AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



Terra*, Four Dollars a Year. ! 

 Ten Cent* a Copy. I 



NEW YORxC, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1877- 



/ Volume 9.— No. 12. 

 INo. Ill Fulion St., N. Y. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 

 BRUNO. 



BY J. C. BURNETT. 



" W ELL ' yes ' stran S er ' ne ' 8 g ettin § ra; ; 

 * * He's not the sort of dog lie used to be. 

 But even now he's worth his weight in gold', 

 And while he liveo he has a friend in me. 



" 'AM will he fight ?' A little now and then, 

 Although he never hunts a muss on sight. 

 He's mighty fair ; but sometimes like us men, 

 He rather likes a rough-and-tumble fight. 



" I've seen him look as if he'd give the odds 

 To two or three, and take 'em turn about, 

 Just to accommodate, and then, ye gods: 

 He'd waltz In beautiful, and lay them out ! 



" Yon ought to see him climb a real wild cat, 

 The savage ones that skirmish round at night ; 

 Just like a black-and-tan goes for a rat, 

 He'll snatch one bald, and that's his soul's delight. 



" One evening yonder by that poplar tree 



He found a lynx, the worst old varmint here ; 

 I heard him bark, which meant a jamboree, 

 And so I took my gun, and gave a cheer. 



" There on the river bank I saw two eyes, 



Up In a sapling, looking mighty bad; 



I thought I'd take the fellows by surprise 



And eo I fired, to give him all I had. 



■' The old gift missed and soroathing seemed to drop ; 



'Twas that there lynx, and down he came on me. 

 I shook him, though, and Bruno got on top 

 And flaxed him in a way 'twas good to see. 



■" But there's one fact, its singular to note, 

 He'll tackle anything in thick and thin 

 From bears to cats, exoepting the coyote. 

 He thinks that animal is kin. 



: I've seen him Join a hunt and take the trail, 



And skip ahead of all the rest a mile ; 

 But when it came to closing in he'd fail, 

 As if he kind o'thought, he's not my style. 



" But, stranger, have you been on Monument," 

 The creek that comes out there by Castle Hock? 

 In sixty-five we lived there In a tent, 

 My wife and I, attending to our stock. 



il One day I had to go up on the Range, 

 And left the dog as I had done before ; 

 He knew the cause, and didn't think it strange, 

 But went and curled himself beside the door. 



"When nearly night my wife became afraid, 



For Bruno seemed to have bad news to teli, 

 As if he knew there was an Indian raid 

 And he eou'.d hear the Cheyenne whoop and yell. 



;i Tnere was ; and when the Indians saw the tent • 

 They just swept down like devils of their kind, 

 On robbing and murder all hell bent 

 And even worse when victims they could find. 



•" One old sca'p-lifter wiih his knife in hand 



Bushed through the door, but Bruno with a grin 

 Just took him by the throat, you understand, 

 And with an ax my wife got her work in I 



" Another red skin next came in to help 



With gun and knife to shoot and carve his way; 

 But Bruno mounted him, and with a yelp, 

 As much as if he said, ' Yon'll.come to stay !' 



" Two others now came yelling throngh the door ; 

 Bnt dog and wife were there with teeth and ax, 

 And there they piled the clevi's up, all four! 

 • The rest outside?' Well, sir, they just made tracks. 



" He's splendid 7 Shake ! And now he's getting old 

 I love to think of what he used to be ; 

 That's why I say he's worth his weight in gold. 

 And while he lives he has a friend In me." 



Carrier Pigeoxs as S.mtgglees.— A carrier pigeon, in 

 .France, dropped exhausted into the Seine. He was rescued, 

 and found to be heavily laden with tobacco. A police inve s t;_ 

 gation ensued, and a regular system of smuggling ferreted cut. 

 Two'dozens of pigeons per day, each loaded w fch from ten to 

 fifteen grammes of the weed, were daily dispatched from Bel- 

 gium. The savants are now discussing whether it was the 

 overload or the absorption of the poison that dropped the un- 

 lucky bird. 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 



flip fa tin rffiddh <Jw/fc of 

 §lock jfenstlq $ivqr. 



WHILST on the Castle in June, giving my nine- years-old 

 hopeful his first practice with a reel, it was my good 

 fortune to meet the Hon. Isaac J. Fanbus, who informed me 

 that I committed a mistake in stopping so near the railroad 

 terminus and coal mines, and cordially invited me to make his 

 house on Middle Fork the objective point of my next trip. An 

 enthusiast had excited me with accounts of a tyro's remarkable 

 success in that vicinity during early spring, and corrobjration 

 by the judge insured prompt acceptance of his hospitable in- 

 vitation. 



When I repeated to Mack and wrote to Higgins the exhiler- 

 ating accounts of prolonged contests with ten and fifteen- 

 pounds jack and salmon, and three to five pounds bla-jk bass, or 

 "jumpers," as we familiarly call them, they readily agreed to 

 join me in a week's excursion. 



The train was on time, and we embarked well equipped for 

 the jaunt, though literally "under a cloud," from which rain 

 began gently pattering at nightfall and gradually increased to 

 a regular waterspout before midnight, proving decidedly a 

 damp upon anticipations and prospects. Hig. , who is an au- 

 thority on all matters of sport, declared that such a deluge 

 would convert Lake Superior into a mud puddle, and our best 

 policy would be to return with Capt. Sweeney on the morning 

 train. Mack declared that he was off for a week, and sternly 

 opposed the proposition. I voted no, and the matter was set- 

 tled. We anticipated a horseback ride to the judge's, but 

 failing to get a telegram to our host, there was no alternative 

 but to employ Ben Salyers to take us up in his two-horse road 

 wagou. He knew every foot of the twelve miles to Judge 

 Fmbt/M's, "and there ain't a cleverer man in the State of 

 Kentucky, fur 1 lived l»y him onst " and would take us 

 there in his wagon as quick as we could ride it horseback. 

 "Oh, yes! the road is good, except two little hills, and I can 

 take you there in two hours." "No, you needn't walk a 

 f )ot unless you want to, fur I can pull fifty bushels of coal 

 over this country with my team, and my wagon rides easier 

 than a spring wagon." 



That was " spreading it on rather thick," but he was en. 

 gaged to have his rig at the door next morning at 6:30 sharp, 

 and it was there. The train had gone ; clouds were lowering 

 and prospects growing, but the " die was cast," and we hur- 

 riedly loaded our traps and started. Within the first half 

 mile we were constrained to alight and walk down and up the 

 precipitous banks of Bound Stone, and two hundred yards 

 along a muddy tributary, whose stony bed is the wagon road. 

 There were no diamond rain drops glittering in morning sun- 

 shine ; there were no delicious aromas of wild flowers, nor 

 was there music to our ears in the songs of twittering bull, 

 frogs and domestic geese, or the caroling kingfishers and blue- 

 tailed jays. 



The first mile brought us to one of Ben's little hills, which 

 proved a small mountain, rejoicing in the euphonic cognomen 

 of "Gauley," exulting in a summit a mile removed from its 

 base by the most practicable route, and that so precipitous as 

 to preclude all hope of being hauled up by anything short of 

 a four-horse team. A glance at the span of crowbait precipit- 

 tated Hig. and Mack from the wagon, and when the owner 

 looked inquiringly at me I gracefully reached for the lines, 

 with, ' ' Hand me the ribbons, Ben, I'm as good as ever pulled 

 a string over a couple of such fiery steeds, and it is your turn 

 to walk, anyhow." When fairly upon the summit of Gauley 

 the descent begins, but a shorter drive brought us to another 

 rocky rivulet at the foot, where jolting is severe. "Three 

 miles to the depot," greeted us, soon after the passage of 

 Gauley had been successfully made, and our chronometers 

 announced two hours out. We were to be taken through in 

 three hours and a half by tune cars, and nine miles were be- 

 fore us. The second little hill loomed up before us soon after 

 we had passed the three mile post, nor were we surprised to 

 find it a revised and enlarged edition of the first. 



Ben's exercise in scaling Gauley reminded him just before 

 attacking the second tbat he intended to get a pint before he 

 started, but in his great haste to get an early start he forgot it 

 The transparency of the hint was amusing, but it fell upon. 



waste places, and the astute (?) John doubtless thought us a 

 trio of the durndest ones he had ever seen from the bluegrass 

 when assured that he had egregiously blundered in forgetting 

 that pint, as he had charge of a party of Murphy admirers. 

 Having clandestinely taken a reviver on the side of Gauley 

 whilst giving the team a blow, I repeated to Ben a few of the 

 best reasons our last crusader urged against carrying a bottle 

 when you go a fishing, in the meantime taking a sly side 

 glance at my companions. Mention of the article caused 

 Mack's mouth to water, and he nervously loaded his pipe and 

 demanded a light, whilst Hig. desparingly tore a fresh quid 

 from his plug by way of solace, his countenance wearing the 

 expression of one who had just received a dispatch from a 

 friend in distress. Satisfied that he had put his foot in it 

 Ben rallied at sight of Hig.'s tobacco, and applied for a divide 

 of that, with a make the best of it in the tone of his, "Give 

 me a chaw please." 



Aslcontinued to engineer thecraft from the beginning of the 

 steep ascent,Ben enjoyed the luxury of walking up the second 

 mountain also, before he was permitted to resume the driver's 

 seat. When all were again seated in the wagon, humanely- 

 granting the horses a breathing spell, our conductor informed 

 us that we would have a ride of nearly a mile before starting 

 down the mountain, and would pass by a splendid spring of 

 water, of which the quartette craved a draught. 



Mack had dissolved in a flask of whiskey enough quinine to 

 last him during his absence from home— to be used in event 

 of a neuralgic attack — and when he produced it, took a sip 

 and passed to to the driver with a declaration that he earned 

 only medicated spirits, which are rather bad to take till one 

 becomes habituated. We readily comprehend his conclusion, 

 that a pull at that bottle would satisfy Ben with our supply of 

 the very joyful, andinsure a "not any" when we tendered him a 

 drink of the unadulterated from a counterpart of Mack's flask, 

 in wnich a few lumps of white sugar had been deposited for 

 convenient transportation. A smile of exultation spread all 

 over the beneflciary-'s countenance as he grasped the treasure, 

 and the alacrity with which the aforesaid was conveyed to 

 his mouth is best expressed by the adjective charming. 



A wholesome draught was swallowed before full benefit of 

 the quinine was obtained, and a moment's reflection convinced 

 him that he had enough of the nauseating mixture. The 

 bottle was quickly returned to our benefactor, who, with the 

 gravity of a Quaker, handed it back to Hig. and me. The 

 sweetened medicine was successfully substituted, and, after a 

 liberal dose, passed to Mack that he might " take the taste 

 out of his mouth." The -victim made no complaint of the 

 peculiar flavor, as his curious scrutiny of our countenances 

 while drinking failed to detect aught but relish of the sup- 

 posed stuff; but, remarking "The road's good, and we'll 

 make up for lost time," whooped up his steeds, till that 

 splendid spring was reached, at a pace which made it lively 

 for the passengers dodging overhanging boughs and briers, 

 and doubtless suggested to the team that they were being 

 goaded into a triple-quick retreat before an army of blood- 

 thirsty buzzards. The descent of that second little hill was 

 simply hazardous, so steep and rough is it. Both hind- 

 wheels were locked, but the horses were taxed to their utmost 

 to control the wagon and maintain a footing, as it gyrated as 

 recklessly as a greenhorn on skates. At the bottom a sign- 

 hoard Was descried, which proclaimed " Four miles to depot;" 

 another mile to be traveled before the half-way point was 

 reached, and time up. " Oh, the road is sandy, level and 

 shady from here, and we'll soon be there, now," were meant 

 as cheering assurances, but the remarkable facility with which 

 he had reduced mountains to mole-hills, created grave doubts 

 as to Ben's capacity to adequately pass upon good dirt roads, 

 and the correctness of those doubts were established by the re 

 mainder of the drive, for the road was found to be in an infin 

 itely worse condition than when he was last over it three 

 years ago. 



At the half-way place we crossed the North Fork, which is 

 mentioned by the residents only by the name of "Horse 

 Lick." It was both muddy and "on a high." We crossed 

 immediately below an operating corn-mill of the most unique 

 appointments it was ever the good fortune of our trio to 

 see. The architecture of the dam is an infringement upon the 

 beaver plan, but so happily offset by the originality of the 

 remaining appointments there is little probability of prosecu- 

 tion for infringement of patents, should letters be held, am} 

 interested parties catch sight of that institution. Half a 



