146 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sew. 11, 189©. 



A RIVER. 



LONG ere the ruthless march of trad* 

 Had ribbed the land with suti6et-rea«hinff trail* 

 Or human vandals torn 

 The robe the spring's soft touch has laid 



On Nature's shoulders hare, or sweeping: sails- 

 Like conq'ring banners borne — 

 Had filled with freighted argosies 

 The liquid highways to the seas; 



Young warriors, hastening to the fray, 



A thousand strong, with flashing silver mails 

 And wind-torn crests of white, 

 Have rushed down ravii es far away, 



Their chargers' hoofs, like soft-toned, chiming flails 

 (That thresh to t hreads of light 



The restless beds of pebbles there) 



Stringing linked cadence on the air. 



That melts to silence, as they swell 



Their handed comrades' stealthy march between 

 The walls of forest boush— 

 Whispering faintly as they tell 



Of the ferocious strength that creeps unsean 

 Beneath the outward show 



Of peace and fair security, 



To spring at last upon its prey. 



Though prisoned in high corridors, 



Self-carved in blinded rage from solid rsck 

 Naught but itself its scars, 



Till white with sweat, 'neith storm-kings' spurs. 



It charges with resistless shock 

 Against the puny bars 



Men raise against the mountain god 



And snaps them like a willow rod. 

 BnooKLTN, L. L K. H. 



TRAPPING DAYS. 



HI. — PERIL. 



THE winter following tin departure of the other trap- 

 pers to the settlements, during which I lived alone 

 in the cabin thirty miles beyond the ruo t remote of the 

 settlers, was the most monotonnu^ and lonely of my life. 



"When all bird life had disappeared from the bleak 

 plains, and when nn living thing moved above the snow, 

 save the foxes, the frost reigned supreme. 



The foxes grew at length so very cunning that the 

 most tempting b ait failed to lure them nearer than 50yds. 

 from a trap. Mentioning this to an old trapper of twenty 

 years' experience during the next fummer, he smiled and 

 asked, "Why didn't you bury your bait also? That," he 

 continued, "was the very plan to adopt if you wished to 

 deceive them Bury both trap and bait as though you 

 were trying to hide them securely, and the cunning ani- 

 mals would have soon unearthed them both for you." 



Sam Baker, the partner of Layton, had gone'home at 

 the beginning of the cold weather, and Layton and 

 myself were the only men who wintered on the trapping 

 grounds. Layton's axe broke in the middle of winter, 

 and he was obliged at great risk of freezing to make a 

 trip to the village of Spirit Lake to secure a new one, 

 Btopping at my cabin over night on the journey. The 

 first day after reaching his cabin with the new axe, while 

 chopping down a tree for fuel, the wretched implement, 

 for whieh he had just made the toilsome journey of 120 

 miles on foot, broke squarely in two, and the whole dis- 

 tressing expedition had to be repealed. 



"With the first moderation of the severity of the winter 

 weather during the month of February, Jim returned to 

 the cabin to assist me in the spring catch, which is often 



?uite valuable. Although we did quite well with other 

 ur, the muskrat trapping proved a failure, owing to the 

 intensity of the cold of the winter, which proved excep- 

 tional, and hundreds of rats were frozen to death in their 

 houses, sometimes to the number of half a dozen to each 

 house, and their decaying carcasses appeared among the 

 drifting rushes when the waves washed their houses 

 to pieces in the spring. The same ground which had 

 yielded over a thousand skins in the fall, now carefully 

 trapped for weeks, gave us just ninety-eight rats. 



The first thaw came early and continued until the ice 

 was half gone, and when the wildfowl returned in count- 

 less numbers we grew jubilant over the coming of the 

 spring During the first days of April the cold returned 

 in all its vigor, and again the ice locked everything solid 

 on the surface of the lakes save where the wildfowl 

 swarmed, and by the warmth of their bodies kept open 

 water for a space. 



Jim and I now turned our attention to shooting ducks 

 for their feathers; and the old single barreled, muzzle- 

 loading shotguns proved quite efficient, our best day's 

 score being 67 ducks. 



As our provisions were none too plentiful, and as we 

 wished to stay on the trapping ground as long as was 

 prudent, the dogs, of which we now had two, had long 

 sinee been turned out to forage among the bait carcasses 

 for their food. It may be best to explain that during the 

 fall trapping the bodies of all animals caught in traps and 

 which can be utilized for bait, are, if possible, carried to 

 the cabin and piled conveniently near, both to make food 

 for flesh- eating animals as scarce as possible on the prairie 

 (thereby keeping the wild animals hungry and eager for 

 bait continually), and also to enable the trapper during 

 the cold of winter to have on hand a plentiful supply of 

 bait without the trouble of hunting it. 



It was pretty rough on the dogs, and nothing but our 

 necessities compelled it. It was interesting to observe 

 the choice of the dogs among the different animals. 

 Muskrats were taken first, next badger, skunk or coon 

 without much choice; then fox, next otter, and last of all 

 mink, which was eaten with evident disgust. So severe 

 was the unavoidable lesson, and so keen were the dogs' 

 recollection of it, that it was amusing to the last degree 

 to both Jim and me, when at length the shotguns began 

 to pile up the ducks around the cabin in such heaps that 

 plentiful rations for the dogs were now fullv assured, to 

 observe that so particular was old Coaly (Jim's dog) to 

 make assurance doubly sure, that on a multitude of occa- 

 sions be would rise from his repast, and taking a fine 

 duck in his mouth trot back on the hill and bury it in the 

 dry dirt on the top of the gopher knolls, 

 fhia iiabit of burying meat grew ira-6*a&bte wiQi th« 



old dog and led at length to the most ludicrous incident I 

 ever obsprved. Jim and I were one day walking around 

 the largest slough, and while Jim carried his shotgun I 

 had taken the old muzzleloading rifle, which with the 

 shotguns constituted our only weapons, and as we started 

 to walk around a long narrow arm of the slough two 

 wild geese rose from the water. As they were too far 

 distant for the small shot in Jim's gun I fired at the 

 foremost one and wing-tipped the other, which fell into 

 the water of the narrow slough and Coaly was sent in to 

 retrieve it. Finding himself near the other shore when 

 the goose was secured Coaly dragged him out on that 

 side and disappeared from our sight among the cane 

 which lined the shore, and we hurried around the slough 

 to secure the fowl, if pos-tible, before the dog had torn it. 

 Nearing the place, at length, we met the dog hurrying to 

 meet us, wagging his tail and appearing in an ecstacy of 

 enjoyment over the sport, but no goose was to be seen. 

 Feathers and other evidences of a tusBle were to be seen, 

 but no bird. 



For twenty minutes we hunted all over the narrow 

 point, to which, by the way, the dog seemed quite un- 

 wOling to return, before Jim noticed the black feet of 

 the goose protruding from the black dirt of a gopher- 

 knoll. Unearthing it we found no evidence of its having 

 been hurt, save by the rifle ball, and while thoroughly 

 alive, for some reason it had remained quiet while the 

 dog buried it and made no move that we observed until 

 after we had dug it up. The look of disappointment on 

 the face of the old dog at the failure of his little scheme 

 was indescribable, and we laughed loud and long over 

 the absurd affair, which seemed greatly to increase the 

 dog's discomfiture. 



The time of year had now arrived when danger from 

 the Sioux grew imminent, and yet like many others we 

 grew heedless; and while having good success at fur 

 catching foolishly prolonged our stay .on the trapping 

 grounds, tempted by the hope of more money, the lure 

 which leads others besides trappers to destruction. 



There were only two times in the year when we feared 

 the coming of the Indians. In the early spring, with the 

 coming of the first grass for their ponies, came the cun- 

 ning Sioux, while t yet the grass was insufficient to sus- 

 tain the big American horse of the settler in a possible 

 pursuit; and during the harvest month of summer time, 

 when vegetation for the covering and concealment of the 

 murderous wretches was in its fullest devevelopment, 

 and only during the time of the full moon. With the 

 approach of either of these seasons the apprehensions of 

 the trappers were excited, for during the harvest month 

 many were apt to be traveling along the frontier from 

 one system of lakes or sloughs to another in search of 

 good trapping ground for the coming fall and winter; 

 and of all who were exposed to the depredations of those 

 whom Fremont justly called the 'Arabs of the New 

 World," the one whose situation was the most perilous 

 was unquestionably the isolated trapper. "Waylaid on 

 any one of the many lines of his necessary daily travel 

 in attendance upon his traps, his path was beset with 

 perils which no amount of watchfulness on his part could 

 obviate, and the list was long of adventurous men. who, 

 to gain the means of subsistence for those dependent 

 upon them, sallied forth in quest of furred animals and 

 were never afterward heard of; and the escape from un 

 seen dangers of others seemed at times little less than 

 miraculous. 



The time of the full moon was invariably chosen by 

 the Sioux for their depredations, in order that all their 

 traveling might be done by night and they thereby he 

 enabled to appear unexpectedly in places supposed to be 

 secure, when the charge of the savage upon his helpless 

 victim was as sudden as the leap of the jungle tiger. 



Jim and I were one day attending our muskrat traps in 

 the largest slough, having left the dogs in the shanty, 

 and while Jim paddled down the main lake I attended 

 some traps set in the narrow arm of the slough, where I 

 had shot the goose with the rifle, and regaining the main 

 body of the water and observing Jim's canoe pulled up 

 on the bank far down the lake, paddled on down to him. 

 He greeted me with the question: "Did you hear them 

 dogs?" 



"No," I replied; "I was back in behind the hills, and if 

 they barked it was unknown to me." 



"Well," said Jim, "they barked real savage for a min- 

 ute or so and then stopped, and in a few minutes they 

 turned loose again worse than ever." 



Everything was quiet now at the shanty, and leaving 

 our boats we walked back, scanning carefully any and 

 all cover on our way which might shelter a savage. All 

 was quiet at the shanty, and yet we were uneasy. We 

 knew that besides ourselves there were only a party of 

 three, a man and two boys, camped at Lake" Talcott (an 

 enlargement of Des Moines R;ver similar to Lake Pepin 

 on the Mississippi), and Jim Layton, ten miles above us, 

 who yet remained out on the trapping grounds; and 

 while we were not on the line of travel of the Lake Tal- 

 cott party, if by any chance either of them or any other 

 white man came to us they would go straight to the cabin 

 and easily make friends with the dogs. 



Searching carefully all the ground between the lakes 

 back of the shanty, just one solitary fresh moccasin track 

 was found, about 150yds. northwest of the cabin, on a 

 high knoll, where somehody, trying to get a look at the 

 cabin, had stepped on a gopher knoll. A wink is said to 

 be as good as a nod to a blind man, and taJking the rifle 

 and one shotgun loaded with buckshot, we started im- 

 mediately to the settlements for a team to move our out- 

 fits back to civilization. Securing the team, we went 

 back after our things and brought them in without 

 trouble. 



The man of the Lake Talcott party about this time 

 came in also for a team to move their outfit home, leav- 

 ing the two boys to take care of things until his return. 

 A warm muggy day came while he was absent, and the 

 boys, attending to their traps and carrying their guns 

 around duiing the day, got them both wet, and, boylike, 

 neglecting to clean and dry them in order to render them 

 sure fire when needed, lay down to sleep in their bed 

 without removing their clothing, only drawing off their 

 boots. Their cabin door opened outward, and just at 

 daylight, shortly after they awoke, they observed their 

 door opening and saw an Indian swing'it around and set 

 a stick against it and then spring back and raise his gun 

 alongside two others who stood withguns presented. At 

 the first sight of the Indian the boys sprang from their 

 bed, and while in the act of throwing off the covering 

 and springing, to their foe* the savage* fired. Tbys- dis- 



tance was not over 15ft. (I afterward examined the 

 ground carefully), and while it could not again have been 

 done in a thousand times' trying without both being 

 killed, the only hurt either sustained was a flesh wound by 

 a small bullet through the calf of one of their legs. Seiz- 

 ing their guns, the boys aimed and snapped, but both 

 guns failed to go. Instantly the thought of running, 

 while yet the guns of the Indians were empty, came to 

 their minds, and with a word to each other they sprang 

 through the low door and rushed for the prairie. As 

 they did so, one or more charges (probably from double- 

 barreled guns) greeted their rush for the open air, and 

 the un wounded boy, Tom Kirkpatrick, had a bullet part 

 the hair and graze the skin of his forehead. 



As the Indians ran after them the boys presented their 

 guns, and after this maneuver had been a few times re- 

 peated the wretched cowards turned back to plunder the 

 camp, and the boys were left to make their journey of 

 forty miles to the settlements in their stocking feet over 

 the burnt grass stubs of the prairie. 



In the afternoon the wounded boy declared his inabil- 

 ity to proceed further, and requested Tom to go to the 

 settlement and bring a wagon out for him. Tom accord- 

 ingly hurried on, and just about sunset, while descending 

 the river just above the town of Jackson (which town, by 

 the way, consisted alone of a frontier post office), just as 

 he reached the crest of a low hill and glanoed across the 

 ravine to the summit of the next hill in front, he saw five 

 Sioux, who, catching sight of him at the same instant, 

 came for him on the run, spreading their line like an 

 opening fan as they ran. Tom turned and ducked down 

 behind the hill, and instead of running down the ravine 

 toward the river, turned and run up it and out on the 

 high prairie, where, providentially for him, stood an old 

 deserted field which had belonged to a Norwegian settler 

 murdered in the last massacre, and which, now sur- 

 rounded by a high rail fence, was occupied by a dense 

 crop of tall weeds. Tom sprang over the feree, and in 

 his peril and his fright not forgetting to c irefully part the 

 weeds in front of each step and close them together be- 

 bim, worked his way well out into the field and fell flat. 

 Soon an Indian, quickly followed by two others, appeared 

 perched on the top of the fence, where for minutes, which 

 doubtless were anxious ones for Tom, they surveyed the 

 apparently unbroken expanse of weeds, and at length to 

 his great relief turned back toward the river. Lying 

 quietly until darkness shrouded his movements, Tom. 

 made his way out of the field into the prairie, and mak- 

 ing a wide detour reached the house of a friendly settler 

 a few miles down the river, where just before morning 

 the other boy put in an appearance, having been unable 

 to rest in the cold of approaching night, but compelled 

 thereby to keep moving, and doublees passing the other 

 Indians in the night time. 



These boys both declared that when the Indians chased 

 them at the shanty they saw plainly three fresh scalps 

 dangling from the belt of one of them, and as only three 

 trappers — Jim Layton, Jim Morehead and I— were known 

 to be out, the anxiety among our fiiends was great; and 

 when, all unconscious of the doings of the wretch' s (who, 

 I have no doubt whatever, were the very scoundrels who 

 were foiled by the vigilance of our dog!-), we drove down 

 the hill the next day in sight of the little settlement, a 

 dear brother of mine met us with open hands extended 

 and with a voice unintelligible with emotion, and we 

 learned for the first time what the barking of our dogs at 

 the shanty a few days before had reolly signified. 



Orin Belknap. 



SIX WEEKS WITH A SPARROW FAMILY. 



AS I stood by my chamber window one morning at 

 about six o'clock, I saw a song sparrow on the board 

 walk below, gathering blades of grass. Very soon she 

 disappeared in the side of the terrace, upon which the 

 walk was laid, and when she had disposed of her mate- 

 rials came out and gathered more. I thought she was 

 rather neighborly in selecting a site for her home and 

 was afraid she would soon be frightened away, as it was 

 almost underfoot; but I suppose the birds had learned 

 somehow that we were friendly creatures, arid that we 

 | kept no cat, for thty hive built all round the house ever 

 , since, on the ground, in the lowest crotches and branches 

 > of trees, very near the house, and even on the house 

 j under the ends of the roof. 



i The next morning the bird was there again at work. 



[ Birds build busily early in the morning, before the peo- 

 ple are about, and leave it for the rest of the day. The 



\ next day I walked along below the terrace and looked in 

 upon her as she was sitting on her nest, but as I wpnt 

 very quietly and immediately retreated, she did not fly 

 off. Every person who came in or went out of the side 

 door of the house walked almost over the head of this 

 little bird, but she did not flv off unless we stopped and 

 looked in over the railing. This we ceased to do when we 

 found that she objected to this familiarity. I sometimes 

 looked in when she was away, and after four days' sit- 

 ting there were five eggs. Two weeks later there werefour 

 birdlings. I was frequentlv awaked at five o'clock in 

 the morning by a great outcry among the birds on that 

 side of the house, and going to the window would per- 

 ceive the cause to be our neighbor's black cat. I would 

 induce her to leave in a hurry, and while she fled the 

 birds broke out into songs of thankfulness; then all was 

 silent and I went back to slumber a while longer. 



The sparrows remained in the nest one week, then one 

 day as I entered the yard I saw the mother bird on the 

 trellis of the grape vine, about a rod from the nest, chirp- 

 ing vociferously and anxiously. I feared that the little 

 birds had come to grief, and looking into the nest, saw 

 that it was empty. But when I saw her fly down into 

 the grass and keep silent a moment, I concluded that they 

 were all right, but had just come out into the world and 

 the mother was anxious for their safety for the night. I 

 had noticed that all the while she was chirping she had 

 in her mouth what looked like a bit of dried grass, and I 

 wondered what this was for. I had noticed, also, that she 

 occasionally flew straight upward for three or four feet, 

 and supposed she was trying to teach the little ones to fly, 

 but I thought she was foolish to think that the stupid 

 little things, that I knew fledgelings to be, would look up 

 to see what she was doing. Then I observed that when, 

 <af feer » descent into thegrass, she oame back to her perch 



