The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-07-16
THE PRESS.
lFrom the Argosy.l
Elam's Adventure.

can't you tell US some of your adven-
lures T' l asked OF my friend Elan, who had
returned from his many years. travel in the
bush and other outlandish places, and was
sitting with me and my wife. And, though
absent SO long, he was, so to say, a young
man yet.
Adventures Well, have had plenty.
Rough ones, some of them"
Elan laughed. 81 can tell you of a curious
one that met with in the mountains"
"Oh, yes; do. Which mountains ?'
SIN California; up in one of its wild dis
tricts."
'That will be the very thing"
"Well," said Elan, running his taperiDg
fingers through his hair and smiling at my
wife, "Pl! soften down things IN the telling
as we'll as my blunt speech and unciVilized
excuse the rest"
sob, Dll excuse anything. Please begin"
"When started from home to settle in I'M
frequented DISTRICTS" began Elan, ST set up
theory that no young man should ask a
woman to marry him until he had prepared a
home for her. 1t is surprising how much you
begin to think of wife over yonder, arising,
suppose, from the extreme lonliness of ones
existence. was no exception. The land l
took up was in the Rogue River Valley, and
after had got it bit shp-shape / worked
away with that object in view-to bring
heme a wife,"
"But, Elan, had you selected a wife9" /
asked.
mo. Intended to do that as soon as I
could, though you may say was full youn g
to be thinking of it. / worked on and was
pretty successful. / built me house, got 3
considerable quantity of stacks, made a
fower-garden for my wife; even put up the
pegs and nails she would want to hang her
dresses on. intended that same autumn to
get on my horse, ride through the Willamet
Valley, and find noe wife, marry her and
bring her home"
At the notion of counting in that off-hand
style we laughed little. Elan laughed too,
as If the recollection pleased him.
"You think it strange, see. 1t was not
SO strange over there in those days, where
girls were as scarce as angels. There was
not girl within forty miles of me; and
assure you that the very thought of one as
drove in those nails for her garments to han G
on, went through me like thrill. You
don't believe? Go out yourself and try it,"
But do believe"
81 had about $50 head of cattle, good
house, with garden, young orchard, veg
etables growing, sweet-scented fowers-all in
readiness for the wife hoped to bring home
to bless me and take care of this, my possess
sion. And what do you think happened to
it?"
We could not tell
s'There came such plague of grasshoppers
upon the valley that everything persisted.
Crops, orchard, flowers, grass, every green
and delightful and promising thing; the
grasshoppers destroyed all. You remember
the second chapter of Joel?"
nodded.
"'The land is as the garden of Eden before
them, and behind them desolate wilder
ness was ruined. My stock died: at
least, the greater portion; they had nothing
to feed upon. Yes, it was complete and
absolute ruin"
Elan paused moment, mentally looking
at the past.
ST considered myself disappointed in love,
too" he resumed in the quaintest Of tones.
Though had not yet been out to find my
girl, knew she was somewhere in that other
valley waiting for me; and when the greedy
grasshoppers ate up everything, I felt that l
not to think of those useless pegs on which
my Imagination had so often seen girls
pink cotton dress and white sun bonnet"
Elan gave great sigh. He was an eccen-
trio fellow.
81 became misanthropic, said to myself
that between fate and the grasshoppers had
been used badly. Packing up my books and
few other traps babe adieu to the Rogue
River Valley forever and started for the
mountains. 1t was longish journey, as
bad to drive before me the stock had left
There in the mountains settled down again,
built myself fort and played hermit. No
jilting girls should come near me now"
ga fort?'
ga regular fort. A stockade eighteen feet
high, with an embankment four feet high
aroupa it and strong gate in the middle.
My tent was in the midst of the enclosure,
with my books and household goods, firearms
and all the rest of my property slowed away
in it,"
'.Were you afraid of the Indians ?"
"Indians and white men. Yes, saw a
good many Indians at first within the range
of my rife. They learned to keep away from
my fort, finding it did not pay to attempt to
invade it. Down in the valley below there
were mining camps; and you perhaps know
what some of the hangers-on of such camps
are. sold beef-that is, heads of cattle-to
the miners; and as I had sometimes tidy
sum OF money by me, it was necessary to be
careful"
"Wha. strange life for young man.
For you Elam!'
81 herded my cattle, drove them to mar
ket, cooked, studied, wrote and INDUCED in
misanthropy, combined with some rifle prac.
the second summer in the mountains I felt
quite at home and was getting rich. After
all, the life had its charms. A man cannot
quite tire of it when he is but few years out
of his teens"
"And the girl.wife?.'
81 am coming to that. Having had time
10 forget my ill-usage reaction set in, you
see, and l thought after all I must ride to the
Wallamet to see after my girl. But was
not in the hurry over it that 1 had been be-
fore. This is all very dull, you will say, but
there'll be some stir presently
sit is not at all dull"
"One Sunday afternoon-how did I know
it was Sunday, you ask? Because had kept
count of the days all along; kept my diary
regularly. One Sunday afternoon, was sit
ting outside writing, when a shadow fell
across the paper; and, looking up, there stood
skeleton. Accustomed as / was to lonely
encounters with strange men Of all kinds, my
hair stood on end as stared at the spectre
before me. He was the merest boy In years,
pretty and delicate by nature, and evidently
reduced to this shadowy state by starvation.
His story was soon told, He had left Boston
on board vessel bound for the northwest
coast, had been wrecked at the mouth of the
Umpaqua, and been wandering about in the
mountains ever since, subsisting on roots and
berries"
"He was
"No, 1 assure you," interrupted Elan,
with ali amused look at my wife, ''the boy
was not young woman in disguise, if that's
what you are thinking. He was lust poor,
weak, halfstarved lad, named Edwards. l
fed and nursed him until he was able to work
for himself, and then I got Sam Chong Sung
te let him take up claim near Chinese
camp, promising to favor the Chinaman in
beet contract if he would be good to the boy.
still continued to see great deal of him."
Sand did Edwards succeedr'
"Yes, he got on. One day two Cinnamon
stole some of Sam Chong Sungs horses; and
he offered $500 to Edwards If he would 90
after the thieves and track them. Edwards
asked my advice, and encouraged him to go,
telling where fancied he would find the
men. So he started in pursuit, and confess
missed him."
Again Elan paused. We did not interrupt
him.
"a man came to my fort one day who was
naked and starving. He was bad-looking
fellow, very; but you will say man naturally
does look bad when his clothes are nowhere
and his bones protrude through their skin. I
clothed him, fed him, cared for him kindly
until he was able to travel, and then he went
away. The next Sunday was sitting out
side my fort, as customary on that leisure
day, reading some translations from the
Greek poets-for dare say you remember, l
could never make much of Greel, itself-