Part 20 (1/2)

One hundred and Tenth Day

_Duncoust Twenty-ninth_

Met George L Darby, an old coht,” in the afternoon He had noticed ister, and cas we sat down for a long talk Thirteen years had slipped away since the tiinia, which led him to Belle Isle and me to Libby Prison, and yet as we discussed it all, the reality of those events seeh Lee--their clever , and our own unfortunate experiences on that day, kept us as enthusiastically occupied as though it were not an old story: but soldiersto those events which, while they impressed themselves upon witnesses with indelible distinctness, may yet have lost their bitterness, when it is remembered that before many years they and their stories will have passed away To those who indulge in the absurd belief that such topics are discussed with malicious intent, no justification need beto another, I found Darby finally plying me with questions of kindly interest aboutabout my horse, which I had previously left in his care He offered to do all he could for the ani assurance took his leave

One hundred and Eleventh Day

_Duncoust Thirtieth_

Early in the afternoon Darby called with fishi+ng tackle and proposed that we go out to Lake of the Woods and try our luck with hook and line

The expedition was not successful as far as fish was concerned, but we had a delightful boat ride and plenty of talk

The lake, a pretty little dot lying, as its name implies, in the heart of the woods, is an ideal spot for rest and enjoyment, and its miniature dimensions bear no resemblance to its famed namesake of Minnesota As we had such poor success with our tackle I took no note of the kind of fish that ave me very little information The truth is, ere more interested in our concerns and the serious affairs outside the sport which so fascinated Izak Walton

One hundred and Twelfth Day

_Duncoust Thirty-first_

Albert W Rogers, to whom I had been previously introduced, called late in the afternoon, and invited me to drive with hi of Decatur's surroundings The tireeable impressions It had been a typical suht breeze and the mercury at 70; in short, just such weather as I had encountered in this section of Michigan throughout theapproached, I was prepared to enjoy to the utmost the pleasure which my new acquaintance had provided

[Illustration: SPINNING YARNS BY A TAVERN FIRE]

On the outskirts of the town one gets a view of gently rolling country under a splendid state of cultivation, the yellow of the grain fields predo, and dotted here and there with farested the forests of oak, ash, e tracts of Van Buren County, and which have made a little paradise for lu; but I believe that agricultural products do their best in the rich botto the rivers I have dwelt so enthusiastically upon this fertile country that to sayhtful day, to a close

One Hundred and Thirteenth Day

_Duncombe House_, DECATUR, MICHIGAN, _Septee h the village One is, of course, rereatest in America, now honors this modest Western town, and whose deeds, once upon every lip in the young republic, are wellnigh forgotten The question even suggests itself as to how many of those who live here, where his name is perpetuated, are familiar with his life and character

His capture of the frigate _Philadelphia_, which had been seized and held in the harbor of Tripoli in 1801, during the pacha's seizure of ouract of the age,” and his diploiers and Tunis and Tripoli, where in 1812 his demands were acceded to, received the applause of all Christendom, especially because those deiers and of the Danish and Neapolitan prisoners at Tripoli, and ended, forever, the pretensions of the Barbary powers

After the trial of Commodore Barron for cowardice, Decatur ht should not be allowed to pass unnoticed, and accordingly called upon his accuser to retract the about a reconciliation

Barren refused this and thren the gauntlet, and when shortly afterwards the two met to settle the difficulty ”with honor,” both fell at the word ”Fire!”--Decatur mortally wounded The affair was universally deplored, for his loyal services had endeared Decatur to his country, and when his reest concourse of people that had ever asseton

One Hundred and Fourteenth Day