402 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



IDec. 31 1882. 



muzzle-loader, the old barn is most convenient, for into it 

 lie muy empty the charges of his gun as he passes homeward 

 after a day's tramp through upland or lowland; and equally 

 convenient is Hie barn to him who desires to teat the quali- 

 ties of his new breech-loader, for it will show both pattern 

 aud penetration. But it must be an old barn. It would be 

 a crime hardly second to manslaughter to mar frith the 

 patter of leaden rain the painted beauty of a big new bam, 

 with a gilded cock atop of it — the barn that is crowding out 

 the good old gray bam of our childhood, which invited the 

 child, the swallow, and the phrcbe bird to come iu and be at 

 home. 



Let the barn not too good to be shot at be preserved and 

 protected by Ike sportsman, for it is likely not long hence 

 to be the only tiling left for us to shoot. 



THE RTFLE FOK THE MA TOIL 

 ^l^HE house of Remington & Sons bids fair to score an- 

 *~ other victory in the line of rifle making, and from 

 word brought down from the Ilion armory, it looks very 

 much as though the rifle for the American team of 1883 

 had been produced. Immediately after the fiasco pf Septem- 

 ber last, the members of the firm decided to redeem 

 their good name, and declared that should the return match 

 be lost, it would not be the fault of the weapon. The rifles 

 for the match at I he present year had beed hurriedly turned 

 out to meet conditions which were unfamiliar to the experts 

 at the llion armory, and when placed in the hands of the 

 men, secured only indifferent results. Soft bullets in tight 

 barrels with thin patchingbrought about leading. Too much 

 powder was used aud that of adirtysort. These defects, due to 

 a very laudable but hurried endeavor to supply a pressing de- 

 mum I .discouraged the men on the team; records were not kepi 

 np, and the natural sequence came in the overwhelming lead 

 gained by the British team. The. men were not without 

 blame, and it was but poor encouragement for a rifle maker 

 who had spent mouths in turning out a good weapon to see 

 the foresight wavering about, while the team member was 

 frying to hold steady on the bullseye. 



Still the past has gone; the lessons of the defeat have not 

 been disregarded, and to-day the old house of E. Remington 

 & Sons declares its readiness to furnish the Committee of 

 the National Rifle Association with a weapon which shall 

 be in every way the eqnal of the Deely-Edge and other 

 rifles used by the British team. Samples of the new arm 

 have been tried for weeks past by the shooting corps of ex- 

 perts attached to the Ilion armory, and at 800 yards forty. 

 eight in a possible fifty has been scored iu ten shots, without 

 cleapWJg- Such shooting should win any match, and if the 

 gun will show such figures, we doubt not that the team can 

 be secured lor the work to use it effectively. 



The new weapon is very much after the English pattern, 

 but falling within all the conditions of the match as to 

 weight and military arrangement of stock, etc. It lias a 

 loose barrel, with narrower bands and deeper grooves than 

 I lie old Remington or the English weapon. The ."ill grain 

 bullet, of one part tin to eight of lead, is inserted in a two 

 and six-tenths inch shell, with from seventy-five to eighty 

 grains of powder. The Curtis & Harvey powder has been 

 tried in comparison with the Hazard Ducking, No. 3, with 

 very even results, so that it is likely the American powder 

 will be used iu preference. The hard bullet is patched wilh 

 thick parchment paper, and the severe experiments made 

 with the new arm show in it no tendency to lead. At Creed- 

 moor Col. Bodine and Thomas J. Dolan, of the late team 

 have given the rifle a very thorough testing at all the ranges 

 and declare themselves very much pleased with it, saying 

 thai, with such an arm, it only remains for the National 

 Rifle Association to organize an effective team— one where 

 the men have confidence, each in his own efforts, and sys- 

 tem enough to make the skill of one the guide for all the 

 rest. 



The fact that this rifle for the coming match has been 

 produced by the Remingtons only adds another to the 

 many obligations under which they have placed the rifle- 

 men of America. It was the assurance from Ihe Reming- 

 tons that a ride could and would be prepared in time 

 for the opening contest which led to the acceptance of 

 the first Irish challenge in 18/3, aud from that lime on, 

 at considerable inconvenience and loss in a purely business 

 point of view, the entire appliances of the Ilion armory have 

 been at the disposal of American riflemen when trials on 

 Ihe range led them to think that certain changes in rifles 

 and their fixings would bring about better scores. Full 

 credit has not always been given for these efforts to second 

 the men who give time and labor to practice before the 

 butts. The whole record of American victories on the 

 ranges here aud abroad would have been a, scries of defeats 

 but for the rifles sent out from the Ilion armory. Without 

 going imo the well-known story of these favorite rifles in 

 the hands of a dozen foreign armies, the fact is now more 

 than ever brought home to those, who feel a patriotic pride 

 in American successes that much of the credit of what has 

 been done since 1873 properly belongs (,,., this energetic 

 American arm manufactory. 



Death OF Lieut-Col. Scttofield.— We regret to learn 

 <>f Ihe death of Lieut.-Col. George. W. Sehofield, of the 

 Sixth Cavalry, at Port Apache, Arizona. December 17. 



TJu gportsnpin ^ottri^L 



"ANY LETTERS FOR ME?" 



BY H. P. UFFOTIO. 



SOME one must make a detour to San Rafael to collect 

 the mail for the party, as this was the first time for 

 eleven weeks that we had been within reaching distance — 

 that is, less than a hundred miles— of a post office. Ignotus, 

 the only one to whom that section of the country was 

 familiar, could not go, but he had given me such explicit di- 

 rections that I felt sure I could not miss my way. 



■'All you've got to do," said he, "is to ride due south un- 

 til you eft!! see blue sky between the peaks of El Late there 

 on your left, then turn S. W.. about, fifteen miles, till you 

 si like the Arroyo Veta, cross that and keep down along the 

 bank till you come to San Rafael. 'Tisn't more than sixty, 

 miles, and you can make it, easy, before dark. You'll have 

 lo stay there, at the singe station, all night. Then in the 

 morning you go right west to the foot-hills, and you'll strike 

 an old Indian trail that'll lead you across to the head of 

 Oahnlo Creek. We'll camp right where the trail crosses the 

 creek, so you can't miss us." 



"(rood enough! I'll be with you to-morrow noon," and 

 chirruping to Rob, I started off after the mail. The morn- 

 ing air was cool and fine, and as Rob and I had for several 

 days been accommodating our pace to the, slow gait of Che 

 pack-mules, we were both glad of a chance lor a day's 

 scamper at our own 8 weet wills. After a lew sportive cur- 

 vetings and pranciilgs, the first effervescence of hisoverflow- 

 ing spirits, he settled down into his long, swinging, tcn-milc- 

 an-hour and tweuty-hours-at-a-stretch lope. "('•You dou't 

 believe any such thing?" Well, you'd better, for it's true 

 When Mexican ,loe knifed Dick Stuart in Conejos, Ignotus 

 rode that horse to Fort Craig and back between sun-iip and 

 sun-up. aud on the homestretch forced the running so that 

 the Surgeon's mare, brought from the States, dropped dead 

 when he got off her in the Plaza; and you're a bolder man 

 than I am if you dare tell Lieut. Stanhope, of the Topo- 

 graphical Engineers, that he made a mistake when he meas- 

 ured the distance between the place:- in his survey for the 

 El Paso & Sundown Railroad, and made it just 102 miles. 



"Hurt Rob any?" Not a bit. When the saddle was taken 

 off he kicked up his heels, whinnied, and dashed off across 

 the Piedra to the rest of the cavallada, as though he'd 

 had only a morning breather. 



"Got the papers for that story?" 



Yes, si r; signed by the Rhymer, Ignotus, and Post Sur- 

 geon David McParland, of the lOOli.h V. S. Cavalry, and 

 attested by, and sealed in the presence of, Senor Jose "Maria 

 Farina Cavaleto Mugara del Albania y Miiiena Salvaticrra 

 Sidouia, Intendente aud Alcalde, de la Ciudad del Nostra 

 Senora del Conejos, Are you satisfied? All right, then- 

 let us go hack to our muttons.) By noon. El Late had sepa- 

 rated his twin peaks so distinctly 'that I could catch a clear 

 view of the sky between them, aud so turning to the S. W 

 another hour brought us to the Arroyo Veta. Here for the 

 first time, I was bothered. I struck the Arroyo at an angle 

 represented by the lower limb of this ^, and bavin" crossed 

 it, the question was, which was up and which down. I de- 

 cided that down meant lo the right, and accordingly turned 

 that way. Hour after hour passed monotonously' but no 

 San Rafael, The sun finally touched the edge of "the plain, 

 and I knew that I had ridden more than sixty miles, ami 

 strongly suspected that I was lost. Standing up on Rob's 

 back, to enlarge my horizon. I descried, to niy left, the only 

 sign of human life which I had seen that day — a Mexican 

 border with his sheep. Leaving the Arroyo beliiud, I rode 

 up and hailed him. 



"Coino le va Usted. amigo?" 



"Piueuo. senor, bue.no." 



"Untie 'sta San Rafael?" 



"San Rafael? No sabe, senor." 



"Whew! then I am lost, sure enough." Sabe unde 'sta 

 Cnfialn Rio?" 



"No. senor, no sabe." 



"Undo 'sta listed casa?" 



•'Poco_Sud; 'sta eninino." 



"Gracilis y adios, amigo. - ' 



Hen- was certainly, as the philosopher would say, "an 

 uufortnitous concatenation of peripheral circumstances." 



Lost 1 undoubtedly was, and I had wandered so far from 

 San Rafael that this shepherd, who probably knew every 

 skeep-palb for twenty- miles around, didn't even know of it's 

 existence. However, he had told me that his master's 

 house was only a short distance south from us, and had 

 pointed out the trail which led to it, so I concluded to seek 

 shelter there for the night. A half hour's brisk lope brought 

 me to the casa, a low-walled adobe hut, one story in height, 

 sun-ounded by a cactus hedge, and with sheep" corrals by 

 the side and rear. A shout soon produced the master anil 

 T doubt if all New Mexico contains the owner of a more 

 villainous face than appeared in the low doorway, in answer 

 to my call. Bestiality, craft, greed, and all evil passions 

 had combined, for nearly three-score years, to carve from 

 that countenance the mask of a mingled satyr and devil. 

 However, any port in a storm, and therefore I requested in 

 my choicest Mexican, hospitality for the night. With that 

 grave civility and quiet courtesy which mark even these de- 

 generate, descendants of the old Ilidalgoes, he placed his 

 house and all it contained, himself, his family, and all his 

 belongings; at my command. 



" Twdos a Ustedes dispocicion, schor.'' 



"Everything at my disposal, is it? If it were, the first 

 thing I would do, would be to have your servants hang you 

 to your own roof-tree, you yellow thief and murderer.*' 

 Such were my thoughts ; my words were that I hoped the 

 Lord would repay him according lo his deserts. Not recog- 

 nizing the double meaning in the courteous Spanish re- 

 joinder, he called, in a shrill, cracked voice, for "Nifiita, 

 Niiiita," which was answered by the appearance, from 

 around the Corner of the house, of "a passable looking girl of 

 eighteen or twenty, who took my bridle as 1 dismounted, 

 and led Rob around to the corral. Following to see that he- 

 was taken care of for the. night, I soon found through signi- 

 ficsnt looks and gestures, that I should have to steer my 

 bark for the next twelve hours between the Charybdfs 

 of man's greed, aud the Seylla of woman's enticements. 

 Having eased Rob of his trappings, rubbed him down well, 

 measured him out a hat full of barley, and shaken down 

 some straw for him to lie on, 1 returned to the house. Here 

 Nifiita prepared supper — tortillas, or corn cakes, tough as 

 leather, and flavored with soap grease; stringy mutton', - rank 

 and coarse, cooked with frijoles, or black beans, and hotter 



than fire wilh chili Colorado, or red pepper, and barley 

 coffee, with a bottle of villainous aguardiente, or mezcal 

 whisky as dessert. This delectable repast over, we drew up 

 to the little triangular fireplace in the corner of the room, 

 myself, with lighted pipe in Ihe center, flanked on either 

 side by the chaste Ninita, and Senor JoaquhilJamondeUznagn 

 Coronado, each with their com husk cigaritos. (The nig- 

 gedest tatterdemalion of a Mexican sheep thief has a I I i 

 of names as sonorous and resonant as the Cid Campeador, 

 or the Infante- himself. Perhaps it. is the exertion of carry- 

 ing through life such a weight of nomenclature, that so saps 

 their energy and exhausts their strength that they have none 

 left for the more commonplace use of making a decent 

 living.) Drawing slowly and painfullv on my limited stock 

 of Mexican, I soon ascertained that Senor Joaquin Ramon, 

 etc., etc., did have a hazy idea as to Ihe whereabouts of 

 .San Rafael, opining that it was somewhere down the valley, 

 up which 1 had ridden that day, and vaguely guessing the 

 distance as from twenty to a hundred leagues. ' As a Mexi- 

 can league is anywhere from one to five miles. I was not 

 much the better off for this information, except as to the 

 direction. Then the Senor courteously set iu motion his 

 piston-rod, and cautiously proceeded to pump me. "Had I 

 ridden far that day? Was I on pleasure or business? If the 

 latter, did I think of buying sheep? If so, he could sell me 

 a tine lot for cash, with which, no doubt, so illustrious a 

 Senor was well provided. Had I friends' iu the neighbor 

 hood? Would they not be uneasy at my absence? Were 

 they to meet me here in the morning, or d'id they not know 

 where I was? Were they all as well mounted and armed as 

 I. was? Finally, had they any dogs with them?" 



May Heaven forgive me for the number and size of the 

 lies that 1 porrcd into Ihe old rascal's ear, but I felt that my 

 best chance for safety was to impress him with the fact that 

 I had no money about me, and that my disappearance would 

 lie followed by strict search and swift punishment. So I 

 answered bim categorically. "I had ridden about twenty 

 miles. I was bunting, wanted no sheep, aud had no money 

 to pay for them, if 1 did. My friends were camped just. 

 below, and were to join me there in the morning. There 

 were twenty of them, well mounted and armed, fierce and 

 warlike— Americanos bravos. I was their captain, and they 

 were sworn never to leave me. They had wilh them six blood- 

 hounds— peros del Diablo— trained to follow my horse's 

 trail wherever he went, and who could scent me 'out, if I 

 were buried twenty feet under ground." 



Having gently dribbled these astounding statements into 

 the old fellow's consciousness, enfiladed meanwhile with a 

 cross-fire of suspicious looks from his lattlesnake eyes, on 

 the one side, and by ogles and sheeps-eyes from the "ojos 

 verdes" of the fair Niiiita on the other— I requested to be 

 shown my sleeping place. 



My hostess rose, and I followed, bearing my Tiding gear 

 and blanket into a little side room, about ten feet square, 

 and totally devoid of every kind of furniture, where she 

 gave me to understand, I could pass the night. 



She then delicately suggested that as I was a stranger in a 

 strange land, and might feel lonely, if left to myself, that 

 perhaps, etc.. etc. Declining her kind offer, I politely 

 bowed her out, and closing the door, proceeded to strike a 

 match, and survey the strategic possibilities of my adobe 

 fortress. The door was guiltless of latch or fastening of 

 any kind, aud the one window in the room was a mere "hole 

 in the wall, some two feet square, with neither sash nor 

 shutter. 



My first step was lo secure the entrance. Both my hunting 

 and pocket knives had stout blades, and these I drove firmly 

 into the easing of the door, which was thus held fast. 

 Then, taking out my pocket tool chest, and inserting in its 

 clip the stoniest brad-awl which it contained, 1 drove it 

 firmly into the side of the window -opening, and to it lashed 

 oueo'f my pocket. Derringers, the muzzle raking the opening. 

 Driving a couple of the brads, one ou each side of the 

 window, I stretched a buckskin "whang" from one to the 

 other, and on it so balanced a dozen heavy rifle cartridges 

 tied together, that the slightest shaking of the string would 

 cause them to fall. To these I attached another string, the 

 other end of which I tied to the trigger of t lie. Derringer. 

 Cocking the latter, my spring gun was set. In the darkness 

 of the night the "whang'' could not be seen. Anyone enter- 

 ing the window eould not fail to jar it, which w^ould cause 

 the cartridges to fall, aud the probability was, that the in- 

 truder would receive a half-inch conical ball somewhere in 

 his anatomy. If he escaped that, at any rate, the report 

 would alarm him and show bim that 1 was on my guard. 

 These defensive arrangements completed, I spread my 

 blankets in one corner out of range of door or window, put 

 my revolvers where they would be handy— not, by the way, 

 under my pillow — lay down and was soon sleeping the sleep 

 of the just, Somewhere toward morning the roar of my 

 battery awoke me, but though I waited' further develop- 

 ments, none came. 1 meant to remain awake till daylight, 

 but the ride of the day before had tired me, and when I 

 next became conscious the sunlight was streaming through 

 the window. Rising and examining tin- latter, 1 saw that it 

 was stained with blood, a pool of which was slowly drying 

 away on the ground outside beneath the fatal opening. I 

 fell assured, then, that "somebody bad got hurt," and 

 hardly knew whether to hope that 'it might be the lovely 

 daughter or the stately father who had received my mid- 

 night compliments. Opening the door into the outer room, 

 1 cautiously reconnoitered, but the coast was clear, nor was 

 I here any sign of life anywhere around the house. 



Going around beneath mv window, I found a trail of 

 blood which led to the corrals. Following it, I found them 

 as empty as the house — Rob and a large "pinto" horse, which 

 had been there the night before, both being gone, Things 

 suddenly looked black" Without a horse I was like a ship- 

 wrecked sailor stranded on a rock in mid-ocean, or like a 

 belated wanderer in the jungle, face to face with a man- 

 eater, aud with bis gun safely at home in the corner. 

 How many thieving, cut-throat Greasers there were in the 

 neighborhood I couldn't tell, nor how soon one of my late 

 hosts might return with a force sufficient to avenge the death 

 or wounding of the other. Even if I escaped this fate, a 

 successful rejoining of the outfit was problematical, as I had 

 no idea how far or in what direction they were. True, I 

 might, by great good luck, reach San Rafael, and there pro-, 

 cure another horse, but I wanted Rob. 1 never realized be- 

 fore how much a part of myself he had grown to be. Want- 

 ing him. only a half of me— iiiiiiwr dimit l/um mm— was left, 

 and that decidedly the worser half. But something must lie 

 done, and that q'uickly, aud, manifestly, the first thing lo 

 be. attended to was breakfast, Returning to the house, a 

 scraggy neck of mutton and some tortillas were soon cooked, 

 aud, after satisfying my hunger, pockets were filled for 

 future contingencies. Then, leaving my saddle, but throw- 



