October 15, 1915

I have been helping the survey crew on my days off from the restaurant. I have embraced abstract thought and have started milling it to my situation. Arthur has boasted for two weeks, “Did I tell you how many fish I caught at Trappeurs Lake? I could have used four hooks and caught four trout at a time.”

Finally, du Bois said, “Prove it.”

“I just bought a 1915 Ford Touring Car for $440 with the bank financing it. I will drive you and Julius up there. Then I’ll show you what a great angler I am.”

Early this morning, du Bois and I loaded a wall tent, cots, sleeping bags, sandwiches and Charlie into Arthur ‘s brand new automobile. In Yampa, we stopped at the Antlers Bar and bought bottled Coors beer. The ride was terrifically bouncy, but the car had the same clearance as a wagon. Once opened, the bottled beer bubbled and gushed on to our laps immediately. No matter, we were going camping and fishing. We found the scenery splendid, the wildlife abundant and astonishingly the elk and deer watched us pass with curiosity. One bull elk too close to the road, bolted up the hillside, turned and then gazed at the noisy monstrosity below.

“No forest fires up here,” I mentioned.

“I read in the paper that there have been 246 fires this season, most less than 10 acres. The largest was in the Medicine Bow Forest and consumed 2,500 of the 3,900 acres burned in fires this year at a cost of $16,000,” du Bois replied.

“I saw that too. It took 200 men to extinguish that fire,” I added.

“Fortunately, the heavy rain and light snow helped the cause,” he responded.

Arthur said, “They ought to let them burn. Its nature’s way to reclaim the forest for the new growth.”

I changed the subject while opening another beer. “District Judge Perry in Denver confirmed the Prohibition Law was properly enacted by the Colorado Assembly and the vote of the citizens. It’s official now, the state will be dry January 1.”

“It seems silly that a state promoting tourism wants to be dry,” Arthur stated. “Just a bunch of do-gooders imposing their will.”

“I’ve decided to go to Honolulu,” du Bois said. “Captain Reynolds has offered me a job on his freighting schooner. I can disappear in the South Pacific just well as here, and I can drink beer.”

“I’ll be sorry to see you go,” I admitted.

“You can leave too.”

“No, I’ll stay and help Corina with the baby.”

“What’s the plan with your nemesis, the cuckolded husband? JJ is a kept man. It’s getting around town. Oh, the shame and you waiting in the curtain on the wing of the stage.”

“That’s enough. She isn’t unfaithful,” I retorted.

“But Julius, you know you will be.”

“I just pick up powder, nursing stuff and baby things at the Corner Drug Store.”

“It’s your fantasy.”

We rode in silence for a while. Arthur broke it with, “I hope this new road doesn’t ruin the Flat Tops. It is wrong to develop such a pristine wilderness like Trappeurs Lake. That’s the downside of being a land surveyor. I see the beauty just before it is destroyed. Teddy Roosevelt changed the course of wholesale forest development by proposing the preservation of some of the wilderness for future generations. I pray this place remains unspoiled. He should have been elected president again instead of Woodrow Wilson.”

I replied, “He should have run for another term instead giving the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft. Instead, he traveled to Africa. Upon his return to politics four years later, he opposed Taft’s re-election and split the Republican’s vote as a third-party candidate.”

“You know a bit about American politics for an Englishman, Julius,” Arthur laughed.

“I read a lot, for instance, around fifteen million years ago, during the Tertiary Age, lava springs broke from the Earth and molten lava flowed across the landscape. Then the Ice Age came, and glaciers gouged deep valleys leaving amphitheaters and jewel-like lakes. Trappeurs Lake is the second largest natural lake in the state.”

“That’s true,” Arthur confirmed.

At an elevation of 9,600 feet, this October day was chilly. Charlie ran wild, looked back at us occasionally, smelled every bush and left his mark on many. We quickly set up camp and started fishing.

I started in the shallows with a light-colored streamer imitating a small fish struggling. We didn’t catch four fish at a time, but we had plenty for dinner and released the rest for another day.

Tonight’s campfire blazed brightly. The dark moonless sky sparkled brilliantly with vivid stars and radiant planets. Arthur drank a bit too much whisky and fell asleep in a warm glow. Charlie snored softly close by. The opportunity arose for me to say, “du Bois, do you realize Maggie is jealous?”

“Of Angela and me?”

“Yes.”

“We’re just friends.”

“As we all are. They are a couple though.”

“Angela seems like a woman who could go either way.”

“Nonetheless,” I replied.

“Nonetheless,” du Bois continued. “I accept your concern and will attempt to relieve Maggie’s anxiety. Angela is just mad fun to be around. Don’t you agree?”

“I agree.”

“I’m leaving the first of January anyway. You should too.”

As I write this, I continue to wonder if I should join him and leave on the first train in January 1916. But the nagging questions are, Can I leave Corina behind? Do I want to?