182 INVITATION TO A BEAK-HUNT. 



go, and in this way often got within forty yards before they 

 were well on the wing, firing over our pony's head and getting 

 three or four with the two barrels. Another way was to drive 

 an ox up to them, lying flat on a raw hide, which was attached 

 to the yoke by traces. By driving as if you were going to pass 

 them, you could frequently get very near. Another way was 

 to stalk them with a pea rifle, when you got some very pretty 

 shooting. Beside geese there were a good many sand-hill 

 cranes, standing about four feet high, which could be stalked 

 in the same way, requiring, however, much more caution to be 

 used in order to get near enough to them, as they are such 

 shy birds. When wounded you had to be careful how you 

 approached them, as when their legs were not broken they 

 would jump at your face in a moment, and the beak being 

 about six inches long and very sharp, could inflict a bad wound. 

 Soon after camping on Clear Lake we received an invitation 

 to a bear-hunt on a large scale, which was to come off in the 

 Brazos bottom (a strip of timber six miles wide lying along 

 the Brazos River) from an old settler named Estes. He was 

 quite a character, living the life of a hunter in a house far 

 removed from any neighbour, and cultivating only enough land 

 to supply himself with flour and vegetables and his horses with 

 corn. He had served in the Southern Army during the war, 

 and when the South had to give in, he had taken an oath not 

 to cut his hair till she had had her revenge, so that it had not 

 been cut for more than three years and was like a rough mane. 

 When we reached his house we found a number of men 

 collected, and a great variety of dogs, most of them curs, 

 which, however, answer better for that kind of hunting than 

 well-bred hounds. 





