St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-10-07

anxiety. The Professor was not very
robust. He had had little experience
in mountaineering. Up in the noun
tain he had spoken of having a head
ache, his coat had been left with the
horses, he had had no food since five
o'clock in the morning, and he had no
matches in his pocket. We now set
out in good earnest to find him, going
off in the direction he must have taken,
shouting and blowing our whistles.
He might have met with some accident
and would hear and answer us. We
heard nothing from him however, and
his tracks which Pike discovered soon
lost themselves in the forest. 1t was
certain now that the Professor had
kept down on the wrong side of the
ridge which he ought to have crossed,
and failing to find the horses had
wandered on, probably getting more
bewildered in the forest. Night was
coming on, and we were at loss what
to do. 1t seemed heartless to go off
to our camp on the Star King meadows
and leave our friend behind, but we
could do nothing more for him then,
and there was a possibility that he
might find his way over the mountains
into camp. So building a huge fire
and leaving loaf of bread behind, we
pushed off toward camp, shouting as
we went along. Arriving at camp, he
was not there, and there was nothing
for us to do but get what sleep we
could, and start off as early as possible
in the morning for a fresh search. 1t
was an anxious night. Never in my
life have | passed one more so. In the
darkness, all sorts of dreadful fancies
grew large and real. The bear tracks
we had seen in the morning meant
much more to us than they did then.
The little faintness of which the
Professor had spoken, grew to alarm
ing proportions, which, added to the
bewilderment which almost anyone
would feel under like conditions, made
it seem probable that our delightful va
cation was to have a tragic ending
The roll of empty blankets made us
shudder as we thought of our coatless
foodless, fireless friend, somewhere of
on the mountains alone.
Before daylight next morning we
were stirring, for sleep had been short
and troubled, and after eating what
breakfast we could we pushed off again
to our hitching place of the day before
under Mt. Clark. The Doctor and
followed the regular trail, but Pike
struck off across the mountains in q
roundabout way in hopes of making
more discovery. We arrived at the
place first and found our fire still burn
ing, but the loaf of bread untouched
and no one there. After half an hour
however, Pike came in with the Joyful
intelligence that he had found the Pro
fessor's trail and had followed it a long
distance in the direction of Shows
} This was a great relief. 1t seemed
certain that he had not met with al
, accident, and that he was sustaining
} his reputation of having a ''level head.
, Pike was equally jubilant, as she ha'
never lost a man yet, and didn't wan
to-" His plan was for us to go bacl
| and pack up our things and take then
back to Shows, while he would follow
} the Professors trail. Our hearts wer
very much lighter than they ha'
been, and we gladly complied.
should remark that Brigham Youni
} had taken the opportunity to get him
self free, and had disappeared, but w
l were sure of finding him down in tn
valley, so we packed the things on tn
Professors horse and went along.
When we were nearly down the sid
2 of the mountain we saw an Indian com
ing up on horseback with gun on hi
f shoulder. | at once exclaimed to tn
d Doctor: "That Indian is bringing u
. news from K-w As soon as h
= came near enough we shouted: "Ma
e safe ?" eyes ~ "Where is he ?
s "Snow's ~ "When did he get there 7
;. ''Six o'clock ~
}, The load was now removed and W
:, could laugh as we hadn't laughed fC
e twenty four hours. What had SCENE
: a tragedy, now became a huge joke
: Still there was some anxiety, lest til
:, long tramp and the exposure shoul
e have proved too severe a strain bI
when, half an hour later, we saw til
e erratic Professor sitting quietly G
Ie Shows piazza in his shirt sleeves an
t, smiling blandly from under his brOa,
d brimmed planters hat, the tragedy b'
n came a comedy in good earnest.
The story was soon told. The Pr
he fessor had got tired of waiting at Il
al foot of the mountain and had startt
he back for the horses. Had missed Il
place, and after wandering around
while, determined to strike off thrOus
OF the forest for the Starr King Meadow
I'd Missed that too, and night found hi
re- high up on the shoulder of MOu
n. Starr King. A sheltered nook with
ry covering of fir bOughs made the mig
s. less uncomfortable than it might ha
or been, and at six o'clock the next NOR
of ing breakfast at Shows and a nap
I'M the lounge set things to rights agai
r He was ready to start for home whe
:, |