The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-05-29


something to drink. Just at that point
Botkin cruelty pulled the reporter off
mis- cot and shattered the dream. 1t
was APO.
The Nature Chasers.
| This day the nature chasers were to
meet nature as she is.
At o'clock the party was off to
the scene of their camp on the Buff
falo. Nature was never better dressed
than that morning. The tall pines, the
never wore more attractive morning
gowns. Once Doc billiard stopped the
team. He pointed to a stump.
'One day 1 shot three deer from
there" he said.
That was all. He yelled at the
mules. and began to sing something
about a CIR; who was picking garden
sass when her lover called. 1t was
where a tornado cut a big furrow
through a forest IT years ago and 4
hundred big, uprooted trees are there
to prove his tale.
After two hours riding over the
mountains. the party reached the river
big, broad, clear, swift flowing Buff
| falo and as pretty as an artists pic
ture. Every spot was an ideal camp
location. But Botkin, who had made
many trips to the country and knew
the country well, was determined to
camp on the opposite side of the
stream. The river was just recover
ing from freshet and too high and
swift to ford. So billiard found 30
foot canoe and the camp equipment
was taken across the river.
That expedition was in charge oe
billiard and George Davenport, backed
by their sons and Martin, billiards.
hired man. 1t was from this point
that Davenport as we'll as billiard was
to become a valuable man. Daver-
port has been in the Marion county
hills since before the war and once he
cooked for Tom Botkin and his crew
when the present secretary of state
was proving mining and timber
claim.
Ideal Spot for Camp.
A half dozen perilous trips landed
the camp equipment safely on the
other shore. 1t was hauled 200 yards
to high ground, close to a big, cool
spring and under a Sheltering ledge of
rock that mounted fifty feet skyward.
A hundred yards away were the twin
pines" two tall, stately trees that had
attracted Botkin on his first trip t.
the OZarkS twenty years ago. From
under a big boulder nearby poured the
spring that feeds Hickory creek an1
empties into Buffalo a short distance
below camp. 1t was an ideal spot for
the naturists. Every one admitted 1t.
Yet. And yet. When noon came
and the Arkansaw sun had beaten
down on the reporters head, some of
the poetry of camp life was Jared out
of his system. He began to wonder
what the telegraph was saying about
United States had declared war
Then Felix-FeliXth the chef-announced
dinner and the first meal in camp
was joy and an inspiration.
What, a Wood Tick:
1t was after dinner when the report
er was sitting on a rock in the shade
of big tree that he met his first
wood tick. The newspaper man was
happy with his pipe when an inno-
cent looking insect with a white spot
on his back began to fill an excava-
ton contract on the reporters arm.
who's my new friend % the report
err asked of Botkin. Then the tick
was formally introduced. For fifteen
minutes the reporter cherished and
entertained the tick. Then he invited
him to run home to the children. Mr..
Tick refused to go.
That was the beginning of trouble.
From that hour for ten days, the
newspaper mans epidermus was to be-
come the public playground of wood
tick, red and black ants and chiggers,
with any untitled contracts assumed
by the evening invasion of mosquitoes.
The reporter was to bring home scars
and bruises as trophies of his war with
the tick. But he was not alone.
One hot afternoon when all hands
were in camp and all were frisking
themselves for the festive tick. Organ
upbraided BOtllin for bringing him
into the country. Botkin was Offend
ed. He spoke in the voice of an ex-
horter who had lured the town sport
to the mourneI's bench.
Too Early for Malaria, Anyway.
you ought to be thankful Botkin
said. IT brought you here at a time
when it is too early for malaria and
too late for good fishing"
The reporter groaned and rolled
over on his cot to die.
Organ said something that sounded
like reading from an Egyptian monu-
and insulted. He said so. Then he
put on his hunting clothes, dragged a
big gun out of his grip. took thou
sand rounds of ammunition and with
military step and precision went out
in search of Big Game.
That was the beginning of the end
for Col. Rain. The army was to be-
come a separate and sacred institu-
the wild turkey fever in his veins and
he was to die where he fell.
Slept in n Cave.
Before the sun went down, Col. |
Rain climbed a big. rugged noun
tain that needed a hair cut and a
shampoo. He took with him young
man who could call turkey. They
walked over the mountains that had
a thousand years of growth of rugged
trees on their face. That night they
slept in a cave in land that had re-
Gently been the scene of a forest fire
where a hundred native hogs. seeking
acorns in the woods. disturbed their
dreams.
AS Colonel Rain left the camp, Bot
kin who had elected himself comman-
der-in-chief of the expedition, issued
an order. 1t was that Organ and the
reporter should go out and catch a
mess of fish. organ was placed in
charge of the fishing crew and the
and a growing desire for the white
way. was made general roustabout