190 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



No one would believe that he was lost, as it was known that he 

 was pretty well acquainted with the woods in the direction that 

 he had been known to take. But as the time went on and still 

 Mr. Fish did not come, we all began to fear for his safety, as 

 the night was very cold, so every few minutes some one would 

 go out and fire a gun. This was continued all night, though 

 there was no answer . 



My uncle and myself had an early breakfast and started some 

 time before daybreak for the locality in which uncle had seen Mr. 

 Fish's tracks and heard gun shots which were thought to have 

 been fired by him. Shortly after daybreak we found the track 

 of a man which we could readily see had been made during the 

 night. After following the track some distance we were con- 

 vinced that we were following the track . of Mr. Fish and he was 

 lost, for his tracks would go in a zigzag sort of a circle and 

 crossing his tracks previously made. 



After we had followed Mr. Fish's track for an hour or longer 

 we saw him coming nearly towards us with his hat in his hand. 

 We stood still and. he came close .to us before he seemed to notice 

 us. He had no gun, and when he stopped he stared at us and 

 did not seem to know us. Uncle then spoke to him and said, 

 "Amos, what is the matter, are you lost?" Mr. Fish replied that 

 he wanted to go to the Cherry Springs Hotel. In a few minutes 

 after eating a good lunch which we had carried with us for that 

 purpose, he seemed to know us. 



When questioned as to what he had done with his gun, he 

 apparently had forgotten that he ever* had a gun. But after a 

 time seemed* to remember the gun in a vague sort of way, and 

 said that he must have left it by a tree but could not tell in what 

 direction the tree was. After a search of a half hour we found 

 the gun standing by a tree where apparently Mr. Fish had 

 traveled around for some time. 



When we came to the creek on our way to the house and at 

 the place where Mr. Fish had crossed it in the morning before, 

 he asked what stream it was. When told that it was the place 

 where he had crossed the creek the morning before and asked 

 if he did not remember the creek as he had fished there many a 



