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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10009-0.txt b/10009-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..528f692 --- /dev/null +++ b/10009-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8083 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10009 *** + +[Illustration: He smashed down upon me again, and made that hole in my +leg above the knee. I handled my knife in a hurry, and made more than +one hole in his skin, while he stuck a prong through my arm.] + + +WILD NORTHERN SCENES. + +OR + +SPORTING ADVENTURES + +WITH + +THE RIFLE AND THE ROD. + +BY S. H. HAMMOND. + +1857 + + + + +TO JOHN H. REYNOLDS, ESQ., OF ALBANY. + + +You have floated over the beautiful lakes and along the pleasant +rivers of that broad wilderness lying between the majestic St. +Lawrence and Lake Champlain. You have, in seasons of relaxation from +the labors of a profession in which you have achieved such enviable +distinction, indulged in the sports pertaining to that wild region. +You have listened to the glad music of the woods when the morning was +young, and to the solemn night voices of the forest when darkness +enshrouded the earth. You are, therefore, familiar with the scenery +described in the following pages. + +Permit me, then, to dedicate this book to you, not because of your +eminence as a lawyer, nor yet on account of your distinguished +position as a citizen, but as a keen, intelligent sportsman, one who +loves nature in her primeval wildness, and who is at home, with a +rifle and rod, in the old woods. + +With sentiments of great respect, + +I remain your friend and servant, + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +There is a broad sweep of country lying between the St. Lawrence and +Lake Champlain, which civilization with its improvements and its rush +of progress has not yet invaded. It is mountainous, rocky, and for all +agricultural purposes sterile and unproductive. It is covered with +dense forests, and inhabited by the same wild things, save the red man +alone, that were there thousands of years ago. It abounds in the most +beautiful lakes that the sun or the stars ever shone upon. I have +stood upon the immense boulder that forms the head or summit of +Baldface Mountain, a lofty, isolated peak, looming thousands of feet +towards the sky, and counted upwards of twenty of these beautiful +lakes--sleeping in quiet beauty in their forest beds, surrounded +by primeval woods, overlooked by rugged hills, and their placid waters +glowing in the sunlight. + +It is a high region, from which numerous rivers take their rise to +wander away through gorges and narrow valleys, sometimes rushing down +rapids, plunging over precipices, or moving in deep sluggish currents, +some to Ontario, some to the St. Lawrence, some to Champlain, and some +to seek the ocean, through the valley of the Hudson. The air of this +mountain region in the summer is of the purest, loaded always with the +freshness and the pleasant odors of the forest. It gives strength to +the system, weakened by labor or reduced by the corrupted and +debilitating atmosphere of the cities. It gives elasticity and +buoyancy to the mind depressed by continued toil, or the cares and +anxieties of business, and makes the blood course through the veins +with renewed vigor and recuperated vitality. + +The invalid, whose health is impaired by excessive labor, but who is +yet able to exercise in the open air, will find a visit to these +beautiful lakes and pleasant rivers, and a fortnight or a month's stay +among them, vastly more efficacious in restoring strength and tone to +his system than all the remedial agencies of the most skillful +physicians. I can speak understandingly on this subject, and from +evidences furnished by my own personal experience and observation. + +To the sportsman, whether of the forest or flood, who has a taste for +nature as God threw it from his hand, who loves the mountains, the old +woods, romantic lakes, and wild forest streams, this region is +peculiarly inviting. The lakes, the rivers, and the streams abound in +trout, while abundance of deer feed on the lily pads and grasses that +grow in the shallow water, or the natural meadows that line the shore. +The fish may be taken at any season, and during the months of July and +August he will find deer enough feeding along the margins of the lakes +and rivers, and easily to be come at, to satisfy any reasonable or +honorable sportsman. I have been within fair shooting distance of +twenty in a single afternoon while floating along one of those rivers, +and have counted upwards of forty in view at the same time, feeding +along the margin of one of the beautiful lakes hid away in the +deep forest. + +The scenery I have attempted to describe--the lakes, rivers, +mountains, islands, rocks, valleys and streams, will be found as +recorded in this volume. The game will be found as I have asserted, +unless perchance an army of sportsmen may have thinned it somewhat on +the borders, or driven it deeper into the broad wilderness spoken of. +I was over a portion of that wilderness last summer, and found plenty +of trout and abundance of deer. I heard the howl of the wolf, the +scream of the panther, and the hoarse bellow of the moose, and though +I did not succeed in taking or even seeing any of these latter +animals, yet I or my companion slew a deer every day after we entered +the forest, and might have slaughtered half a dozen had we been so +disposed. Though the excursion spoken of in the following pages was +taken four years ago, yet I found, the last summer, small diminution +of the trout even in the border streams and lakes of the "Saranac and +Rackett woods." + +I have visited portions of this wilderness at least once every summer +for the last ten years, and I have never yet been disappointed with my +fortnight's sport, or failed to meet with a degree of success which +abundantly satisfied me, at least. I have generally gone into the +woods weakened in body and depressed in mind. I have always come out +of them with renewed health and strength, a perfect digestion, and a +buoyant and cheerful spirit. + +For myself, I have come to regard these mountains, these lakes and +streams, these old forests, and all this wild region, as my settled +summer resort, instead of the discomforts, the jam, the excitement, +and the unrest of the watering-places or the sea shore. I visit them +for their calm seclusion, their pure air, their natural cheerfulness, +their transcendent beauty, their brilliant mornings, their glorious +sunsets, their quiet and repose. I visit them too, because when among +them, I can take off the armor which one is compelled to wear, and +remove the watch which one must set over himself, in the crowded +thoroughfares of life; because I can whistle, sing, shout, hurrah and +be jolly, without exciting the ridicule or provoking the contempt of +the world. In short, because I can go back to the days of old, and +think, and act, and feel like "a boy again." + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. + A Great Institution + +CHAPTER II. + Hurrah! for the Country + +CHAPTER III. + The Departure--The Stag Hounds--The Chase--Round Lake + +CHAPTER IV. + The Doctor's Story--A Slippery Fish--A Lawsuit and a + Compromise + +CHAPTER V. + A Frightened Animal--Trolling for Trout--The Boatman's Story + Defence + +CHAPTER VII. + Kinks!--"Dirty Dogs"--The Barking Dog that was found Dead in + the Yard--The Dog that Barked himself to Death + +CHAPTER VIII. + Stony Brook--A Good Time with the Trout--Rackett + River--Tupper's Lake--A Question Asked and Answered + +CHAPTER IX. + Hunting by Torchlight--An Incompetent Judge--A New Sound in + the Forest--Old Sangamo's Donkey + +CHAPTER X. + Grindstone Brook--Forest Sounds--A Funny Tree covered with + Snow Flakes + +CHAPTER XI. + A Convention broken up in a Row--The Chairman ejected + +CHAPTER XII. + The First Chain of Ponds--Shooting by Turns--Sheep + Washing--A Plunge and a Dive--A Roland for an Oliver + +CHAPTER XIII. + A Jolly Time for the Deer--Hunting on the Water by + Daylight--Mud Lake--Funereal Scenery--A New way of + Taking Rabbits--The Negro and the Merino Buck--A + Collision + +CHAPTER XIV. + A Deer Trapped--The Result of a Combat--A Question of Mental + Philosophy Discussed + +CHAPTER XV. + Hooking up Trout--The Left Branch--The Rapids--A Fight with + a Buck + +CHAPTER XVI. + Round Pond--The Pile Driver--A Theory for Spiritualists + +CHAPTER XVII. + Little Tupper's Lake--A Spike Buck--A Thunder Storm in the + Forest--The Howl of the Wolf + +CHAPTER XVIII. + An Exploring Voyage in an Alderswamp--A Beaver Dam--A Fair + Shot and a Miss--Drowning a Bear--an Unpleasant + Passenger + +CHAPTER XIX. + Spalding's Bear Story--Climbing to avoid a Collision--An + Unexpected Meeting--A Race + +CHAPTER XX. + The Chase on the Island--The Chase on the Lake--The + Bear--Gambling for Glory--Anecdote of Noah and the + Gentleman who offered to Officiate as Pilot on Board + the Ark + +CHAPTER XXI. + The Doctor and his Wife on a Fishing Excursion--The Law of + the Case--Strong-minded Women + +CHAPTER XXII. + A Beautiful Flower--A New Lake--A Moose--His Capture--A + Sumptuous Dinner + +CHAPTER XXIII. + The Cricket in the Wall--The Minister's Illustration--Old + Memories + +CHAPTER XXIV. + The Accidents of Life--"Some Men Achieve Greatness, and Some + have Greatness Thrust Upon Them"--A Slide--Rattle at + the Top and an Icy Pool at the Bottom--A Fanciful Story + +CHAPTER XXV. + Headed Towards Home--The Martin and Sable Hunter--His + Cabin--Autumnal Scenery + +CHAPTER XXVI. + A Surprise--A Serenade--A Visit from Strangers--An + Invitation to Breakfast--A Fashionable Hour and a + Bountiful Bill of Fare + +CHAPTER XXVII. + Would I were a Boy Again! + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + Headed Down Stream--Return to Tupper's Lake--The Camp on the + Island + +CHAPTER XXIX. + A Mysterious Sound--Treed by a Moose--Angling for a Powder + Horn--An Unheeded Warning and the Consequences + +CHAPTER XXX. + Good-bye--Floating Down the Rackett--A Black Fox--A Trick + upon the Martin Trappers and its Consequences + +CHAPTER XXXI. + Out of the Woods--The Thousand Islands--Cape Vincent--Bass + Fishing--Home--A Searcher after Truth--An + Interruption--Finis + + + + + + +THE RIFLE AND THE ROD. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A GREAT INSTITUTION. + + +"It is a great institution," I said, or rather thought aloud, one +beautiful summer morning, as my wife was dressing the baby. The little +thing lay upon its face across her lap, paddling and kicking with its +little bare arms and legs, as such little people are very apt to do, +while being dressed. It was not our baby. We have dispensed with that +luxury. And yet it was a sweet little thing, and nestled as closely in +our hearts as if it were our own. It was our first grandchild, the +beginning of a third generation, so that there is small danger of our +name becoming extinct. A friend of mine, who unfortunately has no +voice for song, has a most excellent wife and beautiful baby, and +cannot therefore be said to be without music at home. It is his first +descendant, and everybody knows that such are just the things of which +fathers are very apt to be proud. He was spending an evening with a +neighbor, and was asked to sing. He declined, of course, giving as a +reason that he never sang. "Why, Mr. H----," said a black-eyed little +girl, of seven--"why, Mr. H----, don't you never sing to the baby?" +Sure enough! I wonder if there ever was a civilized, a human man, who +never sang to the baby. I do not believe that there was ever such a +paradox in nature, as a man who had tossed the baby up and down, +balanced it on his hand, given it a ride on his foot, and yet never +sang to it. I do not care a fig about melody of voice, or science in +quavering; I am not talking about sweetness of tone; what I mean to +say is, that I do not believe there is a man living, even though he +have no more voice than a raven, who is human, and yet never sang to +the baby, always assuming that he has one. + +"A great institution," I repeated, half in soliloquy and half to my +wife. + +"What in the world are you talking about?" said Mrs. H----, as she +took a pin from her mouth, and fastened the band that encircled the +waist of the baby. The nurse was looking quietly on, quite willing +that her work should be thus taken off her hands. Will somebody tell +me, if there ever was a grandmother, especially one who became such +young, who could sit by, and see the nurse dress her first, or even +her tenth grandchild, while it was a helpless little thing, say a foot +or a foot and a half long? The nurse is so unhandy; she tumbles the +baby about so roughly, handles it so awkwardly, she will certainly +dress it too loosely, or too tight, or leave a pin that will prick it, +or some terrible calamity will happen. So she takes possession of the +little thing, and with a hand guided by experience and the instincts +of affection, puts its things on in a Christian and comfortable way. + +"A great institution!" I repeated again. + +"I do believe the man has lost his wits," remarked Mrs. H----, handing +the baby to the nurse. "Who ever heard of a baby less than three +months old being called an institution?" + +"Never heard of such a thing in my life," I replied, "though a much +greater mistake might be made." + +"What then, in the name of goodness, have you been talking about?" +inquired Mrs. H----. + +"The COUNTRY of course," I replied. + +I had just returned from a business trip to Vermont--who ever thought +that Vermont would be traversed by railroads, or that the echoes which +dwell among her precipices and mountain fastnesses, would ever wake to +the snort of the iron horse? Who ever thought that the locomotive +would go screaming and thundering along the base of the Green +Mountains, hurling its ponderous train, loaded with human freight, +along the narrow valleys above which mountain peaks hide their heads +in the clouds? How old Ethan Allen and General Stark, "Old Put," and +the other glorious names that enrich the pages of our revolutionary +history, would open their eyes in astonishment, if they could come +back from "the other side of Jordan," and sit for a little while on +their own tombstones in sight of the railroads, and see the trains as +they go rushing like a tornado along their native valleys. + +I had made up my mind that morning, all at once, to go into the +country. It was a sudden resolve, but I acted upon it. Going into the +country is a very different thing from what it used to be. There is no +packing of trunks, or taking leave of friends. You take your satchel +or travelling bag, kiss your wife in a hurry at the door, and jump +aboard of the cars; the whistle sounds, the locomotive breathes +hoarsely for a moment, and you are off like a shot. In ten minutes the +suburbs are behind you; the fields and farms are flying to the rear; +you dash through the woods and see the trees dodging and leaping +behind and around each other, performing the dance of the witches "in +most admired confusion;" in three hours you are among the hills of +Massachusetts, the mountains of Vermont, on the borders of the +majestic Hudson, in the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, a hundred +miles from the good city of Albany, where you can tramp among the wild +or tame things of nature to your heart's content. + +I had for the moment no particular place in view. What I wanted was, +to get outside of the city, among the hills, where I could see the old +woods, the streams, the mountains, and get a breath of fresh air, such +as I used to breathe. I wanted to be free and comfortable for a month; +to lay around loose in a promiscuous way among the hills, where +beautiful lakes lay sleeping in their quiet loveliness; where the +rivers flow on their everlasting course through primeval forests; +where the moose, the deer, the panther and the wolf still range, and +where the speckled trout sport in the crystal waters. I had made up my +mind to throw off the cares and anxieties of business, and visit that +great institution spread out all around us by the Almighty, to make +men healthier, wiser, better. I had resolved to go into the country. +That was a fixed fact. But where? + +There stood my rifle in one corner of the room, and my fishing rods in +the other. The sight of these settled the matter. "I will go to the +North," I said. + +"Go to the North!" said Mrs. H----. "Do tell me if you've got another +of your old hunting and fishing fits on you again?" + +"Yes," I replied, "I've felt it coming on for a week, and I've got it +bad." + +"Very well," said my wife, "if the fit is on you, there's no use in +remonstrating; your valise will be ready by the morning train." And so +the matter was settled. + +But I must have a companion, somebody to talk to and with, somebody +who could appreciate the beauties of nature; who loved the old woods, +the wilderness, and all the wild things pertaining to them; to whom +the forests, the lakes, and tall mountains, the rivers and streams, +would recall the long past; to whom the forest songs and sounds would +bring back the memories of old, and make him "a boy again." So I +sallied out to find him. I had scarcely traversed a square, when I +met my friend, the doctor, with carpet bag in hand, on his way to +the depot. + +"Whither away, my friend?" I inquired, as we shook hands. + +"Into the country," he replied. + +"Very well, but where?" + +"Into the country," he repeated, "don't you comprehend? Into the +country, by the first train; anywhere, everywhere, all along shore." + +"Go with me," said I, "for a month." + +"A month! Bless your simple soul, every patient I've got will be well +in less than half that time; but let them, I'll be avenged on them +another time. But where do _you_ go?" + +"To my old haunts in the North," I replied. + + "To follow the stag to his slip'ry crag, + And to chase the bounding roe." + +"But," said he, "I've no rifle." + +"I've got four." + +"I've no fishing rod." + +"I've half a dozen at your service." + +"Give me your hand," said he; "I'm with you." And so the doctor was +booked. + +"Suppose," said the doctor, "we beat up Smith and Spalding, and take +them along. Smith has got one of his old fits of the hypo. He sent for +me to-day, and. I prescribed a frugal diet and the country. Wild +game, and bleeding by the musquitoes, will do him good. Spalding is +entitled to a holiday, for he's working himself into dyspepsia in this +hot weather." + +"Just the thing;" I replied, and we started to find Smith and +Spalding. We found them, and it was settled that they should go with +us for a month among the mountains. Everybody knows Smith, the +good-natured, eccentric Smith; Smith the bachelor, who has an income +greatly beyond his moderate expenditures, and enough of capital to +spoil, as he says, the orphan children of his sister. By way of saving +them from being thrown upon the cold world with a fortune, he declares +he will spend every dollar of it _himself_, simply out of regard for +_them_. But Smith will do no such thing, and the tenderness with which +he is rearing the two beautiful, black-eyed, raven-haired little +girls, proves that he will not. But Smith has no professional calling +or business, and when his digestion troubles him, he has visions of +the alms-house, and the Potters' Field, and of two mendicant little +girls, while his endorsement would be regarded as good at the bank for +a hundred thousand dollars. + +Spalding, as everybody within a hundred leagues of the capitol knows, +is a lawyer of eminence, full of good-nature, always cheerful, always +instructive; a troublesome opponent at the bar; a man of genial +sympathies and a big heart. If I have given him, as well as Smith, a +_nom de plume_, it is out of regard for their modesty. We arranged to +meet at the cars, the next morning at six, each with a rifle and +fishing rod, to be away for a month among the deer and the trout, +floating over lakes the most beautiful, and along rivers the +pleasantest that the sun ever shone upon. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HURRAH! FOR THE COUNTRY! + + +Hurrah! Hurrah! We are in the country--the glorious country! Outside +of the thronged streets; away from piled up bricks and mortar; outside +of the clank of machinery; the rumbling of carriages; the roar of the +escape pipe; the scream of the steam whistle; the tramp, tramp of +moving thousands on the stone sidewalks; away from the heated +atmosphere of the city, loaded with the smoke and dust, and gasses of +furnaces, and the ten thousand manufactories of villainous smells. We +are beyond even the meadows and green fields. We are here alone with +nature, surrounded by old primeval things. Tall forest trees, mountain +and valley are on the right hand and on the left. Before us, +stretching away for miles, is a beautiful lake, its waters calm and +placid, giving back the bright heavens, the old woods, the fleecy +clouds that drift across the sky, from away down in its quiet depths. +Beyond still, are mountain ranges, whose castellated peaks stand out +in sharp and bold relief, on whose tops the beams of the descending +sun lie like a mantle of silver and gold. Glad voices are ringing; +sounds of merriment make the evening joyous with the music of the wild +things around us. Hark! how from away off over the water, the voice of +the loon comes clear and musical and shrill, like the sound of a +clarion; and note how it is borne about by the echoes from hill to +hill. Hark! again, to that clanking sound away up in the air; metallic +ringing, like the tones of a bell. It is the call of the cock of the +woods as he flies, rising and falling, glancing upward and downward in +his billowy flight across the lake. Hark! to that dull sound, like +blows upon some soft, hollow, half sonorous substance, slow and +measured at first, but increasing in rapidity, until it rolls like the +beat of a muffled drum, or the low growl of the far-off thunder. It is +the partridge drumming upon his log Hark! still again, to that +quavering note, resembling somewhat the voice of the tree-frog when +the storm is gathering, but not so clear and shrill. It is the call of +the raccoon, as he clambers up some old forest tree, and seats himself +among the lowest of its great limbs. Listen to the almost human +halloo, the "hoo! hohoo, hoo!" that comes out from the clustering +foliage of an ancient hemlock. It is the solemn call of the owl, as he +sits among the limbs, looking out from between the branches with his +great round grey eyes. Listen again and you will hear the voice of the +catbird, the brown thrush, the chervink, the little chickadee, the +wood robin, the blue-jay, the wood sparrow, and a hundred other +nameless birds that live and build their nests and sing among these +old woods. + +But go a little nearer the lake, and you will have a concert that will +drown all these voices in its tumultuous roar. Compared to these +feeble strains, it is the crashing of Julien's hundred brazen +instruments to the soft and sweet melody of Ole Bull's violin. Come +with me to this rocky promontory; stand with me on this moss-covered +boulder, which forms the point. On either hand is a little bay, the +head of which is hidden around among the woods. See! over against us, +on the limb of that dead fir tree, which leans out over the water, is +a bald eagle, straightening with his hooked beak the feathers of his +wings, and pausing now and then to look out over the water for some +careless duck of which to make prey. See! he has leaped from his +perch, has spread his broad pinions, and is soaring upward towards the +sky. See! how he circles round and round, mounting higher and higher +at every gyration. He is like a speck in the air. But see! he is above +the mountains now, and how like an arrow he goes, straight forward, +with no visible motion to his wings. He has laid his course for some +lake, deeper in the wilderness, beyond that range of hills, and he is +there, even while we are talking of his flight. A swift bird, the +swiftest of all the birds, is the eagle, when he takes his descending +stoop from his place away up in the sky. He cleaves the air like a +bullet, and so swift is his career that the eye can scarcely trace his +flight. But, hark! all is still now, save the piping notes of the +little peeper along the shore. Wait, however, a moment. There, hear +that venerable podunker off to the right, with his deep bass, like the +sound of a brazen serpent. Listen! another deep voice on the left has +fallen in. There, another right over against us! another and another +still! a dozen! a hundred! a thousand! ten thousand! a million of +them! close by us! far off! on the right hand and on the left! here! +there! everywhere! until above, around us, all through the woods, all +along the shore, all over the lake is a solid roar, impenetrable to +any other sound, surging and swaying, rolling and swelling as if all +the voices in the world were concentrated in one stupendous concert. + +But, hark! the roar is dying away; voice after voice drops out; here +and there is one laggard in the song, still dragging out the chorus. +Now all is still again, save the note of the little peeper along the +shore. In two minutes that band will strike up again. The roar will go +bellowing over the lake through the woods, to be thrown from hill to +hill, to die away into silence again; and so it will be through all +the long night, and until the sun looks out from among the tree tops +in the morning. Touch that solemn looking old croaker on yonder broad +leaf of that pond lily, with the end of your fishing rod, while the +music is at the highest, he will send forth a quick discordant and +cracked cry, like that of a greedy dog choked with a bone, as he +plunges for the bottom; and note how suddenly that sound will be +repeated, and how quick the roar of the frogs will be hushed into +silence. That is a cry of alarm, a note of danger, and every frog +within hearing understands its import. + +Is it asked _where_ we are? I answer, we are on the Lower Saranac +Lake, just on the south point, at the entrance of the romantic little +bay, at the head of which stands Martin's Lake House, the only human +dwelling in sight of this beautiful sheet of water. On the point where +we now are, long ago, was the log shanty of a hunter and fisherman, +surrounded by an acre or two of cleared land. But its occupant moved +deeper into the wilderness, over on the waters of the Rackett, many +years since; the log shanty has rotted away, and a vigorous growth of +brush and small timber, now covers what once may have been called +a field. + +But the night shadows are beginning to gather over the forest, +throwing a sort of spectral gloom among the old woods, giving a +distorted look to the trunks of the trees, the low bushes, the turned +up roots, and the boulders scattered over the ground. See what ogre +shapes these things assume as the darkness deepens. Look at that cedar +bush, with its dense foliage! It is a crouching lion, and as its +branches wave in the gentle breeze, he seems preparing for his leap; +and yonder boulder is a huge elephant! The root that comes out from +the crevice is his trunk, and the moss and lichens which hang down on +either side are his pendant ears; and see, he has a great tower on his +back, wherein is seated a warrior in his ancient armor, grasping +battle-axe and spear. Beyond, through that opening upon the bay, is a +castle looming darkly against the sky, with massive towers and +arched gateway. Such are the forms which fancy gives to these forest +things, in the doubtful twilight of a summer evening. While we have +been looking upon these unsubstantial shadows, the sunlight has left +the mountain peaks, the stars have come out in the sky, and the moon +has started on her course across the heavens. + +Let us rest on our oars a moment, here in the bay, to view the scenery +around us, as seen by the mellow moonlight. So calm, so still, so +motionless are both air and water, that we seem suspended between the +sky above, sparkling and glowing with millions of bright stars, and +the moon riding gloriously on her course, and a sky beneath, sparkling +and glowing with like millions of bright stars, and the same moon, or +its counterpart, floating away down in fathomless depths below us. +See, how the same hillside, the same line of forest trees, the same +ranges and mountain peaks are reflected back from the stirless bosom +of the lake. There, above, and just on the upper line of that tall +peak, looming darkly and majestically in the distance, hangs a +brilliant star, sparkling and twinkling, like the sheen of a diamond; +and right beneath, away down just as far below the surface of the +water as mountain peak and star are above it, is another mountain peak +and bright star, twinned by the mirrored waters. See, away down the +lake, that little island with its half dozen spruce trees, clustered +together! How like a great war vessel it looks, with sails all set, as +seen by the uncertain light of the moon. And that other island, off to +the left, with the dead and barkless trees, how like a tall ship with +bare masts riding at anchor it seems. That other island, away to the +right, with its great boulders and bare rocks rising straight up out +of the water, is a fortification, a stronghold surrounded by a wall of +solid masonry, and bristling with cannon. We can almost see the +sentinel, and hear his measured tramp as he travels his lonely rounds, +keeping watch out over the waters. See all along the shore, as you +look up the bay towards the Lake House, how the millions of fireflies +flash their tiny torches, upward and downward, this way and that, +mingling and crossing, and gyrating and whirling--a troubled and +billowy sea of millions upon millions of glowing and sparkling gems. + +Reader, were you and I gifted with the spirit of poetry, what +inspiration would we not gather from the glories which surround us, as +we float of a summer evening over these beautiful lakes, sleeping away +out here, in all their virgin loveliness, among these old primeval +things? But you ask, "what inspiration can there be in a moon and +stars, that we see every night, when the sky is cloudless; in a +desolate wilderness; the roar of the frogs; the hooting of owls; these +useless waters; the phosphorescent flash of lightning bugs; these +piled up rocks and barren mountains? Can you grow corn on these hills, +or make pastures of these rocky lowlands? Can you harness these rivers +to great waterwheels, or make reservoirs of these lakes? Can you +convert these old forests into lumber or cordwood? Can you quarry +these rocks, lay them up with mortar into houses, mills, churches, +public edifices? Can you make what you call these 'old primeval +things' utilitarian? Can you make them minister to the progress of +civilization, or coin them into dollars?" + +Pshaw! You have spoiled, with your worldliness, your greed for +progress, your thirst for gain, a pleasant fancy, a glorious dream, as +if everything in the heavens, on the earth, or in the waters, were to +be measured by the dollar and cent standard, and unless reducible to a +representative of moneyed value, to be thrown, as utterly worthless, +away. Let us row back to the Lake House. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DEPARTURE--THE STAG HOUNDS--THE CHASE--ROUND LAKE. + + +From Martin's Lake House we were to take our departure in the morning. +We had arranged for three boats, and as many stalwart boatmen. Two of +these boats were for our own conveyance, and one for our luggage and +provisions; the latter to be sent forward with our tents in advance, +so as to have a home ready for us always, at our coming, when we chose +to linger by the way. These boatmen were all jolly, good-natured and +pleasant people, with a vast deal of practical sense, and a valuable +experience in woodcraft, albeit they were rough and unpolished. Their +hearts were in the right place, and they commanded our respect always +for their kindness and attention to our wants, while they maintained +at all times that sturdy independence which enters so largely into the +character of the border men of our country. Their boats are +constructed of spruce or cedar boards of a quarter of an inch in +thickness, "clap-boarded," as the expression is, upon "knees" of the +natural crook, and weigh from ninety to one hundred and ten pounds +each. They are carried around rapids, or from river to river, on the +back of the boatman in this wise: A "yoke" is provided, such as every +man in the country, especially all who have visited a "sugar bush" at +the season of sugar making, has seen. At the end of this yoke is a +round iron projection, made to fit into a socket in the upper rave of +the boat. The craft is turned bottom upwards, the yoke adjusted to the +shoulders, the iron projections fitted into the sockets, and the +boatman marches off with his boat, like a turtle with his shell upon +his back. He will carry it thus sometimes half a mile before +stopping to rest. + +With us were to go two staid and sober stag hounds, grave in aspect +and trained and experienced, almost, in woodcraft, as their masters; +animals that had been reared together, and who possessed the rare +instinct of returning always to the shanty from which they started, +however far the chase may have led them. It was a glorious sound in +the old forests, the music of those two hounds, as their voices rang +out bold and free, like a bugle, and went, ringing through the forest, +echoing among the mountains and dying away over the lakes. But of that +hereafter. + +Our little fleet swung out upon the water, while the sun was yet +hanging like a great torch among the tops of the trees, on the eastern +hills. It was a beautiful morning, so fresh, so genial, so balmy. A +pleasant breeze came sweeping lazily over the lake, and went sighing +and moaning among the old forest trees. All around us were glad +voices. The partridge drummed upon his log; the squirrels chattered as +they chased each other up and down the great trunks of the trees; the +loon lifted up his clarion voice away out upon the water; the eagle +and the osprey screamed as they hovered high above us in the air, +while a thousand merry voices came from out the old woods, all +mingling in the harmony of nature's gladness. A loud and repeated +hurrah! burst from us all as our oars struck the water, and sent our +little boats bounding over the rippled surface of the beautiful +Saranac. + +This is a indeed a beautiful sheet of water. The shores were lined +with a dense and unbroken forest, stretching back to the mountains +which surround it. The old wood stood then in all its primeval +grandeur, just as it grew. The axe had not harmed it, nor had fire +marred its beauty. The islands were covered with a lofty growth of +living timber clothed in the deepest green. There were not then, as +now, upon some of them, great dead trees reaching out their long bare +arms in verdureless desolation above a stinted undergrowth, and piled +up trunks charred and blackened by the fire that had revelled among +them, but all were green, and thrifty, and glorious in their robes of +beauty. Thousands of happy songsters carolled gaily among their +branches, or hid themselves in the dense foliage of their +wide-spreading arms. The islands are a marked feature of these +northern lakes, lending a peculiar charm to their quiet beauty, and +one day, when the iron horse shall go thundering through these +mountain gorges, the tourist will pause to make a record of their +loveliness. + +Four or five miles down the lake, is a beautiful bay, stretching for +near half a mile around a high promontory, almost reaching another bay +winding around a like promontory beyond, leaving a peninsula of five +hundred acres joined to the main land, by a narrow neck of some forty +rods in width. Our first sport among the deer was to be the "driving" +of this peninsula. We stationed ourselves on the narrow isthmus within +a few rods of each other, while a boatman went round to the opposite +side to lay on the dogs. We had been at our posts perhaps half an +hour, when we heard the measured bounds of a deer, as he came crashing +through the forest. We could see his white flag waving above the +undergrowth, as he came bounding towards us. Neither Smith nor +Spalding had ever seen a deer in his native woods, and they were, by a +previous arrangement, to have the first shot, if circumstances should +permit it. The noble animal came dashing proudly on his way, as if in +contempt of the danger he was leaving behind him. Of the greater +danger into which he was rushing, he was entirely unconscious, until +the crack of Smith's rifle broke upon his astonished ear. He was +unharmed, however, and quick as thought he wheeled and plunged back in +the direction from which he came; Spalding's rifle, as it echoed +through the forest, with the whistling of the ball in close proximity +to his head, added energy to his flight. + +The rifles were scarcely reloaded when the deep baying of the hounds +was heard, and two more deer came crashing across the isthmus where we +were stationed. The foremost one went down before the doctor's +unerring rifle and cool aim, while the other ran the gauntlet of the +three other rifles, horribly frightened, but unharmed, away. The +hounds were called off, and with our game in one of the boats, we +rowed back around the promontory, and passed on towards the Saranac +River, which connects by a tortuous course of five miles, the Lower +Saranac with Round Lake. + +Midway between these two lakes, is a fall, or rather rapids, down +which the river descends some ten feet in five or six rods through a +narrow rocky channel, around which the boats had to be carried. While +this was being done, Smith and Spalding adjusted their rods, eager to +make up in catching trout what they failed to achieve in the matter of +venison. And they succeeded. In twenty minutes they had fifteen +beautiful fish, none weighing less than half a pound, safely deposited +on the broad flat rock at the head of the rapids. "One throw more," +said Smith, "and I've done;" and he cast his fly across the still +water just above the fall. Quick as thought it was taken by a +two-pound trout. Landing nets and gaff had been sent forward with the +baggage, and without these it was an exciting and delicate thing to +land that fish. The game was, to prevent him dashing away down the +rapids, or diving beneath the shelving rock above, the sharp edge of +which would have severed the line like a knife. Skillfully and +beautifully Smith played him for a quarter of an hour, until at last +the fish turned his orange belly to the surface, and ceased to +struggle. He was drowned. + +We had in the morning directed the boatman in charge of the baggage to +go on in advance, and erect our tents on an island in Round Lake. When +we entered this beautiful sheet of water, about four o'clock, we saw +the white tents standing near the shore of the island, with a column +of smoke curling gracefully up among the tall trees that overshadowed +them. When we arrived, we found everything in order. They were pitched +in a pleasant spot, looking out to the west over the water, while +within were beds of green boughs from the spruce and fir trees, and +bundles of boughs tied up like faggots for pillows. Our first dinner +in the wilderness was a pleasant one, albeit the cookery was somewhat +primitive. With fresh venison and trout, seasoned with sweet salt +pork, we got through with it uncomplainingly. + +This little lake is a gem. It is, as its name purports, round, some +four miles in diameter, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, +beneath whose shadows it reposes in placid and quiet beauty. On the +northeast, Ballface Mountain rears its tall head far above the +intervening ranges, while away off in the east Mount Marcy and Mount +Seward stand out dim and shadowy against the sky. Nearer are the Keene +Ranges, ragged and lofty, their bare and rocky summits glistening in +the sunlight, while nearer still the hills rise, sometimes with steep +and ragged acclivity, and sometimes gently from the shore. Here and +there a valley winds away among the highlands, along which the +mountain streams come bounding down rapids, or moving in deep and +sluggish, but pure currents, towards the lake. The rugged and sublime, +with the placid and beautiful, in natural scenery, are magnificently +mingled in the surroundings of this little sheet of water. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DOCTOR'S STORY--A SLIPPERY FISH--A LAWSUIT AND A COMPROMISE. + + +There seems to be a law, or rather a habit pertaining to forest life, +into which every one falls, while upon excursions such as ours. +Stories occupy the place of books, and tales of the marvellous furnish +a substitute for the evening papers. Not that there should be any set +rule or system, in regard to the ordering of the matter, but a sort of +spontaneous movement, an implied understanding, growing out of the +necessities of the position of isolation occupied by those who are +away from the resources of civilization. The doctor had a genius for +story telling, or rather a genius for invention, which required only a +moderate development of the organ of credulity on the part of his +hearers, to render him unrivalled. There was an appearance of frank +earnestness about his manner of relating his adventures, which, +however improbable or even impossible as matter of fact they might be, +commanded, for the moment, absolute credence. + +"They've a curious fish in the St. Lawrence," said the doctor, as he +knocked the ashes from his meerschaum, and refilled it, "known among +the fishermen of that river as the LAWYER. I have never seen it among +any other of the waters of this country, and never there but once. It +never bites at a hook, and is taken only by gill-nets, or the seine. +Everybody," he continued, "has visited the Thousand Islands, or if +everybody has not, he had better go there at once. He will find them, +in the heat of summer, not only the coolest and most healthful +retreat, and the pleasantest scenery that the eye ever rested upon, +always excepting these beautiful lakes, but the best river fishing I +know of on this continent. He will not, to be sure, take the speckled +trout that we find in this region, but he will be among the black +bass, the pickerel, muscalunge, and striped bass, in the greatest +abundance, and ready to answer promptly any reasonable demand which he +may make upon them. Think of reeling in a twenty-pound pickerel, or a +forty-pound muscalunge, on a line three hundred feet in length, +playing him for half an hour, and landing him safely in your boat at +last! There's excitement for you worth talking about. + +"I stopped over night at Cape Vincent, last summer, on my way to 'the +Thousand Islands,' on a fishing excursion of a week. I was acquainted +with an old fisherman of that place, and agreed to go out with him the +next morning, to see what luck he had with the fish. I don't think +much of that kind of fishing, though it is well enough for those who +make a business of it, for the gill-net works, as the old man said, +while the fisherman sleeps, and all he gets in that way is clear gain. + +"Well, I rose early the next morning to go out with the old fisherman +to his gill-nets. It would have done you good, as it did me, to see +how merry every living thing was. The birds, how jolly they were, and +how refreshing the breeze was that came stealing over the water, +making one feel as if he would like to shout and hurrah in the +buoyancy, the brightness, and glory of the morning. But I am not going +to be poetical about the sunrise, and the singing birds. We went out +upon the river just as the sun came up with his great, round, red +face, for there was a light smoky haze floating above the eastern +horizon, and threw his light like a stream of crimson flame across the +water; and the meadow lark perched upon his fence stake, the blackbird +upon his alderbush, the brown thrush on the topmost spray of the wild +thorn, and the bob-o'-link, as he leaped from the meadow and poised +himself on his fluttering wings in mid air, all sent up a shout of +gladness as if hailing the god of the morning. + +"We came to the nets and began to draw in. You ought to have seen the +fish. There were pickerel from four to ten pounds in weight, white +fish, black bass, rock bass, Oswego bass, and pike by the dozen; and, +what was a stranger to me, a queer looking specimen of the piscatory +tribes, half bull-head, and half eel, with a cross of the lizard. + +"'What on earth is that?' said I, to the fisherman. "'That,' said he, +'is a species of ling; we call it in these parts a LAWYER' + +"'A lawyer!' said I; 'why, pray?' + +"'I don't know,' he replied, 'unless it's because he ain't of much +use, and is the slipriest fish that swims.' + +"Mark," continued the doctor, turning to Spalding; "I mean no +personality. I am simply giving the old fisherman's words, not +my own." + +"Proceed with the case," said Spalding, as he sent a column of smoke +curling upward from his lips, and with a gravity that was refreshing. + +"Well," resumed the doctor, "the LAWYERS were thrown by themselves, +and one old fat fellow, weighing, perhaps, five or six pounds, fixed +his great, round, glassy eyes upon me, and opened his ugly mouth, and +I thought I heard him say, interrogatively, 'Well,' as if demanding +that the _case_ should proceed at once. + +"'Well,' said I, in reply, 'what's out?' + +"'What's out!' he answered; '_I'm_ out--I'm out of my element--out of +water--out of court--and in this hot, dry atmosphere, almost out of +breath. But what have I been summoned here for? I demand a copy of the +complaint.' + +"'My dear sir,' said I, 'I'm not a member of the court. I don't belong +to the bar--I'm not the plaintiff--I'm not in the profession, nor on +the bench. I'm neither sheriff, constable nor juror. I'm only a +spectator. In the Rackett Woods, among the lakes and streams of that +wild region, with a rod and fly, I'm at home with the trout, but;----' +"'Oh! ho!' he exclaimed with a chuckle, 'you're the chap I was +consulted about down near the mouth of the Rackett the other day, by a +country trout, who was on a journey to visit his relatives in the +streams of Canada. He showed me a hole in his jaw, made by your hook +at the mouth of the Bog river. I've filed a summons and complaint +against you for assault and battery, and beg to notify you of +the fact.' + +"'I plead the general issue,' said I. + +"'There's no such thing known to the code,' he replied. + +"'I deny the fact, then,' I exclaimed. + +"'That won't do,' he rejoined; "'the complaint is put in under oath, +and you must answer by affidavit, of the truth of your denial.' + +"You see my dilemma. I remembered the circumstance of hooking a noble +trout at the place alleged, and as the affair has been settled, I'll +tell you how it was. At the head of Tupper's Lake, one of the most +beautiful sheets of water that the sun ever shone upon, lying alone +among the mountains, surrounded by old primeval forests, walled in by +palisadoes of rocks, and studded with islands, the Bog River enters; +this river comes down from the hills away back in the wilderness, +sometimes rushing with a roar over rocks and through gorges, sometimes +plunging down precipices, and sometimes moving with a deep and +sluggish current across a broad sweep of table land. For several miles +back of the lake, and until a few rods of the shore, it is a calm, +deep river. It then rushes down a steep, shelving rock some twenty +feet into a great rocky basin; then down again over a shelving rock in +a fall of twenty feet into another rocky basin; and then again in +another fall of twenty or thirty feet, over a steep, shelving rock, +shooting with a swift current far out into the lake. These falls +constitute a beautiful cascade, and their roar may be heard of a calm, +summer evening, for miles out on the placid water. + +"At the foot of these falls, in the summer season, the trout +congregate; beautiful large fellows, from one to three pounds in +weight; and a fly trailed across the current, or over the eddies, just +at its outer edge, is a thing at which they are tolerably sure to +rise. Well, last summer, I was out that way among the lakes that lie +sleeping in beauty, and along the streams that flow through the old +woods, playing the savage and vagabondizing in a promiscuous way. The +river was low, and a broad rock, smooth and bare, sloping gently to +the water's edge, under which the stream whirled as it entered the +lake, and above which tall trees towered, casting over it a pleasant +shade, presented a tempting place to throw the fly. I cast over the +current, and trailed along towards the edge of the rock, when a +three-pounder rose from his place down in the deep water. He didn't +come head foremost, nor glancing upward, but rose square up to the +surface, and pausing a single instant, darted forward like an arrow +and seized the fly. Well, away he plunged with the hook in his jaw, +bending my elastic rod like a reed, the reel hissing as the line spun +away eighty or a hundred feet across the current, and far out into +the lake; but he was fast, and after struggling for a time, he +partially surrendered, and I reeled him in. Slowly, and with a sullen +struggling, he was drawn towards the shore, sometimes with his head +out of water, and sometimes diving towards the bottom. At last, he +caught sight of me, and with renewed energy he plunged away again, +clear across the current and out into the lake. But the tension of the +elastic rod working against him steadily, and always, was too much for +his strength, and again I reeled him in, struggling still, though +faintly. Slowly, but steadily, I reeled him to my hand. He was just by +the edge of the rock, almost within reach of my landing net, when, +with a last desperate effort to escape, he plunged towards the bottom, +made a dive under the rock, the line came against its edge, slipped +gratingly for a moment, snapped, and the fish was gone. He was a +beautiful trout, and beautifully he played. He deserved freedom on +account of the energy with which he struggled for it. + +"You will see, therefore, that, as I said, I was in a dilemma. The +action against me was well brought. I could not deny the truth of the +facts charged against me in the complaint. In this position of +affairs, three alternatives presented themselves; first, a denial of +the truth of the complaint, but that involved perjury; secondly, +admission of the facts charged, but that involved conviction; and, +thirdly, a compromise, and the latter one I adopted. + +"'Can't this thing be settled,' said I, to the old lawyer fish of the +St. Lawrence, 'without litigation? me and my four companions +overboard, place us in _statu quo_, and the action shall be +discontinued.' + +"'Agreed,' said I, and I reached down to enter upon the performance of +my part of the contract. + +"'Wait a moment,' said he, curling up his shaky tail, 'the costs--who +pays the costs?' + +"'The costs!' I replied, 'each pays his own, of course.' + +"'Not so fast,' he exclaimed, 'not quite so fast. You must pay the +costs, or the suit goes on.' + +"There was something human in the tenacity with which that old +'lawyer' clung to the idea of costs. There he was gasping for breath, +his life depending upon the result of the negotiation, and still he +insisted upon the payment of costs as a condition of compromise." + +"Probably out of regard for the interest of his client," said +Spalding, gravely; "but proceed with the case." + +"'Fisherman,' said I," resumed the Doctor, "'what is the cost of these +five _lawyers_? How much for the fee simple of the lot?' + +"'They ain't worth but ninepence,' he replied. + +"'Good,' said I, 'here's a shilling, York currency.' + +"'Agreed,' said he, and threw in a sucker, by way of change. + +"'Anything more?' I asked of the old cormorant lawyer. + +"'No,' he replied; 'all right--so toss us overboard, and be quick, for +my breath is getting a little short.' I threw them over, one at a +time, the old fellow last, and as he slipped from my hand into the +river, he thrust his ugly face out of the water, and said, coolly, +'Good morning! When you come our way again, _drop in_.' + +"'No,' said I, 'I'll _drop a line._' I remembered how I 'dropped in,' +over on Long Lake, one day, and had no inclination to drop in to the +St. Lawrence, especially when there are old lawyer fishes there to +summon me for assault and battery on a 'Shatagee trout.'" + +"Doctor," said Hank Martin, one of our boatmen, who had been listening +to the Doctor's narrative, "I don't want to be considered for'ard or +sassy, but I'd like to know how much of these kinds of stories we +hired folks are obligated to believe?" + +"Well," replied the Doctor, "there are three of you in all, and +between you, you must make up a reasonable case, as Spalding would +say, of faith in everything you may hear. This you may do by dividing +it up among you." + +"Very good," said Martin, with imperturbable gravity; "I only wanted a +fair understanding of the matter on the start." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A FRIGHTENED ANIMAL--TROLLING FOR TROUT--THE BOATMAN'S STORY. + + +We sat in front of our tents, enjoying the delightful breeze that +swept quietly over the lake, and watching the stars as they stole out +from the depths. The whippoorwill piped away in the old forests, and +the frogs bellowed like ten thousand buffaloes along the shore. The +roar of their hoarse voices went rolling over the lake, through the +old woods, and surging up against the mountains to be thrown back by +the echoes that dwell among the hills. We had knocked the ashes from +our pipes, and were about retiring to our tents for the night, when a +long wake in the water across the line of the moon's reflection, +attracted our attention. It was evidently made by some animal +swimming, and the Doctor and Martin started in pursuit. It proved to +be a deer which was apparently making its way to an island, midway +across the lake. They had no desire to slaughter it, and they +concluded to drive it ashore where we were. They headed it in the +proper direction, and followed the terrified animal as it swam for +life towards the island on which we were encamped. We understood their +purpose, and sat perfectly silent. The deer struck the island directly +in front of our tent, and dashed forward in wild affright, right +through the midst of us, towards the thicket in our rear, glad to be +rid of his pursuers on the water. As he bounded past us, we sprang up +and shouted, and if ever a dumb animal was astonished it was that +deer. He leaped up a dozen feet into the air, bleated out in the +extremity of his terror, and plunged madly forward, as if a whole +legion of fiends were at his tail. The stag hounds which were tied to +a sapling, by their fierce baying, added vigor to his flight. We heard +his snort at every bound across the island, and his plunge into the +lake on the other side. + +In the morning we sent forward our boatman with the tents and baggage +to an island on the Upper Saranac, and coasted this pleasant little +lake. On the right, as you approach the head, is a deep bay, skirted +by a natural meadow, where the rank wild grass, and the pond lilies +that grow along the shore furnish a rich pasture for the deer. We saw +several feeding quietly like sheep, on the little plain and upon the +lily pads in the edge of the water. We paddled silently to within a +dozen rods of them, when, as they discovered us, they dashed snorting +and whistling away. + +On the right of this meadow, and among the tall forest trees are +great boulders which, piled up and partly obscured by the undergrowth, +resemble from the lake the massive ruins of some ancient +fortification. We landed by a spring, which came bubbling up from +beneath one of these great moss-covered rocks, to lunch. It was a +pleasant spot, and while we sat there dozens of small birds, of the +size and general appearance of the cuckoo, save in their hooked beaks, +attracted by the scent of our cold meats, came hopping tamely about on +the lower limbs of the forest trees around us. They were called by our +boatmen, "meat hawks," and have less fear of man than any wild birds +that I have ever seen. + +We crossed the carrying place of a quarter of a mile around the +rapids, in which distance the river falls some sixty feet, roaring and +tumbling down ledges and boiling in mad fury around boulders. We +entered the Upper Saranac at the hour appointed, and found our tents +pitched and a dinner of venison and trout awaiting us on the island +selected for our encampment. + +As the sun sank behind the hills, the breeze died away, and the lake +lay without a ripple around as, so calm, so smooth, and still, that it +seemed to have sunk quietly to sleep in its forest bed. The fish were +jumping in every direction, and while the rest of us sat smoking our +meerchaums after dinner, or rather supper, Smith rigged his trolling +rod, and having caught half a dozen minnows, he with Martin, rowed out +upon the water to troll for the lake trout. These are a very different +fish from the speckled trout of the streams and rivers. They had none +of the golden specks of the latter, are of a darker hue, and much +larger. They are dotted with brown spots, like freckles upon the face +of a fair-skinned girl. They are shorter too, in proportion to their +weight than the speckled trout. They are caught in these lakes, +weighing from three to fifteen pounds, and instances have been known +of their attaining to the weight of five and twenty. It is an exciting +sport to take one of these large fellows on a line of two hundred and +fifty or three hundred feet in length. They play beautifully when +hooked, and it requires a good deal of coolness and skill to land them +safely in your boat. A trolling rod for these large fish should be +much stiffer, and stronger than those used for the fly, on the rivers +and streams; and the reel should be stronger and higher geared than +the common fly reel. Three hundred feet of line are necessary, for the +fish, if he is a large one, will sometimes determine upon a long +flight, and it will not do to exhaust your line in his career. In that +case, he will snap it like a pack-thread. An English bass rod is the +best, and with such, and a large triple action reel, the largest fish +of these lakes may be secured. + +Smith had trolled scarcely a quarter of a mile, when his hook was +struck by a trout, and then commenced a struggle that was pleasant to +witness. No sooner had the fish discovered that the hook was in his +jaw, than away he dashed towards the middle of the lake. The rod was +bent into a semicircle, but the game was fast; with the butt firm +between his knees and his thumb pressing the reel, the sportsman gave +him a hundred and fifty feet of line, when his efforts began to relax, +and as Smith began to reel him in, a moment of dead pull, a holding +back like an obstinate mule occurred. The trout was slowly towed in +the direction of the boat. Then, as if maddened by the force which +impelled him, he dashed furiously forward, the reel answering to his +movements and the line always taught, he rose to the surface leaping +clear from the water, shaking his head furiously as if to throw loose +the fastenings from his jaw. Failing in this, down he plunged fifty +feet straight towards the bottom, making the reel hiss by his mad +efforts to escape. Still the line was taught, pressing always, towing +him towards the boat at every relaxation. At last he rose to the +surface, panting and exhausted, permitting himself to be towed almost +without an effort, to within twenty feet of his captors. When he saw +them, all his fright and all his energies too seemed to be restored, +and away he dashed, sciving through the water a hundred and fifty feet +out into the lake. But the hook was in his jaw, and he could not +escape. After half an hour of beautiful and exciting play, he +surrendered or was drowned, and Smith lifted him with his landing net, +a splendid ten-pound trout, into his boat. By this time the shadows of +twilight were gathering over the lake, and he came ashore. A proud man +was Smith, as he lifted that fish from the boat and handed it over to +the cook to be dressed for breakfast, and though we had seen the whole +performance from our tents, yet he gave us in glowing and graphic +detail the history of his taking that ten-pound trout. + +"Captain," said Hank Wood, who had been quietly whitling out a new set +of tent pins, addressing Smith, "you had a good time of it with that +trout, but it was nothing to an adventer of mine with an old +mossy-back, on this lake, five year ago this summer." + +"How was that?" inquired Smith; and we all gathered around to hear +Hank Wood's story. + +"I don't know how it is," he began, as he seated himself on the log in +front of the tents, with one leg hanging down, and the other drawn up +with the heel of his boot caught on a projection in the bark, his knee +almost even with his nose, and his fingers locked across his shin, "I +don't know exactly why, but the catching of that trout makes me think +of an adventer I had on this very lake, five year ago this summer. It +is curious how things will lay around in a man's memory, every now and +then startin' up and presentin' themselves, ready to be talked +about--reeled off--as it were, and then how quietly they coil +themselves away, to lay there, till some new sight, or sound, or idea, +or feelin' stirs 'em into life, and they come up again fresh and plain +as ever. Some people talk about forgotten things, but I don't believe +that any matter that gets fairly anchored in a man's mind, can ever be +forgotten, until age has broken the power of memory. It is there, and +will stay there, in spite of the ten thousand other things that get +piled in on top of it, and some day it will come popping out like a +cork, just as good and distinct as new. But I was talkin' about an +adventer I had with a trout, five year ago, here on the Upper +Saranac. I was livin' over on the _Au Sable_ then, and came over to +these parts to spend a week or so, and lay in a store of jerked +venison and trout for the winter. I brought along a bag of salt, and +two or three kegs that would hold a hundred pound or so apiece, and +filled 'em too with as beautiful orange-meated fellows as you'd see in +a day's drive. The trout were plentier than they are now. They hadn't +been fished by all the sportin' men in creation, and they had a chance +to grow to their nateral size. You wouldn't in them days row across +any of these lakes in the trollin' season without hitchin' on to an +eight, or ten, and now and then to a twenty-pounder. + +"Wal, I was on the Upper Saranac, up towards the head of the lake, ten +or twelve miles from here, trollin' with an old-fashioned line, about +as big as a pipe stem, a hundred and fifty feet long, and a hook to +match. Nobody in them days tho't of sich contrivances as +trollin'-rods, reels, and minny-gangs. You held your lines in your +fingers, and when you hooked a fish, you drew him in, hand over hand, +in a human way. It was in the latter part of June, and the way the +black flies swarmed along the shore, was a thing to set anybody a +scratchin' that happened to be around. It was a clear still mornin', +and the sun as he went up into the heavens, blazed away, and as he +walked across the sky, if he didn't pour down his heat like a furnace, +I wouldn't say so. I had tolerable good luck in the forenoon, and +landed on a rocky island to cook dinner. I made such a meal as a +hungry man makes when he's out all alone fishin' and huntin' about +these waters, and started off across the lake, with my trollin' line +to the length of a hundred feet or more, draggin' through the water +behind me. The breeze had freshened a little, and my boat drifted +about fast enough for trollin', and feelin' a little drowsy, I tied +the end of the line to the cleets across the knees of the boat, and +lay down in the bottom with my hand out over the side holdin' the +line. I hadn't laid there long, when I felt a twitch as if something +mighty big was medlin' with the other end of the string. I started up +and undertook to pull in, but you might as well undertake to drag an +elephant with a thread. I couldn't move him a hair. Pretty soon the +boat began to move up the lake in a way I didn't at all like. At first +it went may be three miles an hour, then five, ten, twenty, forty, +sixty miles the hour, round and round the lake, as if hurled along by +a million of locomotives. We went skiving around among the islands, +into the bays, along the shore, away out across the lake, crossing and +re-crossing in every direction; and if there's a place about this lake +we didn't visit, I should like to have somebody tell me where it is. +You may think it made my hair stand out some, to find myself flyin' +about like a streak of chain lightnin', and to see the trees and rocks +flyin' like mad the other way. I tried to untie the line, but it was +drawn into a knot so hard, that the old Nick himself couldn't move it. +I looked for my knife to cut it, but it had, somehow, got overboard in +our flight, besides flyin' about at the rate of sixty mile an hour, +kept a fellow pretty busy holdin' on, keepin' his place in the boat. + +"After an hour or two we came to a pause, and the old feller that was +towin' me about, walked up to the surface, and stickin' his head out +of the water, 'Good mornin',' says he, in a very perlite sort of way. +'Good mornin',' says I, back again. 'How goes it?' says he. 'All +right,' says I. 'Step this way and I'll take the hook out of your +gums.' 'Thank you for nothing,' says he, and he opened his month like +the entrance to a railroad tunnel, and blame me, if he hadn't taken a +double hitch of the line around his eye tooth, while the hook hung +harmless beside his jaw. + +"'I've a little business down in the lower lake,' says he, 'and must +be movin',' and away he bolted like a steam engine, down the lake. +When he straightened up, my hat flew more than sixty yards behind me, +and the way I came down into the bottom of the boat was anything but +pleasant. Away we tore down towards the outlet, the boat cuttin' and +plowin' through the water, pilin' it up in great furrows ten feet high +on each side. There is, as you know, sixty feet fall between the Upper +Saranac and Round Lake, and the river goes boilin' and roarin', +tumblin' and heavin' down the rapids and over the rocks, pitchin' in +some places square down a dozen feet among the boulders. No sensible +man would think of travellin' that road in a little craft like mine, +unless he'd made up his mind to see how it would seem to be drowned, +or smashed to pieces agin the rocks. But right down the rapids we +went, swifter than an eagle in his stoop, down over the boilin' +eddies, down over the foamin' surge, down the perpendicular falls, as +if the old Nick himself was kickin' us on end. How we got down I won't +undertake to say, but when I got breath and looked out over the side +of the boat I saw the old woods and rocks along the shore below the +falls, rushin' up stream like a racehorse. + +"Wal, we entered Round Lake, crossed it in five minutes, and down the +river we rushed over the little falls at a bound, and into the Lower +Saranac. I'd got a little used to it by this time, and though it was +mighty hard work to catch my breath in such a wind as we made by our +flight, yet I managed to sit up and look around me. It was curious to +see how the islands on the Lower Saranac danced about, and how the +shores ran away behind while I was looking at 'em; and how the forest +trees dodged, and whirled, and jumped about one another, as we tore +along. After tearin' about the lake a spell, we came to something like +a halt, and old Mossyback stuck his head out of water, and openin' his +great glassy eyes like the moon in a mist, 'How do you like that?' +said he, in a jeerin' sort of way. 'All right,' said I; 'go it while +you're young.' I didn't care about appearin' skeered or uneasy, but +I'd have given a couple of month's wages just then, to have been on +dry land. 'Well,' said he, 'I guess we'll be gittin' towards home.' +And away he started for the Upper Saranac, and up the river, across +Round Lake, and right up over the rapids we went. Two or three times I +made up my mind that I was a goner, as the water piled up around me +along over the falls; but somehow our very speed made our boat glance +upward at such times, and skim along the surface like a duck. We went +boundin' from hillock to hillock, on the mad waters, till we entered +the broad lake and went skiving about again among the islands. + +"All at once he seemed to take a notion to go down towards the bottom; +so shortenin' the line some fifty foot or more, he hoisted his great +tail straight up towards the sky, and down he went, the boat standing +up on end, and somehow the waters didn't seem to close above us, so +rapid was our descent. It was tight work, as you may guess, to hold on +under such circumstances, but I managed to keep my place. How deep we +went I wont undertake to say, but this much is quite sartin, we went +down so far that I couldn't see out at the hole we went in at. There +are some mighty big fish away down in them parts, you may bet your +life on that; trout that it wouldn't be pleasant to handle. + +"By-and-bye we started for daylight again. The fish had to stand out +of the way as we rushed like an express train towards the surface; +them that didn't we made a smash of. One bull head, I remember, about +twice as long as one of our boats wasn't quick enough; the bow of the +boat struck him about in the middle and cut him in two like a knife. +One old trout seemed to have made up his mind for a fight, and he +chased us more than two miles with his jaws open like a great pair of +clamps, as if he'd a mind to swallow us boat and all, and from the +size of the openin', I'm bold to say he'd a done it too, if he'd have +caught us; but as we rounded an island, he run head foremost, jam +against a rock. That kind o' stunned him, and he gave in. + +"Wal, after we got to the surface, the trout that was towin' me, +seemed to let on an extra amount of steam for a mile or so, and let me +say the way we went was a caution. I've travelled on the cars in my +day, when they made every thing gee again, but that kind o' goin' +wasn't a circumstance to the way we tore along. The water rose up on +either hand more than twenty feet, and went roarin', and tumblin', and +hissin', as if everything was goin' to smash. All at once the line was +thrown loose, and the boat went straight ahead bows on, to one of the +small islands up towards the head of the lake, and when she struck, I +went through the air eend over eend, clear across the island, more +than fifteen rods, ca-splash into the lake on the other side. + +"Human nater couldn't stand all that, so startin' up I found that +while I'd been layin' in the bottom of the boat the wind had ris, and +was blowin' a stiff gale. The boat had drifted across the lake and had +struck broadside agin the shore, and the waves were makin' a clean +breach into her at every surge. I soon got her, head on to the waves, +and feelin' something mighty lively at the other eend of the line, +hauled in a twelve-pounder." + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed one of the audience; "you've only been telling a +dream, in this long yarn, we've been listening to." + +"Wal," replied the narrator; "some people that I've told it to, have +suspicioned that it might be so; but every thing about it seemed so +nateral, that I'm almost ready to make my affidavy that it was sober +fact. One thing, however, I always had my doubts about: I never fully +believed, that _I was actually pitched over that island_. I've hearn +it said that when a man has eaten a hearty dinner, and goes to sleep +with the hot sun pourin' right down on him, he's apt to see and hear a +good many strange things before he wakes up. May be it was so +with me." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE UPPER SARANAC--SPECTACLE PONDS--THE ACCUSATION AND THE DEFENCE--AN +OCTOGENARIAN SMOKER. + + +We spent the next day in rowing about the Upper Saranac, exploring its +beautiful bays and islands. We took as many trout in trolling +occasionally, as we needed for dinner and supper. It became an +established law among us, that we should kill no more game or fish +than we needed for supplies, whatever their abundance or our +temptation might be. It required some self-denial to observe this law, +but we kept it with tolerable strictness. There were times when we had +a large supply of both venison and fish, but there were seven men of +us in all, and we could despose of a good deal of flesh and fish in +the twenty-four hours. We had sent our boat with the luggage across +the Indian carrying place, a path of a mile through the forest, to the +Spectacle Ponds, three little lakes, from which a stream, known as +Stony Brook, rises. This stream is navigable for small boats like +ours, five miles to the Rackett River. These lakes contain from a +hundred to a hundred and fifty acres each. At the head of the Upper +Pond is a beautiful cold spring, near which, upon crossing the +carrying place, at evening, we found our tents pitched. We arrived +here about sundown, somewhat wearied with our day's excursion, and +with appetites fully equal to a plentiful supper which was soon in +readiness for us. + +"You are getting me into a bad habit, spoiling my morals in a physical +sense," said Smith, addressing us as we sat after supper around our +camp-fire; "I find myself taking to the pipe out here, in these old +woods, with a relish I never have at home. It seems to agree with me +here, and I expect by the time I get back to civilization, I shall be +as great a smoker as the Doctor or Spalding. If I do, I shall have to +pay for it by indigestion and hypochondria, things that you of the fat +kine, know nothing about." + +"Well," replied the Doctor, "You will only have to call on me as you +did last month, and then send for Spalding to draw your will, as you +did the next day, when you were as well as I am, excepting that kink +in your head about your going to die." + +"Why, the truth is," retorted Smith, "I had made up my mind, after +twelve hours consideration, to take the medicine you left, and I +appeal to H----here, if it was after that, anything more than a +reasonable precaution to be prepared for any contingency that might +happen. Your medicines, Doctor, and the testamentary disposition of a +man's worldly effects, are very natural associations." + +"Very well," said the Doctor; "you'll send for me again in a month +after our return, and in that case, it may be, that the money you paid +Spalding for drawing your will, will not have been thrown away. But in +regard to the use of the pipe; I propose that we call upon Spalding, +for a legal opinion, or an argument in its favor. It's his business to +defend criminals, and I file an accusation against smoking generally, +excepting, however, from the indictments the use of the pipe, as in +some sort a necessity, on all such excursions as ours." + +"I shall not undertake," said Spalding, "to enter into a labored +defence of the use of tobacco in any form. I only move for a +mitigation of punishment, and will state the circumstances upon which +I base my appeal to the clemency of the court. The exception in the +indictment, enables me to avoid the plea of necessity, which I should +have interposed, founded upon a huge forest meal, and the abundance as +well as impertinence of the musquitoes of these woods." + +"I called the other day upon a venerable friend and client, who is +travelling the down hill of life quietly, and though with the present +summer he will have accomplished his three score years and ten, his +voice is as cheerful, and his heart as young, as they were decades +ago, when his manhood was in the glory and strength of its prime. I +found him sitting in his great arm-chair, smoking his accustomed pipe, +reading the evening papers. He seemed to be so calm, and happy, as the +smoke went wreathing up from his lips, that I could not for the moment +refrain from envying the calmness and repose which were visible all +around him. He has smoked his morning and evening pipe, in his quiet +way, for nearly half a century. When engaged in the active business of +life, struggling with its cares, and fighting its battles, he always +took half an hour in the morning, and as long at evening, to smoke his +pipe and read the news of the day. He scarcely ever, when at home, +under any pressure of circumstances omitted these two half hours of +repose, or as his excellent wife used to say, of 'fumigation.' She +passed to her rest years ago, leaving behind her the pleasant odor of +a good name, a memory cherished by all who knew her. + +"Men denounce the use of tobacco, and I do not quarrel with them for +doing so. Say that it is a vile and a filthy habit; be it so, I will +not now stop to deny it. Say that it is bad for the constitution, +ruinous to the health; be it so. I will not gainsay it. Still I never +see an old man, seated in his great arm chair, with his grandchildren +playing around him, smoking his pipe and enjoying its, to him, +pleasant perfume, its soothing influences, without regarding that same +pipe as an institution which I would hardly be willing to banish +entirely from the world. + +"There is a good deal of philosophy, too, in a pipe, if one will but +take the trouble to study it; great subjects for moralizing, much food +for reflection; and all this outside of the physical enjoyment, the +soothing influences of a quiet pipe, when the day is drawing to a +close, and its cares require some gentle force to banish them away. It +does not weaken the power of thought, nor stultify the brain. It +quiets the nerves, makes a man look in charity upon the world, and to +judge with a chastened lenity the shortcomings of his neighbors. It +reconciles him to his lot, and sends him to his pillow, or about his +labors, with a calm deliberate cheerfulness, very desirable to those +who come under the law that requires people to earn their bread by the +sweat of their brow. + +"I said there is a good deal of philosophy in a pipe, and I repeat it. +Who can see the smoke go wreathing and curling upward from his lips in +all sorts of fantastic shapes, spreading out thinner and thinner, till +it fades away and is lost among the invisible things of the air, +without saying to himself, 'Such are the visions of youth; such the +hopes, the grand schemes of life, looming up in beautiful distinctness +before the mind's eye, growing fainter and fainter as life wears away, +and then disappearing forever. Such are the things of this life, +beautiful as they appear, unsubstantial shadows all.' And then, as the +fire consumes the weed, exhausting itself upon the substance which +feeds it, burning lower and lower, till it goes out for lack of +aliment, who will not be reminded of life itself? the animated form, +the body instinct with vitality, changing and changing as time sweeps +along, till the spirit that gave it vigor and comeliness, and power +and beauty, is called away, and it becomes at last mere dust and +ashes. And then again, when the pipe itself falls from the teeth, or +the table, or the mantel, or the shelf--as fall it surely will, sooner +or later--and is broken, and the fragments are thrown out of the +window, or swept out at the door, who can fail to see in this, the +type of life's closing scene? the body broken by disease and death, +carried away and hidden in the earth, to remain among the useless +rubbish of the past, to be seen no more forever? Yes, yes! there is a +great deal of philosophy in a pipe, if people will take pains to +study it. + +"I have a pleasant time of it once or twice a year with an old +gentleman, living away in the country; one whom memory calls up from +the dim and shadowy twilight of my earliest recollections, as a tall +stalwart man, already the head of a family with little children around +him. Those who were then little children have grown up to be men and +women, and have drifted away upon the currents of life, themselves +fathers and mothers, with grey hairs gathering upon their heads. I +visit this venerable philosopher in his hearty and green old age, +every summer. I see him now, in my mind's eye, sitting under the +spreading branches of the trees planted by himself half a century ago, +which cast their shadows upon the pleasant lawn in front of his +dwelling--discussing politics, morals, history, religion, +philosophy--recounting anecdotes of the early settlement of the +county of which he was a pioneer; and I see how calmly and +deliberately he smokes, while he calls up old memories from the +shadowy past, discoursing wisely of the present, or speaking +prophetically of the future. I saw him last in July of the past year, +and he seemed to have changed in nothing. He had not grown older in +outward seeming. His heart was as warm and genial as it was long, +long ago; and cheerfulness, calm and chastened, marked as it had for +years the conversation of a man who felt that his mission in life was +accomplished. 'Why,' said he, addressing me, as a new thought seemed +to strike him, 'why, _your_ head is growing grey! I never noticed it +before. It is almost as white as mine. Well, well!' he continued, as +he tapped the thumb nail of his left hand with the inverted bowl of +his pipe, knocking the ashes from it as he spoke, 'well, well! it +won't be long until we will have smoked our last pipe. Mine, at least, +will soon be broken. But what of that? Seventy-eight years is a long +time to live in this world. I have had my share of life and of the +good pertaining to it, and shall have no right to complain when my +pipe is broken and its ashes scattered.' Such was the philosophy of an +almost Octogenarian smoker." + +"I move for a suspension of sentence," said Smith, "Spalding's defence +of the weed, induces me to withdraw the indictment against it, leaving +punishment only for the excessive use of it." + +The motion was carried unanimously, and by way of confirming the +decision, we all refilled our pipes and smoked till the stars looked +down in their brightness from the fathomless depths of the sky. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +KINKS!--"DIRTY DOGS"--THE BARKING DOG THAT WAS FOUND +DEAD IN THE YARD--THE DOG THAT BARKED HIMSELF TO DEATH. + + +"The hallucinations of Smith," said Spalding, after we +had settled the matter of the pipes, and were enjoying a +fresh pull at the weed, "as described by the Doctor, remind +me of a slight attack of fever which I had some months ago, +and from which I recovered partly through the aid of the +Doctor's medicine, and partly through the kindness of a +young friend of mine; and of the strange 'kinks,' as you +call them, which got into my head between the fever and +the Doctor's opiates. Things were strangely mixed up, the +real and the unreal grouped and mingled in a manner that +gave to all the just proportions and appearance of sober +actualities. I remember them as distinctly, and they made +as deep and abiding impression upon my mind as if I had +seen them all. They are impressed as palpably and indelibly +upon my memory now as any actual events of my life." + +"Well," said the Doctor, "suppose you give us one of these 'kinks,' +while our pipes are being smoked out, as an 'opiate' to send us all +to sleep." + +"Be it understood, then," Spalding began, "that I like dogs in a +general way. They are plain dealing, honest, trusty folk in the +aggregate, albeit, there are what Tom Benton calls, 'dirty dogs.' +These, however, are mostly human canines, dogs that walk on two legs, +and wear clothes. Such curs I _don't_ like. But there are such, and +they may be seen and heard, barking, and snarling, and snapping in +their envy, at honest peoples' heels every day. Let them bark. Mr. +Benton was right. They are 'dirty dogs.' But a dog that looks you +honestly and frankly in the face, that stands by his master and +friend, in all times of trial, in sorrow as in joy, in adversity as in +prosperity, in dark days as in bright days, always cheerful, always +sincere, earnest, and truthful, and so that his kindness be met, +always happy, I like. He is your true nobility of nature below the +human. But there _are_ 'curs of low degree;' dogs of neither genial +instinct nor breeding; senseless animals, that belie the noble nature +of their species, are living libels upon their kind. There was one of +these over against my rooms, at the time of the sickness I speak of. I +say _was_ for thanks to the fates, he is among the things that have +been; he belongs to history, has been wiped out. + +"He was a barking dog. When the moon was in the sky, he barked at the +moon. When only the stars shone out, he barked at the stars; when +clouds shut in both moon and stars, he barked at the clouds; and when +the darkness was so deep and black as to obscure even the clouds, he +barked at the darkness. Through all the long night he barked, barked, +barked! It was not a bark of defiance, nor of alarm, nor of +astonishment, nor of warning. It was not a note of danger, breaking +the hush of midnight, saying that thieves were abroad, that murder was +on its stealthy mission, or that the wolf was on the walk. It was a +senseless, monotonous, idiotic bow, wow! Nothing more, nothing less. + +"All Monday night, as I lay tossing upon a bed of pain, when fever was +coursing through my veins, and every pulse went plunging like a steam +engine from the gorged heart to every extremity, and my brain was like +molten lead, I heard that terrible bark! It was my evil genius, my +destiny. It mingled in every feverish dream, became the embodiment of +every vision. I measured the periods of its recurrence by the clock +that stands in the corner of our room. I counted the tickings of its +silence, and I counted the tickings of its continuance. Every swing of +the pendulum became a distinct period of existence. Minutes, hours, +were nothing. Forty-four tickings, I said, and that bow, wow! will be +heard again! Fifteen tickings, I said, and it will cease; and so I +went on until the hours seemed to spread out into a boundless ocean of +time. That dog somehow became mixed up with that old family clock that +stood in the corner. I heard him scratching and climbing up among the +weights, writhing and twisting his way among the machinery, till +there, looking out through the face of that old family clock, distinct +and palpable as the sun at noonday, or the moon in a cloudless night, +I saw the ogre head of that dog; his great glassy, fishy eyes, his +half drooping, half erect ears, his slavering jaws, and as he gazed in +a stupid meaningless stare upon me, uttered his everlasting bow, wow! +Tell me that the room was dark; that not a ray of light penetrated the +closed doors or the curtained windows. What of that? That dog's head, +I repeat, was there; I saw it, if I ever saw the sun, the moon or the +bright stars. I saw it staring at me through all the gloom, all the +thick darkness, and I heard its terrible bow, wow! 'Get out!' I +shouted in horror. + +"'What's the matter?' cried my wife, springing up in an ecstasy of +terror. + +"'Drive out that dog,' I replied. + +"'What dog?' she inquired. + +"'There,' I replied, 'that dog there, in the clock with his great +staring, glassy eyes; drive him out!' + +"She lighted the gas, and as it flashed up, there stood the old clock, +the pendulum swung back and forth, the ticking went on, and its white +old-fashioned face, looked out in calm serenity; but the dog was gone. +It was all natural as life. The lighting of the gas had frightened the +cur back to his yard, and as the forty-fourth tick ceased, his bow +wow! was heard again, and it lasted while the pendulum swung back and +forth just fifteen times. I took a cooling draft, and counted in +feverish agony forty-four, and fifteen, till the daylight came +creeping in at the windows, filling with sepulchral greyness the room. +The barking ceased, and I slept only to dream of snarling curs and +'dirty dogs' for an hour. + +"Through all Tuesday I lay tossing with pain. Fever was in every +pulse; my brain was seething, burning lava. I thought and dreamed of +nothing but mangy curs and 'dirty dogs.' The night gathered again, and +the rumbling of the carriages and the thousand voices that break the +stillness of a thronged city, died away into silence. The lights were +extinguished, but again that horrible bark! bark! broke the hush of +midnight, and worse than all, the quickened senses of fever heard it +answered from away over on Arbor Hill; and again away up in State +street; and yet again over in Lydius, and still again away down by the +river. The East, the North, the West and the South had a voice, and it +was all concentrated in a ceaseless, senseless, idiotic bark. I +counted again the tickings of the clock, and each swing of the +pendulum ended in a bark! As I lay there in the silence and +desolation, the restless, tossing anguish of fever, those dogs +gathered together in State at the crossing of Eagle, just above my +boarding-house, and barked! They came under my windows, and barked! +They looked in between the curtains, and barked! They came into my +room, and there on the sofa, on the rocking-chair, on the table, on +the mantelpiece, on the ottoman, on the stove, and on the top of the +old clock, was a dog; and each barked! and barked! I saw them all +through the darkness, plain as if it were noonday. They were +'dirty dogs,' filthy brutes, ill-favored mangy curs all, and there +they sat and barked at the clock, barked at the mirror, at the stove, +barked at one another and at me, with the same monotonous, +meaningless, idiotic bow, wow! as of old. + +"I had two rifles and a double-barrelled fowling-piece, sitting in the +corner of the parlor adjoining our sleeping-room, the gifts of valued +friends. My wife, wearied with the day's watching, had sunk into +slumber on the bed beside me. I woke her gently. + +"'Make no noise,' I said, 'but bring me the guns; do it carefully.' + +"'What on earth do you want of the guns?' she inquired in alarm. + +"'Don't you see those infernal dogs?' I answered, 'bring me the guns, +and I'll make short work with the howling curs.' + +"'Why, husband,' said she, 'there are no dogs here,' and as she +lighted the gas the curs vanished away. But I saw them in the +darkness. It was only when the light flashed through the room, that +they fled from it, and I heard them barking in response to each other +through all the long night, till the dawn crept over the world again. + +"Years ago, I saved a boy from the meshes of the law, in which his +evil ways had involved him. I admonished him of the end towards which +he was hastening. I showed him that the path he was treading led to +destruction, and he left it, as he said, forever. He apprenticed +himself to a useful trade, and is now an intelligent mechanic. Out +of his time, an industrious, sober youth of two and twenty, supporting +by his industry, his mother and sister in comfort and respectability. +He heard of my sickness, and on Wednesday morning called to see me, +proffering his services as a nurse and watchman, prompted by gratitude +for the past. I declined his kindness for the present, as I told him +casually of the dog whose midnight barking was killing me. He called +again on Thursday morning. The barking had ceased. He inquired if I +had been troubled with the yelping of that senseless cur, and I +answered truly that I had not, that I had slept soundly, and woke with +a softened pulse and a cooled brain. + +"'Well,' said he, 'I thought you would rest easier. I looked into the +yard as I came along, and saw a dead dog lying there. I thought may be +he had barked himself to death.' + +"I did not at the time take in the full meaning, the hidden import of +his words. I dropped away into slumber, and dreamed of the dog that +barked himself to death. I saw him vanish by piecemeal at each +successive bark, until nothing but his jaws were left, and as his last +bark was uttered, these, too, vanished away, and then all was still. + +"I awoke, and thought that a dose of 'dog-buttons,' or a taste of +strychnine, administered with a tempting bit of cold steak, or a piece +of fresh lamb, or a bone of mutton carefully dropped in his way, might +have aided the operation. Be that as it may, whatever of debt may +have existed between my young friend and myself for past kind it is +all wiped out by the news he brought me, that a 'dead dog lay in the +yard over the way.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +STONY BROOK--A GOOD TIME WITH THE TROUT--RACKETT RIVER--TUPPER'S +LAKE--A QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED. + + +The next morning we started down Stony Brook, towards the Rackett +River, intending to pitch our tents at night on the banks of Tupper's +Lake, twenty-three miles distant. Before leaving the Spectacle Ponds, +we visited a little island at the north end of the middle pond, +containing perhaps half an acre. This island has a few Norway pines +upon it, is of a loose sandy soil, and at the highest portion is some +twenty feet above the level of the water. It is a great resort for +turtle in the season of depositing their eggs. We found thousands of +their eggs, some on the surface and some buried in the sand, and if +one in a dozen of them brings forth a turtle, there will be no lack of +the animal in the neighborhood. Stony Brook is a sluggish, tortuous +stream, large enough to float our little boats, and goes meandering +most of the way for five miles among natural meadows, overflowed at +high water, or thinly timbered prairie, when it enters the Rackett. I +discovered on a former visit to this wilderness, when the water was +very low, a spring that came boiling up near the centre of the stream, +with a volume large enough almost to carry a mill. It was at a point +where a high sandy bluff, along which the stream swept, terminated. As +we approached this spot, I suggested to Spalding, who was in the bow +of the boat, to prepare his rod and fly. We approached carefully along +the willows on the opposite shore, until in a position from which he +could throw in the direction I indicated. In the then stage of the +water, there was no appearance of a spring, or any indication marking +it as a spot where the trout would be at all likely to congregate, and +Spalding was half inclined to believe that I was practising upon his +want of knowledge of the habits of the fish of this region. I had said +nothing about the spring, or the habit of the trout in gathering +wherever a cold stream enters a river, or a spring comes gushing up +in its bed. + +"I don't believe there's a trout within half a mile of us," he said, +as he adjusted his rod and fly. + +"Never mind," I replied, "throw your fly across towards that boulder +on the bank, and trail it home, and you'll see." + +"Well," said he, "here goes;" and he threw in the direction indicated. + +The fly had scarcely touched the water when a trout, weighing a pound +or over, struck it with a rush that carried him clear out of the +water. After a little play he was landed safely in the boat, and +another, and another, followed at almost every throw. Not once did the +fly touch the water that it was not risen to by a fish. + +"By Jove!" said Spalding, as he handed me the landing-net to take in +his third or fourth trout, "this is sport. You use the net, and I'll +trail them to you. Let us make hay while the sun shines. The other +boat will soon be along, and Smith will be for dipping his spoon into +my dish. I want to astonish him when he comes." + +We had secured eight beautiful fish when the Doctor and Smith rounded +the point above us. We motioned them back, and their boat lay upon its +oars. Spalding kept on throwing his fly and trailing the trout to me +to secure with the landing-net." + +"Hallo!" shouted Smith, "hold on there; fair play, my friends, give me +a hand in," and he fell to adjusting his rod and flies. + +"Keep back, you lubber," replied Spalding; "what do _you_ know about +trout-fishing? You'll frighten them all away by your awkwardness." + +"No you don't!" shouted Smith, his rod now adjusted. "Drop down, +boatman, and we'll see who is the lubber. Wait, Spalding! Don't throw, +if you are a true man, until we can take a fair start, and then the +one that comes out second best pays the piper." + +The boat dropped down to the proper position, and the Doctor, who was +seated in the stern, held it in place by pressing his paddle into the +sand at the bottom, while the boatman handled the landing net. + +"Now!" exclaimed Smith, as the flies dropped upon the water together +above the cold spring. There was no lack of trout, for one rose to the +fly at every cast. + +"I say," said the Doctor, "how many have you in your boat?" + +"Sixteen," I replied, after counting them. + +"We've got eight, and I bar any more fishing. The law has reached its +limit. No wanton waste of the good things of God, you know." + +The rods were unjointed and laid away, and such a string of trout as +we had, is rarely seen outside of the Saranac woods. We procured fresh +grass in which to lay our fish, and green boughs to cover them, and +floated on down the stream, entering the Rackett at nine o'clock. The +Rackett is a most beautiful river. To me at least it is so, for it +flows on its tortuous and winding way for a hundred or more miles +through an unbroken forest, with all the old things standing in their +primeval grandeur along its banks. The woodman's axe has not marred +the loveliness of its surroundings, and no human hand has for all that +distance been laid upon its mane, or harnessed it to the great wheel, +making it a slave, compelling it to be utilitarian, to grind corn or +throw the shuttle and spin. It moves on towards the mighty St. +Lawrence as wild, and halterless, and free, as when the Great Spirit +sent it forward on its everlasting flow. The same scenery, and the +same voices are seen and heard along its banks now as then; and, while +man, in his restlessness, has changed almost everything else, the +Rackett and the things that pertained to it when the earth was young, +remain unchanged. But this will not be so long. Civilization is +pushing its way even towards this wild and, for all agricultural +purposes, sterile region, and before many years even the Rackett will +be within its ever-extending circle. When that time shall have +arrived, where shall we go to find the woods, the wild things, the old +forests, and hear the sounds which belong to nature in its primeval +state? Whither shall we flee from civilization, to take off the +harness and be free, for a season, from the restraints, the +conventionalities of society, and rest from the hard struggles, the +cares and toils, the strifes and competitions of life? Had I my way, I +would mark out a circle of a hundred miles in diameter, and throw +around it the protecting aegis of the constitution. I would make it a +forest forever. It should be a misdemeanor to chop down a tree, and a +felony to clear an acre within its boundaries. The old woods should +stand here always as God made them, growing on until the earthworm ate +away their roots, and the strong winds hurled them to the ground, and +new woods should be permitted to supply the place of the old so long +as the earth remained. There is room enough for civilization in +regions better fitted for it. It has no business among these +mountains, these rivers and lakes, these gigantic boulders, these +tangled valleys and dark mountain gorges. Let it go where labor will +garner a richer harvest, and industry reap a better reward for its +toil. It will be of stinted growth at best here. + +"I like these old woods," said a gentleman, whom I met on the Rackett +last year; "I like them, because one can do here just what he pleases. +He can wear a shirt a week, have holes in his pantaloons, and be out +at elbows, go with his boots unblacked, drink whisky in the raw, chew +plug tobacco, and smoke a black pipe, and not lose his position in +society. Now," continued he, "tho' I don't choose to do any of these +things, yet I love the freedom, now and then, of doing just all of +them if I choose, without human accountability. The truth is, that it +is natural as well as necessary for every man to be a vagabond +occasionally, to throw off the restraints imposed upon him by the +necessities and conventionalities of civilization, and turn savage for +a season,--and what place is left for such transformation, save these +northern forests?" + +The idea was somewhat quaint, but to me it smacked of philosophy, and +I yielded it a hearty assent. I would consecrate these old forests, +these rivers and lakes, these mountains and valleys to the Vagabond +Spirit, and make them a place wherein a man could turn savage and +rest, for a fortnight or a month, from the toils and cares of life. + +We entered TUPPER'S LAKE towards six o'clock, and saw our white tents +pitched upon the left bank, some half a mile above the outlet, where a +little stream, cold almost as icewater, comes down from a spring a +short way back in the forest. This lake, some ten miles long, and +from one to three in width, is one of the most beautiful sheets of +water that the eye of man ever looked upon. The scenery about it is +less bold than that of some of the other lakes of this region. The +hills rise with a gentle acclivity from the shore; behind them and far +off rise rugged mountain ranges; and further still, the lofty peaks of +the Adirondacks loom up in dim and shadowy outline against the sky. +From every point and in every direction, are views of placid and quiet +beauty rarely equalled; valleys stretching away among the highlands; +gaps in the hills, through which the sunlight pours long after the +shadows of the forest have elsewhere thrown themselves across the +lake; islands, some bold and rocky, rising in barren desolation, right +up from the deep water; some covered with a dense and thrifty growth +of evergreen trees, with a soil matchless in fertility; and some +partaking of both the sterile and productive; beautiful bays stealing +around bold promontories, and hiding away among the old woods. These +are the features of this beautiful sheet of water, which none see but +to admire, none visit but to praise; and it lies here all alone, +surrounded by the old hills and forests, bold bluffs, and rocky +shores, all as God made them, with no mark of the hand of man about +it, save in a single spot on a secluded bay, where lives a solitary +family in a log house, surrounded by an acre or two, from which the +forest has been cleared away. + +"Will somebody tell me," said Smith, as we sat on the logs in front +of our tent after supper, smudging away the musquitoes with our pipes, +"will somebody tell me what we came into this wilderness among these +musquitoes, and frogs, and owls for? Mind you, I am not discontented; +I enjoy it hugely; but what I want to know is _why_ I do so? I desire +to understand the philosophy of the thing." + +"As the question involves, in some sense, a physiological fact," +replied the Doctor, "it comes within the range of my professional +duties to understand and be able to answer it, for you must know that +the enjoyments of this region are primarily physical. Now I've a +theory which is this--that every man has a certain amount of +vagabondism in his composition that will be pretty certain to break +out in spots occasionally. At all events it is so with me, and from my +observation of men, I am strong in the faith that it is so with every +one who is neither more nor less than human. It is all a mistake to +suppose that I come off here, enduring a heap of hardship and toil, +simply for the love of fishing and hunting, though I confess to a +weakness to a certain extent that way. The charm of this region +consists in the fact, that it is the best place to play the vagabond, +and in which to do the savage for a season, that I know of. You can go +bareheaded or barefooted, without a coat or neckerchief, get as ragged +and untidy as you please, without subjecting yourself to remark, or +offending the nice sense of propriety pertaining to conventional life. +You are not responsible for what you say or do, provided always that +you do not offend against the abstract rules of decency, or the +requirements of natural decorum. You can lay around loose; the lazier +you are the better the boatman in your employ likes it. If you choose +to drift leisurely and quietly under the shadow of the hills along the +shore, examining the rocks that lie there like a ruined wall, or +explore the beautiful and secluded bays that hide around behind the +bluffs, or lay off under the shade of the fir trees on the islands, or +smoke your cigar or pipe by the beautiful spring that comes bubbling +up by the side of some moss-covered boulder, or from beneath the +tangled roots of some gnarled birch or maple, you can do any or all of +these, and have a man to help you for twelve shillings a day and +board, or you can do it just about as well alone. + +"You remember LONESOME ROCK, in the Lower Saranac, a great boulder +that lifts its head some ten or fifteen feet above the surface, away +out near the middle of the lake, around which the water is of unknown +depth. This rock, which is always dark and bare, is, as you will +remember, of conical shape, sharp pointed at the top, and stands up +about the size of a small hay-stack, in the midst of the waters. Do +you remember the account that somebody gives in a ragged but terse +kind of verse, of the 'gentleman in black,' who, as he walked about, + + 'Backward and forward he switched his long rail, + As a gentleman switches his cane?' + +And of whose dress it was facetiously said: + + 'His coat was red and his breeches were blue, + With a hole behind for his tail to stick through.' + +another author said of him on one of his fishing excursions, +that + + 'His rod, it was a sturdy mountain oak, + His line, a cable which no storm e'er broke, + His hook he baited with a dragon's tail, + And sat upon a rock and bob'd for whale!' + +Well, like the ebony gentleman, you can, if you choose, sit upon +Lonesome Rock enjoying your meditations, and bobbing, not for whale, +for whatever other fish may be found in the Lower Saranac, I believe +there are no whale; but you can bob for trout; whether you will catch +any or not will depend very much on circumstances. It is a capital +place to cast the fly from, or to sink your hook with a bait, and if +the trout do not choose to bite, whose fault is that, I should like +to know? + +"And this reminds me of an anecdote told me by a gentleman I met in +June of last year, on the Rackett River among the black flies, of an +adventure he met with on Lonesome Rock last season. He had been +trolling around the lake in a boat alone, without much success, and +concluded he would try deep fishing from this rock, as he had heard +that the trout were in the habit of congregating around its base. So +he rowed to the rock, and, as he supposed, secured his boat, and +climbing up its side seated himself on his boat cushion, on the top. +He caught one fine fish at the first throw, and took it for granted +that he was going to have a good time of it among the trout. When he +mounted the rock, about eleven o'clock, the sky was overcast, and he +caught three or four trout of good size in the course of half an hour; +but the sun coming out bright and clear, the fish altered their minds, +and refused to have anything more to do with his hook. He finally +concluded to give up the business, and seek the cooling shadows of the +forest trees along the shore. But his boat was gone; and upon looking +around he saw it drifting before a light breeze a quarter of a mile +distant. Now when you remember that all around the lake was a +wilderness, save a single spot at the head of the bay, where Martin's +house stands, three or four miles distant, and when you remember also +that no boat might be passing during the next twenty-four hours, you +will comprehend that his position was none of the pleasantest. There +he sat upon the top of his rock, with scarcely room to turn around, +with a wide sweep of deep water between him and the nearest land, the +fish utterly refusing to bite, and the sun blazing down upon him with +heat like a furnace, as it crept with its snail's pace across the sky. +At first he was inclined to smile at his ridiculous situation, all +alone there on the rock; but as the wind died away, and the sun poured +his burning rays right down upon him, and he panted and sweat under +its sweltering influences, he began to feel a little more serious. +Hours glided away, and the sun crept slowly along down the heavens, +but still no boat made its appearance. + +"The sun hid itself behind the hills on the West, and still he was +alone. The shadows crept up the mountain peaks that stand up like +grim giants away off in the East, and twilight began to throw its grey +mantle over the lake; still he was alone. The darkness began to gather +around him; the forests along the shore to lose their distinctness and +to stand in sombre and shadowy outline above the water; still no +prospect of relief presented itself. The twilight faded from the West, +the stars stole out in the heavens, the milky way stretched its belt +of light across the sky, and there he sat alone still on his rock, the +night dews falling around him, and the night voices of the forest +coming solemnly out over the water. Things had now assumed a serious +aspect. He could not stretch his limbs save by standing erect, and it +seemed inevitable that he must watch the stars during the night, as he +had watched the sun during the day. To sleep there was out of the +question. There was no room for a sleeping posture, and the danger of +rolling down the rock into the water kept him wide awake. At length +the pleasant sound of oars, and voices in jolly converse, fell upon +his ear, and he shouted. Two sportsmen were returning from the Upper +Lakes, and right welcome was the answer they returned to his call. He +was glad enough to be released from his rock, upon which, as he said, +'he had made up his mind that he should be compelled to roost, like a +turkey on the ridge of a barn, for the night.' + +"To go back from this digression," continued the Doctor, "I repeat +that every man has a vein of the vagabond, a streak of the savage in +him, which can never be clean wiped out. Educate him, polish him as +you may, it will be in him still, and he will love to go off into the +old woods at times, to lay around loose for a season, vagabondising +among the wild and savage things of the wilderness. It is but +indulging the original instincts of our nature. True, he will not +relish his savage ways a great while. His old habits will lead him +back to civilization, to the luxury of a well-furnished room, the +quiet of an easy chair, and the repose of a soft bed. In a word to +'clean up' and shave and dress, so that when he looks into a glass he +will see the shadow of a gentleman." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +HUNTING BY TORCH LIGHT--AN INCOMPETENT JUDGE--A NEW +SOUND IN THE FOREST--OLD SANGAMO'S DONKEY. + + +Spalding and Martin went out upon the lake after dark, with one of the +boats, to hunt by torch light. This is done by placing a lighted +torch, or a lamp upon a standard, placed upright in the bow of the +boat, and so high that a man seated or lying upon the bottom of the +craft, will have his head below it. He must himself be in someway +shaded from the light, which must be cast forward so that both the +hunter and the boatman will be in the shadow. A very common method is +to make a box, a foot or less square, open, or with a pane of glass on +one side; a stick three or four feet long is run through an auger hole +in the top and bottom, and wedged fast, which forms a standard; the +other end of the stick is run through a hole on the little deck on the +forward part of the boat, and placed in a socket formed for the +purpose in the bottom, and is wedged at the deck, so as to make it +steady. The open or glass front of the box is turned forward, and a +common japan lamp placed in a socket prepared for it in the box. This +of course throws the light forward, while the occupants of the boat +are in the shadow. The hunter sits, or more commonly lies at length on +a bed of boughs in the bottom of the boat, with his rifle so far in +front that the light will fall upon the forward sight. An experienced +boatman will paddle silently up to within twenty feet of a deer that +may be feeding along the shore. The stupid animal will stand, gazing +in astonishment at the light, until the boat almost touches him. + + +"That Hank Martin," said Cullen, one of the boatmen, as the hunters +disappeared into the darkness, "is a queer boy in his way. You will +notice that when he straightens up, and takes the kinks out of him, he +stands six feet and over in his stockings, and his arms hang down to +his knees. He's the strongest man in these woods, and tolerably active +when there's occasion for it. He is a droll, good-natured, easy +tempered chap, and don't get angry at trifles. He is fond of a joke +himself, and will stand having a good many sticks poked at him without +getting riled; but when he does get his back up, it's well enough to +stand out of his way, and not step on his shadow. He never struck a +man but once in real earnest, and that was over in Keeseville, and on +that occasion the people said the town clock had struck _one_. The +fellow he struck went eend over eend, and then went down, and when he +went down he laid still--he didn't come to tine. + +"But what I was going to tell you is, that Hank and I were down at +Plattsburgh last fall, and a big fellow who had taken quite as much +red eye as was for his good, undertook to pick a quarrel with Hank and +give him a beating. Hank, as I said, being a peaceable man, and much +more given to fun than to fighting, kept good-natured, and avoided a +scrimmage as long as he could. But his patience and his temper at last +caved in, and seizing his opponent by the neck with his left hand, and +thrusting him down upon the ground, he began very deliberately to cuff +him with his right, in a way that seemed anything but pleasant to the +individual upon whom his cuffs were bestowed. 'Enough! enough!' cried +his assailant. 'Let up! enough! enough!' 'Hold your tongue, you +scoundrel!' replied Hank, as he kept on pommeling his enemy, 'hold +your tongue, I tell you! You ain't a judge of these things! I'll let +you know when you've got enough.' When he'd given him what he thought +was about right, he lifted him on to his feet, and, holding him up +face to face with himself a moment, 'There,' said he, 'look at me +well, so that you'll know me when I come this way again; and when you +see my trail, you'd better travel some other road.'" + +"Speaking of Plattsburgh," said the Doctor, "reminds me of an incident +which occurred to a friend and myself, over in the Chataugay woods, +between the Chazy and the Upper Chataugay lakes. I was spending a few +days at Plattsburgh, and hearing a good deal of the trout and deer in +and about those lakes, my friend and myself concluded to pay them a +flying visit. On the banks of the Chazy and near the outlet, a +half-breed, that is, half French and half Indian, had built him a log +cabin, and cleared about an acre of land around it. His live stock +consisted of two homely, lean, and half-starved dogs, and as ragged +and ill-looking a donkey as could be found in a week's travel. The +half-breed was a sort of half fisherman and half hunter, excelling in +nothing, unless it be that he was the laziest man this side of the +Rocky Mountains. He succeeded, occasionally, in killing a deer in the +forest, and when he did so, he would lead his donkey to the place of +slaughter, and bring in the carcase on the long-eared animal's back. + +"We were passing from the Chazy to Bradley's Lake, and had sat down on +the trunk of a fallen tree to take a short breathing spell. It was a +warm afternoon, and the air was calm; not a breath stirred the leaves +on the old trees around us; the forest sounds were hushed, save the +tap of the woodpecker on his hollow tree, or an occasional drumming of +a partridge on his log. It was drawing towards one of those calm, +still, autumnal evenings of which poets sing, but which are to be met +with in all their glory only among the beautiful lakes that lay +sleeping in the wild woods, and surrounded by old primeval things. The +path wound round a densely wooded and sombre hollow, the depths of +which the eye could not penetrate, but from out of which came the song +of a stream that went cascading down the rocks, and rippling among the +loose boulders that lay in its course. Beyond us, through an opening +in the trees, we could see the lake, sparkling and shining in the +evening sunbeams, and we were talking about the beauty of the view, +and the calmness and repose that seemed resting upon all things, when, +of a sudden, there came up from that shadowy dell a sound, the most +unearthly that ever broke upon the astonished ear of mortal man. I +have heard the roar of the lion of the desert, the yell of the hyena, +the trumpeting of the elephant, the scream of the panther, the howl of +the wolf. It was like none of these; but if you could imagine them all +combined, and concentrated into a single sound, and ushered together +upon the air from a single throat, shaped like the long neck of some +gigantic ichthiosaurus of the times of old, you would have some faint +idea of the strange sounds that came roaring up from that hollow way. +My friend was a man of courage, and, like myself, had been around the +world some; had spent a good deal of time, first and last, in the +woods, was familiar with most of the legitimate forest sounds, and had +heard all the ten thousand voices that belong in the wilderness, but +we had never before listened to a noise like that. + +"We looked to our rifles and at one another, and it may well be that +our hats sat somewhat loosely upon our heads, from an involuntary +rising of the hair. 'What, in the name of all that is mysterious,' +cried my friend, in amazement, 'is that?' 'It is more than I know,' I +replied, as I placed a fresh cap on my rifle. After a few minutes, the +sounds were repeated, and the hills seemed to groan with affright as +they sent them back in wavy and quavering echoes from their rugged +sides. + +"'We must understand this,' said my friend, as he led the way with a +cautious and stealthy movement towards the depths of the hollow, whence +the sounds came, and there, by the stream, on a little sand-bar, stood +old Sangamo's donkey, by the side of a deer. Old Sangamo himself was +stretched at full length on the bank, fast asleep. How he could have +slept on, with such an infernal roaring as that donkey made in those +old woods, six or eight miles outside of a fence, is more than I can +comprehend. But he did sleep through it all, and was wakened only by +a punch in the ribs with the butt of my rifle, instigated by pity for +the poor donkey that was being eaten up by the flies. We helped him +to load the carcass of the deer on the back of his donkey, and saw +him move off lazily towards home. I have heard a good many strange +noises in my day, but never, on any other occasion, have I listened +to anything to be at all compared with the noise made by the braying +of old Sangamo's donkey in the Chataugay woods." + +As the Doctor concluded his story, the sharp crack of Spalding's rifle +broke the stillness of the night, and went reverberating among the +hills, and dying away over the lake. It was but a short distance from +our camp, in a little bay hidden away around a wooded promontory below +us. In a few minutes, the light was seen, rounding the point that hid +the bay from our view, and, as the boat landed in front of our tents, +Spalding and Martin lifted from it a fine two year old deer, shot +directly between the eyes. + +[Illustration: How he could have slept on, with such an infernal +roaring as that donkey made in those old woods, six or eight miles +outside of a fence, is more than I can comprehend.--] + +"There," said Spalding, "is the biggest, or what _was_ the biggest +fool of a deer in these woods. Do you believe that he stood perfectly +still, gazing in stupid astonishment at our light, until we were +within a dozen feet of him, when I dropped him with that ball between +the eyes?" + +"No," replied Smith, "I really don't believe any such thing." + +"It is true, notwithstanding your lack of faith," said Spalding. + +"Do you say that as counsel, or as a gentleman?" inquired Smith. + +"Look you, Mr. Smith," said Spalding, "you are drawing a distinction +not warranted by the authority of the books--as if a lawyer could not +tell the truth like a gentleman. I say it as both." + +"Very well," remarked Smith, "then I must believe it, of course. But +understand, Hank Martin, it will be my turn to-morrow night." And so +the matter was settled that the next night hunting was to be done +by Smith. + +"H----," said the Doctor, as I was stealing quietly out of the tent, +in the twilight of the next morning, so as not to awaken my +companions, "where now?" + +"I'm going to take some trout for breakfast, with our venison," I +replied. + +"And where do you propose to take them?" he inquired. "Come with me, +and I'll show you. I looked the place out last evening, and if you've +done sleeping, we'll have some sport." + +"Agreed," said he, and we paddled around the point into a little bay, +at the head of which a small, but cold stream entered the lake. The +Doctor sat in the bow, and, having adjusted his rod, I steered the +boat carefully, close along the shore, to within reach of the mouth of +the brook, and directed him to cast across it. The moment his fly +touched the water, half a dozen fish rose to it together. It was +eagerly seized by one weighing less than a quarter of a pound, which +was lifted bodily into the boat. He caught as fast as he could cast +his fly. They were the genuine brook trout, none of them exceeding a +quarter Of a pound in weight. In half an hour, we had secured as many +as we needed for breakfast, and paddled back to take a morning nap +while the meal was being prepared. + +The sweetest fish that swims is the brook trout, weighing from a +quarter of a pound down. Rolled in flour, or meal, and fried brown, +they have no equal. The lake and river trout, weighing from two to ten +pounds, beautiful as they are, have not that delicacy of flavor which +belongs to the genuine brook trout. Boiled, when freshly caught, they +are by no means to be spoken lightly of. They have few equals, cooked +in that way, but as a pan fish, they are not to be compared with the +genuine brook trout. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +GRINDSTONE BROOK--FOREST SOUNDS--A FUNNY TREE, COVERED WITH SNOW +FLAKES. + + +We crossed over towards a deep bay on the west shore, to where a +stream comes cascading down the rocks, and leaping into the lake, as +if rejoicing at finding a resting-place in its quiet bosom. The spot +where this stream enters, is in the deep shadow of the old forest +trees that reach their leafy arms far out from the ledges on which +they grow, forming an arch above, and shutting out the sunlight. Here +the trout congregate, to enjoy the cool water that comes down from the +hills above. We approached it carefully, and Smith, by way of +experiment, cast his fly across the current where the stream enters +the lake. It was seized by a beautiful fish weighing, perhaps, two +pounds. We did not need him, for the place where we proposed to pitch +our tents for the night would afford us all the fish required, and +after lifting him into the boat with the landing-net and releasing +the hook from his jaw, we returned him to the lake again. + +Two miles from the head of the lake, on the east side, is a deep bay +at the head of which enters a little brook that comes creeping along +for a mile among the tangled roots of ancient hemlocks and spruce, +singing gaily among the loose stones, sometimes disappearing entirely +beneath bridges of moss, and sometimes sparkling in the sunlight, on +its way to the lake. This little stream we found swarming with +speckled trout of the size of minnows, and at its mouth the large +trout congregated. As we rounded one of the points that shut out the +view of this bay from the lake, we saw two deer feeding quietly upon +the lily pads along the shore, some quarter of a mile from us. We +dropped quietly back behind the point, where Smith and one of the +boatmen prepared to take a shot at them. Martin took his seat in the +stern with his paddle, and Smith lay stretched at length along the +bottom of the boat upon boughs prepared for the occasion, with his +rifle resting upon the forward end of the boat. It was broad daylight, +and to paddle up within shooting distance of a deer under such +circumstances, in plain view of an animal the most wary, is a delicate +job, but it may be done. I have more than once been thus paddled +within thirty yards of a deer while feeding in the water. The wind +must be blowing from the deer to the hunter, or the scent will alarm +the animal, and he will go snorting and bounding away. + +Smith and Martin passed silently out into the bay, and moved slowly +towards where the deer were feeding. The boat in which we sat was +permitted to float out to a position from which we could see the +sportsmen as they approached the game. Slowly but steadily they moved, +the paddle remaining in the water, sculling the little craft along as +if it were a log drifting in the water. The deer occasionally raised +their heads, looking all around, evidently regarding the boat as a +harmless thing floating in from the lake. After gazing thus about them +they stooped their heads again, and went on feeding, as if no danger +were near them. The hunters drifted within seventy or eighty yards of +the game, when a column of white smoke shot suddenly up from the bow +of the boat, and the report of Smith's rifle rang out sharp and clear +over the lake. We saw where the ball struck the water just beyond the +deer, passing directly under its belly, possibly high enough to graze +its body. At the flash and report of the rifle, the animal leaped high +into the air, bounded in affright this way and that for a moment, and +then straightened itself for the woods. We heard his snort as he went +crashing up the hillside. + +Reader, should you ever drift out to this beautiful lake, you will +find on the ridge just above where Bog River comes tumbling, and +roaring, and foaming over the rocks into the lake, the charred remains +of a campfire, built against a great log that was once the trunk of a +tall forest tree. If you should visit it within a year or two, you +will perhaps notice some forked stakes standing a few feet from the +place of the fire, and a bed of withered and dry boughs (now fresh +and green). Well, our tents were stretched over those stakes, those +boughs were our bed, and those charred chunks are the remains of our +campfire, that sent a sepulchral light among the forest trees around. + +The sounds that come upon the ear during the night in a far off place +like this, are peculiar. The old owl hoots mournfully, the frogs +bellow hoarsely along the reedy shore, while the tree toads are +quavering from among the branches of the scrubby trees that grow along +the rocky banks; the whippoorwill pipes shrilly in the forest depths; +the breeze murmurs among the foliage of the tall old pines, while the +everlasting roar of the waters, as they go tumbling down the rocks, is +always heard. However diversified these sounds may be, they all invite +to repose. They fall soothingly upon the ear, and though all are +distinctly heard, yet strange as it may seem, there is a strong +impression upon the mind of the deep silence pervading the forest. +This impression is doubtless occasioned by the utter dissimilarity +between the voices one hears in the day, from those which fall upon +the ear in the night time. The former are all joyous and happy, full +of gladness and merriment, full of life and animation; the latter +solemn, deep, profound, lulling to the senses; not sorrowful nor sad, +yet still such as form a calm and quiet lullaby, under the influence +of which one glides away into slumber, and sleeps quietly until dawn. +Then the voice of gladness breaks so tumultuously on the ear, that he +must be a sluggard indeed who can resist their wakening influences. +How beautifully the sun went down behind the hills, lighting up the +western sky, and the fleecy clouds floating in the heavens with a +blaze of glory, throwing a mantle of silver over the tall ranges and +mountain peaks that loomed up in solemn grandeur away in the east; and +how stilly, silently the stars came out from the depths above, and how +brightly and truthfully they were given back from away down in depths +beneath the placid waters. We had taken half a dozen beautiful trout +from the foot of the falls where the current shoots out into the lake. +We had eaten them too, and were sitting in front of our tents smoking +our evening pipes. + +"Spalding," said the Doctor, "How I wish our little boys were out here +with us. How they would enjoy themselves among these lakes and rivers. +It is a hard lot that the children of our cities have in life. They +struggle up to man and womanhood against fearful odds, and the wonder +is, that they do not perish in their infancy; that they are not +blasted, as the blossoms are, when the cold east wind sweeps over +the earth." + +"You are right, my friend," replied Spalding. "I should like to have +our little boys, and girls too, for that matter, with us for a few +days out here on these lakes. It would be a lifetime to them, +measuring time by the enjoyment it would afford them. Still their city +habits might make them tire of this freedom in a week. You and I enjoy +it longer, because it brings back old memories and relieves us from +the toils of business and the restraints of conventional life. You +are right too in saying that the lot of our city children is a hard +one. To live imprisoned between long rows of brick walls, breathing an +atmosphere charged with the exhalations of ten thousand cooking +stoves, the dust of forges and the smoke of furnaces, machine shops, +gas works, filthy streets, and the thousand other manufactories of +villainous smells; where the summer air has no freshness, no forest +odors, or sweetness gathered from fields of grain, the meadows, or the +pastures. To tramp only on stone sidewalks. To know nothing of the +pleasant paths beneath the spreading branches of old primeval trees; +no soft grass for their little feet to press; never to wander along +the streams or the little brooks; to be strangers always to the +beautiful things spread out everywhere in the country in the summer +time. I always feel sad when I see the pale faces of the little +children of the great cities, and marvel how so many of them grow up +to be men and women. It is a hard lot to be cooped up in the city, +vegitating, as it were, in the shade, where there is no grass for +their little feet to press, no fences to climb, or fields to ramble +over, or brooks to wade, or running water on which to float chips, and +wherein to watch the little chubs and shiners dancing and playing +about, or fresh pure air to breathe, or birds to listen to. It is a +thousand pities that the cities could not be emptied every summer of +their little people into the free and open country, where they could +run about, and sport and play, and have free range and plenty of +elbow-room. It would make them so much healthier and happier, so much +more cheerful; their voices of gladness would ring out so much more +joyously in the morning, and their songs be so much more sweet +at night." + +I remember an anecdote told me of a little child, born in the great +metropolis, who had never, until her fifth summer, been outside of the +paved streets of New York. Her mother had friends residing in one of +the up-river towns, owning a beautiful farm overlooking the Hudson, +and in early May she paid them a visit, taking her little daughter +with her. Mary, of course, was delighted. Like a bird freed from its +cage, she flew about here, there, everywhere, in-doors and out, among +the chickens and the pigs, the turkeys and the lambs, enjoying to the +full the thousand new things that her eyes rested upon all around her, +and her young spirits in wild commotion under the bracing influences +of the country air. "Mother! mother!" she exclaimed, as she came +dashing into the parlor, her beautiful curls floating wildly over her +shoulders, and her bright eyes wide open with wonder; "Mother I +mother! come out here, quick! and see this funny tree, all covered +over with snow-flakes, and how sweet it smells all around it." It was +a plum tree in full blossom. That little child had never seen the +beautiful spring blossoms on the fruit trees. + +"I have no children of my own," remarked Smith, "and, therefore, may +not be regarded as the best authority in regard to the manner of +treating, or rearing children; but I have often wondered at the very +great mistakes people sometimes make in regard to them. There are +parents who mean no wrong, and yet who make no scruple of deceiving +them in reply to their simple questionings, forgetting, or regardless +of the fact, that a false answer to their innocent inquiries put in +good faith, and in the earnest pursuit of truth, may plant an error in +their minds, which may take years of experience, and often a painful +amount of ridicule to eradicate. I knew a little boy years ago, a +thoughtful, philosophic child, who speculated in his simplicity upon +what he saw, as great philosophers do, in their wisdom, upon the +various phenomena of Nature. His father, had a great barn, above +which, as was the fashion long ago, perched upon a staff, a few feet +above the ridgepole, was a weather-cock, fashioned out of a piece of +board in the shape of a rooster. 'Father,' said the little boy, one +day, 'what makes that rooster always point his head one way when the +cold wind blows, and the other way when it is warm and pleasant?' 'He +always looks towards the place where the wind comes from,' replied the +father; 'when he gets too warm, and the sun is too hot for him, he +turns his tail to the south, and the north wind is sure to come down, +cold and chill, to cool him off.' 'Does he call the cold wind, father, +and will it come when he looks, that way?' was the next inquiry. +'Certainly,' replied his father, carelessly. That was a wrong and a +foolish answer. + +"That little boy, relying in his simple faith upon the wisdom and +truthfulness of his father, believed for a long time, that the +weathercock on the top of the barn, could bring the cold north, or +the warm south wind, by turning upon its perch. He was cured of his +error only by being laughed at for his simplicity. Parents should +never deceive their children by a careless or a wrong answer to the +simple questions put to them by these little searchers after +knowledge." + +"I remember," said the doctor, "and it is one of the earliest +incidents which my recollection has treasured, that I was out one +evening in autumn, with a boy older than myself, gathering hazel nuts. +The sun had sunk behind the hills, and the shadows of twilight were +gathering in the valley. It was a beautiful and calm evening, the +solemn stillness of which, was only broken by the 'tza! tza!' of +thousands of katydids among the bushes. I asked my companion what it +was that made the noise I heard, and he, supposing that I referred to +sounds that came up occasionally from the lake, after listening for a +moment, answered that it was made by the wild geese. In my simplicity +I believed it, and it was not until I caught, the next season, a +katydid while it was in the act of singing, that I discovered that the +music among the hazel bushes was not made by the wild geese." + +"I never respect a man or woman," said Spalding, "whose heart does not +warm towards little children, who takes no pleasure nor interest in +their society, who has no patience to listen to their simple thoughts +expressed in their simple way. 'Mother,' said a little child of four +or five years of age, one evening when the summer air was warm, and +the skies were bright above, as she sat beside her mother, on a bench +beneath the spreading branches of the tall old elms in front of the +house; 'mother, what makes the stars come out, only after the dark has +come down, and why don't the moon go up into the sky like the sun in +the day time?' I listened anxiously for the reply. I knew the kind +heart of that mother, how truthful it was, and how earnest and pure in +its affection for its gentle and only darling. 'Sit here upon my lap, +Mary,' said the mother, 'and I will try and explain it all so that you +will understand it.' And she told the little child how God made the +sun to rule the day, and the moon and the stars to rule the night; how +that the stars were always in the sky, but how the superior brightness +of the sun put them out in the day time; how the stars, that twinkled +like little rush-lights in the heavens, were great worlds, a thousand +times larger than this earth, made and placed away up in the sky, by +the same great and good God who made the world we live in. Little Mary +was silent and attentive to the simple lecture, until it was finished, +and then asked, so simply and confidingly, that I could not help +smiling to think that the mind of childhood should be running upon a +subject, and seeking a solution of the same question which has puzzled +the profoundest philosophers through all time: 'Mother,' said the +little one, 'are there people in the moon and in the stars, them great +worlds that look to us so like candles in the sky?' 'That question, my +child,' said the mother, 'I cannot answer.' 'I believe,' said the +child, that there _are_ people in the moon, and in all the stars.' +'Why?' asked her mother. 'Because I don't believe God would make such +big and beautiful worlds without making people to live in them.' What +more has the profoundest philosopher who ever lived said, to prove +that those mighty worlds which are seen in the heavens at night, that +are scattered all through the universe of God, rolling forever on +their everlasting rounds, are peopled by living, moving, +sentient beings?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW--THE CHAIRMAN EJECTED. + + +We sent forward our boatman with the luggage early in the morning, up +Bog River towards Mud Lake, the source of the right branch of that +river, lying some thirty miles deeper in the wilderness, counting the +sinuosities of the stream, and said to be the highest body of water in +all this wild region. We were to spend the day on Tupper's Lake, and +follow him the next morning. Our boatman built for our accommodation, +a brush shanty in the place of our tents. We rowed about this +beautiful sheet of water, exploring its secluded bays and romantic +islands, trying experiments with the trout wherever a stream came down +from the hills, and trolling for lake trout while crossing the lake. +Near the shore, on the west bank, perhaps half a mile from the falls, +is one of the coldest, purest and most beautiful springs that I ever +met with. It comes up into a little basin some six or eight feet in +diameter, by two or three in depth. The bottom is of loose white sand +which is all in commotion, by the constant boiling up of the clear +cold water. From this basin a little stream goes rippling and laughing +to the lake. Towards evening we returned to our shanty with abundance +of fish for supper and breakfast, taken, as I said, in simply trying +experiments as to where they were to be found in the greatest +abundance. + +If any sportsman who may drift out this way, is fond of taking the +speckled trout--little fellows, weighing from a quarter of a pound +down, the same he meets with in the streams of Vermont, in +Massachusetts, in Northern Pennsylvania, and. Western New York, let +him provide himself with angle-worms, and row to the head of the lake. +A short distance east of where Bog River enters, say from a quarter to +half a mile, he will find a cold mountain stream. Let him rig for +brook-fishing and take to that stream. If he does not fill his basket +in a little while, he may set it down to the score of bad luck, or +some lack of skill on his part in taking them, for the brook trout are +there in abundance. Across the lake from Long Island, to the right as +you go up the lake, is a bay that goes away in around a woody point. +At the head of this bay, "Grindstone Brook" enters. It is a smallish +stream, and comes dashing down over shelving rocks some thirty feet, +and shoots out into the bay among broken rocks, and loose boulders. +The waters of this stream are much colder than those of the lake. Let +the sportsman row carefully up towards the mouth of this stream, along +towards evening of a hot day, when the shadow of the hill reaches far +out over the lake, and cast his fly across the little current, and if +he does not take as beautiful a string of river trout as can be found +in these parts, let him set it down to the score of accident, for the +trout are there in the warm days of August. If he has a curiosity to +know what there is above these Little Falls, let him try his +angle-worms in the brook just over the ridge, and he will find out. I +claim to have discovered these choice fishing places some seasons +since, and have kept them for my own private use and amusement. Nobody +seemed to know of them. When the trout refused to be taken elsewhere, +I have always found them here, abundant, greedy, and ready to be taken +by any decently skillful effort. I regard these places as in some sort +my private property, and I mention them privately and in confidence to +the reader, trusting that my right will be respected. + +We finished our evening meal while the sun was yet above the western +hills, and sat with our pipes around a smudge, made upon the broad +flat rock, which recedes with a gentle acclivity from the shore, where +the Bog River enters the lake, looking out over the stirless waters. +It was a beautiful view, so calm, so still and placid, and yet so +wild. The islands seemed to stand out clear from the water, to be +lifted up, as it were, from the lake, so perfectly moveless and +polished was its surface. On a grassy point to the right, and a +hundred rods distant, two deer were quietly feeding, while in a little +bay on the left, a brood of young ducks were sporting and skimming +along the water in playful gyrations around their staid and watchful +mother. On the outstretched arm of a dead tree on the island before +us, sat a bald eagle, pluming himself; and high above the lake the +osprey soared, turning his piercing eye downward, watching for +his prey. + +"I've been thinking," said Smith, as he refilled his pipe, "of what +the Doctor was saying the other evening about every body having a +streak of the vagabond in him, which makes him relish an occasional +tramp in the old woods among the natural things; things that have not +been marred by the barbarisms, so to speak, of civilization. I'm +inclined to believe his theory to be true, but I see a difficulty in +its practical working. Now, suppose, Doctor, that you and I being out +here together vagabondizing, as you term it, and your streak of the +vagabond being twice as large as mine, you would of course desire to +play the savage twice as long as I should. There would, in that case, +be a marring of the harmonies. I should be anxious to get back to +civilization, while you, being rather in your normal element, would +insist upon 'laying around loose,' as you say, for Mercy knows +how long." + +"Gentlemen," said the Doctor in reply, "only hear this fellow! He's +getting homesick already. He has no wife, not a child in the world, no +business, nothing to call him home save a superannuated pointer, and +an old Tom cat, and yet he would leave these glorious old woods, these +beautiful lakes, these rivers, these trout and deer, and all the glad +music of the wild things, to-morrow, and go back to the dust, the +poisoned atmosphere, the eternal jostling and monotonous noises of the +city! Truly a vagabond and a savage is Smith. He's afraid that his +family, his mangy old pointer and dropsical cat, will suffer in +his absence." + +"I scorn to answer such an accusation," retorted Smith, "I shall treat +it with dignified contempt, as I do the Doc medicines, which I never +take but always pay for, just to keep him from starving, and to make +him imagine he cures me. But speaking of cats reminds me of a certain +matter which occurred not many years ago. The Doctor here, if his +testimony could be relied upon, knows that I used to be troubled with +indigestion, and was sometimes a little nervous"---- + +"A _little_ nervous!" interrupted the Doctor, "why he would be as crazy +with the hypo as a March hare. He would insist that he was going to +die, or to the almshouse. He has made two or three dozen wills, to my +certain knowledge, under the firm conviction that he would be in the +ground in a week. A _little_ nervous, indeed!" + +"Well," said Smith, "we won't quarrel about the degree of my +nervousness. But in regard to what I was going to say about cats. Some +years ago I occupied a suite of rooms in the second story of a house +rented by a widow lady, to whom I had been under some obligations in +my boyhood, and whom my mother always regarded as her best friend." +(Smith supported the excellent old lady in comfort for a decade, under +pretence of boarding with her, ministering to the last years of her +life with the care and affection of a son.) "The landlord of the +premises was the owner of a block of twelve houses--six on Pearl +street, and six on Broadway, the lots meeting midway between the two +streets. On the rear of these lots are the out-houses, all under a +continuous flat roof, some twelve feet high, twenty wide, and say a +hundred and fifty feet long. In the rear of the Broadway +dwelling-houses, are one story tea-rooms, or third parlors, the roofs +of which form a continuous platform, upon which you can step from the +second story of the houses." + +"Well," said the Doctor, "what of all that?" + +"There's a great deal of it," Smith replied. "I don't pretend to know +how many cats there were in the city of Albany. Indeed, I never heard +that they were included in the census. I do not undertake to say that +they _all_ congregated nightly on the roofs of those out-houses. But +if there was a cat in the sixth ward, that didn't have something to +say on that roof every night, I should like to make its acquaintance. +I am against cats. I regard them as treacherous, ungrateful animals, +and as having very small moral developments generally. I am against +_cat-_terwauling, especially in the night season, when honest people +have a right to their natural sleep. I don't like to be woke up, when +rounding a pleasant dream, by their growling and screaming, spitting +and whining, groaning and crying, and the hundred other nameless +noises by which they frighten sleep from our pillows. + +"Well, one night, it may have been one o'clock, or two, or three, I +was awakened by the awfullest screaming and sputtering, growling and +swearing, that ever startled a weary man from his slumbers. I leaped +out of bed under the impression that at least twenty little children +had fallen into as many tubs of boiling water. I threw open the window +and stepped out upon the roof of the tea-room. I don't intend to +exaggerate, but I honestly believe that there were less than three +hundred cats over against me, on the roofs of the out-houses; each one +of which had a tail bigger than a Bologna sausage, his back crooked up +like an oxbow, and his great round eyes gleaming fiercely in the +moonlight, putting in his very best in the way of catterwauling. Two +of the largest, one black as night and the other a dark grey or +brindle, appeared to be particularly in earnest, and the way they +scolded, and screamed, and swore at each other was a sin to hear. I +won't undertake to report all they said; a decent regard for the +proprieties of language, compels me to give only a sketch of +the debate. + +"'You infernal, big-tailed, hump-backed, ugly-mugged thief,' screamed +the grey, 'I'd like to know what _you_ are out here for this time of +night, skulking, and creeping, and nosing about in the dark, poaching +upon other people's preserves?' + +"'Very well I mighty well!' was the reply, 'for _you_, to talk, you +black-skinned, ogre-eyed, growling and sputtering robber, to come upon +this roof, sticking up _your_ back and taking airs on yourself. I'd +like to know what business _you've_ got to be prowling about and +crowding yourself into honest people's company?' + +"'I'm a regular Tom Cat, I'd have you know, and go where I please, and +I'll stand none of your big talk and insolent looks.' "'Insolent! +Hear the cowardly thief! Insolent! Very well, Mr. Tom Cat! very good, +indeed! Now, just take your black skin off of this roof, or you'll get +what will make you look cross-eyed foe a month.' + +"'Get off this roof, I think you said. Look at this set of ivory, and +these claws, old greyback! If you want I should leave this roof, just +come and put me off. Try it on, old Beeswax. Yes, yes! try it on once, +and we'll see whose eyes will look straightest in the morning! Come +on, old Humpback! Try it on, old Sausage Tail!' + +"And then they pitched in, and such scratching and growling, scolding +and swearing, and biting, and rolling over and over, I never happened +to see or hear before. About that time I dropped a boulder of coal, +taken from the scuttle, weighing about half a pound, right among them +(accidently of course). Whether it hit any one I can't positively +affirm, but I heard a dull heavy sound, a kind of _chug_, as if it had +struck against something soft, and the scream of one of the +belligerents was brought to a sudden stop, by a sort of hysterical +jerk, as though there had been a sudden lack of wind to carry it on. +It put an end to the disturbance, and all the rioters, save one, +scampered away. That one remained, all doubled up in a heap like, as +if it had the sick headache, or been attacked with a sudden +inflammation of the bowels. If any body's cat was found the next +morning with a swelled head, or a great bunch on its side, and seemed +dumpish, it's my private opinion that that's the one that lump of coal +fell upon. Still it did'nt do much good in the way of relieving me +from the annoyance of these cat conventions. They continued to +congregate nightly on that long shed in the rear of my rooms. I wasted +more wood upon them than I could well afford to spare. I used up all +the brickbats I could lay my hands on. I threw away something less +than a ton of coal; and on two occasions came near being taken to the +watch-house for smashing a window in the opposite block. All this +proved of no avail. Indeed, my tormentors began at last to get used to +it, to regard it as part of the performance. + +"The matter was getting serious. It became evident that either those +cats or myself must leave the premises. I had paid my rent in advance, +and was therefore entitled to quiet use and enjoyment, according to +the terms of my lease. I made up my mind to try one more experiment. +So I bought me a double-barrelled gun, and a quantity of powder and +shot, and gave fair warning that I intended to use them. + +"Well, the moon came up one night, with her great round face, and went +walking up the sky with a queenly tread, throwing her light, like a +mantle of brightness, over all the earth. I love the calm of a +moonlight night, in the pleasant spring time, and the cats of our part +of the town seemed to love it too, for they came from every quarter; +from the sheds around the National Garden, from the stables, the +streets, the basements, and the kitchens, creeping stealthily along +the tops of the fences, and along the sheds, and clambering up the +boards that leaned up against the outbuildings, and set themselves +down, scores or less of them, in their old trysting place, right +opposite my chamber windows. To all this I had in the abstract no +objection. If a cat chooses to take a quiet walk by moonlight, if he +chooses to go out for his pleasure or his profit, it is no particular +business of mine, and I haven't a word to say. Cats have rights, and I +have no disposition to interfere with them. If they choose to hold a +convention to discuss the affairs of rat-and-mousedom, they can do it +for all me. But they must go about it decently and in order. They must +talk matters over calmly; there must be no rioting, no fighting. They +must refrain from the use of profane language--they must not swear. +There's law against all this, and I had warned them long before that I +would stand no such nonsense. I told them frankly that I'd let drive +among them some night with a double-barrelled gun, loaded with powder +and duck-shot--and I meant it. But those cats did'nt believe a word I +said. They did'nt believe I had any powder and shot. They did'nt +believe I had any gun, or knew how to use it, if I had; and one great +Maltese, with eyes like tea-plates, and a tail like a Bologna sausage, +grinned and sputtered, and spit, in derision and defiance of my +threats. 'Very well!' said I. 'Very well, Mr. TOM CAT! very well, +indeed! On your head be it, Mr. TOM CAT! Try it on, Mr. TOM CAT, and +we'll see who'll get the worst of it.' + +"Well, as I said, the moon came up one night, with her great round +face, and all the little stars hid themselves, as if ashamed of their +twinkle in the splendor of her superior brightness. I retired when the +rumble of the carriages in the streets, and the tramp on the stone +sidewalks had ceased, and the scream of the eleven o'clock train had +died away into silence, with a quiet conscience, and in the confidence +that I should find that repose to which one who has wronged no man +during the day, is justly entitled. + +"It may have been midnight, or one o'clock, or two, when I was +awakened from a pleasant slumber, by a babel of unearthly sounds in +the rear of my chamber. I knew what those sounds meant, for they had +cost me fuel enough to have lasted a month. I raised the window, and +there, as of old, right opposite me, on the north end of that long +shed, was an assemblage of all the cats in that part of the town. I +won't be precise as to numbers, but it is my honest belief that there +was less than three hundred of them; and if one among them all was +silent, I did not succeed in discovering which it was. There was that +same old Maltese, with his saucer eyes and sausage tail; and over +against him sat a monstrous brindle; and off at the right was an old +spotted ratter; and on his left was one black as a wolf's mouth, all +but his eyes, which glared with a sulphurous and lurid brightness; and +dotted all around, over a space some thirty feet square, were dozens +more, of all sizes and colors, and _such_ growling and spitting, and +shrieking, and swearing, never before broke, with hideous discord, the +silence of midnight. + +"I loaded my double-barrelled gun by candle-light I put plenty of +powder and a handful of shot into each barrel. I adjusted the caps +carefully, and stepped out of the window, upon the narrow roof upon +which it opens. I was then just eighty feet from that cat convention. +I addressed myself to the chairman (the old Maltese) in a distinct and +audible voice and said, 'SCAT!' He did'nt recognise my right to the +floor, but went right on with the business of the meeting. 'SCAT!' +cried I, more emphatically than before, but was answered only by an +extra shriek from the chairman, and a fiercer scream from the whole +assembly. 'SCAT! once,' cried I again, as I brought my gun to a +present. 'SCAT! twice,' and I aimed straight at the chairman, covering +half a dozen others in the range. 'SCAT! three times,' and I let +drive. Bang! went the right-hand barrel; and bang! went the left-hand +barrel. Such scampering, such leaping off the shed, such running away +over the eaves of the outbuildings, over the tops of the wood-sheds, +were never seen before. The echoes of the firing had scarcely died +away, when that whole assemblage was broken up and dispersed. + +"'Thomas,' said I, the next morning to the boy who did chores for us, +'there seems to be a cat asleep out on that woodshed, go up and +scare it away.' + +"Thomas clambered upon the shed and went up to where that cat lay, and +lifting it up by the tail, hallood back to me, 'This cat can't be +waked up; it can't be scared away--its dead!' After examining it for a +moment--'Somebody's been a shootin' on it, by thunder,' as he tossed +it down into the yard. + +"You don't say so!" said I. "That cat was the old Maltese--the +chairman of that convention. I don't know where he boarded, or who +claimed title to him. What I do know is, that it cost me a quarter to +have him buried, or thrown into the river; and that I was suffered to +sleep in peace from the time I made the discovery that _powder and +lead are great quellers of midnight rioting_. They gave _me_ quiet at +least, and saved me from the wickedness of the nightly use of certain +expletives, under the excitement of the occasion, which are not to be +found in any of the religious works of the day." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE FIRST CHAIN OP PONDS--SHOOTING BY TURNS--SHEEP WASHING--A PLUNGE +AND A DIVE--A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER. + + +We started early the next morning up Bog River, intending to reach the +"first chain of ponds," some twenty miles deeper in the wilderness, as +the stream runs, on the banks of which our pioneer had been instructed +to pitch our tents. This day's journey, it was understood, would be a +hard one, as there were eight carrying places, varying from ten rods +to half a mile in length. The Bog River is a deep, sluggish stream for +five or six miles above the falls, just at the lake. It goes creeping +along, among, and around immense boulders, thrown loose, as it were, +in mid channel. At this distance, the stream divides, the right hand +channel leading to the two chains of ponds and Mud Lake, where it +takes its rise; and the left to Round Pond, and little Tupper's Lake, +and a dozen other nameless sheets of water, laying higher up among the +mountains. Our course lay up the right hand channel, which, for half +a mile above the forks, comes roaring and tumbling through a mountain +gorge, plunging over falls, and whirling and surging among the +boulders, in a descent of three of four hundred feet in all. Around +these, and seven other rapids of greater or less extent, our boats had +to be carried. + +We reached the lower chain of ponds within an hour of sunset, and +found our tents pitched at a pleasant spot which looked out over the +easternmost one of these beautiful little lakelets. There are three of +them, connected together by narrow passages or straits, the banks of +which, as the boat glides along, the oars will touch. They are +surrounded by low but pleasant hills, so arranged as to form a varied +but delightful scenery. From the western one, the hills rise from the +water with a steep acclivity, covered with a gigantic growth of +timber, save on the northern side, where a pleasant natural meadow, +covered with rank grass and a few spruce and fir trees, stretches +away. It contains about two hundred acres, and its waters are deep and +pure. The middle one, though smaller, is equally beautiful, skirted on +three sides with wood-covered hills, and on the other by a +continuation of the same natural meadow. The eastern one, on the +western banks of which our tents were located on a beautiful little +bay, is the prettiest of them all. It contains perhaps six hundred +acres, and the scenery around it is exceedingly cheerful and pleasant. +The northern shore is bound by a natural meadow of luxuriant wild +grass, between which and the water is a hard sandy beach, at low water +some thirty feet wide, and extending between a quarter and half a +mile in length. + +As we approached these ponds, the river became broad and shallow. +Natural meadows, covered with tall grass and weeds, stretching away on +either hand. When we came to this portion of the river, the oars were +shipped, and our boat-men took their seats in the stern with their +paddles. Smith was in the bow of one boat, and Spalding in that of the +other, each with rifle in hand, preparatory to the slaughter of a +deer, to provide us with venison. It was arranged that the marksman +who fired and failed to secure his game, should change places with the +one behind him, and that thus the rotation should go on, till we +should bring down a deer. We knew that we should see numbers of them +feeding along the margin of the stream, and upon the natural meadows +that skirted the shore. The stream was winding and tortuous, and at no +time could we see more than five-and-twenty rods in advance of us, so +crooked is its course. + +We were moving up the stream cautiously and silently; the boatman who +had charge of the craft in which were Smith and myself, seated in the +stern, paddling, and Smith himself seated in the bow, with rifle in +hand, ready for anything that might turn up. As the boat rounded a +point, a deer started out from among the reeds on the right, and went +dashing and snorting across the river directly in front of the boat, +and five or six rods ahead, the water being only about two feet in +depth. Smith blazed away at him; where the ball went, Mercy knows; but +the deer dashed forward with accelerated speed, and a louder whistle, +and went crashing up the hill-side. Smith acknowledged to a severe +attack of the Buck fever. It was now my turn to take the next shot; +and changing places with Smith, we went ahead. In ten minutes a chance +to try my skill occurred. But it was a long shot, the game was "on the +wing," and I had no better success than did my friend. The deer only +increased the length of his bounds, and he too went plunging through +the old woods, snorting in astonishment, and huge affright at what he +had seen and heard. + +Our boat now fell back, and Spalding and the Doctor took the lead. In +a short time, a deer was discovered feeding just ahead of us on the +lily pads along the shore. The boatman paddled silently up to within +eight or ten rods of him. Spalding sighted him long and, as he +averred, carefully with his rifle. The deer fed and fed on, and we +waited anxiously to hear the crack of the rifle, and see the deer go +down; but still the boat glided on unnoticed by the animal that was +feeding in unsuspecting security. At length he raised his head, threw +forward his long ears, gazed for a second intently at his enemies, and +then appreciating his danger, snorted like a warhorse and plunged in a +seeming desperation of terror towards the shore. He had ran a few rods +when Spalding let drive at him, as he confessed, at random. The ball +went wide of the mark, and the game dashed, with more desperate +energy, and whistling and snorting like a locomotive, into the brush +that lined the banks. It was Spalding's third shot in all his life at +a deer, and he insisted, gravely enough, that he did not fire while +the game was standing broadside to him, on account of his desire to +give the animal a chance for his life. The truth is, that Spalding had +a bad, a very bad attack of the aforesaid Buck fever. + +The Doctor, by rotation, now became the leading marksman. He was cool +and calm, as if going to perform some delicate surgical operation. We +soon came in sight of a buck feeding in a shallow pasture, and the +boat glided quietly within fifteen rods of it. The Doctor's hand was +firm, and his aim steady. There was about him none of that nervous +agitation which is so apt to disturb the first efforts at deer +slaying. The boat came to a pause a moment, when his rule rang out +quick and sharp, waking the echoes of the mountains around and +reverberating along the shore. At the crack of the rifle, the buck +leaped high into the air, and plunged madly towards the bank, up which +he dashed with a prodigious bound, made a single jump among the tall +grass, and disappeared from the sight. The Doctor was greatly +mortified, supposing he had missed. He declared solemnly that he had +taken steady and sure aim just back of the fore-shoulders of the deer, +had a perfect sight upon it, and that it did not fall in its tracks, +could only be owing to its bearing a charmed life. The boatman, +however, knew that the animal, from its actions, was mortally wounded. +He said nothing, but paddled quietly to the shore, and there, just +over the bank, in the tall grass and weeds, lay the noble buck, stone +dead. He had gone down and died without a struggle. A proud man was +the Doctor, as he passed his hunting-knife across the throat of the +deer, and gazed upon its broad antlers, now in the velvet, pointing to +the course of the ball right through its vitals, in on one side and +out on the other. We had venison for the next four-and-twenty hours, +and we disturbed the deer no more that afternoon. + +The deep baying of the stag-hounds, as we entered the little lake, +apprised us of the location of our tents, and we were glad to reach +them, and stretch our limbs upon the bed of boughs beneath them, for +the day had been warm, and our journey a weary one. Our pioneer had +made the entire journey the day before, though he had to pass over all +the carrying-places three times. We found that he had killed two deer, +and had the meat from them, cut into thin slips, undergoing the +process of "jerking," in a bark smokehouse erected near the tents. He +had also a beautiful string of trout ready for our supper, taken in a +way peculiarly his own. He had used neither bait nor fly. + +After supper, as we sat looking out over the lake in front of our +tents, the Doctor inquired of our pioneer how he had taken his fish, +as he had with him neither rod nor flies, and there was no bait to be +found in the woods proper for trout. + +"Why," said he, "I got lonesome yesterday, all alone up here in the +woods, waiting for you, and I thought I'd take a look around the shore +of the lake, thinking I might find a gold mine, or a pocketful of +diamonds, or something of that sort; so I took my rifle and the two +dogs, and started on an explorin' voyage. I didn't find any gold, but +I found, just across there by those willows and alders, a cold stream +entered the lake, and right in the mouth of it the trout were lyin' as +thick as your fingers. They were fine little fellows as I ever +happened to see, weighing about a quarter of a pound each. I had a +hook or two, and a piece of twine in my pocket, but they were of no +sort of use in common fishin', for I had no kind of bait, and couldn't +get any. After thinking the matter over, I concluded I'd see if I +couldn't bag some of them in a quiet way. So I cut me a long pole, +tied the hook and line to the end of it, and reaching out over the +water, dropped quietly down among them. I let the line drift gently up +against the one I wanted. He didn't seem to mind it, but was rather +pleased as the line tickled his sides. After letting it lay there a +moment, I jerked suddenly, and up came the trout clean over my head on +to the flat rock behind me. However this might have astonished him, it +didn't seem to disturb the rest. In that way I caught all I wanted, +and could have caught a bushel. It isn't a very science way of +fishin', but it answers when a man is hungry, and hasn't got any +bait or fly." + +"I scarcely know why," said the Doctor, "but Cullen's account of +catching his trout, reminds me of a circumstance which occurred when I +was a boy, and which for the moment made a deal of sport. I have not +probably thought of it in twenty years, but it comes to me now as +fresh as though it were the occurrence of yesterday. It must be, as +Hank Wood said the other day, that a thing which gets fairly anchored +in a man's mind, remains there always, and covered up as it may be by +other and later things, it can never be forgotten. It will come +drifting back on the current of memory, fresh and palpable as ever. + +"Everybody understands, or ought to understand, how sheep are washed. +A small yard is built on the bank of a stream adjacent to a deep +place. One side of which is open to the water, and into which the +flock is crowded. The washers take their places in the water, where it +is three or four feet deep, and the sheep are caught by others, and +tossed to them, where they undergo ablution (an operation by the way, +that they do not seem altogether to enjoy), to wash the dirt and gum +from their fleeces. On such occasions, it is regarded as a lawful +thing, a standing and ancient practical joke, to pitch any outsider, +who may happen to indulge his curiosity by stopping to look on, into +the stream. If he is verdant, he will be very likely to be inveigled +into the yard, and in an unguarded moment, be made to take an +involuntary dive, head foremost into the water. + +"A few rods above the place in which my father washed his sheep, was +an old dam, the apron of which remained, and beneath which was a basin +some five or six feet in depth, and thirty or forty feet in diameter, +filled of course with water. On one occasion, a man who was employed +to catch the sheep, was one of those shiftless, good-natured, lazy +fellows, to be found in almost every neighborhood, who prefer smoking +and telling stories in bar-rooms to regular work, and who greatly +prefer odd jobs to consecutive labor. Tom G----was one of this genus, +full of fun and mischief, but without a particle of real malice in +his composition. As he was busy throwing sheep to the washers, a young +fellow from the neighboring village happened that way, and becoming +somewhat interested in the process, was seduced by Tom G----, inside +of the yard, to try his hand at catching and tossing in sheep. About +the second or third one he operated upon, his treacherous friend +stumbled against him, giving him a tremendous push, and with a sheep +in his arms he drove head foremost among the washers. The water was +cold, and there was a good deal of puffing and blowing about the time +his head came above the surface. He was a sensible chap, and took the +joke as a wise man should, especially when the odds are all against +him, albeit, it was somewhat rude. + +"He came out on the other side of the stream, and after joining in the +laugh against himself, and taking off and wringing his garments, he +wandered up to the apron of the old dam, and stretching himself along +the planks, went to looking anxiously down into the deep water. After +a while, he seemed to have discovered something, and called out to his +friend below, 'I say Tom, have you got a fishhook in your pocket? Here +is a trout that will weigh two pounds, and I want to hook him up.' Now +Tom was a fisherman, and a big trout was his weakness; moreover, he +was never without half a dozen hooks and lines in his pockets. He left +his business at once, and went up to the apron to assist in taking the +two-pound trout. A pole was cut, and a couple of feet of line, with a +hook attached, was fastened a little way from the top, and the haft +of the hook stuck into the end so that by a little force it might be +removed, and Tom and his friend got upon the apron, and stooped over +to see where the great trout lay. + +"'Here he is, Tom, just under the edge of this rock.' Tom stretched +himself over to get a view of the fish, when a vigorous shove from the +rear sent him like a great frog plump towards the bottom of the pool. +This was a consummation that Tom had not bargained for, but there was +no alternative but to swim for the shore, dripping like a rat from a +flooded sewer. That joke had two points to it, and Tom G----had the +worst of them." + +"Your anecdote," said Smith, "reminds me of one in which I was an +actor, and which was impressed upon my mind by a process which few +boys are fond of, but which is very apt to make the impression +durable. _I_ fished for trout once without line or hook. I got a fine +string of them, and myself into a pretty kettle of fish in the +bargain. On my father's farm, as it was when I was a boy, was a stream +that came down through a gorge in the mountains that bounded the +pleasant valley in which that farm lay. In the spring freshets and the +summer rains, that stream was a mighty and resistless torrent, that +came roaring and plunging down from the plain above, cascading and +leaping down ledges and rushing though a gorge, on either side of +which precipices of solid rock stood straight up two hundred feet in +height. It was a goodly sight to see that stream when its back was up, +come rushing and foaming, a mighty flood from the deep and shadowy +gulf, rolling in its resistless course great boulders of tons upon +tons in weight, and eddying, and twisting, and roaring onward in its +furious course towards the lake. In the summer time the drouth lapped +up its waters, and it dried away to a little brook, trickling over the +falls, and went winding, a small streamlet, around the base of the +hill; sometimes it disappeared in the gravel, or among the loose +stones, save here and there a pool of narrow limits and shallow depth. +It was a fine trout stream at times. Its waters were cold and pure, +and the brook trout loved to hide away under the great smooth stones +or shelving rocks, and be comfortable in the shade, when the summer +sun was hot and fiery in the sky. When the creek was low, they would +congregate in the pools and still places, and in times of extreme +drouth, might be seen huddled together in such places in +great numbers. + +"My father, though not a member of any church, was strict in his +family discipline in regard to the observance of the Sabbath, the +breach of which, on the part of his children, was very apt to be +followed by consequences not the most pleasant in the world, for he +held that a good switch was an essential article of household +furniture, and its occasional use a cardinal principle in the +philosophy of family rule. One Sunday, when I was some ten or eleven +years old, when the old people were gone to meeting (and they had to +go eight miles to find a meeting house), I, with an older brother, +tired of lying around the house, concluded to take a stroll along up +the brook. It was a time of severe drouth, and the stream was dried +up, save here and there a small pool, clear and cold, the bottom of +which consisted of smooth and clean-washed stones and pebbles. In one +of these was a number of beautiful speckled trout, averaging maybe a +quarter of a pound each in weight. Here was a temptation too strong to +be resisted. We had no hooks or lines with us, and would not have +ventured to use them _on Sunday_, if we had. That would have been +fishing. But the taking of those trout with our hands was quite +another matter. So, rolling our pants up above our knees (there was no +use of talking about shoes and stockings; such luxuries were not +within the range of indulgence to boys of our age in those days, save +in the frosts and snows of winter, and stubbed toes, stone bruises, +and thorns in the feet, come floating along down from the long past, +like shadows of darkness on the current of memory. By the way, will +some rich man, who was reared in the country in the good old times +when boys went barefooted in the summer months, when chapped feet, +stone bruises, stubbed toes, and thorns that pierced and festered in +their _soles_ were the great ills that 'darkened deepest around human +destiny,' solve for me a problem of the human mind? Will he tell me +whether, in his after life, when he was the owner of broad acres, fine +houses, piles of stocks in paying corporations, and huge deposits in +solvent banks, he ever felt richer or prouder when counting his gains, +and contemplating the aggregate of his wealth, than he did when he +pulled on his first pair of boots?) So, as I said, we rolled up our +pants, and waded in for the trout. We caught a beautiful string of +twenty or more, took them home, dressed them nicely, and sat them +carefully away in the cool cellar. We had a notion that the greatness +of the prize would wipe away the offence by which it was secured, and +that the delicious breakfast they would afford, would be received as a +sufficient atonement for the sin of having taken them on a Sunday. But +we were never more mistaken in our lives. My father went into the +cellar for some purpose in the evening, after his return from meeting, +and discovered the trout. An inquiry was instituted, our dereliction +was exposed, and we were promised a flogging. Now that was a promise, +which, while it was rarely made, was never broken. When my father in +his calm, quiet way, made up his mind and so expressed it, that he +owed one of his boys a flogging, it became, as it were, a debt of +honor, what, in modern parlance, would be termed a confidential debt, +and he to whom it was acknowledged to be due, became a prefered +creditor, and was sure to be paid. + +"Well, the trout were eaten for breakfast, and after the meal was +over, my brother and myself were duly paid off, at a hundred cents on +the dollar, with full interest. That flogging cured me of 'tickling' +trout, especially on Sunday. I am never tempted to take trout with my +hands, without feeling a tickling sensation about the back; and though +old recollections of the long past, of that pleasant stream and the +gorge through which it flowed, with the side hill covered with old +forests above it, and the green fields spread out on the other side, +of the home of my boyhood, the old log-house, the cattle, the sheep, +the old watch-dog, and the thousand other things around which memory +loves to linger, come clustering around my heart, yet conspicuous +among them all, is the flogging I got for 'tickling' trout on +a Sunday." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A JOLLY TIME FOR THE DEER--HUNTING ON THE WATER BY DAYLIGHT--MUD LAKE +FUNEREAL SCENERY--A NEW WAY OF TAKING RABBITS--THE NEGRO AND THE +MARINO BUCK--A COLLISION. + + +As we came down to the lake in the morning to perform our ablations, +we saw a fine deer on the opposite shore, feeding upon the pond lilies +that grew along in the shallow water. It was nearly half a mile from +us, and while we were looking at it, four others came walking +carelessly out of the tall grass upon the beach, and commenced +playing, as we have seen lambs do, on the sandy shore. They would run +here and there, back and forth, at full speed along the sands, leap +high into the air, kicking up their heels, and performing all the +various antics of which animals so supple and active may be supposed +capable. We saw one fellow leap, with a clear bound, over two that +were standing looking out over the water, and run some fifty rods up +the beach, as if all the hounds in Christendom were at his tail, and +then wheel gracefully, and return with equal speed to his companions, +when they all commenced jumping and bounding, and running up and down +along the shore, as if they were out on a regular spree, and were +determined to be jolly. After half an hour of exceedingly active play, +they hoisted their white flags, and went bounding over the meadow into +the woods. + +The deer that was feeding paid no further attention to them than to +raise his head and look quietly, and perhaps contemptuously at them +occasionally, while he chewed his breakfast, that he was picking up in +the shape of lily pads upon the surface of the water. Spalding and a +boatman paddled across the lake to make Mm a morning call. It is a +curious fact that one skilled in the art will paddle or scull one of +these light boats to within a few rods of a deer while feeding, in +plain open sight, provided always that the wind blows _from_ the +direction of the animal, and no noise is made by the boatman. The deer +will feed on, and the time for paddling is while his head is down. +When he raises it to look about him, in whatever position the boatman +is, he must remain immovable. If his paddle is up, it must remain so; +not a motion must be made, or the game will be off, with a snort and a +rush, for the shore and the woods. The deer may, and probably will +look, with a vacant stare, directly at the approaching boat without +its curiosity being in the least excited, and then go to feeding +again. The marksman must take his aim while the game is feeding; when +it raises its head high in the air, throws forward its ears and gazes +at him for a moment with a wild and startled look, then is his time to +fire. Five seconds at the longest is all that is allowed him when he +sees these motions, for within that time, with its fears thoroughly +aroused, the game will be plunging for the shelter of the woods. + +The boatman paddled Spalding quietly and silently to within twelve or +fifteen rods of the deer that was feeding, when a column of white +smoke shot suddenly up from the bow of the boat; the sharp crack of +the rifle rung out over the water, and the deer went down. Spalding +was a proud man as he returned to us with a fine fat spike buck in +his boat. + +These little lakes are probably sixty-five miles from the settlements, +allowing for the winding course of the rivers. Just above, where the +river enters, is a dam, built of logs some fifteen feet high, erected +by the lumbermen the last winter to hold back the water, so as to +float their logs down from this to Tupper's Lake, and so on down the +Rackett to the mills away below. Around this dam is the last carrying +place between this and Mud Lake, over which our boatmen trudged with +their boats, like great turtles with their shells upon their backs. +This is still called Bog River, and though above the dam to Mud Lake, +where it takes its rise, it is deep and sluggish, yet it is doing it +honor overmuch to dignify it by the name of a river. It was large +enough, however, to float our little craft. We left our baggage-master +here with most of our luggage, to perfect his operations in the way +of jerking venison, intending to return the next day. We might have +left everything without a guard, so far as human depredations were +concerned. No bolts or bars would be necessary for its protection. In +the first place, nobody would visit the spot, and if they did, our +property would be perfectly protected by the law of the woods. It +would be doubtless carefully inspected by any curious banter passing +that way, but theft or robbery are unknown here. True, a bottle of +good liquor, if handled by a visitor, might lose somewhat of its +contents, but it would be drank to the health of the owner, and in a +spirit of good fellowship, and not of theft, all which would be +regarded by woodsmen as strictly within rule, there being, as Hank +Wood said, "no law agin it." + +We left the first chain of ponds, and rowed some ten miles up the deep +and sluggish but narrow channel of the river, startling every little +way a deer from its propriety by our presence as it was feeding along +the shore. Few sportsmen ever visit this remote region, and it is +above the range of the lumbermen. We came to some rapids near the +outlet of the second chain of ponds, around which we walked, and up +which the boatmen pushed their little craft. These rapids are a +quarter of a mile in length, with no great amount of fall, but still +enough to prevent the passage up them of a loaded boat. Directly at +the head of these rapids is the "second chain of ponds," three +pleasant little lakelets, of from two to four hundred acres each, +surrounded by dense forests, and shores in the main walled in by huge +boulders and broken rocks. We passed through these, in which were +several loons, or great northern divers, quietly floating, and as they +watched us, sending forth their clear and clarion voices over the +water. We took each a passing shot at them, but with no other effect +than to make them dive quicker and deeper, and stay under longer than +usual; at the flash of our rifles they would go down, and in a few +minutes would be again on the surface sixty rods from us, laughing +aloud, as it were, with their clear and quavering voices, at our +impotent attempts to shoot them. + +We left the "second chain of ponds" by the narrow and sluggish inlets, +still the Bog River, here so small that the boatman's oars spanned the +narrow channel, and as crooked a stream as it is possible for one to +be. It flows for miles through a low and marshy region, with dense +alderbushes clustering along the shore, and scattering fir-trees, dead +at the top, standing between these and the forests in the background. +The bottom, much of the way, is of clean yellow sand, in which are +imbedded millions of clams, resembling, in every respect, those of the +ocean beach. Some of these we opened, and found the living bivalves in +appearance precisely like their kindred of the salt water. I have seen +occasionally muscle shells in other streams, and along the shores of +the lakes, but I never before saw any such as these save near the +ocean, where the salt water ebbs and flows, and not even there in such +quantities. One might gather barrels and barrels of them, large and +apparently fat, and yet there would be hundreds or thousands of +barrels left. The mink, the muskrat, and other animals that hunt +along the water, and have a taste for fish, have a good time of it +among them, for we saw bushels of shells in places where the fish had +been extracted and devoured. + +We arrived at Mud Lake towards evening, and pitched our tent on a +little rise of ground on the north side, a few rods back from the +lake, among a cluster of spruce and balsam, and surrounded by a dense +growth of laurel and high whortleberry bushes. We saw a deer +occasionally on our route, and the banks of the stream in many places +were trodden up by them like the entrance to a sheep-fold. Why this +sheet of water should be called Mud Lake is a mystery, for though +gloomy enough in every other respect, its bed is of sand, and it is +surrounded by a sandy beach from fifteen to forty feet wide. It is +perhaps four miles in circumference, its waters generally shallow, and +so covered with pond lilies, and skirted with wild grass, as to form +the most luxuriant pasture for the deer and moose to be found in all +this region. Of all the lakes I have visited in these northern wilds, +this is the most gloomy. Indeed it is the only one that does not wear +a cheerful and pleasant aspect. It seems to be the highest water in +this portion of the wilderness, lying, as one of our boatmen +expressed it, "up on the top of the house." In only one direction +could any higher land be seen, and that was a low hill on the +western shore, not exceeding fifty feet in height. There are no +tall mountain peaks reaching their heads towards the clouds, +overlooking the waters; no ranges stretching away into the distance; +no gorges or spreading valleys; no sloping hillsides, giving back the +sunlight, or along which gigantic shadows of the drifting clouds +float. All around it are fir, and tamarac, and spruce of a stinted and +slender growth, dead at the top, and with lichens and moss hanging +down in sad and draggled festoons from their desolate branches. It is, +in truth, a gloomy place, typical of desolation, which it is well to +see once, but which no one will desire to visit a second time. We +noticed on the sandy beach tracks of the wolf, the panther, the moose, +and in one place the huge track of a bear. He must have been of +monstrous growth, judging by the impression of his great feet and +claws in the sand. But we saw none of these animals, and so gloomy is +the place, so sepulchral, such an air of desolation all around, that +it brings over the mind a strong feeling of sadness and gloom, and we +resolved not to tarry beyond the nest morning, even for the chance of +taking a moose, a panther, or a bear. + +We pitched our tent, as I said, a little way back from the lake, near +a cold spring, that came boiling up through the white sand in a little +basin, eight feet wide, the bottom of which, like that on the bank of +Tupper's Lake, was all in commotion, boiling and bubbling, as the +water forced its way up through it. I was in the forward boat as we +approached the lake, and was surprised to see the number of deer +feeding upon the lily pads in the shallow water, and the wild grass +that grew along the shore. Some stood midside in the water, some with +only the line of their backs and heads above it. Some were close +along the shore, feeding upon the grass that grew there. Others still +were nibbling at the leaves of the moosewood upon the bank, and one +large buck stood by the side of a fir tree, rubbing his neck up and +down against it, as if scratching himself against its rough bark. We +had not been discovered, and waited for the other boats to arrive. +Great was the astonishment of my companions, when they saw the number +of deer that were feeding in this little lake. Neither of them had +ever seen the like, nor had I, save on one occasion, and that was in a +small lake, the name of which I have forgotten, lying a few miles +beyond the head of the Upper Saranac. + +"You see that clump of low balsam trees on that point yonder," said my +boatman, as we lay upon our oars, pointing in the direction indicated. +"Well, from that spot, three years ago, I shot a moose out upon the +bar there, as it was feeding upon the lily pads and flag grass. + +"I had heard from an old Indian hunter, about this lake, and the +abundance of game to be found here, and I made up my mind to see it. +So another hunter and myself agreed to come up here in July, and take +a look at matters, and find out whether the old copperhead told the +truth or not. We started about the middle of July, with our rifles and +provisions for a fortnight, and came up. We saw any quantity of deer +on the way. On the second chain of ponds, we saw, as we were rowing +along, a large panther walk out on to the top of a great boulder, and +look around, lashing his sides with his long tail, and then sit down +on his haunches with his tail curled around his feet, just as you've +seen a cat do. He was too far off for us to shoot him, and he saw us +before we got within proper distance, and stole away into the woods, +and we passed on. As we rounded the point just below the lake there, +and looked out upon the broad water, I saw the moose I spoke of, +feeding. We sat perfectly still, and permitted the boat to drift back +down the stream until we were out of sight. We then landed, and I +crept carefully and silently to that clump of fir trees. I had my own +and my companion's rifle both properly loaded. Having got a right +position, I sighted for a vital part, and fired. The animal rushed +furiously forward two or three rods, with its head lowered as if +making a lunge at an enemy, then stopped, and looked all around, +standing with its back humped up, and its short stump of a tail +working and writhing at a furious rate. I sighted it again with the +other rifle, and pulled. The animal plunged furiously for again for a +few rods, stopped a moment, and then settled slowly down, and fell +over on its side, dead. It was a cow-moose and would weigh as killed +five or six hundred pounds. I was a pretty proud man then, as that was +my first moose, and about as big feeling a chap as was Squire Smith +the other day, when he brought down that buck. I have shot two others +here since, one at each visit I have made." + +The season for moose hunting along the water pastures, was nearly +over. They go back upon the hills in August, the food there being by +that time abundant. The tracks we saw were old ones, the animals +having passed there several days previously. I would not have it +supposed that the moose are abundant in any portion of this +wilderness. They have come to be few and far between, and exceedingly +wary at that. I could hear of none having been killed the present +season; but that there are some left, as well as bears, and wolves, +and panthers, the tracks we saw gave unmistakable evidence. + +We saw no appearance of trout in this lake, or in the outlet of it +above the upper chain of ponds. The stream swarmed with chub and dace, +a rare circumstance with the streams of this region. Towards evening, +we saw numbers of little grey wood rabbits, hopping around among the +dense undergrowth on the ridge where our tents were situated, +squatting themselves down and cocking up their long ears, as they +paused occasionally to examine the strange visitors who had come among +them. They were very tame, not seeming to regard our presence as a +thing of much danger to them. + +"Seeing those rabbits," remarked Smith, "reminds me of an anecdote of +my boyhood, which at the time occasioned me an amount of mortification +equalled only by the amusement it affords me, when I think of it in +after years. On my father's farm was a bush field, a place that had +been chopped and burned over, and then left to grow up with bushes, +making an excellent cover for wild wood rabbits. I had seen them +hopping about, when I went to turn away the cows in the morning, or +after them at night. I had a longing to 'make game' of them. I had a +brother a good deal older than myself, who was as fond of a joke as I +was of the rabbits, and who was quite as ready to make game of me, as +I was of them; so he told me, one day to put an apple on a stick over +their paths, high enough to be just above their reach, and a handful +of Scotch snuff on a dry leaf on the ground under it, and the rabbits, +while smelling for the apple, would inhale the snuff, and sneeze +themselves to death in no tune. Well, I was a child then and simple +enough to be gammoned by this rigmarole. I set the apple and the +snuff, but I got no rabbit, while I did get laughed at hugely for my +credulity. This satisfied me that people should never impose upon the +simplicity of childhood. I remember my mortification on the occasion. +It was so long ago that it stands out by itself, a mere fragment of +memory, with _all_ beyond it a blank, and a wide gap out this side. It +is an isolated fact, fixed in my recollection by the pain it +occasioned me." + +"Your anecdote of the rabbits," said the Doctor, "reminds me of a +story told of a Dutchman, who discovered an owl on a limb above him, +and noticed that its face, and great round eyes, followed him always +as he walked around the tree, without its body moving at all. Seeing +this he concluded in his wisdom, that he would travel round the tree, +till the owl twisted its head off in watching him. So round and round +he went for an hour, and stopped only by having the conviction forced +upon his mind that the owl had a swivel in its neck." + +"Strange," remarked Spalding, "how the hearing of one story reminds us +of another. I always admired the 'Arabian Nights,' because the stories +contained in that work hang together so like a string of onions, or a +braid of seed corn. The first is a sort of introduction to the second, +and the second an usher to the third, and so on through the whole. But +why the story of the Dutchman and the owl should remind me of another, +in which an old negro and a bellicose ram were the actors, is a matter +I do not pretend to understand, unless it be the extreme absurdity of +both. A gentleman of my acquaintance long ago (he was a middle-aged +man when I was a small boy. He was an upright and a good man. He has +gone to his rest, and sleeps in an honored grave, having upon the +simple stone above him no lying epitaph), had an old negro who +rejoiced in the name of Pompey, and a Merino buck, the latter a +valiant animal, that was ready to fight with anybody, or anything, +that crossed his path. Between him and the 'colored person,' was an +'eternal distinction,' an active and irreconcilable antagonism, that +developed itself on every possible occasion. The old Guinea man was +winnowing wheat one day, with an old-fashioned fan (did any of you +ever see one of these primitive machines for separating wheat from the +chaff, used by our fathers before the fanning mill was invented? It +was an ingenious contrivance, by which a man with a strong back and +of a strong constitution, could clean some twenty bushels in a single +day). While stooping over to fill his fan with unwinnowed grain, the +buck, taking advantage of his position, came like a catapult against +him, and sent him like a ball from a Paixhan gun, head foremost into +the chaff. Great was the astonishment, but greater the wrath of +Pompey, and dire the vengeance that he denounced against his +assailant. Gathering himself up, and rubbing the part battered by the +attack of his enemy, he retreated around the corner of the barn, and +procuring a rock weighing some twenty pounds, returned to the presence +of his foe, who was quietly eating the wheat that the negro had been +cleaning, evidently regarding it as the legitimate spoils of victory. +Getting down on all fours, and managing to hold the stone against his +head, Pompey challenged his enemy to combat. The buck, nothing loth, +drew back to a proper distance, and shutting both eyes, came like a +battering _ram_ against the stone on the other side of which was the +negro's head. As might have been expected, the challenger went one +way, and the challenged the other by the recoil, both knocked into +insensibility by the concussion. Pompey was taken up for dead, but his +wool and the thickness of his scull saved him. He gave the buck a wide +berth after that. He regarded him always with a sort of superstitious +awe, never being able to comprehend how he butted him through that big +stone. Explain the matter to him ever so scientifically, demonstrate +it on the clearest principles of mechanical philosophy, still Pompey +would shake his head, and as he walked away, would mutter to himself, +'de debbil helps dat ram, _sure_. Dere's no use in dis nigger's tryin' +to come round _him_. He's a witch, dat ram is, and ain't +nuffin else.'" + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A DEER TRAPPED--THE RESULT OF A COMBAT--A QUESTION OF MENTAL +PHILOSOPHY DISCUSSED. + + +We returned the next day to our camping ground. On the "Lower Chain of +Ponds," we found our pioneer and his goods all safe, no visitors +having passed that way in our absence. Smith knocked over a deer on +our passage down. I have said that just above our camp was a dam. It +was made in this wise: first, great logs were laid up, across the +stream, in the same fashion as the side of a log house, to the height +of about twelve feet, properly secured, and upon these, other and +smaller logs were laid, side by side, transversely, and sloping up the +stream at an angle of forty-five degrees, like one side of the roof of +a house. These long, slender logs, reached out over and beyond those +that were laid up across the stream, the lower part covered with +brush, and then with earth, so as to make a tight dam, the upper ends, +even when the dam was full, extending several feet above the top water +line. These logs, or perhaps they had better be called large and long +poles, for, when compared with the foundation timbers, they were +nothing more, have, of course, above where they are covered with brush +and earth, interstices, or crevices, between them. + +On our return, and as we came in sight of the dam, I, being in the +forward boat, saw a small deer, laying stretched out upon these poles, +dead, hanging, as it were, by one foot. My impression was, that it had +been shot, and dragged up there, and left by our pioneer for the +present. We found, however, upon examination, that the deer had walked +up on the dam, probably to take a look at what was below, and on the +other side, when his foot slipped down between the poles, and he was +caught as in a trap. His leg was badly broken, and nearly severed by +his efforts to get loose, and the bark of the poles was worn away +within reach of his struggles. He had died where he thus got hung; and +there he was, stone dead, but not yet cold, when we found him. He was +a fine, fat, young deer, and died by one of the thousand accidents to +which the wild animals of the forest, as well as man, are exposed. + +Upon relating this incident to an old hunter, I was told by him that +he once, while out in the woods, came upon the skeletons of two large +bucks, that, in fighting, had got their horns so interlocked and +wedged together, that they could not separate them, and thus, locked +in the death grapple, they had starved and died. There lay their +bones, the flesh eaten from them by the beasts and carrion birds, and, +bleached by the sun and the storms, the two skulls with the horns +still interlocked; and the narrator told me he had them yet at home, +fast together, as he found them, as one of the curiosities to be met +with in the Rackett woods. + +"I've been thinking," said Spalding, in his quiet way, as we sat +towards evening, looking out over the pleasant little lake, watching +the shadow chasing the retiring sunlight up the sides of the opposite +hills, "I've been thinking how differently we act, and feel, and +talk--aye, and think, too--out here in these old woods, from what we +do when at home and surrounded by civilization. However we four may +deny being old, we cannot certainly claim to be young. We have all +reached the meridian of life, and though feeling few, if any, of the +infirmities of age, still, our next move will be in the downhill +direction. Yet, notwithstanding all this, we talk and act, and think, +and feel, too, like boys. I do not speak this reproachfully, but as a +fact which develops a curious attribute of the human mind." + +"Well," replied the Doctor, "while it may be curious, it is +exceedingly natural. We have thrown off the restraints which society +imposes upon us; we have thrown off the cares which the business of +life heaps upon us. We have gone back for a season to the freedom, the +sports, the sights, the exercises which delighted our boyhood. And can +it be called strange that the feelings, the thoughts, and emotions of +our youth should come welling up from the long past, or that with the +return of boyish emotions, the language and actions of boyhood should +be indulged in again?" + +"You will find," said Smith, "your old feelings of sobriety, of +thoughtfulness, your cautiousness, coming back just in proportion as +you tire of this wilderness life, and that by the time you are ready +to return to civilization, you will have become as staid, sober, and +reflective men of the world, as when you started, with as strict a +guard upon your expression of sentiment, or opinion, as ever." + +"It is that 'guard' of which you speak," remarked Spalding, "over the +emotions, the sentiments of the heart, stifling their expression, and +chaining down under a placid exterior their manifestations, that +constitutes one of the broad distinctions between youth and manhood. +It is when that guard is set, that the process of fossilization, so to +speak, begins; and if no relaxing agency intervenes, the heart becomes +cold and hard, even before white hairs gather upon the head. I often +imagine that if men who really _think_, who have the power of +analyzation, of weighing causes and measuring results, would dismiss +that rigid espionage over themselves, would stand in less awe of the +world, in less dread of its accusation of change, and with the +fearless frankness of youth, declare the truth, and stand boldly up +for the right as they, _at the time_, understand it to be, without +reference to consistency of present views and opinions with those of +the past, the world would be much better off; progress would have +vastly fewer obstacles to contend against. But it is not every man, +even of those who _think_, who in politics, in religion, in science, +in anything involving a possible charge of inconsistency, of the +desertion of a party, a sect, or a principle, dare avow a change of +conviction or opinion, however such change may exist. This should +not be so. It belittles manhood, and makes slaves and cowards of men. +It is a proud prerogative, this ability and power of thinking. It is a +priceless privilege, this freedom of thought and opinion, and he is a +craven who moves on with the heedless and thoughtless crowd, conscious +of error, himself a hypocrite and a living lie, through fear of the +charge of 'inconsistency,' the accusation of change. 'Speak your +opinions of to-day,' says Carlyle, 'in words hard as rocks, and your +opinions of to-morrow in words just as hard, even though your opinions +of to-morrow may contradict your opinions of to-day.' There is a fund +of true wisdom in this beautiful maxim, if men would appreciate it. It +would correct a vast deal of error in politics, in religion, in +philosophy, in the social relations of life. Times change, and +struggle against it as they may, men's convictions will change with +the times. The man who says that his opinions never alter, is to me +either a knave or a fool. For a thinking man to remain stationary, +when everything else is on the move, is a simple impossibility. Time +was when the stage coach was the model method of travelling. It +carried us six, sometimes eight miles the hour, in comfort and safety. +But who thinks of the lumbering stage coach now, with its snail's pace +of eight miles the hour, when the locomotive with its long train of +cars, lighted up like the street of a city in motion, rushes over the +smooth rails literally with the speed of the wind. The scream of the +steam-whistle has succeeded the old stage-horn, and the iron horse +taken the place of those of flesh and blood. Change is written in +great glowing letters upon everything. It stands out in blazing +capitals everywhere. All things are on the move! Forward! and forward! +is the word. And who would, who CAN, stand still amidst the universal +rush? Only a century ago, from the valley through which the majestic +Hudson rolls its everlasting flood, westward to the mighty +Mississippi, westward still to the Rocky Mountains, and yet westward +to the Pacific, was one vast wilderness; interminable forests, +standing in all their primeval grandeur and gloom; boundless prairies, +covered with profitless verdure, over which the silence of the +everlasting past brooded; and above all these, mountain peaks, covered +with perpetual snows, upon which the eye of a white man had never +looked, stood piercing the sky. From the Atlantic coast to the +Mississippi, that old forest has been swept away. The broad prairies +have been, or are being, subjected to the culture of human industry; +even the Rocky Mountains have been overleaped, and beyond them is a +great State already admitted into the family of the Union, and a +territory teeming with an adventurous and hardy population, knocking +at its door for admission. The march of civilization has crossed a +continent of more than three thousand miles, sweeping away forests, +spreading out green fields, planting cities and towns, making the old +wilderness to blossom as the rose, scattering life, activity, +progress, all along the road it has travelled. The great rivers that +rolled in silence through unbroken forests, have become the highways +of trade, upon whose bosoms the white sails of commerce are spread, +and through whose waters countless steamboats plough their way. These +stupendous changes are the results of human energy, and they reach, in +their moral prestige, their progressive influence, through every vein +and artery of governmental and social compacts, affecting political +institutions, shaping national policy, and forcing, by their +resistless demonstrations, change and mutations of opinions upon +all men. + +"As it has been in the past century, so it is now, and so it will be +through all the long future. Forward, and forward, is the word, and +forward will be the word for centuries to come. And why? Because all +men here, in this free Republic, are free to think, free to speak, +free to will, free to act. No traditions of the past bind them; no +hereditary policy controls their action; no customs, covered with the +dust of ages, fetter them; no physical or intellectual gyves, corroded +by the rust of centuries, are eating into their flesh. Because +thinking American men everywhere live in the present, ignoring and +defying the dead past, and building up the mighty future. Because they +'speak their opinions of TO-DAY in words hard as rocks, and their +opinions of TO-MORROW in words just as hard, although their opinions +of to-morrow may contradict their opinions of to-day.' They are +fearless of personal consequences. As free men, they will think, as +free men they will speak, and as such they will act, regardless of the +jibe and sneer of those who accuse them of change, of inconsistency, +of being mutable and unstable of purpose. The point to the march +of improvement, the advance in the actualities of life, and ask, 'When +every thing else is on the move, shall we stand still? Shall the +opinions of a quarter of a century, a decade, a year, a month ago, +remain unchanged, immutable, fixed as a star always, amidst the new +demonstrations looming up like mountains everywhere around us?' + +"Man's life is short at best; a little point of time, scarcely +discernible on the map of ages; his aspirations, his hopes, his +ambition, more transient than the lightning's flash; but his opinions +may tell for good upon that little point occupied by his generation, +and he should 'speak them in words hard as rocks.' They may aid in +illuminating the darkness of the present, and he should therefore +'speak them in words hard as rocks.' They may have some influence in +building up and ennobling human destiny in the future, and he should +therefore 'speak them in words hard as rocks,' regardless of the +contumely heaped upon him by little minds for having thus spoken them. +What if the ridicule, the denunciations of the unthinking, the +sensual, the profligate, the unreflecting fools of the world be poured +upon him? What of that? To-day, may be one of darkness and storm. The +cloud and the storm will pass away, and the brightness and glory of +the sunlight will be all over the earth to-morrow. Let him 'speak his +opinions then of to-day in words hard as rocks, and his opinions of +to-morrow in words just as hard.' Let him speak his opinions thus on +all subjects within the range of human investigation, upon science, +philosophy, politics, religion, morals; and leave to little minds to +settle the question of consistency or change. Let his be the eagle's +flight towards the sun, and theirs to skim in darkness along the +ground, like the course of the mousing owl." + +After it became dark, Smith and Martin went out around the lake night +hunting, and the rest retired to our tents. We heard the report of +Smith's rifle from time to time, and concluded that we should have to +court-martial him for a wanton destruction of deer, contrary to the +law we had established for our government on that subject. But on his +return, we ascertained that, though having had several shots, he had +succeeded in killing or, according to Martin's account, even wounding +but one, and that a yearling, and the poorest and leanest we had seen +since we entered the woods. Though it was thus diminutive in size, +Smith declared that he had seen, and shot at, some of the largest deer +that ever roamed the forest. He insisted that he had seen some, by the +side of which the largest we had looked upon by daylight, were mere +fawns, and thereupon he undertook to establish a theory that the large +deer fed by night and the smaller ones by day. This would have been +all well enough, were it not for the fact, understood by every +experienced night-hunter, that by the spectral and uncertain light of +the lamp, or torch, a deer, when seen standing in the water, or on the +reedy banks, is in appearance magnified to twice its actual +dimensions. To this Smith at last assented, since to deny the +proposition, involved the conclusion that he had killed the wrong +deer; for the one he shot at, as it stood in the edge of the water, +though much smaller than some he had seen, appeared greatly larger +than the one he killed. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HOOKING UP TROUT--THE LEFT BRANCH--THE RAPIDS--A FIGHT WITH A BUCK. + + +We started down stream in the morning, towards the forks, intending to +ascend the left branch to Little Tupper's Lake. We reached the forks +at three o'clock. Directly opposite to where the right branch enters, +a small cold stream comes in among a cluster of alder bushes on the +eastern shore. At the mouth of this little stream, which one can step +across, the trout congregate. We could see them laying in shoals along +the bottom; but the sun shone down bright and warm into the clear +water, and not a trout would rise to the fly, or touch a bait. We +wanted some of those trout, and as they refused to be taken in a +scientific way and according to art, it was a necessity, for which we +were not responsible, which impelled us to a method of capture which, +under ordinary circumstances, we should have rejected. I took off the +fly from my line, and fastened upon it half a dozen snells with bare +hooks, attached a small sinker, and dropped quietly among them. A +large fellow worked his way lazily above where the hooks lay on the +bottom, eying me, as if laughing at my folly in attempting to deceive +him, with fly or bait. I jerked suddenly, and two of the hooks +fastened into him near the tail. That trout was astonished, as were +half a dozen or more of his fellows, when they came out of the water +tail foremost, struggling with all their might against so vulgar and +undignified a manner of leaving their native element. We got as +beautiful a string in this way as one would wish to see, albeit they +laughed at our best skill with fly and bait; and the cream of the +matter was, that we had our pick of the shoal. + +We pitched our tents at the foot of the second rapids, on a high, +moss-covered bank. The roar of the water sounded deep and solemn among +the old woods, as it went roaring and tumbling, and struggling through +the gorge. The night winds moaned and sighed among the trees above us, +while the night bird's notes came soothingly from the wilderness +around as. + +"What a strange diversity of tastes exists among the people of this +world of ours," said the Doctor, addressing himself to me, as we sat +in front of our tents, listening to the roar of the waters. "You and +I, I take it, enjoy a fortnight or so, among these lakes, and old +forests, with a keener relish than Spalding or Smith here. I judge so, +because we indulge in these trips every year, while this is their +first adventure of the kind. But even you and I, however much we may +love the woods, however we may enjoy these occasional tramps among +their shady solitudes, would not enjoy them as a residence; and yet I +have sometimes thought I should love to spend the summers in a forest +home, alone with nature, with my pen and books, a fishing-rod and +rifle to supply my wants, and a friend to talk with occasionally. + +"Many years ago, I was out on the Western prairies, some sixty days +beyond the region of bread; we had encamped on the banks of a stream, +along which a narrow belt of timber grew. More than a quarter of a +century has passed since I took that trip to look upon the Rocky +Mountains. There was no gold region laying beyond them then, or +rather, the enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon had not discovered its +existence, and the greed of the white man had not made the trail over +the mountains, or through their dismal passes, a familiar way. Along +in the afternoon we were visited by a trapper, who had, in his +wanderings, discovered the smoke of our camp fires. He was a +weather-beaten, iron man, of the solitudes of nature, who had wandered +away from his home in New England, and from civilization, into that +limitless wilderness. He was glad to see us, inquired the news from +the outer world, talked about York State, Vermont, the Bay State, and +then, after an hour's converse, as if his social instincts and +sympathies had been satisfied, he shouldered his rifle and started off +across the plain, towards a belt of timber lying dim and shadowy, like +a low cloud, upon the distant horizon. I watched him for an hour or +more, as he trudged away over the rolling prairie, growing less and +less to the view, until he became like a speck in the distance, and +then vanished from my sight. There was a solemn sort of feeling stole +over me, as this lonely hunter wended his way into the deep solitudes +of the prairies, to be alone with nature, communing only with himself +and the things scattered around him by the great Creator. He seemed to +be contented and happy. How different were his tastes from yours or +mine, my friends; and yet I felt as though it would have been easy for +me to have been like him, an isolated and solitary man, had +circumstances in early life thrown me into a position to have followed +the original bent of my nature." + +"And yet," said Spalding, "if you will look into the philosophy of the +matter, you will see that this diversity of tastes, as you call it, is +not so great after all; that is, that the origin of the impulse which +sends some men away from society among the solitudes of the +wilderness, and of that which holds others in constant communion with +the busy scenes of life, is very nearly the same. It is the love of +adventure, of excitement, a restlessness for something new, a desire +for change. This impulse is controlled, shaped by circumstances of +early life, by education and association; but the foundation of it at +last is the thirst for excitement, the love of adventure. One man +wanders away into the wilderness in pursuit of it. Another plunges +into society in pursuit of the same thing. These hardy men who are +here with us, who were reared on the borders of civilization, enjoy +the solitudes of their wilderness quite as much, and upon the same +general theory, as we do the society to which we have been accustomed; +and they plunge alone into the one with quite as much zest as we do +into the other, in the pursuit of excitement. Here is Cullen, now, who +has spent more time alone in the wilderness than almost any other man +outside of the trappers and hunters of the prairies of the West, I +appeal to him if it is not rather a love of adventure than of nature +which sends him on his solitary rambles in the forests?" + +"May be the Judge is right," replied Cullen, as he rubbed the shavings +of plug tobacco in the palm of his left hand with the ball of his +right, while he held his short black pipe between his teeth, +preparatory to filling it, "may be the Judge is right, I rather think +he is, and let me tell you I've met with some queer adventures, as you +call them, in these woods too; some that I wouldn't have gone out +arter if I'd known what they were to've been afore I started. I've +been movin' back from what you call civilization for five and twenty +year, because I didn't like to live where people were too thick, and +where there was nothing but tame life around me. I've a kind of liking +for the deer and moose, and haven't any ill will towards, now and then, +a wolf or a painter. I like a rifle better than I do the handles of a +plow, and I'd rayther bring down a ten-pronger than to raise an acre +of corn, and I don't care who knows it. There's a place in the world +for just such a man as I am yet, and will be till these old woods are +gone. Do you see that?" said he, rolling up his pantaloons to his +knees, revealing a deep scar on both sides of the calf of his leg, as +if it had been pierced by a bullet. "And do you see that?" as he +exhibited another deep scar above his knee. "And that?" as he showed +another on his arm, above the elbow. "Wal, I reckon I had a time of it +with the old buck that made them things on my under-pinin', and on my +corn-stealer, as they say out West. Fifteen years ago I was over on +Tupper's Lake, shantyin' on the high bank above the rocks, just at the +outlet, fishin' and huntin', and layin' around loose, in a promiscuous +way, all alone by myself, havin' nobody along but the old black dog +that you," appealing to Hank Wood, who nodded assent, remember. "That +dog," continued Cullen, "was human in his day, and if anybody has +another like him, and wants a couple of months lumberin' in the place +of him, I'm ready for a trade; he may call at my shanty. Wal, Crop and +I had Seen about all there was to be looked at about Tupper's Lake, +and havin' hearn some pretty tall stories about the deer and moose up +about the head of Bog River from an Ingen who'd hunted that section, I +mentioned to Crop one mornin' that we'd take a trip into them parts. +'Agreed,' said he, or leastwise he didn't say a word agin it, and, by +the wag of his tail, I understood him to be agreeable. + +"Mud Lake, as you've discovered, aint very near now, and it was a good +deal farther off then. The settlements hadn't been pushed so far into +the woods then as now. But we put out, Crop and I, for Mud Lake; we +passed the eight carryin' places afore night, and reached the first +chain of ponds while the sun was hangin' like a great torch in the +tree-tops. I've seen a good many deer in my day, but the way they +stood around in those ponds, and in the shallow water of the river +below, among the grass and pond lilies, was a thing to make a man open +his eyes _some._ I saw dozens of 'em at a time, and if it didn't seem +like a sheep paster I would'nt say it. I had my pick out of the lot, +and knocked over a two-year-old for provision for me and Crop. I aint +at all poetical, but if there was ever a matter to make a man feel +like stringin' rhymes, that evenin' that Crop and I spent on the lower +chain of ponds, or little lakes on Bog River, was a thing of that +sort. The sun threw his bright red light on the tops of the mountains +away off to the East, spreading it all over the lofty peaks, like a +golden shawl, while the gorges and deep valleys around their base +rested in deep and solemn shadow. The loon spoke out clear, like a +bugle on the lakes, and his voice went echoin' around among the hills; +the frogs were out and out jolly, while the old woods were full of +happy voices and merry songs as if all nater was runnin' over with +gladness and joy; even the night breeze, as it sighed and moaned among +the tree-tops, seemed to be whisperin' to itself of the joy and +brightness and glory of such an evenin'. As the night gathered, the +moon, in her largest growth, came up over the hills and walked like a +queen up into the sky, and the bright stars gathered around her, +twinklin' and flashin' and dancin', as if merry-makin' in the +brightness of her presence. Away down below the bottom of the lake +were other mountains and lakes, another moon with bright stars +shinin' and twinklin' around her, other broad heavens just as distinct +and glorious as those which arched above us. Don't laugh, Judge, for +me and Crop saw and heard all that I've been describin' to you, and we +felt it too, may be quite as deeply as if we'd been bred in colleges +and stuffed with the larnin' of the books. + +"I heard the cry of the painter, the howl of the wolf, and the hoarse +bellow of the moose that night, and Crop crept close alongside of me, +in our bush-shanty, and answered these forest sounds by a low growl, +as if sayin' to himself, that while he'd rayther keep oat of a fight, +yet, if necessary, in defence of his master, he was ready to go in. +Wal, we started on up stream next mornin', passed the second chain of +lakes, and went along up the crooked and windin' course of the stream, +till towards night we came in sight of Mud Lake. That lake is anything +but handsome to my thinkin'; you saw it was gloomy and solemn enough, +situated as it is away up on the top of the mountain, higher than any +other waters I know of in these parts. All about it are fir, and +tamarack, and spruce, the lichens hanging like long grey hair away +down from their stinted branches, while all around low bushes grow, +and moss, sometimes a foot thick, covers the ground. That, Judge, is +the place for black flies and mosquitoes in June. The black flies are +all gone before this time in the summer, but if you'd a taken this +trip the latter part of June, you'd have admitted that I'm tellin' no +lie. If there's any place in the round world where mosquitoes have +longer bills, or the black flies swarm in mightier hosts, I don't know +where it is, and shan't go there if I happen to find out its location. +I've a tolerably thick hide, but if they didn't bite me _some_, I +wouldn't say so. But you ought to have seen the deer feedin' on the +pond-lilies and grass in that lake I They were like sheep in a +pasture; and out some fifty rods from the shore was a great moose, +helpin' himself to the eatables that grew there. I laid my jacket down +for Crop to watch, and waded quietly in towards where the moose was +feedin'. I got within twelve or fifteen rods of him, and spoke to him +with my rifle. He heard it, you may guess. Without knowin' who or what +hurt him, he plunged right towards me for the shore; but he never got +there alive. You ought to have seen the scampering of the deer at the +sound of my rifle! Maybe there wasn't much splashin' of the water, and +whistlin', and snortin', and puttin' out for the shore among 'em. + +"The next mornin', I got up just as the sun was risin', and a little +way down on the shore of the lake I saw a buck. Wal, he was one of +'em--that buck was. The horns on his head were like an old-fashioned +round-posted chair, and if they hadn't a dozen prongs on 'em, you may +skin me! He wasn't as big as an ox, but a two-year-old that could +match him, could brag of a pretty rapid growth. I crept up behind a +little clump of bushes to about fifteen rods of where he stood on the +sandy beach, and sighting carefully at his head, let drive. My gun +hung fire a little, owin' to the night-dews, but that buck went down, +and after kickin' a moment, laid still, and I took it for granted he +was dead. So I laid down my rifle, and went up to where he +was, and with my huntin' knife in my hand, took hold of his +horn to raise his head so as to cut his throat. If that deer +was dead, he came to life mighty quick; for I had no sooner +touched him, than he sprang to his feet, and with every hair standin' +straight towards his head, came like a mad bull at me. In strugglin' +up he overshot me; and as he made his drive one prong went +through the calf of my leg. I plunged my knife into his body, and the +blood spirted all over me. But it wasn't no use. He smashed down upon +me again, and made that hole in my leg above the knee. I handled my +knife in a hurry, and made more than one hole in his skin, while he +stuck a prong through my arm. I hollered for Crop, who was watching +the shanty as his duty was. The old buck and I had it rough and +tumble; sometimes one a-top, and sometimes the other, and both growin' +weak from loss of blood. May be we didn't kick and tussle about, and +tear up the sand on the beach of the lake _some!_ The buck was game to +the backbone, and had no notion of givin' in, and I had to fight for +it, or die; so up and down, over and over, and all around, we went for +a long time, until Crop made up his mind that my callin' so earnestly +meant something, and round the point he came. When he saw what was +goin' on, you ought to've seen how _he_ went in! He didn't stop to +ask any questions, but as if possessed by all the furies of creation +he lit upon that buck, and the fight was up. He with his teeth, and I +with my knife, settled the matter in less than a minute. But, Judge, +let me tell you, that buck was dangerous; and if Crop hadn't been +around, may be ther'd have been the bones of man and beast bleachin' +on the sandy beach of Mud Lake! I bound up my wounds as well as I +could--but it was tough work backin' my bark canoe over the carryin' +places on Bog River, and across the Ingen carryin' place, and from the +Upper Saranac to Bound Lake, with them holes in my leg and arm, and +the other bruises I received. When I got out to the settlements I was +mighty glad to lay still for six weeks, and when I got around again I +was a good deal leaner than I am now. + +"My gun hangin' fire made my bullet go wide of the spot I aimed at. It +had grazed his skull and stunned him for a little time, and crazed him +into the bargain. I learned more fully a fact that I'd an idea of +before, by my fight with that deer, and it is this--that it's best to +keep out of the way of a furious buck with tall, sharp horns on his +head. He's a dangerous animal to handle. + +"That's one of the adventures that I went out into the wilderness +arter, and found without lookin' for it; and I've found a good many +others that put me and Crop in a tight place more than once. I backed +him over all the carryin' places between Little Tupper's and the +Saranacs once, when he was too lame and weak to walk, and nussed him +for a month afterwards. But that's an adventer I'll tell another time. +There's a deal of excitement, as the Judge calls it, outside of the +fences, if people will take the pains to look for it there." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ROUND POND--THE PILE DRIVER--A THEORY FOR SPIRITUALISTS. + + +We put up our tents the next evening, on a bold bluff near the outlet +of Round Pond, a picturesque and pleasant sheet of water, some eight +or ten miles in circumference. It lay there still and waveless, in +that calm summer evening, as glassy and smooth as if no breeze had +ever stirred its surface. All around it were old forests, old hills +and rocks, and away off in the distance were the tall peaks of the +Adirondacks, standing up grim, solemn, and shadowy in the distance. +These peaks are seen from almost every direction. They tower so far +above the surrounding highlands, that they seem always to be peering +over the intervening ranges, as if holding an everlasting watch over +the broad wilderness beneath them. This lake is probably more than a +thousand feet above the Rackett, and the river falls that distance +principally at the two rapids around which our boats were carried. The +rest of the way it is a deep, sluggish stream, so that the descent +may be reckoned within less than three miles. A ledge of rocks forms +the lower boundary of the lake, through which the water, at some +remote period, broke its way, and it goes roaring down rapids for +three-quarters of a mile, then moves in a sluggish current across a +plain of several miles in extent; then plunges down a steep descent +for over a mile and a half to subside again into quiet, and move on +with a sluggish current to plunge down the ledges again into Tupper's +Lake. There are no perpendicular falls of more than twenty feet, but +the water goes plunging, and boiling, and foaming down shelving rocks, +and eddying, and whirling around immense boulders, rushing and roaring +through the gorges with a voice like thunder. These falls are all +useless here, and probably will be for centuries to come; but were +they out in the "living world," in the midst of civilization, with a +fertile and populous region about them, they would soon be harnessed +to great wheels, and made utilitarian; the clank of machinery would +soon be heard above the roar of their waters. They would do an +immensity of labor on their returnless journey to the ocean. But here, +they are utterly valueless, wasting their mighty power upon desolate +rocks, rushing in mad and impotent fury forever through a region of +barrenness and sterility, so far as the uses of civilization are +concerned, a region where the manufacturer or the agriculturist will +never tarry, until the world shall be so full of people that necessity +will drive them to the mountains, to build up the waste places of the +earth. Opposite, and across the bay from where our tents were +pitched, I noticed that a small stream entered the lake, and Smith and +myself crossed over to experiment among the trout I knew would be +gathered there. We were entirely successful, for we took one at almost +every throw. I have more than once stated, that the trout of these +lakes and rivers, in the warm season, congregate where the cold +streams enter; and if the sportsman will search out the little brooks, +no matter how small, and cast his fly across where their waters enter +the lake or river, he will be sure to find trout in any of the hot +summer months. + +We returned to camp before the sun went behind the hills, with our +fish ready for the pan, and our boatmen provided us with a meal of +jerked venison, pork, and trout, which an epicure might envy, and to +which a hard day's journey and an appetite sharpened by the bracing +influence of the pure mountain air, gave a peculiar relish. It was a +pleasant thing to see the moon come up from among the trees that +formed a dark outline to the lake away off to the east, and travel up +into the sky; to see how faithfully it was given back from down in the +stirless waters, and how the stars twinkled and glowed around it in +the depths below, as they did in the depths above. There was the +moon, and there the stars, all bright and glorious in the heavens +above; and there another moon, and other stars, as bright and +glorious, down in the vault below; the lake floating, as it were, an +almost viewless mist, a shadowy and transparent veil between. As we +sat, in the greyness of twilight, in front of our tents, a curious +sound came over the lake from the opposite shore, so like civilization +that it startled us for a moment. Here we were, fifty miles from a +house, away in the forest beyond the sound of anything savoring of +human agency, and yet we heard distinctly what was for all the world +like the blows of an axe or hammer upon a stake, driving it into the +earth. It had the peculiar ring, which any one will recognise who has +driven a stake into ground covered with water, by blows given by the +side instead of the head of an axe. These blows were given at +intervals so regular, that we all suspended smoking, certain that +there were other sportsmen beside ourselves in the neighborhood of +this lake. + +"Who in the world is that?" asked Smith, of Martin, who seemed to +enjoy our astonishment. + +"That," replied Martin, "is a gentleman known in these parts as the +'Pile-driver.' He visits all these lakes in the summer season, and +though, as a general thing, he travels alone, yet he sometimes has +half a dozen friends with him. If you'll listen a moment, may be +you'll find that he has a friend in the neighborhood now who will +drive a pile in another place." + +Sure enough, in a moment the same ringing blows came from a reedy spot +in a different part of the bay. + +"The bird that makes that noise," said Martin, "is about the homeliest +creature in these woods. It is a small grey heron, that lights down +among the grass and weeds to hunt for small frogs and such little fish +as swim along the shore. When he drives his pile, he stands with his +neck and long bill pointed straight up, and pumping the air into his +throat, sends it oat with the strange sound you have heard. It is the +resemblance of the sound to that made by driving a stake into ground +covered with water, that gives him his name. He's an awkward, filthy +bird, but he helps to make up the noises one hears in these +wild regions." + +"My first thought was," said Smith, "that we had got among the spirits +of the woods, and that they were 'rapping' their indignation at our +presence, there was something so human about it." + +"By the way," remarked the Doctor, "and you remind me of the subject, +what a strange delusion is this Spiritualism, to the 'manifestations' +of which you refer, and how singular it is that men of strong natural +sense and cultivated minds, should be drawn into it. We all know such. +Their delusion, too, is stronger than mere speculative belief. It is a +faith which to them appears to amount to absolute knowledge. They have +no doubt or hesitancy on the subject. Their convictions are perfect; +such, that were they as strong in their faith as Christians, as they +are in the reality of Spiritualism, they would be able to move +mountains." + +"I have noticed this intensity of their faith," said Smith; "and while +I utterly reject the whole theory of Spiritualism, I could never join +in the ridicule of its earnest devotees. There is something that +commands my respect in this strong faith, when honestly entertained, +however stupendous the error may be to which it clings. There is +something, to my mind, too solemn for derision in the idea of +communing with the spirits of the departed, or that the time is +approaching when living men and the souls of the physically dead, are +to meet, as it were, face to face, and know each other as they are. It +is one which I can, and do reject, but cannot ridicule. The world, +however, regards it differently. And yet with all the contempt and +derision that has been poured upon this singular delusion, its +devotees have multiplied beyond all precedent in the history of the +world. They number, it is said, in this country alone, millions, and +have some forty or more newspapers in the exclusive advocacy of +their theory." + +"The wise people of this world," said Spalding, "that is, those who +are wise in their day and generation, laugh at the believers in this +modern theory of Spiritualism. They pity them, too, as the unhappy +devotees of a faith which sober reason and all the experience of the +past prove to be as unsubstantial as the moonbeams that dance upon the +waters at midnight. Still these same devotees point to the +demonstrations of what they regard as living facts, phenomena palpable +to the senses, things that appeal to the eye, the ear, and the touch, +and say that these are higher proofs than all the dogmas of +philosophy, all the observation and experience of former times, all +the logic of the past. And here is the issue between Spiritualism and +the mass of mankind who deride and condemn it. + +"Now, be it known to you, that I am no Spiritualist. I reject not all +the evidences of the phenomena upon which it is based, but I utterly +deny that such phenomena are the works of disembodied spirits. I +myself have seen what utterly confounded me, and while I reject all +idea of supernatural agencies, all interposition of departed spirits, +yet I have become thoroughly satisfied that there are more things in +heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy. These +phenomena of which the Spiritualists speak, I will not undertake to +pronounce all lies. Some of them are doubtless impostures--the work of +knaves, who speculate upon the credulity and superstitions which are +attributes of the human mind; but they are not all such. But while I +admit their reality, I insist that such as are so, are the results of +natural laws, which will one day be discovered, and which will turn +out to be as simple as the spirit which presides over the telegraph, +or that which constitutes the life of a steam engine. There may be, +and probably is, a great undiscovered principle which underlays these +spiritual manifestations, as they are called, and MIND is after it, +looking for it carefully; and what MIND has once started in pursuit of +earnestly, it seldom fails to overtake. + +"I have sometimes amused myself by endeavoring to furnish a theory for +the Spiritualists to stand upon, based upon the demonstrations of the +past, the evidences brought to light by the researches of science, +which at all events should have about it truth enough to give color +and respectability even to an error as stupendous as that of +Spiritualism. This theory I have predicated upon the progress of the +material world, aside from animal life, showing that what may have +been impossible thousands of years ago, may be possible, or about +becoming possible now; that we are about entering upon a new era in +the advancement of all things towards perfectability, and that the +advent of that era may be marked by an established communication +between the living and the spirits of the departed. + +"Science demonstrates that the material world presents in its history +an illustration of the great principle and theory of progress. It is +quite certain that our planet was once a very different thing from +what it is now; it differed in form, in substance, in compactness, in +everything from its present condition. We do not _know_ that it was +once wholly aeriform, mere gasses in combination, too crude to admit +of solidarity; but reasoning back from established facts, the +conclusion is almost irresistible, that this earth, now so rock-ribbed +and solid, so ponderous, so ragged with mountain ranges, and cloud +piercing peaks, was once but vapor, floating without form through +limitless space, drifting as mere nebulous matter among the older +creations of God. However this may be, it is regarded as quite +certain, that time was when ft was entirely void of solidity, void of +dry land, with no continent, island, or solid ground, with no living +thing within its circumference. It was thus passing through one of the +remote eras of its existence. It was then young, just emerging, as it +were, from nothingness, growing into form, assuming shape, and +gathering attributes of fitness for exterior vitality, preparing the +way for higher existences than mere inorganic matter. How long this +era existed, science has failed to demonstrate, but it passed away, +and solid land marked the next era of the earth's progress. It was +surrounded by an atmosphere absolutely fatal to animal life; an +atmosphere which, while it stimulated vegetable growth, no living +thing could breathe and continue to live. Hence it was, that +vegetation, gigantic almost beyond conception, covered its surface. +Fern, which is now a pigmy plant, nowhere higher than a few feet, grew +tall and overshadowing like great oaks, while oaks, it is fair to +presume, towered thousands of feet towards the sky. These stupendous +forests stood alone upon the surface of the earth; no animals wandered +through their fastnesses; no birds sported amidst their mighty +branches; noxious exhalations came steaming up from their tangled +recesses, and their gloomy shadows lay a mantle of darkness over +dreary and lifeless solitudes. The storms raged, and the winds howled; +the sun travelled its daily rounds, with its light dimmed and clouded +by the pestilential vapors it exhaled, and silence, so far as the +sounds of animal life were concerned, reigned supreme--the stillness +of the grave, the quiet of utter desolation, save the voice of the +wind or the storm, was unbroken all over the face of the earth. +Onward, and onward, rolled this mighty orb on its pathway through the +heavens, bearing with it no animal existences, freighted with no human +hopes--carrying with it nothing of human destiny. Man, with all his +lofty aspirations, his mighty schemes, his glory, and his pride, was a +thing of the future. He had not yet emerged from the eternity of the +past, to grapple with the present, or encounter the retributions of +the eternity which is to come. This was the era of gigantic vegetable +growth, and it had its uses; for it was preparing the way for higher +and more complicated existences. As the gases that surrounded the +earth became consolidated into vegetation, as this stupendous growth +decomposed the noxious atmosphere, drawing from it its grosser +particles and working them up into solid matter, extracting from it +what was fatal to animal life, this earth entered upon another era of +its progress. + +"Animal life made its appearance. It was weak and feeble at first, but +a step removed from vegetable matter. The molusca, the polypi, and the +rudest forms of fishes, were, beyond question, the first of living +things. Science demonstrates that the water brought forth the first +creations endowed with animal vitality. How long this era continued no +man can tell. Then came the amphibise, gigantic animals of the lizard +kind; the sauruses, that could reach with their long necks and +ponderous jaws across a street and pick up a man, if street and man +there had been. Then came land animals, monstrous in growth, by the +side of which the elephant dwindles to the diminutive stature of the +dormouse. In all these advances, was a succession of steps, mounting +higher and higher, in complication of structure, each more perfect in +organism than its predecessor. Vegetation itself became more +complicated, and as it approached perfection lost its gigantic growth. +Solidarity, compactness in all things, became the order of nature; the +atmosphere surrounding the earth, became more and more fitted for +the higher and more complicated animal organizations. At last when +time was ripe for his advent, when the earth was fitted for his +residence, and the air for his breathing, MAN, the last and most +perfect in his structure, the most delicate and finished in his +organization of all living things, made his appearance. He stepped +from the hand of God, the only thinking, reflecting, the only +intellectual, responsible being, in all the world. He stood at the +head of created matter, with all things on the earth subject to his +will, and corresponding to his, condition, his attributes, his +necessities, and his instincts. + +"Thus this great earth itself, has been but one continued illustration +of the great theory and principle of progress. From a beginning, lost +in the thick darkness of a past eternity, it has been marching forward +in a career as pause-less as the sun in his journeyings through the +sky, as clearly demonstrable as the growth of the germ that starts +from the buried acorn, and moves on to its full development in the +great oak. Science records with unerring certainty the progress of the +earth, and of animal life, from the lowest existences in the mollusca +and polypi, up to the superlatively complicated, and delicate +structure of man, tracing it step by step, until it is finished in the +noblest work of God, a human body coupled with an immortal soul! + +"And here arises a question which science has not solved, and to which +the philosophy, the wisdom, the logic of the past can give no answer. +The earth, and the things of the earth, have been moving forward, +marching on towards perfectability always. Is this forward movement +finished? We have, in looking at the subject in the light of science, +a time when there was not on the earth, in the air, or in the water, +any living thing. We have an era when animal life was but a span +removed from vegetable vitality; we have an era of gigantic vegetable +growth; an era of gigantic but rude animal growth, and so on step by +step down to the advent of man. The previous combinations of animal +life and vegetable life passed away with the era in which they +flourished; one class succeeding another, each emerging from, and +stepping over the annihilation of its predecessor, till we come down +to the present--is there no future progress for this earth as a +planet? Is there to be no other era, where man himself, like the +sauruses, like the mastodon, shall have passed away, to be succeeded +by some nobler animal structure, some loftier intelligence, some more +cunning invention of the infinite mind? + +"Man, great in intellect, powerful in mind, gifted with reason, and +having within him a spirit that is immortal, proud, glorious, aspiring +as he is, falls very far short of perfection in every attribute of his +nature. To say, therefore, that the prescience, the creative power of +the Almighty, reached the limit of its achievements in the creation of +man, is to impeach the omnipotence of God himself. Will any man insist +that the ingenuity of the Almighty is exhausted? May it not be, then +that the time will come when some sentient beings, as far superior to +man, as man is to the animals of the era of the lizards and the +amphibia, shall, like the geologists of the present day, be delving +among the rocks and rubbish of vanished ages, for evidences of the +existences of our own proud species at, to them, some remote period of +the world's progress? + +"If these questions cannot be answered by the learned and the wise, if +science makes no response, and philosophy furnishes no solution of +them, who dare say that the world is not, even now, entering upon a +new era of progress, taking another step in the forward movement? May +it not be, that the time is coming when the barrier between the +living, and the disembodied spirit is to be broken down? When that +viewless essence, that mystery of mysteries, the spirit of life, the +immortal soul, shall be permitted to come back from the unknown +country, to impart to the people of this world, the wisdom, the +mysteries, and the glory of the next? May not this be the new era that +is about opening in the progress of all things? It may be asked, is it +not possible that a new principle is about being evolved, that will +admit of communication between the living and the physically dead? May +it not be that the world and its surroundings, have become so changed, +that what was impossible thousands, or even hundreds, of years ago, +may have become, or be about to become possible now? That the same +process which carried this earth forward from the beginning, that so +changed the atmosphere of old, rendered it fit to sustain animal life +in its rudest structure, that so changed it again, as to make it +capable of sustaining a higher order of animal organism, that kept on +changing, and improving the whole face of the earth, that so arranged +organic matter, as to make this world, at last, a fit residence for +man, may be going on still; approaching all things nearer, and nearer +to perfection, until we have arrived upon the threshold of an era, +when living men may commune with the spirits of the physically dead? +An era as yet but in its dawn, when the stupendous future can be seen +only as through a glass darkly? + +"Remember, I do not assert my faith in a theory which is indicated by +an affirmative answer to these inquiries, for I have none. I give the +record of the earth's progress in the past, as it is written upon the +rocks, standing out upon precipices, brought to light by the +researches, and translated by the energy of science from forgotten and +buried ages. The deductions to be drawn from it, I leave to those who +have a taste for the speculative, neither believing in, nor +quarrelling with the theory which they may predicate upon it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LITTLE TOPPER'S LAKE--A SPIKE BUCK--A THUNDER STORM IN THE FOREST--THE +HOWL OF THE WOLF. + + +We spent the next day in coasting Round Pond, looking into its +secluded bays, and resting, when the sun was hot, beneath the shadows +of the brave old trees that line the banks. In floating along the +shore of this beautiful sheet of water, one can hardly help imagining +that in the broken rocks and rough stones piled up along the margin of +the lake, he sees the rains of an ancient wall, the mortar of which +has become disintegrated by time, and the masonry fallen down. He will +see at intervals what, from a little distance, seems like a solid wall +of stone, laid with care, and upon which the lapse of centuries has +wrought no change, so regular are the strata of which it is composed, +while an occasional boulder, large as a house, and covered with moss, +reminds him of the ruined tower of some stronghold. He will see, as he +rounds some rocky point, half a dozen of these gigantic boulders piled +together, leaning against each other with great cavernous openings +between, through which he can walk erect, and he involuntarily looks +around him for the armor of the ancient giants who piled up these +stupendous rocks and walled in the lake with these massive boulders. + +As we swept around a point near the south shore of the lake, we saw a +deer at a quarter of a mile from us, feeding upon the lily pads that +grew along the shore. Spalding and myself were in advance of our +little fleet, and our boatman paddled us carefully and silently +towards the animal, using the paddle only when its head was down. He +would feed for a minute or two and then look carefully all around him. +Of us he took no particular notice, although we were within a hundred +and fifty yards of him; and even when we were within sixty yards he +seemed to regard us only as a log floating upon the water, or +something else which might be regarded as perfectly harmless. Spalding +was in the bow of the boat, and when within some eight rods of the +game, we lay perfectly quiet for a moment, when his rifle spoke out +and its voice rung and re-echoed among the surrounding hills as if a +whole platoon of musketry were blazing all around us. The deer made +three or four desperate leaps in a zigzag direction, and then went +down. When we got to him, he was dead. He was a fine two year old +buck, with spike horns, and in excellent condition. We took his saddle +and skin and passed on. + +From Bound Pond we rowed up the inlet, a broad and sluggish stream, +full of grass and lily pads, to Little Tapper's Lake. We saw several +deer feeding along the shore that, discovering us as we rowed +carelessly along, went whistling and snorting away into the forest. As +we approached the lake, dark clouds gathered in the West; great ugly +looking thunderheads came rolling up from behind the hills higher and +higher; perfect stillness was all around us; the leaves were moveless +on the trees, and the voices of the birds were hushed. + +"Squire," said Martin to me "I'm thinkin' we'd better go ashore and +put up our tents; there's a mighty big storm over the hill, and he'll +be down this way before many minutes." + +And we rowed to a high point at a small distance, covered with spruce +and fir trees, and put up our tents on the lee side of it, so as to be +sheltered from the wind as well as the rain. This was the work of only +ten minutes; but before we had finished, the deep voice of the thunder +came rolling over the forest, and we could see the storm rising over +the hills, in a long black line, all across the Western sky. The +lightning darted down towards the earth, or across from cloud to +cloud, and the thunder boomed and rolled along the heavens, its deep +rumble shaking the ground like an earthquake. Presently, the hills +were hidden from our view, we heard the rush of the storm in the +forest on the other side of the river, then the splash of the big +drops on the water, and then the wind and the rain were upon us. For a +few minutes, I thought our tents would have been lifted bodily from +the ground, but the skill of our pioneer had provided against the +blast, and they remained standing safely over us. In a short time the +wind passed on, leaving the heavy rain to pour down in torrents, and +the deep voiced thunder to come crashing down to the earth, or go +rolling solemnly and heavily along the sky. It rained for an hour as +it can do only among these mountain regions. The clouds and the rain +at length swept on, and the bow of promise spanned the rear of the +retiring storm; a new joy seemed to take possession of the wild +things, and gladness and merriment sounded from every direction in the +old woods; a thin and shadowy mist hung like a veil over the water, +and a refreshing coolness, as well as brightness and glory, were all +around us. These storms of a hot summer day in this high region, if +one is prepared for them, are full of pleasant interest; they rise so +majestically, sweep along with such power, and pass away so +triumphantly, leaving behind them such a calm sweetness in the air, +that a journey to this wilderness would be imperfect in interest +without witnessing them. + +We entered Little Tripper's Lake towards evening, at the north end, +and looking down south, one of the most beautiful views imaginable +opened upon our vision. Surrounded by low and undulating hills, dotted +with islands, with long points running far out into the lake, and +pleasant little bays hiding around behind wooded promontories, it +presented a wild yet pleasing landscape, on which a painter's eye +could not rest but with delight, and which, transferred to canvas, +would make a picture of which any artist might be proud. + +By the way, I wonder that our artists do not summer among these +mountains and lakes, sketching and painting the transcendently +beautiful views they everywhere present. There is nothing like them on +all this continent. We talk about the scenery of Lake George. It is +all tame and spiritless compared with what may be seen here; it +possesses not a tithe of the variety, the bold and grand, the placid +and beautiful, all mingled, and changing always, as you pass from +point to point along these lakes. Why do not the artists whose +business it is to make the "canvas speak," drift out this way, and +deal with nature in all her ancient loveliness, clothed in her +primeval robes, and smiling in her freshness and beauty, as when +thrown from the hand of Deity? It would repay them for their labor, +and yield them a rich harvest of gain. + +We had heard of the shanty in which we were to encamp, and we rowed +straight through the whole length of the lake towards it. We reached +it as the sun was going down, and stowed away our luggage before the +darkness had gathered over the forest. We took possession by the right +of squatter sovereignty, the owner being unknown, or at all events, +absent from the woods. This lake is one of the few in all this region +that I had never visited before, and is next in beauty to its +namesake, two days' journey nearer to civilization. It is about twelve +miles in length, and from one to two miles in width, with many +beautiful bays stealing around behind bold rocky promontories, and +sleeping in quiet beauty under the shadows of the tall forest trees +that tower above their shores. It is dotted, too, with beautiful +islands, some rising with a gentle slope from the water, covered with +scattering Norway pines, and a dense undergrowth of low bushes; others +are covered with tall spruce, fir, and hemlocks, standing up in +stately and solemn grandeur, their arms lovingly intertwined, through +the everlasting verdure of which the sun never shines; and others +still are gigantic rocks, rising up out of the deep water, all +treeless and shrubless, remaining always in brown and barren +desolation, on which the eagle and osprey devour their prey, and the +flocks of gulls that frequent the lake 'light to rest from their +almost ceaseless flight. Civilization has not as yet marred in +anything this beautiful sheet of water; even the lumberman has not +forced his way to the majestic old pines that tower in stately +grandeur above the forest trees of a lesser growth; not a foot of laud +has been cleared within thirty miles of it. The old woods stand around +it just as God placed them, in all their pristine solemnity, stately +and motionless; the wild things that roamed among them in the day of +old, are there still, and the same species of birds that sported in +their branches thousands of years ago, are there still. We heard the +howl of the wolf at night; we heard the scream of the panther; we saw +the tracks of the moose, and where he had fed on the pastures along +the shore; we saw the footprints of a huge bear in the sand on the +beach, and the deer-paths were like those that lead to a sheep-fold. +It was a pleasant thing to row along the shore, into the bays, around +the islands, and into the creeks that came in from other little lakes +deeper in the wilderness. The banks are mostly bold and bluff, the +rocks standing up four or eight feet from the water, or broken and +fallen like an ancient wall. Here and there is a long stretch of +beautiful sandy beach, on which the tiny waves break with a rippling +song, and from which bars go out with a gentle slope into the water. + +We intended to remain here quietly for a few days, taking things easy, +rowing, and fishing, and hunting enough for exercise only. There is +plenty of deer, and trout, and duck, and partridge here, to be taken +with small labor; there are bears, and wolves, and panthers, in the +woods around. But these are fewer and harder to be come at than the +other game; there is an occasional moose too. We saw the tracks of all +these animals hereabouts, and we hoped to get a shot at some or all of +them before leaving the woods. + +Reader, did you ever hear the wolves howl in the old woods of a Still +night! No? Then you have not heard _all_ the music of the forest. Some +deep-mouthed old forester will open his jaws, and send forth a volume +of sound so deep, so loud, so changeful, so undulating and variable in +its character, that, as it rolls along the forest, and comes back in +quavering echoes from the mountains, you will almost swear that his +single voice is an agglomerate of a thousand, all mixed, and mingled, +and rolled up into one. May be, away in the distance, possibly on the +other side of the lake, or across a broad valley, another will open +his mouth and answer, with a howl as deep, and wild, and variable, as +the first; and possibly a third and fourth, one on the right, and +another on the left, will join in the chorus, until the whole forest +seems to be fall of howling and noise; and yet not one of these +animals may be within a mile of you. To a timid man, there is something +terrific in the howl of the wolves; but in truth, they are harmless as +the deer, quite as wild and shy, and full as cowardly in the presence +of a man. They will fly as frightened from his approach, unless, +possibly, in the intense cold and desolation of winter, when driven +together and rendered desperate by hunger, they might be emboldened by +starvation to attack a man, but even this is among the apocryphal +legends of the wilderness. + +"Hearing them wolves howlin'," said Hank Martin, as we sat in the +evening around our camp fire, "reminds me of a story Mark Shuff tells +of his experience with the critters; but mind, I don't pretend to +swear to its truth, for I don't claim to know anything about the facts +myself. I'll tell it as Mark told it to me, and if it turns out to be +too tough a yarn to take down whole, don't lay it to me. You know Mark +Shuff," said he, appealing to me, "and you may believe such parts of +it as you may be able to swallow, and the rest may be divided up, as +the Doctor said the other day, among the company." + +"Go ahead," said the Doctor, "I'll take a quarter as my share of the +story, and you may cut it off of either end, or carve it out of the +middle. I'll take a quarter, tough or tender." + +"You may set down a quarter to my account," said Smith, "and Spalding +shall take another." "Very well, then," said Martin, "I'll believe a +quarter of it myself, and so the case is made up, as the judge +would say." + +"Well," repeated Martin, "you know MARE Shuff?" "Of course I know Mark +Shuff; and who, that has visited these lakes and woods don't know him? +He is a stalwart man, six feet in his stockings, strong, healthy, and +enduring as iron, I have had him as a boatman and guide about Tupper's +Lake, and the regions beyond it, more than once. He works at lumbering +in the winter, and if there is one among the hundreds, I had almost +said thousands, who make war, in the snowy season of the year, upon +the old pines of the Rackett woods, who can swing an axe more +effectually than Mark Shuff, his light is under a bushel--his fame +obscured. Mark works hard for four or five months, and lays around +loose the balance of the year. In the summer, he holds a cost as a +thing of ornament rather than use, and boots or shoes as luxuries, not +to be reckoned as among the necessaries of life. His hat, as a general +thing, is of straw, and minus a little more than half the brim. He +would be out of place, and out of uniform, as well as out of temper +with himself, if he was for any considerable length of time without +the stub of a marvelously black pipe in his mouth, filled with plug +tobacco, shaved and rubbed in his hand into a proper condition for +smoking. Mark, though by no means an intemperate man, is fond of a +drop now and then, and when he has just a thimbleful too much, the way +he will swear is emphatically a sin. And yet he is anything but +quarrelsome or contrary, even when a shade over the line of strict +sobriety. He is a great, strong, square-shouldered, big-breasted, +good-natured specimen of the genus homo, a giant in physical strength, +and were I a wolf, I would prefer letting him alone to any man in +these parts. When he gets just the least grain "shiny" (and he never +gets beyond that), and his oar goes a little wrong, or a twig brushes +him ungently, or his seat gets a little hard, he will express his +sense of its improper deportment by incontinently damning its eyes, +and so forth, as if it were a sentient thing, and understood all his +profane denunciations; but with all this, Mark never forgets to be +respectful, and, in his way, courteous to his employers. He has, +moreover, a sharp, clear eye in his head, and can see a deer, or any +other game, as quick, and shoot it as far as the best, and has as good +a knowledge of where they are to be found, as any man in these woods." + +"Well," continued Martin, as he lighted his pipe by dipping it into +the embers and scooping up a small coal; "Well, Mark Shuff and a +friend of his by the name of Westcott, had a shanty one winter over on +Tupper's Lake; they were trappin' martin, and mink, and muskrat, and +wolves, when they could get one. They shantied on the outlet, just at +the foot of the lake, below the high rocky bluff round which the +little bay there sweeps. There wasn't any house then nearer than +Harriets Town, down by the Lower Saranac; but there was a company of +lumbermen having a shanty up towards the head of the lake, near where +the Bog River enters. Mark, one cold winter's morning, started on an +errand to the lumber shanty I speak of, calculatin' to return the same +evening. The lake was frozen over, and he took to the ice, as being +the nearest and best travelin'. The winter had set in airly, and the +snow had lain deep for months, and the game of the woods had got +pretty well starved out. Mark did'nt take his rifle with him, thinkin' +of course that he would see no game on the ice worth shootin', and a +gun would only be an incumbrance to him. Well, he did his errand at +the shanties, and started for home. I don't know whether he took a +drop or not, but they generally keep a barrel of old rye in the lumber +shanties, and my opinion is that Mark was invited to take a horn, in +which case, I'm bold to say, the horn was taken. + +"However that may be, Mark started for home along in the afternoon, +and took to the ice, as he did when he went up in the morning. +Everything went right until he got within may be a mile of home, when +he heard, from a point of land, a little to the left of him, a sharp, +fierce bark, and turning that way, he saw a great shaggy, +fierce-looking wolf trot out from behind a boulder and squat himself +down on his haunches, and eye him as if calculating the probabilities +of his making a good supper. While Mark was looking at him, feelin' a +little oneasy, he heard another sharp bark, and from a point just +ahead of him another great wolf trotted out on to the ice, and sat +himself down, eyeing him with suspicious intensity. In a moment, +another came out right opposite to him, and then another, and another, +until Mark swears to this day that there were more than a dozen of +these fierce and hungry savages squatted on their haunches within +fifty yards of him. + +"Mark, as I said, had no rifle, his only weapons being a hunting knife +and a heavy walking stick, which he carried in his hand. To say that +he was not frightened, would be stating what I don't believe to be +true, and I've heard him tell how his huntin' cap seemed to be lifted +right up on his head, as if every hair pointed straight towards the +sky. He looked at the wolves a moment, and then walked on; but the +animals trotted along with him, still, however, keepin' at a +respectful distance. Those in advance seemed inclined to cross his +path, as if to turn him towards the centre of the lake, while those +behind went further and further from the shore, as if to surround him; +and thus they travelled for near half a mile, Mark making for the open +water, which in the coldest weather is always to be found near the +outlet of the lake, determined, if they came to close quarters, to +take to that and swim for it. He had heard and knew that almost every +animal is afraid of the voice of a man; so he shouted at the top of +his voice, and as he said, ripped out some select and choice oaths, +which for a moment alarmed the wolves, and they fell back a few rods, +still, however, keepin' in a kind of half circle around him. But it +was'nt long before they began to gather in on him again, and though +his shoutin' and swearin' kept them at a good distance, yet they +seemed to be gettin' used to it, and it didn't alarm them as it did at +first. Mark had now got within reach of the water, and he felt +comparatively safe. He was not more than a quarter of a mile from +home, and cold as it was, he felt sure that he could swim +that distance. + +"Before being compelled to take to the water, it occurred to him to +halloo for Westcott, which he did with all his might. The wolves +did'nt appear to care much about his hallooing, but kept trottin' +along between him and the shore, and before and behind him, drawin' +the circle closer and closer every ten rods; and Mark expected every +moment when they'd make a rush on him, in which case he'd made up his +mind to make a dive into the water, along which he was now travelin'. +Presently he saw Westcott, with his double-barrelled rifle, stealin' +along the shore, hid from the kritters by a high rocky point, within +some twenty rods of him. He felt all right then, for he knew that when +Westcott pinted that rifle at anything, something had to come. It was +a dangerous piece, that rifle was, 'specially when loaded and Westcott +was at one end of it. + +"Mark was not more than fifteen rods from the shore, but that ground +was occupied by the wolves; on the right was the water, into which he +might at any moment be compelled to plunge; while both before and +behind him his advance and retreat was alike cut off. He had noticed +that whenever he stopped, the wolves stopped, as if the time for the +rush had not yet come, and it puzzled him to understand why they +delayed the onset. Seeing Westcott with his rifle, Mark determined to +treat his assailants to a choice lot of profane epithets, and the way +he opened on the cowardly rascals, he said, astonished even +himself. But while he was thus swearing at his enemies, he +discovered, as he thought, the reason why they had not attacked +him sooner. A troop of a dozen or more wolves broke cover +some distance up the lake, and came runnin' down towards where +he stood, for whose presence, no doubt, those around him were +waiting. Just then he saw WESTCOTT'S huntin' cap above the rocks on +the point, and saw his double-barrel poked out in the direction of the +leader of the pack, and he knew that that old grey-back's time had +come. Mark let off a fresh volley of profanity, and as the wolves +seemed preparing for a rush, WESTCOTT'S rifle broke the frozen +stillness of the woods, and old grey-back turned a summerset and went +down. The astonished wolves clustered together for a moment in +confusion, and the other barrel spoke out. Another of the pack bounded +into the air, and as he came down kicked and thrashed about in a most +oncommon way, and then laid still--while the way the rest put out for +the point, some distance up the lake, was a thing to be astonished at. +Mark threw up his hat, and hollered, and shouted, and swore, till the +last wolf disappeared into the forest, and then shoulderin' one of the +dead kritters, and WESTCOTT the other, started on home. The hides, and +the bounty on the scalps, made a good day's work of it; but Mark +swears to this day, that if the last dozen of wolves had been a little +earlier, or Westcott a little later, he'd a-been driven like a buck to +the water, cold as it was; and if they'd been a little earlier still, +he'd have been a goner. He never goes far from home since, without a +rifle; although with that he has no fear of wolves, yet he concludes +that a hunting-knife and a stick are no match for a whole pack of the +kritters, when made savage by the starvation of winter." + +[Illustration: Westcott's rifle broke the frozen stillness of the +woods, and old greyback turned a summerset and went down. The +astonished wolves clustered together for a moment in confusion, and +the other barrel spoke out.] + +While we were listening to the story of Mark Shuff and the wolves, the +old fellow over the water made the forest ring again with his howling. +He was answered from miles away down the lake by another. Their voices +kept the forest echoes busy, until we laid ourselves away in our +blankets, where we slept till wakened by the glad voices of the birds +in the early morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +AN EXPLORING VOYAGE IN AN ALDER SWAMP--A BEAVER DAM--A FAIR SHOT AND A +MISS--DROWNING A BEAR--AN UNPLEASANT PASSENGER. + + +We started the next morning on an exploring voyage round the lake, to +look into the bays and inlets, try the fish and deer, and see what we +could see generally. We struck across to an island opposite our +landing-place, containing five or six acres, covered with a dense +growth of spruce, hemlock, and fir, with an occasional pine standing +with its tall head proudly above the other forest trees, while along +the ground the low whortleberry bushes, loaded with fruit, now just +ripening, grew. This island is near the south shore, and separated +from it by a narrow channel some twenty rods in width. We landed, and +were regaling ourselves upon the berries, leaving our boats and guns +on the lake side of the island. We had wandered near the centre of the +island, when three deer started up within two rods of us, and rushed +whistling and snorting in huge astonishment across the island in the +direction of the mainland, and dashing wildly into the water, swam to +the shore and disappeared into the forest. We, in truth, were little +less astonished than they, for we certainly expected no such game to +be hiding there, and when they leaped up so suddenly and plunged away, +crashing and snorting through the brush, it startled us somewhat; but +our boats and guns were on the other side of the island, and we could +only look on as they swam boldly to the shore without the power to +harm them. + +At the east end of the lake a large stream, deep, sluggish, and +tortuous enters, which we voted came from a lake or pond, back at the +base of the hills, seen some three or four miles distant in that +direction, and while the other boats passed in another direction, +Spalding and myself started upstream to explore it. As we advanced, +the alders and willows encroached more and more upon the channel, +until it became too narrow for rowing. Our boatman took his paddle, +and seated in the stern of our little craft, propelled it up stream +for an hour or more. The alders gradually contracted, the channel +becoming narrower until we were passing under a low archway of +branches, covered with dense foliage, through which the sunlight could +not penetrate. The arch grew lower and lower, and the channel +narrower, until we at last absolutely stuck fast among the branches of +the alders which, here grew almost horizontally over the stream. We +could not turn round, and to go further was absolutely impossible; +there was but one mode of extrication, and that was to back straight +out the way we had entered. Our boatman changed his position to the +bow of the boat, and after much labor and exertion, we started down +stream. After two hours of hard work, pushing with the oars and +pulling by the branches, we emerged into daylight, came out into the +open stream, not a little fatigued by our efforts to find the +imaginary pond at the base of the mountains. + +This stream, with the broad alder marsh that stretches away on either +side, was doubtless once a beaver dam; and we thought we could +discover where these singular and sagacious animals had erected the +structure that made for them an artificial lake. Our theory on this +subject may have been true or false, but this much is a fact, that in +all this region of lakes and rivers, I have seen no alder or other +marsh of any considerable extent, save this. In the times of old, when +the Indian and his brother the beaver, lived quietly together, before +the greed of the white man had built up a war of extermination between +them, this must have been a glorious country for the beaver. The lakes +are so numerous and the ponds and rivers so fitted for them, that they +must have had a good time of it here for centuries. The Indians never +disturbed them, never made war upon them; their flesh was not needed +or fitted for food, and the value of their fur was unknown. Tradition, +speaking from the dim and shadowy past, tells us of the vast numbers +of these sagacious and harmless animals which congregated in these +regions, living in undisturbed quiet and happiness all the year, +building their dams, their canals, and cities on all the ponds, +rivers, and lakes hereabouts. But they are all gone now. I inquired if +any had been seen of late years, and could hear of but a single +family, which some ten years ago were said to dwell somewhere in the +vicinity of Mud Lake, the highest and wildest of all these mountain +lakes. The last of these was taken four or five years ago, since which +no sign of the beaver has been discovered. They are doubtless all +gone, and as this was their last abiding-place, they may be regarded +as extinct on this side of the Alleghany ranges, and probably on this +side of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Like the beaver, +the Indian who turned against him, will soon be gone too. Annihilation +is written as the doom of both. The wild man must pass away with the +woods and the forests, before the onward rush of civilization, and +history will soon be all that will remain of the Indian and his +ancient brother the beaver. + +Well, be it so, and who will regret it? It is a sad thing to see a +whole race perish, wiped out from the aggregate of human existence. +But in this instance, its place will be filled by a higher and nobler +race, and the hunting-ground of the savage and the pagan, be converted +into cultivated fields; where stood the wigwam, will stand the +farm-house; where the council-fires blazed, will stand the halls of +enlightened and Christian legislation; churches and school-houses, and +all the accompaniments of Christianity and civilization will take the +place of ancient forests; and educated, intellectual, cultivated minds +take the place of the rude, untaught, and unteachable men and women of +the woods. + +As we re-entered the lake, we saw a noble buck feeding along the +shore, a short distance from us. We dropped behind a point of willows, +from the outer edge of which we would be in shooting distance. We +paddled silently round the point, and there, within fifteen rods of +us, he stood, broad side to us, presenting as beautiful a mark as a +man could wish. I counted him certainly ours, when I drew upon him +with my rifle. Well I blazed away, and as I did so, he raised his head +suddenly, gazed in astonishment at us for a moment, with his ears +thrown forward, and in an attitude of wildness, and then dashed madly +away into the forest, snorting like a war-horse at every bound. I had +not touched him, and I knew it the moment I fired. Our little boat was +light and rollish, and just as I pressed the trigger, it rolled +slightly on the water and my ball passed over, but mighty close to the +back of that deer. I was mortified enough at this mishap, for I prided +myself on my coolness and marksmanship, and here was a failure +apparently more inexcusable than any that had occurred. But there was +no help for it. The deer was gone, and Spalding and the boatman +indulged in a hearty laugh at my expense. + +Some half a mile up the lake, we saw a great turtle sunning himself on +a rock which was partly out of water. He was twice as large as any of +the fresh-water kind I had ever seen. His shell was all of two feet in +diameter, and his scaly arms, as they hung loosely over the side of +the rock, were as large as the wrists of a man. He was some six or +eight rods from us, and Spalding gave him a shot with his rifle. The +ball glanced harmlessly from his massive shell against the ledge +behind him, and starting from his sleep, he clambered lazily and +clumsily into the water. + +We threw out a trolling line as we passed up the lake; but we caught +no trout. Along the shore, however, we caught small ones in plenty +with the fly. These shore trout, as I call them, seem to be a distinct +species, differing in many respects from the other trout of the lakes +or streams. They are uniform in size, rarely exceeding a quarter of a +pound in weight. They are of a whitish color, longer in proportion +than the lake, river, or brook trout, have fewer specks upon them, and +those not of a golden hue, but rather like freckles. They are found +among the broken rocks where the shores are bold and bluff, or near +the mouths of the cold brooks that come down from the hills. I caught +them at every trial, and whenever we wanted them for food. Their flesh +is white and excellent--better, to my taste, than that of any other +fish of these waters. + +We rejoined our companions in a little bay that lay quietly around a +rocky promontory, where we found them enjoying a dinner of venison and +trout, under the shade of some huge firtrees, by the side of a +beautiful spring that came bubbling up, in its icy coldness, from +beneath the tangled roots of a stinted and gnarled birch. Happily, +there was enough for us all, and we accepted at once the invitation +extended to us to dine. Towards evening, we rowed back to our shanty. +The breeze had entirely ceased, and the lake lay still and smooth; not +a wave agitated its surface, not a ripple passed across its stirless +bosom; the woods along the shore, and the mountains in the back +ground, the glowing sunlight upon the hill-tops were mirrored back +from its quiet depths as if there were other forests, and other +mountains and hills glowing in the evening sunshine away down below, +twins to those above and around us. We saw on our return along the +beach, the track of a bear in the sand, that had been made during the +day, and we had some talk of trying the scent of our dogs upon it. But +it was too near night, to allow of a hope of securing him, even if the +dogs could follow, and we gave up the idea, promising to attend to +bruin's case another day. + +As we sat with our meerschaums, in the evening, speculating upon the +chances of securing a bear, or a moose, before leaving the woods, a +wolf lifted up his voice on the hill opposite as, and made the old +forest ring again with his howling. He was answered as in the night +previous, from away down the lake, and by another from the hill back +of us, and another still from the narrow gorge above the head of the +lake. However discordant the music appeared to us, they seemed to +enjoy it, for they kept it up at intervals during all the early part +of the night. + +"Seeing that bear's track, and hearing the howl of those wolves," said +the Doctor, "reminds me of a story I heard told by an old Ohio pilot, +whom I found in drifting down that noble river in a pirogue, some five +and twenty years ago. We tied up one night by the side of another +similar craft, that had gone down ahead of us, the people on board of +which had landed and built a camp-fire, and erected their tent. They +were strangers to us, but in those days everybody you met in the +wilderness which skirted the Upper Ohio was your friend, if you chose +to regard him so. I was a mere boy then, and was in company with my +father and three other gentlemen, who owned a township of land not far +from Cincinnati; that is not far now, considering the difference in +the mode of travelling between then and now, and we were on our way to +explore that township. I did not regard it as of much value then, +though it has since brought a heap of money to its owners. We found +the company belonging to the other boat busily employed in cooking a +supper of venison and bear-meat, they having in the course of the day +killed two deer and a bear that they found swimming the river. We were +invited to help ourselves; an invitation which, being cordially given, +we as cordially accepted. We had been passing during most of the day +through unbroken forests, standing up in stately majesty on both sides +of the river, and stretching back the Lord knows how far. After the +darkness gathered, the wolves made the wilderness vocal with their +howling. It was the first time I had ever heard them, and for that +matter the last, until since we have been in these woods: but when +that old fellow over the lake lifted up his voice last night, I +recognized it at once. I can't say I admired it as a musical +performance then, and I don't appreciate its harmony now. If there are +those who like it, why, _de gustibus non_, and so forth. + +"But I set out to tell the story that the old Ohio pilot told that +night, while the travellers sat smoking around their camp-fires, and +the wolves were howling in the wilderness about us. I do not, of +course, vouch for its truth; I simply tell it as he told it to us. He +seemed to believe it himself, for he told it with a gravity of face, +and a seriousness of manner, which would ill comport with its falsity. +His hearers did not seem to regard it as passing belief, but they +laughed at the idea of drowning a bear. + +"'Twenty odd years ago,' said the old pilot, as he lighted his pipe +and seated himself on the head of a whisky-keg, 'there warn't a great +many people along the Ohio, except Ingins and bears, and we didn't +like to cultivate a very close acquaintance with either of them, for +the Ingins were cheatin', deceivin', and scalpin' critters, and the +bears had an onpleasant way with 'em, that people of delicate narves +didn't like. I came out for some people over on the east side of the +mountains, lookin' land, in company with four men who had hunted over +the country. Ohio warn't any great shakes then, but let me tell you, +stranger, it had a mighty big pile of the tallest kind of land layin' +around waitin' to be opened up to the sunlight. It's goin' ahead now, +and people are rushin' matters in the way of settlin' of it, but you +could stick down a stake most anywhere in it then, and travel in +any direction a hundred miles climbin' a fence. + +"'Wal, we came down the Alleghany in two canoes, and shantied on the +Ohio, just below where the Alleghany empties itself into it. We hid +our canoes, and struck across the country, and travelled about +explorin' for six weeks, and when we got back to our shantyin' ground, +we were tuckered out you may believe. We rested here a couple of days, +layin' around loose, and takin' our comfort in a way of our own. Early +one morning, when my companions were asleep, I got up and paddled +across the river after a deer, for we wanted venison for breakfast. I +got a buck, and was returnin', when what should I see but a bear +swimmin' the Ohio, and I put out in chase right off. I soon overhauled +the critter, and picked up my rifle to give him a settler, when I +found that in paddlin' I had spattered water into the canoe, wettin' +the primin' and makin' the gun of no more use than a stick. I didn't +understand much about the natur of the beast then, and thought I'd run +him down, and drown him, or knock him on the head. So I put the canoe +right end on towards him, thinkin' to run him under, but when the +bow touched him, what did he do, but reach his great paws up over the +side of the canoe, and begin to climb in. I hadn't bargained for that; +I felt mighty onpleasant, you may swear, at the prospect of havin' +sich a passenger. I hadn't time to get at him with the rifle, till he +came tumblin' into the dugout, and as he seated himself on his stern, +showed as pretty a set of ivory as a body would wish to see. There we +sat, he in one end of the dugout and I in the other, eyein' one +another in a mighty suspicious sort of way. He didn't seem inclined to +come near my end of the dugout, and I was principled agin goin' +towards his. I made ready to take to the water on short notice, but at +the same time concluded I'd paddle him to the shore, if he'd allow me +to do it quietly. + +"'Wal, I paddled away, the bear every now and then grinnin' at me, +skinnin' his face till every tooth in his head stood right out, and +grumblin' to himself in a way that seemed to say, 'I wonder if that +chap's good to eat?' I didn't offer any opinion on the subject; I +didn't say a word to him, treatin' him all the time like a gentleman, +but kept pullin' for the shore. When the canoe touched the ground, he +clambered over the side, and climbed up the bank, and givin' me an +extra grin, started off into the woods. I pushed the dugout back +suddenly, and gave him, as I felt safe again, a double war-whoop that +seemed to astonish him, for he quickened his pace mightily, as if +quite as glad to part company as I was. I larned one thing, stranger, +that mornin', and it's this, never to try drownin' a bear by runnin' +him under with a dugout. It won't pay.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SPALDING'S BEAR STORY--CLIMBING TO AVOID A COLLISION--AN UNEXPECTED +MEETING--A RACE. + + +"That story," said Spalding, "reminds _me_ of a bear story. I shall do +as the Doctor did, tell it as it was told to me. I did not see the +bear, but I know the man who was the hero of it, and his brother told +the story in his presence one day, and he made no denial. He at least +is estopped from disputing it, and we lawyers call that _prima facie_ +evidence of its truth. It occurred a long time ago, when there were +fewer green fields in Oswego county and especially in the town of +Mexico, than there are now. The old woods stood there in all their +primeval grandeur. The waves of Ontario laved a wilderness shore, and +their dull sound, as they came rolling in upon the rocky beach, died +away in the solitudes of a gloomy and almost boundless forest. Here +and there a 'clearing' let in the sunlight, and the woodman's axe +broke the forest stillness as he battled against the brave old trees. +The smoke of burning fallows was occasionally seen, wreathing in +dense columns towards the sky. Civilization, enterprise, energy and +new life were just starting on that career of progress which has moved +onward till the wilderness, under the influence of their mighty power, +has been made to blossom as the rose. Those were pleasant times, as we +look upon them now, just fading into the dim and shadowy past, but +they were times of toil and privation. The arms of the men of those +times were nerved by the hope of the future, and the spirit that +sustained them was that of faith in the fact that the promise of +reward for their labor was sure. + +"Do the men of the present day ever think what a gigantic labor that +was of clearing away those old forests? Contemplate a wilderness, +reaching from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, from the great lakes +and the majestic St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, every acre of +which was covered with tall trees which had to be cut away one by one, +not with some great machine which mowed them down in broad swaths like +the grass of a meadow, but by a single arm and a single axe. Talk +about the Pyramids, the Chinese Wall, the great canals of the earth! +They sink into utter insignificance when compared with the prodigious +labor of clearing away the American forests, and spreading out green +fields where our fathers found only a limitless wilderness of woods. +The sons of these men who performed that labor, in my judgment, have a +better patent to preferment and honors than those who come from other +lands to claim their inheritance after it has been thus perfected by +such toil and hardships, and dangers as the history of the world +cannot parallel." + +"I think, if I remember rightly," said the Dr., "you set out to tell a +bear story. You are now indulging in a sermon on progress. Allow me to +call your attention to the bear." + +"I appeal to the court," said Spalding, addressing Smith and myself, +"against this interruption." + +"The counsel will proceed," said Smith, with all the gravity of a +judge; "we hope the interruption will not be repeated." + +"Well," said Spalding, resuming his narrative, "some fifty years ago, +two enterprising men (brothers) marched into the woods in the town of +Mexico, now in Oswego county, with their axes on their shoulders, and +stout hearts beating in their bosoms. They located a mile or more +apart, and began a warfare, such as civilization wages, against the +old forest trees. Men talk about courage on the battle-field, the +facing of danger amid the conflict of armed hosts, and the crash of +battle. All that is well, but what is such courage, stimulated by +excitement and braced by the ignominy which follows the laggard in +such a strife, to that calm, enduring, moral courage of him who +encounters the toil and hardships incident to the settlement of a new +country, and battles with the dangers, the long years of privation, +which lie before the pioneer who goes into the forest to carve out a +home for himself and his children? How much more noble is such +courage, how infinitely superior is such a warfare, one which mows +down forest trees instead of men, which creates green pastures, broad +meadows, and fields of waving grain, instead of smouldering cities, +and desolated homes! How much more pleasant is the sound of the +woodman's axe, than that of the booming cannon! How much more cheerful +the smoke that goes up from the burning fallow, than that which hangs +in darkness over the desolation of the battle field, beneath which lie +the dead in their stillness, and the wounded in their agony! But I am +losing sight of the bear." + +"Exactly so," said the Doctor; "and we have not as yet had the +pleasure of making his acquaintance. Suppose you give us an +introduction to the gentleman." + +"These interruptions are entirely out of order," gravely remarked +Smith; "they must not be repeated. The counsel will proceed." + +"Well," resumed Spalding, bowing deferentially to the court, "one of +these settlers started one day across the woods to visit his brother. +There were few roads in those times, and these were laid out without +much reference to distance; they went winding and crooking every way +to avoid this hill, or that creek, or water course, or any other +impediment which nature may have thrown in the way, and a blind +footpath, or a line of marked trees, was more commonly travelled from +one forest house to another. The forester was tramping cheerfully +along, thinking doubtless of the good time coming, when his farm would +be shorn of all its old woods, when flocks and herds would be grazing +in luxurious pastures, tall grain waving in fields, the summer grass +clothing in richness meadows reclaimed by his labor from the +wilderness, and he should be at ease among his children. First +settlers of a new country think of these things, and it is because +they think of them, that their hearts are strong and buoyant with +hope. They live in the future, enduring the darkness and privation of +the present, in their faith in the brightness of the years to come. +Thus they wait in patience for, while they command success, and the +end of their toil is an old age of competence, and in the closing +years of life, quiet and repose. Well, he was enjoying these pleasant +visions when he saw, some thirty rods ahead of him, a huge bear, with +her cubs, 'travelling his way,' as the saying is, in other words +coming directly towards him. He was no hunter, and had with him no +weapon. He had heard strange stories of the ferocity of the bear when +her cubs were by her side, and to say that he was not horribly +frightened would be a departure from the strict requirements of truth. +He had heard, too, that a bear could not climb a small, straight tree, +and _he_ could. The question then was between climbing and running. He +was not much in a race, and he decided to climb; so selecting a +smooth-barked, perpendicular ash sapling, he started with might and +main towards the top. He went up, as he supposed, till he was out of +the reach of the bear, and held on, all the time keeping his eye on +the animal, and making as little noise as possible. The bear, +doubtless seeing that he was beyond her reach, passed on out of sight, +and after he remained till the danger was over, he concluded to come +down. He was astonished to find that his efforts to descend were +powerless. He seemed to have frozen to the tree. Upon looking around, +to his utter amazement, he found himself sitting on the ground, _with +both legs and arms locked fast around the, tree! He had not climbed an +inch, and the bear had not been aware of his presence in the woods!_ + +"That ash sapling was safe from that day. It stood then in the old +forest. The woodman's axe spared it. It stands now in the open field, +a majestic tree; its great trunk, eight feet in circumference, its +long arms covered with foliage, casting a broad shadow over the +pasture beneath, in which cattle and sheep seek for coolness and +ruminate in the heat of the summer days. It is pointed out as the tree +which the man who was frightened by a bear _didn't_ climb, and is +referred to as evidence of the truth of my story, as the Dutchman +proved the authenticity of his Bible, 'by the pictures.'" + +"And that," said I, "puts _me_ in mind of a bear story, which has this +merit over both of yours--it is true. I can speak of it as a thing of +personal knowledge, occurring within my own personal experience. I +began the study of law in Angelica, the county seat of Alleghany +county, and as it was a good many years ago, it is fair to assume that +I was a good many years younger than I am now, and that the country in +that region was younger too. Everybody knows that Alleghany county is, +or used to be, a great place for whirlwinds and tornadoes. If they do +not, they may understand and be assured of the fact now. A few years +(less than twelve) ago, a black cloud came looming up in the +northwest, and started on its career towards the southeast. As it +swept along, it sent its fierce winds crashing, and howling, and +roaring, through the old forests, uprooting, hurling to the ground, +and scattering everything that encountered its fury. Houses, barns, +haystacks, fences, trees, everything were prostrated, and to this day +its track is visible in the swath it mowed through the old woods, from +sixty to a hundred rods wide, plain and distinct still, for miles and +miles. It was not of that tornado, however, that I propose to speak. +Others had preceded it, and in the country all about Angelica were +what were called 'windfalls.' These windfalls were neither more nor +less than the old tracks of these whirlwinds and tornadoes, that had +swept down the forest trees. Fire had finished what the whirlwind +begun. In time, blackberry-bushes had grown up among the charred +trunks of the old pines, and other trees, bearing an immensity of +fruit; and it was a pleasant resort for young people, one of those +windfalls, when the blackberries were ripe and luscious. These +windfalls were great places, too, for rabbits, partridges, and 'such +small deer,' and it was no great thing to boast of, to kill a dozen or +two of the birds of an afternoon. + +"I went out with a friend one day to one of these windfalls, partly +after blackberries, and partly for partridges. We were both boys, +younger than fifteen, then, and each possessing, probably, quite as +much discretion as valor. We had separated a short distance from each +other, he to gather berries, and I, with a small fowling-piece, in +pursuit of game. Presently I saw my friend crashing through the brush +towards me, and also towards the fields, without his basket, and bare +headed, his hair standing straight up, putting in his very best jumps, +as if a thousand tigers were at his heels. Without heeding for a +moment my anxious inquiries as to what was the matter, he kept right +on, leaping the logs like a deer, looking neither to the right hand +nor the left, but with his coat tail sticking out on a dead level +behind, making a straight wake for home. Fear is said to be +contagious, and I believe in the doctrine that it is so. I caught it +bad; and without knowing what I was afraid of, I started, and if any +fourteen year old boy can make better time than I did on that +occasion, I should like to see him run. I kept possession of my +fowling-piece, and came out neck and neck with my friend. We scrambled +over the outer fence, and ran some dozen rods or more in the open +field, without either of us looking back. Then, however, we made the +astounding discovery, that there was nothing after us, and we both +paused to take breath, and, so far as I was concerned, to ascertain, +if possible, what had occasioned the race. I learned that my friend, +after I left him, had gone into the windfall, and was standing upon +the long trunk of a fallen tree, picking berries, when he saw, a few +rods from him towards the other end of the log on which he was +standing, a great black hand reach up and bend down a tall +blackberry-bush that was loaded with berries. This alarmed him +somewhat, for whoever the great black hand belonged to was concealed +by the thick bushes and their foliage from his view. Presently, two +great black hands were placed upon the log, and a huge black bear +clambered lazily up, and, for a second, stood in utter amazement, face +to face, and within fifty feet of my friend. Both broke at the same +instant, in affright; my friend in one direction, and the bear in the +other--my friend for the fields, and the bear for the deep woods--and +each as anxious as fear could make him to put a 'broad belt of +country' between them. My friend dropped his basket, as he leaped from +the log; it was no time to stop for a basket; a limb caught his hat +and pulled it off; he had not time to stop for his hat. The truth is, +he was in a hurry, and something more than a hat or a basket was +required to stay his progress towards home." + +"The Squire's story," said Cullen, as he knocked the ashes from his +pipe, and commenced shaving a fresh supply of tobacco with his +jack-knife, and depositing it in the palm of his left hand, "the +Squire's story reminds me of an adventer Crop and I met with, over +towards St. Regis Lake, a good many year ago; and I'll state the +circumstances of the case, as the Judge would say. It was an adventer +that don't happen often--leastwise, not in the same way. It made me +understand some things that I hadn't much idea of before. Let me tell +you, Judge, if you don't want a fight with an animal that's got long +claws and sharp teeth, don't come close upon him onawares, or may be +there'll be trouble. Give him time to think, and ten to one he'll take +to his heels. Most animals have more confidence in their legs than +they have in their teeth and claws, and they'll be very likely to use +'em, if you'll give 'em time to consider. But if you find a painter, +or a bear, takin' a nap in your path, and don't want to have a clinch +with him, wake him up before you get right onto him, or he'll be very +likely to think he's cornered, and them animals have onpleasant ways +with 'em when they're in that fix. + +"Wal, as I was sayin', Crop and I was over on St. Regis Lake, layin' +in a store of jerked venison, and trappin' martin, and mink, and +muskrat, and huntin' wolves, and sich other wild animals as came in +our way. The scalp of a wolf was good for fifteen dollars in them +days, and a backload of furs was worth a heap of money. We had a line +of martin traps leadin' back to the hills, and over into a valley +beyond, where the animal was plentier than they were on our side. In +passin' along this line, we had to round the end of a hill that +terminated in a sharp point of rocks. In a deep gully at its foot, a +stream went surgin' over rapids; the bank on the side towards the hill +was, may be, twenty feet high, and a right up and down ledge. Above +this ledge, and between it and the rocky point, was a narrow path, +only three or four feet wide, that turned short around the end of the +hill. On the left hand was the ledge, and at the bottom of it were +broken rocks, and on the right was a bluff point of rocks, that made +up the end of the hill, standin' straight up, may be, fifty feet. +Around this point, the path turned sharp almost as your elbow. + +"I was passin' quietly round this pint, lookin' down into the gully, +with Crop at my heels, when, on turnin' the short elbow, there I +stood, face to face, and within ten feet of a mighty big bear, that +was travellin' my way, as the Judge said. I had no idee that he was +around, and I'm quite sartain he didn't expect to meet a human in such +a place. Of course, we were naterally astonished at seein' one another +just then, and the meetin' didn't seem to be altogether agreeable to +either party. I ain't easily scared when I've time to prepare for a +scrimmage, yet, I'm free to say, I'd have given a couple of +wolf-scalps to've been on the other side of the gully, just at that +time. The bear seemed to expect me to begin the fight, for, after +gruntin' out in a very oncivil way his surprise at makin' my +acquaintance, he reared himself up on eend, and, with a fierce growl, +showed a set of ivory that wasn't pleasant to look at. I should have +been willin' myself, to've backed down, and apologized for my rudeness +in crossin' his path, for I was carryin' my rifle carelessly in my +left hand, and our meetin' was so sudden that I scarcely had time to +bring it to bear upon the kritter. I rather think I should have dodged +back, any how, but Crop seemed to think his master was in danger, and +that he was obligated, live or die, to go in. So, quick as a flash, he +rushed by me, and threw himself into the very face of the desperate +brute. Crop made a great mistake when he calculated he was a +match for that bear, for, with one cuff, the animal sent him +eend over eend down the bank, upon the broken rocks below. +But the little time that was so occupied saved me a deal of +trouble and danger, for it lasted just long enough for me to bring +my rifle into position, which I did about the quickest, you may bet +your life on that. I run my eye along the barrel, sighted him between +the eyes, and pulled. The bear keeled over onto his back with a jerk, +gave a spiteful kick with both hind feet, and he, too, went over the +ledge onto the sharp rocks below. I looked over, and saw Crop +staggerin' to his feet, and lookin' about in a bewildered way, as if +not quite understandin' how he came there. I went round a little way, +and got down into the gully where the animals were. I found the bear +stone dead, and Crop with two ribs broken and his shoulder out of +joint, whinin', and moanin' piteously with pain. I set his shoulder as +well as I could, and, after takin' the skin off the bear, I backed him +two miles to my shanty. It was a fortnight before he 'left the house,' +but he learned a little piece of wisdom by that cuff that sent him +down the bank, and got a little insight into the nater of an +angry bear." + +[Illustration: Crop made a great mistake when he calculated he was a +match for that bear, for, with one cuff, the animal sent him eend over +eend down the bank, upon the broken rocks below. But the little time +that was so occupied saved me a deal of trouble and danger, for it +lasted just long enough for me to bring my rifle into position, which +I did about the quickest, you may bet your life on that.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE CHASE ON THE ISLAND--THE CHASE IN THE LAKE--THE BEAR--GAMBLING FOR +GLORY--ANECDOTE OF NOAH AND THE GENTLEMAN WHO OFFERED TO OFFICIATE AS +PILOT ON BOARD THE ARK. + + +We had as yet had no use for our dogs since we left the Saranac. They +had travelled quietly with us as we moved from place to place, or +stayed inactive at the tents while we remained stationary. The game +was so abundant, that the real difficulty was to restrain ourselves +from destroying more than was needful for our use. We had indeed, +failed to live strictly up to the law we had imposed upon ourselves, +for we had at all times trout and venison beyond our present wants, +excusing ourselves on the ground that an excess of supply was always +preferable to a scant commissariat. More than one deer was +slaughtered, if the truth must be told, for no better reason than that +given by an Irishman for smashing a bald head he chanced to see at a +window: it presented a mark too tempting to be resisted the lake +from our camping ground. We stationed two of our boats between the +island and the shore nearest the main land, and the other on the +opposite side, and sent Cullen upon the island to beat for game. It +was scarcely five minutes, before the voices of the dogs broke upon +the stillness of the morning, in a simultaneous and fierce cry, as if +they had started the game suddenly, and fresh from his lair. Away they +went in full cry across the island, the deer sweeping around the upper +end, and returning on the opposite side, as if loth to take to the +water; but true to their instincts, the hounds followed, making the +hills and the old woods ring again with the music of their voices. +Presently, a noble buck broke cover, directly opposite to where the +Doctor and Smith's boat lay. As our object was rather to enjoy the +music of the chase, than to capture the deer, they shouted and +hallooed as he entered the water, and he wheeled back, and went +tearing in huge affright through the woods, up the island again. Still +the howling was upon his trail, and as he approached the upper end, he +again took to the water, to be frightened back by Martin and myself, +and with renewed energy he bounded across to a point stretching out +into the lake on the opposite side. Here Spalding and Wood were +stationed, and they, by their shouting, drove him back again to the +thickets. By this time, the poor animal began to appreciate the full +peril of his position, for turn where he would he found an enemy in +front, while the cry of his pursuers followed him like his destiny. +Thus far every effort to escape by taking to the water had failed, and +he seemed to think, as Martin expressed it, that "day was breaking." +He essayed it again on the land side, and was driven back by us, and +thus he coursed three times round the island, until, in desperation, +he plunged into the broad lake and struck boldly out for the opposite +shore, three quarters of a mile distant. Spalding shouted to us, and +when we rounded the headland, we saw that he and Wood had headed, and +were driving him towards a small island, of less than half an acre, +covered only with low bushes, half a mile down the lake. We did not +propose to harm him, but we intended to drive him upon that little +island, and by surrounding it, keep him there for a while by way of +experimenting upon his fears, or rather as Martin said, "to see what +he would do." As he approached the shore, he bounded upon the island, +and tossing his head from side to side, as if looking for a place of +concealment or escape. Finding none, he dashed across to the opposite +side and plunged into the lake. He was met by the Doctor and Smith, +and turned back. He rushed in another direction, across the island, to +be headed by the boat in which I was seated, and again in another +direction to be headed by Spalding. Thus met and driven back at every +turn, he at last stationed himself on a high knoll, near the centre of +the island, apparently expecting that the last struggle for life was +to be made there. We rested upon our oars, making no noise, and +watching his movements. The bushes were low, coming only up midside +to the animal. He watched us latently for half an hour, tossing his +head up and down, looking first at one, then at another, as if +calculating from which the attack upon his life was to come. At last, +as if overcome by weariness, or concluding that after all there was no +real danger, he laid quietly down. In answer to his confidence in the +harmlessness of our intentions, we rowed away back to the island where +we started him. We had not reached it, however, when we saw him enter +the water, and swim to the main land, and glad enough he seemed to be +when he had regained the protection of his native forests. + +We took our dogs from the island, and rowed to the broad channel of +the inlet which enters the lake on the left hand side, as you look to +the south. There are two of these inlets, which enter within a quarter +of a mile of each other, each of which comes down from little lakes, +or ponds, deeper in the wilderness. The one we entered flows in a +tortuous course through a natural meadow, stretching away on either +hand forty or fifty rods, to a dense forest of spruce, maple, and +beech, above which gigantic pines stand stately and tall in their +pride. Three miles from the lake, the hills approach each other, and +the little river comes plunging down through a gorge, over shelving +rocks, and around great boulders, as if mad with the obstructions +piled up in its way. + +As we approached these falls, Smith, who sat in the bow of the boat, +motioned to the boatman to lay upon his oars, and pointed to an object +partly concealed by some low bushes, forty or fifty rods in advance +of us. Remaining perfectly still a moment, we saw a bear step out upon +a boulder, look up and down the stream, and stretch his long nose out +over the water, as if looking for a good place to cross the rapids. +After scratching his ear with one of his hind feet, and his side with +the other, he turned and walked deliberately from our sight into the +forest. By this time, the boat with the dogs came in sight, and we +beckoned its occupants to come to us. One of the hounds only had ever +seen game of this kind. But Cullen declared that there was no game +that they would not follow when once fairly laid on. We wanted that +bear. It was the only one we had seen; indeed it was the only one I +had ever seen wild in the forest. We went to the spot where we last +saw him, and there in the sand, by the side of the boulder, was his +great track, almost like a human foot. Cullen called the attention of +the dogs to it, and hallooed them on. They took the scent cheerfully, +and with a united and fierce cry they dashed away in pursuit. They had +ran but a short distance, when they seemed to become stationary, and +deep, quick baying succeeded the lengthened and ringing sound of +their voices. + +"Treed, by Moses!" cried Cullen, as he dashed forward, the rest of us +following as fast as we could. + +"Not too fast," said Martin, "not too fast. There's no hurry; he won't +come down unless our noise frightens him. Let us go quietly; there's +plenty of time. Belcher has got his eye on him, and will stay by him +till we come." We travelled quietly, and as silently as we could for +near half a mile, and as we rounded a low but steep point of a hill, +there sat bruin, some twelve rods from us, in the forks of a great +birch tree, forty feet from the ground, looking down in calm dignity +upon the dogs that were baying and leaping up against the tree beneath +him. Did anybody ever notice what a meek, innocent look a bear has +when in repose? How hypocritically he leers upon everything about him, +as if butter would not melt in his mouth? Well, such was the look of +that bear, as he peered out first on one side, then on the other of +the great limbs between which he was sitting, secure, as he supposed, +from danger. But he was never more mistaken in his life. In watching +the dogs he had failed to discover us. We agreed that three should +fire upon him at once, reserving the fourth charge for whatever +contingency might happen. Smith, the Doctor, and Spalding sighted him +carefully, each with his rifle resting against the side of a tree, and +blazed away, their guns sounding almost together. It was pitiful the +scream of agony that bear sent up. It was almost human in its anguish. +It went ringing through the woods, dying away at last almost in a +human groan. After struggling and clasping his arms for a moment +around the great branch of the tree, his hold relaxed, he reeled from +side to side, and then fell heavily to the ground, with three balls +within an inch of each other, right through his vitals. He was larger +than a medium sized animal of his species, and in excellent case. + +The next thing in order was to transport him to our boats. This was +done by tying his feet together, then running a long pole, cut for the +purpose, between them, and lifting each end upon the shoulder of a +boatman, he was "strung up," as Allen expressed it, clear from the +ground. They stumbled along as best they could, over the rough ground, +and through the tangle brush, towards the river. It was a heavy load +considering the unevenness of the path, and the men were compelled to +halt every few rods to breathe. We got him safely to the landing at +last, and tumbling him into the bottom of one of the boats, started +down stream towards our shanty. A proud trio were Spalding, Smith, and +the Doctor that afternoon, returning with their game across the lake; +and they certainly had some occasion to congratulate themselves, for +this was the first wild, uncaged bear either of us had ever seen, and +him they had succeeded in capturing. + +We dined that afternoon on a roasted sirloin of bear, stewed jerked +venison, fried trout, and pork. I cannot say that I altogether +relished the roast, though some of our company took to it hugely. The +truth is, that with some of them venison and trout were beginning to +be somewhat stale dishes, they did not relish fat pork, and a change +therefore to roasted bear meat was peculiarly acceptable. + +"Gentlemen," said Smith to the Doctor and Spalding, as we sat after +our meal, enjoying our pipes, "what say you to selling out your +interest in that bear? If you're open for a bargain, I'll make you a +proposition." + +"Why," the Doctor replied, "there'll be nothing left but the skin, +and that will be of no special value except as a trophy." + +"Not exactly," resumed Smith. "I'll deal frankly with you, gentlemen. +There'll be a good many stories to be told about the killing of that +bear, and my object is to appropriate the glory of the achievement. +Now it wont be a matter to boast of, to say that we three fired into +one bear, and that none of the largest." + +"Oh! as to that," said the Doctor, "I intend to enlarge upon the +subject, exaggerating the size of the bear, describing the terrible +conflict I had with him, how I happened to save myself by remembering +my double-barrelled pistol; how I made the three ball holes in him, +while you and Spalding were running away, and how he bit me in the +arm, and almost hugged me to death, while I was trying to get at the +pistol. I shall shine in that bear story! Yes! yes! I shall shine!" + +"Hear the cormorant!" exclaimed Smith. "Hear him! And he'll do +precisely as he says he will, only a great deal worse. We must buy him +out, Spalding. We must purchase his silence for our own credit." + +"Well, gentlemen," replied Spalding, "settle it between you--you are +welcome to my share of the achievement. The scream of mortal agony +which that bear sent up when our three balls went crashing through its +body rings in my ears yet. I don't feel quite so proud of the shot as +I otherwise should have done. You are welcome to my share of the +glory." + +"Spoken like a liberal and free-hearted gentleman," said +Smith. "Well, Doctor, name the amount and nature of the blackmail you +intend to levy upon me. But have a conscience, man! have a +conscience!" + +"It will be making a great sacrifice on my part," the Doctor replied, +"but out of friendship for you, I'll make you a proposition. We'll +toss op a dollar, and the one that wins shall have the honour of +having killed the bear, and of telling the story in his own way, and +the others shall indorse it." + +"Agreed," said Smith, "but if you win, I shall have to borrow a +conscience of Spalding, or some other lawyer, for there'll be need of +a pretty elastic one." + +"Yours will answer, I think," drily remarked Spalding. + +"It appears to me, gentlemen," said I "that I've something to say +about the killing of that bear." + +"You," exclaimed the Doctor, "what had you to do with it, pray? There +stands your rifle, with the same ball in it that you placed there this +morning. You haven't discharged your rifle to-day." + +"Notwithstanding that," I replied, "I am entitled to a portion of the +glory, as I am chargeable with my share of the responsibility, of +killing the bear. I was one of the first who discovered him; I was +among the foremost in the pursuit; I was present, aiding and advising +in the manner of the killing; I had my weapon in my hand, and was +restrained from using it, only because you might fail to accomplish +what my reserved bullet would have made secure. Now, if this bear had +been human, and we were accused of killing him, I would be regarded +in the eye of the law as equally guilty with you. I appeal to Spalding +if this is not so?" + +"H----is right," replied Spalding, as he sent a column of smoke +wreathing upward from his lips. "Such is the law." + +"We must buy this fellow off, Smith," said the Doctor, "we must buy +him off. He's an old hunter, known as such, and he'll take to himself +all the glory; and what is worse, the world will believe him. He'll +spread himself beyond all bounds. He'll shine beyond endurance upon +the strength of this bear. We must buy him off. It is against all +conscience, but there is no help for it. We must buy him off. There's +an impudence in this claim which reminds me of an anecdote related +by Noah." + +"By Noah?" asked Smith, interrupting him, "Noah who?" + +"What ignorance there is in this world, even in these days of +educational enlightenment!" remarked the Doctor to Spalding and +myself. "Now, here is a decently informed gentleman, claiming to be a +Christian man, to have studied the Bible, and don't know who Noah was. +Such an instance of human ignorance in these times, is shocking." + +"Oh! I understand now," said Smith, "he was the gentleman who built +the ark. Well, go on with your anecdote." + +"Well, as I was saying," the Doctor resumed, "this claim of H----'s +to a share of the glory of slaying the bear, reminds me of an +anecdote related by Noah soon after the subsidence of the flood, and +it shows that impudence is, at least, not post-deluvian in its origin. +It seems that there were in the world before, as well as after the +flood, some very meddling impudent fellows, who were always +interfering with other people's business, claiming a share of other +people's credit, trying to make the world believe that they were great +things, and persuading everybody that whatever remarkable achievement +was accomplished, occurred through their counsel and advice, and as a +consequence, claiming a large share of all the honors going. + +"Well, after the rain had continued falling for a number of days, and +the valleys were all full of water, and the angry surges went roaring, +with the voice of ten thousand thunders, high up along the sides of +the hills, one of these pestilent fellows--deriding the miraculous +exhibition going on all around him--undertook, in his self-conceit, to +lead the people to a place of safety. So he selected a lofty peak that +shot up from a range of mountains, and commenced travelling up its +steep acclivities. But the flood followed him, roaring, and boiling, +and heaving, in its onward rush. Day by day, night by night, it crept +up, and up, higher and higher, until the self-confident leader, who +scoffed at the supernatural warning, had but a mighty small place +above the surge, whereon to shelter himself from the destruction that +surrounded him. About that time the Ark, with Noah and his people, all +safe and snug, came drifting that way. + +"'Halloo!' says the occupant of the rock, 'send us a boat, and take +us aboard. The freshet is getting pretty bad, and it is getting a +little damp, up here.' + +"'I can't do it,' says Noah, 'my craft is full of better people.' + +"'But,' says the applicant for admission into the Ark, 'let me in, and +I'll superintend the navigation. I'll man the wheel, and see that the +sails are all right, and we can pick up a deal of floating plunder as +we go along.' + +"'Can't do it,' says Noah, 'we've got a good steersman and safe +navigators on board already.' + +"'Well,' says the applicant, 'I'll work my passage as a deck hand, +asking only a small portion of such spoils as we may pick up. Come, +bring us aboard.' + +"'Can't do it,' says Noah, 'can't think of such a thing." + +"'Then,' said the persevering applicant for a passage in the Ark, +'I'll go along for nothing--giving the benefit of my counsel and +assistance free gratis; more than all that, I'll stand the liquor +all round.' + +"'No use in talking,' says Noah, 'you can't come on board of my craft, +on any terms. You'd corrupt my people, and set them by the ears in a +week. You can't have a berth on any conditions. Good-bye!' + +"'Then go to thunder with your old Ark,' indignantly responded the +occupant of the rock, 'I don't believe there's going to be much of a +shower, after all.' + +"In a day or two, Noah drifted that way again. The mountain peak had +disappeared beneath the waters, and the occupants were all gone." "I +give up my claim," said I, "Doctor, in consideration of your anecdote. +Take the glory of killing the bear. I see you're not disposed to give +me a place in your Ark. So toss up the dollar." + +The dollar was tossed up, and Smith won the glory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE DOCTOR AND HIS WIFE ON A FISHING EXCURSION--THE LAW OF THE +CASE--STRONG-MINDED WOMEN. + + +The right to the glory of having killed the bear being settled, the +Doctor, addressing himself to Spalding, remarked--"There was something +in H----'s appeal to you about the law of his case, that reminded me +of a little scene between my wife and myself, many years ago, when we +were both younger than we are now, and certainly had never anticipated +the dark years of trial, through which we were unexpectedly called +upon to pass. You know that I started in life, like Smith here, a +gentleman of fortune, calculating, like him, to live at my ease, +without troubling myself with the cares of any particular business, as +I passed along. Still I thought, or rather my father thought, that it +would be well enough, even for a gentleman, to have at least a nominal +title to some profession. So I studied the law, and was admitted as an +attorney and counsellor of the courts. Never intending to practise, I +did not become very profoundly learned in the profession; still I +became, to some extent, indoctrinated with its mysteries. I did not +like it; and when the necessity for some active employment came +looming up in the distance, I chose a different calling, and at +six-and-twenty, commenced the study of my present profession. This did +not occur until after I had been married some three years. I lived in +the country then, or rather, summered there, in a beautiful little +village in the interior of the State, in a pleasant, old-fashioned +house, which my father built, and which, as I was his only heir, I +supposed of course I owned. Some half a dozen miles from the village +was a fine trout stream, to which my wife and myself used occasionally +to go on a fishing excursion. On such occasions we went on horseback, +as the road was somewhat rough, and my wife was as much at home in the +saddle as I was. This, I repeat, was a good while ago, and we were +both a score of years younger than we are now. Well, I started out +alone one day to visit this trout stream, anticipating a good time +with its speckled, and usually greedy inhabitants. I say I was alone, +and yet there was with me, all the way, and all the time, one who can +talk, reason, philosophise, understand things as well as you or I; and +one, to all appearance, as much and distinctly human as you or I." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Smith, "we can't go that, Doctor. I can't +stand my quarter of that." + +"Foolish man!" continued the Doctor; "I say I was alone; let me +demonstrate my proposition. Blackstone says, and what he says every +lawyer will concede is the end of the law, and the beginning too, for +that matter, that when a woman becomes a wife, she loses her identity, +becomes nobody; that her husband absorbs her existence, as it were, as +he does her goods and chattels, in his own. Now, sir, do you +comprehend? My wife was with me, and she, being according to law +nobody, of course I was alone. You, sir, being a law abiding man, must +admit that my proposition is Q.E.D. + +"The doctrine of absorption, as I call it, is convenient. It promotes +harmony of action, by subjecting it to the control of a single will, +thus avoiding all embarrassment from a conflict of opinion between man +and wife. So, on my way to the trout stream (I say _my_ way, for +though my wife was on horseback by my side, yet she being, according +to the best legal authorities, nobody, you see I was alone), I thought +I would enlighten the good lady in regard to the true position, or +rather the no position at all, which she occupied. Our way lay for a +couple of miles along an old road, towards a clearing which had been +abandoned, and through which the stream flowed. The tall old trees +spread their long arms over us, clothed in the rich verdure of spring, +and the breeze, so fresh and fragrant, moaned, and sighed, and +whispered among the leaves. + +"'My dear,' said I, blandly, as we rode along, the birds singing +merrily among the branches above us, 'do you know that you +are NOBODY?' + +"'Nobody, Mr. W----,' (I was simply Mr. W----then; I had not become, +nor even dreamed that I should become a Doctor), 'Nobody, Mr. W----? +Did you say nobody?' + +"'Absolutely nobody,' said I. 'A perfect nonentity. You are less even +than a legal fiction.' + +"'Look you,' said she, as she applied the whip to her pony, in a way +that brought him, with a bound, across the road directly in front of +me (she rode like a belted knight), obstructing my progress, 'Look +you, Mr. W----,' and there was a red spot on her cheek, and her eye +sparkled like the sheen of a diamond, 'let us settle this matter now. +I can bear being of small consideration, occupying very little space +in the world, but to be stricken out of existence entirely, to possess +no legal identity, to be regarded as absolutely nobody, is a thing I +don't intend to stand--mark that, Mr. W----.' + +"'Keep cool, my dear,' said I; 'let us argue this matter.' I was calm, +for I knew the law was on my side; I had the books, and the courts, +and the statutes all in my favor. I was fortified, you see. + +"'Argue the matter!' she exclaimed; 'not till it is admitted that I'm +somebody. If I'm nobody, I can't be argued with, I can't reason, nor +talk. Now, Mr. W----, I've a tongue.' + +"'Gospel truth,' said I, 'whatever the authorities may say. But we +will admit, for the sake of the argument, that you are somebody; +Blackstone says'---- + +"'Out on Blackstone,' she exclaimed; 'what do I care for Blackstone, +whose bones have been mouldering in the grave for more than a hundred +years, for what I know. Don't talk to me about Blackstone.' + +"'But, my dear, you are _my_ wife, and Blackstone says'-- + +"'I don't care a fig what Blackstone says. If I _am_ your wife, I am +my mother's daughter, and my brother's sister, and Tommy's mother, and +there are four distinct individualities all centered in myself.' + +"'But,' said I again, 'Blackstone says'-- + +"'Confound that Blackstone,' she exclaimed; 'I do believe he has +driven the wits out of the man's head. Now, look you, Mr. W----, you +invited me to ride with you; you now say I am nobody. Very well. If +nobody leaves you, I suppose you won't be without company, for +somebody certainly left home with you this morning, and has rode with +you thus far. So, good-bye, Mr. W----; success to your fishing, Mr. +W----,' and she struck into a gallop towards home. + +"'Hallo!' said I, 'I give up the point. I take back all I said. _Culpa +mea_, my good wife. If Blackstone does say'-- + +"'Not a word more about Blackstone,' said she, shaking her whip, half +serious half playfully, at me; 'if I go with you, I go as somebody--a +legal entity.' + +"'Very well,' said I, 'we'll drop the argument.' + +"'Not the argument, but the fact, Mr. W----; and admit that Blackstone +was a goose, and that his law, like his logic, is all nonsense when +measured by the standard of common sense and practical fact. Admit +that a woman, when she becomes a wife does not become a mere +nonentity, or I leave you to journey alone.' + +"'Very well, my dear, let us see if we cannot compromise this matter. +Suppose we allow his philosophy to stand as a general truth, making +you an exception. We'll say that wives in general are nobody, but that +you shall be exempt from the general rule, and be considered always +hereafter, and as between ourselves, as somebody.' + +"You see the shrewdness of my proposition. Firstly, it saved +Blackstone; secondly, it saved _me_, let me down easy; and thirdly, it +appealed to the womanly vanity of my wife, and it took. + +"'Oh, well,' she said, as she brought her pony alongside of me, and we +jogged along cosily together, 'I see no objection to that. Other wives +can take care of themselves. But this compromise, as between _us_, Mr. +W----, must be a _finality_. No Nebraska traps, Mr. W----. No Kansas +bills hereafter. It must be a finality, mind.' + +"'Very well,' said I; and a robin that was building its nest on a limb +that hung over the road, paused in its labors, and burst into song, +and the burden of its lay seemed to be a compromise, which, in truth, +should be a FINALITY. + +"We were successful in our fishing, and we followed the old-fashioned +custom as to bait. We discarded the fly, using only the angle-worm. At +the foot of the ripples; under the old logs; where the water went +whirling under the cavernous banks; in the eddies; among the +driftwood; everywhere, we found trout--not large, none weighing over +six ounces, and few less than three. We caught my basket full in less +then two hours, and then rode home. It was a day of enjoyment to us, +you may be sure. + +"And now I appeal to you, in all seriousness, my friend," the Doctor +continued, addressing himself to Spalding, "if there is not something +due to the wives and mothers of the present generation? Is there not +some relaxation of the law necessary in vindication of the +civilization of the age, against the legal barbarisms still remaining +on the statute books, and adhered to by the common law, in regard to +wives and mothers? Is the current of progress to flow by them for +ever, bearing no reforms which shall affect them? Do not misunderstand +me. I am no advocate of the practices of the 'strong-minded women,' +who hold their conventions and public meetings, who unsex themselves +by mounting the forum, and, throwing off the retiring modesty of the +true woman, seek to secure notoriety at the price of popular contempt. +But there are evils which bear heavily, too heavily, upon the women +even of this country, and which, for the credit of the civilization of +the age, should be corrected. As calm-minded, philanthropic men, we, +the American people, should look into this subject, and, regardless of +jeer and scoff, do what justice, humanity, and the right demand of us, +in regard to some of the social and legal inequalities between the +sexes, pertaining to the married state." + +"It is one of the mysteries of our system of jurisprudence," replied +Spalding, "that while everything else is on the move, while progress +is written in letters of living light upon all other things, that +remains stationary--at least in a comparative sense. The world moves +on, civilization advances, science and the arts stride forward, but +the law stands still. A principle which may have been somewhat +changed, modified, bent, if you please, into an adaptation to the +exigencies of the present, and a fitness for the changed circumstances +of the times in which we live, is suddenly thrown back into its old +position by the exhumation of some 'decision' from the dust of ages, +made by some judge away back in the olden times, resurrected by the +research of some antiquarian lawyer, who loves to delve among the +rubbish of past generations. The learning, the wisdom, the philosophy +of the present is discarded, and the spirits of a lower civilization +are conjured from the darkness of vanished centuries, to settle rules +for the government of commerce, personal conduct, and the social +relations of the times in which we live. There seems to be something +paradoxical in the idea that the older the decision the better the +law--the more ancient the commentator, the profounder the wisdom of +his axioms. This might be well, were it true that civilization is +'progressing backwards,' the science of government retrograding. In +that case, it would of course be true, that the nearer you approach +the fountain, the purer the stream would be. But such is not the fact. +In all these attributes the world is on the advance, the science of +government progressive; and to make the wisdom of centuries ago +override the wisdom, or overshadow the light of the present, is a +paradox peculiar to our system of jurisprudence. There are lawyers and +judges, who enjoy a high reputation, whose fame rests upon their +profound research among the worm-eaten tomes of black-letter law, and +whose glory consists in their familiarity with the opinions and axioms +of men who lived and died so long ago that their very tombs are +forgotten. This class of lawyers and jurists hold in contempt all the +learning, the philosophy, the practical wisdom of the present +--rejecting everything that is not bearded and hoary with age. +Seated in their libraries, in the midst of their ponderous octavos, +their Roman and black-letter volumes, they reject with disdain the +commentators, the opinions of the jurists of the present century; and +brushing away the cobwebs and dust from the covers of their treasured +relics of bygone ages, they clasp them in a loving embrace close to +their hearts, exclaiming, 'These are my jewels.' Whatever has not the +sanction of ancient authority, is folly to them--worse than folly, for +it is innovation, and that is rank impiety. + +"I remember an anecdote of the celebrated William Wirt, related to +show how ready his mind was, how instant in activity, and how suddenly +it would flash with an eloquence, superior to that exhibited by the +most elaborate preparation. He was arguing a cause before the Supreme +Court of the United States, and laid down, as the basis of his +argument, a principle to which he desired to call the particular +attention of the judges. The opposing counsel interrupted him, +calling for the authority sustaining his principle,--'The book--the +book!' demanded his adversary. 'Sir, and your honors,' said Wirt, +straightening himself up to his full height, 'I am not bound to grope +my way among the ruins of antiquity, to stumble over obsolete +statutes, or delve in black letter law, in search of a principle +written in living letters upon the heart of every man.' If the idea +contained in this answer of Wirt, were more fully appreciated by our +modern jurists, it would be all the better for the country. + +"The common law is said to be the perfection of reason. This is +doubtless true, but it is the perfection of the reason of the present, +as well as of the past. Its principles are elastic, suiting themselves +to the civilization of all ages. They are progressive, keeping pace +with the progress of all times. They are not immutable, save in the +element of right, and they therefore shape themselves to all +circumstances, moving along with the onward march of trade, the +commerce, the social relations, and business of the people. The +learning of to-day, the wisdom, the philosophy of to-day is profounder +than that of any preceding century, and it is folly to overthrow it +by, or compel it to give place to, the learning, the wisdom, the +philosophy of departed and ruder ages. + +"In regard to your question, whether there is not some relaxation of +the law necessary, in vindication of the civilization of the age, +against the legal barbarisms remaining upon the statute book, and in +the common law in regard to our wives, I answer frankly that I do not +know about that. The law, as you read it in Blackstone, and as you +expounded it to your wife, on your fishing excursion, has been +somewhat modified. Wives have been given a _status_ by modern +legislation; and a woman, by becoming a wife, does not now cease to be +a legal entity. The law permits her to retain and control her property +irrespective of her husband, and she has, therefore, thus far, ceased +to be 'nobody.' But my private opinion is, that, as a general thing, +the women of this country get along very well, even under the pressure +of the 'barbarisms' of which you speak. They manage, one way and +another, to get the upper hand of their legal lords, law or no law. If +their existence, in the light of authority, is 'less than a legal +fiction,' they come to be regarded, or make themselves felt in the +world as practical facts. They are quite as apt to be at the top, as +at the bottom of the ladder, notwithstanding what 'Blackstone says' +about their legal position. There is, doubtless, a good deal of abuse +of authority on the part of husbands, but the women get their share of +the good that is going in the world, as a general thing. If the law is +against them, they manage to usurp full an even amount of privilege +and authority, and keep along about in line with the other sex. I +never knew an out and out controversy between a man and his wife, in +which the former did not get the worst of it in the end; and as to the +impositions, which as a melancholy truth are too frequent, they are +about as much on one side as the other. It is not to legal enactments +that we must look for the cure of unhappiness incident to the married +state, but to a reform in temper and habits of life. Besides, I do not +believe the wives of this country would accept of a strict legal +equality at all, if it were tendered them as a FINALITY. I believe +they would prefer remaining as they are; for by being so, they are +left to the resources of their own genius, to win by their tact, what +is not guaranteed by law. I know that there are a good many +crazy-headed people in pantaloons as well as petticoats, who go about +laboring for the 'emancipation of women,' as if the heavens and earth +were coming together. But those of them who wear skirts, generally +have delicate white hands, flowing curls, flashing black eyes, and the +gift of oratory--and a desire to exhibit them all; while those in +pantaloons have their hair combed smoothly back, as if preparing to be +swallowed by a boa-constrictor, wear white cravats, talk softly, and +show a good deal of the whites of their eyes, from a chronic habit of +looking up towards the moon and stars. As a general thing, these +latter are of no practical use in the world, and make as good a tail +to the kite of the 'strong-minded women' as anything else. But these +people represent a very small portion of the American women, and until +the masses demand 'emancipation,' I rather think that matters had +better be permitted to remain as they are. The women will take care of +themselves--no fear of that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER--A NEW LAKE--A MOOSE--HIS CAPTURE--A SUMPTUOUS +DINNER. + + +We started the next morning on an exploring voyage up the right-hand +stream, which enters this beautiful lake some half a mile west of the +one we had looked into the day before. On either hand, as we passed +along the narrow channel, was a natural meadow, covered with a +luxuriant growth of rank grass and weeds, conspicuous among which was +a beautiful flower, the like of which I have never seen anywhere else. +I am no botanist, and therefore cannot describe it in the language of +the florist, so that the learned in that beautiful science might +classify it. It resembles somewhat the wild lily in shape, growing +upon a tall, strong stem, almost like the stem of the flag. The flower +itself is double, and its deep crimson--the deepest almost of any +flower I have ever seen--shone conspicuously, as it waved gracefully +in the breeze above the surrounding vegetation. It has one defect, +however; it is without fragrance, I infer from the fact that its roots +spread far out every way, and reach down into the water beneath, that +it can hardly be transferred to the garden, or become civilized. It +would be a great acquisition to the collection of the florist if it +could, for I know of no flower that excels it in richness of color, +gracefulness of appearance, or in gorgeousness of beauty. + +We saw abundance of deer feeding quietly upon the narrow meadows, and +upon the lily pads on our way. We had no inclination to injure them, +and we let them feed on. Some of them were hugely astonished, however, +at our presence, and dashed away, whistling and snorting, into the +forest. Two miles from the lake, we came to a rocky barrier, down +which the stream, came rushing and roaring, for fifty or sixty rods, +in a descent of perhaps sixty feet in all. Around these rapids the +boats were carried, and we found, above them, the water deep and +sluggish, flowing through a dense forest, the tall trees on the banks +stretching their leafy arms across the narrow channel, forming above +it an arch delightfully cool, through which the sunlight could +scarcely penetrate. We followed this channel a long way, when we came +to a little lake or pond, four or five miles in circumference. It was +a perfect gem, laying there all alone, so calm, so lovely in its +solitude, with no sign of civilization around it, no sound of +civilization startling its echoes from their sleep of ages, no human +voice having perhaps ever been heard upon its shore since the red man +departed from the hunting-ground of his fathers. The shores all around +it were bold and rocky, save on the western side, where a broad sandy +beach, of a quarter of a mile in extent, lay between the water and the +shadow of the deep forest beyond. A solitary island of half a dozen +acres, covered with majestic pines and tall, straight spruce trees, +rises near the centre of the lake, adding a new charm to its quiet +beauty. The waters of this little lake are clearer and more +transparent than those of any other we had seen; we could see the +white shells on its sandy bottom, fifteen feet below the surface. This +peculiarity induced us to believe that we were above the stratum of +iron ore which seems to underlay most of this wild region, coloring, +while it does not render impure, the waters of most of these lakes and +rivers. I have frequently, in my wanderings in these northern wilds, +stumbled upon outcropping orebeds, which, were they nearer market, or +more accessible to the energy and enterprise of the American people, +would be capable of building up gigantic fortunes, but they are all +valueless here, and probably will continue so for generations to come. + +We saw the fresh tracks of a moose on the sandy beach, tracks that had +been made that morning, and we concluded to spend the day here, in the +hope of securing one of these gigantic deer. We rowed to the island, +intending to encamp there. We entered a little bay, of half an acre, +the points forming it coming within a few yards of each other, and the +branches of the trees intertwining their long arms lovingly above. As +we landed, our dogs began nosing and dashing about, as if suddenly +roused into excitement by the hot scent of some animal that had been +disturbed by our coming. They broke into a simultaneous cry, and +plunged like mad into the thicket. We pushed our boat back towards the +open water, when we heard the plunge of some animal into the lake, on +the other side of the island. Martin, who was in the leading boat with +me, by a few vigorous pulls at the oar, rounded the point between us +and the spot where we had heard the plunge, and there, not ten rods +from the shore, making for the mainland, was the game which, of all +others, we most desired to see. + +"A moose! by Moses!" exclaimed Martin, in huge excitement. "Hurrah! +hurrah! A moose! he's ours! he can't escape!" and away he dashed in +pursuit. The other boats now hove in sight, and a loud hurrah! went up +from each, when they saw the nature of the game that had been started. +There was no difficulty in overtaking the animal, desperate as were +his efforts to escape. We shot past him, and turned him back in a +direction towards the island again, and I picked up my rifle to settle +the matter. + +"Don't shoot him," said Martin; "don't shoot him yet; he can't get +away, and if you kill him, he'll sink; and if he don't, we can't get +him into the boat. Let us drive him back to the island." The other +boats were, by this time, up with us, every man in a wild state of +excitement, eager to be first in at the death. We had headed the +animal towards the island, with our three boats so arranged, as that +he could swim in no other direction, without running one of them down. +The dogs had started a deer that had taken to the water, on the other +side of the island. + +"Look here!" said I; "gentlemen, this game is mine. I claim him by +right of discovery, and my right must not be interfered with." + +"Very well," the Doctor answered, "we'll only take a hand in his +capture if he's likely to escape. So, go ahead." + +As we came within a few yards of the shore, and we could see that the +animal's hoofs touched the bottom, I aimed carefully at his head, and +fired. He made one desperate lunge forward, and turned over on his +side, dying with scarcely a straggle, the ball having passed directly +through his brain. + +This was the first and only live moose I have ever seen. He was not a +large one, being, probably, a three-year-old, but well-grown. We +should have called him a monster, had we not, before that time, seen +in various museums the stuffed skins of those a quarter or a third +larger. He would have weighed, as shot, probably between five and six +hundred pounds. He had made this solitary island his home, as we +ascertained by his spoor and other signs that we found upon subsequent +explorations. We saw his bed but a few rods from where we landed, and +from which our dogs had aroused him, though they, in their excitement, +had overrun his scent, and dashed off after a deer. + +We had now accomplished one of the objects of our journey in this +direction, and as the law we had imposed upon ourselves had reached +its limits, prohibiting our shooting another moose that day, even +should an opportunity occur, we concluded to return to our shanty, on +the lake below. We, therefore, dressed our moose, and taking with us +the skin and hind quarters, started down stream to a late dinner on +Little Tupper's Lake. Indeed, there was a sort of necessity for our +doing so. We had left our provisions there, calculating to return in +the afternoon, not having taken with us even pepper or salt, wherewith +to season the food which, upon constraint, we might cook during our +absence. A few crackers, in the pockets of each, was all, in the +provision line, that we had provided ourselves with, and though, when +we saw the moose-tracks in the sand, we had concluded to rough it, for +a single night, for the chance of securing such rare game, yet having +secured it, that part of our mission was accomplished, and we turned +towards home. + +On our return to the lake, Spalding and myself rowed across to the +mouth of a cold brook, to procure a supply of fresh trout, upon which, +with our moose and bear-meat, to dine. This we soon accomplished, and +on our arrival home, we found huge pieces of moose and bear roasting +before a blazing fire. The meat was supported upon long sticks, one +end of which was sharpened, and the meat spitted upon it, and the +other thrust into the ground, in a slanting direction, so as to bring +the roasting pieces into a proper position before the fire. The meat +was removed occasionally, and turned, until the roasting process was +completed, and then served up on clean birch bark, just peeled from +the trees, in the place of platters. We had tin plates, knives, and +forks, with us, also a tea-kettle, tin cups, and tea of the choicest +quality, sugar, pepper, salt, and pork. The man who cannot make a meal +where the viands present are moose-meat, bear, jerked venison, fresh +trout, and pork, and for drink the best of tea and the purest and +coldest spring water, had better keep out of the Rackett woods. + +The people, whoever they were, who prepared the camp in which we were +domiciled, had an eye to convenience and comfort. The shanty was built +of logs, on three sides, the crevices between which were filled with +moss, and the sloping roof neatly covered with bark, in layers, like +an old-fashioned roof, covered with split shingles. The front was +open, and directly before it was a rough fire-place, with jams, made +of small boulders, laid up with clay, regularly-fashioned, as if +intended for a kitchen. This fire-place was three or four feet high, +and served an excellent purpose, with reference to our cookery, and +the lighting of our shanty at night. It served, also, to conduct the +smoke upward, and prevented it from being blown into our faces, as we +sat in front, at once, of our sleeping-place and our camp-fire. The +only things that reminded us of civilization, aside from what we +carried with us, were the innumerable crickets that, through all the +night, kept up their chirruping in the crevices of this rude +fireplace. There was something old-fashioned and sociable in their +song. These, with the shrill notes of the little peepers along the +shore, were old sounds to us, familiar voices, and they fell +pleasantly on the ear. We had finished our meal, and taken to our +pipes in the evening, as the sun went down among the old forests, away +off in the west. The greyness of twilight came stealing over the +water, and grew into darkness in the beautiful valley where that lake +lay sleeping. The stars stole out silently, and set their watch in the +sky, and calmness and repose rested upon everything around us. + +"I remember," said Smith, "the first year that I was in college, of +hearing two learned professors disputing about what sort of animal it +was that made the piping noise we hear in the marshy places, and +stagnant pools, in the spring time, usually known as peepers. One +insisted that it was a newt, or small lizard; and I remember that he +went to his library, and brought a volume which proved his theory to +be correct. The other denied the authority of the author, and insisted +that the peeper was a frog. The discussion excited my curiosity, and I +made up my mind to satisfy myself on the subject, if possible, by +occular demonstration. There was a small marshy place, half a mile, or +so, from the college grounds, from which I had heard, in my walks, the +music of the peepers coming up every evening, in a loud and joyous +chorus. I watched by it a number of evenings, and though there were a +plenty of peepers, piping merrily enough, yet I could not get sight of +one to save me. I began to think it was a myth, the viewless spirit of +the bog, that made all the noises about which the learned professors +had been disputing. At last, however, I got sight of a peeper, caught +him in the act, and saw that it was, in fact, a little frog, nothing +more, nothing less. He was not more than three feet from me, and +though, when I moved, he hid himself in the muddy water, yet I managed +to capture and take him home alive. He was a little animal, certainly, +not larger than a half-dollar piece, and it was marvellous how a thing +so small could make such a loud and piercing noise. I took him to my +room, and placed him in a water-tight box, in which I fashioned an +artificial bog, in the hope that he would confirm my testimony by his +piping. The second evening, as I sat in my room, poring over the +recitations of the morrow, he lifted up his voice, loud, shrill, and +clear, as when singing in his native marsh. I hurried, in triumph, to +the learned disputants about his identity, and in their presence, he +furnished unanswerable evidence that the peeper was a frog, and not a +newt. I was complimented by both the learned pundits, as though I had +added a great item to the aggregate of human knowledge." + +"You _did_ do a great thing, my friend," said Spalding, "you solved a +mystery about which men, wise in the learning of the books, had +perhaps been disputing for centuries. What are the peepers? asked the +naturalist, who listened to their piping notes from the marshy places +in the spring time. It was a matter of small practical importance, +what they were. Still it was a question which MIND wanted to have +solved. Its solution would do no great amount of good to the world. +But then it was a mystery which it was the business of mind to lay +bare; and what more has science done in tracing the history and +progress of this earth of ours, as written upon the rocks, among which +geology has been so long delving? 'What are the peepers?' asked the +naturalist. 'They are newts, little lizards,' answers a learned +pandit. 'They are spirits of the bog, myths, that hold their carnival +in the early grass of the marshy pools,' says the theorist and poet, +who _believes_ in the idealities of a poetic fancy. 'They are frogs,' +says a third, who is ready to chop any amount of logic in favor of his +system of frogology, and hereupon columns of argument, and pages of +learned discussion, have been held over the identity of the jolly +peepers of the spring-time. + +"But you discarded logic, threw away argument, and came down to the +sure demonstrations of sober fact. You watched by the marshy pool, and +caught the 'peeper' in the act, took him '_in flagrante, delicto_,' as +the lawyers say, and thus ended the theoretical discussion about the +'peepers.' You placed another fixed fact upon the page of +natural history. + +"And how often has the wisdom of the schools, the philosophy of the +profoundest theorists, been overthrown by the simple demonstrations of +practical facts? For a thousand years the world was in pursuit of the +giant power that lay hidden in heated vapor, the steam that came +floating up from boiling water. That power eluded the grasp and +baffled the research of human genius, which was looking so earnestly +after it, until ingenuity gave it up, and philosophy pronounced it a +delusion. Not far from the beginning of the present century, practical +experiment began to develop the mysterious power of steam. Rudely and +imperfectly harnessed, at first, it still made the great wheel +revolve, and men talked about making it a great motor for mechanical +purposes. Philosophy volunteered its demonstrations of the absolute +impossibility of such a thing. Still human ingenuity felt its way +carefully onward, until the great fact was developed, that steam was +in truth capable of moving machinery, was endowed almost with +vitality, and could be made to throw the shuttle and spin. Ingenious +men hinted that it might be made to propel water-craft in the place of +wind and sails, and thus be harnessed into the service of commerce, as +it had already been into that of manufactures. Here again philosophy +interposed its axioms, and declared the scheme among the wild vagaries +of a distempered fancy. But years rolled on, and the tall ship that +swung out upon the broad ocean, and moved forward when the air was +still and calmness was on the face of the deep, forward in the eye of +the wind--forward in the teeth of the storm, that stopped not for +billow or blast, gave the lie to philosophy, and scattered the theory +of the wise like chaff. + +"The lightning, that fierce spirit of the storm, that darted down on +its mission of destruction from the black cloud floating in the sky, +became a thing of interest to the mechanical world, and the question +was asked, 'Why cannot the lightning be harnessed into the service of +man, and be made utilitarian?' Philosophy sneered at the wild +delusion, but see how that same subtle and mysterious agency has been +conquered? Note how truthfully it carries every word intrusted to its +charge, along thousands of miles of the telegraph wire, with a speed, +in comparison with which, sound is a laggard, a speed that annihilates +alike space and time. Men looked into a mirror, and seeing their own +counterpart, a _fac-simile_ of themselves reflected there, began to +ask, 'Why may not that shadow be fixed; fastened in some way, to +remain upon the polished surface that gives it back, even after the +original may be mouldering in the grave?' Here again philosophy laid +its finger upon its nose, and winked facetiously, as if it had found a +new subject for ridicule, in the stupendous folly of such an inquiry. +But from that simple question, rose up the Daguerreian art; an art +which fixes upon metallic plates, upon paper, the shadow of a man, of +palace and cottage, of mountain and field, giving thus a picture ten +thousand times truer to nature than the pencil of the cunningest +artist. These and a thousand other mighty triumphs of human ingenuity +have fought their way onward to their present position, against the +fogyism of philosophy, the inertia of the schoolmen. They have been +the sequence of cold, resistless demonstrations of experiment and +fact. The world would stand still but for the spirit of research for +the practical; for experimental, and not theoretical knowledge, that +is abroad. It is this spirit that moves the world in all its present +matchless career of progress, and distinguishes our era above all +others of the world's existence. You may be thankful, my friend, that +you have been able to add another fixed fact to the stock of human +knowledge, even though it be only that the 'peeper' is a frog, and not +a 'newt' or a 'myth.' + +"But who would suppose that such a tiny little frogling could make +such a loud, shrill, and ear-piercing sound? Who would think that a +million of such puny things, could make the air of a summer evening so +full of the music of their songs? I remember how, in my boyhood, I +listened to their voices, which came up loudest, shrillest, merriest, +when twilight was spreading its grey mantle over the earth; while the +song of the birds was hushing into silence, and the coming darkness +was lulling the things of the day into repose; Oh! how merrily they +sang along the little brooklet that took its rise in a spring in the +meadow, and wended its way among the young grass, just springing into +verdure, to the beautiful lake beyond. Their song is in my ear now, +and that meadow, that beautiful lake, the tall hills on the summits of +which the departing sunlight lingered, the tall maples that clustered +in their conelike beauty around that gushing fountain, the clustered +plum trees, the giant oak, spared by the woodman's axe when the old +forest was swept away, the fields, the 'Gulf' in the hill-side, and +the beautiful creek, that came cascading down the shelving rocks, and +leaping over precipices in which the speckled trout sported: all these +are before me now--a vision of loveliness, all the more dear because +stamped upon the memory when life was young. Oh! Time! Time! the +wrecks that lie scattered in thy pathway! That little brooklet, and +the peepers, the fountain, the maples, and the meadow, are all gone. +The brave old oak was riven by the lightning. The fields have crept up +to the very summit of the hills, and even the stream that came down +from the mountain has vanished away, save when the rains, or the +melting snows send it in a freshet over the rocks where, when I was a +boy, it was cascading always. That beautiful meadow, too, is gone, and +the streets of a modern village, with blocks of houses, and stores, +and shops, occupy the place where I swung my first scythe. The old +log-house vanished years and years ago. A steamboat ploughs its way +through that beautiful lake, and the things of my boyhood are but +visions of memory, called up from the long, long past. Not one +landmark of the olden time remains. Oh! Time! Time!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE CRICKET IN THE WALL--THE MINISTER'S ILLUSTRATION--OLD MEMORIES. + + +We spent the following day in drifting quietly around the lake, +floating lazily in the little bays, under the shadow of the tall +trees, and lounging upon small islands, gathering the low-bush +whortleberries which grew in abundance upon them. We filled our tin +pails with this delicious fruit for a dessert for our evening meal. On +one of these islands we found indications of its being inhabited by +wood rabbits, and we sent Cullen to the shanty for the dogs to course +them, not however with any intention of capturing them, but to enjoy +the music of the chase, and hear the voices of the hounds echoing over +the water. We landed them upon the island, and began beating for the +game. The hounds understanding that their business was the pursuit of +deer, and having hunted the island over thoroughly, came back to us, +and sat quietly down upon their haunches, as much as to say there was +nothing there worth looking after. But we had seen one of the little +animals that had been roused from its bed by the dogs, and we called +their special attention to the fact by leading them to the spot, and +bidding them to "hunt him up." They understood our meaning, and +started on the trail, with a loud and cheerful cry. For half an hour, +they coursed him round and round the island, making the lake vocal +with their merry music. We might have shot the game they were pursuing +fifty times, but we had no design against its life. The little fellow +did not seem to be greatly alarmed, for we noted him often, when by +doubling he had temporarily thrown off the dogs, squat himself down, +and throw his long ears back in the direction of the sound that had +been pursuing him; and when the dogs straightened upon his trail, and +approached where he sat, he would bound nimbly away among the thick +bushes to double on them again. + +We called off the dogs and passed on to float along under the shadow +of the forest trees and the hills, and take an occasional trout by way +of experiment among the broken rocks along the shore. We had +dispatched Cullen to the shanty to prepare dinner for us by six +o'clock, at which hour we were to be at home. Cullen had promised, to +use his own expression, "to spread himself" in the preparation of this +meal, and he kept his promise. On our return, we found a sirloin of +moose roasted to a turn, a stake of bear-meat broiled on the coals, a +stew of jerked venison, and as pleasant a dish of fried trout and pork +as an epicure could desire. Our appetites were keen, and we did ample +justice to his cookery. This was one of the most delightful evenings +that I have ever spent in the northern woods. There was such a calm +resting upon all things, such an impress of repose upon forest and +lake, such a cheerful quiet and serenity all around us, that one could +scarcely refrain from rejoicing aloud in the beauty and the glory of +the hour. As the sun sank to his rest behind the western hills, and +the twilight began to gather in the forest and over the lake, the moon +rose over the eastern high lands, walking with a queenly step up into +the sky, casting a long line of brilliant light across the waters, +showing the shadows of the mountains in bold outline in the depths +below, and paling the stars by her brightness above. We all felt that +we were recruiting in strength so rapidly in these mountain regions, +where the air was so bracing and pure, under the influence of +exercise, simple diet, natural sleep, and the absence of the labors +and cares of business, that we were contented, notwithstanding the +monotony that began to mark our everyday proceedings. + +"I have been listening," said Spalding, as we sat upon the rude +benches in front of our camp-fire, indulging in our usual season of +smoking after our meals, "to the song of the crickets in those rude +jams, and they call up sad, yet pleasant memories from the long past; +of the old log house, the quiet fire-place, the crane in the jam, the +great logs blazing upon the hearth of a cold winter evening, the house +dog sleeping quietly in the corner, and the cat nestled confidingly +between his feet. Oh! the days of old! the days of old! These crickets +call back with these memories the circle that gathered around the +hearth of my home, when I was young. Father, mother, brothers, +sisters, playmates, and friends. How quietly some of them grew old and +ripe, and then dropped into the grave. How quietly others stole away +in their youth to the home of the dead, and how the rest have drifted +away on the currents of life and are lost to me in the mists and +shadows of time. Even the home and the hearth are gone; they + + 'Battled with time and slow decay,' + +until at last they were wiped out from the things that are. The song +of the peepers is a pleasant memory, and comes welling up with a +thousand cherished recollections of our vanished youth; but the song +of the cricket that made its home in the jams of the great stone +fire-place is pleasanter, and the memories that come floating back +with his remembered lay are pleasanter still. He was always there. He +was not silent, like the out-door insect, through the spring month and +the cold of winter, piping only in sadness when the still autumnal +evenings close in their brightness and beauty over the earth; but he +sang always, and his chirrup was heard at all seasons. In the winter +the fire on the hearth warmed him; in the summer he had a cool resting +place, and he was cheerful and merry through all the long year. And +this reminds me of an anecdote of a venerable minister, who passed +years ago to his rest. He was a Scotchman, and when preaching to his +own congregation at Salem, in Washington comity, he indulged in broad +Scotch, which to those who were accustomed to it was exceedingly +pleasant. I was a boy then, and was returning with my father from a +visit to Vermont. We stopped over the Sabbath at Salem, and attended +worship in the neat little church of that pleasant village. There were +no railroads in those days. The iron horse had not yet made his +advent, and the scream of the steam whistle had never startled the +echoes that dwell among the gorges of the Green Mountain State. Oh! +Progress! Progress! I have travelled that same route often since, more +than once within the year, and I flew over in an hour what was the +work of all that cold winter day that brought us at night to that neat +little village of Salem. I thought, as I dashed with a rush over the +road I once travelled so leisurely, how change was written upon +everything; how time and progress had obliterated all the old +landmarks, leaving scarcely anything around which memory could cling. +Well! well! it is so everywhere. All over the world, change, +improvement, progress are the words. The venerable minister, for his +locks were grey, and time had ploughed deep furrows down his cheeks, +and draws palpable lines across his brow, was, as my memory paints +him, the personification of earnestness, sincerity and truth. The text +and the drift of the sermon I have forgotten, save the little fragment +that fixed itself in my memory by the singularity of the figure by +which he illustrated his meaning. He was speaking of the operation of +the Holy Spirit upon the human heart, and how gently it won men from +their sinful ways. He said, 'It was not boisterous, like the rush of +the tempest; it was not fierce, like the lightning; it was not loud, +like the thunder; but it was a still sma' voice, like a wee cricket in +the wa's.' I regard the cricket that chirruped in the wall as an +institution. One of the past to be sure, swept away by the current of +progress, whose course is onward always; over everything, obliterating +everything, hurling the things of today into history, or burying them +in eternal oblivion. In this country there is nothing fixed, nothing +stationary, and never has been since the first white man swung his axe +against the outside forest tree; since the first green field was +opened up to the sunlight from the deep shadows of the old forests +that had stood there, grand, solemn, and boundless since this +world was first thrown from the hand of God. There will be nothing +fixed for centuries to come. The tide of progress will sweep onward in +the future as it has done in the past. Onward is the great watchword +of America, and American institutions; onward and onward, over the +ancient forests; onward, over the log-houses that stood in the van of +civilization; over the great fire-places; over the cricket in the +wall; over the old house dog that slept in the corner; over the loved +faces that clustered around the blazing hearth in the days of our +childhood; over everything primitive, everything, my friends, that you +and I loved, when we were little children, and that comes drifting +along down on the current of memory--bright visions of the returnless +past. Ah, well! it is best that it should be so. It is best that the +world should move on; that there should be no pause, no halting in the +onward march. What are we that the earth should stand still at our +bidding, or pause to contemplate our tears? Dust to dust is the great +law, but so long as a phoenix rises from the ashes of decay, what +right have we to murmur? Time may desolate and destroy, but man can +build up and beautify. True, his works perish as he perishes, but new +works and new men are rising forever to fill, and more than fill, the +vacancies and desolations of the past. Go ahead then, world! Sweep +along, Progress! Mow away, Time! Tear down temple and stronghold; +sweep away the marble palace and log-house! sweep away infancy and +youth, manhood and old age; wipe out old memories, and pass the sponge +over cherished recollections. The energy and the ingenuity of man are +an over-match even for time. From the ruins of the past, from the +desolations of decay, new structures will rise, and a new harvest, +more abundant than the old, will spring up from the stubble over which +Time's sickle has passed. Recuperation is a law stronger than decay, +and it is written all over the face of the earth." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE ACCIDENTS OF LIFE--"SOME MEN ACHIEVE GREATNESS, AND SOME HAVE +GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM"--A SLIDE--RATTLESNAKES AT THE TOP AND AN +ICY POOL AT THE BOTTOM--A FANCIFUL THEORY. + + +While we sat thus conversing, our boatmen went down along the beach, +and around a little point that ran out into the lake, to bathe. They +were jolly, but uncultivated men, given to rudeness and profanity of +speech when out of our immediate presence, and by themselves, and we +heard from them, while they were splashing and struggling in the +water, expressions somewhat inelegant as well as profane. + +"I have often thought," said Spalding, as we listened to the rude and +sometimes profane speech of our men, "how vast the influence which +circumstances or accident, over which men have no control, have upon +their conduct and destiny in this world, if not in the next. The poet +has well said, + + 'Full many a gem of purest ray serene + The dark unfathomed caves of Ocean bear; + And many a flower is born to blush unseen, + And waste its sweetness on the desert air.' + +"These rude men are but testifying to the great truth, that man is the +creature, in a greater or less degree, of circumstances; that he is +great or small, polished or rude, wise or simple, according to the +accident of his birth, or the surroundings in the midst of which his +journey of life lays. True, there _are_ intellects that will work +themselves into position, men who will hew their way upward in spite +of the difficulties which beset them, as there are others who will +plunge down to degradation and dishonor, in defiance of tender +rearing, of education, of association, and all the allurements to an +upward career that can be presented to the human understanding. But +these are so rare, that they may be properly regarded as exceptions to +the general rule; so rare, indeed, as to prove its truth. You and I +can look around us, and from among our acquaintances select many men +and women, whose genius and solid understanding, and whose virtues +too, have remained undeveloped, and probably will do so till they die, +from lack of opportunity for their exercise. Accident seems to have +stricken them from their legitimate sphere. Circumstances, for which +they were not responsible, and over which they could exercise no +control, have barred them out from their seeming true position in the +world, and the genius which was intended for the daylight and the +eagle's flight towards the sun, is left to skim in darkness along the +ground, like the course of the mousing owl. We have all seen another +thing, which baffles our philosophy, while it proves the truth of the +theory of which I am speaking. We have seen men, and see them every +day, who, from no quality of heart or mind seem fitted to rise in the +world, occupying commanding positions to which accident has lifted +them; whose genius commands no admiration, whose virtues are of a +doubtful character, and who possess no one quality which entitles them +to our respect or the respect of the world. As the former are the +victims of circumstance, these latter are its creatures. Both are the +sport of fortune; the one class its victims, and the other its +favorites. How is all this to be accounted for? And where rests the +responsibility of failure, and where the credit of success? Are there +accidents floating about among the paths marked out on the chart of +life by the Deity, which jostle his creatures from the destiny +intended for them? Or were men thrown loose upon the currents of life, +to take their chances of good and evil, to be virtuous or vile, +according to the influences among which they were floating, to be +fortunate or otherwise, as the means of advancing themselves drifted +within their reach? If so, where rests the responsibility, I ask +again, of failure, and where the credit of success? Children are born +into the world under strangely different influences. One first sees +the light in the haunts of vice and crime, amidst the corruptions +which fester away down in the depths of a great city. The influences +which surround it are only and always evil. They are such in infancy, +in childhood, in youth, and in manhood. Another is cradled under the +influence of intelligences, piety, virtue; having around it always the +safeguards of refined and Christian civilization. What is the +difference in the degree of responsibility attached to the future of +these antipode beginnings? Can you tell me where, and how these wide, +terribly wide distinctions are to be reconciled? When and where the +career of these germs of being, starting from points so wide asunder, +are to meet, and how the balances of good and evil, of suffering and +enjoyment of sinning and retribution, are to be adjusted at last? I +have been asking myself, too, while listening to the speech of these +men, so thoughtlessly uttered, where these profane epithets, these +impious expressions, are to rest at last? Who can tell whether they do +not go jarring through the universe, marring the music of the spheres, +throwing discord into the anthems of the morning stars when they sing +together, a wail among the glad voices of the sons of God, when they +shout for joy? In this world, and to the dulness of human perception, +when the sound of the impious words has died away, or a smile comes +back to the face clouded by the angry thought, the effect seems to +have ceased; but it may not be so. The word or the thought may be +wandering for ages, vibrating still, away off among the outer +creations of God. The angel that bore them at the beginning from the +lips or the heart, may be flying still, and generations and centuries +may have passed, before his journeying with them shall have ceased. + +"It is a fanciful idea, that whatever we say or think, is immortal; +that every word we utter goes ringing through the universe forever; +that every thought of the heart becomes a creation, a thing of +vitality in some shape, starting forward among the things of some sort +of life, never to die! I have sometimes, in my dreamy hours, +speculated upon the truth of such a theory, and reasoned with myself +in favor of its reality. All I can say in its favor, however, is that +I cannot disprove it. It may be true, or it may not. There are other +mysteries quite as incomprehensible, the results of which we can see, +without being able to penetrate the darkness in which they dwell. But +assuming its truth, and appreciating the consequences which would +follow, we should rule the tongue with a sterner sway, and guard the +heart with a more watchful care than is our wont. Think of the obscene +word becoming a living entity, the profane oath a thing of life; the +filthy or impure thought, assuming form and vitality, all starting +forward to exist forever among the creations of infinite purity. Who +would own one of these ogres in comparison with the beautiful things +of God? Who would say of the obscene word, the profane oath, or the +filthy or impious thought, 'this is mine. I made it. I am the author +of its being--its creator!' And yet it may be so. If it is, there are +few of us who have not thrown into life much, very much to mar the +harmonies of nature, to throw discord among the spheres." + +"Your statement," remarked Smith, "that accident has much to do with +making or marring the fortunes of men, is doubtless true. Men are +destroyed by accident, and their lives are sometimes saved by it. And +if you'll put away metaphysics, come out of the cloud in which you +have hid yourself in your dreamy speculations, I will furnish you with +a case in point, showing that a man may get into a very unpleasant +predicament, where he runs a great risk and gets some hard knocks, and +yet be able to thank God for it, in perfect earnestness of spirit. A +case of the kind came under my own observation, and while there was +not much philosophy, or abstract speculation about it, there was a +great deal of hard practical fact. It happened when I was a boy, at +the old homestead, in the valley that stretches to the southwest from +the head of Crooked Lake. That valley is hemmed in by high and steep +hills, and at the tune of which I speak, was much more beautiful in my +view than it is now. There was no village there then, and the farms +which stretched from hill to hill were greatly less valuable than they +are now; but the woods and pastures, and meadows, lay exactly in the +right places, and had among them partridges, and squirrels, and +pigeons, and cattle, and sheep enough to make things pleasant; +besides, there were plenty of trout in those days, in the stream that +flows along through the valley midway between the hills. On the north +side, coming down through a gorge, or 'the gulf,' as we used to call +it, was a stream which, in the dry season of the year, was a little +brook, trickling over the rocks, but which, in the spring freshets, or +when the clouds emptied themselves on the mountain, was a wild, +foaming, roaring, and resistless torrent. In following this stream +into 'the gulf,' you walked on a level plain between walls of rock, +rising two or three hundred feet on either hand, and a dozen or more +rods apart, until you came to 'the falls,' down which the stream +rushed with a plunge and a roar, when its back was up, or over which, +in the dry season, it quietly rippled. These 'falls' were not +perpendicular, but steep as the roof of a Dutch barn, and it was a +great feat to climb them when the stream was low. Ascending about +fifty feet, you came to a broad flat rock, large and smooth as a +parlor floor, and which in the summer season was dry. Well, one day, +in company with a boy who was visiting me, I went up to the 'falls,' +and we concluded to climb the shelving rocks to the 'table;' and +taking off our shoes and stockings, entered upon the perilous +ascent--for such to some extent it was. Hands and feet, fingers and +toes, were all put in requisition. My friend began the ascent before I +did, and was half way up when I started. I ought to have said, that at +the foot of the 'falls,' was a basin, worn away by the torrent, and in +which the water, clear and cold, then stood to the depth of three or +four feet. We were toiling painfully up, when I heard a rush above, +and in an instant my friend came like an arrow past me, sliding down +the shelving rocks on his back, or rather in a half-sitting posture, +his rear to the rocks. I won't undertake to say that the fire flew as +he went by me, for the rocks were slate, and therefore such a +phenomenon was not likely to occur, but the entire absence of the seat +of my friend's pantaloons, and the blood that trickled down to his +toes, showed that the friction was considerable. As he passed me, I +heard him exclaim, 'thank God,' and the next instant he plunged into +the cold water at the base of the falls. What there was to be thankful +for in such a descent over the rocks, I could not at the time +comprehend, as the chances were in favor of a broken back, or neck, or +some other consummation equally out of the range of gratitude, in an +ordinary way. He came up out of the water blowing and snorting like a +porpoise with a cold in his head, and waded to the shore. 'Come down,' +he shouted, which I did, not quite so far or fast as he did, but fast +enough to make an involuntary plunge, head foremost, into the pool at +the bottom. The occasion of his catastrophe was this: he had ascended +so near the table rock, that his hands were upon it, and was lifting +himself up, when, as his eyes came above the surface, the edge upon +which his hands with most of his weight rested, gave way, and he +started for the basin below. But he had a view of what satisfied him +that to this accident he owed his life, and it was a sense of +gratitude for his escape, that prompted the exclamation I heard as he +went bumping past me. Coiled on the rock above, and within reach of +his face, were several large rattlesnakes, and he always insisted that +one made a spring at him, as his hands gave way, and he put out for +the basin into which he plunged. He was a good deal bruised, but his +escape from the poisonous reptiles reconciled him to that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +HEADED TOWARDS HOME--THE MARTIN AND SABLE HUNTER--HIS +CABIN--AUTUMNAL SCENERY. + + +We concluded that we would break up our camp in the morning, and drift +leisurely back towards civilization. We had tarried upon this +beautiful lake until we had explored its romantic nooks, and we +started on our return to our old camping ground at the foot of Round +Pond. We had refrained for two days from disturbing the deer, and our +supply of fresh venison was entirely exhausted. Just at the outlet of +the lake we were leaving, is a little bay, towards the head of which +are a great number of boulders, laying around loose, scattered about +like haycocks in a meadow, only a great many more to the acre. The +water about these boulders is shallow, and the lily-pads and grasses +make a luxuriant pasture for the deer. Among these boulders, and +concealed by one of them, save when his head was up, was a deer. While +he fed we could see nothing of him, but when he raised his head to +look around him, that alone was visible above the rock. Smith and +myself were in the leading boat, he in the bow with his rifle. As the +current swept near the rocks where the deer was feeding, we let our +little craft drift quietly in that direction. As we came within +shooting distance, say from fifteen to twenty rods, Smith adjusted his +rifle, and as the animal raised its head above the rock, he sighted +him carefully, and fired. It was a beautiful shot. There was nothing +of the animal but the head visible, and the bullet, true to its aim, +struck it square between the eyes, and it fell dead. This shot, +together with the glory of killing the bear, elated Smith wonderfully, +and upon the strength of them, he assumed the championship of the +expedition. + +We drew the deer into the baggage-boat, and sent forward our pioneer +to erect our tents, and prepare a late dinner, at our old camping +ground, while we landed with the dogs on the island near the head of +Round Pond, or Lake, to course whatever game they might find upon it. +They soon burst into full chorus, and dashed away. The island is +small, containing only a few acres, and the game could not, therefore, +take a wide range After a single turn, a deer broke, like a maddened +war-horse, from the thicket, and plunging into the lake, struck boldly +for the mainland, five hundred yards distant. We were near by with our +two boats when he took to the water, and we thought we would accompany +him as an escort to the shore; so we rowed up, and with a boat on each +side, and within ten feet of him, as he swam, escorted him towards the +forest. We treated him with great respect, offering him no indignity, +interfering with him in nothing; and yet the old fellow seemed very +far from appreciating our politeness, or relishing our company. The +truth is, he was horribly frightened, and he struggled desperately to +rid himself of our association; but we stuck by him like his destiny, +talking kindly to him, endeavoring to impress upon his mind that we +meant him no harm--indeed, that we were his friends. But, I repeat, he +did not appreciate our politeness. By-and-by his feet touched the +sand, and he bounded forward, as much as to say, "Good-bye, +gentlemen," when a simultaneous yell from all six of us, and the +discharge of four rifles in quick succession over him, added +wonderfully to the energy of his flight. He will be likely to +recognise us if he ever meets us again, and if the past furnishes any +admonitions to his kind, he will give us a wide berth. + +We rowed leisurely along the eastern shore, and in a deep bay found +excellent fishing, at the mouth of a cold mountain brook. On the banks +of this bay we found the winter hut of a martin and sable trapper. It +had an outer and inner apartment, the latter almost subterranean. The +hut was composed of small logs, which a single man could lay up, the +crevices between which were closely packed with moss, and the roof +covered with two or three layers of bark. The doorway was sawed +through these logs, and a door, constructed of bark, was made to fit +it; a rude hearth of sandstone was built in one corner, and a hole was +open above it to let out the smoke. Against the outside of this pen, +only about ten feet square, logs were leaned up, the ends of which +rested upon the ground, the interstices between them carefully stopped +with moss, and the whole covered with bark; the ends consisted of +stakes, driven into the ground and chinked with moss. Into this +sleeping apartment a door was cut from the parlor, large enough for a +man to pass by getting down on all-fours; while within was a plentiful +supply of boughs from the spruce and fir tree. In this hut, now so +dark, and in which the air was so dead and fetid, a solitary trapper +had wintered, pursuing his occupation of martin and sable hunting--the +which, if tolerably successful, would yield him some two or three +hundred dollars the season. He carried into the woods a bag of flour +or meal, a few pounds of pork, pepper, salt, and tea; and this, with +the game he killed, made up his supply of food. With no companion but +his dog, he had probably spent two or three months, and very possibly +more, in this lonely cabin. + +We arrived at our camp towards evening, and dined sumptuously on fresh +venison and trout. Our pioneer had provided a luxurious bed of boughs +within, and had fashioned rude seats in front of our tents. He had +rolled the butt of a huge tree, which he had felled, to the proper +place, against which to kindle our camp-fire, and we had a pleasant +place to sit, with our pipes, in the evening, looking out over the +water, listening to the pile-drivers, half a dozen of which were +driving their stakes along the reedy shore, with commendable +diligence. The sunlight lay so beautifully on the hillsides, and +contrasted so admirably with the deep shadows of the valley beneath, +the lake was so calm and still, the old woods stood around so moveless +and solemn, that one could scarcely persuade himself that he was not +looking upon some gigantic picture, the fanciful grouping and +transcendent coloring of some ingenious and winning artist. + +"The hillsides about these lakes," remarked the Doctor, "must be +superlatively beautiful in the fall, when the forest puts on its +autumnal foliage. They present such a variety of trees, of so many +different kinds, and the hills and mountains are so admirably +arranged, that they must be gorgeous beyond description. However we +may prefer the green and _living_ beauty of spring, when everything is +so full of vitality, so buoyant and free, yet the autumn scenery is +the most magnificent of any in the year." + +"Every season has its charms," said Spalding, "Even the winter, with +its cold, its dead and cheerless desolation, has its robe of chaste +and peerless white, which, as well as that of the spring-time, the +summer, and the autumn, has been the theme of song. I agree with you, +that in gorgeousness of beauty, there is no season so rich as the +autumn. Spring-time has its pleasant scenery, its genial days, its +deep green, its flowers, and its singing birds; and these are all the +more lovely because they follow so closely upon the cold storms, and +bleak winds, the chilling and blank desolation of winter. We love the +spring because of its freshness, its pervading vitality, its +recuperating influences. Everybody loves the spring-time; everybody +talks about the spring-time; poets sing of it; orators praise it; +'fair women and brave men' laud it; so that were spring-time human, +and possessing human instincts, and subject to human frailties, it +would have plenty of excuse, for becoming a very vain personage. + +"Somebody has called the autumnal days the 'saddest of the year.' I +have forgotten who he was, if I ever knew; but in my judgment, he was +all wrong. Dark days there are--damp, chilly, misty, wet, and +unpleasant days in autumn; days that make one relish a corner by an +old-fashioned fire. There are gusty, windy, capricious days in autumn, +which nobody cares to praise, when the northwest wind goes sweeping +over the forest, roaring among the trees, and whirling the sere leaves +along the ground, and which, to tell the truth about them, are +anything but pleasant. But 'some days _must_ be dark and dreary,' and +they serve to give the sunlight of a bright to-morrow a keener relish, +and a lovelier comparative beauty. To call the fall days the 'saddest +of the year' is an absurdity, poetical I admit, but still an +absurdity. There is nothing sad in a cold, or a wet, a drizzly, a +gusty, or a stormy day; much there may be that is unpleasant, much +that one may be disposed to quarrel with, but they are anything +but sad. + +"A calm autumnal day in the country is a great thing, a beautiful +thing, a thing to thank God for; a thing to make one happy, buoyant of +spirit, full of gratitude to the great Creator; a thing to make one +merry, too, not with a loud and boisterous mirth, but with a heart +full to overflowing with cheerfulness, and a calm joy. To see the +bright sun standing in his glory up in the sky, shedding his placid +light over the earth, when the air is clear, the winds hushed, and the +leaves are still and moveless on the trees; and then to look along the +hillsides, and mark the bright sunlight, and the deep shadows, the +green of the fir, the hemlock, and the spruce, the yellow of the +birch, the crimson of the maple, the dark brown of the beech, the grey +of the oak, the silver glow of the popple, and the varying shades of +all these, mingling and blending in all the harmony of brilliant +coloring. Why, these hillsides are decked like a maiden in her beauty, +like a bride robed for the altar! Talk about springtime, or summer! +Green on the hillside! green in the meadows and pastures! green +everywhere--all around is changeless and everlasting green! as if +hillside and valley, forest and field, had but a single dress for +morning, noon, and night, and that only and always green! True, there +is the music of the birds, joyous notes and variant, happy and +hilarious, in the spring-time, but there is no cricket under the flat +stone in the pasture, his song is not heard in the stone wall, or in +the corner of the fences; no music of the katydid; no tapping of the +woodpecker on the hollow tree, or the dead limb; no chattering of the +squirrel, as he gathers his winter store; no pattering of the faded +leaves, as they come so quietly down from their places; no falling of +the ripened nuts, loosened from their burs or shucks by the recent +frosts. All these sounds belong to the calm autumnal days, and while +they differ the whole heavens from the merry songs of spring, there is +nothing sad about them. No! No! nothing sad. I remember (and who that +was reared in the country does not) when I was a boy, how I went out +in the sunny days of autumn, after the frosts had painted the +hillsides, to gather chestnuts; and when the breeze rustled among the +branches, how the nuts came rattling down; and how if the winds were +still, I climbed into the trees and shook their tops, and how the +chestnuts pattered to the ground like a shower of hail. I remember the +squirrels how they chattered, and chased each other up and down the +trees, or leaped from branch to branch, gathering here and there a +nut, and scudding away to their store houses in the hollow trees, +providing in this season of plenty for the barrenness of the winter +months. I remember, too, how we gathered, in those same old autumnal +days, hickory-nuts and butter-nuts by the bushel; and how pleasant it +was in the long cold winter evenings, to sit around the great old +kitchen fire-place, cracking the nuts we had gathered when the green, +the yellow, the crimson, the brown, the grey, and the pale leaves were +on the trees. Pleasant evenings those seem to me now, as they come +floating down on the current of memory from the long past, and dear +are the faces of those that made up the tableaux as they were grouped +around those winter fires. Logs were blazing on the great hearth, and +the pineknots, thrown at intervals on the fire, gave a bold and +cheerful light throughout that capacious kitchen. I remember how the +winter wind went glancing over the house-top, whirling, and eddying, +and moaning around the corners, hissing under the door and sending its +cold breath in at every crevice; and how the windows rattled when the +blast came fiercest, and how the smoke would sometimes whirl down the +great chimney, I remember well where my father's chair was always +placed; and where my mother sat of those winter evenings, when her +household cares were over for the day, plying her needle, or knitting, +or darning stockings, or mending garments, for such employment was no +dishonor to the matrons of those days. With these for the leading +figures, I remember how seven brothers and sisters were grouped +around, and how the old house dog had a place in the corner, and how +lovingly the cat nestled between his feet. Cherished memories are +these pleasant visions and they come to me often, vivid as realities. +But the dream vanishes, the vision fades away, and I think of the six +pale, still faces as I saw them last, and of the names that are +chiseled upon the cold marble that stands through the sunny +spring-time, the heat of summer, the autumnal days, and the storms and +tempests of winter, over the graves of the dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A SURPRISE--A SERENADE--A VISIT FROM STRANGERS--AN +INVITATION TO BREAKFAST--A FASHIONABLE HOUR AND A +BOUNTIFUL BILL OF FARE. + + +The evening was calm, and the lake slept in stirless beauty before us. +The shadows of the mountains reached far out from the shore, lieing +like a dark mantle upon the surface of the waters, above and beneath +which the stars twinkled and glowed like the bright eyes of seraphs +looking down from the arches above, and up from the depths below. The +moon in her brightness sailed majestically up into the sky, throwing +her silver light across the bosom of the lake; millions of fireflies +flashed their tiny torches along the reedy shore; the solemn voices of +the night birds came from out the forest; the call of the raccoon and +the answer, the hooting of the owl, and the low murmur of the leaves, +stirred by the light breeze that moved lazily among the tree-tops, old +familiar music to us, were heard. This latter sound is always heard, +even in the stillest and calmest nights. There may be no ripple upon +the water; it may be moveless and smooth as a mirror, no breath of air +may sweep across its surface, and yet in the old forest among the +tree-tops, there is always that low ceaseless murmur, a soft +whispering as if the spirits of the woods were holding, in hushed +voices, communion together. We had retired for the night under the +cover of our tents. My companion had sunk into slumber, and I was just +in that dreamy state, half sleeping and half awake, which constitutes +the very paradise of repose, when there came drifting across the lake +the faint and far off strains of music, which, to my seeming, exceeded +in sweetness anything I had ever heard. They came so soft and +melodious, floating so gently over the water, and dying away so +quietly in the old woods, that I could scarce persuade myself of their +reality. For a while I lay luxuriating as in the delusion of a +pleasant dream, as though the melody that was abroad on the air was +the voices of angels chanting their lullaby into the charmed ear of +the sleeper. Presently, Smith raised his head, supporting his cheek +upon his hand, his elbow resting upon the ground, and after listening +for a moment, opened his eyes in bewilderment exclaiming, as he looked +in utter astonishment about him, "What, in the name of all that is +mysterious, is that?" + +Spalding and the Doctor followed, and their amazement was equalled +only by their admiration when + + "Oft in the stilly night" + +came stealing in matchless harmony over the water, "A serenade from +the Naiads, by Jupiter!" exclaimed Smith. + +"A concert, by the Genii of the waters!" cried the +Doctor. + +"Hush!" said Spalding, "we are trespassing upon fairy +domain; the spirits of these old woods, these mountains and +rock-bound lakes, are abroad, and well may they carol in +their joyousness in a night like this." + +In a little while the music changed, and + + "Come o'er the moonlight sea" + +came swelling over the lake. And again it changed and + + "Come mariner down in the deep with me" + +went gently and swiftly abroad on the air. The music +ceased for a moment, and then two manly voices, of great +depth and power, came floating to our ears to the words: + + "'Farewell! Farewell! To thee, Araby's daughter,' + Thus warbled a Perl, beneath the deep sea, + 'No pearl ever lay under Onan's dark water, + More pure in its shell than thy spirit in thee.'" + +"That's flesh and blood, at least," exclaimed the Doctor, "and I +propose to ascertain who are treating as to this charming serenade in +the stillness of midnight." + +We went down to the margin of the lake, and a few rods from the shore +lay a little craft like our own, in which were seated two gentlemen, +the one with a flute and the other with a violin. They had seen our +campfire from their shanty on the other side of the lake, and had +crossed over to surprise us with the melody of human music. And +pleasantly indeed it sounded in the stillness and repose of that +summer night in that wild region. The echoes that dwell among those +old forests, those hills and beautiful lakes, had never been startled +from their slumbers by such sounds before, and right merrily they +carried them from hill to hill, and through the old woods, and over +the calm surface of that sleeping lake, and with a joyousness, too, +that told how welcome they were among those wild and primeval things. + +After listening to their music for half an hour, we invited our new +friends ashore. We found them to be two young gentlemen from +Philadelphia, who had just graduated at one of the Eastern colleges, +and who had concluded to spend a month among these mountains and +lakes, before entering upon the study of the profession to which they +were to devote themselves. They had been close friends from their +childhood, and room-mates during their collegiate course. They had +cultivated their taste for music, until few mere amateurs could equal +their skill upon their respective instruments, or in harmony of voice. +They were highly intelligent and courteous gentlemen, and if their +future shall equal the promise of the present, they will make their +mark in the world. We accepted, at parting, their invitation to +breakfast with them on the morrow, and at one o'clock they left us to +return to their shanty over the lake. We sent one of our boatmen to +row them home; and as they started across the water, they treated us +to a concert to which it was pleasant to listen. There is something +surpassingly sweet in the music of the flute and violin in the hands +of skillful performers; and yet, to my thinking, it falls far short of +the melody of the human voice. I have listened to some of the most +celebrated singers, and of the most distinguished performers, but it +appears to me now, that I never, on any other occasion, heard the +melody of the human voice, or instrumental music half so enchanting, +as that which came floating over the lake on that calm summer night. +There was a volume and compass about it which can never be reached in +a concert room. It was not loud, but it seemed to fill all the air +with its sweetness. It came over the senses like a pleasant dream, as +it went swelling up to the hills that skirted the lake, floating away +over the water, and dying away in lengthened cadence in the old +forests. Every other sound was hushed; the voices of the night-birds +were stilled; even the frogs along the shore suspended their +bellowing, and all nature seemed listening to the new harmony that +thus fell like enchantment upon the repose of midnight. The music grew +fainter and fainter as it receded, until only an occasional strain, +wavy and dream-like, came creeping like the voice of a spirit over the +water, and then it was lost in the distance. The frogs resumed their +roaring, the night-birds lifted up their voices; the raccoon called to +his fellow, and was answered away off in the forest; the pile-driver +hammered away at his stake, the old owl hooted solemnly from his +perch, and we retired to our tents to talk over the romance of our +serenade, and to dream of Ole Bull and the Swedish Nightingale. + +The morning broke bright and balmy. A pleasant breeze swept lazily +over the lake, lifting the thin mist that hung like a veil of gauze +above the water. We left our tents standing, and crossed over to the +shanty of our friends of the previous evening to breakfast. We found +them living like princes. Their two boatmen had built them a log +shanty; open in front, and covered with bark so as to be impervious to +the rain, while within was a luxurious bed of boughs. Around the +campfire were benches of hewn slabs, and a table of the same material. +A few rods from the door a beautiful spring came bubbling up into a +little basin of pure white sand, the water of which was limpid and +cold almost as ice-water. They had been here for a week, hunting and +fishing. They had employed their leisure in jerking the venison they +had taken, of which they had some four or five bushels, and which they +intended to take home with them, to serve, together with the skins of +the deer they had slain, as trophies of their success. + +They received us cordially, and we sat down to a breakfast, which, for +variety, at least, rivalled the elaborate preparations of the Astor or +the St. Nicholas; albeit, the cookery, as an abstract fact, might have +been of the simplest. We had venison-steak, pork, ham, jerked venison +stew, fresh trout, broiled partridge, cold roast duck, a fricassee of +wood rabbits, and broiled pigeon upon our table, coming in courses, +or piled up helter-skelter on great platters of birch bark, some on +tin plates, and now and then a choice bit on a chip! We had coffee, +and tea, and the purest of spring water, by way of beverage, and truth +compels me to admit, that under the advice of the Doctor, a drop or +two of Old Cognac may have been added by way of relish, or to temper +the effect of a hearty meal upon the delicate stomachs of some of the +guests. We were exceedingly fashionable in our time for breakfasting +this morning, and it was eleven o'clock before we rose from table. The +sun was travelling through a cloudless sky, and his brightness lay +like a mantle of glory upon the water, while his heat gave to the deep +shadows of the old trees, whose long arms with their clustering +foliage were interlocked above us, a peculiar charm. The description +which we gave of the beautiful lake we had left the day before, the +story of the moose and the bear we had killed, together with our +quit-claim of the shanty we had, inhabited, brought our friends to the +conclusion to drift that way for a week or so. + +It was amusing to hear Smith relate the manner of capturing the bear, +the glory of which achievement he had won by the tossing up of a +dollar; how he had started out alone in one of the boats with his +rifle to look into a little bay half a mile below the shanty, where be +left the rest of us sleeping after dinner; and how, as he was floating +along under the shadow of the hills, at the base of a wall of rocks +some forty feet high, rising straight up from the water, he heard +something walking just over the precipice; and how he picked up his +rifle that lay in the bottom of the boat, to be ready for any +emergency; and then how astonished he was to see a great black bear +walk out into view along the edge of the rocks above, and how +carefully he sighted him; and how, at the crack of his rifle, the +animal came tumbling down the cliff, and how quick he reloaded and +gave trim a settler in the shape of a second bullet; and how he +tugged, and strained, and lifted to get him into the boat, and how +astonished we all were when he returned with his prize to camp. While +relating this wonderful achievement, he winked at the Doctor, as much +as to say, "fair play; remember our compact; stand by me now." And the +Doctor did stand by him, boldly endorsing, with a gravity that was +refreshing, every invention of Smith's prolific imagination, on the +subject of his slaughtering the bear. + +We left our new friends in the afternoon; they to start in the morning +for our old camping-ground on the lake above, and we down the stream +on our retreat from the wilderness. We came back to our tents, after +securing a string of trout from the mouth of the little stream across +the bay. Our evening meal was over, and we sat around our campfire +just as the sun was hiding himself behind the western highlands, when, +from a little hollow in the forest behind us, and but a short way off, +we heard the call of a raccoon. Martin started over the ridge with the +dogs, and in five minutes he hallooed to us to come with our rifles +for he had the animal "treed," and ready to be brought down at "a +moment's warning." We went over to where he was, and sure enough, away +up in the top of a tall birch, sat his coonship, looking quietly down +upon the dogs that were baying at the foot of the tree. + +"Gentlemen," said Spalding, "we will not all fire at this animal as we +did at Smith's bear. One bullet is enough for him, and if he gets down +among us, I think six men will be a match for one 'coon,' so we need +not be inhuman through a sense of danger. Whose shot shall he be?" + +"I move that Spalding have the first shot," said Smith; and the motion +was carried. + +"Do I understand you, gentlemen," Spalding inquired, adjusting +himself, as if preparing to bring down the game, "that I am to have +this first shot, and that no one is to fire until I have taken a fair +shot at him?" + +We all answered, "Yes." + +"Are you perfectly agreed in this, and do you all pledge yourselves to +abide the compact?" Spalding inquired again, bringing his rifle to a +present, and looking up at the game. + +"All agreed," we answered, with one voice. + +"Very well, gentlemen," said Spalding, shouldering his rifle, "there's +one life saved anyhow. That animal up there has been in great peril, +but he's safe now. I don't intend to fire at him sooner than ten +o'clock to-morrow, and if I understand our arrangements, we leave +here in the morning at six." + +"Sold, by Moses!" exclaimed Martin, as he broke out into a roar that +you might have heard a mile; "I thought the Judge meant something, by +the time he wasted in talkin' and gettin' ready to shoot." + +"Spalding," inquired Smith, "do you expect us to keep this compact?" + +"Of course I do," he replied; "did any of us peach when you opened so +rich in the matter of your bear? Did any one break his compact with +you on that subject? Absolve us from our agreement about the bear, and +you may take my shot at that animal up in the tree." + +"I wasn't born yesterday," Smith replied, "and I can't afford to +exchange the glory of killing the bear in my own way, and baring three +responsible endorsers, for the honor of shooting a coon. Gentlemen," +he continued, "I move that that coon be permitted to take his own time +to descend from his perch up in the tree-top there;" and the motion +was carried unanimously. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +WOULD I WERE A BOY AGAIN. + + +"We have played the boy again, yesterday and to-day, pretty well," +remarked Smith, as we sat in front of oar tents in the evening, +smoking our pipes. "And I am half inclined to think we have started +for home too soon, after all. Spalding's moralizing for the last two +or three days deceived me. I thought, as he was becoming so serious, +he must be getting tired of the woods; but his proposition yesterday +to escort that deer to the shore, and frighten him almost to death, +his jolly humor with our young friends over the way, and the trick he +played on as in regard to the raccoon this evening, satisfies me that +he's got a good deal of the boy in him yet. We shall have to retreat +from the woods slower than I thought, to exhaust it." + +"If the cares of business or the duties of life did not call us back +to civilization" said the Doctor, "I could almost spend the summer +among these lakes, only for the luxury of feeling like a boy again. +When I listen to the glad voices of the wild things around as, I can +almost wish myself one of them." + +"That coon, for instance," interrupted Smith, "that came so near +getting shot by his chattering." + +"I call the gentleman to order," said I; "the Doctor has the floor." + +"I sometimes think that it is no great thing after all to be human;" +the Doctor continued, bowing his acknowledgments for my protecting his +right to the floor. "Mind is a great thing, but there is more of +sorrow, anxiety, and care clustering about it, than these wild things +we hear and see around us suffer through their instincts. Reason, +knowledge, wisdom, are great things. To stand at the head of created +matter, to be the noblest of all the works of God, the only created +thing wearing the image, and stamped with the patent of Diety, are +proud things to boast of. But great and glorious and proud as they +are, they have their balances of evil. They bring with them no +contentment, no repose, while they heap upon us boundless necessities +and limitless wants. We are hurried through life too rapidly for the +enjoyment of the present, and the good we see in prospect is never +attained. When we were boys we longed to be men, with the strength and +intellect of men; and now that we are men, with matured powers of body +and mind, true to our organic restlessness and discontent, we look +back with longing for the feelings and emotions of our boyhood. What a +glorious thing it would be if we could always be young--not boys +exactly, but at that stage of life when the physical powers are most +active, and the heart most buoyant. That, to my thinking, would be a +better arrangement than to grow old, even if we live on until we +stumble at last from mere infirmity into the grave, looking forward in +discontent one half of our lives, and backward in equal discontent +the other." + +"You remind me," said Spalding, "of a little incident, simple in +itself, but which, at the time, made a deep impression upon my mind, +and which occurred but a few weeks ago. Returning from my usual walk, +one morning, my way lay through the Capitol Park. The trees, covered +with their young and fresh foliage, intertwined their arms lovingly +above the gravelled walks, forming a beautiful arch above, through +which the sun could scarcely look even in the splendor of his noon. +The birds sang merrily among the branches, and the odor of the leaves +and grass as the dews exhaled, gave a freshness almost of the forest +to the morning air. On the walk before me were two beautiful children, +a boy of six and a little girl of four. They were merry and happy as +the birds were, and with an arm of each around the waist of the other, +they went hopping and skipping up and down the walks, stopping now and +then to waltz, to swing round and round, and then darting away again +with their hop and skip, too full of hilarity, too instinct with +vitality, to be for a moment still. The flush of health was on their +cheeks, and the warm light of affection in their eyes. They were +confiding, affectionate, loving little children, and my heart warmed +towards them, as I saw them waltzing and dancing and skipping about +under the green foliage of the trees. "'Willy,' said the little girl, +as they sat down on the low railing of the grass plats, to breathe for +a moment, and listen to the chirrup and songs of the birds in the +boughs above them, 'Willy, wouldn't you like to be a little bird?' + +"'A little bird, Lizzie,' replied her brother. 'Why should I like to +be a little bird?' + +"'Oh, to fly around among the branches and the leaves upon the trees,' +said Lizzie, 'and among the blossoms when the morning is warm, and the +sun comes out bright and clear in the sky. Oh! they are so happy,' + +"'But the mornings aint always warm, and the sun don't always come up +bright and clear in the sky, Lizzy,' said her brother, 'and the leaves +and blossoms aint always on the trees. The cold storms and the winter +come and kill the blossoms and scatter the leaves, and what would you +do then? I shouldn't like to be a bird, but I _should_ like to be a +big strong man like father.' + +"'Please tell me what tune it is?' said the little boy, addressing me. + +"I told him, and he turned to his little sister, saving, 'Come, +Lizzie, we must go; mother said we must be home by half-after seven, +and it's most that now;' and he put his arm lovingly around her neck, +and she put hers around his waist, and they walked away towards home, +talking about the leaves and the blossoms on the trees, the merry +little birds, the bright sunshine, and the pleasant time they had had +in the park that morning. + +"It was a pleasant thing to see those two little children, so +confiding, so earnest and true in their young affections, clinging to +each other so closely, as if no shadow could ever come between them, +or tarn their hearts from each other. How natural was that simple +question put by that little girl to her brother, 'Wouldn't you like to +be a little bird?' It was the thought of a pure young mind, that sees +only the bright sunshine of to-day, whose life is in the present, and +to which there is no forebodings of darkness in the future. There was +philosophy, too, in the answer of her brother, a simple but suggestive +sermon, 'But the sun' said he, 'don't always come up bright and clear; +the mornings aint always warm; the leaves and blossoms aint always on +the trees. The cold storms, and the winter come and kill the blossoms +and scatter the leaves, and what would you do then?' To finite minds +like ours, it would seem to have been a more beautiful arrangement of +nature, could it have been, that we could always have the spring time +in its glory with us; if the leaves and the blossoms were always young +and fresh and fragrant; if the cold storms of winter could never come +to 'kill the blossoms and scatter the leaves;' if the sun would always +come up bright and clear; if the birds were always merry, and their +glad voices always on the air. This world would be a paradise then, +and one older and wiser in the learning of the schools, but not wiser +or better in the heart's affections, than that little girl, might well +wish to be a little bird, to fly around among the branches, the green +leaves, and the blossoms on the trees. And yet what presumption in +finite man to sit in judgment upon, or criticise the wisdom of the +Omnipotent God! How know we but that a single change, the slightest +alteration of a simple law, would go jarring through all the universe, +throwing everything into confusion, and bringing utter chaos, where +now all is order. The mother sees her little child die, she lays it in +its coffin, and surrenders it to the grave, and her heart rebels +against the Providence that snatched away her treasure. In her agony, +she appeals reproachfully to Heaven, and asks, 'Why am I thus +bereaved?' Foolish mother! impeach not the wisdom of your bereavement. +Mysterious as it may be, know this, that in the councils of eternity +your sorrows were considered, and the decree which took from you your +darling, was ordered in mercy. Pestilence sweeps over the land; a wail +is on the air. Peace, mourners, be still! The pestilence has a mission +of mercy, mysterious as it may be to us. The storm lashes the ocean +into fury; tall ships, freighted with human souls, go down into its +relentless depths; a shriek of agony comes gurgling up from the +devouring waters; a cry of woe is heard from a thousand homes over the +wrecked and the lost. Peace, again, mourners! The storm has a mission +of mercy. It may never be comprehended by us here, but when the veil +shall be lifted, as in God's good time it doubtless will be, we shall +see how the pestilence and the storm, that cost so many tears, were +essential to the harmony of a glorious system, a perfect plan, and +that seeming sorrow was at last the occasion of unspeakable joy. Let +no man say that this or that law, or operation of nature, were better +changed, until he can fathom the designs of God; till he can create a +planet, and send it on its everlasting round; till he can place a star +in the firmament; till he can breathe upon a statue, the workmanship +of his own hands, and be obeyed when he commands it to walk forth a +thing of life; till he can dip his hand into chaos and throw off +worlds. The 'cold storms of winter' are essential to the enjoyment of +the brightness and glory, the genial sunshine, the pleasant foliage, +the blossoms and the odors of spring. They have their uses, and chill +and dreary and desolate as they may be, they are parts of an +arrangement ordered by infinite goodness and omnipotent wisdom. + +"'I should like to be a big strong man like father is!' How like a boy +was this? Thirsting for the strength, the might and power of manhood! +And this is the aspiration of the young heart always; to be mature, +strong to grapple with the cares, and wrestle with the stern +actualities of life. How little of these does childhood know! How +little does it calculate the chances, that when, in the long future, +it shall have attained the full strength and maturity of life, when +manhood shall be in the glory and strength of its prime, and it looks +forward into the dark cloud beyond, and backward into the bright +sunshine of the past, the aspiration, the hope will change into +regret, and the yearning of the heart, speaking from its silent +depths, will be, 'would I were a boy again!'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +HEADED DOWN STREAM--RETURN TO TUPPER'S LAKE--THE CAMP ON THE ISLAND. + + +We started down stream again at six o'clock in the morning, intending, +if possible, to reach Tupper's Lake before encamping for the night. It +would make for us a busy day to accomplish so much; but going down +stream and down hill are very different things from going up, as any +gentleman may satisfy himself by rowing against a current of two miles +the hour, or toiling up an ascent of three or four hundred feet to the +mile, and then retracing his steps. We accomplished more than half the +distance, and that over the worst of the journey, by twelve o'clock, +and we halted for dinner and a _siesta_. If there is one thing in life +which can lay any claim to being considered a positive luxury, it is a +nap on a mossy bank, in the deep shadows of the forest trees, after a +hearty meal, of a warm summer day. There should be, in order to its +full appreciation, a mixture of weariness with a due proportion of +laziness. Too much of either detracts from the enjoyment of its +beatitudes. To _feel_ the sensation of resting, that weariness is +leaving you, and that the process of recuperation is an active, living +agency, going on all through the system, while the natural love of +repose is being gratified as an independent emotion, constitute the +very perfection of mere animal enjoyment. The musquitoes at midday +have gone to their rest, or if a straggler comes buzzing and singing +about your ears, you are lulled rather than disturbed by his song. If +he takes his drop of blood from your veins, the tickling of his tiny +lance is but a pleasant titilation, and you let him feed on, almost +grateful for his kindness in keeping you from sleeping too soundly, or +losing in utter oblivion the full extent of the luxury of +perfect repose. + +After an hour's rest, we launched our little fleet upon the river +again, and while the sun was yet above the western highlands, we stood +upon the broad flat rock at the mouth of Bog River, looking out over +Tupper's Lake, one of the most beautiful sheets of water that the sun +or the stars ever looked upon. Our sea-biscuit was getting low, and +our egress from the wilderness was therefore becoming, in some sort, a +necessity. There was no lack of venison, or fish, but these are rather +luxuries than actual necessaries, and they were becoming somewhat +stale to as. The staff of life is bread, and of this we had but two +days' supply. It is entirely true that our jerked venison, now dry and +hard as chips, could, if necessary, be made to furnish, to some +extent, a substitute; still, while "it is written that man shall not +live by bread alone," it is equally the law that he cannot very well +get along without it. + +We launched our boats upon the lake and rowed to the head of Long +Island, where we put up our tents for the night. I have spoken so +often of the loveliness of the evenings on these beautiful lakes, that +to attempt a description of the one we enjoyed on this romantic +island, would be only a tiresome repetition. But there was a splendor +about the heavens above, and their counterpart in the depths below, +which I have scarcely ever seen equalled. There was no moon in the +early evening, and so pure and clear was the atmosphere, so moveless +and still the waters, that the stars seemed to come out in vaster +numbers, and with an intenser glow, and to be reflected back from away +down in the lake with a brighter refulgence; the hills along the shore +seemed to stand up in bolder outline; the bays to lay in deeper +shadow; while the tall peaks stood in grim solemnity, like pillars +supporting the mighty arches of the sky. + +"I was asking myself," said Smith, as we sat looking out over the +water, in the evening, or gazing down into the glowing depths, and +listening to the night voices, faint and far off in the old forests, +as they came floating over the lake, "I was asking myself, as we +journeyed around the falls to-day, and as we stood on the rock where +the river comes leaping down and plunging into the lake, whether the +march of improvement would ever spread a Lowell around those falls, or +subject those wild waters to the uses of civilization. Whether +progress would ever invade those mountain regions; or the ingenuity of +man ever discover uses for these rocks and boulders, or coin wealth +from the sterile and sandy soil of this old wilderness? Hitherto a +country like this has been regarded of no value, save for the timber +which it grows; and when that is exhausted, as fit only to be +abandoned to sterility and desolation. But who can tell whether there +may not be in these boulders, these rocks, this sandy and unproductive +soil, unknown wealth, held in reserve to reward the researches of +science in its utilitarian explorations. I am not now speaking of +gold, or silver, or any other dross, which men have hitherto wasted +their toil to accumulate; but of new discoveries, and new purposes to +which these now useless things may be applied; discoveries which may +send the tide of emigration surging up from the valleys to mountain +regions like these. May it not be that science, while delving among +the wrecks of vanished ages, may stumble upon some new principle, or +combination of the elements of which these old rocks are composed, +that shall give them a value beyond that of the richest lowlands, and +make them the centre of a dense and cultivated population?" + +"Your question," answered Spalding, "is suggestive. Did you ever think +what gigantic strides the world has made within the memory of men now +living, and who are yet unwilling to be counted as old? Look back for +only fifty years, and note what a stupendous leap it has taken! Where +then were the iron roads over which the locomotive goes thundering on +its mission of civilization? where the telegraph, that mocks at time +and annihilates space? Hark! there is a new sound breaking the +stillness of midnight, and startling the mountain echoes from their +sleep of ages! It is the scream of the steam-whistle, the snort of the +iron horse, the thunder of his hoofs of steel, rushing forward with +the speed of the wind, shaking the ground like an earthquake as he +moves. A new motor has been harnessed into the service of man, and +made to fly with his messages swifter than sound? It is the winged +lightning; and as it flashes along the wires stretched from city to +city, and across continents, carries with unerring certainty every +word committed to its charge. Ocean steamers have made but a ferriage +of seas. The photographic art has made even the light of the sun a +substitute for the pencil of the artist. Everywhere, in all the +departments of science, in every branch of the arts, improvement, +progress, has been going on with a sublimity of achievement unknown in +any age of the past. These things are mighty motors which push along +civilization, throwing a wonderful energy into the forward impulse of +the world. But remember, that though these results are brought about +by the advance in the mechanic arts, yet that advance is based upon a +deeper philosophy, a profounder wisdom, than mere perfectability in +those arts. Take the steam-engine--it is a great contrivance, a +wonderful invention; but the greatest of all was the discovery of the +principle and operation, the practical phenomena of steam itself. The +telegraphic machine was a great invention; but the great thing was the +development of the science of electricity, the discovery of the +secret agency which sent forward the thought entrusted to it swifter +than light. The daguerrian instruments, the metallic plates, the +prepared paper, were great inventions; but vastly greater was the +discovery and development of the phenomena and affinities of light, +the mystery of solar influences. + +"There is hope for the world in all this mighty progress, for with it +will one day come the development of the true nature and theory of +government, the true solution of the great theory of the social +compact, the proper adjustment of the relations of man to man, a right +appreciation of the nature and value of human rights. It is bringing +forward the masses, elevating the millions who work. It will rouse +into activity their innate energies, and bring forth their inward +might. It creates THOUGHT to guide the hands that set all this vast +machinery in motion. It diffuses and strengthens intellectuality, and +the pride of intellectuality, making of the men who work something +more than mere machines themselves. It is developing and perfecting a +mightier engine than any of man's invention; one that tyrants cannot +always control, that kings cannot always manage. That engine is the +human mind. Like the steam-engine, it is gathering power, and +capability for the exercise of power, and the time will come when it +will go crashing, with resistless energy, among thrones, overturning +despotisms, upheaving dynasties, sweeping away those false theories of +governmental institutions, which guarantee to one class of people a +life of luxurious idleness, coupled with a prerogative to rule; and +which dooms another class to an hereditary servitude, changeless as +fate, and relentless as the grave. It will vindicate the rights, and +ennoble the destiny of the masses of the people who work. + +"But where is this career of progress to end? Is there a limit to this +onward movement? We know that the world has made greater advancement +in the present century, than it did in the five thousand years +preceding it, and that new discoveries in the sciences and the arts +are being made every day. Nature has been compelled, and is still +being compelled, to yield up secrets which have been for centuries +regarded as beyond the power of human capacity to penetrate. How is +this? Is the world to go on thus, always? Is this rush of progress to +remain unchecked, always? If so, what mystery, even of Omnipotent +wisdom, will remain unsolved at last? What results will not human +energy be able to accomplish? Is the time to come when man shall be +able to shape out of clay, fashion from wood, or stone, an image of +himself, and, breathing upon it, command it to walk forth a thing of +life, and be obeyed? Will he be able to search out a universal +antidote to disease? Will he discover the means of supplying the human +frame with such recuperative power as will nullify the law that +prescribes to all flesh the dilapidation and decay of age, of weakness +and of death? Will he search out some secret agency which will hold +his body in perpetual youth, defying alike the attritions of age, and +the ravages of disease? Will he discover how it is that time saps the +strength, and steals away the vigor of the human system, and a remedy +for exhausted and wasted energies? It is not my purpose to advance a +theory based upon an affirmative answer to these inquiries, but when +we contemplate the stupendous pace at which the world is moving +forward, who will venture to assert where the limit to this progress +is to be found? You tell me that man cannot _create_; that he can only +combine into new shapes elements which God has furnished to his hands. +I do not know this. That he _has_ not created I admit; but that he has +not capabilities, as yet undeveloped, as a creator, I do not KNOW. I +will not venture the assertion that the time will ever come when he +will have discovered wherein lies the mystery of life; that he will +ever find an antidote to disease; that he will search out some +recuperative agency stronger than the law of decay, and that will hold +the human system in the perpetual vigor, and bloom, and beauty of +maturity. I will not assert that science will, at last, be carried to +such perfection, that there shall be no more infirmities of age; that +the pestilence will be stayed from walking in the darkness, and +destruction from wasting at noonday; that men will cease to grow old, +save in years, or that death will be compelled to seek its victims +only through the channel of accidents, against which forecast will +not, and science has no opportunity to guard. What I mean to say is, +that I do not KNOW that just such results are beyond the capabilities +of human progress. Measuring the future by the past, I cannot +demonstrate that such results may not one day be attained." + +"The good time of which you speak," said the Doctor, "when there shall +be no more infirmity of age, no growing old, save in years; when there +shall be no wasting by disease, through the perfectability of the +curative science, or the discovery of some recuperative agency, +stronger than the law of decay, will never come. When it is granted, +as an abstract proposition, that the capabilities of science are +sufficient to counteract the mere wasting influence of time upon the +human system, you are met by a great practical fact which will +overturn your theory. The excesses of the world are a much more +fruitful source of disease and death than the attritions of age. There +is a constant struggle on the part of nature to build up and beautify, +to strengthen and recuperate, against the results of human excesses. +Not one in a million of those who pass away every year, die from the +effects of age, as a primary cause. Hence, you must not only perfect +science, but you must perfect the morals and the habits of the human +family, before you can exempt them from decay and death. The instincts +of men, the appetencies which they possess in common with the whole +animal creation, are each made the source of disease, and premature +decay. Some men eat too much; some drink too much; some sleep too +much; some waste their vital energies in sensual indulgence, while all +have some vicious habit (I mean with reference to the preservation of +life), known or unknown to the world, which, sooner or later, +undermines the constitution, and helps on the work of dilapidation. +These excesses will always exist; they are inherent in the human +constitution, resulting from the very nature of man; they are an +inevitable sequence of his physical structure, and his intellectual +life. To avoid them implies absolute perfectability in every +attribute, and that makes him a god. Until man shall have become +infinite in wisdom, as well as immaculate in purity, he will continue +to indulge, to a greater or less extent, in excesses of some sort, and +those excesses will always be an overmatch, when superadded to the +natural law of decay, for the recuperative efforts of science. You +must create a radical reform in every department of life; in business, +in social habits, in the fashions, in the mode of living, in +everything, before you can hope to reach the Utopia of which you +speak. The outrages perpetrated upon nature by the conventionalities +of the world alone, would be an insurmountable barrier to the +realization of your idea. The necessity for excessive labor to satisfy +artificial wants hews away at one end of society, and the indulgence +of idleness and ease, at the other. Exposure to the elements, to heat +and cold, buries its millions; and too great seclusion, in pursuit of +comfort in heated rooms, and a confined and corrupted atmosphere, +buries its millions also. Lack of wholesome food fills thousands of +graves, and the results of abundance fill other thousands. Lack of +appropriate clothing, fitted for the constitution and the seasons, +engenders disease and death; and an excess of the same article, +fashioned as stupendous folly only can fashion it, engenders vastly +more disease and death. There are elements of decay and death +furnished to men and women, tempting their weakness, and forced upon +their adoption by the conventionalities of life, every day, every +hour, and everywhere. It is a part of our civilization, an offshoot of +the very progress of which you speak, a sort of necessity in practical +results, at least, that men _shall_ so live as to wage war against +nature, and against themselves; that they shall hurry themselves, or +be hurried by inevitable circumstances, into the grave at the earliest +possible moment. You may, therefore, dismiss from your mind, my +friend, the fanciful idea, that science will ever enable the world to +dispense with the cemeteries, or that the cities of the dead will, +through its agency, cease to flourish. You will find that as science +closes up one avenue to the grave, men will force a way to it through +another. We shall have to live as our fathers lived, be subject to +disease as they were, grow old as they grew old, and die as they died. +We must submit to the law which has written the doom of decay upon all +things, which has made us mortal, and when our time comes we must be +content to pass away as the countless millions who preceded us +have done." + +"Well," said Spalding, as he knocked the ashes from his pipe, and rose +to retire, under the cover of the tent, for the night, "be it as you +say, what matters it? 'I would not live always.' Give to us the hope +of an hereafter, a faith that looks through the valley of the shadow +of death, and sees immortality, a world of glory beyond, and what +matters it how soon the hour of our departure shall come?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A MYSTERIOUS SOUND--TREED BY A MOOSE--ANGLING FOR A POWDER HORN--AN +UNHEEDED WARNING AND THE CONSEQUENCES. + + +As Spalding ceased speaking, there came from away off, over the forest +in the direction of the tall mountain peaks, a faint sound like the +boom of a cannon, so distant that it could scarcely be heard, and yet +it was distinct and palpable to the senses. I say that it came from +the direction of the mountains, seen dim and shadowy in the distance, +and yet none of us were quite sure of this. We all heard it, but not +one of us could assert that the direction from which it came was a +fixed fact in his mind. + +"There, Judge" said Cullen, "I've hearn that sound often among the +mountains, and when I've been driftin' about on these lakes, it never +seems much louder or nearer. It always seems to come from the +mountains, and yet you'll hear it while shantyin' at their base, and +it sounds just as faint and far off as it did just now. What it is, or +where it comes from, I won't undertake to say. The old Ingins who, +five and twenty year ago, fished and hunted over these regions, told +of it as a thing to wonder at, and that it was handed along down from +generation to generation, as one of the mysteries of this wilderness. +I mind once I was out among the Adirondacks, trappin' martin and +sable. I shantied for a week with Crop, under the shadow of Mount +Marcy. It was twenty odd year ago, and that old mountain stood a good +deal further from a clearin' than it does now. Crop and I had a good +many hard days' work that trip; but we got a full pack of martin and +sable skins, and two or three wolf scalps, besides a bear and a +painter, and we didn't complain. Wal, one afternoon, we put up a +shanty in an open spot two miles from our regular campin' ground, and +built our fire for the night. There was no moon, and though the stars +shone out bright and clear, yet in the deep shadow of the forest it +was dark and gloomy enough. We had eaten our supper, and I was smokin' +my last pipe before layin' myself away, when all at once the forest +was lighted up like the day. It was all the more light from the sudden +glare which broke upon the darkness, and there, for an instant, stood +the old woods, lighted up like noon, every tree distinct, every +mountain, every rock, and valley, as perfect and plain to be seen as +if the sun was standin' right above us in the sky. Crop was as much +astonished as I was, and he crept to my feet and trembled like a +coward, as he crouched beside them. I looked up, and flyin' across the +heavens was a great ball of fire, lookin' for all the world as if the +sun had broke loose, and was runnin' away in a fright. A long trail of +light flashed and streamed along the sky where it passed. It was out +of sight in a moment, and the fiery tail it left behind faded into +darkness. A little while after, maybe ten minutes after it +disappeared, that boomin' sound came driftin' down the wind, and I +somehow tho't it was mixed up in some way with that great ball of fire +that flew across the sky. Maybe I was wrong, but I've always tho't it +was the bustin' into pieces of that fiery thing that lighted up the +old woods that night, that broke the forest stillness, like a far off +cannon. I never heard it so loud at any other time, and when I hear it +now, I always say to myself, there goes another of Nater's fireballs +into shivers. I've hearn it in the daytime, when the air was still, +and the forest voices were hushed, but I never at any other time, day +or night, saw what I suspicioned occasioned it. The Ingins used to say +it came from the mountains, but it don't. I've hearn some folks +pretend that it comes from the bowels of the airth, but it don't; its +a thing of the air, and I've a notion it travels a mighty long way +from its startin' place afore it reaches us. + +"Talkin' about that trip among the Adirondacks, puts me in mind of an +adventer I had with a bull moose, on one occasion among them. There +are times when sich an animal is dangerous. I've hearn tell of +elephants gittin' crazy and breakin' loose from their keepers, or +killin' them, and makin' a general smash of whatever comes in their +way. I believe its so sometimes with a bull moose; and when the fit +is on the animal forgets its timid nater, and is bold and fierce as a +tiger. I've seen two sich in my day; one of 'em sent me into a tree, +and the other put me around a great hemlock a dozen or twenty times, a +good deal faster than I like to travel in a general way, and if I +hadn't hamstrung him with my huntin' knife, maybe he'd have been +chasin' me round that tree yet. Wal, as I was sayin' I was out among +the Adirondacks one fall, airly in November; I'd wounded a deer, and +sent Crop forward on his trail to overtake and secure him. It was a +big buck, with long horns, and Crop had a pretty good general idea of +what sich things meant. He was cautious about cultivatin' too close an +acquaintance with such an animal, unless something oncommon obligated +him to do so. I heard him bayin' a little way over a ridge layin' gist +beyond where I shot the buck. I warn't in any great hurry, for I knew +Crop would attend to his case, and I tho't I'd wipe out my rifle afore +I loaded it again. I was standin' by the upturned roots of a tall fir +tree that had been blown down, and in fallin' had lodged in a crotch +of a great birch, maybe twenty feet from the ground, and broke off. I +stepped onto the butt of the fallen spruce, and was takin' my time to +clean my gun, when I heard a crashin' among the brush on the other +side of the ridge, as if some mighty big animal was comin' my way. I +walked pretty quick along up the slopin' log till I was, maybe fifteen +feet from the ground, and I saw Crop comin' over the ridge, in what +the Doctor would call a high state of narvous excitement, with his +tail between his legs, lookin' back over his shoulder, and expressin' +his astonishment in a low, quick bark, at every jump, at something he +seemed to regard as mighty onpleasant on his trail. I didn't have to +wait long to find out what it was, for about the biggest bull moose I +ever happened to see, came crashin' like a steam-engine after him. He +wasn't more than two rods behind the dog, and if I ever saw an ugly +looking beast, that moose was the one. Every hair seemed to stand +towards his head, and if he wasn't in earnest I never saw an animal +that was. He was puttin' in his best jumps, and the way he hurried up +Crop's cakes was a thing to be astonished at. The dog didn't see me, +and seemed to be principled agin stoppin' to inquire my whereabouts. +He dashed under the log where I stood, and the moose after him like +mad. He seemed to be expectin' aid and comfort from me, as the papers +say, and was wonderin', no doubt, where me and my rifle was all this +time. I called after him, but he was in a hurry and couldn't stop, for +there was a thing he didn't care about shakin' hands with, not three +rods from his tail. He heard me, though, and took a circle round a +great boulder, and the moose after him, and as he got straightened my +way, I called him again, and he saw me. He leaped onto the log and +came runnin' up to where I stood, and was mighty glad to be out of the +way of them big hoofs and horns that were after him. He was safe now, +and he opened his mouth and let off a good deal of tall barkin' at his +enemy. The moose saw us, and his fury was the greater because he +couldn't get at us. He kept chargin' back and forth under the log we +were perched on, and if there wasn't malice in his eye, I wouldn't +say so. + +"When I first saw him, I was standin' with the butt of my rifle on the +log, my hand graspin' the barrel, and as I caught it up suddenly to +load, the string of my powder-horn caught between the muzzle and the +ramrod, broke, and the horn fell to the ground. Here was a fix for a +hunter to be in. My rifle was empty, and every grain of powder I had +in the world was in the horn, fifteen feet below me, on the ground. To +go down after it was a thing I was principled agin undertaking +considerin' the circumstance of that bull moose with his great horns +and the onpleasant temper he seemed to be in. What to do I didn't +know. I hollered and shouted at the kritter, thinkin', maybe, that the +voice of a human might scare him; but it only made him madder, and +every time I hollered he charged under the log more furiously than +before. I threw my huntin' cap at him, but he pitched into it, and if +he didn't trample it into the ground, as if it was a human, you may +shoot me. After a while, he got tired of dashin' back and forth, under +the log, and took a stand two or three rods off, and as he eyed us, +shook his great horns and stamped with his big hoofs, as much as to +say, 'very well, gentlemen, I can wait, don't hurry yourselves, take +your time; but I shall stay here as long as you stay up there. And +when you do come down, we'll take a turn that won't be pleasant to +some of us.' Crop and I took the hint and sat still, thinkin' maybe +he'd get over his pet and move off; but he did'nt lean that way at +all. He seemed to've made up his mind to stay there as long as we +stayed on the log, be the same more or less. We'd sat there maybe an +hour, when I happened to think of a trollin' line and some fishhooks I +had in my pocket, and it came across me that possibly I might fish up +my powder horn. So tyin' half a dozen hooks to the end of my line, I +laid down on the log to angle for my powder-horn. When I laid down, +the old bull made a pass under the log, as if he expected me down +there, and charged back again, as if he was disappointed in not +runnin' agin me. But he saw 'twan't no use, and took his old stand +agin. I dropped down the grapnel, and after a great many failures, I +hooked into the string of the powder horn, and hoisted away. I hauled +it up mighty quick, for the old bull seemed to be suspicions that +something was goin' on that might have something to do with his futer +happiness, and when he got sight of it, the pass he made was a thing +to stand out of the way of. But he was too late; the powder-horn was +safe, and I notified him, as Squire Smith did the cats, to leave them +parts in just one minute by the clock. He did'nt pay any attention to +the warnin'. I loaded my rifle carefully, and while I was puttin' on +the cap, asked the gentleman if he calculated to move on, and let +peaceable people alone. He didn't condescend to answer a word, looking +for all the world like a tiger in savageness. 'Very well,' said I, as +I sighted him between the eyes, 'on your head be it,' and pulled. The +ball went crashin' through his skull into his brain, and he went down. +Crop knew what that meant. He didn't wait to run down the log, but +leaped to the ground, and had his teeth in the animal's throat before +the echoes of my rifle were done dancin' around among the mountains. I +loaded my gun before I came down, thinkin' maybe there might be +another bad tempered moose about, but there wasn't. Crop and I learned +what we ought to've know before, and that was that it's a safe thing +for a hunter to have an extra horn of powder in his pocket, and a +loaded rifle in his hand when a mad bull moose is on his trail, and +that a slantin' tree is a good thing to get onto at sich a time." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +GOOD-BYE--FLOATING DOWN THE RACKETT--A BLACK FOX--A TRICK UPON THE +MARTIN TRAPPERS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +We rose with the dawn the next morning, and before the sun was above +the hills we were on our way down the lake, to separate as we struck +the Rackett; the Doctor and Smith to return by the way of Keeseville +and the Champlain, and Spalding and myself to drift down that pleasant +stream to Pottsdam, and thence to the majestic St. Lawrence, to spend +a fortnight among the "Thousand Islands" of that noble river. Near the +outlet of the lake is a bold rocky bluff, rising right up out of the +deep water twenty feet, against which the waves dash, and around which +a romantic bay steals away to hide itself in the old woods. This +beautiful bay is always calm, for even the narrow strait which +connects it with the open water is divided by a rocky, but wooded +island, shutting out alike the winds and the waves from disturbing its +repose. It is surrounded by gigantic forest trees, whose shadows make +it a cool retreat in the heat of noon, and whose dense foliage fills +the air with freshness and fragrance when the sun is hot in the sky. +Towards its head, a cold stream comes creeping around the boulders, +and dancing and singing down the rocks from a copious spring, a short +way back in the forest. Near where this brook enters we landed at +seven o'clock to breakfast. We supplied ourselves with fish by casting +across the mouth of the little stream, while our boatmen were +preparing a fire. Our sail of eight miles down the lake furnished us +with appetites which gave to the beautiful speckled trout we caught +there a peculiar relish. We arranged matters so that the Doctor and +Smith were to return in one boat to the Saranacs, while Spalding and +myself were to move on down the Rackett with the other two. Cullen and +Wood were to go with us to Pottsdam, from whence our route lay by +railroad to Ogdensburgh. We had, on entering the woods, dispatched our +baggage to the former place to await our arrival there. At nine +o'clock we launched out upon the lake again. There are two outlets +which enter the Rackett, half a mile apart, down the right hand one of +which the Doctor and Smith's course lay, and ours down the left. We +shook hands with our friends, and lay upon our oars while they passed +on towards home, wishing them a pleasant voyage, and a safe return. + +"I say," shouted Smith, as they were about rounding a point that would +hide them from our view, "remember our compact about killing the bear. +The glory of that achievement belongs to me, you know. Don't say a +word about it when you get home till you see me. I haven't fully made +up my mind as to the manner of capturing him, and there must be no +contradictions on the subject." + +"Go ahead," replied Spalding, "we'll be careful of your honor. Drop us +a line at Cape Vincent, when you've digested the matter, and we'll +stand by you. Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye!" And our friends disappeared from our sight on their voyage +home. + +"And so," said Spalding, "we are to leave this beautiful lake, and +these old forests so soon. I could linger here a month still, enjoying +these shady and primitive solitudes. To you and I, the quiet which one +finds here is vastly more inviting than it is to the friends who have +just left us. The Doctor, of necessity, leads a life of activity, +feeling physical weariness as the result of his labors, but little of +that strong yearning for intellectual repose which those in your +profession or mine so often feel. Smith's life demands excitement. The +absence of the cares and toil of business occasions a restlessness and +desire of change, which makes him discontented here. With them the +great charm of this wild region is its novelty. They enjoy its +beauties for a season with peculiar relish, but as these become +familiar, the spell is broken, and they turn towards home without a +regret To you and I, there is something beyond this. We, too, feel and +appreciate the beauty of these lakes and mountains The hill-sides and +placid waters, the forest songs, and wild scenery are pleasant to us; +but we enjoy them the more from the intellectual relaxation, the +mental quiet and repose, which we find among them. We feel that we are +resting, that the process of recuperation, intellectual as well as +physical, is going on within us. We can almost trace its progress, +and we feel that the time spent by us here is full of profit as well +as pleasure. At all events, it is so with me, and if duty to others, +whose interests it is my business to serve, did not demand my return, +I could enjoy another month here with unabated pleasure." + +"You have left me little," I replied, "to add to what you have already +said, in expressing the sources of my enjoyment among these beautiful +lakes. Fishing and hunting, considered in the abstract, are things I +care but little about. They are pleasant enough in their way, but what +brings me here is the strong desire as well as necessity for the +repose of which you speak. There is a luxury in intellectual rest, +when the brain is wearied with protracted toil, which far surpasses +the mere animal enjoyment which follows relaxation from physical +labor. That rest I cannot find in society. I must seek it among wild +and primeval solitudes, where I can be alone with nature in her +unadorned simplicity, away from the barbarisms, so to speak, of +civilization, where I can act and talk and think as a natural, and not +an artificial man, where I can be off my guard, and free from the +weight of that armor which the conventionalities of life, the captions +espionage of the world compels us to wear, un-tempted by the thousand +enticements which society everywhere presents to lure us +into unrest." + +We drifted leisurely down the left hand channel, and entered the +Rackett, bidding good-bye to the beautiful lake as a bend in the river +hid it from our view. A mile below the junction, the river runs square +against a precipice some sixty feet in height, wheeling off at a right +angle, and stretching away though a natural meadow on either hand, of +hundreds of acres in extent. At the base of this precipice, formed by +the rocky point of a hill, the water is of unknown depth. Above, and +fifty feet from the surface of the river, there are ledges of a foot +or two in width, like shelves, along which the fox, the fisher, and +possibly the panther, creep, instead of travelling over the high ridge +extending back into the forest. As we rounded a point which brought us +in view of this precipice, Spalding, who was in the forward boat, +discovered a black object making its way along the face of the rocks. +A signal for silence was given, and the boats were permitted to float +with the current in the direction of the precipice. We were forty rods +distant, and the animal, whatever it was, had no suspicion of danger. +It paused midway across the rocks, looked about, nosing out over the +water, and sat down upon its haunches, as if enjoying the beauty of +the scenery around it. In the meantime, the boats had drifted within +twenty rods, and Spalding, taking deliberate aim, fired. At the crack +of the rifle, the animal leapt dear of the ledge, struck once against +the face of the rock some twenty feet below, and then went, end over +end, thirty feet into the river. As he struck the water he commenced +swimming round and round in a circle, evidently bewildered by +Spalding's bullet, or the effect of his involuntary plunge down the +rocks. Our men bent to their oars, and had got within five or six rods +of it, when it straightened up in alarm for the shore. + +"Hold on, Cullen," said I, "lay steady for a moment." I drew upon the +animal, and just as it reached the shore, fired, and it turned over +dead. We found it to be a black fox, that had walked out upon the +ledge, and thus been added another victim to the indulgence of an idle +curiosity. Spalding's bullet had grazed its belly, raking off the hair +and graining the skin; mine had gone through its head. + +"There, Judge," said Cullen, as he lifted the animal into the boat, +"is a kritter that isn't often met with in these parts, and the wonder +is, that he didn't discover us as we floated down the stream. He's +about the cunningest animal that travels the woods. He's got an eye +that's always open, a delicate ear, and a sharp nose, and he keeps 'em +busy, as a general thing. He never neglects their warnin', but puts +out about the quickest, whenever they notify him that there's an enemy +about. I've had a good deal of trouble with them in my day, when I've +been out trappin' martin. They'll manage to spring the trap and carry +off the bait. When one of them chaps gets on a line of traps, there's +no use in talkin'. The game's up, and the trapper may make up his mind +to get rid of the varmint in some way, or locate in another range of +country. He'll find his traps sprung and his bait gone. Or if a martin +has been in ahead of the fox, he'll find only the skull, the end of +the tail, the feet, and a few of the larger bones, and they'll be +picked mighty clean at that. You've seen a martin trap, or if you +haven't, I'll try and describe one so that you'll understand it. It's +a very simple contrivance, and if a martin was not a good deal more +stupid than a goose, he'd never be caught in one of them. We drive +down a couple of rows of little stakes, plantin' the stakes close +together, and leaving between the rows a space of six or eight inches. +The rows are may be a foot and a half long. We then cut and trim a +long saplin', say five or six inches across at the butt, and leaving +one end on the ground, set the other, may be two feet high, with a +kind of figure four, so that when it falls, it will come down between +the rows of stakes. We fix the bait so that a martin in getting at it, +will have to go in between the rows of stakes, and displace the trap +sticks, when down comes the pole upon him and crushes him to death. We +talk about a _line_ of traps, because we blaze a line of trees, +sometimes for miles, and set a trap every twenty or thirty rods. I've +had a line of a dozen miles or more, in my day, in a circle around my +campin' ground. In minding our traps, we follow the line of marked +trees from one to the other, and so never miss a trap, nor get lost in +the woods. + +"I mind once, a good many years ago, Crop and I was over towards the +St. Regis, on a cruise after martin and sable, and anything else in +the way of game we could pick up. I'd laid out my trappin' +arrangements on a pretty large scale, and was doin' a little better +than midlin', when I found that my traps were sprung by some animal +that helped himself to the bait, without leavin' his hide as a +consideration for settin' of 'em. After a few days, I found that +whatever it was, understood the line as well as I did, for he took the +range regular, and not only stole the bait, but ate up half a dozen +martin, that had given me a claim on their hides by springin' my +traps. This was a kind of medlin' with my private concerns that I +didn't like, and I was bound to find out who the interloper was, and +if possible, to make his acquaintance. There was no snow on the +ground, and I couldn't get at his track. So I made up my mind to watch +for him. Well, one day I spoke to Crop to stay by the shanty and take +care of the things, while I went to find out who it was that was +medlin' with our property, and started off on my line of traps. I got +up into the crotch of a great birch near one of 'em, and sat there +with my rifle, waitin' for something to turn up. It was a little after +noon when I got located. The sun travelled slowly along down towards +the western hills, his bright light, in that calm November day, makin' +the rocky ranges and the bare heads of the tall peaks shine out in a +blaze of glory. The livin' things of the old woods were busy and jolly +enough. An old owl came flying lazily out of the thick branches of a +hemlock, and lightin' within a dozen feet of me, opened his great +round eyes in astonishment, and as the bright sunlight dazzled him, he +squinted and turned his cat-like face from side to side, as if makin' +up his mind that he'd know me the next time we met. By-and-by he +opened his hooked beak, and great red mouth, and roared out, 'Hoo! +hohoo! hoo!' as much as to say, 'who the devil are you?' I didn't +answer a word, and after a little, he flew back to his shadowy perch +among the dense foliage of the hemlock. A black squirrel came hopping +along with his mouth full of beech nuts, and running nimbly up the +tree on which I was perched, and out upon one of the great limbs, +deposited his store in a hollow he found there. He caught sight of me +as he came back, and seating himself upon a branch, not six feet from +my head, began chatterin' and barkin' as if givin' me a regular lecter +for invadin' his premises, and takin' possession of his tree. He +didn't seem to understand the matter at all, and I didn't undertake to +explain the reason of my being there. After a little, he went off +about his business, and left me to attend to mine. A raccoon came +nosing along, stoppin' every little way to turn over the leaves, or +pull away the dirt from a root with his long hands, tastin' of one +thing and smellin' of another in a mighty dainty way. When he came to +my tree, he seemed to think that there might be something among its +branches worth looking at. So he came clambering up its rough bark +towards where I sat. He came up on the other side of the tree from me, +till he got about even with my huntin'-cap, and then came round to my +side, and there we were, face to face, not two feet apart. I reckon +that coon was astonished when our eyes met, for with a sort of scream +he let right loose, and dropped twenty feet to the ground like a clod, +and the way he waddled away into the brash, mutterin' and talkin' to +himself, was a thing to laugh at. + +"The sun was, may be, an hour high, when lookin' along the line of +marked trees, I saw a black animal come trotting mighty softly towards +the trap I was watchin'. I knew him at once. He was a black fox, and I +knew that he was the gentleman that had been makin' free with my +property for the last few days. He trotted up to the trap, and walked +carefully around it, nosin' out towards the bait, but keepin' out from +under the pole. He seemed to understand what that pole meant, and that +if it fell on him, he'd be very likely to be hurt. After a little, he +trotted out to the other end of the pole, and gettin' on to it, walked +carefully along to within ten or twelve feet of the bait; if he didn't +begin jumpin' up and down till he sprung the trap, you may shoot me. +When he'd done that job, he went back, and gettin' hold of the bait +with his teeth, drew it out and began very cooly to eat it. By this +time I'd brought my rifle to bear upon the gentleman, but I gave him a +little law, to see what his next move would be. After he'd finished +the bait, and found there warn't any more to be come at, he stretched +himself on his belly along the ground, and began lickin' his paws, and +passing them over his cheeks, as you've seen a cat do. After he'd +washed his face awhile, he sat himself down on his haunches, curled +his long bushy tail around his feet, and looked about as if +considerin' what he should do next. Just then I paid my respects to +him, and as my rifle broke the stillness of the forest, he turned a +double summerset, and after kickin' around a little, laid still. I +came down from my perch, and took the gentleman to the shanty and +added his hide to those of the martins I'd taken. My traps warn't +disturbed after that, and I carried home a pack of furs that bro't me +near two hundred dollars." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +OUT OF THE WOODS--THE THOUSAND ISLANDS--CAPE VINCENT--BASS FISHING +HOME--A SEARCHER AFTER TRUTH--AN INTERRUPTION--FINIS. + + +We floated quietly down the Rackett, carrying our boats around the +falls, shooting like an arrow down the rapids, or gliding along under +the shadows of the gigantic forest trees that line the long, calm +reaches of that beautiful river. We shook hands and parted with our +boatmen at the pleasant village of Pottsdam, where we arrived the +second evening after leaving Tupper's Lake. We found our baggage, and +it was a pleasant thing to change our long beards for shaved faces, +and our forest costume for the garniture of the outer man after the +fashion of civilization. We took the cars for Ogdensburgh, and the +next morning found us steaming up the majestic St. Lawrence, towards +that paradise of fishermen, the Thousand Islands. We stopped a couple +of days at Alexandria Bay, and passed on to Cape Vincent, a beautiful +village situated a mile or two below where the river takes its +departure from the broad lake beyond. This pleasant little town is +built upon a wide sweep of tableland, overlooking the river in front, +and the open lake on the west. It is accessible both by the lake and +river, having two or three arrivals' and departures of steamboats each +way daily, and being the terminus of the Rome and Watertown Railroad, +the great thoroughfare between Kingston and the central portion of the +Tipper Provinces and the States. It is a delightful place in the hot +summer months, with a climate unequalled for healthfulness, a cool +breeze always fanning it from the water, and in the vicinity the best +bass fishing to be found on this continent. + +Opposite, and just below the town, is Carlton Island, on which stand +the ruins of an old French fortification, the walls and trenches and +the solitary chimneys, from which the wooden barracks have rotted or +been burned away, remain as melancholy testimonials of the bloody +strifes between the red men of the forest, and the pioneers of +civilization who were driving them from the hunting grounds of +their fathers. + +The black bass of the St. Lawrence and Ontario, are the "gamest" fish +that swim, and they are nowhere found in such abundance as in the +neighborhood of Cape Vincent. On the outer edge of the bar, near the +head of Carlton Island, we caught between seventy and eighty in one +afternoon, weighing from three to five pounds each, every one of which +fought like a hero, diving with a plunge for the bottom, skiving with +a rush down, across, or up the river; leaping clear from the water +and shaking his head furiously, to throw the hook loose from his jaw, +before surrendering to his fate. In Wilson's Bay, a sweet place, three +miles from the village by water, or one and a half by land, we caught +as many more on another afternoon. We took a sail-boat and glided +round Lighthouse Point (a pleasant drive of two miles from the +village), out into the lake, and steered for Grenadier Island, five +miles distant, on which we tented for the night, and the bass we +brought home the next day were something worth looking at. Near the +upper end of Long Island are other prolific bass shoals, where the +fisherman may enjoy himself. Indeed, he can scarcely go amiss in the +surrounding waters. + +The black bass of the St. Lawrence are not only game fish, but are, in +excellence of flavor, scarcely excelled by any fish of this country. +Baked or boiled, they have few superiors, and as a pan fish, are +excelled only by the brook-trout of the streams. The season for taking +them commences in July; and continues through September. August is the +best month in the year for the bass fishermen. If, during that month, +he will supply himself with a strong bass-pole, a strong treble-action +reel, stout silk lines, and proper hooks, and visit Gape Vincent, he +will find boatmen with a supply of minnows, ready to serve him; and if +he fails to enjoy himself for a fortnight among the black bass of the +St Lawrence and Ontario, he may count himself as a man who is very +hard to please. + +We spent a pleasant week at Cape Vincent, and then turned our faces +homeward, invigorated in strength and buoyant in spirits, to begin +again a round of toil, from which we, at least, could claim no further +exemption. + +"H----," said a friend of mine, as he stalked into my sanctum, a few +days after my return, and seated himself at my elbow, as if for a +private and confidential talk, "did Smith really shoot the bear, the +skin of which he brought home, and which he exhibits with such +triumph. Tell me, honestly, as between you and me, did he in fact +shoot him?" + +"Smith certainly did shoot that bear," I replied. + +"But is the marvellous story he tells about the manner of killing him +really true?" + +"That, of course, I cannot tell," I replied, "as I have never heard +the story." + +"Why," said my friend, "he tells about a beautiful lake, lying away +back in the northern wilderness, above which Mount Marcy, and Mount +Seward, and other nameless peaks of the Adirondacks, rear their tall +heads to the clouds, throwing back the sunlight in a blaze of glory; +on which the moonbeams lie like a mantle of silver, while away down in +its fathomless depths the stars glow and sparkle, like the sheen of a +million of diamonds. Of the old forests and trees of fabulous growth, +stretching away and away on every hand, throwing their sombre shadows +far out over the water, in whose tangled recesses countless deer and +moose, and panthers, and bears range, and among whose branches birds +of unknown melody carol. That one side of this beautiful lake is +palisadoed by a wall of rocks, stand straight up sixty feet high, near +the top of which is a shelf or narrow pathway, along which two men can +scarcely walk abreast. That he was passing along this pathway one +afternoon, examining the rocks, and looking for geological specimens. +Below him was a precipice of fifty feet, against the base of which the +waves, when the winds swept over the lake, dashed. Around him the +birds that build their nests in the crevices of the rock were whirling +and screaming, while before him lay the beautiful lake, motionless and +calm, as if it had fallen asleep and was slumbering sweetly in its +forest bed. That he was passing leisurely along with his rifle at a +trail, admiring the transcendent loveliness of the scenery around him, +where the rugged and the sublime, the placid and the beautiful, were +so magnificently mingled, when, in turning a sharp angle, a huge bear" + +"Copy!" shouted the printer's devil, as he came plunging down three +steps at a bound from the compositors' room above. "Copy!" he +screamed, as he dove into the outer office where that article was +usually kept, but found none. + +"Mr. H.," said he, as he opened my door so gently, with a voice so +quiet, and a look so innocent, that one might well be excused for +believing that he had never spoken a loud word in his life, "Mr. H----, +the foreman desired me to ask you for some copy." + +"You see, my friend," said I to the anxious inquirer after truth, +"that I am exceedingly busy just now. You will excuse me, therefore, +for referring you to the Doctor and Spalding, who know all about the +matter. Good day." And my friend departed without finishing the story +Smith told him about his killing the bear. I have never heard the +balance of that story yet. + +And now, Reader, a word to you, and I have done. When the sun comes +up over the city, day after day, pouring his burning rays along the +glimmering streets, shining on and on in a changeless glare, till he +hides himself in the darkness again; when your strength wilts under the +enervating influences of the summer heats, and you pant for the forest +breezes and the "cooling streams," remember that the same wild region +I have been describing, the same pleasant rivers, beautiful lakes, tall +mountains, and primeval forests are there still, all inviting you to test +their recuperative agencies. The same singing birds, the fishes and the +game are there waiting your pleasure. Visit them when the summer heat +makes the cities a desolation. Give a month to the enjoyment of a +wilderness-life, and you will return to your labors invigorated in +strength, buoyant in spirit--a wiser, healthier, and a better man. + +FINIS. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Northern Scenes, by S. H. Hammond + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10009 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..815c25c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10009 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10009) diff --git a/old/10009.txt b/old/10009.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12d9004 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10009.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8502 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Northern Scenes, by S. H. Hammond + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Wild Northern Scenes + Sporting Adventures with the Rifle and the Rod + +Author: S. H. Hammond + +Release Date: November 7, 2003 [EBook #10009] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD NORTHERN SCENES *** + + + + +Produced by Michael Lockey and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: He smashed down upon me again, and made that hole in my +leg above the knee. I handled my knife in a hurry, and made more than +one hole in his skin, while he stuck a prong through my arm.] + + +WILD NORTHERN SCENES. + +OR + +SPORTING ADVENTURES + +WITH + +THE RIFLE AND THE ROD. + +BY S. H. HAMMOND. + +1857 + + + + +TO JOHN H. REYNOLDS, ESQ., OF ALBANY. + + +You have floated over the beautiful lakes and along the pleasant +rivers of that broad wilderness lying between the majestic St. +Lawrence and Lake Champlain. You have, in seasons of relaxation from +the labors of a profession in which you have achieved such enviable +distinction, indulged in the sports pertaining to that wild region. +You have listened to the glad music of the woods when the morning was +young, and to the solemn night voices of the forest when darkness +enshrouded the earth. You are, therefore, familiar with the scenery +described in the following pages. + +Permit me, then, to dedicate this book to you, not because of your +eminence as a lawyer, nor yet on account of your distinguished +position as a citizen, but as a keen, intelligent sportsman, one who +loves nature in her primeval wildness, and who is at home, with a +rifle and rod, in the old woods. + +With sentiments of great respect, + +I remain your friend and servant, + +THE AUTHOR. + + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +There is a broad sweep of country lying between the St. Lawrence and +Lake Champlain, which civilization with its improvements and its rush +of progress has not yet invaded. It is mountainous, rocky, and for all +agricultural purposes sterile and unproductive. It is covered with +dense forests, and inhabited by the same wild things, save the red man +alone, that were there thousands of years ago. It abounds in the most +beautiful lakes that the sun or the stars ever shone upon. I have +stood upon the immense boulder that forms the head or summit of +Baldface Mountain, a lofty, isolated peak, looming thousands of feet +towards the sky, and counted upwards of twenty of these beautiful +lakes--sleeping in quiet beauty in their forest beds, surrounded +by primeval woods, overlooked by rugged hills, and their placid waters +glowing in the sunlight. + +It is a high region, from which numerous rivers take their rise to +wander away through gorges and narrow valleys, sometimes rushing down +rapids, plunging over precipices, or moving in deep sluggish currents, +some to Ontario, some to the St. Lawrence, some to Champlain, and some +to seek the ocean, through the valley of the Hudson. The air of this +mountain region in the summer is of the purest, loaded always with the +freshness and the pleasant odors of the forest. It gives strength to +the system, weakened by labor or reduced by the corrupted and +debilitating atmosphere of the cities. It gives elasticity and +buoyancy to the mind depressed by continued toil, or the cares and +anxieties of business, and makes the blood course through the veins +with renewed vigor and recuperated vitality. + +The invalid, whose health is impaired by excessive labor, but who is +yet able to exercise in the open air, will find a visit to these +beautiful lakes and pleasant rivers, and a fortnight or a month's stay +among them, vastly more efficacious in restoring strength and tone to +his system than all the remedial agencies of the most skillful +physicians. I can speak understandingly on this subject, and from +evidences furnished by my own personal experience and observation. + +To the sportsman, whether of the forest or flood, who has a taste for +nature as God threw it from his hand, who loves the mountains, the old +woods, romantic lakes, and wild forest streams, this region is +peculiarly inviting. The lakes, the rivers, and the streams abound in +trout, while abundance of deer feed on the lily pads and grasses that +grow in the shallow water, or the natural meadows that line the shore. +The fish may be taken at any season, and during the months of July and +August he will find deer enough feeding along the margins of the lakes +and rivers, and easily to be come at, to satisfy any reasonable or +honorable sportsman. I have been within fair shooting distance of +twenty in a single afternoon while floating along one of those rivers, +and have counted upwards of forty in view at the same time, feeding +along the margin of one of the beautiful lakes hid away in the +deep forest. + +The scenery I have attempted to describe--the lakes, rivers, +mountains, islands, rocks, valleys and streams, will be found as +recorded in this volume. The game will be found as I have asserted, +unless perchance an army of sportsmen may have thinned it somewhat on +the borders, or driven it deeper into the broad wilderness spoken of. +I was over a portion of that wilderness last summer, and found plenty +of trout and abundance of deer. I heard the howl of the wolf, the +scream of the panther, and the hoarse bellow of the moose, and though +I did not succeed in taking or even seeing any of these latter +animals, yet I or my companion slew a deer every day after we entered +the forest, and might have slaughtered half a dozen had we been so +disposed. Though the excursion spoken of in the following pages was +taken four years ago, yet I found, the last summer, small diminution +of the trout even in the border streams and lakes of the "Saranac and +Rackett woods." + +I have visited portions of this wilderness at least once every summer +for the last ten years, and I have never yet been disappointed with my +fortnight's sport, or failed to meet with a degree of success which +abundantly satisfied me, at least. I have generally gone into the +woods weakened in body and depressed in mind. I have always come out +of them with renewed health and strength, a perfect digestion, and a +buoyant and cheerful spirit. + +For myself, I have come to regard these mountains, these lakes and +streams, these old forests, and all this wild region, as my settled +summer resort, instead of the discomforts, the jam, the excitement, +and the unrest of the watering-places or the sea shore. I visit them +for their calm seclusion, their pure air, their natural cheerfulness, +their transcendent beauty, their brilliant mornings, their glorious +sunsets, their quiet and repose. I visit them too, because when among +them, I can take off the armor which one is compelled to wear, and +remove the watch which one must set over himself, in the crowded +thoroughfares of life; because I can whistle, sing, shout, hurrah and +be jolly, without exciting the ridicule or provoking the contempt of +the world. In short, because I can go back to the days of old, and +think, and act, and feel like "a boy again." + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER I. + A Great Institution + +CHAPTER II. + Hurrah! for the Country + +CHAPTER III. + The Departure--The Stag Hounds--The Chase--Round Lake + +CHAPTER IV. + The Doctor's Story--A Slippery Fish--A Lawsuit and a + Compromise + +CHAPTER V. + A Frightened Animal--Trolling for Trout--The Boatman's Story + Defence + +CHAPTER VII. + Kinks!--"Dirty Dogs"--The Barking Dog that was found Dead in + the Yard--The Dog that Barked himself to Death + +CHAPTER VIII. + Stony Brook--A Good Time with the Trout--Rackett + River--Tupper's Lake--A Question Asked and Answered + +CHAPTER IX. + Hunting by Torchlight--An Incompetent Judge--A New Sound in + the Forest--Old Sangamo's Donkey + +CHAPTER X. + Grindstone Brook--Forest Sounds--A Funny Tree covered with + Snow Flakes + +CHAPTER XI. + A Convention broken up in a Row--The Chairman ejected + +CHAPTER XII. + The First Chain of Ponds--Shooting by Turns--Sheep + Washing--A Plunge and a Dive--A Roland for an Oliver + +CHAPTER XIII. + A Jolly Time for the Deer--Hunting on the Water by + Daylight--Mud Lake--Funereal Scenery--A New way of + Taking Rabbits--The Negro and the Merino Buck--A + Collision + +CHAPTER XIV. + A Deer Trapped--The Result of a Combat--A Question of Mental + Philosophy Discussed + +CHAPTER XV. + Hooking up Trout--The Left Branch--The Rapids--A Fight with + a Buck + +CHAPTER XVI. + Round Pond--The Pile Driver--A Theory for Spiritualists + +CHAPTER XVII. + Little Tupper's Lake--A Spike Buck--A Thunder Storm in the + Forest--The Howl of the Wolf + +CHAPTER XVIII. + An Exploring Voyage in an Alderswamp--A Beaver Dam--A Fair + Shot and a Miss--Drowning a Bear--an Unpleasant + Passenger + +CHAPTER XIX. + Spalding's Bear Story--Climbing to avoid a Collision--An + Unexpected Meeting--A Race + +CHAPTER XX. + The Chase on the Island--The Chase on the Lake--The + Bear--Gambling for Glory--Anecdote of Noah and the + Gentleman who offered to Officiate as Pilot on Board + the Ark + +CHAPTER XXI. + The Doctor and his Wife on a Fishing Excursion--The Law of + the Case--Strong-minded Women + +CHAPTER XXII. + A Beautiful Flower--A New Lake--A Moose--His Capture--A + Sumptuous Dinner + +CHAPTER XXIII. + The Cricket in the Wall--The Minister's Illustration--Old + Memories + +CHAPTER XXIV. + The Accidents of Life--"Some Men Achieve Greatness, and Some + have Greatness Thrust Upon Them"--A Slide--Rattle at + the Top and an Icy Pool at the Bottom--A Fanciful Story + +CHAPTER XXV. + Headed Towards Home--The Martin and Sable Hunter--His + Cabin--Autumnal Scenery + +CHAPTER XXVI. + A Surprise--A Serenade--A Visit from Strangers--An + Invitation to Breakfast--A Fashionable Hour and a + Bountiful Bill of Fare + +CHAPTER XXVII. + Would I were a Boy Again! + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + Headed Down Stream--Return to Tupper's Lake--The Camp on the + Island + +CHAPTER XXIX. + A Mysterious Sound--Treed by a Moose--Angling for a Powder + Horn--An Unheeded Warning and the Consequences + +CHAPTER XXX. + Good-bye--Floating Down the Rackett--A Black Fox--A Trick + upon the Martin Trappers and its Consequences + +CHAPTER XXXI. + Out of the Woods--The Thousand Islands--Cape Vincent--Bass + Fishing--Home--A Searcher after Truth--An + Interruption--Finis + + + + + + +THE RIFLE AND THE ROD. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A GREAT INSTITUTION. + + +"It is a great institution," I said, or rather thought aloud, one +beautiful summer morning, as my wife was dressing the baby. The little +thing lay upon its face across her lap, paddling and kicking with its +little bare arms and legs, as such little people are very apt to do, +while being dressed. It was not our baby. We have dispensed with that +luxury. And yet it was a sweet little thing, and nestled as closely in +our hearts as if it were our own. It was our first grandchild, the +beginning of a third generation, so that there is small danger of our +name becoming extinct. A friend of mine, who unfortunately has no +voice for song, has a most excellent wife and beautiful baby, and +cannot therefore be said to be without music at home. It is his first +descendant, and everybody knows that such are just the things of which +fathers are very apt to be proud. He was spending an evening with a +neighbor, and was asked to sing. He declined, of course, giving as a +reason that he never sang. "Why, Mr. H----," said a black-eyed little +girl, of seven--"why, Mr. H----, don't you never sing to the baby?" +Sure enough! I wonder if there ever was a civilized, a human man, who +never sang to the baby. I do not believe that there was ever such a +paradox in nature, as a man who had tossed the baby up and down, +balanced it on his hand, given it a ride on his foot, and yet never +sang to it. I do not care a fig about melody of voice, or science in +quavering; I am not talking about sweetness of tone; what I mean to +say is, that I do not believe there is a man living, even though he +have no more voice than a raven, who is human, and yet never sang to +the baby, always assuming that he has one. + +"A great institution," I repeated, half in soliloquy and half to my +wife. + +"What in the world are you talking about?" said Mrs. H----, as she +took a pin from her mouth, and fastened the band that encircled the +waist of the baby. The nurse was looking quietly on, quite willing +that her work should be thus taken off her hands. Will somebody tell +me, if there ever was a grandmother, especially one who became such +young, who could sit by, and see the nurse dress her first, or even +her tenth grandchild, while it was a helpless little thing, say a foot +or a foot and a half long? The nurse is so unhandy; she tumbles the +baby about so roughly, handles it so awkwardly, she will certainly +dress it too loosely, or too tight, or leave a pin that will prick it, +or some terrible calamity will happen. So she takes possession of the +little thing, and with a hand guided by experience and the instincts +of affection, puts its things on in a Christian and comfortable way. + +"A great institution!" I repeated again. + +"I do believe the man has lost his wits," remarked Mrs. H----, handing +the baby to the nurse. "Who ever heard of a baby less than three +months old being called an institution?" + +"Never heard of such a thing in my life," I replied, "though a much +greater mistake might be made." + +"What then, in the name of goodness, have you been talking about?" +inquired Mrs. H----. + +"The COUNTRY of course," I replied. + +I had just returned from a business trip to Vermont--who ever thought +that Vermont would be traversed by railroads, or that the echoes which +dwell among her precipices and mountain fastnesses, would ever wake to +the snort of the iron horse? Who ever thought that the locomotive +would go screaming and thundering along the base of the Green +Mountains, hurling its ponderous train, loaded with human freight, +along the narrow valleys above which mountain peaks hide their heads +in the clouds? How old Ethan Allen and General Stark, "Old Put," and +the other glorious names that enrich the pages of our revolutionary +history, would open their eyes in astonishment, if they could come +back from "the other side of Jordan," and sit for a little while on +their own tombstones in sight of the railroads, and see the trains as +they go rushing like a tornado along their native valleys. + +I had made up my mind that morning, all at once, to go into the +country. It was a sudden resolve, but I acted upon it. Going into the +country is a very different thing from what it used to be. There is no +packing of trunks, or taking leave of friends. You take your satchel +or travelling bag, kiss your wife in a hurry at the door, and jump +aboard of the cars; the whistle sounds, the locomotive breathes +hoarsely for a moment, and you are off like a shot. In ten minutes the +suburbs are behind you; the fields and farms are flying to the rear; +you dash through the woods and see the trees dodging and leaping +behind and around each other, performing the dance of the witches "in +most admired confusion;" in three hours you are among the hills of +Massachusetts, the mountains of Vermont, on the borders of the +majestic Hudson, in the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, a hundred +miles from the good city of Albany, where you can tramp among the wild +or tame things of nature to your heart's content. + +I had for the moment no particular place in view. What I wanted was, +to get outside of the city, among the hills, where I could see the old +woods, the streams, the mountains, and get a breath of fresh air, such +as I used to breathe. I wanted to be free and comfortable for a month; +to lay around loose in a promiscuous way among the hills, where +beautiful lakes lay sleeping in their quiet loveliness; where the +rivers flow on their everlasting course through primeval forests; +where the moose, the deer, the panther and the wolf still range, and +where the speckled trout sport in the crystal waters. I had made up my +mind to throw off the cares and anxieties of business, and visit that +great institution spread out all around us by the Almighty, to make +men healthier, wiser, better. I had resolved to go into the country. +That was a fixed fact. But where? + +There stood my rifle in one corner of the room, and my fishing rods in +the other. The sight of these settled the matter. "I will go to the +North," I said. + +"Go to the North!" said Mrs. H----. "Do tell me if you've got another +of your old hunting and fishing fits on you again?" + +"Yes," I replied, "I've felt it coming on for a week, and I've got it +bad." + +"Very well," said my wife, "if the fit is on you, there's no use in +remonstrating; your valise will be ready by the morning train." And so +the matter was settled. + +But I must have a companion, somebody to talk to and with, somebody +who could appreciate the beauties of nature; who loved the old woods, +the wilderness, and all the wild things pertaining to them; to whom +the forests, the lakes, and tall mountains, the rivers and streams, +would recall the long past; to whom the forest songs and sounds would +bring back the memories of old, and make him "a boy again." So I +sallied out to find him. I had scarcely traversed a square, when I +met my friend, the doctor, with carpet bag in hand, on his way to +the depot. + +"Whither away, my friend?" I inquired, as we shook hands. + +"Into the country," he replied. + +"Very well, but where?" + +"Into the country," he repeated, "don't you comprehend? Into the +country, by the first train; anywhere, everywhere, all along shore." + +"Go with me," said I, "for a month." + +"A month! Bless your simple soul, every patient I've got will be well +in less than half that time; but let them, I'll be avenged on them +another time. But where do _you_ go?" + +"To my old haunts in the North," I replied. + + "To follow the stag to his slip'ry crag, + And to chase the bounding roe." + +"But," said he, "I've no rifle." + +"I've got four." + +"I've no fishing rod." + +"I've half a dozen at your service." + +"Give me your hand," said he; "I'm with you." And so the doctor was +booked. + +"Suppose," said the doctor, "we beat up Smith and Spalding, and take +them along. Smith has got one of his old fits of the hypo. He sent for +me to-day, and. I prescribed a frugal diet and the country. Wild +game, and bleeding by the musquitoes, will do him good. Spalding is +entitled to a holiday, for he's working himself into dyspepsia in this +hot weather." + +"Just the thing;" I replied, and we started to find Smith and +Spalding. We found them, and it was settled that they should go with +us for a month among the mountains. Everybody knows Smith, the +good-natured, eccentric Smith; Smith the bachelor, who has an income +greatly beyond his moderate expenditures, and enough of capital to +spoil, as he says, the orphan children of his sister. By way of saving +them from being thrown upon the cold world with a fortune, he declares +he will spend every dollar of it _himself_, simply out of regard for +_them_. But Smith will do no such thing, and the tenderness with which +he is rearing the two beautiful, black-eyed, raven-haired little +girls, proves that he will not. But Smith has no professional calling +or business, and when his digestion troubles him, he has visions of +the alms-house, and the Potters' Field, and of two mendicant little +girls, while his endorsement would be regarded as good at the bank for +a hundred thousand dollars. + +Spalding, as everybody within a hundred leagues of the capitol knows, +is a lawyer of eminence, full of good-nature, always cheerful, always +instructive; a troublesome opponent at the bar; a man of genial +sympathies and a big heart. If I have given him, as well as Smith, a +_nom de plume_, it is out of regard for their modesty. We arranged to +meet at the cars, the next morning at six, each with a rifle and +fishing rod, to be away for a month among the deer and the trout, +floating over lakes the most beautiful, and along rivers the +pleasantest that the sun ever shone upon. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HURRAH! FOR THE COUNTRY! + + +Hurrah! Hurrah! We are in the country--the glorious country! Outside +of the thronged streets; away from piled up bricks and mortar; outside +of the clank of machinery; the rumbling of carriages; the roar of the +escape pipe; the scream of the steam whistle; the tramp, tramp of +moving thousands on the stone sidewalks; away from the heated +atmosphere of the city, loaded with the smoke and dust, and gasses of +furnaces, and the ten thousand manufactories of villainous smells. We +are beyond even the meadows and green fields. We are here alone with +nature, surrounded by old primeval things. Tall forest trees, mountain +and valley are on the right hand and on the left. Before us, +stretching away for miles, is a beautiful lake, its waters calm and +placid, giving back the bright heavens, the old woods, the fleecy +clouds that drift across the sky, from away down in its quiet depths. +Beyond still, are mountain ranges, whose castellated peaks stand out +in sharp and bold relief, on whose tops the beams of the descending +sun lie like a mantle of silver and gold. Glad voices are ringing; +sounds of merriment make the evening joyous with the music of the wild +things around us. Hark! how from away off over the water, the voice of +the loon comes clear and musical and shrill, like the sound of a +clarion; and note how it is borne about by the echoes from hill to +hill. Hark! again, to that clanking sound away up in the air; metallic +ringing, like the tones of a bell. It is the call of the cock of the +woods as he flies, rising and falling, glancing upward and downward in +his billowy flight across the lake. Hark! to that dull sound, like +blows upon some soft, hollow, half sonorous substance, slow and +measured at first, but increasing in rapidity, until it rolls like the +beat of a muffled drum, or the low growl of the far-off thunder. It is +the partridge drumming upon his log Hark! still again, to that +quavering note, resembling somewhat the voice of the tree-frog when +the storm is gathering, but not so clear and shrill. It is the call of +the raccoon, as he clambers up some old forest tree, and seats himself +among the lowest of its great limbs. Listen to the almost human +halloo, the "hoo! hohoo, hoo!" that comes out from the clustering +foliage of an ancient hemlock. It is the solemn call of the owl, as he +sits among the limbs, looking out from between the branches with his +great round grey eyes. Listen again and you will hear the voice of the +catbird, the brown thrush, the chervink, the little chickadee, the +wood robin, the blue-jay, the wood sparrow, and a hundred other +nameless birds that live and build their nests and sing among these +old woods. + +But go a little nearer the lake, and you will have a concert that will +drown all these voices in its tumultuous roar. Compared to these +feeble strains, it is the crashing of Julien's hundred brazen +instruments to the soft and sweet melody of Ole Bull's violin. Come +with me to this rocky promontory; stand with me on this moss-covered +boulder, which forms the point. On either hand is a little bay, the +head of which is hidden around among the woods. See! over against us, +on the limb of that dead fir tree, which leans out over the water, is +a bald eagle, straightening with his hooked beak the feathers of his +wings, and pausing now and then to look out over the water for some +careless duck of which to make prey. See! he has leaped from his +perch, has spread his broad pinions, and is soaring upward towards the +sky. See! how he circles round and round, mounting higher and higher +at every gyration. He is like a speck in the air. But see! he is above +the mountains now, and how like an arrow he goes, straight forward, +with no visible motion to his wings. He has laid his course for some +lake, deeper in the wilderness, beyond that range of hills, and he is +there, even while we are talking of his flight. A swift bird, the +swiftest of all the birds, is the eagle, when he takes his descending +stoop from his place away up in the sky. He cleaves the air like a +bullet, and so swift is his career that the eye can scarcely trace his +flight. But, hark! all is still now, save the piping notes of the +little peeper along the shore. Wait, however, a moment. There, hear +that venerable podunker off to the right, with his deep bass, like the +sound of a brazen serpent. Listen! another deep voice on the left has +fallen in. There, another right over against us! another and another +still! a dozen! a hundred! a thousand! ten thousand! a million of +them! close by us! far off! on the right hand and on the left! here! +there! everywhere! until above, around us, all through the woods, all +along the shore, all over the lake is a solid roar, impenetrable to +any other sound, surging and swaying, rolling and swelling as if all +the voices in the world were concentrated in one stupendous concert. + +But, hark! the roar is dying away; voice after voice drops out; here +and there is one laggard in the song, still dragging out the chorus. +Now all is still again, save the note of the little peeper along the +shore. In two minutes that band will strike up again. The roar will go +bellowing over the lake through the woods, to be thrown from hill to +hill, to die away into silence again; and so it will be through all +the long night, and until the sun looks out from among the tree tops +in the morning. Touch that solemn looking old croaker on yonder broad +leaf of that pond lily, with the end of your fishing rod, while the +music is at the highest, he will send forth a quick discordant and +cracked cry, like that of a greedy dog choked with a bone, as he +plunges for the bottom; and note how suddenly that sound will be +repeated, and how quick the roar of the frogs will be hushed into +silence. That is a cry of alarm, a note of danger, and every frog +within hearing understands its import. + +Is it asked _where_ we are? I answer, we are on the Lower Saranac +Lake, just on the south point, at the entrance of the romantic little +bay, at the head of which stands Martin's Lake House, the only human +dwelling in sight of this beautiful sheet of water. On the point where +we now are, long ago, was the log shanty of a hunter and fisherman, +surrounded by an acre or two of cleared land. But its occupant moved +deeper into the wilderness, over on the waters of the Rackett, many +years since; the log shanty has rotted away, and a vigorous growth of +brush and small timber, now covers what once may have been called +a field. + +But the night shadows are beginning to gather over the forest, +throwing a sort of spectral gloom among the old woods, giving a +distorted look to the trunks of the trees, the low bushes, the turned +up roots, and the boulders scattered over the ground. See what ogre +shapes these things assume as the darkness deepens. Look at that cedar +bush, with its dense foliage! It is a crouching lion, and as its +branches wave in the gentle breeze, he seems preparing for his leap; +and yonder boulder is a huge elephant! The root that comes out from +the crevice is his trunk, and the moss and lichens which hang down on +either side are his pendant ears; and see, he has a great tower on his +back, wherein is seated a warrior in his ancient armor, grasping +battle-axe and spear. Beyond, through that opening upon the bay, is a +castle looming darkly against the sky, with massive towers and +arched gateway. Such are the forms which fancy gives to these forest +things, in the doubtful twilight of a summer evening. While we have +been looking upon these unsubstantial shadows, the sunlight has left +the mountain peaks, the stars have come out in the sky, and the moon +has started on her course across the heavens. + +Let us rest on our oars a moment, here in the bay, to view the scenery +around us, as seen by the mellow moonlight. So calm, so still, so +motionless are both air and water, that we seem suspended between the +sky above, sparkling and glowing with millions of bright stars, and +the moon riding gloriously on her course, and a sky beneath, sparkling +and glowing with like millions of bright stars, and the same moon, or +its counterpart, floating away down in fathomless depths below us. +See, how the same hillside, the same line of forest trees, the same +ranges and mountain peaks are reflected back from the stirless bosom +of the lake. There, above, and just on the upper line of that tall +peak, looming darkly and majestically in the distance, hangs a +brilliant star, sparkling and twinkling, like the sheen of a diamond; +and right beneath, away down just as far below the surface of the +water as mountain peak and star are above it, is another mountain peak +and bright star, twinned by the mirrored waters. See, away down the +lake, that little island with its half dozen spruce trees, clustered +together! How like a great war vessel it looks, with sails all set, as +seen by the uncertain light of the moon. And that other island, off to +the left, with the dead and barkless trees, how like a tall ship with +bare masts riding at anchor it seems. That other island, away to the +right, with its great boulders and bare rocks rising straight up out +of the water, is a fortification, a stronghold surrounded by a wall of +solid masonry, and bristling with cannon. We can almost see the +sentinel, and hear his measured tramp as he travels his lonely rounds, +keeping watch out over the waters. See all along the shore, as you +look up the bay towards the Lake House, how the millions of fireflies +flash their tiny torches, upward and downward, this way and that, +mingling and crossing, and gyrating and whirling--a troubled and +billowy sea of millions upon millions of glowing and sparkling gems. + +Reader, were you and I gifted with the spirit of poetry, what +inspiration would we not gather from the glories which surround us, as +we float of a summer evening over these beautiful lakes, sleeping away +out here, in all their virgin loveliness, among these old primeval +things? But you ask, "what inspiration can there be in a moon and +stars, that we see every night, when the sky is cloudless; in a +desolate wilderness; the roar of the frogs; the hooting of owls; these +useless waters; the phosphorescent flash of lightning bugs; these +piled up rocks and barren mountains? Can you grow corn on these hills, +or make pastures of these rocky lowlands? Can you harness these rivers +to great waterwheels, or make reservoirs of these lakes? Can you +convert these old forests into lumber or cordwood? Can you quarry +these rocks, lay them up with mortar into houses, mills, churches, +public edifices? Can you make what you call these 'old primeval +things' utilitarian? Can you make them minister to the progress of +civilization, or coin them into dollars?" + +Pshaw! You have spoiled, with your worldliness, your greed for +progress, your thirst for gain, a pleasant fancy, a glorious dream, as +if everything in the heavens, on the earth, or in the waters, were to +be measured by the dollar and cent standard, and unless reducible to a +representative of moneyed value, to be thrown, as utterly worthless, +away. Let us row back to the Lake House. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DEPARTURE--THE STAG HOUNDS--THE CHASE--ROUND LAKE. + + +From Martin's Lake House we were to take our departure in the morning. +We had arranged for three boats, and as many stalwart boatmen. Two of +these boats were for our own conveyance, and one for our luggage and +provisions; the latter to be sent forward with our tents in advance, +so as to have a home ready for us always, at our coming, when we chose +to linger by the way. These boatmen were all jolly, good-natured and +pleasant people, with a vast deal of practical sense, and a valuable +experience in woodcraft, albeit they were rough and unpolished. Their +hearts were in the right place, and they commanded our respect always +for their kindness and attention to our wants, while they maintained +at all times that sturdy independence which enters so largely into the +character of the border men of our country. Their boats are +constructed of spruce or cedar boards of a quarter of an inch in +thickness, "clap-boarded," as the expression is, upon "knees" of the +natural crook, and weigh from ninety to one hundred and ten pounds +each. They are carried around rapids, or from river to river, on the +back of the boatman in this wise: A "yoke" is provided, such as every +man in the country, especially all who have visited a "sugar bush" at +the season of sugar making, has seen. At the end of this yoke is a +round iron projection, made to fit into a socket in the upper rave of +the boat. The craft is turned bottom upwards, the yoke adjusted to the +shoulders, the iron projections fitted into the sockets, and the +boatman marches off with his boat, like a turtle with his shell upon +his back. He will carry it thus sometimes half a mile before +stopping to rest. + +With us were to go two staid and sober stag hounds, grave in aspect +and trained and experienced, almost, in woodcraft, as their masters; +animals that had been reared together, and who possessed the rare +instinct of returning always to the shanty from which they started, +however far the chase may have led them. It was a glorious sound in +the old forests, the music of those two hounds, as their voices rang +out bold and free, like a bugle, and went, ringing through the forest, +echoing among the mountains and dying away over the lakes. But of that +hereafter. + +Our little fleet swung out upon the water, while the sun was yet +hanging like a great torch among the tops of the trees, on the eastern +hills. It was a beautiful morning, so fresh, so genial, so balmy. A +pleasant breeze came sweeping lazily over the lake, and went sighing +and moaning among the old forest trees. All around us were glad +voices. The partridge drummed upon his log; the squirrels chattered as +they chased each other up and down the great trunks of the trees; the +loon lifted up his clarion voice away out upon the water; the eagle +and the osprey screamed as they hovered high above us in the air, +while a thousand merry voices came from out the old woods, all +mingling in the harmony of nature's gladness. A loud and repeated +hurrah! burst from us all as our oars struck the water, and sent our +little boats bounding over the rippled surface of the beautiful +Saranac. + +This is a indeed a beautiful sheet of water. The shores were lined +with a dense and unbroken forest, stretching back to the mountains +which surround it. The old wood stood then in all its primeval +grandeur, just as it grew. The axe had not harmed it, nor had fire +marred its beauty. The islands were covered with a lofty growth of +living timber clothed in the deepest green. There were not then, as +now, upon some of them, great dead trees reaching out their long bare +arms in verdureless desolation above a stinted undergrowth, and piled +up trunks charred and blackened by the fire that had revelled among +them, but all were green, and thrifty, and glorious in their robes of +beauty. Thousands of happy songsters carolled gaily among their +branches, or hid themselves in the dense foliage of their +wide-spreading arms. The islands are a marked feature of these +northern lakes, lending a peculiar charm to their quiet beauty, and +one day, when the iron horse shall go thundering through these +mountain gorges, the tourist will pause to make a record of their +loveliness. + +Four or five miles down the lake, is a beautiful bay, stretching for +near half a mile around a high promontory, almost reaching another bay +winding around a like promontory beyond, leaving a peninsula of five +hundred acres joined to the main land, by a narrow neck of some forty +rods in width. Our first sport among the deer was to be the "driving" +of this peninsula. We stationed ourselves on the narrow isthmus within +a few rods of each other, while a boatman went round to the opposite +side to lay on the dogs. We had been at our posts perhaps half an +hour, when we heard the measured bounds of a deer, as he came crashing +through the forest. We could see his white flag waving above the +undergrowth, as he came bounding towards us. Neither Smith nor +Spalding had ever seen a deer in his native woods, and they were, by a +previous arrangement, to have the first shot, if circumstances should +permit it. The noble animal came dashing proudly on his way, as if in +contempt of the danger he was leaving behind him. Of the greater +danger into which he was rushing, he was entirely unconscious, until +the crack of Smith's rifle broke upon his astonished ear. He was +unharmed, however, and quick as thought he wheeled and plunged back in +the direction from which he came; Spalding's rifle, as it echoed +through the forest, with the whistling of the ball in close proximity +to his head, added energy to his flight. + +The rifles were scarcely reloaded when the deep baying of the hounds +was heard, and two more deer came crashing across the isthmus where we +were stationed. The foremost one went down before the doctor's +unerring rifle and cool aim, while the other ran the gauntlet of the +three other rifles, horribly frightened, but unharmed, away. The +hounds were called off, and with our game in one of the boats, we +rowed back around the promontory, and passed on towards the Saranac +River, which connects by a tortuous course of five miles, the Lower +Saranac with Round Lake. + +Midway between these two lakes, is a fall, or rather rapids, down +which the river descends some ten feet in five or six rods through a +narrow rocky channel, around which the boats had to be carried. While +this was being done, Smith and Spalding adjusted their rods, eager to +make up in catching trout what they failed to achieve in the matter of +venison. And they succeeded. In twenty minutes they had fifteen +beautiful fish, none weighing less than half a pound, safely deposited +on the broad flat rock at the head of the rapids. "One throw more," +said Smith, "and I've done;" and he cast his fly across the still +water just above the fall. Quick as thought it was taken by a +two-pound trout. Landing nets and gaff had been sent forward with the +baggage, and without these it was an exciting and delicate thing to +land that fish. The game was, to prevent him dashing away down the +rapids, or diving beneath the shelving rock above, the sharp edge of +which would have severed the line like a knife. Skillfully and +beautifully Smith played him for a quarter of an hour, until at last +the fish turned his orange belly to the surface, and ceased to +struggle. He was drowned. + +We had in the morning directed the boatman in charge of the baggage to +go on in advance, and erect our tents on an island in Round Lake. When +we entered this beautiful sheet of water, about four o'clock, we saw +the white tents standing near the shore of the island, with a column +of smoke curling gracefully up among the tall trees that overshadowed +them. When we arrived, we found everything in order. They were pitched +in a pleasant spot, looking out to the west over the water, while +within were beds of green boughs from the spruce and fir trees, and +bundles of boughs tied up like faggots for pillows. Our first dinner +in the wilderness was a pleasant one, albeit the cookery was somewhat +primitive. With fresh venison and trout, seasoned with sweet salt +pork, we got through with it uncomplainingly. + +This little lake is a gem. It is, as its name purports, round, some +four miles in diameter, surrounded by an amphitheatre of hills, +beneath whose shadows it reposes in placid and quiet beauty. On the +northeast, Ballface Mountain rears its tall head far above the +intervening ranges, while away off in the east Mount Marcy and Mount +Seward stand out dim and shadowy against the sky. Nearer are the Keene +Ranges, ragged and lofty, their bare and rocky summits glistening in +the sunlight, while nearer still the hills rise, sometimes with steep +and ragged acclivity, and sometimes gently from the shore. Here and +there a valley winds away among the highlands, along which the +mountain streams come bounding down rapids, or moving in deep and +sluggish, but pure currents, towards the lake. The rugged and sublime, +with the placid and beautiful, in natural scenery, are magnificently +mingled in the surroundings of this little sheet of water. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DOCTOR'S STORY--A SLIPPERY FISH--A LAWSUIT AND A COMPROMISE. + + +There seems to be a law, or rather a habit pertaining to forest life, +into which every one falls, while upon excursions such as ours. +Stories occupy the place of books, and tales of the marvellous furnish +a substitute for the evening papers. Not that there should be any set +rule or system, in regard to the ordering of the matter, but a sort of +spontaneous movement, an implied understanding, growing out of the +necessities of the position of isolation occupied by those who are +away from the resources of civilization. The doctor had a genius for +story telling, or rather a genius for invention, which required only a +moderate development of the organ of credulity on the part of his +hearers, to render him unrivalled. There was an appearance of frank +earnestness about his manner of relating his adventures, which, +however improbable or even impossible as matter of fact they might be, +commanded, for the moment, absolute credence. + +"They've a curious fish in the St. Lawrence," said the doctor, as he +knocked the ashes from his meerschaum, and refilled it, "known among +the fishermen of that river as the LAWYER. I have never seen it among +any other of the waters of this country, and never there but once. It +never bites at a hook, and is taken only by gill-nets, or the seine. +Everybody," he continued, "has visited the Thousand Islands, or if +everybody has not, he had better go there at once. He will find them, +in the heat of summer, not only the coolest and most healthful +retreat, and the pleasantest scenery that the eye ever rested upon, +always excepting these beautiful lakes, but the best river fishing I +know of on this continent. He will not, to be sure, take the speckled +trout that we find in this region, but he will be among the black +bass, the pickerel, muscalunge, and striped bass, in the greatest +abundance, and ready to answer promptly any reasonable demand which he +may make upon them. Think of reeling in a twenty-pound pickerel, or a +forty-pound muscalunge, on a line three hundred feet in length, +playing him for half an hour, and landing him safely in your boat at +last! There's excitement for you worth talking about. + +"I stopped over night at Cape Vincent, last summer, on my way to 'the +Thousand Islands,' on a fishing excursion of a week. I was acquainted +with an old fisherman of that place, and agreed to go out with him the +next morning, to see what luck he had with the fish. I don't think +much of that kind of fishing, though it is well enough for those who +make a business of it, for the gill-net works, as the old man said, +while the fisherman sleeps, and all he gets in that way is clear gain. + +"Well, I rose early the next morning to go out with the old fisherman +to his gill-nets. It would have done you good, as it did me, to see +how merry every living thing was. The birds, how jolly they were, and +how refreshing the breeze was that came stealing over the water, +making one feel as if he would like to shout and hurrah in the +buoyancy, the brightness, and glory of the morning. But I am not going +to be poetical about the sunrise, and the singing birds. We went out +upon the river just as the sun came up with his great, round, red +face, for there was a light smoky haze floating above the eastern +horizon, and threw his light like a stream of crimson flame across the +water; and the meadow lark perched upon his fence stake, the blackbird +upon his alderbush, the brown thrush on the topmost spray of the wild +thorn, and the bob-o'-link, as he leaped from the meadow and poised +himself on his fluttering wings in mid air, all sent up a shout of +gladness as if hailing the god of the morning. + +"We came to the nets and began to draw in. You ought to have seen the +fish. There were pickerel from four to ten pounds in weight, white +fish, black bass, rock bass, Oswego bass, and pike by the dozen; and, +what was a stranger to me, a queer looking specimen of the piscatory +tribes, half bull-head, and half eel, with a cross of the lizard. + +"'What on earth is that?' said I, to the fisherman. "'That,' said he, +'is a species of ling; we call it in these parts a LAWYER' + +"'A lawyer!' said I; 'why, pray?' + +"'I don't know,' he replied, 'unless it's because he ain't of much +use, and is the slipriest fish that swims.' + +"Mark," continued the doctor, turning to Spalding; "I mean no +personality. I am simply giving the old fisherman's words, not +my own." + +"Proceed with the case," said Spalding, as he sent a column of smoke +curling upward from his lips, and with a gravity that was refreshing. + +"Well," resumed the doctor, "the LAWYERS were thrown by themselves, +and one old fat fellow, weighing, perhaps, five or six pounds, fixed +his great, round, glassy eyes upon me, and opened his ugly mouth, and +I thought I heard him say, interrogatively, 'Well,' as if demanding +that the _case_ should proceed at once. + +"'Well,' said I, in reply, 'what's out?' + +"'What's out!' he answered; '_I'm_ out--I'm out of my element--out of +water--out of court--and in this hot, dry atmosphere, almost out of +breath. But what have I been summoned here for? I demand a copy of the +complaint.' + +"'My dear sir,' said I, 'I'm not a member of the court. I don't belong +to the bar--I'm not the plaintiff--I'm not in the profession, nor on +the bench. I'm neither sheriff, constable nor juror. I'm only a +spectator. In the Rackett Woods, among the lakes and streams of that +wild region, with a rod and fly, I'm at home with the trout, but;----' +"'Oh! ho!' he exclaimed with a chuckle, 'you're the chap I was +consulted about down near the mouth of the Rackett the other day, by a +country trout, who was on a journey to visit his relatives in the +streams of Canada. He showed me a hole in his jaw, made by your hook +at the mouth of the Bog river. I've filed a summons and complaint +against you for assault and battery, and beg to notify you of +the fact.' + +"'I plead the general issue,' said I. + +"'There's no such thing known to the code,' he replied. + +"'I deny the fact, then,' I exclaimed. + +"'That won't do,' he rejoined; "'the complaint is put in under oath, +and you must answer by affidavit, of the truth of your denial.' + +"You see my dilemma. I remembered the circumstance of hooking a noble +trout at the place alleged, and as the affair has been settled, I'll +tell you how it was. At the head of Tupper's Lake, one of the most +beautiful sheets of water that the sun ever shone upon, lying alone +among the mountains, surrounded by old primeval forests, walled in by +palisadoes of rocks, and studded with islands, the Bog River enters; +this river comes down from the hills away back in the wilderness, +sometimes rushing with a roar over rocks and through gorges, sometimes +plunging down precipices, and sometimes moving with a deep and +sluggish current across a broad sweep of table land. For several miles +back of the lake, and until a few rods of the shore, it is a calm, +deep river. It then rushes down a steep, shelving rock some twenty +feet into a great rocky basin; then down again over a shelving rock in +a fall of twenty feet into another rocky basin; and then again in +another fall of twenty or thirty feet, over a steep, shelving rock, +shooting with a swift current far out into the lake. These falls +constitute a beautiful cascade, and their roar may be heard of a calm, +summer evening, for miles out on the placid water. + +"At the foot of these falls, in the summer season, the trout +congregate; beautiful large fellows, from one to three pounds in +weight; and a fly trailed across the current, or over the eddies, just +at its outer edge, is a thing at which they are tolerably sure to +rise. Well, last summer, I was out that way among the lakes that lie +sleeping in beauty, and along the streams that flow through the old +woods, playing the savage and vagabondizing in a promiscuous way. The +river was low, and a broad rock, smooth and bare, sloping gently to +the water's edge, under which the stream whirled as it entered the +lake, and above which tall trees towered, casting over it a pleasant +shade, presented a tempting place to throw the fly. I cast over the +current, and trailed along towards the edge of the rock, when a +three-pounder rose from his place down in the deep water. He didn't +come head foremost, nor glancing upward, but rose square up to the +surface, and pausing a single instant, darted forward like an arrow +and seized the fly. Well, away he plunged with the hook in his jaw, +bending my elastic rod like a reed, the reel hissing as the line spun +away eighty or a hundred feet across the current, and far out into +the lake; but he was fast, and after struggling for a time, he +partially surrendered, and I reeled him in. Slowly, and with a sullen +struggling, he was drawn towards the shore, sometimes with his head +out of water, and sometimes diving towards the bottom. At last, he +caught sight of me, and with renewed energy he plunged away again, +clear across the current and out into the lake. But the tension of the +elastic rod working against him steadily, and always, was too much for +his strength, and again I reeled him in, struggling still, though +faintly. Slowly, but steadily, I reeled him to my hand. He was just by +the edge of the rock, almost within reach of my landing net, when, +with a last desperate effort to escape, he plunged towards the bottom, +made a dive under the rock, the line came against its edge, slipped +gratingly for a moment, snapped, and the fish was gone. He was a +beautiful trout, and beautifully he played. He deserved freedom on +account of the energy with which he struggled for it. + +"You will see, therefore, that, as I said, I was in a dilemma. The +action against me was well brought. I could not deny the truth of the +facts charged against me in the complaint. In this position of +affairs, three alternatives presented themselves; first, a denial of +the truth of the complaint, but that involved perjury; secondly, +admission of the facts charged, but that involved conviction; and, +thirdly, a compromise, and the latter one I adopted. + +"'Can't this thing be settled,' said I, to the old lawyer fish of the +St. Lawrence, 'without litigation? me and my four companions +overboard, place us in _statu quo_, and the action shall be +discontinued.' + +"'Agreed,' said I, and I reached down to enter upon the performance of +my part of the contract. + +"'Wait a moment,' said he, curling up his shaky tail, 'the costs--who +pays the costs?' + +"'The costs!' I replied, 'each pays his own, of course.' + +"'Not so fast,' he exclaimed, 'not quite so fast. You must pay the +costs, or the suit goes on.' + +"There was something human in the tenacity with which that old +'lawyer' clung to the idea of costs. There he was gasping for breath, +his life depending upon the result of the negotiation, and still he +insisted upon the payment of costs as a condition of compromise." + +"Probably out of regard for the interest of his client," said +Spalding, gravely; "but proceed with the case." + +"'Fisherman,' said I," resumed the Doctor, "'what is the cost of these +five _lawyers_? How much for the fee simple of the lot?' + +"'They ain't worth but ninepence,' he replied. + +"'Good,' said I, 'here's a shilling, York currency.' + +"'Agreed,' said he, and threw in a sucker, by way of change. + +"'Anything more?' I asked of the old cormorant lawyer. + +"'No,' he replied; 'all right--so toss us overboard, and be quick, for +my breath is getting a little short.' I threw them over, one at a +time, the old fellow last, and as he slipped from my hand into the +river, he thrust his ugly face out of the water, and said, coolly, +'Good morning! When you come our way again, _drop in_.' + +"'No,' said I, 'I'll _drop a line._' I remembered how I 'dropped in,' +over on Long Lake, one day, and had no inclination to drop in to the +St. Lawrence, especially when there are old lawyer fishes there to +summon me for assault and battery on a 'Shatagee trout.'" + +"Doctor," said Hank Martin, one of our boatmen, who had been listening +to the Doctor's narrative, "I don't want to be considered for'ard or +sassy, but I'd like to know how much of these kinds of stories we +hired folks are obligated to believe?" + +"Well," replied the Doctor, "there are three of you in all, and +between you, you must make up a reasonable case, as Spalding would +say, of faith in everything you may hear. This you may do by dividing +it up among you." + +"Very good," said Martin, with imperturbable gravity; "I only wanted a +fair understanding of the matter on the start." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A FRIGHTENED ANIMAL--TROLLING FOR TROUT--THE BOATMAN'S STORY. + + +We sat in front of our tents, enjoying the delightful breeze that +swept quietly over the lake, and watching the stars as they stole out +from the depths. The whippoorwill piped away in the old forests, and +the frogs bellowed like ten thousand buffaloes along the shore. The +roar of their hoarse voices went rolling over the lake, through the +old woods, and surging up against the mountains to be thrown back by +the echoes that dwell among the hills. We had knocked the ashes from +our pipes, and were about retiring to our tents for the night, when a +long wake in the water across the line of the moon's reflection, +attracted our attention. It was evidently made by some animal +swimming, and the Doctor and Martin started in pursuit. It proved to +be a deer which was apparently making its way to an island, midway +across the lake. They had no desire to slaughter it, and they +concluded to drive it ashore where we were. They headed it in the +proper direction, and followed the terrified animal as it swam for +life towards the island on which we were encamped. We understood their +purpose, and sat perfectly silent. The deer struck the island directly +in front of our tent, and dashed forward in wild affright, right +through the midst of us, towards the thicket in our rear, glad to be +rid of his pursuers on the water. As he bounded past us, we sprang up +and shouted, and if ever a dumb animal was astonished it was that +deer. He leaped up a dozen feet into the air, bleated out in the +extremity of his terror, and plunged madly forward, as if a whole +legion of fiends were at his tail. The stag hounds which were tied to +a sapling, by their fierce baying, added vigor to his flight. We heard +his snort at every bound across the island, and his plunge into the +lake on the other side. + +In the morning we sent forward our boatman with the tents and baggage +to an island on the Upper Saranac, and coasted this pleasant little +lake. On the right, as you approach the head, is a deep bay, skirted +by a natural meadow, where the rank wild grass, and the pond lilies +that grow along the shore furnish a rich pasture for the deer. We saw +several feeding quietly like sheep, on the little plain and upon the +lily pads in the edge of the water. We paddled silently to within a +dozen rods of them, when, as they discovered us, they dashed snorting +and whistling away. + +On the right of this meadow, and among the tall forest trees are +great boulders which, piled up and partly obscured by the undergrowth, +resemble from the lake the massive ruins of some ancient +fortification. We landed by a spring, which came bubbling up from +beneath one of these great moss-covered rocks, to lunch. It was a +pleasant spot, and while we sat there dozens of small birds, of the +size and general appearance of the cuckoo, save in their hooked beaks, +attracted by the scent of our cold meats, came hopping tamely about on +the lower limbs of the forest trees around us. They were called by our +boatmen, "meat hawks," and have less fear of man than any wild birds +that I have ever seen. + +We crossed the carrying place of a quarter of a mile around the +rapids, in which distance the river falls some sixty feet, roaring and +tumbling down ledges and boiling in mad fury around boulders. We +entered the Upper Saranac at the hour appointed, and found our tents +pitched and a dinner of venison and trout awaiting us on the island +selected for our encampment. + +As the sun sank behind the hills, the breeze died away, and the lake +lay without a ripple around as, so calm, so smooth, and still, that it +seemed to have sunk quietly to sleep in its forest bed. The fish were +jumping in every direction, and while the rest of us sat smoking our +meerchaums after dinner, or rather supper, Smith rigged his trolling +rod, and having caught half a dozen minnows, he with Martin, rowed out +upon the water to troll for the lake trout. These are a very different +fish from the speckled trout of the streams and rivers. They had none +of the golden specks of the latter, are of a darker hue, and much +larger. They are dotted with brown spots, like freckles upon the face +of a fair-skinned girl. They are shorter too, in proportion to their +weight than the speckled trout. They are caught in these lakes, +weighing from three to fifteen pounds, and instances have been known +of their attaining to the weight of five and twenty. It is an exciting +sport to take one of these large fellows on a line of two hundred and +fifty or three hundred feet in length. They play beautifully when +hooked, and it requires a good deal of coolness and skill to land them +safely in your boat. A trolling rod for these large fish should be +much stiffer, and stronger than those used for the fly, on the rivers +and streams; and the reel should be stronger and higher geared than +the common fly reel. Three hundred feet of line are necessary, for the +fish, if he is a large one, will sometimes determine upon a long +flight, and it will not do to exhaust your line in his career. In that +case, he will snap it like a pack-thread. An English bass rod is the +best, and with such, and a large triple action reel, the largest fish +of these lakes may be secured. + +Smith had trolled scarcely a quarter of a mile, when his hook was +struck by a trout, and then commenced a struggle that was pleasant to +witness. No sooner had the fish discovered that the hook was in his +jaw, than away he dashed towards the middle of the lake. The rod was +bent into a semicircle, but the game was fast; with the butt firm +between his knees and his thumb pressing the reel, the sportsman gave +him a hundred and fifty feet of line, when his efforts began to relax, +and as Smith began to reel him in, a moment of dead pull, a holding +back like an obstinate mule occurred. The trout was slowly towed in +the direction of the boat. Then, as if maddened by the force which +impelled him, he dashed furiously forward, the reel answering to his +movements and the line always taught, he rose to the surface leaping +clear from the water, shaking his head furiously as if to throw loose +the fastenings from his jaw. Failing in this, down he plunged fifty +feet straight towards the bottom, making the reel hiss by his mad +efforts to escape. Still the line was taught, pressing always, towing +him towards the boat at every relaxation. At last he rose to the +surface, panting and exhausted, permitting himself to be towed almost +without an effort, to within twenty feet of his captors. When he saw +them, all his fright and all his energies too seemed to be restored, +and away he dashed, sciving through the water a hundred and fifty feet +out into the lake. But the hook was in his jaw, and he could not +escape. After half an hour of beautiful and exciting play, he +surrendered or was drowned, and Smith lifted him with his landing net, +a splendid ten-pound trout, into his boat. By this time the shadows of +twilight were gathering over the lake, and he came ashore. A proud man +was Smith, as he lifted that fish from the boat and handed it over to +the cook to be dressed for breakfast, and though we had seen the whole +performance from our tents, yet he gave us in glowing and graphic +detail the history of his taking that ten-pound trout. + +"Captain," said Hank Wood, who had been quietly whitling out a new set +of tent pins, addressing Smith, "you had a good time of it with that +trout, but it was nothing to an adventer of mine with an old +mossy-back, on this lake, five year ago this summer." + +"How was that?" inquired Smith; and we all gathered around to hear +Hank Wood's story. + +"I don't know how it is," he began, as he seated himself on the log in +front of the tents, with one leg hanging down, and the other drawn up +with the heel of his boot caught on a projection in the bark, his knee +almost even with his nose, and his fingers locked across his shin, "I +don't know exactly why, but the catching of that trout makes me think +of an adventer I had on this very lake, five year ago this summer. It +is curious how things will lay around in a man's memory, every now and +then startin' up and presentin' themselves, ready to be talked +about--reeled off--as it were, and then how quietly they coil +themselves away, to lay there, till some new sight, or sound, or idea, +or feelin' stirs 'em into life, and they come up again fresh and plain +as ever. Some people talk about forgotten things, but I don't believe +that any matter that gets fairly anchored in a man's mind, can ever be +forgotten, until age has broken the power of memory. It is there, and +will stay there, in spite of the ten thousand other things that get +piled in on top of it, and some day it will come popping out like a +cork, just as good and distinct as new. But I was talkin' about an +adventer I had with a trout, five year ago, here on the Upper +Saranac. I was livin' over on the _Au Sable_ then, and came over to +these parts to spend a week or so, and lay in a store of jerked +venison and trout for the winter. I brought along a bag of salt, and +two or three kegs that would hold a hundred pound or so apiece, and +filled 'em too with as beautiful orange-meated fellows as you'd see in +a day's drive. The trout were plentier than they are now. They hadn't +been fished by all the sportin' men in creation, and they had a chance +to grow to their nateral size. You wouldn't in them days row across +any of these lakes in the trollin' season without hitchin' on to an +eight, or ten, and now and then to a twenty-pounder. + +"Wal, I was on the Upper Saranac, up towards the head of the lake, ten +or twelve miles from here, trollin' with an old-fashioned line, about +as big as a pipe stem, a hundred and fifty feet long, and a hook to +match. Nobody in them days tho't of sich contrivances as +trollin'-rods, reels, and minny-gangs. You held your lines in your +fingers, and when you hooked a fish, you drew him in, hand over hand, +in a human way. It was in the latter part of June, and the way the +black flies swarmed along the shore, was a thing to set anybody a +scratchin' that happened to be around. It was a clear still mornin', +and the sun as he went up into the heavens, blazed away, and as he +walked across the sky, if he didn't pour down his heat like a furnace, +I wouldn't say so. I had tolerable good luck in the forenoon, and +landed on a rocky island to cook dinner. I made such a meal as a +hungry man makes when he's out all alone fishin' and huntin' about +these waters, and started off across the lake, with my trollin' line +to the length of a hundred feet or more, draggin' through the water +behind me. The breeze had freshened a little, and my boat drifted +about fast enough for trollin', and feelin' a little drowsy, I tied +the end of the line to the cleets across the knees of the boat, and +lay down in the bottom with my hand out over the side holdin' the +line. I hadn't laid there long, when I felt a twitch as if something +mighty big was medlin' with the other end of the string. I started up +and undertook to pull in, but you might as well undertake to drag an +elephant with a thread. I couldn't move him a hair. Pretty soon the +boat began to move up the lake in a way I didn't at all like. At first +it went may be three miles an hour, then five, ten, twenty, forty, +sixty miles the hour, round and round the lake, as if hurled along by +a million of locomotives. We went skiving around among the islands, +into the bays, along the shore, away out across the lake, crossing and +re-crossing in every direction; and if there's a place about this lake +we didn't visit, I should like to have somebody tell me where it is. +You may think it made my hair stand out some, to find myself flyin' +about like a streak of chain lightnin', and to see the trees and rocks +flyin' like mad the other way. I tried to untie the line, but it was +drawn into a knot so hard, that the old Nick himself couldn't move it. +I looked for my knife to cut it, but it had, somehow, got overboard in +our flight, besides flyin' about at the rate of sixty mile an hour, +kept a fellow pretty busy holdin' on, keepin' his place in the boat. + +"After an hour or two we came to a pause, and the old feller that was +towin' me about, walked up to the surface, and stickin' his head out +of the water, 'Good mornin',' says he, in a very perlite sort of way. +'Good mornin',' says I, back again. 'How goes it?' says he. 'All +right,' says I. 'Step this way and I'll take the hook out of your +gums.' 'Thank you for nothing,' says he, and he opened his month like +the entrance to a railroad tunnel, and blame me, if he hadn't taken a +double hitch of the line around his eye tooth, while the hook hung +harmless beside his jaw. + +"'I've a little business down in the lower lake,' says he, 'and must +be movin',' and away he bolted like a steam engine, down the lake. +When he straightened up, my hat flew more than sixty yards behind me, +and the way I came down into the bottom of the boat was anything but +pleasant. Away we tore down towards the outlet, the boat cuttin' and +plowin' through the water, pilin' it up in great furrows ten feet high +on each side. There is, as you know, sixty feet fall between the Upper +Saranac and Round Lake, and the river goes boilin' and roarin', +tumblin' and heavin' down the rapids and over the rocks, pitchin' in +some places square down a dozen feet among the boulders. No sensible +man would think of travellin' that road in a little craft like mine, +unless he'd made up his mind to see how it would seem to be drowned, +or smashed to pieces agin the rocks. But right down the rapids we +went, swifter than an eagle in his stoop, down over the boilin' +eddies, down over the foamin' surge, down the perpendicular falls, as +if the old Nick himself was kickin' us on end. How we got down I won't +undertake to say, but when I got breath and looked out over the side +of the boat I saw the old woods and rocks along the shore below the +falls, rushin' up stream like a racehorse. + +"Wal, we entered Round Lake, crossed it in five minutes, and down the +river we rushed over the little falls at a bound, and into the Lower +Saranac. I'd got a little used to it by this time, and though it was +mighty hard work to catch my breath in such a wind as we made by our +flight, yet I managed to sit up and look around me. It was curious to +see how the islands on the Lower Saranac danced about, and how the +shores ran away behind while I was looking at 'em; and how the forest +trees dodged, and whirled, and jumped about one another, as we tore +along. After tearin' about the lake a spell, we came to something like +a halt, and old Mossyback stuck his head out of water, and openin' his +great glassy eyes like the moon in a mist, 'How do you like that?' +said he, in a jeerin' sort of way. 'All right,' said I; 'go it while +you're young.' I didn't care about appearin' skeered or uneasy, but +I'd have given a couple of month's wages just then, to have been on +dry land. 'Well,' said he, 'I guess we'll be gittin' towards home.' +And away he started for the Upper Saranac, and up the river, across +Round Lake, and right up over the rapids we went. Two or three times I +made up my mind that I was a goner, as the water piled up around me +along over the falls; but somehow our very speed made our boat glance +upward at such times, and skim along the surface like a duck. We went +boundin' from hillock to hillock, on the mad waters, till we entered +the broad lake and went skiving about again among the islands. + +"All at once he seemed to take a notion to go down towards the bottom; +so shortenin' the line some fifty foot or more, he hoisted his great +tail straight up towards the sky, and down he went, the boat standing +up on end, and somehow the waters didn't seem to close above us, so +rapid was our descent. It was tight work, as you may guess, to hold on +under such circumstances, but I managed to keep my place. How deep we +went I wont undertake to say, but this much is quite sartin, we went +down so far that I couldn't see out at the hole we went in at. There +are some mighty big fish away down in them parts, you may bet your +life on that; trout that it wouldn't be pleasant to handle. + +"By-and-bye we started for daylight again. The fish had to stand out +of the way as we rushed like an express train towards the surface; +them that didn't we made a smash of. One bull head, I remember, about +twice as long as one of our boats wasn't quick enough; the bow of the +boat struck him about in the middle and cut him in two like a knife. +One old trout seemed to have made up his mind for a fight, and he +chased us more than two miles with his jaws open like a great pair of +clamps, as if he'd a mind to swallow us boat and all, and from the +size of the openin', I'm bold to say he'd a done it too, if he'd have +caught us; but as we rounded an island, he run head foremost, jam +against a rock. That kind o' stunned him, and he gave in. + +"Wal, after we got to the surface, the trout that was towin' me, +seemed to let on an extra amount of steam for a mile or so, and let me +say the way we went was a caution. I've travelled on the cars in my +day, when they made every thing gee again, but that kind o' goin' +wasn't a circumstance to the way we tore along. The water rose up on +either hand more than twenty feet, and went roarin', and tumblin', and +hissin', as if everything was goin' to smash. All at once the line was +thrown loose, and the boat went straight ahead bows on, to one of the +small islands up towards the head of the lake, and when she struck, I +went through the air eend over eend, clear across the island, more +than fifteen rods, ca-splash into the lake on the other side. + +"Human nater couldn't stand all that, so startin' up I found that +while I'd been layin' in the bottom of the boat the wind had ris, and +was blowin' a stiff gale. The boat had drifted across the lake and had +struck broadside agin the shore, and the waves were makin' a clean +breach into her at every surge. I soon got her, head on to the waves, +and feelin' something mighty lively at the other eend of the line, +hauled in a twelve-pounder." + +"Pshaw!" exclaimed one of the audience; "you've only been telling a +dream, in this long yarn, we've been listening to." + +"Wal," replied the narrator; "some people that I've told it to, have +suspicioned that it might be so; but every thing about it seemed so +nateral, that I'm almost ready to make my affidavy that it was sober +fact. One thing, however, I always had my doubts about: I never fully +believed, that _I was actually pitched over that island_. I've hearn +it said that when a man has eaten a hearty dinner, and goes to sleep +with the hot sun pourin' right down on him, he's apt to see and hear a +good many strange things before he wakes up. May be it was so +with me." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE UPPER SARANAC--SPECTACLE PONDS--THE ACCUSATION AND THE DEFENCE--AN +OCTOGENARIAN SMOKER. + + +We spent the next day in rowing about the Upper Saranac, exploring its +beautiful bays and islands. We took as many trout in trolling +occasionally, as we needed for dinner and supper. It became an +established law among us, that we should kill no more game or fish +than we needed for supplies, whatever their abundance or our +temptation might be. It required some self-denial to observe this law, +but we kept it with tolerable strictness. There were times when we had +a large supply of both venison and fish, but there were seven men of +us in all, and we could despose of a good deal of flesh and fish in +the twenty-four hours. We had sent our boat with the luggage across +the Indian carrying place, a path of a mile through the forest, to the +Spectacle Ponds, three little lakes, from which a stream, known as +Stony Brook, rises. This stream is navigable for small boats like +ours, five miles to the Rackett River. These lakes contain from a +hundred to a hundred and fifty acres each. At the head of the Upper +Pond is a beautiful cold spring, near which, upon crossing the +carrying place, at evening, we found our tents pitched. We arrived +here about sundown, somewhat wearied with our day's excursion, and +with appetites fully equal to a plentiful supper which was soon in +readiness for us. + +"You are getting me into a bad habit, spoiling my morals in a physical +sense," said Smith, addressing us as we sat after supper around our +camp-fire; "I find myself taking to the pipe out here, in these old +woods, with a relish I never have at home. It seems to agree with me +here, and I expect by the time I get back to civilization, I shall be +as great a smoker as the Doctor or Spalding. If I do, I shall have to +pay for it by indigestion and hypochondria, things that you of the fat +kine, know nothing about." + +"Well," replied the Doctor, "You will only have to call on me as you +did last month, and then send for Spalding to draw your will, as you +did the next day, when you were as well as I am, excepting that kink +in your head about your going to die." + +"Why, the truth is," retorted Smith, "I had made up my mind, after +twelve hours consideration, to take the medicine you left, and I +appeal to H----here, if it was after that, anything more than a +reasonable precaution to be prepared for any contingency that might +happen. Your medicines, Doctor, and the testamentary disposition of a +man's worldly effects, are very natural associations." + +"Very well," said the Doctor; "you'll send for me again in a month +after our return, and in that case, it may be, that the money you paid +Spalding for drawing your will, will not have been thrown away. But in +regard to the use of the pipe; I propose that we call upon Spalding, +for a legal opinion, or an argument in its favor. It's his business to +defend criminals, and I file an accusation against smoking generally, +excepting, however, from the indictments the use of the pipe, as in +some sort a necessity, on all such excursions as ours." + +"I shall not undertake," said Spalding, "to enter into a labored +defence of the use of tobacco in any form. I only move for a +mitigation of punishment, and will state the circumstances upon which +I base my appeal to the clemency of the court. The exception in the +indictment, enables me to avoid the plea of necessity, which I should +have interposed, founded upon a huge forest meal, and the abundance as +well as impertinence of the musquitoes of these woods." + +"I called the other day upon a venerable friend and client, who is +travelling the down hill of life quietly, and though with the present +summer he will have accomplished his three score years and ten, his +voice is as cheerful, and his heart as young, as they were decades +ago, when his manhood was in the glory and strength of its prime. I +found him sitting in his great arm-chair, smoking his accustomed pipe, +reading the evening papers. He seemed to be so calm, and happy, as the +smoke went wreathing up from his lips, that I could not for the moment +refrain from envying the calmness and repose which were visible all +around him. He has smoked his morning and evening pipe, in his quiet +way, for nearly half a century. When engaged in the active business of +life, struggling with its cares, and fighting its battles, he always +took half an hour in the morning, and as long at evening, to smoke his +pipe and read the news of the day. He scarcely ever, when at home, +under any pressure of circumstances omitted these two half hours of +repose, or as his excellent wife used to say, of 'fumigation.' She +passed to her rest years ago, leaving behind her the pleasant odor of +a good name, a memory cherished by all who knew her. + +"Men denounce the use of tobacco, and I do not quarrel with them for +doing so. Say that it is a vile and a filthy habit; be it so, I will +not now stop to deny it. Say that it is bad for the constitution, +ruinous to the health; be it so. I will not gainsay it. Still I never +see an old man, seated in his great arm chair, with his grandchildren +playing around him, smoking his pipe and enjoying its, to him, +pleasant perfume, its soothing influences, without regarding that same +pipe as an institution which I would hardly be willing to banish +entirely from the world. + +"There is a good deal of philosophy, too, in a pipe, if one will but +take the trouble to study it; great subjects for moralizing, much food +for reflection; and all this outside of the physical enjoyment, the +soothing influences of a quiet pipe, when the day is drawing to a +close, and its cares require some gentle force to banish them away. It +does not weaken the power of thought, nor stultify the brain. It +quiets the nerves, makes a man look in charity upon the world, and to +judge with a chastened lenity the shortcomings of his neighbors. It +reconciles him to his lot, and sends him to his pillow, or about his +labors, with a calm deliberate cheerfulness, very desirable to those +who come under the law that requires people to earn their bread by the +sweat of their brow. + +"I said there is a good deal of philosophy in a pipe, and I repeat it. +Who can see the smoke go wreathing and curling upward from his lips in +all sorts of fantastic shapes, spreading out thinner and thinner, till +it fades away and is lost among the invisible things of the air, +without saying to himself, 'Such are the visions of youth; such the +hopes, the grand schemes of life, looming up in beautiful distinctness +before the mind's eye, growing fainter and fainter as life wears away, +and then disappearing forever. Such are the things of this life, +beautiful as they appear, unsubstantial shadows all.' And then, as the +fire consumes the weed, exhausting itself upon the substance which +feeds it, burning lower and lower, till it goes out for lack of +aliment, who will not be reminded of life itself? the animated form, +the body instinct with vitality, changing and changing as time sweeps +along, till the spirit that gave it vigor and comeliness, and power +and beauty, is called away, and it becomes at last mere dust and +ashes. And then again, when the pipe itself falls from the teeth, or +the table, or the mantel, or the shelf--as fall it surely will, sooner +or later--and is broken, and the fragments are thrown out of the +window, or swept out at the door, who can fail to see in this, the +type of life's closing scene? the body broken by disease and death, +carried away and hidden in the earth, to remain among the useless +rubbish of the past, to be seen no more forever? Yes, yes! there is a +great deal of philosophy in a pipe, if people will take pains to +study it. + +"I have a pleasant time of it once or twice a year with an old +gentleman, living away in the country; one whom memory calls up from +the dim and shadowy twilight of my earliest recollections, as a tall +stalwart man, already the head of a family with little children around +him. Those who were then little children have grown up to be men and +women, and have drifted away upon the currents of life, themselves +fathers and mothers, with grey hairs gathering upon their heads. I +visit this venerable philosopher in his hearty and green old age, +every summer. I see him now, in my mind's eye, sitting under the +spreading branches of the trees planted by himself half a century ago, +which cast their shadows upon the pleasant lawn in front of his +dwelling--discussing politics, morals, history, religion, +philosophy--recounting anecdotes of the early settlement of the +county of which he was a pioneer; and I see how calmly and +deliberately he smokes, while he calls up old memories from the +shadowy past, discoursing wisely of the present, or speaking +prophetically of the future. I saw him last in July of the past year, +and he seemed to have changed in nothing. He had not grown older in +outward seeming. His heart was as warm and genial as it was long, +long ago; and cheerfulness, calm and chastened, marked as it had for +years the conversation of a man who felt that his mission in life was +accomplished. 'Why,' said he, addressing me, as a new thought seemed +to strike him, 'why, _your_ head is growing grey! I never noticed it +before. It is almost as white as mine. Well, well!' he continued, as +he tapped the thumb nail of his left hand with the inverted bowl of +his pipe, knocking the ashes from it as he spoke, 'well, well! it +won't be long until we will have smoked our last pipe. Mine, at least, +will soon be broken. But what of that? Seventy-eight years is a long +time to live in this world. I have had my share of life and of the +good pertaining to it, and shall have no right to complain when my +pipe is broken and its ashes scattered.' Such was the philosophy of an +almost Octogenarian smoker." + +"I move for a suspension of sentence," said Smith, "Spalding's defence +of the weed, induces me to withdraw the indictment against it, leaving +punishment only for the excessive use of it." + +The motion was carried unanimously, and by way of confirming the +decision, we all refilled our pipes and smoked till the stars looked +down in their brightness from the fathomless depths of the sky. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +KINKS!--"DIRTY DOGS"--THE BARKING DOG THAT WAS FOUND +DEAD IN THE YARD--THE DOG THAT BARKED HIMSELF TO DEATH. + + +"The hallucinations of Smith," said Spalding, after we +had settled the matter of the pipes, and were enjoying a +fresh pull at the weed, "as described by the Doctor, remind +me of a slight attack of fever which I had some months ago, +and from which I recovered partly through the aid of the +Doctor's medicine, and partly through the kindness of a +young friend of mine; and of the strange 'kinks,' as you +call them, which got into my head between the fever and +the Doctor's opiates. Things were strangely mixed up, the +real and the unreal grouped and mingled in a manner that +gave to all the just proportions and appearance of sober +actualities. I remember them as distinctly, and they made +as deep and abiding impression upon my mind as if I had +seen them all. They are impressed as palpably and indelibly +upon my memory now as any actual events of my life." + +"Well," said the Doctor, "suppose you give us one of these 'kinks,' +while our pipes are being smoked out, as an 'opiate' to send us all +to sleep." + +"Be it understood, then," Spalding began, "that I like dogs in a +general way. They are plain dealing, honest, trusty folk in the +aggregate, albeit, there are what Tom Benton calls, 'dirty dogs.' +These, however, are mostly human canines, dogs that walk on two legs, +and wear clothes. Such curs I _don't_ like. But there are such, and +they may be seen and heard, barking, and snarling, and snapping in +their envy, at honest peoples' heels every day. Let them bark. Mr. +Benton was right. They are 'dirty dogs.' But a dog that looks you +honestly and frankly in the face, that stands by his master and +friend, in all times of trial, in sorrow as in joy, in adversity as in +prosperity, in dark days as in bright days, always cheerful, always +sincere, earnest, and truthful, and so that his kindness be met, +always happy, I like. He is your true nobility of nature below the +human. But there _are_ 'curs of low degree;' dogs of neither genial +instinct nor breeding; senseless animals, that belie the noble nature +of their species, are living libels upon their kind. There was one of +these over against my rooms, at the time of the sickness I speak of. I +say _was_ for thanks to the fates, he is among the things that have +been; he belongs to history, has been wiped out. + +"He was a barking dog. When the moon was in the sky, he barked at the +moon. When only the stars shone out, he barked at the stars; when +clouds shut in both moon and stars, he barked at the clouds; and when +the darkness was so deep and black as to obscure even the clouds, he +barked at the darkness. Through all the long night he barked, barked, +barked! It was not a bark of defiance, nor of alarm, nor of +astonishment, nor of warning. It was not a note of danger, breaking +the hush of midnight, saying that thieves were abroad, that murder was +on its stealthy mission, or that the wolf was on the walk. It was a +senseless, monotonous, idiotic bow, wow! Nothing more, nothing less. + +"All Monday night, as I lay tossing upon a bed of pain, when fever was +coursing through my veins, and every pulse went plunging like a steam +engine from the gorged heart to every extremity, and my brain was like +molten lead, I heard that terrible bark! It was my evil genius, my +destiny. It mingled in every feverish dream, became the embodiment of +every vision. I measured the periods of its recurrence by the clock +that stands in the corner of our room. I counted the tickings of its +silence, and I counted the tickings of its continuance. Every swing of +the pendulum became a distinct period of existence. Minutes, hours, +were nothing. Forty-four tickings, I said, and that bow, wow! will be +heard again! Fifteen tickings, I said, and it will cease; and so I +went on until the hours seemed to spread out into a boundless ocean of +time. That dog somehow became mixed up with that old family clock that +stood in the corner. I heard him scratching and climbing up among the +weights, writhing and twisting his way among the machinery, till +there, looking out through the face of that old family clock, distinct +and palpable as the sun at noonday, or the moon in a cloudless night, +I saw the ogre head of that dog; his great glassy, fishy eyes, his +half drooping, half erect ears, his slavering jaws, and as he gazed in +a stupid meaningless stare upon me, uttered his everlasting bow, wow! +Tell me that the room was dark; that not a ray of light penetrated the +closed doors or the curtained windows. What of that? That dog's head, +I repeat, was there; I saw it, if I ever saw the sun, the moon or the +bright stars. I saw it staring at me through all the gloom, all the +thick darkness, and I heard its terrible bow, wow! 'Get out!' I +shouted in horror. + +"'What's the matter?' cried my wife, springing up in an ecstasy of +terror. + +"'Drive out that dog,' I replied. + +"'What dog?' she inquired. + +"'There,' I replied, 'that dog there, in the clock with his great +staring, glassy eyes; drive him out!' + +"She lighted the gas, and as it flashed up, there stood the old clock, +the pendulum swung back and forth, the ticking went on, and its white +old-fashioned face, looked out in calm serenity; but the dog was gone. +It was all natural as life. The lighting of the gas had frightened the +cur back to his yard, and as the forty-fourth tick ceased, his bow +wow! was heard again, and it lasted while the pendulum swung back and +forth just fifteen times. I took a cooling draft, and counted in +feverish agony forty-four, and fifteen, till the daylight came +creeping in at the windows, filling with sepulchral greyness the room. +The barking ceased, and I slept only to dream of snarling curs and +'dirty dogs' for an hour. + +"Through all Tuesday I lay tossing with pain. Fever was in every +pulse; my brain was seething, burning lava. I thought and dreamed of +nothing but mangy curs and 'dirty dogs.' The night gathered again, and +the rumbling of the carriages and the thousand voices that break the +stillness of a thronged city, died away into silence. The lights were +extinguished, but again that horrible bark! bark! broke the hush of +midnight, and worse than all, the quickened senses of fever heard it +answered from away over on Arbor Hill; and again away up in State +street; and yet again over in Lydius, and still again away down by the +river. The East, the North, the West and the South had a voice, and it +was all concentrated in a ceaseless, senseless, idiotic bark. I +counted again the tickings of the clock, and each swing of the +pendulum ended in a bark! As I lay there in the silence and +desolation, the restless, tossing anguish of fever, those dogs +gathered together in State at the crossing of Eagle, just above my +boarding-house, and barked! They came under my windows, and barked! +They looked in between the curtains, and barked! They came into my +room, and there on the sofa, on the rocking-chair, on the table, on +the mantelpiece, on the ottoman, on the stove, and on the top of the +old clock, was a dog; and each barked! and barked! I saw them all +through the darkness, plain as if it were noonday. They were +'dirty dogs,' filthy brutes, ill-favored mangy curs all, and there +they sat and barked at the clock, barked at the mirror, at the stove, +barked at one another and at me, with the same monotonous, +meaningless, idiotic bow, wow! as of old. + +"I had two rifles and a double-barrelled fowling-piece, sitting in the +corner of the parlor adjoining our sleeping-room, the gifts of valued +friends. My wife, wearied with the day's watching, had sunk into +slumber on the bed beside me. I woke her gently. + +"'Make no noise,' I said, 'but bring me the guns; do it carefully.' + +"'What on earth do you want of the guns?' she inquired in alarm. + +"'Don't you see those infernal dogs?' I answered, 'bring me the guns, +and I'll make short work with the howling curs.' + +"'Why, husband,' said she, 'there are no dogs here,' and as she +lighted the gas the curs vanished away. But I saw them in the +darkness. It was only when the light flashed through the room, that +they fled from it, and I heard them barking in response to each other +through all the long night, till the dawn crept over the world again. + +"Years ago, I saved a boy from the meshes of the law, in which his +evil ways had involved him. I admonished him of the end towards which +he was hastening. I showed him that the path he was treading led to +destruction, and he left it, as he said, forever. He apprenticed +himself to a useful trade, and is now an intelligent mechanic. Out +of his time, an industrious, sober youth of two and twenty, supporting +by his industry, his mother and sister in comfort and respectability. +He heard of my sickness, and on Wednesday morning called to see me, +proffering his services as a nurse and watchman, prompted by gratitude +for the past. I declined his kindness for the present, as I told him +casually of the dog whose midnight barking was killing me. He called +again on Thursday morning. The barking had ceased. He inquired if I +had been troubled with the yelping of that senseless cur, and I +answered truly that I had not, that I had slept soundly, and woke with +a softened pulse and a cooled brain. + +"'Well,' said he, 'I thought you would rest easier. I looked into the +yard as I came along, and saw a dead dog lying there. I thought may be +he had barked himself to death.' + +"I did not at the time take in the full meaning, the hidden import of +his words. I dropped away into slumber, and dreamed of the dog that +barked himself to death. I saw him vanish by piecemeal at each +successive bark, until nothing but his jaws were left, and as his last +bark was uttered, these, too, vanished away, and then all was still. + +"I awoke, and thought that a dose of 'dog-buttons,' or a taste of +strychnine, administered with a tempting bit of cold steak, or a piece +of fresh lamb, or a bone of mutton carefully dropped in his way, might +have aided the operation. Be that as it may, whatever of debt may +have existed between my young friend and myself for past kind it is +all wiped out by the news he brought me, that a 'dead dog lay in the +yard over the way.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +STONY BROOK--A GOOD TIME WITH THE TROUT--RACKETT RIVER--TUPPER'S +LAKE--A QUESTION ASKED AND ANSWERED. + + +The next morning we started down Stony Brook, towards the Rackett +River, intending to pitch our tents at night on the banks of Tupper's +Lake, twenty-three miles distant. Before leaving the Spectacle Ponds, +we visited a little island at the north end of the middle pond, +containing perhaps half an acre. This island has a few Norway pines +upon it, is of a loose sandy soil, and at the highest portion is some +twenty feet above the level of the water. It is a great resort for +turtle in the season of depositing their eggs. We found thousands of +their eggs, some on the surface and some buried in the sand, and if +one in a dozen of them brings forth a turtle, there will be no lack of +the animal in the neighborhood. Stony Brook is a sluggish, tortuous +stream, large enough to float our little boats, and goes meandering +most of the way for five miles among natural meadows, overflowed at +high water, or thinly timbered prairie, when it enters the Rackett. I +discovered on a former visit to this wilderness, when the water was +very low, a spring that came boiling up near the centre of the stream, +with a volume large enough almost to carry a mill. It was at a point +where a high sandy bluff, along which the stream swept, terminated. As +we approached this spot, I suggested to Spalding, who was in the bow +of the boat, to prepare his rod and fly. We approached carefully along +the willows on the opposite shore, until in a position from which he +could throw in the direction I indicated. In the then stage of the +water, there was no appearance of a spring, or any indication marking +it as a spot where the trout would be at all likely to congregate, and +Spalding was half inclined to believe that I was practising upon his +want of knowledge of the habits of the fish of this region. I had said +nothing about the spring, or the habit of the trout in gathering +wherever a cold stream enters a river, or a spring comes gushing up +in its bed. + +"I don't believe there's a trout within half a mile of us," he said, +as he adjusted his rod and fly. + +"Never mind," I replied, "throw your fly across towards that boulder +on the bank, and trail it home, and you'll see." + +"Well," said he, "here goes;" and he threw in the direction indicated. + +The fly had scarcely touched the water when a trout, weighing a pound +or over, struck it with a rush that carried him clear out of the +water. After a little play he was landed safely in the boat, and +another, and another, followed at almost every throw. Not once did the +fly touch the water that it was not risen to by a fish. + +"By Jove!" said Spalding, as he handed me the landing-net to take in +his third or fourth trout, "this is sport. You use the net, and I'll +trail them to you. Let us make hay while the sun shines. The other +boat will soon be along, and Smith will be for dipping his spoon into +my dish. I want to astonish him when he comes." + +We had secured eight beautiful fish when the Doctor and Smith rounded +the point above us. We motioned them back, and their boat lay upon its +oars. Spalding kept on throwing his fly and trailing the trout to me +to secure with the landing-net." + +"Hallo!" shouted Smith, "hold on there; fair play, my friends, give me +a hand in," and he fell to adjusting his rod and flies. + +"Keep back, you lubber," replied Spalding; "what do _you_ know about +trout-fishing? You'll frighten them all away by your awkwardness." + +"No you don't!" shouted Smith, his rod now adjusted. "Drop down, +boatman, and we'll see who is the lubber. Wait, Spalding! Don't throw, +if you are a true man, until we can take a fair start, and then the +one that comes out second best pays the piper." + +The boat dropped down to the proper position, and the Doctor, who was +seated in the stern, held it in place by pressing his paddle into the +sand at the bottom, while the boatman handled the landing net. + +"Now!" exclaimed Smith, as the flies dropped upon the water together +above the cold spring. There was no lack of trout, for one rose to the +fly at every cast. + +"I say," said the Doctor, "how many have you in your boat?" + +"Sixteen," I replied, after counting them. + +"We've got eight, and I bar any more fishing. The law has reached its +limit. No wanton waste of the good things of God, you know." + +The rods were unjointed and laid away, and such a string of trout as +we had, is rarely seen outside of the Saranac woods. We procured fresh +grass in which to lay our fish, and green boughs to cover them, and +floated on down the stream, entering the Rackett at nine o'clock. The +Rackett is a most beautiful river. To me at least it is so, for it +flows on its tortuous and winding way for a hundred or more miles +through an unbroken forest, with all the old things standing in their +primeval grandeur along its banks. The woodman's axe has not marred +the loveliness of its surroundings, and no human hand has for all that +distance been laid upon its mane, or harnessed it to the great wheel, +making it a slave, compelling it to be utilitarian, to grind corn or +throw the shuttle and spin. It moves on towards the mighty St. +Lawrence as wild, and halterless, and free, as when the Great Spirit +sent it forward on its everlasting flow. The same scenery, and the +same voices are seen and heard along its banks now as then; and, while +man, in his restlessness, has changed almost everything else, the +Rackett and the things that pertained to it when the earth was young, +remain unchanged. But this will not be so long. Civilization is +pushing its way even towards this wild and, for all agricultural +purposes, sterile region, and before many years even the Rackett will +be within its ever-extending circle. When that time shall have +arrived, where shall we go to find the woods, the wild things, the old +forests, and hear the sounds which belong to nature in its primeval +state? Whither shall we flee from civilization, to take off the +harness and be free, for a season, from the restraints, the +conventionalities of society, and rest from the hard struggles, the +cares and toils, the strifes and competitions of life? Had I my way, I +would mark out a circle of a hundred miles in diameter, and throw +around it the protecting aegis of the constitution. I would make it a +forest forever. It should be a misdemeanor to chop down a tree, and a +felony to clear an acre within its boundaries. The old woods should +stand here always as God made them, growing on until the earthworm ate +away their roots, and the strong winds hurled them to the ground, and +new woods should be permitted to supply the place of the old so long +as the earth remained. There is room enough for civilization in +regions better fitted for it. It has no business among these +mountains, these rivers and lakes, these gigantic boulders, these +tangled valleys and dark mountain gorges. Let it go where labor will +garner a richer harvest, and industry reap a better reward for its +toil. It will be of stinted growth at best here. + +"I like these old woods," said a gentleman, whom I met on the Rackett +last year; "I like them, because one can do here just what he pleases. +He can wear a shirt a week, have holes in his pantaloons, and be out +at elbows, go with his boots unblacked, drink whisky in the raw, chew +plug tobacco, and smoke a black pipe, and not lose his position in +society. Now," continued he, "tho' I don't choose to do any of these +things, yet I love the freedom, now and then, of doing just all of +them if I choose, without human accountability. The truth is, that it +is natural as well as necessary for every man to be a vagabond +occasionally, to throw off the restraints imposed upon him by the +necessities and conventionalities of civilization, and turn savage for +a season,--and what place is left for such transformation, save these +northern forests?" + +The idea was somewhat quaint, but to me it smacked of philosophy, and +I yielded it a hearty assent. I would consecrate these old forests, +these rivers and lakes, these mountains and valleys to the Vagabond +Spirit, and make them a place wherein a man could turn savage and +rest, for a fortnight or a month, from the toils and cares of life. + +We entered TUPPER'S LAKE towards six o'clock, and saw our white tents +pitched upon the left bank, some half a mile above the outlet, where a +little stream, cold almost as icewater, comes down from a spring a +short way back in the forest. This lake, some ten miles long, and +from one to three in width, is one of the most beautiful sheets of +water that the eye of man ever looked upon. The scenery about it is +less bold than that of some of the other lakes of this region. The +hills rise with a gentle acclivity from the shore; behind them and far +off rise rugged mountain ranges; and further still, the lofty peaks of +the Adirondacks loom up in dim and shadowy outline against the sky. +From every point and in every direction, are views of placid and quiet +beauty rarely equalled; valleys stretching away among the highlands; +gaps in the hills, through which the sunlight pours long after the +shadows of the forest have elsewhere thrown themselves across the +lake; islands, some bold and rocky, rising in barren desolation, right +up from the deep water; some covered with a dense and thrifty growth +of evergreen trees, with a soil matchless in fertility; and some +partaking of both the sterile and productive; beautiful bays stealing +around bold promontories, and hiding away among the old woods. These +are the features of this beautiful sheet of water, which none see but +to admire, none visit but to praise; and it lies here all alone, +surrounded by the old hills and forests, bold bluffs, and rocky +shores, all as God made them, with no mark of the hand of man about +it, save in a single spot on a secluded bay, where lives a solitary +family in a log house, surrounded by an acre or two, from which the +forest has been cleared away. + +"Will somebody tell me," said Smith, as we sat on the logs in front +of our tent after supper, smudging away the musquitoes with our pipes, +"will somebody tell me what we came into this wilderness among these +musquitoes, and frogs, and owls for? Mind you, I am not discontented; +I enjoy it hugely; but what I want to know is _why_ I do so? I desire +to understand the philosophy of the thing." + +"As the question involves, in some sense, a physiological fact," +replied the Doctor, "it comes within the range of my professional +duties to understand and be able to answer it, for you must know that +the enjoyments of this region are primarily physical. Now I've a +theory which is this--that every man has a certain amount of +vagabondism in his composition that will be pretty certain to break +out in spots occasionally. At all events it is so with me, and from my +observation of men, I am strong in the faith that it is so with every +one who is neither more nor less than human. It is all a mistake to +suppose that I come off here, enduring a heap of hardship and toil, +simply for the love of fishing and hunting, though I confess to a +weakness to a certain extent that way. The charm of this region +consists in the fact, that it is the best place to play the vagabond, +and in which to do the savage for a season, that I know of. You can go +bareheaded or barefooted, without a coat or neckerchief, get as ragged +and untidy as you please, without subjecting yourself to remark, or +offending the nice sense of propriety pertaining to conventional life. +You are not responsible for what you say or do, provided always that +you do not offend against the abstract rules of decency, or the +requirements of natural decorum. You can lay around loose; the lazier +you are the better the boatman in your employ likes it. If you choose +to drift leisurely and quietly under the shadow of the hills along the +shore, examining the rocks that lie there like a ruined wall, or +explore the beautiful and secluded bays that hide around behind the +bluffs, or lay off under the shade of the fir trees on the islands, or +smoke your cigar or pipe by the beautiful spring that comes bubbling +up by the side of some moss-covered boulder, or from beneath the +tangled roots of some gnarled birch or maple, you can do any or all of +these, and have a man to help you for twelve shillings a day and +board, or you can do it just about as well alone. + +"You remember LONESOME ROCK, in the Lower Saranac, a great boulder +that lifts its head some ten or fifteen feet above the surface, away +out near the middle of the lake, around which the water is of unknown +depth. This rock, which is always dark and bare, is, as you will +remember, of conical shape, sharp pointed at the top, and stands up +about the size of a small hay-stack, in the midst of the waters. Do +you remember the account that somebody gives in a ragged but terse +kind of verse, of the 'gentleman in black,' who, as he walked about, + + 'Backward and forward he switched his long rail, + As a gentleman switches his cane?' + +And of whose dress it was facetiously said: + + 'His coat was red and his breeches were blue, + With a hole behind for his tail to stick through.' + +another author said of him on one of his fishing excursions, +that + + 'His rod, it was a sturdy mountain oak, + His line, a cable which no storm e'er broke, + His hook he baited with a dragon's tail, + And sat upon a rock and bob'd for whale!' + +Well, like the ebony gentleman, you can, if you choose, sit upon +Lonesome Rock enjoying your meditations, and bobbing, not for whale, +for whatever other fish may be found in the Lower Saranac, I believe +there are no whale; but you can bob for trout; whether you will catch +any or not will depend very much on circumstances. It is a capital +place to cast the fly from, or to sink your hook with a bait, and if +the trout do not choose to bite, whose fault is that, I should like +to know? + +"And this reminds me of an anecdote told me by a gentleman I met in +June of last year, on the Rackett River among the black flies, of an +adventure he met with on Lonesome Rock last season. He had been +trolling around the lake in a boat alone, without much success, and +concluded he would try deep fishing from this rock, as he had heard +that the trout were in the habit of congregating around its base. So +he rowed to the rock, and, as he supposed, secured his boat, and +climbing up its side seated himself on his boat cushion, on the top. +He caught one fine fish at the first throw, and took it for granted +that he was going to have a good time of it among the trout. When he +mounted the rock, about eleven o'clock, the sky was overcast, and he +caught three or four trout of good size in the course of half an hour; +but the sun coming out bright and clear, the fish altered their minds, +and refused to have anything more to do with his hook. He finally +concluded to give up the business, and seek the cooling shadows of the +forest trees along the shore. But his boat was gone; and upon looking +around he saw it drifting before a light breeze a quarter of a mile +distant. Now when you remember that all around the lake was a +wilderness, save a single spot at the head of the bay, where Martin's +house stands, three or four miles distant, and when you remember also +that no boat might be passing during the next twenty-four hours, you +will comprehend that his position was none of the pleasantest. There +he sat upon the top of his rock, with scarcely room to turn around, +with a wide sweep of deep water between him and the nearest land, the +fish utterly refusing to bite, and the sun blazing down upon him with +heat like a furnace, as it crept with its snail's pace across the sky. +At first he was inclined to smile at his ridiculous situation, all +alone there on the rock; but as the wind died away, and the sun poured +his burning rays right down upon him, and he panted and sweat under +its sweltering influences, he began to feel a little more serious. +Hours glided away, and the sun crept slowly along down the heavens, +but still no boat made its appearance. + +"The sun hid itself behind the hills on the West, and still he was +alone. The shadows crept up the mountain peaks that stand up like +grim giants away off in the East, and twilight began to throw its grey +mantle over the lake; still he was alone. The darkness began to gather +around him; the forests along the shore to lose their distinctness and +to stand in sombre and shadowy outline above the water; still no +prospect of relief presented itself. The twilight faded from the West, +the stars stole out in the heavens, the milky way stretched its belt +of light across the sky, and there he sat alone still on his rock, the +night dews falling around him, and the night voices of the forest +coming solemnly out over the water. Things had now assumed a serious +aspect. He could not stretch his limbs save by standing erect, and it +seemed inevitable that he must watch the stars during the night, as he +had watched the sun during the day. To sleep there was out of the +question. There was no room for a sleeping posture, and the danger of +rolling down the rock into the water kept him wide awake. At length +the pleasant sound of oars, and voices in jolly converse, fell upon +his ear, and he shouted. Two sportsmen were returning from the Upper +Lakes, and right welcome was the answer they returned to his call. He +was glad enough to be released from his rock, upon which, as he said, +'he had made up his mind that he should be compelled to roost, like a +turkey on the ridge of a barn, for the night.' + +"To go back from this digression," continued the Doctor, "I repeat +that every man has a vein of the vagabond, a streak of the savage in +him, which can never be clean wiped out. Educate him, polish him as +you may, it will be in him still, and he will love to go off into the +old woods at times, to lay around loose for a season, vagabondising +among the wild and savage things of the wilderness. It is but +indulging the original instincts of our nature. True, he will not +relish his savage ways a great while. His old habits will lead him +back to civilization, to the luxury of a well-furnished room, the +quiet of an easy chair, and the repose of a soft bed. In a word to +'clean up' and shave and dress, so that when he looks into a glass he +will see the shadow of a gentleman." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +HUNTING BY TORCH LIGHT--AN INCOMPETENT JUDGE--A NEW +SOUND IN THE FOREST--OLD SANGAMO'S DONKEY. + + +Spalding and Martin went out upon the lake after dark, with one of the +boats, to hunt by torch light. This is done by placing a lighted +torch, or a lamp upon a standard, placed upright in the bow of the +boat, and so high that a man seated or lying upon the bottom of the +craft, will have his head below it. He must himself be in someway +shaded from the light, which must be cast forward so that both the +hunter and the boatman will be in the shadow. A very common method is +to make a box, a foot or less square, open, or with a pane of glass on +one side; a stick three or four feet long is run through an auger hole +in the top and bottom, and wedged fast, which forms a standard; the +other end of the stick is run through a hole on the little deck on the +forward part of the boat, and placed in a socket formed for the +purpose in the bottom, and is wedged at the deck, so as to make it +steady. The open or glass front of the box is turned forward, and a +common japan lamp placed in a socket prepared for it in the box. This +of course throws the light forward, while the occupants of the boat +are in the shadow. The hunter sits, or more commonly lies at length on +a bed of boughs in the bottom of the boat, with his rifle so far in +front that the light will fall upon the forward sight. An experienced +boatman will paddle silently up to within twenty feet of a deer that +may be feeding along the shore. The stupid animal will stand, gazing +in astonishment at the light, until the boat almost touches him. + + +"That Hank Martin," said Cullen, one of the boatmen, as the hunters +disappeared into the darkness, "is a queer boy in his way. You will +notice that when he straightens up, and takes the kinks out of him, he +stands six feet and over in his stockings, and his arms hang down to +his knees. He's the strongest man in these woods, and tolerably active +when there's occasion for it. He is a droll, good-natured, easy +tempered chap, and don't get angry at trifles. He is fond of a joke +himself, and will stand having a good many sticks poked at him without +getting riled; but when he does get his back up, it's well enough to +stand out of his way, and not step on his shadow. He never struck a +man but once in real earnest, and that was over in Keeseville, and on +that occasion the people said the town clock had struck _one_. The +fellow he struck went eend over eend, and then went down, and when he +went down he laid still--he didn't come to tine. + +"But what I was going to tell you is, that Hank and I were down at +Plattsburgh last fall, and a big fellow who had taken quite as much +red eye as was for his good, undertook to pick a quarrel with Hank and +give him a beating. Hank, as I said, being a peaceable man, and much +more given to fun than to fighting, kept good-natured, and avoided a +scrimmage as long as he could. But his patience and his temper at last +caved in, and seizing his opponent by the neck with his left hand, and +thrusting him down upon the ground, he began very deliberately to cuff +him with his right, in a way that seemed anything but pleasant to the +individual upon whom his cuffs were bestowed. 'Enough! enough!' cried +his assailant. 'Let up! enough! enough!' 'Hold your tongue, you +scoundrel!' replied Hank, as he kept on pommeling his enemy, 'hold +your tongue, I tell you! You ain't a judge of these things! I'll let +you know when you've got enough.' When he'd given him what he thought +was about right, he lifted him on to his feet, and, holding him up +face to face with himself a moment, 'There,' said he, 'look at me +well, so that you'll know me when I come this way again; and when you +see my trail, you'd better travel some other road.'" + +"Speaking of Plattsburgh," said the Doctor, "reminds me of an incident +which occurred to a friend and myself, over in the Chataugay woods, +between the Chazy and the Upper Chataugay lakes. I was spending a few +days at Plattsburgh, and hearing a good deal of the trout and deer in +and about those lakes, my friend and myself concluded to pay them a +flying visit. On the banks of the Chazy and near the outlet, a +half-breed, that is, half French and half Indian, had built him a log +cabin, and cleared about an acre of land around it. His live stock +consisted of two homely, lean, and half-starved dogs, and as ragged +and ill-looking a donkey as could be found in a week's travel. The +half-breed was a sort of half fisherman and half hunter, excelling in +nothing, unless it be that he was the laziest man this side of the +Rocky Mountains. He succeeded, occasionally, in killing a deer in the +forest, and when he did so, he would lead his donkey to the place of +slaughter, and bring in the carcase on the long-eared animal's back. + +"We were passing from the Chazy to Bradley's Lake, and had sat down on +the trunk of a fallen tree to take a short breathing spell. It was a +warm afternoon, and the air was calm; not a breath stirred the leaves +on the old trees around us; the forest sounds were hushed, save the +tap of the woodpecker on his hollow tree, or an occasional drumming of +a partridge on his log. It was drawing towards one of those calm, +still, autumnal evenings of which poets sing, but which are to be met +with in all their glory only among the beautiful lakes that lay +sleeping in the wild woods, and surrounded by old primeval things. The +path wound round a densely wooded and sombre hollow, the depths of +which the eye could not penetrate, but from out of which came the song +of a stream that went cascading down the rocks, and rippling among the +loose boulders that lay in its course. Beyond us, through an opening +in the trees, we could see the lake, sparkling and shining in the +evening sunbeams, and we were talking about the beauty of the view, +and the calmness and repose that seemed resting upon all things, when, +of a sudden, there came up from that shadowy dell a sound, the most +unearthly that ever broke upon the astonished ear of mortal man. I +have heard the roar of the lion of the desert, the yell of the hyena, +the trumpeting of the elephant, the scream of the panther, the howl of +the wolf. It was like none of these; but if you could imagine them all +combined, and concentrated into a single sound, and ushered together +upon the air from a single throat, shaped like the long neck of some +gigantic ichthiosaurus of the times of old, you would have some faint +idea of the strange sounds that came roaring up from that hollow way. +My friend was a man of courage, and, like myself, had been around the +world some; had spent a good deal of time, first and last, in the +woods, was familiar with most of the legitimate forest sounds, and had +heard all the ten thousand voices that belong in the wilderness, but +we had never before listened to a noise like that. + +"We looked to our rifles and at one another, and it may well be that +our hats sat somewhat loosely upon our heads, from an involuntary +rising of the hair. 'What, in the name of all that is mysterious,' +cried my friend, in amazement, 'is that?' 'It is more than I know,' I +replied, as I placed a fresh cap on my rifle. After a few minutes, the +sounds were repeated, and the hills seemed to groan with affright as +they sent them back in wavy and quavering echoes from their rugged +sides. + +"'We must understand this,' said my friend, as he led the way with a +cautious and stealthy movement towards the depths of the hollow, whence +the sounds came, and there, by the stream, on a little sand-bar, stood +old Sangamo's donkey, by the side of a deer. Old Sangamo himself was +stretched at full length on the bank, fast asleep. How he could have +slept on, with such an infernal roaring as that donkey made in those +old woods, six or eight miles outside of a fence, is more than I can +comprehend. But he did sleep through it all, and was wakened only by +a punch in the ribs with the butt of my rifle, instigated by pity for +the poor donkey that was being eaten up by the flies. We helped him +to load the carcass of the deer on the back of his donkey, and saw +him move off lazily towards home. I have heard a good many strange +noises in my day, but never, on any other occasion, have I listened +to anything to be at all compared with the noise made by the braying +of old Sangamo's donkey in the Chataugay woods." + +As the Doctor concluded his story, the sharp crack of Spalding's rifle +broke the stillness of the night, and went reverberating among the +hills, and dying away over the lake. It was but a short distance from +our camp, in a little bay hidden away around a wooded promontory below +us. In a few minutes, the light was seen, rounding the point that hid +the bay from our view, and, as the boat landed in front of our tents, +Spalding and Martin lifted from it a fine two year old deer, shot +directly between the eyes. + +[Illustration: How he could have slept on, with such an infernal +roaring as that donkey made in those old woods, six or eight miles +outside of a fence, is more than I can comprehend.--] + +"There," said Spalding, "is the biggest, or what _was_ the biggest +fool of a deer in these woods. Do you believe that he stood perfectly +still, gazing in stupid astonishment at our light, until we were +within a dozen feet of him, when I dropped him with that ball between +the eyes?" + +"No," replied Smith, "I really don't believe any such thing." + +"It is true, notwithstanding your lack of faith," said Spalding. + +"Do you say that as counsel, or as a gentleman?" inquired Smith. + +"Look you, Mr. Smith," said Spalding, "you are drawing a distinction +not warranted by the authority of the books--as if a lawyer could not +tell the truth like a gentleman. I say it as both." + +"Very well," remarked Smith, "then I must believe it, of course. But +understand, Hank Martin, it will be my turn to-morrow night." And so +the matter was settled that the next night hunting was to be done +by Smith. + +"H----," said the Doctor, as I was stealing quietly out of the tent, +in the twilight of the next morning, so as not to awaken my +companions, "where now?" + +"I'm going to take some trout for breakfast, with our venison," I +replied. + +"And where do you propose to take them?" he inquired. "Come with me, +and I'll show you. I looked the place out last evening, and if you've +done sleeping, we'll have some sport." + +"Agreed," said he, and we paddled around the point into a little bay, +at the head of which a small, but cold stream entered the lake. The +Doctor sat in the bow, and, having adjusted his rod, I steered the +boat carefully, close along the shore, to within reach of the mouth of +the brook, and directed him to cast across it. The moment his fly +touched the water, half a dozen fish rose to it together. It was +eagerly seized by one weighing less than a quarter of a pound, which +was lifted bodily into the boat. He caught as fast as he could cast +his fly. They were the genuine brook trout, none of them exceeding a +quarter Of a pound in weight. In half an hour, we had secured as many +as we needed for breakfast, and paddled back to take a morning nap +while the meal was being prepared. + +The sweetest fish that swims is the brook trout, weighing from a +quarter of a pound down. Rolled in flour, or meal, and fried brown, +they have no equal. The lake and river trout, weighing from two to ten +pounds, beautiful as they are, have not that delicacy of flavor which +belongs to the genuine brook trout. Boiled, when freshly caught, they +are by no means to be spoken lightly of. They have few equals, cooked +in that way, but as a pan fish, they are not to be compared with the +genuine brook trout. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +GRINDSTONE BROOK--FOREST SOUNDS--A FUNNY TREE, COVERED WITH SNOW +FLAKES. + + +We crossed over towards a deep bay on the west shore, to where a +stream comes cascading down the rocks, and leaping into the lake, as +if rejoicing at finding a resting-place in its quiet bosom. The spot +where this stream enters, is in the deep shadow of the old forest +trees that reach their leafy arms far out from the ledges on which +they grow, forming an arch above, and shutting out the sunlight. Here +the trout congregate, to enjoy the cool water that comes down from the +hills above. We approached it carefully, and Smith, by way of +experiment, cast his fly across the current where the stream enters +the lake. It was seized by a beautiful fish weighing, perhaps, two +pounds. We did not need him, for the place where we proposed to pitch +our tents for the night would afford us all the fish required, and +after lifting him into the boat with the landing-net and releasing +the hook from his jaw, we returned him to the lake again. + +Two miles from the head of the lake, on the east side, is a deep bay +at the head of which enters a little brook that comes creeping along +for a mile among the tangled roots of ancient hemlocks and spruce, +singing gaily among the loose stones, sometimes disappearing entirely +beneath bridges of moss, and sometimes sparkling in the sunlight, on +its way to the lake. This little stream we found swarming with +speckled trout of the size of minnows, and at its mouth the large +trout congregated. As we rounded one of the points that shut out the +view of this bay from the lake, we saw two deer feeding quietly upon +the lily pads along the shore, some quarter of a mile from us. We +dropped quietly back behind the point, where Smith and one of the +boatmen prepared to take a shot at them. Martin took his seat in the +stern with his paddle, and Smith lay stretched at length along the +bottom of the boat upon boughs prepared for the occasion, with his +rifle resting upon the forward end of the boat. It was broad daylight, +and to paddle up within shooting distance of a deer under such +circumstances, in plain view of an animal the most wary, is a delicate +job, but it may be done. I have more than once been thus paddled +within thirty yards of a deer while feeding in the water. The wind +must be blowing from the deer to the hunter, or the scent will alarm +the animal, and he will go snorting and bounding away. + +Smith and Martin passed silently out into the bay, and moved slowly +towards where the deer were feeding. The boat in which we sat was +permitted to float out to a position from which we could see the +sportsmen as they approached the game. Slowly but steadily they moved, +the paddle remaining in the water, sculling the little craft along as +if it were a log drifting in the water. The deer occasionally raised +their heads, looking all around, evidently regarding the boat as a +harmless thing floating in from the lake. After gazing thus about them +they stooped their heads again, and went on feeding, as if no danger +were near them. The hunters drifted within seventy or eighty yards of +the game, when a column of white smoke shot suddenly up from the bow +of the boat, and the report of Smith's rifle rang out sharp and clear +over the lake. We saw where the ball struck the water just beyond the +deer, passing directly under its belly, possibly high enough to graze +its body. At the flash and report of the rifle, the animal leaped high +into the air, bounded in affright this way and that for a moment, and +then straightened itself for the woods. We heard his snort as he went +crashing up the hillside. + +Reader, should you ever drift out to this beautiful lake, you will +find on the ridge just above where Bog River comes tumbling, and +roaring, and foaming over the rocks into the lake, the charred remains +of a campfire, built against a great log that was once the trunk of a +tall forest tree. If you should visit it within a year or two, you +will perhaps notice some forked stakes standing a few feet from the +place of the fire, and a bed of withered and dry boughs (now fresh +and green). Well, our tents were stretched over those stakes, those +boughs were our bed, and those charred chunks are the remains of our +campfire, that sent a sepulchral light among the forest trees around. + +The sounds that come upon the ear during the night in a far off place +like this, are peculiar. The old owl hoots mournfully, the frogs +bellow hoarsely along the reedy shore, while the tree toads are +quavering from among the branches of the scrubby trees that grow along +the rocky banks; the whippoorwill pipes shrilly in the forest depths; +the breeze murmurs among the foliage of the tall old pines, while the +everlasting roar of the waters, as they go tumbling down the rocks, is +always heard. However diversified these sounds may be, they all invite +to repose. They fall soothingly upon the ear, and though all are +distinctly heard, yet strange as it may seem, there is a strong +impression upon the mind of the deep silence pervading the forest. +This impression is doubtless occasioned by the utter dissimilarity +between the voices one hears in the day, from those which fall upon +the ear in the night time. The former are all joyous and happy, full +of gladness and merriment, full of life and animation; the latter +solemn, deep, profound, lulling to the senses; not sorrowful nor sad, +yet still such as form a calm and quiet lullaby, under the influence +of which one glides away into slumber, and sleeps quietly until dawn. +Then the voice of gladness breaks so tumultuously on the ear, that he +must be a sluggard indeed who can resist their wakening influences. +How beautifully the sun went down behind the hills, lighting up the +western sky, and the fleecy clouds floating in the heavens with a +blaze of glory, throwing a mantle of silver over the tall ranges and +mountain peaks that loomed up in solemn grandeur away in the east; and +how stilly, silently the stars came out from the depths above, and how +brightly and truthfully they were given back from away down in depths +beneath the placid waters. We had taken half a dozen beautiful trout +from the foot of the falls where the current shoots out into the lake. +We had eaten them too, and were sitting in front of our tents smoking +our evening pipes. + +"Spalding," said the Doctor, "How I wish our little boys were out here +with us. How they would enjoy themselves among these lakes and rivers. +It is a hard lot that the children of our cities have in life. They +struggle up to man and womanhood against fearful odds, and the wonder +is, that they do not perish in their infancy; that they are not +blasted, as the blossoms are, when the cold east wind sweeps over +the earth." + +"You are right, my friend," replied Spalding. "I should like to have +our little boys, and girls too, for that matter, with us for a few +days out here on these lakes. It would be a lifetime to them, +measuring time by the enjoyment it would afford them. Still their city +habits might make them tire of this freedom in a week. You and I enjoy +it longer, because it brings back old memories and relieves us from +the toils of business and the restraints of conventional life. You +are right too in saying that the lot of our city children is a hard +one. To live imprisoned between long rows of brick walls, breathing an +atmosphere charged with the exhalations of ten thousand cooking +stoves, the dust of forges and the smoke of furnaces, machine shops, +gas works, filthy streets, and the thousand other manufactories of +villainous smells; where the summer air has no freshness, no forest +odors, or sweetness gathered from fields of grain, the meadows, or the +pastures. To tramp only on stone sidewalks. To know nothing of the +pleasant paths beneath the spreading branches of old primeval trees; +no soft grass for their little feet to press; never to wander along +the streams or the little brooks; to be strangers always to the +beautiful things spread out everywhere in the country in the summer +time. I always feel sad when I see the pale faces of the little +children of the great cities, and marvel how so many of them grow up +to be men and women. It is a hard lot to be cooped up in the city, +vegitating, as it were, in the shade, where there is no grass for +their little feet to press, no fences to climb, or fields to ramble +over, or brooks to wade, or running water on which to float chips, and +wherein to watch the little chubs and shiners dancing and playing +about, or fresh pure air to breathe, or birds to listen to. It is a +thousand pities that the cities could not be emptied every summer of +their little people into the free and open country, where they could +run about, and sport and play, and have free range and plenty of +elbow-room. It would make them so much healthier and happier, so much +more cheerful; their voices of gladness would ring out so much more +joyously in the morning, and their songs be so much more sweet +at night." + +I remember an anecdote told me of a little child, born in the great +metropolis, who had never, until her fifth summer, been outside of the +paved streets of New York. Her mother had friends residing in one of +the up-river towns, owning a beautiful farm overlooking the Hudson, +and in early May she paid them a visit, taking her little daughter +with her. Mary, of course, was delighted. Like a bird freed from its +cage, she flew about here, there, everywhere, in-doors and out, among +the chickens and the pigs, the turkeys and the lambs, enjoying to the +full the thousand new things that her eyes rested upon all around her, +and her young spirits in wild commotion under the bracing influences +of the country air. "Mother! mother!" she exclaimed, as she came +dashing into the parlor, her beautiful curls floating wildly over her +shoulders, and her bright eyes wide open with wonder; "Mother I +mother! come out here, quick! and see this funny tree, all covered +over with snow-flakes, and how sweet it smells all around it." It was +a plum tree in full blossom. That little child had never seen the +beautiful spring blossoms on the fruit trees. + +"I have no children of my own," remarked Smith, "and, therefore, may +not be regarded as the best authority in regard to the manner of +treating, or rearing children; but I have often wondered at the very +great mistakes people sometimes make in regard to them. There are +parents who mean no wrong, and yet who make no scruple of deceiving +them in reply to their simple questionings, forgetting, or regardless +of the fact, that a false answer to their innocent inquiries put in +good faith, and in the earnest pursuit of truth, may plant an error in +their minds, which may take years of experience, and often a painful +amount of ridicule to eradicate. I knew a little boy years ago, a +thoughtful, philosophic child, who speculated in his simplicity upon +what he saw, as great philosophers do, in their wisdom, upon the +various phenomena of Nature. His father, had a great barn, above +which, as was the fashion long ago, perched upon a staff, a few feet +above the ridgepole, was a weather-cock, fashioned out of a piece of +board in the shape of a rooster. 'Father,' said the little boy, one +day, 'what makes that rooster always point his head one way when the +cold wind blows, and the other way when it is warm and pleasant?' 'He +always looks towards the place where the wind comes from,' replied the +father; 'when he gets too warm, and the sun is too hot for him, he +turns his tail to the south, and the north wind is sure to come down, +cold and chill, to cool him off.' 'Does he call the cold wind, father, +and will it come when he looks, that way?' was the next inquiry. +'Certainly,' replied his father, carelessly. That was a wrong and a +foolish answer. + +"That little boy, relying in his simple faith upon the wisdom and +truthfulness of his father, believed for a long time, that the +weathercock on the top of the barn, could bring the cold north, or +the warm south wind, by turning upon its perch. He was cured of his +error only by being laughed at for his simplicity. Parents should +never deceive their children by a careless or a wrong answer to the +simple questions put to them by these little searchers after +knowledge." + +"I remember," said the doctor, "and it is one of the earliest +incidents which my recollection has treasured, that I was out one +evening in autumn, with a boy older than myself, gathering hazel nuts. +The sun had sunk behind the hills, and the shadows of twilight were +gathering in the valley. It was a beautiful and calm evening, the +solemn stillness of which, was only broken by the 'tza! tza!' of +thousands of katydids among the bushes. I asked my companion what it +was that made the noise I heard, and he, supposing that I referred to +sounds that came up occasionally from the lake, after listening for a +moment, answered that it was made by the wild geese. In my simplicity +I believed it, and it was not until I caught, the next season, a +katydid while it was in the act of singing, that I discovered that the +music among the hazel bushes was not made by the wild geese." + +"I never respect a man or woman," said Spalding, "whose heart does not +warm towards little children, who takes no pleasure nor interest in +their society, who has no patience to listen to their simple thoughts +expressed in their simple way. 'Mother,' said a little child of four +or five years of age, one evening when the summer air was warm, and +the skies were bright above, as she sat beside her mother, on a bench +beneath the spreading branches of the tall old elms in front of the +house; 'mother, what makes the stars come out, only after the dark has +come down, and why don't the moon go up into the sky like the sun in +the day time?' I listened anxiously for the reply. I knew the kind +heart of that mother, how truthful it was, and how earnest and pure in +its affection for its gentle and only darling. 'Sit here upon my lap, +Mary,' said the mother, 'and I will try and explain it all so that you +will understand it.' And she told the little child how God made the +sun to rule the day, and the moon and the stars to rule the night; how +that the stars were always in the sky, but how the superior brightness +of the sun put them out in the day time; how the stars, that twinkled +like little rush-lights in the heavens, were great worlds, a thousand +times larger than this earth, made and placed away up in the sky, by +the same great and good God who made the world we live in. Little Mary +was silent and attentive to the simple lecture, until it was finished, +and then asked, so simply and confidingly, that I could not help +smiling to think that the mind of childhood should be running upon a +subject, and seeking a solution of the same question which has puzzled +the profoundest philosophers through all time: 'Mother,' said the +little one, 'are there people in the moon and in the stars, them great +worlds that look to us so like candles in the sky?' 'That question, my +child,' said the mother, 'I cannot answer.' 'I believe,' said the +child, that there _are_ people in the moon, and in all the stars.' +'Why?' asked her mother. 'Because I don't believe God would make such +big and beautiful worlds without making people to live in them.' What +more has the profoundest philosopher who ever lived said, to prove +that those mighty worlds which are seen in the heavens at night, that +are scattered all through the universe of God, rolling forever on +their everlasting rounds, are peopled by living, moving, +sentient beings?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A CONVENTION BROKEN UP IN A BOW--THE CHAIRMAN EJECTED. + + +We sent forward our boatman with the luggage early in the morning, up +Bog River towards Mud Lake, the source of the right branch of that +river, lying some thirty miles deeper in the wilderness, counting the +sinuosities of the stream, and said to be the highest body of water in +all this wild region. We were to spend the day on Tupper's Lake, and +follow him the next morning. Our boatman built for our accommodation, +a brush shanty in the place of our tents. We rowed about this +beautiful sheet of water, exploring its secluded bays and romantic +islands, trying experiments with the trout wherever a stream came down +from the hills, and trolling for lake trout while crossing the lake. +Near the shore, on the west bank, perhaps half a mile from the falls, +is one of the coldest, purest and most beautiful springs that I ever +met with. It comes up into a little basin some six or eight feet in +diameter, by two or three in depth. The bottom is of loose white sand +which is all in commotion, by the constant boiling up of the clear +cold water. From this basin a little stream goes rippling and laughing +to the lake. Towards evening we returned to our shanty with abundance +of fish for supper and breakfast, taken, as I said, in simply trying +experiments as to where they were to be found in the greatest +abundance. + +If any sportsman who may drift out this way, is fond of taking the +speckled trout--little fellows, weighing from a quarter of a pound +down, the same he meets with in the streams of Vermont, in +Massachusetts, in Northern Pennsylvania, and. Western New York, let +him provide himself with angle-worms, and row to the head of the lake. +A short distance east of where Bog River enters, say from a quarter to +half a mile, he will find a cold mountain stream. Let him rig for +brook-fishing and take to that stream. If he does not fill his basket +in a little while, he may set it down to the score of bad luck, or +some lack of skill on his part in taking them, for the brook trout are +there in abundance. Across the lake from Long Island, to the right as +you go up the lake, is a bay that goes away in around a woody point. +At the head of this bay, "Grindstone Brook" enters. It is a smallish +stream, and comes dashing down over shelving rocks some thirty feet, +and shoots out into the bay among broken rocks, and loose boulders. +The waters of this stream are much colder than those of the lake. Let +the sportsman row carefully up towards the mouth of this stream, along +towards evening of a hot day, when the shadow of the hill reaches far +out over the lake, and cast his fly across the little current, and if +he does not take as beautiful a string of river trout as can be found +in these parts, let him set it down to the score of accident, for the +trout are there in the warm days of August. If he has a curiosity to +know what there is above these Little Falls, let him try his +angle-worms in the brook just over the ridge, and he will find out. I +claim to have discovered these choice fishing places some seasons +since, and have kept them for my own private use and amusement. Nobody +seemed to know of them. When the trout refused to be taken elsewhere, +I have always found them here, abundant, greedy, and ready to be taken +by any decently skillful effort. I regard these places as in some sort +my private property, and I mention them privately and in confidence to +the reader, trusting that my right will be respected. + +We finished our evening meal while the sun was yet above the western +hills, and sat with our pipes around a smudge, made upon the broad +flat rock, which recedes with a gentle acclivity from the shore, where +the Bog River enters the lake, looking out over the stirless waters. +It was a beautiful view, so calm, so still and placid, and yet so +wild. The islands seemed to stand out clear from the water, to be +lifted up, as it were, from the lake, so perfectly moveless and +polished was its surface. On a grassy point to the right, and a +hundred rods distant, two deer were quietly feeding, while in a little +bay on the left, a brood of young ducks were sporting and skimming +along the water in playful gyrations around their staid and watchful +mother. On the outstretched arm of a dead tree on the island before +us, sat a bald eagle, pluming himself; and high above the lake the +osprey soared, turning his piercing eye downward, watching for +his prey. + +"I've been thinking," said Smith, as he refilled his pipe, "of what +the Doctor was saying the other evening about every body having a +streak of the vagabond in him, which makes him relish an occasional +tramp in the old woods among the natural things; things that have not +been marred by the barbarisms, so to speak, of civilization. I'm +inclined to believe his theory to be true, but I see a difficulty in +its practical working. Now, suppose, Doctor, that you and I being out +here together vagabondizing, as you term it, and your streak of the +vagabond being twice as large as mine, you would of course desire to +play the savage twice as long as I should. There would, in that case, +be a marring of the harmonies. I should be anxious to get back to +civilization, while you, being rather in your normal element, would +insist upon 'laying around loose,' as you say, for Mercy knows +how long." + +"Gentlemen," said the Doctor in reply, "only hear this fellow! He's +getting homesick already. He has no wife, not a child in the world, no +business, nothing to call him home save a superannuated pointer, and +an old Tom cat, and yet he would leave these glorious old woods, these +beautiful lakes, these rivers, these trout and deer, and all the glad +music of the wild things, to-morrow, and go back to the dust, the +poisoned atmosphere, the eternal jostling and monotonous noises of the +city! Truly a vagabond and a savage is Smith. He's afraid that his +family, his mangy old pointer and dropsical cat, will suffer in +his absence." + +"I scorn to answer such an accusation," retorted Smith, "I shall treat +it with dignified contempt, as I do the Doc medicines, which I never +take but always pay for, just to keep him from starving, and to make +him imagine he cures me. But speaking of cats reminds me of a certain +matter which occurred not many years ago. The Doctor here, if his +testimony could be relied upon, knows that I used to be troubled with +indigestion, and was sometimes a little nervous"---- + +"A _little_ nervous!" interrupted the Doctor, "why he would be as crazy +with the hypo as a March hare. He would insist that he was going to +die, or to the almshouse. He has made two or three dozen wills, to my +certain knowledge, under the firm conviction that he would be in the +ground in a week. A _little_ nervous, indeed!" + +"Well," said Smith, "we won't quarrel about the degree of my +nervousness. But in regard to what I was going to say about cats. Some +years ago I occupied a suite of rooms in the second story of a house +rented by a widow lady, to whom I had been under some obligations in +my boyhood, and whom my mother always regarded as her best friend." +(Smith supported the excellent old lady in comfort for a decade, under +pretence of boarding with her, ministering to the last years of her +life with the care and affection of a son.) "The landlord of the +premises was the owner of a block of twelve houses--six on Pearl +street, and six on Broadway, the lots meeting midway between the two +streets. On the rear of these lots are the out-houses, all under a +continuous flat roof, some twelve feet high, twenty wide, and say a +hundred and fifty feet long. In the rear of the Broadway +dwelling-houses, are one story tea-rooms, or third parlors, the roofs +of which form a continuous platform, upon which you can step from the +second story of the houses." + +"Well," said the Doctor, "what of all that?" + +"There's a great deal of it," Smith replied. "I don't pretend to know +how many cats there were in the city of Albany. Indeed, I never heard +that they were included in the census. I do not undertake to say that +they _all_ congregated nightly on the roofs of those out-houses. But +if there was a cat in the sixth ward, that didn't have something to +say on that roof every night, I should like to make its acquaintance. +I am against cats. I regard them as treacherous, ungrateful animals, +and as having very small moral developments generally. I am against +_cat-_terwauling, especially in the night season, when honest people +have a right to their natural sleep. I don't like to be woke up, when +rounding a pleasant dream, by their growling and screaming, spitting +and whining, groaning and crying, and the hundred other nameless +noises by which they frighten sleep from our pillows. + +"Well, one night, it may have been one o'clock, or two, or three, I +was awakened by the awfullest screaming and sputtering, growling and +swearing, that ever startled a weary man from his slumbers. I leaped +out of bed under the impression that at least twenty little children +had fallen into as many tubs of boiling water. I threw open the window +and stepped out upon the roof of the tea-room. I don't intend to +exaggerate, but I honestly believe that there were less than three +hundred cats over against me, on the roofs of the out-houses; each one +of which had a tail bigger than a Bologna sausage, his back crooked up +like an oxbow, and his great round eyes gleaming fiercely in the +moonlight, putting in his very best in the way of catterwauling. Two +of the largest, one black as night and the other a dark grey or +brindle, appeared to be particularly in earnest, and the way they +scolded, and screamed, and swore at each other was a sin to hear. I +won't undertake to report all they said; a decent regard for the +proprieties of language, compels me to give only a sketch of +the debate. + +"'You infernal, big-tailed, hump-backed, ugly-mugged thief,' screamed +the grey, 'I'd like to know what _you_ are out here for this time of +night, skulking, and creeping, and nosing about in the dark, poaching +upon other people's preserves?' + +"'Very well I mighty well!' was the reply, 'for _you_, to talk, you +black-skinned, ogre-eyed, growling and sputtering robber, to come upon +this roof, sticking up _your_ back and taking airs on yourself. I'd +like to know what business _you've_ got to be prowling about and +crowding yourself into honest people's company?' + +"'I'm a regular Tom Cat, I'd have you know, and go where I please, and +I'll stand none of your big talk and insolent looks.' "'Insolent! +Hear the cowardly thief! Insolent! Very well, Mr. Tom Cat! very good, +indeed! Now, just take your black skin off of this roof, or you'll get +what will make you look cross-eyed foe a month.' + +"'Get off this roof, I think you said. Look at this set of ivory, and +these claws, old greyback! If you want I should leave this roof, just +come and put me off. Try it on, old Beeswax. Yes, yes! try it on once, +and we'll see whose eyes will look straightest in the morning! Come +on, old Humpback! Try it on, old Sausage Tail!' + +"And then they pitched in, and such scratching and growling, scolding +and swearing, and biting, and rolling over and over, I never happened +to see or hear before. About that time I dropped a boulder of coal, +taken from the scuttle, weighing about half a pound, right among them +(accidently of course). Whether it hit any one I can't positively +affirm, but I heard a dull heavy sound, a kind of _chug_, as if it had +struck against something soft, and the scream of one of the +belligerents was brought to a sudden stop, by a sort of hysterical +jerk, as though there had been a sudden lack of wind to carry it on. +It put an end to the disturbance, and all the rioters, save one, +scampered away. That one remained, all doubled up in a heap like, as +if it had the sick headache, or been attacked with a sudden +inflammation of the bowels. If any body's cat was found the next +morning with a swelled head, or a great bunch on its side, and seemed +dumpish, it's my private opinion that that's the one that lump of coal +fell upon. Still it did'nt do much good in the way of relieving me +from the annoyance of these cat conventions. They continued to +congregate nightly on that long shed in the rear of my rooms. I wasted +more wood upon them than I could well afford to spare. I used up all +the brickbats I could lay my hands on. I threw away something less +than a ton of coal; and on two occasions came near being taken to the +watch-house for smashing a window in the opposite block. All this +proved of no avail. Indeed, my tormentors began at last to get used to +it, to regard it as part of the performance. + +"The matter was getting serious. It became evident that either those +cats or myself must leave the premises. I had paid my rent in advance, +and was therefore entitled to quiet use and enjoyment, according to +the terms of my lease. I made up my mind to try one more experiment. +So I bought me a double-barrelled gun, and a quantity of powder and +shot, and gave fair warning that I intended to use them. + +"Well, the moon came up one night, with her great round face, and went +walking up the sky with a queenly tread, throwing her light, like a +mantle of brightness, over all the earth. I love the calm of a +moonlight night, in the pleasant spring time, and the cats of our part +of the town seemed to love it too, for they came from every quarter; +from the sheds around the National Garden, from the stables, the +streets, the basements, and the kitchens, creeping stealthily along +the tops of the fences, and along the sheds, and clambering up the +boards that leaned up against the outbuildings, and set themselves +down, scores or less of them, in their old trysting place, right +opposite my chamber windows. To all this I had in the abstract no +objection. If a cat chooses to take a quiet walk by moonlight, if he +chooses to go out for his pleasure or his profit, it is no particular +business of mine, and I haven't a word to say. Cats have rights, and I +have no disposition to interfere with them. If they choose to hold a +convention to discuss the affairs of rat-and-mousedom, they can do it +for all me. But they must go about it decently and in order. They must +talk matters over calmly; there must be no rioting, no fighting. They +must refrain from the use of profane language--they must not swear. +There's law against all this, and I had warned them long before that I +would stand no such nonsense. I told them frankly that I'd let drive +among them some night with a double-barrelled gun, loaded with powder +and duck-shot--and I meant it. But those cats did'nt believe a word I +said. They did'nt believe I had any powder and shot. They did'nt +believe I had any gun, or knew how to use it, if I had; and one great +Maltese, with eyes like tea-plates, and a tail like a Bologna sausage, +grinned and sputtered, and spit, in derision and defiance of my +threats. 'Very well!' said I. 'Very well, Mr. TOM CAT! very well, +indeed! On your head be it, Mr. TOM CAT! Try it on, Mr. TOM CAT, and +we'll see who'll get the worst of it.' + +"Well, as I said, the moon came up one night, with her great round +face, and all the little stars hid themselves, as if ashamed of their +twinkle in the splendor of her superior brightness. I retired when the +rumble of the carriages in the streets, and the tramp on the stone +sidewalks had ceased, and the scream of the eleven o'clock train had +died away into silence, with a quiet conscience, and in the confidence +that I should find that repose to which one who has wronged no man +during the day, is justly entitled. + +"It may have been midnight, or one o'clock, or two, when I was +awakened from a pleasant slumber, by a babel of unearthly sounds in +the rear of my chamber. I knew what those sounds meant, for they had +cost me fuel enough to have lasted a month. I raised the window, and +there, as of old, right opposite me, on the north end of that long +shed, was an assemblage of all the cats in that part of the town. I +won't be precise as to numbers, but it is my honest belief that there +was less than three hundred of them; and if one among them all was +silent, I did not succeed in discovering which it was. There was that +same old Maltese, with his saucer eyes and sausage tail; and over +against him sat a monstrous brindle; and off at the right was an old +spotted ratter; and on his left was one black as a wolf's mouth, all +but his eyes, which glared with a sulphurous and lurid brightness; and +dotted all around, over a space some thirty feet square, were dozens +more, of all sizes and colors, and _such_ growling and spitting, and +shrieking, and swearing, never before broke, with hideous discord, the +silence of midnight. + +"I loaded my double-barrelled gun by candle-light I put plenty of +powder and a handful of shot into each barrel. I adjusted the caps +carefully, and stepped out of the window, upon the narrow roof upon +which it opens. I was then just eighty feet from that cat convention. +I addressed myself to the chairman (the old Maltese) in a distinct and +audible voice and said, 'SCAT!' He did'nt recognise my right to the +floor, but went right on with the business of the meeting. 'SCAT!' +cried I, more emphatically than before, but was answered only by an +extra shriek from the chairman, and a fiercer scream from the whole +assembly. 'SCAT! once,' cried I again, as I brought my gun to a +present. 'SCAT! twice,' and I aimed straight at the chairman, covering +half a dozen others in the range. 'SCAT! three times,' and I let +drive. Bang! went the right-hand barrel; and bang! went the left-hand +barrel. Such scampering, such leaping off the shed, such running away +over the eaves of the outbuildings, over the tops of the wood-sheds, +were never seen before. The echoes of the firing had scarcely died +away, when that whole assemblage was broken up and dispersed. + +"'Thomas,' said I, the next morning to the boy who did chores for us, +'there seems to be a cat asleep out on that woodshed, go up and +scare it away.' + +"Thomas clambered upon the shed and went up to where that cat lay, and +lifting it up by the tail, hallood back to me, 'This cat can't be +waked up; it can't be scared away--its dead!' After examining it for a +moment--'Somebody's been a shootin' on it, by thunder,' as he tossed +it down into the yard. + +"You don't say so!" said I. "That cat was the old Maltese--the +chairman of that convention. I don't know where he boarded, or who +claimed title to him. What I do know is, that it cost me a quarter to +have him buried, or thrown into the river; and that I was suffered to +sleep in peace from the time I made the discovery that _powder and +lead are great quellers of midnight rioting_. They gave _me_ quiet at +least, and saved me from the wickedness of the nightly use of certain +expletives, under the excitement of the occasion, which are not to be +found in any of the religious works of the day." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE FIRST CHAIN OP PONDS--SHOOTING BY TURNS--SHEEP WASHING--A PLUNGE +AND A DIVE--A ROLAND FOR AN OLIVER. + + +We started early the next morning up Bog River, intending to reach the +"first chain of ponds," some twenty miles deeper in the wilderness, as +the stream runs, on the banks of which our pioneer had been instructed +to pitch our tents. This day's journey, it was understood, would be a +hard one, as there were eight carrying places, varying from ten rods +to half a mile in length. The Bog River is a deep, sluggish stream for +five or six miles above the falls, just at the lake. It goes creeping +along, among, and around immense boulders, thrown loose, as it were, +in mid channel. At this distance, the stream divides, the right hand +channel leading to the two chains of ponds and Mud Lake, where it +takes its rise; and the left to Round Pond, and little Tupper's Lake, +and a dozen other nameless sheets of water, laying higher up among the +mountains. Our course lay up the right hand channel, which, for half +a mile above the forks, comes roaring and tumbling through a mountain +gorge, plunging over falls, and whirling and surging among the +boulders, in a descent of three of four hundred feet in all. Around +these, and seven other rapids of greater or less extent, our boats had +to be carried. + +We reached the lower chain of ponds within an hour of sunset, and +found our tents pitched at a pleasant spot which looked out over the +easternmost one of these beautiful little lakelets. There are three of +them, connected together by narrow passages or straits, the banks of +which, as the boat glides along, the oars will touch. They are +surrounded by low but pleasant hills, so arranged as to form a varied +but delightful scenery. From the western one, the hills rise from the +water with a steep acclivity, covered with a gigantic growth of +timber, save on the northern side, where a pleasant natural meadow, +covered with rank grass and a few spruce and fir trees, stretches +away. It contains about two hundred acres, and its waters are deep and +pure. The middle one, though smaller, is equally beautiful, skirted on +three sides with wood-covered hills, and on the other by a +continuation of the same natural meadow. The eastern one, on the +western banks of which our tents were located on a beautiful little +bay, is the prettiest of them all. It contains perhaps six hundred +acres, and the scenery around it is exceedingly cheerful and pleasant. +The northern shore is bound by a natural meadow of luxuriant wild +grass, between which and the water is a hard sandy beach, at low water +some thirty feet wide, and extending between a quarter and half a +mile in length. + +As we approached these ponds, the river became broad and shallow. +Natural meadows, covered with tall grass and weeds, stretching away on +either hand. When we came to this portion of the river, the oars were +shipped, and our boat-men took their seats in the stern with their +paddles. Smith was in the bow of one boat, and Spalding in that of the +other, each with rifle in hand, preparatory to the slaughter of a +deer, to provide us with venison. It was arranged that the marksman +who fired and failed to secure his game, should change places with the +one behind him, and that thus the rotation should go on, till we +should bring down a deer. We knew that we should see numbers of them +feeding along the margin of the stream, and upon the natural meadows +that skirted the shore. The stream was winding and tortuous, and at no +time could we see more than five-and-twenty rods in advance of us, so +crooked is its course. + +We were moving up the stream cautiously and silently; the boatman who +had charge of the craft in which were Smith and myself, seated in the +stern, paddling, and Smith himself seated in the bow, with rifle in +hand, ready for anything that might turn up. As the boat rounded a +point, a deer started out from among the reeds on the right, and went +dashing and snorting across the river directly in front of the boat, +and five or six rods ahead, the water being only about two feet in +depth. Smith blazed away at him; where the ball went, Mercy knows; but +the deer dashed forward with accelerated speed, and a louder whistle, +and went crashing up the hill-side. Smith acknowledged to a severe +attack of the Buck fever. It was now my turn to take the next shot; +and changing places with Smith, we went ahead. In ten minutes a chance +to try my skill occurred. But it was a long shot, the game was "on the +wing," and I had no better success than did my friend. The deer only +increased the length of his bounds, and he too went plunging through +the old woods, snorting in astonishment, and huge affright at what he +had seen and heard. + +Our boat now fell back, and Spalding and the Doctor took the lead. In +a short time, a deer was discovered feeding just ahead of us on the +lily pads along the shore. The boatman paddled silently up to within +eight or ten rods of him. Spalding sighted him long and, as he +averred, carefully with his rifle. The deer fed and fed on, and we +waited anxiously to hear the crack of the rifle, and see the deer go +down; but still the boat glided on unnoticed by the animal that was +feeding in unsuspecting security. At length he raised his head, threw +forward his long ears, gazed for a second intently at his enemies, and +then appreciating his danger, snorted like a warhorse and plunged in a +seeming desperation of terror towards the shore. He had ran a few rods +when Spalding let drive at him, as he confessed, at random. The ball +went wide of the mark, and the game dashed, with more desperate +energy, and whistling and snorting like a locomotive, into the brush +that lined the banks. It was Spalding's third shot in all his life at +a deer, and he insisted, gravely enough, that he did not fire while +the game was standing broadside to him, on account of his desire to +give the animal a chance for his life. The truth is, that Spalding had +a bad, a very bad attack of the aforesaid Buck fever. + +The Doctor, by rotation, now became the leading marksman. He was cool +and calm, as if going to perform some delicate surgical operation. We +soon came in sight of a buck feeding in a shallow pasture, and the +boat glided quietly within fifteen rods of it. The Doctor's hand was +firm, and his aim steady. There was about him none of that nervous +agitation which is so apt to disturb the first efforts at deer +slaying. The boat came to a pause a moment, when his rule rang out +quick and sharp, waking the echoes of the mountains around and +reverberating along the shore. At the crack of the rifle, the buck +leaped high into the air, and plunged madly towards the bank, up which +he dashed with a prodigious bound, made a single jump among the tall +grass, and disappeared from the sight. The Doctor was greatly +mortified, supposing he had missed. He declared solemnly that he had +taken steady and sure aim just back of the fore-shoulders of the deer, +had a perfect sight upon it, and that it did not fall in its tracks, +could only be owing to its bearing a charmed life. The boatman, +however, knew that the animal, from its actions, was mortally wounded. +He said nothing, but paddled quietly to the shore, and there, just +over the bank, in the tall grass and weeds, lay the noble buck, stone +dead. He had gone down and died without a struggle. A proud man was +the Doctor, as he passed his hunting-knife across the throat of the +deer, and gazed upon its broad antlers, now in the velvet, pointing to +the course of the ball right through its vitals, in on one side and +out on the other. We had venison for the next four-and-twenty hours, +and we disturbed the deer no more that afternoon. + +The deep baying of the stag-hounds, as we entered the little lake, +apprised us of the location of our tents, and we were glad to reach +them, and stretch our limbs upon the bed of boughs beneath them, for +the day had been warm, and our journey a weary one. Our pioneer had +made the entire journey the day before, though he had to pass over all +the carrying-places three times. We found that he had killed two deer, +and had the meat from them, cut into thin slips, undergoing the +process of "jerking," in a bark smokehouse erected near the tents. He +had also a beautiful string of trout ready for our supper, taken in a +way peculiarly his own. He had used neither bait nor fly. + +After supper, as we sat looking out over the lake in front of our +tents, the Doctor inquired of our pioneer how he had taken his fish, +as he had with him neither rod nor flies, and there was no bait to be +found in the woods proper for trout. + +"Why," said he, "I got lonesome yesterday, all alone up here in the +woods, waiting for you, and I thought I'd take a look around the shore +of the lake, thinking I might find a gold mine, or a pocketful of +diamonds, or something of that sort; so I took my rifle and the two +dogs, and started on an explorin' voyage. I didn't find any gold, but +I found, just across there by those willows and alders, a cold stream +entered the lake, and right in the mouth of it the trout were lyin' as +thick as your fingers. They were fine little fellows as I ever +happened to see, weighing about a quarter of a pound each. I had a +hook or two, and a piece of twine in my pocket, but they were of no +sort of use in common fishin', for I had no kind of bait, and couldn't +get any. After thinking the matter over, I concluded I'd see if I +couldn't bag some of them in a quiet way. So I cut me a long pole, +tied the hook and line to the end of it, and reaching out over the +water, dropped quietly down among them. I let the line drift gently up +against the one I wanted. He didn't seem to mind it, but was rather +pleased as the line tickled his sides. After letting it lay there a +moment, I jerked suddenly, and up came the trout clean over my head on +to the flat rock behind me. However this might have astonished him, it +didn't seem to disturb the rest. In that way I caught all I wanted, +and could have caught a bushel. It isn't a very science way of +fishin', but it answers when a man is hungry, and hasn't got any +bait or fly." + +"I scarcely know why," said the Doctor, "but Cullen's account of +catching his trout, reminds me of a circumstance which occurred when I +was a boy, and which for the moment made a deal of sport. I have not +probably thought of it in twenty years, but it comes to me now as +fresh as though it were the occurrence of yesterday. It must be, as +Hank Wood said the other day, that a thing which gets fairly anchored +in a man's mind, remains there always, and covered up as it may be by +other and later things, it can never be forgotten. It will come +drifting back on the current of memory, fresh and palpable as ever. + +"Everybody understands, or ought to understand, how sheep are washed. +A small yard is built on the bank of a stream adjacent to a deep +place. One side of which is open to the water, and into which the +flock is crowded. The washers take their places in the water, where it +is three or four feet deep, and the sheep are caught by others, and +tossed to them, where they undergo ablution (an operation by the way, +that they do not seem altogether to enjoy), to wash the dirt and gum +from their fleeces. On such occasions, it is regarded as a lawful +thing, a standing and ancient practical joke, to pitch any outsider, +who may happen to indulge his curiosity by stopping to look on, into +the stream. If he is verdant, he will be very likely to be inveigled +into the yard, and in an unguarded moment, be made to take an +involuntary dive, head foremost into the water. + +"A few rods above the place in which my father washed his sheep, was +an old dam, the apron of which remained, and beneath which was a basin +some five or six feet in depth, and thirty or forty feet in diameter, +filled of course with water. On one occasion, a man who was employed +to catch the sheep, was one of those shiftless, good-natured, lazy +fellows, to be found in almost every neighborhood, who prefer smoking +and telling stories in bar-rooms to regular work, and who greatly +prefer odd jobs to consecutive labor. Tom G----was one of this genus, +full of fun and mischief, but without a particle of real malice in +his composition. As he was busy throwing sheep to the washers, a young +fellow from the neighboring village happened that way, and becoming +somewhat interested in the process, was seduced by Tom G----, inside +of the yard, to try his hand at catching and tossing in sheep. About +the second or third one he operated upon, his treacherous friend +stumbled against him, giving him a tremendous push, and with a sheep +in his arms he drove head foremost among the washers. The water was +cold, and there was a good deal of puffing and blowing about the time +his head came above the surface. He was a sensible chap, and took the +joke as a wise man should, especially when the odds are all against +him, albeit, it was somewhat rude. + +"He came out on the other side of the stream, and after joining in the +laugh against himself, and taking off and wringing his garments, he +wandered up to the apron of the old dam, and stretching himself along +the planks, went to looking anxiously down into the deep water. After +a while, he seemed to have discovered something, and called out to his +friend below, 'I say Tom, have you got a fishhook in your pocket? Here +is a trout that will weigh two pounds, and I want to hook him up.' Now +Tom was a fisherman, and a big trout was his weakness; moreover, he +was never without half a dozen hooks and lines in his pockets. He left +his business at once, and went up to the apron to assist in taking the +two-pound trout. A pole was cut, and a couple of feet of line, with a +hook attached, was fastened a little way from the top, and the haft +of the hook stuck into the end so that by a little force it might be +removed, and Tom and his friend got upon the apron, and stooped over +to see where the great trout lay. + +"'Here he is, Tom, just under the edge of this rock.' Tom stretched +himself over to get a view of the fish, when a vigorous shove from the +rear sent him like a great frog plump towards the bottom of the pool. +This was a consummation that Tom had not bargained for, but there was +no alternative but to swim for the shore, dripping like a rat from a +flooded sewer. That joke had two points to it, and Tom G----had the +worst of them." + +"Your anecdote," said Smith, "reminds me of one in which I was an +actor, and which was impressed upon my mind by a process which few +boys are fond of, but which is very apt to make the impression +durable. _I_ fished for trout once without line or hook. I got a fine +string of them, and myself into a pretty kettle of fish in the +bargain. On my father's farm, as it was when I was a boy, was a stream +that came down through a gorge in the mountains that bounded the +pleasant valley in which that farm lay. In the spring freshets and the +summer rains, that stream was a mighty and resistless torrent, that +came roaring and plunging down from the plain above, cascading and +leaping down ledges and rushing though a gorge, on either side of +which precipices of solid rock stood straight up two hundred feet in +height. It was a goodly sight to see that stream when its back was up, +come rushing and foaming, a mighty flood from the deep and shadowy +gulf, rolling in its resistless course great boulders of tons upon +tons in weight, and eddying, and twisting, and roaring onward in its +furious course towards the lake. In the summer time the drouth lapped +up its waters, and it dried away to a little brook, trickling over the +falls, and went winding, a small streamlet, around the base of the +hill; sometimes it disappeared in the gravel, or among the loose +stones, save here and there a pool of narrow limits and shallow depth. +It was a fine trout stream at times. Its waters were cold and pure, +and the brook trout loved to hide away under the great smooth stones +or shelving rocks, and be comfortable in the shade, when the summer +sun was hot and fiery in the sky. When the creek was low, they would +congregate in the pools and still places, and in times of extreme +drouth, might be seen huddled together in such places in +great numbers. + +"My father, though not a member of any church, was strict in his +family discipline in regard to the observance of the Sabbath, the +breach of which, on the part of his children, was very apt to be +followed by consequences not the most pleasant in the world, for he +held that a good switch was an essential article of household +furniture, and its occasional use a cardinal principle in the +philosophy of family rule. One Sunday, when I was some ten or eleven +years old, when the old people were gone to meeting (and they had to +go eight miles to find a meeting house), I, with an older brother, +tired of lying around the house, concluded to take a stroll along up +the brook. It was a time of severe drouth, and the stream was dried +up, save here and there a small pool, clear and cold, the bottom of +which consisted of smooth and clean-washed stones and pebbles. In one +of these was a number of beautiful speckled trout, averaging maybe a +quarter of a pound each in weight. Here was a temptation too strong to +be resisted. We had no hooks or lines with us, and would not have +ventured to use them _on Sunday_, if we had. That would have been +fishing. But the taking of those trout with our hands was quite +another matter. So, rolling our pants up above our knees (there was no +use of talking about shoes and stockings; such luxuries were not +within the range of indulgence to boys of our age in those days, save +in the frosts and snows of winter, and stubbed toes, stone bruises, +and thorns in the feet, come floating along down from the long past, +like shadows of darkness on the current of memory. By the way, will +some rich man, who was reared in the country in the good old times +when boys went barefooted in the summer months, when chapped feet, +stone bruises, stubbed toes, and thorns that pierced and festered in +their _soles_ were the great ills that 'darkened deepest around human +destiny,' solve for me a problem of the human mind? Will he tell me +whether, in his after life, when he was the owner of broad acres, fine +houses, piles of stocks in paying corporations, and huge deposits in +solvent banks, he ever felt richer or prouder when counting his gains, +and contemplating the aggregate of his wealth, than he did when he +pulled on his first pair of boots?) So, as I said, we rolled up our +pants, and waded in for the trout. We caught a beautiful string of +twenty or more, took them home, dressed them nicely, and sat them +carefully away in the cool cellar. We had a notion that the greatness +of the prize would wipe away the offence by which it was secured, and +that the delicious breakfast they would afford, would be received as a +sufficient atonement for the sin of having taken them on a Sunday. But +we were never more mistaken in our lives. My father went into the +cellar for some purpose in the evening, after his return from meeting, +and discovered the trout. An inquiry was instituted, our dereliction +was exposed, and we were promised a flogging. Now that was a promise, +which, while it was rarely made, was never broken. When my father in +his calm, quiet way, made up his mind and so expressed it, that he +owed one of his boys a flogging, it became, as it were, a debt of +honor, what, in modern parlance, would be termed a confidential debt, +and he to whom it was acknowledged to be due, became a prefered +creditor, and was sure to be paid. + +"Well, the trout were eaten for breakfast, and after the meal was +over, my brother and myself were duly paid off, at a hundred cents on +the dollar, with full interest. That flogging cured me of 'tickling' +trout, especially on Sunday. I am never tempted to take trout with my +hands, without feeling a tickling sensation about the back; and though +old recollections of the long past, of that pleasant stream and the +gorge through which it flowed, with the side hill covered with old +forests above it, and the green fields spread out on the other side, +of the home of my boyhood, the old log-house, the cattle, the sheep, +the old watch-dog, and the thousand other things around which memory +loves to linger, come clustering around my heart, yet conspicuous +among them all, is the flogging I got for 'tickling' trout on +a Sunday." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A JOLLY TIME FOR THE DEER--HUNTING ON THE WATER BY DAYLIGHT--MUD LAKE +FUNEREAL SCENERY--A NEW WAY OF TAKING RABBITS--THE NEGRO AND THE +MARINO BUCK--A COLLISION. + + +As we came down to the lake in the morning to perform our ablations, +we saw a fine deer on the opposite shore, feeding upon the pond lilies +that grew along in the shallow water. It was nearly half a mile from +us, and while we were looking at it, four others came walking +carelessly out of the tall grass upon the beach, and commenced +playing, as we have seen lambs do, on the sandy shore. They would run +here and there, back and forth, at full speed along the sands, leap +high into the air, kicking up their heels, and performing all the +various antics of which animals so supple and active may be supposed +capable. We saw one fellow leap, with a clear bound, over two that +were standing looking out over the water, and run some fifty rods up +the beach, as if all the hounds in Christendom were at his tail, and +then wheel gracefully, and return with equal speed to his companions, +when they all commenced jumping and bounding, and running up and down +along the shore, as if they were out on a regular spree, and were +determined to be jolly. After half an hour of exceedingly active play, +they hoisted their white flags, and went bounding over the meadow into +the woods. + +The deer that was feeding paid no further attention to them than to +raise his head and look quietly, and perhaps contemptuously at them +occasionally, while he chewed his breakfast, that he was picking up in +the shape of lily pads upon the surface of the water. Spalding and a +boatman paddled across the lake to make Mm a morning call. It is a +curious fact that one skilled in the art will paddle or scull one of +these light boats to within a few rods of a deer while feeding, in +plain open sight, provided always that the wind blows _from_ the +direction of the animal, and no noise is made by the boatman. The deer +will feed on, and the time for paddling is while his head is down. +When he raises it to look about him, in whatever position the boatman +is, he must remain immovable. If his paddle is up, it must remain so; +not a motion must be made, or the game will be off, with a snort and a +rush, for the shore and the woods. The deer may, and probably will +look, with a vacant stare, directly at the approaching boat without +its curiosity being in the least excited, and then go to feeding +again. The marksman must take his aim while the game is feeding; when +it raises its head high in the air, throws forward its ears and gazes +at him for a moment with a wild and startled look, then is his time to +fire. Five seconds at the longest is all that is allowed him when he +sees these motions, for within that time, with its fears thoroughly +aroused, the game will be plunging for the shelter of the woods. + +The boatman paddled Spalding quietly and silently to within twelve or +fifteen rods of the deer that was feeding, when a column of white +smoke shot suddenly up from the bow of the boat; the sharp crack of +the rifle rung out over the water, and the deer went down. Spalding +was a proud man as he returned to us with a fine fat spike buck in +his boat. + +These little lakes are probably sixty-five miles from the settlements, +allowing for the winding course of the rivers. Just above, where the +river enters, is a dam, built of logs some fifteen feet high, erected +by the lumbermen the last winter to hold back the water, so as to +float their logs down from this to Tupper's Lake, and so on down the +Rackett to the mills away below. Around this dam is the last carrying +place between this and Mud Lake, over which our boatmen trudged with +their boats, like great turtles with their shells upon their backs. +This is still called Bog River, and though above the dam to Mud Lake, +where it takes its rise, it is deep and sluggish, yet it is doing it +honor overmuch to dignify it by the name of a river. It was large +enough, however, to float our little craft. We left our baggage-master +here with most of our luggage, to perfect his operations in the way +of jerking venison, intending to return the next day. We might have +left everything without a guard, so far as human depredations were +concerned. No bolts or bars would be necessary for its protection. In +the first place, nobody would visit the spot, and if they did, our +property would be perfectly protected by the law of the woods. It +would be doubtless carefully inspected by any curious banter passing +that way, but theft or robbery are unknown here. True, a bottle of +good liquor, if handled by a visitor, might lose somewhat of its +contents, but it would be drank to the health of the owner, and in a +spirit of good fellowship, and not of theft, all which would be +regarded by woodsmen as strictly within rule, there being, as Hank +Wood said, "no law agin it." + +We left the first chain of ponds, and rowed some ten miles up the deep +and sluggish but narrow channel of the river, startling every little +way a deer from its propriety by our presence as it was feeding along +the shore. Few sportsmen ever visit this remote region, and it is +above the range of the lumbermen. We came to some rapids near the +outlet of the second chain of ponds, around which we walked, and up +which the boatmen pushed their little craft. These rapids are a +quarter of a mile in length, with no great amount of fall, but still +enough to prevent the passage up them of a loaded boat. Directly at +the head of these rapids is the "second chain of ponds," three +pleasant little lakelets, of from two to four hundred acres each, +surrounded by dense forests, and shores in the main walled in by huge +boulders and broken rocks. We passed through these, in which were +several loons, or great northern divers, quietly floating, and as they +watched us, sending forth their clear and clarion voices over the +water. We took each a passing shot at them, but with no other effect +than to make them dive quicker and deeper, and stay under longer than +usual; at the flash of our rifles they would go down, and in a few +minutes would be again on the surface sixty rods from us, laughing +aloud, as it were, with their clear and quavering voices, at our +impotent attempts to shoot them. + +We left the "second chain of ponds" by the narrow and sluggish inlets, +still the Bog River, here so small that the boatman's oars spanned the +narrow channel, and as crooked a stream as it is possible for one to +be. It flows for miles through a low and marshy region, with dense +alderbushes clustering along the shore, and scattering fir-trees, dead +at the top, standing between these and the forests in the background. +The bottom, much of the way, is of clean yellow sand, in which are +imbedded millions of clams, resembling, in every respect, those of the +ocean beach. Some of these we opened, and found the living bivalves in +appearance precisely like their kindred of the salt water. I have seen +occasionally muscle shells in other streams, and along the shores of +the lakes, but I never before saw any such as these save near the +ocean, where the salt water ebbs and flows, and not even there in such +quantities. One might gather barrels and barrels of them, large and +apparently fat, and yet there would be hundreds or thousands of +barrels left. The mink, the muskrat, and other animals that hunt +along the water, and have a taste for fish, have a good time of it +among them, for we saw bushels of shells in places where the fish had +been extracted and devoured. + +We arrived at Mud Lake towards evening, and pitched our tent on a +little rise of ground on the north side, a few rods back from the +lake, among a cluster of spruce and balsam, and surrounded by a dense +growth of laurel and high whortleberry bushes. We saw a deer +occasionally on our route, and the banks of the stream in many places +were trodden up by them like the entrance to a sheep-fold. Why this +sheet of water should be called Mud Lake is a mystery, for though +gloomy enough in every other respect, its bed is of sand, and it is +surrounded by a sandy beach from fifteen to forty feet wide. It is +perhaps four miles in circumference, its waters generally shallow, and +so covered with pond lilies, and skirted with wild grass, as to form +the most luxuriant pasture for the deer and moose to be found in all +this region. Of all the lakes I have visited in these northern wilds, +this is the most gloomy. Indeed it is the only one that does not wear +a cheerful and pleasant aspect. It seems to be the highest water in +this portion of the wilderness, lying, as one of our boatmen +expressed it, "up on the top of the house." In only one direction +could any higher land be seen, and that was a low hill on the +western shore, not exceeding fifty feet in height. There are no +tall mountain peaks reaching their heads towards the clouds, +overlooking the waters; no ranges stretching away into the distance; +no gorges or spreading valleys; no sloping hillsides, giving back the +sunlight, or along which gigantic shadows of the drifting clouds +float. All around it are fir, and tamarac, and spruce of a stinted and +slender growth, dead at the top, and with lichens and moss hanging +down in sad and draggled festoons from their desolate branches. It is, +in truth, a gloomy place, typical of desolation, which it is well to +see once, but which no one will desire to visit a second time. We +noticed on the sandy beach tracks of the wolf, the panther, the moose, +and in one place the huge track of a bear. He must have been of +monstrous growth, judging by the impression of his great feet and +claws in the sand. But we saw none of these animals, and so gloomy is +the place, so sepulchral, such an air of desolation all around, that +it brings over the mind a strong feeling of sadness and gloom, and we +resolved not to tarry beyond the nest morning, even for the chance of +taking a moose, a panther, or a bear. + +We pitched our tent, as I said, a little way back from the lake, near +a cold spring, that came boiling up through the white sand in a little +basin, eight feet wide, the bottom of which, like that on the bank of +Tupper's Lake, was all in commotion, boiling and bubbling, as the +water forced its way up through it. I was in the forward boat as we +approached the lake, and was surprised to see the number of deer +feeding upon the lily pads in the shallow water, and the wild grass +that grew along the shore. Some stood midside in the water, some with +only the line of their backs and heads above it. Some were close +along the shore, feeding upon the grass that grew there. Others still +were nibbling at the leaves of the moosewood upon the bank, and one +large buck stood by the side of a fir tree, rubbing his neck up and +down against it, as if scratching himself against its rough bark. We +had not been discovered, and waited for the other boats to arrive. +Great was the astonishment of my companions, when they saw the number +of deer that were feeding in this little lake. Neither of them had +ever seen the like, nor had I, save on one occasion, and that was in a +small lake, the name of which I have forgotten, lying a few miles +beyond the head of the Upper Saranac. + +"You see that clump of low balsam trees on that point yonder," said my +boatman, as we lay upon our oars, pointing in the direction indicated. +"Well, from that spot, three years ago, I shot a moose out upon the +bar there, as it was feeding upon the lily pads and flag grass. + +"I had heard from an old Indian hunter, about this lake, and the +abundance of game to be found here, and I made up my mind to see it. +So another hunter and myself agreed to come up here in July, and take +a look at matters, and find out whether the old copperhead told the +truth or not. We started about the middle of July, with our rifles and +provisions for a fortnight, and came up. We saw any quantity of deer +on the way. On the second chain of ponds, we saw, as we were rowing +along, a large panther walk out on to the top of a great boulder, and +look around, lashing his sides with his long tail, and then sit down +on his haunches with his tail curled around his feet, just as you've +seen a cat do. He was too far off for us to shoot him, and he saw us +before we got within proper distance, and stole away into the woods, +and we passed on. As we rounded the point just below the lake there, +and looked out upon the broad water, I saw the moose I spoke of, +feeding. We sat perfectly still, and permitted the boat to drift back +down the stream until we were out of sight. We then landed, and I +crept carefully and silently to that clump of fir trees. I had my own +and my companion's rifle both properly loaded. Having got a right +position, I sighted for a vital part, and fired. The animal rushed +furiously forward two or three rods, with its head lowered as if +making a lunge at an enemy, then stopped, and looked all around, +standing with its back humped up, and its short stump of a tail +working and writhing at a furious rate. I sighted it again with the +other rifle, and pulled. The animal plunged furiously for again for a +few rods, stopped a moment, and then settled slowly down, and fell +over on its side, dead. It was a cow-moose and would weigh as killed +five or six hundred pounds. I was a pretty proud man then, as that was +my first moose, and about as big feeling a chap as was Squire Smith +the other day, when he brought down that buck. I have shot two others +here since, one at each visit I have made." + +The season for moose hunting along the water pastures, was nearly +over. They go back upon the hills in August, the food there being by +that time abundant. The tracks we saw were old ones, the animals +having passed there several days previously. I would not have it +supposed that the moose are abundant in any portion of this +wilderness. They have come to be few and far between, and exceedingly +wary at that. I could hear of none having been killed the present +season; but that there are some left, as well as bears, and wolves, +and panthers, the tracks we saw gave unmistakable evidence. + +We saw no appearance of trout in this lake, or in the outlet of it +above the upper chain of ponds. The stream swarmed with chub and dace, +a rare circumstance with the streams of this region. Towards evening, +we saw numbers of little grey wood rabbits, hopping around among the +dense undergrowth on the ridge where our tents were situated, +squatting themselves down and cocking up their long ears, as they +paused occasionally to examine the strange visitors who had come among +them. They were very tame, not seeming to regard our presence as a +thing of much danger to them. + +"Seeing those rabbits," remarked Smith, "reminds me of an anecdote of +my boyhood, which at the time occasioned me an amount of mortification +equalled only by the amusement it affords me, when I think of it in +after years. On my father's farm was a bush field, a place that had +been chopped and burned over, and then left to grow up with bushes, +making an excellent cover for wild wood rabbits. I had seen them +hopping about, when I went to turn away the cows in the morning, or +after them at night. I had a longing to 'make game' of them. I had a +brother a good deal older than myself, who was as fond of a joke as I +was of the rabbits, and who was quite as ready to make game of me, as +I was of them; so he told me, one day to put an apple on a stick over +their paths, high enough to be just above their reach, and a handful +of Scotch snuff on a dry leaf on the ground under it, and the rabbits, +while smelling for the apple, would inhale the snuff, and sneeze +themselves to death in no tune. Well, I was a child then and simple +enough to be gammoned by this rigmarole. I set the apple and the +snuff, but I got no rabbit, while I did get laughed at hugely for my +credulity. This satisfied me that people should never impose upon the +simplicity of childhood. I remember my mortification on the occasion. +It was so long ago that it stands out by itself, a mere fragment of +memory, with _all_ beyond it a blank, and a wide gap out this side. It +is an isolated fact, fixed in my recollection by the pain it +occasioned me." + +"Your anecdote of the rabbits," said the Doctor, "reminds me of a +story told of a Dutchman, who discovered an owl on a limb above him, +and noticed that its face, and great round eyes, followed him always +as he walked around the tree, without its body moving at all. Seeing +this he concluded in his wisdom, that he would travel round the tree, +till the owl twisted its head off in watching him. So round and round +he went for an hour, and stopped only by having the conviction forced +upon his mind that the owl had a swivel in its neck." + +"Strange," remarked Spalding, "how the hearing of one story reminds us +of another. I always admired the 'Arabian Nights,' because the stories +contained in that work hang together so like a string of onions, or a +braid of seed corn. The first is a sort of introduction to the second, +and the second an usher to the third, and so on through the whole. But +why the story of the Dutchman and the owl should remind me of another, +in which an old negro and a bellicose ram were the actors, is a matter +I do not pretend to understand, unless it be the extreme absurdity of +both. A gentleman of my acquaintance long ago (he was a middle-aged +man when I was a small boy. He was an upright and a good man. He has +gone to his rest, and sleeps in an honored grave, having upon the +simple stone above him no lying epitaph), had an old negro who +rejoiced in the name of Pompey, and a Merino buck, the latter a +valiant animal, that was ready to fight with anybody, or anything, +that crossed his path. Between him and the 'colored person,' was an +'eternal distinction,' an active and irreconcilable antagonism, that +developed itself on every possible occasion. The old Guinea man was +winnowing wheat one day, with an old-fashioned fan (did any of you +ever see one of these primitive machines for separating wheat from the +chaff, used by our fathers before the fanning mill was invented? It +was an ingenious contrivance, by which a man with a strong back and +of a strong constitution, could clean some twenty bushels in a single +day). While stooping over to fill his fan with unwinnowed grain, the +buck, taking advantage of his position, came like a catapult against +him, and sent him like a ball from a Paixhan gun, head foremost into +the chaff. Great was the astonishment, but greater the wrath of +Pompey, and dire the vengeance that he denounced against his +assailant. Gathering himself up, and rubbing the part battered by the +attack of his enemy, he retreated around the corner of the barn, and +procuring a rock weighing some twenty pounds, returned to the presence +of his foe, who was quietly eating the wheat that the negro had been +cleaning, evidently regarding it as the legitimate spoils of victory. +Getting down on all fours, and managing to hold the stone against his +head, Pompey challenged his enemy to combat. The buck, nothing loth, +drew back to a proper distance, and shutting both eyes, came like a +battering _ram_ against the stone on the other side of which was the +negro's head. As might have been expected, the challenger went one +way, and the challenged the other by the recoil, both knocked into +insensibility by the concussion. Pompey was taken up for dead, but his +wool and the thickness of his scull saved him. He gave the buck a wide +berth after that. He regarded him always with a sort of superstitious +awe, never being able to comprehend how he butted him through that big +stone. Explain the matter to him ever so scientifically, demonstrate +it on the clearest principles of mechanical philosophy, still Pompey +would shake his head, and as he walked away, would mutter to himself, +'de debbil helps dat ram, _sure_. Dere's no use in dis nigger's tryin' +to come round _him_. He's a witch, dat ram is, and ain't +nuffin else.'" + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A DEER TRAPPED--THE RESULT OF A COMBAT--A QUESTION OF MENTAL +PHILOSOPHY DISCUSSED. + + +We returned the next day to our camping ground. On the "Lower Chain of +Ponds," we found our pioneer and his goods all safe, no visitors +having passed that way in our absence. Smith knocked over a deer on +our passage down. I have said that just above our camp was a dam. It +was made in this wise: first, great logs were laid up, across the +stream, in the same fashion as the side of a log house, to the height +of about twelve feet, properly secured, and upon these, other and +smaller logs were laid, side by side, transversely, and sloping up the +stream at an angle of forty-five degrees, like one side of the roof of +a house. These long, slender logs, reached out over and beyond those +that were laid up across the stream, the lower part covered with +brush, and then with earth, so as to make a tight dam, the upper ends, +even when the dam was full, extending several feet above the top water +line. These logs, or perhaps they had better be called large and long +poles, for, when compared with the foundation timbers, they were +nothing more, have, of course, above where they are covered with brush +and earth, interstices, or crevices, between them. + +On our return, and as we came in sight of the dam, I, being in the +forward boat, saw a small deer, laying stretched out upon these poles, +dead, hanging, as it were, by one foot. My impression was, that it had +been shot, and dragged up there, and left by our pioneer for the +present. We found, however, upon examination, that the deer had walked +up on the dam, probably to take a look at what was below, and on the +other side, when his foot slipped down between the poles, and he was +caught as in a trap. His leg was badly broken, and nearly severed by +his efforts to get loose, and the bark of the poles was worn away +within reach of his struggles. He had died where he thus got hung; and +there he was, stone dead, but not yet cold, when we found him. He was +a fine, fat, young deer, and died by one of the thousand accidents to +which the wild animals of the forest, as well as man, are exposed. + +Upon relating this incident to an old hunter, I was told by him that +he once, while out in the woods, came upon the skeletons of two large +bucks, that, in fighting, had got their horns so interlocked and +wedged together, that they could not separate them, and thus, locked +in the death grapple, they had starved and died. There lay their +bones, the flesh eaten from them by the beasts and carrion birds, and, +bleached by the sun and the storms, the two skulls with the horns +still interlocked; and the narrator told me he had them yet at home, +fast together, as he found them, as one of the curiosities to be met +with in the Rackett woods. + +"I've been thinking," said Spalding, in his quiet way, as we sat +towards evening, looking out over the pleasant little lake, watching +the shadow chasing the retiring sunlight up the sides of the opposite +hills, "I've been thinking how differently we act, and feel, and +talk--aye, and think, too--out here in these old woods, from what we +do when at home and surrounded by civilization. However we four may +deny being old, we cannot certainly claim to be young. We have all +reached the meridian of life, and though feeling few, if any, of the +infirmities of age, still, our next move will be in the downhill +direction. Yet, notwithstanding all this, we talk and act, and think, +and feel, too, like boys. I do not speak this reproachfully, but as a +fact which develops a curious attribute of the human mind." + +"Well," replied the Doctor, "while it may be curious, it is +exceedingly natural. We have thrown off the restraints which society +imposes upon us; we have thrown off the cares which the business of +life heaps upon us. We have gone back for a season to the freedom, the +sports, the sights, the exercises which delighted our boyhood. And can +it be called strange that the feelings, the thoughts, and emotions of +our youth should come welling up from the long past, or that with the +return of boyish emotions, the language and actions of boyhood should +be indulged in again?" + +"You will find," said Smith, "your old feelings of sobriety, of +thoughtfulness, your cautiousness, coming back just in proportion as +you tire of this wilderness life, and that by the time you are ready +to return to civilization, you will have become as staid, sober, and +reflective men of the world, as when you started, with as strict a +guard upon your expression of sentiment, or opinion, as ever." + +"It is that 'guard' of which you speak," remarked Spalding, "over the +emotions, the sentiments of the heart, stifling their expression, and +chaining down under a placid exterior their manifestations, that +constitutes one of the broad distinctions between youth and manhood. +It is when that guard is set, that the process of fossilization, so to +speak, begins; and if no relaxing agency intervenes, the heart becomes +cold and hard, even before white hairs gather upon the head. I often +imagine that if men who really _think_, who have the power of +analyzation, of weighing causes and measuring results, would dismiss +that rigid espionage over themselves, would stand in less awe of the +world, in less dread of its accusation of change, and with the +fearless frankness of youth, declare the truth, and stand boldly up +for the right as they, _at the time_, understand it to be, without +reference to consistency of present views and opinions with those of +the past, the world would be much better off; progress would have +vastly fewer obstacles to contend against. But it is not every man, +even of those who _think_, who in politics, in religion, in science, +in anything involving a possible charge of inconsistency, of the +desertion of a party, a sect, or a principle, dare avow a change of +conviction or opinion, however such change may exist. This should +not be so. It belittles manhood, and makes slaves and cowards of men. +It is a proud prerogative, this ability and power of thinking. It is a +priceless privilege, this freedom of thought and opinion, and he is a +craven who moves on with the heedless and thoughtless crowd, conscious +of error, himself a hypocrite and a living lie, through fear of the +charge of 'inconsistency,' the accusation of change. 'Speak your +opinions of to-day,' says Carlyle, 'in words hard as rocks, and your +opinions of to-morrow in words just as hard, even though your opinions +of to-morrow may contradict your opinions of to-day.' There is a fund +of true wisdom in this beautiful maxim, if men would appreciate it. It +would correct a vast deal of error in politics, in religion, in +philosophy, in the social relations of life. Times change, and +struggle against it as they may, men's convictions will change with +the times. The man who says that his opinions never alter, is to me +either a knave or a fool. For a thinking man to remain stationary, +when everything else is on the move, is a simple impossibility. Time +was when the stage coach was the model method of travelling. It +carried us six, sometimes eight miles the hour, in comfort and safety. +But who thinks of the lumbering stage coach now, with its snail's pace +of eight miles the hour, when the locomotive with its long train of +cars, lighted up like the street of a city in motion, rushes over the +smooth rails literally with the speed of the wind. The scream of the +steam-whistle has succeeded the old stage-horn, and the iron horse +taken the place of those of flesh and blood. Change is written in +great glowing letters upon everything. It stands out in blazing +capitals everywhere. All things are on the move! Forward! and forward! +is the word. And who would, who CAN, stand still amidst the universal +rush? Only a century ago, from the valley through which the majestic +Hudson rolls its everlasting flood, westward to the mighty +Mississippi, westward still to the Rocky Mountains, and yet westward +to the Pacific, was one vast wilderness; interminable forests, +standing in all their primeval grandeur and gloom; boundless prairies, +covered with profitless verdure, over which the silence of the +everlasting past brooded; and above all these, mountain peaks, covered +with perpetual snows, upon which the eye of a white man had never +looked, stood piercing the sky. From the Atlantic coast to the +Mississippi, that old forest has been swept away. The broad prairies +have been, or are being, subjected to the culture of human industry; +even the Rocky Mountains have been overleaped, and beyond them is a +great State already admitted into the family of the Union, and a +territory teeming with an adventurous and hardy population, knocking +at its door for admission. The march of civilization has crossed a +continent of more than three thousand miles, sweeping away forests, +spreading out green fields, planting cities and towns, making the old +wilderness to blossom as the rose, scattering life, activity, +progress, all along the road it has travelled. The great rivers that +rolled in silence through unbroken forests, have become the highways +of trade, upon whose bosoms the white sails of commerce are spread, +and through whose waters countless steamboats plough their way. These +stupendous changes are the results of human energy, and they reach, in +their moral prestige, their progressive influence, through every vein +and artery of governmental and social compacts, affecting political +institutions, shaping national policy, and forcing, by their +resistless demonstrations, change and mutations of opinions upon +all men. + +"As it has been in the past century, so it is now, and so it will be +through all the long future. Forward, and forward, is the word, and +forward will be the word for centuries to come. And why? Because all +men here, in this free Republic, are free to think, free to speak, +free to will, free to act. No traditions of the past bind them; no +hereditary policy controls their action; no customs, covered with the +dust of ages, fetter them; no physical or intellectual gyves, corroded +by the rust of centuries, are eating into their flesh. Because +thinking American men everywhere live in the present, ignoring and +defying the dead past, and building up the mighty future. Because they +'speak their opinions of TO-DAY in words hard as rocks, and their +opinions of TO-MORROW in words just as hard, although their opinions +of to-morrow may contradict their opinions of to-day.' They are +fearless of personal consequences. As free men, they will think, as +free men they will speak, and as such they will act, regardless of the +jibe and sneer of those who accuse them of change, of inconsistency, +of being mutable and unstable of purpose. The point to the march +of improvement, the advance in the actualities of life, and ask, 'When +every thing else is on the move, shall we stand still? Shall the +opinions of a quarter of a century, a decade, a year, a month ago, +remain unchanged, immutable, fixed as a star always, amidst the new +demonstrations looming up like mountains everywhere around us?' + +"Man's life is short at best; a little point of time, scarcely +discernible on the map of ages; his aspirations, his hopes, his +ambition, more transient than the lightning's flash; but his opinions +may tell for good upon that little point occupied by his generation, +and he should 'speak them in words hard as rocks.' They may aid in +illuminating the darkness of the present, and he should therefore +'speak them in words hard as rocks.' They may have some influence in +building up and ennobling human destiny in the future, and he should +therefore 'speak them in words hard as rocks,' regardless of the +contumely heaped upon him by little minds for having thus spoken them. +What if the ridicule, the denunciations of the unthinking, the +sensual, the profligate, the unreflecting fools of the world be poured +upon him? What of that? To-day, may be one of darkness and storm. The +cloud and the storm will pass away, and the brightness and glory of +the sunlight will be all over the earth to-morrow. Let him 'speak his +opinions then of to-day in words hard as rocks, and his opinions of +to-morrow in words just as hard.' Let him speak his opinions thus on +all subjects within the range of human investigation, upon science, +philosophy, politics, religion, morals; and leave to little minds to +settle the question of consistency or change. Let his be the eagle's +flight towards the sun, and theirs to skim in darkness along the +ground, like the course of the mousing owl." + +After it became dark, Smith and Martin went out around the lake night +hunting, and the rest retired to our tents. We heard the report of +Smith's rifle from time to time, and concluded that we should have to +court-martial him for a wanton destruction of deer, contrary to the +law we had established for our government on that subject. But on his +return, we ascertained that, though having had several shots, he had +succeeded in killing or, according to Martin's account, even wounding +but one, and that a yearling, and the poorest and leanest we had seen +since we entered the woods. Though it was thus diminutive in size, +Smith declared that he had seen, and shot at, some of the largest deer +that ever roamed the forest. He insisted that he had seen some, by the +side of which the largest we had looked upon by daylight, were mere +fawns, and thereupon he undertook to establish a theory that the large +deer fed by night and the smaller ones by day. This would have been +all well enough, were it not for the fact, understood by every +experienced night-hunter, that by the spectral and uncertain light of +the lamp, or torch, a deer, when seen standing in the water, or on the +reedy banks, is in appearance magnified to twice its actual +dimensions. To this Smith at last assented, since to deny the +proposition, involved the conclusion that he had killed the wrong +deer; for the one he shot at, as it stood in the edge of the water, +though much smaller than some he had seen, appeared greatly larger +than the one he killed. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HOOKING UP TROUT--THE LEFT BRANCH--THE RAPIDS--A FIGHT WITH A BUCK. + + +We started down stream in the morning, towards the forks, intending to +ascend the left branch to Little Tupper's Lake. We reached the forks +at three o'clock. Directly opposite to where the right branch enters, +a small cold stream comes in among a cluster of alder bushes on the +eastern shore. At the mouth of this little stream, which one can step +across, the trout congregate. We could see them laying in shoals along +the bottom; but the sun shone down bright and warm into the clear +water, and not a trout would rise to the fly, or touch a bait. We +wanted some of those trout, and as they refused to be taken in a +scientific way and according to art, it was a necessity, for which we +were not responsible, which impelled us to a method of capture which, +under ordinary circumstances, we should have rejected. I took off the +fly from my line, and fastened upon it half a dozen snells with bare +hooks, attached a small sinker, and dropped quietly among them. A +large fellow worked his way lazily above where the hooks lay on the +bottom, eying me, as if laughing at my folly in attempting to deceive +him, with fly or bait. I jerked suddenly, and two of the hooks +fastened into him near the tail. That trout was astonished, as were +half a dozen or more of his fellows, when they came out of the water +tail foremost, struggling with all their might against so vulgar and +undignified a manner of leaving their native element. We got as +beautiful a string in this way as one would wish to see, albeit they +laughed at our best skill with fly and bait; and the cream of the +matter was, that we had our pick of the shoal. + +We pitched our tents at the foot of the second rapids, on a high, +moss-covered bank. The roar of the water sounded deep and solemn among +the old woods, as it went roaring and tumbling, and struggling through +the gorge. The night winds moaned and sighed among the trees above us, +while the night bird's notes came soothingly from the wilderness +around as. + +"What a strange diversity of tastes exists among the people of this +world of ours," said the Doctor, addressing himself to me, as we sat +in front of our tents, listening to the roar of the waters. "You and +I, I take it, enjoy a fortnight or so, among these lakes, and old +forests, with a keener relish than Spalding or Smith here. I judge so, +because we indulge in these trips every year, while this is their +first adventure of the kind. But even you and I, however much we may +love the woods, however we may enjoy these occasional tramps among +their shady solitudes, would not enjoy them as a residence; and yet I +have sometimes thought I should love to spend the summers in a forest +home, alone with nature, with my pen and books, a fishing-rod and +rifle to supply my wants, and a friend to talk with occasionally. + +"Many years ago, I was out on the Western prairies, some sixty days +beyond the region of bread; we had encamped on the banks of a stream, +along which a narrow belt of timber grew. More than a quarter of a +century has passed since I took that trip to look upon the Rocky +Mountains. There was no gold region laying beyond them then, or +rather, the enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon had not discovered its +existence, and the greed of the white man had not made the trail over +the mountains, or through their dismal passes, a familiar way. Along +in the afternoon we were visited by a trapper, who had, in his +wanderings, discovered the smoke of our camp fires. He was a +weather-beaten, iron man, of the solitudes of nature, who had wandered +away from his home in New England, and from civilization, into that +limitless wilderness. He was glad to see us, inquired the news from +the outer world, talked about York State, Vermont, the Bay State, and +then, after an hour's converse, as if his social instincts and +sympathies had been satisfied, he shouldered his rifle and started off +across the plain, towards a belt of timber lying dim and shadowy, like +a low cloud, upon the distant horizon. I watched him for an hour or +more, as he trudged away over the rolling prairie, growing less and +less to the view, until he became like a speck in the distance, and +then vanished from my sight. There was a solemn sort of feeling stole +over me, as this lonely hunter wended his way into the deep solitudes +of the prairies, to be alone with nature, communing only with himself +and the things scattered around him by the great Creator. He seemed to +be contented and happy. How different were his tastes from yours or +mine, my friends; and yet I felt as though it would have been easy for +me to have been like him, an isolated and solitary man, had +circumstances in early life thrown me into a position to have followed +the original bent of my nature." + +"And yet," said Spalding, "if you will look into the philosophy of the +matter, you will see that this diversity of tastes, as you call it, is +not so great after all; that is, that the origin of the impulse which +sends some men away from society among the solitudes of the +wilderness, and of that which holds others in constant communion with +the busy scenes of life, is very nearly the same. It is the love of +adventure, of excitement, a restlessness for something new, a desire +for change. This impulse is controlled, shaped by circumstances of +early life, by education and association; but the foundation of it at +last is the thirst for excitement, the love of adventure. One man +wanders away into the wilderness in pursuit of it. Another plunges +into society in pursuit of the same thing. These hardy men who are +here with us, who were reared on the borders of civilization, enjoy +the solitudes of their wilderness quite as much, and upon the same +general theory, as we do the society to which we have been accustomed; +and they plunge alone into the one with quite as much zest as we do +into the other, in the pursuit of excitement. Here is Cullen, now, who +has spent more time alone in the wilderness than almost any other man +outside of the trappers and hunters of the prairies of the West, I +appeal to him if it is not rather a love of adventure than of nature +which sends him on his solitary rambles in the forests?" + +"May be the Judge is right," replied Cullen, as he rubbed the shavings +of plug tobacco in the palm of his left hand with the ball of his +right, while he held his short black pipe between his teeth, +preparatory to filling it, "may be the Judge is right, I rather think +he is, and let me tell you I've met with some queer adventures, as you +call them, in these woods too; some that I wouldn't have gone out +arter if I'd known what they were to've been afore I started. I've +been movin' back from what you call civilization for five and twenty +year, because I didn't like to live where people were too thick, and +where there was nothing but tame life around me. I've a kind of liking +for the deer and moose, and haven't any ill will towards, now and then, +a wolf or a painter. I like a rifle better than I do the handles of a +plow, and I'd rayther bring down a ten-pronger than to raise an acre +of corn, and I don't care who knows it. There's a place in the world +for just such a man as I am yet, and will be till these old woods are +gone. Do you see that?" said he, rolling up his pantaloons to his +knees, revealing a deep scar on both sides of the calf of his leg, as +if it had been pierced by a bullet. "And do you see that?" as he +exhibited another deep scar above his knee. "And that?" as he showed +another on his arm, above the elbow. "Wal, I reckon I had a time of it +with the old buck that made them things on my under-pinin', and on my +corn-stealer, as they say out West. Fifteen years ago I was over on +Tupper's Lake, shantyin' on the high bank above the rocks, just at the +outlet, fishin' and huntin', and layin' around loose, in a promiscuous +way, all alone by myself, havin' nobody along but the old black dog +that you," appealing to Hank Wood, who nodded assent, remember. "That +dog," continued Cullen, "was human in his day, and if anybody has +another like him, and wants a couple of months lumberin' in the place +of him, I'm ready for a trade; he may call at my shanty. Wal, Crop and +I had Seen about all there was to be looked at about Tupper's Lake, +and havin' hearn some pretty tall stories about the deer and moose up +about the head of Bog River from an Ingen who'd hunted that section, I +mentioned to Crop one mornin' that we'd take a trip into them parts. +'Agreed,' said he, or leastwise he didn't say a word agin it, and, by +the wag of his tail, I understood him to be agreeable. + +"Mud Lake, as you've discovered, aint very near now, and it was a good +deal farther off then. The settlements hadn't been pushed so far into +the woods then as now. But we put out, Crop and I, for Mud Lake; we +passed the eight carryin' places afore night, and reached the first +chain of ponds while the sun was hangin' like a great torch in the +tree-tops. I've seen a good many deer in my day, but the way they +stood around in those ponds, and in the shallow water of the river +below, among the grass and pond lilies, was a thing to make a man open +his eyes _some._ I saw dozens of 'em at a time, and if it didn't seem +like a sheep paster I would'nt say it. I had my pick out of the lot, +and knocked over a two-year-old for provision for me and Crop. I aint +at all poetical, but if there was ever a matter to make a man feel +like stringin' rhymes, that evenin' that Crop and I spent on the lower +chain of ponds, or little lakes on Bog River, was a thing of that +sort. The sun threw his bright red light on the tops of the mountains +away off to the East, spreading it all over the lofty peaks, like a +golden shawl, while the gorges and deep valleys around their base +rested in deep and solemn shadow. The loon spoke out clear, like a +bugle on the lakes, and his voice went echoin' around among the hills; +the frogs were out and out jolly, while the old woods were full of +happy voices and merry songs as if all nater was runnin' over with +gladness and joy; even the night breeze, as it sighed and moaned among +the tree-tops, seemed to be whisperin' to itself of the joy and +brightness and glory of such an evenin'. As the night gathered, the +moon, in her largest growth, came up over the hills and walked like a +queen up into the sky, and the bright stars gathered around her, +twinklin' and flashin' and dancin', as if merry-makin' in the +brightness of her presence. Away down below the bottom of the lake +were other mountains and lakes, another moon with bright stars +shinin' and twinklin' around her, other broad heavens just as distinct +and glorious as those which arched above us. Don't laugh, Judge, for +me and Crop saw and heard all that I've been describin' to you, and we +felt it too, may be quite as deeply as if we'd been bred in colleges +and stuffed with the larnin' of the books. + +"I heard the cry of the painter, the howl of the wolf, and the hoarse +bellow of the moose that night, and Crop crept close alongside of me, +in our bush-shanty, and answered these forest sounds by a low growl, +as if sayin' to himself, that while he'd rayther keep oat of a fight, +yet, if necessary, in defence of his master, he was ready to go in. +Wal, we started on up stream next mornin', passed the second chain of +lakes, and went along up the crooked and windin' course of the stream, +till towards night we came in sight of Mud Lake. That lake is anything +but handsome to my thinkin'; you saw it was gloomy and solemn enough, +situated as it is away up on the top of the mountain, higher than any +other waters I know of in these parts. All about it are fir, and +tamarack, and spruce, the lichens hanging like long grey hair away +down from their stinted branches, while all around low bushes grow, +and moss, sometimes a foot thick, covers the ground. That, Judge, is +the place for black flies and mosquitoes in June. The black flies are +all gone before this time in the summer, but if you'd a taken this +trip the latter part of June, you'd have admitted that I'm tellin' no +lie. If there's any place in the round world where mosquitoes have +longer bills, or the black flies swarm in mightier hosts, I don't know +where it is, and shan't go there if I happen to find out its location. +I've a tolerably thick hide, but if they didn't bite me _some_, I +wouldn't say so. But you ought to have seen the deer feedin' on the +pond-lilies and grass in that lake I They were like sheep in a +pasture; and out some fifty rods from the shore was a great moose, +helpin' himself to the eatables that grew there. I laid my jacket down +for Crop to watch, and waded quietly in towards where the moose was +feedin'. I got within twelve or fifteen rods of him, and spoke to him +with my rifle. He heard it, you may guess. Without knowin' who or what +hurt him, he plunged right towards me for the shore; but he never got +there alive. You ought to have seen the scampering of the deer at the +sound of my rifle! Maybe there wasn't much splashin' of the water, and +whistlin', and snortin', and puttin' out for the shore among 'em. + +"The next mornin', I got up just as the sun was risin', and a little +way down on the shore of the lake I saw a buck. Wal, he was one of +'em--that buck was. The horns on his head were like an old-fashioned +round-posted chair, and if they hadn't a dozen prongs on 'em, you may +skin me! He wasn't as big as an ox, but a two-year-old that could +match him, could brag of a pretty rapid growth. I crept up behind a +little clump of bushes to about fifteen rods of where he stood on the +sandy beach, and sighting carefully at his head, let drive. My gun +hung fire a little, owin' to the night-dews, but that buck went down, +and after kickin' a moment, laid still, and I took it for granted he +was dead. So I laid down my rifle, and went up to where he +was, and with my huntin' knife in my hand, took hold of his +horn to raise his head so as to cut his throat. If that deer +was dead, he came to life mighty quick; for I had no sooner +touched him, than he sprang to his feet, and with every hair standin' +straight towards his head, came like a mad bull at me. In strugglin' +up he overshot me; and as he made his drive one prong went +through the calf of my leg. I plunged my knife into his body, and the +blood spirted all over me. But it wasn't no use. He smashed down upon +me again, and made that hole in my leg above the knee. I handled my +knife in a hurry, and made more than one hole in his skin, while he +stuck a prong through my arm. I hollered for Crop, who was watching +the shanty as his duty was. The old buck and I had it rough and +tumble; sometimes one a-top, and sometimes the other, and both growin' +weak from loss of blood. May be we didn't kick and tussle about, and +tear up the sand on the beach of the lake _some!_ The buck was game to +the backbone, and had no notion of givin' in, and I had to fight for +it, or die; so up and down, over and over, and all around, we went for +a long time, until Crop made up his mind that my callin' so earnestly +meant something, and round the point he came. When he saw what was +goin' on, you ought to've seen how _he_ went in! He didn't stop to +ask any questions, but as if possessed by all the furies of creation +he lit upon that buck, and the fight was up. He with his teeth, and I +with my knife, settled the matter in less than a minute. But, Judge, +let me tell you, that buck was dangerous; and if Crop hadn't been +around, may be ther'd have been the bones of man and beast bleachin' +on the sandy beach of Mud Lake! I bound up my wounds as well as I +could--but it was tough work backin' my bark canoe over the carryin' +places on Bog River, and across the Ingen carryin' place, and from the +Upper Saranac to Bound Lake, with them holes in my leg and arm, and +the other bruises I received. When I got out to the settlements I was +mighty glad to lay still for six weeks, and when I got around again I +was a good deal leaner than I am now. + +"My gun hangin' fire made my bullet go wide of the spot I aimed at. It +had grazed his skull and stunned him for a little time, and crazed him +into the bargain. I learned more fully a fact that I'd an idea of +before, by my fight with that deer, and it is this--that it's best to +keep out of the way of a furious buck with tall, sharp horns on his +head. He's a dangerous animal to handle. + +"That's one of the adventures that I went out into the wilderness +arter, and found without lookin' for it; and I've found a good many +others that put me and Crop in a tight place more than once. I backed +him over all the carryin' places between Little Tupper's and the +Saranacs once, when he was too lame and weak to walk, and nussed him +for a month afterwards. But that's an adventer I'll tell another time. +There's a deal of excitement, as the Judge calls it, outside of the +fences, if people will take the pains to look for it there." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ROUND POND--THE PILE DRIVER--A THEORY FOR SPIRITUALISTS. + + +We put up our tents the next evening, on a bold bluff near the outlet +of Round Pond, a picturesque and pleasant sheet of water, some eight +or ten miles in circumference. It lay there still and waveless, in +that calm summer evening, as glassy and smooth as if no breeze had +ever stirred its surface. All around it were old forests, old hills +and rocks, and away off in the distance were the tall peaks of the +Adirondacks, standing up grim, solemn, and shadowy in the distance. +These peaks are seen from almost every direction. They tower so far +above the surrounding highlands, that they seem always to be peering +over the intervening ranges, as if holding an everlasting watch over +the broad wilderness beneath them. This lake is probably more than a +thousand feet above the Rackett, and the river falls that distance +principally at the two rapids around which our boats were carried. The +rest of the way it is a deep, sluggish stream, so that the descent +may be reckoned within less than three miles. A ledge of rocks forms +the lower boundary of the lake, through which the water, at some +remote period, broke its way, and it goes roaring down rapids for +three-quarters of a mile, then moves in a sluggish current across a +plain of several miles in extent; then plunges down a steep descent +for over a mile and a half to subside again into quiet, and move on +with a sluggish current to plunge down the ledges again into Tupper's +Lake. There are no perpendicular falls of more than twenty feet, but +the water goes plunging, and boiling, and foaming down shelving rocks, +and eddying, and whirling around immense boulders, rushing and roaring +through the gorges with a voice like thunder. These falls are all +useless here, and probably will be for centuries to come; but were +they out in the "living world," in the midst of civilization, with a +fertile and populous region about them, they would soon be harnessed +to great wheels, and made utilitarian; the clank of machinery would +soon be heard above the roar of their waters. They would do an +immensity of labor on their returnless journey to the ocean. But here, +they are utterly valueless, wasting their mighty power upon desolate +rocks, rushing in mad and impotent fury forever through a region of +barrenness and sterility, so far as the uses of civilization are +concerned, a region where the manufacturer or the agriculturist will +never tarry, until the world shall be so full of people that necessity +will drive them to the mountains, to build up the waste places of the +earth. Opposite, and across the bay from where our tents were +pitched, I noticed that a small stream entered the lake, and Smith and +myself crossed over to experiment among the trout I knew would be +gathered there. We were entirely successful, for we took one at almost +every throw. I have more than once stated, that the trout of these +lakes and rivers, in the warm season, congregate where the cold +streams enter; and if the sportsman will search out the little brooks, +no matter how small, and cast his fly across where their waters enter +the lake or river, he will be sure to find trout in any of the hot +summer months. + +We returned to camp before the sun went behind the hills, with our +fish ready for the pan, and our boatmen provided us with a meal of +jerked venison, pork, and trout, which an epicure might envy, and to +which a hard day's journey and an appetite sharpened by the bracing +influence of the pure mountain air, gave a peculiar relish. It was a +pleasant thing to see the moon come up from among the trees that +formed a dark outline to the lake away off to the east, and travel up +into the sky; to see how faithfully it was given back from down in the +stirless waters, and how the stars twinkled and glowed around it in +the depths below, as they did in the depths above. There was the +moon, and there the stars, all bright and glorious in the heavens +above; and there another moon, and other stars, as bright and +glorious, down in the vault below; the lake floating, as it were, an +almost viewless mist, a shadowy and transparent veil between. As we +sat, in the greyness of twilight, in front of our tents, a curious +sound came over the lake from the opposite shore, so like civilization +that it startled us for a moment. Here we were, fifty miles from a +house, away in the forest beyond the sound of anything savoring of +human agency, and yet we heard distinctly what was for all the world +like the blows of an axe or hammer upon a stake, driving it into the +earth. It had the peculiar ring, which any one will recognise who has +driven a stake into ground covered with water, by blows given by the +side instead of the head of an axe. These blows were given at +intervals so regular, that we all suspended smoking, certain that +there were other sportsmen beside ourselves in the neighborhood of +this lake. + +"Who in the world is that?" asked Smith, of Martin, who seemed to +enjoy our astonishment. + +"That," replied Martin, "is a gentleman known in these parts as the +'Pile-driver.' He visits all these lakes in the summer season, and +though, as a general thing, he travels alone, yet he sometimes has +half a dozen friends with him. If you'll listen a moment, may be +you'll find that he has a friend in the neighborhood now who will +drive a pile in another place." + +Sure enough, in a moment the same ringing blows came from a reedy spot +in a different part of the bay. + +"The bird that makes that noise," said Martin, "is about the homeliest +creature in these woods. It is a small grey heron, that lights down +among the grass and weeds to hunt for small frogs and such little fish +as swim along the shore. When he drives his pile, he stands with his +neck and long bill pointed straight up, and pumping the air into his +throat, sends it oat with the strange sound you have heard. It is the +resemblance of the sound to that made by driving a stake into ground +covered with water, that gives him his name. He's an awkward, filthy +bird, but he helps to make up the noises one hears in these +wild regions." + +"My first thought was," said Smith, "that we had got among the spirits +of the woods, and that they were 'rapping' their indignation at our +presence, there was something so human about it." + +"By the way," remarked the Doctor, "and you remind me of the subject, +what a strange delusion is this Spiritualism, to the 'manifestations' +of which you refer, and how singular it is that men of strong natural +sense and cultivated minds, should be drawn into it. We all know such. +Their delusion, too, is stronger than mere speculative belief. It is a +faith which to them appears to amount to absolute knowledge. They have +no doubt or hesitancy on the subject. Their convictions are perfect; +such, that were they as strong in their faith as Christians, as they +are in the reality of Spiritualism, they would be able to move +mountains." + +"I have noticed this intensity of their faith," said Smith; "and while +I utterly reject the whole theory of Spiritualism, I could never join +in the ridicule of its earnest devotees. There is something that +commands my respect in this strong faith, when honestly entertained, +however stupendous the error may be to which it clings. There is +something, to my mind, too solemn for derision in the idea of +communing with the spirits of the departed, or that the time is +approaching when living men and the souls of the physically dead, are +to meet, as it were, face to face, and know each other as they are. It +is one which I can, and do reject, but cannot ridicule. The world, +however, regards it differently. And yet with all the contempt and +derision that has been poured upon this singular delusion, its +devotees have multiplied beyond all precedent in the history of the +world. They number, it is said, in this country alone, millions, and +have some forty or more newspapers in the exclusive advocacy of +their theory." + +"The wise people of this world," said Spalding, "that is, those who +are wise in their day and generation, laugh at the believers in this +modern theory of Spiritualism. They pity them, too, as the unhappy +devotees of a faith which sober reason and all the experience of the +past prove to be as unsubstantial as the moonbeams that dance upon the +waters at midnight. Still these same devotees point to the +demonstrations of what they regard as living facts, phenomena palpable +to the senses, things that appeal to the eye, the ear, and the touch, +and say that these are higher proofs than all the dogmas of +philosophy, all the observation and experience of former times, all +the logic of the past. And here is the issue between Spiritualism and +the mass of mankind who deride and condemn it. + +"Now, be it known to you, that I am no Spiritualist. I reject not all +the evidences of the phenomena upon which it is based, but I utterly +deny that such phenomena are the works of disembodied spirits. I +myself have seen what utterly confounded me, and while I reject all +idea of supernatural agencies, all interposition of departed spirits, +yet I have become thoroughly satisfied that there are more things in +heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy. These +phenomena of which the Spiritualists speak, I will not undertake to +pronounce all lies. Some of them are doubtless impostures--the work of +knaves, who speculate upon the credulity and superstitions which are +attributes of the human mind; but they are not all such. But while I +admit their reality, I insist that such as are so, are the results of +natural laws, which will one day be discovered, and which will turn +out to be as simple as the spirit which presides over the telegraph, +or that which constitutes the life of a steam engine. There may be, +and probably is, a great undiscovered principle which underlays these +spiritual manifestations, as they are called, and MIND is after it, +looking for it carefully; and what MIND has once started in pursuit of +earnestly, it seldom fails to overtake. + +"I have sometimes amused myself by endeavoring to furnish a theory for +the Spiritualists to stand upon, based upon the demonstrations of the +past, the evidences brought to light by the researches of science, +which at all events should have about it truth enough to give color +and respectability even to an error as stupendous as that of +Spiritualism. This theory I have predicated upon the progress of the +material world, aside from animal life, showing that what may have +been impossible thousands of years ago, may be possible, or about +becoming possible now; that we are about entering upon a new era in +the advancement of all things towards perfectability, and that the +advent of that era may be marked by an established communication +between the living and the spirits of the departed. + +"Science demonstrates that the material world presents in its history +an illustration of the great principle and theory of progress. It is +quite certain that our planet was once a very different thing from +what it is now; it differed in form, in substance, in compactness, in +everything from its present condition. We do not _know_ that it was +once wholly aeriform, mere gasses in combination, too crude to admit +of solidarity; but reasoning back from established facts, the +conclusion is almost irresistible, that this earth, now so rock-ribbed +and solid, so ponderous, so ragged with mountain ranges, and cloud +piercing peaks, was once but vapor, floating without form through +limitless space, drifting as mere nebulous matter among the older +creations of God. However this may be, it is regarded as quite +certain, that time was when ft was entirely void of solidity, void of +dry land, with no continent, island, or solid ground, with no living +thing within its circumference. It was thus passing through one of the +remote eras of its existence. It was then young, just emerging, as it +were, from nothingness, growing into form, assuming shape, and +gathering attributes of fitness for exterior vitality, preparing the +way for higher existences than mere inorganic matter. How long this +era existed, science has failed to demonstrate, but it passed away, +and solid land marked the next era of the earth's progress. It was +surrounded by an atmosphere absolutely fatal to animal life; an +atmosphere which, while it stimulated vegetable growth, no living +thing could breathe and continue to live. Hence it was, that +vegetation, gigantic almost beyond conception, covered its surface. +Fern, which is now a pigmy plant, nowhere higher than a few feet, grew +tall and overshadowing like great oaks, while oaks, it is fair to +presume, towered thousands of feet towards the sky. These stupendous +forests stood alone upon the surface of the earth; no animals wandered +through their fastnesses; no birds sported amidst their mighty +branches; noxious exhalations came steaming up from their tangled +recesses, and their gloomy shadows lay a mantle of darkness over +dreary and lifeless solitudes. The storms raged, and the winds howled; +the sun travelled its daily rounds, with its light dimmed and clouded +by the pestilential vapors it exhaled, and silence, so far as the +sounds of animal life were concerned, reigned supreme--the stillness +of the grave, the quiet of utter desolation, save the voice of the +wind or the storm, was unbroken all over the face of the earth. +Onward, and onward, rolled this mighty orb on its pathway through the +heavens, bearing with it no animal existences, freighted with no human +hopes--carrying with it nothing of human destiny. Man, with all his +lofty aspirations, his mighty schemes, his glory, and his pride, was a +thing of the future. He had not yet emerged from the eternity of the +past, to grapple with the present, or encounter the retributions of +the eternity which is to come. This was the era of gigantic vegetable +growth, and it had its uses; for it was preparing the way for higher +and more complicated existences. As the gases that surrounded the +earth became consolidated into vegetation, as this stupendous growth +decomposed the noxious atmosphere, drawing from it its grosser +particles and working them up into solid matter, extracting from it +what was fatal to animal life, this earth entered upon another era of +its progress. + +"Animal life made its appearance. It was weak and feeble at first, but +a step removed from vegetable matter. The molusca, the polypi, and the +rudest forms of fishes, were, beyond question, the first of living +things. Science demonstrates that the water brought forth the first +creations endowed with animal vitality. How long this era continued no +man can tell. Then came the amphibise, gigantic animals of the lizard +kind; the sauruses, that could reach with their long necks and +ponderous jaws across a street and pick up a man, if street and man +there had been. Then came land animals, monstrous in growth, by the +side of which the elephant dwindles to the diminutive stature of the +dormouse. In all these advances, was a succession of steps, mounting +higher and higher, in complication of structure, each more perfect in +organism than its predecessor. Vegetation itself became more +complicated, and as it approached perfection lost its gigantic growth. +Solidarity, compactness in all things, became the order of nature; the +atmosphere surrounding the earth, became more and more fitted for +the higher and more complicated animal organizations. At last when +time was ripe for his advent, when the earth was fitted for his +residence, and the air for his breathing, MAN, the last and most +perfect in his structure, the most delicate and finished in his +organization of all living things, made his appearance. He stepped +from the hand of God, the only thinking, reflecting, the only +intellectual, responsible being, in all the world. He stood at the +head of created matter, with all things on the earth subject to his +will, and corresponding to his, condition, his attributes, his +necessities, and his instincts. + +"Thus this great earth itself, has been but one continued illustration +of the great theory and principle of progress. From a beginning, lost +in the thick darkness of a past eternity, it has been marching forward +in a career as pause-less as the sun in his journeyings through the +sky, as clearly demonstrable as the growth of the germ that starts +from the buried acorn, and moves on to its full development in the +great oak. Science records with unerring certainty the progress of the +earth, and of animal life, from the lowest existences in the mollusca +and polypi, up to the superlatively complicated, and delicate +structure of man, tracing it step by step, until it is finished in the +noblest work of God, a human body coupled with an immortal soul! + +"And here arises a question which science has not solved, and to which +the philosophy, the wisdom, the logic of the past can give no answer. +The earth, and the things of the earth, have been moving forward, +marching on towards perfectability always. Is this forward movement +finished? We have, in looking at the subject in the light of science, +a time when there was not on the earth, in the air, or in the water, +any living thing. We have an era when animal life was but a span +removed from vegetable vitality; we have an era of gigantic vegetable +growth; an era of gigantic but rude animal growth, and so on step by +step down to the advent of man. The previous combinations of animal +life and vegetable life passed away with the era in which they +flourished; one class succeeding another, each emerging from, and +stepping over the annihilation of its predecessor, till we come down +to the present--is there no future progress for this earth as a +planet? Is there to be no other era, where man himself, like the +sauruses, like the mastodon, shall have passed away, to be succeeded +by some nobler animal structure, some loftier intelligence, some more +cunning invention of the infinite mind? + +"Man, great in intellect, powerful in mind, gifted with reason, and +having within him a spirit that is immortal, proud, glorious, aspiring +as he is, falls very far short of perfection in every attribute of his +nature. To say, therefore, that the prescience, the creative power of +the Almighty, reached the limit of its achievements in the creation of +man, is to impeach the omnipotence of God himself. Will any man insist +that the ingenuity of the Almighty is exhausted? May it not be, then +that the time will come when some sentient beings, as far superior to +man, as man is to the animals of the era of the lizards and the +amphibia, shall, like the geologists of the present day, be delving +among the rocks and rubbish of vanished ages, for evidences of the +existences of our own proud species at, to them, some remote period of +the world's progress? + +"If these questions cannot be answered by the learned and the wise, if +science makes no response, and philosophy furnishes no solution of +them, who dare say that the world is not, even now, entering upon a +new era of progress, taking another step in the forward movement? May +it not be, that the time is coming when the barrier between the +living, and the disembodied spirit is to be broken down? When that +viewless essence, that mystery of mysteries, the spirit of life, the +immortal soul, shall be permitted to come back from the unknown +country, to impart to the people of this world, the wisdom, the +mysteries, and the glory of the next? May not this be the new era that +is about opening in the progress of all things? It may be asked, is it +not possible that a new principle is about being evolved, that will +admit of communication between the living and the physically dead? May +it not be that the world and its surroundings, have become so changed, +that what was impossible thousands, or even hundreds, of years ago, +may have become, or be about to become possible now? That the same +process which carried this earth forward from the beginning, that so +changed the atmosphere of old, rendered it fit to sustain animal life +in its rudest structure, that so changed it again, as to make it +capable of sustaining a higher order of animal organism, that kept on +changing, and improving the whole face of the earth, that so arranged +organic matter, as to make this world, at last, a fit residence for +man, may be going on still; approaching all things nearer, and nearer +to perfection, until we have arrived upon the threshold of an era, +when living men may commune with the spirits of the physically dead? +An era as yet but in its dawn, when the stupendous future can be seen +only as through a glass darkly? + +"Remember, I do not assert my faith in a theory which is indicated by +an affirmative answer to these inquiries, for I have none. I give the +record of the earth's progress in the past, as it is written upon the +rocks, standing out upon precipices, brought to light by the +researches, and translated by the energy of science from forgotten and +buried ages. The deductions to be drawn from it, I leave to those who +have a taste for the speculative, neither believing in, nor +quarrelling with the theory which they may predicate upon it." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +LITTLE TOPPER'S LAKE--A SPIKE BUCK--A THUNDER STORM IN THE FOREST--THE +HOWL OF THE WOLF. + + +We spent the next day in coasting Round Pond, looking into its +secluded bays, and resting, when the sun was hot, beneath the shadows +of the brave old trees that line the banks. In floating along the +shore of this beautiful sheet of water, one can hardly help imagining +that in the broken rocks and rough stones piled up along the margin of +the lake, he sees the rains of an ancient wall, the mortar of which +has become disintegrated by time, and the masonry fallen down. He will +see at intervals what, from a little distance, seems like a solid wall +of stone, laid with care, and upon which the lapse of centuries has +wrought no change, so regular are the strata of which it is composed, +while an occasional boulder, large as a house, and covered with moss, +reminds him of the ruined tower of some stronghold. He will see, as he +rounds some rocky point, half a dozen of these gigantic boulders piled +together, leaning against each other with great cavernous openings +between, through which he can walk erect, and he involuntarily looks +around him for the armor of the ancient giants who piled up these +stupendous rocks and walled in the lake with these massive boulders. + +As we swept around a point near the south shore of the lake, we saw a +deer at a quarter of a mile from us, feeding upon the lily pads that +grew along the shore. Spalding and myself were in advance of our +little fleet, and our boatman paddled us carefully and silently +towards the animal, using the paddle only when its head was down. He +would feed for a minute or two and then look carefully all around him. +Of us he took no particular notice, although we were within a hundred +and fifty yards of him; and even when we were within sixty yards he +seemed to regard us only as a log floating upon the water, or +something else which might be regarded as perfectly harmless. Spalding +was in the bow of the boat, and when within some eight rods of the +game, we lay perfectly quiet for a moment, when his rifle spoke out +and its voice rung and re-echoed among the surrounding hills as if a +whole platoon of musketry were blazing all around us. The deer made +three or four desperate leaps in a zigzag direction, and then went +down. When we got to him, he was dead. He was a fine two year old +buck, with spike horns, and in excellent condition. We took his saddle +and skin and passed on. + +From Bound Pond we rowed up the inlet, a broad and sluggish stream, +full of grass and lily pads, to Little Tapper's Lake. We saw several +deer feeding along the shore that, discovering us as we rowed +carelessly along, went whistling and snorting away into the forest. As +we approached the lake, dark clouds gathered in the West; great ugly +looking thunderheads came rolling up from behind the hills higher and +higher; perfect stillness was all around us; the leaves were moveless +on the trees, and the voices of the birds were hushed. + +"Squire," said Martin to me "I'm thinkin' we'd better go ashore and +put up our tents; there's a mighty big storm over the hill, and he'll +be down this way before many minutes." + +And we rowed to a high point at a small distance, covered with spruce +and fir trees, and put up our tents on the lee side of it, so as to be +sheltered from the wind as well as the rain. This was the work of only +ten minutes; but before we had finished, the deep voice of the thunder +came rolling over the forest, and we could see the storm rising over +the hills, in a long black line, all across the Western sky. The +lightning darted down towards the earth, or across from cloud to +cloud, and the thunder boomed and rolled along the heavens, its deep +rumble shaking the ground like an earthquake. Presently, the hills +were hidden from our view, we heard the rush of the storm in the +forest on the other side of the river, then the splash of the big +drops on the water, and then the wind and the rain were upon us. For a +few minutes, I thought our tents would have been lifted bodily from +the ground, but the skill of our pioneer had provided against the +blast, and they remained standing safely over us. In a short time the +wind passed on, leaving the heavy rain to pour down in torrents, and +the deep voiced thunder to come crashing down to the earth, or go +rolling solemnly and heavily along the sky. It rained for an hour as +it can do only among these mountain regions. The clouds and the rain +at length swept on, and the bow of promise spanned the rear of the +retiring storm; a new joy seemed to take possession of the wild +things, and gladness and merriment sounded from every direction in the +old woods; a thin and shadowy mist hung like a veil over the water, +and a refreshing coolness, as well as brightness and glory, were all +around us. These storms of a hot summer day in this high region, if +one is prepared for them, are full of pleasant interest; they rise so +majestically, sweep along with such power, and pass away so +triumphantly, leaving behind them such a calm sweetness in the air, +that a journey to this wilderness would be imperfect in interest +without witnessing them. + +We entered Little Tripper's Lake towards evening, at the north end, +and looking down south, one of the most beautiful views imaginable +opened upon our vision. Surrounded by low and undulating hills, dotted +with islands, with long points running far out into the lake, and +pleasant little bays hiding around behind wooded promontories, it +presented a wild yet pleasing landscape, on which a painter's eye +could not rest but with delight, and which, transferred to canvas, +would make a picture of which any artist might be proud. + +By the way, I wonder that our artists do not summer among these +mountains and lakes, sketching and painting the transcendently +beautiful views they everywhere present. There is nothing like them on +all this continent. We talk about the scenery of Lake George. It is +all tame and spiritless compared with what may be seen here; it +possesses not a tithe of the variety, the bold and grand, the placid +and beautiful, all mingled, and changing always, as you pass from +point to point along these lakes. Why do not the artists whose +business it is to make the "canvas speak," drift out this way, and +deal with nature in all her ancient loveliness, clothed in her +primeval robes, and smiling in her freshness and beauty, as when +thrown from the hand of Deity? It would repay them for their labor, +and yield them a rich harvest of gain. + +We had heard of the shanty in which we were to encamp, and we rowed +straight through the whole length of the lake towards it. We reached +it as the sun was going down, and stowed away our luggage before the +darkness had gathered over the forest. We took possession by the right +of squatter sovereignty, the owner being unknown, or at all events, +absent from the woods. This lake is one of the few in all this region +that I had never visited before, and is next in beauty to its +namesake, two days' journey nearer to civilization. It is about twelve +miles in length, and from one to two miles in width, with many +beautiful bays stealing around behind bold rocky promontories, and +sleeping in quiet beauty under the shadows of the tall forest trees +that tower above their shores. It is dotted, too, with beautiful +islands, some rising with a gentle slope from the water, covered with +scattering Norway pines, and a dense undergrowth of low bushes; others +are covered with tall spruce, fir, and hemlocks, standing up in +stately and solemn grandeur, their arms lovingly intertwined, through +the everlasting verdure of which the sun never shines; and others +still are gigantic rocks, rising up out of the deep water, all +treeless and shrubless, remaining always in brown and barren +desolation, on which the eagle and osprey devour their prey, and the +flocks of gulls that frequent the lake 'light to rest from their +almost ceaseless flight. Civilization has not as yet marred in +anything this beautiful sheet of water; even the lumberman has not +forced his way to the majestic old pines that tower in stately +grandeur above the forest trees of a lesser growth; not a foot of laud +has been cleared within thirty miles of it. The old woods stand around +it just as God placed them, in all their pristine solemnity, stately +and motionless; the wild things that roamed among them in the day of +old, are there still, and the same species of birds that sported in +their branches thousands of years ago, are there still. We heard the +howl of the wolf at night; we heard the scream of the panther; we saw +the tracks of the moose, and where he had fed on the pastures along +the shore; we saw the footprints of a huge bear in the sand on the +beach, and the deer-paths were like those that lead to a sheep-fold. +It was a pleasant thing to row along the shore, into the bays, around +the islands, and into the creeks that came in from other little lakes +deeper in the wilderness. The banks are mostly bold and bluff, the +rocks standing up four or eight feet from the water, or broken and +fallen like an ancient wall. Here and there is a long stretch of +beautiful sandy beach, on which the tiny waves break with a rippling +song, and from which bars go out with a gentle slope into the water. + +We intended to remain here quietly for a few days, taking things easy, +rowing, and fishing, and hunting enough for exercise only. There is +plenty of deer, and trout, and duck, and partridge here, to be taken +with small labor; there are bears, and wolves, and panthers, in the +woods around. But these are fewer and harder to be come at than the +other game; there is an occasional moose too. We saw the tracks of all +these animals hereabouts, and we hoped to get a shot at some or all of +them before leaving the woods. + +Reader, did you ever hear the wolves howl in the old woods of a Still +night! No? Then you have not heard _all_ the music of the forest. Some +deep-mouthed old forester will open his jaws, and send forth a volume +of sound so deep, so loud, so changeful, so undulating and variable in +its character, that, as it rolls along the forest, and comes back in +quavering echoes from the mountains, you will almost swear that his +single voice is an agglomerate of a thousand, all mixed, and mingled, +and rolled up into one. May be, away in the distance, possibly on the +other side of the lake, or across a broad valley, another will open +his mouth and answer, with a howl as deep, and wild, and variable, as +the first; and possibly a third and fourth, one on the right, and +another on the left, will join in the chorus, until the whole forest +seems to be fall of howling and noise; and yet not one of these +animals may be within a mile of you. To a timid man, there is something +terrific in the howl of the wolves; but in truth, they are harmless as +the deer, quite as wild and shy, and full as cowardly in the presence +of a man. They will fly as frightened from his approach, unless, +possibly, in the intense cold and desolation of winter, when driven +together and rendered desperate by hunger, they might be emboldened by +starvation to attack a man, but even this is among the apocryphal +legends of the wilderness. + +"Hearing them wolves howlin'," said Hank Martin, as we sat in the +evening around our camp fire, "reminds me of a story Mark Shuff tells +of his experience with the critters; but mind, I don't pretend to +swear to its truth, for I don't claim to know anything about the facts +myself. I'll tell it as Mark told it to me, and if it turns out to be +too tough a yarn to take down whole, don't lay it to me. You know Mark +Shuff," said he, appealing to me, "and you may believe such parts of +it as you may be able to swallow, and the rest may be divided up, as +the Doctor said the other day, among the company." + +"Go ahead," said the Doctor, "I'll take a quarter as my share of the +story, and you may cut it off of either end, or carve it out of the +middle. I'll take a quarter, tough or tender." + +"You may set down a quarter to my account," said Smith, "and Spalding +shall take another." "Very well, then," said Martin, "I'll believe a +quarter of it myself, and so the case is made up, as the judge +would say." + +"Well," repeated Martin, "you know MARE Shuff?" "Of course I know Mark +Shuff; and who, that has visited these lakes and woods don't know him? +He is a stalwart man, six feet in his stockings, strong, healthy, and +enduring as iron, I have had him as a boatman and guide about Tupper's +Lake, and the regions beyond it, more than once. He works at lumbering +in the winter, and if there is one among the hundreds, I had almost +said thousands, who make war, in the snowy season of the year, upon +the old pines of the Rackett woods, who can swing an axe more +effectually than Mark Shuff, his light is under a bushel--his fame +obscured. Mark works hard for four or five months, and lays around +loose the balance of the year. In the summer, he holds a cost as a +thing of ornament rather than use, and boots or shoes as luxuries, not +to be reckoned as among the necessaries of life. His hat, as a general +thing, is of straw, and minus a little more than half the brim. He +would be out of place, and out of uniform, as well as out of temper +with himself, if he was for any considerable length of time without +the stub of a marvelously black pipe in his mouth, filled with plug +tobacco, shaved and rubbed in his hand into a proper condition for +smoking. Mark, though by no means an intemperate man, is fond of a +drop now and then, and when he has just a thimbleful too much, the way +he will swear is emphatically a sin. And yet he is anything but +quarrelsome or contrary, even when a shade over the line of strict +sobriety. He is a great, strong, square-shouldered, big-breasted, +good-natured specimen of the genus homo, a giant in physical strength, +and were I a wolf, I would prefer letting him alone to any man in +these parts. When he gets just the least grain "shiny" (and he never +gets beyond that), and his oar goes a little wrong, or a twig brushes +him ungently, or his seat gets a little hard, he will express his +sense of its improper deportment by incontinently damning its eyes, +and so forth, as if it were a sentient thing, and understood all his +profane denunciations; but with all this, Mark never forgets to be +respectful, and, in his way, courteous to his employers. He has, +moreover, a sharp, clear eye in his head, and can see a deer, or any +other game, as quick, and shoot it as far as the best, and has as good +a knowledge of where they are to be found, as any man in these woods." + +"Well," continued Martin, as he lighted his pipe by dipping it into +the embers and scooping up a small coal; "Well, Mark Shuff and a +friend of his by the name of Westcott, had a shanty one winter over on +Tupper's Lake; they were trappin' martin, and mink, and muskrat, and +wolves, when they could get one. They shantied on the outlet, just at +the foot of the lake, below the high rocky bluff round which the +little bay there sweeps. There wasn't any house then nearer than +Harriets Town, down by the Lower Saranac; but there was a company of +lumbermen having a shanty up towards the head of the lake, near where +the Bog River enters. Mark, one cold winter's morning, started on an +errand to the lumber shanty I speak of, calculatin' to return the same +evening. The lake was frozen over, and he took to the ice, as being +the nearest and best travelin'. The winter had set in airly, and the +snow had lain deep for months, and the game of the woods had got +pretty well starved out. Mark did'nt take his rifle with him, thinkin' +of course that he would see no game on the ice worth shootin', and a +gun would only be an incumbrance to him. Well, he did his errand at +the shanties, and started for home. I don't know whether he took a +drop or not, but they generally keep a barrel of old rye in the lumber +shanties, and my opinion is that Mark was invited to take a horn, in +which case, I'm bold to say, the horn was taken. + +"However that may be, Mark started for home along in the afternoon, +and took to the ice, as he did when he went up in the morning. +Everything went right until he got within may be a mile of home, when +he heard, from a point of land, a little to the left of him, a sharp, +fierce bark, and turning that way, he saw a great shaggy, +fierce-looking wolf trot out from behind a boulder and squat himself +down on his haunches, and eye him as if calculating the probabilities +of his making a good supper. While Mark was looking at him, feelin' a +little oneasy, he heard another sharp bark, and from a point just +ahead of him another great wolf trotted out on to the ice, and sat +himself down, eyeing him with suspicious intensity. In a moment, +another came out right opposite to him, and then another, and another, +until Mark swears to this day that there were more than a dozen of +these fierce and hungry savages squatted on their haunches within +fifty yards of him. + +"Mark, as I said, had no rifle, his only weapons being a hunting knife +and a heavy walking stick, which he carried in his hand. To say that +he was not frightened, would be stating what I don't believe to be +true, and I've heard him tell how his huntin' cap seemed to be lifted +right up on his head, as if every hair pointed straight towards the +sky. He looked at the wolves a moment, and then walked on; but the +animals trotted along with him, still, however, keepin' at a +respectful distance. Those in advance seemed inclined to cross his +path, as if to turn him towards the centre of the lake, while those +behind went further and further from the shore, as if to surround him; +and thus they travelled for near half a mile, Mark making for the open +water, which in the coldest weather is always to be found near the +outlet of the lake, determined, if they came to close quarters, to +take to that and swim for it. He had heard and knew that almost every +animal is afraid of the voice of a man; so he shouted at the top of +his voice, and as he said, ripped out some select and choice oaths, +which for a moment alarmed the wolves, and they fell back a few rods, +still, however, keepin' in a kind of half circle around him. But it +was'nt long before they began to gather in on him again, and though +his shoutin' and swearin' kept them at a good distance, yet they +seemed to be gettin' used to it, and it didn't alarm them as it did at +first. Mark had now got within reach of the water, and he felt +comparatively safe. He was not more than a quarter of a mile from +home, and cold as it was, he felt sure that he could swim +that distance. + +"Before being compelled to take to the water, it occurred to him to +halloo for Westcott, which he did with all his might. The wolves +did'nt appear to care much about his hallooing, but kept trottin' +along between him and the shore, and before and behind him, drawin' +the circle closer and closer every ten rods; and Mark expected every +moment when they'd make a rush on him, in which case he'd made up his +mind to make a dive into the water, along which he was now travelin'. +Presently he saw Westcott, with his double-barrelled rifle, stealin' +along the shore, hid from the kritters by a high rocky point, within +some twenty rods of him. He felt all right then, for he knew that when +Westcott pinted that rifle at anything, something had to come. It was +a dangerous piece, that rifle was, 'specially when loaded and Westcott +was at one end of it. + +"Mark was not more than fifteen rods from the shore, but that ground +was occupied by the wolves; on the right was the water, into which he +might at any moment be compelled to plunge; while both before and +behind him his advance and retreat was alike cut off. He had noticed +that whenever he stopped, the wolves stopped, as if the time for the +rush had not yet come, and it puzzled him to understand why they +delayed the onset. Seeing Westcott with his rifle, Mark determined to +treat his assailants to a choice lot of profane epithets, and the way +he opened on the cowardly rascals, he said, astonished even +himself. But while he was thus swearing at his enemies, he +discovered, as he thought, the reason why they had not attacked +him sooner. A troop of a dozen or more wolves broke cover +some distance up the lake, and came runnin' down towards where +he stood, for whose presence, no doubt, those around him were +waiting. Just then he saw WESTCOTT'S huntin' cap above the rocks on +the point, and saw his double-barrel poked out in the direction of the +leader of the pack, and he knew that that old grey-back's time had +come. Mark let off a fresh volley of profanity, and as the wolves +seemed preparing for a rush, WESTCOTT'S rifle broke the frozen +stillness of the woods, and old grey-back turned a summerset and went +down. The astonished wolves clustered together for a moment in +confusion, and the other barrel spoke out. Another of the pack bounded +into the air, and as he came down kicked and thrashed about in a most +oncommon way, and then laid still--while the way the rest put out for +the point, some distance up the lake, was a thing to be astonished at. +Mark threw up his hat, and hollered, and shouted, and swore, till the +last wolf disappeared into the forest, and then shoulderin' one of the +dead kritters, and WESTCOTT the other, started on home. The hides, and +the bounty on the scalps, made a good day's work of it; but Mark +swears to this day, that if the last dozen of wolves had been a little +earlier, or Westcott a little later, he'd a-been driven like a buck to +the water, cold as it was; and if they'd been a little earlier still, +he'd have been a goner. He never goes far from home since, without a +rifle; although with that he has no fear of wolves, yet he concludes +that a hunting-knife and a stick are no match for a whole pack of the +kritters, when made savage by the starvation of winter." + +[Illustration: Westcott's rifle broke the frozen stillness of the +woods, and old greyback turned a summerset and went down. The +astonished wolves clustered together for a moment in confusion, and +the other barrel spoke out.] + +While we were listening to the story of Mark Shuff and the wolves, the +old fellow over the water made the forest ring again with his howling. +He was answered from miles away down the lake by another. Their voices +kept the forest echoes busy, until we laid ourselves away in our +blankets, where we slept till wakened by the glad voices of the birds +in the early morning. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +AN EXPLORING VOYAGE IN AN ALDER SWAMP--A BEAVER DAM--A FAIR SHOT AND A +MISS--DROWNING A BEAR--AN UNPLEASANT PASSENGER. + + +We started the next morning on an exploring voyage round the lake, to +look into the bays and inlets, try the fish and deer, and see what we +could see generally. We struck across to an island opposite our +landing-place, containing five or six acres, covered with a dense +growth of spruce, hemlock, and fir, with an occasional pine standing +with its tall head proudly above the other forest trees, while along +the ground the low whortleberry bushes, loaded with fruit, now just +ripening, grew. This island is near the south shore, and separated +from it by a narrow channel some twenty rods in width. We landed, and +were regaling ourselves upon the berries, leaving our boats and guns +on the lake side of the island. We had wandered near the centre of the +island, when three deer started up within two rods of us, and rushed +whistling and snorting in huge astonishment across the island in the +direction of the mainland, and dashing wildly into the water, swam to +the shore and disappeared into the forest. We, in truth, were little +less astonished than they, for we certainly expected no such game to +be hiding there, and when they leaped up so suddenly and plunged away, +crashing and snorting through the brush, it startled us somewhat; but +our boats and guns were on the other side of the island, and we could +only look on as they swam boldly to the shore without the power to +harm them. + +At the east end of the lake a large stream, deep, sluggish, and +tortuous enters, which we voted came from a lake or pond, back at the +base of the hills, seen some three or four miles distant in that +direction, and while the other boats passed in another direction, +Spalding and myself started upstream to explore it. As we advanced, +the alders and willows encroached more and more upon the channel, +until it became too narrow for rowing. Our boatman took his paddle, +and seated in the stern of our little craft, propelled it up stream +for an hour or more. The alders gradually contracted, the channel +becoming narrower until we were passing under a low archway of +branches, covered with dense foliage, through which the sunlight could +not penetrate. The arch grew lower and lower, and the channel +narrower, until we at last absolutely stuck fast among the branches of +the alders which, here grew almost horizontally over the stream. We +could not turn round, and to go further was absolutely impossible; +there was but one mode of extrication, and that was to back straight +out the way we had entered. Our boatman changed his position to the +bow of the boat, and after much labor and exertion, we started down +stream. After two hours of hard work, pushing with the oars and +pulling by the branches, we emerged into daylight, came out into the +open stream, not a little fatigued by our efforts to find the +imaginary pond at the base of the mountains. + +This stream, with the broad alder marsh that stretches away on either +side, was doubtless once a beaver dam; and we thought we could +discover where these singular and sagacious animals had erected the +structure that made for them an artificial lake. Our theory on this +subject may have been true or false, but this much is a fact, that in +all this region of lakes and rivers, I have seen no alder or other +marsh of any considerable extent, save this. In the times of old, when +the Indian and his brother the beaver, lived quietly together, before +the greed of the white man had built up a war of extermination between +them, this must have been a glorious country for the beaver. The lakes +are so numerous and the ponds and rivers so fitted for them, that they +must have had a good time of it here for centuries. The Indians never +disturbed them, never made war upon them; their flesh was not needed +or fitted for food, and the value of their fur was unknown. Tradition, +speaking from the dim and shadowy past, tells us of the vast numbers +of these sagacious and harmless animals which congregated in these +regions, living in undisturbed quiet and happiness all the year, +building their dams, their canals, and cities on all the ponds, +rivers, and lakes hereabouts. But they are all gone now. I inquired if +any had been seen of late years, and could hear of but a single +family, which some ten years ago were said to dwell somewhere in the +vicinity of Mud Lake, the highest and wildest of all these mountain +lakes. The last of these was taken four or five years ago, since which +no sign of the beaver has been discovered. They are doubtless all +gone, and as this was their last abiding-place, they may be regarded +as extinct on this side of the Alleghany ranges, and probably on this +side of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Like the beaver, +the Indian who turned against him, will soon be gone too. Annihilation +is written as the doom of both. The wild man must pass away with the +woods and the forests, before the onward rush of civilization, and +history will soon be all that will remain of the Indian and his +ancient brother the beaver. + +Well, be it so, and who will regret it? It is a sad thing to see a +whole race perish, wiped out from the aggregate of human existence. +But in this instance, its place will be filled by a higher and nobler +race, and the hunting-ground of the savage and the pagan, be converted +into cultivated fields; where stood the wigwam, will stand the +farm-house; where the council-fires blazed, will stand the halls of +enlightened and Christian legislation; churches and school-houses, and +all the accompaniments of Christianity and civilization will take the +place of ancient forests; and educated, intellectual, cultivated minds +take the place of the rude, untaught, and unteachable men and women of +the woods. + +As we re-entered the lake, we saw a noble buck feeding along the +shore, a short distance from us. We dropped behind a point of willows, +from the outer edge of which we would be in shooting distance. We +paddled silently round the point, and there, within fifteen rods of +us, he stood, broad side to us, presenting as beautiful a mark as a +man could wish. I counted him certainly ours, when I drew upon him +with my rifle. Well I blazed away, and as I did so, he raised his head +suddenly, gazed in astonishment at us for a moment, with his ears +thrown forward, and in an attitude of wildness, and then dashed madly +away into the forest, snorting like a war-horse at every bound. I had +not touched him, and I knew it the moment I fired. Our little boat was +light and rollish, and just as I pressed the trigger, it rolled +slightly on the water and my ball passed over, but mighty close to the +back of that deer. I was mortified enough at this mishap, for I prided +myself on my coolness and marksmanship, and here was a failure +apparently more inexcusable than any that had occurred. But there was +no help for it. The deer was gone, and Spalding and the boatman +indulged in a hearty laugh at my expense. + +Some half a mile up the lake, we saw a great turtle sunning himself on +a rock which was partly out of water. He was twice as large as any of +the fresh-water kind I had ever seen. His shell was all of two feet in +diameter, and his scaly arms, as they hung loosely over the side of +the rock, were as large as the wrists of a man. He was some six or +eight rods from us, and Spalding gave him a shot with his rifle. The +ball glanced harmlessly from his massive shell against the ledge +behind him, and starting from his sleep, he clambered lazily and +clumsily into the water. + +We threw out a trolling line as we passed up the lake; but we caught +no trout. Along the shore, however, we caught small ones in plenty +with the fly. These shore trout, as I call them, seem to be a distinct +species, differing in many respects from the other trout of the lakes +or streams. They are uniform in size, rarely exceeding a quarter of a +pound in weight. They are of a whitish color, longer in proportion +than the lake, river, or brook trout, have fewer specks upon them, and +those not of a golden hue, but rather like freckles. They are found +among the broken rocks where the shores are bold and bluff, or near +the mouths of the cold brooks that come down from the hills. I caught +them at every trial, and whenever we wanted them for food. Their flesh +is white and excellent--better, to my taste, than that of any other +fish of these waters. + +We rejoined our companions in a little bay that lay quietly around a +rocky promontory, where we found them enjoying a dinner of venison and +trout, under the shade of some huge firtrees, by the side of a +beautiful spring that came bubbling up, in its icy coldness, from +beneath the tangled roots of a stinted and gnarled birch. Happily, +there was enough for us all, and we accepted at once the invitation +extended to us to dine. Towards evening, we rowed back to our shanty. +The breeze had entirely ceased, and the lake lay still and smooth; not +a wave agitated its surface, not a ripple passed across its stirless +bosom; the woods along the shore, and the mountains in the back +ground, the glowing sunlight upon the hill-tops were mirrored back +from its quiet depths as if there were other forests, and other +mountains and hills glowing in the evening sunshine away down below, +twins to those above and around us. We saw on our return along the +beach, the track of a bear in the sand, that had been made during the +day, and we had some talk of trying the scent of our dogs upon it. But +it was too near night, to allow of a hope of securing him, even if the +dogs could follow, and we gave up the idea, promising to attend to +bruin's case another day. + +As we sat with our meerschaums, in the evening, speculating upon the +chances of securing a bear, or a moose, before leaving the woods, a +wolf lifted up his voice on the hill opposite as, and made the old +forest ring again with his howling. He was answered as in the night +previous, from away down the lake, and by another from the hill back +of us, and another still from the narrow gorge above the head of the +lake. However discordant the music appeared to us, they seemed to +enjoy it, for they kept it up at intervals during all the early part +of the night. + +"Seeing that bear's track, and hearing the howl of those wolves," said +the Doctor, "reminds me of a story I heard told by an old Ohio pilot, +whom I found in drifting down that noble river in a pirogue, some five +and twenty years ago. We tied up one night by the side of another +similar craft, that had gone down ahead of us, the people on board of +which had landed and built a camp-fire, and erected their tent. They +were strangers to us, but in those days everybody you met in the +wilderness which skirted the Upper Ohio was your friend, if you chose +to regard him so. I was a mere boy then, and was in company with my +father and three other gentlemen, who owned a township of land not far +from Cincinnati; that is not far now, considering the difference in +the mode of travelling between then and now, and we were on our way to +explore that township. I did not regard it as of much value then, +though it has since brought a heap of money to its owners. We found +the company belonging to the other boat busily employed in cooking a +supper of venison and bear-meat, they having in the course of the day +killed two deer and a bear that they found swimming the river. We were +invited to help ourselves; an invitation which, being cordially given, +we as cordially accepted. We had been passing during most of the day +through unbroken forests, standing up in stately majesty on both sides +of the river, and stretching back the Lord knows how far. After the +darkness gathered, the wolves made the wilderness vocal with their +howling. It was the first time I had ever heard them, and for that +matter the last, until since we have been in these woods: but when +that old fellow over the lake lifted up his voice last night, I +recognized it at once. I can't say I admired it as a musical +performance then, and I don't appreciate its harmony now. If there are +those who like it, why, _de gustibus non_, and so forth. + +"But I set out to tell the story that the old Ohio pilot told that +night, while the travellers sat smoking around their camp-fires, and +the wolves were howling in the wilderness about us. I do not, of +course, vouch for its truth; I simply tell it as he told it to us. He +seemed to believe it himself, for he told it with a gravity of face, +and a seriousness of manner, which would ill comport with its falsity. +His hearers did not seem to regard it as passing belief, but they +laughed at the idea of drowning a bear. + +"'Twenty odd years ago,' said the old pilot, as he lighted his pipe +and seated himself on the head of a whisky-keg, 'there warn't a great +many people along the Ohio, except Ingins and bears, and we didn't +like to cultivate a very close acquaintance with either of them, for +the Ingins were cheatin', deceivin', and scalpin' critters, and the +bears had an onpleasant way with 'em, that people of delicate narves +didn't like. I came out for some people over on the east side of the +mountains, lookin' land, in company with four men who had hunted over +the country. Ohio warn't any great shakes then, but let me tell you, +stranger, it had a mighty big pile of the tallest kind of land layin' +around waitin' to be opened up to the sunlight. It's goin' ahead now, +and people are rushin' matters in the way of settlin' of it, but you +could stick down a stake most anywhere in it then, and travel in +any direction a hundred miles climbin' a fence. + +"'Wal, we came down the Alleghany in two canoes, and shantied on the +Ohio, just below where the Alleghany empties itself into it. We hid +our canoes, and struck across the country, and travelled about +explorin' for six weeks, and when we got back to our shantyin' ground, +we were tuckered out you may believe. We rested here a couple of days, +layin' around loose, and takin' our comfort in a way of our own. Early +one morning, when my companions were asleep, I got up and paddled +across the river after a deer, for we wanted venison for breakfast. I +got a buck, and was returnin', when what should I see but a bear +swimmin' the Ohio, and I put out in chase right off. I soon overhauled +the critter, and picked up my rifle to give him a settler, when I +found that in paddlin' I had spattered water into the canoe, wettin' +the primin' and makin' the gun of no more use than a stick. I didn't +understand much about the natur of the beast then, and thought I'd run +him down, and drown him, or knock him on the head. So I put the canoe +right end on towards him, thinkin' to run him under, but when the +bow touched him, what did he do, but reach his great paws up over the +side of the canoe, and begin to climb in. I hadn't bargained for that; +I felt mighty onpleasant, you may swear, at the prospect of havin' +sich a passenger. I hadn't time to get at him with the rifle, till he +came tumblin' into the dugout, and as he seated himself on his stern, +showed as pretty a set of ivory as a body would wish to see. There we +sat, he in one end of the dugout and I in the other, eyein' one +another in a mighty suspicious sort of way. He didn't seem inclined to +come near my end of the dugout, and I was principled agin goin' +towards his. I made ready to take to the water on short notice, but at +the same time concluded I'd paddle him to the shore, if he'd allow me +to do it quietly. + +"'Wal, I paddled away, the bear every now and then grinnin' at me, +skinnin' his face till every tooth in his head stood right out, and +grumblin' to himself in a way that seemed to say, 'I wonder if that +chap's good to eat?' I didn't offer any opinion on the subject; I +didn't say a word to him, treatin' him all the time like a gentleman, +but kept pullin' for the shore. When the canoe touched the ground, he +clambered over the side, and climbed up the bank, and givin' me an +extra grin, started off into the woods. I pushed the dugout back +suddenly, and gave him, as I felt safe again, a double war-whoop that +seemed to astonish him, for he quickened his pace mightily, as if +quite as glad to part company as I was. I larned one thing, stranger, +that mornin', and it's this, never to try drownin' a bear by runnin' +him under with a dugout. It won't pay.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SPALDING'S BEAR STORY--CLIMBING TO AVOID A COLLISION--AN UNEXPECTED +MEETING--A RACE. + + +"That story," said Spalding, "reminds _me_ of a bear story. I shall do +as the Doctor did, tell it as it was told to me. I did not see the +bear, but I know the man who was the hero of it, and his brother told +the story in his presence one day, and he made no denial. He at least +is estopped from disputing it, and we lawyers call that _prima facie_ +evidence of its truth. It occurred a long time ago, when there were +fewer green fields in Oswego county and especially in the town of +Mexico, than there are now. The old woods stood there in all their +primeval grandeur. The waves of Ontario laved a wilderness shore, and +their dull sound, as they came rolling in upon the rocky beach, died +away in the solitudes of a gloomy and almost boundless forest. Here +and there a 'clearing' let in the sunlight, and the woodman's axe +broke the forest stillness as he battled against the brave old trees. +The smoke of burning fallows was occasionally seen, wreathing in +dense columns towards the sky. Civilization, enterprise, energy and +new life were just starting on that career of progress which has moved +onward till the wilderness, under the influence of their mighty power, +has been made to blossom as the rose. Those were pleasant times, as we +look upon them now, just fading into the dim and shadowy past, but +they were times of toil and privation. The arms of the men of those +times were nerved by the hope of the future, and the spirit that +sustained them was that of faith in the fact that the promise of +reward for their labor was sure. + +"Do the men of the present day ever think what a gigantic labor that +was of clearing away those old forests? Contemplate a wilderness, +reaching from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, from the great lakes +and the majestic St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, every acre of +which was covered with tall trees which had to be cut away one by one, +not with some great machine which mowed them down in broad swaths like +the grass of a meadow, but by a single arm and a single axe. Talk +about the Pyramids, the Chinese Wall, the great canals of the earth! +They sink into utter insignificance when compared with the prodigious +labor of clearing away the American forests, and spreading out green +fields where our fathers found only a limitless wilderness of woods. +The sons of these men who performed that labor, in my judgment, have a +better patent to preferment and honors than those who come from other +lands to claim their inheritance after it has been thus perfected by +such toil and hardships, and dangers as the history of the world +cannot parallel." + +"I think, if I remember rightly," said the Dr., "you set out to tell a +bear story. You are now indulging in a sermon on progress. Allow me to +call your attention to the bear." + +"I appeal to the court," said Spalding, addressing Smith and myself, +"against this interruption." + +"The counsel will proceed," said Smith, with all the gravity of a +judge; "we hope the interruption will not be repeated." + +"Well," said Spalding, resuming his narrative, "some fifty years ago, +two enterprising men (brothers) marched into the woods in the town of +Mexico, now in Oswego county, with their axes on their shoulders, and +stout hearts beating in their bosoms. They located a mile or more +apart, and began a warfare, such as civilization wages, against the +old forest trees. Men talk about courage on the battle-field, the +facing of danger amid the conflict of armed hosts, and the crash of +battle. All that is well, but what is such courage, stimulated by +excitement and braced by the ignominy which follows the laggard in +such a strife, to that calm, enduring, moral courage of him who +encounters the toil and hardships incident to the settlement of a new +country, and battles with the dangers, the long years of privation, +which lie before the pioneer who goes into the forest to carve out a +home for himself and his children? How much more noble is such +courage, how infinitely superior is such a warfare, one which mows +down forest trees instead of men, which creates green pastures, broad +meadows, and fields of waving grain, instead of smouldering cities, +and desolated homes! How much more pleasant is the sound of the +woodman's axe, than that of the booming cannon! How much more cheerful +the smoke that goes up from the burning fallow, than that which hangs +in darkness over the desolation of the battle field, beneath which lie +the dead in their stillness, and the wounded in their agony! But I am +losing sight of the bear." + +"Exactly so," said the Doctor; "and we have not as yet had the +pleasure of making his acquaintance. Suppose you give us an +introduction to the gentleman." + +"These interruptions are entirely out of order," gravely remarked +Smith; "they must not be repeated. The counsel will proceed." + +"Well," resumed Spalding, bowing deferentially to the court, "one of +these settlers started one day across the woods to visit his brother. +There were few roads in those times, and these were laid out without +much reference to distance; they went winding and crooking every way +to avoid this hill, or that creek, or water course, or any other +impediment which nature may have thrown in the way, and a blind +footpath, or a line of marked trees, was more commonly travelled from +one forest house to another. The forester was tramping cheerfully +along, thinking doubtless of the good time coming, when his farm would +be shorn of all its old woods, when flocks and herds would be grazing +in luxurious pastures, tall grain waving in fields, the summer grass +clothing in richness meadows reclaimed by his labor from the +wilderness, and he should be at ease among his children. First +settlers of a new country think of these things, and it is because +they think of them, that their hearts are strong and buoyant with +hope. They live in the future, enduring the darkness and privation of +the present, in their faith in the brightness of the years to come. +Thus they wait in patience for, while they command success, and the +end of their toil is an old age of competence, and in the closing +years of life, quiet and repose. Well, he was enjoying these pleasant +visions when he saw, some thirty rods ahead of him, a huge bear, with +her cubs, 'travelling his way,' as the saying is, in other words +coming directly towards him. He was no hunter, and had with him no +weapon. He had heard strange stories of the ferocity of the bear when +her cubs were by her side, and to say that he was not horribly +frightened would be a departure from the strict requirements of truth. +He had heard, too, that a bear could not climb a small, straight tree, +and _he_ could. The question then was between climbing and running. He +was not much in a race, and he decided to climb; so selecting a +smooth-barked, perpendicular ash sapling, he started with might and +main towards the top. He went up, as he supposed, till he was out of +the reach of the bear, and held on, all the time keeping his eye on +the animal, and making as little noise as possible. The bear, +doubtless seeing that he was beyond her reach, passed on out of sight, +and after he remained till the danger was over, he concluded to come +down. He was astonished to find that his efforts to descend were +powerless. He seemed to have frozen to the tree. Upon looking around, +to his utter amazement, he found himself sitting on the ground, _with +both legs and arms locked fast around the, tree! He had not climbed an +inch, and the bear had not been aware of his presence in the woods!_ + +"That ash sapling was safe from that day. It stood then in the old +forest. The woodman's axe spared it. It stands now in the open field, +a majestic tree; its great trunk, eight feet in circumference, its +long arms covered with foliage, casting a broad shadow over the +pasture beneath, in which cattle and sheep seek for coolness and +ruminate in the heat of the summer days. It is pointed out as the tree +which the man who was frightened by a bear _didn't_ climb, and is +referred to as evidence of the truth of my story, as the Dutchman +proved the authenticity of his Bible, 'by the pictures.'" + +"And that," said I, "puts _me_ in mind of a bear story, which has this +merit over both of yours--it is true. I can speak of it as a thing of +personal knowledge, occurring within my own personal experience. I +began the study of law in Angelica, the county seat of Alleghany +county, and as it was a good many years ago, it is fair to assume that +I was a good many years younger than I am now, and that the country in +that region was younger too. Everybody knows that Alleghany county is, +or used to be, a great place for whirlwinds and tornadoes. If they do +not, they may understand and be assured of the fact now. A few years +(less than twelve) ago, a black cloud came looming up in the +northwest, and started on its career towards the southeast. As it +swept along, it sent its fierce winds crashing, and howling, and +roaring, through the old forests, uprooting, hurling to the ground, +and scattering everything that encountered its fury. Houses, barns, +haystacks, fences, trees, everything were prostrated, and to this day +its track is visible in the swath it mowed through the old woods, from +sixty to a hundred rods wide, plain and distinct still, for miles and +miles. It was not of that tornado, however, that I propose to speak. +Others had preceded it, and in the country all about Angelica were +what were called 'windfalls.' These windfalls were neither more nor +less than the old tracks of these whirlwinds and tornadoes, that had +swept down the forest trees. Fire had finished what the whirlwind +begun. In time, blackberry-bushes had grown up among the charred +trunks of the old pines, and other trees, bearing an immensity of +fruit; and it was a pleasant resort for young people, one of those +windfalls, when the blackberries were ripe and luscious. These +windfalls were great places, too, for rabbits, partridges, and 'such +small deer,' and it was no great thing to boast of, to kill a dozen or +two of the birds of an afternoon. + +"I went out with a friend one day to one of these windfalls, partly +after blackberries, and partly for partridges. We were both boys, +younger than fifteen, then, and each possessing, probably, quite as +much discretion as valor. We had separated a short distance from each +other, he to gather berries, and I, with a small fowling-piece, in +pursuit of game. Presently I saw my friend crashing through the brush +towards me, and also towards the fields, without his basket, and bare +headed, his hair standing straight up, putting in his very best jumps, +as if a thousand tigers were at his heels. Without heeding for a +moment my anxious inquiries as to what was the matter, he kept right +on, leaping the logs like a deer, looking neither to the right hand +nor the left, but with his coat tail sticking out on a dead level +behind, making a straight wake for home. Fear is said to be +contagious, and I believe in the doctrine that it is so. I caught it +bad; and without knowing what I was afraid of, I started, and if any +fourteen year old boy can make better time than I did on that +occasion, I should like to see him run. I kept possession of my +fowling-piece, and came out neck and neck with my friend. We scrambled +over the outer fence, and ran some dozen rods or more in the open +field, without either of us looking back. Then, however, we made the +astounding discovery, that there was nothing after us, and we both +paused to take breath, and, so far as I was concerned, to ascertain, +if possible, what had occasioned the race. I learned that my friend, +after I left him, had gone into the windfall, and was standing upon +the long trunk of a fallen tree, picking berries, when he saw, a few +rods from him towards the other end of the log on which he was +standing, a great black hand reach up and bend down a tall +blackberry-bush that was loaded with berries. This alarmed him +somewhat, for whoever the great black hand belonged to was concealed +by the thick bushes and their foliage from his view. Presently, two +great black hands were placed upon the log, and a huge black bear +clambered lazily up, and, for a second, stood in utter amazement, face +to face, and within fifty feet of my friend. Both broke at the same +instant, in affright; my friend in one direction, and the bear in the +other--my friend for the fields, and the bear for the deep woods--and +each as anxious as fear could make him to put a 'broad belt of +country' between them. My friend dropped his basket, as he leaped from +the log; it was no time to stop for a basket; a limb caught his hat +and pulled it off; he had not time to stop for his hat. The truth is, +he was in a hurry, and something more than a hat or a basket was +required to stay his progress towards home." + +"The Squire's story," said Cullen, as he knocked the ashes from his +pipe, and commenced shaving a fresh supply of tobacco with his +jack-knife, and depositing it in the palm of his left hand, "the +Squire's story reminds me of an adventer Crop and I met with, over +towards St. Regis Lake, a good many year ago; and I'll state the +circumstances of the case, as the Judge would say. It was an adventer +that don't happen often--leastwise, not in the same way. It made me +understand some things that I hadn't much idea of before. Let me tell +you, Judge, if you don't want a fight with an animal that's got long +claws and sharp teeth, don't come close upon him onawares, or may be +there'll be trouble. Give him time to think, and ten to one he'll take +to his heels. Most animals have more confidence in their legs than +they have in their teeth and claws, and they'll be very likely to use +'em, if you'll give 'em time to consider. But if you find a painter, +or a bear, takin' a nap in your path, and don't want to have a clinch +with him, wake him up before you get right onto him, or he'll be very +likely to think he's cornered, and them animals have onpleasant ways +with 'em when they're in that fix. + +"Wal, as I was sayin', Crop and I was over on St. Regis Lake, layin' +in a store of jerked venison, and trappin' martin, and mink, and +muskrat, and huntin' wolves, and sich other wild animals as came in +our way. The scalp of a wolf was good for fifteen dollars in them +days, and a backload of furs was worth a heap of money. We had a line +of martin traps leadin' back to the hills, and over into a valley +beyond, where the animal was plentier than they were on our side. In +passin' along this line, we had to round the end of a hill that +terminated in a sharp point of rocks. In a deep gully at its foot, a +stream went surgin' over rapids; the bank on the side towards the hill +was, may be, twenty feet high, and a right up and down ledge. Above +this ledge, and between it and the rocky point, was a narrow path, +only three or four feet wide, that turned short around the end of the +hill. On the left hand was the ledge, and at the bottom of it were +broken rocks, and on the right was a bluff point of rocks, that made +up the end of the hill, standin' straight up, may be, fifty feet. +Around this point, the path turned sharp almost as your elbow. + +"I was passin' quietly round this pint, lookin' down into the gully, +with Crop at my heels, when, on turnin' the short elbow, there I +stood, face to face, and within ten feet of a mighty big bear, that +was travellin' my way, as the Judge said. I had no idee that he was +around, and I'm quite sartain he didn't expect to meet a human in such +a place. Of course, we were naterally astonished at seein' one another +just then, and the meetin' didn't seem to be altogether agreeable to +either party. I ain't easily scared when I've time to prepare for a +scrimmage, yet, I'm free to say, I'd have given a couple of +wolf-scalps to've been on the other side of the gully, just at that +time. The bear seemed to expect me to begin the fight, for, after +gruntin' out in a very oncivil way his surprise at makin' my +acquaintance, he reared himself up on eend, and, with a fierce growl, +showed a set of ivory that wasn't pleasant to look at. I should have +been willin' myself, to've backed down, and apologized for my rudeness +in crossin' his path, for I was carryin' my rifle carelessly in my +left hand, and our meetin' was so sudden that I scarcely had time to +bring it to bear upon the kritter. I rather think I should have dodged +back, any how, but Crop seemed to think his master was in danger, and +that he was obligated, live or die, to go in. So, quick as a flash, he +rushed by me, and threw himself into the very face of the desperate +brute. Crop made a great mistake when he calculated he was a +match for that bear, for, with one cuff, the animal sent him +eend over eend down the bank, upon the broken rocks below. +But the little time that was so occupied saved me a deal of +trouble and danger, for it lasted just long enough for me to bring +my rifle into position, which I did about the quickest, you may bet +your life on that. I run my eye along the barrel, sighted him between +the eyes, and pulled. The bear keeled over onto his back with a jerk, +gave a spiteful kick with both hind feet, and he, too, went over the +ledge onto the sharp rocks below. I looked over, and saw Crop +staggerin' to his feet, and lookin' about in a bewildered way, as if +not quite understandin' how he came there. I went round a little way, +and got down into the gully where the animals were. I found the bear +stone dead, and Crop with two ribs broken and his shoulder out of +joint, whinin', and moanin' piteously with pain. I set his shoulder as +well as I could, and, after takin' the skin off the bear, I backed him +two miles to my shanty. It was a fortnight before he 'left the house,' +but he learned a little piece of wisdom by that cuff that sent him +down the bank, and got a little insight into the nater of an +angry bear." + +[Illustration: Crop made a great mistake when he calculated he was a +match for that bear, for, with one cuff, the animal sent him eend over +eend down the bank, upon the broken rocks below. But the little time +that was so occupied saved me a deal of trouble and danger, for it +lasted just long enough for me to bring my rifle into position, which +I did about the quickest, you may bet your life on that.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE CHASE ON THE ISLAND--THE CHASE IN THE LAKE--THE BEAR--GAMBLING FOR +GLORY--ANECDOTE OF NOAH AND THE GENTLEMAN WHO OFFERED TO OFFICIATE AS +PILOT ON BOARD THE ARK. + + +We had as yet had no use for our dogs since we left the Saranac. They +had travelled quietly with us as we moved from place to place, or +stayed inactive at the tents while we remained stationary. The game +was so abundant, that the real difficulty was to restrain ourselves +from destroying more than was needful for our use. We had indeed, +failed to live strictly up to the law we had imposed upon ourselves, +for we had at all times trout and venison beyond our present wants, +excusing ourselves on the ground that an excess of supply was always +preferable to a scant commissariat. More than one deer was +slaughtered, if the truth must be told, for no better reason than that +given by an Irishman for smashing a bald head he chanced to see at a +window: it presented a mark too tempting to be resisted the lake +from our camping ground. We stationed two of our boats between the +island and the shore nearest the main land, and the other on the +opposite side, and sent Cullen upon the island to beat for game. It +was scarcely five minutes, before the voices of the dogs broke upon +the stillness of the morning, in a simultaneous and fierce cry, as if +they had started the game suddenly, and fresh from his lair. Away they +went in full cry across the island, the deer sweeping around the upper +end, and returning on the opposite side, as if loth to take to the +water; but true to their instincts, the hounds followed, making the +hills and the old woods ring again with the music of their voices. +Presently, a noble buck broke cover, directly opposite to where the +Doctor and Smith's boat lay. As our object was rather to enjoy the +music of the chase, than to capture the deer, they shouted and +hallooed as he entered the water, and he wheeled back, and went +tearing in huge affright through the woods, up the island again. Still +the howling was upon his trail, and as he approached the upper end, he +again took to the water, to be frightened back by Martin and myself, +and with renewed energy he bounded across to a point stretching out +into the lake on the opposite side. Here Spalding and Wood were +stationed, and they, by their shouting, drove him back again to the +thickets. By this time, the poor animal began to appreciate the full +peril of his position, for turn where he would he found an enemy in +front, while the cry of his pursuers followed him like his destiny. +Thus far every effort to escape by taking to the water had failed, and +he seemed to think, as Martin expressed it, that "day was breaking." +He essayed it again on the land side, and was driven back by us, and +thus he coursed three times round the island, until, in desperation, +he plunged into the broad lake and struck boldly out for the opposite +shore, three quarters of a mile distant. Spalding shouted to us, and +when we rounded the headland, we saw that he and Wood had headed, and +were driving him towards a small island, of less than half an acre, +covered only with low bushes, half a mile down the lake. We did not +propose to harm him, but we intended to drive him upon that little +island, and by surrounding it, keep him there for a while by way of +experimenting upon his fears, or rather as Martin said, "to see what +he would do." As he approached the shore, he bounded upon the island, +and tossing his head from side to side, as if looking for a place of +concealment or escape. Finding none, he dashed across to the opposite +side and plunged into the lake. He was met by the Doctor and Smith, +and turned back. He rushed in another direction, across the island, to +be headed by the boat in which I was seated, and again in another +direction to be headed by Spalding. Thus met and driven back at every +turn, he at last stationed himself on a high knoll, near the centre of +the island, apparently expecting that the last struggle for life was +to be made there. We rested upon our oars, making no noise, and +watching his movements. The bushes were low, coming only up midside +to the animal. He watched us latently for half an hour, tossing his +head up and down, looking first at one, then at another, as if +calculating from which the attack upon his life was to come. At last, +as if overcome by weariness, or concluding that after all there was no +real danger, he laid quietly down. In answer to his confidence in the +harmlessness of our intentions, we rowed away back to the island where +we started him. We had not reached it, however, when we saw him enter +the water, and swim to the main land, and glad enough he seemed to be +when he had regained the protection of his native forests. + +We took our dogs from the island, and rowed to the broad channel of +the inlet which enters the lake on the left hand side, as you look to +the south. There are two of these inlets, which enter within a quarter +of a mile of each other, each of which comes down from little lakes, +or ponds, deeper in the wilderness. The one we entered flows in a +tortuous course through a natural meadow, stretching away on either +hand forty or fifty rods, to a dense forest of spruce, maple, and +beech, above which gigantic pines stand stately and tall in their +pride. Three miles from the lake, the hills approach each other, and +the little river comes plunging down through a gorge, over shelving +rocks, and around great boulders, as if mad with the obstructions +piled up in its way. + +As we approached these falls, Smith, who sat in the bow of the boat, +motioned to the boatman to lay upon his oars, and pointed to an object +partly concealed by some low bushes, forty or fifty rods in advance +of us. Remaining perfectly still a moment, we saw a bear step out upon +a boulder, look up and down the stream, and stretch his long nose out +over the water, as if looking for a good place to cross the rapids. +After scratching his ear with one of his hind feet, and his side with +the other, he turned and walked deliberately from our sight into the +forest. By this time, the boat with the dogs came in sight, and we +beckoned its occupants to come to us. One of the hounds only had ever +seen game of this kind. But Cullen declared that there was no game +that they would not follow when once fairly laid on. We wanted that +bear. It was the only one we had seen; indeed it was the only one I +had ever seen wild in the forest. We went to the spot where we last +saw him, and there in the sand, by the side of the boulder, was his +great track, almost like a human foot. Cullen called the attention of +the dogs to it, and hallooed them on. They took the scent cheerfully, +and with a united and fierce cry they dashed away in pursuit. They had +ran but a short distance, when they seemed to become stationary, and +deep, quick baying succeeded the lengthened and ringing sound of +their voices. + +"Treed, by Moses!" cried Cullen, as he dashed forward, the rest of us +following as fast as we could. + +"Not too fast," said Martin, "not too fast. There's no hurry; he won't +come down unless our noise frightens him. Let us go quietly; there's +plenty of time. Belcher has got his eye on him, and will stay by him +till we come." We travelled quietly, and as silently as we could for +near half a mile, and as we rounded a low but steep point of a hill, +there sat bruin, some twelve rods from us, in the forks of a great +birch tree, forty feet from the ground, looking down in calm dignity +upon the dogs that were baying and leaping up against the tree beneath +him. Did anybody ever notice what a meek, innocent look a bear has +when in repose? How hypocritically he leers upon everything about him, +as if butter would not melt in his mouth? Well, such was the look of +that bear, as he peered out first on one side, then on the other of +the great limbs between which he was sitting, secure, as he supposed, +from danger. But he was never more mistaken in his life. In watching +the dogs he had failed to discover us. We agreed that three should +fire upon him at once, reserving the fourth charge for whatever +contingency might happen. Smith, the Doctor, and Spalding sighted him +carefully, each with his rifle resting against the side of a tree, and +blazed away, their guns sounding almost together. It was pitiful the +scream of agony that bear sent up. It was almost human in its anguish. +It went ringing through the woods, dying away at last almost in a +human groan. After struggling and clasping his arms for a moment +around the great branch of the tree, his hold relaxed, he reeled from +side to side, and then fell heavily to the ground, with three balls +within an inch of each other, right through his vitals. He was larger +than a medium sized animal of his species, and in excellent case. + +The next thing in order was to transport him to our boats. This was +done by tying his feet together, then running a long pole, cut for the +purpose, between them, and lifting each end upon the shoulder of a +boatman, he was "strung up," as Allen expressed it, clear from the +ground. They stumbled along as best they could, over the rough ground, +and through the tangle brush, towards the river. It was a heavy load +considering the unevenness of the path, and the men were compelled to +halt every few rods to breathe. We got him safely to the landing at +last, and tumbling him into the bottom of one of the boats, started +down stream towards our shanty. A proud trio were Spalding, Smith, and +the Doctor that afternoon, returning with their game across the lake; +and they certainly had some occasion to congratulate themselves, for +this was the first wild, uncaged bear either of us had ever seen, and +him they had succeeded in capturing. + +We dined that afternoon on a roasted sirloin of bear, stewed jerked +venison, fried trout, and pork. I cannot say that I altogether +relished the roast, though some of our company took to it hugely. The +truth is, that with some of them venison and trout were beginning to +be somewhat stale dishes, they did not relish fat pork, and a change +therefore to roasted bear meat was peculiarly acceptable. + +"Gentlemen," said Smith to the Doctor and Spalding, as we sat after +our meal, enjoying our pipes, "what say you to selling out your +interest in that bear? If you're open for a bargain, I'll make you a +proposition." + +"Why," the Doctor replied, "there'll be nothing left but the skin, +and that will be of no special value except as a trophy." + +"Not exactly," resumed Smith. "I'll deal frankly with you, gentlemen. +There'll be a good many stories to be told about the killing of that +bear, and my object is to appropriate the glory of the achievement. +Now it wont be a matter to boast of, to say that we three fired into +one bear, and that none of the largest." + +"Oh! as to that," said the Doctor, "I intend to enlarge upon the +subject, exaggerating the size of the bear, describing the terrible +conflict I had with him, how I happened to save myself by remembering +my double-barrelled pistol; how I made the three ball holes in him, +while you and Spalding were running away, and how he bit me in the +arm, and almost hugged me to death, while I was trying to get at the +pistol. I shall shine in that bear story! Yes! yes! I shall shine!" + +"Hear the cormorant!" exclaimed Smith. "Hear him! And he'll do +precisely as he says he will, only a great deal worse. We must buy him +out, Spalding. We must purchase his silence for our own credit." + +"Well, gentlemen," replied Spalding, "settle it between you--you are +welcome to my share of the achievement. The scream of mortal agony +which that bear sent up when our three balls went crashing through its +body rings in my ears yet. I don't feel quite so proud of the shot as +I otherwise should have done. You are welcome to my share of the +glory." + +"Spoken like a liberal and free-hearted gentleman," said +Smith. "Well, Doctor, name the amount and nature of the blackmail you +intend to levy upon me. But have a conscience, man! have a +conscience!" + +"It will be making a great sacrifice on my part," the Doctor replied, +"but out of friendship for you, I'll make you a proposition. We'll +toss op a dollar, and the one that wins shall have the honour of +having killed the bear, and of telling the story in his own way, and +the others shall indorse it." + +"Agreed," said Smith, "but if you win, I shall have to borrow a +conscience of Spalding, or some other lawyer, for there'll be need of +a pretty elastic one." + +"Yours will answer, I think," drily remarked Spalding. + +"It appears to me, gentlemen," said I "that I've something to say +about the killing of that bear." + +"You," exclaimed the Doctor, "what had you to do with it, pray? There +stands your rifle, with the same ball in it that you placed there this +morning. You haven't discharged your rifle to-day." + +"Notwithstanding that," I replied, "I am entitled to a portion of the +glory, as I am chargeable with my share of the responsibility, of +killing the bear. I was one of the first who discovered him; I was +among the foremost in the pursuit; I was present, aiding and advising +in the manner of the killing; I had my weapon in my hand, and was +restrained from using it, only because you might fail to accomplish +what my reserved bullet would have made secure. Now, if this bear had +been human, and we were accused of killing him, I would be regarded +in the eye of the law as equally guilty with you. I appeal to Spalding +if this is not so?" + +"H----is right," replied Spalding, as he sent a column of smoke +wreathing upward from his lips. "Such is the law." + +"We must buy this fellow off, Smith," said the Doctor, "we must buy +him off. He's an old hunter, known as such, and he'll take to himself +all the glory; and what is worse, the world will believe him. He'll +spread himself beyond all bounds. He'll shine beyond endurance upon +the strength of this bear. We must buy him off. It is against all +conscience, but there is no help for it. We must buy him off. There's +an impudence in this claim which reminds me of an anecdote related +by Noah." + +"By Noah?" asked Smith, interrupting him, "Noah who?" + +"What ignorance there is in this world, even in these days of +educational enlightenment!" remarked the Doctor to Spalding and +myself. "Now, here is a decently informed gentleman, claiming to be a +Christian man, to have studied the Bible, and don't know who Noah was. +Such an instance of human ignorance in these times, is shocking." + +"Oh! I understand now," said Smith, "he was the gentleman who built +the ark. Well, go on with your anecdote." + +"Well, as I was saying," the Doctor resumed, "this claim of H----'s +to a share of the glory of slaying the bear, reminds me of an +anecdote related by Noah soon after the subsidence of the flood, and +it shows that impudence is, at least, not post-deluvian in its origin. +It seems that there were in the world before, as well as after the +flood, some very meddling impudent fellows, who were always +interfering with other people's business, claiming a share of other +people's credit, trying to make the world believe that they were great +things, and persuading everybody that whatever remarkable achievement +was accomplished, occurred through their counsel and advice, and as a +consequence, claiming a large share of all the honors going. + +"Well, after the rain had continued falling for a number of days, and +the valleys were all full of water, and the angry surges went roaring, +with the voice of ten thousand thunders, high up along the sides of +the hills, one of these pestilent fellows--deriding the miraculous +exhibition going on all around him--undertook, in his self-conceit, to +lead the people to a place of safety. So he selected a lofty peak that +shot up from a range of mountains, and commenced travelling up its +steep acclivities. But the flood followed him, roaring, and boiling, +and heaving, in its onward rush. Day by day, night by night, it crept +up, and up, higher and higher, until the self-confident leader, who +scoffed at the supernatural warning, had but a mighty small place +above the surge, whereon to shelter himself from the destruction that +surrounded him. About that time the Ark, with Noah and his people, all +safe and snug, came drifting that way. + +"'Halloo!' says the occupant of the rock, 'send us a boat, and take +us aboard. The freshet is getting pretty bad, and it is getting a +little damp, up here.' + +"'I can't do it,' says Noah, 'my craft is full of better people.' + +"'But,' says the applicant for admission into the Ark, 'let me in, and +I'll superintend the navigation. I'll man the wheel, and see that the +sails are all right, and we can pick up a deal of floating plunder as +we go along.' + +"'Can't do it,' says Noah, 'we've got a good steersman and safe +navigators on board already.' + +"'Well,' says the applicant, 'I'll work my passage as a deck hand, +asking only a small portion of such spoils as we may pick up. Come, +bring us aboard.' + +"'Can't do it,' says Noah, 'can't think of such a thing." + +"'Then,' said the persevering applicant for a passage in the Ark, +'I'll go along for nothing--giving the benefit of my counsel and +assistance free gratis; more than all that, I'll stand the liquor +all round.' + +"'No use in talking,' says Noah, 'you can't come on board of my craft, +on any terms. You'd corrupt my people, and set them by the ears in a +week. You can't have a berth on any conditions. Good-bye!' + +"'Then go to thunder with your old Ark,' indignantly responded the +occupant of the rock, 'I don't believe there's going to be much of a +shower, after all.' + +"In a day or two, Noah drifted that way again. The mountain peak had +disappeared beneath the waters, and the occupants were all gone." "I +give up my claim," said I, "Doctor, in consideration of your anecdote. +Take the glory of killing the bear. I see you're not disposed to give +me a place in your Ark. So toss up the dollar." + +The dollar was tossed up, and Smith won the glory. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE DOCTOR AND HIS WIFE ON A FISHING EXCURSION--THE LAW OF THE +CASE--STRONG-MINDED WOMEN. + + +The right to the glory of having killed the bear being settled, the +Doctor, addressing himself to Spalding, remarked--"There was something +in H----'s appeal to you about the law of his case, that reminded me +of a little scene between my wife and myself, many years ago, when we +were both younger than we are now, and certainly had never anticipated +the dark years of trial, through which we were unexpectedly called +upon to pass. You know that I started in life, like Smith here, a +gentleman of fortune, calculating, like him, to live at my ease, +without troubling myself with the cares of any particular business, as +I passed along. Still I thought, or rather my father thought, that it +would be well enough, even for a gentleman, to have at least a nominal +title to some profession. So I studied the law, and was admitted as an +attorney and counsellor of the courts. Never intending to practise, I +did not become very profoundly learned in the profession; still I +became, to some extent, indoctrinated with its mysteries. I did not +like it; and when the necessity for some active employment came +looming up in the distance, I chose a different calling, and at +six-and-twenty, commenced the study of my present profession. This did +not occur until after I had been married some three years. I lived in +the country then, or rather, summered there, in a beautiful little +village in the interior of the State, in a pleasant, old-fashioned +house, which my father built, and which, as I was his only heir, I +supposed of course I owned. Some half a dozen miles from the village +was a fine trout stream, to which my wife and myself used occasionally +to go on a fishing excursion. On such occasions we went on horseback, +as the road was somewhat rough, and my wife was as much at home in the +saddle as I was. This, I repeat, was a good while ago, and we were +both a score of years younger than we are now. Well, I started out +alone one day to visit this trout stream, anticipating a good time +with its speckled, and usually greedy inhabitants. I say I was alone, +and yet there was with me, all the way, and all the time, one who can +talk, reason, philosophise, understand things as well as you or I; and +one, to all appearance, as much and distinctly human as you or I." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed Smith, "we can't go that, Doctor. I can't +stand my quarter of that." + +"Foolish man!" continued the Doctor; "I say I was alone; let me +demonstrate my proposition. Blackstone says, and what he says every +lawyer will concede is the end of the law, and the beginning too, for +that matter, that when a woman becomes a wife, she loses her identity, +becomes nobody; that her husband absorbs her existence, as it were, as +he does her goods and chattels, in his own. Now, sir, do you +comprehend? My wife was with me, and she, being according to law +nobody, of course I was alone. You, sir, being a law abiding man, must +admit that my proposition is Q.E.D. + +"The doctrine of absorption, as I call it, is convenient. It promotes +harmony of action, by subjecting it to the control of a single will, +thus avoiding all embarrassment from a conflict of opinion between man +and wife. So, on my way to the trout stream (I say _my_ way, for +though my wife was on horseback by my side, yet she being, according +to the best legal authorities, nobody, you see I was alone), I thought +I would enlighten the good lady in regard to the true position, or +rather the no position at all, which she occupied. Our way lay for a +couple of miles along an old road, towards a clearing which had been +abandoned, and through which the stream flowed. The tall old trees +spread their long arms over us, clothed in the rich verdure of spring, +and the breeze, so fresh and fragrant, moaned, and sighed, and +whispered among the leaves. + +"'My dear,' said I, blandly, as we rode along, the birds singing +merrily among the branches above us, 'do you know that you +are NOBODY?' + +"'Nobody, Mr. W----,' (I was simply Mr. W----then; I had not become, +nor even dreamed that I should become a Doctor), 'Nobody, Mr. W----? +Did you say nobody?' + +"'Absolutely nobody,' said I. 'A perfect nonentity. You are less even +than a legal fiction.' + +"'Look you,' said she, as she applied the whip to her pony, in a way +that brought him, with a bound, across the road directly in front of +me (she rode like a belted knight), obstructing my progress, 'Look +you, Mr. W----,' and there was a red spot on her cheek, and her eye +sparkled like the sheen of a diamond, 'let us settle this matter now. +I can bear being of small consideration, occupying very little space +in the world, but to be stricken out of existence entirely, to possess +no legal identity, to be regarded as absolutely nobody, is a thing I +don't intend to stand--mark that, Mr. W----.' + +"'Keep cool, my dear,' said I; 'let us argue this matter.' I was calm, +for I knew the law was on my side; I had the books, and the courts, +and the statutes all in my favor. I was fortified, you see. + +"'Argue the matter!' she exclaimed; 'not till it is admitted that I'm +somebody. If I'm nobody, I can't be argued with, I can't reason, nor +talk. Now, Mr. W----, I've a tongue.' + +"'Gospel truth,' said I, 'whatever the authorities may say. But we +will admit, for the sake of the argument, that you are somebody; +Blackstone says'---- + +"'Out on Blackstone,' she exclaimed; 'what do I care for Blackstone, +whose bones have been mouldering in the grave for more than a hundred +years, for what I know. Don't talk to me about Blackstone.' + +"'But, my dear, you are _my_ wife, and Blackstone says'-- + +"'I don't care a fig what Blackstone says. If I _am_ your wife, I am +my mother's daughter, and my brother's sister, and Tommy's mother, and +there are four distinct individualities all centered in myself.' + +"'But,' said I again, 'Blackstone says'-- + +"'Confound that Blackstone,' she exclaimed; 'I do believe he has +driven the wits out of the man's head. Now, look you, Mr. W----, you +invited me to ride with you; you now say I am nobody. Very well. If +nobody leaves you, I suppose you won't be without company, for +somebody certainly left home with you this morning, and has rode with +you thus far. So, good-bye, Mr. W----; success to your fishing, Mr. +W----,' and she struck into a gallop towards home. + +"'Hallo!' said I, 'I give up the point. I take back all I said. _Culpa +mea_, my good wife. If Blackstone does say'-- + +"'Not a word more about Blackstone,' said she, shaking her whip, half +serious half playfully, at me; 'if I go with you, I go as somebody--a +legal entity.' + +"'Very well,' said I, 'we'll drop the argument.' + +"'Not the argument, but the fact, Mr. W----; and admit that Blackstone +was a goose, and that his law, like his logic, is all nonsense when +measured by the standard of common sense and practical fact. Admit +that a woman, when she becomes a wife does not become a mere +nonentity, or I leave you to journey alone.' + +"'Very well, my dear, let us see if we cannot compromise this matter. +Suppose we allow his philosophy to stand as a general truth, making +you an exception. We'll say that wives in general are nobody, but that +you shall be exempt from the general rule, and be considered always +hereafter, and as between ourselves, as somebody.' + +"You see the shrewdness of my proposition. Firstly, it saved +Blackstone; secondly, it saved _me_, let me down easy; and thirdly, it +appealed to the womanly vanity of my wife, and it took. + +"'Oh, well,' she said, as she brought her pony alongside of me, and we +jogged along cosily together, 'I see no objection to that. Other wives +can take care of themselves. But this compromise, as between _us_, Mr. +W----, must be a _finality_. No Nebraska traps, Mr. W----. No Kansas +bills hereafter. It must be a finality, mind.' + +"'Very well,' said I; and a robin that was building its nest on a limb +that hung over the road, paused in its labors, and burst into song, +and the burden of its lay seemed to be a compromise, which, in truth, +should be a FINALITY. + +"We were successful in our fishing, and we followed the old-fashioned +custom as to bait. We discarded the fly, using only the angle-worm. At +the foot of the ripples; under the old logs; where the water went +whirling under the cavernous banks; in the eddies; among the +driftwood; everywhere, we found trout--not large, none weighing over +six ounces, and few less than three. We caught my basket full in less +then two hours, and then rode home. It was a day of enjoyment to us, +you may be sure. + +"And now I appeal to you, in all seriousness, my friend," the Doctor +continued, addressing himself to Spalding, "if there is not something +due to the wives and mothers of the present generation? Is there not +some relaxation of the law necessary in vindication of the +civilization of the age, against the legal barbarisms still remaining +on the statute books, and adhered to by the common law, in regard to +wives and mothers? Is the current of progress to flow by them for +ever, bearing no reforms which shall affect them? Do not misunderstand +me. I am no advocate of the practices of the 'strong-minded women,' +who hold their conventions and public meetings, who unsex themselves +by mounting the forum, and, throwing off the retiring modesty of the +true woman, seek to secure notoriety at the price of popular contempt. +But there are evils which bear heavily, too heavily, upon the women +even of this country, and which, for the credit of the civilization of +the age, should be corrected. As calm-minded, philanthropic men, we, +the American people, should look into this subject, and, regardless of +jeer and scoff, do what justice, humanity, and the right demand of us, +in regard to some of the social and legal inequalities between the +sexes, pertaining to the married state." + +"It is one of the mysteries of our system of jurisprudence," replied +Spalding, "that while everything else is on the move, while progress +is written in letters of living light upon all other things, that +remains stationary--at least in a comparative sense. The world moves +on, civilization advances, science and the arts stride forward, but +the law stands still. A principle which may have been somewhat +changed, modified, bent, if you please, into an adaptation to the +exigencies of the present, and a fitness for the changed circumstances +of the times in which we live, is suddenly thrown back into its old +position by the exhumation of some 'decision' from the dust of ages, +made by some judge away back in the olden times, resurrected by the +research of some antiquarian lawyer, who loves to delve among the +rubbish of past generations. The learning, the wisdom, the philosophy +of the present is discarded, and the spirits of a lower civilization +are conjured from the darkness of vanished centuries, to settle rules +for the government of commerce, personal conduct, and the social +relations of the times in which we live. There seems to be something +paradoxical in the idea that the older the decision the better the +law--the more ancient the commentator, the profounder the wisdom of +his axioms. This might be well, were it true that civilization is +'progressing backwards,' the science of government retrograding. In +that case, it would of course be true, that the nearer you approach +the fountain, the purer the stream would be. But such is not the fact. +In all these attributes the world is on the advance, the science of +government progressive; and to make the wisdom of centuries ago +override the wisdom, or overshadow the light of the present, is a +paradox peculiar to our system of jurisprudence. There are lawyers and +judges, who enjoy a high reputation, whose fame rests upon their +profound research among the worm-eaten tomes of black-letter law, and +whose glory consists in their familiarity with the opinions and axioms +of men who lived and died so long ago that their very tombs are +forgotten. This class of lawyers and jurists hold in contempt all the +learning, the philosophy, the practical wisdom of the present +--rejecting everything that is not bearded and hoary with age. +Seated in their libraries, in the midst of their ponderous octavos, +their Roman and black-letter volumes, they reject with disdain the +commentators, the opinions of the jurists of the present century; and +brushing away the cobwebs and dust from the covers of their treasured +relics of bygone ages, they clasp them in a loving embrace close to +their hearts, exclaiming, 'These are my jewels.' Whatever has not the +sanction of ancient authority, is folly to them--worse than folly, for +it is innovation, and that is rank impiety. + +"I remember an anecdote of the celebrated William Wirt, related to +show how ready his mind was, how instant in activity, and how suddenly +it would flash with an eloquence, superior to that exhibited by the +most elaborate preparation. He was arguing a cause before the Supreme +Court of the United States, and laid down, as the basis of his +argument, a principle to which he desired to call the particular +attention of the judges. The opposing counsel interrupted him, +calling for the authority sustaining his principle,--'The book--the +book!' demanded his adversary. 'Sir, and your honors,' said Wirt, +straightening himself up to his full height, 'I am not bound to grope +my way among the ruins of antiquity, to stumble over obsolete +statutes, or delve in black letter law, in search of a principle +written in living letters upon the heart of every man.' If the idea +contained in this answer of Wirt, were more fully appreciated by our +modern jurists, it would be all the better for the country. + +"The common law is said to be the perfection of reason. This is +doubtless true, but it is the perfection of the reason of the present, +as well as of the past. Its principles are elastic, suiting themselves +to the civilization of all ages. They are progressive, keeping pace +with the progress of all times. They are not immutable, save in the +element of right, and they therefore shape themselves to all +circumstances, moving along with the onward march of trade, the +commerce, the social relations, and business of the people. The +learning of to-day, the wisdom, the philosophy of to-day is profounder +than that of any preceding century, and it is folly to overthrow it +by, or compel it to give place to, the learning, the wisdom, the +philosophy of departed and ruder ages. + +"In regard to your question, whether there is not some relaxation of +the law necessary, in vindication of the civilization of the age, +against the legal barbarisms remaining upon the statute book, and in +the common law in regard to our wives, I answer frankly that I do not +know about that. The law, as you read it in Blackstone, and as you +expounded it to your wife, on your fishing excursion, has been +somewhat modified. Wives have been given a _status_ by modern +legislation; and a woman, by becoming a wife, does not now cease to be +a legal entity. The law permits her to retain and control her property +irrespective of her husband, and she has, therefore, thus far, ceased +to be 'nobody.' But my private opinion is, that, as a general thing, +the women of this country get along very well, even under the pressure +of the 'barbarisms' of which you speak. They manage, one way and +another, to get the upper hand of their legal lords, law or no law. If +their existence, in the light of authority, is 'less than a legal +fiction,' they come to be regarded, or make themselves felt in the +world as practical facts. They are quite as apt to be at the top, as +at the bottom of the ladder, notwithstanding what 'Blackstone says' +about their legal position. There is, doubtless, a good deal of abuse +of authority on the part of husbands, but the women get their share of +the good that is going in the world, as a general thing. If the law is +against them, they manage to usurp full an even amount of privilege +and authority, and keep along about in line with the other sex. I +never knew an out and out controversy between a man and his wife, in +which the former did not get the worst of it in the end; and as to the +impositions, which as a melancholy truth are too frequent, they are +about as much on one side as the other. It is not to legal enactments +that we must look for the cure of unhappiness incident to the married +state, but to a reform in temper and habits of life. Besides, I do not +believe the wives of this country would accept of a strict legal +equality at all, if it were tendered them as a FINALITY. I believe +they would prefer remaining as they are; for by being so, they are +left to the resources of their own genius, to win by their tact, what +is not guaranteed by law. I know that there are a good many +crazy-headed people in pantaloons as well as petticoats, who go about +laboring for the 'emancipation of women,' as if the heavens and earth +were coming together. But those of them who wear skirts, generally +have delicate white hands, flowing curls, flashing black eyes, and the +gift of oratory--and a desire to exhibit them all; while those in +pantaloons have their hair combed smoothly back, as if preparing to be +swallowed by a boa-constrictor, wear white cravats, talk softly, and +show a good deal of the whites of their eyes, from a chronic habit of +looking up towards the moon and stars. As a general thing, these +latter are of no practical use in the world, and make as good a tail +to the kite of the 'strong-minded women' as anything else. But these +people represent a very small portion of the American women, and until +the masses demand 'emancipation,' I rather think that matters had +better be permitted to remain as they are. The women will take care of +themselves--no fear of that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A BEAUTIFUL FLOWER--A NEW LAKE--A MOOSE--HIS CAPTURE--A SUMPTUOUS +DINNER. + + +We started the next morning on an exploring voyage up the right-hand +stream, which enters this beautiful lake some half a mile west of the +one we had looked into the day before. On either hand, as we passed +along the narrow channel, was a natural meadow, covered with a +luxuriant growth of rank grass and weeds, conspicuous among which was +a beautiful flower, the like of which I have never seen anywhere else. +I am no botanist, and therefore cannot describe it in the language of +the florist, so that the learned in that beautiful science might +classify it. It resembles somewhat the wild lily in shape, growing +upon a tall, strong stem, almost like the stem of the flag. The flower +itself is double, and its deep crimson--the deepest almost of any +flower I have ever seen--shone conspicuously, as it waved gracefully +in the breeze above the surrounding vegetation. It has one defect, +however; it is without fragrance, I infer from the fact that its roots +spread far out every way, and reach down into the water beneath, that +it can hardly be transferred to the garden, or become civilized. It +would be a great acquisition to the collection of the florist if it +could, for I know of no flower that excels it in richness of color, +gracefulness of appearance, or in gorgeousness of beauty. + +We saw abundance of deer feeding quietly upon the narrow meadows, and +upon the lily pads on our way. We had no inclination to injure them, +and we let them feed on. Some of them were hugely astonished, however, +at our presence, and dashed away, whistling and snorting, into the +forest. Two miles from the lake, we came to a rocky barrier, down +which the stream, came rushing and roaring, for fifty or sixty rods, +in a descent of perhaps sixty feet in all. Around these rapids the +boats were carried, and we found, above them, the water deep and +sluggish, flowing through a dense forest, the tall trees on the banks +stretching their leafy arms across the narrow channel, forming above +it an arch delightfully cool, through which the sunlight could +scarcely penetrate. We followed this channel a long way, when we came +to a little lake or pond, four or five miles in circumference. It was +a perfect gem, laying there all alone, so calm, so lovely in its +solitude, with no sign of civilization around it, no sound of +civilization startling its echoes from their sleep of ages, no human +voice having perhaps ever been heard upon its shore since the red man +departed from the hunting-ground of his fathers. The shores all around +it were bold and rocky, save on the western side, where a broad sandy +beach, of a quarter of a mile in extent, lay between the water and the +shadow of the deep forest beyond. A solitary island of half a dozen +acres, covered with majestic pines and tall, straight spruce trees, +rises near the centre of the lake, adding a new charm to its quiet +beauty. The waters of this little lake are clearer and more +transparent than those of any other we had seen; we could see the +white shells on its sandy bottom, fifteen feet below the surface. This +peculiarity induced us to believe that we were above the stratum of +iron ore which seems to underlay most of this wild region, coloring, +while it does not render impure, the waters of most of these lakes and +rivers. I have frequently, in my wanderings in these northern wilds, +stumbled upon outcropping orebeds, which, were they nearer market, or +more accessible to the energy and enterprise of the American people, +would be capable of building up gigantic fortunes, but they are all +valueless here, and probably will continue so for generations to come. + +We saw the fresh tracks of a moose on the sandy beach, tracks that had +been made that morning, and we concluded to spend the day here, in the +hope of securing one of these gigantic deer. We rowed to the island, +intending to encamp there. We entered a little bay, of half an acre, +the points forming it coming within a few yards of each other, and the +branches of the trees intertwining their long arms lovingly above. As +we landed, our dogs began nosing and dashing about, as if suddenly +roused into excitement by the hot scent of some animal that had been +disturbed by our coming. They broke into a simultaneous cry, and +plunged like mad into the thicket. We pushed our boat back towards the +open water, when we heard the plunge of some animal into the lake, on +the other side of the island. Martin, who was in the leading boat with +me, by a few vigorous pulls at the oar, rounded the point between us +and the spot where we had heard the plunge, and there, not ten rods +from the shore, making for the mainland, was the game which, of all +others, we most desired to see. + +"A moose! by Moses!" exclaimed Martin, in huge excitement. "Hurrah! +hurrah! A moose! he's ours! he can't escape!" and away he dashed in +pursuit. The other boats now hove in sight, and a loud hurrah! went up +from each, when they saw the nature of the game that had been started. +There was no difficulty in overtaking the animal, desperate as were +his efforts to escape. We shot past him, and turned him back in a +direction towards the island again, and I picked up my rifle to settle +the matter. + +"Don't shoot him," said Martin; "don't shoot him yet; he can't get +away, and if you kill him, he'll sink; and if he don't, we can't get +him into the boat. Let us drive him back to the island." The other +boats were, by this time, up with us, every man in a wild state of +excitement, eager to be first in at the death. We had headed the +animal towards the island, with our three boats so arranged, as that +he could swim in no other direction, without running one of them down. +The dogs had started a deer that had taken to the water, on the other +side of the island. + +"Look here!" said I; "gentlemen, this game is mine. I claim him by +right of discovery, and my right must not be interfered with." + +"Very well," the Doctor answered, "we'll only take a hand in his +capture if he's likely to escape. So, go ahead." + +As we came within a few yards of the shore, and we could see that the +animal's hoofs touched the bottom, I aimed carefully at his head, and +fired. He made one desperate lunge forward, and turned over on his +side, dying with scarcely a straggle, the ball having passed directly +through his brain. + +This was the first and only live moose I have ever seen. He was not a +large one, being, probably, a three-year-old, but well-grown. We +should have called him a monster, had we not, before that time, seen +in various museums the stuffed skins of those a quarter or a third +larger. He would have weighed, as shot, probably between five and six +hundred pounds. He had made this solitary island his home, as we +ascertained by his spoor and other signs that we found upon subsequent +explorations. We saw his bed but a few rods from where we landed, and +from which our dogs had aroused him, though they, in their excitement, +had overrun his scent, and dashed off after a deer. + +We had now accomplished one of the objects of our journey in this +direction, and as the law we had imposed upon ourselves had reached +its limits, prohibiting our shooting another moose that day, even +should an opportunity occur, we concluded to return to our shanty, on +the lake below. We, therefore, dressed our moose, and taking with us +the skin and hind quarters, started down stream to a late dinner on +Little Tupper's Lake. Indeed, there was a sort of necessity for our +doing so. We had left our provisions there, calculating to return in +the afternoon, not having taken with us even pepper or salt, wherewith +to season the food which, upon constraint, we might cook during our +absence. A few crackers, in the pockets of each, was all, in the +provision line, that we had provided ourselves with, and though, when +we saw the moose-tracks in the sand, we had concluded to rough it, for +a single night, for the chance of securing such rare game, yet having +secured it, that part of our mission was accomplished, and we turned +towards home. + +On our return to the lake, Spalding and myself rowed across to the +mouth of a cold brook, to procure a supply of fresh trout, upon which, +with our moose and bear-meat, to dine. This we soon accomplished, and +on our arrival home, we found huge pieces of moose and bear roasting +before a blazing fire. The meat was supported upon long sticks, one +end of which was sharpened, and the meat spitted upon it, and the +other thrust into the ground, in a slanting direction, so as to bring +the roasting pieces into a proper position before the fire. The meat +was removed occasionally, and turned, until the roasting process was +completed, and then served up on clean birch bark, just peeled from +the trees, in the place of platters. We had tin plates, knives, and +forks, with us, also a tea-kettle, tin cups, and tea of the choicest +quality, sugar, pepper, salt, and pork. The man who cannot make a meal +where the viands present are moose-meat, bear, jerked venison, fresh +trout, and pork, and for drink the best of tea and the purest and +coldest spring water, had better keep out of the Rackett woods. + +The people, whoever they were, who prepared the camp in which we were +domiciled, had an eye to convenience and comfort. The shanty was built +of logs, on three sides, the crevices between which were filled with +moss, and the sloping roof neatly covered with bark, in layers, like +an old-fashioned roof, covered with split shingles. The front was +open, and directly before it was a rough fire-place, with jams, made +of small boulders, laid up with clay, regularly-fashioned, as if +intended for a kitchen. This fire-place was three or four feet high, +and served an excellent purpose, with reference to our cookery, and +the lighting of our shanty at night. It served, also, to conduct the +smoke upward, and prevented it from being blown into our faces, as we +sat in front, at once, of our sleeping-place and our camp-fire. The +only things that reminded us of civilization, aside from what we +carried with us, were the innumerable crickets that, through all the +night, kept up their chirruping in the crevices of this rude +fireplace. There was something old-fashioned and sociable in their +song. These, with the shrill notes of the little peepers along the +shore, were old sounds to us, familiar voices, and they fell +pleasantly on the ear. We had finished our meal, and taken to our +pipes in the evening, as the sun went down among the old forests, away +off in the west. The greyness of twilight came stealing over the +water, and grew into darkness in the beautiful valley where that lake +lay sleeping. The stars stole out silently, and set their watch in the +sky, and calmness and repose rested upon everything around us. + +"I remember," said Smith, "the first year that I was in college, of +hearing two learned professors disputing about what sort of animal it +was that made the piping noise we hear in the marshy places, and +stagnant pools, in the spring time, usually known as peepers. One +insisted that it was a newt, or small lizard; and I remember that he +went to his library, and brought a volume which proved his theory to +be correct. The other denied the authority of the author, and insisted +that the peeper was a frog. The discussion excited my curiosity, and I +made up my mind to satisfy myself on the subject, if possible, by +occular demonstration. There was a small marshy place, half a mile, or +so, from the college grounds, from which I had heard, in my walks, the +music of the peepers coming up every evening, in a loud and joyous +chorus. I watched by it a number of evenings, and though there were a +plenty of peepers, piping merrily enough, yet I could not get sight of +one to save me. I began to think it was a myth, the viewless spirit of +the bog, that made all the noises about which the learned professors +had been disputing. At last, however, I got sight of a peeper, caught +him in the act, and saw that it was, in fact, a little frog, nothing +more, nothing less. He was not more than three feet from me, and +though, when I moved, he hid himself in the muddy water, yet I managed +to capture and take him home alive. He was a little animal, certainly, +not larger than a half-dollar piece, and it was marvellous how a thing +so small could make such a loud and piercing noise. I took him to my +room, and placed him in a water-tight box, in which I fashioned an +artificial bog, in the hope that he would confirm my testimony by his +piping. The second evening, as I sat in my room, poring over the +recitations of the morrow, he lifted up his voice, loud, shrill, and +clear, as when singing in his native marsh. I hurried, in triumph, to +the learned disputants about his identity, and in their presence, he +furnished unanswerable evidence that the peeper was a frog, and not a +newt. I was complimented by both the learned pundits, as though I had +added a great item to the aggregate of human knowledge." + +"You _did_ do a great thing, my friend," said Spalding, "you solved a +mystery about which men, wise in the learning of the books, had +perhaps been disputing for centuries. What are the peepers? asked the +naturalist, who listened to their piping notes from the marshy places +in the spring time. It was a matter of small practical importance, +what they were. Still it was a question which MIND wanted to have +solved. Its solution would do no great amount of good to the world. +But then it was a mystery which it was the business of mind to lay +bare; and what more has science done in tracing the history and +progress of this earth of ours, as written upon the rocks, among which +geology has been so long delving? 'What are the peepers?' asked the +naturalist. 'They are newts, little lizards,' answers a learned +pandit. 'They are spirits of the bog, myths, that hold their carnival +in the early grass of the marshy pools,' says the theorist and poet, +who _believes_ in the idealities of a poetic fancy. 'They are frogs,' +says a third, who is ready to chop any amount of logic in favor of his +system of frogology, and hereupon columns of argument, and pages of +learned discussion, have been held over the identity of the jolly +peepers of the spring-time. + +"But you discarded logic, threw away argument, and came down to the +sure demonstrations of sober fact. You watched by the marshy pool, and +caught the 'peeper' in the act, took him '_in flagrante, delicto_,' as +the lawyers say, and thus ended the theoretical discussion about the +'peepers.' You placed another fixed fact upon the page of +natural history. + +"And how often has the wisdom of the schools, the philosophy of the +profoundest theorists, been overthrown by the simple demonstrations of +practical facts? For a thousand years the world was in pursuit of the +giant power that lay hidden in heated vapor, the steam that came +floating up from boiling water. That power eluded the grasp and +baffled the research of human genius, which was looking so earnestly +after it, until ingenuity gave it up, and philosophy pronounced it a +delusion. Not far from the beginning of the present century, practical +experiment began to develop the mysterious power of steam. Rudely and +imperfectly harnessed, at first, it still made the great wheel +revolve, and men talked about making it a great motor for mechanical +purposes. Philosophy volunteered its demonstrations of the absolute +impossibility of such a thing. Still human ingenuity felt its way +carefully onward, until the great fact was developed, that steam was +in truth capable of moving machinery, was endowed almost with +vitality, and could be made to throw the shuttle and spin. Ingenious +men hinted that it might be made to propel water-craft in the place of +wind and sails, and thus be harnessed into the service of commerce, as +it had already been into that of manufactures. Here again philosophy +interposed its axioms, and declared the scheme among the wild vagaries +of a distempered fancy. But years rolled on, and the tall ship that +swung out upon the broad ocean, and moved forward when the air was +still and calmness was on the face of the deep, forward in the eye of +the wind--forward in the teeth of the storm, that stopped not for +billow or blast, gave the lie to philosophy, and scattered the theory +of the wise like chaff. + +"The lightning, that fierce spirit of the storm, that darted down on +its mission of destruction from the black cloud floating in the sky, +became a thing of interest to the mechanical world, and the question +was asked, 'Why cannot the lightning be harnessed into the service of +man, and be made utilitarian?' Philosophy sneered at the wild +delusion, but see how that same subtle and mysterious agency has been +conquered? Note how truthfully it carries every word intrusted to its +charge, along thousands of miles of the telegraph wire, with a speed, +in comparison with which, sound is a laggard, a speed that annihilates +alike space and time. Men looked into a mirror, and seeing their own +counterpart, a _fac-simile_ of themselves reflected there, began to +ask, 'Why may not that shadow be fixed; fastened in some way, to +remain upon the polished surface that gives it back, even after the +original may be mouldering in the grave?' Here again philosophy laid +its finger upon its nose, and winked facetiously, as if it had found a +new subject for ridicule, in the stupendous folly of such an inquiry. +But from that simple question, rose up the Daguerreian art; an art +which fixes upon metallic plates, upon paper, the shadow of a man, of +palace and cottage, of mountain and field, giving thus a picture ten +thousand times truer to nature than the pencil of the cunningest +artist. These and a thousand other mighty triumphs of human ingenuity +have fought their way onward to their present position, against the +fogyism of philosophy, the inertia of the schoolmen. They have been +the sequence of cold, resistless demonstrations of experiment and +fact. The world would stand still but for the spirit of research for +the practical; for experimental, and not theoretical knowledge, that +is abroad. It is this spirit that moves the world in all its present +matchless career of progress, and distinguishes our era above all +others of the world's existence. You may be thankful, my friend, that +you have been able to add another fixed fact to the stock of human +knowledge, even though it be only that the 'peeper' is a frog, and not +a 'newt' or a 'myth.' + +"But who would suppose that such a tiny little frogling could make +such a loud, shrill, and ear-piercing sound? Who would think that a +million of such puny things, could make the air of a summer evening so +full of the music of their songs? I remember how, in my boyhood, I +listened to their voices, which came up loudest, shrillest, merriest, +when twilight was spreading its grey mantle over the earth; while the +song of the birds was hushing into silence, and the coming darkness +was lulling the things of the day into repose; Oh! how merrily they +sang along the little brooklet that took its rise in a spring in the +meadow, and wended its way among the young grass, just springing into +verdure, to the beautiful lake beyond. Their song is in my ear now, +and that meadow, that beautiful lake, the tall hills on the summits of +which the departing sunlight lingered, the tall maples that clustered +in their conelike beauty around that gushing fountain, the clustered +plum trees, the giant oak, spared by the woodman's axe when the old +forest was swept away, the fields, the 'Gulf' in the hill-side, and +the beautiful creek, that came cascading down the shelving rocks, and +leaping over precipices in which the speckled trout sported: all these +are before me now--a vision of loveliness, all the more dear because +stamped upon the memory when life was young. Oh! Time! Time! the +wrecks that lie scattered in thy pathway! That little brooklet, and +the peepers, the fountain, the maples, and the meadow, are all gone. +The brave old oak was riven by the lightning. The fields have crept up +to the very summit of the hills, and even the stream that came down +from the mountain has vanished away, save when the rains, or the +melting snows send it in a freshet over the rocks where, when I was a +boy, it was cascading always. That beautiful meadow, too, is gone, and +the streets of a modern village, with blocks of houses, and stores, +and shops, occupy the place where I swung my first scythe. The old +log-house vanished years and years ago. A steamboat ploughs its way +through that beautiful lake, and the things of my boyhood are but +visions of memory, called up from the long, long past. Not one +landmark of the olden time remains. Oh! Time! Time!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE CRICKET IN THE WALL--THE MINISTER'S ILLUSTRATION--OLD MEMORIES. + + +We spent the following day in drifting quietly around the lake, +floating lazily in the little bays, under the shadow of the tall +trees, and lounging upon small islands, gathering the low-bush +whortleberries which grew in abundance upon them. We filled our tin +pails with this delicious fruit for a dessert for our evening meal. On +one of these islands we found indications of its being inhabited by +wood rabbits, and we sent Cullen to the shanty for the dogs to course +them, not however with any intention of capturing them, but to enjoy +the music of the chase, and hear the voices of the hounds echoing over +the water. We landed them upon the island, and began beating for the +game. The hounds understanding that their business was the pursuit of +deer, and having hunted the island over thoroughly, came back to us, +and sat quietly down upon their haunches, as much as to say there was +nothing there worth looking after. But we had seen one of the little +animals that had been roused from its bed by the dogs, and we called +their special attention to the fact by leading them to the spot, and +bidding them to "hunt him up." They understood our meaning, and +started on the trail, with a loud and cheerful cry. For half an hour, +they coursed him round and round the island, making the lake vocal +with their merry music. We might have shot the game they were pursuing +fifty times, but we had no design against its life. The little fellow +did not seem to be greatly alarmed, for we noted him often, when by +doubling he had temporarily thrown off the dogs, squat himself down, +and throw his long ears back in the direction of the sound that had +been pursuing him; and when the dogs straightened upon his trail, and +approached where he sat, he would bound nimbly away among the thick +bushes to double on them again. + +We called off the dogs and passed on to float along under the shadow +of the forest trees and the hills, and take an occasional trout by way +of experiment among the broken rocks along the shore. We had +dispatched Cullen to the shanty to prepare dinner for us by six +o'clock, at which hour we were to be at home. Cullen had promised, to +use his own expression, "to spread himself" in the preparation of this +meal, and he kept his promise. On our return, we found a sirloin of +moose roasted to a turn, a stake of bear-meat broiled on the coals, a +stew of jerked venison, and as pleasant a dish of fried trout and pork +as an epicure could desire. Our appetites were keen, and we did ample +justice to his cookery. This was one of the most delightful evenings +that I have ever spent in the northern woods. There was such a calm +resting upon all things, such an impress of repose upon forest and +lake, such a cheerful quiet and serenity all around us, that one could +scarcely refrain from rejoicing aloud in the beauty and the glory of +the hour. As the sun sank to his rest behind the western hills, and +the twilight began to gather in the forest and over the lake, the moon +rose over the eastern high lands, walking with a queenly step up into +the sky, casting a long line of brilliant light across the waters, +showing the shadows of the mountains in bold outline in the depths +below, and paling the stars by her brightness above. We all felt that +we were recruiting in strength so rapidly in these mountain regions, +where the air was so bracing and pure, under the influence of +exercise, simple diet, natural sleep, and the absence of the labors +and cares of business, that we were contented, notwithstanding the +monotony that began to mark our everyday proceedings. + +"I have been listening," said Spalding, as we sat upon the rude +benches in front of our camp-fire, indulging in our usual season of +smoking after our meals, "to the song of the crickets in those rude +jams, and they call up sad, yet pleasant memories from the long past; +of the old log house, the quiet fire-place, the crane in the jam, the +great logs blazing upon the hearth of a cold winter evening, the house +dog sleeping quietly in the corner, and the cat nestled confidingly +between his feet. Oh! the days of old! the days of old! These crickets +call back with these memories the circle that gathered around the +hearth of my home, when I was young. Father, mother, brothers, +sisters, playmates, and friends. How quietly some of them grew old and +ripe, and then dropped into the grave. How quietly others stole away +in their youth to the home of the dead, and how the rest have drifted +away on the currents of life and are lost to me in the mists and +shadows of time. Even the home and the hearth are gone; they + + 'Battled with time and slow decay,' + +until at last they were wiped out from the things that are. The song +of the peepers is a pleasant memory, and comes welling up with a +thousand cherished recollections of our vanished youth; but the song +of the cricket that made its home in the jams of the great stone +fire-place is pleasanter, and the memories that come floating back +with his remembered lay are pleasanter still. He was always there. He +was not silent, like the out-door insect, through the spring month and +the cold of winter, piping only in sadness when the still autumnal +evenings close in their brightness and beauty over the earth; but he +sang always, and his chirrup was heard at all seasons. In the winter +the fire on the hearth warmed him; in the summer he had a cool resting +place, and he was cheerful and merry through all the long year. And +this reminds me of an anecdote of a venerable minister, who passed +years ago to his rest. He was a Scotchman, and when preaching to his +own congregation at Salem, in Washington comity, he indulged in broad +Scotch, which to those who were accustomed to it was exceedingly +pleasant. I was a boy then, and was returning with my father from a +visit to Vermont. We stopped over the Sabbath at Salem, and attended +worship in the neat little church of that pleasant village. There were +no railroads in those days. The iron horse had not yet made his +advent, and the scream of the steam whistle had never startled the +echoes that dwell among the gorges of the Green Mountain State. Oh! +Progress! Progress! I have travelled that same route often since, more +than once within the year, and I flew over in an hour what was the +work of all that cold winter day that brought us at night to that neat +little village of Salem. I thought, as I dashed with a rush over the +road I once travelled so leisurely, how change was written upon +everything; how time and progress had obliterated all the old +landmarks, leaving scarcely anything around which memory could cling. +Well! well! it is so everywhere. All over the world, change, +improvement, progress are the words. The venerable minister, for his +locks were grey, and time had ploughed deep furrows down his cheeks, +and draws palpable lines across his brow, was, as my memory paints +him, the personification of earnestness, sincerity and truth. The text +and the drift of the sermon I have forgotten, save the little fragment +that fixed itself in my memory by the singularity of the figure by +which he illustrated his meaning. He was speaking of the operation of +the Holy Spirit upon the human heart, and how gently it won men from +their sinful ways. He said, 'It was not boisterous, like the rush of +the tempest; it was not fierce, like the lightning; it was not loud, +like the thunder; but it was a still sma' voice, like a wee cricket in +the wa's.' I regard the cricket that chirruped in the wall as an +institution. One of the past to be sure, swept away by the current of +progress, whose course is onward always; over everything, obliterating +everything, hurling the things of today into history, or burying them +in eternal oblivion. In this country there is nothing fixed, nothing +stationary, and never has been since the first white man swung his axe +against the outside forest tree; since the first green field was +opened up to the sunlight from the deep shadows of the old forests +that had stood there, grand, solemn, and boundless since this +world was first thrown from the hand of God. There will be nothing +fixed for centuries to come. The tide of progress will sweep onward in +the future as it has done in the past. Onward is the great watchword +of America, and American institutions; onward and onward, over the +ancient forests; onward, over the log-houses that stood in the van of +civilization; over the great fire-places; over the cricket in the +wall; over the old house dog that slept in the corner; over the loved +faces that clustered around the blazing hearth in the days of our +childhood; over everything primitive, everything, my friends, that you +and I loved, when we were little children, and that comes drifting +along down on the current of memory--bright visions of the returnless +past. Ah, well! it is best that it should be so. It is best that the +world should move on; that there should be no pause, no halting in the +onward march. What are we that the earth should stand still at our +bidding, or pause to contemplate our tears? Dust to dust is the great +law, but so long as a phoenix rises from the ashes of decay, what +right have we to murmur? Time may desolate and destroy, but man can +build up and beautify. True, his works perish as he perishes, but new +works and new men are rising forever to fill, and more than fill, the +vacancies and desolations of the past. Go ahead then, world! Sweep +along, Progress! Mow away, Time! Tear down temple and stronghold; +sweep away the marble palace and log-house! sweep away infancy and +youth, manhood and old age; wipe out old memories, and pass the sponge +over cherished recollections. The energy and the ingenuity of man are +an over-match even for time. From the ruins of the past, from the +desolations of decay, new structures will rise, and a new harvest, +more abundant than the old, will spring up from the stubble over which +Time's sickle has passed. Recuperation is a law stronger than decay, +and it is written all over the face of the earth." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE ACCIDENTS OF LIFE--"SOME MEN ACHIEVE GREATNESS, AND SOME HAVE +GREATNESS THRUST UPON THEM"--A SLIDE--RATTLESNAKES AT THE TOP AND AN +ICY POOL AT THE BOTTOM--A FANCIFUL THEORY. + + +While we sat thus conversing, our boatmen went down along the beach, +and around a little point that ran out into the lake, to bathe. They +were jolly, but uncultivated men, given to rudeness and profanity of +speech when out of our immediate presence, and by themselves, and we +heard from them, while they were splashing and struggling in the +water, expressions somewhat inelegant as well as profane. + +"I have often thought," said Spalding, as we listened to the rude and +sometimes profane speech of our men, "how vast the influence which +circumstances or accident, over which men have no control, have upon +their conduct and destiny in this world, if not in the next. The poet +has well said, + + 'Full many a gem of purest ray serene + The dark unfathomed caves of Ocean bear; + And many a flower is born to blush unseen, + And waste its sweetness on the desert air.' + +"These rude men are but testifying to the great truth, that man is the +creature, in a greater or less degree, of circumstances; that he is +great or small, polished or rude, wise or simple, according to the +accident of his birth, or the surroundings in the midst of which his +journey of life lays. True, there _are_ intellects that will work +themselves into position, men who will hew their way upward in spite +of the difficulties which beset them, as there are others who will +plunge down to degradation and dishonor, in defiance of tender +rearing, of education, of association, and all the allurements to an +upward career that can be presented to the human understanding. But +these are so rare, that they may be properly regarded as exceptions to +the general rule; so rare, indeed, as to prove its truth. You and I +can look around us, and from among our acquaintances select many men +and women, whose genius and solid understanding, and whose virtues +too, have remained undeveloped, and probably will do so till they die, +from lack of opportunity for their exercise. Accident seems to have +stricken them from their legitimate sphere. Circumstances, for which +they were not responsible, and over which they could exercise no +control, have barred them out from their seeming true position in the +world, and the genius which was intended for the daylight and the +eagle's flight towards the sun, is left to skim in darkness along the +ground, like the course of the mousing owl. We have all seen another +thing, which baffles our philosophy, while it proves the truth of the +theory of which I am speaking. We have seen men, and see them every +day, who, from no quality of heart or mind seem fitted to rise in the +world, occupying commanding positions to which accident has lifted +them; whose genius commands no admiration, whose virtues are of a +doubtful character, and who possess no one quality which entitles them +to our respect or the respect of the world. As the former are the +victims of circumstance, these latter are its creatures. Both are the +sport of fortune; the one class its victims, and the other its +favorites. How is all this to be accounted for? And where rests the +responsibility of failure, and where the credit of success? Are there +accidents floating about among the paths marked out on the chart of +life by the Deity, which jostle his creatures from the destiny +intended for them? Or were men thrown loose upon the currents of life, +to take their chances of good and evil, to be virtuous or vile, +according to the influences among which they were floating, to be +fortunate or otherwise, as the means of advancing themselves drifted +within their reach? If so, where rests the responsibility, I ask +again, of failure, and where the credit of success? Children are born +into the world under strangely different influences. One first sees +the light in the haunts of vice and crime, amidst the corruptions +which fester away down in the depths of a great city. The influences +which surround it are only and always evil. They are such in infancy, +in childhood, in youth, and in manhood. Another is cradled under the +influence of intelligences, piety, virtue; having around it always the +safeguards of refined and Christian civilization. What is the +difference in the degree of responsibility attached to the future of +these antipode beginnings? Can you tell me where, and how these wide, +terribly wide distinctions are to be reconciled? When and where the +career of these germs of being, starting from points so wide asunder, +are to meet, and how the balances of good and evil, of suffering and +enjoyment of sinning and retribution, are to be adjusted at last? I +have been asking myself, too, while listening to the speech of these +men, so thoughtlessly uttered, where these profane epithets, these +impious expressions, are to rest at last? Who can tell whether they do +not go jarring through the universe, marring the music of the spheres, +throwing discord into the anthems of the morning stars when they sing +together, a wail among the glad voices of the sons of God, when they +shout for joy? In this world, and to the dulness of human perception, +when the sound of the impious words has died away, or a smile comes +back to the face clouded by the angry thought, the effect seems to +have ceased; but it may not be so. The word or the thought may be +wandering for ages, vibrating still, away off among the outer +creations of God. The angel that bore them at the beginning from the +lips or the heart, may be flying still, and generations and centuries +may have passed, before his journeying with them shall have ceased. + +"It is a fanciful idea, that whatever we say or think, is immortal; +that every word we utter goes ringing through the universe forever; +that every thought of the heart becomes a creation, a thing of +vitality in some shape, starting forward among the things of some sort +of life, never to die! I have sometimes, in my dreamy hours, +speculated upon the truth of such a theory, and reasoned with myself +in favor of its reality. All I can say in its favor, however, is that +I cannot disprove it. It may be true, or it may not. There are other +mysteries quite as incomprehensible, the results of which we can see, +without being able to penetrate the darkness in which they dwell. But +assuming its truth, and appreciating the consequences which would +follow, we should rule the tongue with a sterner sway, and guard the +heart with a more watchful care than is our wont. Think of the obscene +word becoming a living entity, the profane oath a thing of life; the +filthy or impure thought, assuming form and vitality, all starting +forward to exist forever among the creations of infinite purity. Who +would own one of these ogres in comparison with the beautiful things +of God? Who would say of the obscene word, the profane oath, or the +filthy or impious thought, 'this is mine. I made it. I am the author +of its being--its creator!' And yet it may be so. If it is, there are +few of us who have not thrown into life much, very much to mar the +harmonies of nature, to throw discord among the spheres." + +"Your statement," remarked Smith, "that accident has much to do with +making or marring the fortunes of men, is doubtless true. Men are +destroyed by accident, and their lives are sometimes saved by it. And +if you'll put away metaphysics, come out of the cloud in which you +have hid yourself in your dreamy speculations, I will furnish you with +a case in point, showing that a man may get into a very unpleasant +predicament, where he runs a great risk and gets some hard knocks, and +yet be able to thank God for it, in perfect earnestness of spirit. A +case of the kind came under my own observation, and while there was +not much philosophy, or abstract speculation about it, there was a +great deal of hard practical fact. It happened when I was a boy, at +the old homestead, in the valley that stretches to the southwest from +the head of Crooked Lake. That valley is hemmed in by high and steep +hills, and at the tune of which I speak, was much more beautiful in my +view than it is now. There was no village there then, and the farms +which stretched from hill to hill were greatly less valuable than they +are now; but the woods and pastures, and meadows, lay exactly in the +right places, and had among them partridges, and squirrels, and +pigeons, and cattle, and sheep enough to make things pleasant; +besides, there were plenty of trout in those days, in the stream that +flows along through the valley midway between the hills. On the north +side, coming down through a gorge, or 'the gulf,' as we used to call +it, was a stream which, in the dry season of the year, was a little +brook, trickling over the rocks, but which, in the spring freshets, or +when the clouds emptied themselves on the mountain, was a wild, +foaming, roaring, and resistless torrent. In following this stream +into 'the gulf,' you walked on a level plain between walls of rock, +rising two or three hundred feet on either hand, and a dozen or more +rods apart, until you came to 'the falls,' down which the stream +rushed with a plunge and a roar, when its back was up, or over which, +in the dry season, it quietly rippled. These 'falls' were not +perpendicular, but steep as the roof of a Dutch barn, and it was a +great feat to climb them when the stream was low. Ascending about +fifty feet, you came to a broad flat rock, large and smooth as a +parlor floor, and which in the summer season was dry. Well, one day, +in company with a boy who was visiting me, I went up to the 'falls,' +and we concluded to climb the shelving rocks to the 'table;' and +taking off our shoes and stockings, entered upon the perilous +ascent--for such to some extent it was. Hands and feet, fingers and +toes, were all put in requisition. My friend began the ascent before I +did, and was half way up when I started. I ought to have said, that at +the foot of the 'falls,' was a basin, worn away by the torrent, and in +which the water, clear and cold, then stood to the depth of three or +four feet. We were toiling painfully up, when I heard a rush above, +and in an instant my friend came like an arrow past me, sliding down +the shelving rocks on his back, or rather in a half-sitting posture, +his rear to the rocks. I won't undertake to say that the fire flew as +he went by me, for the rocks were slate, and therefore such a +phenomenon was not likely to occur, but the entire absence of the seat +of my friend's pantaloons, and the blood that trickled down to his +toes, showed that the friction was considerable. As he passed me, I +heard him exclaim, 'thank God,' and the next instant he plunged into +the cold water at the base of the falls. What there was to be thankful +for in such a descent over the rocks, I could not at the time +comprehend, as the chances were in favor of a broken back, or neck, or +some other consummation equally out of the range of gratitude, in an +ordinary way. He came up out of the water blowing and snorting like a +porpoise with a cold in his head, and waded to the shore. 'Come down,' +he shouted, which I did, not quite so far or fast as he did, but fast +enough to make an involuntary plunge, head foremost, into the pool at +the bottom. The occasion of his catastrophe was this: he had ascended +so near the table rock, that his hands were upon it, and was lifting +himself up, when, as his eyes came above the surface, the edge upon +which his hands with most of his weight rested, gave way, and he +started for the basin below. But he had a view of what satisfied him +that to this accident he owed his life, and it was a sense of +gratitude for his escape, that prompted the exclamation I heard as he +went bumping past me. Coiled on the rock above, and within reach of +his face, were several large rattlesnakes, and he always insisted that +one made a spring at him, as his hands gave way, and he put out for +the basin into which he plunged. He was a good deal bruised, but his +escape from the poisonous reptiles reconciled him to that." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +HEADED TOWARDS HOME--THE MARTIN AND SABLE HUNTER--HIS +CABIN--AUTUMNAL SCENERY. + + +We concluded that we would break up our camp in the morning, and drift +leisurely back towards civilization. We had tarried upon this +beautiful lake until we had explored its romantic nooks, and we +started on our return to our old camping ground at the foot of Round +Pond. We had refrained for two days from disturbing the deer, and our +supply of fresh venison was entirely exhausted. Just at the outlet of +the lake we were leaving, is a little bay, towards the head of which +are a great number of boulders, laying around loose, scattered about +like haycocks in a meadow, only a great many more to the acre. The +water about these boulders is shallow, and the lily-pads and grasses +make a luxuriant pasture for the deer. Among these boulders, and +concealed by one of them, save when his head was up, was a deer. While +he fed we could see nothing of him, but when he raised his head to +look around him, that alone was visible above the rock. Smith and +myself were in the leading boat, he in the bow with his rifle. As the +current swept near the rocks where the deer was feeding, we let our +little craft drift quietly in that direction. As we came within +shooting distance, say from fifteen to twenty rods, Smith adjusted his +rifle, and as the animal raised its head above the rock, he sighted +him carefully, and fired. It was a beautiful shot. There was nothing +of the animal but the head visible, and the bullet, true to its aim, +struck it square between the eyes, and it fell dead. This shot, +together with the glory of killing the bear, elated Smith wonderfully, +and upon the strength of them, he assumed the championship of the +expedition. + +We drew the deer into the baggage-boat, and sent forward our pioneer +to erect our tents, and prepare a late dinner, at our old camping +ground, while we landed with the dogs on the island near the head of +Round Pond, or Lake, to course whatever game they might find upon it. +They soon burst into full chorus, and dashed away. The island is +small, containing only a few acres, and the game could not, therefore, +take a wide range After a single turn, a deer broke, like a maddened +war-horse, from the thicket, and plunging into the lake, struck boldly +for the mainland, five hundred yards distant. We were near by with our +two boats when he took to the water, and we thought we would accompany +him as an escort to the shore; so we rowed up, and with a boat on each +side, and within ten feet of him, as he swam, escorted him towards the +forest. We treated him with great respect, offering him no indignity, +interfering with him in nothing; and yet the old fellow seemed very +far from appreciating our politeness, or relishing our company. The +truth is, he was horribly frightened, and he struggled desperately to +rid himself of our association; but we stuck by him like his destiny, +talking kindly to him, endeavoring to impress upon his mind that we +meant him no harm--indeed, that we were his friends. But, I repeat, he +did not appreciate our politeness. By-and-by his feet touched the +sand, and he bounded forward, as much as to say, "Good-bye, +gentlemen," when a simultaneous yell from all six of us, and the +discharge of four rifles in quick succession over him, added +wonderfully to the energy of his flight. He will be likely to +recognise us if he ever meets us again, and if the past furnishes any +admonitions to his kind, he will give us a wide berth. + +We rowed leisurely along the eastern shore, and in a deep bay found +excellent fishing, at the mouth of a cold mountain brook. On the banks +of this bay we found the winter hut of a martin and sable trapper. It +had an outer and inner apartment, the latter almost subterranean. The +hut was composed of small logs, which a single man could lay up, the +crevices between which were closely packed with moss, and the roof +covered with two or three layers of bark. The doorway was sawed +through these logs, and a door, constructed of bark, was made to fit +it; a rude hearth of sandstone was built in one corner, and a hole was +open above it to let out the smoke. Against the outside of this pen, +only about ten feet square, logs were leaned up, the ends of which +rested upon the ground, the interstices between them carefully stopped +with moss, and the whole covered with bark; the ends consisted of +stakes, driven into the ground and chinked with moss. Into this +sleeping apartment a door was cut from the parlor, large enough for a +man to pass by getting down on all-fours; while within was a plentiful +supply of boughs from the spruce and fir tree. In this hut, now so +dark, and in which the air was so dead and fetid, a solitary trapper +had wintered, pursuing his occupation of martin and sable hunting--the +which, if tolerably successful, would yield him some two or three +hundred dollars the season. He carried into the woods a bag of flour +or meal, a few pounds of pork, pepper, salt, and tea; and this, with +the game he killed, made up his supply of food. With no companion but +his dog, he had probably spent two or three months, and very possibly +more, in this lonely cabin. + +We arrived at our camp towards evening, and dined sumptuously on fresh +venison and trout. Our pioneer had provided a luxurious bed of boughs +within, and had fashioned rude seats in front of our tents. He had +rolled the butt of a huge tree, which he had felled, to the proper +place, against which to kindle our camp-fire, and we had a pleasant +place to sit, with our pipes, in the evening, looking out over the +water, listening to the pile-drivers, half a dozen of which were +driving their stakes along the reedy shore, with commendable +diligence. The sunlight lay so beautifully on the hillsides, and +contrasted so admirably with the deep shadows of the valley beneath, +the lake was so calm and still, the old woods stood around so moveless +and solemn, that one could scarcely persuade himself that he was not +looking upon some gigantic picture, the fanciful grouping and +transcendent coloring of some ingenious and winning artist. + +"The hillsides about these lakes," remarked the Doctor, "must be +superlatively beautiful in the fall, when the forest puts on its +autumnal foliage. They present such a variety of trees, of so many +different kinds, and the hills and mountains are so admirably +arranged, that they must be gorgeous beyond description. However we +may prefer the green and _living_ beauty of spring, when everything is +so full of vitality, so buoyant and free, yet the autumn scenery is +the most magnificent of any in the year." + +"Every season has its charms," said Spalding, "Even the winter, with +its cold, its dead and cheerless desolation, has its robe of chaste +and peerless white, which, as well as that of the spring-time, the +summer, and the autumn, has been the theme of song. I agree with you, +that in gorgeousness of beauty, there is no season so rich as the +autumn. Spring-time has its pleasant scenery, its genial days, its +deep green, its flowers, and its singing birds; and these are all the +more lovely because they follow so closely upon the cold storms, and +bleak winds, the chilling and blank desolation of winter. We love the +spring because of its freshness, its pervading vitality, its +recuperating influences. Everybody loves the spring-time; everybody +talks about the spring-time; poets sing of it; orators praise it; +'fair women and brave men' laud it; so that were spring-time human, +and possessing human instincts, and subject to human frailties, it +would have plenty of excuse, for becoming a very vain personage. + +"Somebody has called the autumnal days the 'saddest of the year.' I +have forgotten who he was, if I ever knew; but in my judgment, he was +all wrong. Dark days there are--damp, chilly, misty, wet, and +unpleasant days in autumn; days that make one relish a corner by an +old-fashioned fire. There are gusty, windy, capricious days in autumn, +which nobody cares to praise, when the northwest wind goes sweeping +over the forest, roaring among the trees, and whirling the sere leaves +along the ground, and which, to tell the truth about them, are +anything but pleasant. But 'some days _must_ be dark and dreary,' and +they serve to give the sunlight of a bright to-morrow a keener relish, +and a lovelier comparative beauty. To call the fall days the 'saddest +of the year' is an absurdity, poetical I admit, but still an +absurdity. There is nothing sad in a cold, or a wet, a drizzly, a +gusty, or a stormy day; much there may be that is unpleasant, much +that one may be disposed to quarrel with, but they are anything +but sad. + +"A calm autumnal day in the country is a great thing, a beautiful +thing, a thing to thank God for; a thing to make one happy, buoyant of +spirit, full of gratitude to the great Creator; a thing to make one +merry, too, not with a loud and boisterous mirth, but with a heart +full to overflowing with cheerfulness, and a calm joy. To see the +bright sun standing in his glory up in the sky, shedding his placid +light over the earth, when the air is clear, the winds hushed, and the +leaves are still and moveless on the trees; and then to look along the +hillsides, and mark the bright sunlight, and the deep shadows, the +green of the fir, the hemlock, and the spruce, the yellow of the +birch, the crimson of the maple, the dark brown of the beech, the grey +of the oak, the silver glow of the popple, and the varying shades of +all these, mingling and blending in all the harmony of brilliant +coloring. Why, these hillsides are decked like a maiden in her beauty, +like a bride robed for the altar! Talk about springtime, or summer! +Green on the hillside! green in the meadows and pastures! green +everywhere--all around is changeless and everlasting green! as if +hillside and valley, forest and field, had but a single dress for +morning, noon, and night, and that only and always green! True, there +is the music of the birds, joyous notes and variant, happy and +hilarious, in the spring-time, but there is no cricket under the flat +stone in the pasture, his song is not heard in the stone wall, or in +the corner of the fences; no music of the katydid; no tapping of the +woodpecker on the hollow tree, or the dead limb; no chattering of the +squirrel, as he gathers his winter store; no pattering of the faded +leaves, as they come so quietly down from their places; no falling of +the ripened nuts, loosened from their burs or shucks by the recent +frosts. All these sounds belong to the calm autumnal days, and while +they differ the whole heavens from the merry songs of spring, there is +nothing sad about them. No! No! nothing sad. I remember (and who that +was reared in the country does not) when I was a boy, how I went out +in the sunny days of autumn, after the frosts had painted the +hillsides, to gather chestnuts; and when the breeze rustled among the +branches, how the nuts came rattling down; and how if the winds were +still, I climbed into the trees and shook their tops, and how the +chestnuts pattered to the ground like a shower of hail. I remember the +squirrels how they chattered, and chased each other up and down the +trees, or leaped from branch to branch, gathering here and there a +nut, and scudding away to their store houses in the hollow trees, +providing in this season of plenty for the barrenness of the winter +months. I remember, too, how we gathered, in those same old autumnal +days, hickory-nuts and butter-nuts by the bushel; and how pleasant it +was in the long cold winter evenings, to sit around the great old +kitchen fire-place, cracking the nuts we had gathered when the green, +the yellow, the crimson, the brown, the grey, and the pale leaves were +on the trees. Pleasant evenings those seem to me now, as they come +floating down on the current of memory from the long past, and dear +are the faces of those that made up the tableaux as they were grouped +around those winter fires. Logs were blazing on the great hearth, and +the pineknots, thrown at intervals on the fire, gave a bold and +cheerful light throughout that capacious kitchen. I remember how the +winter wind went glancing over the house-top, whirling, and eddying, +and moaning around the corners, hissing under the door and sending its +cold breath in at every crevice; and how the windows rattled when the +blast came fiercest, and how the smoke would sometimes whirl down the +great chimney, I remember well where my father's chair was always +placed; and where my mother sat of those winter evenings, when her +household cares were over for the day, plying her needle, or knitting, +or darning stockings, or mending garments, for such employment was no +dishonor to the matrons of those days. With these for the leading +figures, I remember how seven brothers and sisters were grouped +around, and how the old house dog had a place in the corner, and how +lovingly the cat nestled between his feet. Cherished memories are +these pleasant visions and they come to me often, vivid as realities. +But the dream vanishes, the vision fades away, and I think of the six +pale, still faces as I saw them last, and of the names that are +chiseled upon the cold marble that stands through the sunny +spring-time, the heat of summer, the autumnal days, and the storms and +tempests of winter, over the graves of the dead." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +A SURPRISE--A SERENADE--A VISIT FROM STRANGERS--AN +INVITATION TO BREAKFAST--A FASHIONABLE HOUR AND A +BOUNTIFUL BILL OF FARE. + + +The evening was calm, and the lake slept in stirless beauty before us. +The shadows of the mountains reached far out from the shore, lieing +like a dark mantle upon the surface of the waters, above and beneath +which the stars twinkled and glowed like the bright eyes of seraphs +looking down from the arches above, and up from the depths below. The +moon in her brightness sailed majestically up into the sky, throwing +her silver light across the bosom of the lake; millions of fireflies +flashed their tiny torches along the reedy shore; the solemn voices of +the night birds came from out the forest; the call of the raccoon and +the answer, the hooting of the owl, and the low murmur of the leaves, +stirred by the light breeze that moved lazily among the tree-tops, old +familiar music to us, were heard. This latter sound is always heard, +even in the stillest and calmest nights. There may be no ripple upon +the water; it may be moveless and smooth as a mirror, no breath of air +may sweep across its surface, and yet in the old forest among the +tree-tops, there is always that low ceaseless murmur, a soft +whispering as if the spirits of the woods were holding, in hushed +voices, communion together. We had retired for the night under the +cover of our tents. My companion had sunk into slumber, and I was just +in that dreamy state, half sleeping and half awake, which constitutes +the very paradise of repose, when there came drifting across the lake +the faint and far off strains of music, which, to my seeming, exceeded +in sweetness anything I had ever heard. They came so soft and +melodious, floating so gently over the water, and dying away so +quietly in the old woods, that I could scarce persuade myself of their +reality. For a while I lay luxuriating as in the delusion of a +pleasant dream, as though the melody that was abroad on the air was +the voices of angels chanting their lullaby into the charmed ear of +the sleeper. Presently, Smith raised his head, supporting his cheek +upon his hand, his elbow resting upon the ground, and after listening +for a moment, opened his eyes in bewilderment exclaiming, as he looked +in utter astonishment about him, "What, in the name of all that is +mysterious, is that?" + +Spalding and the Doctor followed, and their amazement was equalled +only by their admiration when + + "Oft in the stilly night" + +came stealing in matchless harmony over the water, "A serenade from +the Naiads, by Jupiter!" exclaimed Smith. + +"A concert, by the Genii of the waters!" cried the +Doctor. + +"Hush!" said Spalding, "we are trespassing upon fairy +domain; the spirits of these old woods, these mountains and +rock-bound lakes, are abroad, and well may they carol in +their joyousness in a night like this." + +In a little while the music changed, and + + "Come o'er the moonlight sea" + +came swelling over the lake. And again it changed and + + "Come mariner down in the deep with me" + +went gently and swiftly abroad on the air. The music +ceased for a moment, and then two manly voices, of great +depth and power, came floating to our ears to the words: + + "'Farewell! Farewell! To thee, Araby's daughter,' + Thus warbled a Perl, beneath the deep sea, + 'No pearl ever lay under Onan's dark water, + More pure in its shell than thy spirit in thee.'" + +"That's flesh and blood, at least," exclaimed the Doctor, "and I +propose to ascertain who are treating as to this charming serenade in +the stillness of midnight." + +We went down to the margin of the lake, and a few rods from the shore +lay a little craft like our own, in which were seated two gentlemen, +the one with a flute and the other with a violin. They had seen our +campfire from their shanty on the other side of the lake, and had +crossed over to surprise us with the melody of human music. And +pleasantly indeed it sounded in the stillness and repose of that +summer night in that wild region. The echoes that dwell among those +old forests, those hills and beautiful lakes, had never been startled +from their slumbers by such sounds before, and right merrily they +carried them from hill to hill, and through the old woods, and over +the calm surface of that sleeping lake, and with a joyousness, too, +that told how welcome they were among those wild and primeval things. + +After listening to their music for half an hour, we invited our new +friends ashore. We found them to be two young gentlemen from +Philadelphia, who had just graduated at one of the Eastern colleges, +and who had concluded to spend a month among these mountains and +lakes, before entering upon the study of the profession to which they +were to devote themselves. They had been close friends from their +childhood, and room-mates during their collegiate course. They had +cultivated their taste for music, until few mere amateurs could equal +their skill upon their respective instruments, or in harmony of voice. +They were highly intelligent and courteous gentlemen, and if their +future shall equal the promise of the present, they will make their +mark in the world. We accepted, at parting, their invitation to +breakfast with them on the morrow, and at one o'clock they left us to +return to their shanty over the lake. We sent one of our boatmen to +row them home; and as they started across the water, they treated us +to a concert to which it was pleasant to listen. There is something +surpassingly sweet in the music of the flute and violin in the hands +of skillful performers; and yet, to my thinking, it falls far short of +the melody of the human voice. I have listened to some of the most +celebrated singers, and of the most distinguished performers, but it +appears to me now, that I never, on any other occasion, heard the +melody of the human voice, or instrumental music half so enchanting, +as that which came floating over the lake on that calm summer night. +There was a volume and compass about it which can never be reached in +a concert room. It was not loud, but it seemed to fill all the air +with its sweetness. It came over the senses like a pleasant dream, as +it went swelling up to the hills that skirted the lake, floating away +over the water, and dying away in lengthened cadence in the old +forests. Every other sound was hushed; the voices of the night-birds +were stilled; even the frogs along the shore suspended their +bellowing, and all nature seemed listening to the new harmony that +thus fell like enchantment upon the repose of midnight. The music grew +fainter and fainter as it receded, until only an occasional strain, +wavy and dream-like, came creeping like the voice of a spirit over the +water, and then it was lost in the distance. The frogs resumed their +roaring, the night-birds lifted up their voices; the raccoon called to +his fellow, and was answered away off in the forest; the pile-driver +hammered away at his stake, the old owl hooted solemnly from his +perch, and we retired to our tents to talk over the romance of our +serenade, and to dream of Ole Bull and the Swedish Nightingale. + +The morning broke bright and balmy. A pleasant breeze swept lazily +over the lake, lifting the thin mist that hung like a veil of gauze +above the water. We left our tents standing, and crossed over to the +shanty of our friends of the previous evening to breakfast. We found +them living like princes. Their two boatmen had built them a log +shanty; open in front, and covered with bark so as to be impervious to +the rain, while within was a luxurious bed of boughs. Around the +campfire were benches of hewn slabs, and a table of the same material. +A few rods from the door a beautiful spring came bubbling up into a +little basin of pure white sand, the water of which was limpid and +cold almost as ice-water. They had been here for a week, hunting and +fishing. They had employed their leisure in jerking the venison they +had taken, of which they had some four or five bushels, and which they +intended to take home with them, to serve, together with the skins of +the deer they had slain, as trophies of their success. + +They received us cordially, and we sat down to a breakfast, which, for +variety, at least, rivalled the elaborate preparations of the Astor or +the St. Nicholas; albeit, the cookery, as an abstract fact, might have +been of the simplest. We had venison-steak, pork, ham, jerked venison +stew, fresh trout, broiled partridge, cold roast duck, a fricassee of +wood rabbits, and broiled pigeon upon our table, coming in courses, +or piled up helter-skelter on great platters of birch bark, some on +tin plates, and now and then a choice bit on a chip! We had coffee, +and tea, and the purest of spring water, by way of beverage, and truth +compels me to admit, that under the advice of the Doctor, a drop or +two of Old Cognac may have been added by way of relish, or to temper +the effect of a hearty meal upon the delicate stomachs of some of the +guests. We were exceedingly fashionable in our time for breakfasting +this morning, and it was eleven o'clock before we rose from table. The +sun was travelling through a cloudless sky, and his brightness lay +like a mantle of glory upon the water, while his heat gave to the deep +shadows of the old trees, whose long arms with their clustering +foliage were interlocked above us, a peculiar charm. The description +which we gave of the beautiful lake we had left the day before, the +story of the moose and the bear we had killed, together with our +quit-claim of the shanty we had, inhabited, brought our friends to the +conclusion to drift that way for a week or so. + +It was amusing to hear Smith relate the manner of capturing the bear, +the glory of which achievement he had won by the tossing up of a +dollar; how he had started out alone in one of the boats with his +rifle to look into a little bay half a mile below the shanty, where be +left the rest of us sleeping after dinner; and how, as he was floating +along under the shadow of the hills, at the base of a wall of rocks +some forty feet high, rising straight up from the water, he heard +something walking just over the precipice; and how he picked up his +rifle that lay in the bottom of the boat, to be ready for any +emergency; and then how astonished he was to see a great black bear +walk out into view along the edge of the rocks above, and how +carefully he sighted him; and how, at the crack of his rifle, the +animal came tumbling down the cliff, and how quick he reloaded and +gave trim a settler in the shape of a second bullet; and how he +tugged, and strained, and lifted to get him into the boat, and how +astonished we all were when he returned with his prize to camp. While +relating this wonderful achievement, he winked at the Doctor, as much +as to say, "fair play; remember our compact; stand by me now." And the +Doctor did stand by him, boldly endorsing, with a gravity that was +refreshing, every invention of Smith's prolific imagination, on the +subject of his slaughtering the bear. + +We left our new friends in the afternoon; they to start in the morning +for our old camping-ground on the lake above, and we down the stream +on our retreat from the wilderness. We came back to our tents, after +securing a string of trout from the mouth of the little stream across +the bay. Our evening meal was over, and we sat around our campfire +just as the sun was hiding himself behind the western highlands, when, +from a little hollow in the forest behind us, and but a short way off, +we heard the call of a raccoon. Martin started over the ridge with the +dogs, and in five minutes he hallooed to us to come with our rifles +for he had the animal "treed," and ready to be brought down at "a +moment's warning." We went over to where he was, and sure enough, away +up in the top of a tall birch, sat his coonship, looking quietly down +upon the dogs that were baying at the foot of the tree. + +"Gentlemen," said Spalding, "we will not all fire at this animal as we +did at Smith's bear. One bullet is enough for him, and if he gets down +among us, I think six men will be a match for one 'coon,' so we need +not be inhuman through a sense of danger. Whose shot shall he be?" + +"I move that Spalding have the first shot," said Smith; and the motion +was carried. + +"Do I understand you, gentlemen," Spalding inquired, adjusting +himself, as if preparing to bring down the game, "that I am to have +this first shot, and that no one is to fire until I have taken a fair +shot at him?" + +We all answered, "Yes." + +"Are you perfectly agreed in this, and do you all pledge yourselves to +abide the compact?" Spalding inquired again, bringing his rifle to a +present, and looking up at the game. + +"All agreed," we answered, with one voice. + +"Very well, gentlemen," said Spalding, shouldering his rifle, "there's +one life saved anyhow. That animal up there has been in great peril, +but he's safe now. I don't intend to fire at him sooner than ten +o'clock to-morrow, and if I understand our arrangements, we leave +here in the morning at six." + +"Sold, by Moses!" exclaimed Martin, as he broke out into a roar that +you might have heard a mile; "I thought the Judge meant something, by +the time he wasted in talkin' and gettin' ready to shoot." + +"Spalding," inquired Smith, "do you expect us to keep this compact?" + +"Of course I do," he replied; "did any of us peach when you opened so +rich in the matter of your bear? Did any one break his compact with +you on that subject? Absolve us from our agreement about the bear, and +you may take my shot at that animal up in the tree." + +"I wasn't born yesterday," Smith replied, "and I can't afford to +exchange the glory of killing the bear in my own way, and baring three +responsible endorsers, for the honor of shooting a coon. Gentlemen," +he continued, "I move that that coon be permitted to take his own time +to descend from his perch up in the tree-top there;" and the motion +was carried unanimously. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +WOULD I WERE A BOY AGAIN. + + +"We have played the boy again, yesterday and to-day, pretty well," +remarked Smith, as we sat in front of oar tents in the evening, +smoking our pipes. "And I am half inclined to think we have started +for home too soon, after all. Spalding's moralizing for the last two +or three days deceived me. I thought, as he was becoming so serious, +he must be getting tired of the woods; but his proposition yesterday +to escort that deer to the shore, and frighten him almost to death, +his jolly humor with our young friends over the way, and the trick he +played on as in regard to the raccoon this evening, satisfies me that +he's got a good deal of the boy in him yet. We shall have to retreat +from the woods slower than I thought, to exhaust it." + +"If the cares of business or the duties of life did not call us back +to civilization" said the Doctor, "I could almost spend the summer +among these lakes, only for the luxury of feeling like a boy again. +When I listen to the glad voices of the wild things around as, I can +almost wish myself one of them." + +"That coon, for instance," interrupted Smith, "that came so near +getting shot by his chattering." + +"I call the gentleman to order," said I; "the Doctor has the floor." + +"I sometimes think that it is no great thing after all to be human;" +the Doctor continued, bowing his acknowledgments for my protecting his +right to the floor. "Mind is a great thing, but there is more of +sorrow, anxiety, and care clustering about it, than these wild things +we hear and see around us suffer through their instincts. Reason, +knowledge, wisdom, are great things. To stand at the head of created +matter, to be the noblest of all the works of God, the only created +thing wearing the image, and stamped with the patent of Diety, are +proud things to boast of. But great and glorious and proud as they +are, they have their balances of evil. They bring with them no +contentment, no repose, while they heap upon us boundless necessities +and limitless wants. We are hurried through life too rapidly for the +enjoyment of the present, and the good we see in prospect is never +attained. When we were boys we longed to be men, with the strength and +intellect of men; and now that we are men, with matured powers of body +and mind, true to our organic restlessness and discontent, we look +back with longing for the feelings and emotions of our boyhood. What a +glorious thing it would be if we could always be young--not boys +exactly, but at that stage of life when the physical powers are most +active, and the heart most buoyant. That, to my thinking, would be a +better arrangement than to grow old, even if we live on until we +stumble at last from mere infirmity into the grave, looking forward in +discontent one half of our lives, and backward in equal discontent +the other." + +"You remind me," said Spalding, "of a little incident, simple in +itself, but which, at the time, made a deep impression upon my mind, +and which occurred but a few weeks ago. Returning from my usual walk, +one morning, my way lay through the Capitol Park. The trees, covered +with their young and fresh foliage, intertwined their arms lovingly +above the gravelled walks, forming a beautiful arch above, through +which the sun could scarcely look even in the splendor of his noon. +The birds sang merrily among the branches, and the odor of the leaves +and grass as the dews exhaled, gave a freshness almost of the forest +to the morning air. On the walk before me were two beautiful children, +a boy of six and a little girl of four. They were merry and happy as +the birds were, and with an arm of each around the waist of the other, +they went hopping and skipping up and down the walks, stopping now and +then to waltz, to swing round and round, and then darting away again +with their hop and skip, too full of hilarity, too instinct with +vitality, to be for a moment still. The flush of health was on their +cheeks, and the warm light of affection in their eyes. They were +confiding, affectionate, loving little children, and my heart warmed +towards them, as I saw them waltzing and dancing and skipping about +under the green foliage of the trees. "'Willy,' said the little girl, +as they sat down on the low railing of the grass plats, to breathe for +a moment, and listen to the chirrup and songs of the birds in the +boughs above them, 'Willy, wouldn't you like to be a little bird?' + +"'A little bird, Lizzie,' replied her brother. 'Why should I like to +be a little bird?' + +"'Oh, to fly around among the branches and the leaves upon the trees,' +said Lizzie, 'and among the blossoms when the morning is warm, and the +sun comes out bright and clear in the sky. Oh! they are so happy,' + +"'But the mornings aint always warm, and the sun don't always come up +bright and clear in the sky, Lizzy,' said her brother, 'and the leaves +and blossoms aint always on the trees. The cold storms and the winter +come and kill the blossoms and scatter the leaves, and what would you +do then? I shouldn't like to be a bird, but I _should_ like to be a +big strong man like father.' + +"'Please tell me what tune it is?' said the little boy, addressing me. + +"I told him, and he turned to his little sister, saving, 'Come, +Lizzie, we must go; mother said we must be home by half-after seven, +and it's most that now;' and he put his arm lovingly around her neck, +and she put hers around his waist, and they walked away towards home, +talking about the leaves and the blossoms on the trees, the merry +little birds, the bright sunshine, and the pleasant time they had had +in the park that morning. + +"It was a pleasant thing to see those two little children, so +confiding, so earnest and true in their young affections, clinging to +each other so closely, as if no shadow could ever come between them, +or tarn their hearts from each other. How natural was that simple +question put by that little girl to her brother, 'Wouldn't you like to +be a little bird?' It was the thought of a pure young mind, that sees +only the bright sunshine of to-day, whose life is in the present, and +to which there is no forebodings of darkness in the future. There was +philosophy, too, in the answer of her brother, a simple but suggestive +sermon, 'But the sun' said he, 'don't always come up bright and clear; +the mornings aint always warm; the leaves and blossoms aint always on +the trees. The cold storms, and the winter come and kill the blossoms +and scatter the leaves, and what would you do then?' To finite minds +like ours, it would seem to have been a more beautiful arrangement of +nature, could it have been, that we could always have the spring time +in its glory with us; if the leaves and the blossoms were always young +and fresh and fragrant; if the cold storms of winter could never come +to 'kill the blossoms and scatter the leaves;' if the sun would always +come up bright and clear; if the birds were always merry, and their +glad voices always on the air. This world would be a paradise then, +and one older and wiser in the learning of the schools, but not wiser +or better in the heart's affections, than that little girl, might well +wish to be a little bird, to fly around among the branches, the green +leaves, and the blossoms on the trees. And yet what presumption in +finite man to sit in judgment upon, or criticise the wisdom of the +Omnipotent God! How know we but that a single change, the slightest +alteration of a simple law, would go jarring through all the universe, +throwing everything into confusion, and bringing utter chaos, where +now all is order. The mother sees her little child die, she lays it in +its coffin, and surrenders it to the grave, and her heart rebels +against the Providence that snatched away her treasure. In her agony, +she appeals reproachfully to Heaven, and asks, 'Why am I thus +bereaved?' Foolish mother! impeach not the wisdom of your bereavement. +Mysterious as it may be, know this, that in the councils of eternity +your sorrows were considered, and the decree which took from you your +darling, was ordered in mercy. Pestilence sweeps over the land; a wail +is on the air. Peace, mourners, be still! The pestilence has a mission +of mercy, mysterious as it may be to us. The storm lashes the ocean +into fury; tall ships, freighted with human souls, go down into its +relentless depths; a shriek of agony comes gurgling up from the +devouring waters; a cry of woe is heard from a thousand homes over the +wrecked and the lost. Peace, again, mourners! The storm has a mission +of mercy. It may never be comprehended by us here, but when the veil +shall be lifted, as in God's good time it doubtless will be, we shall +see how the pestilence and the storm, that cost so many tears, were +essential to the harmony of a glorious system, a perfect plan, and +that seeming sorrow was at last the occasion of unspeakable joy. Let +no man say that this or that law, or operation of nature, were better +changed, until he can fathom the designs of God; till he can create a +planet, and send it on its everlasting round; till he can place a star +in the firmament; till he can breathe upon a statue, the workmanship +of his own hands, and be obeyed when he commands it to walk forth a +thing of life; till he can dip his hand into chaos and throw off +worlds. The 'cold storms of winter' are essential to the enjoyment of +the brightness and glory, the genial sunshine, the pleasant foliage, +the blossoms and the odors of spring. They have their uses, and chill +and dreary and desolate as they may be, they are parts of an +arrangement ordered by infinite goodness and omnipotent wisdom. + +"'I should like to be a big strong man like father is!' How like a boy +was this? Thirsting for the strength, the might and power of manhood! +And this is the aspiration of the young heart always; to be mature, +strong to grapple with the cares, and wrestle with the stern +actualities of life. How little of these does childhood know! How +little does it calculate the chances, that when, in the long future, +it shall have attained the full strength and maturity of life, when +manhood shall be in the glory and strength of its prime, and it looks +forward into the dark cloud beyond, and backward into the bright +sunshine of the past, the aspiration, the hope will change into +regret, and the yearning of the heart, speaking from its silent +depths, will be, 'would I were a boy again!'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +HEADED DOWN STREAM--RETURN TO TUPPER'S LAKE--THE CAMP ON THE ISLAND. + + +We started down stream again at six o'clock in the morning, intending, +if possible, to reach Tupper's Lake before encamping for the night. It +would make for us a busy day to accomplish so much; but going down +stream and down hill are very different things from going up, as any +gentleman may satisfy himself by rowing against a current of two miles +the hour, or toiling up an ascent of three or four hundred feet to the +mile, and then retracing his steps. We accomplished more than half the +distance, and that over the worst of the journey, by twelve o'clock, +and we halted for dinner and a _siesta_. If there is one thing in life +which can lay any claim to being considered a positive luxury, it is a +nap on a mossy bank, in the deep shadows of the forest trees, after a +hearty meal, of a warm summer day. There should be, in order to its +full appreciation, a mixture of weariness with a due proportion of +laziness. Too much of either detracts from the enjoyment of its +beatitudes. To _feel_ the sensation of resting, that weariness is +leaving you, and that the process of recuperation is an active, living +agency, going on all through the system, while the natural love of +repose is being gratified as an independent emotion, constitute the +very perfection of mere animal enjoyment. The musquitoes at midday +have gone to their rest, or if a straggler comes buzzing and singing +about your ears, you are lulled rather than disturbed by his song. If +he takes his drop of blood from your veins, the tickling of his tiny +lance is but a pleasant titilation, and you let him feed on, almost +grateful for his kindness in keeping you from sleeping too soundly, or +losing in utter oblivion the full extent of the luxury of +perfect repose. + +After an hour's rest, we launched our little fleet upon the river +again, and while the sun was yet above the western highlands, we stood +upon the broad flat rock at the mouth of Bog River, looking out over +Tupper's Lake, one of the most beautiful sheets of water that the sun +or the stars ever looked upon. Our sea-biscuit was getting low, and +our egress from the wilderness was therefore becoming, in some sort, a +necessity. There was no lack of venison, or fish, but these are rather +luxuries than actual necessaries, and they were becoming somewhat +stale to as. The staff of life is bread, and of this we had but two +days' supply. It is entirely true that our jerked venison, now dry and +hard as chips, could, if necessary, be made to furnish, to some +extent, a substitute; still, while "it is written that man shall not +live by bread alone," it is equally the law that he cannot very well +get along without it. + +We launched our boats upon the lake and rowed to the head of Long +Island, where we put up our tents for the night. I have spoken so +often of the loveliness of the evenings on these beautiful lakes, that +to attempt a description of the one we enjoyed on this romantic +island, would be only a tiresome repetition. But there was a splendor +about the heavens above, and their counterpart in the depths below, +which I have scarcely ever seen equalled. There was no moon in the +early evening, and so pure and clear was the atmosphere, so moveless +and still the waters, that the stars seemed to come out in vaster +numbers, and with an intenser glow, and to be reflected back from away +down in the lake with a brighter refulgence; the hills along the shore +seemed to stand up in bolder outline; the bays to lay in deeper +shadow; while the tall peaks stood in grim solemnity, like pillars +supporting the mighty arches of the sky. + +"I was asking myself," said Smith, as we sat looking out over the +water, in the evening, or gazing down into the glowing depths, and +listening to the night voices, faint and far off in the old forests, +as they came floating over the lake, "I was asking myself, as we +journeyed around the falls to-day, and as we stood on the rock where +the river comes leaping down and plunging into the lake, whether the +march of improvement would ever spread a Lowell around those falls, or +subject those wild waters to the uses of civilization. Whether +progress would ever invade those mountain regions; or the ingenuity of +man ever discover uses for these rocks and boulders, or coin wealth +from the sterile and sandy soil of this old wilderness? Hitherto a +country like this has been regarded of no value, save for the timber +which it grows; and when that is exhausted, as fit only to be +abandoned to sterility and desolation. But who can tell whether there +may not be in these boulders, these rocks, this sandy and unproductive +soil, unknown wealth, held in reserve to reward the researches of +science in its utilitarian explorations. I am not now speaking of +gold, or silver, or any other dross, which men have hitherto wasted +their toil to accumulate; but of new discoveries, and new purposes to +which these now useless things may be applied; discoveries which may +send the tide of emigration surging up from the valleys to mountain +regions like these. May it not be that science, while delving among +the wrecks of vanished ages, may stumble upon some new principle, or +combination of the elements of which these old rocks are composed, +that shall give them a value beyond that of the richest lowlands, and +make them the centre of a dense and cultivated population?" + +"Your question," answered Spalding, "is suggestive. Did you ever think +what gigantic strides the world has made within the memory of men now +living, and who are yet unwilling to be counted as old? Look back for +only fifty years, and note what a stupendous leap it has taken! Where +then were the iron roads over which the locomotive goes thundering on +its mission of civilization? where the telegraph, that mocks at time +and annihilates space? Hark! there is a new sound breaking the +stillness of midnight, and startling the mountain echoes from their +sleep of ages! It is the scream of the steam-whistle, the snort of the +iron horse, the thunder of his hoofs of steel, rushing forward with +the speed of the wind, shaking the ground like an earthquake as he +moves. A new motor has been harnessed into the service of man, and +made to fly with his messages swifter than sound? It is the winged +lightning; and as it flashes along the wires stretched from city to +city, and across continents, carries with unerring certainty every +word committed to its charge. Ocean steamers have made but a ferriage +of seas. The photographic art has made even the light of the sun a +substitute for the pencil of the artist. Everywhere, in all the +departments of science, in every branch of the arts, improvement, +progress, has been going on with a sublimity of achievement unknown in +any age of the past. These things are mighty motors which push along +civilization, throwing a wonderful energy into the forward impulse of +the world. But remember, that though these results are brought about +by the advance in the mechanic arts, yet that advance is based upon a +deeper philosophy, a profounder wisdom, than mere perfectability in +those arts. Take the steam-engine--it is a great contrivance, a +wonderful invention; but the greatest of all was the discovery of the +principle and operation, the practical phenomena of steam itself. The +telegraphic machine was a great invention; but the great thing was the +development of the science of electricity, the discovery of the +secret agency which sent forward the thought entrusted to it swifter +than light. The daguerrian instruments, the metallic plates, the +prepared paper, were great inventions; but vastly greater was the +discovery and development of the phenomena and affinities of light, +the mystery of solar influences. + +"There is hope for the world in all this mighty progress, for with it +will one day come the development of the true nature and theory of +government, the true solution of the great theory of the social +compact, the proper adjustment of the relations of man to man, a right +appreciation of the nature and value of human rights. It is bringing +forward the masses, elevating the millions who work. It will rouse +into activity their innate energies, and bring forth their inward +might. It creates THOUGHT to guide the hands that set all this vast +machinery in motion. It diffuses and strengthens intellectuality, and +the pride of intellectuality, making of the men who work something +more than mere machines themselves. It is developing and perfecting a +mightier engine than any of man's invention; one that tyrants cannot +always control, that kings cannot always manage. That engine is the +human mind. Like the steam-engine, it is gathering power, and +capability for the exercise of power, and the time will come when it +will go crashing, with resistless energy, among thrones, overturning +despotisms, upheaving dynasties, sweeping away those false theories of +governmental institutions, which guarantee to one class of people a +life of luxurious idleness, coupled with a prerogative to rule; and +which dooms another class to an hereditary servitude, changeless as +fate, and relentless as the grave. It will vindicate the rights, and +ennoble the destiny of the masses of the people who work. + +"But where is this career of progress to end? Is there a limit to this +onward movement? We know that the world has made greater advancement +in the present century, than it did in the five thousand years +preceding it, and that new discoveries in the sciences and the arts +are being made every day. Nature has been compelled, and is still +being compelled, to yield up secrets which have been for centuries +regarded as beyond the power of human capacity to penetrate. How is +this? Is the world to go on thus, always? Is this rush of progress to +remain unchecked, always? If so, what mystery, even of Omnipotent +wisdom, will remain unsolved at last? What results will not human +energy be able to accomplish? Is the time to come when man shall be +able to shape out of clay, fashion from wood, or stone, an image of +himself, and, breathing upon it, command it to walk forth a thing of +life, and be obeyed? Will he be able to search out a universal +antidote to disease? Will he discover the means of supplying the human +frame with such recuperative power as will nullify the law that +prescribes to all flesh the dilapidation and decay of age, of weakness +and of death? Will he search out some secret agency which will hold +his body in perpetual youth, defying alike the attritions of age, and +the ravages of disease? Will he discover how it is that time saps the +strength, and steals away the vigor of the human system, and a remedy +for exhausted and wasted energies? It is not my purpose to advance a +theory based upon an affirmative answer to these inquiries, but when +we contemplate the stupendous pace at which the world is moving +forward, who will venture to assert where the limit to this progress +is to be found? You tell me that man cannot _create_; that he can only +combine into new shapes elements which God has furnished to his hands. +I do not know this. That he _has_ not created I admit; but that he has +not capabilities, as yet undeveloped, as a creator, I do not KNOW. I +will not venture the assertion that the time will ever come when he +will have discovered wherein lies the mystery of life; that he will +ever find an antidote to disease; that he will search out some +recuperative agency stronger than the law of decay, and that will hold +the human system in the perpetual vigor, and bloom, and beauty of +maturity. I will not assert that science will, at last, be carried to +such perfection, that there shall be no more infirmities of age; that +the pestilence will be stayed from walking in the darkness, and +destruction from wasting at noonday; that men will cease to grow old, +save in years, or that death will be compelled to seek its victims +only through the channel of accidents, against which forecast will +not, and science has no opportunity to guard. What I mean to say is, +that I do not KNOW that just such results are beyond the capabilities +of human progress. Measuring the future by the past, I cannot +demonstrate that such results may not one day be attained." + +"The good time of which you speak," said the Doctor, "when there shall +be no more infirmity of age, no growing old, save in years; when there +shall be no wasting by disease, through the perfectability of the +curative science, or the discovery of some recuperative agency, +stronger than the law of decay, will never come. When it is granted, +as an abstract proposition, that the capabilities of science are +sufficient to counteract the mere wasting influence of time upon the +human system, you are met by a great practical fact which will +overturn your theory. The excesses of the world are a much more +fruitful source of disease and death than the attritions of age. There +is a constant struggle on the part of nature to build up and beautify, +to strengthen and recuperate, against the results of human excesses. +Not one in a million of those who pass away every year, die from the +effects of age, as a primary cause. Hence, you must not only perfect +science, but you must perfect the morals and the habits of the human +family, before you can exempt them from decay and death. The instincts +of men, the appetencies which they possess in common with the whole +animal creation, are each made the source of disease, and premature +decay. Some men eat too much; some drink too much; some sleep too +much; some waste their vital energies in sensual indulgence, while all +have some vicious habit (I mean with reference to the preservation of +life), known or unknown to the world, which, sooner or later, +undermines the constitution, and helps on the work of dilapidation. +These excesses will always exist; they are inherent in the human +constitution, resulting from the very nature of man; they are an +inevitable sequence of his physical structure, and his intellectual +life. To avoid them implies absolute perfectability in every +attribute, and that makes him a god. Until man shall have become +infinite in wisdom, as well as immaculate in purity, he will continue +to indulge, to a greater or less extent, in excesses of some sort, and +those excesses will always be an overmatch, when superadded to the +natural law of decay, for the recuperative efforts of science. You +must create a radical reform in every department of life; in business, +in social habits, in the fashions, in the mode of living, in +everything, before you can hope to reach the Utopia of which you +speak. The outrages perpetrated upon nature by the conventionalities +of the world alone, would be an insurmountable barrier to the +realization of your idea. The necessity for excessive labor to satisfy +artificial wants hews away at one end of society, and the indulgence +of idleness and ease, at the other. Exposure to the elements, to heat +and cold, buries its millions; and too great seclusion, in pursuit of +comfort in heated rooms, and a confined and corrupted atmosphere, +buries its millions also. Lack of wholesome food fills thousands of +graves, and the results of abundance fill other thousands. Lack of +appropriate clothing, fitted for the constitution and the seasons, +engenders disease and death; and an excess of the same article, +fashioned as stupendous folly only can fashion it, engenders vastly +more disease and death. There are elements of decay and death +furnished to men and women, tempting their weakness, and forced upon +their adoption by the conventionalities of life, every day, every +hour, and everywhere. It is a part of our civilization, an offshoot of +the very progress of which you speak, a sort of necessity in practical +results, at least, that men _shall_ so live as to wage war against +nature, and against themselves; that they shall hurry themselves, or +be hurried by inevitable circumstances, into the grave at the earliest +possible moment. You may, therefore, dismiss from your mind, my +friend, the fanciful idea, that science will ever enable the world to +dispense with the cemeteries, or that the cities of the dead will, +through its agency, cease to flourish. You will find that as science +closes up one avenue to the grave, men will force a way to it through +another. We shall have to live as our fathers lived, be subject to +disease as they were, grow old as they grew old, and die as they died. +We must submit to the law which has written the doom of decay upon all +things, which has made us mortal, and when our time comes we must be +content to pass away as the countless millions who preceded us +have done." + +"Well," said Spalding, as he knocked the ashes from his pipe, and rose +to retire, under the cover of the tent, for the night, "be it as you +say, what matters it? 'I would not live always.' Give to us the hope +of an hereafter, a faith that looks through the valley of the shadow +of death, and sees immortality, a world of glory beyond, and what +matters it how soon the hour of our departure shall come?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A MYSTERIOUS SOUND--TREED BY A MOOSE--ANGLING FOR A POWDER HORN--AN +UNHEEDED WARNING AND THE CONSEQUENCES. + + +As Spalding ceased speaking, there came from away off, over the forest +in the direction of the tall mountain peaks, a faint sound like the +boom of a cannon, so distant that it could scarcely be heard, and yet +it was distinct and palpable to the senses. I say that it came from +the direction of the mountains, seen dim and shadowy in the distance, +and yet none of us were quite sure of this. We all heard it, but not +one of us could assert that the direction from which it came was a +fixed fact in his mind. + +"There, Judge" said Cullen, "I've hearn that sound often among the +mountains, and when I've been driftin' about on these lakes, it never +seems much louder or nearer. It always seems to come from the +mountains, and yet you'll hear it while shantyin' at their base, and +it sounds just as faint and far off as it did just now. What it is, or +where it comes from, I won't undertake to say. The old Ingins who, +five and twenty year ago, fished and hunted over these regions, told +of it as a thing to wonder at, and that it was handed along down from +generation to generation, as one of the mysteries of this wilderness. +I mind once I was out among the Adirondacks, trappin' martin and +sable. I shantied for a week with Crop, under the shadow of Mount +Marcy. It was twenty odd year ago, and that old mountain stood a good +deal further from a clearin' than it does now. Crop and I had a good +many hard days' work that trip; but we got a full pack of martin and +sable skins, and two or three wolf scalps, besides a bear and a +painter, and we didn't complain. Wal, one afternoon, we put up a +shanty in an open spot two miles from our regular campin' ground, and +built our fire for the night. There was no moon, and though the stars +shone out bright and clear, yet in the deep shadow of the forest it +was dark and gloomy enough. We had eaten our supper, and I was smokin' +my last pipe before layin' myself away, when all at once the forest +was lighted up like the day. It was all the more light from the sudden +glare which broke upon the darkness, and there, for an instant, stood +the old woods, lighted up like noon, every tree distinct, every +mountain, every rock, and valley, as perfect and plain to be seen as +if the sun was standin' right above us in the sky. Crop was as much +astonished as I was, and he crept to my feet and trembled like a +coward, as he crouched beside them. I looked up, and flyin' across the +heavens was a great ball of fire, lookin' for all the world as if the +sun had broke loose, and was runnin' away in a fright. A long trail of +light flashed and streamed along the sky where it passed. It was out +of sight in a moment, and the fiery tail it left behind faded into +darkness. A little while after, maybe ten minutes after it +disappeared, that boomin' sound came driftin' down the wind, and I +somehow tho't it was mixed up in some way with that great ball of fire +that flew across the sky. Maybe I was wrong, but I've always tho't it +was the bustin' into pieces of that fiery thing that lighted up the +old woods that night, that broke the forest stillness, like a far off +cannon. I never heard it so loud at any other time, and when I hear it +now, I always say to myself, there goes another of Nater's fireballs +into shivers. I've hearn it in the daytime, when the air was still, +and the forest voices were hushed, but I never at any other time, day +or night, saw what I suspicioned occasioned it. The Ingins used to say +it came from the mountains, but it don't. I've hearn some folks +pretend that it comes from the bowels of the airth, but it don't; its +a thing of the air, and I've a notion it travels a mighty long way +from its startin' place afore it reaches us. + +"Talkin' about that trip among the Adirondacks, puts me in mind of an +adventer I had with a bull moose, on one occasion among them. There +are times when sich an animal is dangerous. I've hearn tell of +elephants gittin' crazy and breakin' loose from their keepers, or +killin' them, and makin' a general smash of whatever comes in their +way. I believe its so sometimes with a bull moose; and when the fit +is on the animal forgets its timid nater, and is bold and fierce as a +tiger. I've seen two sich in my day; one of 'em sent me into a tree, +and the other put me around a great hemlock a dozen or twenty times, a +good deal faster than I like to travel in a general way, and if I +hadn't hamstrung him with my huntin' knife, maybe he'd have been +chasin' me round that tree yet. Wal, as I was sayin' I was out among +the Adirondacks one fall, airly in November; I'd wounded a deer, and +sent Crop forward on his trail to overtake and secure him. It was a +big buck, with long horns, and Crop had a pretty good general idea of +what sich things meant. He was cautious about cultivatin' too close an +acquaintance with such an animal, unless something oncommon obligated +him to do so. I heard him bayin' a little way over a ridge layin' gist +beyond where I shot the buck. I warn't in any great hurry, for I knew +Crop would attend to his case, and I tho't I'd wipe out my rifle afore +I loaded it again. I was standin' by the upturned roots of a tall fir +tree that had been blown down, and in fallin' had lodged in a crotch +of a great birch, maybe twenty feet from the ground, and broke off. I +stepped onto the butt of the fallen spruce, and was takin' my time to +clean my gun, when I heard a crashin' among the brush on the other +side of the ridge, as if some mighty big animal was comin' my way. I +walked pretty quick along up the slopin' log till I was, maybe fifteen +feet from the ground, and I saw Crop comin' over the ridge, in what +the Doctor would call a high state of narvous excitement, with his +tail between his legs, lookin' back over his shoulder, and expressin' +his astonishment in a low, quick bark, at every jump, at something he +seemed to regard as mighty onpleasant on his trail. I didn't have to +wait long to find out what it was, for about the biggest bull moose I +ever happened to see, came crashin' like a steam-engine after him. He +wasn't more than two rods behind the dog, and if I ever saw an ugly +looking beast, that moose was the one. Every hair seemed to stand +towards his head, and if he wasn't in earnest I never saw an animal +that was. He was puttin' in his best jumps, and the way he hurried up +Crop's cakes was a thing to be astonished at. The dog didn't see me, +and seemed to be principled agin stoppin' to inquire my whereabouts. +He dashed under the log where I stood, and the moose after him like +mad. He seemed to be expectin' aid and comfort from me, as the papers +say, and was wonderin', no doubt, where me and my rifle was all this +time. I called after him, but he was in a hurry and couldn't stop, for +there was a thing he didn't care about shakin' hands with, not three +rods from his tail. He heard me, though, and took a circle round a +great boulder, and the moose after him, and as he got straightened my +way, I called him again, and he saw me. He leaped onto the log and +came runnin' up to where I stood, and was mighty glad to be out of the +way of them big hoofs and horns that were after him. He was safe now, +and he opened his mouth and let off a good deal of tall barkin' at his +enemy. The moose saw us, and his fury was the greater because he +couldn't get at us. He kept chargin' back and forth under the log we +were perched on, and if there wasn't malice in his eye, I wouldn't +say so. + +"When I first saw him, I was standin' with the butt of my rifle on the +log, my hand graspin' the barrel, and as I caught it up suddenly to +load, the string of my powder-horn caught between the muzzle and the +ramrod, broke, and the horn fell to the ground. Here was a fix for a +hunter to be in. My rifle was empty, and every grain of powder I had +in the world was in the horn, fifteen feet below me, on the ground. To +go down after it was a thing I was principled agin undertaking +considerin' the circumstance of that bull moose with his great horns +and the onpleasant temper he seemed to be in. What to do I didn't +know. I hollered and shouted at the kritter, thinkin', maybe, that the +voice of a human might scare him; but it only made him madder, and +every time I hollered he charged under the log more furiously than +before. I threw my huntin' cap at him, but he pitched into it, and if +he didn't trample it into the ground, as if it was a human, you may +shoot me. After a while, he got tired of dashin' back and forth, under +the log, and took a stand two or three rods off, and as he eyed us, +shook his great horns and stamped with his big hoofs, as much as to +say, 'very well, gentlemen, I can wait, don't hurry yourselves, take +your time; but I shall stay here as long as you stay up there. And +when you do come down, we'll take a turn that won't be pleasant to +some of us.' Crop and I took the hint and sat still, thinkin' maybe +he'd get over his pet and move off; but he did'nt lean that way at +all. He seemed to've made up his mind to stay there as long as we +stayed on the log, be the same more or less. We'd sat there maybe an +hour, when I happened to think of a trollin' line and some fishhooks I +had in my pocket, and it came across me that possibly I might fish up +my powder horn. So tyin' half a dozen hooks to the end of my line, I +laid down on the log to angle for my powder-horn. When I laid down, +the old bull made a pass under the log, as if he expected me down +there, and charged back again, as if he was disappointed in not +runnin' agin me. But he saw 'twan't no use, and took his old stand +agin. I dropped down the grapnel, and after a great many failures, I +hooked into the string of the powder horn, and hoisted away. I hauled +it up mighty quick, for the old bull seemed to be suspicions that +something was goin' on that might have something to do with his futer +happiness, and when he got sight of it, the pass he made was a thing +to stand out of the way of. But he was too late; the powder-horn was +safe, and I notified him, as Squire Smith did the cats, to leave them +parts in just one minute by the clock. He did'nt pay any attention to +the warnin'. I loaded my rifle carefully, and while I was puttin' on +the cap, asked the gentleman if he calculated to move on, and let +peaceable people alone. He didn't condescend to answer a word, looking +for all the world like a tiger in savageness. 'Very well,' said I, as +I sighted him between the eyes, 'on your head be it,' and pulled. The +ball went crashin' through his skull into his brain, and he went down. +Crop knew what that meant. He didn't wait to run down the log, but +leaped to the ground, and had his teeth in the animal's throat before +the echoes of my rifle were done dancin' around among the mountains. I +loaded my gun before I came down, thinkin' maybe there might be +another bad tempered moose about, but there wasn't. Crop and I learned +what we ought to've know before, and that was that it's a safe thing +for a hunter to have an extra horn of powder in his pocket, and a +loaded rifle in his hand when a mad bull moose is on his trail, and +that a slantin' tree is a good thing to get onto at sich a time." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +GOOD-BYE--FLOATING DOWN THE RACKETT--A BLACK FOX--A TRICK UPON THE +MARTIN TRAPPERS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. + + +We rose with the dawn the next morning, and before the sun was above +the hills we were on our way down the lake, to separate as we struck +the Rackett; the Doctor and Smith to return by the way of Keeseville +and the Champlain, and Spalding and myself to drift down that pleasant +stream to Pottsdam, and thence to the majestic St. Lawrence, to spend +a fortnight among the "Thousand Islands" of that noble river. Near the +outlet of the lake is a bold rocky bluff, rising right up out of the +deep water twenty feet, against which the waves dash, and around which +a romantic bay steals away to hide itself in the old woods. This +beautiful bay is always calm, for even the narrow strait which +connects it with the open water is divided by a rocky, but wooded +island, shutting out alike the winds and the waves from disturbing its +repose. It is surrounded by gigantic forest trees, whose shadows make +it a cool retreat in the heat of noon, and whose dense foliage fills +the air with freshness and fragrance when the sun is hot in the sky. +Towards its head, a cold stream comes creeping around the boulders, +and dancing and singing down the rocks from a copious spring, a short +way back in the forest. Near where this brook enters we landed at +seven o'clock to breakfast. We supplied ourselves with fish by casting +across the mouth of the little stream, while our boatmen were +preparing a fire. Our sail of eight miles down the lake furnished us +with appetites which gave to the beautiful speckled trout we caught +there a peculiar relish. We arranged matters so that the Doctor and +Smith were to return in one boat to the Saranacs, while Spalding and +myself were to move on down the Rackett with the other two. Cullen and +Wood were to go with us to Pottsdam, from whence our route lay by +railroad to Ogdensburgh. We had, on entering the woods, dispatched our +baggage to the former place to await our arrival there. At nine +o'clock we launched out upon the lake again. There are two outlets +which enter the Rackett, half a mile apart, down the right hand one of +which the Doctor and Smith's course lay, and ours down the left. We +shook hands with our friends, and lay upon our oars while they passed +on towards home, wishing them a pleasant voyage, and a safe return. + +"I say," shouted Smith, as they were about rounding a point that would +hide them from our view, "remember our compact about killing the bear. +The glory of that achievement belongs to me, you know. Don't say a +word about it when you get home till you see me. I haven't fully made +up my mind as to the manner of capturing him, and there must be no +contradictions on the subject." + +"Go ahead," replied Spalding, "we'll be careful of your honor. Drop us +a line at Cape Vincent, when you've digested the matter, and we'll +stand by you. Good-bye!" + +"Good-bye!" And our friends disappeared from our sight on their voyage +home. + +"And so," said Spalding, "we are to leave this beautiful lake, and +these old forests so soon. I could linger here a month still, enjoying +these shady and primitive solitudes. To you and I, the quiet which one +finds here is vastly more inviting than it is to the friends who have +just left us. The Doctor, of necessity, leads a life of activity, +feeling physical weariness as the result of his labors, but little of +that strong yearning for intellectual repose which those in your +profession or mine so often feel. Smith's life demands excitement. The +absence of the cares and toil of business occasions a restlessness and +desire of change, which makes him discontented here. With them the +great charm of this wild region is its novelty. They enjoy its +beauties for a season with peculiar relish, but as these become +familiar, the spell is broken, and they turn towards home without a +regret To you and I, there is something beyond this. We, too, feel and +appreciate the beauty of these lakes and mountains The hill-sides and +placid waters, the forest songs, and wild scenery are pleasant to us; +but we enjoy them the more from the intellectual relaxation, the +mental quiet and repose, which we find among them. We feel that we are +resting, that the process of recuperation, intellectual as well as +physical, is going on within us. We can almost trace its progress, +and we feel that the time spent by us here is full of profit as well +as pleasure. At all events, it is so with me, and if duty to others, +whose interests it is my business to serve, did not demand my return, +I could enjoy another month here with unabated pleasure." + +"You have left me little," I replied, "to add to what you have already +said, in expressing the sources of my enjoyment among these beautiful +lakes. Fishing and hunting, considered in the abstract, are things I +care but little about. They are pleasant enough in their way, but what +brings me here is the strong desire as well as necessity for the +repose of which you speak. There is a luxury in intellectual rest, +when the brain is wearied with protracted toil, which far surpasses +the mere animal enjoyment which follows relaxation from physical +labor. That rest I cannot find in society. I must seek it among wild +and primeval solitudes, where I can be alone with nature in her +unadorned simplicity, away from the barbarisms, so to speak, of +civilization, where I can act and talk and think as a natural, and not +an artificial man, where I can be off my guard, and free from the +weight of that armor which the conventionalities of life, the captions +espionage of the world compels us to wear, un-tempted by the thousand +enticements which society everywhere presents to lure us +into unrest." + +We drifted leisurely down the left hand channel, and entered the +Rackett, bidding good-bye to the beautiful lake as a bend in the river +hid it from our view. A mile below the junction, the river runs square +against a precipice some sixty feet in height, wheeling off at a right +angle, and stretching away though a natural meadow on either hand, of +hundreds of acres in extent. At the base of this precipice, formed by +the rocky point of a hill, the water is of unknown depth. Above, and +fifty feet from the surface of the river, there are ledges of a foot +or two in width, like shelves, along which the fox, the fisher, and +possibly the panther, creep, instead of travelling over the high ridge +extending back into the forest. As we rounded a point which brought us +in view of this precipice, Spalding, who was in the forward boat, +discovered a black object making its way along the face of the rocks. +A signal for silence was given, and the boats were permitted to float +with the current in the direction of the precipice. We were forty rods +distant, and the animal, whatever it was, had no suspicion of danger. +It paused midway across the rocks, looked about, nosing out over the +water, and sat down upon its haunches, as if enjoying the beauty of +the scenery around it. In the meantime, the boats had drifted within +twenty rods, and Spalding, taking deliberate aim, fired. At the crack +of the rifle, the animal leapt dear of the ledge, struck once against +the face of the rock some twenty feet below, and then went, end over +end, thirty feet into the river. As he struck the water he commenced +swimming round and round in a circle, evidently bewildered by +Spalding's bullet, or the effect of his involuntary plunge down the +rocks. Our men bent to their oars, and had got within five or six rods +of it, when it straightened up in alarm for the shore. + +"Hold on, Cullen," said I, "lay steady for a moment." I drew upon the +animal, and just as it reached the shore, fired, and it turned over +dead. We found it to be a black fox, that had walked out upon the +ledge, and thus been added another victim to the indulgence of an idle +curiosity. Spalding's bullet had grazed its belly, raking off the hair +and graining the skin; mine had gone through its head. + +"There, Judge," said Cullen, as he lifted the animal into the boat, +"is a kritter that isn't often met with in these parts, and the wonder +is, that he didn't discover us as we floated down the stream. He's +about the cunningest animal that travels the woods. He's got an eye +that's always open, a delicate ear, and a sharp nose, and he keeps 'em +busy, as a general thing. He never neglects their warnin', but puts +out about the quickest, whenever they notify him that there's an enemy +about. I've had a good deal of trouble with them in my day, when I've +been out trappin' martin. They'll manage to spring the trap and carry +off the bait. When one of them chaps gets on a line of traps, there's +no use in talkin'. The game's up, and the trapper may make up his mind +to get rid of the varmint in some way, or locate in another range of +country. He'll find his traps sprung and his bait gone. Or if a martin +has been in ahead of the fox, he'll find only the skull, the end of +the tail, the feet, and a few of the larger bones, and they'll be +picked mighty clean at that. You've seen a martin trap, or if you +haven't, I'll try and describe one so that you'll understand it. It's +a very simple contrivance, and if a martin was not a good deal more +stupid than a goose, he'd never be caught in one of them. We drive +down a couple of rows of little stakes, plantin' the stakes close +together, and leaving between the rows a space of six or eight inches. +The rows are may be a foot and a half long. We then cut and trim a +long saplin', say five or six inches across at the butt, and leaving +one end on the ground, set the other, may be two feet high, with a +kind of figure four, so that when it falls, it will come down between +the rows of stakes. We fix the bait so that a martin in getting at it, +will have to go in between the rows of stakes, and displace the trap +sticks, when down comes the pole upon him and crushes him to death. We +talk about a _line_ of traps, because we blaze a line of trees, +sometimes for miles, and set a trap every twenty or thirty rods. I've +had a line of a dozen miles or more, in my day, in a circle around my +campin' ground. In minding our traps, we follow the line of marked +trees from one to the other, and so never miss a trap, nor get lost in +the woods. + +"I mind once, a good many years ago, Crop and I was over towards the +St. Regis, on a cruise after martin and sable, and anything else in +the way of game we could pick up. I'd laid out my trappin' +arrangements on a pretty large scale, and was doin' a little better +than midlin', when I found that my traps were sprung by some animal +that helped himself to the bait, without leavin' his hide as a +consideration for settin' of 'em. After a few days, I found that +whatever it was, understood the line as well as I did, for he took the +range regular, and not only stole the bait, but ate up half a dozen +martin, that had given me a claim on their hides by springin' my +traps. This was a kind of medlin' with my private concerns that I +didn't like, and I was bound to find out who the interloper was, and +if possible, to make his acquaintance. There was no snow on the +ground, and I couldn't get at his track. So I made up my mind to watch +for him. Well, one day I spoke to Crop to stay by the shanty and take +care of the things, while I went to find out who it was that was +medlin' with our property, and started off on my line of traps. I got +up into the crotch of a great birch near one of 'em, and sat there +with my rifle, waitin' for something to turn up. It was a little after +noon when I got located. The sun travelled slowly along down towards +the western hills, his bright light, in that calm November day, makin' +the rocky ranges and the bare heads of the tall peaks shine out in a +blaze of glory. The livin' things of the old woods were busy and jolly +enough. An old owl came flying lazily out of the thick branches of a +hemlock, and lightin' within a dozen feet of me, opened his great +round eyes in astonishment, and as the bright sunlight dazzled him, he +squinted and turned his cat-like face from side to side, as if makin' +up his mind that he'd know me the next time we met. By-and-by he +opened his hooked beak, and great red mouth, and roared out, 'Hoo! +hohoo! hoo!' as much as to say, 'who the devil are you?' I didn't +answer a word, and after a little, he flew back to his shadowy perch +among the dense foliage of the hemlock. A black squirrel came hopping +along with his mouth full of beech nuts, and running nimbly up the +tree on which I was perched, and out upon one of the great limbs, +deposited his store in a hollow he found there. He caught sight of me +as he came back, and seating himself upon a branch, not six feet from +my head, began chatterin' and barkin' as if givin' me a regular lecter +for invadin' his premises, and takin' possession of his tree. He +didn't seem to understand the matter at all, and I didn't undertake to +explain the reason of my being there. After a little, he went off +about his business, and left me to attend to mine. A raccoon came +nosing along, stoppin' every little way to turn over the leaves, or +pull away the dirt from a root with his long hands, tastin' of one +thing and smellin' of another in a mighty dainty way. When he came to +my tree, he seemed to think that there might be something among its +branches worth looking at. So he came clambering up its rough bark +towards where I sat. He came up on the other side of the tree from me, +till he got about even with my huntin'-cap, and then came round to my +side, and there we were, face to face, not two feet apart. I reckon +that coon was astonished when our eyes met, for with a sort of scream +he let right loose, and dropped twenty feet to the ground like a clod, +and the way he waddled away into the brash, mutterin' and talkin' to +himself, was a thing to laugh at. + +"The sun was, may be, an hour high, when lookin' along the line of +marked trees, I saw a black animal come trotting mighty softly towards +the trap I was watchin'. I knew him at once. He was a black fox, and I +knew that he was the gentleman that had been makin' free with my +property for the last few days. He trotted up to the trap, and walked +carefully around it, nosin' out towards the bait, but keepin' out from +under the pole. He seemed to understand what that pole meant, and that +if it fell on him, he'd be very likely to be hurt. After a little, he +trotted out to the other end of the pole, and gettin' on to it, walked +carefully along to within ten or twelve feet of the bait; if he didn't +begin jumpin' up and down till he sprung the trap, you may shoot me. +When he'd done that job, he went back, and gettin' hold of the bait +with his teeth, drew it out and began very cooly to eat it. By this +time I'd brought my rifle to bear upon the gentleman, but I gave him a +little law, to see what his next move would be. After he'd finished +the bait, and found there warn't any more to be come at, he stretched +himself on his belly along the ground, and began lickin' his paws, and +passing them over his cheeks, as you've seen a cat do. After he'd +washed his face awhile, he sat himself down on his haunches, curled +his long bushy tail around his feet, and looked about as if +considerin' what he should do next. Just then I paid my respects to +him, and as my rifle broke the stillness of the forest, he turned a +double summerset, and after kickin' around a little, laid still. I +came down from my perch, and took the gentleman to the shanty and +added his hide to those of the martins I'd taken. My traps warn't +disturbed after that, and I carried home a pack of furs that bro't me +near two hundred dollars." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +OUT OF THE WOODS--THE THOUSAND ISLANDS--CAPE VINCENT--BASS FISHING +HOME--A SEARCHER AFTER TRUTH--AN INTERRUPTION--FINIS. + + +We floated quietly down the Rackett, carrying our boats around the +falls, shooting like an arrow down the rapids, or gliding along under +the shadows of the gigantic forest trees that line the long, calm +reaches of that beautiful river. We shook hands and parted with our +boatmen at the pleasant village of Pottsdam, where we arrived the +second evening after leaving Tupper's Lake. We found our baggage, and +it was a pleasant thing to change our long beards for shaved faces, +and our forest costume for the garniture of the outer man after the +fashion of civilization. We took the cars for Ogdensburgh, and the +next morning found us steaming up the majestic St. Lawrence, towards +that paradise of fishermen, the Thousand Islands. We stopped a couple +of days at Alexandria Bay, and passed on to Cape Vincent, a beautiful +village situated a mile or two below where the river takes its +departure from the broad lake beyond. This pleasant little town is +built upon a wide sweep of tableland, overlooking the river in front, +and the open lake on the west. It is accessible both by the lake and +river, having two or three arrivals' and departures of steamboats each +way daily, and being the terminus of the Rome and Watertown Railroad, +the great thoroughfare between Kingston and the central portion of the +Tipper Provinces and the States. It is a delightful place in the hot +summer months, with a climate unequalled for healthfulness, a cool +breeze always fanning it from the water, and in the vicinity the best +bass fishing to be found on this continent. + +Opposite, and just below the town, is Carlton Island, on which stand +the ruins of an old French fortification, the walls and trenches and +the solitary chimneys, from which the wooden barracks have rotted or +been burned away, remain as melancholy testimonials of the bloody +strifes between the red men of the forest, and the pioneers of +civilization who were driving them from the hunting grounds of +their fathers. + +The black bass of the St. Lawrence and Ontario, are the "gamest" fish +that swim, and they are nowhere found in such abundance as in the +neighborhood of Cape Vincent. On the outer edge of the bar, near the +head of Carlton Island, we caught between seventy and eighty in one +afternoon, weighing from three to five pounds each, every one of which +fought like a hero, diving with a plunge for the bottom, skiving with +a rush down, across, or up the river; leaping clear from the water +and shaking his head furiously, to throw the hook loose from his jaw, +before surrendering to his fate. In Wilson's Bay, a sweet place, three +miles from the village by water, or one and a half by land, we caught +as many more on another afternoon. We took a sail-boat and glided +round Lighthouse Point (a pleasant drive of two miles from the +village), out into the lake, and steered for Grenadier Island, five +miles distant, on which we tented for the night, and the bass we +brought home the next day were something worth looking at. Near the +upper end of Long Island are other prolific bass shoals, where the +fisherman may enjoy himself. Indeed, he can scarcely go amiss in the +surrounding waters. + +The black bass of the St. Lawrence are not only game fish, but are, in +excellence of flavor, scarcely excelled by any fish of this country. +Baked or boiled, they have few superiors, and as a pan fish, are +excelled only by the brook-trout of the streams. The season for taking +them commences in July; and continues through September. August is the +best month in the year for the bass fishermen. If, during that month, +he will supply himself with a strong bass-pole, a strong treble-action +reel, stout silk lines, and proper hooks, and visit Gape Vincent, he +will find boatmen with a supply of minnows, ready to serve him; and if +he fails to enjoy himself for a fortnight among the black bass of the +St Lawrence and Ontario, he may count himself as a man who is very +hard to please. + +We spent a pleasant week at Cape Vincent, and then turned our faces +homeward, invigorated in strength and buoyant in spirits, to begin +again a round of toil, from which we, at least, could claim no further +exemption. + +"H----," said a friend of mine, as he stalked into my sanctum, a few +days after my return, and seated himself at my elbow, as if for a +private and confidential talk, "did Smith really shoot the bear, the +skin of which he brought home, and which he exhibits with such +triumph. Tell me, honestly, as between you and me, did he in fact +shoot him?" + +"Smith certainly did shoot that bear," I replied. + +"But is the marvellous story he tells about the manner of killing him +really true?" + +"That, of course, I cannot tell," I replied, "as I have never heard +the story." + +"Why," said my friend, "he tells about a beautiful lake, lying away +back in the northern wilderness, above which Mount Marcy, and Mount +Seward, and other nameless peaks of the Adirondacks, rear their tall +heads to the clouds, throwing back the sunlight in a blaze of glory; +on which the moonbeams lie like a mantle of silver, while away down in +its fathomless depths the stars glow and sparkle, like the sheen of a +million of diamonds. Of the old forests and trees of fabulous growth, +stretching away and away on every hand, throwing their sombre shadows +far out over the water, in whose tangled recesses countless deer and +moose, and panthers, and bears range, and among whose branches birds +of unknown melody carol. That one side of this beautiful lake is +palisadoed by a wall of rocks, stand straight up sixty feet high, near +the top of which is a shelf or narrow pathway, along which two men can +scarcely walk abreast. That he was passing along this pathway one +afternoon, examining the rocks, and looking for geological specimens. +Below him was a precipice of fifty feet, against the base of which the +waves, when the winds swept over the lake, dashed. Around him the +birds that build their nests in the crevices of the rock were whirling +and screaming, while before him lay the beautiful lake, motionless and +calm, as if it had fallen asleep and was slumbering sweetly in its +forest bed. That he was passing leisurely along with his rifle at a +trail, admiring the transcendent loveliness of the scenery around him, +where the rugged and the sublime, the placid and the beautiful, were +so magnificently mingled, when, in turning a sharp angle, a huge bear" + +"Copy!" shouted the printer's devil, as he came plunging down three +steps at a bound from the compositors' room above. "Copy!" he +screamed, as he dove into the outer office where that article was +usually kept, but found none. + +"Mr. H.," said he, as he opened my door so gently, with a voice so +quiet, and a look so innocent, that one might well be excused for +believing that he had never spoken a loud word in his life, "Mr. H----, +the foreman desired me to ask you for some copy." + +"You see, my friend," said I to the anxious inquirer after truth, +"that I am exceedingly busy just now. You will excuse me, therefore, +for referring you to the Doctor and Spalding, who know all about the +matter. Good day." And my friend departed without finishing the story +Smith told him about his killing the bear. I have never heard the +balance of that story yet. + +And now, Reader, a word to you, and I have done. When the sun comes +up over the city, day after day, pouring his burning rays along the +glimmering streets, shining on and on in a changeless glare, till he +hides himself in the darkness again; when your strength wilts under the +enervating influences of the summer heats, and you pant for the forest +breezes and the "cooling streams," remember that the same wild region +I have been describing, the same pleasant rivers, beautiful lakes, tall +mountains, and primeval forests are there still, all inviting you to test +their recuperative agencies. The same singing birds, the fishes and the +game are there waiting your pleasure. Visit them when the summer heat +makes the cities a desolation. Give a month to the enjoyment of a +wilderness-life, and you will return to your labors invigorated in +strength, buoyant in spirit--a wiser, healthier, and a better man. + +FINIS. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wild Northern Scenes, by S. H. Hammond + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WILD NORTHERN SCENES *** + +***** This file should be named 10009.txt or 10009.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/0/10009/ + +Produced by Michael Lockey and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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