Show I hC e Sf S I LENT LE NT LAND LA LAN N D Author Au The By hor ROBERT Red fled of Republic The W CHAMBERS King A in King KIr Yellow gand ganda and anda a Few Dukes etc Copyright 1896 by G P Putnam s Sons Entered at Stationers Hall Hail London I And the woman fled fied Into the wilder wilderness wilderness wilderness ness where she hath a place prepared of God I Ferris and I had a dispute a bitter one line and as usual FerrIs had pushed his cap over his eyes until the hairon hair orl the back of his head stuck out You cant do It It he said shoving both hands up to the wrists In his can canvas canvas vas fishing coat Ill prove it it said I Y What W at a stub stubborn stubborn stubborn born mule you are Ferris Stubborn nothing he retorted you rou and your our theories must mu t have your lit Ht little tle tie airing I suppose but I dont intend to assist Im right sometimes I said Sometimes youre wrong too said Ferris Then he walked off toward the cliffs cUffs whistling wh 11 tUng uncompromising untidy Theres Theros a hole in your our leggings I called after him but he did not deign to answer me Obstinate ass I thought for we I were very fond of each other if he wastes his time with the Silver r Doctor hell rue It Then I looked at Solomon Solo Solomon Solomon mon and lighted a cigarette Solomon was a bird an up enervating biru bir of the Ibis species wrinkled and wizened like the mummies of his native na tive land which was Egypt The bird was mine a sarcastic tribute from Fer Ferris Ferris Ferris ris and the bird and the sarcasm both bore directly on the only disputes which whichever whichever whichever I ever groso between Ferris and myself my myself mYself self The cause of these disputes was wag wasa waga a an innocent toy tOY boy of scarlet and tinsel known to anglers as the Red fled Ibis I swore by b It Ferris swore at it In n the long winter nights when the streams gurgled under the frozen forests foresta and the lake was a sheet of soggy snow Ferris and I loafed be before before before fore the fire pulling tangled masses of leaders and flies files about and dragging the silken lines over the rugs to hear ear earthe the reels click Every fly fi to the breth brethren brethren brethren ren of the tIle angle was discussed every fly except the Red lied Ibis We both honestly hon honestly honestly estly tried to avoid this bone of con contention contention contention Wo We Ve talked of Duns and Hackles Hack Hackles Hackles les and Spinners and Gnats but In spite of every precaution the Red Ibis Ibs would occasionally rise like a fiery flery spectre between us and then we dis disputed disputed disputed vehemently No angler with a rag of would use the Ibis said Ferris with that obstinate shrug which added gall to the insult and I well the crowning clowning insult came when Ferris sent to Cairo Calro and imported a live lIe Egyptian Ibis for me Pull out his tail tall feathers when youre oure short of Red Ibis gasped Fer Ferris Ferris Ferris ris weak with laughter as I stood silently inspecting the bird in my stu studio studio studio dio Ill send him to Central park said saidI I swallowing my wrath but I thought better of it and Solomon the wizened became an important member of my household The bird was a mystery I never cared to encounter his filmy eyes Centuries Cen Centuries Centuries seemed to roll away when he unclosed them visions of tombs and obelisks filled my mind glimpses of desert sunsets and the warm waters of lazy ay rivers rs His HI black bla shriveled shri led i i i r tL l 1 I ered gourd among the garish ored feathers on his breast Solly Sony said I when Ferris disappeared disappeared below the cliff do you want wanta a u frog The bird unclosed one eye I went to toa a pail of water in which I kept minnows and Solomon followed me solemnly hopping Help yourself Solly SoIl said I uncovering uncovering ering the pall pail pallI I called him hint Solly because I wished to put myself at ease case with this relic of Egyptian Royalty The splendor of ot Pharos court had not dimmed this hoary prophets eye which was pierc piercing piercIng piercing ing when the sleepy film left It pierc piercing ing enough to make mako me feel that thou thousands thousands sands of years young and very bour bourgeois bourgeois bourgeois In vain I addressed him as Solly In vain I gave him chocolate creams he was the tho aristocrat the ven venerable venerable venerable erable high priest of an empire dead and I was his man servant his ass and his ox Solomon dabbed dabb d once or twice at a sportive minnow pecked pensively at atthe atthe atthe the handle of ot the pail pall swallowed a pebble or two and then ruffling his scarlet feathers sidled aimlessly back into the sedge by the frog pond I watched him for a while brooding dreamily among the rushes but he paid no further attention either to me or to the small green frogs that squatted on the lily lilyy pads or floated half halt sub submerged submerged merged watching him with enormous eyes eye e e eA A noisy blue jay flitted through the orchard and alighted on a crab crabapple apple appletree appletree tree solely to Insult Solomon He of course was unsuccessful and his lan language language language guage became bec me so utterly unfit for pub publication publication publication that I moved away awa shocked and d annoyed The sun sum was very lot It glittered with a blinding light across the rippling rip rippling rippling pling pond where dragon flies tIles darted and sailed and chased each other over the water or flitted among the clouds of dancing midges searching for prey A sweet smell came came to me from or orchard orchard orchard chard and sedge there was an odor of scented rushes In the air and the lingering summer wind bore puffs of perfume from clover fields and mea meadows meadows meadows dows fragrant with flowering mint I looked again toward the cliffs Ferris was as not in iI sight Obstinate mule I thought and picking up my rod and fly book I sauntered d toward the forest Ferris said I to myself Is after that big trout by the Red Rock rap Ids but hell hen never raise him with a Silver Doctor and hell come home in ina Ina ina a devil of a temper I sat down in a clump of sweet fern fernand fernand fernand and joined my rod When I had run the silk through the guides and had fastened the leader I opened my fly ny book and sought for a Red Ibis fly fl There was not one in the book I must send to New York tomor rew I thought turning the aluminum leaves Impatiently fancy my ntY being out of Red Ibis IbisI I selected a yellow Oak Oali fly for the dropper and a nameless nam less Gnat for the hand fly fl and drawing the leader down downto to the reel started on again carrying my rod with the tip behind me meThe i The forest was dim and moist and I ci v it t Where the sunshine fell feU among amon the ferns a few flies files buzzed u ze in n the gilded warmth but except for this and anda a strange gray grayy gra bird which flitted fil ted be before before before fore me silently as I walked there was no sign of o life nothing I starring pot a rustle among the leaves leaV s not a move movement movement ment not a Over moss and dead leaves in the pale forest light I passed over crumbling logs damp and lIchen ov ered half submerged in little pools and the musty fragrance of the forest mould set me dreaming of dryads and fauns and lost altars attars whose marbles stained with tender green glimmer In ancient forests This belt of woods was always silent I often wondered wonder d why There were no birds none except this strange gray creature which kept slitting flitting ahead of me uttering no note It was the first bird I had ever seen in the th western forest belt the first bird except Solo SoJo Solomon Solomon mon who occasionally accompanied me meon meon meon on my m trips to the long pool in the river which borders the wooded belt on the west It was an unknown bird to me meI I could catch fleeting glimpses of it and its long slender wings and dark eyes brought no to my m mind To 10 the north south and east the woods were full of thrushes and wood woodpeckers woodpeckers woodpeckers peckers full of game too grouse deer foxes and an occasional mink l and ot otter otter otter ter but the shy wood creatures left the western forest belt alone and even the trout seemed to shun the dark pools where the river swept the edges of the wood until it curved out again by Lynx peak I say the trout shunned it it but there was one a a monstrous fish wily and subtle that lived in the long amber pool below Early Earl in the season Ferris had raised him with a Silver Sliver Doctor and FerrIss Ferries madness on the Silver Doctor dated from front that th t moment moment His H s mania for this fly led him to use it in season and out and no amount of persuasion or of ridicule moved him Because Be sause said f t 1 you ou had a Silver Doctor snapped off by a big fish do you imagine its It the only fly in 11 the world Its good enough for me he said There were two things which Ferris used to say that maddened me One was The Silver Doctors Doctor good enough for me the tho other was New Yorks good enough for me mee We e never discussed the tho latter ques question qu question s stion tion after Ferris had to me is ts isa ha tsa a Latin Quarter Nondescript but the battle still raged over the merits of the Silver Doctor and the Red Ibis When I came to the wooded slope which overhung the river I buttoned my shooting coat and began a cautious descent trailing my m rod tod carefully I headed for the foot of the pool for one of my theories which ruffled Ferris berris was that certain pools should be fished up stream This was one of those pools according to my theory and when I had reached the rocks rock and had waded into The rushing water wat r I faced up stream and find cast straight out into the rapids which curled among the boulders at the foot of the pool At the second cast I hooked a snag and waded out to disengage it It Fum Fumbling Fumbling Fumbling bling about under the foaming water I found my fly imbedded in something h i refused to rive way I ed cautiously and gently it was useless Then I 1 rolled up my sleeve and plunged my arm into nto the water up to the shoulder This time it did dd ld give way ay t d I drew out my m arm and held up something glistening and dripping in which my hook was firmly Imbedded It was a shoe small pointed high and buckled with a silver ilver buckle This said I Is most extraordinary nary and I sat down on 00 a flat rock holding the shoe close tto to my eyes Besnard Paris I read r ad stamped on the lining over the heel And the buckle was of sterling silver sliver I sat for fora a l moment thinking Our cottage Ferris and an mine was the only house In the whole region that I knew of except the old house in the glade by the White Moss Spring That was unoccupied and had h d been for years a crumbling abandoned farm tottering the young growth of an advancing forest But as I r sat thinking I remembered early in the season season having seen seen smoke above the trees once once when we were in the neighborhood of the White Moss Spring and I recollected that Ferris had clad spoken of poachers We had been een too lazy Ia lY to Investigate too lazy laz even to remember it t until as I sat there hold 1101 holding l lIng Ing the small shoe the incident came back to me and nd I wondered whether anybody had taken up an abode in the abandoned farm I like it The forests and streams belonged to Ferris Ferrill and arid pie me and although up to the present moment it had not been necessary to employ many keepers I began to fear that our woods were being invaded and that we should soon be obliged to find protection protection protection tion I looked at the shoe turning t over carefully in my hands It was new had scarcely been worn at all Pooh I thought the owner of this could scarcely do much damage among the game but of course there may be bigger shoes in company with this and those bigger shoes had bet better better better ter look out My first impulse was to throw t the shoe into the underbrush I 1 started to todo todo todo do this and then carefully laid laic it t down on a rock Let it dry I muttered its evi evidence evidence evidence dence for Ferris Butas But as it happen happened ed cd Ferris was not destined to see the shoe I II IL III III ILI I fished the pool twice once once up and once down and heaven knows I fished it conscientiously but no trout rose roseto rose roseto to the flies although I J changed the I cast east half a dozen times and even even vio violated violated violated m my feelings by trying ing a Sliver Silver Doctor It was true I glanced up and an down the river rier to see whether Ferris was in sight before I did so The wily wHy old devil wont come up said I to myself meaning the trout Ill give him a rest for a while And AndI I sat silt down on the rock where the pointed shoe was waS drying in the sun laying my m rod beside me hats the use of speculating about this shoe I thought and straightway began to speculate The strange gray bird with the slen slender slender slender der wings and dark eyes slipped through the undergrowth along the op opposite opposite side of the pool but It uttered no call and I caught only fleeting glimpses of o it t at intervals Once for fora pr pra a moment it flitted quite near and anda a sudden sense of ot haying having seen It be before before before fore came over me but after a little thinking I found myself associating it with a rare bird I had once noticed in northern France and of course it was vas impossible that this could be a French bird It was an association of Ideas deas said saidI I to myself looking at the mark in the slim shoe Besnard Paris And I began speculating upon the owner of the shoe Young Probably Pro ably Slender Probably Probably Probably ably Pretty The deuce take the shoe I muttered picking up my rod Presently I laid it down again softly Now perhaps said saW I to o myself this little shoe has tapped the gravel of the Luxembourg patted the asphalt of the Boulevard des Italians brushed the lawns of the Bois ah me ah me methe methe methe the devil take the shoe The fhe sun beat e t down clown upon the rock the little shoe in my m hand was nearly dry d dry I No said I to myself Ill not show It jt to Ferris And Ill not shove it into my m pocket no for if Ferris finds It it ithell ithell hell rag me to death Ill throw it away I T stood up Ill just throw it away I repeated aloud to encourage myself for I want to throw it away One two three said I with an at attempt attempt attempt tempt at carelessness ness which changed to astonishment as I r raised my eyes to the bank above whither I had intended to hurl the shoe ahoe For an instant I stood rigid my I 1 right hand clutching the shoe arrested in mid air Then I placed the shoe very carefully upon the rock beside me and took off my I beg your pardon said I I did not see you I stood silent politely holding my shooting cap against my stomach But ButI EutI I was confused for Jor she had answered me in French Frenc pure Parisian French and my ideas were considerably unbalanced unbalanced unbalanced I J am afraid I stared a little I tried not to She was slender and very young Her dark eyes half shadowed under black lashes made me mo think of the strange bird that had followed me mo She sat on the crooked trunk of a tree overhanging the bank her feet negligently crossed her hands in the pockets of ofa a leather shooting jacket Im Im afraid to say how short shorter her er skirts were but of course this is li the age of ot bicycles and shooting kilts Madame I said trying to keep my eyes from one small I have found a shoe My shoe Monsieur she said se serenely serenely serenely Permit me madame said I 1 Mademoiselle said she Permit me mea a thousand t pardons mademoiselle to return to you your shoe It was very stupid of ot me lIle to lose it said she It Is nearly |