FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 28, igoo. 
turned with all their stock. They reported that the whole 
band, some thirteen in ntimber, had quarreled over the 
division of the spoils and killed each_ other off until 
there was but one survivor, and that this one had com- 
mitted suicide through lonesomeness, presumably. 
There is an air of truth about this little narrative that 
ar once challenges our entire belief. 
At one point of our journey the clouds lift and the sun 
shines out, revealing Mount Pitt to the northward, rear- 
ing its beautiful pyramidal cone 10,000 feet into the air, 
covered %ith a thin mantle of dazzling new snow^ — a 
beautiful sight. 
About 3 P. M. WQ reached our dinner station, and 
after a fair meal and a change of horses resumed our 
journey, nearly four hours late. On we went again, 
through seemingly interminable stretches of gloomy 
fir forest, over a second summit some hundreds of feet 
higher than the last, then down its eastern slope, jolted 
and jarred by rocks and great protruding, roots until 
aching bodies complained in every joint. , ■: ' 
About 7 P. M. we came to a break in the. forest called 
Lost Prairie, and I am satisfied from its looks that the 
man that lost it never tried to find it again. Here at last 
the weather kept its promise of the day, and a heavy 
shower proved the wisdom of our Ashland purchases. 
In the gloaming we came to the Lake of the Woods, a 
lovely little get, set in unbroken forest, miles in extent. 
A3 this country has been made a Government reservation 
there is some hope of this lake remaining in a state of 
nature without the defilement wrought everywhere by the 
lumbermen. At present its waters are barren, although 
pure and cold, and eminently fitted to be the home of the 
gamy rainbow. I am sure that Oregon's progressive 
sportsmen will not let it long remain in this condition. 
From this point onward to our destination our road 
ran through a continuous forest for ten more weary 
miles. Night was now upon us and the darkness under 
the thickly growing firs was a thing to be felt. The rocks 
and roots got to be still more in evidence, and the seat 
cushions got tired of being sat upon so long and pre- 
sented many knobs and wrinkles that we had failed to 
note earlier in the day. Finally, just before we would 
p 
have died, the lights of Pelican Lodge gleamed through 
the darkness, and we were saved. 
We received a friendly welcome from the proprietor' 
and half a dozen guests, and a very bad supper, the 
French chef having "struck" that very evening. After 
supper my friend went out to look after our baggage 
and I retired to the general sitting room, which was 
done b}^ simply moving to the other end of the apart- 
ment. I maintained a standing position (out of respect 
to the memory of the stage cushions) by the piano, smok- 
ing a cigar, when a descendent of Abraham, with a bay 
window extension, approached and addressed me. His 
voice had been a dominant note in the chorus ever after 
our arrival, and from the tenor of his vi^ords I learned 
that he was much disgruntled and was going to leave 
the next morning. He spread his legs wide part, stuck 
his thumbs in the armholes of his vest, and his cigar in 
one corner of his mouth, at an angle that endangered his 
eyebrow, and turned loose: 
"My tear sir, you have gome here for some shbort. 
Ha! Now, I tond't vant you to be disabbointed, so I am 
going to gif you a bointer. De droudt are here, budt 
you gan't gadch 'em! Yes, de droudt are here; you gan 
go oudt und see dousants of 'em, but dey ton't vill pite. 
und you gan't make 'em. I hafe oeen here vife tays, und 
nefer got a droudt. It ii? not Crary's [the proprietor] 
vauldt, it is de vauldt ov de tam railroadt. Dey advertise 
how many droudt are here and how pig dey are. und I 
kets oxcited. Dey dells me dat I kot to ket me some new 
dackle vor to holdt dose drottdts, und I puj-s me a new 
reel vor vourteen tollars, unad a new line vor vour tollars 
und a halluf, und a kross of new vlies vor dree tollars 
und a halluf a tozen;. altokedder aboudt seventy-vife or 
eighty tollars vert, undt. I nefer kets a tam droudt! To 
Hades mit Pelican Pay! I kets efen on somepoty vor 
dis!" 
"Well," I answered. "I'm glad you forewarned me, so 
that I won't get my sights too high. Still, if there are 
thousands of trout here, I think either my friend or 
myself will be able to coax some of them to bite." 
"Yon mark vot I dells you, you von't ket a tam droudtl 
De blaca vos no koodt! I'm oflf vor home in te morning, 
und ven I kets pack I dells some of dose beoples dot: I 
dond't like bretty much dot dey must be sure -und gome 
up here. I vandts somepoty pesites mine selliif to ket 
Eoldt." ■ •■ • ■ 
And away he went to vent his spleen on poor Crary. 
The next morning, just before the stage left, I heard 
his raucus v^ice again assailing the same individual to the 
follnwin.g effect: 
"You say dot if I don't gatch no droud, I must gome 
up later und shoodt some tucks? Now, tond't ask. dot 
unless ?asx bromjsfe dot I kej;s- ^ree^- ^iTta'a 'fay. I 
know vere;I--Itan u-n*d kfet dwen^y-Vive efsry tay 1 
If:: 
■jaCksnipe at home. 
shoodts, und I von't gome here unless you varrents me 
veevty!" 
And away he went, regretted (-?) fey. all. Adieu! Oh, 
das ich der oder deines gleichen, nie wieder sehen moge, 
aber jedenfals wird es wieder passieren. 
Tired and worn out, my friend and self went to bed 
that night, expecting a long, refreshing sleep. We were 
given a double-bedded room in the main building, the 
lower part of which consists of one large room, with 
what Uncle Lisha would call a "linter" kitchen, while 
the upper is divided into several sleeping rooms by thin 
board partitions. Consequently, whateA^er occurs in any 
part oi the building is the common property of all within 
..s va\ls. On being ushered into our apartment, the 
presence of mosquito nettings and numerous splotches 
o\ blood on the white cloth lining on the walls bore an 
ominous look to me, who dread a mosquito worse than 
"Aiild Clootie." We went to bed hoping for the best, 
drew the nettings around us, and sank quickly to sleep. 
In the course of an hour or less I began to get uneasjr 
and conscious of some disturbing sound, which gradually 
awakened me to the knowledge that some one in the 
house was snoring the shingles oi? the roof. It was 
exasperating to think of such an annoyance having to 
be borne throughout the night, when we were in such 
need of rest. Presently I could hear mv companion 
b°p-in to get restless, and soon knew that he was awake 
also. 
-; A SEVfiN'-POOTTDER A WB- ITS CAPTOR. 
"Pardy!" he called to me; "oh, Pardy! Wake up and 
stop that noise!" 
'"Confound you!" I answered, "I ought to get up and 
fire you out of this room for accusing me of such snoring 
as that. Did you ever know me to do it in all these 
past years that we have camped together.?" 
"No, I never did," said he, "but you went to bed so 
very tired that I thought it possibly might be you. 
What will we do?" 
"Hammer on the wall," I answered, "and wake 
him up." 
"I don't like to do that," and he lay still for a mo- 
ment. 
Presently he got out of bed and groped around the 
room a moment in the dark, and a crash resounded 
throughout the house that might have wakened the fish 
out in the lake. 
The snoring ceased, and B. got into bed again, but in 
two minutes it was worse than ever. 
"For God's sake, Avhat shall we do?" groaned he. And 
again he was advised to "hammer on the wall." He 
arose a second time and groped around as before; then 
came another crash, followed by the rolling of some 
metallic substance over the bare floor, winding up with a 
clatter as it reached the wall. And the snorer only snored 
the louder, each blast of his bugle bearing a note of 
triumph. 
Thoroughly exasperated, B, struck the wall a few vig- 
orous blows, and "Hey! What? What?" ejaculated the 
wakened ofTender, and we heard him turn Over. Peace 
reigned! 
"Keep pieace, upon your lives; 
He dies, that snores again. That's what's the matter!" 
— Shakespeare — with alterations. 
When we awoke the morning was well advanced, and 
the songs of the birds and the call of the ducks from the 
marsh caught our sleepy senses. As we arose I asked, 
"What was it that you raised that infernal racket with 
in the night?" 
Partner simply pointed under the bed to where a tin 
candlestick with a broken candle lay. 
We dressed and descended to breakfast, which, owiiig 
to the defection of the cook, was worse, if worse could 
be, than the previous night's meal. After being graveled 
by cold, muddy coffee, bread like a piece of wood pulp 
and hot cakes that would stretch out large enough to 
make a yacht's spinaker without tearing, we went out to 
take a look at our surroundings. Seeing some inviting 
looking sleeping cabins on the hill back of the lodge, we 
at ' once tackled Crary for one of them that had been 
vacated that morning by some of the departing Hebrew 
contingent, and secured it. After the departure of the 
stage, Mr. Crary also left for Ashland, in search of a 
cook, having temporarily secured the services of the 
wife of a neighboring cattleman to serve in that capacity 
until his return. My friend and myself then engaged 
her husband to act as our boatman during out stay and 
went down to the boathouse and chose a boat for use 
during the same period. Then we moved our belongings 
to the cottage, and after getting settled took a stroll around 
the grounds. If poor Fred Mather had been with us he 
would never again have needed information about service 
berries. The hillsides were covered with the bushes, 
some of which were veritable trees 20 and 30 feet high 
and at this time of year were covered with purple ber- 
ries. There were thousands of small birds feeding upon 
the latter, the majoritj'^ of which were Gambel's sparrows. 
As we looked toward the east, to the front, to the left, 
to the right, for miles, spread a great marsh, within which 
lay Pelican Bay and its several arms, or creeks, as they 
are locally termed. These are hidden from sight by the 
growth of willows that line the banks, excepting a bit 
of the head of Spring Creek, where the lodge stands. 
To the left the marsh was open back to the foot of 
the mountain, and as we strolled down toward it hundreds_ 
of birds arose, like to a flock of blackbirds from newly 
plowed lands. B. said, "Snipe!" I said, "No!" t said 
so from the tact that there were such numbers of them; 
and also for the reason that some of them were alight- 
ing upon a log fence than inclosed a portion of the 
marsh. But as we approached closer, the fact that they 
were really snipe became apparent. Such a sight one 
seldom sees, and never, unless in their breeding grounds. ■• 
such as this was. They sprang up from under our feet 
like flies from a molasses barrel. It was ""scaipe! scaipel- 
scaipe!" on every hand, and the whistle of their wings 
was like a strong wind in the tree tops. 
And all this within 200 yards of the lodge ! It was al- 
m.ost incredible. I rati back for my camera, and on my 
return spoiled several plates trying to snap a number of 
the birds upon the ground. But the little rascals, when 
routed, became shy, and when they alighted, as they 
would do right under my nose, would at once disappear 
in a cow track dr o*her depression in the s.oft grbiiiid 
in as rharS'-elous a manner as a flock of yourtg riiWed- 
:*1 
A KLAMATH MEADOW ANP MT, PITT, 
LAKE OF THE WOODS. 
