488 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[Deo. % 18tta 



every foot of the country for two or three miles in every 

 direction— searching, calling, listening for the answering 

 cry that never came. 



Only the dismal howl of the blast and the singing of 

 the snow crystals answered us. . . 



All night long, hoping against hope, facing the bhs?2ard 

 with a grim determination that did not recognise fatigue 

 or cold, those, hard-handed, big-hearted men scoured the 

 hills and cafions. When daylight came they still 

 searched, and noon found them still facing the storm, 

 but at night they said there was no use to look further 

 until the snow cleared away. We all knew that what we 

 had feared had become a dread reality and that the little 

 one was beyond human aid by that time, for no child 

 could stand such a storm; and we knew that when the 

 sunshine came again we should find the little form stiff- 

 ened and frozen. For two days more the storm lasted 

 and then the sun broke bright and warm from the masses 

 of heavy clouds, and by after dinner the snow was soft 

 and wet on top. All that day we searched and the next 

 day until noon; then one man walked across the hilltop 

 leading his horse and on the horse was bound a little still 

 form. 



The search was over. 



Tenderly we laid the baby on the bed and did our bes't 

 to cheer the little mother, who was wild with grief. 



More than one rough hand was drawn across an equally 

 rough face, and a tear dashed to the ground by men who 

 had not shed tears for many, many long days. They 

 knew the country, knew the awful feelings one so young 

 must have experienced among those gruesome cafions at 

 night and alone in the storm; yes, they knew and they 

 pitied, and they shed tears when they looked at the still 

 f urm. So would you have done. 



They followed the footprints after the show was gone 

 and found that the boy had traveled almost twelve miles 

 that stormy night, and he had jumped square off of a 

 bank about 16ft. high and landed square on his feet; then 

 when exhausted he had crawled into a sheltered nook and 

 gone to sleep— tbe same as grown people have done — had 

 gone to sleep, and sleeping had died, a merciful ending 

 at least. 



We could not hunt after that experience, and Went 

 home without even taking our guns out of the cases. 



Yes, even sportsmen see dark shadows once in awhile 

 and have thoughts that haunt them with unpleasant 

 memories. El Comancho. 



SPORT IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 



The Island of Jersey, which is the most picturesque and 

 fertile island of the Channel Island group (Jersey, Guern- 

 sey, Alderney and Sark), is too well known to require 

 minute description. It is, geographically and geologi- 

 cally speaking, a remarkable island. It occupies, in com- 

 mon with the rest of the group, a position central to two 

 countries of importance among other nations of the world, 

 England and France, and it has been the scene of a his- 

 tory as unique as its situation. 



The small island of St. Helier, near the town of the 

 same name, in the Bay of St. Aubin, on the south side of 

 Jersey, took its name from Helier, a holy man who lived 

 here many centuries ago, and was slain by the pagan 

 Normans. His little cell, with the stone bed, is still 

 shown among the rocks, and in memory of him an abbey 

 was founded, on the site of which now stands Elizabeth 

 Castle, with its old fortifications. 



Jersey is twelve miles from the French coast, about 

 twelve miles long and six broad. 



Its climate is perfection, both in winter and summer 

 (Jersey has the same latitude as Rouen in France). There is 

 no snowfall and the heat of summer is tempered by sea 

 breezes. The interior of the island is undulating and 

 picturesque in the extreme. 



Intersected in various directions by "Devon's Nine 

 Lanes" — each lane is a "study" for the lover of pen and 

 pencil. At the time to which I refer the inhabitants 

 were as ignorant of the sound of a railway whistle as 

 they were of the sight of the tall chimneys of a manufac- 

 turing town. Indeed, the general character of the island 

 was that of a garden in the most picturesque part of that 

 most picturesque county of Merrie England— Devonshire. 

 Is it to be wondered, therefore, that a British "sub." was 

 exuberant with joy on his regiment receiving marching 

 orders to proceed to Jersey — when considered, moreover, 

 that for forty years previously there had not been a whole 

 regiment in the island; a detachment only— and the 

 "Jersey Lilies" (the term applied to Jersey girls in gen- 

 eral, owing to their remarkable beauty) had yet to expe- 

 rience the pleasure of dancing to the music of a regi- 

 mental band. 



Can I, then a young "sub.," ever forget the pride with 

 which I carried the Queen's colors up the hill to barracks 

 to the strains of our tine band on the day of our arrival, 

 when I considered that the eyes of hundreds of pretty 

 girls were turned upon the junior enBign of a marching 

 regiment. 



Every man, woman and child in the island seemed to 

 have assembled to welcome the corps, and as each family 

 brought its basket of flowers, our path to the barracks 

 was literally strewn with flowers, a foretaste of the "rose- 

 bed" of gaiety we afterward found in the island. 



French families and English families (equally divided 

 in numbers) vied with each other in hospitality; and the 

 physical frame of the warrior, in being educated to 

 endure the strain of round after round of picnics, dinners 

 and dances, was put to frequent practical test. 



Then, for a while, as apparently in these notes, the 

 word ' 'sport" found no place. It is true that arnou g regi- 

 mental officers there are those who cannot possibly or 

 conveniently keep up the constant strain of "pipe and 

 « c f*u . ' <Jersev Lil y" bas shot her arrow with 

 effect, but prudence says, "Beware, your purse is slender; 

 a hut at Aldershot 12 x 12 for a wife and three brats is not 

 the place tor you." 



An old bachelor, who had been looking out for a desir- 

 able "girl as partner of his joys and sorrows, and is 

 still, though now a retired general officer, looking out for 

 youth and beauty, said, "I must wait till we move to 

 another st tion; Jersey beauty is only skin deep" 



These and others, in after-dinner reverie, soon siirhed 

 for "sport' —sport at any price. 6 



"Come, let us kill something," is said to be John Bull's 

 first thought after breakfast; nor does this love of snort 

 come with declining years. It is our privilege to know a 

 good and true sportsman of 90 years of age who takes his 

 daily long walk often in search of sport, 



It is but a day or two ago that he stepped out briskly, 

 followed by his bra'ce of terriers,- when he met another 

 old jgentlemah who asked: 



"Where are you going, Tom?" and was given the 

 answer, "I'm going hunting with the terriers. Come 

 along." 



Yes, at 90 years of age he takes as great interest in a rat 

 hunt as at 60 he took pleasure and pride in leading his 

 county hounds on his favorite hunts. 



Long may it be before the love of sport is "improved" 

 out of the Anglo-Saxon heart of man by luxury or by 

 modern civilieatioii, so called. 



The fact remains that even in this civilized age man 

 seeks to "kill sometbing'^with rod and gaff in summer* 

 with shotgun and rifle in winter — horse and gun ate but 

 necessary appendages. 



It was thus that we cast about toR a while in vain for 

 something "to kill." • 



It was about thfe time that I was taking my walk 

 abroad in the western portion of the island in an unf re-- 

 quented place, St. Peter's, when I came Upon a small 

 lake, distant from farmhouse or lane, and when going 

 into its placid waters I observed the unmistakable sign 

 of tench feeding, as they «ttek@d the May fly from the 

 surface of the wate'r. 



Knowing how highly valued by the epicure are these 

 delicious fish if well cooked, they being in taste like the 

 red mullet, 1 revealed my secret to but one, a keen sports- 

 man, aild we at once formed our plan of campaign in 

 orde* to secure tench enough for the morrow's mess dinner. 

 We rose befo're dawn of day ? and, armed with a small 

 sack net, proceeded to our happy hunting grounds. The 

 question whether this was real sport never entered our 

 minds. 



Our net well placed, the two ardent sportsmen (?) 

 made "flank movements," wading deep the while toward 

 the net and beating the waters violently with thick sticks. 

 By pursuing this plan for some time and changing the 

 net from place to place, we secured an abundant supply 

 of fine fish before the sun rose high in the sky. 



The return to barracks of the mud-bespattered youths 

 lies the morning 6 o'clock parade Was being formed was 

 the source of amusement and wonder to the assembled 

 Soldiery. 



Ko less wonder was it , to the gourmands at that day's 

 mess dinner when the bill of fare was found to include 

 tench — tench cooked, too, as it should be — each fish 

 gracefully folded in lis white paper wrapper. We had 

 given the nejcessary instructions on this point to our 

 French Cook, Pat, from the county of Cork. We had also 

 given instructions to the mess waiters not to give informa- 

 tion as to the person or persons who supplied these delicious 

 fish. We kept up the supply daily in this manner to the 

 surprise of the officers. We then, not satisfied with our 

 success, and to improve the flavor of the tench, conceived 

 the idea of giving the fish a few days' bath in a stream 

 flowing into the lake. We made a suitable dam for that 

 purpose, and fished long and Wearily to fill the dam. In 

 doing this we nearly emptied the lake of fish. But then 

 our splendidly Constructed dam was filled with fish 

 enough to supply our mess for many months — so argued 

 the ardent Vpiiths. It proved the old story of ' ' man's 

 proposal.^' One early morning while working hard at our 

 dam we spied a distant figure, that no doubt of an island 

 farmer, like ourselves an early riser, probably looking 

 after his flocks and herds, but we did not like his appear- 

 ance on the scene just then. With some misgivings we 

 returned to barracks. We youths, both of us, had horrid 

 dreams that night — dreams of Jersey farmers robbing us 

 of all we valued most, and then knocking us down and 

 chucking us headlong into our lake. 



Sorry and sad we wended our way at dawn of day on 

 the morrow to the river dam we had so labored to con- 

 struct and render safe for the valued tench. What meets 

 our longing gaze ? The dam is leveled to the ground,, 

 the fish have evidently changed owners— they ate gone ! 

 and a strong adjective is Uttered by at least one of the 

 dejected youths. 



Thus ended our first lesson in search of sport in the 

 island of Jersey. Obstacles and difficulties to the sports- 

 man are things to be removed and overcome. Ask the 

 man who has carried a milicete canoe on a four mile "por- 

 tage," through swamps and morasses, over "crags, knolls 

 and mounds confusedly hurled;" or has on snoWshoes, in 

 heavy snow, hauled toboggan from dawn till dewy eve to 

 reach a supposed "terra incognita" near the watershed of 

 a country for caribou hunting; or has skated seventy miles 

 up some grand river with a high wind in his teeth. "Have 

 you had in your experience difficulties to overcome in 

 search of sport? He will answer, "Yes, many and great," 

 We, knowing this, must have another "try," whatever our 

 reward, for sport in the unpromising island of Jersey. 



One or two of us whose education with horse and hound 

 had not been neglected had imported our hunters from 

 England, where they had been "eating their heads off." 

 Could we but use them in this island. Fox hunting was 

 of course out of the question. Could we have a drag 

 hunt? Our first steps must be to pick up a few hounds. We 

 wrote to many a friendly M, F. H. and employed other 

 means, at last we succeeded in procuring a few good- 

 looking hounds. We formed a small club, master and 

 whip, with half a dozen members, and on one memorable 

 day we "dug out" our hunting breeches and top boots, 

 made great display, published the time and place of the 

 "meet" in the local newspapers, and with all the pomp 

 and circumstance of war — war against an imaginary fox 

 — we meet in a remote part of the island near a detached 

 barrack, St. Peter's. 



All went well for a while. Joe Price, with the scent, 

 went on ahead, the hounds were laid on, and oh, joy! 

 hill and dale soon resounds with the madrigal of music of 

 the hounds, with the sound of the horn and the "view 

 halloo" of the huntsman. The brief, far too brief, "excite- 

 ment produced by the emulation of hunting, and the in- 

 satiable desire to be nearer and nearer still to that fleeting 

 vision which, like happiness, is always just another stride 

 beyond our reach," take possession of us, when suddenly 

 a shot is fired, a shot too apparently in anger, else why 

 that angry crowd of Jersey farmers, armed with shotgun 

 and pitchfork; and why, moreover, our best hound lying 

 dead at our feet as the smoke curled from the muzzle of 

 the gun of a young farmer — all evidently the result of a 

 jealous determination to put a stop to our hunting. We 

 speedily dismounted without word of command, and such 

 a "cabbage garden" fight took place as has not been seen 

 or heard of since the days of Smith O'Brien in Old Ire- 

 land. Suffice it to say that we goon found it difficult to 



stop the fight, for every man of our grenadier company 

 then on detachment appeared oh the SCene^ and with wild 

 Irish yells these giants flung themselves upon the Jersey 

 farmers, now In the minority, and but for the knowledge 

 of discipline on the part of the grenadiers in obeying the 

 Stern orders of their officers the Jersey farmers would 

 have been wiped out, and Vve should soon have^ecured'. 

 free of cost, "close quarters" in the Jersey jail. As it was, 

 complaint was made to the Governor, and hunting was 

 put a stop to. And thus ended our second lesson in search 

 Of Sport in the island of Jersey-, Mie MA.tr. 



Ffl. [I DERId'OW. . . , __ 



THE DEEft HUNT. 



After preliminary arrangements and due preparation, 

 George Seaman? and myself, accompanied by Albert 

 Nemic— -our guile— arrived at our hunting camp. We 

 had written the guide that we wished to camp in some 

 "remote spot where deer were plentiful and little disturbed 

 by hunters. He accordingly landed us on the wild and 

 lonely shore of a charming lake, situated in an extensive 

 wilderness. The cabin was rudely constructed, but eoni' 

 fortable, and was situated on the eastern side of the lake, 

 near the water's edge. 



We had come for many miles through dense forests of 

 pine and hemlock, along hardwood ridges, and across 

 extensive flats and swampy placeB. The country Was 

 broken and dotted by many small lakes that do not appear 

 on maps. Having arranged our camp outfit and put 

 things in order we prepared supper, enjoyed a hearty 

 meal, and commented on our future success in kilting 

 deer, Night had fallen, but the moon was full, and in the 1 

 flood of silvery light the scenery on the lake and aboil i 

 oUr camp was weird, charming and beautiful. Our guide^ 

 is a typical hunter and t^ap'per and ah expert in wood- 

 craft. He has killed a score of bears, trapped all species 

 oc fur-bearing animals to be found within his beat ami 

 has gained a good reputation as an expert rifle shot and 

 all-round hunter* As we sat around the cheerful camp- 

 fire he entertained us by relating numerous thrilling 

 accoiints of exciting and successful exploits in pursuit of 

 various species of game. After the rounds of hunting 

 experiences we rolled in for the night and slept soundly. 



When morning came George and myself were soon off 

 for a hunt, leaving Nemic busy at the camp. The early 

 morning air was cool and bracing. We buttoned our 

 warm hunting jackets closely about us and moved slowly 

 on in open places, traveling on high ground as much as 

 possible and keeping a close lookout for game. Our gen» 

 eral course was northward, facing the* wind, which was 

 only now and then a gentle puff that made but faint 

 sounds in the tree-tops. We soon reached a position 

 where to the east of us was a small lake, fringed by sedgy 

 spots, abrupt terminal ridges and shaggy pines. We were 

 separated from the lake by a deep ravine or gully and a 

 high, narrow ridge, which extended back from the lake 

 to heavily timbered regions. Glancing to his right, my 

 companion discovered what he took to be a deer standing 

 on the ridge. He quickly fired a shot at the object, but 

 missed. Startled by the shot, three deei— two bucks and 

 a doe — were seen, all running on the ridge in the direction 

 of tbe heavy timber and thick cover. 



Bringing my rifle quickly to my face, I held well ahead 

 of the largest buck and pressed the trigger, but without 

 effect, except to add to the fright of the game, which was 

 making tremendous leap3 over brush and fallen timber at 

 long range. A second time my repeater spoke, when 

 down went the buck all in a heap, with a resounding 

 crash. He was hard' hit and did not regain his feet. 1 

 hastened to hicn as quickly as possible, over logs and 

 through brush which filled the tavine, and with the 

 greater part of my wearing apparel still clinging to my 

 person. When I reached my prize the struggle was over, 

 and he lay peacefully upon the ground, with a crimson 

 pool at his side, the blood still dropping from a bullet hole 

 behind, his left shoulder — the terrific effect of 300grs. of 

 lead propelled by 90grs. of powder. This was one of the 

 supreme and thrilling moments of the hunter. His head 

 wa3 partly doubled under him, and I had to straighten out 

 his neck before cutting the throat. 



As I stood over him in silent admiration of his shapely 

 form and enormous proportions, I could not help feeling 

 that I had taken the life of a noble creature. He bote a 

 fine pair of antlers, and was truly a lordly fellow and a 

 "giant of his kind." 



I now began to wonder what had become of George, 

 whom I had lost track of in the excitement of my suc- 

 cess. I remembered hearing him make several rapid 

 shots with his .45-90, and I wondered what effect his 

 shooting had accomplished. 



I accordingly called out co him. A response came from 

 the ridge about thirty rods away in the direction of the 

 timber. I hastened to the spot from whence the rpply 

 came, anxious to relate my success. To my surprise and 

 satisfaction, I found him dressing bis deer. He had killed 

 the other buck. A stab in the haunch of his deer showed 

 that he had recently been overcome in battle, probably 

 by the buck that I had killed. The doe, over which they 

 had waged war for supremacy, escaped unharmed. In 

 due time both deer were dressed and hung up side by side 

 against a pine with overhanging bows. George had shot 

 his buck at a greater distance than I had killed mine, but 

 my deer was a trifle the larger of the two; so I felt as 

 good as he did, although neither of us said much about 

 the affair at the time. We blazed our way back to camp 

 and informed Nemic, that at the other end of the blazed 

 line he would find two as fine deer as any hunter could 

 wish to see waiting to be brought into camp by him as 

 soon as he found it convenient to go after them. 



The next morning we breakfasted by lamp light and 

 started out into the woods early. The air was now warm, 

 but refreshing. The sun finally appeared above the hori- 

 zon, surrounded by a hazy mist. General conditions for- 

 bode a storm in the near future. We had taken a dif- 

 ferent course than on the previous day, owing to the wind, 

 wb ioh had veered to the south. We had no tracking snow 

 to aid us. We were still-hunting and traveled against the 

 wind as much as possible. We finally reached a well- 

 worn game trail, which led between two small lakes. 

 Taking our positions near by, we concluded to wait for a 

 time, hoping that a deer might attempt to pass along the 

 trail, as it was yet early in the day. We waited but a 

 short time, when a fine handsome doe appeared not twelve 

 rods away. She was browsing and constantly on the 

 move— in a nervous sort of way— taking a bite here and 

 there. She was slick and in a fine condition. She would 

 make excellent eating. We concluded that for our pur- 



