412 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 22, 1902. 
A Pearl River Camp.— V» 
{Continued from page 890.) 
"This business of hustling all the time for meat and 
going withot^t bread, has ceased to be funny, and feels 
to me very much like work, and hard work_ at that," 
said Jim, as we opened up the usual discussion as to 
how to get our dinner. 
"Yes," said Will. "When you have to do it, fishing 
is no fun" at all, and hunting is no better than hoeing 
corn. Let's dig out for a day or two and go some- 
where and fill up and then come back and have some 
fun. I am hungry all the time, even in my sleep." 
"That is all right enough to talk, but where can we 
go to eat?" said Walter. 
"There is not money enough in the crowd to fill us 
tip on hay, if we could eat it. and if any of the natives 
about here have been around begging the honor of our 
company to dinner, they have spoken very low. It is 
no use to grumble about being hungry, and having to 
rustle for grub, for there is but one other thing to <lo 
if we can't stand it." 
We knew he meant give up and go home, but not one 
of us was yet ready to contemplate the humiliation of 
sneaking back, starved out and discouraged, after the 
big talk we had indulged in; to say nothing of hav- 
ing insisted so on being left to our own resources in the 
matter of providing provisions. 
After some further discussion we concluded to try the 
white perch and trout, and loading our minnow seine 
into the boat, repaired to the river to catch minnows. 
On a sand bar near where we were seining, I found a 
peculiar track made by some animal Avith claws, that 
seemed to have a heavy tail that made a deep mark. 
I could not tell what it was that would make such 
a track, but Walter recognized it at once and pro- 
nounced it an alligator, and a large one. 
We were greatly excited bj'' the discovery, believing 
that alligators were very fierce and dangerous, and, al- 
though we had only a few minnows in our bucket, con- 
cluded not to tempt fate by further seining in that water. 
Our fishing was not at all the success we hoped for. 
and any one of us could have eaten alone the entire 
catch of the morning. It was a sad and silent crowd 
that toiled up the bank from the boat, carrying our 
scanty supply of fish, and bearing in grim silence our 
hunger. 
"Hullo! Company," said Jim, as we came in full 
view of the camp, and saw seated on a stump by the 
ashes of our fire a large, bearded man. 
"Walter's friend," said Will. "Come to ask us to 
dinner." 
As we approached our vistor he ai-ose from the stump, 
dropped a double-barreled shotgun careles.sl}' into the 
hollow of his left arm, and stood facing us. He was a 
very large man. of rather forbidding mien. He an- 
swered our polite salutations in a short, gruff manner, 
and immediately began to catechise us, 
"Where you from?" he asked. 
We told him. 
"How long you been here?" 
This question we also answered. 
"Anvbody else been camping areund here since you 
come?" 
We said they had not, 
"Have you seen anybody around since you been 
here?" 
We answered this in the negative, and the question- 
ing ceased for a time. 
The man's manner was abrupt, and his attitude rather 
truculent, but we were self-reliant boys, and not easily 
frightened, so felt nothing b'lt a vague uneasiness from 
his visit and questions. 
When the silence had lasted so long that it was grow- 
ing embarrassing, Walter said: 
"Was you looking for anyone in particular, sir?" 
"Yes," he snapped out, with an oath. "I am looking 
for somebody allfired particular, and when I find him 
and give him the eighteen buckshot that I have got in 
this here gun, his infernal hide won't hold shucks." 
The gentleman was plainly in dead earnest, and somc- 
bodj'' was in danger of suffering great bodil}^ injury. 
We were divided between a feeling of sympathjr for 
the unknown's danger and curiosity as to his ofl'ense. 
"Well, we haven't seen a soul since we came here," 
said Walter. "What kind of looking man is he you arc- 
hunting for?" 
"I don't know," was the reply. "Never saw him yet. 
but I will .see him if I have to hunt a year. It is a 
thieving scoundrel that has killed one of my best hogs 
that I am after, and I'll shoot him just as quick as I 
get sight of him." 
Will had stepped to the water bucket for a drink, and 
had the dipper almost to his mouth when our visitor 
spoke of the hog. I was looking at him and saw him 
freeze with his mouth open, and the dipper a few inches 
from his lips. His hat plainly moved on his head, and 
great drops of sweat broke out on his forehead, while 
he gazed at the angry man like a snake-charmed bird. 
Fortunately, our visitor was not looking at him, so 
did not see his look of conscious guilt. 
"How many hogs have you lost?" said Walter, evi- 
dently to create a diversion and let Will recover from 
his panic. 
"How many have T lost? Do you suppose T have 
been sitting around letting a dad blamed hog thief rob 
me as he nleasedf I've lost one hog, and a fine one. 
and when I catch the thief — as I will — the coroner will 
be his next visitor." 
I glanced at Will out of the tail of my eye, and saw 
that he had not moved. We were all pretty uneasy and 
wishing t'-^at our visitor would take his departure, which 
he showed no signs of doing. 
Trying hard to appear at ease, we .set about building 
our fire and preparing our scanty dinner, while our 
■•iloodthirstv guest_ continued his tirade against the tin- 
iknown slaver of his hog, with dire threats ot vengeance, 
il'jnaliy, when we out on our small catcli of fi.sh to frv, 
r ul he saw how little tliere was, and that we had noth 
jiiig else, he asked if the fish was all we had to eat. On 
our replying in the affirmative, he proceeded to speak 
..very frankly and forcibly to the effect that it was foolish 
q\ u? to epme oo guch a trip v"*''""*- i-^nging provigjoog, 
a.nd all but criminal on the part of olif parents to allow 
it. 
"You ought to haye brought enough provisions to 
last your whole trip if you did not catch a single fish or 
shoot a squirrel," he Woluid up. 
This struck Jim as being a ref^ectioti pit lis and our 
respective households, and he rose to explain; ' 
"We did bring provisions, pletity of them. A clothes 
basket and a market basket full and the h — " 
Waltel- was making desperate efforts to shut him oft' 
by grasping his own throat with one hand and pressing 
his finger on his lips, while I stood helpless with terror, 
believing that a moment more would see us facing a 
cross examination that would convict us as the hog- 
killers, for, of course, we could not let Will bear it all. 
But Jim got no further than the beginning of the fatal 
word "hogs" when Will broke in on him in a frenzied 
howl : 
"Clothes basket full! Market basket full! Piled up, 
running over. Eat it all up. Eat all day, and all night. 
Never did eat so much. Just done nothing but eat. 
You never saw anybody eat so much, did he, fellows?" 
Will wound up his wild harangue almost in hysterics, 
and it was not a bit funny. 
He firmly believed that his life was in danger and was 
scared as only a boy can be. 
Jim realized how near he had come to putting the 
fat in the fire, and was covered with confusion. There 
Avas a moment of silence, and then our visitor arose to 
his feet, shouldered his gun, and throwing out his hand 
in a; jcarelesa :gesture toward our frightened companion, 
said: 
"If you b03's ain't got sense enough to bring grub 
with jrou when you come camping out, you certainly 
ought to have decency enough not to bring liquor and 
drink it, young as you are." 
We entered no denials, and were thankful to see 
him take his departure. He might tliink we were 
all drunk or crazy, we agreed, so long as he did not 
discover that we had killed his hog. There was a 
general sentiment to the effect that we ought to change 
our location immediately for fear of a return of our 
visitor, and it would have taken very little additional 
scare to cause us to abandon all our eft'ects and start 
for home in a body. Will,, especially, was very insistent 
upon leaving at once, declaring that he had rather walk 
all night than chance another such visit. 
Our appetites had been so affected by the scare that 
our small supply of fish proved ample for dinner. After 
much discussion we concluded to at^ least defer our de-- 
parture until the next day. 
The afternoon was devoted to fishing for bream, and 
our success was great. Determinhig to atone for the 
short rations we had been on, we cleaned the entire 
catch, which more than filled a large bucket, and pre- 
pared for a real feed. The bacon was sizzling over 
the fire, and we had meal spread on a board to roll the 
fish in to prepare for frying, when a loud "Hello!" was 
heard on the opposite bank of the lake. Our friend of 
the afternoon was the first thought of each one, and 
our hearts sank. 
.A.fter a hasty consultation Walter and I went to in- 
vestigate the hail, leaving the other boys to look after 
the preparation of stipper. Will's parting injunction 
was: "II it is that bloodthirsty old pirate, and he 
comes back with you, I will be in bed and you can tell 
him I am sick, and it will be perfectly true." 
Arriving at the lake bank and replying to the hail; we 
found our would-be caller Bob Weston, a cousin of the 
Kirkman boys, whose home Avas a few miles aAvay, and 
Avho had come over to visit us. We soon had him 
ferried across and up to camp, Avhere he received a most 
hearty Avelcome, OAving partly to the relief Ave felt and 
partly to the fact that he Avas the bearer of two large 
loaves of bread sent us by his mother. He further won 
our deepest gratitude by the assurance that he was ac- 
(juainted with our friend, the hog owner, and knew that 
he was to go to Yazoo City the following day to be 
gone two Aveeks. This good ncAvs, the abundance of 
food — especial'y the bread — and our welcome young 
visitor acting altogether, made us so hilarious and hun- 
gry that we ate CA^ery fish and all the bread for our 
supper. Bob proposed to initiate us into a ncAv order 
of sport after supper, and we set to Avork on our prepa- 
rations. 
He had brought what he called a fish gig and proposed 
to take us on a gigging expedition by torch light. The 
gig looked like a trident, as shown in the pictures of 
Neptune, being a three-tined fork— the tines barbed — 
set on a long handle. 
Gigging, as he explained to us. Avas practiced wading 
along in the shallow water after dark among the cypress 
roots and trees, with a torch made of pine knots, by 
the light of Avhich you could see the- fish and strike 
them witli the gig. 
"How about .snakes?" asked Jim, when Bob had ex- 
plained his method. 
"Hardly ev^r see one at night, and they won't bother 
you at all." 
This was good news to me. as a snake was ray pet 
aversion, and I had thought at once how apt Ave Avould 
be to run on them. We found gigging very exciting, but 
not as easy as it looked. 
Bob struck several fish to show us how. and then wc 
-:ach took a turn. The pine torch gave a good fight, 
but the fish did not look right in the water. 
We Avere not much tro.-'bled by the refraction, usually 
the most serious difficulty in spearing or striking fish 
in water, as we worked only in very shallow water, but 
the fish would not look right. 
■My first strike was a root into which I drove the 
gig with tremendous force to the great consternation 
of a large fish that lay almost against it, the root hav- 
ing presented the exact appearance of a fish to me, and 
vice versa. 
We noA'ices made many mistakes, but occasionally 
took a fish, vvhich was all the more enjoyed, owing to 
the difficulty Ave found in mastering the sport. We 
.finally had tu quit, OAving to the fact that our torches 
gave out, but Ave carried back to camp the best string 
01 fish we had yet taken, 
W&lter struck the largest fish sighted, which we all 
took -a hand in landing afiiid great excitement, but 
Pljly to ftnd that it: '^fl'ojihef one of th§ beady-eypd 
species that we had found Avorthless. Bob called it a 
grinnel and pronolmced it unfit for food. 
We were very tired when we rettirned to camp, but 
aS B&b Was feornpglled to get baek hotne early In tile 
hioi-nihg, wfe prepared S geiiei-otis iiiess of fish for break- 
fast before ttirning in. 
Nothing disturbed our rest, and Ave slept — -five in a 
bed — as only healthy tired boys can. 
Lewis Hopkins. 
An August Outing. 
Editor Forest and Stream; 
One day a few weeks since, while gazing from my 
office Avindow, watching men and maidens coming from 
beach and mountain laden with that healthy brown shade 
which comes only with the good old summer time, there 
dropped in upon me a couple of friends, with an "Hello, 
old man, what are you dreaming about?" "Nothing in 
particular," I replied, "just enjoying the healthy glow 
I see passing, but, unfortunately for me, carried by the 
other fellow. It just makes me wish I could get away for 
a few days." '"Well, Avhy not?" they said. "That's what 
Avc are here for — all tired out and want to go some- 
Avhere. Now, you know where to go. Start and take us 
with you, away from railroads, letters and newspapers, 
into the woods, near the end of some distant point, whe-re 
Ave can commune with nature for a week, shake off this 
tired feeling, and be able to brace up a little." "All right. 
When shall we depart?" "At once." And so. with hard- 
ly a thought of the matter, or where we Avere going, I 
consented to take my friends to .some jumping-off place, 
Avhere the noise of the grinding trolley could not pene- 
trate. 
The arrangements were left to me. In fact, I was duly 
appointed guide, and told Avhat was expected of me, I 
was to pilot the party to jtist the proper place, amuse 
them with stories of my previous experiences — fact or 
fiction, mattered not to them — provide for their comfort, 
and, above all things, see them safely home at a given 
lime, Avith life preserved and health improved. No small 
undertaking, I assure 3'ou, as both my friends are charter 
members of the "Tenderfoot" and "Kicker" clubs, very 
inquisitive and Avilling to learn. Looking into the muzzle 
of a rifle barrel, or casting a fly around a fellow's neck 
Avas all the same to them. They wanted a good time, and 
Avere bound to have it — taking chances being part of the 
programme. 
I may as well introduce my friends — just plain Billy 
and Sam. They are fast friends and both good fellows — 
yes, mighty good fellows ; and the way they "call" each 
other on various occasions is amusing, but let .some other 
fclloAV mix, and there is trouble at once. Billy is in the 
hotel business. He knows all about running a hotel — or 
thinks he docs — Avhich is the same thing, and the spread 
he prepared for us for a send-off the night we left was 
Avell appreciated Avhen later we sat doAvn to tin plates, and 
the smoky food prepared for tts by our Canadian guides. 
Sam turned his face toward the setting sun and thought 
of old Boston and her famous baked beans, but it was 
no use to think— eat or go hungry, and Sam faced the tin 
plates with the crowd. 
NoAv, about Sam. Well, he is a lawyer. He is not a 
Webster, and says he is glad of it, for he would not care 
to have his picture hanging in ever-y legal office in the 
land. This may seem strange, but if yoti could knOAV Sam 
and his bashful, retiring disposition, all would be ex- 
I'.lained. Bitt Sam is all right — only one failing, just a 
little gun shy. He did not enjoy some of Billy's military 
rnoA'ements with a rifle, so one morning, when Billy came 
vp the lake and made a good shot at a loon, Sam asked 
what he was shooting at. Billy said he Avas after a loon 
and got one right in the head. "That is nothing," said 
his bosom friend, "you have had one there for years," but 
he was .sorry for this soon after. While passing through 
the woods, Sam was a short distance in the rear, Billy 
and I stopped behind a clump of bushes and watched 
him hunt the trail. "Wait for me, Billy," was the cry 
Ave heard, and when he came in sight that frightened, 
lost-in-the-woods looks on Sam's face was a picture uo 
artist could paint. 
But. enough of the boys for the present. 
"'Cummings' Camp, Square Lake, Maine, the home of 
the largest square-tailed troitt in the State." That is the 
Avay the circular reads, and probably every man Avho has 
fished this famous chain of lakes has seen fish beauties 
usually found only in pictures. This Avas our destina- 
tion. We left Boston one Sunday night. Monday morn- 
ing found us at Bangor. Here avc took the Bangor & 
Aroostook train, arriving at Jemtland at 2 P. M. Jemt- 
land can boast of only tAvo buildings, but it is surely on 
the map. Here aa'c were met by a young man who was 
to drive us to the first camp, some twelve miles distant. 
The roads were somewhat rough, owing to recent rains, 
but at .5 P. M. we reached Camp Ranch-to-Rest-In on 
Cross Lake, safely, Avith no broken Avheels nor bones. 
We were Avelcomed by Mr. D. L. Cummings and dattgh- 
ter, Avho had provided for us a supper such as only a tired 
traveler can fully appreciate. 
Tuesday morning Ave started for the main camps, eight 
miles distant by canoe, situated on Square Lake, and here 
is where I lost my job as guide. Billy and Sam did not 
propose to take any chances in a canoe with me as pro- 
pelling poAver, so, Avith cool repudiation of my contract as 
guide, three Canadian boatmen Avere engaged, and off we 
started. I will not attempt to give the names of these 
guides, beyond Frank and Pete, as I Avould surely make 
a mess of" it. Anyway, they knew the lakes, and could 
handle a canoe, which was quite a necessary accomplish- 
ment for our party. 
At Square Lake Ave found Mrs. D. L. Cummings and 
Mr. Fred Cummings in charge, and Avith a characteristic 
Maine Avelcome, Ave were assigned to a comfortable camp 
and told to make ourselves at home. 
Wednesday morning bright and early we started on a 
cruise of some scA^enty or eighty miles. A ten-mile paddle 
took us nearly the length of Square Lake, and into the 
Dimmock country. Avhich, by the Avay, is where the moose 
are full fed and grow large. It was no uncommon sight 
to see two or three moose feeding at the Avater's edge, 
careless of <yar presence, but the first crack of a rifle will 
soon Avarn theee great game animals that the season of 
their discontent is at hand, and if they are Avise, they will 
hasten to the nearest blacksmith shop for a set of high- 
a-ear traveling shoes, 
i 
