Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1906-03-30
"FLAPJAcK."
Just an Indian Cur, But a Little Dog Who
Was an Altogether Delightful Com
panion,


Was an Altogether Delightful Com
panlon.
He turned one clean half-somersault
from nowhere and landed plunk on his
back at my feet. said, "Flapjaclksl"
That's how he got his name. He was
only an Indians cur, the forlornest little
waif of lost puppy, with the most beau
tifu dogs eyes l have ever seen. He
scrambled to his feet and used his eyes
that settled 1t for us. Without further
introduction, we offered him the remains
of our dinner. He accepted Il with three
gulps and then stood wagging his poor
little tail, asking for more.
We were camping and trailing out in
the Wind River mountains-Brandt and
hack Of the Shoshone Indian reserva-
ton, and we had halted for dinner in a
small canyon I'm the shade of the rock wall
from whose summit Flapjack had tried his
little acrobatic stunt Whether he came
from an Indian encampment near by
which we had not seen, or was Just plain
lost and Tending for himself alone in
the wilderness, we did not know. He
told us about Tending for ones self while
he ate his dinner, an that II was IAN
awful hard life and sometimes very
discouraging." After dinner ne told us
that our scraps were the very best food
he had even eaten that our outfit, our
horses and mule, the finest he had ever
seen; that we ourselves were GODS wise
and very great; that he loved the ground
| we trod on, and only asked to stay with
us forever. So he stayed.
| jimmy, the mule returned his compli-
ments unopened, and told him what she
thought of him by showing the under
| side Of her off hind hoof and putting back
| her ears. But then Jimmy was the only
| aristocratic person in camp, in her own
! opinion, and you may take that for what
It is worth She didn't prejudice us
against F1apjack. Stll. Brandt and /
happened not to share Jinny's opinion of
herself. Brandt was in the habit OF re-
marking on II separate and several oc-
| casions each day that even fer n mule.
jimmy is the ow-downdest one I ever set
eyes on"
At the sight Of her hoof. Flapjack made
n ludlcrous little duck with his head and
came back to us, volubly explaining that,
"Of course, the mule being yours, don't
you know? she simply must be the very
finest sweet-tempered animal in the
world. don't you know7 and altogether
above reproach. don't you know That
won us completely.
And he never once reproached her for
anything she did-even when she kicked
him into the river. He treated her with
distant courtesy always. without so much
as a yap in her direction. And Il wasn't
because he was afraid OF mules. either
Brandt and I will deny that imputation
against his valor to our dying day. Let
strange mule or horse get in among ours,
and Flapjack was a very lion OF ferocity
until he had yapped him out OF sight.
Think we'd better look for their
camp?" / asked, putting the dishes into
Jinny's pack.
what, the purp's Injuns7 Not muchl"
answered Brandt. III they haven't seen
us, let EN- alone. An II they have
why, we've got to wait proper introduce
lions. ! move we hike"
So we hiked. and Fiapjaek hiked with
us.
We kent on our trail. n such It could
be called: a trail which probably no white
man but ourselves had ever set foot upon.
We were bound for little lake that we
knew. crammed with the most innocent
fish on earth. No; am not going TO tell
you where. There are some things you
must find out for yourself, II you are game
for It.; just as We did; otherwise, you
don't deserve to know.
After some ten days we arrived. with
out either adventure or misadventure. at
our happy fishing ground. and made
camp on a little precipice at whose foot
a deep. dark pool fured monster and lus-
cious rarities.
In spite OF his hard journey, little Flap
Jack had improved amazingly as to health,
not as to manners: for from the first day
we knew him he had the most perfect
manners OF any dog ever met. II you
flung him a crust, ne so appreciated it
1t was the very incest crust, the daintest
morsel. one could have; just as everything
we did was simply perfect in his eyes.
And he wasn't servile about 1t. either He
simply approved OF everything we did
and told us so in an eloquent, dumb way
OF his own.
We made camp for two weeks stay;
felled tree for backlog. and fixed things
generally to be comfortable. all under his
supervising eye. And when 1t was done
and the friendship fire lighted, he lay
down before IT as one of us and said
"This is home"
So we fisned and we were happy; and we
fshed some more and were happier; and
we fished more and more and were happier
and happier every day. Do you under
stand that feeling? II you have known
Wyoming camp-fires, you do.-ICartei
Hamilton in st. Nicholas