MY FIRST REAL TRAPPING EXPERIENCE.. 31 



got the body up, the rafters and a part of the roof on. We put 

 up a ridge roof as Mr. Harris said it would not be necessary to 

 have the sides quite so high with a steep ridge roof. We got 

 our supplies under shelter and had a dry place to sleep that night. 

 It was still raining in the morning but we continued to work on 

 the camp like beavers all day and we got shakes split from a pine 

 stub to finish the roof and chinking blocks to chink between the 

 logs. 



The next morning Mr. Harris said that he would go and take 

 the horse out to a farm house that was about six miles out the 

 turnpike, known as the Widow Herod Place, or better known as 

 Aunt Bettie. Mr. Harris said hef would go while there was food 

 enough to last the old horse a day or two until we were ready to 

 use him. Then I knew that the old horse was doomed to be used 

 for bear bait. 



When Mr. Harris started away with the horse he cautioned 

 me not to go off hunting, but to stick to work on the shanty which 

 I did like a "nailer." When Mr. Harris returned I had the roof 

 on, the chinking all in and the gable end boarded up with shakes 

 and all ready to begin calking and mudding. It was some time in 

 the afternoon when he got back and after looking over the shack 

 to see what I had done he said that he thought I had done so 

 well that I was entitled to a play spell and suggested that we take 

 our guns and go down along the side of the hill and see if we 

 could kill a deer, remarking that we could use a little venison 

 if we had it. He told me to go up onto the bench near the top 

 of the hill while he would take the lower bench and he would 

 hunt the side hill along down the stream until dark. 



Mr. Harris had a single barrel gun with a barrel three or 

 four feet long which he called Sudden Death, and it weighed twelve 

 or fourteen pounds. As for me I had my new double barrel gun 

 which I have mentioned before. We had not gone far until I 

 heard the report of a gun below me and soon I heard Mr. Harris 

 "ho-ho-hoa," and I hurried to where the howling came from and 

 found him already taking the entrails out of a small doe. I sug- 

 gested to Mr. Harris that we take the deer down to the creek 

 before we dressed it and that by so doing we probably could 



