The morning times., 1897-03-07
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. 'uY''rrsu9p'rE
= A Bicycle Trip of $50 =
z Miles Costing Only SI7 =
lIil!s!! lis s!l l!! lil III


| blanket. In the night l was awakened
| by stir in the boughs beside M. and
| great blowing in my face. / lay quietly
| moment, trying TO form an idea as To
| what sort OF creature it might be.
could tell by the way my wife was
| breathing that she had heard il also, anu
| was straining her ears for a like purpose
| Then rose on my elbow and said -'ShOO.-'
| as fOrcibly as 1 could.
For heavens sake, what is that?'' my
wife whispered.
"oh. nothing but cow I said, and
my voice trembled as 1 started to crawl
out.
James" said she, laying hold of my
arm, don't you go out there. If you 90
III yell murder The ideal 1t may De a
! bear for all you know
Whatever it was, we could hear its
footsteps retreating. We lay listening in
silence a few minutes. Presently my wife
rose to a sitting posture, and up sing
spoke, in loud whisper.
james,
'.what?" said I.
Wed better get up and build a fire
I've heard that no animal viii ever CONS
near fire"
- - O1G CA k1c HbEoli14y SdAl L
THE wood is all gone"
Then shoot off the revolver she de-
manded-
THAT wouldn't do, said, because we
might wound the creature and make it
angry
This silenced her for the moment, but
there was no more sleep for Us that night
Presently l threw u fit of hystericaI
laugheF, during which my wife rose up in
her wrath md said:
You may call this fun, but I've had
enough of it. / shall take the first train
for home tomorrow morning"
/ knew by the tone OF her voice it was
no time for fooling, and I went 70 work IN
earnest 10 dispel her fears. As soon as
daylight came i gathered some wood and
built "a warm fire, after which We slept
quietly for nearly three hours ATS O'Clock
L got up and mad deligntful cup of coffee
for my wife when she awOke- While she
was drinking 1t 1 went to a farmhouse
nearby and succeeded ii buying 10 cents
worth Of flour, a quart OF butte rIniIk and
four eggs l also borrowed an old fash
Ioned iron spider.
That means pancakes said as /
came back and saw the inquisitiYe smile
on my wire's face. We had a fire mess
Of cakes and a small sHOwstOrm of sugar
on each helped them along. Coffee. boiled
eggs, fried bread and Saratoga chips com
pIeted our menu for the morning. BE- 10
O'Clock we had washed and packed our
dishes and our two horses were IN harness.
We were favored again with good weather,
but the roads beyond Fort Edward were
rather sandy, although there were good
side paths most Of the way
At noon we passeG through the city OF
GIens Falls, and at 1870 we had our eys
out for camping place We got pernis-
sion from farmer whom we passed TO
pick half dozen ears Of corn in the field
opposite. He not only consented. but
picked them himself, and when he learned
that we were about 20 camp for dinner
took Us with him TO his house near by and
insisted on our taking a couple OF fine
fresh veal steaks and half a dozen new
potatoes. He also loaned Us spider, and
we made our fire alongside the read
opposite his gate Roasted corn, boiled
potatoes, veal steak. cheese. crackers and
coffee were Oh the bill OF fare and were
eaten with excellent relish. We got TO
Lake George about dusk, and as We were
hot and covered with the dust Of the coun--
try road we hired two bathing suits and
dived into the icy depths OF that great
crystal pool at the head OF the Hudson.
We stayed that night at an inexpensive
though comfortable hotel, and were on
our way North at o'clock in the morn
ing. The sun was shining, and the cool
mountain air made our work a delight.
1t was Sunday, and as we We're passing
through the village of WarTensburg the
songs OF the wOrShippers halted Us in
front of its little church We sat on the
steps and heard the service to its end
through the open door and windows. We
decided To try camping again that night,
and an hour before sunset we hung our
canvas as before and built our fire well
upin the mountains, near Loon Lake. While
was gathering boHghs my wife called TO
me:
'.Oh, James. come here. quickl There
is cat IN the tent
l returned quickly. and peering into our
shelter. saw a small skunk huddled in the
halsam boughs at the rear end OF it. I
shooed and hOwIed at him and even poked
him in a persuasive fashion with a stick.
but the obstinate creature wouldn't budge
l whistIed and coaxed for ten minutes, and
at last n my anger decided that l would
brain him with a club
BE careful, James, my wife shouted
Hes going to fly in your face
The skunk had assumed a singular atti-
tudc, bat was not afraid Of that Finally
an idea occurred to me. Joining my rod.
minus the top length. I adjusted the reel
and line and fixed moose IN the end OF
the latter Then, removing the canvas
cover, 1 stOodOff a short distance and fish
ed for the skunk until l had slipped the
moose over his head, when I tighteneI it
andUtcralIy led him out Of camp and down
the road in disgrace At & safe distance
from camp cut the line and let him %
Ny wife declared that she would not
sleep there, but ! assured her that where
one saw Skunks there were sure TO be
no more dangerous animals, and that they
We're never kUOvn 10 bite anything larger
than a chicken Besides it was dark,
and We could never make our way TO
Loon Lake through the forest at that
time of night We went TO bed with
roaring fire at our feet and rested well
in spite of cur excitement
But have rot space to continue the
story OF our adventures, and / must
content myself with mere outline OF
the rest of our trip, which covered both
sides OF Lake Champiain, where we
caught all the fish We wanted, and wound
through the mountains back to TOY via
Bennington. We Were gone eight days,
had bought four relays of provisions and
had S3 in our pockets when we landed
in New York
And we had a stock Of bear stories