PADDLING AGAINST THE CURRENT
“Any more around that you can see?” Teddy went on to call out,
hilariously. “If there are, let ’em step right up to the pursers’
office, and settle. But I rather think the pair I potted look sort of
small for the lynx tribe. I guess they must be half-grown cubs, after
all; and you got the mother, Dolph.”
“Just what they are,” announced Amos, who had strode forward, and was
bending over the last victim of Teddy’s snap shots. “But pretty tough
lookin’ customers at that, I tell you, boys. I kinder guess they’d put
up a rushin’ fight, if cornered. But you wound ’em up one, two, three,
Teddy, with that gun of yours.”
Amos was a real Michigan boy. He had been in logging camps ever since
he was “knee high to a grasshopper,” as he always said; and was as
tough as a pine-knot, so far as physical endurance went. Teddy had
known him several years; and once before they had hunted in company
around this very region. While the lumberman’s son and his friend
from Cincinnati laid out this summer trip with pack and paddle through
the pine woods of the upper reaches of the Wolverine State, Teddy had
suggested hiring Amos to go along, not exactly in the nature of a
guide, nor yet as a cook, but simply for company. And knowing that when
far away from civilization two boys are apt to find it a bit lonely,
Dolph had readily agreed.
He had heard his friend tell more or less about the natural ability
Amos possessed as a doctor; and that it was the ambition of his life
to later on take a regular course in some medical school. And Teddy
had also confided to Dolph the fact that he meant to coax his father
to see that the woods boy had his chance, when he reached an age to
allow of such a thing; because he would make a fine doctor some day,
as his whole heart was set on curing ailments, binding up wounds, and
alleviating pain.
So it came that there were three of them in the party, with two canoes
instead of just one overcrowded boat. Most of the duffle, such as the
tent and the blankets, they usually stored in this one canoe, with a
single occupant to ply the paddle, while the other two campers took
charge of the second craft.
They had laid out a regular course, which would take them through the
wildest part of the country of the peninsula, starting in at Manistique
on the southern shore, where the waves of Lake Michigan beat the sandy
strand, and following the winding, picturesque river up to the lakes
that were said to be its source. At this point they expected to find
some man who had a team capable of taking their light canvas canoes
across country, until beyond the railroad they could be launched in the
waters of the Tahquamanon river; following which to its mouth would
bring the adventurous cruisers into the celebrated White Fish Bay of
Lake Superior; and here they could skirt the shore until finally they
arrived at Saulte Ste. Marie, where the waters of Superior rush down
the mighty rapids into St. Mary’s river, thence through Lakes Huron,
Erie and Ontario, and afterwards being carried along the mighty St.
Lawrence river to the sea.
It was a noble trip to lay out, and the three boys had already spent
some time making their way to the point where we find them passing a
night on the bank of the river, at the time the wildcats invaded their
camp, and produced such consternation, although paying dearly for
their fun.
“Now come and take a look at your prize, Dolph!” Teddy called out, “and
then it’s back to my downy for me; because I’m shaking all over, like a
jelly-fish.”
He dragged the now defunct lynx out nearer the still blazing fire, so
that the others could look it over.
“Ugh! I’m right glad now that root tripped me up,” remarked Dolph.
“Only for that, those claws might have ripped me considerably before
the beast keeled over.”
“I should say, yes,” chuckled Teddy. “And now excuse me, please, but
I’m in for the grand disappearing act. I’ll chuck that fine ham inside
the tent as I go. Better follow my example, Dolph, if you don’t want to
catch cold. Get your gun to work yet?”
“Why, yes, it seems to; but I’m rather discouraged about the thing,”
the other remarked. “Guess these repeating guns are a bit unreliable in
a pinch.”
“H’m! not if you keep your wits about you, and do the right thing; but
for any one apt to get rattled, the old style might be best. Not that
I’m blaming you, this time, Dolph, because you had an ugly tumble, you
see. Well, so-long.”
As neither of the other lads chanced to be feeling any too warm about
then, they waited not upon the order of their going, but ducked into
the tent soon after Teddy vanished. Amos, however, with the instinct
of one who had spent pretty much all of his young life in the forest,
waited long enough to throw several more large pieces of wood on the
fire, meaning to find something warm when morning came along, for the
air was sure to be cool up to the time the sun rose part way up in the
eastern heavens.
There was no further alarm; and when dawn came peeping through the
pines the campers were soon astir. However, no one seemed anxious to
take the customary morning dip in the stream, so sharp was the air.
Dolph had his fishing-rod jointed, it being a steel affair calculated
to resist the rush of even a furious muscallonge. So, being an
enthusiast in this sport, he was out the first thing, having a try to
see whether he could not pick up a mess of trout for breakfast.
Fortune smiled on his efforts too, for he made several fairly decent
captures, which Amos cleaned in the most approved style as fast as the
fisherman threw them to him.
And in the end, just as the first rays of the sun found them out, from
the delicate odors that were going up from that fire, such as coffee
and trout, it was evident that the boys were in for a treat they never
tired of.
While Dolph was doing the fishing, and Amos looking after breakfast,
the third member of the expedition had another sort of job laid out
for his amusement. This consisted in taking off the furry coats of
the three dead lynx. They were all in a fair condition, though the
shot holes would have to be hidden by the man who eventually made them
into a rug; and for the summer season, when furs are generally pretty
“skimp,” Teddy said they passed muster.
Amos knew how to cook trout so as to brown them in a crisp manner. He
first of all “tried out” several slices of fat salt pork; and after the
resulting liquid had become furiously hot, he dropped in the fish, that
had first been dipped in cracker crumbs. It was very much after the
manner in which the New England cook manages with her crullers, only no
lard was used.
Each of the boys was gifted with a hearty appetite; and when breakfast
was declared closed there were precious few crumbs to throw away,
outside of the fish-bones. Yet Amos had seen to it that enough had been
provided to satisfy all.
Afterwards came the duty of taking down the tent, and packing things
away in the canoe that was used partly for their transportation, being
paddled by Amos himself, the huskiest of the lot.
They had this thing reduced to a science, from long practice.
Everything went in a particular place, and thus they economized in the
matter of space, which counted for much on a trip of this sort.
“All ready?” sang out Dolph, as he balanced his paddle, sitting in the
front of the canoe which he and Teddy managed.
“Just a minute more, while I throw some water on what’s left of the
fire,” said Teddy. “You see, I’m a lumberman’s son, and I never like to
think of taking chances of having the wind scatter the red-hot embers
of a deserted camp fire, to start a forest blaze that might burn up
millions and millions of feet of fine timber.”
“Yes’m you’re right, I believe in the same thing!” declared Dolph,
“though I look at it from the view of a true sportsman, who will never,
never leave a fire burning after him, when he breaks up camp. I was in
one woods’ fire up in the Adirondacks two years back, and came mighty
near having my crop of hair singed off; and they said it started just
in that way, on a windy day. Why, in Maine, they won’t let hunters
go into the woods without a licensed guide along, who is supposed to
see to it that no chances are taken with fires left by careless city
sportsmen; or rather men who like to call themselves by that name,
though they are often a disgrace to the cloth.”
“Yes, I’ve run across a-plenty of that kind up here in Michigan, and
over in Wisconsin,” remarked Amos. “We call ’em fish hogs up here,
because, when they strike a lake where the trout bite free-like, they
keep on throwing bushels out on the bank to die and rot. I hate the
breed, and I think they just ought to be tarred and feathered, that’s
what.”
“Same here,” remarked Teddy. “In my opinion every fellow who wants to
call himself a true sportsman should give the animals and fish a chance
to breed. When he’s caught all he can use, he ought to stop fishing,
unless he happens to be using artificial flies, when he can put all the
rest he takes back again, because they won’t be hurt that way. I’ve
stopped many a time when using live minnow, because I knew that when
bass gorge the bait, they’re sure to die, even if you do throw them
overboard again. The hook tears them more or less. Well, everybody
ready now?”
“O. K. here!” sang out Amos.
“Then let’s be off, for we’ve got a strong bit of work before us today,
with all this water coming down the old Manistique,” and as he spoke,
Teddy thrust his paddle deep in the running water of the river, and
gave a thrust that started the canoe on its farther journey northward.
As they labored with regular movements the boys often indulged in
laughter, and even broke out at times in bits of song; for they were
light-hearted, and seemed to have few cares or troubles sitting on
their broad shoulders. Indeed, the millionaire’s son, and the heir of
the wealthy lumberman, certainly knew nothing at all of anxiety with
regard to their well-being. Amos, being a poor boy, often doubtless
tried to lift the veil of the future, eager to ascertain what lay in
store for him there; but he was still young, and care does not weigh
down youth very often. Besides, he enjoyed the company of his camp
mates so much, that for the time being the woods boy felt supremely
happy.
This sort of work continued until the sun had reached a position so
near the zenith that they knew it must be close to the noon hour. And
as their muscles had for some little time now, been feeling more or
less sore, because of the constant labor, it was decided as usual to
take a rest.
They would not let a chance pass by to have a fire going, even though
the day had turned out quite warm. With such vast quantities of easy
burning pine all around them, and Amos just wild to always take care
of the fire, which he dearly loved, of course, they could not resist
the temptation; and soon a crackling blaze was sending up its cheery
song, such as has bolstered up the spirits of many a lonely camper all
over the known world; for the fire is certainly one of man’s finest
servants; but like some other things, a very bad master, once it is
allowed to have its own head.
About an hour and a half afterwards, the voyage was resumed, though
none of the boys paddled with just the same vim that had marked the
start. It was now more in the nature of pure grit that carried them
steadily along; the pleasure had mostly petered out during that hard
dash of the morning.
And as the afternoon shadows began to lengthen perceptibly, it might
be noticed that they were more frequently mentioning the fact that
this place or that seemed to offer pretty fine prospects for a night’s
lodging, though thus far no one openly advocated bringing the day’s run
to a close.
There were parts of this section of country where the great Overton
Lumber Company had its numerous squads of men busy in the winter
season, cutting timber, which, however was getting more and more scarce
in the peninsula of Michigan every year.
It chanced that there was a rival company, also a big corporation,
which, being exceedingly jealous of the success attending the work of
the Overton, never tired of trying all sorts of games calculated to run
the other out of the district. Teddy amused his camp mates many times,
when sitting around the fire of nights, by relating how his father
managed to outwit the owners of this rival concern on more than a few
occasions, when they came to loggerheads.
And the men were almost as bitter toward each other as their employers;
so that each, winter there were one or more regular battles when the
Overton loggers chanced to be cutting within a few miles of the rival
camp.
“We’ve all got to clear out of this before a great while,” Teddy
would remark, doubtless echoing the words he had heard his father
say; “because the available timber is getting less and less every
year. That’s what makes things so warm between the two companies,
you see. Amos, here, used to work for the Combine once, and he knows
what underhanded tricks they keep on trying to play, with the idea of
forcing us out of the State, so as to leave things to them. But it
don’t work. My dad is some fighter himself; and with the law back of
him, he just laughs at threats. But sometimes it makes mother afraid
that they may do something desperate. Once a shot was fired at him, and
the bullet clipped a piece out of his hat. Never learned who did it;
but dad always believed it was a thug hired by the other company to
scare him a little. But we’re still here on deck, and this year expect
to cut more timber than ever. Might as well get our share of it while
the stuff lasts.”
The three paddlers kept up their steady work, as the sun headed down
into the western sky.
“How about those clouds over yonder, Teddy?” asked Dolph, when the
afternoon was possibly two-thirds gone. “Looks a little like rain,
don’t you think?”
“Where?” ejaculated the other, eagerly, as though he just welcomed a
chance to call a halt upon the day’s doings. “Well, yes, to be sure
they have got a sort of ugly look. P’raps we’d just as well draw in at
that point ahead, and make things snug for the night. Because we’ve
been favored with good weather up to now, mustn’t make us think we’re
always going to have the same. You never know what’s going to come up
in a night; and for that reason I always make it a point, even when
things look as peaceful as they could, to secure the canvas of a tent,
just as if I knew a terrible storm was going to break on me. Got left
once, with my canvas carried high up in the branches of a tree, just
through pure carelessness; and it served as a lesson I’ll never forget.
Head in, Amos; we’re going to land there under that leaning tree. Looks
like a dandy camp site, with all those extra big trees around. And
honest, fellows, I must say I’m pretty near played out with fighting
that pesky current all the live-long day. Here’s where we find rest.
Hurrah for the next camp! for every new one is the best, you know!”