Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1902-06-04
ASTRAY IN THE NIGHT.

BY NORMAN DUNCAN.

y
Jolted over 200 miles or more OF tn;
rickety road, you are put off in
wilderness of pine and tangled unde
Drush-in the dusk a forsaken, ghos
~ place-fearfully silent when th
train has pulled out of hearin.
Thence you so by ca2ce down to-
tuous, fussy little stream-dodgin
boulders, picking the way throug
noisy rapids, padding laboriousl
through long stretches of slow, bac!
Water-until you sweep out into tn
head waters Of the kamlchou Ii
the twilight you make the lower enc
of the lake, where you find hare
ground and clear space to pitcf
your camp. If you love this patch ot
unspoilcd wilderness as some men do
you look back over the quiet water
and upon the wooded shores, which
rise to the sky, now all aglow, and
you know that you are happy to have
escaped fer time from the life you
have left in the cities.
Il have heard you say, Ellerton, "
said /, one evening, when the days
fishing had been well done and we
%%cre loafing blissfully on the shore,
that you had an adventure here"
About GO seconds long" said he.
Not long enough to turn a mans
hair gray" said l, with laugh.
81 don't know about that" he re-
sponded, soberly. 81 don't know about
that. Seconds seem to be very long
sometimes. A minute is not like
minute when death stares you in the
face"
"Rut you escaped" said 1.
That's the ridiculous part of it,"
said ElIerton.
WELL" said I, you've tine to tell
the story before we take a swim
"Swim!" said he, with a shudder.
II think I'll not so in tonight. I've
already recalled vividly enough the
minute Of horror l had off the poin,
there
"And that is the story?" said l.
"Yes," said he, you're right. 1t was
my first summer on the Kamichou,
when l was in happy ignorance Of
how dens a real kamichou fog may
be. | was here with Jack Black, of
our company, who had made this
his fishing ground for years l was
his guest, in fact, and therefore bound
In politeness to follow where he led.
We had spent the early part of the
afternoon whipping the streams above
Moose brook, and we had come slowly
down the lake, casting from the boat,
turn about, until we were mile above
the point, and well out over deep wa
ter. Then we let the boat drift, and
poth took to fishing.
J ut had been lowering all day. Dull
= RSs kiffs. and ta7aa
the lake black. 1t was hot, gray,
damp-oppressively 'muggy, indeed
% lack had said. 1t was not long
before a roll of thunder sounded from
the northeast Then on the instant a
certain nervous depression, whlch
falls upon me with the ap-
nroach of a storm, .. ongly asserted
itself: and I looked about in some
2lSSAAB
apprehension. 49,,
"tJack.' said I, it's going to blow
hard, probably; it's going to rain hafd,
ANYWAY. think we'd better pull in.
".Oh. pshawn said Jack. KAN
won't hurt u.s.
"Black clouds were crowdins up
from the northeast. l could readiS
distinguish them from the unbroken
gray of the sky overhead, and II
seemed to me that wind had torn
their edges to tatters. The rain nao
hidden the hills, and could see II
sweeping over the lake toward us.
1--WE caught only the edge OF the
storm. however. 1t was nothing more
after all, than heavy summer snow,
er. It cleared the sky for time ana
left the water unruflled. we were
drenched, to be sure, and had the
boat to bail out, but we were wen
content; and so we fished on until tae
evening came dow, and caught
sight of the first star. -.
".Now, jack said 1, we had better
get in.I ,oro
"Jack is at this moment somewhere
IN the interior of Newfoundland, "here
the mosquitoes are as big as morse
flies. and gather, so the visitors say
IN clouds which darken the sun. Inc
salmon are proportionateiy large anu
nlentiful. That man is after them.
Neither distance, hardship nor expense
can dampen the ardor with when ne
nursues the game fish. You VIII not
1yonder then, when say that all the
nolite persuasion l could bring 10 pear
nnon him on this occasion was Oh NO
effect.
ious,' said 1, at last.
) "'oh. no. said he, placidly, 'she
>n't expect me for an hour yet.
eve were then half a mile offshore
lust beyond the edge OF the sand
hars The lower end of the lake, here,
for something less than half mile
from the outlet, is not at any place
more than four feet deep, and in many
s,ote If is much less than that. The
shadows are many acres in extent
though to all appearances, when tne
water is turbid, the depth might of
unfathomabIe. Beyond, through d.
the twelve miles of the lake, 1t is deel
even to within few yards OF th'
shore.
eve were lying, as say, just be
- tho eand-bars. when | saw
thick, white mist begin to creep iron
the shore out upon the water. Ihel
II seemed to gather in all direction
about us; but the heaviest cloud cam
across from the marsh-lands in tn
west.
att was an inoffensive thing at frs
no danger in it. 1t lay clos