The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1890-06-26
CAMPING OUT.

CAMPING OUT.
/ Uncle Harry's story Of the Hoy Who
Wasn't Afraid of Any Thing.
Tell you a story. What shall tell
you about? ANY thing" eho Well.
will you promise not to ask one ques-
ton until I'm all through? You will?
Listen. then. Three years ago last
j May Mr.. Jones came to see me one
night lie wanted to know il was go-
ing camping that summer, and il were
would | take his Bob with me. Now
Mr.. Jones had promised to let Bob go ii
he passed his examination in school.
and Bob had not only passed but
taken the highest honors in his room.
! Well, after some talk ! agreed to take
him along. Whew, hold on now,
stop. thought you weren't GO
ing to ask any questions. How
old was Bob?" Thirteen. WAS he a
nice boy:" About the average. ] guess.
But, see here. II you don't wait until
get through I'm going to quit. So re-
member. / went to bed that night with
presentiment that something was GO
ing to happen, and no wonder. Six
o'clock the next morning my door-bell
rang as if it had a fit got up. dressed
hurriedly. expecting to find the house
on fire. at the very least. But as un-
locked the door, 10 and behold! there
came voice from without saying: ''Oh,
hurry up. I'm Bob. I've come over to
@,lly oIn,t rv1,; nv 20 n, ~; op apd Zee cp1y
got an hour" And in he jumped, before
could say word. Then nhdt IN hour,
and what criss-cross examination. 1t
makes me shudder to think of it.
Were there any bears where we were
going? And how about killing ducks
with sling shot? Did | think he was
big for his age? Could he use my
gun just onccc Could he swim all
alone? Did l use worms for bait?
Were we going to have tent and
do our own cooking? Would l feel of
that muscle? And could he bring home
some game and have it stuffed?" Final
" to my great relief he ran down, or at
least, got hungry, and went home. He
came again that afternoon. ! was out.
Then he came in the evening. After
that it was about three times day
One night he came fairly boiling over.
His father had bought him gun-a
nice, light shotgun. That settled it.
From that minute bears grew tame; he
wanted something larger and fiercer.
His courage was amazing. l soon be-
gan to think would have no chance at
the game at all. Well, after repeated
attempts to convince me that May was
better than June, and June better than
July for camping out, the time came
for US to go. -Four days before we start
ed it rained and he nearly went wild
that summer. At last the wished-for
day came bright and clear, and
he absolutely refused to leave me for a
minute. / hired a man to cook and do
the camp work, who was to meet us at
the depot He was not there when we
arrived and Bob was positive he would
disappoint us and we should miss the
train. But he didn't all the same. At
the last moment Mr.. Jones told the
young chap not to be afraid to sleep in
the tent, as / would take good care Of
him. well, now he guessed he'd never
been afraid Of any thing in his life. and
rs for sleeping in tent he had never
wanted to sleep anywhere else" After
a two days ride in the cars we arrived
all right. My man Whose name was
Pat Murphy hired farmer To haul our
things to the lake. ten miles from the
railroad, where we were to camp. Bob
was at once or the watch for game, and
we had not got more than mile, when
he saw some birds flying over head.
Bang, went his gun. We never found
out whether he hit any thing except the
bottom of the wagon. But that was
enough for us just then. The gun
kicked him clear off the seat, scared
the horses into a run, and frightened
the farmer. Bob did no more shooting
during that ride. About two o'clock we
reached the lake, and it looked cool and
pleasant after our long ride in the sun.
Pat and | soon got the tent up with
Bob's help He helped in this way: lie
drove two stakes, splitting both, but he
felt very sorry for it; then he split q
package of tea, let one OF the oars get
afloat, and skinned his knee. You see
he carried his gun all the time for fear
some game might come along,
and rit made is very awkward
when he attempted to do any
thing else. We had two hours OF
daylight left, after getting settled, SO
We dug some worms, and started in the
boat for a mess of fish for supper.
Bob threw in common line and iet
it drag as we sailed along. All OF =
sudden he shouted, "Stop her! Stop
her! Oh I've got whale on my line.
Oh! l can't hold it! Stop her, quick :"
When l pulled the line in for him. we
found he had caught big four-pound-
turtle. My! but he was mad Well,
we started Oft again, soon anchored, and
began to fish in earnest. Bob had
splendid luck, while mine was very
poor. But | was afraid he would tin
the boat over dozen times he was SO
excited. When we had caught enough
| fish for supper, l wanted to return, but
, he begged so hard to 'Just catch one
more" that the sun was going down as
we landed. Our camp was on the west
side of the lake, where the woods came
almost to the edge of the water.
As the sun went down, it shone
through the trees. making them
look as though they were On fire. Now
BOB had been SO interested fishing he
had not noticed the sun 60 down, and
rs we we're sailing back saw he kept
glancing at the woods. So as we landed