CHAPTER VIII 



NOTHING SO SILLY AS A GOOSE 



It was all in the merry month of May, when 

 the south wind is virile, and life everywhere fol- 

 lows its fleeting kisses, that the "Cathrine" left 

 its pier with a merry little company on board to 

 make the tour around one of Wisconsin's many 

 beautiful lakes. The steamer was chartered and 

 the sole object in view was pleasure, but he who 

 goes after pleasure often finds, as did this com- 

 pany of merry-makers, that the whole expedition 

 was from first to last, a "Wild Goose chase." In 

 Pine Bay, on the south side, a Canadian Wild 

 Goose was sighted, within the deep shadows of 

 that rocky shore, and as they had practically 

 ceased to be migrants at so late a date in the year, 

 and as they never make their long journey to the 

 far north in solitary state, it went without the say- 

 ing that the lonely bird was there for the excellent 

 reason that it could not fly and such, indeed, 

 proved to be the case. Silly Goose that it was, 

 it still had power to divide that jocund company; 

 the vast majority thirsted for its blood and longed 



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