March 3, 1892.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



198 



the sail I had opportunity of counting back the years 

 since I had enjoyed the pleasure of handling a tiller or 

 hauling a sheet on salt water, or any open water in fact, 

 and found that twenty-eight had passed. The crisp sea 

 air in my face and the aroma from the marshes greeting 

 my nostrils, brought back the scenes and recollections of 

 younger days, while lessons learned in Long Island bays 

 have not been forgotten, as with perfect confidence our 

 little craft is forced through the unknown swelling 

 waters. Will V> also enjoys the sail, and salt water, but 

 then he has not been long enough away from the coast 

 for the change to come to him as a revelation and a reno- 

 vation. 



Most of the bays on the western Texas coast are beauti- 

 ful sheets of water, clear and pure, with beaches of shell 

 or shell sand. In some bays, Espiritu Santo especially, 

 small islands or reefs of shell are quite frequent, many 

 of them with mottes of brush, affording fine camping 

 places and good shelter in case of storms arising. Mud 

 flats and sedge marshes, so frequent in tide waters, are 

 the exceptions, and while many bays are shallow the bot- 

 tom is generally hard and sound. The average tide is 

 only one foot, rising once in twenty-four hours, but con- 

 tinuous winds from one direction have great effect on the 

 water, often changing its level three or four feet. 



Reaching the reefs, we found the oyster beds exposed 

 for acres in extent, resulting from the heavy weather. 



Some forty or fifty men were hard at work, taking ad- 

 vantage of the opportunity, and joining in we soon 

 gathered all we required, then laid our course for the 

 main land, reaching a beautiful brush motte with wood in 

 abundance. Oyster raw, fried and roasted, and a great 

 many of them, supplemented with ducks brought from 

 the river, comprised our fare for supper and breakfast, 

 while a roaring fire of drift, tempering the sharp air, 

 enticed us to spend the night away from the boat. 



Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 9 and 10, despite some 

 mishaps, afforded as fine sport fishing as we enjoyed on 

 the trip. While cruising alosg the mainland we dis- 

 covered an opening in the shore line, and entering, found 

 a bayou some 40ft. wide leading out of a considerable 

 lagoon. Some ducks being about we considered it a 

 favorable place to loiter a few hours, but while trying to 

 get a shot and at the same time to make a landing, by 

 some means the sheet fouled in my gun which was 

 temporarily laid on the washboard and overboard it 

 went, not even leaving a hole in the water to mark the 

 spot. A handy stick lying in the boat was at once 

 thrown on the bank, and the position marked, sail at 

 once taken down, and that gun was to be recovered im- 

 mediately. The case looked different, however, when 

 the water was found to be about 8ft. deep, bottom muddy, 

 with considerable grass. After anchoring persistent 

 effort was made with the sprit to locate the gun, but the 

 sprit proved too bouyant; then the two lower joints of 

 my rod and a short tip with two fish hooks lashed on 

 securely, were brought into action. At last the gun was 

 located, and while one of us held the boat in position the 

 other grappled. Several hours passed, but then the gun 

 must be had, and after various and sundry catches and 

 slips on the part of both of us, Will V. caught a grip in 

 the guard and the gun was rescued. It was a Winchester 

 repeater ; and covered with salt mud and weeds, dripping 

 with ooze, the grip and fore end well scratched, was a 

 woeful sight. The soaked shells from a full magazine 

 were, however, readily thrown out without clogging, 

 and after a thorough washing inside and out in the salt 

 water (our fresh water supply being limited), a good 

 roasting before a fire, and plentiful application of vase- 

 line, the gun worked as well as ever, and continued to do 

 during the remainder of the trip without further atten- 

 tion. The old gun may not be a beauty, but it was 

 honest under difficulties, and the rust spots and scratches 

 are honorable scars, which will serve to recall many 

 incidents of the trip of more pleasurable nature in which 

 the gun took an active instead of a passive part. 



While I was engaged with building a fire and cleaning 

 my gun, Will V. took a walk up the bayou and arouud 

 the lagoon, returning in time to eat a meal I had pre- 

 pared (he never missed being back at meal times). He 

 reported plenty of ducks in the lagoon, but not water 

 .sufficient for the boat, and the bayou was full of fish. 



Later, while paddling up the bayou, we discovered the 

 fish to be redfish (channel bass) of good size, and amused 

 ourselves by punching several of them with an oar, for 

 we had no thought of their biting in such confined water, 

 although it was deep. 



Reaching the lagoon we found it too shallow for the 

 boat, and I decided to try for a fish, but after much work 

 was able to secure only three diminutive minnows for 

 bait; then thinking the "F''silk line on my reel rather 

 delicate for such fish, it was unreeled and a new linen 

 line substituted. The first and second casts cost me a 

 minnow, but with the third I made fast, and during the 

 next ten minutes had sport enough for an all-day's fish- 

 ing. The bass was out of the water as much as in 

 it, the favorite maneuver being a rush and break, trying 

 to fall upon the line; but the pace soon told, for there was 

 no sulking, and soon Will V., who had returned, had the 

 landing net under him and a 7-pound prize was on the 

 grass. 



The bait question had to be solved, so the fish was 

 killed and a piece cut from his silvery side. Will V. was 

 now all anxiety to fish, but too impatient to rig up his 

 rod, taking instead a hand line with some small hooks 

 attached. He had bites, but that was all, for the hooks 

 were stripped off as if they were glass. 



In the meantime I was fast to a fish which, having 

 taken as much line from my reel as I could spare at 

 one time, I was now following up and down the bayou, 

 giving him the butt pretty severely. Finally my prize 

 was conquered, and a grip in the gills aided by the net 

 laid on the bank a fresh water channel cat of fully 

 eighteen pounds, but probably fifty minutes had been 

 used in conquering him. 



My next fish struck succeeded in breaking the line 

 just above the hooks, and then for some time not a bite 

 was had. 



A couple of fishermen from a boat off shore came 

 searching for redfish, and said they would haul a seine 

 in the lagoon (the bayou being too deep) the next morn- 

 ing as the fish would stay all night. They report* - d the 

 lagoon as generally freshwater, which accounted for the 

 channel cat being present, but the water was unques- 

 tionably salt now. 



Another strike while they were present again resulted 

 in the lose of hooks, and on examining the ljne I found 



it not much stronger than pack twine; and still wonder 

 at my success in taking the fish I did, but great care 

 had been exercised, for as my rrd was only an ordinary 

 split-bamboo bass rod with short tip I was afraid to 

 teat very hard. 



Night being at hand we returned to the shore where 

 wood was plentiful, and soon had a fish fry in progress. 



The eating of redfish direct from the water is anew 

 experience to those who are accustomed to eating them 

 only after being on ice, and only a trial, accompanied 

 with a camping appetite, would possibly convince some 

 skeptics that there is a great difference in flavor as well 

 as grain of the flesh. J. V, B. 



CATCHING WILD ANIMALS. — II. 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PAKK. 

 [ContivMil from I'age 173.] 



WHEN bedtime came I tied the calf elk up in the 

 tent with us to protect it from the rain and any 

 wild animal that might come prowling about. I had the 

 calf in one corner and the two dogs in another. About 

 two in the morning the calf got hungry, it got up and 

 began nosing around and calling for its mother. It 

 trampled over men and dogs, until the latter left the tent 

 in disgust, I got up and warmed up some water, mixed a 

 mess of condensed milk, warmed this nicely in a bottle 

 and put a rubber nipple over the top, thinking it would 

 take something to eat. I fooled with that calf for half an 

 hour trying to get it to suck, but it would not. So I tied 

 it up short, made it lie down and turned in, but my 

 troubles had but just begun. It kept me awake all night 

 with its crying. I tried to make it suck from the bottle 

 in the morning, but no. I suppose it did not like the taste 

 of the milk. Dolph and I were in a hurry to pack up and 

 get to Yancey's, where we could get fresh cow's milk. 

 The elk was crying all the time. When the horses were 

 brought up, Dolph suggested that we try the calf with 

 the roaxe, to see if it could get something to eat there. 

 I held it up, while Dolph held his hand over the mare's 

 eye. As soon as the calf smelt the mare's udder it 

 reached for a teet and went to sucking. The colt came 

 up on the other side, to get some breakfast, too, but we 

 drove it away. There was no difficulty now about feed- 

 ing the calf, except as to quantity. The mare did not 

 offer to kick, but we would not let the calf come near her 

 until we had a hand over the eye on the side we held the 

 elk, ready to drag it out of danger if the mare showed 

 signs of using her hoof's on it. 



We had some little trouble getting it to Yancey's. I 

 did not want to trust it on top of the packs, so I carried, 

 led and drove it the four miles we had to travel. It- 

 would follow the mare, but was in danger from the colt, 

 who took a decided dislike to it, kicking at it at every 

 opportunity. So I had to let Dolph go on with the pack, 

 while I came on more slowly with the calf. 1 had quite 

 a time practicing calls until I found I could imitate one 

 or two so that the calf would understand and answer. 

 Toward the last I had to carry the calf all the way; no 

 easy job, as it weighed about 401bs. 



When we reached Yancey's I tried it with fresh cow's 

 milk but could not get it to drink or suck. Every two 

 hours I tried it, but the stupid thing would not learn. I 

 had to pour milk down its throat to keep it from starving. 

 I had the calf about six days before it learned to feed 

 from a bottle. I found most of the elk calves just as 

 stupid; a very young one would learn to feed in a day or 

 two, while one a week old would be two weeks learning. 



For a few days I was busy fixing up one of Mr. Yancey's 

 log cabins, building a large pen and safe shelter for 

 young animals. I was up nights, too, with the calf, feed- 

 ing it reduced cow's milk, warmed in a bottle over a can- 

 dle or in a water bath if the fire was not out. I had the 

 elk in a room next to the one I camped in. Its cries dur • 

 ing the night would keep me awake; to keep it still 1 

 would get up and feed it, when it would quiet down so 

 that I could get a little rest. I had to keep all the ani- 

 mals near by so that I could take care of them if any- 

 thing disturbed them in the night. 



On May 24 Moody, Sam, Dolph and I went out to hunt 

 up horses, and anything in the way of game we could 

 find. I left the elk in charge of a young lady at Yancey's 

 who promised to try and feed it. 



We crossed the Yellowstone and followed the Cooke 

 City wagon road to Specimen divide. Moody went to the 

 left, Sam, Dolph and I to the right, to look over as much 

 country as possible. As soon as we approached the crest 

 we found a few cow elk, which did not run off as they 

 usually do, so that we were sure there must be calves 

 there belonging to them. We separated, hunting the 

 ground over carefully. The cows would run off a hun- 

 dred yards or so, then turn and watch us. If the dogs 

 got any distance ahead of us the elk would circle around 

 on that side. Once, when we all went over a hill, one 

 cow ran up on it to look at us. Just then Woody came 

 up through a hollow close by and said he had found a 

 young elk but no horses. I told him that I had found 

 his horses but no elk, although I was sure there were 

 calves close by. I showed him where he could find the 

 horses, only a short distance further on. He pointed out 

 the tree where the calf was. I sent Dolph to tie it up, 

 while I kept on hunting for more calves. We rode back 

 and forth, hunting all the groves, looking under trees, 

 among the rocks and anywhere that we thought would 

 shelter an animal. 



Dolph now joined in the hunt. We worked back over 

 ground we bad passed over once when I saw an antelope 

 watching Dolph. She was standing beside a granite boulder 

 in a slight depression. I rode toward her slowly watching 

 her, and looking the ground over carefully. I was sure I 

 had ridden before within 50ft. of where the antelope was 

 now standing, but rode toward her with the intention of 

 looking to see what she was doing there, or whether she 

 had anything for me. When within 50yds. she saw me 

 and started off on a trot. I went at once to the rock and 

 saw two queer yellowish-gray things in the most 

 awkward positions imaginable. The only parts of them 

 that seemed natural were their heads. Those were on 

 the ground right, but their bodies and legs were twisted 

 about, legs sticking out here and there as though they 

 had been stepped on by some huge foot and flattened out, 

 I dismounted, look a small rope and tied it around their 



necks without either one offering to escape; if I lifted 

 their heads a little they would let them drop back where 

 they had been. They were doing just as they had been 

 ordered, "to lie still and. not move under any circum- 

 stances." When I had the rope on them I picked them 

 up to stand them on their stilt-like legs, but for quite a 

 while they acted as though their legs were broken. 

 Finally, however, they showed life enough and attempted 

 to run, bounding about aud crying pitifully. I picked 

 them up in my arms to carry to where the little elk was. 

 They were two little bucks not over ten hours old, but as 

 bright and pretty as any young animal I ever saw. Hav- 

 ing all I could attend to for the day I started Dolph off 

 after a pack horse and outfit to carry the young animals, 

 giving him three hours to make the trip. We were a 

 little over seven miles from home. 



I tied the two antelope up in some low brush and made 

 a shelter for them with my gum coat, for I could see 

 showers of hail and rain coming. The little elk was 

 protected by the giant fir, under which her mother had 

 cached her. It was almost impossible to distinguish 

 any difference between the elk and roots, among which 

 she lay. If elk are stupid about some things they are 

 surely able to cache their young where they are difficult 

 to find. 



The two dogs seemed delighted with the new pets; 

 Bobby would roll over and over and run around, trying 

 to get them to play with her. She would" run up and 

 lick them and then run around in a circle until I drove 

 her away. They were too young for such sport. Leo 

 took a liking to the antelope, but I would not let him 

 come near for fear such an object might frighten them 

 to death. I left her to watch the horse and animals, 

 and hunted around for more young and to learn of 

 likely places where I could find them later. I could see 

 Sam and Moody on the other side of the river next to 

 Slough Creek hunting horses; could see several bands of 

 antelope and a few elk. I watched for Dolph, following 

 the road with my field glasses until I could see him com- 

 ing on the lope. He was coming fast enough sure. He 

 likes to ride fast, what boy don't? But this time it 

 pleased us both. I busied myself gathering grass and 

 spruce boughs until he got there with Fisher, the pack 

 horse. He had two canvas panniers bung over the pack 

 saddle, aud putting a few boughs in one I put the calf in 

 a sack and laid her on the boughs. The other pannier I 

 filled almost full of boughs and grass, spreading it well 

 open with sticks. On the soft spungy mass 1 placed the 

 two antelope, then threw a long burlap over the whole, 

 tied it down carefully, leaving the elk's head out, and 

 cut a hole so that I could see the antelope. We started 

 off just as a hard shower came up. It rained very hard 

 for a few minutes, beating in the elk's face, so we 

 thought we would name her "Rain-in-the-Face." The 

 antelop9 were sheltered by the sack and rode very com- 

 fortably. The elk got tired holding up her head so 

 rested it on Fisher's neck when the storm passed and 

 went to sleep. Fisher is my favorite pack animal when 

 I have any children, babies, young animals or anything 

 that must be carried very carefully. 



We could not travel faster than a walk, so were three 

 hours getting home. The antelope never offered to move. 

 The elk struggled a few times but gave it up and rode 

 safely in. I put the antelope in the room where I lived, 

 not daring to trust them with such big clumsy things as 

 the calf elk. When I offered the antelope their milk in 

 a bottle they took hold at once. While one would be 

 sucking the other would be trying to get hold too, run- 

 ning its little black tongue out — a tongue as black as the 

 rubber on the nipple of the bottle— trying to crowd the 

 other away, or if one was sleeping it would wake up at 

 the noise made by the other feeding and come jumping. 

 All I had to do to call them was to imitate the sound they 

 made feeding; when they heard it they would spring 

 from their beds to the middle of the floor before looking 

 for me. Catching sight of the bottle they would come 

 bleating something like a lamb, not so loud, but more 

 pitifully, their black tongues out ready to take hold of the 

 bottle. Sometimes when I was sitting at the table they 

 would come up and paw and strike quite angrily to attract 

 my attention. I had to feed them, if possible, every two 

 hours during the day and at least three times during the 

 night. They would not let me sleep. When they got 

 hungry they would run about on the floor and try to 

 jump up on the bed, but as soon as they had had a feed 

 they were back in their beds. 



We had an open fire-place in the room, where we did 

 our cooking. This was the favorite place for them to lie. 

 It was only by watching them every moment that we 

 could keep them out of the fire. When doing any cook- 

 ing we would build a fence of boxes about the fire-place. 

 Even then we could not leave them a moment; they 

 would jump against a box, knock it over, and stand close 

 to the tire; if it was a large one even scorching their legs 

 in the hot coals. I used to put water on the fire as soon 

 as we were through using it. They would lie down on the 

 warm ashes unless we piled a lot of boxes in the fire-place. 

 They were so exactly alike I could not tell them apart 

 until one night a candle dripped on the head of one while 

 I was warming some milk for him, giving him a mark he 

 carried until killed six weeks later. I was very much 

 attached to them. When one got sick I thought it was 

 going to die, and I did not leave it all day, but did every 

 thing possible until he was better. They did not show 

 the white marks on the neck and belly seen on older 

 antelope, but the long white hairs were very plain on 

 their rump. These they have the power of spreading out 

 like a fan, which they do when frightened. I can always 

 tell when they are going to run. You will see this white 

 mass of hair commence to widen: then look out, for they 

 are going to start. My little friends would make quite a 

 showing of their white rumps, if |they saw anything that 

 alarmed them. They would run about the cabin and 

 slide on the floor when trying to stop themselves. If the 

 dogs happened to be sleeping they would run over them. 

 Bobby would have to get on the bed to get out of the way, 

 Leo used to have to go out doors or stand up to keep out 

 of their path. I could feel the place where their horns 

 were starting. It was just over the eyes, and so close 

 that there is only room for the upper lid between the eye 

 and horn. This enables them to see without showing any 

 part of their body. E. Hofer. 



A Book About Indians.— The Fobest and Stbeam will ma 

 free on application a descriptive circular of Mr. G-rinnell's boo 

 "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk-tales," giving a table of eont«n 

 and specimen illustrations from the volume*— JLcSo. 



