“V^x’ 
Ten Cents a Copy. \ NEW YORK, THURSDAY, AUGUST 3, 1876. { IT Chatham (?*! (City Hall *qr.) 
For Fcn'est and Straem. 
anninim off prison'd. 
A T an altitude of 6,500 feet, the atmosphere is not very 
warm, in October, and to be unceremoniously pulled 
out of your blankets, with the remark that your mule is 
saddled and waiting for you to mount, is to say the least, 
provoking, particularly when you were enjoying dreams of 
home and loved ones. Obedient to orders, however, I soon 
donned my shooting suit and bidding my striker Toll my 
blankets, and strap them to the saddle, proceeded to the 
mess room to brace up the iuner man, for we were to be 
gone, none of us could tell how long. We, the Lieutenant 
and myself, had arranged the day before to go high up in 
the While Mountains, where some Indians had, a few days 
before, killed a couple of elk, to see if wo could have the 
good luck to bving down a few more. It was arranged 
that we should take a train of a dozen pack mules in 
charge of the head packer, which with the cargodore, 
cook, and two Apache Indians, as guides, all well mounted 
on first class mules, made quite a cavalcade. Our route 
lay northwest from the Post, distant about thirty miles. 
Lieut. B. (who, by the way, is a glorious young fellow, and 
a crack shot, both with rifle and shot gun,) was in command 
of tlie out fit. After doing justice to a good breakfast, (be¬ 
ing frequently hurried up) I took down my Winchester 
and laying in an exlra stock of cartridges (for I supposed I 
should certainly kill a dozen elk) announced myself as 
ready. We were soon out of sight of the Post and its strict 
commanding officers, and breathing the pure mountain air 
fell free, and wo also felt that, the expedition was one 
in which our reputations were at stake. The Lieutenant 
and myself rode in advance, followed by the Indians, after 
which came the train of animals. Being a visitor as it 
were, the charge of providing the out-fit was left entirely 
to the Lieutenant, who now assumed the rank of Com¬ 
manding Officer, Quartermaster, Commissary,—well, in 
fact, he was everything, and I was simply a passenger. 
Right well did he perforin all the duties of his respective 
offices, and should I ever go again upon another elk hunt, 
I want no better companion, Or commander than tbis same 
Lieutenant. We had riden about ten miles over a terribly 
rough trail, stopping occasionally to readjust some pack 
which tire mule had concluded was more than he wanted 
to carry, and lienee tpok the liberty of rubbing his load 
against a treo, merely to see if he could not get rid of a 
portion, for I tell you a pack mule is a cunning fellow, and 
it takes close watching of the packer and cargodore to pre¬ 
vent him from playing some trick that will cause delay. 
As I said before, we had proceeded about ten miles, when 
one of the Indians slipped quietly off his animal and rushed 
down a steep declivity, jumped across a streamlet and with 
the same gait mounted another mountain on the opposite 
tide. When approaching the .summit, he was observed to 
drop upon his knee, and simultaneously with the act his 
rifle reported that game of some kind had felt the weight 
of a 45 bullet. He seemed to be in no hurry, as he was 
carelessly dropping another cartridge into his muzzle gun, 
when he leisurly walked about 150 yards and picked up a 
magnificent turkey gobbler. The Lieutenant concluded 
we had better ride down to tbe stream and roast that turkey 
for our dinner, so without any more coercion I turned off 
and took the ziz-zag trail for the bottom, here we unsad¬ 
dled, and in less time than it has taken me to write it, 
every pack was off and in their proper places, and a nice 
fire was started. Did any of my readers ever roast a 
twenty-five pound turkey in the woods without a range or 
stove? If hot, tlicu “half his life is gone." The process is 
a sifiiple one. In front of the fire, and ataproper distance, 
two forked sticks are driven into the ground, said sticks 
being about fifteen inches high, and two feet apart; a little 
farther back from these, six or eight inches, two more 
forked sticks are driven into the ground, hut these are about 
thirty inches in height, and four feet apart; a pole is laid 
across the top, and from this pole to the ground at an angle 
Of abeut.45" bark is played, which acts as aieflector, After 
the turkey Is properly dressed au iron ramrod Is passed 
through his carcase, and each end (beyond the oird) is rested 
upon the crotch of the two shorter sticks, a pan is placed 
underneath, and the cook constantly turns tbe bird, at the 
same time basting with the drippings. Ye godsi it makes 
me smack my lips to think of that turkey. I never knew 
before, how much turkey a man could eat, in fact I don't 
know yet; all I can say is, that what was left would not 
feed an infant. 
We were soon again in the saddle, and were hurrying to 
get to a good camping ground on the White River and pitch 
the tents before dark. I was riding some paces in advance 
(thinking over that turkey) when I was aroused from my 
reverie by the close proximity to my head of a rifle bullet, 
turning suddenly in my saddle, with the remark “What 
in thunder,Lieutenant, are you shooting so close to me for?" 
“Well,” says he, “I’ll toll you, if I had not shot just as I 
did, a big four-pronged buck would have brought you iu 
here, and I would have had to shoot you." “Thank you sir, 
for your kind consideration, but drive your bucks in the 
future the other way." The truth was, the buck (and he 
was a fine one) would probably have run over me, without 
my having seen him at all, only for the kiuduess of tbe 
Lieutenaut. By the time we had him dressed and packed, 
it was getting time for us to go into camp, and while this 
was being done, I went out on foot to see what luck I 
would have, and had the fortune to kill two more turkeys, 
and here let me add, it is not well to kill many turkeys 
when you are on foot. If ever I was tempted to utter cuss 
words, it was when packing two turkeys and a rifle, over a 
mountain trail, but by self command I utterly refrained, 
and toted them to camp without a complaint, or ugly 
thought., Bor the first time I had the oportuuity of judg¬ 
ing of the qualifications of the Quartermaster, Commissary 
and caterer’s ability, and do hereby declare him to be a 
success. It could be more easily told what be did’nt have, 
than what he did have, but suffice it to say, I was perfectly 
satisfied, that if we shot nothing more, we could stay out a 
month. After stuffing ourselves with commissary stores, 
turkey, ven ison, etc., we filled our pipes (and let me ask of 
you as a favor to thank in my name W. S. Kimball i& Co. 
for inventing Vanity Fair,) and lounged before' a rousing 
fire, telling our stories and jokes until tbe snoring of tbe 
Indians reminded us that the time had arrived for us to 
turn in. 
By daylight the next morning we were astir and within 
an hour were again ou the march. The country had now 
become more rugged, if such could possibly be, and it was 
one continuous down, down, down a precipitous mountain 
side, or up, up, up to a giddy, dizzy height only to find 
mountains still higher before you. Tbe deer traoks were 
now becoming more abundant, and an occasional deer was 
seen that was getting out of our way, having had sufficient 
warning by the noise made not only by ourselves, but the 
tread and tramp of the pack train over the rocks. It was 
euougkt to have startled a herd of deer for a mile off. We 
hoped that this day's march, would bring us to the snow, 
where the elk had been killed by the Indians, consequently 
we were not particular about keeping quiet, in fact we 
wanted it understood by the denizens of the forest, that ms 
were there, and that to-morrow the battle would commence. 
Darkness had overtaken us before we arrived at the proper 
place, and whew! how cold it was, and how hard the wind 
did blow. We did’nt promenade much that night, but 
after eating a hearty meal and enjoying Vanity Fair, snugly 
ensconsed ourselves between three pairs of heavy three-point 
blankets, and were soon dreaming of to-morrow. 
It came at last, cold as was desirable, but no wind. I 
never felt brighter, fresher, or better nerved than I did that 
morning. I felt that a deer at 300 yards was my game, and 
the close of the day proved my feeling to have been correct. 
We each took an Indian guide and I had not gone 
more than a mile before I started a deer. Dropping my rifle, 
I saw another, and another, and another, until I became 
puzzled which one to shoot at. I knew that this indecision 
was producing the buck ague, yet for the life of me I 
could not overcome it, until my Indian, fearing that they 
would all get away from me, fired and brought down his 
game. My nerves by this time were settled and in the next 
moment I had gotten down well in tile hind sight, and at 
300 yards a noble buck dropped in his tracks, while an¬ 
other with nostrils distended, and with his head half bent 
towards bis fallen comrade, received bis quietus; without 
moving a yard I sent a third one to grass, and this red man 
of the forest had been my equal. It seemed as if it were 
to he a contest “as to rapidity of firing," between my Win¬ 
chester and his needle guu, (and I can assure you he could 
drop a single cartridge into that needle gun mighty fast, 
but I bad the advantage in the long run. He began to get 
excited, the Indian was coming to the surface very plainly, 
his nostrils too were distended, eyes bright as meteors, and 
only when they were out of reach did he settle down lo 
his former self. With the remark of en-ju, meaning good. 
Yes, said I, good. I've got three, how many have you got? 
“Toggy," said he—(Apache for three). We had six deer and 
it was not yet eight o'clock. Wesoou bad them dressed and 
liung in trees, aud during the balance of the day, it was a 
constant firing. About three o’clock I saw the Lieutenant 
slowly riding in my direction, and soon overtaking him be¬ 
gan a comparison of results, which did not result unfavora¬ 
bly to your humble servant; lie said be bad seen a number 
of tracks of tbe elk, all direoled higher up the mountain, 
so it was resolved that the next day should be devoted to 
elk, as we had deer enough. In returning to camp we ran 
into large flocks of turkeys, and soon bagged a dozen; 
they were not as wild as those of the day before. 
By the time the packers and Indians had gathered into 
camp all the game, it was quite dark, and then for the first, 
time I felt that I was tired, completely tired out, but Oh 
ye gods! what a bag of game. There hung eleven deer, 
and thirteen turkeys. 'T is true there were four of us at the 
triggers, yet that leaves a good average of six. I wish tire 
“Squire” could have been along, although he is now old, I 
think it would have rejuvenated him. While plodding 
through the snow the next day, the Lieutenant says, “I’ll 
tell you Colonel, this is infernal cold work.” “Well, to 
confess the truth, Lieutenant, it is pretty cold, but you 
should not have left your saddle, and walked in the tnow, 
hut should merely have slipped your feet out of the stirrups 
and your legs by hanging would soon have started circula¬ 
tion, and then you would have been all right.” 
"With an inward chuckle, I rode on cheering him up, 
teasing him; a novel way, I fancy I hear you say, hut if 
you want to make a man sick, tell him he looks so, and lea 
to one he does feel so in less than an hour. It soou be¬ 
came evideut that elk were in our vieinily, and by careful 
watching and working, the Lieutenant had Ihe pleasure of 
getting a shot; he hit him hard, but not enough to slop him 
there; in coming up to where he stood, blood marks told 
the story, the shot had taken effect too far back, he was 
bleeding internally. We followed ou, and soon ills tracks 
began to diverge from a direct line. Tbe Indian said lie was 
looking for a place to lie down, and with a grunt, said 
“much bas-i-fee,” meaning much sick, which proved to be a 
fact, for he soon jumped up out of a tree top (fallen) and 
by his unsteady gait satisfied us that be was fighting hard 
for life. We followed on for about a mile, when we came 
up with his dead form, which was very handsome aud 
noble, even in death. 
We had now been traveling constantly up tbe mountain, 
tlie snow becoming deeper as we advanced, when it was de¬ 
termined that we should return to camp. 1 was somewhat 
anuoyed that I had npt killed my elk, but hoped on. Upon 
the return’the Lieutenant killed (dead) another fine fellow, 
and I can assure*you tins made mo furious, for, kill my 
elk, I was hound to, but man proposes and God disposes, 
I did not kill an elk that trip. We both concluded we 
would try our luck again below ibe snow line,, at the deer 
and turkeys. We kept up the work for Iliree, more days, 
Tbe sport became so splendid that tbe packers desired to 
join iu, which being granted, increased our triggers to six. 
It was soon time to return, but now tbe question was, 
what will we do with the game, the mules caunot pack it 
all, so packing all we could, and hanging the rest high out 
