ALONG THE TAHQUAMANON
The boys must have been up before daylight on that next morning.
Certain it is that the sun could not have been half an hour high than
they stood on the little beach, waved their hats three times as they
gave that many vigorous cheers for Paradise Camp, and then entering
their loaded canoes, paddled blithely away.
“A bully little camp, that,” declared Dolph, as they urged the light
boats along with sturdy sweeps of the spruce paddles; “we’ll never
forget it, or the gamey bass of Manistique Lake.”
“Or a lot of other things that came to pass around this same neck of
old Michigan,” suggested Teddy.
“I guess not,” Amos put in, and they knew very well that he was
thinking right then of little Sallie, also how she had stood there
without flinching, while that half-drunken brute of a father held his
fist half raised.
Would any of them forget that picture as long as they lived—Teddy and
Dolph felt sure they never could.
In due time they found where the man lived who was willing, for a cash
consideration, and a pretty stiff one, to convey the empty canoes and
the packs that would embrace all the duffel across the miles of pine
woods, to McMillan.
The boys knew how to pack things to good advantage. The canoes were
laid on top of all, and upside down, being secured thus so no accident
could befall them.
As the sun was shining brightly, of course Dolph could not rest
satisfied until he had snapped off a picture of the queer load those
horses were expected to haul across the country following a “tote” road
made long since by lumbermen.
Sometimes the boys tiring of sitting, and with a view to relieving the
horses in the bargain, would drop off and walk.
Noon came and found them still on the way. But the man was now
sure they would reach their destination by four o’clock, and so
they concluded to stop for an hour, bait the horses and have some
refreshments themselves.
Amos built one of his speedy fires, and had that aluminum coffee pot
settled in place in an amazingly short time.
After a good rest, the journey was resumed through the pine woods. And
sure enough the driver kept his word for it was not much after half
past three when they came in sight of the outskirts of McMillan.
The boys had vowed not to sleep under any but a canvas roof during the
entire trip and so it was planned to launch the canoes immediately,
stow their goods, and drop down the river half a mile or so, in the
hope and expectation of discovering a good spot to put up the tent.
Then, on the following morning they would pack again and go on down to
a place named Newberry, the county seat, where there would be larger
stores, the driver told them, and a better chance to lay in the kind of
provisions they wanted.
There was no hitch in their plans, and they spent a fairly decent
night, marred only by the frequent barking of a pack of dogs from town,
that seemed to have banded together for a coon hunt, or something along
that order.
On the next morning they followed the railroad for some time, passing
one or two small places, and waving their hats to the passengers on a
train.
Arrived at Newberry they left Amos in charge of the boats, while Teddy
and Dolph sought the post office to mail letters, as well as to pick
up anything that may have been sent from the folks, with whom they had
left a copy of their plans, marking the time of their expected arrival
at such points as Newberry and the Soo.
Afterwards the two boys took the list they had made out, of things they
needed, and visiting the best store in the town, purchased an abundant
supply.
“Last chance to get anything,” warned Dolph, when Teddy asked if there
was any other article he could think of, “we pass no more places from
here to the bay, where we strike a small place named Emerson,” and on
the strength of this plea, Dolph took the liberty of adding a few more
things to the list.
“Hope the canoes don’t sink with all that load,” chuckled Teddy, as,
having completed their purchases, which were to be delivered in an
hour’s time they sauntered down in the direction of the river.
“Oh! they’ll bear up, all right,” declared the other “and besides,
remember that a few meals will lighten the cargo considerably.”
“I guess you’re right,” admitted Teddy. “I never saw three fellows with
such appetites in all my life. I’d hate to board this crowd, believe
me.”
“Well I don’t think any landlady would get rich doing it,” Dolph
remarked, with a good-natured grin.
They left Newberry about two in the afternoon, and started down the
river which immediately entered among the pine woods and marshes that
make up most of the region for many miles along the south shore of
Superior east of the famous Pictured Rocks.
At one time the boys had contemplated taking in that region after
reaching White Fish Bay. They concluded, however, that the open lake
was too dangerous a cruising ground for such frail mosquito craft.
Besides, they desired above all things, to visit the city on the famous
Soo Rapids, and enjoy some of the wonderful things to be met with there.
The current of the Tahquamanon proved very acceptable to the boys.
After using the paddles in pushing up against the flow of the
Manistique, and then navigating the still waters of the larger lake
bearing the same name, it was certainly a pleasure to simply guide the
canoes, and allow the current to do the rest.
They were in no hurry, and consequently went ashore rather early to
make camp, enticed by ideal conditions.
Dolph managed to get a snapshot of a deer while here. The animal must
have been aware of the law’s protection for it stood knee-deep in
the water browsing upon some sort of of grass or lily pads while the
official photographer took several views, finally walking up closer in
order to make the animal leap, so that he might secure that variety of
picture for the collection.
Dolph also found that there were trout in the stream, quite good-sized
fellows too, of the speckled variety that can be caught in Superior,
and at the mouth of the rivers along the north shore, as high as eight
pounds in weight.
He started in to gather a mess for supper, and declared that he could
have taken enough to feed a whole troop of Boy Scouts, had he cared to
keep them.
“Never saw fish so crazy to jump into a frying pan,” he remarked,
afterwards when, the trout having been cleaned, they were rolled in
cracker crumbs, and dropped in the hot compound secured by “trying out”
slices of fat salt pork.
And when the beautifully browned fish were eaten, the pink meat looking
so dainty, every one declared that when it came to sweetness, the trout
raised in the clear cold waters of Lake Superior had no rival.
But then that is what hungry campers are saying up in Maine, in the
Adirondacks, and in various other places where trout abound—they are
always the finest in the whole world, when you have your appetite along
with you and the odor of supper is wafted to you on the wind that
shakes the foliage of the pine and hemlock.
Another day the boys dropped still lower down the Tahquamanon and in
doing so drew nearer the place where they would finally launch upon the
bosom of the largest body of fresh water in all America, the mighty
Superior, well named by the early explorers.
Of course, there were occasionally things that served to break the
monotony of the voyage, Teddy and Dolph for instance, managed to bring
up on a partly submerged rock at a place where the current was pretty
bracing. They came very near having a spill too, that might have been
disastrous in so far as losing things was concerned, though they hardly
felt as though their lives had been in danger because both boys
chanced to be good swimmers, and would have clung to the canoe, which
had air compartments fore and aft, and was believed to be unsinkable.
But by dint of some clever work the boys managed to save themselves
from this dire disaster, though both called it a narrow escape.
“And after this,” declared Teddy, “me to tie my Marlin to the ribs of
the boat with this piece of strong cord. Then if we do go over I won’t
have to lose the gun I think so much of. After snatching it out of Big
Gabe’s hands, I’d call it a shame now if it went to the bottom of the
Tahquamanon River.”
“Huh!” added Dolph, “honest now, I don’t believe I’ll go to all that
trouble about my repeater. To tell the truth, I’m not so much stuck on
that fine foreign-made gun as I was when my dad made me a present of
it. Paid a hundred dollars or so for the thing over in Germany, too.
But I’ve sort of lost faith in the thing. Perhaps it was my fault the
mechanism didn’t work well; but when a fellow begins to look on his gun
with suspicion, he never can enjoy it again. He’ll always be afraid
something is going to go wrong.”
“Better keep it until the end of this trip, anyhow,” advised Teddy.
“Guess I ought to, seeing it was a present anyhow but another time
you’ll find me on deck with a different make of gun,” Dolph declared;
and his chum only smiled.
Another time the camp was invaded by a wandering hog with a whole troop
of partly grown pigs; and they had no peace during the balance of their
stay there. Whether the porkers scented food, or “just wanted to be
friendly” as Teddy put it, they were hardly driven away in one quarter
than another detachment turned up in another place.
Dolph was full of dark threats as to what he would do pretty soon, if
the invasion did not let up. He even handled his gun in a ferocious
manner, and asked all kinds of questions of Amos as to how best they
could roast a small pig in an earthern oven, made after the manner of
the old hunters.
But this must all have been said just in the hope of the old sow
scenting danger to her brood when she whiffed the odor of burnt powder,
might call the invading army off. Certain it was that Dolph was not
called upon to fire his gun; and they positively did not have roast
pig for supper, or breakfast, or any other meal, for that matter.
And at nightfall their troublesome visitor, grunting their disgust,
departed.
And so it came that about three in the afternoon of their last day on
the Tahquamanon, while they were all plying their paddles briskly,
Teddy gave vent to a loud shout and pointed ahead:
“Look! yonder lies Lake Superior. Tonight we camp on the shore of the
Big Water!”