176 The Winning of the West 



are filled with the deeds of men, of whom Mansker 

 can be taken as a type. He was a wonderful marks- 

 man and woodsman, and was afterward made a 

 colonel of the frontier militia, though, being of Ger- 

 man descent, he spoke only broken English. 25 Like 

 most of the hunters he became specially proud of his 

 rifle, calling it "Nancy" ; for they were very apt to 

 know each his favorite weapon by some homely or 

 endearing nickname. Every forest sight or sound 

 was familiar to him. He knew the cries of the birds 

 and beasts so well that no imitation could deceive 

 him. Once he was nearly taken in by an unusually 

 perfect imitation of a wild gobbler; but he finally 

 became suspicious, and "placed" his adversary be- 

 hind a large tree. Having perfect confidence in his 

 rifle, and knowing that the Indians rarely fired ex- 

 cept at close range partly because they were poor 

 shots, partly because they loaded their guns too 

 lightly he made no attempt to hide. Feigning to 

 pass to the Indian's right, the latter, as he expected, 

 tried to follow him ; reaching an opening in a glade, 

 Mansker suddenly wheeled and killed his foe. When 

 hunting he made his home sometimes in a hollow 

 tree, sometimes in a hut of buffalo hides; for the 

 buffalo were so plenty that once when a lick was 

 discovered by himself and a companion, 26 the latter, 

 though on horseback, was nearly trampled to death 

 by the mad rush of a herd they surprised and stam- 

 peded. 



25 Carr's "Early Times in Middle Tennessee," pp. 52, 54. 



26 The hunter Bledsoe mentioned in a previous note. 



