The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-11-16
TWO TOO MANY.
AN OLD TRAPPER's STORY.
BY SEVEN AND NINE.


What wur the clostest 'scape iver het
from the Injuns? Wall, young fellar,
reckin thurs so mony on 'em it's mighty
hard to purtickilurize like. Did ivel
tell ye bout the time / got away from
the Crows, up on the Yallerstun
Didn't? Wal, thet wur clost enuf l kin
tell we. 'Twur nigh onto thirty years
ago thet l wur trappin' round Chimley
Rock, all alone by myself. l wur a
mighty ventersum lad them days, an
cared nuthin' at all bout the risk
's'long's beaver wur plenty, an pears to
me l never see game so thick as 'twur
that year.
I'd made myself camp on little
island in the river, and was heven' the
best of luck didn't see Injun ur the
sign O. one for nigh two months, and got
careless like. Wal, in visitin' my traps
one afternoon seen bar "sign," not a
grizzly. I know too much to go arter
one o. them fellers 'ithout a kumrade-
no, this wur thunderin' big black bar,
from his tracks, an made up my mind
to trail him in the mornin'.
| started out soon arter sunup, an fol-
lowed the trail till late in the afternoon,
an lost it in the shingle. 'Twur gittin
late, an / concluded to 60 back to camp.
As near's could judge wur about eight
miles from camp, but not more'n mile
rom the river, fur the trail he'd run
kinder parallel to it, ye see. Thur wur
a spring clost by where i left the trail,
and / stopped to git drink before start
ing. Iwur jest risin' up frum the water
when l heerd twig snap, an lookin' up
l see five burned red niggers a comm
right to'rd me, and not more'n thirty
rod of either. ! lit out O that mighty
suddint, you can bet. an in course the
minute they seen they wur diskivered
they give yell an come tearin after me.
My iints was blamed sight more supple
them days than they be now, and the
way legged it wasn't slow, / reckon. 1
made fur the river, thinkin' mebbe cud
give 'em the slip and git across, an then
I knew l cud fool 'em and throw 'em of
the trail among the rocks on that side.
When / got down to the river bank
'twur dark, and gittin' darker every
minute, bein' as thur wura fog risin' frum
the water.
/ Icudn't hear nothin' of the Injuns, an
l begun to think mebbe they'd lost the
trail. ! he'd notion that they mought
hev canoe cached thur, so kimmenced
lookin' fur it. orter known bettern to
waste time that away; but l wur then
thoughtless, just like you be now, an ]
must hev fooled around huntin' fur the
burned canoe fur mebbe a quarter of an
hour.
All to oncet heerd the niggers comm
down the bank. They'd struck the river
little above me. wur badly skcered,
/ tell ye, fur thur wur no place to hide,
an knowed well enough 'twan't no use
strikin' back into the thinner.
Pm a gone case, thinks l, wiped out
sure, when Just as l kun to thet conclu-
sion l spied thunderin' big log, or,
rather, hull tree thathad been brought
down by the spring floods, an jist lodged
by one eend on the bank, the tother
eend reachin' out into the stream 1t
'curred to me thet eff cud crawl out to
the far eend and hug the bark mighty
tight they cudn't be likely to see me,
specially as twas quite dark then, an, 1t
they went on down stream lookin' fur
me / could take the back track an cross
a mile or two above, whap / knowed thar
wur ford.
Wal, want long in gittin' out to the
far eend of the log, which wur partly un-
der water, but afoat. / straddled the
log, with my legs in the water, and held
nv rife acrost it in front of me, and then
bowed myself down and hugged the bark
like 'possum.
Jist as got settled, and wur thinkin'
what burned nice thing it 'ud be If the
stick 'ud only float of, down come the
redskins to the edge of the bank, and
stood thar, within fifty feet of me, a
peerin' round, kinder puzzled like, as il
they wur a wonderin' whar on airth Ia
got to.
Wal, thinks I, il they diskiver me
now they'll lift my har to sartinty.
They spoke to one another, but l didn't
make out what they wur sayin', though
l knowed thur lingo tollable well.
D'reckly one on 'em' spoke a little
louder, and my ears wur sharpenough to
catch the words. He 'peered to be the
head buck of the party, and said to
t'other niggurs:
"Where is the canoe7 1t must be
close Dy sJep Ou TIE 10y anu hhu ie'
One of 'em handed bisgun to the next
one. and, steppin' on to the log, began tc
walk out to'rd me. P'r'apsI / didn't hug
bark and hold my breath as he stopped
down Almost over me, and kimmencet
feelin' fur the canoe.
He didn't pear to find it quick enough
to suit the fellers on the bank, and an
other of 'em jumped onto the log to helE
him. The jar set the burned thinl
aaoat, an splesh 1t cum right into thu
river, chuckin' the two red niggurs int
the water. 'Twa'n't no time fur laughin'
but ! wur fit to bust when seed how
the old log throwed 'em cawallup int,
the water.
Howsever, they mighty quick go
hold Of the log again, and in minut,
more there wur three of us sittin' strad
die of it, and hoatin' down strean
with a right smart current.
Thet wur a burned purity purdickel