 ment for once was thoroughly agitated, and the man- 
 hood which never before had come to the surface 
 found in hilarity a visible and adequate expression. 
 The Trapper had spun to his side and the two had 
 joined their hands, and looking into each other's faces 
 were laughing with a boisterousness that fairly shook 
 their frames and exploded in resounding peals. 
 
 Gradually the uproar suljsided, and the company 
 settled by easy transition to a quieter mood. The 
 hours of the night were passing, and the moment 
 drawing: ni<>li when those wlio had minoled their 
 merriment must part. The Old Trapper had regained 
 his gravity, and his countenance had settled to its cus- 
 tomary repose. It seemed the general wish that the 
 Lad would favor them with a farewell piece, and, in 
 compliance with the request of many, the old man 
 turned to him and said : — 
 
 " The hours be drawing on, lad, and it's reasonable 
 that we should break up ; but afore we go the folks 
 wish to hear ye play a quiet sort of a piece that may 
 be cheerful and pleasant-like for 'em to remember ye 
 by when we be gone. So, lad, ef ye have got any thin' 
 in yer head that's soft and teching, somethin' that 
 will sort o' stay in the heart as the seasons come and 
 go, T sartinly hope ye will play it for 'em. And as 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 327 
 
 ye say ye was born by the sea, and as ye say the in- 
 strument ye hold in yer hand was given ye by yer 
 motlier, it may be ye can play us somethings out of yer 
 memory that shall tell us of her goodness to ye. 
 Somethin', I mean, that shall tell us of the shore 
 where ye was born and the love that ye had afore ye 
 laid her to rest and came to the woods. Can ye play 
 us somethin' like that, lad?" 
 
 " I can play you anything that has mother in it," 
 said he, and a wistful, yearning, hungry look came 
 into his eyes, and the edges of his simple lips quiv- 
 ered. 
 
 The company saated themselves, and the boy drew 
 his bow across the instrument. The brush of a pain- 
 ter could not have made the picture more perfect, 
 than the vision the Lad brouoht forth as the bow 
 13layed on the strings. The picture of a sea, sun- 
 lighted and level, and stretching far out ; the picture 
 of a curved shore : the shore of a quiet bay, rimmed 
 with its beach of shining sand and noisy with the 
 gurgle and splash of lapsing waves ; the picture of a 
 home quiet and orderly, and filled with the tenderness 
 of a gentle spirit ; and then a heavier chord told of 
 the coming of a darker hour when the mother lay 
 dying. The violin fairly sobbed and groaned and 
 wailed, as if the spirit of unconsolable grief were tug- 
 ing heavily at the strings. Anon, a bell tolled sol- 
 emnly out of it, and its heavy knell clanged through 
 the room- And then the music rested for a minute, 
 and in the silence a grave came in sight as plainly as 
 
328 ADTBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 if the eyes of all were actually gazing into its yawning 
 mouth. Again the music sounded, and the sods, one 
 after another, began to fall on the coffin dull and heavy, 
 changing to a smothered sound as the grave filled. 
 Once more it paused, and then a clear, sweet strain 
 arose, sad, but pure, and fine, and hopeful, as voice of 
 anpfels could have suno' it, trustful and resio^ned. The 
 bow stopped again ; for a moment the violin Avas 
 silent. And then the Lad lifted his face, and, laying 
 the bow softly upon the strhigs, he began to play 
 what all instinctively felt was a hymn to the spirit 
 of his mother. Slowly, softly, sweetly as the strains 
 which the dying sometimes hear, the pure, clear, 
 smooth notes stole out into the hushed air. It was 
 playing, not such as mortal plays to mortal, but such 
 as spirit might play to spirit, and soul to soul, across 
 the street of heaven. The Lad still used an earthly 
 instrument and touched its strings with mortal fingers ; 
 but never, while they live, will those who heard that 
 hymn believe that anything less than the spirit of the 
 boy, — as it shall be in mood when, in the spirit world, 
 he first beholds his angel mother, — drew from the 
 instrument the notes that filled that room wdth their 
 divine sweetness. Indeed, the Lad did not act as if 
 he were conscious of his body, or of bodily presence 
 around him. His face was lifted, and his eyes, from 
 which the tears were streaming, were gazing upward, 
 not as if into vacancy, but as if they saw the bright 
 being that had passed within the veil, but which now, 
 for a moment, stood in all the beauty of her transfig- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 329 
 
 f 
 
 uration before them. For a smile was on the boy's 
 Hps, even while the tears were rollin<^ down his cheeks ; 
 and when, at last, the arm suspended its motion ; 
 when the sweet notes ceased to sound, and the last 
 chord had died away, the Lad still kept his uplifted 
 posture and his features held the same rapt expression. 
 The company sat motionless, their gaze fastened 
 on the Lad. Not an eve was without its tear. The 
 cheeks of the Old Trapper were w^et ; and Herbert, 
 touched by some memory, or overcome by the pathos 
 of the music, was actually sobbing. The old man, 
 with a tread as light as a moccasined foot could make, 
 stepped softly to the side of the Lad, and taking him 
 by the arm, while the company rose as one man, he 
 motioned to Henry with his hand, and then, without a 
 Avord, the Trapper, and Herbert, and " The Man Who 
 Didn't Know Much" passed out of the room, and 
 takincr boat, shoved off and o^lided from sia;ht in the 
 blue darkness of the overhanging night, amid whose 
 eastern gloom the great, luminous, mellow-hearted 
 stars of the morning were already aflame. 
 
CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 THE PARTING. 
 
 " Once more, ye woods, adieu." — Virgil. 
 
 An island : small in size, lifted but a few feet above 
 the water, and wooded heavily with pines. A camp- 
 fire near the centre, whose flames were fed by logs of 
 beech and birch intermixed with resinous woods. 
 Underneath the logs, a great bed of coals and brands 
 vividly on fire and hot as the mouth of a furnace. 
 Above, flames sent illuminations evervwhere : brinofinof 
 the trunks of the great trees out in bold relief and 
 brightening the gloomy foliage so that the withered 
 cones stood forth to view. A current of cool air ; the 
 breath of an ice-king which had been blown a thou- 
 sand leagues, nor lost its chill. Between it and the 
 fire was mutual hate ; for when it blew a stronger puff 
 the flame in hot resentment flared hoarsely up and 
 roared wrathfully. Amid the rocks that lined the 
 shores the waves washed noisily. Above the pines a 
 great gloomy dome, whose vault was traversed by a 
 broad belt of snowy appearance, and studded with 
 millions of dazzlino^ stars. In front of the coals two 
 giant dogs lay curled, back to back, basking in the 
 heat. Farther away, their faces lighted by the fire, 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 331 
 
 three men sat or reclined in easy posture, tlieir backs 
 supported by a great log. This was the scene. 
 
 " I'm sorry, Henry, that ye must leave us to- 
 morrer," said the Trapper, breaking the long silence 
 that had preceded the remark, " but ye say ye must 
 go, and I suppose we must give ye up. There be 
 many in the settlements, I dare say, that love ye and 
 long to see ye; and it's but right for ye to go. But 
 ye won't quite forgit us, boy, when ye're livin' in the 
 ofreat citv, and the han'some and the rich be round 
 ye? 
 
 '' I shall never forget you, John Norton, nor the 
 lad either," responded the young man ; " I owe my 
 life to both of you, and while I live I shall remember 
 it. My life was saved here in the woods, and here 
 would I live were I not bound to civilization by ties 
 I cannot in conscience break. But I mean to have 
 you both visit me this winter. Do you know it is 
 only two days' travel from this island to my city 
 home ? " 
 
 " It isn't distance, Henry," said the Trapper, after 
 a moment's pause, " that makes a visit likely or 
 onlikely atween friends. I footed it from the shore of 
 the Horicon to the shore of Ontario once, jest to call 
 on a comrade I heerd was campin' on the Big Water. 
 No, it sartinly isn't distance, Henry, but difference in 
 ways of livin', that keeps friends apart. Lord bless 
 ye, boy, ef miles was all that lay atween us, me and 
 the lad, and the pups there, could make ye a visit 
 eenamost any time arter the snow has crusted ; for the 
 
332 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 trappin' b3 onsartin then, and the snow-shoes be 
 famous things to travel on. But ye see ye hve one 
 way and we another ; and though ye be a nateral 
 woodsman, and take to our way of livin' as easily as 
 a young otter takes to the crick, yit I conceit it would 
 be different with me in the settlements, and that yer 
 way of livin' wouldn't suit an old man w^hose days 
 have been passed in the woods, and whose ears hate 
 the noise of the clearin's." 
 
 " I don't know about that, John Norton," replied 
 tha young man, " you should live as you wished to 
 with me, and I would do everything I could to make 
 your stay pleasant." 
 
 "Ay, ay, Henry," responded the Trapper; "I 
 understand the goodness of yer heart and the open- 
 ness of yer hand ; and ef any thin' could make me 
 contented with the ways of the settlements ye sartinly 
 could do it. But natur' and habits be stronger than 
 wishes ; and my natur' and habits be agin it. Why, 
 Henry, I should smother in the city ; for I've heerd 
 that the cabins be made of brick and stun, and stand 
 so nigh together that they act'ally tech ; and that the 
 smoke of the fires be so thick that ye can't tell when 
 the sun rises or sets ; and that the carries from p'int 
 to p'int be covered with folks ; and that the trails 
 be thicker with people than the trunk of a bee-tree 
 with bees when they be swarmin'. Is it raally so, 
 boy?" 
 
 " Yes, the houses do stand side by side," replied 
 Herbert, " and the streets are full of people from 
 
THE MAN WHO DTDX'T KNOW MUCH. 333 
 
 morning till late at night, and the noise and jar of 
 cars and carts are continuous." 
 
 " That's it," interrupted the Trapper, " that's it. 
 The noises would eenamost kill me ; for beyend the 
 crack of a rifle, or the sound of an axe cuttin' wood 
 for the camp, my ears hate noises ; onless it be sech 
 as natur' makes. For when the ears be full of noise 
 the eyes can't obsarve, nor the heart meditate on the 
 things around. It isn't what folks tells us that makes 
 us knowin' ; but it's what we find out for ourselves. 
 It's the blaze on the tree that the hunter sarches for 
 and finds with his own eyes that he never forgits; 
 and I have never seed a city man yit that knowed any- 
 thin' of his own self ; for his edication was Avhat he 
 had been larnt by others, or had read in books. And 
 ye know, Henry, that the raal wisdom of natur' has 
 never been printed in books yit." 
 
 " I think you are right there, John Norton," 
 returned the young man, " the best wisdom has never 
 been printed ; for scholars, as a class, never study for 
 the new, but for the old ; and the present generation 
 only recites the same lessons that the fathers had 
 recited." 
 
 " Yis, Henry, that's it ; and queer enough it seems 
 to a man of the woods. Lord ! I guided a man a year 
 or two asTO that knowed evervthin' that books could 
 tell a mortal. He was as full of figgers and facts as 
 a hedgehog be of quills. And ef ye poked him up a 
 leetle with a question or two he'd shed 'em faster than 
 ye could pick 'em up. But when ye got him right 
 
334 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 down to it he didn't know notliin', Henry. He 
 couldn't tell the p'ints of the compass on a cloudy 
 day ; nor keep the trail on a carry ; nor tell a doe's 
 track from a buck's. He didn't even know how to 
 dress out his venison nor cook a pancake. And 1 do 
 believe the cretur' would have starved to death when 
 the Lord had made plenty around him. And it made 
 me thankful for my gifts and my larnin' as I obsarved 
 his iofnorance." 
 
 " And yet," replied Herbert, " he was very hkely a 
 wise man in his way." 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," admitted the Trapper. " But 
 the way wasn't a good un, Henry, for what's the use 
 of bein' knowdn' ef ye can't make it sarve ye. The 
 larnin' that don't help a man find his way when he be 
 fetchin' his trail through the woods, and don't tell 
 him where to find the spring holes or the spawnin' 
 beds or the places on the mash where the bucks feed, 
 or how to cook his venison arter he has got it to his 
 camp, isn't wuth much to a mortal, for sartin. For 
 larnin' is gin to us, as I conceit, as the scent be 
 given to the nose of the hound, for the parposes of 
 life ; and larnin' that don't tell a man when he be in 
 danger how to git out of it, or when he be hungry 
 how to satisfy the cravin's of his natur', be of no raal 
 use to a man, as I jedge." 
 
 " The Bible says," interrupted the Lad, " ' Take - no 
 - thought - of - what - ye - shall - eat - or - what - ye - 
 shall - drink, - or - what - ye - shall - put - on, - for - 
 after - all - these - things - the - Gentiles - seek.'" 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 335 
 
 " Yis, yis," said the Trapper, '' them Gentiles always 
 seemed to me to have the right idee o£ it. And I 
 never could understand how the Lord could think they 
 was off the trail, ef they was honestly sarchin' for 
 vict'als and clothin' to kiver their nakedness. No, I 
 never could see quite how they was wrong in doin' 
 jest what every man has to do to keep hody and soul 
 together. What did he mean, Henry, when he told 
 them not to think about their vict'als and their gar- 
 ments? He didn't mean to have them go naked, did 
 he, or trust to luck in the matter ? " 
 
 " No, by no means," responded Herbert, " the 
 phrase ' take no heed ' means not to be anxious, not 
 to icorry about it." 
 
 " AVell, well," said the Trapper, " now I git the 
 direction of the trail. Lord-a-massy ! how different 
 the Scriptur' looks from one p'int then it does from 
 another. It sartinly don't do any good to worry over 
 a thing. Many be the nights when I used to be out 
 scoutin' that I've gone to bed in the leaves hollow as 
 a horn without a karnal in it, wonderin' where I'd 
 find breakfast in the mornin' ; but worryin' never 
 brought a partridge to the snare yit, or a trout to the 
 hook. And there's but one way for a mortal to act 
 when he's in a pinch, and that be to do the best he 
 knows how and trust to the Lord for the rest. But 
 the doin' must be put under the trustin', as the powder 
 be under the bullit, as I conceit." 
 
 It was with such converse that our friends beguiled 
 the evening, as the hours sped along. Now and then 
 
336 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 the Old Trapper was prevailed upon to tell the story 
 of his life, or narrate passages of it as it had occurred 
 on the trail and in battle, or in times of peace when 
 he lived quietly amid the solitudes of nature. These 
 narrations of experience were told with a vividness of 
 imagery and energy of utterance that made the scenes 
 he described stand out in startling clearness to the 
 minds of the listeners ; for he told them with the 
 voice and action of one who was not only speaking of 
 deeds, in whose performance he had been the promi- 
 nent actor, but also with the unconscious grace and 
 power of a man whose blood kindles with heat at the 
 reminiscence ; and who, without knowing it, lent to 
 the narration the charm of a superb, because a natural, 
 elocution. To-night Herbert had purposely drawn 
 him out in this direction, for he and his companion 
 liked nothing better than such an entertainment as the 
 stories of the Old Trapper afforded. In this way the 
 hours had come and sfone until the eveninof was far 
 advanced, and the njon of night was actually nigh. 
 But neither of the three had noted the passage of 
 time, nor would they even then had not the Old Trap- 
 per's eye caught the gleam of a star above the moun- 
 tain, which revealed to him the fact that he had been 
 talkinor" for hours. 
 
 " Lord-a-massy, Henry ! " ejaculated the old man as 
 he cauoht the oleam of the distant orb. " It's arter 
 ten o'clock, and ye've kept me talkin' like a dozen 
 Frenchers when lost in the foo^. But it's the last 
 night ye'll be with us, Henry, and may haps it's well 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 337 
 
 as it be. Come, lad, git yer fiddle out. Don't let it 
 be said that the boy went to the settlements without 
 takin' yer music in his ears. Ye needn't play any- 
 thin' lively to-night, for we sartinly don't feel like 
 dancin', but somethin' pleasant and cheerful like, and 
 a leetle easy in its motions, as a friend would say 
 ' good-by ' to friend when standin' at the p'int where 
 their trails parted." 
 
 The Lad did as he was requested ; and involun- 
 tarily gave an exhibition of his command of the 
 instrument which astonished Herbert, familiar as he 
 was with the playing of the masters of his time. 
 The moment the Lad's fingers touched the strings, 
 and the bo^s^ began to move over them, the violin 
 seemed no longer a foreign substance but a portion 
 of himself. And of that self, too, within his body 
 which stood not for his personality alone, but for that 
 greater One who, while limiting him in the average 
 himian faculties, had endowed him, with compensating 
 liberality, with a faculty of reception and impartment 
 which could not be called less than divine. There 
 was no mood of nature that the poor boy with his 
 violin in his hand could not reflect. It lauo^hed — it 
 wept — it rollicked — it joked — it sobbed. The flut- 
 tering leaf — the sighing wind — the roaring hurri- 
 cane — the laughing splash of happy waters — the 
 loon's weird cry — the robin's flute — all the sounds 
 his ear could catch, his fingers could draw forth. 
 
 It was certainly a scene which Herbert would not 
 be likely to forget. The great fire flared and flamed 
 
338 ADIitONDACK TALES. 
 
 upward. The cool, pine-scented air blew across the 
 lake, and the waves fell with measured splash on the 
 beach. The great pines overhead, sw^ayed by the 
 wind, sent out their softened monotones. The Lad 
 sat with his back to the fire, gazing out into the star- 
 lighted darkness. The Trapper and Herbert reclined 
 in easy posture, gazing steadily at the upAvard-going 
 flame ; and all the while the violin sent out its tuneful 
 strain. Not light and airy, nor grave and sad ; but 
 pure, cheerful, and sweet, as is the mood of friend 
 parting with friend when love has made the parting 
 tender, but hope forbids it to be sad. 
 
 At last the music ceased, and the Lad turned his 
 simple face toward the fire with a light on it finer 
 than the reflection that an earthly flame could give 
 to human countenance. 
 
 " Yis, lad, ye've said it well," said the Trapper, 
 "ye've sartinly said it well ; and Herbert and me have 
 understood it as ye have gone on. Ye sartinly ain't 
 over-knowin' with yer tongue, but yer sperit be right ; 
 and the Lord has gin ye a gift that the great ones of 
 the 'arth might envy. I sartinly wish ye could play 
 to the folks in the settlements ; it would set 'em 
 wonderin'." 
 
 " I don't think I could play in the cities," said the 
 Lad. " I never could play to any one but mother in 
 the house, and I never played but a few times to her 
 there ; for when she was tired and wanted comforting 
 she used to go down with me to the shore and have 
 me play for her there. And she used to kiss me when 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 339 
 
 I finished playing, and say I was the best boy she had, 
 and a great comfort to her, even if I didn't learn so 
 fast as the other children did." 
 
 " I understand it, lad," said the Trapper, '' yis, I 
 understand it, and yer mother was right ; and ye com- 
 forted her in the days of her trouble beyend what ye 
 know, and ye'll sartinly find her agin, and I dare say 
 waitin' for ye, when ye come to the Great Clearin'. 
 Come, let's go to bed," continued the old man. " The 
 night be passin', and the mornin' be draAvin' on, and 
 w^e three shall start on a long trail to-morrer, and it's 
 best we strike it well rested." 
 
 It was morning ; and the Old Trapper was up with 
 the earliest dawn, busy in preparing the morning 
 meal. It was evident by the amount and variety of 
 the dishes that he was anxious that it should be more 
 than ordinary ; for it required every plate and dish in 
 the camp to hold the result of his labors. He worked 
 at his self-imposed task as one whose mind is pre- 
 occupied, and who would fain seek in activity relief 
 from what would otherwise oppress him. An observer 
 would have noticed that as he came and went in his 
 motions around the fire his eyes frequently turned 
 toward the spot where Herbert was sleeping, and at 
 every look the shadow on his face grew deeper. It 
 Avould have been evident to such a spectator that the 
 old man had become strono^lv attached to his vounof 
 companion, and could with difficulty bring himself to 
 think with equanimity of the coming separation. 
 
 At last his preparations were all made. The meal 
 
340 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 was ready. Then lifting the corner of the blanket 
 beneath which the Lad and Herbert lay stretched, he 
 said : — 
 
 "Come, Henry; come, lad ; breakfast be ready, and 
 the sun will soon be on the mount'ins. The venison 
 will be done to a turn, and the trout be ready for the 
 teeth. It be the last meal we shall eat toj^ether for 
 many a day, and it isn't cheerful-like for friends to be 
 hurried in their eatin' when the hour of partin' be 
 nigh. So dip yer heads in the lake a minit, and we'll 
 have a meal that'll be pleasant to remember when the 
 miles be at ween us." 
 
 In a few minutes the young men were ready for the 
 repast, and the three seated themselves at a table 
 loaded with food, of a quality, and cooked with a skill, 
 that the cities could not provide, and were soon eating 
 with appetites which no ordinary circumstance could 
 affect ; nor was the humor which w^as wont to enliven 
 their companionship lacking. 
 
 " It strikes me, Henry," said the Trapper, as he 
 shoved a plate loaded heavily with broiled venison, 
 from which the red juices were actually dripping, 
 toward him, with a motion whose invitation Herbert 
 was not slow to accept ; " it strikes me, Henry, that 
 yer ap^^etite be gittin' dangerous ; and it may be that 
 yer goin' home be providential, as the niissioners say. 
 There sartinly has been a good deal of cookin' on this 
 trip ; and considerin' that we be but three, it's puzzlin' 
 to think where the meat has all gone to. Ease out 
 another hole in yer belt, lad," said the old man, 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 341 
 
 laughing, " and clean the plate. Ef ye'd had this 
 feedin' when ye was a boy ye'd been bigger waisted 
 than ye be ; for it's a thin sile where the trees grow 
 spindlin'. Ye'll thicken up afore Henry sees ye agin, 
 or John Norton don't know the habits of natur'." 
 
 The two young men laughed heartily, and renewed 
 their attack on the edibles in a manner which threat- 
 ened to speedily clear the table. 
 
 '' Now, Henry," said the old man, as he arose, and 
 taking a frying-pan from near the fire, where he had 
 carefully placed it at the beginning of the meal, '^ ef 
 the lad will bring the honey that he found on the 
 carry the other day,- I'll give ye some pancakes that'll 
 make ye hate the cookin' of the settlements when ye 
 be away from us. Lord ! I thought I should die 
 laughin' when I seed the lad peelin' it through the 
 scrub oak with the bees peltin' him in his back arter 
 the plug come out of the hole, and the leetle chaps 
 had diskivered who was pillaging their winter's store. 
 His legs couldn't have played livelier ef they'd been 
 keepin' tune to one of his jigs. Ef there's anythin' 
 that'll make a man nimble, it's when he's emptied a 
 hive round his ears and the water be forty rod away. 
 Did ye feel any oneasiness, lad, as ye struck for the 
 lake? Ye sartinly wasn't mindful where ye stepped, 
 for ye made a trail as wide as a harrer ! " and the old 
 man actually had to pause a moment to wipe the tears 
 from his eyes ; while his two young companions roared 
 and screamed in the merriment of the recollection. 
 
 " Look here, Henry ! " exclaimed the Trapper, in a 
 
342 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 moment, " did ye ever see a nicer brown than that ? " 
 and with a skilful upward turn of his wrist he sent the 
 five pancakes into the air in such a way as caused 
 them to turn a complete somersault, and skilfully 
 caught them in the j^an as they desceiided. '^ Did ye 
 ever see a better brown than that, Henry ? Ye'll find 
 it eenamost the color of the honey itself when it drips 
 from the comb onto it. A strip of pork, good flour, 
 a leetle Indian meal, the right kind of a pan, and a 
 heap of beech coiils like these be sartinly what makes 
 the cakes look right. And then, ef the butter be 
 sweet, and the honey pure, and the appetite keen, I 
 can't conceit of any better eatin' in the world. Now, 
 ye eat and I'll cook ; for a cake ain't wuth a cent wlien 
 it's cold. It gits soggy, and lays on the stomach like 
 a lie on the conscience. And though I know ye be 
 lively with yer teeth, yit ef the coals hold hot I sar- 
 tinly think I can keep up with ye.'* 
 
 It might have been ten minutes that the cooking 
 and the eating continued ; and, to borrow a commercial 
 phrase, " the supply was just equal to the demand." 
 A happier face than the Old Trapper's, as he stood, 
 pan in hand, with the heat of the coals brightening 
 his countenance, was never seen. Benevolence and 
 humor united themselves in its expression. A wise, 
 strong face it was, without a coarse line in it ; without 
 a trace of weakness ; and on whose front, infirmity as 
 yet had worn no prophetic mark. The face of a man 
 who had done no evil, had yielded to no vice, but 
 lived in the innocence of a nature to which the exer- 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 343 
 
 cise of virtue supplied all the stimulation that it 
 craved. The face of a man thus gifted in hirth, and 
 thus educated by life, in happy mood : the mood of 
 one who feels that he is ministering to the happiness 
 of those whom he loves. 
 
 " Come," said Herbert, as he rose from the table 
 and approached the fire, " give me the pan, John Nor- 
 ton, and as you have cooked for me so I will cook for 
 you, and I think I'll give them a brown as rich and 
 warm as you have been doing." 
 
 " I don't doubt it, Henry, I don't doubt it ; for 
 sartinly ye have the gift of cookin'. Ye haven't for- 
 gotten the tune I met ye, boy, on the lonely lake, have 
 ye, nor the steak and the cakes ye cooked for me, and 
 the tea that ye steeped ? Lord-a-massy ! wdiat tea that 
 was. Do ye think ye could git any more of the yarb 
 like that in the settlement ? " 
 
 " I'll send you a chest, John Norton ; and I'll start 
 it the first day I get back." 
 
 " A chest ! Lord, boy, what be ye talkin' about ? 
 \Yhat does an old man like me want of a chest of tea? 
 Ye don't think I'll turn into a Dutchwoman, do ye ? 
 — that does nothing but drink from mornin' till 
 night ? No, no ; ef ye would send me a pound, say, 
 and do it up in strong wrappin's, and put my name 
 on it, I w^arrant it'd come through all right. And it 
 would be a great comfort to me to steep a leetle of it 
 arter I'd got in from the line of my traps, wet and 
 hungry, some nights. Yis, it would sartinly be cheer- 
 ful to steep a leetle of yer gift, Henry ; for it would 
 
344 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 sorter bring ye back into the cabin, and the sound of 
 yer voice and the sight of yer face would brighten up 
 the jilacCj — 'specially ef the night was stormy and 
 the lad should chance to be away." 
 
 " Well, never mind about the amount," said Her- 
 bert. " You shall have the tea ; and enough so you 
 needn't be sparing of it." 
 
 While they had been talking, Herbert had dipped 
 the batter into his pan, and the first dish of cakes was 
 now ready for the plate. He approached the old man 
 as he sat at the table, and taking a couple up with his 
 flat turner, he placed them before him. They were 
 amber-colored about the edges, and rich chestnut 
 brown at the centre, and so light that the upper 
 scarce seemed to touch the lower one as it lay on it. 
 The old man looked at them critically a moment, and 
 then he took a spoonful of the honey and let the con- 
 tents drip in great golden globules on to the cake 
 beneath ; then taking his knife he si)read the trans- 
 parent licpiid smoothly over the cakes. All this was 
 done with the delicacy of touch of a true artist in 
 eating ; of one who feeds heartily, but not grossly, 
 and eats wdth his eyes as well as his mouth. 
 
 " Henry," said the old man, " them cakes be jedi- 
 ciously cooked. I act'ally think that ye've beaten mine 
 in the color, — 'specially in the color round the edges ; 
 but ye'll allow that my cookin' warmed the pan up, 
 and ye can't color a cake jest right onless the pan be 
 properly heated. And now that the iron be jest right, 
 I hope ye'll keep it agoin' for a few minits till I have 
 eaten my fill." 
 
THE MAX WHO DWX'T KXOW MUCH. 345 
 
 The sail had scarcely risen when the three were 
 ready to leave the island. The Lad was already in 
 Ills seat, holding his oars for the start ; and the Old 
 Tr.i})per was steadying- the stern on the beach. The 
 two hounds were standing on the sands, and Herbert 
 h id paused on his way to the boat to caress them a 
 niDinent. Both of them w^ere lifted erect on their 
 hind legs, with their paws on the young man's shoul- 
 der, while with either hand he was stroking their 
 luads. 
 
 " That's right, Henry," said the Trapper. " The 
 pups know ye be goin', and in their way they be 
 wishin' ye good-by. They've* been oneasy all the 
 morniii', for they knowed that something onusual w\as 
 goin' on. It'll be many a year afore they see ye agin, 
 mayhaps, but they'll not forgit ye ; and when ye come 
 back, ef they be livin' ye'll be sure of a welcome 
 that'll make yer face shine. Ah me ! It seems a long 
 time sence we three met at the pond of the beavers ; 
 and it'll make many a long evenin' shorter to think of 
 the frolics that we have had tosrether." 
 
 While the Trapper had been speaking Herbert had 
 parted from the dogs, and stepped into the boat. The 
 old man lifted it from the sand, and w^ith a strong 
 shove pushed it suddenly out into the lake, springing 
 with the agility of youth into his seat as he did it. 
 The Lad swept his oars into the w^ater, and the Trap- 
 per joined the stroke wdtli the motion of his paddle. 
 The two hounds sat down side by side on the sand, 
 and; with the gravity of their species, gazed silently 
 
346 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 at the receding forms. Nor had they moved from 
 their position when the boat glided round the north- 
 ern point of the island, and the intervening rocks shut 
 them from view. 
 
 " I'm glad the pups didn't give mouth at yer goin', 
 Henry," said the Trapper ; " for though I know a dog 
 can't shorten the days of a man, yit the Maker has gin 
 a curious sense to some of his creturs ; and I never 
 yit knowed a dog to how] at the goin' of his master, 
 and something not happen afore he returned. Yis, I 
 sartinly take it as a cheerful sign that we three shall 
 come together in health and happiness agin in the day 
 that the Lord app'ints." 
 
 It took but a few minutes for the boat to cover the 
 distance it had to go ; for the air was sharp and keen ; 
 the water level as a floor, and the Lad pulled a stroke 
 which, assisted as it was by the paddle of the Trapjier, 
 shot the sharp vessel along at an astonishing pace. 
 
 At the hotel no one was stirring, save here and 
 there a guide was washing out his boat preparatory 
 for an early start. 
 
 A moment after the boat touched the landinof Her- 
 bert's^ack had been transferred to the shore, and the 
 three men were standinoj* side by side. Thino-s had 
 occurred since they met which made the parting un- 
 usually tender. Herbert was thinking of the death he 
 had narrowly escaped, and that it was solely owing to 
 the skill and affection of the two men from whom he 
 was now to part that he was still alive. 
 
 " I shan't forgit the spot nor the hour, Henry ; " 
 
THE JtlAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 347 
 
 said the Trapper, referring to some previous conversa- 
 tion, " and ef the lad and me be Hvin' ye'll find us at 
 the time app'inted on the big- ledge at the mouth o£ 
 Cold River when the 'arly shadders be darkenin' the 
 stream. And ye needn't worry ef ye be late by a day 
 or two, for the boy and me will camp there till ye 
 come, even ef ye be a week behind yer time." 
 
 " If I don't come by the second day," returned Her- 
 bert, " you may know that something has happened to 
 keep me from coming in, and you needn't wait longer; 
 but if I am alive and well you'll see my boat heading 
 for that rock when the sun is an hour above its set- 
 ting on the date I gave you, next summer, or the first 
 summer I can come in." 
 
 " I have ben thinkin' about the horn, Henry," said 
 the old man, as he took a bundle from under his 
 jacket and handed it to Herbert ; " yis, I've ben 
 thinkin' about the horn, boy, and it'll sartinly make 
 my heart lighter ef ye'll take it home with ye, and 
 hang it to the hammers of yer rifle where yer eyes 
 can often see it. For I be older than ye, and though 
 I conceit the Lord will spare me many a year, yit a 
 man whose head be whitenin' can't look with sech 
 sartinty ahead, as the young ; and ef anythin' should 
 happen it would be better that the horn was with ye. 
 I don't give it to ye, because it's yourn as much as 
 mine, and accordin' to the laws of the shootin' it's 
 yourn altogether ; but it's the only thing I have to 
 give, onless it be the rifle, and ef ye'll take the horn 
 and anythin' happens, the lad will see that the gun 
 
348 ADinOXDACK TALES. 
 
 gits to ye also, for ye be the only man I ever seed 
 whose eye and linger could bring out the vartues of 
 the piece. The two would help ye to remember an 
 old man that shot for yer life once, when the chances 
 was agin him, and that loved ye as ef ye was his own 
 boy. We shall camp on the head-waters of the Rac- 
 quette this winter, and ef ye felt like writin' the lad 
 and me a letter some time, it may be some trapper 
 might fetch it through ; but it's by no means sartin, 
 and ye needn't trouble yerself overmuch about it. 
 Now, boy, as the folks will soon be stirrin' it may be 
 jest as well that the lad and me be off ; for the sun 
 be fairly up, and afore it sets we must be sixty mile to 
 the south. Come, lad, take the hand of the man ye 
 saved by yer divin', and then we'll go. The Lord 
 brought us together at the pond of the beavers, and 
 the Lord will brino- us toi^ether asfin on the ledofe at 
 Cold River ef His will shall app'int." 
 
 The Lad took the hand of Herbert, looked for a 
 moment into the face of the man he had saved from 
 death, and then without a word, but with a face 
 slightly paler than was its wont, stepped into the boat 
 and seated himself at the oars. The Trapper took 
 the hand the Lad had dropped, and for a moment the 
 two men gazed into each other's faces. Once the old 
 man essayed to speak ; but as if he had checked the 
 rising thought wdiile his tongue was striving to form 
 it into sound, or from some other cause, the sentence 
 remained unspoken. For his hand released its hold 
 on Herbert's, and without uttering a word, he turned, 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 349 
 
 and lifting his paddle, he shoved the boat from the 
 landing and leapt lightly to his seat. The boat 
 moved round the angle of the wharf and headed down 
 the lake. Herbert stepped to the piazza of the hotel, 
 and, leaning against a pillar, watched it* steadfastly 
 as it receded from view. In a few moments it had 
 reached the first of the islands, and as it swung round 
 Herbert fancied that he saw the Trapper turn his face ; 
 but in this he might have been mistaken. The next 
 instant it shot beyond the huge bowlder that made the 
 point of the island, and vanished from sight. 
 
 For a moment the young man stood with his eyes 
 fixed upon the spot where the boat had last been seen ; 
 and then he turned, and lifting his pack passed into 
 the house. Many things w^ere to transpire of which 
 they little dreamed ; and years, bringing their changes, 
 were to come and go, before the three met again. 
 
THE STORY OF 
 
 THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 
 
 Part III 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SOME OLD FOLKS. 
 
 •' Far from gay cities and the Avays of men." — The Odyssey. 
 
 It was July ; and a hot summer's day was drawing 
 to a close. A torrid wave, born of the intense heat 
 of the tropics, had moved northward, and the nor- 
 thern mountains had not cooled it a degree. The 
 heated wave had rolled across the lake, and up the 
 valleys, and over the crests of the great hills, until 
 the very atmosphere, ordinarily deliciously cool, seemed 
 blistered, as if it were being burned through and 
 through by invisible fire. The tall pines, tasselled 
 with their needle-like stems, fairly glistened in the hot 
 scintillating light. The winds kept their caves, as if 
 afraid to move beyond their dripping mouths. The 
 water stood with a dull gleam on it, like molten metal. 
 The reeds on the marshes drooped and hung their 
 heads, as with fatigue. Even the cool, dark balsams 
 for once looked hot ; and under the intense heat huno- 
 damp with gummy sweat. The wild roses shrivelled 
 and disappeared. The white lilies contracted, and hid 
 their beauty and perfume Avithin the cool protection 
 of their green, almond-shaped lobes. Above, the sky 
 was brazen. In it the sun stood red and blood-like ; 
 its orb quivering with intense fervors, and clearly 
 
354 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 rimmed as if it had lost the power to emit its dazzling 
 rays. The wilderness was silent. The heat had 
 acted like a drug on bird and beast and fish ; and 
 even on water and air. Only one sound survived : 
 the mouth of Cold River, where it poured its current 
 over the shining sand and the smooth pebbles into the 
 Racquefte, still sang its rippling song. But beside 
 the musical gurgle and tuneful lapse of the easy-flow- 
 ing current, there was no sound in the air. 
 
 On the great ledge which thrusts itself sternly out 
 into the Racquette, just below the mouth of Cold 
 River, two men w^ere standing. It needed but a 
 glance for one to recognize in the two forms the Old 
 Trapper and the Lad. The Lad was leaning on his 
 paddle ; and the Old Trapper was standing erect, with 
 his rifle resting in the hollow of his arm, gazing stead- 
 fastly down the stream. 
 
 " Three year have come and gone sence he told us 
 to wait for him here. And twice afore this have ye 
 and me waited on this rock till the sun darkened the 
 stream ; but the boy did not come. And here we 
 be agin, accordin' to promise. And the hour has 
 sartinly come for his appearin', for he said, ^ Ef I be 
 alive and well ye'll see my boat headin' for that rock 
 when the sun is an hour above its settin', on the date 
 I give ye, next summer, or the fust summer I can 
 come in.' Yis, them be the very words, lad, he said 
 on the landin' at Lower Saranac, the morn when we 
 parted. And I know ef he be livin' he'll keep his 
 promise which he gave to an old man who shot for his 
 
THE MAN WHO DID N'T KNOW MUCH. 355 
 
 life when the chances was agin him. But the hour 
 has sartinly come and the boy be not here. I fear, 
 lad, yis, I sartinly fear that somethin' be wrong ; and 
 that I shall never hear the crack of his piece agin, or 
 see his face by the light of the camp-fire." 
 
 " It may be that he has forgotten us, John Norton ; 
 for the folks that live in the city, I have heard, have a 
 great deal to do, and forget things easily." 
 
 " Lad," said the Trapper, " I've lived on the 'arth 
 eighty year, and have knowed many men ; and have 
 seed them that be true and them that be false ; and I 
 larnt fifty year agone to know the difference at ween 
 'em. But I tell ye that Henry be one of the kind 
 that never forgits. Ye can see it in his eye, and ye 
 can hear it in his voice. The boy be true as the 
 barrels of his rifle, and that be say in' all that can be 
 said in praise of any man ; for the barrels be act'ally 
 parfect. No, no, lad, the boy hasn't forgot, and he'll 
 sartinly come this year or some other year ef he's in 
 the land of the livin'." 
 
 At this point the Lad, who was standing within 
 reach, slowly stretched out his moccasined foot and 
 softly touched with his toe the ankle of the Trapper. 
 
 " Ay, ay, lad, I know what ye mean," said the old 
 man, without lowering his voice, " for I see what ye 
 see, and I seed her afore she put her head through 
 the branches of the balsam. But she's a mother doe 
 and her faan be not far away, and she's come down to 
 drink of the water that the Lord has made for her 
 comfort as He has made it for ourn. And never 
 
356 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 yit did lead of mine tech the life of a cretur when 
 natur' made its life sacred. She may drink of the 
 water to her fill, and go back to her faan and the bed 
 she left in the mosses. I know we be without meat, 
 Jad, and we'll go without meat afore we'll eat the 
 body of a doe when her faan still claims her." 
 
 " But what shall wx do for supper, John Norton," 
 responded the Lad ; " there is flour enough and pork 
 enough, but we have no meat, and I am pretty hungry 
 to-niofht." 
 
 " I dare say ye be empty, lad, and I am not over 
 full myself ; and it's only right that the flour and pork 
 be used sparin', but when the Lord can't feed a man 
 one way he feeds him another, and I sartinly think 
 there be a trout or two lying round here in this pool 
 that He has app'inted for the safety of the faan 
 to-night. Step to the boat, lad, and untie the rod, 
 for the sun be almost down, and the smoke on the 
 water shows that it's coolin', and we'll make a cast or 
 two that mayhaps will fill our emptiness arter the fire 
 be kindled." 
 
 In a moment the rod was unlashed, and the Lad 
 stood holding it in his hand, ready for a cast. It was 
 plain that it had seen service, for the varnish had been 
 worn from the wood, while the butt and hand-23iece 
 had the peculiar, dark appearance which comes to 
 wood only after long handling. The reel was of brass, 
 but throuo^h carelessness or desioui rust had been 
 allowed to gather on its once polished surface, as also 
 on the brass ferrules at the joints. The line was of 
 
THE MA}^ WHO DIDY'T KXOW MUCH 357 
 
 silk, closely woven, while the nine-foot leader, to which 
 three flies were attached, looked chafed and ragged, 
 and the flies themselves scarcely retained half their 
 original plumage. The whole appearance of the rod 
 suggested that it was the victor in many a tussle with 
 the finny foe. 
 
 " Will you take the rod, John Norton ? " said the 
 Lad. 
 
 " No, not fust," returned the old man ; " ye shall 
 sartinly have the fust cast yerself, for it's wicked for 
 an old man to roh a young man of a chance to larn 
 the right way to do a thing that he needs for his 
 stomach's sake to know how^ to do well. No, lad, ye 
 shall have the fust cast, and I'll take the second." 
 
 " But I don't know how to cast as well as you do, 
 and I'm awful hungry, and I should feel dreadfully if 
 I missed a good one." 
 
 '' Don't ye worry, lad, don't ^^e worry. I don't 
 suppose it's now as it used to be, but I've stood on 
 this rock and skittered a piece of pork across the 
 stream, and seed them go for it like a Frencher for 
 his garlic. Yis, I've stood on this rock and seed the 
 water bile as they riz from the bottom and shot this 
 way and that, so crazy was every one to git at the bait 
 fust. But years have come and gone sence then, and 
 many be the fish that have been taken here, for this 
 pool has its fame, and no city man passes it — nor 
 guide neither, for that matter — without givin' it a try. 
 But they can't catch 'em all, for trouts be like men, 
 some be wise and some foolish j and the foolish die 
 
358 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 young and die fast, but the wise shun danger and live 
 out their days. And I shouldn't be surprised e£ there 
 was a four-pound trout somewhere in the bottom of 
 this pool yit, and it may be a dozen of 'em, for Cold 
 River be a famous breedin' ground, and Cold River 
 empties all its big fish into this bend ; for a big fish 
 hates shaller water ; and I shouldn't marvel ef ye 
 lifted a big un ef ye do the thing jediciously. So try 
 yer skill, and remember ye be fishing for a supper." 
 
 The Lad did as he was directed. With a motion 
 by no means awkward he swept the point of the rod 
 upward. The leader straightened itself in the air, 
 and the flies shot forward and fell with gradual inch- 
 nation upon the water. They had not trailed a foot 
 before a trout broke the surface with such energy that 
 he shot his body full three feet into the air and fell 
 back with a splash into the tide. The size of the 
 fish, the suddenness with which he had appeared, 
 the energy of his rush and the noise of it, had taken 
 the Lad so by surprise that he fairly jumped from the 
 rock and an exclamation escaped him. So startled 
 was he that he actually forgot to strike, and the fish, 
 havino^ held the feather in his tfiouth and tasted the 
 deceit, ejected it and went to the bottom unharmed. 
 The Trapper laughed in hearty amusement at the 
 Lad's expense. 
 
 " Did ye think he was a whale, lad ? " exclaimed 
 the Trapper, "did ye think he was a whale, and he 
 was goin' to s waller ye? Ye jumped as ef ye thought 
 he had come up arter ye. Lord, lad, what a thing 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KXOW 3IUCH. 359 
 
 narves be ! Now, here ye be, that can pull the strong- 
 est oar I ever seed pulled, and I've seed ye shoot in 
 sarcumstances which would try most men, and ye 
 stood the test, and now ye be jumpin' a foot — yis, ye 
 sartinly jumped a foot, lad, from that rock — when the 
 fish broke water. What a thing narves be ! " 
 
 "Shall I try again, John Norton?" said the Lad, 
 who was laughing himself, at his own foolishness, 
 in spite of his evident mortification. " Shall I try 
 again r 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," said the old man, " he's a good 
 un, and he'll rise agin ef ye'll give him a chance. 
 Shall I hold on to ye, lad? It sartinly isn't safe for 
 ye to be jumpin' in that way standin' where ye be on 
 the p'int of the rock ; " and the old man laughed. 
 
 " I don't think I shall jump again, John Norton. 
 I mean to hook him this time, sure." 
 
 " I guess ye will, lad, I guess ye will. There's 
 nothin' so sudden as a thing we don't expect, and ye 
 didn't expect him and it started ye ; but I think ye'U 
 be too quick for him this time ef he gives ye a chance. 
 Cast at the same spot, lad, for a trout be like a man, — 
 he resks his life at tine same spot and by the same peril, 
 and larns no caution by escapes." 
 
 Even as he spoke the flies again settled to the water, 
 and true to the prediction of the Trapper the trout 
 rose the second time with the same quickness and 
 energy ; but the eye and wrist of the Lad were alike 
 ready for him, and the rod doubled up to the strain 
 which the Lad's sudden stroke put upon it. The fish 
 
360 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 was fairly hooked, and the Lad played hiin with dexter- 
 ity, and in a minute he lay within the meshes of the 
 landing-net upon the rock. 
 
 " He's a good un, lad ; yis, he's sartinly a good un," 
 said the old man. " He'll weigh two pound and a 
 half ef he weighs an ounce. He's eenamost enouoh 
 to make a supper ; that is, he would be ef he wasn't a 
 fish. But a man can eat jest as much fish as he wants 
 to, for there be no eend to his eatin' till he comes to 
 the eend of the fish. Fish ain't solid ; they don't 
 brace a man out like venison or bear meat. Now a 
 piece of bear meat as big as that fish would make ye 
 feel like a flour bag when it comes from the mill. 
 But one fish ain't enough for two men, ef they be 
 long and empty. Come, I'll try a cast myself, and it 
 may be the Lord has a bigger one than this waitin' 
 for us in the bottom of the pool." So saying the 
 Trapper loosened some twenty feet of line from the 
 reel and made ready for the cast. 
 
 " How I wish the boy was here," he said ; " how I 
 wish the boy was here," he repeated, " for 1 never 
 seed a man cast a fly quite as well as he can do it ; 
 and this rod was his favorite. He said he had used it 
 twelve year afore he gin it to me ; and that is three 
 year agone, and I can't see that it's weakened a bit 
 with all the usin' it's had. Many be the time I've 
 seed the tip brought eenamost down to the butt when 
 a big fish sot his heft onto it, but I never seed a fish 
 git the better of it yit. Lord, lad, what a whirl that 
 was ! I didn't think there was as h\z a fish in the 
 
THE 3/.4.V WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 361 
 
 river. I w isli the boy was here to make the cast, but 
 as he isn't, here g"oes ! " 
 
 As he spoke the Old Trapper Kfted his hand into 
 the air and swept the point of the rod upward and 
 back. Thirty feet of line followed the movement and 
 straightened taut, wdiile the flies hung in air far up 
 the stream, midway between the trees. A quick turn 
 of the wrist, and the flies leapt forward, shot through 
 the air past the rock, until the line straightened in the 
 reverse direction, and then the feathers floated, waver- 
 ing, downward until they flecked the tide. They lit 
 upon the Avater as lightly as if they were not weighted 
 with the hooks, and without pausing an instant began 
 to trail across the stream. They had not gone a yard 
 before a yellow gleam flashed past the point of the 
 ledge on which the Trapper stood, and a monstrous 
 trout broke, wath a headlong rush, out of the water, 
 and shot upward into the air, as if projected by an 
 unseen force. Its very eagerness thwarted his pur- 
 pose, for he missed the gaudy bait altogether. An 
 instant he hung in air, at the point to which his 
 upw^ard movement had carried him, and then fell, with 
 a sj^lash, into the stream. 
 
 An ejaculation of astonished delight broke from the 
 Lad's mouth as he saw the monstrous fish above the 
 stream. The Old Trapper said not a word, but a 
 light like the flash of a sudden flame came to his 
 countenance, and quick as lightning he snatched the 
 flies from the water and swept them backward for 
 another cast. Again they darted forward to the full 
 
362 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 length of the line and again settled slowly upon the 
 tide. They had barely touched the surface before the 
 head of the fish showed itself, and his monstrous jaws 
 closed on the feather. The old man struck so sharp 
 and quick that the rod fairly doubled with the stroke 
 and the line quivered with the tension thus suddenly 
 put upon it, till the water flew from the compressed 
 braids. 
 
 " You've got him, John Norton, you've got him ! " 
 shouted the Lad, fairly startled out of his ordinary 
 composure in his excitement. 
 
 " Yis — I — have — got — him," said the Trapper, 
 " and ef the gut don't part, and the old rod holds 
 together, we'll bake the biggest fish to-night I've seed 
 for years." 
 
 The scene which followed was one which only a 
 fisherman can realize, and which only a fisherman can 
 enjoy a dozen times in his life. The fish was the big- 
 gest of his species ; strong, thoroughly aroused, and 
 game in every bone of his body. The action of the 
 fish and the play of the man who held the rod made 
 a picture such as is seldom seen. No sooner had he 
 felt the sting of the barbed hook than the fish leapt 
 wildly into the air, flinging himself out with the 
 energy of a black bass ; but he fell on a line slackened 
 to receive him, and when he struck the water it was 
 as if he had struck it in full motion, for he tore his 
 progress up against the current with a velocity that 
 caused the line to cut the water with an angry hiss. 
 He might have passed the point of the rock by fifty 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX' T KXOW JIUCH 363 
 
 feet, when, with a quickness that only a trout can 
 exhibit, he doubled short upon his course and launched 
 himself down the stream, with an energy which only 
 the largest fish, when thoroughly aroused, can show. 
 So quick was the manceuvre and so tremendous was 
 the velocity with which he passed the point of the 
 rock, that he was seventy feet below the ledge before 
 the old man could get the needed pressure on him. 
 Only the eye and the finger of an expert could have 
 done it as it was done. The strain was not put sud- 
 denly on the rod, but with such steadiness that the 
 pressure on the tackle was gradual. But skilful as 
 was the management, the fish was under such head- 
 way, and his momentum was so great, and he fought 
 the tackle with such determination, that for an instant 
 even the Old Trapper doubted if he could stop him. 
 The rod doubled itself up until the tip was almost 
 even with the butt. It quivered and swayed as a 
 stubborn rod when tasked to the utmost will, and all 
 that the Trapper could do to ease it seemed to bring 
 it no assistance. It fairly creaked, as if its fibres were 
 about to part. 
 
 The Lad was too anxious to say a word. His eyes 
 were fastened on the rod, and his mouth half-opened 
 in suspense. The Old Trapper was the picture of 
 determined coolness. His face tightened in its lines, 
 and his teeth set themselves. He had done all he 
 could do. This he knew ; and the rod and fish were 
 fairly pitted against each other. For a few seconds 
 the struggle lasted. The fish tugged and shook him- 
 
364 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 self, determined not to yield, but the wood could not 
 be overcome. The pliancy of perfect nature and of 
 scientific workmanship in its construction at last pre- 
 vailed. The trout flung himself into the air, and 
 when he fell the snap was out of him. He sank to 
 the bottom, and began to fin himself easily up against 
 the current. The Trapper improved the opportunity, 
 and stowed the line upon the reel with the dexterity 
 of long practice, cpiickened into swiftest action by the 
 emergency. Like a true fisherman, he gave the fish 
 no rest, but when the line was packed and ready to 
 render he stirred the trout to action by a sharp up- 
 ward jerk that sent him flying. Round and round he 
 went. He circled the pool from bank to bank ; swim- 
 ming so nigh the surface that his curvatures marked 
 the tide with whirls and eddies. Now and then he 
 left the water, but the eye of one that could not blun- 
 der was on his movements ; a hand that could not 
 mistake governed the action of reel and rod ; and in 
 one-fifth of the time that it w^ould take some club 
 men, who measure the skill of fishing by the length 
 of time to which they can prolong such an exercise, 
 the Old Trapper had the trout lying on his side, pant- 
 ing W\i\\ great gasps, and had drawn him into the 
 landing-net that the Lad had scooped beneath him. 
 
 In another minute the great trout lay upon the 
 rock, and the two men were kneeling over him admir- 
 ing his huge proportions and the gorgeous beauty of 
 his tintings ; but even as they thus knelt, and before 
 either had a chance to say a word, the sharp crack of 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 365 
 
 a rifle ripped through the silent air, and frightened a 
 dozen echoes from the neighboring hillsides. 
 
 If the bullet had cut its way through the garments 
 of the Trapper, he could not have leapt to his feet 
 with a quicker motion. He fairly snapped himself 
 into the air, and as he struck the perpendicular he 
 dashed a hand upward, and exclaimed : — 
 
 " Henry ! " 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 henry's ambush. 
 
 " Like guests that meet and come from far, 
 By cordial love invited."— Wordsworth. 
 
 It was all that he said, but he said it with an in- 
 tensity that made the exclamation as sharp as the 
 crack of the piece which had caused it. 
 
 " What do you mean, John Norton ? " said the Lad, 
 who still kept the kneeling posture, as he looked up 
 into the face of the old nian^ that showed white 
 through the dusk of the darkening shadows, ^' what 
 do you mean, John Norton ? " 
 
 " Mean ! " exclaimed the old man, " Lord of marcy, 
 lad, Henry be within a mile of us ! Didn't ye hear his 
 piece : 
 
 "I heard a rifle," said the Lad, in reply, ^^ but 
 there are a great many rifles in the woods, and I don't 
 know why you should think it was Henry's." 
 
 " Lad," said the old man, '' ye be good at rowin' 
 and divin', and ye fiddle as naterally as a rabbit runs ; 
 and ye sartinly can set a trap that even a fox wouldn't 
 suspect — and that's sayin' a good deal, for a fox 
 be the cunningest cretur that the Lord has made. 
 But ye haven't the hunter's gift, and yer ear be lackin'. 
 I tell yC; lad; that was the boy's rifle that sounded. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 367 
 
 I should know it ef I was clyin', and heerd it amid a 
 hundred, when the ambushment was onkivered and 
 the scrimmage was hot. The boy be within a mile o£ 
 us. And the trout won't be needed, onless it be to 
 make a show." 
 
 " Why won't we need the trout ? It's all we have 
 got, but the pork and the flour ; and if Henry is com- 
 ing he must have pulled fifty miles since morning, 
 and be as hungry as I am." 
 
 " Lord ! lad," said the Trapper laughing, " don't 
 ye suppose I know how the boy feels ? He's empty 
 enough, beyend doubt, and the air of the woods has 
 sharpened his hunger ; but he's sparin' of his lead, 
 and he shoots too well to act like a boy from the 
 settlements, who explodes his piece for the sake of 
 hearin' its noise. Yis, he's sparin' of his lead, and 
 that bullit didn't go fur afore it found somethin' to 
 stop it. Lord-a-massy ! how I wish I'd been lyin' in 
 the mash grass when he sunk his eyes into the sights. 
 It's almost as good to see the boy go through the 
 motions, wdien the buck stands lookin' at him, as it be 
 to hear ye fiddle ; for the bow comes nateral to the 
 one and the rifle comes nateral to the other. I tell 
 ye, lad, there'll be venison in the camp when the boat 
 teches this rock. Come, let's draw the boat up into 
 the bush, and let's make an ambushment. Ah me ! 
 it's wuth waitin' three year to come to the time when 
 I can lie down in the grass and watch him paddle his 
 boat up sech a stretch of water as this. How well I 
 remember the night I ambushed him on the Lonely 
 
368 ADIEOXDACK TALES. 
 
 Lake ! Yis, yis^ let's make an ambusliment for the 
 boy, and see how he acts when he thinks that we've 
 forgotten what we pledged him, and that nobody's 
 here." And the old man laughed heartily to himself, 
 out of sheer delight, and the pleasure that had come 
 to his heart at the thought that he would soon have 
 Herbert by the hand. 
 
 In a moment the boat was carried up the ledge, and 
 sufficiently back from the river to be hidden, and then 
 the two men crawled back to the edge of the stream 
 and drew the grass over themselves in such a way that 
 even in broad daylight no eye could have detected 
 them. 
 
 In the meantime nio^ht had settled darklv over the 
 woods. The sky was too hazy to reveal its stars, and 
 the linoferino' sunlio^ht in the far west had been sud- 
 denly extinguished behind a great black bank of 
 clouds that portended storm. The darkness had come 
 with unusual suddenness, and was growing denser with 
 the passing of every minute. The pines seemed to 
 emit gloom ; the balsams to breathe out blackness with 
 their odors. The very water of the river flowed on 
 as if i|; were ink. In twenty minutes from the time 
 they had dragged their boat over the bank, and gath- 
 ered the grasses over their backs and heads, the dark- 
 ness was oppressive. The blackness actually burdened 
 the air. Like the darkness of old, it could be felt. 
 
 " I calculate," whispered the Trapper, as he put 
 his lip to the ear of the Lad, '' I calculate the boy 
 must be pritty near the bend ; and ef we have made 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 369 
 
 an ambush for him, he'll sartinly try to ambush us, 
 for he's great at the paddle and full of his tricks." 
 
 " Do you think, John Norton, that Henry knows 
 we are here ? " 
 
 '^ Knows it ! of course he knows it," whispered the 
 old man in reply. " Didn't I tell him we'd be at this 
 p'int on the day and the hour? And ain't the day 
 and the hour come ? And don't he know that ef I 
 be livin' on the 'arth I'd be here? Sartinly the boy 
 knows we be here, and he'll act on the knowdedge. 
 See ef he don't." 
 
 '^ Do you think he can get his boat into this pool 
 without our seeing him ? " 
 
 " Without see'in him, lad ; of course he can. Do 
 you think he'll carry a bonfire on the eend of his 
 nose to tell us he be com in' ? And unless he does 
 ye couldn't see him ef his boat lay in the pool within 
 length of his paddle from our eyes. No, we won't 
 see him, for it's agin natur' ; but I do calculate 
 to hear him ; for the stream shallers below the 
 pool, and he has got to pole his boat up agiii 
 the current ; and I don't believe a man can sink 
 the eend of his paddle into the sand, on a night 
 as still as this, whsn my ear be within four feet 
 of the stream, and I not hear the sands move. 
 No, I sartinly don't believe Henry can do it. And 
 ef he does git his boat into this pool without my 
 hearin' him, he'll do wliat John Norton don't mean to 
 have him do. Now, lad, ef ye've got any more 
 questions to ax ye'd better put 'em off till arter 
 
370 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 somethin' has happened ; for Henry has got an ear 
 like a lynx, and we can't be convarsin' here in the 
 grass, much, Avithout the boy hearin' us ; and as he's 
 got to the bend by this time, we'd better let our 
 tongues rest a while and keep our ears and eyes as 
 open as natur' will permit. 
 
 All this had been said in the softest of whispers, 
 and with the concluding word the two men became 
 silent and profoundly attentive. 
 
 Forty rods below, in the midst of the impenetrable 
 darkness, was a boat. In the bow of the boat was a 
 buck ; at the stern was a man, — liis paddle moving 
 in the water as easily as the tail of a fish when, 
 with lazy motion, which yields sufficient force, he 
 holds himself steadily against an easy-going current. 
 His position was such as to command the stretch of 
 water, and the ledge in the pool at the head of the 
 stretch. The absence of any light or signal did 
 not cause him to doubt for an instant the presence 
 of his friends. He knew them too well to suspect 
 even for a moment that they had either forgotten 
 the date or their pledge, fixed and given years be- 
 fore. He knew that if John Norton was living, the 
 old man was standino- in the darkness on the ledsre, 
 or nigh it. And he more than half-suspected, in 
 the absence of any signal, the trick that the old 
 woodsman was trying to play on him. He felt that 
 the old scout, wdiose paddle might be said to have 
 been made from silence itself, so noiseless could he 
 make it when stealing on to game or up to an ambush- 
 
THE MAl^ WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 371 
 
 ment, had in this quaint and perfectly natural manner 
 challenged him to an exercise of his skill. He knew 
 as well as the Trapper how delicate was the under- 
 taking, and how fine would he the exploit if he 
 could accomplish it. For out of the pool the water 
 ran with rippling swiftness, and with barely a foot 
 of depth over a stretch of sand, which, for a dozen 
 rods, forbade paddling, and brought the boatman to 
 the necessity of poling his boat up against the cur- 
 rent. To do this on so dark a night, in so strong 
 a current, and in such shallow water, in a way that 
 the ripple of the flowing tide against the curved prow 
 of the boat, or the grating of the sand against the 
 paddle-blade, as it was sunk into it, should not be 
 detected by the skilled ear that he felt lay almost level 
 with the water, listening for the sound, the young 
 man knew^ w^ould tax his skill to the utmost. But 
 difficult as was the task, he determined to attempt it ; 
 and knowing the waters well — having pushed his 
 boat over the same stretch on many a night, when 
 hunting in years past, — he felt that if he were 
 careful, the chances were in his favor. 
 
 The reader can scarcely appreciate how strongly the 
 young man desired to place his boat, under the cover 
 of intense darkness, within twenty feet of John Nor- 
 ton's eyes before the old man should know of his 
 presence. With a determination not to lose his 
 opportunity by any carelessness on his part, he 
 put a little stronger pressure on his paddle, yield- 
 ing to which, the boat began to steal its way up 
 
372 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 against the stream. Slowly he forced it along with a 
 motion that had for its guiding impulse the patience 
 of a man who knows that to do well the thinof he 
 intends to do, he must do it slowly. Inch by inch the 
 little vessel glided on, until the young man knew by 
 the increasing pressure of the current that the bow had 
 almost if not quite come to the shallows. Then easier 
 still he pressed it forward, feeling with his paddle for 
 the sand that he knew he must soon touch. At last 
 he found it, and the really difficult part of the under- 
 taking was now upon him. With the utmost steadi- 
 ness of motion and pressure ; with a dexterity of wrist 
 that few could equal ; with the sense of feeling per- 
 forming the office of sight, he gauged the varying 
 pressure of the current as it eddied up, — now against 
 this and now against that side of the boat, — the 
 strength of the opposing current, and the quality of 
 the sand into which he passed and from which he 
 withdrew his paddle-blade ; slowly, steadily, noise- 
 lessly he thus worked his way upward. 
 
 There is a faith among boatmen that boats have 
 their moods ; that there are days when they mis- 
 behave and days when they do their best. Engineers 
 have the same feeling as to their engines. Some days 
 they " make steam," some days they won't. One trip 
 they act " beautifully," and the very next trip they 
 act " viciously." Whether the theory is true or false, 
 the facts are undeniable, and the faith of boatmen 
 and of engineers touching the matter is too firmly 
 established to be shaken. Whatever be the truth of 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 373 
 
 the case, Ave say, Henry felt this night, as he was 
 working his way against the current through the 
 darkness, that his boat was acting " beautifully." 
 
 Perhaps spirit is superior to matter, and can assert 
 its superiority unconsciously. Perhaps the inert wood 
 can become, as it were, partly conscious, and have 
 charged into it something of the vital quality that 
 directs it. Be this as it may, as we have said, Henry 
 felt and said to himself, as he manoeuvred in the 
 darkness, that the boat was behaving finely. It faced 
 the current with the calm, easy determination of the 
 man whose strength was pressing it upward. It 
 swayed this way and that in obedience to the slight- 
 est pressure from behind. If the water shallowed, 
 it seemed to dread the possibility of touching sand, 
 and eased away, as if in search of deeper water. 
 
 The young man was in his finest mood ; the subtle 
 forces of body and mind seemed to concentrate in 
 union of endeavor to accomplish the deed. His 
 senses were sublimated. Ear and feeling made good 
 the lack of sight. Ay, more than made it good, 
 for he found a swifter, more accurate interpreta- 
 tion of surrounding conditions in deprivation, than 
 could have been his in supply. The spirit of suc- 
 cess was in him. He knew he should accomplish 
 the deed. He did. His boat stole into the still 
 pool so gradually, that had it baen in broad day- 
 light, even John Norton's eyes must have looked 
 twice and closely to see that tha boat had actual move- 
 ment, so slowly did it pass its length into the pool. 
 
374 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 It entered the pool ; fairly entered it ; on that 
 side o£ the current which carried it gradually to 
 the right as it passed in ; entered it, and floated 
 idly into the elhow made by the ledge and the 
 bank, so that when it stopped, Henry, with the 
 blade o£ his paddle, could have parted the grass 
 from over the heads of the old man and the Lad, 
 where they lay listening, with every sense alert for 
 his coming. And thus, in the dense murk and the 
 heavy gloom, the three men sat almost within hand's 
 reach ; the two listening for the one, and the one 
 listenins: for the two. 
 
 How long the position would have remained thus, 
 or what Herbert would have done had there been 
 no interruption, cannot be told ; for an interrup- 
 tion came, and of a character which made the reve- 
 lation instantaneous. Throuoh the oloom of nio^ht 
 the forces of nature had been marshalling for display. 
 The great bank of clouds which had enveloped the 
 sun at its setting had moved up through the darkness 
 and enlarged its borders until its upper point had 
 been pushed half-way to the zenith, and its extremities 
 almost touched either pole of the horizon. Nature 
 had made her ambush as truly as man, and un- 
 covered it with startling energy. For suddenly, out 
 of the invisible clouds, a shaft of condensed fire 
 leapt, that lanced through the gloom from west to 
 east — cut it in twain, and set the black halves 
 of the divided atmosphere aflame. If the darkness 
 had been one vast body of percussion and the god 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 375 
 
 of fire had smote it with his hammer, it could not 
 have exploded in fiercer light. The hazy sky ; the 
 tremendous clouds piled in vast convolutions in the 
 firmament ; the forest, the river, the ledge, the boat- 
 man and the boat, all on the instant stood revealed 
 vividly distinct. The prolonged flash and flame had 
 not faded away when the Old Trapper leapt from the 
 grass on the bank in which he lay hidden. 
 
 " Ye've did it, Henry ! Yis, ye sartinly have did 
 it ! Ye have fetched yer boat through the ripples 
 and over the sands, while the ear of a man whose 
 life has been saved more'n once by his hearin' was 
 within four feet of the water. And yeVe drifted 
 yer boat within two yards of his ears and he never 
 knowed ye'd come. Ye was born too late, boy; 
 for yer gifts p'int to the trail and the scrimmage, 
 and the ambushment ; and ef ye'd lived in the old 
 war time ye'd had somethin' to bring out the stuff 
 that's in ye. And a good comrade ye would have 
 been to consort Avith. No, don't come ashore, boy, 
 but shove up the stream and put yer best licks 
 into the paddle, for the storm be comin', and we 
 must be gittin' home. I sartinly long to take ye by 
 the hand, but it's comfort enough to know that ye be 
 in the land of the livin' — wdiich I eenamost doubted, 
 — and that ve be here in the woods ao;in. Ye'U find 
 the lodge on the big bank to the right as ye enter the 
 lake, and the pups will be glad to see ye. So push 
 on, boy, and lively, and me and the lad will follow 
 on. I doubt ef ye git there much afore us." 
 
376 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 The sound o£ Henry's stroke showed that his boat 
 was rods away before the Trapper's sentence was 
 concluded, and in a few minutes the Trapper and 
 the Lad had launched their boat ; and lashinsr the 
 rod to its place, and putting the fish in the bottom, 
 they entered it and started up the stream. 
 
 It took but a few moments for Henry to reach 
 the lake, and in a minute more he ran the boat 
 ashore on the soft sand that made a little beach 
 at the w\ater's edge of the bank, and lifted itself 
 sharply some forty feet upwards. This he mounted, 
 and seizins^ an armful of brush and dried bouo^hs 
 that lay by the fire-place, in which the coals still 
 glowed, he threw them on to the bed of embers, 
 and in an instant a flame leapt upward. 
 
 Even before the flame rose into the air the two 
 hounds were tugging at their chains at the mouth of 
 their kennel in the wildest ecstasy of delight. By eye 
 and nose alike they had recognized the comer ; and as 
 Henry approached them — wdiich he did on the in- 
 stant, with such hearty words of greeting as a hunter, 
 after long absence, gives on return to his favorites, — 
 the hounds poured into the silent air of night their re- 
 joicing notes. They jumped, they stood erect, they 
 put their paws upon his shoulders, they kissed his face 
 and hands, they bayed their gladsome welcome out so 
 loud and strong that the shores resounded with the 
 cry ; and even the mountains, wdth a hundred imita- 
 tive echoes, hailed Henry's return. 
 
 Having received the hounds' happy salutation, 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 377 
 
 Henry turned towards the fire ; and as he came to it 
 on one side, the Old Trapper, having climbed the 
 bank from the beach, approached it on the other. 
 Without a word the two men joined their hands, and 
 for a moment each looked into the face of the other, 
 with that affectionate curiosity with which friends that 
 have been parted gaze at each other when they meet, 
 studying the changes which the intervening years 
 have wrouoht. Nothino; is more touchins: than such 
 a greeting. The gaze means so much and suggests so 
 much. The eyes have their own language then, and 
 many an interrogation is asked and answered by their 
 glance. 
 
 Thus the two men stood gazing at each other in the 
 light of the blazing fire, so intently that neither 
 noticed the approach of the Lad. " Henry," at last 
 said the old man, " I be glad to see ye agin in the 
 land of the livin'. Twice afore have we waited yer 
 comin' at the rock, and twice have we camped on this 
 bank a week waitin' ye, and ye didn't come. And 
 when the sun went down to-night and ye didn't come, 
 I eenamost thought I should see ye no more ; and the 
 crack of yer piece lifted a heavy load from my feelin's, 
 and made my sperits frisky. Yis, the years have 
 changed ye, boy, for they've sartinly added some lines 
 to yer face, and mixed the gray in yer hair, and gin 
 ye a kind of sober look that shows that they were 
 filled with labor, and that the Lord didn't altogether 
 keep sufferin' out of 'em. But barrin' this ye be the 
 same, ouless ye be fatter by a trifle. But the city, I 
 
378 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 have heeid, be a famous place to make fat, and a 
 month at the oars will sweat ye down to the size that 
 natur' ordered for ye." 
 
 " I can truly say," said Herbert, speaking in reply, 
 " that I am as glad to be with you again as you are to 
 have me. And you, John Norton, have changed next 
 to nothing since we parted. Your eye is as bright, 
 your grij) as strong as ever, and I doubt if your head 
 has added a gray hair to it." 
 
 " I dunno about that, Henry ; no, I dunno about 
 that," returned the old man, while a look of humor 
 smoothed in part the carved lines of his countenance 
 and sharpened the gleam of his eye, " the grip is all 
 right yit, for sartin, and the sights look open and 
 clean as they orter when I put my eye into 'em, with 
 a buck or a bit of fur that I want, or a duck or a 
 partridge for that matter, at the other eend of 'em. 
 But the white hairs be comin' for sartin, for a man be 
 like a tree, and the frost teches the top of him fust ; 
 and a mortal that's lived as long as I have on the 'arth 
 has lived through the spring and summer of his days, 
 and has come to that season whose days be short, and 
 whose nights be long, and whose frosts be many and 
 cold. But the Lord be sartinly gracious to me, and it 
 looks as ef my days would be lengthened out beyend 
 the ordinary life of my kind. But bless my soul ! 
 here stands the Lad, and we haven't given him a 
 chance to greet ye." 
 
 It was with but little less feelinof than that which 
 characterized the meeting of Herbert and the Trapper 
 
THE MAX WHO DID XT KXOW MUCH. 379 
 
 that the two young men greeted each other. Long 
 and heartily they shook each other's hand, and a 
 goodly sight they presented as they stood in their 
 youth and manly vigor facing each other ; their coun- 
 tenances lighted up with friendship and with smiles. 
 
 "Do ye see, Henry," said the Trapper, "how the 
 Lid has thickened up sence ye seed him ? I can't say 
 that he's act'ally pussy yit, but he's bigger'n he was 
 round the waist, and, as I tell him, he's only jest 
 begun to grow. He looks a leetle lank to-night, for 
 he and me come through from the Racquette sence ten 
 in the mornin', and we haven't eaten a morsel sence 
 breakfast. But arter he's had supper, ef the buck 
 down there in yer boat is a good-sized un, so he can 
 feel he can eat enough without robbin' us, ef ye'll 
 inspect him ye'll see that his feedin' has ben of the 
 right sort sence ye left ; and, ef nothing happens, I'll 
 have him in good condition in a year or two more." 
 
 " I don't care," said the Lad, " if you do make fun 
 of my eating, for I know you love to see me eat ; and 
 I think the best thing we can do is to get some 
 tenderloin steak out of that buck in Henry's boat, and 
 get supper as soon as we can ; for the storm will be 
 here by and by, and I don't hke to eat in the storm." 
 
 "I agree with the lad," said Herbert. "I ate 
 breakfast at seven, and I have taken nothing but a 
 biscuit and a lemon since, and I doubt if I w^as ever 
 hunoTier in mv life." 
 
 " Well, well," said the Old Trapper, laughing, 
 " you and the lad tend to the buck, and I'll get the 
 
380 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 fisli and flapjacks ready^ and ef there be a tater left 
 in the bag we'll. have it biled; for ef ever there was a 
 time, lad, for you and me to celebrate, it's to-night, 
 for Henry be here ; and ef there be a tater, he shall 
 have it, for sartin." 
 
 The quickness with which a meal can be prepared 
 in the woods by three men, when provisions are 
 plenty, the fire well a-going, especially if the men are 
 hungry, would be a revelation to most of the cooks at 
 our aristocratic hotels. Not more than thirty minutes, 
 at the most, had passed before the three men were 
 seated around their bark table, which was moved up 
 within the circle of the clear firelight, and discussing 
 the viands with appetites whose sharpness forbade, for 
 several minutes at least, conversation. 
 
 " One thing be sartin," said the Trapper, as he put 
 the second steak on Henry's plate, and followed it 
 with the remaining potato, " one thing be sartin, ye 
 have changed somethin' in yer looks, but ye haven't 
 changed a bit in yer appetite. Ef ye do manage to 
 git round that plateful, and then dip into the cakes 
 hearty like, and fill in the chinks with some of the 
 fish, ye'll have a feelin' of fullness in ye that'll be 
 comfort] n'. It'll be nip and tuck at ween you and 
 the lad arter this, and I'm mighty glad ye can run 
 together, as we say of the dogs, for yer mouths be 
 jest alike, and the way they open and shet as the 
 vict'als go in be good enough to make an old man wish 
 he was younger ; for the years that add to the head 
 take from the stomach, and the aged, whether it be 
 
THE MAy WHO DWX'T KXOW MUCH. 381 
 
 dog or mortal, eats spariii' ; " and the old man moved 
 his rude stool back a foot or two from the table, and 
 gazed at his young companions with a look in which 
 gravity and hnmor were equally mingled, as if the 
 spectacle of their heartiness, while it stirred the sense 
 of the ludicrous in him, called up at the same time 
 reminiscences of his own earlier days. 
 
 It is only in the interest of accurate statement to 
 say that when the young men moved their stools 
 back from the board, steak, fish, and cakes had alike 
 disap23eared, even to the last scrap. 
 
 ^^Well," said the Trapper, "I'm raally thankful 
 that the plates be left, for the dishes be handy, and I 
 don't think they would have set wutli a cent on yer 
 stomachs ef ye'd eaten 'em. Lord, what appetites the 
 young have ! The sight of yer eatin' takes me back 
 fifty year, and brings up many a feastin' I had in the 
 years that be gone, both alone and with comrades that 
 slept and ate on the trail with me. The comrades be 
 scattered now, and the greater part of 'em be gone 
 forever, but natur' be the same to-day as it was then, 
 and the sight of yer eatin' has called up a hunderd 
 faces that I knowed when I was a young man myself. 
 Come, let's clear away the table, and pile on the hard 
 wood, for the thunder be rollin' in the mountains, and 
 the rain will be comin' afore long^. I never knowed a 
 hotter day than this, and the 'arth will shake under 
 the lodge afore mornin'." 
 
 In a few moments the dishes were washed, the table 
 removed, and the greenwood logs so placed that, while 
 
382 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 the lower edges lay in contact with the glowing coals 
 underneath, the upper sides made a protection like a 
 roof for the fire. The three men stretched themselves 
 in easy recumbent postures at the entrance of the 
 lodge, and awaited the coming of the storm. The 
 conversation was of a character naturally suggested to 
 the mind by the grand and indeed sublime surround- 
 ings. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE THUNDER-STORM. 
 
 •* I have called for the mutinous winds, 
 And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault 
 Set roaring war : to the dread, rattling thunder 
 Have I given lire, and rifted Jove's stout oak 
 With his own bolt." — Shakexpeare. 
 
 The forces of the storm were now so far developed 
 as to have fairly come into action. The earth and sky 
 were alike electric, — the air and ground thoroughly 
 charged with the subtile fluids. The atmosphere was 
 ready to ignite at every point, and the explosions 
 followed each other in volleys. The lightning was 
 incessant. It ran in fiery rivers down the declivities 
 of the firmament, emptying itself in the far distance. 
 It cut its fiery zigzags hither and yon, so lurid and 
 fiercely hot that the eyes ached as they beheld. It 
 shot its bolts horizontally through the air, which 
 exploded ever and anon like powerful rockets : the 
 very water burnt with a blue light, as if the electric 
 fluid floated like oil upon its surface. There were 
 moments of darkness, but the illumination was almost 
 instant, as if the body of the air itself were combust- 
 ible, and incendiary imps were flinging blazing brands 
 throuo'h it. 
 
 As the Old Trapper had predicted, the earth was 
 tremulous. Its solidity was assaulted with such vio- 
 
384 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 lence that the subterranean pillars trembled through 
 all their mighty shafts, and shook on their broad 
 bases. The crust o£ the globe was jarred in its every 
 particle. Whatever substance — earth, rock, or log — 
 the spectator occupied, he felt the grains and fibres 
 jump as the concussions ripped above him. The 
 cloud, or clouds, for the whole firmament was now 
 possessed, brought out by the lightning's blaze to 
 plainest vision, were awful to look upon. The heaven 
 was in tumult ; embodied violence tore through it ; 
 huge convoluted masses of rolling darkness hung 
 overhead ; cumuli were rolled upon cumuli, white 
 scuds sped, like vapory ghosts in terror, in all direc- 
 tions ; the winds chased them at random ; the atmos- 
 phere was in anarchy ; ungovernable forces rioted 
 overhead ; the world trembled as with fright, and one 
 miofht have imasfined that the stars would have been 
 shaken from their orbits, and consummated the uni- 
 versal disorder with universal ruin. The mountains 
 bellowed ; the ravines belched noises ; reverberations 
 from either side of the lake met in mid career and 
 swallowed each other up ; the minor echoes were 
 struck dumb in their leafy doorways, and now and 
 then, for a single instant, an awful silence reigned, 
 which, in an instant more, burst at its very centre 
 with tremendous explosions. The face of the Lad 
 showed white in the glare of the lightning. Herbert 
 watched the exhibition with an eye educated by 
 science to note cause and effect. The dogs cowered, 
 trembling, in their kennel ) they shook with the ague 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 385 
 
 of fright. The countenance of the Trapper was 
 grave, with the gravity of a man devoid of fear, 
 but profoundly impressed with the majesty of the 
 scene. 
 
 Up to this point the storm had been a " dry storm." 
 Not a drop of rain had fallen, nor had the atmos- 
 pheric convulsions reached the earth. The winds 
 were " running high,'' as the Old Trapper said ; they 
 were at war with the clouds, and amid the clouds 
 they rioted. But signs were not lacking which 
 revealed to a woodsman's eye that the commotion 
 was descending, and that ere long the earth would 
 be the scene of the same confusion which thus far 
 had prevailed only overhead. 
 
 " I've lived," said the Trapper, " threescore year 
 in the woods, and amid the scenes of natur', and I 
 have seed and heerd most of the sigfhts and sounds 
 that larn mortals their weakness, but I never seed 
 lightnin' that fixed itself on the eyeballs hotter than 
 this does to-night, nor heerd thunder jar the 'arth 
 under me more 'arnest-like than those claps do. 
 I should think, Henry, that the very underpinnin' 
 was givin' out under me, and that the Lord was 
 eenamost shakin' His own buildin' to pieces, by the 
 way that the ground quivers as the peals roll over- 
 head." 
 
 " I never heard such thunder myself," said Henry, 
 " save once before, and that was eight years ago 
 on the Racquette, and I am sure I never saw light- 
 ning so fierce and hot, even then." 
 
386 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " I doubt ef ye ever did, boy," returned the Trap- 
 per, " for the air seems to barn as ef it was tinder. 
 Lord ! what a flash that was ! It made my eyes fairly 
 shrivel ; and there's sartinly one pine less on yon hill, 
 for I saw the bolt strike it ; and when lightnin' 
 hits a pine it's apt to make kindlin' wood of it 
 from top to bottom. I've sometimes thought that 
 even the Lord got careless and wasteful-like at times, 
 when I've seed the pines and the spruces that He 
 had ripped open without cause. I never sunk an 
 axe myself into the stump of a tree yit that didn't 
 show signs of dyin', or else was too crooked to 
 have any right to live ; and I've wondered that 
 the Lord didn't exercise more jedgment in His chop- 
 pin', for I never seed a dead tree or a crooked 
 un that His lightnin' struck yit, and it sartinly don't 
 seem jedicious to rip open the best trees for sport, 
 when the bad uns would do jest as well. But I 
 s'pose He has reason on His side ef we mortals 
 could see it, or else He gits playful-like now and 
 then, and things happen that wouldn't happen ef 
 He was in sober 'arnest." 
 
 " You don't think that the Lord is really play- 
 ful, do you, John Norton?" said the Lad, moving 
 his seat up nearer to the old man, as if he thought 
 a greater degree of safety could be found in close 
 personal contact, than in the edge of the firelight 
 where he had been sitting. 
 
 " I sartinly do, lad ; yis, I sartinly think there must 
 be a good deal of playfulness in the Maker, for I don't 
 
THE MAX WHO DID XT KXOW MUCH. 387 
 
 see how He could get the idee of makiii' His creturs so 
 playful and frisky-like ef there wasn't plenty of fun 
 in Him somewhere. Now, when I have laid in the grass 
 and watched the beavers, and seed the cunnin' of the 
 creturs, and when I've stretched myself over a ledge 
 and seed the leetle wolf-whelps caper and cut up their 
 antics at the mouth of the den, laughin' till my eyes 
 watered at the tricks of the leetle woolly scamps, 
 and recollected that the Lord made 'em and put 
 every thin' in 'em that is in 'em except their bite 
 — yis, except their bite — I've sartinly felt that 
 there must be a good deal of playfulness in Himself 
 or He never would have thought of makin' sech play- 
 ful creturs." 
 
 " What do you think about the panthers ? " said 
 Herbert. 
 
 " Henry," said the old man, as he rose to a sit- 
 ting posture with deliberate earnestness, " I've thought 
 a good deal about them panthers, and wondered how 
 they come to be made anyway, for they sartinly be 
 the most cowardly, sneakin', savage animils that runs 
 in the woods. And I never seed a good thing in one 
 of 'em, and I don't believe that the Lord ever made 
 a single one of the pesky things." 
 
 " Why, how do you think they were made, then ? " 
 retorted Herbert. 
 
 " Made ! " said the old man, " I think the devil 
 made 'em ! Yis, they be the devil's own children, 
 them panthers, for they be jest like him. They won't 
 look ye in the eye and they won't fight ye ef ye have 
 
388 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 a wepon ; and they are always watchin' to take ye 
 onawares ; and there's no marey in 'em, and they kill 
 for the love of killin'. I was trailin' last year nigh 
 the head-waters of Cold River, yender, and I heerd a 
 great bleatin', and I scooted up on my snow-shoes 
 toward the sound, till I run acrost a yard with a dozen 
 deer in it, and I found what I thought I should find : 
 an old panther at work there, and he had killed five 
 of the innercent creturs, and his teeth was in the 
 throat of another — a two year old buck — and I 
 drawed on him, and I larnt him a lesson of marcy 
 quick as powder could barn. Yis, I pulled both 
 triggers at once, and the bullits took him square 
 over the eyes, and they lifted the scalp of the 
 varmint ; and I never felt better than when I tore 
 the skin off from his carcass and flung it out on 
 the snow for the ravens to pick. No, no, Henry, 
 the Lord never made a panther, I'm sartin on 
 that." 
 
 " What is that ? " said the Lad, suddenly. 
 
 "Ye'll know what it is afore long, lad," said the 
 old man, after a moment's listening. '^ It be the 
 might of the storm on the other side of the moun- 
 tin. It's nigh on to twenty mile away, but ye can 
 hear it comin' as ef the Lord's own feet was tramplin' 
 down the trees. Yis, the winds have settled to the 
 'arth and the trees are bein' tested as mortals be 
 tested in the jedgment. The rotten-hearted uns and 
 them whose roots be weak must go down when the 
 breath of His power and His wTath blow agin 'em. 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 389 
 
 Hark ! and ye'll hear how small is the strength of 
 the *arth when the wrath of its Maker be stirred." 
 
 The three men became silent. Their senses turned 
 toward and concentrated on the approaching storm. 
 Dull, heavy, monotonous, the dreadful sound came on. 
 The far-ofP, portentous murmur grew and swelled, 
 until it became a roar. It moved up the western 
 slope of the mountain range until it reached the crest, 
 and without pausing for a moment, came tearing 
 downward with accelerated speed. The lightnings lit 
 its path as if to make more dreadful its approach by 
 the revelation of its power. The eyes of the three 
 men w^ere lifted toward the western ridge. The air, 
 for miles along the front of its advance, was thick 
 with the evidences of its violence. Leaves, moss, tufts 
 of branches, and even great boughs, wrenched from 
 swaying tree-tops and hurled upward, were flying 
 overhead. Soon individual noises broke the monotony 
 of the terrible uproar. The crack of mighty trunks 
 snapped shortly off, fifty feet from their roots ; the 
 crash of rending wood as the fierce suction wrenched 
 giant branches from their fastenings ; the rush of 
 descending tree-tops as they swept through the air in 
 act of falling ; the heavy thud as they struck the 
 earth with reverberating thump ; the shriek and fierce 
 whistling of wdnds tearing onward in mad career — 
 thus came the storm. It was as if the kino- of tumult 
 himself had harnessed his steeds and mounted his 
 chariot, whose wheels in revolution drowned even the 
 thunder's peal. 
 
390 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 As the storm came on and the evidences of its 
 terrific violence accumulated, the Lad, perhaps uncon- 
 sciously, had crept nearer and nearer to the Trapper, 
 until his frightened countenance was within a foot of 
 the old man's calm, uplifted face, and his hands were 
 actually clutching his garments. Henry, in his excite- 
 ment, had risen, and unable to restrain himself longer, 
 exclaimed : — 
 
 ^' John Norton, 1 never saw anything like that !" 
 
 The old man never moved a muscle ; his eyes never 
 wandered from the line of the storm's approach. His 
 expression was one in which curiosity, awe, and calcu- 
 lation were equally mingled. The terrific violence 
 was within a half-mile of the spot where he sat, and 
 the air above his head was already thickening with the 
 fragments which the upper winds were bearing for- 
 ward in the advance, when he rose suddenly to his 
 feet. He seized the Lad by the arm, and swinging 
 around he laid the other hand on Herbert's shoulder 
 and shouted — for the uproar had now fairly reached 
 them, and ordinary utterance could not be heard : — 
 
 " The strength of the storm be beyend mortal 
 measurement, and this spot be not safe. We must 
 take to the bank and burrow into the sand under the 
 ledge. Cut the dogs loose, Henry, that the pups may 
 find safety. Git yer fiddle, lad, while I git the guns 
 and the powder. The lodge may stand, for I built it 
 myself, and the withes round the timbers be strong, 
 but ef the wind gits under it, it won't tech the 'artli 
 this side the head-waters of the Hudson. Be lively. 
 
THE MAY WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 391 
 
 bojs, for the Lord be in 'ariiest, and it behooves mor- 
 tals to be active." 
 
 In an instant, as it were, his command had been 
 obeyed, and the three men, Avith the dogs, the gun, 
 the violin, and the boats — which Henry had seized, 
 one with either hand, and dragged with him, as he 
 struck the beach at the foot of the bank, — were 
 collected under the ledo-e. 
 
 It was well that they had bestirred themselves, for 
 they were barely at the spot which the Trapper had 
 designated as the point of safety, wdien the line of the 
 storm swept over them. The ledge was of such a 
 nature that it inclined outward from the base at an 
 angle sufficient to protect them both from the plunging 
 rain, which suddenly descended in torrents, and from 
 the fallino: frag^ments which were hurtlino^ throuoh 
 the air. The huge bank out of which it jutted gave 
 abundant protection from the tornado itself. And 
 thus kneeling on the sand, with the ledge projecting 
 above them and the huge bank rising behind, they 
 were able to observe the movement of the tempest 
 from a point of observation perfectly secure. The 
 violence of the wind was astonishino;. It tore its wav 
 through the beech grove, that nestled in the swale at 
 the foot of the mountain, with such fierceness as to 
 virtually destroy it. In the morning half the trees 
 were found prostrate, and the branches of those that 
 remained were sadly wrenched and disfigured. It 
 struck the water with the force of an actual concussion. 
 It cut grooves through it, scooped depressions along 
 
392 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 its surface, and blew the edges away in flying froth. 
 Whirlwinds darted downward and spun themselves 
 alonof the water with a revolution so swift that the 
 suction fairly lifted it in spirals. The sands on the 
 beach jumped upward and were sent hissing through 
 the air ; the marsh-grass and reeds along the shore 
 flattened and lay prone. The wind was too fierce for 
 waves — the crests of the growing undulations were 
 sheared off as if the wind had an edge keen as a knife ; 
 the under halves were pressed downward and the 
 upper portions blown upward through the air in mist. 
 For ten minutes, perhaps, the tempest kept the full 
 proportions of its fury, and then the winds sank per- 
 ceptibly, although they still blew with the velocity of 
 a gale. The lake bagan to roll in great waves, their 
 crests white as if edged with dry snow ; and the hol- 
 low intervals, deep and dark, were streaked with frothy 
 lines. The billows swelled, curved, and roared. They 
 splashed and hissed as they seethed along. They 
 rolled tumultuously one after the other, as if in mad 
 pursuit and madder flight, pursuer and pursued. At 
 times the rain fell in torrents. It burst out of the 
 clouds as if the reservoirs of the upper air had broken 
 their bounds and poured their deluge bodily down- 
 ward. At other times it ceased and for minutes not 
 a drop would fall. The storm was passing eastw^ard. 
 The thunder, though incessant, was less concussive ; 
 and the lightning, though vivid and fiarce, flashed on 
 the lake from a farther distance. The uproar had 
 now so far subsided that with a little extra effort con- 
 versation could be carried on. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 393 
 
 "It is a dreadful blow, for sartin/' said the old man, 
 " and mighty leetle choppin' will me and the lad have 
 to do for the lodge-fire this winter, for I heerd the 
 wind comin' through the beech-grove in the swale as I 
 dove down the bank, and I know by the sound that it 
 did a good deal of cuttin'. I sartinly hope the lo^lge 
 has stood, for it's ben my home off and on for twelve 
 year. And a man gits used to a cabin as he does to 
 his garments, and it takes some time afore he can git 
 wonted to the change. I hope no man be on the lake 
 to-night, for there's nothing but a canoe that could 
 live in that sea, and there ain't many paddles in the 
 woods that could manage one jediciously in sech wild 
 water. A man must be a fool or crazy to ventur' 
 out — " 
 
 " Whafs that ! " screamed the Lad. 
 
 The voice of his exclamation was so sharp and 
 piercing, and so suddenly ejaculated, that Herbert and 
 the Trapper fairly started. 
 
 " Where be it, lad ? where be it ? " exclaimed the 
 Trapper, as he peered into the darkness. " Wait for a 
 flash and p'int it out when it comes." 
 
 For a moment the three men stood waiting, while 
 throuQfh the darkness the white crests of the billows 
 alone showed themselves, and out of the gloom 
 rolled the thunder of their roar, and then the flash 
 came. 
 
 It needed not the finger of the Lad to point out the 
 object, the sight of which had opened his mouth with 
 the startling cry, for there in full view, a mile from 
 
394 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 the shore, in the midst of the rolling waves, and lifted 
 on the very crest of a billow, was a boat, and in it, 
 vividly outlined, was seen standing the form of a man 
 with his arms outstretched and his hands and face 
 lifted to the heavens. 
 
 %Crazij John ! '' 
 
 The words were heaved from the very depths of the 
 Trapper's chest, and as he spoke them tlie flash died 
 away, and the vision disappeared in the darkness, and 
 again through the gloom only the white flash of the 
 waves could be seen, while out of the darkness 
 sounded heavy and solemn the roar of their dirge-like 
 roll. 
 
 '' I will save him! " said the Lad, and he laid hold 
 of the bow of his boat to drag it into the water. 
 
 " Stoj) where ye he ! " exclaimed the Trapper, as he 
 seized the other side of the boat and held it with so 
 strong a grip that the Lad could not move it an inch. 
 '' Stop where ye be, lad, and leave this job to the 
 plannin' of an older head than yourn. The man must 
 be saved for sartin, ef it be within mortal power ; for 
 thouoh the fit be on him and he has leetle sense, it 
 mustn't be said by a man on the 'arth, or by the Lord 
 in the heaven, when we come to His presence, that 
 three men stood on this beach and seed one of His 
 creturs in peril, even ef he sought it in his foolishness, 
 and made no effort to save him. Yis, he must sar- 
 tinly be saved ef it be within mortal power ; but a 
 boat can't live in that sea, and the canoe and the 
 paddle must do it. Henry, I've seed ye fetch a canoe 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 395 
 
 tlirough water wild enough to be fearful to most men, 
 and ye have followed me down rapids that even a 
 Huron would falter to shoot ; and ye must take the 
 starn and I will take the bow, and the lad shall stay 
 on the beach here while you and me make the 
 ventur'." 
 
 " But I want to go, too, John Norton. What can I 
 do if I stay here on the beach ? '* 
 
 " Lad," said the Trapper, as he seized his paddle, 
 and lifted the bow of the canoe, while Henry lifted 
 the stern, " there be times when one mortal must act 
 while another must wait ; and I know that the waitin' 
 be harder than the doin' ; and I know ye have the 
 harder work, but ye must do it. But ye needn't 
 stand idle, for ye can gather some sticks and start a 
 fire under the ledge here, and make the flames go 
 high, for it will give Henry and me the bearin's, and 
 mayhaps it will help us greatly." 
 
 " I will, I will," said the Lad. " I will make the 
 blaze go high, John Norton, and I will ask God to 
 help you save the poor man, and bring you and 
 Henry safe back to the shore." 
 
 '' That's right, lad, that's right," said the Trapper. 
 I remember yer prayin' on Tomahawk P'int, and I 
 raally think it was an act'al help, and it may be the 
 Lord will hear ve ao:in. But be sure and don't forsrit 
 to put in some 'arnest words for Crazy John, for me 
 and Henry can take care of ourselves. But ef the fool 
 keeps standin' up in his boat as he was when the flash 
 showed him, he'll need some help to steady him, or 
 
396 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 he'll lose his balance for sartin." And, even as he 
 spoke, the Trapper waded out into the lake till the 
 proper depth was reached, and then, w4th practised 
 agility, he leapt upward and lighted on his knees 
 in the bow of the canoe, giving, at the instant he 
 leaped, a powerful sweep from his paddle, which, 
 assisted as it was by the push and spring of Herbert 
 as he jumped to his place in the stern, sent the light 
 vessel far out amid the agitated waiter. And so the 
 boat disappeared in the gloom. 
 
 It was, indeed, a perilous venture. Even the Old 
 Trapper had not realized the height and velocity of 
 the billows until the canoe had fairly entered into 
 them. The water foamed and hissed around the 
 boat; it heaved it up as with the power of mighty 
 hands, and then let it down with a splash into the 
 hollow troughs, wdth the suddenness that made the 
 frail thing quiver through its slender frame. It flung 
 its spray into the eyes of those struggling at either 
 end until they were almost blinded. It strove to 
 w^rench it from its course, and turn it round and roll 
 it over, but the skill and strength of those who knelt 
 at either end still held it to its course, and forced it 
 up against the pressure of the gale and the sweeping 
 force of the weaves, at an astonishing speed. Half 
 the distance had been traversed before a flash of 
 liohtnino' came, and w^hen it came ao;ain the boat and 
 the man standinof in it flashed into sioht. 
 
 " The lad must be prayin' in 'arnest," the Trapper 
 shouted back to Henry, " and the Lord must be 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 397 
 
 sartinly helpiii' Crazy John, or he never could keep 
 his footin' in a rollin' boat, jumpin' and pitchin' as 
 his be doin'. Heave her starn up, boy ! quick ! heave 
 her up. There's a big un comin', and she'd never lift 
 to it e£ we struck it head on. Heave her up and take 
 her a little sidlin', or the lad will sartinly have three 
 to pray for instead of one." 
 
 Herbert could just make out the words of the 
 Trapper as they were borne to him on the rush of the 
 wind, and he obeyed to the letter. He put every 
 ounce of strength in his frame into his stroke, and 
 the little vessel responded to its pressure. It met the 
 wave a little quartering, and, balanced at precisely 
 the proper angle as it was by the Trapper, it climbed 
 up the side of the huge billow laboriously but safely, 
 and shot down into the farther recess with a velocity 
 as if it were conscious of the danger from which it 
 was flying- 
 
 " Ye did that well, boy, ye did that well. It was 
 as big a wave as I ever seed a canoe lifted over, 
 and ye did it well. We must be eenamost to the 
 boat and another flash will show us ef Crazy John 
 be in the boat or — " 
 
 He was interrupted by a vivid and prolonged 
 blaze. The whole heaven kindled, and the lake 
 stood forth to view as clear as at noonday. The boat 
 in which Crazy John had been so recklessly standing 
 was not thirty feet away, and was being blown for- 
 ward by the winds at the speed of an arrow. But 
 no man was in it \ and the quick eye of the Trapper, 
 
398 ADIEOXDACK TALES. 
 
 with lightning glance, was searching the hollow of 
 the waves and running along their crests, seeking 
 the head of a man. He saw it ! For out of the 
 lake, as if rising from a depth, shot the head and 
 shoulders of Crazy John. His face was still upturned 
 and his hands were lifted high. 
 
 " Sheer to the left ! " yelled the Trapper. " Sharp 
 to the left, and sweep her round ! " 
 
 It was done. The canoe swooped to the left, 
 glanced upward on the swell of the wave and shot 
 into the opposite trough with a leap. As it fell, 
 the blaze of the lightning died out, but the eye of 
 the Trapper had measured the distance, and as the 
 canoe dropped into the hollow of the sea he bowed 
 himself till his broad breast rested on the prow, and 
 stooping far over, drove his hand into the water. 
 
 The fingers of the Trapper closed on the long 
 hair of Crazy John, and in an instant his other 
 hand had fastened its grasp on the collar of his 
 coat. 
 
 " Tip her over to the left, boy ! " called the Trap- 
 per, " tip her over to the left. He isn't as big as 
 a buck, but it'll take a good deal of purchase to 
 h'ist him over. Down with her, boy ! for here 
 goes ! " 
 
 The feat was accomplished handsomely. The 
 Old Trapper, with the exercise of gigantic strength 
 and the dexterity of a practised canoeman, lifted the 
 poor man out of the water and landed him full 
 length at his feet 5 and in such a way, too, as to 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 399 
 
 scarcely disturb the proper balance of the light shell, 
 which was now heavily loaded, considering the vio- 
 lence of the water it had to traverse on its way to 
 the shore. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CRAZY JOHN. 
 
 "Now see that noble and most sovereign reason 
 Like sweet bells jangled out of tune and narsli." — Shakespeare. 
 
 Whether the shock with which he struck the 
 bottom o£ the canoe had stunned him, or whether 
 he had fainted from exhaustion incident to his struof- 
 gles in the water, our friends coukl not tell ; but 
 they rejoiced in the fact that the man whom they 
 had saved continued to lie stretched in the bottom of 
 the canoe perfectly motionless. For, had he indulged 
 in any " antics," as the Old Trapper expressed it, it 
 would have made their position one of extreme peril, 
 and as it was, it required all their strength and skill 
 to bring their boat to shore. 
 
 In the direction they were now going the wind was 
 dead astern, and it was necessary to keep the canoe in 
 rapid motion, racing along on the top of a wave even 
 with its own velocity lest it should drop into the 
 trough, and heavily loaded as it was, be overwhelmed 
 by the succeeding billow before it could lift. The 
 two men, therefore, worked for their lives. The fore- 
 thought of the Old Trapper in his directions to the 
 Lad was now fully vindicated. The flame at the foot 
 of the ledge was burning strongly and clearly, and 
 through the spray and the driving mists the Trapper 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 401 
 
 could see the Lad now feeding the fire, and anon kneel- 
 ing on the sands. The poor boy, acting in harmony 
 with, and under the impulse of, his simple but sublime 
 faith, and yet obedient to the directions of the Trapper, 
 was thus giving, unconsciously, a practical illustration 
 of the true Christian conception of the relation wdiicli 
 works and faith mutually hold to each other. And 
 well would it be for many of us, who deem ourselves 
 learned and wdse, if we could thus unite in our con- 
 duct the two great co-ordinate doctrines of the Chris- 
 tian scheme. 
 
 " The lad has the right idee of it," said the Trap- 
 per, soliloquizing ; " yis, the lad may not be over- 
 knowin', but he has the right idee of it. The fire 
 alone don't seem quite enough, and the prayin' alone 
 wouldn't help me and Henry a bit, but ye jine the 
 two and make the wood support the prayin' and the 
 prayin' sort o' help out the wood, and it sartinly 
 comes nigh the Lord's idee of it, as I conceit." 
 
 In a moment the canoe had draw^n niofh the shore, 
 and the Lad, running out into the water, assisted 
 eaoerlv to lift it to the beach. 
 
 " We've saved him, lad ! " said the old man. 
 
 " I knew you w^ould save him, John Norton, for I 
 asked God to save him ; and he has said, ' Ask - and - 
 ye - shall - receive,' and I asked him to give us Crazy 
 John in safety, and I never asked God to do anything 
 yet that he didn't do." 
 
 " I guess ye be more reasonable in yer askin', then, 
 than some of the missioners be in their prayin', lad ; 
 
402 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 for the last time I heerd one in the settlements he 
 spent more'n twenty minntes in prayin', and he asked 
 more'n a hunderd things of the Lord, and half of 
 em' at least, to my sartin knowledge, wasn't anyway 
 reasonable ; for he didn't confine himself to the p'ints 
 of the ease. And there's nothin' like stickin' to the 
 main p'ints of the case when ye be talkin' to the 
 Lord, as I conceit." 
 
 While he had been saying this lie had lifted Crazy 
 John in his arms and borne him to the fire, and at 
 once proceeded with his efforts to restore him to con- 
 sciousness. In this he was soon successful, and in a 
 short time the unfortunate being who had been so 
 nigh death was sitting with his back propped against 
 the ledge, gazing with eyes in whose look conscious- 
 ness was revealed, it is true, but whose consciousness 
 was that of one whose reason had been overturned, 
 and whose faculties were exposed to the deceptions 
 which insanity practises on its wretched victims. 
 
 A strange and remarkable-looking being he was, as 
 he sat with his back against the ledge in the bright 
 glow of the firelight. His countenance was cast in a 
 noble mould, and his features were ahnost faultless, in 
 the clean outline of their nearly classic beauty. Age, 
 of course, had cut its history in wrinkles and with- 
 ered the fullness of his appearance, but his fore- 
 head was broad and high, and the front ample in 
 its curvature, providing residence for a brain of 
 unusual size. His nose was straight and thin, with 
 round, curved nostrils ; his mouth generous but not 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 403 
 
 excessive, while a beard of snowy whiteness covered 
 all the lower part of his face and lay in waving 
 folds upon his breast. His hair was long ; the 
 orowth of years, — none knew how many, — and 
 whiter if possible than his beard. His eyebrows 
 were as white as snow, abundant, and straight in 
 their lines. The brow itself beetled outward. The 
 sockets of the eves Avere larcre, and the orbs them- 
 selves which glowed within the recess w^ere deep, 
 black, and lustrous. The first impression that these 
 strange eyes made upon one w^as of their mildness ; 
 a mildness born of suffering, perhaps, as if the sad- 
 ness of years and loss had softened, if it had not 
 utterly extinguished, the gleam of their original fire. 
 But a close observer could not fail to note that within 
 and behind their clear, steady gaze was a wayering 
 light that came and flitted, and came again, as if 
 nature would thus express the unsteadiness and insecu- 
 rity of the disturbed reason, which formerly held fixed 
 possession of her throne. 
 
 ^' Well, Crazy John," said the Trapper, " how do 
 ye feel?" 
 
 " I am not crazy," he returned, " you are crazy, 
 and everybody else is crazy. I am the only man that 
 isn't crazy in the world." 
 
 " I shouldn't wonder ef ye was about half-rioht in 
 yer idees on that p'int," returned the Trapper, " for 
 T sartinly think most men be a leetle cracked ; and 
 it may be I have a kink or two in me somewhere ; and 
 ef everybody was jest like ye, I conceit there wouldn't 
 
404 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 be a crazy man in the world. But what was ye out 
 on the water to-night for? And why didn't ye stay 
 in yer shanty or find a safe spot as we did when the 
 storm come down ? It was a bit of sheer foolishness, 
 Crazy John, for a mortal man to resk his life as ye 
 did on the lake to-night. " 
 
 '^ She called me," return ad the other, while his 
 eyes darkened their glow, " she told me to come, 
 and I went, and 1 found her. Found her in the 
 air and the wave and the wind." 
 
 " Found her ? " said the Lad, " whom did you find 
 in the air and the wind and the wave, Crazy John ? " 
 
 " Whom did I find ! " exclaimed the other, " I 
 found the woman I love, and the spirit I worship ; 
 the spirit of whiten.^ss and sweetness and beautiful 
 grace that I loved long ago — long ago — long ago ! 
 The spirit that's mine, and will be mine when the 
 waves ceas3 to roll and the winds cease to blow, 
 and the air is unbreathed by the nostrils of men." 
 
 And as he said this the paleness of his face flushed 
 and his eyes glowed like coals, as if they were indeed 
 but the windows of his soul, and his soul was aglow 
 with the fervor of a deathless hope and ardent 
 desire. 
 
 " Wh}^ did she call you out into the lake," said the 
 Lad, " when the waves and the winds were so strong ? 
 I don't think she ouoht to do that." 
 
 " Young man ! " exclaimed the other, " what cares 
 a spirit for wind and weaves, the movements of air 
 and water? Spirits have power in the air, and 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH. 405 
 
 the sea and the winds do their bidding. I have 
 seen her in the sun wlien he rose over the mountain, 
 and in the moon when she deepened the bhie of 
 the sky wdth her beams ; and the winds have borne 
 me her songs from away, far away, far away, and 
 the waves turn to white at the touch of her feet 
 when she walks on their crests. My spirit is queen 
 of the sea, and the waves are her slaves. Old Trap- 
 per ! " he shouted, as he rose to his feet, took a step 
 forward, and stretched out his hand with a gesture 
 as grand as Paul must have used in his appeal 
 to Agrippa, while his face flamed with excitement 
 and his form trembled, " Old Trapper, you have 
 lived till your head is wdiitening and wisdom abides 
 on your lips — believest thou there are spirits?" 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly, I do," returned the Old Trap- 
 per, " even the Hurons believe that, and it w^ould 
 be a shame for a white man to believe less than 
 an Injun, 'specially a miserable dog of a Huron. 
 Yis, I sartinly believe there be sperits." 
 
 " Have you ever seen them, John Norton ? " ex- 
 claimed the other. 
 
 " I can't say for sartin I ever did. Crazy John. I 
 can't say for sartin I ever did see a sperit, but I'll 
 confess that more'n once, when standin' by the grave 
 of a comrade, or on the mound of the trenches where 
 we buried the dead arter a scrimmage, I have felt 
 that the sperits of the dead was around me." 
 
 " They were there ! they were there ! " exclaimed 
 the other, in a voice lifted almost to a scream. 
 
406 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " They were there ; but you were blinded. You 
 have eyes and see not, ears and hear not. But my 
 eyes see, and my ears hear, for I am not of the 
 earth. I died when she died, but I am condemned 
 to stay on the earth for my sins ! — for my sins ! — 
 FOR MY SINS ! — condemned to stay till my sins be 
 washed away, and I am made white, then I shall 
 go — then I shall (jo — then — " 
 
 A clap of thunder, heavy and prolonged, here 
 suddenly broke in on his speech. The beach 
 trembled under their feet as the peal rolled in 
 awful detonations through the sky. The look of 
 wild excitement faded out of the countenance of 
 the singular being. He bowed his head as with 
 solemn reverence, and when the last heavy rever- 
 beration died away, he lifted his face, every line 
 of which was settled in awe, toward the cloud, 
 and said : — 
 
 " Thunder away, Ahnighty God ! I love to hear 
 Thy voice shake the workl. Thy power is above 
 all powers, and the spirits themselves veil their faces 
 in front of the glory of Thy throne ! Almighty God, 
 I love the roll of Thy thunder, for site has told me 
 that Thy love is as great as Thy power." 
 
 The solemn earnestness with which he pronounced 
 these words ; the suggestiveness of his gesture as he 
 stood with outstretched hands, and face lifted toward 
 the clouds ; the roar of waves, rising from amid the 
 gloom ; the grand and awful surroundings made by 
 the night and the storm, — combined to produce an 
 
THE MAy WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 407 
 
 impression on the three men, two of whom were 
 looking at him with wonder, and the third with 
 curious interest, that woukl have been difficult to 
 explain. 
 
 '^ Come, come. Crazy John," said the Trapper, at 
 length, " ye he sartinly a good deal stirred up 
 to-night, and ye'd better sort o' settle down. Ye 
 won't be any wiser for lookin' at that cloud so 
 arnestly, for there's nothing in it for a mortal to see." 
 
 " See ! " he exclaimed, as he wheeled suddenly 
 around, till he stood face to face with the Trapper, 
 " my eyes have the vision of sight that sees the 
 end from the beginning. I see back and ahead, 
 below and above, and far ofP. I am a prophet of 
 God. I am the angel whose head is as wool and 
 whose eyes are aflame ; and nothing that has been, 
 and nothing that is, and nothing that shall be, 
 is hidden from me. For I look, and I see, and 
 I know what the years will bring — will bring — will 
 brino' ! " 
 
 " It may be as you say. Crazy John," said the 
 Trapper, " but I sartinly doubt ef ye know what 
 ye be talkin' about, for ye be but a man, and I've 
 heerd that the ways of the Lord be past findin' out. 
 But ef ye can see ahead, and know, as ye say, what 
 be to come, ye may be able to tell us what be to 
 happen to us 'twixt this and the time when we come 
 to the edge of the Great Clearin'." 
 
 " John Norton," said the other, as he turned his 
 blazing orbs upon him with a steadiness and intensity 
 
408 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 of gaze from which a man of less nerve and coohiess 
 would have shrunk, '^ John Norton, you have lived in 
 the woods and you will die in the woods. I see a 
 grave under the pines, and a man at the grave, and a 
 dog." 
 
 " I'm glad it's under the pines, Crazy John. Yis, 
 I'm glad it's under the pines, ef the grave be for me. 
 Ye may be right as to the dog, for dogs be short 
 lived, and ' Rover ' be aged, and it's reasonable to 
 think that I'll outlive him ; but ' Sport ' be a little 
 more than a pup yit, and it's nateral to think that 
 he'll outlive me, for the days of a mortal be fixed, 
 and I conceit that I've come nigh the eend of my 
 days on the 'arth. But ye be sartinly wrong ef ve 
 see but one man, for Henry and the lad be both 
 young, and I know that both the boys will be at 
 the grave when they make it for me under the 
 pines." 
 
 " The youth you call Henry is the one who stands 
 here," responded the other, as he turned his glowing 
 eyes towards Herbert, " and he it is I see by the 
 grave ; but the lad is not there ; for he has a grave 
 of his own that I see, and his mound wdll be flat 
 when your mound is fashioned, John Norton." 
 
 " Where is my grave. Crazy John ? " asked the 
 Lad, " where is my grave ? " 
 
 " Your grave is by the sea, young man. By the 
 deep, deep sea ; the shining, the rolling, the far' 
 reaching sea. It is a grave among many. It's a 
 grave with a grave : the grave of one gone on before. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 409 
 
 Young man, Crazy John sees your grave amid many, 
 and 'tis made with a grave by the long-reaching, 
 far-rolling, deep-sounding sea." 
 
 " \Yhere is my grave. Crazy John ? " asked Her- 
 bert, who, leaning on his paddle, had been curiously 
 watching the singular being, " where is my grave ? 
 and who is there by it? and where is it to be 
 made ? " 
 
 " Your grave is not a grave," was the answer. 
 And instead of looking at Herbert he turned him- 
 self toward the lake ; and, with his back to the 
 young man, and lifted head gazing steadfastly out 
 into the gloom, he continued : " Your grave is not 
 a grave. It is not under the pines ; it is not amid 
 graves ; it is not in the earth. Men will not find 
 it ; above it women will not weep. It rises and sinks, 
 it moves and it rolls. It's a grave without stone, 
 without name, without spot — " and the strange 
 being started along the beach, walking ankle-deep 
 in the froth and the water, muttering to himself, 
 " It rises and sinks, it moves and it rolls. A grave 
 without name, without stone, without spot." 
 
 " Will he come back ? " asked Herbert, speaking 
 to the Trapper. 
 
 " Sartinly, sartinly," returned the old man, " the 
 fit will leave him pritty soon. I've knowed Crazy 
 John for forty year off and on, and usually he's 
 quiet enough ; but a storm distarbs him, and thunder 
 makes him wild ; but the storm be dyin' out, and 
 in half an hour he'll be as calm as the lake. It's 
 
410 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 no use to f oiler him, for when the. fit be on him 
 ye can't manage him, but when he's cooled down 
 a leetle he'll come back as quiet as a child and be 
 nateral-like." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 A PROPHECY. 
 
 " The voice sounds like a prophet's words." — Halleck. 
 
 •' Portia ; Why, knowest thou any harm's intended ? 
 Soothsayer : None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance." 
 
 — Shakespeare. 
 
 As the Trapper had predicted, the storm was 
 passing away. The body of it had ah-eady got 
 beyond the eastern mountains, and the thunder had 
 died away into murmurs. The lightning blazed 
 dimly, and cast only transient illuminations through 
 the farther darkness. Where the clouds had been 
 was now but a thin vapory film, and even this grew 
 thinner and thinner until the great stars broke 
 through it with their luminance, and glowed wdth 
 ample splendor in a sky which the tempest had 
 washed. The waves sank with the winds. They 
 died together like cause and effect, and in a brief 
 time the lake, which but so recently had been tossing 
 with violent agitations, stretched from the beach at 
 their feet to its southern extremity with a surface 
 so level that scarcely a ripple stirred its smooth 
 expanse with its motion. In it the sky found a 
 mirror, and the stars overhead multiplied themselves 
 in its depths. 
 
 "It's sartinly a marvel," said the Trapper, speak- 
 
412 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 ing to his two companions, " how quick natur' can 
 change her look. Her moods be hke the moods of 
 man. Come, lad," he continued, as he threw some 
 fresh branches into the fire, "the njorn will soon be 
 here, and the sands under the ledge be dry ; come, 
 onkiver yer fiddle and play us a tune. I conceit that 
 Crazy John will jine us when he hears ye playin', for 
 I've heerd him play himself, and the music will calm 
 him." 
 
 So saying, the old man seated himself under the 
 projection of the ledge by the side of Herbert, wdio 
 had already stretched himself in a reclining attitude. 
 
 The Lad took the violin from its case, and after 
 carefully examining it to see that it had received no 
 injury, he placed the bow upon the strings and began 
 to move it lightly and waveringly, as if feeling for an 
 initial note. In a moment his mind reached the de- 
 cision. Perhaps some tuneful suggestion or melodi- 
 ous memory had been communicated to or stirred 
 within his mind by the stray fugitive chords, for his 
 face suddenly lighted, his hand steadied itself, and the 
 bow, with the proper pressure upon it, began its pro- 
 gress over the strings, true and even as hand of man 
 might make it. 
 
 The notes sounded clear and high. They rose into 
 the air, moved out above the lake, and stole along 
 the listening shore. They were followed in soft and 
 measured succession by others equally sweet, clear, 
 and fine. The sounds were as pure as the cleansed air 
 into which they rose. The stars, shining with steady, 
 
THE MAN WHO DJDX'T KXOW MVCH. 413 
 
 self-contained luminance, were no more mild and 
 soothing to the eye than were the easy, full-rounded 
 notes that the instrument yielded to the ear. 
 
 It was a hymn of peace, — a hymn such as angels 
 mio-ht sing to a soul that had passed through stormy 
 passages, been rudely buffeted, and borne much during 
 its earthly life, when it had been lifted above the earth, 
 and with its warfare ended was being ministered unto 
 by those who long had known the infinite peace. No 
 words can describe the exceeding softness of the 
 strains. Limited as the poor boy was in the powers 
 that made the average man potential and efficient, his 
 one great gift stood out resplendent. Within his 
 soul the gift or genius of music found its home. His 
 tongue might falter in its attempt to master the form 
 of verbal speech, but music had bestowed upon him 
 a divine expression. No one that heard him play 
 could ever doubt it. In quality it was a revelation of 
 what inarticulate expression might be. To-night his 
 mood was of the finest. Sitting under the projection 
 of the ledge, Avith the lake, in which the stars were 
 mirrored, before him, the blue vault bright with its 
 golden sj)lendor overhead, the sombre woods around, 
 and the great, solemn, and, as it were, expectant 
 silence soliciting the presence of his pure soul through 
 the one medium that God had given him to pour forth 
 the innocence, the longing and the faith of his beauti- 
 ful spirit, he played with a delicacy of toiK'li and an 
 evenness of pressure that were marvellous. The Trap- 
 per lay leaning against the " rock with his eyes closed. 
 
414 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 Herbert sat watching the Lad's lighted countenance 
 with eyes that searched in vain for some exj^lanation 
 of the boy's wonderful gift. He had heard the mas- 
 ters of the world play, and his own ear did not lack 
 culture, but inwardly he was constrained to confess 
 that never had he heard an instrument yield forth 
 such melody as his simple-minded, awkwardly-formed 
 companion, with long and easy-going motions of the 
 bow, was sending forth into the receptive air. 
 
 He might have played five minutes when Herbert's 
 quick ear caught the sound of a slow, soft step steal- 
 ing along the sand ; and in a moment, out of the star- 
 lighted dusk, the form of Crazy John appeared. He 
 stole into the circle of the light so quietly that the 
 Lad did not know of his approach, but Herbert 
 watched him closely and noted the change that had 
 come over him. The wildness had left his counte- 
 nance ; the gleam had faded from his eye ; his muscles 
 had relaxed their tension, and his whole face had 
 settled to repose. He sank softly down into the sand, 
 and gazed upon the Lad with a look such as a mortal, 
 at his entrance into heaven, might contemplate the 
 first anofelic beino- he chanced to meet. And as the 
 Lad played on, as the sweet consoling notes flowed 
 forth, they carried peace and consolation to the bosom 
 of the unfortunate creature. His eyes overflowed, the 
 great tears stole down his cheeks and fell into the 
 white volume of his beard, but his gaze remained 
 steadfastly fixed upon the boy's face and the look of 
 worshipping awe remained as steadfastly on his own. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 415 
 
 At last the Lad paused ; he laid the violm upon his 
 lap, Avith his bow across it. 
 
 " Well, Crazy John," said the Trapper, as he 
 opened his eyes, " what do you think of that ? " 
 
 ^' Boy ! " he exclaimed, without answering- the ques- 
 tion of the Trapper, and addressing himself to the 
 Lad, " Boy, thou art a spirit ! Thy soul is not of this 
 earth. The gift of God is in thee. Thou art one of 
 the chosen sent out to minister unto the saints. The 
 Lord hath lent thee to the earth ; but only for a year, 
 a day, and an hour. Thou shalt not stay among 
 men ; thou shalt go hence, but not till thou hast done 
 a great deed ; and those that laughed at thee shall 
 know that with thy weakness God hath mingled 
 strength, and made thy lacking to be greater than 
 their fulness. They call me ' Crazy John,' and they 
 call me so because my ways are not their ways, and 
 my thoughts are not their thoughts. I am not crazy 
 save when the body vexes me and the forces of the 
 earth that are demoniacal possess me. But I do not 
 stay in my body always ; I leave it and come back to 
 it. I have left it for hours ; yes, for a day and a 
 night, and a night and a day ; left and came back to 
 it. And I see things when my eyes are stony ; I feel 
 when my body is stiff ; I go where there is no time, 
 and all things that have been, and all things that are, 
 and all things that shall be, stand out. And I have 
 seen thee, boy, before we met, and one with thee that 
 is not ^4th thee now." 
 
 " Who was it, Crazy John? " asked the Lad, " who 
 
416 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 was it that was with me ? " and the poor boy actually 
 panted with excitement, as through his comprehension 
 dimly stole a startling thought. 
 
 " It was one thou hast seen and shalt see ; but not 
 yet. I shall see her hrst. You shall come after, and 
 I see the way of your coming and the hour ! " 
 
 " Come, come, Crazy John, the storm has gone by, 
 and why don't ye settle back to yer nateral sense? 
 Ye'll skeer the lad out of his wits with yer nonsensi- 
 cal talkin'." 
 
 "John Norton ! " exclaimed the other, " thou w^ast 
 born for the body and the earth. Thou dwellest in 
 the body and art earthy. Thou canst not understand 
 the converse of spirits." 
 
 " I'm glad to see ye come down to facts. Crazy 
 John ; yis, I'm glad to see ye come down to facts. 
 Of course I dwell in my body, and a mighty pleasant 
 place it's been to dwell in for these threescore year. 
 And I can't say that I ever expect to git into a better 
 one ; for the Lord made it for me, and I must say he 
 put it together jediciously, as the time it has stood 
 and the sarvices it has done, proves. And as for 
 sperits, I don't know nothin' about 'em ; that is, I'm 
 not sartin enough about any thin' to sight on it. 
 And Henry will tell ye I'm always ready to draw at a 
 ventur' wdien meat is scarce or there is the least 
 chance of fur ; and ef ye are really sot on talkin' any 
 more about sperits. Crazy John, you and me will jest 
 go one side out of hearin' of the boys, and ef I can 
 find a comfortable spot where the sand isn't too wet 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 417 
 
 and the seat lias a back-piece to it, jou and me will 
 have a great time talkin' about sperits. That is, I'll 
 listen and ye shall talk, and that be the best way, as I 
 conceit, for a sensible man to talk with another about 
 sperits. For ef he doesn't say any thin' w4se, he 
 sartinly won't say anythin' foolish, and that's a raal 
 vartue in a counsel. But don't sheer the lad any 
 more with talk of his goin'." 
 
 " Scared ! Why should the lad be scared at 
 thought of his going ? I will not talk more, John 
 Norton, for you are ignorant and unbelieving. You 
 are wise in your order, but you belong to another 
 order and are fixed in another sphere. But the lad 
 shall go — he shall go ! — he shall go ! on a stormy 
 night and amid fire; and you and Henry shall see 
 him, and many shall see ; — see the fire ! see the 
 flame ! and you shall feel the touch of the fire, John 
 Norton, and Henry shall be scorched with the flame. 
 For you shall be wdth the lad 'mid the fire, and you 
 w^ould go with him, but your time is not yet, for you 
 must sleep 'neath the pines — 'neath the pines — 
 'neath the pines. Old Trapper ; and Henry's grave must 
 be a grave without stone, without name, without spot. 
 But why should I tell you these things ! Shall not 
 the Lord reveal them in His time ? Let's to sleep ! 
 let's to sleep ! You sleep while I leave my body." 
 
 " That's sartinly good counsel," said the Trapper, 
 "for the morn be comin' and w^e sartinly have 
 been stirred up a good deal to-night ; and nothin' 
 settles a man arter he's been riled like sleep. Ye'd 
 
418 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 better not git yer feet quite so near them brands, 
 Crazy John, ef yer sperit be raaliy goin' out of yer 
 body for a leetle tantrum in the air ; ef ye do ye ain't 
 hkely to find more'n half yerself when ye come back, 
 and the most vakiable half at that, — for I count 
 that the legs and feet be the best half of a man 
 ef he live in the woods. So crook up yer knees a 
 leetle. Crazy John, or ye'll git singed for sartin." 
 With this parting admonition the Old Trapper 
 stretched his huge frame upon the sand alongside of 
 his companions and in a few moments the long, heavy 
 breathing of the four gave evidence that sleep had 
 locked their senses in profound repose. 
 
 vP vr» ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 The summer was past, and autumn had come. The 
 adventures with which our three friends had met we 
 do not purpose to narrate in this volume. It chanced 
 that the man whose story we are telling was not 
 the most prominent actor in the sad and startling 
 experiences the summer had brought to them. At 
 another time we may give to our readers the history 
 of an even more singular and unfortunate being than 
 " The Man Who Didn't Know Much "— but of the 
 latter we must write now, and the story that has 
 detained us so lonof draws to its close. 
 
 Herbert, on the eve of his departure from the 
 woods, had succeeded in persuading the Old Trapper 
 to accompany him to his city home. With high 
 anticipations they had struck eastward from the Rac- 
 quette until they came to the upper branches of the 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH 419 
 
 Hudson, down which they proceeded until they came 
 to Albany. There they left their light boat and 
 continued their journey in one of the river steamers. 
 Arriving at Ni "v York they crossed the city without 
 delay, and took passage eastward on one of the steam- 
 boats that traversed the Sound. At this critical 
 point of their journey our pen resumes its narration. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CATASTROPHE. 
 
 With clashing wheel, and lifting keel, 
 And smoking torch on high, 
 
 When winds are loud, and billows reel. 
 She thunders foaming by." 
 
 Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
 
 It was a stormy night. The wind w^as blowing 
 a gale ; not a star was visible. The wind came from 
 the south-east ; raw. and damp with briny dampness. 
 The force of a thousand leagues of unimpeded vio- 
 lence was in it. It was full of lusty strength, of 
 unchecked might, rageful and fierce. The centre 
 of the storm movement was in the far Atlantic ; but, 
 as it swept round on its invisible axis in fearful 
 revolutions, Long Island split the periphery of its 
 power like a wedge, and sheared off a mighty column, 
 which poured itself into and down the Sound, sweeping 
 it from end to end. The waves ran high ; they rose 
 out of the darkness, vast volumes of on-rolling water, 
 and rushed against the steamer's prow as if they 
 would heel her over and drive her downward to 
 destruction. 
 
 Only a few of her full complement of passengers 
 were on deck. Some w^ere in the main saloon, gath- 
 ered in knots for comfort. Others sat moodily apart, 
 communing with their fears ; while not a few were in 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 421 
 
 their state-rooms, or clown below in their berths, sick 
 or thoroughly frightened. The air was full of fore- 
 boding. The jirevalent feeling was that of alarm. 
 The plunge of the vessel as she dived downward 
 into the hollow of the sea ; the tremendous shocks 
 that shook her from stem to stern ; the quiver- 
 ing that convulsed her huge frame, and tried her 
 timbers in all their joints as the great sea struck her ; 
 the groaning of the machinery, and now and then 
 the rush of waters overhead as some sea swept over 
 her bulwarks,. — revealed to those that were within 
 the saloon, or lay stretched in their berths, that the 
 gale was at its height. 
 
 A few of the passengers were on deck ; some were 
 sailors, and from habit kept an exposed position ; 
 others, while not seamen, were sufficiently familiar 
 with voyaging, and of such a temperament, that a 
 position on deck and the sight of a storm were more 
 congenial to them than the protected parlors. Among 
 these latter our three friends could be numbered. It 
 was not in accordance with the temperaments or habits 
 of Herbert and the Trapper to stay between decks 
 when such a storm was raging, and the Lad could not 
 remain separate from his companions. Indeed, his 
 behavior and remarks revealed the fact that he was 
 familiar with the different portions of the vessel, and 
 with the proper management of such a craft in a 
 storm. He evidently had knowledge of the machin- 
 ery, knew the name and use of all the equipments, 
 and showed no inconsiderable acquaintance with the 
 
422 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 force and action of wind and waves, and even with 
 the reefs and islands of the coast along wdiich the 
 course of the vessel was now directed. 
 
 Herbert, surprised at this knowledge, had ques- 
 tioned him in conversation concernino; the oriirin of 
 it, and elicited from him many facts of his early life ; 
 among others, that he was born on the shore of the 
 Sound, and had often sailed the very waters through 
 which the steamer was plunging. He knew the name 
 and position of the beacon lights they passed, of the 
 various headlands ; and pointed out the location and 
 the name of this or that island which was hidden 
 in the gloom ; estimating, in a manner that showed the 
 accuracy of his memory and his familiarity with the 
 coast, the probable distance these islands were from 
 them, as the boat careered along. 
 
 " I tell ye," said the Trapper, as the three stood 
 close to the starboard rail, holding on to an iron 
 rod for support, " I tell ye, Henry," he shouted, 
 "this be a wdld un. I was on a government trans- 
 port in the centre of old Ontario once when it 
 looked mighty squally for all of us ; but it sar- 
 tinly didn't blow harder than it does to-night. I 
 remember how the skipper looked and acted, and 
 what he did, as ef it was but yesterday." 
 
 " What did he do ? " asked the Lad. 
 
 " He put his ship about, lad," responded the Trap- 
 per, " afore tlie waves got half as high as this, or 
 the wind half as strong. He put his ship about, 
 and I remember the drenchin' we all got while she 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 423 
 
 was swingin' round ; but when he got her starn on 
 how she did go ! " 
 
 " Where did she fetch up ? " asked Herbert. 
 
 " Fetch up ? " rephed the old man. " She didn't 
 fetch up. There was no fetch up to her that night. 
 She went hke a young buck in his fust chase ; and 
 when the sun riz and the winds settled a leetle he 
 scooted her in atween two big islands ; and the skip- 
 per said, — I conceit he may have stretched it a leetle, 
 — the skipper said that the old tub had gone two 
 hunderd mile that night. And I was jest thinkin' 
 that ef I was skipper of this craft I'd 'bout ship, shut 
 off steam, as ye call it, and let her drive to'ard York." 
 
 " It's not a very easy thing to 'bout ship in a sea 
 like this, John Norton," said Herbert. " Could it be 
 done, lad ? " 
 
 '^ I think perhaps it might be done," said the lad ; 
 " for the engines work well, and she is a good boat 
 to mind her helm ; but it don't blow hard enough yet 
 for the captain to risk running on to the coast this 
 side of New London. That's a famous harbor, and if 
 it blows any harder I guess the ca2)tain will run in 
 there." 
 
 " Lord-a-massy, lad ! " exclaimed the Old Trapper, 
 excitedly, '^ ye talk downright foolishness. It can't 
 blow any harder. The air would bust ef it did." 
 
 " Yes, it can blow harder, John Norton," returned 
 the Lad. " I have seen it blow harder than this ; and 
 I don't think it blows as hard as it will by and by." 
 
 '' Ef it blows any harder," screamed the Trapper, 
 
424 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 " we'll all go to the bottom, for any man knows that 
 them leetle boats strung up there couldn't live out in 
 them waves a minit. Lord ! what a thump that 
 was ! It shook her up as a maul does a wedge. I 
 don't marvel that the wimmen folks be a leetle 
 screechy. I hope the poor creturs will git safe to 
 shore." 
 
 " I have had a feeling," said the Lad, half-speaking 
 to himself, " ever since we got aboard that something 
 was going to happen to-night. I don't know why it 
 should be so ; but I keep seeing the face of Crazy 
 John out there in the darkness." 
 
 " Come, come, lad, don't ye git skeery," said the 
 Old Trapper, "Crazy John's face isn't anywhere nigh^ 
 us ; for Henry and you know jest where it lies ; and 
 ye know that we put five good feet of sile on top of it, 
 to say nothin' of the boughs and grasses, and the 
 wild rose-bushes ye throwed in." 
 
 For several minutes nothing was said, then Herbert 
 continued : — 
 
 " I don't see how anything can happen, although it 
 is a very severe gale ; for the ship is a strong one and 
 she is being well handled ; and the lad says that 
 there's a good harbor twenty miles ahead, into which 
 the captain can run if he is compelled to. I don't see 
 how anything can happen, — do you, John Norton ? " 
 
 " Not as I can see," returned the Trapper, " but I 
 can't say that I'm used to jest this kind of boatin', 
 and I conceit my jedgment isn't wutli much. Now ef 
 I was on the Racquette in a squall, with a birch under 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 425 
 
 me, and a good paddle, and wasn't too heavily loaded, 
 I could tell ye jest about what the prospect w^as ; but 
 this kind of boatin' makes a man of my natur' and 
 habits but leetle better than a squaw, for all there be 
 to do be to jest hang on. No, I sartinly don't know 
 much about this kind of boatin', and my jedgment 
 isn't wuth a cent." 
 
 " I don't know what we should do if anything 
 should happen," said Herbert. " The clerk told me 
 there were six hundred passengers aboard, and at the 
 tables to-night I thought I never had seen so many 
 women and children in one boat at a time. I don't 
 know what would become of them, or any of us for 
 that matter, in a sea like this if — " 
 
 " Fire ! " 
 
 No one could say whence the cry came, nor, at the 
 moment, whether it was the voice of man or woman 
 that sent it out ; but from whatever throat it came, it 
 came projected with all the energy of terror. It filled 
 the great saloon, — sank to the lower deck, — pene- 
 trated the state rooms and berths, — rose into the 
 pilot-house, — and was blown by the gusts into the 
 farther darkness in quivering fragments as if the 
 winds in their fierce gladness had S3ized it, torn it in 
 pieces, and flung it aside to be ready for its successor. 
 Nor had they long to wait. It came upon the instant, 
 rising wild and high — piercingly shrill as mortal fear 
 could make it : — 
 
 "Fire! Fire! F-i-r-e!" 
 
 The effect of such a cry on shipboard at night, in 
 
426 ADIItOXDACK TALES. 
 
 the midst of such a gale, on a crowded steamer, can 
 never be known to those who bav e not heard it ; nor 
 communicated to those who quietly sit in safety and at 
 ease reading its description on the printed page. In 
 the great saloon, when the awful sound swept through 
 it, men engaged in conversation stopped — looked 
 with startled interrogation into each other's eyes, 
 with faces that on the instant turned white as ashes. 
 Women, with a sudden gesture, placed their hands 
 above their hearts as if they liad received a sudden 
 stab. Some continued sitting as they had been as if 
 stiffened to the position. Others, with their hands 
 still on their hearts, sank back in a dead swoon. 
 Children stopped their play and stood staring at their 
 elders. The sick in their bertlis stilled their groans 
 and lay straiglit on their cots as if dead, listening with 
 pent breath. 
 
 On deck the effect was the same. The sound had 
 the power in it to drown all other sounds. Those 
 that lieard it rise, heard nothing else. It captured 
 their senses and held them concentrated to itself. 
 The roar and splash of the mighty waves — the 
 whistling, screaming wind — made for an instant no 
 impression on the senses. The one terrible sound 
 dominated all other noises ; and those who lieard the 
 dreadful scream were, for a moment, conscious of 
 nothing else. 
 
 This was the first effect. 
 
 But when the cry was repeated, when the awful 
 scream rose the second time, was reiterated and pro- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 427 
 
 longed as mortal fear only can prolong a cry, fright 
 took possession of all. Men tumbled from their 
 berths, striking the floor with a bound, shouting. 
 The state-room doors burst open and women ran out 
 screaming. Those who were below rushed wildly 
 into the main saloon, trampling on each other in 
 their headlong course. The uproar was fearful. Men 
 called for their wives. Women screamed for their 
 Jiusbands. Mothers sobbed and clutched their chil- 
 dren to their breasts. Calls and shouts, the rush of 
 hurrying feet, shrieks and prayers and curses, filled 
 the air. 
 
 On deck all was hurry and confusion incident to 
 such an emergency. Hose were being fitted, pumps 
 got in motion, the crew was being told off into com- 
 panies, and the proper officers put over them. The 
 captain was a brave man, and skilful ; the officers 
 supported him nobly, and most of the crew obeyed 
 the voice of discipline. The places of those who 
 faltered were more than made good by volunteers, 
 amid whom the Trapper and the Lad were efficiently 
 prominent. Brave men and braver women were 
 among the passengers, who exerted themselves to still 
 the tumult. The captain himself went into the main 
 saloon on his way to the engineer's room, and ad- 
 dressed the passengers in brave and hopeful words. 
 
 He said they were in danger, — that he did not 
 deny ; — but that he had been in great danger before, 
 and came out all right ; that the ship was on fire he 
 admitted ) but he stated that the pumps were working 
 
428 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 well, and, if they coul 1 not subdue the flames, he 
 hoped to keep them under until he could make 
 harbor. 
 
 He told them much depended on themselves. He 
 said, " If you people will only remain quiet ; if you 
 will only keep ord^r ; if you will stay where you are, 
 and not risk your lives and overwhelm the crew by 
 rushing on deck ] I sincerely believe that Avitli the 
 help of God we shall bring you through, and land 
 every man, woman, and child in safety." 
 
 These words had great effect. The uproar sub- 
 sided. A remarkable calmness fell on the great 
 throng. Most remained standing, but kept their 
 places. Some seated themselves, and assumed a calm- 
 ness they did not inwardly feel. Many knelt in 
 prayer, and breathed in silence their petition to the 
 irreat Beins: whose hand controls wave and flame alike. 
 
 The captain passed on, and entered the engineer's 
 room ; counselled a moment with the chief, and then, 
 with three carpenters, began to explore the forward 
 hold of the vessel, to find the location and the extent 
 of the nre. It took but a brief search to discover 
 that the whole forward part of the ship beneath was 
 a mass of flames. The freight was of combustible 
 material, and thoroughly ignited. The captain looked 
 at the dreadful spectacle for an instant, while the lines 
 of his face grew absolutely rigid, and said : — 
 
 " My God ! The shi2J is a furnace ! " 
 
 He stood another instant in profound thought, 
 during which his quick and fearless mind had consid- 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 429 
 
 ered all the contingencies, and without a word to the 
 three men that were with him, he started for the deck 
 and the pilot-house. He summoned the chief engin- 
 eer and his officers around him, and stated what he 
 had discovered, — laid the Avhole subject in a few 
 terse words before them, and said : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, in twenty minutes the saloons will be 
 like an oven, and the windows of the pilot-house will 
 be cracking. Have you anything to suggest ? " 
 
 The first officer, a sailor from boyhood, whose head 
 and beard were already gray, said promptly : — 
 
 " Captain, we must beach her." The others looked 
 their assent. 
 
 " It's our only course," said the captain. " Pilot," 
 said he, turning to the man, " can you beach her ? " 
 The other deliberated a moment, and said : — 
 
 "Captain, I am ready to take any responsibility 
 that a man in my position should take. I am ready 
 to execute any order you give ; but I will not take 
 the responsibility of running this steamer, with six 
 hundred passengers aboard, on to a coast that I know 
 nothing of beyond the knowledge I have of the 
 lights, the reefs, and the harbors. Tt would be mere 
 chance if I sfot her within half a mile of the shore." 
 
 The captain actually groaned. He saw and ad- 
 mitted the force of the pilot's assertion. For a 
 moment not a word was spoken, while the ship went 
 tearing on through the water, and the premonitions of 
 rising tumult came to their ears from below, showing 
 that the passengers were already on the move. He 
 
430 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 looked an instant into each face before him, Hfted his 
 hand and wiped the great drops of sweat from his 
 forehead, and said : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, wdiat shall w^e do ? I feel the floor 
 under my feet heating ! The passengers are moving 
 out of the saloon ! What we do must b3 done 
 quickly ! We are overloaded ! Our boats wouldn't 
 accommodate half, and besides, a boat couldn't live in 
 that sea. What shall we clof " 
 
 Not a man spoke. They felt as if the horror of 
 death were shutting down around them. They were 
 brave, they were calm. Tliey showed no sign of 
 fear. They could meet death as men should meet it ; 
 but they could not tell how to escape it. Suddenly 
 the captain's face lighted, with a light which was the 
 refl action of a hope, of a conjecture, of a possibility. 
 He darted out of the pilot-house, swung himself down 
 among the crew, who were busy with the pumps and 
 the hose, and with a concentration of voice that pene- 
 trated the roar of thi storm like a knife, shouted : — 
 
 "Is there a man here ivho I'noios this coast F " 
 
 When the ca})tain dropped among them the men 
 stopped their work and stood staring at him. Only 
 the Old Trapper and Herbert, each of whom stood 
 above the forward hatch, hose in hand, directing the 
 streams that the pumps sent through the swelling 
 tubes downward, kept their position. The captain 
 waited a moment, while the light faded from his 
 countenance as no response came, and then, as if in 
 very despair, he shouted ; — 
 
THE MAy WHO DWX'T KXOW MUCH. 431 
 
 " / say, is there a man here who hioios this 
 coast ? For God's sake some of you speak ! " 
 
 Ao'ain no reply came, and lie was upon the point of 
 turning' aAvay, ^yllen the Lad, who had been kneeling 
 under the protection of the bulwark, trying to stop 
 a rent which the pressure had made in the hose that 
 the Old Trapper was tending, rose out of the shadow 
 and approaching the captain said : — 
 
 '^ Yes, sir. I know the coast." 
 
 " Who are you," said the captain, incredulously, 
 " that claim such knowledge ? Are you not the 
 youth I saw wdth the old hunter at the table to-night ? 
 How should you, born in the interior, know anything 
 about this coast ? " 
 
 " I was not born in the woods," responded the Lad, 
 " I was born within ten miles of where we are, and I 
 know^ every rock and reef and point, for I have fished 
 on them all ; and I know every beach, for I used to 
 play on them when a boy." 
 
 The captain looked incredulous. He had associated 
 him with the hunter and the wdlderness, and it seemed 
 incredible that he should have been born where he 
 said he was born, and that he should be on that boat 
 that night, and be discovered by the merest accident 
 at the very instant of supreme peril. 
 
 " Cap'n," said the Old Trapper, who had drawn 
 nigh, " Cap'n, whatever the lad says ye can sartinly 
 take for gospel truth. x\nd ef he says he was born 
 here, he was born here ; and ef he says he knows this 
 shore, he does know it ; and ye can rely on him to do 
 
432 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 what he says he can do ; for his words be truth, and 
 his acts be like his words." 
 
 '' Young man," said the captain, " have you any 
 other friend on board beside this hunter ? " 
 
 " Sartin he has," said the old man, answering the 
 question for the Lad, "there be Henry there, who 
 has boated with him and camped with him off and 
 on, and the lad saved his life once, and that's a 
 sarvice that a man isn't apt to forgit. Yis, cap'n, 
 Henry and me be the lad's friends." 
 
 " Call him here," said the captain, hoarsely, " and 
 then follow me to the pilot-house." 
 
 It was with the greatest ett'ort that the four were 
 able to reach the point designated, for the gale was 
 blowino' with increased violence, and the iron rods 
 and the wire ropes they grasped to steady them- 
 selves were already hot ; and even as they reached 
 the upper deck the flames broke fiercely out from 
 the hatchways and the fire began to run in waver- 
 inof lines alonsr the inner timbers of the bulwarks 
 and the ornamental edgings of the upper deck. 
 
 " I have called you here," said the captain, " to 
 ask you in the presence of my officers if there is 
 any safe spot, any cove or bay, into which the 
 steamer can be run, along the coast abreast of us." 
 
 " Do you mean to beach her, captain ? " asked 
 the Lad. 
 
 " Yes," he responded, '^ it is our only chance. We 
 must beach her. Can you do it ? " 
 
 " I can," said the Lad, simply. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 433 
 
 "You c«;? / " exclaimed the captain, " do you mean 
 to say, young man, that you can beach this steamer ? 
 Gentlemen," he continued, as he turned to his officers, 
 " if this young man can do what he says, every soul 
 can be saved ! " 
 
 "I can do just what I tell you I can do," said the 
 Lad, " that is, if the engines work, and we can fetch 
 her around in this sea, and the flames don't get ahead 
 of us ; for there is a little bay, nearly abreast of us, 
 and the w^ater is deep in it, and the beach is free from 
 rocks and stones, and I can tell the pilot just wdiere 
 to steer to get into it." 
 
 " But," said the captain, and he spoke with hurried 
 utterance, as one wdio feels there isn't a moment to 
 lose, " you ought to know, and your friends here 
 ought to know, the danger you run, for the flames 
 will break out in a few moments. You can hear 
 them roaring under deck already. The flames will 
 break out in a moment, I say ; this pilot-house wdll 
 be on fire, and he wdio stands beside it will stand 
 the centre of flames, and it will be through God's 
 mercy if he comes out with his life. I feel it to 
 be my solemn duty to state these things to you, 
 young man, and in the presence of your friends 
 here who are interested in your life. Now, know- 
 ing your danger, knowing that you will probably 
 lose your life, I ask you again, will you pilot tliis 
 steamer to that beach ? There are six hundred souls 
 on board, and if you do it you will be their saviour. 
 Will you do it ? " 
 
434 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 The Lad's face never ehano'ed a muscle. The lio'ht 
 in his eyes may possibly have darkened a little, and 
 the Old Trapper noted that his long, awkward fingers 
 shut into then- palms with a slightly tightened grip, 
 but his voice was quiet as ever, as he said : — 
 
 " I will help you beach her, captain." 
 
 The captain still hesitated a moment. He knew 
 himself that the Lad w^as going to his death, — 
 going with a quietness that could have only igno- 
 rance or finest heroism for its cause. It was not 
 to be wondered at that, accepting as he was the 
 sacrifice of a life, he ^vas touched. He gazed at 
 the singular being before him, observed the simple 
 guilelessness of his countL'nance, and, dashing a tear 
 from his eye, he turned to the Trapper and said : — 
 
 " Old man, this boy is your companion, and you 
 love him ? " 
 
 " Yis, the lad and me have slept together, and 
 we've eaten from tlie same bark, and he and me have 
 done leetle sarvices for each other that men in the 
 woods don't forgit. I love the lad." 
 
 " God forbid ! " exclaimed the ca23tain, " God forbid 
 that I personally take the responsibility of the sacri- 
 fice, — for that's just what it is, old man. Ought the 
 boy to stay ? " 
 
 " Sartin, sartin," said the Trapper ; " ef the lad 
 can save the wimmin folks and the leetle uns, not to 
 speak of the men, by stayin' here, then he sartinly 
 ought to stay, even ef he starts on his last trail from 
 the deck of a ship instead of from the shadder of the 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 435 
 
 pine ; for death never comes too quick to one who 
 meets it at the post of duty, and it never comes slow 
 enough to one wdio shirks. Yis, let the lad stay 
 where he be, and an old man who has faced death on 
 many a field where buUits was thick will stand by his 
 side, and the Lord of marcy shall do with us as he 
 will. I should liked to have seed the pups agin ; 
 but the hunter's God will take care of the hunter's 
 dogs." 
 
 While the conversation had been carried on, the 
 officers of the steamer had made the arrano^ements 
 necessary to steer the craft from the stern ; for the 
 pilot-house was already so hot as to make it unsafe for 
 the four men stationed at the wheel to remain in it 
 longer. The ropes and blocks had been adjusted, the 
 purchase tested, and the steamer was already being 
 directed from behind. The captain still stood by the 
 side of the Lad, trumpet in hand, ready to give the 
 orders to veer her round.- 
 
 " Young man," said the captain, " you are pilot 
 now. When shall we swino^ her about ? It's a rouo h 
 sea ; but the flames give us no choice." 
 
 The Lad looked steadfastly a moment at the beacon 
 they had passed, asked the captain a question as to 
 her course, and then said : — 
 
 " We are passing the cove ! We mustn't go a rod 
 farther ! Quick ! Swing her round ! " 
 
 The captain lifted the trumpet to his lips, and in 
 tones that rang strong and clear above the roar of the 
 storm and of the flame, shouted, " Hard a-port with 
 
436 ADIBONDACK TALES. 
 
 your helm ! Hard a-j)ort, I tell you ! Jam her down 
 for your lives I " 
 
 The men in control of the helm obeyed with an 
 energy born of the peril of the moment. The mighty 
 fabric swayed for a moment, but tore on as if unwill- 
 ing to yield. But the next instant the immense pres- 
 sure of the helm hard a-port began to tell, and the 
 monstrous bulk swung slowly about, rolled downward 
 into the trough of the sea as if she would never rise, 
 reeled over as she met the mighty Avave square amid- 
 ship till her larboard rail lay deep in the hissing water, 
 struggled up, righted herself laboriously ; and as she 
 straightened her course with the gale square astern, 
 and with her steam gauge standing at seventy-five, 
 shot towards the shore like an arrow from the bow. 
 
 " Cap'n," said the Trapper, as he lowered the trum- 
 pet from his lips, " give us the instrerment, and do ye 
 run back there and keep the poor creturs from throwin' 
 'emselves overboard, — for they be gittin' wild. I 
 can talk through the horn as well as ye can, — and 
 the lad will tell me the words." 
 
 " I can't leave you, old man ; it shall never be said 
 that Charles Stearns left two brave men to die on his 
 deck while he saved his own life." 
 
 " Cap'n," returned the Trapper, '' I know yer 
 feelins ; for I see the stuff ye be made of ; but the 
 Lord app'ints duty unto man, and it's not of his 
 choosin' ; and it's yer duty to go, and ourn to stay. 
 Don't ye worry about us, for I be old and a few days 
 more or less on the 'artli don't matter, and I can see 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX' T KXOW MUCH. 437 
 
 by the look in the lad's face that he be ready. So 
 give me the horn and go where ye oughter go, and 
 we'll stay where we oughter stay." 
 
 The old man had uttered these w^ords Avith such 
 solemn majesty, and the truth they expressed was so 
 evident, that the captain did as commanded. He 
 passed the trumpet to the Trapper, and started aft, 
 where his presence and words soon communicated new 
 hope to the terrified throng. In a few moments the 
 shoutino; and screaminof ceased, and not a sound was 
 heard save the roar of the wind and the waves and 
 the flames. 
 
 " Henry," said the Trapper, " it's time ye be goin', 
 for the fire be gettin' hot. It's not likely that me and 
 the lad will come out of this ; and there sartinly isn't 
 much time for leave-takin'. Ye'll go, I know, and 
 get the pups, and the rifle, and the fiddle. Ye know 
 wdiere they be. And ef there be any other things in 
 the cabin ye would like, remember they be all yours. 
 This sartinly isn't the w^ay I thought things would 
 eend ; but the Lord knows when to call, and I dare- 
 say it's best as it be. So, boy, jest take my hand a 
 minit and we'll say good-by. Ye needn't distarb the 
 lad, for he is busy. No, jest give me yer hand for a 
 minit, and then go. Ye be faithful and true, and 
 may yer days be happy and yer life long on the 'arth." 
 
 " I am not going, John Norton," said the young 
 man. 
 
 "It be w^ell said, boy," returned the Trapper. 
 " Yis, it be well said ; or w ould be ef things was 
 
438 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 different. But things be as they be, and ye must 
 
 go." 
 
 '' I shall not go," said Herbert. 
 
 "Henry ! " exclaimed the old man earnestly, "this 
 is downright foolishness. Ye can't help us by stayin' ; 
 and two'U be enough ef wust comes to wust." 
 
 " John Norton," returned the young man solemnly, 
 " say no more. I shall stay with you and the lad. 
 If we live, we will all live. If we die, we will die 
 together, for I will not leave you." 
 
 " Be it as ye say then, boy ; yis, let it be as ye say. 
 This be no time for makin' words ; and I can under- 
 stand yer feelin's ; and it may be ye be right. The 
 lad and we met at the pond of the beavers, and it 
 may be best we both go with him to the eend of the 
 trail and see how it eends." 
 
 In a moment the old man said, suddenly : " Henry, 
 ef ye could git one of them water-pipes, and the 
 pumps are still a-goin', it may be ye could save our 
 lives. But be keerful where ye go, boy, for it's hot 
 there ahead." 
 
 Lightning is scarce quicker than was the motion of 
 Herbert, as he darted forward into the smoke, which 
 was rolling up in great volumes from the front part of 
 the boat. 
 
 By this time the forward half of the vessel was 
 almost one sheet of flame. A column of fire rose out 
 of the forward hatch fifty feet into the air, but was 
 mercifully blown onward by the force of the gale. 
 From this the Trapper and the Lad were at least 
 
THE MAN WHO DIDN'T KNOW MUCH. 439 
 
 safe, but the flames were now breakino- over ail 
 restraint. Tlie decli itself was beino- burnt throuo-h, 
 and sections were falling into the hole. The stanch- 
 ions and timbers of the bulwarks were already in full 
 blaze.. The outer edges of the upper deck w^ero 
 girdled with fire. The roof of the pilot-house had 
 begun to kindle. The flames were already eating 
 their way toward the stern and would soon be in 
 the rear of the two men who were standinof half- 
 hidden in smoke at a point which would soon be 
 the very centre of the conflagration. But they never 
 flinched. They stood in the exact position where they 
 were when Henry left them ; the Trapper still hold- 
 ing the trumpet in his hand, and the Lad still gazing 
 steadfastly ahead. 
 
 " Tell them to port two points," said the Lad 
 quietly. 
 
 The old man placed the trumpet to his lips, and 
 through the brazen tube his voice poured steady and 
 strong" : — 
 
 " The boy says, ' Tell 'em to port two p'ints.' " 
 The vessel swayed suddenly to port ; and as she 
 leapt away the Lad said : — 
 
 " Tell them to hold her steady as she is." 
 
 Again the old man lifted his trumpet, and called : — 
 
 " The boy says, ' Tell 'em to hold her steady as she 
 
 IS. 
 
 For a minute not a word was spoken. The steamer 
 tore on through the gloom, lighting her path with 
 the flames. The roof of the pilot-house dropped in, 
 
440 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 and the smoke and cinders hid the two men from the 
 sight of those who, with prayers on their lips and with 
 agonized faces, were gazing at them from behind. 
 
 Suddenly out of the smoke and fire came the tones 
 of the trumpet : — 
 
 "The lad says, ' Tell 'em / hear the surf on the 
 heach.^ " 
 
 Then the smoke suddenly lifted, split by a gust 
 that tore through the air, and those standing behind 
 saw three men instead of two standhig on the deck. 
 The Trapper and the Lad still at their station, and 
 thirty feet further aft Herbert, hose in hand, flood- 
 ing with water the blazing deck on which they stood. 
 But what could the power of man do against the 
 rush of such flames? The young man did his best. 
 With hands blistered by the awful heat he stood 
 heroically at his post ; but the garments of the Lad 
 were on fire, and the fur on the Trapper's cap was 
 burnt to the skin. 
 
 Suddenly the starboard half of the upper deck 
 fell with a crash. As it fell those behind saw the 
 Lad turn to the Trapper, — saw him totter — saw 
 him steady himself — saw his companion catch him 
 by the arm — saw the old liero, wdth the sleeve of his 
 coat, that was itself smoking, wipe the cinders from 
 his lips as he lifted the trumpet to his mouth ; and 
 out of the black, eddying smoke, as it swept over 
 the three and hid them from sight, bellowed the 
 words strong as trumpet could send them : — 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 441 
 
 ^* The lad says, ' Tell 'em / see the surf on the 
 beach ! Hold her steady as she is ! God — " 
 
 The sentence was never comjjleted. The flat 
 bottom of the vessel tonched the sand — slid alonor- it 
 — and was driven by the momentum of her move- 
 ment half her length up the beach. Then she rolled 
 over with a great lurch ; her smoke-stacks went down 
 with a crash, carrying the upper deck on which they 
 stood with them, and the three men sank from sight 
 in the smoke and fire. 
 
CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 THE LAD GOES HOME. 
 
 "With mast and lielm and pennon fair, 
 That well had borne their part- 
 But tlie nol)lest thing that perished there 
 Was that yoxing and faithful heart ! "— Mrs. Remans. 
 
 It was evening o£ the second clay after the catas- 
 trophe. Only a few of the passengers had been lost, 
 and the majority of those who were saved had gone 
 on their several ways ; but nearly a hundred still 
 tarried, finding accommodation in the farmhouses 
 along the shore and in the adjoining village. The 
 noblest of motives held them to the neighborhood, 
 for he Avho had saved them w^as dying. 
 
 In a house that stood fifty rods from the w^reck lay 
 the Lad stretched on a bed. His body was in a 
 pitiable condition ; for the flesh of it in spots Avas 
 burnt to the bone. With him was the Trapper and 
 Herbert. The head of the former Avas bandaged, and 
 the hands of the latter w^ere packed. They had been 
 saved by the merest accident ; if that wdiich gives or 
 takes life can be so called. As the smoke-stacks fell 
 wdien the vessel struck the beach, the section of the 
 upper deck on which they were standing had been 
 throw^n upward and outward ; and the three had been 
 actually cast with the burning fragments upon the 
 sand. 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH. 443 
 
 The Trapper and Herbert, although at first 
 stunned, had been able to drag themselves and the 
 Lad, who was insensible, from the neighborhood of 
 the flames. They speedily recovered their strength; 
 but the Lad did not revive. He still breathed ; but 
 th(; life within his poor body held but a feeble hold, 
 and at every breath it drew seemed on the point of 
 taking its final departure. His senses wandered, as if 
 the faculties of his mind shared the misfortune of his 
 mortal frame. All that skill could do had been done. 
 But human skill was powerless to arrest the flight of 
 his spirit from a tenement which had been so rudely 
 assaulted that it could no longer furnish the life that 
 had tabernacled in it with the accommodation it 
 needed. The most that the attendant physician could 
 offer in the way of comfort to the two men, who with 
 stricken hearts watched by the bedside, was contained 
 in the assurance that he was wholly free from suffer- 
 ing ; and would probably revive, and enjoy the use of 
 his senses for a brief period before he passed away. 
 In hope of this, rather than from any expectation 
 that he would recover, his two companions kept their 
 steady vigil by his bed. 
 
 It was evening, and outside the house nature dis- 
 played the quiet and solemn splendor of an autumnal 
 night. The fiill-orbed moon hung in the eastern sky, 
 and her mellow radiance bathed the rippling surface 
 of the shining sea in floods of glistening sheen. The 
 lio'ht waves broke in measured murmurs on the silent 
 shore. In the blue sky were the pale stars, and the 
 
444 ADIEOXDACK TALES. 
 
 moon's splendor lay softly on the white sands, the 
 rocks, the trees, the fences, and the aftermath of the 
 frosty fields. Snrely nature is unconscious of human 
 sufferinsr ; or else has in her frame somethino^ of that 
 universal consciousness which knows that out of the 
 troubles of life the anxious and the suffering pass at 
 length into eternal peace. 
 
 Inside the house lay the Lad, — his head, which 
 fortunately had not been touched by the fire, sup- 
 ported by a pillow scarce whiter than his face, his 
 limbs straightened as if in repose, and his long, awk- 
 ward-looking hands crossed restfully on his breast, in 
 which the pulse of life beat faintly. Herbert stood at 
 the foot of the bed, and the Trapper sat at its side. 
 Farther away stood the physician, and the captain of 
 the steamer, who had shared with an equal constancy 
 the watch of those whose eyes scarcely wandered from 
 the face of the unfortunate boy. Thus in silence the 
 four stood, waiting for the change which they hoped 
 and prayed might come ; that out of it they might 
 receive strength to speak with calmness the last fare- 
 well. 
 
 Suddenly the Lad's lips opened, though his eyes 
 still remai'ned closed, and he murmured, " Crazy John 
 said my grave should be lolth a grave." And a look 
 almost like that of a smile came to his features as he 
 repeated, " My grave should be tvith a grave." 
 
 It was the first time he had spoken, even in his 
 wanderings, for hours ; and the Old Trapper and 
 Herbert exchanged glances, while the physician and 
 
THE 3IAN WHO DIDX'T KNOW MUCH. 445 
 
 the captain drew nearer to the bed. In a moment his 
 lips parted again, and he said — while the smile on his 
 features gave place to a look o£ pain : — 
 
 " Why do they all laugh at me ? Everybody laughs 
 at me but mother and John Norton and Herbert. 
 Father used to laugh at me ; but John Norton never 
 laughed at me. He and Herbert only laughed at me 
 once. They laughed at me at the pond of the bea- 
 vers. Where is the pond of the beavers ? Let me 
 see, — let me see, — it is so thick with smoke that I 
 can't see the pond of the beavers. Mother, did you 
 tell them, when they laughed at me at the pond of the 
 beavers, that they mustn't laugh any more at me ? " 
 
 Here he stopped, while the men looking on held 
 their breath, and not a sound was heard but the tick, 
 tick, tick of the little clock that stood on the mantel. 
 It may have been five minutes that the silence lasted ; 
 and then he murmured agfain : — 
 
 " The captain said that there are six hundred souls 
 to be saved. Let me see — how many are six hundred 
 souls ? — M(3ther, can't you tell me how many six hun- 
 dred souls are ? — Are they so many as that ! — I 
 think I ought to be willing to die if I can save six 
 hundred souls, — don't you, mother ? " And then his 
 speech sank until it became inarticulate, only now and 
 then as they watched his moving lips they caught the 
 words, " six hundred — six hundred — souls J' 
 
 Again a long silence ensued ; but after awhile he 
 said, while a look of firmness came into his face, 
 " How hot it is ! — I didn't think fire could burn so : 
 
446 ADIRONDACK TALES. 
 
 but I mustn't show it — no, I mustn't show it." And 
 his finofers tig^htened on the coverlid as if he were 
 makinof an heroic effort at self-control. 
 
 And so his mind wandered, — Avandered back to his 
 boyhood ; wandered back to the life he lived with 
 his mother. And then he talked of the woods ; 
 talked about his traps ; talked of the life he had lived 
 with the Trapper ; talked about Herbert, and won- 
 dered if he would ever come. And so in a wild, 
 senseless, touching way his mind wandered over the 
 past, and his tongue, unconscious of its speech, re- 
 hearsed the fragments of his experiences. Then he 
 fell into a sleep deep and heavy. His breathings were 
 regular and strong. He slept for an hour as a weary 
 man sleeps after toil. And the physician said : — 
 
 " When he wakes he will wake with his senses, if he 
 wake at all." 
 
 And thus they stood and watched him with faces 
 that showed their anxiety. Watched and waited; — 
 watched and had their reward. For suddenly he 
 moved uneasily ; drew a long breath ; opened his 
 eyes ; looked at the Trapper and at Herbert. And 
 as his eyes came back to the countenance of the old 
 man who sat by his side, he smiled, and said : — 
 
 "John Norton! Henry!" 
 
 " Yis," said the Trapper; " yis, lad, me and Henry 
 be here." He said no more, for as he said it he 
 choked ; and the sentence ended v/ith a sob. 
 
 For a minute the Lad made no reply. He gazed 
 into the faces of the Trapper and Henry with a 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 447 
 
 look of unutterable love, — a look that took the 
 place of speech, and did what words could not do ; 
 for it expressed to the two men that saw it the 
 depth of his affection for them. 
 
 " How many were saved?" said the Lad. 
 
 The captain took a step forward, and said : " Nearly 
 all, boy ; nearly all. You saved them nearly all." 
 And the features of the strong man convulsed, and 
 the tears broke from his eyes. 
 
 " Lad," said the Trapper, after a moment's pause, 
 during which he had regained his composure, "there 
 be somethin' that must be said, and it may be best 
 that I say it now, for the minits be passin' and 
 perhaps ye may have somethin' to tell uSo Lad," and 
 here he faltered a moment, " Lad, ye have come 
 to the eend of the trail and yer feet be on the edge 
 of the Great Clearin'." 
 
 " Do you mean I am dying, John Norton ? " said 
 the Lad. 
 
 " That's what men call it, boy, — that's sartinly 
 what men call it. Yis, the doctor here says ye be 
 dyni . 
 
 For a moment the youth fixed his gaze on the 
 ceiling as one might who is lost in reflection, and 
 then his eyes fell until they rested on the coun- 
 tenance of the Trapper, and he said, in his own 
 simple manner : — 
 
 " I am not afraid to die, John Norton." 
 
 "I know no reason why ye should be, lad. I've 
 thought the matter over from beginnin' to eend 
 
448 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 sence I sot by the bed here, and T sartinly know no 
 reason why ye should be, for ye have done no 
 evil on the 'arth and yer sperit be innercent , and 
 ef ye had been faulty the Lord would remember the 
 deed ye have did and jedge ye in marcy." 
 
 Again he paused a moment, and then the old man 
 said, tenderly : — 
 
 '' Is there anythin' ye would tell us, lad ? — any- 
 thin' ye would like done, for it be the duty of the 
 livin' to sarve the dead, and Henry and me be here, 
 and our ears be open to yer words." 
 
 " Are any of my folks living here now, John 
 Norton ? " asked the Lad. 
 
 " No, yer folks be not here, boy ; they moved away 
 years ago, and no one knows where they went. No, 
 boy, not one of yer kindred be here/' 
 
 " 'Tis well," said the Lad, " mother's grave is here, 
 that is enouo:h. You will find it to the left of the 
 big pine that stands in the south-east corner of the 
 graveyard. I told you the name, you know. You 
 will lay my body there, John Norton." 
 
 '^ It shall be did as ye say," returned the Trapper, 
 
 The Lad remained silent a moment, engaged in 
 thought, and then he said, " I want you to take the 
 rifle, John Norton, and Sport, for they will be of some 
 service to you." 
 
 " Yis, the dog will be of sarvice, for sartin, for he's 
 stanch and his nose be a good un, and Rover be gittin' 
 on in years, and can't in the natur' of things hold out 
 much longer. I've noted that he lagged this fall in 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDX'T KXOW MUCH 449 
 
 the races. Yis, I would like the clog, and he will be a 
 great comfort to me, boy, arter ye be gone, for the 
 cabin will seem empty next winter. The thoughts of 
 the old be apt to be lonely, and the presence of the 
 doo; will shorten the evenin's and make the cabin 
 more homelike. But as for the rifle, which be but 
 leetle better than a miserable gun, sence it loads 
 at the wrong eend, and has a mind of its own 
 about goin' off, — so that while I'll allow it has a 
 long range and shoots where ye hold it, yit it can't 
 be depended on, as ye know, boy, and be of no 
 use to a hunter like me whose ranges be short and 
 will git shorter as my eyes grow dim. But for the 
 target ground of the settlements, which Henry has 
 told us about, where they shoot furder than a man 
 can see, the gun be a good un ; Henry thinks one 
 of the best, ef not the best, ever made. And so, 
 lad, while I don't want to argue agin yer wishes 
 or seem ongrateful, yit in the natur' of things it 
 sartinly looks as ef ye had better give me the dog 
 and Henry the gun." 
 
 ^^I think you are right, John Norton," said the 
 Lad, in a feeble but pleased tone, "you are always 
 right. Yes, Henry, you take the rifle I w^on at 
 the match, and I know you will wdn many prizes with 
 it, and when you use it on the match-ground, and the 
 people are all standing round, and the rich and the 
 great looking on, as you told us, you must think of 
 me, for you will never know how much I love you. 
 Mother first, John Norton next, and then you. Yes, 
 
450 ADIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 that's the way it has been. Mother first, John Nor- 
 ton next, and then you." 
 
 " I will take the rifle and keep it, lad, as your gift 
 to me," Herbert said ; " the gift of a man who saved 
 my life, and who has taught me the beauty of inno- 
 cence and the wisdom of a pure mind, as man 
 never tauoht me before." And he looked at the 
 Lad's sweet face with eyes blinded with tears. 
 
 "I don't think that you could ever have learned 
 anything from me, Henry," responded the Lad; "for 
 you are learned and I am ignorant. John Norton 
 is wise and I am foolish. And they all used to 
 tell me I didn't know much ; and I know they 
 were right, for I never was cunning as the other 
 boys ; and I had a hard time to learn even to read. 
 But mother told me I could learn if I tried hard 
 enough, and I did try real hard. And in two years I 
 could read the Testament throuoh without makino* a 
 single mistake ; and I remember how pleased mother 
 was when I did it." 
 
 " Lad," said the Trapper, gravely, " I've lived 
 beyend the limit of man's days, and I've seed many 
 of the wise and the great of the 'arth, and many 
 that was foolish, and my eyes have been open to 
 what they have seed; and I've noted that some 
 larn from books, and some larn from natur', and 
 some know without larnin'. Yis, some make 'em- 
 selves wise by readin' and seein' and thinkin'. And 
 others be born wise ; for they know good from evil, 
 and they strike the trail right every time, and from 
 
THE :\IAX WHO DIDXT KXOW MUCH. 451 
 
 cradle to grave never lose the line of the blazin'. But 
 there amt many of this kind ; no, there be but few 
 that be born wise ; but ye was one of 'em. Yis, lad, 
 ye was sartinly one of 'em ; for the Lord gin ye 
 somethin' better than the knowin' head and the cun- 
 nin'. tongue ; for He gave ye a heart to love right 
 and to hate wrong, and he made ye marciful to them 
 that do evil and treated ye onkindly ; and he gin ye 
 courao'e to die like a chief without tremblin' or talkin' 
 when the time he had sot for yer death-hour had 
 come. And more than all of the wise and the great 
 I have knowed, lad, I think ye was favored by yer 
 Maker." 
 
 The Old Trapper had said this with the decision 
 and majesty of a man who speaks from deliberation, 
 and is expressing the judgment of a mind which, 
 naturally able, had received and been profited by the 
 lessons of a long and varied experience. A«tnoment 
 after he had paused the Lad said : — 
 
 " There is something else I w^ant to speak about, 
 John Norton." 
 
 "Yis," returned the Trapper, "I know there be 
 somethin' else. What do ye wish done with it ? 
 Speak the word, boy, and it shall be done as ye say, 
 whatever be the orders or however fur yer arrand 
 takes me." 
 
 The Lad looked at the Trapper and made a slight 
 motion of his wTist toward him ; and then he looked 
 at Henry and made the same motion. 
 
 " Which ? " said the Trapper. 
 
452 ADIROXDACK TALES. 
 
 " Both/' replied the Lad, softly. 
 
 Both knew what he meant. Both knew how he 
 loved it. Both knew what a testimony he was giving 
 them of the depth of his affection, in thus making 
 them joint heirs and custodians of that which had 
 been to him what the harp was to the dumb angel : 
 the source of joy inexjDressible, the one precious me- 
 dium through which that in him in which he was 
 superior to others might pour itself forth with such 
 volume of evidence that none could dispute, and 
 which being admitted gave him at once rank and 
 precedence among men. 
 
 " It be well settled, lad," slowly and solemnly 
 answered the Trapper, after his mind had canvassed 
 the matter a moment. " Yis, it be well settled. It 
 shall stay in the cabin till I go ; then Henry shall take 
 it ; and when he comes on and jines us, he shall do 
 with it what seems best in his jedgment. Be that as 
 it should be, lad ? Be that what ye mean ? " 
 
 " Yes," said the Lad, feebly ; " that is the way I 
 wish it to be. That is what I mean." 
 
 Here the conversation ended, for the Lad had 
 grown feebler as it progressed, and the last words 
 had been spoken scarcely above a whisper. He had 
 disposed of his earthly possessions. The things that 
 he loved he had given to the two men he loved, and 
 as if he was conscious that he had done with the earth 
 his mind retired within itself, and he lay with a look 
 on his face that showed he still had the use of his 
 
THE MAX WHO DIDN'T KXOW MUCH. 453 
 
 faculties, but through them was communing only with 
 the invisible. 
 
 The medical attendant looked significantly at Her- 
 bert, and moving within reach of the Trapper touched 
 him softly on the arm. The old man, whose eyes had 
 not moved from the countenance of the Lad, nodded 
 his head as evidence that he understood the communi- 
 cation. The life that had been peaceful — that had 
 been filled with the peace of innocence — was drawing 
 to a peaceful close. The departure of so simple a 
 spirit from its mortal frame, the rising of so sweet a 
 soul as it left the earth to appear in the presence of 
 its Maker, could not be attended with any sudden or 
 startling manifestation. He opened his eyes only 
 once more ; looked for a moment into the face of 
 Herbert, turned them upon the countenance of the 
 Trapper, held them there for an instant as if taking 
 in every feature of the face he had loved so well, — 
 as though he would fix the loved lineaments indelibly 
 on his memory for the long parting, and then he 
 lifted them upward, and while the light of a deep joy 
 darkened in their depths, — the joy of a recognition 
 of some one he had expected to see with too sincere a 
 faith to be surprised at meeting, said, as naturally as a 
 child might say it on the earth : — 
 
 " Mother ! " 
 
 And then that gray film which gathers sooner or 
 later over all mortal orbs formed suddenly over his. 
 And thus without pang or motion his spirit passed 
 
454 ABIBOXDACK TALES. 
 
 away. And there, in the farmhouse by the sea, near 
 the beach where he played when a boy, and the grave 
 of his mother, " The Man Who Didn't Know Much " 
 lay dead. 
 
 THE END. 
 
M81800 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY