FOREST AND STREAM„ 
[July 4, 1896. 
LABRADOR SKETCHES. 
The Trappers' End. 
"Wheee did you pass last winter?" old Pierre asked 
me as we sat smoking around the fire. 
"At Vachon River," I replied. 
"Then you have not heard that my cousiuB Gonzague 
and Frederic both died in the woods ?" 
"No, I have not heard it. How did they die ?" 
"Well," said Pierre, "last winter Philippe, Gonzague, 
Fred and I were trapping together. We started about 
the middle of September to go to Lake Kou Kou-Mesh or 
Touradi (the touradi is the fork-tailed trout), situated a 
little this side of Moose Factory. We had to go 350 miles 
in canoes or hauling our toboggans. That is why we 
started so early. About the middle of October we were 
camped at the head of a lake and had set our traps, 
Snow had already fallen and we found plenty of marten 
tracks. 
"Everything went well, and at the end of November 
we had thirty." 
"All of a sudden Gonzague was seized with a violent 
fever, with pains in all his limbs. We did everything we 
could for him, but it was of no use. He would not lie 
down because he was afraid he would never get up again. 
On the fifth day, overcome by weakness and pain, he lay 
down, but it was only to die. On the morning of the 
sixth day he breathed his last, but before doing so he 
said: 
" 'You will take me back to my wife and children.' 
"We French- Canadian and Catholic trappers do not 
mind dying in the woods, but we don't like to be left 
there sleeping our last sleep; we wish our bodies to lie in 
the graveyard, near the church which the priest has 
iolessed. Therefore the fulfillment of Gonzague's request 
was a sacred duty for us. We decided to return, and 
after lashing his body to one of our toboggans we sorrow- 
fully retraced our steps toward the sea. Frederic, how- 
ever, would not come with us, and in spite of our remon- 
strances he decided to remain there. 
" 'If we aU go,' he said, 'our trapping is all lost, and 
there are women and children at home who want food.' 
"We left him with regret, for something told us we 
would not see him again alive. Ah, sir, it is a difficult 
task to haul a corpse in winter on a toboggan, and we 
did not get home till the end of January, In a few days 
we started off again for Lake Touradi, as we were anxious 
to see Fred. We walked and walked, taking but little 
rest, and at last we reached our camp. We were only a 
few paces from the little clump of trees in which we had 
built it; soon we were right on it. We could see nothing 
but snow — ^no smoke, no snowshoe tracks, nothing but 
the end of the stovepipe sticking out, and nothing com- 
ing out of it. Philippe and I looked at each other; pale 
we apprehension, we hardly dared take another step. At 
last we plucked up oiur courage, removed the snow from 
the door, opened it and rushed in. 
"Fred was dead. He was kneeling, his rosary in his 
hand, near his extinguished fire. 
"Poor Fred! After a short prayer we carried him out- 
side. He was frozen as hard as a rock, and the fire we 
had to make tp keep ourselves from perishing of cold 
would have thawed the body ; so we took it outside. Nei- 
ther of us had any heart left for trapping; so on the fol- 
lowing day we started on our journey, taking him back 
as we had taken Gonzague. An, sir! what a sad sight it 
was to see the body in its kneeling attitude lashed to the 
toboggan. He looked as if he were praying all the time. 
We reached home half dead vsith fatigue and sorrow. 
"When the spring came I went to sea; I hated the 
sight of the woods. But you know h.ow it is, you can't 
tear yourself away from the life, and are bound to go 
back to it. Here we are at it again, and so it will always 
be." 
While Pierre was filling his pipe I began to think. I 
thought of poor Fred dying alone and dragged home on 
a toboggan; I thought of my wife and children, and felt 
a cold shiver through my frame. I was about to re- 
nounce the life 1 loved so much; but I was soon sorry for 
my weakness. What matters it, I thought, whether I 
perish in the waters of the gulf or in the woods — it is all 
in God's hands. H. de Puy,talon. 
OUR HIRED MAN. 
"I WAS workin' on a farm in Exton, dovra East, when 
I j'ined in a bear hunt. There wasn't supposed to be any 
beara in them parts, and when one day in summer a 
parcel o' boys and gals come skurryin' in from Blueberry 
Swamp sayin' they had seen 'a bear! a bear! a big bearl' 
it made conaider'ble excitement, I tell ye. 
"We was all busy, it bein' hayin' time, and seein' as 
none o' us was hunters and Blueberry Swamp was over 
two mile from the village, some was fer lettin' the bear 
stay right where he was. So nothin' was done about it 
for some days, but the wimmen was oneasy and the gals 
and boys couldn't go arter the berries, which was plenty, 
and on Sunday the minister he took fer a tex': 'Bear ye 
one another's burdens;' so a number o' us made up our 
minds ter drop work till the bear was got out o' the way. 
"There was Silas Parker, Joe Lee, Abe Peters, Charley 
Tasker and me that made up the oommitty o' action, as 
some o' the wimmen folks called it, and we planned ter 
start out Tuesday mornin' 'arly. SUas Parker was capt'in 
and we agreed he should giv' all orders. We was ter 
meet at Abe Peters's house, he livin' nighest Blueberry 
Swamp, at 4 o'clock in the mornin' all ready for a day o' 
huntin'. 
"I didn't have no gun, so I set off and borreyed one o' 
Nathan Gibbs. It was an old pattern Springfield muskit. 
•Ye see,' says he ter me, 'she was made to carry a heavy 
charge. Jest put in a handful o' powder with plenty o' 
waddin', and then a handful o' shot, and she'll surprize 
ye. I've got the bay'net somewheres about here if ye 
want that.' 
"I bought a pciand o' powder, three pounds o' buckshot 
and a box o' caps, and was all ready. 
"Charley Tasker he lived nighest ter our place, and him 
and me was out in the road waitin' when Silas and Joe 
come along, and we started for Abe's. 
"Abe he was a aomid sleeper and awful hard to wake 
tip momin's, he said, and he had fixed it ter tie a line ter 
axm and have 4be end hangin' out o' the winder. Ye 
know there's most always some sort o' jokin' goin' on 
among a lot o' young fellers, and Charley Tasker told us 
ter watch him when he came ter the house and pee some 
fun. 'Ye jest let me pull the rope,' says he, 'and I'll yank 
Abe clear out o' bed.' So he goes under the winder and 
gives a pull and down comes a bucketful o' water over 
him, and then we see Abe a-lookin' out o' another winder 
all dressed and ready. 
"Charley he was kind o' huffy, as I've noticed most 
jokers is when the laugh gits on them, but he was a good- 
natured feller and soon got over it and off we started for 
the swamp. 
"'We'll all have the credit o' this t>iing ekally, boys,' 
says Silas, *so we'll move in a line and surroimd the bear 
and no man fires till he gits the word.' 
"At the edge o' the swamp we formed in line about 
10ft. apart and keerfuUy moved forrard. In about a 
quarter o' an hour we come ter where the berry bushes 
was thick and knowed it was nigh where the bear was 
seen, fer there was four baskits, a dipper, three tin pails 
and a straw hat that the children had abandoned in their 
race fer life. Pushin' on, we come ter some risin' ground 
f ormin' a knoll, and on top o' the knoll at the foot o' a big 
tree we see the bear a-layin' down. 
" 'Stiddy, boys, wait fer the word,' says Silas, and we 
closed in on the bear. He was a big un, as the children 
had said, and soon's he see us he riz up and stood on his 
hind paws. 'Ready! aim I' says Silas, and we all drawed 
bead on the critter. And then we was all took by sur- 
prise, for the bear was a dancin' with his arms a-danglin' 
before him and a solem' look on his face. 'Muzzles up!' 
bawls Silas, 'don't fire. No man mean enough ter shoot 
a tame bear hails from Exton!' 
"He went up ter the bear and giv' him a hunk o' bread 
and some meat, which the critter took j'yfuUy. Arter 
we'd fed him the most o' the rashuns we'd brung, we 
rigged up a muzzle with a strap and led him along with 
us contented and good-natured as a big dog. 
"In about a week the facts o' the case come out. A 
furriner who was what they call a bear leader had wan- 
dered inter Ashbury sick with pneumony, which had 
made him • light-headed, and they took him in at the 
almshouse and keered fer him. He'd left the bear on the 
road and the animil had made fer the swamp, where he 
could find berries and things ter eat. Soon's the chap got 
well enough he looked up his bear." 
A SERMON OF THE WOODS. 
Tbxt: "And he left his business for a brief period, to gain health 
and inspiration by a close communion with nature."— (CTiap. IS, 
'^Duties.'') 
That there is need for occasional relaxation from the 
stem duties and demands of business there is no'question. 
That a companionship with nature offers the most sub- 
stantial benefits, and recuperates the mind and body more 
rapidly than any other form of recreation, busmess men 
are fast finding out. 
At this season of the year the Maine woods receive with 
open arms many a tired inortal, give him a two weeks' 
round of more than pastoral pleasures, and return him to 
his desk a new man, with rested body and senses all alert. 
Perhaps it will interest the readers of Forest akd 
Stream if I spin a little yam incidental to my last year's 
trip to Piscataquis county in quest of an appetite, repose 
and — fish. 
Starting from Boston at 7 P. M., acrriving in Bangor in 
the early morning following, and after breakfasting vidth 
mine host Woodbury, taking the train for Greenville at 
the foot of Moosehead, I arrived at Monson Junction, con- 
nected at that point with the narrow gauge for Monson, and 
was met by Dick, who had diiven over from his home in 
Eliotaville to meet me. Our mountain pony and the con- 
ventional buckboard took me as far as the home of the 
Mediator, otherwise known as Dr. Brown, a sort of recluse 
having his lonely dweUiog on the mountain side and at a 
point where the trail begins. This trail is now quite a 
beaten path, and leads directly to Long Pond and to 
Brown's Pond by an intersecting pathway. My destina- 
tion was Long Pond, where friends of mine had gone the 
week before, and were making their headquarters at the 
twin camps on the thoroughfare. Inquiring of the Doctor 
if he had heard from the party, I was informed that my 
friends had just come out of the woods by his house on 
their way to Indian Pond, and, expecting me, had left 
word for me to either await their return or push along 
alone to camp, as I preferred. Deciding that 1 would like 
to establish myself in camp as soon as possible, I struck the 
trail, expecting to find a canoe there with which I might 
shorten the jotirney and avoid tramping over an obscure 
spotted line to the camps, which were on the second pond. 
Blithely I tripped along with about 251bs. of dunnage 
strapped to my back, my rod case and haversack depend- 
ing from my shoulders. How beautiful the woods looked, 
how fragrant the odor from the evergreens and how 
quiet and restful everything seemed. 
I wasn't thinking of my load just then, you know, for 
my journey was only begun. It was too early to appre- 
ciate that a six-mile tramp up hill all the way would mag- 
nify my load to a ton ere 1 had reached my destination. 
So I went on and on, and, with my muscles soft from dis- 
use, it occurred to me quite soon that I had better sit 
down awhile and hit the pipe. Unslinging my pack, I 
sprawled on the ground with a feeling of complete free- 
dom from all earthly cares, filled the old briarwood, and, 
after applying the match, looked around me. I looked 
just about one second, when I espied an object that filled 
me with terror. Surely it was a bear — I felt it was a bear. 
It was apparently climbing up over a log, or resting 
thereon in such a position as to command the pathway 
and possibly use me for sinister purposes. What in the 
world to do I knew not. I had a revolver with me 
which represented my whole ai-senal, but, making the 
best of the situation, decided to hold it in readiness and 
sell my life as dearly as possible if it came to open war. I 
forgot to puff my pipe and it went out. I waited, and the 
bear did too. 
I did not know whether to be ashamed or frightened, 
or both. 
I have been in the woods and over this trail many 
times, but I had never seen a bear before "close on," and, 
never having posted myself on a bear's peculiarities, did 
not know whether he would attack me without provoca- 
tion or not. Time sped on. Did I say "sped?" It did 
not "sped," it "sodjered." Remember, all this is occur- 
ring in one short afternoon (by the clock), but I swear I 
am not exaggerating when I say that I waited four weeks 
that solitary afternoon until — I heard a crackling in the 
underbrush, and discovered Henry, our mentor, guide 
and chef, bowling along to overtake me. It seems that 
he had gone back to Brown's for something the party had 
need for, and, finding I had started along alone, decided 
it would be better if I had company, knowing that there 
was no canoe at the lower pond and that the roundabout 
trail from that point to the camp was a very blind one. 
I did not exactly rush into Henry's arms— that would 
have been undignified and ridiculous — but I believe I lost 
no time in mentioning the pertinent fact that a big black 
bear was just around the corner, and that he had better 
unsling his trusty Winchester. "What!" says Henry, 
"did you take that old stump for a bear? I must chop up 
that old tenderfoot killer, it has scared too many good 
men', and is likely to ruin my business." Didn't Henry 
put it nicely? 
Of course I did the honorable thing. A, T. Bond. 
A RIDING TOUR IN SOUTHERN SPAIN. 
"Tou cannot carry out your intentions of riding from Gibraltar to 
Malaga by Ronda, because the Internatlonallats are established in 
force in the Sierra, and none of the horse-hirers of the Rock will trust 
his animals in the clutches of these men and brethren."— Satwrday 
Bemetv. 
A BBIOHT vista of days long ago! 
Four young subs of a marching regiment, with a more 
abundant stock of life and energy than of that experi- 
ence which is said to teach, sat in the mess room of the 
South Barracks, Gibraltar, sipping coffee after an unusu- 
ally good dinner (a saddle of mutton having been received 
by the P. & O. mail steamer, and it took the place of the 
usual goat cutlet). English papers had also been received, 
and the above paragraph caught the eye of one of the 
party, ever ready for anything with a spice of adventure 
in it. 
On hearing of the difficulty above referred to each sub 
at once resolved to take the trip in question. We could 
not, however, aU secure the necessary leave of absence; 
we therefore drew lots to decide who should make appli- 
cation for leave to our good commanding officer. It thus 
came about that it fell to the lot of the writer of these 
notes, with one of the subs aforesaid, the best and most 
genial of companions, to take this trip, and if possible to 
extend it to Granada. 
A word before proceeding further about "Gib.," the hot- 
bed of British soldiers, the point of concentration of the 
British navy, the home of the sportsman, the "jumping- 
off place" of the globe trotter. 
The Rock is as well known as is the Tower of London. 
The two Pillars of Hercules — Gibraltar and Centa — ^are as 
familiar to tourists as is Temple Bar to the man bom 
within sound of Bow Bells. 
No one who has climbed the Rock can forget the scene. 
One sees the Mediterranean on one hand, the Atlantic on 
the other, Africa before, Europe behind. The eye ranges 
over a boundless extent of mountain, land and sea; you 
stand on the confines of civilization and barbarism; a 
narrow strip divides the two physically, morally, a vast 
gulf lies between them. There are many sights of interest 
about Gibraltar: the galleries, the seaward batteries, the 
immense caves by which apes are said to come and go 
between Spain and Africa; the Alameda, or park, where 
every conceivable nationality is represented; the library, 
etc. 
It is, however, of "Gib." as a "jumping-off place" for 
the globe-trotter that I now propose to speak. Our pro- 
posed route lay through Andalusia, whose ancient history 
is full of interest. The story of the Moors in Spain alone 
fills many a page. For nearly eight centuries under her 
Mohammedan rulers, Spain set to all Europe a shining 
example of a civilized and enlightened State. In 1492 
the last bulwark of the Moors gave way before the cru- 
sade of Ferdinand and Isabella, and with Granada fell all 
Spain's greatness. 
Moorish castles and towers remain in good state of 
preservation in all the principal towns, notably at Cadiz, 
Seville, Cordova, Granada and Malaga. To see these 
places was our first resolve. The only means of locomo- 
tion in those days, before railroads, and without carriage 
roads, was that valuable animal, "shank's mare," or on 
horseback. The former I had, on a previous occasion, 
resorted to; the latter was, as shown, dangerous in the 
extreme. However, we two rash youths, having secured 
horses, started one bright summer morning at gun-fire to 
"do" southern Spain. 
How delightful this feeling of freedom, as we rode 
along over the neutral ground and along the well-known 
path to St. Roque! No longer are we shut up within the 
strictly kept limits of the fortress; now we are free men; 
we expand our chests and drink in the clear air of 
heaven, as if we were lords of all we survey. We wound 
our way considerably to the right of the cork woods, our 
happy hunting grounds with Oalpe hounds, and in a few 
hours, having passed over moimtains, where we saw herds 
of cattle in great numbers, and shepherds with the sling 
— peculiar to this part of Spain — we entered a smaller 
cork wood. Here we found several parties of muleteers 
packing their loads in a very smuggler-like manner. 
These muleteers gave us no friendly greeting, and they 
expressed surprise at finding us without an armed escort. 
Toward evening our route lay through extensive val- 
leys, with orange groves in abundance, and nightingales 
singing their sweetest songs. After this we ascended a 
high hill, on which Gaucin is situated. Here we put up 
for the night at the Posada de la Paz. 
Having assisted in the capture and death of the fovrl 
on which we afterward dined, we were led by a small boy 
to the governor, to whom the boy introduced us, and 
from whom we received a permit to see the Moorish 
castle, a splendid sample of that style of architecture. 
The view from the castle is very fine: on the Ronda side 
high mountains, rising mountain above mountain; on the 
Gib. side apparently a vast plain, fertilized by the rich 
streams which irrigate it— Gib. in the distance; and be- 
yond "Ape's Hill," in Africa, barely perceptible. The 
convent and chapel are worth seeing. 
At night we had the usual "Spanish fight" with innu- 
merable active and energetic "hoppers." In the. morning 
the usual, not less real, contest about the excessive charges 
for board and lodging of ourselves and horses. Having 
handed the senora a reasonable amount, half the sum 
charged, senoras and seiioritas charged us in a different 
manner, and as the sling is used by men for cattle, so 
we found that without the sling women and children 
made accurate practice in stone throwing at us^ we left 
amid a volley of stonee. 
