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Show 1 1 j H Without a Guide H Tte Srf Out Into H Primitive. 1 1 Fremfe fad 7W H I Tiem Tz PFr HI Foolhardy and H I PFowrf iVbf Come I J Oifc 5 Tze DM, H I ani T2i Enjoyed It. 1 p HEN we left Chicago for northern X A 0ntarl by war Duluth and 1 W Port Arthur moose hunting was H 9 not our only excuse for venturing H 1 into tho north woods. Wo wanted Hl I to be Umber cruisers, rangers, oxplorers, of Jl 1 ono kind or another. Wo wantod to bo ft what others wero not. Wo gloomed at any S hint that wo were simply tourists or peo- H 3 plo paddling a canoe. H a Next we argued all the way up Lako Su- V- perlor from Duluth to Port Arthur tho B simplo question whother wo should tako an 8 Indian, I was, on the whole, in favor of it. B I t,hought an Indiari would be a picturesque 1 figure sitting there In tho bow of the canoe H with his feathers hanging down and his H "war paint on. How was I to know that ho H; would more likely wear a boiled shirt and a HI I derby hat? In my imagination the Indian, Hl the modern Indian, was a creature who had I retained all of his Hiawatha 'and somo of H I his Fenlmoro Cooper. I Selillng the Cuide Question. M' h So then we agreed to can tho Indian. But at Fort William Cross threw a cold nt into H us again. Ho was a timber cruiser hlmsolf Hfl a niagniflccnt brown, pock marked ranger, HjH lacking Just the interesting number of fin- gcrs from his left hand. Ho had a con- HIb temptuous look at our funny railroad map Hlj with the red arrows showing the canoe H route, and ho produced a much larger and moro gaudy map, which, he said, would lot H8 u Beo things as they really wero. Wo saw: Bfl a bewildering, snaky maze of bayous, mus- 1 kegs, rice lakes, and hombug coves, fl "Without you take an Indian I don't 8 look for you to come out," said Cross sadly. He had an almighy serious blue eye, too. Porthos and I crossed glances and, without fl; saying much, we began to lean toward tho Hji Indian again. HB; The only z-y could shako this feeling was by hooking up with another timber H orulser Marks. Marks was even more M magnificent than Cross, because ho had, In H8 addition to all of Cross' advantages, a hawk noso. But tho striking thing about H' Marks was that ho had a map oven larger j than Cross', and twlco tho confldenco In this map that Cross had had in his. Marks Bald that,' although, of course, ho couldn't H ! spoak for us. he himself would feel quite I secure in tackling tho region with the map If properly mounted on linen and Inclosed in J a fire extinguisher against the dew and H 19 rain. I Marks had an office full of hugo lumps H In of mineral. Ho seemed an extremely ro- P fil liable man; wo persuaded him to hand over H ' 9 his map, and again in our socrot thoughts 8 wo canned the Indian. Wo must havo I thrown that Indian ovorboard and fished 1 his draggled form out again at least a score . I of times beforo wo finally slid our canoo 1 I into Lonely lako and departed without him, fl 1 Peace to his ashes. 1 1 I More Advice from a Scotchman. H I All was mado bright and clear to us on 1 tb-& way UP to Lac SQUl by a Scotch., engl- Hll near who had como down to havo his eyes n tested. Ho sneered at Cross' pessimism. fll Ho said that this was a country whero any h reasonably resolute man had no neod of HHl coming to grief. Look at the lakos swarm- HH lnff with fish, to say nothing of the woods B I whoro rabbits might be caught any timo H I by hanging a loop of wlro over one of their H j I trails. Ho also montloned the lost man's H ; I frlond, as if to cap his argument with aa H ' I Invincible point Yes, wo could always H' I knock a porcupine on tho head. As long H I as wo had a compass wo were In no danger I of falling to mako the Grand Tunk track, V 1 ho could assure us on tho ecoro of food, at H I least. Why, 'tho ancestors of theso good K I for nothing Indians had lived, hadn't they, Bf I and without a duffel bag, too. They just flrf snooped about, picking up sustenance out I of their shadows, the way a citizen of these H ; parts ought to. H ! He left us at Graham, having filled us B with courago much as If he had tilted it H into us out of a can. H Wo ourselves wont on to Hudson, whero H 1 ' ' ' the railroad ran by the shore of tho lake. H I Up till now wo had been In doubt as to H whether tho engineer would get a certain H telegram, which ho had stipulated for, H H .commanding him to stop at Hudson. At H 1 1 ' Graham he recolved it. We contemplated H u his bullhead thruBt through tho cab win- 1 J dow; and wo imagined he was angry at B 1 1 having to stop there just to divest himself H mm of two flea explorers. But by then we wero H ' . indifferent to hatred. Wo were on tho war H 'III We had to get the canoo out of tho bag- H j gage car ourselves and Porthos barked his H HI shins unmercifully In doing it. Tho train HI pullod out. Wo wero on a platform of somo sort and folt as strange as If wo had been dumped without ceromony on another planot. Wo smelt smoke from some Indian's fire; we heard his dogs yapping, yap-ping, and small animals scurrying across tho platform. Wo stretched out and slept In tho morning we saw ourBolvcs confronted con-fronted by a largo florid lako, Wo asked an Indian who had lounged up what tho namo of this lake was. Tho Indian tilted his derby hat and showed us a set of black tooth. No Bavvy. Wo wore to learn that Indians do not uso English with strangors. They resorve it for tho war dances. They talk English when thoy aro drunk or signing sign-ing their last will and testament. It's nothing short of a desperation measure. So wo asked a man fishing in a cedar canoo what the namo of the lako was. Ho was a black fox buyer just como into that country. Ho didn't know. Howovor, ho had caught a pickerel, so wo Invited him to breakfast ij: :: . Rapids and Sporty Water. After a good deal of speculating, and looking at the lay of the land, and Blzlng up tho points and Islands, we decided that this was Lost lake. According to Mark's map Lost lako had an outlet to tho north. Wo thoreforo paddled north all ono burning morning. There was no outlot, and wo then paddled south again, all ono burning afternoon, and thcro wo saw our Indian, sitting In tho shadow of his wigwam, with his derby hat at an Irroveront angle. O, it was tough to look at that Indian and reflect that he had known all tho whilo we would bo coming back presently. Wo used our quick stroke in going by him. Wo couldn't see him for tho spray wo threw up with our paddles. As soon as wo woro well out of eight of that Indian we pawod tho map over again and ronamed It Lily lako, with an outlet to tho west. This proved correct Now wo began to ovorhaul tho points, and by sundown wo camo in view of Manltou rapids. Wo heard thorn roaring whilo wo wero yet a long way off, and wo looked at each othor with a quiet satisfaction. Ha. rapids and sporty water, as tho Angler's Guldo remarked. Sporty water, said tho guldo, was usually marked by a black V of smooth flowing water at the top, and it was the aim of tho canoolst to drive his canoo Into tho center of this V and then let her go, Gallagher. After that he ha'd nothing to do but hold on to his nerve and his provisions. It Is advisable, says the guide, to strap gun and provisions Into tho canoo before attempting attempt-ing to shoot tho rapids. We tied up at the top of the rapids and wont and had a look. Porthos had his fists In his belt and the light in his eye that was In Cook's eye, and Peary's eye, and in the eye of all- broad gauge explorers, your point of vlow now. You are losing Ecst You aro losing grip, ain't you? -It's all tho samo to mo. Do wo shoot them or don't wo shoot them 7" "Wo can't," I quavered feebly. "It; inn't open season on rapids." f Ho oyed mo with scorn. "That Is a moro qulbblo," he said. I had suspected as much. But tho word " shoot " wb getting on my nerves. "Shoot" Is a good word to use in connection connec-tion with rapids as soon as you havo shot thorn. Tho word oxprosscH speed, I grant you that It Is useful In narration. Just aa tho "Dance of tho Hours" is useful to a circus band, when It wishes to Indicate that tho maro In tho sawdust ring Ib going bettor than Lou Dillon at her best But tho word shoot at tho top of a rapids is nothing noth-ing short of tho sign to the oxocutionor. It is an Intimation of the shades of death and, as Socrates might eay, the will of God. Yes, it sounds much as it would to a man with his back against a blank wall at sunrise sun-rise at Chihuahua, "At any rato, I bollevo your idea about a morning light Is sound," I advanced. " Let us pitch camp." Real Beds in the Wilderness. Wo looked for a place. Wo found ono adjacent to tho rapid, but It was covered by a soft thatch of caribou moss, somo-what somo-what moist Porthos, In honor of this discovery, dis-covery, named tho moss rhoumatlsm moss. Later he named tho curious flaming ache In the deltoid and latlsslmus dorsae, with which wo used to wako up, timber crulsor's acho. This was beforo ho had begun referring re-ferring to tho punky drift logs with whloh we built our camp evenings, as tho tired men's poles. Porthos named noarly everything every-thing not already on the map. Whilo wo wore debating tho rheumatism mos3 wo' lifted our oyes and bohold two cot beds sldo by side In the wilderness. We judged this was a variety of maglo common In those parts. Wo Inspected the beds and found them to bo the output of a Chicago mall order house. Porthos was grieved. Ho stood up In tho gathering gloom and delivered a diatribe against Chicago. Chi-cago. Chicago, ho averred, was all right in. her place, but she had no business shov ing out her tentacles and -3, winding them between the w legs of explorers llko-our- selves. How would Peary rl have llktd It, he wanted to know, If. after twenty-three years of honest toll, he V&f0$m vPli had reached the pole and SJ' fK. ' found a modern stove, fac- (mMk)0'- M Jmm tory No. G, all complete, abandoned there by Borne careless camper. He wouldn't havo liked it; ho would have felt as if that wasn't showing much consideration for the pole, to say the least, said Porthos. Wo had a few Bllces of bacon for supper. We had already had tho samo twlco that day and Porthos was beginning now to study the frying pan with that dark, musing look of a man whose appetite Is disengaged. On this occasion he set the pan down with a piece of bacon still lodged in it It grew dark In thore, tho flro died, and wo crept Into our littlo cots. Hang'lt all. don't you seo how it disfigures tho narrative narra-tive to havo to bring in this reference to a cot bed every so often? But no man nowadays can hope to bo beforehand with a mall order house, I reokon. Porthos Hears the Water Nymphs. TVo had read in tho Angler's Guide, I think, tnat sirens voices wero ofton to bo heard In tho rapids, so as we lay in our cots we turned our oars to catch fragments of that bewitch! ng Bong, After a while Porthos said ho could distinctly hear them many beautiful water nymphs, soliciting him In tho most unmistakable strains. Ho asked me what I heard and r'was forced to say that I heard nothing but a lot of water horsing over a bunch of boulders that were golngto be tho death of us by a morning light. "Well," ho said, "I would hardly havo expected you to catoh tho pootry thoro Is ' in the world, it Is your nature to turn a ' deaf' oar to it Don't you imaglno It Is with a man tha way it la with an lnBtru-mont lnBtru-mont ho gotB roaulta only when ho in tuned up and put in trim to understand tho oternal harmonioB?" I Judged that was bo. t "What you lack mostly in Imagination,". Bald Porthos. "Now you tako these Taplds. I Ho hero, and I hear bells tinkling and women tuning up dulcimers and warbling no end of beautiful songs. I oven got a sort of sccno to rlso by concontratlng. It seems liko Holland and thoro are millions of tulips and tho clump, clump of woodon shoos that's tho noiso of tho rapid, aee7 Do you got that, now I point it out to you? No?" i Then ho had anothor fancy and it scemod to him as If ho was back on Michigan avo-nuo avo-nuo onco moro, and tho noise was tho nolso of water plashing out of tho shells those bronzo girls aro holding. Slumbering Forest Awakes. But now the woods had come awako and wero full of many sorts of crafty noises. Mlnuto cracklings, ominous silences, broken by a sound liko tho pad. pad of a stealthy tread. Wonderful how the Imagination will convert that Bwcctly dreaming rustlo, the Blumber of the forest In nil it nmu0 portents of nameless oppression. Wo had forgotten to get a complete list or catalog cata-log of tho animals that Infested this region. re-gion. " It sounded like a footstep," said Porthos. Por-thos. " Do you think It possible that that Indian is following us for any reason? " i "You can think of tho cutest things," I said, and I felt dark, too. It looked like ambush. " Why would ho want our scalps?" "Ho might think wo wero government agents como to knock his reservation Into a cocked hat." "Still, an Indian wouldn't mako any noise." "I don't know," said Porthos. "Don't minimize this thing. The modern Indian is no Fenlmore Coopor. Ho Is as liable to step on a pleco of dead wood as a policeman police-man would be." Wo woro sitting up In tho cots by this time. I was nursing tho Colt and Porthos tho horse pistol. Then ho asked mo if I cpuld hear that sound as of a heavy animal ani-mal munching at no great dlstanco from our tent "I can hear tho vory broath whistle out of Its nostrils," ho said. "If it is a mooso it may walk through tho tent Haven't you heard so? " And at this moment we heard a nolso in tho frying pan. "Four times," said Porthos. This was a ollncher. The appalling regularity reg-ularity of .those taps suggested tho operation opera-tion of a telographor. A bush telegram. "You call that buckling?" said Porthos in a stralnod whlnper. Damn Solves Frying Pan Mystery. Inch by lnoh wo emerged from the tent In half an hour moro or leas wo had made a circuit of It Tho heavy animal had made good his rotroat Then, as Boon as we wero fairly toyod In tho oots again. v got th nolso In tho frying pan and had to make the olrcult again, The night was full of puzzles. Torthos developed a complete theory of " heavy anl-mala anl-mala " .ho never gavo them more of a name ' i 7 H A L L E. T I than that their oraft night habits, and mod of attack. Men in our position, ho -said, ought to go watch and watch, ono sitting In front of the tent whilo tho othor slept It was getting along toward dawn and I suggested that ho take the flrBt watoh on dock. Ho replied that he Judged we had thrown a sufficient scare into them for one night In the morning, bo added, we would havo a look at tho " spoor" and this would guide ub a good deal In our futuro actions. Porthos Is a groat man to pitch on the right word. By fllmply using that word "spoor" ha turned a God fearing lake region into a sort of African Jungle. But, oven as he spoke, it was growing light Wo began to boo tho tent wall and then, creeping out again, wo wore in timo to seo a Btriped ohlpmunk turning a double Bora- , ersault out of tho frying pan. Wo havo nover referred to that ohlpmunk from that day to thia. Ho is tho skeleton in tho cIob-et cIob-et of our woodcraft. The morning light ahowed up that rapldo good and plonty. Wo found two reasons against shooting it One was tho V of smooth wator above It scorned to have disappeared dis-appeared ovor night; a second was, we found some tracks laid over a portage and a railroad truok thoroby. " This Bhows ono thing." said Porthos. "It shows that tho aborigines don't shoot this rapids thomsolves." He met my oyo and added glibly, "I suppose sup-pose it's moroly a question of whether we want to wreck tho expedition as early as this. Wo could do it, of course. Tho question ques-tion is whether wo ought not to have a littlo moro fun first" Wo decided to have a littlo moro lun first Thus Manltou rapids was passed without need of throwing tobacco to tho wator god, Then promptly wo got lost in a rico lake. As wo fondlod map and compass we spoko gaily of thrashing rlco right in over tho side of the canoo, Indian fashion. If worst came to worst An Indian in a Molorhoal. Our voices certainly broke the monotony of the bush. O, for sight of a kindly Indian, In-dian, or savago Indian, or even the silont and satirical brand of Indian we had encountered en-countered at the base of Lily lake. As long as we wero in the rice wo saw none, but tho momont we were clear of it we saw an Indian far off. He was sitting in the stern of a cedar boat and glittering thore what but ono of these blessed little motors that you simply hang over tho rudder post to get a motor driven craft "Would you suppose a self-respecting Indian In-dian would forsake the paddle for a contraption con-traption liko that?" groaned Porthos. "My heavens, man, where's his sense of poetry7 ' '. at the outset of a. grapple with the grim destroyer. "Horsing right-along, isn't he?" he said In a light tone. " Uh-huh." "Which part of her had wo better take7 Shoot for that whito stretch thero under tho alders, and then drift out and take advantage ad-vantage of tho eddy? Or would you say shoot right down her spinal column right whero sho Interlaces? " Ho looked at mo with the dubious light in his oyo of an export who is fazed. I was dazzled. I could only murmur, "I will let you pick the route this time, old horse." "No," ho eald, two hoads aro better than one. Jump in with a decision of some sort Why imitate a dead jolly fish? " "If 'twere dono, 'twere well 'twere done quickly," I said. This is a favorito thought of mine. In moments of excitement I am sure to lay hold of it Waiting for a Morning Light. Porthos knocked out the heel of his pipe and sat down on a ledge of stone. " I am not so Bure," he said carefully. "Don't you think wo had better get a morning light on this? Wouldn't that glvo us a bettor idea how deep those holes really real-ly aro? I imagine most of what wo seo is shadow dancing, don't you? As a matter of fact, nothing is over as bad as it looks." . "That," I-said, "Is what I call a rotten poor axiom if It is an axiom. I will sign a written statomont to tho effect that this hero rapid is every bit as bad as it looks. It has got fangs, if I am any Judgo of sporty water." Porthos Bald: "Wasn't it your understanding, under-standing, old man. that wo woro to shoot theao rapids as wo camo to them, without any nonsense? It Is a littlo hard to get Where's his ancestor worship? Hiawatha and Chlngachgook and all tho old gang must be turning over in their graves. This is worse than motorboats in Venice. It's sacrilegious." "Saves time," I said. "And time must' be money, even to the wigwam builders." "Wigwam," he roared. "I bet you we will find him living In tsome sort of knockdown knock-down house, cement forms, most likely parquet floor In tho pallor and a grapho-phone grapho-phone In tho corner." As a matter of fact, we did later find an Indian who had a talking machino in his wigwam. Unlucky ohlcftaln he had sont his daughter to an industrial school in Bat Portage, and she had developed a mania for tho tango. " Well, lie knew this wa3 not tha way of his ancestors in dealing with womom Kar-won. Kar-won. But what ho was knuckling down to was tho new woman. Emphatically. An arrowy figure which had not yet been bowed beneath tho baby frame, a cheek of clearest coffee, oyes burning black. Tho now woman of the north, woodo. Sho tangoes, tan-goes, by George, and sho has a mall order catalogue as thick as a, wedding oake, and sho points regretfully to the laces she can't wear, because they catch on tho roots of tho trail. And tho old ohlef Bits at the back of the wigwam, banking his toes and murmuring "Stea, etoe," thinking of tho good old days before tho virus of Rat Portage Port-age and Chlquaqua had got into the veins of his offspring. It was not always bo. Now he scarcely daros ordor hor to fetch Bquaw wood for tho Are, Ho Ib a protty sheepish Indian, and about all ho has to uhow, porBonally, for a winter's work Ib tho brass watoh ohaln in his greasy voat pookot No Indian pos86ssoa a coat, but no Belf-respectlng Indian would bo without a vest and watch chain. Tho watch Itself Is no groat matter, On tho third night wo camped On rock Wo wero gotting moro usdd to tho though! of ho.avy animals noV, and 6pent our tim ( ' nights arguing about camp equipment Oui dufflo bag, for Instance Should wo leav 1 It out or haul It Into tho tont with usl Wan it moro liko a sponge or a duck'i . back? Porthos said it would bo aH dry at a bona inside that magic fabric, yet oven aftor tho sort of flood that would havo Noah orawllng back into tho ark. So wo left ,' it out y Arguing About Camp Equipment. Canned goods we hauled In. Porthos saltj he knew what rain would do to them. Wash tho labols off. " Wo usod to opon ' cans that trip," ho said, " and wo didn't know whother wo would draw asparagus or peaches for deasort" On tho Tourth afternoon out wo camo into tho main body of Lac Soul Lonely lake, as It Is somotlmcs called. A great t lako blarlngr and heaving in afternoon sunshine, sun-shine, fifty znlls lone borlson down, too, as soon as we worked cloar of islands, and f rough! As rough as an inland soal il Holy Maoklnaw," said L " is this canoa xrp to sea traffic? " i. " Sho will weather anything," roarod For- 5 thoa enthusiastically. Sho was shooting ' her nfo over tho orests then, drenching him with spray, and sliding gayly down the j; sides of four foot billows. I was at tho t; stern. c "Do you realiza," I said seriously, "that f any ono of these may swamp us? An inch moro and wo are gone." ( "Want to turn back?" he yelled. (. MI merely -want you to wipe that green i off your face. We are in the woke of the ji grim destroyer." f " Dig in," he said, slant her over theso ; waves. Don't take 'cm heud on. Should-er 'em, sidle over 'em- Watch mo knock thorn down La front." He had been reading tho Angler's Guldo S' nights, whilo I was conning Shakspearj, V and thero ho was, shearing the orests off r.; the big rollers with his paddlo. Not a norvous inch in hie bodyl Ho was getting ! wet too, with each ladlo, and thoroughly enjoying it He is certainly a sea faring 'j man! ' j- In Time for Tea. j Suddenly we caught a sparkle from a roof on a point dead ahead. " It Is tho Hudson Bay company's trad- V lng post" I cried. $. Wo dug in and hit up tho fast strokes, (. meaning to impress the natives. As we came nearer wo saw the store, the house, is the church of the mission with Its skeleton fc i I' , belfry all situated on a great flat of yel- low turf running away from the pine for- X est A little steamer lay at the wharf, It3 pilot houso alive with j'elplng dogs. Dogs I In the summor timo in that region have ; nothing to do but bark and develop sore ears. On the end of the wharf, waiting to receive us, was an Englishman in a hel- I met hat of African construction a cool, ! punctilious gentleman. " Tea is waiting," he said. , It was like the meeting between Stanley I; and Livingstone. He fed us on whlteflsh and apple pie this V last the Invention of Clara, an Indian. Sho ' mado it and therefore let it pass for a pie. p.' Wasn't that pleasant desolation? Wasn't that being on the rim of things? Tho last outpost of civilization. The smell of tho flro smoked, red fringed, yellow, mooso hide coat hanging behind mo was like tho t' key to this magnificent seclusion. It was J of the woods woodsy! A keen night air booming ovor tho roof, the brilliant stars, the lap of wators, the black line of tho S, loresi, reaaencu ni intervals uy tne outslao riVos of tho Indians. It was Immense and .. it proved to us that wo were timber crui- V eers right , Our friend also was a world wide adven- i'i turer. Ho had served a year In the Ger- V ' man army. Ho had ridden with tho Black- , foot beyond Kicking Horse and conducted a disastrous farming enterprise In Orange Free State. He had the true tang of devil I may care and ho gavo us a line thrill by telling us that wo were tho first whito men t to get up hero in two years outside tho president of the Grand Trunk. f " It 13 pretty sporty of you to como with- : out a guide," ho said. "How long do you ; eay you have been coming?" V "Four days." i '"And now," ho said, I am going to ', surprise you. I know all about you five hours after you left tho track." "Five hours!" . "Precisely." Ho smiled. "You remem- ?i bor looking into an empty freight that f Btood thero on a Biding? " ' We stood amazed. Wo had. not mon- tloned this. "O, yes," he said. "I have outposts. 1 No ono cornea into theso parts without . my knowing it I know what you had in !; your trunk and what you had for breakfast." break-fast." ho smiled again. "I knew what guns you had and what experience with the paddle." " j Suddenly tho truth flashed upon us. The Indian in the dorby. hat As soon as wo had communicated this thought our friend I uttered tho word. : "Exaotly. I keep him thero for that purpose." ; "But five hourBl" " By a Bhort trail." A "Four days fivo hours." .."T We woro explorers! W. Wo asked our friend where we could bed down for tho night 'j t v t 1 Ms |