Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1904-05-17

4 e
| sular footprint and its possible connec-
ton with the creature who had crept
up to their tent at midnight was left
behind
Usually two sportsmen, in canoeing
upstream especially, will keep along
together, but somehow that day 1t hap
pened that DR.. Sol and Jean were first
/ to reach the junction OF the North
Branch with the broad and slow-run-
ming Moosehorn, and the lowering sun
had left it's valley In shadow ere Jean
pushed his canoe ashore and the doctor
stepped out. 1t was as Martin had
stated a good camping spot for the en-
trance to an old tote-road furnished a
! clear space, an endless procession of
foam hecks on the Branch emerged
from the shadow of its overhang and
wheeled into the broader stream, while
the music of little cascade just back
in the woods suggested trout.
sYou may jis' so well go fish," said
| jean, turning to the canoe and taking
! from it a small axe, "zar be one YER
nice hole up re stream few rod" and
he pointed where a bush-ch oked open
ing showed that tote-road had once
I been cut alongside the Branch.
DR.. Sol eyed it suspiciously. mo
bears or panthers up there, Jean?" he
| queried.
IF you see him, he see you fust, an
you no see him. came the paradox
ical answer, as Jean began cutting away
the underground with his hunting
knife, preparatory to the erection of q
tent.
4 DIR. Sol reached for his rod, jointed
it. still glancing furtively into the SOM
\ bre wilderness, and then down the
stream again. 81 wish Frisbie would
keep up" he said, half to himself. II
want trout for supper, but I'm not just
anxious to go into the woods alone
after them
4 But the floating foam f1ecks, the call
of the running waters, and the love of
sport conquered the forbidding forest,
and with one more glance down the
MoOsehorn he started UP the almost in
visible path.
From the sound, the little cascade he
6 could hear must be scarce ten rods in,
but as he followed the old log road,
now close beside the stream, and then
bending away, while he pushed aside
the underground taller than himself,
it seemed ever a little beyond. Just as
his courage had nearly ebbed, the faint
path turned down beside the stream
once more, and here its current, merely
fretted by hidden ledge, was making
the music that had lured him in. Like
a boy now, in his eagerness, he adj
d fod hic fonIx1a vd n chn ~ CD
lightly threw the. gaudy flies into the
pool below, and let them float down. In
an instant came a leap and splash as
a pound trout took the tempting NOR
sci, and the sport began. One after
another the little doctor reeled in, OBJ
liyious now to bears, panthers, or the
solemn stiffness of the wilderness, and
happy as only a true sportsman can be.
A dozen had been tossed in rapid sue
cession behind rotting stump, when,
4 forgetting the trees back of him, he
hooked one limb hard and fast. To
climb such a spruce, with branches SO
thick Il squirrel only could do it, was
4 impossible, and with a muttered impre-
cation, the doctor pulled on his line
until the delicate leader broke, and then
/ sat down to repair damages. He had
4 just done SO and arisen, when the faint
sound of breaking twig caught his
attention. With quick glance across
the stream, where rocky and bush
q hid bank faced him, he saw in the
darkening twilight, just above brown
undiscovered boulder, a hideous, hairy
: human face!
Only one instant he saw it, the mex
it had vanished.
For q moment DR.. Sol, meyer a coura-
geous man, stood still, while it seemed
that icy water was leaping through
II every vein; the next instant he turned
and ran down the bush-choked path a.
il pursued by demons Each moment
as he dove under bending boughs Oh
leaped over fallen trees, he felt that 9
hairy human monster was just about
to seize him.
When the campfire was reached
Martin had arrived and was cuttins
boughs with hunting-knife, while
Jean and Levi were just entering the
tent. A fire had been started black
ened pail had been hung from a sticl
over the flame, and preparations for Z
night in the woods were we'll under
. way Into this little group leaped the
terrified doctor. ebreathless, with facs
scratched and bleeding.
Pack up, quick" he exclaimed in {
husky voice; we've got to get out 81
here at once! There's wild man bacl
up in the woods, and wouldn't staJ
here for million dollars |"
Martin and Levi exchanged quicl
glances, and halt came in the camp
Il ing work, For a moment the two
looked at one another, and then, as i
recalling that curious footprint they
\ had seen 20 miles away, they glanced
furtiyely up the bush-choked log road
One instant only Martin hesitated, ant
then he recovered himself.
Doctor" he said. II expected you
would get we'll scared the first time yol
went into the woods alone, and l see
you have. What you saw. most likely
was blackened stump half hid in thu
bushes, or possibly it might have beer
bear. If so, he is mile away by now
| Yy,oYn scarab than voll aro Hare talSF