Oct, 8, 1904.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
303 
Maine forests. There is just enough truth in such state- 
ments to make them dangerous, and the timidity of this 
class of believers has suggested to someone a get-rich- 
quick scheme, through a series of personally conducted 
trips to the Maine woods, wherein the unfortunate victim 
should find his need of being personally conducted home 
again without the joys he had anticipated, and at his own 
further expense. 
This man was first heard of at Northeast Carry, where 
indignation was high against his methods, owing to the 
experience of a man who had been made the victim of the 
plan. Briefly, he had paid this promotor a considerable 
sum, reported to be about $150, and in return received a 
ticket to Northeast Carry and return via Norcross. At 
the carry he was to be met by a certain guide with all 
supplies and outfit for camping where the "personal con- 
ductor's" camps happened not to be, and taken down the 
river on that enchanting journey, which is one of the 
most delightful and most popular canoe trips in the 
world — the West Branch trip. There was no guide at the 
carry, no one who knew anything at all about such a 
guide or such arrangements, and had it not been, for the 
generous courtesy of the manager of the Penobscot Hotel 
and Trading Company's store, he must have been obliged 
to either telegraph to New York for funds, or return the 
way he came. However, a canoe, guide, and supplies were 
secured, and he made the trip as planned, leaving the set- 
tlement with the New York man to await his return to 
the city. 
■ Passing on down the river, Chesuncook was reached in 
a howling storm, and there at the Chesuncook House, 
sheltered by the kindly hospitality of good-hearted "Anse" 
Smith, were found two boys in their teens— mere young- 
sters—whose parents had paid the same promotor a sum 
of money for an extended outing in Maine. Originally 
numbering some twenty boys in the party, it had become 
but two here, several having sent home for money to re- 
turn when they found themselves abandoned by the man 
in whom they" had put their trust, and who held all of 
their money. It was not known what had become of one 
party, the boys having split up on reaching Maine; but 
this crowd of some ten or a dozen camped on a lake near 
to Moosehead for a while, after which a start was made 
to the foot of Chesuncook, where the trip to Norcross 
was to be entered upon. The man in the meantime left 
for New York, having made, as he claimed, all arrange- 
ments for sufficient guides and provisions to be at the 
Ripogenus Carry and relieve the guides then with them, 
as these were engaged but for the short trip to Lobster. 
At Chesuncook Lake it was found that there were no 
guides to take the boys further, and the guides who had 
brought them thus far had other engagements, so that it 
was impossible for them to continue, even had they felt 
sure of being paid for it. The consequence was that a 
party of young boys was literally thrown 'upon the hos- 
pitality of people who had no interest but that of 
humanity in them, and not only was the promised outing 
spoiled, but they were obliged to wait until, one by one, 
funds came to carry them back to their homes. It also 
developed that numerous camps which the swindler had 
claimed to own, and which he located with truthful exact- 
ness, were mere public camping places, used and known 
of all guides and sportsmen who pass along that way, and 
he could not have secured permission to build camps there 
if he had so desired. 
Seldom is anything so heartless done in the way of 
bringing business to Maine, if such a contemptible ar- 
rangement of matters could be considered in that light 
from the most charitable point of view, and sportsmen, 
guides, camp proprietors, and others who heard and knew 
of the circumstances, and saw the boys thus helplessly set 
adrift so many hundreds of miles from home, united in 
denouncing, in the most severe terms, such a dastardly 
performance. 
Sportsmen who want to make a trip to Maine and en- 
joy its unsurpassed loveliness of scenery, its marvelous 
wealth of fish and game, should consider that it is for the 
best interests of community and citizens to treat the visi- 
tors as if they were invited guests, and to a considerable 
extent this will be found to be the case, although there 
will naturally be found exceptions.' One thing is, however, 
certain, and that is that any man wishing to make a tour 
of any portion of the Maine recreation belt, will find it 
full cheaper to arrange for his trip directly with some 
responsible Maine resident, guide, railroad representative, 
hotel or camp proprietor, or some other in touch with 
these matters, and save a profit to those who would, act- 
ing as middlemen, steal from both ends to make them- 
selves whole or provide a profit. Maine is a big State, 
and there is so much chance for such humbuggery as the 
above apparent plan, of graft, that the uninitiated should 
not put themselves into the control of any irresponsible 
persons. Enterprising men who might devise some such 
plan for woods tours as the above scheme was claimed by 
its promoter to be, should see to it that they have suffi- 
cient financial backing to carry such a plan out without 
a fizzle, and that some surety be provided their patrons 
that the plan, as paid for and agreed upon, should be car- 
ried out. '■' ■ Herbert W. Rowe. 
The Ignis Fatuus. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
The'article in the Forest and Stream September 17 on 
the "Ignis Fatuus," brings back to my . recollection an 
incident which I experienced about the year 1870. At 
that time I was managing an "estancia," or ranch, in 
Buenos Ayres ; in fact, there were three separate estan- 
cias run as one by my employers; consequently there 
were three estancia or principal houses, the rest of the 
dwellings being "puestos," or shepherds' huts. Part of 
my time I spent at one estancia, and part at another, as 
the spirit moved me. 
Now, the facts are as follows, and these I have kept 
pretty well to myself, for the simple reason that I have 
always thought that I would be considered a romancer- 
gifted with a superabundance of imagination, or by some, 
in plain English, a liar. 
At one side of the quinta, or inclosure round the estan- 
cia house, used as a peach orchard for growing maize, 
etc., was a well, and previous to my occupation of the 
estancia, a hut stood by this well, which was occupied by 
an old man whose sole companion was a dog. The old 
man died, and the dog took up its abode at the estancia, 
along with numerous other canines of all colors and 
sizes, but of no particular breeds, and was there when I 
took up my quarters there. This dog, light tan in color, 
was looked upon by everyone as having most peculiar 
traits. It would never allow anyone to touch it, and even 
if spoken to, would turn its head toward the speaker and 
snarl, showing a very formidable set of ivories, and al- 
most every night it would howl in that dismal fashion 
common to dogs. 
From the neighborhood of the well arose almost every 
night a light, which would go bobbing up and down, and 
taking leaps of several yards, so to speak, for quite a dis- 
tance in the campo or prairie; then it would take a sud- 
den dive to earth and disappear from that spot. It . would 
then, perhaps, be seen in another direction, and some dis- 
tance from where it last disappeared, or perhaps not 
again that night. . 
On one occasion I was out riding with a Spaniard 
- when this light appeared, about 300 yards from us. My 
companion proposed that we should chase the light, or 
"el biz," as it was called in Spanish. This we did, until 
it reached the wire fence inclosing the quinta, through 
which it passed, and cutting off a corner, emerged into 
the open campo again, not changing its motion in the 
least while passing through the wire fence, but disap- 
pearing for good for that night. - . 
On another occasion the employers of the estancia had 
. gone to a neighbor's to pay homage to a patron saint, as 
is the custom there. Some friends who ' were visiting 
me and I took a lantern and a sheet and located ourselves 
on the side of the trail, by which we expected the wor- 
shippers to return, hobbling our horses some distance 
away, and intending to give the party a scare when pass- 
ing by exhibiting "el luz" under the sheet; for, as is gen- 
erally known, the natives are most superstitious, and 
many were sure that the light was in some way con- 
nected with the late occupant of the hut, some going so 
far as to say that he had treasure hidden thereabout, and 
if asked, the light would direct to the place of its con- 
cealment. The party we intended to frighten took an- 
other trail, so we got sold for our trouble. _ 
Now comes the , most inexplicable part in connection 
with "el luz." One pitch, dark night I took it into my 
head to go from one estancia house to another, about a 
league distant. 1 was on one of my most reliable horses, 
and was going at. a steady canter, and when about a third 
of the way saw the light some distance off going through 
its' usual exercises, i. e., bobbing up and down, and finally 
disappearing. This being of so frequent occurrence, I 
took no notice of it, but after riding half a mile or so 
further, without any warning, all of a sudden "el luz" 
appeared, just under my horse's nose; not exactly under 
it but about eight feet distant, and about seven degrees 
to the right of my horse's head. It was distinctly visible 
for about four seconds, and assumed the form of an ani- 
mal. The head was exactly like that of the dog before 
mentioned, with its ears lying back and its usual snarl. 
The body was like that of a calf, particularly the tail, and 
in color was fawn and white. The whole was surrounded 
by a halo about six feet in diameter, and was as plainly 
visible as though it had been midday. My horse shied 
in such a manner as almost to throw me, as the whole 
thing was so sudden and unlooked for. Needless to say 
I was too frightened to ask the apparition or whatever it 
was where his wealth was stored, my only anxiety being 
to get out of the locality as soon as possible, not even 
looking behind to see if "el luz" was visible and bobbing 
I myself being too busy bobbing at that particular time. 
Now, most people will say that this was all imagination 
on my part ; others that I had been imbibing ; others will 
think that I have the Ananias, streak largely developed. 
But the fact of the horse also seeing it, and of his fright 
at the apparition, does away with these theories. 
The above statements are facts, neither enlarged nor 
detracted from, and I would very much like to hear if 
any of your contributors have ever had a similar ex- 
perience with "el luz" or any such ghostly body. It al- 
most seemed to be a judgment on me for having tried to 
scare others with what almost scared me to death. 
I. H. W. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
When reading T. J. Chapman's ' letter in the number 
for September 17, I could not help but think that I knew 
where his Hopewell Church was. I may be mistaken ; 
this is a common name in Pennsylvania, at least, but I 
think his Hopewell Church is in Ross township, Alle- 
gheny county, about five miles from Allegheny city, or it 
was that far from it then ; it is almost a part of the city's 
suburbs now ; a street car line has lately been built out to it. 
If this is where he thought he saw his first ignis fatuus, 
it was one of. them he did see, and not someone carrying 
a lantern, as he thought it might be. A narrow country 
road ran past Hopewell Church, and to where it en- 
tered the Perrysville plank road at Keating's tavern, two 
miles away. A mile below the church is Westview Farm ; 
that is its name now; it had no name then; and down 
in a bottom to the left of this road was a pasture that 
was partly a swamp at some seasons; other times it 
would be dry, but the bottom of it was always covered 
with decayed vegetation. Here is where we boys found 
our jack o' lantern, as we called it then. 
We always knew just when to look for it. It would 
always appear late in the summer or early in the fall 
before the cold weather began. We would put in whole 
hours after night trying to overtake the light, plunging 
through the swamp, deployed in a line that afterwards 
our skirmish line in the army reminded me of; but the 
light always kept just so far ahead of us, until it would 
come to solid ground, then vanish; or sometimes it 
would disappear short of that, only to appear again on 
our right or left or behind us. We would think, of 
course, that these lights seen elsewhere were the ones we 
had been following. I have no doubt now that they were 
different ones that we had stirred up tramping through 
the mud. . . 
I had heard of this thing long before I saw it, and 
after seeing it I consulted my usual source of informa- 
tion, our Anderson Library, to. find out all about it; but 
could find little, except its proper name, and that it was 
supposed to be formed of marsh gas. Since then I have 
often thought that natural gas or oil had something to 
do with forming it. This whole country was underlaid 
with both oil and gas, though we did not know that then, 
nor for many years afterward. When I last saw West- 
view the whole place was covered with oil well derricks, 
and a small fortune in oil had been taken out here. 
Anyone who is familiar with the woods at night, must 
often have noticed the light that is given off by damp, 
rotten Jogs when freshly broken, When we were 'coon 
hunting at night, and I carried the ax, I would split these 
logs open hunting for the light. I have thought that 
this light and the ignis fatuus might have had the same 
origin. 
The explanation that, is given as to how this ignis 
fatuus is formed is no doubt the correct one ; it is noth- 
ing but a thin gas or vapor when it rises out of the 
ground, but when if comes in contact with the upper air 
it becomes luminous. It has very little light when you 
once get close to it ; less light than it has when seen some 
distance away, and has no heat that can be noticed. 
- . ■ Cabia Blanco. 
A Story of Two Sandpipers. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
A few weeks ago while shore bird shooting on the 
Chatham, Mass., flats, my father and I were eye wit- 
nesses to a very remarkable and interesting occurrence, 
which might be of special interest to some of our writers 
and students of bird life, especially while discussion is 
made by various writers about the possible reasoning 
powers of birds and animals. 
While we. were sitting in our blind, a small flock of 
least sandpipers, or as they are more familiarly known, 
peeps, came by, and when about ten yards beyond us, one 
of them suddenly left the bunch and lit on the open flat, 
and for quite a while remained perfectly still. 
It soon became plain to us that the little fellow was 
wounded, as he soon showed signs of distress, accom- 
panied by many shakings\of the head, which led us to 
believe he was bleeding internally, especially as we could 
see with our field glass that he kept opening his bill, as 
though to clear his throat of something. 
Soon another single peep came by, and seeing the first 
little fellow, immediately whirled, emitted his greeting 
"tweet," and joined him. 
Almost immediately the well bird seemed to see there 
was something wrong, for, after walking around the sick 
bird two or three times, he seemed to actually begin to 
push him toward a small clump of beach grass, ten or 
fifteen feet distant from where they stood. 
Arriving there, he again walked two or three times 
around the sick bird, then came close to him and laid his 
head across the other little fellow's back, after which he 
settled down on a bit of sea weed and watched him very 
intently. 
In about twenty minutes or half an hour he again 
started the sick bird toward the heavy beach grass which 
joins the edge of the flats, and both disappeared within. 
Waiting ten minutes or so I walked over to where 
they had disappeared, and saw what to me was quite a 
remarkable sight. There, about three feet inside the 
grass, was the sick bird, evidently grown very weak now, 
squatting on some sea weed, and standing in front of 
him, as straight as he possibly could stand, and with 
wings partly spread, as though to screen him from view, 
was the well bird, intently watching every move I made. 
I left them there. 
Having observed and hunted shore birds for a good 
many years myself, and knowing their wild and wary 
nature, also my father having shot them for the last 
thirty years, during which time he has never seen any- 
thing like this incident, the occurrence was to me quite 
remarkable, as it not only showed that the well bird 
realized there was something wrong with his fellow, but 
he showed a loyalty and constancy to him in time of 
need. Paul H. Lathrop. 
Springfiepd, Mass. 
The Linnaean Society of New York. 
A regular meeting of the Society will be held at the 
American Museum of Natural History, 77th street and 
Eighth avenue, on Tuesday evening, October 25, at 8:15 
o'clock. Frank M. Chapman will lecture on "Florida 
Bird Life." Illustrated by lanterri slides, 
