CHAPTER XYII. 



The following- ooiTespondeiice explains itself: — 



(1.) 

 Dear j\Ir. Graves: 



I want a guide for two, Mr. Wallace (of the Guide 

 Book ) tells me >'ou are a genuine sportsman yourself, and 

 a good friend of sportsmen, — that I may write to you 

 freely for information, and that ycTu will as freely give. 



I am going across the wilderness by way of the Fulton 

 Chain, Raquette Lake, and so on, — time, two or three 

 weeks, — right after July 4tli, if ni}^ clients will let me. I 

 am to take with me my son, a lad of eleven years — we two, 

 no more. I shall come with all needed supplies and some 

 pet notions of mine bj' wa}^ of tent and camping-kit. My 

 boy is a strong, healthy, plucky little fellow, and I shall 

 have no fears that he will give out where I don't. 



My guide must be a careful, discreet, judicious man, and 

 a good woodsman, — not profane, not foul-mouthed, not too 

 talkative, temperate. 



Have you in mind such a man as 1 want ? 



Yours Truly, 



(3.) 



BoonerlUe, N. Y., June, 1877. 

 Dear Sir : — 



I have just the man you want — John L. Brinckerhoof, 



a middle-aged man of character in this town — the best 



