
Jury 6, 1907.] 

which it was impossible to carry boat through 
the dense growth of underbrush, and not hav- 
ing our camp axe with us we could not cut a 
trail, and giving it up returned, and _ having 
passed through Hitchins Pond, we stopped for 
lunch. Then we concluded to go by the way 
of Little and Big trout ponds across to Little 
Tupper Lake. We found Little Trout to be a 
nice little body of water, and a short carry took 
us over into Big Trout, which is at least three 
times larger, and quite an attractive lake as we 
explored it, From it-we went by a short carry 
over the ridge into High Pond, thence into Bear 
Pond, which was also quite large and_ nicely 
located. 
It was at this same pond that a sportsman 
named Fitch was accidentally shot by his rifle 
slipping in a boaf, and whose guide gave him 
essential’ aid, and leaving him as comfortable 
as possible, made his way as speedily as he could 
through to Pliny Robbin’s Hotel, and summon- 
ing aid the party hurried back and carried the 
wounded man on a litter out to Robbin’s. In 
the meantime another party had immediately 
started with boat for Paul Smith’s for a surgeon. 
On one of our trips -we had met the surgeon 
and his patient, as they were being removed 
shortly after, and were passing down the Big 
Tupper, en route for Paul Smith’s and New 
York. From Bear we carried over into Clear 
ar Loon Pond which inclines to the southeast, 
and from its foot then made a carry of about 
two miles into Round Lake of the Tupper Chain, 
and were once more in familiar water, and pro- 
ceeding through the inlet were soon on Little 
Tupper, and remained at Robbin’s over night 
where we again heard the story of the Bear 
Pond accident from one of the rescue party. 
Next day we returned by the usual route, and 
were glad to be again domiciled at Smith’s Lake: 
Our trip, although a*short one, had proved a 
very interesting one. and I was glad that I had 
visited that delightful Silver Mountain region. 
A Close Call. 
Tue Hon. Mr. Stuart Fraser, 
sioner of Coorg and resident in Mysore. while 
touring ‘in Coorg had a narrow escape from a 
wild elephant recently. Mr. Fraser and party 
were out inspecting on the borders of Kanara, 
when they were charged on a forest road by a 
wild elephant, and the party bolted as hard as 
they could. Mr. Fraser turned into what he 
thought was a pathway, but was a cul de sac, 
with the elephant after him. With great presence 
of mind he grasped a tree and let his pony bolt 
from under him. He descended and hid behind 
the tree, and the elephant spent fifteen minutes 
or more hunting for him, while he dodged be- 
hind. Fortunately, the elephant did not scent 
him, and moved off. The rest of the party cap- 
tured the runaway pony and were much relieved 
on looking for Mr. Fraser to find him unharmed. 
—Shooting Times. 
chief commis- 
iat 
a 
hy 
: ON THE PORTAGE. 

EORERS tf. AND STREAM. 
“The Musselshell Fight.” 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Mr. De Cost Smith’s account of his trip 
down the Upper Missouri has greatly interested 
me, because about a generation ago I was 
somewhat familiar with that region. At that 
time the famous fight at the mouth of the 
Musselshell, to which Mr. Smith alludes, was 
fresh in the minds of people, and I heard of it 
often and several times had the story related 
to me by men who had taken part in the fight 
or had heard of it from those who had been 
present. 
Liver-eating Johnson was then still a resident 
of Northern Montana, and I often saw him. 
On the occasion of our first meeting he gave 
me what was perhaps the greatest fright that 
I ever had, and I shall never forget my sensa- 
tions on that occasion. At this particular time 
the country just south of the Musselshell River 
was a debatable ground roamed over by In- 
dians of half a dozen tribes, all of them likely 
to be hostile and none of them to be trusted. 
There were Crees, Blackfeet and Bloods from 
the north, Piegans from the west, Assinaboins 
and Sioux from the east and south, Crows from 
the southwest, with a possibility always of a 
few Arapahoes or Gros-Ventres of the prairie. 
This was the war belt, the Indians passing 
through it on their way to take horses or 
scalps from their enemies, and incidentally to 
take horses, and if it could be done with 
safety, scalps from the white men. It was a 
common thing for the horses to be run off 
from the stage stations. It was not very un- 
usual for Indians to come by night into the 
town of Carroll and to take from it all the 
horses in the town. Sometimes the people used 
to take their horses into their houses at night 
and lock them up there. Carroll at that time 
consisted of half a dozen log-houses, two of 
which were trading stores, one a saloon and two 
or three dwellings. 
At that time Flopping Bill was living along 
the river—a skin hunter in winter and a wood- 
hawk in summer. His name was given him 
from the way in which he chopped wood. They 
said that he did not chop it like any one else, 
but sunk his ax into the wood and then “kind 
o’ flopped off the chip.” George Grennell was 
also a wood-hawk along the river—a positive 
person, who, insisted on having what he wanted. 
{ remember once being in the bottom where he 
had many cords of wood stacked up which 
the captain of the last up river steamer wished 
to buy of him. The owner of the wood wanted 
a price higher than the captain felt inclined to 
give, and when they could not agree on the pur- 
chase, Grennell, who wished to leave the. bot- 
tom and did not intend to leave his wood there 
to be taken without pay by some down river 
boat, calmly piled up dry grass and brush along 
the wood pile and fired it just as the boat turned 
‘out into the stream again. 


Copyright, 1906, by William S. Thomas. 


9 
On the occasion of my first meeting with 
Johnson I was with a young friend who had 
never before been in the west, and of course 
was ignorant of the life of the prairies. Pre- 
vious to this I had had a number of years’ ex- 
perience in wild country, and had learned never 
to go twenty yards from camp without my rifle 
and cartridge belt, to keep my head moving 
while traveling, so that I could see in all direc- 
tions at once, and to approach the crest of each 
swell of the prairie with the utmost caution, 
so that I might see what lay beyond it before 
any one who was on the other side could see 
me. .My companion knew none of these things 
and innocently believed that because he could 
see no Indians none were in the neighborhood. 
Unhappily, we were mounted on two more or 
less stove-up horses, which, though abundantly 
able to carry us from point to point on an 
ordinary march, were quite unable to take us 
swiftly out of danger if the occasion arose for 
running away. 
We were somewhere in the neighborhood of 
Arrow Creek. and after cautiously overlooking 
a wide stretch of country from the top of a 
hill, had started down on the other side, when 
suddenly I saw two other horsemen come up 
out of a ravine a mile or two ahead of us, and 
following these a small band of horses and on 
or two more riders. To run was quite impos- 
sible, as I have said, and the only thing we 
could do, if these were Indians, was to oppose 
a bold front and try to. stand them off. There 
were, as it soon appeared, but five riders, who 
were driving perhaps twice the number ot 
loose horses. It might be a little war party re- 
turning from a more or less successful raid, or 
it might be something less dangerous. 
My friend was very dear to me, and I had 
a grave sense of responsibility about him; yet 
I felt that his lack of knowledge of the coun- 
try and its ways might lead him to do some fool- 
ish thing which would get us both into trouble 
I felt reasonably confident that I could take 
care of myself; but whether I could take care 
of him and myself both was a serious question. 
In the old war days two men of experience, 
each of whom knew that he could depend on 
the other, made a tremendousiy strong team. 
They were much more than the double of one 
man. But one efficient and one inefficient man, 
working together, in a fight with Indians might 
count for hardly more than half a man. 
I called my companion to my side, pointed 
out the possible danger and insisted on his 
riding close behind me and obeying my instruc- 
tions. The riders had at once seen us and ap- 
proached us at a good rate. We kept on our 
way. so that the distance between the two 
parties rapidly diminished. I watched the 
strangers with all my eyes and as they ap- 
proached thought that I could make out the 
leader to be an Indian, for he seemed to be 
bare-headed and to wear a pair of red leggings. 
When the party had come within about four 
« 
rH EEE. Nes iy Otte Te SEO Ne 


LINING THE RAPIDS. 

