86 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Avq. 21, 1890. 



MUTABLE. 



T TTTLE FORD came along the creek one bright morning to 

 keep his early appointment with Uncle Thuse for a fishing 

 excursion, and not finding him at the trysting place, which was 

 where the punt, was moored, continued on up the hill to the old 

 man's cabin. Undo Thuse was sitting on his favorite soap box 

 under the po'ch, and looked poorly, so much so that the boy, as he 

 seated himself in the doorway, remarked, "Why, Uncle Thuse, 

 you look awful old this morning, what's the matter; are you real 

 eick?" 



"Yis, honey, I'se reel sick. Rumytlsy all ober me. Ole man 

 ant wuf nuffln nowerdays. What ken yer spect whenlwus so 

 old en tired-lookin' when I wos horned dat dey named me Thuse- 

 lum, arter der oldest man what der Bible menshuns? En I isn't 

 grow'd younger since. Toby sure, I couldn't spect it, couldn't 

 spect it. I'se a sittin' heah, Marse Fo'd, en I'se er thinkin 1 ob der 

 ole times afore der wah, when so long es er nigger 'haved hisself 

 he was keerd fer, speshly when he was ole on der place. Dish 

 yere wos wot I wos er thinkin' of, Marse Fo'd: 



Marse Linkum's proklemashum gub each nigger to hisself, 

 En er t'ous'n dollar darky come to be a man er welf; 

 But he warn't wuff noffin fer he wouldn't earn his meat, 

 En niggers loss der market kase dey wussent wuff der keep, 

 Dish yere blessed freedom doan probe so berry fine, 

 Kase dere's 'sponsihility tenden, we didn't hab ole time. 

 Marse foun' der close en feedin' en der cabin snug en bright, 

 En we didn't lay a-thinkin' whars der brekf us? ober night. 

 I'se a pore ole nigger, an' I'se waitin' fer der ho'n 

 Dat call der darkies home when der day's work's done. 

 Dor craps done finish, en der gleanin's mity pore, 

 Nuffln left fer der ole niggers et er closin' of der wah. 

 Boston, July 17. Fred R. Shaituck. 



MR. KASTUS'S EXPERIENCE. 



[Concluded from Paoc 67.1 



WHEN Bill came in and I found it was daylight, I 

 got up too; and not caring for a bath took a good 

 wash, drank a cup of coffee that the man brought me, 

 shaved and dressed myself slowly. When I looked out 

 of doors I found that the light was just touching the 

 tops of the trees on the hills across the lake, making 

 them, I must say, very pretty indeed, besides the reflec- 

 tions of the trees on the shore, all upside down in the 

 water. Bess would have talked about it half an hour at 

 the rate of a mile a minute. After I had got all dressed 

 I looked at my watch and it was just half-past four 

 o'clock. I was disgusted. All my regular habits knocked 

 into pi! My usual hour of rising in 249fch street is eight, 

 breakfast at nine, desk at ten, lunch at one, dinner at 

 six, bed at eleven. And here I was, all ready for break- 

 fast at half -past four, and hungry at that! 



I went out to find Bill and see if there was any way in 

 which I could get away from the place, but he was off 

 fishing again. I smelled something cooking, which 

 pleased me, for I wanted my breakfast before starting, in 

 any case. The air outside was fresh and really nice. 

 After I had walked up and down the piazza in front of 

 the cabin quite a while, I saw Bill coming round the 

 point in one of those egg-shell things, a bark canoe, one 

 of the kind that tips over if one's hat isn't on straight. 

 And yet the fellow was actually standing up in it! He 

 came ashore, tossed out half a dozen or so more trout and 

 called out something that I found out was an inquiry 

 whether breakfast was ready. 



The cook: evidently said that it was and proceeded im- 

 mediately to set out those wretched tin dishes again, and 

 brought out more trout, with fried potatoes and salt pork. 

 I ate two trout, some potatoes and a little of the fried 

 pork, which really was not so bad as I thought it was, 

 for I always pitied the poor people who were obliged to 

 eat pork every day. (I afterward found that Bill's man 



Preferred pork even to a nice bit of beefsteak.) The man 

 think had discovered my weakness, as he brought me a 

 couple of slices of toast exquisitely browned, which I ate 

 with butter and marmalade. Bill's coffee was excellent. 

 In fact I had always heard that Bill when at home was 

 extremely particular, and even fussy about his eating 

 and drinking, and all his surroundings. What ever 

 could have induced him to go and live up there all sum- 

 mer in the manner he did I cannot imagine. I was just 

 getting my mouth cleared to ask how I could escape from 

 that place when the man came in with fresh coffee, and 

 Bill and he went to jabbering away in their incompre- 

 hensible jargon, so I got no chance. 



Breakfast over Bill said that they two were going up 

 to some river or other to see about a dam or something 

 and I had better come with them. At first I declined, 

 but when I reflected that there was now certainly no 

 chance of getting away home and that it would be dreary 

 in the extreme to stay there alone all day, I decided to 

 go- 



They put some things into a bag, the man stuck the 

 handle of a frying pan into his belt, we all got into the 

 boat and set off. In about half an hour we landed, 

 walked a little way through woods and then began to 

 climb down the side of a mountain. The others went 

 down like goats— I don't see how they did it— but I as- 

 sure you I wished ten thousand times I had remained at 

 the cabin, instead of coming there to leave my mangled 

 remains at the foot of that cliff. It was dreadful. I had. 

 not much hope of getting down alive. Still, by taking 

 plenty of time, placing my feet with great care, holding 

 on to trees and bushes with both hands, and sitting 

 down and sliding in a good many places, I did get to the 

 bottom without any broken limbs. The others were 

 quietly sitting smoking their pipes, without any show 

 of anxiety about me at all. Indeed, I have this to com- 

 plain of about Bill, that he didn't seem to concern him- 

 self much about me anyway. He just did what he 

 wanted to do and assumed that I was doing what I wanted 

 to do, too, which was very far from the case. I cer- 

 tainly didn't want to go on any such neck-breaking ex- 

 pedition as this by any means. There was only one thing 

 I really did want to do and that was to get back to 249 th 

 street as quickly as possible. 



At the foot of the mountain was a river, and on it was 

 another of those horrible bark canoes. They made me 

 get into it without asking whether I liked it or not, sat 

 me down in the bottom of it and paddled me away. I 

 sat still, not daring to move hand or foot, for about an 

 hour. We came to a lake, passed several islands, and at 

 length stopped at one to straighten our legs out. It was 



quite time, for mine had been asleep a long while. I 

 asked if the place we were going to was much further, 

 but the most definite answer I got was that it was "a 

 good bit." We embarked again, passed more islands, 

 then a long, winding piece of a river and came into an- 

 other lake — quite a iarge one. Unlike the others, it had 

 a good stretch of sandy beach, and they let me get out 

 and walk. t I found a great many tracks of birds and 

 beasts in this sand, some large and some small. I asked 

 Bill about them when he paddled to the shore to take me 

 in. He pointed out tracks of caribou, which, it seems, is 

 a kind of deer; fox tracks, lynx tracks and others, be- 

 sides those of a variety of birds that I had never heard of. 

 There were some marks that looked a good deal as if 

 made by a human foot, which Bill said were bear's tracks, 

 and mildly added that that shore was a splendid place 

 for game. I thought likely it might be good for game, 

 but didn't consider it a good place for me if there were 

 bears around. I wanted to get into the canoe again, but 

 Bill decided it was time we had some lunch, so what did 

 he do but sit down there in the midst of all those indica- 

 tions of savage animals, build a fire and make tea. He 

 and his man ate cold boiled pork and bread; but they had 

 had sense enough to put up a box of sardines with some 

 crackers and a little butter for me. 



After our lunch, Avhich happily was not disturbed by 

 wild beasts, there was more paddling till we came to 

 quite a high waterfall, at the mouth of a river emptying 

 into the lake. We got out, the man took the canoe up- 

 side down on his head, Bill swung the bag of provisions 

 over his shoulder, and I followed them on a narrow foot- 

 path through the woods up the river, which I could hear 

 on my left hand all the time. It was a long walk and a 

 good deal up hill before we came to the water and got 

 into the canoe again, paddling up stream till we came to 

 rapids, where the men pushed the canoe against the cur- 

 rent with poles that they cut in the woods. I sat per- 

 fectly still, in deadly terror all the time. There was 

 another season of carrying things, and more paddling up 

 river and across lakes to another waterfall, and a dam 

 that was the one Bill had come|to see. He looked at it 

 just about two minutes and then commenced unpacking 

 that everlasting fishing rod of his. I don't believe he 

 cared a snap about the dam. He caught a number of 

 trout, some of them quite large, and grew very much 

 excited, jumping about from one rock to another, not 

 minding whether he was in the water or out of it. Some 

 of the trout, one especially, led him a good deal of a 

 dance. Sometimes he had the rod almost quite, doubled 

 up over his head, and one time I saw him stand for 

 several minutes with this bent-up rod without moving a 

 muscle, and then all of a sudden there was a splash away 

 off down the stream, the rod was straightened out and 

 the fish 50yds. away. I really grew quite interested in 

 watching their maneuvers. Many a time I thought Bill 

 was surely going into the river. When he got this fish 

 ashore he said that that alone was worth the whole price 

 of admission, that he had got glory enough for one day 

 and wouldn't fish any more. It weighed just 3^1bs. Bill 

 lighted his pipe and sat down and looked at it about half 

 an horn - . I confess it was very handsome, although I 

 have seen many fish a great deal larger and of many 

 different kinds in the markets. 



The man then prejjared us something more to eat, 

 baked beans this time out of a tin can. Afterward Bill 

 smoked again; and after haviug daubed myself over with 

 the fly oil I took a nap on a flat rock in the shade. We 

 then embarked again for our return. Arrived at the 

 other end of the lake, Bill announced his intention of 

 "running the rapids," which caused considerable discus- 

 sion between him and his man. I didn't know what 

 "running the rapids" was, but it was evidently something 

 out of the common and not without danger. I thought 

 the man was remonstrating or at least objecting on my 

 account; but Bill spoke up sharply to him.'which was not 

 his custom, and he [prepared to obey orders. Neither of 

 them consulted me in the matter at all. Bill took the 

 bow of the canoe with a pole in his hands and told me in 

 a peremptory and not very polite manner not on any ac- 

 count to speak or to move' unless I found myself in the 

 water all over. He pushed the canoe off from the shore, 

 held it steady for a few seconds against the current, gave 

 a decided order to his man, quickly exchanged the pole 

 for a paddle and off we shot. 



The terror of the next few minutes I shall never forget. 

 Wo seemed to be going to certain destruction at the rate 

 of a thousand miles an hour. Fifty times I was sure we 

 were going to be dashed against the rocks, but somehow 

 a few quick strokes of Bill's paddle or a sudden word 

 spoken to his man enabled us to go clear. He need not 

 have told me to keep still, for I could not have moved if 

 I wanted to. I felt my hair stand on end and my blood 

 stop running. I just held on to the sides of the canoe 

 with both hands. We came out into quiet water for a 

 moment: and I heard Bill say something that I thought 

 was in the way of commendation to his man and direc- 

 tion what to do next. There was another rapid, but not 

 as bad as the first and then we came to a strong, steady 

 current that carried us down fast and Bill seized the op- 

 portunity to light his pipe. The third rapid was worse 

 than the second, though not as bad as the first, and was 

 passed in the same way. Bill was not so much concerned 

 about it as to let his pipe go out, and I am not sure but 

 the smoke from it gave me confidence. The next thing 

 I knew we were pulled to the shore at the top of the big 

 waterfall, and I don't suppose we had been ten minutes 

 in coming back over the distance that it had taken us 

 two hours of walking, carrying thecane, poling and pad- 

 dling in going up. Still I would rather go on foot, and 

 a very great deal rather not go at all. 



I had had all the canoeing I wanted for my lifetime, 

 but yet there were more experiences to come. We had 

 not been half an hour going down the large lake when a 

 shower came on with thunder, lightning and heavy squalls 

 of wind and rain. We reached the shore before it was 

 very bad, hauled the canoe up, turned it over and crawled 

 under it. This kept our heads and bodies dry, but it was 

 not big enough to cover our legs, which got well soaked. 

 The rain lasted an hour or so; and we put off again, hav- 

 ing no more mishaps till we reached our original starting 

 place at the foot of the mountain. There was then an- 

 other shower coming up; and it was too late and dark for 

 us to see to climb up that terrible cliff, so there was noth- 

 ing for us to do but stay there all night. The men looked 

 about until they found a suitable place, and then by some 

 means or other they stripped the bark off some trees, 

 braced it up against some poles and made a very good 



shelter. It rained hard before they got through, and I 

 was soaked from head to foot. Literally there was not a 

 dry thread on me. I wondered what Bess would think if 

 she knew what a condition I was in. At home, if by 

 chance I even got in the least damp, she would have me 

 put to bed in hot blankets with a dose of ginger tea in- 

 side of me and a bottle of hot water at my feet. And 

 here I was, utterly drenched and without even a roof 

 over my head. 



With much difficulty, in a lull of the rain, the man got 

 a fire going, and by its light pulled the bark off another 

 tree, dried it, and gave it to me to lie on. We finished 

 the beans and cold pork, but it rained too hard for us to 

 cook anything, and my supper was scanty. I would 

 have given all my last year's almanacs to be back in 249th 

 street where I belonged, and where things suited a man 

 of my disposition. Perhaps some of the people who write 

 stories for such papers as Forest and Stream like this 

 kind of thing, but I don't. I have not a doubt now that 

 if Bill were to write them a letter he would tell all about 

 how he caught that last trout, and never say a word 

 about all our miseries. 



While I was thinking them over I fell asleep. The 

 others had been snoring for two hours, having first made 

 up a big fire that dried our clothes a little, and burned 

 our faces a good deal. I was getting indifferent to these 

 discomforts, for I was certain I should take a cold that 

 would turn into bronchitis and then into lung fever or 

 consumption and carry me off, or else into rheumatism 

 that would double me up for the rest of my days. One 

 of the last things Bess told me before I left home, and 

 she told me a good many, was that I should never, on 

 any account, lie down with wet feet, and that if by any 

 chance my clothing should get damp I must change it 

 instantly. Once in the night I spoke out loud to see if 

 my voice was getting hoarse or anything, and was sur- 

 prised to find it was not; but I could feel that my legs 

 were stiff and was sure the rheumatism was commencing. 

 The fire burned down, and I kept crawling nearer to it 

 until finally I burned holes in both my stockings, but 

 just then the man got up and started it anew. 



I had only been asleep a few minutes when Bill roused 

 me up, and said it was time to start, although I saw that 

 it was only beginning to be daylight. In a few minutes 

 we began to climb up that dreadful precipice that it cost 

 me such anxiety to get down. All I wish to say about it 

 is that I got to the top at last. The labors and struggles 

 I went through no tongue tell or pen indite, yet f ulti- 

 mately lived to get back to the cabin, glad to get even 

 into a log hut, if I could only rest. 



I was for lying down at once, but Bill wouldn't let me. 

 He had a little fire built in the stove, for the morning 

 was chilly after the rain, made me wash all over, change 

 my clothes, drink a dish of some kind of broth, and eat a 

 cracker before getting into my bunk. He put a thick 

 blanket over me, and tumbling into his own bed after 

 having gone through very much the same performances 

 himself fell asleep at once, and after awhile I did the 

 same and never woke until 11 o'clock. I was astonished to 

 find I had no rheumatism, and that considering the fear- 

 ful trials I had gone through I felt remarkably fresh. 



But I had had more than I wanted of that kind of life, 

 and as delicately as I could, I sounded Bill about how I 

 could get away. He only said that it was too late for 

 that day, that the next day would be Saturday, and the 

 next after that Sunday, and that on Monday we would 

 see about it. I was, therefore, condemned to three days 

 more, but I firmly resolved that no earthly inducement 

 should tempt me away from the cabin again, where, if 

 my surroundings were not congenial I was not very un- 

 comfortable. I could at least sleep all I liked, and sleep- 

 ing I knew was good for me. We had some more things 

 to eat, and lounged about the rest of the day. I borrowed 

 a knife and whittled out a neat paper cutter to take home 

 to Bess's baby. 



Saturday we rowed about the lake in the punt, and so 

 avoided the detestable bark canoe. Bill caught more 

 fish in that absurd fashion of his, and I scooped them up 

 in the net, which got to be rather fun after I had missed 

 three or four, and nearly tumbled overboard in trying to 

 reach one that was nearly 10ft. away. The flies did not 

 trouble me much, but the sun burned my no3e and the 

 back of my neck horribly. 



Sunday was another leisure day, and although I could 

 not read much it did not seem very long. We passsed a 

 good part of it in eating and sleeping, and listening to 

 the screams of the loons on the lake. They had fright- 

 ened me awfully the first night I was there. There were 

 several flocks of wild ducks sailing about, old ones with 

 theh young, that looked very pretty. In the afternoon 

 we heard an owl close by. Bill and his man went out 

 after him with guns, but did not get him. Just at night 

 a boy came with letters and papers. The stupid little 

 I fellow had no more sense than to paddle across that lake 

 in the same magnificent hog-trough that I had crossed in 

 the first time. I don't know whether Bill and his man 

 were aware what a dangerous vehicle it was, but at any 

 rate they said nothing about it. Perhaps they thought 

 that if this particular boy were drowned there would be 

 plenty left, which perhaps was true, for in all my born 

 days I never say, outside of a Sunday school procession, 

 so many children in so short a time as I had seen, after it 

 got to be light, on my way to the lake. 



There was a letter from Bess for me, eight pages: four 

 about the baby, two about Tom and two about other 

 things. Among the other things she said that when she 

 told my doctor where I was gone he said, "Just the place 

 for him. Keep him there till the snow flies and it will 

 add ten years to his life." I wrote back at once that I 

 didn't think the ten years would be worth having at the 

 price, and that I would return as soon as I possibly could. 

 More than that, I didn't think I could live ten days at 

 that place, much less three or four months. I had only 

 been there five days, and had already suffered martyr- 

 dom four or five times. The idea of staying several weeks, 

 with nobody to talk to except Bill, who was not at all 

 loquacious, except when talking to that Frenchman of 

 his, and who I felt almost always got the better of me 

 when we discussed politics! And besides, he often ap- 

 peared disgusted with me when I would not admire the 

 same things that he did. He had a habit of raving about 

 the same kind of things that Bess would run on so about: 

 trees, clouds, rocks, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, shad- 

 ows, reflections, and the like. Some of them, no doubt, 

 were pretty enough, but I could not see anything in them 

 worth talking half an hour about, or spending half a day in 

 photographing, as he did, or in painting, as Bess would do. 



