The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1901-04-12
DIANA AND THE SPIDER.
Mrs. Jacks Tale OF How She Met
Defeat on the Big Muddy.

The "Band, Gusset and Seam" is a
society recruited from an exclusive cir
Gle of Mob Hills young matrons. I:
meets through the winter, with aggra-
waited activity during Lent, at houses
of the members; it's motto, First fan
nels to the indigent;" it's symbol, a
thimble or, crossed by q pair of scis-
sors argent, on a background of fan
hel gules, surmounted by a spool of
thread couchant.
The demure maid who serves bouillon,
tea and chocolate to the society's fair
Decreases, hears tales from every quar-
ter of the globe, of life in the summer
colonies along the New England coast,
of yachting cruises through Norwegian
fords in the yellow wake Of the mid
night sun, of walking tours in the
Landes, and camping trips in the north
woods. She knows her planet better
than many whose orbits are less circunl-
scribed, and can safely be relied upon
for information regarding elk in Ore
eon or salmon in the Columbia, the
proper time to hunt the grizzly in AS
s;niboia, and the relative merits of the
Andalusian donkey and his twin broth
er, the Rocky mountain burro.
After serving the Bradamante of the
society with a cup of tea and a caviare
sandwich, she retires to a dusky cor
ner of the room, refills the lamps under
the brazen kettle, and rearranges the
Dresden cups and saucers and the
jewel-mounted spoons upon the teak
wood table.
When the fluffy-haired Mrs. Jack
the society's president and the hostess
Of the occasion, begins her story, there
is e lull in the talk, which the wind fills
in with a neatly-eXecuted arpeggio.
Mrs. Jacks mouth droops in wistf,l
curves, and beside her eyes an infants
would seem sophisticated.
"Jacll says / must go with him to
Africa, but l shall never dare to look a
tiger in the face, after my experience
on the Big Muddy"
Mrs. Jacks adventures have familiar
lied the society with Tin Cup, Big Bug,
Bundle Bee and Medicine Hat. But
the Big Muddy offers delightful fields
for speculation, for it has not yet found
Il place on any map and it's only high
roads are the half-obliterated trails left
by the Utes when they unwillingly de-
parted for new hunt;ng-grounds.
"You remember the big horn 1 shot
after Jack and the guides had tracked
him for ten days over the Rattlesnake
range in Wyoming?" Mrs. Jack contin-
ues, plaintively.
The society remembers the big horn,
as well as the giant shark in the Next
can gulf; the mountain lion and the
cinnamon bear with amber eyes picked
off by Mrs. Jacks rifle in the San Fran
cisquito mountains. The idea of her
under any circumstances taxes the
credulity of the society. Has she ever
known fear, ever quailed before beast,
bird Or fish-this modern Artemis?
When she accompanies her husband
on his hunting expeditions she wears
the woods autumn livery-leaf-browu
and scarlet-an abbreviated skirt and
leggings of brown corduroy, a scarlet
leather shirt with elks' teeth for but
tons, a hat festooned with trout and
salmon flies and shining leaders. A car
fridge belt girdles her slender waist.
with it's depending revolver and hunt
ing knife.
1t is remarkable that Mrs. Jack has
escaped the cinnamon bears embrace.
and Bruin might well be pardoned such
an indiscretion
Jack has always said that nv phys
ical courage first attracted him. But
had never confessed to him that there
was one big test to which I should be
Unequal. 1t came on the Big Muddy,
Listen:
I'VE were camped in the ouakinp
aspen. Snow had fallen, and the elk
we're coming down. You could hear
hem Bsagling on every side just before
lawn. It's easy to stop band of elk, as
hey pass near your camp, by initiating
heir call upon an empty cartridge
she'll. Ihave learned the trick, and .Jacls
lad no hesitation il permitting me to
choose my own trail one morning and
7oliow it alone afoot, he and the guides
scattering in other directions. The
taste of the camp coffee was still upon
my lips; my cheeks tingled with the
rosty breath of the morning air as I
Kept cautiously to the windward of the
Xix, whose trumpeting stirred me like
martial music.
"A stray bear track showed here and
there in the fresh snow. But was
litter elk. A hundred miles Law betwee,,
our camp and the nearest settlement
All! the solitude of thosewoods!"
Mrs. Jack leans back in her chair and
ilghs reminiscently as she gazes into
the blazing hearth fire-a charming mic.
ture in her house gown of old bine
Frightened with CLEANS of Persian EN-
broldery, inwoven with uncut Jewels.
i had gone three miles, perhaps four.
over fallen spruce, up the steep side Of
ragged mountain, when crash. across
my trail came band of elk, headed by =
magnificent bull.
'Crouching behind a bowlder,
.aited. l have waited so often for big
game, from Alaska to the gulf. Jack
says have seen more than he can ever
hope to see, if he lives to be q hundred.
My hand was steady. Jack often gets
buck fever. never do. I took DELHI
crate aim. The elk came toward the
bullet and dropped dead without y
struggle. Blazing the trail, as re-
traced it toward the camp for the puck
animals, saw that there were new
bear tracks. was not out that day for
bear, and did not care to come upon