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VOLUME 78. NO. 51
THE YOUT
$1.75 A YEAR.
HE Blackfoot squaw TT
and her papoose were Fi
the only Indians, ex-
cept two mounted parties at a
distance, that Ri ¥
days up the Missouri River,
to near where Helena, Montana,
now stands. Indians there were
in plenty; but thus far he had
travelled almost wholly by night, sleeping by
day in thickets, caves, or other coverts along
the bends and bluffs of the south bank of the
river.
But now cold nights came on, and a flurry
of snow swept down from the mountal Ss as
he followed Ck dl It was
October, in ‘‘the dark of the moon.’? Fog and
clouds rendered the days gloomy and the nights
black as Erebus. Farnum was obliged to change
his plan and travel by ¢
before he reached the confluence of the Pend
Oreille with the main Columbia he had a
startling adventure with a large animal, which
he supposed to be a grizzly bear.
‘The bear, if it were one, came while he was
asleep beside a h little Watch nestling
into his mas
Some time during t the latter part of the night
our young traveller was wakened by feeling his
face licked repeatedly by what seemed a ve
large, rough tongue! Watch waked at the same
moment and barked .
Without moving hi head, Farnum reached
for his rifle. ‘The beast stopped licking him
when Wate barked. Farnum felt sure it was
standing over him, on the other side of the log,
but the night was so dark he could see nothing.
He drew the gun to him slowly, and reaching
out the other hand, eocked it.
Thereupon he heard slow, shuffling steps
making off, and rose up to shoot; but now the
steps ceased, and as he pointed the gun he
heard a deep growl, evidently not more than
twelve or fifteen yards away. It sounded so
much like a warning that Farnum judged it
safer nol to fire,
‘The creature stood there for some time.
Farnum then heard it walking ay.
He never felt quite sure whether his nocturnal
caller was a bear or a panther, or what were
its intentions in licking his face. Its behavior
was good-natured rather than otherwise.
After reaching the Columbia and observing
the swiftness of the current, Farnum deter-
mined to break the monotony of the long walk
by making a raft and floating down-stream by
night, for there was now a moon again.
He set to work in the afternoon, collecting
dry drift logs lashing them together with
green withes al les. From such mate-
rial he coustru of catamaran, which
he thought ‘would hold together for the voyage
down to Astoria. ‘The dimensions and buoyancy
were satlicient to permit a seat, bunk, and rack
r his
tte uit the raft at the mouth of a little
creek, and was about to push off on the river
when it occurred to him to cut a pole and rig a
hook and line for fishing. While he was doing
this, a few steps back from the water, Watch
gave his deepest growl and ran to put his head
between his master’s legs.
Farnum dropped out of sight in the brush
and listened; and very soon his ear caught the
measured dip of paddles. Immediately there
came down into view, so close to the bank that:
he could have tossed a pebble aboard them,
three Indian canoes, each manned by four
braves, in war-paint and feathers.
Dipping their paddles all as one, they pro-
pelled the canoes so swiftly and silently, and
disappeared behind the pines on shore so
quickly, that Farnum rubbed his eyes and
looked again, hardly able to believe it was not
some prank of his imagination.
But Watch was much agitated; and a few
sninutes later three more canoes, each contain-
ing four warriors, went rapidly by.
was evidently a war party, bent on some
hostile foray. In the twilight they had pa:
without noticing the raft in the creek mouth;
and Farnum was thankful that he had stopped
to cut the fishing-pole. This afterthought and
little Watch’s warning probably saved him his
life.
After so broad a hint as to what might happen
if he navigated the river, Farnum abandoned
his raft where it lay, and journeyed o
before, down the south bank of the might
river. Three weeks later he reached Astor
with Mr. Astor’s despatches.
Tlere he remained for a number of months. |
Great uncertainty prevailed at the newly |
founded trading post. Intelligence had come }
that the British war-
and Raccoon were coming up the west coast |
of America, to seize Astoria and take possession |
|
DECEMBER 22, 1904.
5 CTS. A COPY.
Copyright, 1903, by Perry Mason Company, Boston, Mass.
x anaes Wa
E ® BOLD
Cc. A
Yours is the boldest exploit of which
IN TEN CHAPTERS.
HOLDING ON
of Oregon.
at Valparaiso, Chile, where the famous
engagement was fought with the Ame
frigate Essex; but during the following si
the Raccoon
Columbia to capture Astoria. Its capti
that Mr. Astor’s agents had shrew
ests there to the Northwest Fur Company,
and that the British fur-traders were already
in ossession
Dis ed of their post and of the fur trade |
ot the Northwest, the four resilent American
w As
aval |
ain found
Osse:
factors were at 2 los do. Mr.
great scheme of combining in his New York
house the fur trade of the United States with
that of the North Pacific islands, China and
Siberia had now collapsed. It was highly
important that he should be apprised of what
had occurred. Accontingly, J Jameson and Lew
set off overland to bring messages to St. Lou
ork.
to the inereased hostility of the
Indians, the liability of their being cut off was
deemed unsafe to trust to
Farnum, therefore, was
the far more arduous project of
attempting to reach New York by going round
the world, across rope. Both
routes were perilous ; but Astor’s resolute young
agents determined to throw away no chance of
hips Phebe, Cherub | acquainting their principal with the condition | still with him.
of affairs at Astoria.
To-day a person at Astoria could send word
“FOR DEAR LIFE
The Phabe and Cherub remained |
ame north to ue mouth of the a
or’ |
Soyo y Wow
® AMI EIer I SAN is the first incident of their
experience in Asia which has
= rreprirNn been preserved.
= They were tramping day after
day along the coast of the Sea
of Okhotsk. North Asian dis-
tances are yast. From Petro-
pavlovskii to Ghijiga at the
head of the Sea of Okhotsk is
almost a thousand miles. It is
supposed that Farnum made this journey partly
on foot and partly by fishing-boat. Thence,
from Ghijiga, his route lay along the north
shore of the Sea of Okhotsk, a distance of
eight hundred or more miles to Fort Okhotsk.
From this post the mail telegas leave for Lake
Baikal, seventeen hundred miles farther on;
and eyen at Lake Baikal Siberia is but barely
entered,
With the exception of one inland trip of sixty
miles, across a part of the Yamsk peninsula,
Farnum followed the sea beach all the way
westward to Fort Okhotsk.
Ife had no difficulty here in securing food.
In most of the coves there were great seal
herds, and the young were good to eat. On
the headlands, too, several kinds of berries were
ripening; they were somewhat-like blueberries
but more acid.
For hundreds of miles the shore rose abruptly
to lofty mountains, some of them many thou-
sand feet in ae three of them being active
volcanoes. For three or four days’ Journ y the
coast was a SI
I have ever heard.— Tsar Alexander I.
CHAPTER TWO
often there were sandy beaches at their ba
along which Farnum could walk when the tide
was out. But at other plac was necessary
for him to climb the rocks and make his way
along the top of the era;
flocks of aquatic birds had their nests
on these crags; and at one place, where the
cliffs were several hundred feet high, there
were numerous aeries of sea-eagles, very dark
brown in color, except for a white ruff round
the neck, a white tail and wing coverts and a
golden yellow largest, fiercest, yet
most beautiful birds that Farnum had ever
pen.
For many miles there was an aerie on every
prominent peak and pinnacle of the crags.
Shortly after daybreak the cries of the eaglets
made the et eutire shore resound ; and the parent
birds rose reles, going off to sea, or inland,
probably to hunt for food.
here that little Watch had his adven-
ture. Farniwn had kindled a fire one morning,
and then went back to bring water from a
rivulet which they had ¢ d the evening
before. Watch, as was his way when his nose
told him that no danger threatened, had gone
ing along the beach ahead,
While he was dipping up water, Farnum
hear the dog yelp suddenly, as if ftom fee
Running back, aw an eagle
sowly and laboriously over the water, and a
cond glance showed that it had Watch in its
claws!
The dog did not whine or growl. He hung
down as limp as if dead; but the fact was
that Watch, instantly real ms the peril of
falling, had gripped the eagle fast in his
mouth, and was holding on “tor dear life.”
Ile had as good a grip on the eagle as the
eagle had on him, and was quite as loath to
to the Atlantic coast in a few minutes, by | let t go! The eagle was slowly owen with
wire, either across America, or by cables under | him, evidently with the design of bearing its
| the Pacific and Atlantie, and then by fa Tines | prey to an aerie a few hundred "yards aw
1 Continent. Ninety years |
nge required a year for trans-
seri
Farnum canght up his rifle and ran after
them. By this time, however, the eagle had
| mounted higher and sailed to its aerie, which
to the messenge Farnum saw on a shelf of rock up near the top
The accounts of Farnum’s great journey ’| of the clit
contain nothing concerning his voyage from] The distance was not great
storia to Sitka, Alaska, or thence to Petro-| the eagle alighted on the rocks Farnum fred a
pavlovskii, in the southern part of the peninsula | it. ‘The bullet took effect. With a wild
of Kamchatka. the great bird toppled off the rocks and came
One narrative states that he crossed Bering’s | sliding down the face of the precipice, flap-
Strait on the ice; but it is most probable that | | ping wings and clutching at crevices with
he reached in the brig Peddler. We | its
know only that he ved too late. in the | Wal 1 fell, too, for a distance of twenty or
season to journey acros S Siberia with the Inape: | thirty ect then caught with his paws on a
rial Russian mail and fur teams, which then | little projection and clung there, looking fear-
Weft the 1 vifie Woast for St. Petersburg twice a | fully down at his master and whining piteously.
y nd October. | But the eagle fell to the foot of the crag
Fant appears to have arrived in Kam-| It was fully a hundred feet from where
chatka late in the month of July; and it "s | Farnum stood to the projection to which the
quite in keeping with what we know of the|dog was clinging. Watch continued his dis-
character of this remarkable young man that | tressing whines, casting down appealing glances ;
he should have set off at once to cross Siberia | and from the slight foothold which the dog
on foot when he found that the summer mail| appeared to have, Farnum felt sure that he
would soon fall, for he was constantly scratch-
ing his nails on the rock in frantic efforts to
au the instant
: 5 and little
rifle and pac
al
Watch, whose
the w from New England to Astoria, was
Tlis anxious master went close up to the cliff,
| resolved to try to catch him and thus break the
| Curiously enough, too, an adventure that | | foree of his fall. Te took off his deerskin frock,
befell this faithful little companion of his travels | and tying the arms round his neck, held out the
