Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1881-11-17

in freeing my legs from the embrace Of
the sands. On Thursday camped at
sundown and built a fire. but notwith-
standing the fatigue incident to the
'ong run and lack Of sleep could not
,lose my eyes for the bowling OF the
coyotes in the surrounding woods. The
voyage was very monotonous until Sun
day, when the Berthold Indian Agency
appeared in sight. A bugle blast brought
out the entire Indian population, who
ran along the shores evidently much
amazed and excited at my uncouth at
tire. When I landed at least thousand
Indians surrounded me and asked ques-
tions in their own tongue, which i
briefly answered by saying How" The
post trader extricated me from the
whooping and gabbling horde and led
me to his store, where he informed me
that the natives considered me ssgood
medicine" I guess he must have old
the truth, for everything movable that
I possessed was stolen for talismanic
purposes. Next evening I arrived at
Fort Stevenson, and last night I got
here as tired as man ever was
ssI have come from New York TO &C.
company you down to st. Louis, Cap
tain," said I.
"Good. Nothing will please me bet
ter than to have Herald man along
with me. But how will you travel?"
I pointed to folding canvas canoe,
which Boyton examined with profess
sional eye. "That's rather frail craft
to fight snags with" he said, ssbut
guess you'll weather it through
The next day friday we entered the
Missouri, at half-past two o'clock in the
afternoon, and shot along on the turgid,
yellow stream amid the cheers and well
wishes Of the Bismarckians, with over
two thousand miles of hard padding
and countless unseen difficulties before
us. The Missouri River is as change
able as human nature. The whole course
of the water viii often change in night
and cut away miles of the bank against
which the swift current runs. Any
ranchman who has unluckily built his
log house on that side of the river will
wake up and find thatit is remarkably
s'cold day for him. As the sun sank
in the west the buttes which swell above
the horizon began to assume hues Of
the most indescribabIe beauty. Not a
so-nd could be heard in the cleaning
but the calling of the mocking birds
and skurrying Of geese and ducks. FL
nally night set in and we went ashore
at half-past eight o'clock. And what a
shore it wasl Mud, mud, mud. And
sticky, mud too. At the first step sank
half way to my knees, and considered
myself lucky when scrambled up the
bank unhurt. There were heaps of
driftwood in all directions, and in few
minutes the captain had a pot of fra
grant coffee and pan of sizzling bacon
on our camp fire. We slept in the mud.
I have not space enough to describe it.
Sunrise found us on our way again.
Padding canoe is an occupation which
has been lauded to the skies by enthu-
siastic sportsmen who have plenty Of
leisure, but I take this occasion to re-
mark that racing after veteran paddler
is rather laborious fun. The break of
day revealed the wild scenery Of the
Missouri. Ranges OF buttes stretched
away until they were lost in the dis
tance, and from every gully purling
streams flashed and bubbled along. The
bushy banks fairly blushed with the
glory Of autumn, and vines hung among
the trees like curtains OF the richest
patterns. Game of all kinds seem per-
fectly fearless at ones approach, for the
hand of man has never dethroned nature
here. 1 shot large badger banks
of the river in the afternoon. It was
not until midnight that we landed, and
after supper stretched ourselves on
mud bank and dozed until morning,
when the journey was again resumed.
At ten o'clock we saw man standing
-, III, x-orl II, 80 -, Il ~, r-,4nJ ~ bsr,o
but when he grunted forth "How" we
turned away in disgust. A minute later
we saw an Indian enca upment on the
side of hill and tie white teepees
nesting among the trees made very
pretty scene. The wood piles On the
river and general signs Of civilization
warned us that we were approaching
town, and as we rounded large bend
in the Missouri. Fort Yates and the
Standing Rock agency came in full
sight. A shot from my rifle drew a
swarm Of Indians to the banks and
such bewildered and confused set
of people I never saw before. Some Of
them, thinking bad spirit had arrived,
fed from the place. The captain fred
q heavy detonating rocket and the saw
ages halted, while they watched the
black animal" in the water disappear
in smoke. Then, as the rocket exploded
in the air with a terrific report, they
ducked their heads and ran toward the
fort like flock Of frightened sheep.
The officers of the fort were very kind
in their reception.
The Shah Of Persia lately underwent
the operation OF having tooth extract
ed. Prayers for his safe passage
through the ordeal were offered up in