Dec. 26, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
1015 
At the base of the hill, on the further slope, 
just one and one-quarter miles from our camp, 
was Long-Meadow Pond. Hence it was, on the 
following morning, half-buried in my hip boots, 
that I sloshed off through the reeking under¬ 
brush to the lily-fringed waters and, just as 
Buster poked his head out beneath the canvas, 
rubbing his sleepy eyes, I had a three-pound 
pickerel broiling on a fine bed of coals. After 
giving voice to his surprise that I could have 
stolen out without awakening him, Buster re¬ 
marked that he felt wonderfully refreshed by 
his night’s sleep. 
“Do you feel strong enough to undergo more 
of the same sort of thing?” I asked, with a 
possible tinge of sarcasm in my tone. 
“I had no idea what camping was. My views 
were gained from what I had read of camp life, 
and it always seemed to me it must be a very 
strenuous sort of life. But this (stretching his 
arms and taking a deep inspiration) is simply 
magnificent.” Then, as though fearing that he 
had enthused too extravagantly, he shook his 
head and remarked: “But we’ve had only one 
night of it yet; we may catch a rain storm.” 
I assured him that we had come prepared for 
just such a contingency, and then we turned our 
attention to the discussion of a fish breakfast 
and, to judge by the inroads we made, it was 
fully appreciated. On entering the house I 
chanced to run across a figure-filled sheet of 
paper to which I called Buster’s attention. I 
half suspected what he had been up to and, 
charged with the fact, he admitted that he had 
been figuring out a contemplated deal in which 
he had become interested just before leaving 
the city. With all the solemnity that I could 
muster, I arrainged my “patient,” assuring him 
that it would be impossible for me to carry out 
my part of the programme without his co-opera¬ 
tion, and that it was absolutely necessary that 
he should wholly refrain from aught that even 
savored of business. He finally gave his word 
that he would make no outward demonstrations 
of a business nature and would, so far as 
possible, refrain from indulging in business 
thoughts. But how could he occupy his mind, 
he wished to know. I subjected him to a little 
catechism work only to learn that he was un¬ 
familiar with the simplest rudiments of coun¬ 
try lore, a fact that gave me my cue, and I told 
him I would find plenty with which to occupy 
his mind. 
I now realized that what I had suspected was 
Buster’s mode of spending a vacation was cor¬ 
rect. He brought his business with him, making 
so-called recreation secondary to fiduciary and 
executive scheming. Hence my own duty in 
the premises was clear. I must get Buster’s 
thoughts off New York and away from his office. 
Just here my cogitations were interrupted, as 
though nature had kindly consented to aid me 
in my laudable purpose by a flock of fishing 
hawks flying toward Long Meadow. Calling 
Buster’s attention to the birds, I told him to 
take especial notice of the fact that they were 
at a very great elevation. Telling him that they 
would shortly return, I asked that he would 
keep on the lookout and notify me when one 
appeared. He acquiesced, smiling in a half-in¬ 
dulgent fashion, as though to inform me that 
he saw what I was up to. I was getting the 
guns ready, for we had decided to make a hunt¬ 
ing circuit of the country that day, when Buster 
called out: “Hawk’s a-coming!” 
“Notice anything peculiar about that bird?” 
I asked. He regarded it intently for a few 
seconds and replied: “Well, he flies much 
slower than when he passed before; he isn’t 
nearly so high in the air; he flies steadily, with 
regular strokes of the wings instead of the 
jerky, upward and sailing motion that I noticed 
when the flock was going the other way; and”— 
after a moment of close scrutiny—“he seems to 
be carrying something.” During this recital the 
listless, half-bored attitude had departed from 
iBuster and his eyes sparkled with interest and 
animation. 
“Bully for you, Buster!” I exclaimed; “you 
A YOSEMITE PARK BEAR. 
Photographed by Mr. Boysen. 
have demonstrated that you are a close observer. 
Now get your field glass and take another look 
at the bird.” 
Buster rushed to the trunk and returned with 
a powerful field glass which he leveled at the 
hawk. His excitement waxed more intense and, 
handing me the glass, he exclaimed: 
“Look! look quick! He’s got a big fish in 
his claws, a big sucker or chub!” 
“Yes,” I responded; “he is later in getting 
his breakfast than I was in getting ours, though 
he took less time to do it.” 
This was a new suggestion to Buster and he 
bombarded me with a volley of questions. 
“Why, do those birds really eat fish? That 
must be why they are called fish hawks. How 
does he manage to catch it? Where is he going 
with it now? Probably he’s got a nest o’ young 
hawks somewhere, etc.” And he rattled on, 
asking and answering all sorts of questions in 
the same breath, more interested than I had 
ever seen him, even when engineering a promis¬ 
ing deal. 
“You spoke of his flying a good deal lower 
than when he went the other way; now what is 
the reason of that?” I asked. 
“Why, naturally the weight of the fish pulls 
him down, same ’s when you carry a bucket 
of water you lower your hand that you hold 
the weight with more than the other.” 
“Do you? Just try it and see,” and I led 
the way to the spring where the bucket was 
standing, waiting to be filled. Dipping it into 
the spring, I handed it to Buster who, as he 
grasped it, leaned over the opposite way in order 
to maintain his center of gravity. He under¬ 
stood in a moment. 
“That’s so; the very opposite of my theory ’s 
the fact; but why is it the hawk flies lower than 
when he was empty-handed?” and Buster looked 
at me helplessly. 
“It is simply a problem in aerostatics,” I re¬ 
plied. “The density of the air is much greater 
near the earth, consequently it possesses greater 
sustaining power than at a high altitude.” 
I was tying the canvas flap that stood sponsor 
for the door to our house, when Buster called 
my attention to a chipmunk that he declared 
“must have the biggest kind of a toothache, 
for his face was swollen beyond recognition.” 
Unable to repress a smile, I told him to 
watch the animal and in all probability he would 
see how it got rid of its “toothache.” As¬ 
sured by my manner that a suggestion of some 
sort was implied, Buster immediately trans¬ 
ferred his interest from the hawks to the little 
squirrel. He sneaked stealthily after it and 
presently returned with the information that “it 
had dug some leaves from the edge of a stump, 
gone out of sight for a moment and when it 
reappeared it was with a normal countenance.” 
Accompanying him to the place indicated, I dug 
away a few surface leaves, disclosed a hole into 
which I put my hand and drew out a handful 
of hazel and chestnuts. Buster’s face was a study. 
“Why,” he almost.gasped, “if that little rascal 
isn’t laying up his winter’s provender!” 
“Certainly,” I responded, “how did you sup¬ 
pose they lived through the winter?” 
Buster admitted that the subject had never 
occurred to him before, then he declared further 
that he had never dreamed there was so much 
of interest to be seen in the country. 
“That’s because you never used your eyes be¬ 
fore nor thought of anything besides the busi¬ 
ness that you had left in town, or that you 
thought you had left there.” 
Buster admitted the truth of my arraignment, 
and then we started on our tour, first tacking 
this inscription upon the canvas front of our 
house for the benefit of possible stragglers: 
THIS IS A HUNTER’S SHACK— 
IT CONTAINS NEITHER VALU¬ 
ABLES NOR CURIOSITIES. 
[TO BE CONTINUED.] 
A Yosemite Park Bear. 
It was only in 1896 that the Government ac¬ 
quired control over the Yosemite Valley. 
Last year the bears found that the valley had 
ceased to be a death trap, and five of them spent 
the four months there. This fall they all came 
back, bringing their young with them—one old 
one had three cubs—so that there were fourteen 
bears in all. Undoubtedly next summer tourists 
in the Yosemite Park will be able to see some 
of these bears, as they have now realized that 
they have nothing to fear and are growing tame. 
