ftm, 38. 1883.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



66 



li-ld apt fairly be called a boirafer. Ills offers of help seemed 

 to come rather from an overplus of good nature and a desire 

 to please tlinir from a vain confidence in his own powers In 

 fact, like, some authors, he seemed to mistake inclination for 

 ability, and to recognize no difference between the wish to 

 do and the power to perform. 



His chief delight in life seemed to be to do that which every 

 one else sbuuned. and he fairly revelled in camp drudgery". 

 The more and the dirtier the dishes to be washed, the happier 

 he. What a wary Iron 1. is to the angler, or a bottle of rare 

 old wine to the bon vivant, was a greasy old pot to Skillets. 

 (In justice to ourselves, I must" say 'that we very seldom 

 balked him in his w ild career of pleasure, but generously left 

 Uim unmolested in Ins unbridled pursuit of luxury). 



TVitkin certain hues of limitation Skillets was no mean 

 cook. 



The finer achievement*! of bread llapjaoks, noodles, or 

 crullers were, indeed, beyond his reach, but he could broil a 

 venison steak, fry potatoes, or toast bacon, equal to Sover or 

 Blot. He had a wild theory, however, that coffee and tea 

 were improved by mixing, and many a nauseous dose we 

 swallowed in _ consequence. Once, in a moment of misbe- 

 gotten enthusiasm, he essayed a pot of head cheese, but a 

 misuse of ginger, where pepper was meant, and too great a 

 zeal in the matter of curry powder, rather marred the gen- 

 eral symmetry of th • composition. If was not wasted, how- 

 ever, as he heroically rnortihed i he flesh by eating the last 

 scrap, though evidently sympathizing witfi the feelings of 

 the chap who "cowl I eat crow, but didn't hanker after it." 



Like all truly great men, lie disdained the trivialities of the 

 toilet, and thought once a vear often enough for hair-comb- 

 ing and general ablution. 



He regarded with contemptuous pity, tie.' care which 

 Didaskalos bestowed upon his teeth and linger nails, and 

 wondered "wut'n thunder a grown man wanted tor waste his 

 time in sech triflin' ways ez them air." Stockings he con- 

 temned; "plain, socks, ' angiioe, a cotton cloth wrapped 

 around the foot, were aristocrat!?: enough for him. 



He had no mock delicacy, and was always ready to 

 enlighten our ignorance from his own .stores of knowledge. 

 With that true mod /sty, however, which leads all great wits 

 to father their besi boti mots upon others, he always referred 

 to a certain "Doolcy" as his authority, and his "mildly de- 

 precatory cough, and apologetic murmur of "Dooley wuz a 

 tclliu' me," would have disarmed the severest" critic. 

 Whether this Doole/ was a real historic personage, or only a 

 mythus, like the G.-eek chorus, or the modern""They say," 

 was a question never satisfactorily .settled. We leaned, how- 

 ever, to the opinion that he was a creation of Skillets' own 

 magnanimity, invented for the purpose of preventing our 

 being crushed by an overwhelming sense of our limited 

 know ledge, as compared with liis own vast range of learning 

 and experience, 



A fine sense of delicacy evidently prevented htm from 

 allowing us to feel our inferiority too keenly, and led 

 him to mask his own wealth of attainments under the imper- 

 sonality of Dooley. A healthy tinge of local coloring always 

 redeemed his narrations from that flavor of sameness' which is 

 apt to mar the efforts of the ordinary camp raconteur, Thus, in 

 the story of Samson, wdiieh he once served up for our delecta- 

 tion "the Filly-Stines" became "a eavayard of Greasers 

 down hyur on the lower Sang Wan," the li'on was metamor- 

 phosed into a "he-grizzly,"' and the foxes into "ki- voles." 

 Delilah was "one of them var Spanish mobarries," and "old 

 man Filly-Stine's ea ai grandy," took the place of the Temple 

 of Gaza. 



Of anything in the shape of wit or humor he had abso- 

 lutely no appreciation, and the sharpest retort glanced off his 

 pachydermatous hide, like the bolts of the Merrimac from the 

 iron shell of the Monitor. Tbe most wildly extravagant 

 hunters' yarns were received by him with an unquestioning 

 faith that in this age of general skepticism was truly 

 sublime. In him fie nilwlmimri had reached its highest 

 point of development, end stories of bears that would weigh 

 O.OOOlbs., and rifles that would kill at a point blank of two 

 miles, met from him with a ready credence that would have 

 shamed a five year old child. 



Only once did his faith seem to be shaken, and that was 

 when Didaskalos, yvho had tracked the white bear to bis 

 polar home, spoke of the long arctic night, and of the sun 

 invisible for months; then, indeed, he Staggered for a 

 moment, but soon recovered his mental equilibrium, and, on 

 the. authority of Dooley, proceeded to crush Didaskalos with 

 an account of some tropical country where the sun never 

 shone, and all the light was furnished by a huge "dimun 

 mounting," which lit the country for leagues around. 



Singular to relate, he had no bad habits — neither chewed, 

 smoked, drank, nor swore, and, if he lied, it was totally 

 without malice prepense. How far he believed his own 

 stories, we could never decide. For all that his impassive 

 countenance revealed, lie might have been a cynic, playing 

 upon the credulity of a lot of fools whom' he secretly 

 despised, or a poet, to whom the creations of bis own fancy 

 had all the semblance of reality, or a grown-up child, whose 

 mind had not yet awakened to any 'realizing sense of the 

 difference between the True and the'False. 



He disappeared from among us as mysteriously as he came. 

 Left one day in charge of the camp while the. rest of us were 

 out hunting, he was missing when we returned, nor, so far 

 as we know, lias he been seen since by mortal eye. 



Many were the theories broached 'in after days as to who 

 our strange companion could have been. Of these, two may 

 be taken as representing the extremes; the one, of Jobn : s 

 that he was a half-witted simpleton, who had escaped from 

 some imbecile asylum; the other, of Didaskalos. wdio pro- 

 nounced him to be the materialization of the Non-oesthetie, 

 evolved from the depth of our own inner consciousness, by a 

 differentiation of the homogeneous from the heterogeneous, 

 equilibrated with a segregation of parthenogenetie molecules, 

 superinduced by a reflex automatic movement of the primor- 

 dial ganglionic nerve-centres, consequent upon a peristaltic 

 hyperemia of the peripheral nucleoli of Corticelli's vasella 

 oblongata. As w r e none of us felt inclined to dispute go plain 

 a proposition, we all agreed that such was undoubtedly the 

 case. 



Peace be with thy wanderingfootstcps, O Skillets, wherever 

 thou dost roam! _ Not uoforgotten shalt thou be, thou queer 

 compound of picturesque ugliness and , shambling awicard- 

 ness, of asinine stupidity and bovine meekness, of humble 

 confidence and statuesque uuveracity, of childlike faith and 

 agnostic skepticism! If living, may thy lines fall in pleasant 

 places— if dead — 



Green be the turf above thee, 

 Friend of my hunting- days ! 

 Who mat with none to love thee, 

 Aud fewer still to praise, 



H. P. U, 



REMINISCENCES OF CAMP LIFE. nobody has done anything to you— but it is your nature to 



BoiftS book &r6 lies frae end le eh'd, 



-Viid seme gree,l Uea " ore aever penned 



E'en miiesf.-rs, they hue been kenmil 



fa holy rapture. 



A bousing which at times to vend 

 Aivi nail 't wi' Scripture, 

 tint this that: tarn g-aim to tell, 

 Whieh some time on a. hunt befel, 

 Is just as true as— whisky '1 sell, for some other articles). 



IN a former communication I related an incident, connected 

 with the distance 1 had killed a large buck, and the 

 dubitative remark of my old friend, Kinchcn K, vh.'nhe 

 saw the number of shot holes in the body, so soon as hjk had 

 finished the act of decortication. I" did not tell ltow v, Qlihgly 

 Jim Marshall, a "newcy" in the venatorial art. had taken 

 hold of one end of the pole when the deer was carried to the 

 road, and how reluctantly he bore it upon his shoulder before 

 he had struggled with the load manv yards, and the elegant 

 attitudes Which he presented as he proceeded on his tortuous 

 WSiy. But during the same hunt theaforesaid Jecms afforded 

 his companions no little amusement by his peculiar, and to 

 them original, methods of securing his game. On the occa- 

 sion to wdiieh I refer, he had been "stationed at the corner of 

 an old field wdiieh borders upon the highway. Another 

 "stander" was placed a few hundred yards off, whti soon saw 

 a doe and two fawns run from the head of a branch and stop 

 on the hill beyond the easy rang- of his gun. The. broadside 

 was, however, too tempting for resistance, and, elevating his 

 guu about a foot above the shoulders, he discharged one bar- 

 rel in the forlorn hope t hat one shot 'might take effect. All 

 the deer bounded off, though the doe showed some little signs 

 that she had been hit. Their flight was in the Hue of deems. 

 and soon both barrels of his gun were heard in rapid succes- 

 sion, and shortly thereafter his triumphant voioe'in repeated. 

 yeKs. On our way to him we followed Ihc fraekof the deer, 

 and soon discovered blood. When we reached him his hat 

 was oft. his face Hushed With excitement, his hands bloody, 

 and he was sitting down on the carcass of one of the fawns 

 in a state of physical exhaustion. Where his gim was he did 

 not know r . but supposed it was somewhere on the field of 

 battle. He told us he had killed one and badly wounded 

 another, but whether the doe or fawn he could not tell. We 

 succeeded in finding his guu, but the stock was broken. 

 Upon inquiry as to the cause, be told us that when he went 

 up to the fawn which he had shot down it was not dead, and 

 he had broken bis gun by r knocking it on the head. It was 

 mildly suggested to him that among hunters the muzzle was 

 regarded as the only legitimate end of the gun for use, 

 and the breech was intended to be applied solely to the shoul- 

 der of the sportsman; but a greenhorn, as he was, was prob- 

 ably suffering from the disease called the "buck ager," and 

 was excusable for the application of the most effective part of 

 his weapon, whatever that might lie. He was advised that, in 

 the future a mere bludgeon would answer his purposes equally 

 well with a gun, and if, unfortunately, it should break while 

 he was pommeling a deer he could cut another without ex- 

 pense. Since then our deer hunters call the stock of a gun 

 Jeems Marshall's w r eepon. 



It is almost useless to say that he shot only at one of the 

 deer, and even the w r oundcd doe escaped. 



We also often had with us another character, whom we 

 called Mud, from a faint resemblance of the appellation to his 

 real name. He was lucky in getting shots, but extremely un- 

 lucky in getting meat. Due day it was my misfortune to 

 place the standers. Mud, well knowing 'that I was ac- 

 quainted with the runs, begged that I put him on a good 

 stand, for he was very anxious to kill a deer. I agreed to 

 do so, and accordingly located him where I thought lie would 

 be apt to get a chance; and after this took my ppSiti >n about 

 one hundred and twenty-five yards off, Itw« open pine 

 laud. Not many m mutes passed before 1 heard the dogs in full 

 cry, and then saw four deer heading toward Mud. They passed 

 about twenty yards from him, and were harmlessly saluted by 

 both battels. When 1 went up and asked what was the mat- 

 ter, he very slowly and with measured words told me that he 

 was never cooler in his life, had exact aim on each one of the 

 deer he had shot at, and could not account for the miss, ex- 

 cept that his gun was worthless. He trembled even while he 

 recited the story of his misfortune. I found, on examination, 

 that the shot from each barrel had grounded not far from the 

 feet of the deer, and I told him that for the future he should 

 have a higher aim than any I ever knew him to exhibit, if he 

 wished to gratify the desire of a moderate but laudable am- 

 bition I wanted to know which of the deer he shot at. 



"Why, both of them," said he. "Do you think I would 

 shoot twice at the same one;" 



"No, surely not," said 1, "but there were four and not 

 two. " 



"Well, 1 didn't see but two." 



It was no wonder that such vision failed to do anything, 

 After that we generally managed to place Mud where no 

 deer had been known to run, but somehow or other, they 

 seemed to know where there was no danger, andheshot a good 

 deal, never disappointing their expectation but once, when 

 by the purest accident one happened to kill a fawn. It is but 

 just to say that of very late vears he has greatly improved, 

 ;tnd would be an excellent hunter, except that "he is never 

 ready when others are— the last to get up in the morning, the 

 last to wash his face and eat his breakfast . With these draw- 

 backs, he is a capital fellow, though somewhat uufortunate 

 in the structure and delicacy of his oUactory organs. 



On one occasion (it Avas only last year), Teccel, Mud and I 

 went up to Cleveland county to take a bird hunt. We had 

 been assured by the proprietor of a white sulphur spring that 

 game was abundant, and we could goi ample accommoda- 

 tions, in all respects, at his house. Ln the latter respect we 

 got everything we could desire and at a nominal charge. 

 Birds, however, were not. very numerous, though in the 

 three days we devoted to it we got nearly one hundred and 

 fifty, and had a pleasant time generally. "Te.ceel and 1 occu- 

 pied one room with two beds, whiTe Mud was pH6 in an ad- 

 joining one, which opened into ours. We used sulphiu water 

 for our morning ablution as well as for drinking purposes. 

 One morning alter T. and 1 had heeu up for some time, anil 

 dressed, fully ready for breakfast, Mud was still in bed. We 

 "hollered" at him repeatedly before he waked, and as he 

 got out, he commenced snorting his displeasure at not only 

 being unseasonably aroused from his downy couch, but at "a 

 meanand low-lived trick which had been played off on him." 

 "Now, what are you snarling about, you slow -motioned old 

 granny?" said T. "You know," said Mud. "Neither I nor 

 anybody else can ever account for your conduct," said T. 

 "What is the matter?" "It was a dirty, low-down, mean 

 act, T., and you know it. I didn't think any gentleman 

 would havo stooped so low," Said T, ; "You snarling sloth, 



complain— what are ycu fussing about?" fou know what 

 you did," aakl Mud, "and it was mean— you burnt matches 

 in my room, aud nobody but you would have served me such 

 a sorry trick," As he made 'the last remark, he dipped his 

 hands' in the, basin, leaned his face over, and brought a 

 doiibiediaudful of the odorous water up to his nose, fie sud- 

 denly stopped, turned round and said, "T., I beg your pardon 

 — it was this stinking water that 1 smelt." And We enjoyed 

 the confession, 



In many of our hunting excursion's we had the pleasant 

 companionship of a gentleman named Hare. He was an 

 eager sportsman, but often so excitable that he scarcely 

 knew where he shot, whether his gun was pointing at the 

 ground or at the Ireelops, but would always aver that his 

 aim was perfect. On a certain day Hare was placed near the 

 head of a branch whilelhe drivers hunted it and some border- 

 ing thickets— a capital lying ground for deer. Another 

 stateh-r o.eupied a position about one hundred yards to his 

 right. If so happened that the deer which were started (two 

 does) attempted to pass out on the extreme right of the line, 

 but winding some one of the hunters, made a tack and ran 

 not far from the nearest neighbor of Hare 1 . Coming unex- 

 pectedly, he fired one barrel only, when they got out of sight, 

 going directly for Hare. The warning waVgiven him, and 

 pretty soon both barrels of his gun were heard and then the 

 lusty halloo which generally followed a successful shot. 

 When we got to him he was wild with excitement, declaring 

 that be had killed one and badly wounded the other. Sure 

 enough, one of them lay there stretched upon the ground. The 

 person who made the shot just before Hare fired, at the left 

 side, while H. shot at the right, believing that if was probable, 

 at least, that his gun might have done the work, he asked H. 

 when; he hit the deer. "In the head, of course," said he. 

 "don't you see the blood running from her mouth and nose':" 

 On examination, as she was lying, no wound was visible, 

 but the "party of the first part" had gone back on the track 

 aud fully sixty" yards before the deer reached H. "fresh blood 

 gouts met the view, " and be returned claiming the game. She 

 was turned over and a shot hole on the left settled the quest ion , 

 much to the mortification of our excitable friend. There 

 was no sign that he had hit either deer, and some of the 

 crowd said that they saw the marks of his shot in a pine 

 about twenty feet from the ground. He insisted for some 

 time that he had killed the deer, because she passed by him 

 and then came back, presenting her left side, when his second 

 barrel finished her. But as blood was strewn all along her 

 course the plea would not avail, and he was told that the only 

 possible chance for him was that be shot at the deer when 

 she was more than a hundred yards off and one of the bul- 

 lets had glanced from a. ligktwood stump and hit on the 

 opposite side. But he. had to give it up. 



The last "unco" which I shall relate (at least for the present) 

 took iilace niany years ago in this county, and among a range 

 of high hills which lie between Mountain Creek and Little 

 River. A young lawyer was to have met your correspondent 

 at the house of a bachelor who lived in the hills, but had a 

 plantation in the lowlands. We were to hunt for deer, 

 which were plenty in that section. A guu was carried up 

 for his use, but being detained at the court longer than was 

 expected, he did not "put in an appearance." At the 

 appointed time, however, a person living in an adjoining 

 county— a near relative of the bachelor— came over to indulge 

 in the uncertainties of fishing. He was offered a gun, but 

 replied that he had no confidence in any but his own, and 

 did not desire to go. At last, however," he consented, but 

 insisted that he should see the gun loaded. Of course there 

 was no objection to that. Less than three drachms of gun- 

 powder was put in the right barrel, but as the tube of the 

 left had been broken and a flew one put in, which did not. fit 

 well, a smaller quantity was used for that barrel. Our Pi;-, 

 cator inquired, the cause of the. difference, and on being told, 

 partially declined to go, unless he could use my gun. It w T as 

 tendered, because I knew full well that the fender would 

 make him use the other. It resulted as I expected, and off 

 we went. A negrO took charge of the dogs, and lie went up 

 to the crest of the ridge spoken of, Piscator being placed at 

 what was called then, and is now. "the gap of the moun- 

 tain. " 



in a short while the music of the dogs was heard. It was 

 evident that the deer would pass beyond the standers. To my 

 surprise, however, I heard Piscator "let off" both of his 

 barrels. As he was only a short distance from me, I went to 

 him, and so soon as he saw me he commenced abusing the 

 gun, and declared that if he had had his own he woulofbive 

 killed two deer, as he had oue of the best chances, of his 

 life. He stated, however, that he had badly wounded one. 

 I told him that the guu was tit least of some value, and he had 

 better let me load it, especially as the dogs were still in full 

 cry after a different deer. He said I might if I chose, but he 

 would as lief have no gun at all. I diet load it, and handed 

 it to him. He went on, tracking his wounded deer by the 

 blood. The clogs now approached us rapidly, and very soon 

 I heard Piscator yell. "Look out!" and instantly- his guu fired. 

 It was but a few minutes before we heard the "deer, "and then 

 we prosecuted our search for the wounded one. The place 

 where it fell was soon found, but a deer thief had just bpeu 

 ahead of us. and the " caption and conversion " to his' own 

 uses were made. He (the thief) came to us with the "damned 

 spots" of his guilt on his shirt, alleging thai he had killed 

 one the day before. But the color betrayed him. We then 

 went to "the gap," and put the dogs on the trail of the one 

 whieh Piscator said he missed. ~ It was found dead at the 

 fool of the hill, about two hundred yards off. So, with u 

 worthless gun, and at the same 'stand," and within ten min- 

 utes, Piscator had killed three deer— a feat which is rarelv 

 .achieved. When we went to divide the spoil-., the thief of 

 one whole deer actually demanded and got his sharp of the 

 other two! ' Wki.i.s. 



A Splendid Showing.— The statement of the Mutual 

 Life Insurance Company of New York, F. S. Winston. Pi • 

 sident, published elsewhere, shows that the old and reliable 

 company is in a stronger and more flourishing condition than 

 ever before. Its assets amount to $94.7(>;i,"9.~,~.i.k>, .,„,[ ; [s • 

 surplus, reckoned at New York rate of four and oncJjalf 

 per cent, interest, to over $12,000,000. We believe that no 

 life insurance company in the world can show figules 

 to these. The whole history of the. company, in fact, shows 

 that it is managed by careful and conservative, yet shrewd 

 men of business. Mr. Charles 11. Raymond, who is so well 

 known to all our readers as a thorough sportsman, and a 

 lover of good dogs, is the general agent of the Mutual Com 

 pany for New York city, Long Island and Staten Island, .and 

 those who are interested in life insurance can find him at 141 

 Broadway, or by letter at P. O. Bos 37, Now York city 



