114 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



As I bolted out of the door, lie sent after me "yours 

 isn't," determined to have the last word. I crouched and 

 crept and crawled across the intervening stubbles, going 

 plump into the middle of a fine covey of chickens — 

 brought the wheat stacks between the cranes and myself — 

 hurried up to them and around the side, but no cranes to 

 he seen. When they left I know not. As I returned S. E. 

 J,, the Professor, Polly and the jackasses came gaily driv- 

 ing out of the yard. We took ihe direction in which the 

 chickens had gone. I stumbled on to five of them in a 

 small patch of grass, and killed them all in about half a 

 minute, before Polly could get back to me. Just then, for- 

 tunately — she having taken one of her wildest ranges- she 

 found two more, the Professor getting one of themT Upon 

 the stubble we had hunted the day before we flushed a 

 covey of twenty or more — 1 getting up just in time to get 

 the last bird. The rest took off towards some of the high- 

 est ground of the prairie, a large knoll covering perhaps 

 eight acres. Going slowly ahead, we starting four more, 

 of which the Professor got one. As we struck the high 

 ground beyond the stubbies, up went three birds at ten 

 rods. By good luck I killed the double shot. These were 

 part of the large covey, and within ten minutes Polly 

 routed them all out of the grass where they were well scat- 

 tered, giving me four more wild shots of which I dropped 

 three. Twenty^ rods bevond, just over the highest part, 

 we found a lot of "old cocks" who were lying all about, 

 and never getting up any more than one or two at a time. 

 Polly would strike the scent, draw on rapidly, point, and 

 dash in. I was helpless, except to get as near as I could 

 and nre away at twelve or fifteen rods. I hit two of them, 

 but they were too far, and I gave it up in despair. We must 

 have started at least twenty of these old ones ; how many 

 were left I Gannot say. With a steady dog I should have 

 easily bagged upon this knoll from thirty to fifty chickens. 

 I thrashed and scolded Polly until I was tired and hoarse, 

 and that was all the good it did. She would either not 

 hunt at all, or hunt wild. I know now — I did not know 

 then— that I should have shot her and kept shooting her 

 until she either changed her tactics or was ready for a 

 funeral. S. E. J. and the Professor sat in the wagon and 

 thought how much better they would have managed it; 

 and when I went to them for consolation they I "had bet- 

 ter charter an express train to follow after Polly with, if I 

 . would hunt those chickens; could sit on the cow-catcher, 

 and if it ran over her so much the better." We rested and 

 then turned back to the stubbles. I told Ihe Professor he 

 might do the halloaing, for I shouldn't say another word 

 to Polly. Indeed I could not speak above a whisper. The 

 team jogged along slowly, and when Polly struck game 

 the Professor and~I hurried up as fast as we could run, and 

 when the chickens rose banged away. One covey I missed 

 with three barrels, the Professor getting his two birds, 

 which pleased him mightily. 



So it went on until dark. Upon the last stubble the 

 infernal brute stirred out at least fifty birds without giving 

 us a chance. Our bags footed up thirty-two; it should 

 have been a hundred. We were wet through again and 

 thoroughly fagged out. The next morning we were all as 

 stiff as fence rails ; the walking and the running and the 

 wetting had affected us. The weather was fine, but we felt 

 little disposed to hurry. The jackass team came round 

 and we all embarked for a ride over the prairie. I hadn't 

 courage to attempt following Polly among the chickens, 

 and we were hunting just enough to satisfy our consciences. 

 We rode perhaps three miles through the prairie grass, 

 then struck an outlying wheat stubble. We covered part 

 of the ground with the long eared animals, Polly the rest. 

 The Professor and I sat in the bottom of the wagon all 

 ready for any chicken that might chance to fiy over. Two 

 men were straightening up the wheat shocks, and we 

 stopped to speak with them. Polly came round, and ~a 

 big dog belonging to the men savagely pounced upon her, 

 and before we could interfere chawed her up badly. The 

 men hurried up and booted off the big dog, but poor Polly 

 was done for; she wouldn't chase any more chickens for 

 many a day. She couldn't walk a step, or even stand up. 

 We put her carefully in the wagon, and with a feeling of 

 great relief, for we had gone through one solid day's shoot- 

 ing with her and dreaded another. Now the thing was 

 settled, and we were happy. We drove home in time for 

 dinner; I took off my wet shoes and things and was com 

 f ortable in my reserve suit and slippers. For dinner we 

 had corned beef, tough and half cooked, and more than 

 half decayed. We made our meal of potatoes and bread 

 and milk. One ol the men said the pigeons were plenty 

 on the other side of the timber. S. K J. proposed that 

 we ride over to see the country and to use up the time. 

 Not ten rods from the house the near jackass shied and 

 backed, and we heard the whirr of a rattle. S. E. J. and 

 I were delighted, and told the Professor to get out and kill 

 it. He ha I boots, while we had slippers and exposed 

 ankles. With the whip in one hand and a gun in the 

 other, he marched upon the enemy's position. The reptile 

 gave one more shake of his musical extremity, but no 

 more, though the Professor tramped down pretty much 

 all the grass for five rods square. We turned into the 

 branch and followed a very rough and stumpy road 

 through quite a forest for a mile, when we came out upon 

 the prairie again, with a wheat stubble upon the left. A 

 queer, outlandish, indescribable sound, something like the 

 death gurgling of a ventriloquist choked in the middle of 

 a performance, broke upon our ears, 1 thought it came 

 from under the fence within two reds. "What on earth 

 is that?" I enquired. "That," replied S. E. J., "is a sand- 

 hill crane." "Then he is right under this fence." * l iNo 

 he isn't; more likely a mile off." We stood up in the 

 wagon, and we soon made out a pair of the lanky birds at 

 least a hundred and firty rods distant, standing perfectly 

 still among the wheat shocks. 1 thought I could stalk 

 them and started, taking through a strip of bushes, and 

 stepping high, expecting every moment that a rattler 

 would grab me by the ankle. When I got wmere I could 

 look out, the cranes were gone. They had flown across 

 the road about thirty rods ahead of the wagon, not five 

 minntes after I left." The pigeons came into the stubble 

 feeding upon the wheat shocks, a dozen or more together. 

 They were very wild, and we killed but one. 



At supper we each had a bowl of milk and a cup of tea. 

 The bread we couldn't eat, and there was nothing else. 

 During the night— it was very warm — Polly whined, the 

 flies buzzed, ihe Professor and S. E. J. groaned, and I 

 kicked and thrashea, dreaming of rattlesnakes, and was 

 tiiankiul when daylignt appeared. At breakfast each 

 drank a cup of coffee. There was plenty of ham cut up 

 in chunks and fried. It was salt and tough, and one 

 mouthful was enough, for present purposes and something 



to be remembered forever. It was a remarkable coinci- 

 dence that all three of us at the same time enquired of 

 Converse how far it was to Austin. We hadn't discussed 

 the matter, or said a word to each other about starting 

 home, but each one had made up his mind to get out of 

 this and into civilization. We were not inclined to be par- 

 ticular, but we couldn't get anything fit to eat or digestible. 

 Arr nging my things preparatory to packing up, I tipped 

 out the rattles which I had placed in one of the boxes. 

 They went off with a sudden wmirr, which made me jump 

 with a yell into the middle of the floor, and the Professor 

 fell backwards over the little box stove. Nobody bitten — 

 I had forgotten all about them. Converse hitched up and 

 drove us over to Austin, where we bid him farewell, and 

 went straight to dinner at the hotel, and then straight 

 aboard the St. Paul train, and straight home as fast as 

 we could go, where we arrived that evening, to the great 

 astonishment of all our woman kind. For a week after 

 our poor stomachs were very captious and exacting. Polly 

 picked up rapidly, and S. E. J. sold her for a ten dollar 

 bill. 1 hope her new master will prove to be a merciful 

 man — merciful to himself, and then he will blow her head 

 off the first time he goes chicken shooting. Aliquis. 



For Forest and Stream. 



THE SARANAC ROUTE. 



(Concluded.) 



MY second trip to the Sarn.acs commenced in a pour- 

 ing rain. But no matter, the day appointed and 

 impatiently awaited (May 18th, 1868,) had arrived; any 

 change would be for the better. I should be far more com- 

 fortable in the cars than at home, in the circumstances; if 

 I went I might get a little wet, if I remained it would be 

 very dry; a fisherman should not be afraid of water; the 

 evening would find me far forward on my windiug way, 

 so it did find me at Whitehall. It was too early in the 

 season for a night boat, so I had to make myself comforta- 

 ble at Hall's Hotel till noon of the next day, then onward 

 in the steamboat Canada, which brought me and others 

 similarly destined to port at 8 P. M. Stopping at Keese- 

 ville over night, in the morning there was quite a large 

 party of us, affected with trout on the brain, who were 

 about to try the Adirondack water cure. We all started off 

 together, and had a pleasant day of it; no dust, wind, rain 

 or mud; only good roads, salubrious air, fine prospects, 

 and abounding jokes. At Bloomingdale we parted, some 

 being bound to Smith's and others to Martin's. Of the lat- 

 ter there was a Mr. Banks of your city, a very agreeable 

 gentleman and brother sportsman, whose kindness and at- 

 tentions I have never forgotten, and which it is a pleasure 

 now thankfully to acknowledge and recall. At Martin's 1 

 also met my friend and companion of other days, G-. D., 

 (very guessable initials) who has since canght a salmon, and 

 who, at the time, was purposing to draw out some leviathan 

 with a hook. This gentleman called my attention to a pun 

 that he was about to perpetrate. Some one preparing for 

 an expedition had just set a demijohn in the boat. G. D. 

 thought it strange that a man should carry fiquor with him, 

 "for," said he, "he is all the time running it down.' 1 '' 



The day after arrival it rained steadily. I was content, 

 after three days' passage, to remain within, and Martin 

 commended my wisdom in doing so. But Mr. Banks, who 

 was under appointment to meet otheis elsewhere, moved 

 on under an escort of coats, overcoats, wrappers, and over- 

 alls, suggestive of inflation, which greatly enlarged the 

 sphere of his influence, both in diameter and circumfer- 

 ence, and made him waterproof . The next day it drizzled, 

 but this was insufficient to detain me. So taking a guide 

 I went up the lake to the river, and down it again to the 

 Cold Brook Junction, and I if I did'nt have sport there I 

 never did. My diary reminds me that I took sixteen trout 

 that weighed 13f pounds; among them was a three pound- 

 er, which I welcomed aboard at the confluence of waters. 

 I had to take them trolling, for it was too early and cold 

 and the water was too high for fly fishing. I was pleased 

 to find that my luck was sensational, even at Martin's, and 

 I set down the day with a good mark in my piscatorial ex- 

 perience. 



I cannot further proceed with this narrative without in- 

 troducing the well known and highly esteemed name of 

 R. Gr. Allerton, Esq., of your city, now one of the champ- 

 ion Maine fishers, who was my companion — the sharer and 

 promoter of my joys throughout the excursion. Meeting 

 at this point, with similar tastes and purposes, we readily 

 joined forces, or, "like kindred drops, were mingled into 

 one." This gentleman had an extensive outfit of gutta 

 percha, and I was surprised to observe in the case to how 

 many useful ends the article can be applied. His blanket, 

 havelock, pillow, cup, brushes, combs, pencil, match box, 

 business card, etc., were all of this material, and he had a 

 havelock and pillow for his friend. This rubber seemed 

 to me well adapted to such use, as it would not soil, or 

 washed easily, and was impervious to water. We planned 

 our excursion for the following Monday; but when it ar- 

 rived we had to wait till afternoon, because the passage 

 was completely clocked up with rolling lumber. And here 

 I have to notice another of the extraordinary phantom 

 statements of Kev. W. H, H. Murray, which I have never 

 yet seen criticised. On pages 16 and 17 of his marvellous 

 performance, he expatiates on the lumber question, giving 

 the reason for his preference of the Adirondacks to Maine. 

 "Go where you will in Maine, the lumbermen have been 

 before you, and lumbermen are the curse and scourge of 

 the wilderness," etc., etc. "In the Adirondack wilderness 

 you escape this. There the lumberman has never been. 

 No axe has sounded along its mountain sides, or echoed 

 across its peaceful waters. No logs obstruct the rivers." 

 Mr. M.'s book appeared in 1869. Here were we in 1868, 

 precluded from ascending in the morning, and barely mak- 

 ing the ascent with difficulty in the afternoon, because of 

 obstructing logs and nothing else. And on the Raquette 

 River we were continually assailed with these threatening 

 runners. Franklin Falls, on the Saranac Liiver, was built 

 up chiefly by its saw mills, and in 1860, wheu I was there, 

 the logs had preceded me. I conclude that either Mr. 

 Murray has, in this instance, again drawn oil, his imagina- 

 tion for his facts, or that by the "North Woods" and "Ad- 

 irondack Wilderness," he means Murray Island and the 

 [arts adjacent. 



We reached Bartlett's in time to see a fifteen pound laker 

 fresh caught from the Upper Saranac by Dr. Homey n, who 

 had workeu perse veringly for such a prize, and to congrat- 

 ulate him on his luck. He appeared very happy and de 

 lighted, enjoying the satisfaction which belongs only to 

 1 the self-made man. By the way, this was exactly the 



weight of another caught by a lady in the lower lake of 

 which Mr, Headley writes, who played the fish successfully 

 with skill and care, and finally captured it with her own 

 unaided hands, though the guide sought to relieve her 

 (chapter 36, page 318) In the morning we launched for the 

 head of the Upper Lake. Having selected a choice place 

 for encampment, we spread out tent and feathered it with 

 hemlock. In the afternoon I proceeded onward to the head 

 of the lake, where, winding nine times around the little 

 island in front of Hough's, I took as many lakers. Here 

 I was joined by the ever welcome presence of Mr. A 

 who, however, cared little or nothing for lake trout, devo- 

 ting all his energies to the capture of what he calls the 

 "angler's pride." In this he was very successful, \y" e 

 called at Hough's, who was there for the first time, about 

 to open his house, but was was hardly yet prepared 'for the 

 reception of visitors. We recorded our names, however 

 and thus headed the list of a long succession who were to 

 follow. After a good night's rest our destination for the 

 day was Raquette Falls. We moved onward in sunshine 

 taking fish occasionally. In one of the ponds beyond the 

 carry we were shown the place where a man performed a 

 remarkable feat. He had first put a stove in his boat 

 Then he poured liquid fire into his stomach, and having 

 made these preparations, he rowed unsteadily for awhile, 

 when he made his boat turn a somersault, empty ina Its 

 contents into the depths below. Arrived at the river^we 

 realized more and more that it had not rained for uotnino" 

 lately, the waters being very high and opposing, and our 

 prospects for good fishing essentially lessened. But our 

 guides understood their business, and persevering through 

 submerged branches, against counter currents, we safely 

 reached the Falls. There we found the kind-hearted Mr. 

 Banks, seated in his boat, with two attendants. He had 

 also a long string of trout, but they were not caught there. 

 No one of the three, to the best of my recollection, had 

 any success at the Falls. Our guides amused them- 

 selves in running the rapids. They did not ascend 

 very high, however, and exhibited no specially "royal 

 sight to see." N. B. — Mother Johnson and her pancakes 

 were yet in the future. 



May 28th, FacUis descensus. — We made good progress 

 down the river to Folingsby's Lake, where we found en- 

 chantment and fine sport, catching quantum stiff of each 

 variety.- I have before (Forest and Stream, Sept. 24th, 

 1874,) fully expressed an opinion respecting this living wa- 

 ter, and need not now re.peat. Proceeding, we paused ou 

 our way to see something new. A hound had attacked a 

 hedgehog, and though the latter got the worst of it, he 

 had presented the hound in recognition of his attentions 

 with a bristling pair of mustachios, of which his owner 

 was relieving him. Every time a quill was drawn it was 

 acknowledged with a cry; yet I was told he would attack 

 the next one he saw with dogged persistence. I suppose 

 we may as well 



"Let dogs delight to bark and bite, for 'tis their nature to." 



Tupper's Lake was enraged'as we entered it, but wheth- 

 er it was owing to our good behavior or otherwise, it soon 

 was calmed down, and remained so till our departure. We 

 bivouacked on a sheltered island, high above the waves, 

 whence we proceeded right and left on our excursions. Al- 

 lerton is a singer, possessed (sotto voce — don't tell him I say 

 so — ) with a melodious voice. Perhaps it was this that so 

 quieted the lake, for he approached singing. One morn- 

 ing, ascending the lake, he took the left shore and I the 

 right. He soon broke forth into singing, and if all the trees 

 of the woods did not clap their hands, it was only because 

 they had no hands to clap with. I have an ear for music 

 at alh events, and greatly did I enjoy the clear sound of his 

 voice, as from a silver horn, as it floated across the water. 

 One morning on the heights he addressed himself to an 

 imaginary enemy on the opposite shore, having no real one 

 to contend with. I cannot recall all he said, but well do I 

 remember the emphasis with which he uttered the neplus 

 ultra of his terrible wrath, saying, "You're another." 



Mr. A. asked me here whether I would rather catch a 

 twenty-five pound laker, or a five pound brook trout, ad- 

 ding that he would have no hesitation in deciding for the 

 five pounder. Having reflected a little, I think I would 

 prefer to catch them both. Though this is not strictly an- 

 swering the question, it is the only way in which I can an- 

 swer as he did, without hesitation; and it occurs tome 

 that there is no just occasion for so limiting- myself to the 

 one fish. Why not catch them first, and then decide on 

 their respective merits, on the principle of Mrs. Glass' re- 

 ceipt for cooking a hare— first catch your hare/ The next 

 year he went to Maine, and his ideas were enlarged. At 

 this time neither his thoughts or mine had extended much 

 beyond a three pound trout. Now, I have caught my lour 

 and a quarter, and he looks down upon the fives. In 1869 

 he would not count a three pounder; but his famous list of 

 thirty, weighing 180 pounds and more, caught hy his 

 party, begins with three four pounders. It is from no lack 

 of kindness and attention on his part, that I, too, have not 

 visited Maine. He has done all he could t j induce me to 

 accompany him, and I thank him from my heart. But i 

 might as well rest contented at one time as another. Though. 

 I should catch these x\laine ones, I still would not have 

 caught a salmon, and my ambition rather inclines in this 

 direction; b.it to catch a salmon would cost at the least es- 

 timate $200 or more. I think I could more advantageously 

 and wisely invest that amount. Here is a noble park right 

 at my very doors, superior in every respect but one to any- 

 that Maine can offer, and in some respects not to be sur- 

 passed in the wide world. Great as is my love of angling, 

 attached to it as I am through life as a No: 1 pastime, 1 

 yet do not regard it as the "chief end of man," and am 

 thankfully content with what the Empire State can do for 

 me. The trout of New York are as much superior to those 

 of New Hampshire, as those of Maine are to New iork. 

 I have filled my basket brimful in the White Mountains 

 more than once, and yet I never saw there a trout that 

 would weigh half a pound. Besides, we have, the thou- 

 sand Islands, with their bass and pickerel and mascaloriges. 

 I have caught bass by the bushel with a party, and P lclieI 

 till surfeited with them, one of them weighing eleVe 

 pounds, but have never yet tempted or attempted a rnasc - 

 louge. I have a design in that direction now, and P& r P ^ 

 to go for one of them (or more) as my centennial fish. * 

 ranting minister, describing the animals that entered \>_ 

 ark, spoke of the zebra, that had three hundred strip 

 around his body— more or less, depending upon how m .a < y 

 stripes he had— md of the giraffe, that could eat hay 

 of the top of a barn— depending upon the height oi. 

 barn. INow, a mascalonge, you know, weighs fony P oU 

 — more or less, depending upon how much he weighs. 



Utioa, iV. 7., JSejpt. Idth, 1870 . Amaxeub, 



