26 WITH GUN AND GUIDE 



were five or six furtive-looking fellows whose 

 faces betokened possible outlaws and outcasts from 

 society. 



Before the supper was announced, two more sports- 

 men entered the log shanty and craved shelter. They 

 had with them nothing but their fishing-rods, creels, 

 revolvers, and wallets. The men were made welcome 

 the same as we had been. They doffed their wet 

 garments and put on clothes loaned them by the 

 lumbermen. When supper was ready, places were 

 made for the four of us, and we all enjoyed the baked 

 beans, boiled cabbage, tea sweetened with molasses, 

 and johnny-cake in place of bread. 



After supper the rain continued to pour as hard as 

 ever, and Larkin undertook to entertain the men by 

 narrating stories. He was a very eloquent and a very 

 well-read man, thoroughly up in ancient Greek litera- 

 ture, in which language he was almost as much at 

 home as in his mother tongue. He had his hobby like 

 the most of us, and his was a strong belief in the 

 superiority of nerve force over physical force. In our 

 walks he would start upon this, his favorite theme, and 

 would illustrate it in some such manner as this : " Now 

 you see I'm six feet two in height and weigh two 

 hundred and ten pounds. I take a great deal of ex- 

 ercise every day so that I am always in splendid 

 physical condition. You are five feet eight and a half 

 and weigh less than one hundred and fifty pounds. 



