Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1881-08-10
from Lppincott's Magazine.I
ON THE WRONG RIVER.
An Adventure in the Adirondacks.
WHITES NARRATIVE.

''You had better let Johns boy take
you, Mr.. White"
Now if Pliny Dix had said, "You had
better take Johns boy with you," I
should probably have said eyes" AS
it was, I said 60 no" very decidedly, and
the result was that Johns boy" saun-
tered off to the blackberry patch across
the clearing, while I walked In the oppo-
site direction, through the bars behind
the barn, past the old sycamore stump
where we USED to fire at mark-how
well | remember noticing the bullet
holes as I passed-and SO into the woods
until I struck Sunday brook, which was
to follow on my way to re!Oin the party
| had left the day before. The idea of
"John's boy" taking me" was as re-
pugnant to my feelings as anything that
could have been suggested. [ was just
out of college then, and indeed but little
more than boy, but I prided myself
especially on my knowledge of the
woods and my endurance. "John's
boy there wasn't any John, and he
was called "John's boy" suppose, in
tacit recognition of the great principle
OF paternlty-was ragged, brown little
specimen of humanity who lived with
the Dixes. We made our headquarters
with them at Number Six" Number
Six is the first wooded township on the
old State road as you enter the great for
est Of northern New York, which at this
time was unwritten about and almost
unknown.
Civilization had overlooked this boy,
and nature had marked him for her own.
He did not know a letter by sight. and
hoo 1n eli ob4o
subject. He had never seen another
boy, and would not have noticed him if
he had. He rarely spoke or made a
noise, except to initiate bird or some
wild animal. When he was crouched at
the foot of tree he seemed as much at
home and as much part of it as the
Gchens on its trunk. AS an artist would
say, he was Gin perfect keeping" His
hair was just the color of the bark, and
he always fitted into some gnarled hol-
low of the roots, as If he was made for
it. His movements were precisely those
of some active and 1.-THE animal, sus-
picious, yet self-reliant, full of native
vigor and an unnamed concentration.
His way of stepping lightly and turning
his head and stopping to listen reminded
me Of fox. You could almost fancy he
pricked up his ears. In rainy weather
he slept continuously in an old lumber
wagon under the shed The rain did not
wet him, the black flies did not bite
HIM, and the briers did not scratch him,
as they did us. In fine weather he wan
dered through the woods carrying rife
and associating with the hunters on a
ground OF conscious equality Thus far
he had shot as many deer within three
that season as Calf Granger, the best
hunter on the tract. He regarded us
outsiders with unconcealed contempt.
All this by way of explanation why he
was an object of envy and hatred to me,
and why I answered Pliny Dix so
promptly, s'No, L don't want Johns
bow" and in consequence of which
hasty answer was "lost ID the Adiron-
dacks."
Three of us, with Granger for guide.
had set out for Albany lake, in the heart
of the woods. We had camped out over
night on the head-waters of Z" Big Sun
day." when we discovered that we had
forgotten to bring and percussion caps,
without which our guns were useless.
The omission was my fault, and [ volun-
teered to go back to Dix's for them
Granger hesitated at first to allow me to
go alone, as instances are not uncom-
mon of persons being lost in that vast
wilderness, nearly as large as the state
of Connecticut and the instinct Of the
hunter by which he finds his way across
mountain ranges where thick forests
hide the sun for days together, is only
acquired after years of experience. Ow-
ing to the presence OF iron in the rocks
the indications Of the needle are un.
trustworthy; but the woodsmen can tel
the points of the compass from the trees
some peculiarly of their outline on the
position of the moss On their trunks
showing to the practiced eye the direc
ton Of the prevailing winds. They arr