154 WOODLAND IDYLS. 



one-horse buggy. Two men, a tent-sack, duffer 

 box, tent poles, folding cot, and a box and basket 

 of provisions, made a bulky load for the vehicle ; 

 but we managed it and at eight o'clock drove 

 down through the breaks of Raccoon Creek and 

 dumped the load at the boat landing of M. M., 

 on whose land my camp is located. The boat, 

 an old flat-bottomed scow with square ends, was 

 half full of water. This the owner and I bailed 

 out, then pulling the boat to a near-by sand-bar 

 we caulked its bottom with pieces of rope. Load- 

 ing the outfit and paddling up stream some two 

 hundred and fifty yards, we cut steps in the 

 almost perpendicular bank to the first terrace, 

 on 'which we unloaded my effects, then toted 

 them up a steep slope to the level spot where 

 now is home. 



The tent up and possessions placed therein, 

 we spent the next hour in cleaning out a basin 

 for a spring which wells forth in a small ravine 

 some forty rods up stream. Then back to camp, 

 where we dug a furnace and swung the ham- 

 mock where the breezes play. This work would 

 have been enjoyable had not the sun meanwhile 

 beamed down upon us all too friendly, causing 

 the sweat to flow from every pore and producing 

 that sticky, smudgy feeling, which to me is most 

 distasteful. 



It was now nearly noon and M., who had 

 taken delight in helping me become settled in 



