July 28, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
129 
let him; and after a while they g&t Teddy off 
and down to the house. lie had the knife in his 
hand then, and they had to let him keep it. 
He was so ugly they had to give him more than 
a quart of hard cider and let him sleep off his 
mad. They couldn’t find as he was hurt much, 
but he was all covered with dirt and blood. 
Wall, Green, he got Bill Berry down from up¬ 
stairs, and they went up and dragged the bear 
down to the house; it was an old one and awful 
fat; but they said that its hide was so full of 
holes that it wouldn’t be worth much.” 
“Was Teddy hurt much?” asked Harry. 
“Wall, the next morning he was a little lame, 
and Miss Marshel had to fix up his clothes; 
but as near as they can find out, he ain’t hurt 
much.” 
“Wall, that beats all water,” said Uncle Shaw. 
“Miss Marshel’s plucky; but then she comes 
from a fightin’ family. All the Leroys were 
fighters. Her grandfather was the greatest wolf- 
hunter that was ever in these parts. I’ve heard 
my father tell of how they used to kill wolves. 
They didn’t have as good guns then as they do 
now, and so they had to kill them with what¬ 
ever they had. Once the old man and his son, 
Loren, was goin’ home from the back lot where 
they had been fixin’ fence, and they found a 
holler log that the old man said was a wolf’s 
den, and that there were young ones in it. He 
had on a long frock with a belt around it, and 
he concluded he'd have the little wolves, as their 
scalps would bring nine shillin’ apiece bounty; 
so he gives the ax to Loren and told him to 
stand by the end of the log, and if the old 
she-wolf came to hit her with the ax and not 
let her go in. Loren said he would do it. So 
the old man got down on all -fours and crawled 
into the log. He found the whelps and put 
them into his frock and started back. But they 
cried so loud that the old wolf heard them and 
came running for the log. When she saw Loren, 
she gave a snarl and a spring at his throat, and 
he stepped back and she dodged into the log. 
The old man was backing out and had got 
’most to the end, when she saw him and stopped, 
with her tail sticking out of th; log. Loren 
saw his chance, and dropping the ax. he grabbed 
hold of the tail with both hands and hung on. 
“The old man saw that something was the 
matter and sung out, ‘What darkens the hole, 
Loren?’ 
“ Gosh! all hemlocks, you’ll find out what 
darkens the hole if this tail comes off.’ But 
the tail didn’t come off, and the old man backed 
out and kicked the wolf to death; and they went 
home with the old wolf and three little ones.” 
As Uncle Shaw concluded, he rose from his 
seat and went into the .store to wait upon those 
of the people who wanted anything; and George 
went in to ask if there was “any mail for any¬ 
body out our way.” 
The boys sat on their rude seats and watched 
the stars come put one by one, and the night- 
hawks whirl around in the semi-darkness, and 
at last realizing that the night had come and 
it was time in the country to go to bed. They 
slowly started toward the hotel. 
The next morning after breakfast, in. which 
flapjacks and maple syrup played an important 
part, the boys strolled over to the store. They 
heard some one sweeping, and going to the 
door that led to the "back store,’’ they saw a 
young man. He paid no attention to them, but 
continued his work, although from his move¬ 
ments it was evident that he was in no hurry. 
“Is Mr. Shaw here?” asked Harry. 
“Hur?” said the party addressed. 
Harry repeated the question. 
“I dunno; he was here a spell ago, but he 
went aout, and I hain't seen nothin’ of him 
since.” 
“How long has he been gone?” 
“Oh! quite a spell. He went aout jest as 
Doctor Cumings was goin’ up to git his hoss 
shod. Mebe he’s gone up there; but he won’t 
be gone a gre’t while.” 
Seeing that they could find out but little here, 
the boys went out and sat down on the piazza 
to await the return of the storekeeper, as they 
very much wished to make arrangements to go 
fishing. 
It was a beautiful morning. A cool west wind 
had sprung up in the night, driving away the 
dampness of the day before and clearing the sky 
of all haze and smoke. Hardly a cloud was to 
be seen. All around there were forest-clad hills, 
while away up the valley, through which came 
the river on its way to Long Island Sound, 
could be seen mountain behind mountains till 
they faded into an indistinct blue. 
The little village was nearly deserted. Now 
and then, could be heard the bleating of a calf, 
as, confined in. its pen, it called for its mother 
to return, or the cackle of a hen as she flew 
from her nest. From the blacksmith shop came 
the only sign of life, and the clang of the ham¬ 
mer and ring of the anvil told that the smith 
and his man were busy at work. 
The very quiet of the scene made the boys 
all the more anxious to do something, and they 
looked in every direction for something to take 
up their attention. Soon they saw a small bare¬ 
footed boy coming down the road, proudly 
carrying a fish pole on his shoulder. 
“Hello! sonny,” said Will, “where are you go¬ 
ing?” 
“Fishin’!” said the boy. 
“Yes, I thought so; but where?” 
“Oh! down to the river back of the saw¬ 
mill, there’s lots of perch .there, and yesterday 
I caught a pickerel,” 
“Won't you let me go with you? I never 
caught a pickerel in my life,” said Will. 
“Come on!” said his new-made friend. “I 
know where there’s a pole; but you’ll have to 
get some bait, ’cause I hain’t got morn a little.” 
And Will, under the leadership of his little 
friend, was soon busily engaged in digging 
angleworms. 
Harry sat there a few moments, when a man 
rode up on horseback, holding a horseshoe in 
one hand and a jug in the other. “Frank!” he 
called. 
“Hur?” came the reply, and Frank came to 
the door. 
“Say, Frank, put me up a gallon of them best 
molasses and half a pound of best black tea, and 
have ’em ready when I come back. I got ter 
go up and git this shoe sot.” And handing the 
jug to Frank, off he rode. 
Frank took the jug and went back into the 
store and Harry followed him. 
“Trade don’t seem to be very brisk this morn¬ 
ing,” he said. 
“Hur?” 
“Trade don’t seem to be very lively just now.” 
“Wall, no; we don't do no great daytimes this 
time o’ year; folks are too busy to come to the 
store.” 
“Do you tend store all of the time?” 
“No, not all of the time. Uncle Shaw, he’s 
Tax Collector, and has ter be away a good deal, 
and so I have to stay here ’most all the time.” 
“He must be a busy man?” 
“Wall, he is, kinder. This year he is Overseer 
of the Poor, and that takes him away some. 
He’s got ter go aout on the hill to-day to see 
about Dickerman; he is boarding him out to 
Pelham’s; and lie’s kickin’ all the time 'cause he 
don’t use him right, he says.” 
Harry wondered who it was that didn’t use 
whom right, but asked no question in regard 
to it. 
“You don’t suppose he has gone there now, 
do you?” said Harry. 
“No, I know he hain’t, ’cause there’s his buck- 
board out there. He never goes out there 
’thout he takes that; the roads are so rough.” 
Just then Uncle Shaw came in. He was in 
his shirt sleeves, had a big straw hat, and looked 
warm and excited. 
“Been up to the back paster to see the sheep. 
Couldn’t count but twenty-three. I looked all 
over the paster, and just as I was coming home, 
I found one on ’em down in that swamp in the 
corner; some critter had killed it and eat part 
of it up; t’other I didn’t see.” 
“You don’t say,” said Frank; “do ye s’pose it’s 
a bear?” 
“No; don’t look like bear’s work, ft had been 
dead as much as three or four days, and I 
couldn’t see the tracks plain enough to tell what 
it was.” 
“What yer going to do about it?” said Frank. 
“I dunno. Just as soon as I can git time, I’m 
goin’ to find the other one, and if it’s killed, I’ll 
set a trap for the critter that done it.” And 
turning to Harry, he said, “Wall! young man, 
wouldn’t you be afraid to go out in the woods 
where sich animals air?” 
“No, sir! I don’t think they would trouble 
me, and besides, I should take a gun.” 
“Yes, you could take a gun out there; but 
you couldn’t take it when you was fishin’, it 
would be in the way.” 
“I will risk it,” said Harry. “All I want is a 
chance to go. Do you think you can get Joe 
to start to-day.” 
“Bless ye, no; it’s too late now, besides, you 
would have to get a lot of grub cooked up to 
take with you; but we’ll go up and see him, and 
see if he will go.” And he turned around and 
walked out of the store, followed by Harry. 
Soon they were at the door of the “shankey,” 
as Joe called his house, and Uncle Shaw rapped. 
Before he had finished there came around the 
corner a little black dog; he was so old that 
he could hardly crawl along, but he barked as 
if he was responsible for the safety of the whole 
world. Behind him came two hounds. As soon 
as they saw who it was at the door, the little 
dog turned around and returned proudly con¬ 
scious of having done his duty. Soon the door 
opened, and a small, black-eyed woman, with one 
child in her arms and many more clinging to 
her dress, stood before them. 
“Good morning, Mrs Lablanc. Is Joe at 
home?” asked Uncle Shaw. 
“Good mornin’ sah. I t’ink he is. He step 
on top de garden little time ago. Been try 
to fix de fence so de hen ain't git in—won’t 
you step in de house?” 
“Wall, no; I guess not just now. I want to 
see Joe a minute.” 
“How is your womans, Miester Shaw? 
“She ain’t very smart. She’s been working 
so hard on a rag carpet long back, that it kinder 
keeps her down. She was saying this morning 
she was a good mind to git you to let one of 
your girls come down and keep her till she got 
caught up with her work." 
“She can have Marie; she ain’t make very 
good cookings, but she can do ’most all oder 
things.” 
“I’ll tell her; probably she’ll send for her. 
And with these words Uncle Shaw, followed by 
Harry, went around the corner of the house to¬ 
ward the garden. As they came up Joe greeted 
them: “How you do, Uncle Shaw?” And to 
Harry he took off his hat and made a bow, say¬ 
ing. “Good mornin’, sah.” 
“This young man is one of William King’s 
sons. They’re come up fur a little fishin’, and 
wanted to know if I could get somebody to go 
with them, and I told them I didn’t know of 
anybody ’less ’twas you, and I didn’t know as 
vou could go.” 
“Wall, sah,” said Joe, “I don’t see how I can 
go. I have promised to go and work on de 
road—I hain’t pay my tax yet; and den I must 
take ’tention to my farming. I plant a piece 
out on de Morss lot. an’ my boy. he tell me de 
bug-potatoes been eat him all up." 
“Can’t you go for a day or two? I’ll pay you 
well for it,” said Uncle Shaw. 
“I don’t see how I can. I would like to fus- 
rate, but dere is so many t’ings I mus do dat 
I can’t do nothin’; but las’ night when I was 
coinin’ home, I met Fred Kelly, and he said 
he’d been want to go fishin' and be gone over 
night, but he ain’t find somebody to go wid 
him.” 
“Well.” said Harry, “if you can’t go now, 
perhaps sometime you can go.” 
“Oh! yes, sah, I am goin’ to take one good 
fishin’ before hayin’ comes. I do every sum¬ 
mer, and if you want to go then, we’ll go out 
to de Unknown Pond. I know where dat is. 
Las’ winter I was dere and cut a hole t’rough 
de ice. De trout wouldn't bite, but I could 
see down in dere, and dey was so t’iclc dat dey 
can’t move ’less- dey turn over, and some of 
dem was more bigger dan my arm.” 
“All right, Joe. When you get time, let me 
know, and we will go out there and see it we 
can get some.” And Harry started to catch up 
with FJncle Shaw, who had gone back toward 
the house. 
