The Washington herald., 1913-04-27

1 had a difficulty with my guide. He
was a crippled old mountain man. with
a profound contempt for 'tenderfeet."
contempt that in my case was accen-
tuated by the fact that I wore specta-
cles-which at that day and in that re-
gion were usually held to indicate a
defective moral character in the wearer.
He had never previously acted as guide,
or, as he expressed it, "trundled a ten
derfoot," and though a good hunter.
who showed me much game. our ex-
perience together was not happy.
He was very rheumatic and liked to
lie abed late, so that / usually had to
get breakfast, and, in fact do most Of
the work around camp. Finally, one
day he declined to go out with me, say
ing that he had a pain. When that
afternoon, l got back to camp speed
lily found what the pain was We
were travelling very light indeed, 1 hav-
ing practically nothing but my buffalo
sleeping bag, my wash kit, and a pair
of socks / had also taken flask Of
whisky for mergencies-although, as
found that the emergencies never arose
and that tea was better than whisky
wnen man was cold or done out,
abandoned the practice of taking whisky
When l got back to camp the old fell
low was sitting on a tree trunk. very
erect, with his rife across his knee, and
in response to my nod of greeting he
merely leered at me- / leaned my rifle
against tree, walked over to where
my bed was lying, and, happening to
rummage in it for something; I found
the whisky flash was empty. I turned
on him at once and accused him of hav-
ing drunk it, to which he merely re-
sponded by asking what 1 was going to
do about it. There did not seem much
to do, so I said that we would part
pany-we We're only four or FIVE days
from a settlement-and 1 would go in
alone. taking one Of the horses He
responded by cooking his rife and say
ing that / could go alone and be damned
to me, but l could not take any horse.
l answered "All right" that IL / could
not / could not; and began to move
around to get some flour and salt pork
He was misled by my quietness, and
by the fact that / had not in any way
resented either his actions or his Ian
guage during the days we had been to-
gether, and did not watch me as closely
as he ought to have done. He was sit
ting with the cooked rifle across his
knees, the muzzle to the left. My rifle
cooking things 70 his right Managing
to get near it. I whipped it up and
threw the bead on him, calling. Hands
up!' He, of course, put up his hands.
and then said: "Oh, come, / was only
joking" To which I answered, well,
l am not. Now straghten your legs
and let your rifle go TO the ground
Trapping the Trnpper.
He demonstrated. saying the rifle would
go off, and l told him to let it go off |
However he Strengthened his legs in
such fashion that it came to the ground |
without jar. l then made him move |
back, and picked up the rife. BY this !
time he was quite sober, and really did |
not seem angry, looking at me quiz
ideally He told me that IL I would give |
him back his rife he would call it quits !
and We could go on together. / did not |
think it best to trust him, so I told him |
that our hunt was pretty we'll through. |
anyway, and that I would go home. \
There was a blasted pine on the trail, |
in plain view of the camp, about a mile /
off, and I told him that 1 would leave
his rifle at that blasted pine If I could
see him in camp. but that he must not
come after me, for If he did I should |