ASCENT TO MOUNT TAHAWUS. 17 



gers, we stretched off in Indian file, Cheney the hunt- 

 er leading. With a hatchet in his hand, and a pack 

 filled with pork and venison and bread on his back, 

 he appeared a fit leader for such a vagabond-looking 



company as we were. Next came B n, carrying a 



tea-kettle in his hand, while I followed close after, 

 with a long stick in my hand to steady me in leaping 

 chasms and climbing precipices, and a green Scotch 

 blanket, rolled up and fastened by a rope around my 

 shoulders, to cover me with at night. The rest came 

 straggling along, each with something in his hand 

 necessary for our dinner or night's lodging in the 

 woods. After moving in this way about six miles, we 

 came to some burnt logs and a rude bier, on which a 

 dead man had lain all night. Mr. Henderson, a 

 wealthy gentleman of Jersey City, and who owned a 

 portion of the Adirondac Iron Works, had shot himself 

 accidentally with a pistol a short way from this spot, 

 and here he had been brought, to wait for daylight to 

 guide those who bore him through the woods. His 

 little boy, eleven years old, was with him, and 

 "There," said the hunter, pointing to a log, "I sat 

 all night, and held the poor fel!ow in my arms, until 

 at length he sobbed himself to sleep." A little farther 

 on, we came to a small pond beside which stood a rock 

 where the accident happened. "I stood there," 

 said Cheney, pointing across the pond, "with the little 

 boy by my side, and was busy in preparing a raft on 

 which we might take some trout for supper, when I 

 heard a shot. I looked across, <ind «aw Mr. Hender- 

 son flinging his arms rapidly towards heaven, and then 

 8 



