Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-04-19

IN laugh LOp Ear and / curved
sSSssSE3 back in our fight and got
lSssSSSI breakfast in the BURBERRY
swamp. It was the same swamp to
which had made my first journeys in
the world years before, accompanied
by my mother. l had seen little of
her in the intervening time. Usually
when she visited the horde at the
caves was away in the forest. had
once or twice caught glimpses Of the
Chatterer in the open space and had
had the pleasure of making faces at
him and angering him from the mouth
Of my cave. Beyond such amenities
1 had left my family severely alone.
was not much interested in it, and
anyway 1 was doing very well by my
self.
After eating our fill of berries. with
two nestfuls of partly Matched quail
eggs for dessert, Lop Ear and 1 wan
dered circumspectly into the woods
toward the river. Here was where
stood my old home tree, out OF which
I had been thrown by the Chatterer.
1t was still occupied. There had been
increase in the family. Clinging tight
to my mother was a little baby; also
there was a girl, partly grown, who
cautiously regarded us from one of
the lower branches. She was evident
" my sister, or half sister, rather.
My mother recognized ne, but she
warned me away when l started to
climb into the tree. LOp Ear, who
was more cautious by far than l, beat
a retreat. nor could persuade him to
return. Later in the day, however.
nv sister came down to the ground.
and there and in neighboring trees we
romped and played all afternoon. And
then came trouble. She was my sis
ter but that did not prevent her from
treating me abominably, for she had
inherited all the viciousness of the
Chatterer. She turned upon me sud
denly in a petty rage and scratched
me. tore my hair and sank her sharp
little teeth deep into my forearm.
lost my temper. 1 did not injure her.
but it was undoubtedly the sOundest
spanking she had received up to that
time.
How she yelled and squalled. The
Chatterer. who had been away all day
and who was only then returning,
heard the noise and rushed for the
spot. NY mother also rushed, but be
cot there first Lop Ear and did not
wait his coming. We were off and
away. and the Chatterer gave us the
chase of our lives through the trees.
After the chase was over and LOp
Ear and | had had out our laugh We
discovered that twilight was falling,
Here was night with all its terrors
upon us. and to return to the caves
was out of the question. Red Eye
made that impossible. We took refuge
in q tree that stood apart from other
trees. and high up in fork we passed
the night. 1t was a miserable night.
For the first few hours it rained heav
lily, then it turned cold. and a chill
wind blew upon us. Soaked through,
with shivering bodies and chattering
teeth, we huddled in each others
arms. We missed the snug, dry cave
that so quickly warmed with the heat
of our bodies.
Morning found us wretched and re-
solved. We would not spend another
such night. Remembering the tree
shelters of our elders, we set to work
to make one for ourselves. We built
the framework of a rough nest and on
higher forks overhead even got in sew
eral ridge poles for the roof. Then the
sun came out. and under its benign In
fluence we forgot the hardships of the
night and went off in search of break
fast. After that, to show the 1ncon-
sequentiality of life in those days, we
fell to playing. 1t must have taken us
all of a month, working intermittent
", to make our tree house, and then
when it was completed we never used
it again.
But 1 run ahead Of my story. When
we fell to playing, after breakfast, on
the second day away from the caves,
Lop Ear led me a chase through the
trees and down to the river. We came
out upon it where a large slough en-
tered from the BURBERRY swamp. The
mouth of this slough was wide, while
the slough itself was practically with
out q current In the dead water, just
inside its mouth, lay tangled mass of
tree trunks. Some of these, what of
the wear and tear of freshets and OF
being stranded long summers on sand
bars, were seasoned and dry and with
out branches. They floated high in the
water. and bobbed up and down or
rolled over when we put our weight
upon them.
Here and there between the trunks
were water cracks, and through them
we could see schools of small fish, like
r,ninnnrrr dnrtincr hack and forth Lon