The Gentleman from Everywhere | Page 2

the lake. On one of these
occasions, two of my brothers and the dog met with an adventure
which nearly gave them deliverance from all earthly sorrows. As they
faced the terrible cold of a January morning, the wailing of the winds in
the tree-tops, and the few flying snowflakes foreboded a storm which
burst upon them in great fury while about two miles from home.
Bewildered and benumbed, they dug a hole in the snow down to the
earth, and were soon buried many feet deep, thus affording them some
relief from the cold; but they nearly famished with hunger and gave
themselves up for lost. Suddenly, the dog, who was huddled with them
for warmth, jumped away whining and scratching in great excitement.
He refused to obey their orders to be still and die in peace, but, digging
for some minutes, his claws struck a tree, then, rushing over the boys
and back again to the trees repeatedly, he roused them from their
lethargy to follow him; but nothing was visible but a hole in a tree
through which the dog jumped and barked furiously.
Cutting the hole larger with their axe, they found the interior to be dry
punk, which at once suggested the exhilarating thought of a fire, and
soon a delightful heat from the burning drywood permeated their snow
cave, the smoke being more endurable than the previous cold. All at
once they heard a strange snorting and scratching above in the tree with
whines which drove the dog wild with excitement, then, with burning
embers and suffocating smoke, down came a huge animal, well-nigh
breaking the necks of frantic dog and "rubbering" boys.

After this came the tug of war. Teeth, axe, gun, fire, dog, bear, and
boys all mixed up in a fight to the finish. Finally, as bruin was not fully
recovered from the comatose state of his winter hibernating, after many
scratches and thumps, cuts and shots, came the survival of the fittest.
Not even imperial Caesar, with the world at his feet, could have been
prouder than were boys and dog when they looked at their prostrate foe,
and reflected that this conquest meant the physical salvation of our
entire family. Soon the chips flew from the tree, and over a cheerful fire
they roasted and devoured bear steaks to repletion.
Digging to the surface, they found that the storm had subsided, and
rigging a temporary sled from the boughs of the tree, they dragged
home this "meat in due season."
All through the hours of the following night the wolves, attracted by
the scent of blood, howled and scratched frantically around the hut,
calling for their share in that "chain of destruction," by which the laws
of the universe have ordained that all creatures shall subsist. The infant,
of course, joined lustily in the chorus until the boys almost wished
themselves back in their shroud of snow.
So, with alternate feasting and fasting we passed the long weeks of that
Arctic winter until the frogs in the neighboring swamp crying: "Knee
deep, knee deep," and "better go round, better go round," proclaimed
the season of freshets when the vast plain below us was traversible only
in boats. Then the birds returned from the far South, but brought no
seed-time or harvest, for that was the ever to be remembered "Year
without a summer," and but for the wild ducks and geese shot on the
lake, and the wary and uncertain fish caught with the hook, all human
lives in that region would have returned to the invisible from whence
they came.
It seemed as if chaos and dark night had come back to those wild
woods. The migratory fever seized upon us all, and my parents
determined to seek some unknown far away, to sail to the beautiful
land of somewhere, for they felt sure that--

Somewhere the sun is shining, Elsewhere the song-birds dwell; And
they hushed their sad repining In the faith that somewhere all is well.
Somewhere the load is lifted Close by an open gate; Out there the
clouds are rifted, Somewhere the angels wait.

CHAPTER II.
MY FIRST VOYAGE.
My father and brothers constructed a "prairie schooner" from our
scanty belongings, and one forlorn morning in early autumn, with the
skeleton horse and cow harnessed tandem for motive power, we all set
sail for far-off Massachusetts.
We slept beneath our canopy of canvas and blankets; those of our
number able to do so worked occasionally for any who would hire, but
employers were few, as this was one of the crazy seasons in the history
of our Republic when the people voted for semi-free trade, and the mill
wheels were nearly all silent for the benefit of the mills of foreign
nations. They shot squirrels