THE 



AMERICAN 



SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL. 



Terms, Four Dollars a Voiir. ( 

 Ten Cents a Coyy. ( 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JANUARY 31, 1878- 



J Volume 9— No. 26. 

 INo. HI JFnKon St., N.Y. 



For Forest and Stream and Bod and Gun. 



"gtijkinn §tfgitimxge:' 



'"PHE twelfth of October— as bright an autumn day as ever 

 -*- came to gladden the heart and quicken the pulse of a lover 

 of nature— saw "Jim Perkins," the writer, and his six years 

 old infant, with three dogs, Hector, Sport and Kate, wending 

 their way lo the depot of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad! 

 Dogs and impedimenta aboard, we rolled out for Memphis. 

 On the train we met that prince of sportsmen, Col. Sherrod, 

 of Alabama, en route for the hunting grounds of the Arkansas 

 River. We also met Capt. Keller, one of the finest wing- 

 shots in North Alabama, and a renowned slayer of the Germs 

 virginianus. With them the time was beguiled by much 

 dog and gun talk, the relation of many anecdotes and moving 

 incidents by flood and field. 



Although we had a letter from the General Baggage Mas- 

 ter saying that " It had long been a custom on this road to 

 pass sportsmen's dogs free," and in face and defiance of a 

 printed order, the baggage master persisted in demanding 

 backsheesh for the dogs. The question naturally arises why 

 is " this fchusly ?" Have the officers of the road no authority 

 in the matter ? 



We do not mind paying a baggage-smasher or any other 

 man a fee for taking care of our dogs ; but we do most earn- 

 estly protest against this system of bare-faced robbery. The 

 printed instructions to officers and employees of the road, 

 "read: " Sportsmen's dogs and guns carried free at owner's 

 risk." The most mighty and puissant baggage master says 

 the officers have no right to give any such instructions : and 

 puts in a pitiful whine about "taking bread out of his 

 children's mouths. " Will somebody see to it ? 



We stopped with John Gaston, who knows how to take 

 care of both men and dogs, and we commend him to all sports- 

 men who pass that way. Next day we met Guido, who, we 

 are glad to state, in the language of the immortal Webster, 

 still lives, notwithstanding the combined attacks of "Dog 

 Whip " and "Neophyte." 'Tis true, he is battle-scarred and 

 stained with gore ; but his hand is steady, his eyes bright, and 

 his glorious appetite unimpaired, he can still worry down a 

 couple of dozen, raw or fried. My friend, I congratulate 

 thee ; when this other Richmond came into the Meld 1 thought 

 thou wert a goner. With Guido we called on the Messrs. 

 Bryson, and were shown Orgill's champion Rush. Any 

 words of commendation from us would be superfluous; he can 

 speak for himself on the show bench. We had the pleasure 

 of meeting the learned and courtly ' ; Jim Davis, " who usually 

 gets away with the boys at the trap and in the field. Having 

 seen our friends and made our purchases, we passed the rest 

 of the day lounging in the shade of the elms in the park, feed- 

 ing the squirrels and listlessly watching the fountain squirt, 

 and, attentively, the pretty girls passing. Our boat was be- 

 hind time, and we had to wait as patiently as possible . The 

 route was down the Mississippi and up White River to Mount 

 Adams, Sunday we went aboard the boat, and Guido and 

 Mr. Bryson came down to see us off. The former had kindly 

 loaned me his red setter Bryson, son of Rufus, and a first- 

 class chicken dog. The dogs were comfortably provided for 

 on the hurricane deck ; then the last box and barrel having 

 been put aboard the bell tapped, and the little Ruth loosed 

 from her.moorings steamed slowly out, headed down stream ; 

 left the city with its big red ice-house and battered elevator be- 

 hind ; passed the powder magazines ; passed President's island ; 

 glided by low shores fringed with feathery cypress and wav- 

 ing willows ; and on by sand bars arid as Sahara, now starting 

 a solitary heron, anon a flock of teal. As the sun went down, 

 clouds, bloody red and royal purple, hid him from sight ; a 

 long track of light, reflected from the sky, glittered on the 

 river and stretched far away to the other shore. Behind us— 

 broken by the passage of the boat— the tumbling waves glowed 

 with all the changing colors of the sunset. 



We were on deck at an early hour next morning, still steam- 

 ing on in the mighty Mississippi. Far away on a sand-bar a 

 flock of pelicans — at least a hundred — were drawn up in line 

 like a company of soldiers ; these we put to flight by a rifle ball 

 ricochetted among them. A little further on we saw the 

 mouth of White River, looking like a spring branch. Though 

 narrow, it is remarkably free from sand bars, snags and 

 sawyers. Turning from the watery highway we took this 

 little by-path, and, steaming ahead, pass the mouth of the 

 Arkansas River, which now discharges the volume of its 

 waters through White River. A low. dreary, deeply inun- 

 dated, and almost uninhabited country stretches away on 

 either shore. At the mouth of a little bay we saw a white 

 cross marking the grave of " one more unfortunate " gone to 

 his rest. We amused ourselves during the day firing at 

 herons, egrets and ducks ; and at nightfall reached Indiau 

 Bay, a famous fishing locality. A darky came aboard mi h 

 at least a hundred bass and white perch which he offered for 

 a dollar and a half, and they had all been taken within three 

 hours with "cut bait." 



At midnight we reached Mount Adams, where we were met by 

 our friends. It made me feel wonderfully at home to see a 

 picture of myself —looking calm and serene — in the parlor. 



Next day our friend. Col. Crockett, came over and gave us 

 a hearty welcome. Dear old Bob, many a day, in the times 

 that tried men's souls, have we eaten government mule and 

 hard-tack together. Many a night have' we lain down side by 

 side beneath the stars. 



The morning was devoted to fixing up, and after dinner we 

 started in a light spring wagon behind a fine pair of mules, 

 with seven dogs racing after us. After-a pleasant drive we 

 reached the prairie, and at the first "burn " Byron and Kate 

 began drawing. Mr. Price and Perkins sat on the front seat, 

 the latter gun in hand. Just then some of the other dogs ran 

 in, and up whirred a grouse. ' ' Mark ! mark ! " Jim cut away, 

 and at the report another arose, giving him as fair a side shot 

 as could be wished, but both whizzed away unharmed ; and 

 Jim declared they looked bigger than turkey gobblers. 



At dark we reached the rauche. Here Mr. Price has fitted 

 up a comfortable log-room for the accommodation of himself 

 and friends. After a hearty supper we all turned in and slept 

 the sleep of the blessed. At sunrise we were astir. Price and 

 I in the wagon, Col. Crockett, Perkins and Trice on mules. 

 We started in line, the dogs ranging ahead. The level prairie 

 stretched away in front, dotted here and there with small 

 clumps of trees, and enameled at intervals with a "burn," 

 the bright green contrasting beautifully with the dead grass of 

 the prairie. 



There was not a breath of air astir. The sun shone gorge- 

 ously, and, exhaled by his beams, a thin wreath of vaporlike a 

 " filmy veil of misty lawn " hung over the motionless grass. 

 Herds of fat cattle, washed clean by the recent rain, were 

 feeding on the burns, and lent an air of pastoral beauty to the 

 scene. As we moved on Byron and Hector commenced draw- 

 ing, and soon came down to a stand. The other clogs closed 

 in and backed them. It was a magnificent picture, seven dogs 

 standing on the bright green burn, rigid as if carved in marble, 

 and in attitudes as various as their various colors. Where is 

 the . sportsman whose heart would not thrill at the sight of 

 such a picture ? But some of the dogs were too eager ami ran 

 in, and flushed half a dozen grouse. One came back, and 

 balanced on sailing wings, cleaved the air high above our 

 heads, going like a cannon ball. Perkins turned" in his saddle, 

 pitched up his gun. "Too far," yelled Bob. A puff of 

 smoke, a loud report, and the grouse struggled convulsively- 

 upward, wavered, then recovered, and flew on a hundred 

 yards, seemingly untouched; then suddenly, as if just 

 stricken, it fell like a stone. 



"Hurrah for Jim." "Good shot!" greeted him on all 

 sides. A little further on another covey was stood down. As 

 they rose, Perkins made a good right and left shot, bagging 

 both birds, and Tim knocked down one. The birds were 

 quite wild and many got up out of gunshot. Seeing I would 

 have a better chance with my own dogs, I exchanged my seat 

 in the wagon for a place on deck of 'a mule. Pretty soon I 

 marked down a small covey, and going up the dogs stood 

 them, Kate standing like an old stager." The "muel" was 

 perfectly steady, and riding up to the dogs, with a flwrr, llvrrr, 

 flurrrr, the birds rose. As two crossed in their flight, I cut 

 away and downed them ; the smoke hung in the air, and I 

 could not get in the other barrel until, the rest of the covey 

 were nearly out of gunshot. The dead birds were retrieved 

 and we went to where the covey was marked down. Here 

 they lay well, and five more were brought to bag in a few 

 minutes. Thus we shot until a violent rainstorm forced us to 

 beat a retreat to the ranche. 



We agreed to try the deer next day, anil started early 

 going west from the ranche. A bright, warm day ; the 

 prairie, treeless and vast, stretching in airy undulations far- 

 away. We rode fifty yards apart, and had gone two or three 

 miles when pop, pop, pop from the other end of the line— 

 " too far," no venison. Anxious for Perkins to bag a deer, I 

 had exchanged mules with him, and got on one wilder than 

 the wild, wild bucks— and if he was not a buck himself, he 

 certainly was a bucJcer. 



All at once, right from under his feet springs a monstrous 

 stag, flaunting his flag and bearing a big rocking-chair on his 

 head ; he scuds away through the tall grass at a Ten Broeck 

 hck, nearly frightening the soul from my fearful jug-head. 

 Turning in the saddle, I twisted around until my spinal 

 column had about reached its rotary limit, and fired. Five 

 drachms of powder behind nine " blue whistlers" made a re- 

 port hke a young cannon. Perhaps that animule did not »et 

 away from there ! And the last I saw of the gallant stag 

 bearing his branches sturdily, he pitched— head and tail up' 

 venison hams and all— into the timber of Big Island, saluted 

 by a parting shot from Perkins. Riding over the prairie we 

 saw many fresh beds where the deer had recently lain, but 

 tne ground was too wet for them. We tried the timber, and 

 some of the party got a shot or two at long range. Emerg- 

 ing from the island, black and threatening clouds were piled 

 up in the west, hiding the sun, and bringing over me a feel- 

 ing of mysterious dread and nameless apprehension. In ante- 

 bellum years I had hunted these prairies, and remembered a 

 day— cloudy and dark— when I had been lost, and had ridden 

 for hours before I could find my way to camp. It seemed 

 but yesterday, "tfeufuga&s lalmntm- ami"— 



'■ How tne winters are drifting itke flalces of snow, 

 And tlie summers like bads between." 

 _ I recalled the form and feature of each comrade, and all the 

 incidents of the hunt. In the full strength of mature man- 

 hood, all but one have passed away— gone now, alas ! tc the 

 everlasting hunting grounds. But why recall the past ? Four 



deer bounding over the prairie bring my thoughts suddenly 

 back to the everliving present, aud I dig my spurs into Balaam 

 in the vain effort to urge him into a run to head them off 

 from the timber. 



Away to the west we see the rain, in long, slanting lines 

 pouring down on the sodden prairie, and " lite out " for camp. 

 But we are soon overtaken by a blinding rain storm. The 

 tall grass pelts us in our faces, and dashes the water into ears 

 and nostrils ; and draggled and dreary we plod along in sin- 

 gle file, for six weary miles, and thus reach the ranche. 



Dumb and drenched we are restored to speech by dry cloth- 

 ing aud a smoking supper, forestalled by something hot all 

 round. Gayly the evening passed in song and stoiy ; and late 

 at night we spread ourselves to sleep, and soon all hands were 

 hunting phantom bucks in the boundless prairies of mysterious 

 dreamland. 



I will not weary you with a further recital of the incidents 

 of the hunt. In the amount of game bagged it was not a suc- 

 cess. Each day it rained, and the last 1 thot clucks from the 

 'wagon, as they rose from the prairie, now converted into a sea 

 of water, and we had to strike out for Mount Adams to keep 

 from being cut off by the rising La Goul. But we had lots of 

 f im and met with a whole-souled welcome that did our hearts 

 good. And our pilgrimage will ever be remembered as an 

 oasis in life's desert. 



I met those whom I had long loved and from whom I had 

 long been separated. Jim learned to distinguish a grouse 

 from a gobbler and made the leading score. I took on five 

 pounds, honest avoirdupoise, and came home feeling ten years 

 younger. 



'Our thanks are due, and we hereby tender them, to the 

 Messrs. Price, for their generous hospitality ; to Col. Crockett; 

 to friend Tim ; to Capt. Harry, of the steamer Ruth, and to 

 Capt. Postal, of the steamer Hard Cash ; to the Messrs. Bry- 

 s«n for kind attention : to Wheatly, for his niauy courtesies, 

 and especially, oh ! Guido, for thy dog and thy "Injun rub- 

 ber overcoat";" and last, though not least, to the fair ladies 

 who fixed us that big box of good things— not forgetting the 

 little brown jug— milU graces. 



We would say, en passant, that a most enjoyable voyage 

 might be made "in a small steam yacht up White and Little 

 Red rivers. The fishing is good and the trip could be extended 

 inland by a wagon from St- Charles or Mount Adams, afford- 

 ing an opportunity for grouse and deer shooting. 



Arkansas is a splendid game and fish country — a land that 

 literally flows with milk and honey. We saw no " peach and 

 honey." 



The beef cattle are fine, and the prairie butter beats the 

 oleomargarine a long way. ' 



They have a "rosin weed" on the prairie, the rosin from 

 which is chewed by the Rosalies of the Grand Prairie, and is 

 warranted by me to pull the filling out of your teeth in little 

 less than no time. 



It is the wetest country in wet and the dryest in dry weather 

 on the footstool. In the way of " productions," we saw a 

 a sassafras tree fifteen feet three inches in circumference, five 

 feet from the ground ; and a sturgeon five feet nine inches 

 long, with four barbels on the end of his snout, and his mouth 

 below his shirt collar, which is, I believe, fashionable with his 

 branch of the Ganoid family. 



There was shipped from Mount Adams last year, 1,200 

 prairie chickens, 100 ducks, 1,120 rabbits and hares, 298 

 quails, 240 pigeons, 302 squirrels and 99 deer. 



We spent a pleasant day at the elegant home of Col. Crock- 

 ett, where we saw the portrait of his grandfather, the re- 

 nowned " Davy Crockett." It is not the picture of a rough 

 frontiersman, but has a patrician face, lustrous brown eyes, 

 straight nose, and a fine head. What visions of the Alamo 

 were conjured up by the sight of that picture ; of Travis, of 

 Bonham, of Bowie and of the others, who there made a resist- 

 ance worthy Leonidas and his Spartans. 



We held in our hands the old rifle the hero of the Alamo 

 once used. It is still in perfect repair, and shoots as acurate- 

 ly as when he drew a deadly "bead" through its notched 

 sight ; silver-mounted, with curved maple stock and pistol 

 grip. On the barrel is the following inscription, in gold 

 letters: " Presented by the toting men or Philadelphia 

 to the Hon. David Ckockett, of Tennessee." 



Behind the front sight is a gold arrow with the motto— Aw 

 motto— " Go ahead." In front of the guard is the Goddess of 

 Liberty with the motto, "The constitution and laws." A 

 silver grease box with a coon engraved thereon. A silver 

 deer's head adorns the check piece, and a carved alligator 

 ornaments the guard. On the lock plate a squirrel is en- 

 graved, and the maker's name, "Constable, Holyland, New 

 York." 



If it had not been Sunday we would have fired a few shots 

 with this curious old rifle. 



That night we heard the whistle of the steamer. The 

 farewells were said. We went to the landing, and far up the 

 river a green light and a red one showed high above the 

 water. The regular stroke of the wheel was heard, and the 

 little Hard Cash — looking in the brilliant moonlight like a pile 

 of cotton bales with a couple of smoke stacks sticking out of 

 it— rounded to, lauded, and going aboard we commenced our 

 voyage homeward. 



At Indian Bay, trolling with a Whitehall spoon half an hour, 



we caught seven fine bass and one four-pound channel cat 



being hooked, and the rod handed to the infant, he hauled 



him ashore with mighty exultation. 



The next morning found us ja Memphis, and [the next 



