FOREST AND STREAM 
289 
Aug. 25, 1906.] 
ARCH ROCK, MACKINAC ISLAND. 
the longest. Just as it seemed as though he was 
pulling out all the cords in my back, he give a 
kinder quiver and laid still. 
“I didn’t dare to let up, because maybe he was 
being foxy on me; but I didn’t feel anything like 
life in him, so after a spell I let go of his throat 
and took his claws out of my back. When I got 
up, I couldn’t hardly stand; but I knew I had 
got to get home putty soon, for I was bleeding 
so bad. So T took the critter onto my back 
and started. The sun was up quite a little spell 
when I was going down to the place where I 
met him, and when I started for home it had 
been sot sometime. I couldn’t go very fast, 
but I kept plugging right along, and by and by I 
come to the store, and that’s all I can 
remember.” 
As Uncle Shaw finished his story, he laid back 
in his chair, and listened to the remarks of his 
audience. And very soon his wife came and took 
him upstairs. After this, he came out nearly 
every fine day, and was soon able to go alone 
by himself. 
The story was repeated, and was the wonder 
of the county, for it was quite unusual for any 
one to kill an animal of this kind, and the fact 
that it had been done with the bare hands made 
it more remarkable. 
The days had passed very quickly with the 
boys, and now they must go very soon. Uncle 
Shaw told them one day of a good trout stream. 
“You go away out to the end of this North 
Road, then you go right up this valley till you 
come to the old mill on Mill Brook. On ’tother 
side of this brook, about thirty rods up, you’ll 
come to a little brook. ’Tain’t moren two feet 
wide, but it comes way down between the hills 
and is all spring water and full of deep holes. If 
there hain’t nobody fished it this summer, you'll 
get a good string; but there’s one thing, you’ll 
have to go just as easy as if you was trying to 
catch a mouse, for if you jar the ground any 
you won’t get none.” 
It was a beautiful morning. There was but 
little wind, and over the hills hung a purple haze 
that lent additional charm to the view. To the 
boys it seemed as if the grass were never so 
green, the sky so blue, or the water so limpid 
and sparkling as now. They soon got to the 
dam and found the brook. It was, as Uncle 
Shaw had said, a small brook, prettily tumbling 
down over the rocks from the valley above, and 
the boys walked up beside it, fishing as they 
went. Soon they came to where the ground was 
level and there were no rocks to be seen. The 
soil was black and full of roots and shook at 
every step. Here the brook turned and twisted 
back and forth among the great trees, now 
hiding under the bank to come out in sight 
some distance below, only to hide again under 
the roots of the trees on the other side. 
The water was deep, dark and cool here; and 
lurking away in the darkest places, behind mossy 
logs and beneath large roots, were the quickest 
and prettiest trout. Wary little fellows they 
were, never taking the hook unless presented just 
to their taste. And it required all the skill of 
our young fishermen to persuade them to come 
in out of the wet. Great sport they found it, 
and their baskets had begun to get quite heavy, 
when they noticed that the air did not seem 
quite so fresh as it had. The fish and the 
mosquitoes had occupied their time entirely of 
late, but now the change was so great as to com¬ 
pel notice. 
“Harry,” said Will, “don’t you smell smoke? 
I’ve been smelling it for this long time and 
wondered where it came from.” 
“Oh! probably it’s some one burning a brush 
pile. There is lots of land being cleared up on 
the hill back of the mill.” 
“Well, I don’t care if they don't set the woods 
afire. I don’t want to be burned up in these 
woods.” 
“I guess there is not any danger of burning 
up the woods. They are so damp and green 
that they couldn't be made to burn.” 
Soon the boys came out into a clearing. Up 
back from the brook was a small farmhouse. 
There was no shed, but a few logs before the 
door furnished the wood when wanted and all 
around were chips, large chips and small chips, 
wet chips and dry chips, and chips of all kinds. 
One would think that the people here did noth¬ 
ing but make chips and bad all they had ever 
made. Across the path by courtesy called. “The 
Road,” was a log barn, covered with hemlock 
bark, and beside it a “leanto” shed also of logs. 
Beside the barn stood some old wagons and 
broken farming tools that looked as though they 
could be of no use to any one, and that any 
attempt to use them would only result in con¬ 
suming time. The barn doors were off the 
hinges, and through holes in the sides and roof 
wisps of hay and straw could be seen. 
In a tub lieside a small stream that flowed by 
the end of the house, a young girl was washing 
clothes, and the number of garment spread on 
the bushes nearby told how industrious she had 
been. 
The hillside back of the house was cleared and 
so was a strip of land around the house, and 
nearby all of' it was in cultivation. At the head 
of the valley and to the left was a range of high 
hills or mountains covered with virgin forest to 
their tops. Nearly opposite the house a promi¬ 
nent ledge rose nearly perpendicular from the 
valley, and was surmounted by a flat table of 
rock projecting over the edge. This was,known 
as the “Pulpit.” As the two fishermen went up 
the brook they could see over the woods through 
which they had just come, and back of the 
cleared hill a dense cloud of smoke arising. It 
had already obscured the sky to a great degree 
and the sun was shining through it like a huge 
plate of copper suspended in the sky. 
The boys continued up the brook, fishing as 
they went, and when at last they had filled their 
baskets returned toward home. As they came 
back, the smell of smoke grew worse and worse, 
now being so strong as to make the eyes smart 
and the lungs feel dry and burning. Not a little 
alarmed, they rushed on to the clearing through 
which they had just come, and as they emerged 
a sight met their gaze that brought their hearts 
to their mouths. There on the other side of 
the clearing rose a vast column of smoke, rolling 
up from behind the whole length of the hill, and 
through it could be seen great tongues of flame 
leaping heavenward. The fire was sweeping up 
the other side of the hill back of the house, and 
soon it would be coming down toward them 
with frightful rapidity. 
Glancing at the house they saw that the danger 
was great, and undoubtedly they and everybody 
else must do all in their power to prepare for 
the battle that would surely come and try and 
save the house as well as themselves from the 
fate hanging over them. 
For a moment the boys looked at the fire 
that was fast rolling toward them, and then 
deciding what they should do, they ran to the 
barn. Taken by surprise as were the woman 
and her children by their approach, they recog¬ 
nized at once the necessity of taking care of the 
barn, for if that caught fire surely the house 
must go. They all with difficulty succeeded in 
shutting and fastening the doors. 
The wind, which until now had been hardly 
perceptible, changed to the east, thus driving the 
flames in such a direction's not to come directly 
over the buildings, and when they saw that the 
vast column of black smoke that had been rolling 
toward them was passing beyond, a sigh of relief 
escaped them. Their trouble was not over, how- 
