Oct. 7, 1886.J 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



208 



find tlie.il' way bacli; to the fireside, the peace, the content- 

 ment? How "many fail, and wander down some far dis- 

 tant and divergent steep-walled gorge out into a new 

 world full of strange deceipis and pitfalls. How inaiiy 

 are tliere who, clinibiug to the summit to strain their 

 eyes toward the dawn, have t]ieir blood made sluggish in 

 their veins by the keen ;ind icy wind and so fall down in 

 the corner of some cold rock' to sMver out their lives? 

 How many are tliere.. who, as I did, at length, after long- 

 waiting and wandering, hear a faint calling far off yonder 

 through the gloom, through the woods and hollows, fol- 

 lowing which he comes once more to his own? Have you 

 followed my meaiung? Are you up there now? 



Wlien we had come together agahi Henry told me of 

 the bear sign he had discovered in a thicket about a mile 

 distant, and we hurried home, forming jjlans the while 

 for a great bear Inmt on the morrow. All I have to say 

 about the bear hunt is that the morrow aforesaid luiived 

 but the bear hunt didn't. It rained and we played poker 

 in a tent all day, using grains of corn to bet with. Corn 

 is scarce in that country, so that all day we kept pretty 

 nearly even, and contentment ruled supreme. Toward 

 evening, however, an anarchist with four jacks upset all 

 oui' ideas of property rights, the result of which is that 

 several of us are not now paying any taxes on corn. 



But the next day we had a bear hunt as was a bear 

 hunt. Only, as usual witli us, the bear utterly refused to 

 be conventional. This bear had a cub, and a she bear 

 with cTibs one is of the fiercest animals found in books. 

 Henry jiosted us with our guns at the upper edge of the 

 thicket, while he went in to scare out the bear, the thicket 

 being so thick, he said, that he would not be able to get 

 near enough for a shot; but directly there was a shot and 

 a cry, "Look out, G-eorge, he's comin'" ("George" is I), 

 and oat he or she came sure enough, the only savageness 

 apparent being a savage haste to cross the mountains into 

 Colorado. There were three of ns, Beck, Manny and my- 

 self, Beck with a ,50-caliber express Winchester, Manny 

 with a .4.5-70 Burgess and I Avith a .45-70 Winchester, and 

 the way we made a sieve out of that savage bear is not 

 worth speaking of. It seemed as if Beck shot enough ex- 

 plosive bullets into her after she was dead, and even after 

 the jubilant Henry had come out with a funny, squirm- 

 uig little brown bundle in liis anns, to have blown her into 

 atoms, and yet when we came to count the holes tlieve 

 were only five or six, showing that bears, even at tlieir 

 prosiest, are exciting. I cannot leave this part of my tale 

 without saying something about our marksmanship. 

 According "to this narrative we only shot a deer and a 

 bear, and yet they were running when shot. We, as a 

 body, were pretty good shots with both rifle and shotgun, 

 and there were among us one or two who could smash 

 bottles thrown in the air with a rifle three times out of 

 foui', and when I say thrown in the an- I mean tlu-own as 

 high as a house; and we didn't meet any wild Westerners 

 down there who could begin to beat us. 



But the little bear is here at last, and I mustn't keej) 

 you waiting to see Mm. We judged he was tlnee months 

 old when we got him. Now if you ^vant to see some- 

 thing funny look at Bike— that's"^ his name, in honor to 

 the Bicycle Club. From his pink tongue and his black, 

 beady eyes to his baby feet and his rather threatening 

 claws, he is about the most enticing little shaver, whether 

 on two legs or four (and he don't care which, for he can 

 go it either way), that walks the earth; but natm-ally 

 those things which most endear Mm to us are his bad 

 traits of character. I have read something somewhere 

 about the beauty of goodness, but for something that is 

 really just too sweet to live, give me a real low-down, 

 wicked, unprincipled little cub bear. We never before 

 knew what was meant by bearishness, and have ever 

 since felt remorse at ever having called j)igs hoggish. 

 When we found that he could catch a dog twice his size 

 that interfered witlj his dinner, and hold on to him, our 

 delight became ecstatic, and when, by way of variety, he 

 Mt the setter Jack with his paw and sent him a-flymg, 

 we fairly fell to and hugged him, during which' process 

 he bit Beck on his hand, and that was all that was neces- 

 sary to complete our bliss. When he speedily thereafter 

 drew blood from Manny and Hemy resiDectively and in 

 succession, om- joy was toucMng. " To have a bear was 

 glorious, but to have one so full of original sin as this one 

 was more than human heart could have longed for — but 

 this was not all. Reid handed him a lighted cigarette to 

 see him sniff at it, and, ye gods! he swallowed it so 

 quickly that Eeid could hardly let go. A fire-eater! 

 'Twas too much. Our happiness became hysteric. We 

 fell on everybody's neck (but Bike's) and wept. 



And the way he can swear! As scars multipHed onom- 

 hands, we found it necessary to whip him whenever he 

 ofl:ered to bite, and at such times he stands upon his hind 

 legs and opens his mouth at an angle of a letter V that is 

 broken at the joint and opens up his bass voice and cusses 

 his luck in a way that makes us just sit and hold each 

 other's hands in rapture. Henry would say: "Just hear 

 the dad burned pidilonymous little devil cuss!" When he 

 would get tln-ough, for a time there would be an occa- 

 sional outbreak or sob, for all the world like that of a 

 httle child until, the ti-oiible over and forgotten, he would 

 be ready for any new excitement that offered, whether in 

 the way of i^lain eating or complicated with any of the 

 numerous sins he dehghts in committing. He is now an 

 active member of the club, lives in style in the back yard, 

 off the tennis courts, and swears he is going to ride a try- 

 cicle in the coming wheelmen's parade. 



I cannot leave our camping grounds and their memor- 

 ies, however, without telling about Hemy's party. The 

 conversation turned upon society and the fair sex one 

 night around the camp-fire and at length it came Henry's 

 turn to speak. 



"No sir," and he reached down to the fii-e with those 

 mu-aculous fire|)roof fingers of his for a Hve ember for 

 his pipe, "I ain t got no use fm- women folks. They's 

 allays a-raisin' hell wherever you find 'em. Oh, of course 

 take it where they is just one by herself, she can't hui-t 

 nothin'. They's nobody to kick up a row with. Now 

 down there on the Trampares there was four women 

 came in there lately. They only live about eighteen mile 

 apart and two of them is just in speakin' distance— tMee 

 miles— and I'll be blamed if they'd been there tMee 

 months till they had everybody in hot water. Nice 

 women's you want to see, too. Only it's in 'em." 



' 'Why I didn't think there were any women down there.' 

 some one said. 



'•Oh, tlumder! yes; they's swarms of 'em if you go fur 

 'em. You'd ought to see the party I give last New Year's! 

 That's where you saw women. And it was sure a party, 



^'oo. Why, they hasn't been one like it in this part of the 

 country. They was over thirteen women. And they 

 was one room witli a table full of pies and cakes and 

 meat and game and everytMng you could think of, 'n' 

 puddin's, 'n" pickles, 'n' candy, 'n' toward mornin' it set in 

 rainin' 'n' kept it up aE day, 'n' so did we. Himi! We 

 just natiu-ally wore out the ranch. 'N' it didn't stop rain- 

 in' the next night, so we says, 'Let's keep her up anotlier 

 night,' 'n' I'll be sizguzzled 'if we didn't. And nary a fight 

 nor a fuss from the time it started till it stopped. 



"You see I was a runnin' things. It was my party, I 

 paid over ,ft60 for the cookin', n' I jest met every feller at 

 the door 'n* took his gun away from him, 'n' they wasn't a 

 dadburned feller on that ranch could open his mouth." 



"You had the only res olver, had you?" 



"No, I didn't even have my own; but I knowed where 

 I could get one awful quick. They never was a quieter 

 time 'n' a nicer time. I just thought that I'd show folks 

 how we used to do it back in the States." G. K. A. 

 St. Louis, Mo. 



TRAVELS IN BOON GAH ARRAHBIGGEE 



FROM THE DIARY OF JOSEPH GOATER. 

 EDETBD BY F. H. TE5IPLE BBIjLEW. 



(Oontimied.) 



WE found om- camp on the borders of the lake under the 

 Mosomea tree so delightful that I resolved to stay 

 there some time and thence make explorations into the sur- 

 rounding country. Tliougli I still had a good supply of 

 gunpowder and fixed ammunition left I knew^ it could 

 not last forever, I therefore resolved to economize as much 

 as possible, only using it on large game, and in other 

 cases where absolutely necessary. At the same time I 

 kept my eyes open for any evidences of nitre and sulphur 

 in the geological formation of the earth. I also studied 

 the methods adopted by the natives for capturing game 

 and also set my own wits to work devising new traps and 

 instruments for the same purpose. One simple device of 

 the natives for catcMng deer I often employed. It con- 

 sisted in attaching a strong and flexible cord made of the 

 goMvich to the horizontal limb of a tree, and then slowly 

 pulling the limb down as far as it would go, and so fast- 

 ening it that when a deer attempted to pass the trap he 

 would release the limb, which in its powerful recoil would 

 tighten the rope and drag the animal to the earth. To 

 describe this trap understandingly in words would be 

 almost impossible, but a careful examination of my 

 sketches will make it clear to any intelligent reader. 



Fig. 1. 

 A A— Gobwioli rope. 



B— A loop of gobwich attached to t]\e trunk of a shrub through 

 which tlie rope is reeved, the loop as well as the rope at this point 

 is lubricated with fat to make it run smoothly. 



O— A wooden staple firml J- driven into the ground for the same 

 purpose as the loop. 



D— The catch or trig which holds the limb down. 



E— That part of trig whicli the game in passing pushes away, so 

 releasing the rope and causing itself to be dragged to the earth. 



F F— At this point sharp-hooked thorns are twisted into the 

 rope, exactly on the principle of a barbed wire fence, to still 

 further secure the game. 



Fig. 2. 



Fig 2 represents a deer caught in the ti-ap. By this 

 means we caught much game and kept om- table well sup- 

 pUed with fresh meat, particularly that of a small deer 

 much resembling the axis or spotted deer of India and 

 Ceylon, though not so large. The trap we usually set in 

 one of the narrow tracks or footpaths they were accus- 

 tomed to take on then- way to drink at the lake. 



One day while in search of a good spot to set one of 

 these traps— for we never set them twice in the same 

 place in succession for fear of alarmmg the game— I ob- 

 served a large and luxuriant bush, into and out of which 

 a swarrn of small birds were continually flying with rest- 

 less activity. My curiosity being excited', I approached 

 the sMub and gently parted the leaves with my hands. 

 Immediately my ears were gr-eeted with the most piercing 

 and confused shriekings and puffing groans or sobs^ while 

 the plant became violently agitated. At the same moment 

 all the birds disappeared. After a few moments the 

 noises died away, and I again, with some trepidation and 



caution, ventured to approach the plant. This time, 

 instead of parting the leaves with my hands, I pushed 

 them aside with the end of my rifle, in order to be pre- 

 pared for any concealed enemy that might be liu-king 

 thereui. To my no little surprise no commotion followed 

 tMs action. Peering in I observed that the stems and 

 main Hmbs of the shrub were covered with globular 

 warts or excrescences, witli an orifice at one side, and 

 somewhat resembling the nests of certain swallows on a 

 small scale, for they Avere not much larger than butter- 

 nuts. These were, indeed, the nests of the birds I had 

 seen flying in and out, for I soon saw then- little ruby 

 heads and long bills protruding from the orifices I have 

 mentioned. The birds themselves in form resembled our 

 wren, though the bill was longer and the colors were of 



The Tatta-Woo. 



the most brilliant description, the head being emerald, 

 the throat ruby, the back wings jet black and the under 

 X>art white. The natives called them tatta woo, meaning- 

 little bird. They did not seem familiar with it, and I 

 doubt whether they had ever seen it before. 



On trying to reach one of the nests with my hand, the 

 shrieks "that had startled me so much at first were re- 

 newed with great vigor. I then discovered that tMs noise 

 proceeded from the plant itself, being produced by iimu- 

 merable trampet flowers, having a sack or bellows at 

 one end that contracted when touched by animal flesh 

 and forced air through the tube of the flower that was 

 provided with an instrument something on the princijjle 



Flowers op the Howlikg Bush. 



of the tube of a reed organ. I found thatinammate mat- 

 ter, such as wood, stone or metal, or even horn, bone, 

 feathers or claws of birds had not the power of exciting 

 this plant and eliciting the noises. Only warm flesh and 

 blood in the living animal could produce that effect. I 

 frightened poor Juno almost out of her canine wits by 

 sending her into one of these bushes after a stone, whence 

 she came tearing out with her tail between her legs and 

 her eyes starting out their sockets, as though she had 

 just seen Cerberus or the ghosts of all the meat pies and 

 mutton chops she had ever stolen during the whole com-se 

 of her guilty career. She did not stop until she had put a 

 hundred feet of honest greensward between her and the 

 baleful bush, and then she turned round and bayed back 

 at the shrieking vegetable, with a mingled howl of in- 

 dignation and terror, a mixture of bravado and funk 

 that was ludicrous to the last degree. Anything 

 in the way of animal life, four-footed or two-footed or no 

 footed, a tangible livmg creature, Jimo would face with 

 equanimity and courage, but this mysterious noise, of in- 

 tangible origin, coming out of a mere vegetable, was an 

 impertinence too intolerable to be endured. Toptee boldly 

 tM-ust his black fist in among the leaves, but scuttled off 

 almost as much alarmed as the dog. All my native 

 attendants tried it successively until they grew accus- 

 tomed to it, and then it seemed to furnish them with an 

 endless source of amusement. The rabbits, rats, catta- 

 toops, wam-wams and indeed all other quadrupeds gave 

 this plant a wide berth, while the big tube bill as well as 

 the rest of the bii-ds seemed to respect it as the home and 

 sanctuary of the little tatta woo. It was not until long 

 a^fterward I discovered that these interesting creatures 

 lived together on somewhat communistic principles, hav- 

 ing a common supply of honey stored uj) in a large reser- 

 vou- in the center of their difl:erent groups of nests for use 

 in the dry season and stormy weather. They also fed 

 each other's young when they heard them crying for food, 

 and performed a like office for then' neighbors when hatch- 

 ing. They were as courageous as bii-ds of Paradise, and 

 defended their homes in platoons against certain large 

 spiders and beetles that were tempted to prey on their 

 honey, eggs and young. I have seen a perfect cloud of 

 them attack and pick to death a smaU. but vicious species 

 of cat that had made an assault on a stray and inexperi- 

 enced member of their fraternity. 



