The record-union., 1893-01-28
A WILD MAN.
Nick Carthew, the Guide, Tells a
Story.
Holding Up Trapper With His Own
Rifie-Desperate and Dramatic sit
uation in the Lone Cabin in the
Wilderness.

"Want a story, eh! You jernali3tic fell
lows always want stories. Don't yer
know that a man who lives all his life
out in the woods amt got half so much
to talk about as city chaps. Why, all we
see is trees and hills, rivers and storms,
over and over again. Maybe, yer'll tell
me what sort of one"
Something strange and unusual" I
said, glancing at the trapper's weather.
beaten face, as we sat together, In front OF
a log fire in the hall of the Silver Lake
hotel, late along in the fall. Something
one doesn't hear of every day. Some
thing | can tell others or write about.
Not the Usual cut and dried story every
one who goes in for weeks shooting
has to tell, but something, Nick, out OF
the common. l have always imagined
you fellows met with more romance i'll
one year than we ordinary mortals in
ten."
That's where You make a mistake.
It's purity much the same day in and day
out with us" the old guide answered me.
on see half the time we're living all
alone, and the other half we're down on
the lakes, plotting party Of you New
! orkers about | know what yer want
right enough, something sort OF super
material IOlke; but their amt no ghosts
out in the woods; they don't grow there,
climate wouldn't suit them, leastway not
real ones, for all I'ye ever seen turned
out to be an old COW moose, or a caribou,
or some other dang animal that night
and snowstorm made look bout six
times as large. No! the only thing that
happened to me that might interest you
was when l was tackled by a mad fellow,
and that's nigh on twelve year ago."
Here pricked up my ears, for Nick
Carthew always had a good story to tell.
despite what he might say to the contrary.
AS boy and man he had passed the last
forty years in the Maine forests, and the
most inaccessible portions of the wilder
ness were as familiar to him as the city
we might live i'll would be to us. He had
hunted, trapped and, i'll search of game,
penetrated into regions of the Northwest
where never white man had been known
to 60 before, and he spoke the language
OF the Indians with volubility that even
aStonished them. In build and appear
ance and manner he was a typical son of
the forest. Straight as q cedar tree, tough
as yellow birch, with certain rough dig
nlty about him that Sprang from long IA
miliarity with danger, and the conse-
quent necessity tor selt-rec0urse and
quick action. No grammarian, for he
had never seen the inside of a school in
his life, but honest as Il die for all that,
and one who, when he had anything to
say, did not dissemble.
go on Nick" | responded; 81 thought
madmen were confined to the beaten
paths of civilization. A natural out
growth of our mode of living. Never
heard Of man going mad out in the
woods before, so [ will be all ears and at
tention."
Don't know that yer amt right; I've
only come across one, and Pm not per-
ticker anxious to meet another. You see
1t was this way" drawing himself nearer
to the fire and relinquishing his pipe.
lit IS only of late years that sports have
been coming right along in sufficient
numbers to keep man going all the
season, and before that | used to do a
power more hunting and trapping than
do now. One of my favorite bits Of coun-
try was up about katahdin. For two
seasons I camped at the base of the
the branch OF the Allaguash wound
round it.
ut is wild there, and quiet and SOL
emn as graveyard at nights. Few ever
got as far into the woods as that, in those
days, unless they lost their way and
there by accident, and months
would go by and [ wouldn't see a human
face, unless except it was Jake Holds,
who generally staked il somewhere near
me, or an Injun journey in from the
Passmaquody Reservation or from the
island up.
My camp was one of the best I ever
bad. Fhe back wall, the two sides and
top were composed of solid rock; the
front | made from logs felled for that pur-
pose, and my smoke escaped by means of
q stone chimney. At the time [ am
liz Nf Il J.
a fine beagle hound that pard gave me-
and reckon that same dawg saved my
life, though he wasn't pr'haps aware lie
did.
AN UNLIMITED GUEST.
zone day, when it was getting bit
late In the year, and was preparing my
evening meal, after purity long tramp,
the door of my dug-out was suddenly
opened from the outside, and looking up
| saw standing before me the strangest
looking creature ever mortal set eyes on.
A man, yes! a man, but so tall that.
though the doorway was past being SIX
feet high, he had to stoop to get in, and
altogether OF a most wild and ferocious
His hair fell in clotted
masses about his shoulders. His beard
nearly reached to his waist. His long,
arms were bare, showing a
multitude of scars and deep scratches.
was blue shirt patched with
tent canvas, pair of deerskin breeches.
and rough-made moccasius. In his hand
he carried a long -barreled, old fashioned
rifle, and at his belt lung a bare bladed
huntin' knife. His finger nails We're full
ly an inch long and looked as if they had
been used to dig up earth with. He gave
a sort Of grunt when l asked him to take
a seat, but neither moved in or out.
tnrr1p N aud have q hitA I sold off
two or three minutes like this had passed
away. 'Supper's bout ready. Come far.
partner?' tor, though he looked tough
and ugly, waren'J going to let that in
terfere with the laws o hospitality. Still
he made no reply, but, after the lapse OF
another few minutes, shut the door with
a bang and squatted down on the ground
with his back against it.
Here's queer cuss, thought: won
der what his leetle game is? He don't
look like a chap a man would choose for
a 'panion. P'rhaps | better let him alone
a bit, and maybe he'll come round and
say something when he's sort o ready to.
Then 1 busted myself with the grub, and
in less than ten minutes had my deer
steak and hot bread smoking on the
table.
"'Now then,' called to him, time to
eat; haven't much ovariety, but there's
plenty of it, such as it be- and being
hungry started in to help myself. Still,
to my surprise, my visitor didn't speak
or move, and getting little tired O. this
1 did not press him any more and l guess
that fetched him, for before | had taken
many mouthfIIls he came forward and
began to devour the meat eagerly, never
using a knife or fork, but tearing it TO
pieces with his hand, then cramming a
great junk o. bread down after it. Nv.
how he did eat. l never had very fancy
appetite, but he just eat at that meal more
than 1 could put away in four. and quite
cleared me out o. cooked vitals, ali the
while never uttering a word, but refusing
a pipe o. tobacco l offered him by shaking
his head.
.tl.attir,cr IN I Startaa IL, 70 oloo- 49,