1896. 



Till: 



Ml: U KJA y liKK- KEEPI:li. 



1G7 



w;.i':iu' test to which 1 should be un- 

 equal. It crane en the Big Muddy. Lis- 

 ten: 



"We were cnmped in the quaking as- 

 pen. Snow had fallen, and the elk were 

 coming down. You could hear them 

 bungling on every side just before dawn. 

 It is easy to stop a band of elk as they 

 pass near your camp by imitating their 

 call upon an empty cartridge shell. I 

 have learned the trick, and Jack had 

 no hi^sitation in pei*mitting me to cht.)Ose 

 my own trail one morning and follow- 

 ing it alone afoot, he iuid the guides 

 scattering in other directions. The taste 

 of the camp coffee was still upon my 

 lips, my cheeks tingled with the frosty 

 breath of the morning air as I kept cau- 

 tiously to the windward of the elk, 

 whose trumpeting stirred me like mar- 

 tial music. 



"A stray bear track showed here and 

 there in the fresh snow. But I was aft- 

 er elk. A hundred miles lay between 

 our camp and the nearest settlement. 

 Ah, the solitude of those woods!" 



Mrs. Jack leans back in her chair and 

 sighs remiuisceutly as she gazes into 

 the blazing hearth fire, a chai-miug pic- 

 ture in her house gown of old blue, 

 brightened with gleams of Persian em- 

 broidery, interwoven with uncut jewels. 



"I had gone three miles, perhaps 

 four, over fallen spruce up the steep 

 side of a rugged mountain, when crash 

 across my trail came a band of elk, 

 headed by a magnificent bull. 



"Crouching Jj! hind a bowlder, I wait- 

 ed. I have vraited so often for big game, 

 from Alaska (<.) the gulf. Jack says I 

 have seen more than he can ever liope 

 to see if he lives to be 100. My hand 

 was steady, .jack often gets buck fever. 

 I never do. I tc^ok deliberate aim. The 

 elk came toward the bullet and dropped 

 dead without a sti-uggle. Blazing the 

 trail as i retraced it toward cainp foi 

 the pack animals, I saw that there were 

 new beai' tracks. I %s'as not out that 

 day for bear, and I did not care to come 

 upcm one alone, although I had nc 

 thought of shirking the encounter were 

 it forced lapcn me. 



"A bear in a bear pit is a clumsy 

 creature. In the woods he challenges 

 your admiration by his clever fashion 

 of covering the gi-onnd without apparent 

 effort. The one I soon descried ahead of 



me was luribering akng like a bunch 

 of tumblcweed, lengthening the dis- 

 tance br tween us at a rapid I'ate. 



"Foolishly I indulged myself in & 

 shot at him, striking his .shoulder. He 

 turn(d upon me \vith a roar of pain. At 

 that instant I nei d( d all my nei^ve. This 

 timt; I chose a tree for cover and await- 

 ed. He came cu without a halt, straight 

 toward me. I fii-ed again, missing him. 

 I w:;s just abi.ut to try a third shot 

 when the test came, of which I have 

 spoken. ' ' 



"The test?'' murmurs the society 

 breathlessly. 



"The test of my courage to which I 

 had alway.s felt I should be unequal — 

 the thing I had dreaded in my ff;rest 

 wanderings with Jack. ' ' 



"What!" the society demands, with 

 one voice. 



"I had rai«ed my rifle, when I felt 

 something fluttering in my hair. I fan 

 cied a leader had slipped from my hat 

 rim. Oh, hon-or! It vv'as a .spider! And 

 as I shook my head violently to dislodge 

 it, it stiTiggled into my ear. 



"I have never been conscious of bav 

 ing fired that third shot. Somehow the 

 rifle was dischai'ged, and by the same 

 chance the bullet laid the bear low. 



"I fainted, and when I came to my- 

 self I was lying across the bear's body, 

 with six strange men standing around 

 me. 



"Ten thousand boiler factories were 

 at work in my brain. 'Hear the noises!' 

 I cried. 'Will no one stop them?' 



"And now comes the strangest part 

 of my story. 



"The engineer of Jack's yacht once 

 got a mcsquito in his ear. It drove him 

 quite mad before we could find a doc- 

 tor. He hung over the yacht's side, held 

 by six of the crew, begging for death. 

 When the doctor aiTived upon the scene, 

 he applied a handkerchief wet with 

 ether to the man's ear, quieting the 

 mosquito's struggles and restoring the 

 man to sanity. 



"I believed myself in the man's 

 plight — stark, staring mad — when, upon 

 this peak cf Darien, 500 miles from an 

 ambulajice and a sui'geon, I heard one 

 of the men to whom I had so wildly ap- 

 pealed reply quietly, 'Have no fear, 

 madam. You are in safe hands, for we 

 are all doctors. ' 



