202 MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 



We went on up the little river some fifty miles, more 

 or less, hauling over or around falls, when we hid our 

 boat and a portion of the provisions and started on foot 

 to some spot which Antoine seemed familiar with, for he 

 had been over the ground before. The way he stored 

 the provisions was curious. After dragging the boat 

 back from the river we hung it bottom side up between 

 two trees, and then put out lines from each side to pre- 

 vent it turning over. Then we cut poles and made a 

 shelf on the seats, covered these with a tarpaulin and 

 stored our provisions in the boat. 



"Now," said Antoine, "Miss'r Bear, Miss'r Coon and 

 Miss'r Mouse, you doan git no flour and you doan git no 

 sugar, an', Miss'r Rain, you doan spile noding." 



We took our rifles, a frying pan, axe and some flour, 

 coffee and salt, and started up the river into Bad Ax 

 county, which some man with no regard for historic 

 names has had re-christened "Vernon county," a change 

 that destroys the individuality of the county, for there 

 might be forty Vernon counties in the United States, but 

 there would be only one having the old name, which 

 savors of the settlement of the region by the whites and 

 had the merit of being unique. I have no idea how the 

 old name came to the river and afterward the county, 

 but will predict that some man with a little poetry in his 

 soul and a love for originality will arise and have the his- 

 toric and beautiful I say beautiful advisedly name of 

 "Bad Ax" restored to the county. I really don't know 

 if the river has been renamed, but hope not. 



We selected our camping spot some few miles above 

 the fork of the river, on the east branch, where several 

 small streams came in. There are, no doubt, names for 

 all these now; we had no map and no name for anything 

 but the main river, yet we named them for our own pur- 



