THE RUFFED GEOUSE. 167 



When we reached his cubin, which was built, according 

 to his own statement, on the principle of an Irishman's 

 church — a yard wide and a mile long — he gave us a 

 hearty greeting, and invited us to stay with him as long 

 as we pleased. We gladly accepted the offer for a few 

 days, as we intended to pay him for our board by giving 

 him all the game we should kill. As soon as dinner was 

 over, we commenced questioning him about his life in the 

 wilderness, and learned that he was so infatuated Avith 

 it that he would not relinquish it for one of ease in any 

 city on earth. He also gave us a sketch of his career, 

 which was very interesting to us. 



He had been, it seems, a sharpshooter in the Confed- 

 erate army, but when the war was over he went West and 

 devoted his time to hunting, and with such excellent suc- 

 cess that he had a fair balance to his account at the bank, 

 a fact which proved that he was wiser than most of his 

 class. He said that he had never fired a fowling-piece, 

 or "scatter-gim," as he called it, previous to his arrival 

 in California, as any man who used such a weapon in 

 Kentucky, even for snipe shooting, would be looked upon 

 with contem^jt by his neighbors, and deemed an un- 

 Avorthy descendant of those sharpshooters who had de- 

 feated Packenham's army at New Orleans, with their 

 squirrel rifles. He had changed his opinion about the 

 " scatter-gun," however, after learning its value, and 

 considered it to have no equal for shooting deer from a 

 stand when they were driven by hounds, but he thought 

 it could not compare with a rifle in still-hunting. 



The conversation about guns, dogs, and wild animals 

 was continued until nightfall, and was then only stopped 

 because we were compelled to make preparations for a fire 

 hunt among the deer; but these did not occupy much 

 time, for all that was necessary to be done was to light a 

 number of pieces of dried pine and carry them in a long- 

 handled pan through the forest until we found a victim. 



