1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



95 



imiich larger trees we did not bend our course 

 to visit them, but kept on our way. The day 

 was well spent: our ponies were showing signs 

 ■of fatigue: and while we were considering the 

 advisability of camping, we saw from our for- 

 est-canopied road an enticing sign which read, 

 " Lemonaide, .5 cts. a glas^;." And surely our 

 •eyes beheld there among the rocks and trees, 

 and near to a purling stream, an apology for a 

 tent, and a sturdy (ierman stood by the road- 

 side. 



The tenor of our conversation, when we halt- 

 ed in front of the sign, was for a good camping- 

 place. 



"Dis is der best blace on der road. Durn 

 right in dere," said he, pointing to an obscure 

 opening in the bushes. "Trive town a leedle 

 vays till you gomes to ter prook; camp dhere; 

 von goot blace." 



Then Ero. Wilder put in his next 

 invariable inquiry: "Is there good 

 hunting in these mountains?" 



" Hunting? Mine craciousl dere's 

 lots off it — teers all ofer dese moun- 

 tains; dere's von oldt pig fellow 

 ■gomes town into der roat some- 

 •dimes, shust at night, somedimes 

 ■shust in der morning, mit horns so 

 vide;" and he stretched his arms to 

 their full extent. " I ton't see how- 

 he gets troo dese woods. No, mine 

 •craciousl I ton't. Den dere's moun- 

 tain-lions. I hears two, sometimes 

 dree, roaring like furies on der 

 mountains. Oh, yes I dis vas a creat 

 game goondry; and dere's vish in 

 der river— creat pig vish, may pe 

 veigh von, do, dree, and may pe 

 seex pount.'" Just imagine the ef- 

 fect this highly colored news had 

 upon my partner. He was all 

 wrought up for game; and, donning 

 his hunting-equipments, he plunged 

 into the forest. After setting our 

 camp in order I pulled out our fish- 

 ing-tackle and proceeded in a more 

 tjuiet way to try the mountain 

 stream. A few trout arose to the 

 bait; but those " von, do, dree, seex" 

 pounders were shy of the hook, and 

 I had to content mys.'lf with much 

 smaller fry. 



VVilder's deer-hunt resulted only in signs. 

 Signs were plentiful where "dose horns, so 

 vide" had knocked the bark off the trees. The 

 only signs of mountain-lions was the hole they 

 had left in the air, with their roar. 



A friendly call upon our German in the even- 

 ing revealed the fact that he was an ex-saloon- 

 keeper. The authorities in a little town near 

 by had high-licensed and otherwise taxed him 

 so high that he had moved out of town, and 

 lie felt as though he was a much-abused man. 

 Many teams passed this obscure retreat of his, 



and no doubt he sold much " lemonaide at 5 cts. 

 per glass." 



Our trout breakfast disposed of, we proceeded 

 to climb the long and winding grade to the 

 very summit of the mountain. For nearly fif- 

 teen miles we climbed steadily upward. Many 

 times our road led around gorges so deep that 

 we could look into the tops of trees whose base 

 was planted 1.50 or 300 feet below us. The 

 mountain is quite densely wooded until we near 

 the top. It was here, while rounding a spur in 

 the open, that Wilder grasped his rifle again, 

 and, pointing across to the hill beyond, exclaim- 

 ed in a sort of stage whisper, "A deer I a deer! 

 Just let me have a chance at him." 



We both hustled out of the wagon. It was a 

 long shot; and while the sights were being set 

 the field-glass was suggested as the proper in- 



I>HKRE VAS TEER MIT HORNS SO VIDE I " 



strument to bear upon the animal; and what do 

 you think it revealed? I had to laugh rather 

 immoderately when the glass showed a honn- 

 fide donkey. It seemed, through the glass, that 

 he had a sort of grimace on his benign counte- 

 nance. At any rate, it was a sign of deer that 

 Bro. Wilder did not like, and he was worked up 

 to such a pitch that he said not another word 

 for many miles. As indicated by the donkey, 

 we found the very summit of the mountain in- 

 habited. A large number of Swiss people, true 

 to their mountain habits, have here made their 



