370 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[March 7, 1908. 
in evidence, around which all gathered to warm 
up and dry their wet clothing. 
It is but justice to say, that during the 
squally time, when the spar snapped and the 
boat drifted into the trough of the waves, there 
was no panic. Every one kept his head, and did 
all that he could to ease up the situation. 
Nevertheless, we were all delighted to tread 
terra firma again. 
After we were warmed and dried there fol¬ 
lowed that feeling of perfect contentment and 
comfort that can be realized only by those who 
have passed through such an experience. 
Events had passed so rapidly during the time 
of the struggle that no thought was given to 
anything except the threatening possibilities of 
the imminent present. Succeeding the feeling of 
contentment and comfort, caused by that roar¬ 
ing log heap, the instincts of nature began to 
assert themselves. We had not tasted food 
since 6 or 7 o’clock that morning, for no one 
had thought of a lunch, when it required only 
a few hours to run us smoothly to our destina¬ 
tion. Those ducks would give us something to 
stay our fully aroused appetites, but no one 
could recollect seeing them since that whirl of 
wind and rain demoralized our sailing. An in¬ 
vestigation proved they were not in the boat. 
In the rush to get rid of water, they had been 
dipped out, nor could they be found on the lake 
beach. 
It was then determined that those who had 
firearms should turn out and kill something, no 
matter what. The chance for killing deer 
seemed slim, for the joyousness and hilarity of 
that party on reaching dry land, must have pro¬ 
duced a stampede of all game. The effort was 
made, and in the course of an hour, the result 
was two “tilters” killed along the lake there, for 
by this time the wind had ceased. ' 
It was now at least 5 o’clock and darkness 
approaching, when some one detected the faint 
glimmer of a camp-fire in the direction from 
which we came, estimated at about five miles 
across the water. It was realized to be the 
camp-fire made by Mr. Lionberger’s party, who 
had reached that point in advance of us. And 
so it turned out; the latter gentleman, not hear¬ 
ing from us or knowing the reason why we had 
not reached camp before him, had built on the 
high lake bank a bonfire as a beacon light as a 
guide to the camp. Skipper Hofer suggested, 
if the boat was bailed out and we would row, he 
could steer across to that camp-fire in the dark. 
The light of the fire suggested first plenty of 
eatables with hot coffee; and afterward, warm 
blankets for a bed, instead of the rain-soaked 
ground, and “Billy’s” suggestion was agreed to. 
The wind had ceased, the lake had become calm. 
The prow of the boat lay well upon the beach, 
with stern well out of the water, its body about 
half full, and it seemed a small job to bail out 
the boat. Then with two oars and willing 
muscles that five miles could be quickly passed. 
Sturdy arms soon had the bailing bucket moving 
rapidly; as one tired another taking his place. 
The writer being excused from this work, 
kept tally of the number of bucketfuls. The 
number soon ran up to a hundred, but an oc¬ 
casional look at that glimmering light kept all 
at work; then two hundred buckets we counted, 
and finally five hundred. Then some one called 
out, “That boat don’t hold five hundred buckets, 
the thing must leak.” This remark led to an 
examination of the boat, and Skipper Hofer dis¬ 
covered and announced that when the boat was 
beached its bottom had been stove in. 
The unutterable disgust that took possession 
of that party on this announcement can not be 
described. Had there been a scapegoat on 
whom to place the blame, he would have 
suffered, but it could not be fixed on any 
one. 
There remained no other alternative than to 
pass the night on that spot as best we could. 
So every one chose the softest and drysst spot 
and relapsed into silence, if not into sleep. As 
the then much discussed Dr. Tanner had just 
finished a fast of forty days and forty nights, ac¬ 
cording to his own account and that of his 
doctors, it was believed that this young and 
vigorous party of eight souls would survive 
their fast of twenty-eight or thirty hours. At 
the crack of day, all aroused, cold and chilly 
and at once started around the borders of the 
lake by the route before described. The 
numerous marshes making out from the lake 
were doggedly plowed through, and after wal¬ 
lowing through pine timber and marsh for three 
and one-half or four hours, we were cheered at 
8:30 or 9 o’clock by the sight of the camp-fire. 
Mr. Lionberger felt sure the “prodigals” 
would turn up and had an abundance of the best 
grub the camp afforded already prepared, and 
for fifteen minutes an eloquent silence prevailed; 
no questions asked, nor information given. 
After the inner man had been fully satisfied, 
thoughts of the future loomed up. Mr. Lion¬ 
berger had business engagements in St. Louis 
of such a character as made it necessary for his 
party to proceed at once, and they commenced 
packing up. George Herendeen suggested he 
be given an hour the start of me, so that on 
reaching camp, Asa, the cook, could meet me 
on the trail with my riding mare. He started 
at once with Hofer. By the time the Lionberger 
party were packed up, we had been rested up; 
we were cheerful and happy. If in the mind of 
any there was the recollection of the beautiful, 
smooth sail we had been promised the morning 
before, my friends were considerate enough of 
my feelings not to express it. 
Soon after bidding each a cheerful adieu, 
Pnip, my dog, and myself, the last of the eight 
souls, followed George’s trail, the old elk trail 
that had been freshly blazed by Colonel Norris, 
then superintendent of the park, preparatory to 
widening it. As long as the Colonel’s blazes 
followed the elk trail, everything went well. 
When we had traversed about one-half the dis¬ 
tance to the camp, the blazed trail ran up into 
one of those tangled wind falls that are in¬ 
describably laborious on the legs, and equally 
trying on one’s temper. These fresh blazes 
were followed a quarter of a mile over the wind 
fall, in the hope that I might see daylight, but 
seeing no hope of an improvement, I turned 
square off in the direction of the lake and soon 
crossed the old elk trail and pursued it. It 
turned out that Col. Norris had had an equally 
trying time in the wind fall, and had retraced 
his steps to where the old elk trail had been 
left, and then had followed it, but had failed to 
indicate the change by falling a tree across the 
wrong trail. 
The buffalo and the elk are the civil engineers 
among the dumb animals—the buffalo for the 
plains, the elk for the mountains. A well-de¬ 
fined buffalo trail invariably leads to the best 
crossing of the streams and to lowest passes 
through the hills. Whenever you find an elk 
trail in the mountains, you may be sure a horse 
can follow. 
George Herendeen was caught in the same 
manner. We were afterward gratified to learn 
that a short time before this, when Col. Norris 
was escorting the Honorable Secretary of the 
Interior, Carl Schurz, through the park, he was 
caught in the same trap. It soon became a 
by-word among the natives, “that Colonel 
Norris had become lost in following his own 
trail.” 
When within three miles of camp, the trail 
crossed an arm of the lake, fordable, for a 
horse, but not by one afoot (50 or 75 yards 
across). The alternative was presented of head¬ 
ing this arm by a tangled walk of a half or one 
mile, or fording the lake. In my present state 
of mind, I did not hesitate to decide, even 
though the water might be waist-deep. But 
before making the experiment, I gave a shout, 
and to my gratification, Asa answered on the 
opposite side. A rapid ride on a fresh horse 
took me to camp at 9 o’clock P. M., after a 
tramp of sixteen hours or thirty-five miles, a 
very much fagged out, but a wiser man. 
These events occurred many years ago— 
twenty-seven, to be exact—yet they are as fresh 
in my memory as if only one year had elapsed. 
They are recorded, only at the earnest request 
of partial friends. Of that party of eight, there 
are few survivors. Pnip, my dog, was murdered 
by a cowardly rascal, who, having murdered a 
companion in cold blood, shortly afterward fled 
to Oregon. There he committed another cold¬ 
blooded murder, and was shot down and killed 
by the sheriff’s party in pursuit. I never met 
him after the first murder. 
George Herendeen was living a few years 
since in Havre, Montana. 
“Ike,” now Isaac R. Lionberger, is a dis¬ 
tinguished lawyer of St. Louis. 
Skipper Hofer, alone, visited the scene of our 
wreck, replaced the bottom to his craft and 
sailed it to his cabin at the “Outlet.” 
After spending about two weeks on the west 
side around Shoshone and Heart lakes, we re¬ 
turned by this cabin, intending to supply his 
larder with fresh elk, that had been killed a few 
days since, knowing that he might need it. 
Game was difficult to obtain at that season, be¬ 
cause the flies were such a pest as to force 
game to the depths of the forest during the day¬ 
light hours. 
There was no sign of life as we approached 
the cabin. On the door, however, in large 
capitals was this legend: “I am no relation to 
Doctor Tanner.” It was some time before this 
legend could be interpreted, but at last it was 
recalled that only a short time before Doctor 
Tanner had gone through his celebrated “forty 
days’ and forty nights’ fast.” Skipper Hofer 
had been starved out. 
SUBSTANTIAL NOURISHMENT. 
The chief concern of every camper is to ob¬ 
tain substantial nourishment in compact form. 
No camp or cabin is complete without its supply 
of Borden’s Eagle Brand Condensed Milk and 
Peerless Brand Evanorated Milk. They have no 
equal for Coffee, Fruits and Cereals.— Adv. 
