" UNACCOUNTABLES " AND OTHER SHOTS 43 



I fired and rushed out of the gun house to see the 

 execution. There was a cloud of birds rising and 

 a roar of wings and whistling, but not a feather 

 remained on the water. Perhaps some one versed 

 in the science of gunnery could tell me why, but I 

 could never account for that miss. 



Trapping one winter on the head waters of 

 the Trinity River, I located three caribou not 

 very far from one of our camps. It was early in 

 January, and there was not very much snow on 

 the ground, a couple of feet or so, and that little 

 was too hard for good hunting. The caribou 

 were feeding on a small range of barren moun- 

 tains, where it was almost impossible to stalk 

 them. Rifles were unknown on the coast in those 

 days, and I had only a flint lock Hudson Bay 

 Co. gun of 28 bore, fairly reliable for short 

 ranges, but requiring too many allowances at 

 long ones. For rapid firing we used to have the 

 touch hole of these guns pretty large, and by 

 using fine powder, generally FFF, on pouring 

 the load in, the gun would prime itself. When 

 after caribou or other large game we carried a 

 few bullets in the mouth. Immediately after fir- 

 ing a shot, the gun was put at half-cock, the pan 

 closed, a charge of powder poured in, then the 

 muzzle brought to the mouth, a wet bullet drop- 

 ped in, and we were ready. No wadding was 

 used at all, the wet bullet being sufficient to make 



