9 3 THE SPORTSMAN'S PARADISE; 



within one week, at an extra charge of six dollars." The 

 regular stage fare for a passenger between these points is 

 a dollar and fifty cents, while for four times that amount 

 the accommodating stage-owner was willing to transport 

 for us, provided we allowed him one week in which to do 

 the work, one hundred and fifty pounds of baggage. I 

 urged this stage-driver very strongly to provide some 

 means by which our baggage would reach Maganetawan 

 the next day; was willing to give him the additional six 

 dollars, but he positively refused. In fact, he showed no 

 disposition to aid us in our efforts, and said that he already 

 had as many passengers, who had engaged seats in his 

 stage, as he could conveniently carry. This disinclination 

 to accommodate travellers seemed to me very strange and 

 entirely incomprehensible ; but a subsequent investigation 

 supplied me with a partial explanation. This man, Bess, 

 through political influence, had secured the contract to 

 carry the mail on that line, but inasmuch as he was en- 

 tirely wanting in enterprise, he had neglected to provide 

 for the accommodation of the travelling public. The ex- 

 planation of how he could afford to carry passengers over 

 the line for one dollar and fifty cents, while he demanded 

 four times as much for transporting the same weight in 

 baggage, is possibly found in the fact that the accommo- 

 dations for passengers within his stage are so bad that all 

 passengers are compelled, in self-interest, to walk at least 

 three-fourths of the whole distance. It will, therefore, be 

 observed that the one dollar and fifty cents paid by a 

 passenger really entitles him to ride only about nine miles 

 on the Queen's highway in Bess's stage. This stage was 



