246 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[APRIL 16, 1891. 



SNOWBOUND. 



nj'^HE storm has passed into the deep, impenetrable 

 X mountain whence it sprang. The frost king rules. 

 White are his locks and beard, stern his eyes, and the 

 unsympathetic diapason of his voice comes down the 

 cafion on the strident blast. His icy breath congeals the 

 laughing brook that groans beneath liis pitiless sway. 

 The forests crack and wild beasts seek their lairs at the 

 mere whisper of the monarch's iron wiU. Even rough, 

 weather-beaten men stand trembling at the half-opened 

 door, for aU their wraps and furs, their wool and hides, 

 are but scant armor 'gainst the lances of the powers of 

 the air. 



They are gone and I am left alone. Before me is the 

 cheery fire. Great logs of cedar snap and blaze, and 

 from them rises a sweet incense — vain offering with 

 which to propitiate an implacable deity. The cedar 

 gives its fragrance forth not for love's sake, but impelled 

 by rude necessity. Therein, with the crushed bay, it 

 shows a trait most common in mankind. 'Tis strange 

 that if the milk of human kindness once turn sour, it 

 may, by pride or public sentiment, forced neutralizers, 

 be given a semblance of its former self, and yet the 

 quality and flavor, once lost, can never be restored. So, 

 by the sniell, that cedar log is cedar till it be reduced to 

 ashes or fly away in smoke and vapor, but how different 

 that odor from the rich perfume of which it was so 

 prodigal when once it stood in upland grove and nodded 

 to the blossoming earth or raised its sinewy limbs up to 

 the smiling sun. 



Now, I am not finding fault with the cedar. It is 

 neither better nor worse than the majority of the men 

 with whom it has been compared, and, on this bleak, 

 bitter January morning it is doing valiant service. Up 

 the wide-mouthed chimney roars its challenge, its de- 

 fiance, and down from the upper ether comes the shrill 

 reply of the angry, baffled sovereign. Listen! Did some 

 one speak? No, I am yet alone, save as the elements 

 companions be. The sounds change to words: the words 

 frame themselves into song: 



"Darkness my cradle, 



Chaos my throne, 

 Terror my mantle, 

 I monarch alone. 

 Me defying, 

 AU things dying 



Prostrate f all; 

 And tlie armor 

 That they trusted 

 Is their pall. 

 While the moaning and the groaning 

 And the ever sad intoning 



Of fierce winds 'mid branches bare, 

 And the wild, incessant rattle 

 Of the elefnents in battle 



Makes sweet mnsic everywhere. 



"From realm of hail and bitter blast, 

 Where icy forms fly thick and fast. 

 Where frozen land looks on frozen sea, 

 1 come, and 1 have come for thee. 

 Sharper than Toledo dart 

 Is the lance that seeks thy heart; 

 More snre than Borgia's poisoned steel 

 Is the weapon thou sUalt feel, 



For my hi'tath 



Is death.*' 



But the dancing fire leaps higher, laughs and sheds 

 abroad new lustre. Even the old, smoky rafters glow 

 and the dull andirons take a cherry tint. The fire is alive 

 and the great room, a moment since so cold and cheerless, 

 is peopled with strange forms of light. There is music 

 in my ears and the sound is the sound of murmuring 

 waters, of bees lulling the nodding clover to sleep; the 

 music is the music of the morning stars when they hailed 

 the new-born earth , and from the da zzUng splendor, to the 

 insj^ired accompaniment, comes a sweeter song; 

 "I am the spirit of the flame; 



The flre of love is my life. 

 Softly I conquer the hearts of men; 

 I banish care and strife. 



"1 have stolen the warmth of the noonday sun. 



The light of the harvest moon. 

 The first faint blush from the maiden's cheek 



And the mother's cradle tune. 



"1 Ijave given love's hxie to the budding rose; 



I have cherished the eggs in the robin's neat; 

 From the babbling brook I have loosed thy bonds; 



To the tired soul I have given rest. 



"Oh, I am the spirit of the flame.' 



While the flre of love burns true 

 I know no rule but my own sweet will, 



And that shall conquer you." 



Roar on, old Boreas, thoa king of darkness and desola- 

 tion! Thy reign is short; make the most of it. Sing on, 

 thou spii-it of the flame; and you, light-hearted heralds of 

 the spring, gather about the hearth. Pile on the logs of 

 fragrant cedar. Winter storms without, but within is 

 endless summer, peace and rest, 



* * * -» 



All, me! The great door opens: the vision flies: the 

 song is hushed. Once more I am by the fire in the cold, 

 dreary room, and the teamsters have come in from their 

 morning chores. The breath of the ice king is on their 

 garments. On the brick hearth they stamp their half 

 frozen feet and smite their hands with pain. Then they 

 take their customary seats in the half circle they have 

 daily made since first the snow began to fall. The vile 

 aroma from their pipes pervades the hall, and another 

 day, monotonous, almost interminable, is here. 



I wonder if the good Qaeen Anne's poet-philosopher, 

 looking in upon this motley throng, could, with clear 

 conscience, say: 



"The noblest study of mankind is man." 

 But it takes all kinds of people to make the world, and 

 there is a certain profit and pleasure to be found in the 

 analysis of humanity, that can be derived from no other 

 source. My new-made friends are silent now, but let 



theu- voices thaw and the insidious nicotine bemuddle 

 what they call their brains, and coarse jests will fly and 

 tales of strange adventure such as might bring a blush to 

 Baal's brazen brow or turn old Nitnrod green with envy. 



"Yes, ' Winn begins— a rough frontiersman of the genus 

 cowboy, species miractibilis. Winn is the perpetrator of 

 a joke upon a certain erudite justice of the peace and the 

 tale will bear repeating before his owti story is given. 

 His home is in the quiet town of Richfield and when he 

 visits the settlement he celebrates by painting the town a 

 flaming cardhial. On one of these occasions he took a 

 hand at some simple game played with five cards, of 

 which the first is buried. I think they call it "stud." 

 Soinething about the game was forbidden in the city 

 ordinance "For the suppression of gambling," and under 

 the kind supervision of the marshal], AVinn, with five 

 companions, found himself before the bar of justice. 

 Denials and defense were useless. Justice Orrick solemnly 

 peiiised the statutes and fined each offender $12.00. Winn 

 found he had but -flO.and this he offered to the magis- 

 trate, but no compromise could be effected with the city 

 treasury. It was $13.50 or 12i days in durance vile. 

 Finally a happy thought struck the young man. 



"Say, Judge, Til give you a bill of sale of my mule and 

 if I don't bring you the money within five days I'll bring 

 the critter and it's youm.'' 



Now an average mule was worth |40 and the justice 

 tiiought he had a good bargain, so did Winn, although 

 he never cracked a smile until the bill was drawn upj 

 signed and delivered; then sometliing ia his countenance 

 warned the grave Orrick of impending trouble. 



"Winn, how old ia that ar mewl?" 



"Old enough to vote, Judge, old enougli to vote," and 

 the door was closed from the outside. 



Now Richfield justice cannot be lightly treated. Straight- 

 away the justice hied him to the constable and together 

 they visited Winn's home. 



"Well, Winn. I have a warrant for you." 



"What fer?" 



"The Jedge says as you ain't settled that fine." 

 "Ain't settled that fine? You try and make me settle 

 it agin and it '11 cost you three or four mules." 

 "Hows that?" 



"Well, I give the Judge a bill of sale of my mule and 

 he let me go." 



"Is that so, Brother Orrick?" 



Tlie Judge, witli much hesitation, confessed that 'such 

 was the case. 



"Well, then you can't do nothing more with Winn." 

 "But, Winn, you 'U let nie see the mewl?" 

 "Cert. Come along." 



Out to the old corral they went and there upon the 

 ground lay the ungainly hybrid, patriarch of all the 

 mules in Utah. Winn kicked it and it slowly rose and 

 tottered to its feet. 



"Look out, gentlemen, it may fall on you and I can't 

 be responsible for accidents." 



"Now. Winn,'" whined the baftled OiTick, "I meant to 

 do the right tiling by you, but I guess I stretched the law 

 a leetle. The law won't let me take anything that'll eat 

 or run away." 



"You're all right, Judge. You're all right. That mule 

 can't do neither one." 



Five days later there was a procession through the main 

 street of Richfield. Winn drove a cart and behind was 

 tied Brother Orrick's mule. Two of his boon compan- 

 ions marched on either side to steady its feeble steps, and 

 the fifth brought up the rear and gave the beast a push 

 whenever it seemed that it must surely fall. The next 

 morning there was a funeral in Justice Orrick's corral, 

 and the worthy magistrate, having just deposited ^12,50 

 of his own hard-earned cash in the city treaaury, was 

 the sole mom-ner. 



But to return to Winn's narrative, which has been 

 rudely broken b^y the advent of three lusty Corn Creek 

 Utes. Tall, straight, broad-shouldered, with clear-cut 

 profiles, they are noble specimens of their fast-dying 

 tribe. From one to another they pass, trying to barter 

 then- heavy navy blankets. Failing in this, one produces 

 a worn-out .23-cal. rifle on which he had evidently been 

 swindled. He offers it for $4, and with grim irony re- 

 marks: "Shootem buckskin, no much bueno: sho'otem 

 mouse, shootem fly heap good." 



Then the trio roll three cigarettes, and squatting on the 

 floor behind the charmed circle puff away while Winn 

 proceeds. 



"Last summer I went up on Panquick Lake to see what 

 show there was for choppin' ties and floatin' 'em down 

 the river to Richfield and Salina. I allowed to chop this 

 winter and float before irrigattn' time, but it's handier to 

 get red pine and black balsam right here and on Clear 

 Creek, so I give up the job. Bill Jones went with me. 

 We had been running our cattle in Emery Valley and 

 we knowed they couldn't get away, so we allowed to be 

 gone about two weeks. We didn't take much grub, for 

 the man that can't get all he wants to eat about Panquick 

 Lake deserves to starve. There was no trail up Mammoth 

 Creek, and we had a tough time of it. Didn't get to the 

 lake until dark, and didn't see a deer on the whole way. 

 Bill made a little yeast powder bread, and we wrapped 

 up in our blankets and lay down by the fire to sleep. The 

 next morning we started chopping', and worked a little 

 every day on our cabin so as to have it all ready in case 

 we came up in the winter. We didn't hurt ourselves 

 with hard work. The fishing was too good. I believe 

 there's more trout in Panquick Lake to-day than in all 

 the rest of Utah. The Injins used to catch' lots of 'em in 

 some kind of willow fish traps, and the time was when a 

 man could buy all he could pack for two bits or a plug of 

 terbaccer. 



"After we'd picked a place for a camp and cut down 

 one tree we wanted a mess of trout. But we was in the 

 timber and thar warn't no hoppers, and we hadut no fish 

 eyes and pine logs make durned poor poles. So we wan- 

 dered around till we found a little creek. There we cut 

 some willows and caught a few mianies in our hats. We 

 had to use our hats for pails in getting them back to camp. 

 Then the fun began. We put on heavy sinkers so the 

 little cusses couldn't swim very far and then we threw 

 in. I didn't wait more 'n a second before there was a 

 yank at my pole that almost pulled it out of my hands. 

 That was the first fish that ever I had on that I couldn't 

 fling out right over my head. He was a whopper and no 

 mistake. The more I pulled the more he jerked. Bye 'n 

 bye he jumped clean out 'n the water, and by jimminy 

 he looked like a young whale. Well, I fooled with that 

 feller half an hour before he tvirried b©Uy up and let me 



haul him in. He must have weighed 8 or lOlbs. Well, 

 we fished until noon and then had eight fish. Any one 

 of them was enough for a meal, Tlie rest we cleaned 

 and hung up in a tree. Every day we had the same luck, 

 and every day the string of fish in the tree got longer and 

 heavier. 



"One afternoon when we got back to camp the fish was 

 gone. The whole pile had been drug away, and by the 

 tracks, which wasn't very plain, the beast that done the 

 thievin' was a bar. The trail was well marked and went 

 up toward the mountain, and Bill and I thought that 

 between the scalp and the hide we could make a good grub- 

 stake; so we took our gun and started after it. 



"We had gone about a mile when just ahead of us 

 there was the darudest yowlin' and growlin' and spittin' 

 that ever you heard. We stole up and looked through 

 the bushes. There was a big wolverine and a she lion 

 fightin' over them trout, and two kittens were havin' a 

 circus of their own jist beyond them. We managed to 

 git up pretty clost. The beasts had all they could do to 

 look out for each other without attendin' to us. Talk 

 about a wolverine bein' a coward! I know better. That 

 old lion would walk round and round and switch her tail, 

 and every time she'd spring the wolverine would half 

 stand and half jump and snap at her neck. Then they'd 

 roll over together, and when they parted for the next 

 round the wolverine was always over the fish. They was 

 both of 'em torn and bloody. By'm by the lion got in a 

 side scraper — gee whiz! but it was a horrible belt — right 

 on the wolverine's head, and the wolverine curled up and 

 rolled as if it had been hit by a thunderbolt. The lion 

 yowled a little and the kittens ran u'o to her, and she was 

 just makin' off with the fish when 400 grains of lead took 

 her whar she lived, and she nsver axed no questions. 

 Before we got to her, Mister Wolverine picked himself up 

 and shook himself together, but Bill attended to his case. 

 Their hides was so cut up and bloody that it warn't no 

 use skinnin" 'em, but you kin bet yer life we didn't have 

 no more fish stole from that camp." 



The door opens and Oretohen's frowsy head is thrtist 

 into the cloud of smoke. "Dinner's ready, gentlemen," 

 So am I. Shoshone. 

 Mabvsvale, LTtah, .Tan. 18. 



AN EXCITING CHASE IN NEW JERSEY. 



''I^HIS being the iiming of a driving northeasterly storm , 

 .JL when the authorities had cut and dri. d a "westerly 

 wind, with fair and colder weather," and having nothing 

 worse to do, I make so bold as to tell you about a lovely 

 fox cliase we had down this way in January. Ever since 

 we didn't go deer hunting and get shot by some other 

 hunters, we had been solacing ourselves with the promise 

 of a run after reynard some day when the time seemed 

 propitious, and the time seemed at least to get around 

 into that quarter when my friend C. asked me one even- 

 ing if I was ready for that fox hunt, The outlook for a 

 fine day was below par at that time, for Old Prob had 

 guessed that a stoi-m center had alreaiij'^ formed in Arkan- 

 sas with wicked intent, and head faced to the east, with 

 a good second out among the Rockies; that the Arkansas 

 trouble would give the mountain business a handicaji of 

 tvVelve hours or so, and that if there was not any coimtei' 

 diversion from Manitoba or the Gulf region, the two fly- 

 ers would probably, otlier things being equal, impinge 

 on the seaboard more or less according as the precipita- 

 tion of moisture radiating from a given area should be 

 influenced by opposing currents. This looked bad as a 

 starter, added to which there was a ring around the moon 

 and a decided tendency to disturbance in the cornfield, 

 and when I retired the moon had done the same thing 

 behind a thick covering of very snowy looking clouds; 

 consecj uently I didn't layout my hunting togs over night, 

 as I usually do for an early start, for I did not think the 

 circumstances warranted it, but went to bed in the usual 

 way. 



I heard the clock strike two, and in a minute or two, 

 three, and shortly after four, and before I had time to 

 turn over twice five came along, when I rose and looked 

 forth. The wind had got lost somewhere, so that the 

 dogs could be heard nicely, the mercury had stojjped at 

 80, and a star or two twinkled from between bands of 

 clouds which spanned the heavens. "Good luck," said I, 

 and hopped into my clothes. By dayligiit the sky was 

 almost clear, and by 7 o'clock F. was on hand, and T gave 

 Moddess her head and told her to g'long, to the old hunt- 

 ing song: 



"A southerly wind and a cloudy sky 



Proclaim it a hunting morning, 

 Before the sun rises away we fly. 



Dull sleep and a drowsy bed scorning. 

 To horse (buggy), my brave boys and away, 



Bright PhcBbus the hills is adorning, 

 The face of all nature looks gay, 

 'Tis a beautiful scent-laying morning. 

 Hark! Hark! Forward! 

 Tauta-ra, tauta-ra, 

 Tauta-ra-a-a." 



We drove about four miles from town to a road from 

 which the man with the dogs was to come into ours. 

 The sun had fairly got above the low-lying clouds and 

 begun to warm up stift'ened nature considerably, giving 

 j)romise of a day without flaw, when L. loomed up in the 

 rear rumbling over the frozen road, flanked by skirm- 

 ishers in the shape of five fine foxhounds that at intervals 

 fdled the circumambient with their musical baying. Just 

 behind L. came C. , having gathered in Mr. Y. as he came 

 along, and away we went for the rendezvous, a mile 

 distant, at the house of Mr. F., an old fox and deer 

 huntei', whose name by the way, is the same as the 

 middle name of the world-famed author of the Leather 

 Stocking tales. He was on hand to welcome us, and in 

 a short time we were putting om- guns together and dis- 

 cussing methods of operation, when up drove Mr. McK. 

 in his road cart, followed by a hound or two. The party 

 was now complete, and in a few minutes we were jogging 

 down a woods road that skirted a swamp in which Bre'r 

 Fox might, could, should or would be found. 



In less than five minutes one yoimg wliite purp, a 

 heedless, headlong, headstrong hound had got out into 

 the swampy brush and started a lively ruction all by him- 

 self after a rabbit. This wouldn't do at all at all, so L, 

 ch'opped behind to call off' his dog while we with much 

 urgent persuasion restrained the other dogs and straggled 

 along into the woods. After a while L. rejoined us, ac- 

 companied by the delinquent, which immediately went 

 off into the woods to the right and began to stir up 



