Deer-Hunting on the An Sable. 



235 



UP SAGINAW BAY. 



hunting-party should — was Mr. John Erwin, of Cleveland, a gentle- 

 man at whose door lies the death of a grievous quantity of game of 

 all kinds, and whose seventy years seem to have imparted vigor and 

 activity to a yet stalwart and symmetrical frame. Hale, hearty, 

 capable of enduring all manner of fatigue, unerring with his rifle, full 

 of the craft of the woods and an inexhaustible fund of kindly humor, 

 he was the soul of our party. We were under his orders the next 

 day, and so remained until our hunt was over. He was implicitly 

 obeyed ; none of his orders were unpleasant ; they simply implied 

 the necessary discipline of the party. We left Tawas in the early 

 morning. We had two wagons, one of which carried nine of us ; the 

 other, Curtis's, had the heavier baggage in it, and was accompanied 

 by the remaining three on foot. They had the option of getting into 

 the wagon by turns, if tired; but they were all good walkers. We 

 had twenty-five miles to make to " Thompson's," where we were to 

 halt for the night, and on the following day proceed leisurely to Camp 

 Erwin, six miles further. As we left Tawas it rained, according to 

 our nautical prophet of the previous evening, and it continued to rain 

 during the entire day. There is nothing particularly exhilarating in 

 driving in a drenching rain, even when it is done under particularly 



