mckered face. 1 wanted to meditate upon what a good time t 

 was having. I thought of Bob Galloway and Hank Orbison 

 back at home, probably spending their evenings at Munchauen- 



tusen's garden with mugs of that beverage which has foam 

 m top, sitting before them, while a band played and cabaret 



incers made merry. Then I thought of myself up on the 

 Brule with a half-breed Chippewa, Pudge Hobson, and the No- 

 seeums. I sat down at the side of a little waterfall and 

 watched the trout leap for flies. 



It was glorious there in the early a. m., before the No- 

 jeeums got to work. I hated to go back to camp, but an in- 

 late habit of eating food acquired in the early part of my life 

 drove me back. I loitered on the way, picking wild berries 

 and watching the squirrels jump about in the trees. About a 

 quarter of a mile from the tent, I met Pudge coming after me. 

 I noticed that his face and hands were covered with a yellow- 

 ish substance of some kind, and I remarked: 



"Got some arnica?" 



"Anica, nothin'!" Pudge replied. "That's some of Jim's 

 'ile.' " 



He came closer and I got a smell of something that was 

 iwful. Pudge being to the windward, I instantly surmised 

 that the smell came from him and from the stuff Jim had 

 smeared on him. I've smelled glue factories when the weather 

 was hot, have sniffed limburger when it seemed at the point 

 of disintegration, and have been near escaping acetylene gas, 

 but those odors were as fragrance from lilies of the valley 

 compared with what Jim had handed to Pudge. 



"Go way!" I yelled. "Go bury yourself ! Go fall in the lake! 

 Jim's put up an awful trick on you." 



"No, no," Pudge expostulated, following me toward camp. 

 "That's the stuff that keeps the No-seeums away." 



"They got nothing on me," I replied. "It'll keep me away, 

 too. Until you go wash, don't come near me." 



As I entered camp, Jim started toward me with an empty 

 can and a swab made from a stick and a piece of cheesecloth. 

 I grabbed up a stick of wood and turned. 



"You just dare poke that swab at me and I'll break every 

 bone in your head," I essayed. "I got a wife and family back 



9 



