The Louisiana Democrat., 1890-07-02
VOL. XLV.-NO. n.

daylight left aftor 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 let
it drag as we sailed along. All of a
sudden he shouted, stop her! Stop
her! Oh Eve got a whale on my line.
Oh! can't hold it! Stop her, quick ~
When | pulled the line in for him, we
found he had caught big four pound,
turtle. My! but ho was mad Well,
we started off again, soon anchored, and
began to fish in earnest. Bob had
splendid luck, while mine was very
poor. But | was afraid he would tip
the boat over a dozen times, he was so
excited. When we had caught enough
t1sh 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 tho trees, making them
look as though they were On fire. Now
Bob had been SO interested fishing he
had not noticed the sun go down, and
as we We're sailing back l saw he kept
glancing at the woods. So as we landed
l said to Pat, with a wink:
BE ready to move the things to the
boat ii the fire comes this way"
| 'Oh, sure, sor an it's meself that's got
thin all ready. For whin Oh seed thin
woods, Oi says ter meself, says Oi. Pat,
If that foir should come this way, sorry
a won thing would there be left after it
got through wild thim.' So they're all
ready. But sure your suppcr's ready,
too
Bob took it all in and was so scared
that he wanted to move to the other
side of the lake, claiming that ho
thought it was so much nicer over
there. He could scarcely eat any thing,
for going every little while to the boat
to sec if the sails, oars. ETC., were all
right. After supper we explained it to
him. OF course, he knew all the time
we were ''fooling." but he looked very
much relieved. We had fine swim,
and then Pat built smudge to keep
away mosquitoes and told yarn about
a crazy man who lived on an island in
the lake, who laughed and halloed
when he felt particularly bad. Then
we went to bed. l noticed that Bob
was rather shaky as he undressed, but
thought he was shivering because the
wind was so cold. About eleven o'clock
something woke me. l heard noise
and sat up to listen. The flap of the
| tent was fastened back TO let in the air,
| and the moonlight was shining full in
Bob's face, which was as white as snow.
| He was crying and sobbing as though his
heart would break. went to him and
shook him, whereupon he gavea yell and
began to plead and beg me not to hurt
him. 'Oh! l'll go right back home!
Please! Oh, please let me off this once!
| wasn't going near your island-indeed,
l wasn't. What! is it you, Uncle Harry?
Oh, you won't let him get me, viii you,
dear, good Uncle Harry?" l could not
think what was the matter with the
boy when Pat, who had just awakened,
began to grin, then he laughed, rolled
over, roared, rolled over again, and final
ly caught his breath enough to splutter:
''Och, sure, and it's that horrid burd un
tirely. Poor bye, no wonder hos scared.
That burd would scare a crazy mon
sensible. There she goes agin, sorr,"
and, sure enough, from way off in
the distance came tho most awful
cry, whine, laugh, moan, or combina-
tion of all four, that mortal man ever
| heard. Then it seemed to come nearer,
then it died out only to start again
louder than ever Suddenly it struck
me knew what it was, and l did. 1t
was only that noisy, sly, night-lird-
| the Icon or devil bird 1t seems Bob
had walked up short time before he
awoke me and had lain quietly watch.
ing the moon when a terrible shape,
with eyes OF fire, crept into the light,
looked at him and laughed. 'It seems
to move without walking" he said. 1t
was a wildcat we found out after.
And the next instant he heard the Loon
| cry and thought the crazy man and
his last hour had surely come.
| He was q don't wonder that he was)
terribly frightened and clung to me for
a long time, but we soon convinced
| him there was nothing to fear. l made
him turn in with me for the remainder
of the night, which passed without any
further disturbance. But his scare
taught him good lesson, for he never
did any more boasting about not being
afraid OF any thing. We stayed several
weeks at the camp, and when we went
back Bob took five ducks, four rabbits,
two squirrels and few birds home with
him, and he killed them all himself,
too.-Uncle Harry, in Detroit Free