290 
'FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Oc?r. 12, igoi. 
king, and we all scattered out and took our stands to 
await their return. Presently we heard the dog belonging 
to the other party, who was behind us, coming down 
through the woods in full cry, apparently on the same 
trail, but soon I saw the object of his pursuit, in what 
appeared to me to be a black fox, passing away below 
me, but too far away for a good shot. As the other 
dogs were then coming back up the creek with their 
fox, I knew it must be another fox. I shot at it, but 
without any effect other than to quicken its gait. As the 
three dogs drew near to the one, he left his fox and 
joined them. After a short run a report from John's 
gun and a whoop told that the chase was over, and that 
we had our fox. 
Then the mystery of the identity of the other fox be- 
gan to settle around us. I went to where it had passed 
in my sight, and instead of the track of a gray fox. there 
was the long and unusually large track of what appeared 
to be a red fox. As all fox hunters know, there is a very 
noticeable difference in their tracks. -As I declared it 
was hot a red fox, we put the dogs on the track, and the 
chase was on again. 
We followed after for nearly a mile, till we found them 
circhng back, when we scattered and sought likely places 
for a shot. In about an hour the dogs had circled around 
us and gone entirely out of hearing. After waiting quite 
a while without hearing them, we all got together by 
signals, and one of the boys reported that the fox had 
come Avithin a very few steps of him, affording a dead 
sure shot, and his gun missed fire. No one else had seen 
It; but he said it was "sure enough" black. We waited 
until about noon without hearing the dogs, and then 
started to our headquarters to have dinner and reflect on 
the unpleasant possibility of losing our dogs Up to this 
time we knew nothing of the old fox. and naturally were 
in a deep mystery, as the color of the fox. which we of 
course, still thought must be a very dark gray one and its 
track and way of running did not correspond 
We had our dinner and spent the afternoon about the 
house, always keeping an ear open for the faintest sound 
trom the dogs fully knowing that they would run till 
night at least, if the fox did not hole. 
Late in the evening, about a half-hour before dark we 
riZlu fl ^77. ^"?^^ coming from' the 
north, and headed for the place where the fox had started 
m the morning. It was a full mile from the house to a 
crossing where we all knew well he would cross the 
pike. It was evidently not over a mile from where the 
dogs were to the crossing, but a very rough country 
There seemed no possibility of getting there ahead £ 
the fox but the question with us was whether we couS 
reach the crossing in time to take off the dogs 
^r^Ju.V W ^'u^^^^ ""yP^"^ single-barrel, muzzle- 
a?d TtfrtS f?r "^"^""^ ^"-^ ammunition 
and started for the crossing, out the road a half-mile to 
the pike then down the pike to the creek, across the 
creek and up a steep grade for fifty rods. I was ju4 ao- 
Tfhfr?^ psP^g for breath and wonderfng 
.f the chase had gone by for T had been too bu.sy gettini 
there to stop and listen), when the fox came over thf 
brow of the hiU 40 yards away. We were both out in an 
open field, and, of course, saw each other at ?he Tame 
a as? m£htvX?f '^^^ °^ ^^^'^t' but wi^li 
a last, mighty effort, I got m a shot just as his rear end 
7nu^A ?n V''^ ^"""'"^ ^ f^^^^ steps where I 
M onlv a'Thor? H-? °^ ^ in the 
S w Oft distance away, and making very poor 
oXw'atch Wm'^' "° ^^^^^ ^ -uM 
One hind leg was broken, and he seemed generallv user! 
up, but not fatally hurt. Before he was oift of ? ght the 
dogs came to me where the fox had turned tL? gfvW 
me^an^ opportunity to call them to me and catch th?7w! 
thL'^f/r^f/i!-n'^'^.'^^^? ^ ^^'^ ^ fi™ ^old on the dogs 
them un f^r In '^^d about givfn 
enrl 7,1 i ''''^ "^^'^ '"^^d^ ^^»te our hunt at an 
™y suspenders and with them tied anH 
hen^ L^'^"'' '""^^^ *e third followed m? One of 
later o'nTLr" °" broughtTomI 
We started out early the next morning, and took ud the 
they left S o„7£ I "V"' *e chase after 
Emerson- Carney. 
Points and Flushes. 
fiefdlcenes"" ^fnSt^'''' ^^"^^ ^tist of 
neia scenes whose theme is dog and gun is eaualed 
by none, was a visitor in New York two or three days 
Kx;ositi°on ''''' "^^!^ Pan-Am\rican 
f;fMc ? If^^"' contemplates a visit to the field 
obsl^ed '"^'^ ^^''^ the 
Mr. S. C. Bradley, secretary of the Kastern Field Trial 
Club, leaves for North Carolina on Wednesday of tlii". 
week, where he will remain till late in December, or until 
after the field trials of his club are concluded 
All communications Intended for Forest AtfD Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co,, and 
fjQf tg any ifidiyl^ual connected with the papr, 
— ♦ — 
'Mid Reef and Rapid.— XXIV. 
BY F. K. WEBB. 
Vv'e had frequently had high waters in our seevral 
cruises on this stream, but never before had we had an 
experience so unique and thrilling as we enjoyed for the 
next two da'ys, in shooting swiftly down the river on the 
top of this great flood. The river spread high up among 
the trees, and out over the tops of the bush-lined banks, 
which could not be seen, as we skirted swiftly past; gen- 
erally near one side or the other — seldom in midstream. 
It spread across, in surging, brick-red flood, from one 
line of trees to the other — rocks, reefs, falls, fish-dams — 
everything obliterated and deep down out of sight, below 
the thick, red surface, with not a ripple or break to mark 
their locations. The river was, for the most part, smooth 
— and the surface looked still, and flat, and waveless. but 
was really continually broken into long lines of smooth, 
crestless swells, which tossed us gently up and down, 
with a never-ceasing, gently undulating movement, which 
gave us a curious, half-seasir.k sensation. 
We seemed but as straws, and felt singularly puny and 
insignificant in the grasp of the whirling flood, wliich 
raced us along at a good seven or eight miles an hour. 
It was exhilarating — the rate at which we swung along — 
past trees, bluffs and headlands, around whose bases and 
through whose overhanging branches the water boiled 
and surged; but it was awe-inspiring, also; and a curious 
feeling of utter helplessness took firm hold upon our 
^ minds as we were carried irresistibly down. 
The usual long falls and rapids were completely oblit- 
erated — smoothed over by the flood; which seemed to 
find one general, level, down-hill grade, over pools, rap- 
ids and falls, as it rushed smoothly along. 
The water, without apparent cause, frequently broke 
up from below, in great, boiling, fountain-like, surges, 
which swung round and round in huge circles, like whirl- 
pools, and in which our light canoes were caught up and 
spun round, end for end. like teetotums, all efforts ta 
change which circular motion with our paddles proving 
as puny and futile as, though we were using straws or. 
twigs. 
The river would occasionally break up into vast rapids, 
the like of which we had never before seen or imagined 
on this stream, whose tremendous waves threw their 
splashing crests high in air. We took good care to avoid 
these rapids, as far as possible, by skirting along close 
in tinder the bank, when one was sighted, and keeping 
out of the rough waier as much as possible; but when 
CcUight in one. as we occasionally were, our canoes rode 
the tremendous waves with wonderful buoyancy, sweep- 
ing from crest to crest with remarkable lightness. The 
experience was a thrilling one, as a canoe would swing 
up a great, liquid slope and hang balanced an instant on 
the brick-red, foaming pinnacle of a huge roller, with 
how and stern projecting out of the water; then the bow 
would dip and the canoe sUde down the slope, with an 
inclination which made her astonished crew feel she was 
pointed straight for the bottom of the river, while the 
big wave ahead would rear itself up on end, like a hill, 
until it seemed about to fall upon his devoted head; the 
canoe would rise, however, and climb the slope, standing 
on end until her crew would instinctively grasp the gun- 
wales with both hands to keep from sliding out behind, 
while the spray from the splashing crest ran in sheets 
down over her incUncd decks and hatches. 
"Do you note." asked Lacy, after, by strenuous ef- 
forts, we had dodged one of these rapids — "Do you note 
how much difference there is in controlling the canoes 
on this water? Now, for instance, on ordinarj' water, if 
you wish to avoid an obstacle, you dip your paddle into 
the water, the canoe responds easily and quickly, and 
with a stroke, or turn, you turn aside, or swing the canoe 
away from or around the obstruction." 
"That won't do on this water!" exclairiied George. 
"The only way to avoid an overhanging tree, or a rapid, or 
other object here, is to size it up a long way ahead— 
100 yards or so — and turn your canoe squarely across 
the stream from it, and paddle hard " 
"I have already noticed it," said I; "and have been 
working on that plan all along.'* 
"So have I," added Lacy. "That was just what I was 
speaking about." 
Great masses of driftwood— floating logs, fence rails, 
planks, etc., strewed the surface of the river, and we took 
good care to give these unwelcome neighbors a wide 
berth. Occasionally whole trees would be encountered, 
floating along, nearly submerged, their tops trembling 
and roUing as the lower branches occasionally caught on 
the subme'rged rocks and reefs, many feet below. 
We passed over the remains of Long's dam with just 
a slight downward swoop of the canoes, as we went over, 
but not a wavelet raised its crest below; and the river 
swept over the steep, rough rapid, just below the dam, as 
smooth and crestless as over the .still pool which follows 
the rapid. a- 
We landed at the little white house upon on the bluff, 
a mile below Long's, for a drink of water, and to pro- 
cure some canteloupes. grapes and apples; and, while 
ashore, we walked down some 100 yards or so to m- 
spect the old stone dam below, fearing that the water 
might Drove rough, but not a ripple marked the spot. 
We reached Massanutton. eight miles below our camp, 
in an hour from the time we started, and landed along- 
side the ferryboat for mail and supplies, to the immense 
astonishment of the natives, who gathered in a wonder- 
ina- warning group on the ferryboat, and on the high 
ban kabove— now not much higher than the water— as we 
re-embarked and oushed off again. 
There was a smooth dip of several feet over the dam 
at Mauk's mill, around the bend a mile below, and the 
water broke up considerably below the dam. but we 
passed over, and through the rough water, without wet- 
ting our decks. Not a ripple marked the location of the 
long, rocky "Pig-path'* falls. 
As we rounded the bend and bore swiftly down on the 
Bixier dam, several miles below the "Pig-path." the 
huo-e waves below the dam could be seen, tossing their 
pplashing crests higf} in wlllle th^ whole line of 
the dam was marked by a shower of spouting, splashing 
foam and spray. We paddled briskly over to near the 
left bank, however, where we knew the dam to be low- 
est, and where the shooting crests below looked least, 
and continued on our way down upon the dam. 
When close enough to see over the crest into the seeth- 
ing maelstrom below, we made the appalling discovery 
that the drop over the dam was six or eight feet deep. 
The water rolled in a long, smooth incline down into 
this gulf, while below the whole river stood straight up 
on end, in a wall, reaching across from shore to shore, 
parallel with, and fully as high, as the dam itself; the 
crest of the wall being composed of leaping and spouting 
masses of water, torn and ragged, and throwing their 
foaming crests of spray many feet in the air. Great jets 
of muddy water spouted like intermittent fountains high 
above the wavering crest of the wall, to fall back in a 
shower of muddy spray, far and wide. It was forty feet 
from the crest of the dam down the smooth six or eight 
feet incline, and up to the overhangi-ng, tumbling crest 
of the watery wall at its foot. 
All this we took in during the brief glance vouchsafed 
us. as we bore swiftly and helplessly down upon it. We 
were amazed — horrified — ^but we were in the remorseless 
clutch of the flood, and there was no possible alternative 
for us but to go over; so, with hatches tightly closed, and 
with aprons drawn up to our chins, we headed our canoes 
straight down the slope, and took the plunge. 
I was a little in the lead; my canoe swooped with a 
dizzying swing down the hill, while I grasped my gun- 
wale's with both hands, and held my apron tightly down 
nt the aft corners of the cockpit, rny paddle, meanwhile, 
balanced across my lap. As my canoe reached the tow- 
ering wall ahead I firmly closed my mouth and eyes, and 
held my breath. My canoe buried her sharp nose full in 
the breast of the wall of water in front, and, with a 
swish, dived right through. The water rolled in a solid 
mass a couple of feet deep over my decks and hatches, 
and passed smoothly off astern, while the light, foamy 
crest of the wave passed clear over my head, almost 
carrying away my cork helmet. My arms, shoulders and 
breast above the apron, as well as my face, were 
drenched, but I did not ship a pint of water. 
As my canoe pitched up and down like a cork on the 
tumultuous waves below, I turned to have a look at the 
others. George was pitching up and down a length or 
two astern of" me, and a little to one side, while Lacy 
was nowhere in sight. An instant later the sharp bow of 
his canoe broke through the huge wall astern, and was 
uplifted, so that I got a momentary glimpse along her 
keel and her black, dripping hull, for half her length, be- 
fore she shot through and dropped into the red turmoil 
below, and came, rising and falling, after us. 
"Whew!" said Lacy, as he wiped the streaming water 
from his fame; "I took a bucketful of water there!" 
"Bucketful! I took a tubful !" exclaimed George, 
scornfully, as he wrung out his dripping sleeves. 
"The next time we run a mill-dam like that," I ex- 
claimed, "we'll land a mile or so above, and walk down 
and reconnoiter it first! Let's land at the mill and get 
a drink!" 
The canoes were headed quartering up stream and pad- 
dled across the river to the side where the mill and the 
surrounding houses stood — ^by brisk paddling we man- 
aged to make the shore a quarter of a mile below — after 
which we walked up to the mill and got a drink, and 
George kodaked the fall over the dam, while we lay on 
the bank and enjoyed a little rest. 
We noted curiously the changed aspect of the familiar 
valley, as we bowled along swiftly down it. We were 
now lifted high above all former levels— high enough to 
look out of the deeo, narrow trough of the river, and see 
over the banks, and get a view of the country through 
which we were cruising, much as one sees the country 
when driving along a road; consequently, the various 
reaches of the river opened to our view new landscapes 
and bits of scenery not heretofore known. Fields and 
farms became visible, where only forests — as indicated 
by the heavv timber along the river banks — were known 
before. Houses — only heretofore indicated by roofs or 
chimnevs, or even entirely unsuspected — became fully 
revealed; and we discovered what we really had known 
before, but hardlv realized, and certainly would never have 
known from the visible indications along the river— 
that this part of the valley was really a fairly well settled 
region, iifstead of the wilderness it had always appeared 
to be. 
George's bugle was brought into frequent and active 
requisition, and many v.-ere the lusty blasts and ear- 
piercing discords which he delivered himself of, when- 
ever a farmhouse was sighted within audible distance, 
while the echoes rang again from the deep gorges and 
rocky slopes of old Massanutton, towering aloft on our 
left, ever close at hand. The blasts were sure to be 
answered with an inevitable "Whoo-ee!" from somewhere 
inland, and people would be observed flocking to win- 
dows, and out of doors, and streaming down into door- 
yards^ to gaze, with hands to foreheads, shading eyes, at 
our little fleet, as we shot swiftly past; the brightly 
painted canoes, with the little silk pennants fluttering 
fore and aft in the breeze, presenting bright little bits of 
color and movement on the great, brick-red expanse of 
the river, and alwavs attracting attention and comment; 
and many were the hails and requests to come ashore 
which we received; while the adolescent population, of 
both sexes, and all ages, sizes and colors, would invari- 
ably flock down to the water's edge on the run, and 
accompany us along the bank as fast and as far as inter- 
vening circumstances in the shape of fences, cliffs and 
crullies would nermit. meantime keeping up a running 
fire of requests for "mister" to "please play that horn 
some more!" with frequent queries as to why Lacy and 
i did not also carry horns. , ^ j . j 
In a couple of hours more we reached Goode s dam. 
The Bumgardner . Falls and Keyser's Falls, covering the 
three or four miles above, being smoothed over m the 
same general level, and varied by the same peculiar, long, 
crestless swells and vast whirlpool surges which had 
characterized the river above all the mornmg. ^ 
Profiting by our rough experience at Brxler s, we did 
not carelessly swoop down on this big, high dam, but 
made a landing a quarter of a mile above and walkeq 
down to reconnoiter. . . , • 
"^e found-^s we h&d loti^ ago noted— that matanf a 
