168 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 18, 1890 



"Shec up, duni ye. An' thar's six or seven ka-ows an' 

 heifers layin' up thar; been eatin' that ar blue weed what 

 the man last summer called h-h — . Go! durned hard luck, 

 stranger, durned hard lack." 



"Ya'as, Jeezns, pretty tough on yer, but it's nuthin' to 

 what yer mam an' me went thru' nigh on to forty years 

 ago." The voice was that of the patriaich of the family. 

 He had come to the door to get full particulars and to en- 

 courage his son to bear up under the weighty misfor- 

 tune. 



"Ef I could git up to Gunnison a,nd git some strych- 

 nine I'd hev a lot of bar scalps and hides, but pizen ain't 

 no good fur lions." 



"So, pap!" This time the kid wanted to corroborate. 



"Shet up, you lazy whelp. I'll break every bone in 



your ." But the boy and the mare wore 



making tracks for the corral, and before Jack returned, 

 the Carpenters and I had made our plans for a hunt and 

 trap for three or four days, I had come for trout and to 

 toe this was an unexpected pleasure, as I had not had a 

 rifle in my hand for three years. 



The Carpenters were born hunters. Half a century 

 ago the old man hunted the black bear in the mouutains 

 of North Carolina. Thirty-five years ago, with his wife 

 and the then youthful Jeems, he journeyed across the 

 plains to Utah and embraced the Mormon 'faith. He in- 

 tended to settle down on a little farm and raise hops, al-. 

 falfa and potatoes, go to meeting on Sundays and pay his 

 tithing. But what was innate could not be entirely eradi- 

 cated, so after a few years Jeems married, Mary Ann 

 died and the old man gave his farm to the boy, should- 

 ered his rifle and lived a life of solitude and strange ad- 

 venture. Then Jack was born and Jeems began to desert 

 his home and take long trips into the mountains, return- 

 ing with plenty of pelts and hides, which when converted 

 into shining double eagles, burned big holes in his pock- 

 ets. The old man, they always called him "Pap," and I 

 don't know that he had any other name, built a cabin on 

 Soap Creek, and when the railroad was built Jeems and 

 his wife joined him. The three men pretended to raise 

 a little corn for the stock. The summers were so short 

 and they planted it so late that it was always u*ed for 

 green fodder. The lonely woman did the housework and 

 looked after the little vegetable patch, so different from 

 the beautiful gardens she had known in Utah Valley. 

 Jack should have helped her, but when he was not fish- 

 ing he was up the creek after deer. Long after I wrapped 

 my blankets about me and lay down in the haystack I 

 nursed the strange stories that "Pap" had told and— 



"Git up, you lazy cusses. Mam's done got breakfust 

 nigh cooked an' you uns aint got life enough to git aout 

 o' the sua." 



Jeems was stretching matters a little, as it was yet gray 

 dawn and "powerful" cold. But we were dressed in less 

 time than it takes to tell it. Mrs. G^penters coffee and 

 flapjacks were duly appreciated. The packing was a 

 longer job. We took six horses. Three of them were 

 pack animals, and poor Jack, being the youngest and 

 toughest of the bipeds, had to walk. He might have had 

 a pack saddle, but if his early experience was anything like 

 mine any other locomotion would be preferable. The old 

 man, in spite of his five-and-sixty years, was the most 

 enthusiastic of the party and assured us that he was quite 

 a boy again. 



At 6 o'clock we started for the head of the creek, Jeems 

 leading, I second, the old man next and Jack with the 

 pack-train bringing up the rear. Slowly we wound 

 across the pasture lot, as stony as any New England hill- 

 side, out into the natural meadow where the grasses were 

 browning under the August sun, up into the narrow 

 canon. The trail was rough. It was never more than 

 10yds. from the brook. Sometimes it was fringed with 

 willows, and our steeds would stumble over the holes of 

 skunks, rnuskrats and similar varmint. Again it was 

 among the aspens, and we saw where some brave stag 

 last night had made his bed, and now we went under the 

 cold dark spruces, and the black walls of rock on either 

 side made it seem as though we had stepped both into 

 winter and into night. The air was oppressively still, but 

 the brook laughed on and the tops of the spruces reached 

 away into the sunlight, and up there we could hear the 

 squirrels chattering one to the other. About our feet 

 were mouldy decaying logs, and there were bones of 

 animals that had died by the sparkling water long before 

 the white man invaded the primeval solitude. Side by 

 side lay the cast-off antlers of the wapiti and the skull of 

 the bear, and over and about them twined the purple 

 vetch, and the bleaching skeletons were veiled in long- 

 plumed clematis, and from the rotten logs soft mosses 

 and more delicate lichens drew their life. 



Thus far we had seen no animal life excepting a few 

 song birds and the white tail of a hare that consideratelv 

 got out of the way and allowed us to pass. But now I 

 cast my eye up and on a brown limb, about 20ffc. from the 

 ground, sat a brown bird. I recognized the solitary male 

 in an instant and wondered what he was doing in such a 

 position at this time of day and season of the year. Still 

 I did not study long. I had the only shotgun in the party, 

 so I dismounted and handed the reins to the old man. An 

 instant afterward there was a shot, and flash of feathers 

 and a thud. The squirrels set up a chattering that must 

 have been heard a mile. As usual Jack forgot his duties 

 and ran forward to pick up the game which lay at my 

 feet. "Humph!" said he, "it's nothing but one o' them 

 ar bi-own sage hens." 



"It's a typical dusky grouse," said I, but Jack was run- 

 ning frantically down the trail to stop one of his equine 

 charges. Ab we rode along, he astride of the bedding, 

 for his unusual exertions had been too much for him, I 

 enlightened him as to the distinguishing marks of Cen- 

 trocercus and Dendragapus. I am afraid my lesson was 

 wasted, for, as I passed forward, I heard something about 

 folks that are "too gol darned smart to call things by 

 their right names." 



At 9 o'clock we had come 14 miles. It had been a hard 

 ride, but the hardest was yet before us. The canon 

 opened into a little park. There was an old beaver dam 

 at this point and I begged for an hour's rest, upon which 

 I knew Jeems had already determined. Packs were laid 

 upon the ground, cinches loosened and we had an oppor- 

 tunity to stretch ourselves. Jeems said we were going 

 too high up for fishing. Nevertheless I had put a few 

 Nos. 8 and 6 hooks and a line in my pocket. A willow 

 sapling and a grasshopper completed the outfit. The 

 water was low and clear. Peering through the bushes I 

 could see half a dozen little trout sunning themselves. I 

 The sapling stretched out over the stream. The grass- ' 



■ hopper fluttered slowly toward the water. It never 

 touched it. There was a flash, a splash, and an 8in. 

 specimen lay quivering on the bank. Seven of his com- 

 panions were strung beside him, when a shout gave notice 

 that the cavalcade was ready to cont inue their peregrina- 

 tions. The party supposed that I was sleeping and my 

 trophies were greeted with a shout. Dinner was secured. 

 For supper we must depend upon our rifles. 



Oh, the misery of that two hours' climb! The canon 

 narrowed. The trees were left below, and there was 

 nothing but the. bare rocks and the water that separated 

 them. We made our way up to the mesa and then be- 

 neath the hot sun, amid sage brush and scrub oaks, we 

 straggled on, making a beeline for the peak, while the 

 stream took a wide detour. At length it was over. We 

 saw the green canon line bending in our direction. Then 

 we saw the opening where the poison larkspur grew and 

 the slaughtered colt. The wind came from the snow 

 banks. Elk Creek Mountain was above. The little 

 brook was scarcely a yard wide. Under the pine3 we 

 stopped, threw ourselves on the ground, drank long and 

 deep of the icy waters, and then made camp. This was 

 not a difficult task as the cabin was already built and 

 provided with cooking utensils. The Carpenters u-=ed it 

 on their hunting expeditions and on the annual "round 

 up," though in this region they gathered in no other 

 horses and cattle than their own. We knew our parts. 

 Jack looked after the horses and transferred their loads 

 to the cabin, Pap cleaned the fish and grouse, Jeems 

 made the bread, while I built the fire, and manipulated 

 the frying pan and coffee pot. Jack thought he was 

 having an easy time, but the hour of retribution came 

 after dinner, when I flatly declared that the dishes and 

 utensils must be washed or I wouldn't eat another meal 

 in camp, and Master Jack was unwillingly set to work. 

 Then the three men started to build a bear trap, and I 

 took my rifle and wandered up and around the moun- 

 tain, out of sight and sound of my companions. So, by 

 a circuitous route, as old Caesar would say, I reached 

 the spot at which I commenced this story. 



There is a mystic subtle spell about these magnificent 

 mountain distances that the dwellers by the seashore 

 cannot appreciate. The foreground and its detail are 

 lost to view, and there is a succession of heaped-up rolling 

 of billows that spread away a hundred miles or more, 

 green, gray, purple and blue, earth aud skyline lost in 

 space. How restful it is! I do not know how I took my 

 eyes from the scene before me and looked down into the 

 canon below. A slowly moving streak of tawny gray 

 arrested my attention. It was not more than 75yds. 

 away, a Lynx maculatus, bent upon some death-dealing 

 errand, for it crawled and crouched and now and again 

 lifted its head to scent its quarry. My rifle was brought 

 to bear upon it, but I would give it another 50yds. It 

 stopped. The great tail switched nervously; the body 

 trembled. I saw nothing but the great cat. There was 

 a parting of the sarvice berries. A doe and half-grown 

 fawn were on their feet and bounding up the opposite 

 bank. The lion sprang. It would have been a moment's 

 job for him to have caught them, but as he leaped I fired, 

 aiming sufficiently high, as I thought, to catch him in 

 mid-air. I was so interested in waiting to see his second 

 leap that I forgot the deer until it was too late to secure 

 them. The second jump was a long time coming, and I 

 was about ready to descend from my shelf, when there 

 was the most unearthly yowling and spitting down in 

 the bushes. That beast acted exactly like a domestic cat 

 in a fit. By and by he cooled down a little and walked 

 this way and that in a most defiant manner, as though 

 trying to find out what struck him. Fortunately he 

 never learned, for as he stood there with his broad side to 

 the mountain, sniffing and irresolute, a little less than 

 300 grains of lead got inside of his ribs and he dropped in 

 his tracks. When I felt certain that he was quite dead I 

 examined his head and found that the first ball had struck 

 the base of the skull and glanced forward to the ear. It 

 must have produced a temporary paralysis. 



The Carpenters took no notice of my shots, so I wan- 

 dered back to camp in a most exalted frame of mind and 

 related the exploit. Jack thought that no one but a "ten- 

 derfoot" would have lost the deer; but I cared nothing 

 for his insinuations. However, he was willing enough to 

 go with me and spcure the fur and head. Jeems was 

 overjoyed, and declared that I might live with him a 

 month and he would never charge me a cent for board. 



But time was getting late. The sun was sloping to the 

 wpst and venison must be procured; so the old man and 

 Jeems started in one direction, while Jack and I took a 

 pack horse and also our rifles and went back for the spoils 

 of war. The horse snorted and plunged a little as he 

 came to the carcas*, but that was all we had for excite- 

 ment. When once more at the hut, I stretched the skin 

 and then made the fire and prepared to welcome the wan- 

 derers. 



My hands were in the dough and Jack was watering 

 the live stock, when a shot close by made me look up. 

 There they were on the hill not a quarter of a mile away. 

 The old man was coolly recharging the muzzleloader 

 that he would not exchange for the finest express ever 

 made, and Jeems was jumping down into a little arroya, 

 from which he threw up the carcass of a yearling buck. 

 It took but a minute to dress it and each bore a hind- 

 quarter into camp. 



We thought of dragging the remainder of the deer to 

 where the dead cattle lay, but unless we dragged it along 

 the trail that the bears we*-- customed to take it would 

 do no good. W r w __i a iter ward glad that we let it alone. 

 While I had been out on my lion hunt my partners had 

 arranged a place of concealment near the cattle, and the 

 bears were sure to be around between 8 and 10 o'clock. 

 After supper we went to the ambuscade, and before dark 

 I had a pretty fair idea of the ground. The cattle had 

 come down to drink and had eaten the larkspur that is 

 so common on moist uplands. Then they had wandered 

 back toward the mesa, and as they reached the open and 

 began to climb their strength failed. They were from 

 thirty to fifty yards from the water, and two clumps of 

 willows near the brook had been chosen as our posts. A 

 little mound had been thrown up behind which two of us 

 could lie, and if bruin charged he would probably go clear 

 over us and into the water. The wind was in our favor. 

 Each party could view the entire field. We had upward 

 shots, and, as the ground about the cattle and along the 

 bears' trail to the mountain had not been walked over, we 

 believed that the whole family would come to the feast. 

 Jack and his grandeire lay behind one bush, Jeems and I 

 behind the other, We hardly dared whisper to each 



other, much less smoke; so I silently borrowed a mouth- 

 ful of Cdmax. As I am not a chewist, it had the effect of 

 producing a profuse perspiration and of keeping me quiet 

 for at least an hour. 



It was late twilight. In a couple of hours the moon 

 would be gone. The only sounds were the rippling of the 

 brook and the sigh of the night hawk. Jeems poked me 

 with his elbow and laid his ear to the ground. There was 

 a slow, heavy tread not over a quarter of a mile away. 

 We got up and peered between the willows out upon the 

 sidehill where the moonlight fell. There was a crackling 

 of the sage brush, a sniffing of the air and a dark object 

 came into view about 100yds. away. The other party had 

 been warned to let the first shotcome from us, and jeems 

 determined to await developments. Bear No. 1 advanced 

 without hesitation to the first carcass, nosed it a little, 

 and then made a critical inspection of the field, finally 

 selecting his meat and commencing to eat. \ve would 

 have fired, but, before he lay down to his task No. 2 ap- 

 peared on the scene. We took them for young cinnamon. 

 No. 1 growled and bristled up for a fight, and for a 

 moment it seemed as though there would be a scrimmage, 

 but No. 2 knew his rival and did not provoke him. He 

 selected a carcass some distance away, and after taking a 

 great bite would stand up for a second and look at No. 1, 

 who, all unconcerned, was gorging himself at a great rate. 

 He quartered toward us. 



"Now is your chance," whispered Jeems. It was proba- 

 ble that Pap and Jack already had their rifles trained on 

 No. 2 and were only waiting for us to give the signal. 

 Jeems was ready in case my trembling hand failed to 

 make a proper hit. He did not shoot. Bruin was only 

 40yds. away, and when he received the ball he just rose 

 on his haunches, turned his head toward U3 and fell back. 

 No. 2 started and evidently had made up his mind to 

 emigrate, hut a reminder from Jack, that broke his 

 fore shoulder, induced him to hunt the cause of the dis- 

 turbance. I wanted Jeems to settle his cise, but mv part- 

 ner declared that bruin was "Pap's meat," so I was not 

 surprised to see the old man step from cover, draw the 

 angry brute's attention, and give him a good center shot 

 that laid him out if it did not result in instant death. 



Still they waited. I did not believe that we would see 

 any more bears, but Jeems said that in the short hours 

 before the moon sank we might get one that had not been 

 alarmed by the shooting. I was woefully sleepy, and was 

 dozing when there was another nudge in the side. I 

 started to speak, when a sharp "hist" brcueht me to my 

 senses. From the sage-brush came a crackling that indi- 

 cated more than a single bear. The moon was just dis- 

 appearing, and in another five minutes there would be 

 nothing but starlight, which is not very satisfactory in a 

 canon, k great big hog came shuffling and grumbling 

 into the foreground. No! It was a she-bear, and behind 

 her were two lively cubs. We would not wait an instant 

 longer than was necessary for this shot. What? Sure as 

 fate she sees or smells the dead bear! Up the hill Khe 

 turns and the cubs run squealing beside her. Crack! Crack! 

 Pap and Jack have stopped her. Crack! Jeems drops one 

 of the cubs, but this arouses all the fire in the mother. 

 She is sore hit, but she saw the last flash and she 

 makes for our cover. I blaze away but overshoot. Pop! 

 pop! pop! Jeems is pumping lead over and about her as 

 fast as he can work the lever, but all to no purpose. 

 Jeems stands up. He cannot see her but he knows that 

 she will be here in an instant. Crash? snap! The willows 

 break like straws. A pair of angry eyes are on a level 

 with ours. The hot breath is in our faces. Bang! Jeems 

 jumps to one side, I took the other, but not in time to 

 save my ankle from a horrible wrench as I pulled it away 

 from the prostrate body of our dead foe. The second cub 

 must have been uninjured, for we heard it making tracks 

 for the mountains, aud nothing but pitch darkness pre- 

 vented our settiug out for him." 



"Forty dollars bounty money, fifty dollars for hides, a 

 lion and plenty of meat ain't such a bad day's work," 

 quoth Jeems as we rolled ourselves in our blankets and 

 lay down to pleasant dreams. 



Any man who goes into the mountains to rest and 

 there joins a hunting expedition will do considerable 

 sleeping after he returns to his accustomed avocation. 

 There is a strain of nervous excitement and of actual 

 physical endurance that renders an extraordinary amount 

 of sleep necessary, and yet four or five hours is all that 

 the hunter can take. In fact I was inclined to grumble 

 against Providence, as I was routed out a little after 4 

 o'clock the next morning and founda shimmer of ice over 

 all the standing water and icicles on the twigs that over- 

 hung the brook. The plan was to get an elk or two at 

 daybreak. The Carpenters had not yet begun to cure 

 their winter supply of meat and they were the providers 

 for the two nearest section houses and for a small settle- 

 ment on the railroad. Pap was to stay in camp and have 

 breakfast ready on our return. 



Our route took us to where the deer was killed on the 

 previous evening, and here we stopped, for the carcass 

 was gone. It had been dragged away and we thought no 

 more of elk hunting. The lion must have a lair near by or it 

 would have cached what it did not eat instead of making a 

 hard drag over the rocks. It would sleep during the greater 

 part of the day, and would be especially sluggish when 

 the sun first grew warm. Back to camp we went for 

 breakfast and to hold a council of war and took the old 

 man by surprise. However, we all turned in, and in 

 twenty minutes were discussing the campaign over coffee 

 and venison. 



We might have made good use of a dog, but any of 

 the Carpenters could follow a trail with the ease and ac- 

 curacy of an Indian. It seemed likely that the lion had 

 taken his meat into a split rock, as we knew of no cavern 

 in the immediate vicinity. Therefore, two of us were to 

 follow the trail and the others were to go round the head 

 of the canon, being guided in their movements by signals 

 from below. 



The scheme worked to perfection. Pap trailed the cun- 

 ning feline as far as he could and then signalled Jeems, 

 who peered over the edge of the crevice and saw, 50ft. 

 below him, the lion sleeping beside the forequarters of a 

 deer. It was an easy matter to take the great brute in 

 the neck, severing the cervical vertebra?. Death was 

 instantaneous. 



Then the carcass was dragged out and skinned, and the 

 remainder of the morning was devoted to skinning the 

 bears and treating the hides to saltpetre. Two Newhouse 

 traps, with log drags, were then set and baited, and hard 

 work was over until the following morning. 



After dinner the Carpenter crowd startea on horseback 



