FOREST AND STREAM. 



413 



After breakfast it was still not quite light enough to make 

 out the walk, So we carried out our camp stools and 

 talked over the situation. The unground coffee came in 

 for part of the conversation. There was not sufficient 

 tea. It was soon devised to make a mill of the stew 

 pot and pestle of the engine hammer, using William as a 

 motor. At our next meal the scheme was shown to work 

 very well indeed. It gave William occupation when 

 alone, and so far as we could discover the coffee was as 

 goad as if ground in a mill. We let up on Allen & Son. 



At the first light L. and I parted, he taking through 

 the woods on the ridge below and I above. I had not 

 gone fax when I discovered that there was pleuty of 

 water in the vicinity and that the unoverflowed part of 

 the ridge, as io width, was not very extensive, and that 

 all sloughs and depressions were* full of water. The 

 overflow on the rear genei-alby reached within 150 or 

 200yds. of the river. We were on the east bank. It was 

 full seven miles from this ridge east to the Big Sunflower 

 as the crow flies, and it was all overflowed. On that 

 side of the river it was twenty-rive miles by water to 

 land on the south at the mound; to the north for miles 

 and miles we knew of no land likely to be out except a 

 small patch or two northeast on Howlett Bayou. Now 

 what had become of all the game we had found in this 

 swamp on our January trip? Might not some of it be on 

 this narrow ridge, 200yds. wide by half a mile long? It 

 was so surmised. It can be put down in your little book 

 that I proceeded cautiously and with some expectation. 



The first thing I saw was a rabbit. The next thing I 

 saw a rabbit, and in very short order I saw another rab- 

 bit, and in getting through some brush I frightened an- 

 other rabbit. After this rabbits became quite plentiful, 

 and I had company enough. Most of them ran on up the 

 ridge ahead of me, though occasionally one bolder than 

 the others would break back and take down in L.'s direc- 

 tion, I didn't complain at that; I could Bpare him a few. 

 Prespntly I could hear plunges in the water — was that a 

 leer? Not quite, only rabbits. They took to water 

 freely until it began to get too deep to wade; then they 

 would take a circuit through the water, making suffi- 

 jieht noise to frighten forty deer and hundreds of turkeys, 

 'ould so many have heard it. It is no exaggeration to 

 ay that at times three, four, and even five rabbits could 

 ie seen at one view. I did not say 500, as L. accused me, 

 >ut five at once, and I stick to it. 



I wade across the slash into a patch of ground of sev- 

 •ral acres that has been burnt. This I enter cautiously, 

 'or there ought to ba something besides rabbits here. 

 'Jut! cut! quick, short and sharp, greets my ears. E?ery 

 .urkey hunter knows what that is — "Be careful, old fel- 

 ow, you're too fast." This remonstrance I make to my- 

 self. I sit down with my back to a large sweet gum tree 

 and a wait developments. Even yet the woods are not 

 thoroughly light, and the blackened ground and old burnt 

 logs lend aid to the indistinctness of all surrounding ob- 

 jects. In twenty minutes more some turkeys are seen 

 out of range. I keep still, hoping they will feed up. 

 After a while they disappear. They do not pay a conti- 

 nental to my call. "Thank you, we have all the com- 

 pany we want just now." I wait a long time, and not 

 seeing nor hearing more of them, I get up and proceed 

 cautiously. Suddenly there is a commotion in the woods. 

 One hundred and fifty yards ahead of me they take wing 

 and go off with much bluster and flopping of wings. 

 That's my luck; I can flush turkeys. Crackey! what a 

 drove — fifteen or eighteen. That's our Howlett flock — a 

 grand one. Well , let 'em go. This is our first day. We 

 don't care for a turkey to day anyway. Could not keep 

 him until we get home if we got him. We will put in 

 the day exploring. 



Now these turkeys had gone into the trees not 300yds. 

 away. On moving up some of them could be clearly 

 seen. It soon occurred to me that one would be good for 

 camp use, why not take him in? I got a tree on a couple 

 of fine looking fellows, examined my gun carefully to 

 make sure all was right, and moved on down the line to 

 get in range for a dead-sure shot. I had not gone far 

 when there was another stir in the woods. What was It 

 all about? Would you believe it? A hawk was after 

 them. Could it be possible a hawk would attack so large 

 a bird as a turkey? Indeed it was so. Here came the 

 turkeys down through the treetops directly over my head. 

 It was a grand sight, first one, then another, then two 

 and three, until all had passed overhead and gone behind 

 me. I was a shade rattled, or I could have counted them 

 as they went by. Again I was in bad luck, I had the 

 wrong gun. The premier Scott hammeiiess was snugly 

 in the rack on the Greenwing. I had my essenee of con- 

 centrated virtue telescope Marlin. I am not a wing shot 

 with a rifle. With my 10-bore shotgun some of those 

 turkeys would have gone to grass, or rather, in this case, 

 to ashes, on the burnt ground. 



Well, I would have one yet. There they were only 

 200yds. below me in the treetops, except one, which was 

 seen to go to the ground in a thicket. A tree with two 

 in it was again selected, and an intervening tree brought 

 into line. When nearly within range, sure as I live, the 

 hawk pitched at those identical two turkeys. But hold! 

 one lights in the top of a tall tree near me and within 

 range. I'll try him, but before I can aim, in fact as 

 swift as a hawk could fly, this turkey is again put to 

 flight, and so, for that matter, are all the others in view. 

 It beat anything I had ever seen. I had never heard of 

 such a thing. 



I next approached the thicket where the nice gobbler 

 was seen to go down, I watched and examined this 

 thicket carefully both with my eyes and sight, but could 

 not find the game. I stirred up rabbits on all sides. I 

 finally entered the thicket and found the further edge 

 overflowed, and was about to abandon the search when 

 the turkey, with considerable splashing, took wing beyond 

 the thicket in water eighteen inches deep. Here again I 

 wanted a shotgun. But, thunder! I forgot, I did not 

 want any turkeys to-day. They had all now gone well 

 back to the east, out of sight, and over water entirely too 

 deep for my hipped rubbers, and sure enough I didn't 

 want any of them. 



I went back to L. kicking up rabbits on the way. They 

 annoyed me; I was not in an over good humor. L. had 

 not shot, but I would learn what he had found. William 

 is first met at the camp-fire. 



"William, have you seen any rabbits?" 



"I seen one," was the laconic reply. 



"Lawrence, did you see any rabbits?" 



"Rabbits? well I should smile. Rabbits, rabbits, and 

 nothing but rabbits: I went on down the river and the 



rabbits kept jumping up and running on ahead of me 

 until they got so thick they jammed up, and I could go no 

 further, so I came back, I saw no turkeys," 



We then stayed in camp until after dinner trying who 

 could tell the biggest fiction about the rabbits, But those 

 jauimed-up woods of L.*s had put me to a disadvantage 

 at the outset, and I had to succumb, in the end, to his 

 magnificent exaggerations. 



After dinner L. took the Amateur and paddled down 

 stream on a tour of prospection. He came back in an 

 hour or so reporting a vast layout of water and very lit- 

 tle land. 



And the writer went back to camp without game and 

 in a state of taciturnity. L. suddenly developed into an 

 iuquisitor more annoying than otherwise. 



"Old Telescope, what did you shoot at?" 



"Shoot at?" 



"Yes, shoot at," 



"I thought you were going to paddle down stream two 

 miles?" 



"I did not get too far away to hear a rifle shot." 

 •'What direction?" 



"Oh, up the river where you were. Say, no dodging 

 now, tell about it." 



"I shot at a turkey hen and missed her." 

 "Missed her?" 

 "Yes, missed her." 

 "How far?" 



"Thunder and blixen! twenty yard?." 

 "Flying?" 



"Djuble thunder and blixen, no, standing stone still. 

 Say L., which way shall we go next?" 



"Wait a minute, not so fast. What did you shoot those 

 other two shots at in quick succession?" 



"Charles Lawrence Warner, let's go home. This gun 

 is a grand fizzle. I can't hit a barn door with it. Those 

 last two shots were made at a gobbler on the ground, in 

 a perfectly open spot at not over fifteen yards. He must 

 have been disgusted with the overflow or he never 

 would have flown into me after my shooting at his mate; 

 and after my taking the first shot at him have stood for 

 another shot. I strained my eyes to detect a wabble in 

 him as he went away and, when he was out of sight, lis- 

 tened for him to fall. But he went on over toward Hugh 

 L. Foote, at Egremont, whom he knew could kill him. 

 Don't tell this on me at borne." 



"Will you let up on me?" 



"Yes. Hereafter I am a clam." 



But L. smiled in a way that boded me nothing good. 



Then we got into the Amateur and paddled up stream 

 together, L. occupying the bow with his fine hammeiiess 

 gun at his side. 



When only one boat was used it was always the Ama- 

 teur. The Boss was also a nice boat in her way. Being 

 short, broad and flat, she was very steady, so much so 

 that it was perfectly secure to shoot from her standing. 

 She was the darling and pet of Mr. Warner, who invari- 

 ably stood up and propelled her with a single blade, fie 

 would stand with his legs akimbo and row vigorously 

 away, down or up stream, to his blind, and woe unto the 

 ducks that turned down to his decoys when he got there. 

 But L. and I preferred the narrower, more unsteady, but 

 swifter-running boat. We always wanted to get there 

 at once, and the Amateur could come as near meeting 

 our wants in that respect as any boat we had ever been 

 in. She was built from offsets obtained from Forest and 

 Stream. But she was rather unsteady, which made a 

 shot from her somewhat uncertain. 



Let me relate an incident that took place the first trip 

 of this canoe three years ago. My son Walter and I had 

 paddled down a narrow slough full of logs, trees, etc., 

 until nearly two miles from camp, Walter in the bow and 

 I in the stern. Presently we came to a large cypress log 

 reaching from bank to bank and projecting above water 

 about six inches. Rather than go to the bank, get out, 

 and drag the canoe over by hand, we determined to cross 

 in the channel. The canoe was paddled alongside and we 

 both got out on the log. Then the boat was brought, bow 

 foremost, until half over, when Walter was directed to 

 get in. This he did. I then slid the boat on its keel until 

 within a couple of feet of the stern, and got in myself, 

 sitting on the deck with my feet in the cockpit, as is usual 

 when using a single blade. I took the paddle and began 

 to push on the log, when my son, who was a shade ner- 

 vous in a canoe, said, "Father, you will turn this boat 

 over." 



Now, I had made this boat myself and had done no in- 

 considerable bragging over its many virtues, and especi- 

 ally its steadiness, and I was a shade nettled at the 

 remonstrance which implied an aspersion on my pet, the 

 Amateur, and I said, with emphasis, "Walter, you can't 

 turn this boat — " 



The word "over" was said by the canoe. It was the 

 first I ever knew she could talk, but I let up on her stead- 

 iness after that, we both went sprawling into the water, 

 44ft. deep, Walter head first, and I with an ungainly 

 motion to the rear in search of the log, Bath guns were 

 tumbled out and went to the bottom, and the boat was 

 half filled with water. We were indeed drenched, and 

 took the back course for camp at once, but did not rely 

 on the steadiness of the Amateur to get us over that log. 

 Ever since that accident I have been unable to brag on 

 the Amateur at all in Walter's presence but that I am 

 taken down at once. 



One thing about that upset has puzzled me a little. As 

 soon as we recovered ourselves smoke was observed to 

 issue from the water in the canoe. I said. "Walter, look 

 at that smoke, a gun has been fired." "It must have 

 been yours," he replied. "No, you can't shoot off a Scott 

 safety block that way. Your hammer gun did it." And 

 so it proved to be. With the butt resting on the bottom 

 of the boat, and barrels on the coaming, it had slid back- 

 ward, the hammer striking on one of the ribs. The canoe 

 proved to have a hole in her side about 2 in. above the 

 waterline, but we were still able to use it. The discharge 

 took place under water and was not heard by either of 

 us, nor did it burst the gun as one would naturally sup- 

 pose it would have done under the circumstances. 



But to resume with L. When above camp about half a 

 mile, on the west side, we discern land, back a little piece 

 through the timber and bushes, This we scan very closely 

 through the openings, rather limited in number and size. 

 Presently L. in an undertone calls attention to some 

 turkeys at no great distance, in rather an open spot. 

 Three are seen, one gobbler and two hens, They walk about 

 quite unconcernedly, but soon disappear behind a very 

 ! heavy sweet-gum windfall. Hurriedly the canoe is turned 



about and pointed for the land, which is overflowed well 

 back in the timber. We get out and cautiously approach 

 the windfall, then peer over and find the turkeys have 

 disappeared. L, sits down with Ms back to the "stump, 

 facing the direction the turkeys are supposed to have gone, 

 I move off to flank them around a thicket near by. Sud - 

 denly cut greets my ears, the note of the gobbler signi- 

 fying I had been seen. I move back then, and take the 

 other direction around the thicket. It is not long before 

 the turkey is too smart for me, discovering his danger 

 before I have been able to see him, and takes wing. He 

 flies in L.'s direction, but does not give chance 

 for a shot. He crosses the river a little below the 

 canoe. T go up to L, and find that his keen eyes 

 have marked him in a tall tree well back on the 

 opposite shore, 1 determine to take a shot, and wade 

 as far as my rubber boots will allow. The turkey Is 

 judged to be 100yds., and the rifle having a point blank 

 at 75yds., the cross-hairs are made to intersect at the top 

 of his back. At first shot he shows not the least sign of 

 disturbance. The aim is too low. Another shot and he 

 moves quickly up the limb as if touched and turns 

 around. Evidently he has not caught on to the racket, 

 but soon will; aud very quickly another aim is taken, 

 still higher this time, with the left end of the horizontal 

 hair running across his head, Avhich is at an inquisitive 

 elevation. He finds out what is the matter and goes 

 down at an angle of forty-five degrees and falls with a 

 splash in the water. We hasten over and find him quite 

 dead and a very fine bird, weighing fully 201bs. gross. 



We returned to camp, drew the gobbler and hung him 

 up to drip. He gave quite an interesting appearance to 

 camp. 



Not delaying we next paddled Howlett Bayou to the 

 high ridge or island. This swamp was so low that water 

 was well up in the limbs of the undergrowth, which was 

 abundantly thick. The bushes on either side of the 

 bayou often overlapped , and several times we were un- 

 certain as to the channel and would lose it for a time, 

 It was a gloomy part of the swamp, mainly a tangled 

 mass of bushes and vines of many kinds, interwoven and 

 knit together. The trees overhead were thickly fes- 

 tooned with gray moss, which luxuriates so abundantly 

 in the swamp3 of this latitude and adds such a somber 

 appearance to the forests. 



During the day several shots had been heard in the 

 direction of Hewlett Lake, which led us to suspect that 

 game was being killed there. We anticipated that it 

 would be driven away. However, we were going to in- 

 vestigate. 



On entering the lake two men were seen in a dugout a 

 hundred yards off in the timber. We hailed them and made 

 inquiries concerning game. They reported having flushed 

 turkeys on the ridge, but did not state whether any had 

 been killed. We were then asked whether any cattle had 

 been seen on the ridges on the Little Sunflower. Receiv- 

 ing a negative reply, they paddled off through the swamp 

 and were seen no more. 



We found no game on the ridge which borders the lake 

 on the east side, though there was plenty of fresh turkey 

 scratching. We had made the entire circuit of the over- 

 flowed ground, and were about to return to the canoe, 

 when, on looking through the timber across the lake a 

 fine old gobbler was seen in a tall tree full 200yds. away. 

 An investigation of him with the telescope proved him to 

 be quite a desirable bird. Cautiously stepping behind 

 cover, we discussed the matter. He was too far for any- 

 thing but a chance shot, and the probability of being able 

 to paddle within range and shoot him from the boat, was 

 not deemed favorable. Evidently we had been seen, 

 for the glass showed considerable alertness on the 

 part of his gobblership. He would stretch out his 

 long neck, displaying a magnificent beard, and move 

 his head about in a rather inquiring way. We did 

 not think that with his .suspicious symptoms he could be 

 called to us. We did conclude, however, that others were 

 somewhere cut of sight in his locality. It was not at all 

 likely he was monkeying in those big woods alone. We 

 determined to call. On making the second attempt, a hen 

 replied, aud very soon she replied again. We felt sure 

 that there would soon be a flight in our direction, and we 

 at once became interested, even animated. We sought 

 favorable locations, some distance apart, and repeated the 

 call, and here came the tui-keys, a half dozen of them. 

 It was rather sudden to me. I made a shot, with rather 

 unsteady nerves, through a thick cluster of vines, at a 

 young gobbler, aud missed him. L., with his shotgun, 

 did better, and killed a hen. which fell in the edge of the 

 lake. Alt live turkeys suddenly disappeared. The old 

 gobbler was a little too cautious to venture in. He knew 

 a thing or two, and they generally do. We did not see 

 him again; he had vacated. 



As it was growing late, we hurried out of that dismal 

 swamp. It was an easy place to get lost, and would be 

 very hard to get out of should night overtake us before get- 

 ting back to the river, which was nearly two miles. By 

 sundown we were back in camp. 



* * 



How restless we were! There we were with two 

 turkeys the first day in two weeks' hunt, and not satisfied. 

 In half an hour we were back of the camp watching and 

 listening for turkeys going to roost. 



I had no luck, and returned to camp by the time it was 

 dark. It wa.s twenty minutes or more before L. came. I 

 bad gotten to know that boy ]:>retty well. This lingering 

 in the woods was significant. On coming in, with a quick 

 step, he reached his hand across the camp-fire to me and 

 said, "Shake!" 



I reached out and we shook. Well, I knew what his 

 "shake" meant. Many times he bad done that before, 

 and filled my thoughts with bright prospects for the 

 morning's sport. He is a lucky boy at roosting, and excels 

 me at that two to one. And when he has seen turkeys 

 go to roost, his fear in the woods don't amqunt to much. 

 I doubt whether a panther's scream could scare him away 

 then, at least until it was too dark for him to disturb the 

 roosting birds, when he would steal away as silently as 

 an owl could fly, and crawl into the launch with his wel- 

 come "shake," and then with entire unselfishness turn 

 the game over to me for disposition on the morrow. 



Up to this time we had never attempted or desired to 

 shoot turkeys on the roost. It was our choice by far to 

 be within sound the next morning when the first gobble 

 was made. He was awake then with all his faculties, 

 and we considered it fair to bring him to bag in any 

 way we could, using the call, however, by great prefer- 

 ence. 



