FOREST AND STREAM. 



The wide rpach of blue sky, the great stretch of yellow 

 phins, and the long line of gray bluffs and broken hills 

 to the east and south of us, with the huge swells of the 

 plains, gave the landscape that solemn and dreamlike 

 a-pect of the sea. We gazed at ic all in silence for a while; 

 but the cool, tempered breeze gave us a new Impulse; and 

 we walked past the platform, where we could just see a 

 group of section hands working on the track ahead. As 

 we approached them one nearer than the rest stopped 

 working suddenly and began firing missiles at an objfct 

 in the grass. We ran up, and he pointed out to us the 

 head and neck of a rattlesinake thrust up out of some 

 reeds and grass. It was despatched, and the six or seven 

 buttons pulled off. Though I saw many afterward, and 

 killed seme, T never came near being bitten but once, 

 and through no fault of the '-rattler." Once, carrying a 

 mountain sheep on my back down the canon of the North 

 Laramie River, I got going at too quick a gait, and though 

 I heard a buzaing in the rocks lower down, was un- 

 able to stop till almost on the snake. That ominous hum- 

 ming noise gives a good warning. 



When we got back to the station the agent cai-efully 

 scanned the prairie for us to the north, and finally pointed 

 out to us a tiny black spot, some five miles away, which 

 he said wag the team. We watched it alternately va,nish 

 and reappear, and grow bigger and bigger, till we could 

 make out horses and wagon. Rather over an hour after- 

 ward our new acquaintance introduced liimself, and we 

 made friends at once. 



Going back to the wagon we helped carry into the log 

 cabin, against which the saloon stood, the blankets and 

 quilts and the mattress H. alvrays carried with him 

 across the wagon seat. Then the grub box was brought 

 in and a good cold supper spread on the dirt floor. While 

 it was yet light enough we made our beds, and H. 

 changed the mares' picketings. Then rolling up in our 

 blanketp, we sought sleep; but the novelty of it all kept 

 us awake a while asking questions and listening to ex- 

 planations of what we saw and should see. 



A freight train roaring and puffiag by about midnight 

 was the only thing to disturb us till the morning's frosty 

 air sought the thin places in our coverings, and H.'s get- 

 ting up awoke us. When H, came back from the ponies 

 we were dressed and washed, and all then helped get 

 breakfast, which was soon ready. At 8 o'clock we drove 

 off, the little colts cavorting merrily about their mothers, 

 apparently not "done up" by the previous day's travel. 

 An overcoat and gloves were yet comfortable, though we 

 shed the coat by 9 o'clock or so. A mile out we crossed 

 Pole Creek, and leaving a solitary ranch far to one side, 

 "took up" on the divide a little east of north. 



I shall never forget that morning's ride. A few puffy 

 snow-white clouds hung here and there along and above 

 the horizon, set in the purest, clearest blue sky; a great 

 sweep of straw-colored plains stretching under it, flushed 

 with the green new grass coming up among the dried 

 last year's stalks; the graj^ walls of bluffs lying four or 

 five miles off to the east and northeast, sfjotted here and 

 there with the dark green foliage of the straggling, 

 stunted pines and cedars growing tentatively on them. 

 The fresh morning air blew gently in our faces and 

 seemed to give newer souls and bodies to us at every 

 breath. 



This section of the country that spring was thickly 

 stocked with cattle, owing to the good grazing and 

 numfrous water holes, and we frequently passed small 

 groups and herds of them, which looked up curiously at 

 us as om- little outfit jogged slowly past. H. had brought 

 his rifle— a ,44cal. Winchester repeater — and he assured 

 us the chances of getting an antelope were excellent, as 

 there was but little travel on this road. We scanned the 

 landscape csirefuUy and persistently in friendly rivalry 

 as to who should first see game, but H.'s experienced eye 

 found it first. He snapped his blacksnake off to west- 

 ward and called oar attention to a round, white, glim- 

 mering spot, as big as one's hand, near a bunch of dis- 

 tant cattle and called it an antelope. While our untaught 

 eyes were seeking for a four-legged, buff'-colored, deer- 

 ifke creature his trained eyesight looked for any color or 

 shape that would suggest an antelope in any one of his 

 hundred aspects in varymg lights and positions. A round 

 white spot, a black or buff shape, the edge of a knife- 

 blade erect on the horizon, any thing that instinct told 

 him had life in it. We watched the distant animal turn 

 this way or that, while it fed, its aspect changing as 

 often as its position. Sometimes it seemed daik brown, 

 again an almost black spot, then it would show its true 

 shape and buff color. We strained our eyes looking at it 

 and wished it nearer. 



Further on we drove through a prairie dog town, and 

 the little rodents were much disturbed, and hurriedly 

 interrupting visits to neighbors sped home to their own 

 burrows, there to bark at us shrilly and defiantly till we 

 were by them. Occasionally from the frequent water 

 holes, accumulated from the recent spring rains, a pair 

 or a small flock of teals or mallards would be scared 

 away. We secured a few with the rifle, but were not 

 so successful with the jacks, of whom a number were 

 started from cover. Before we camped for noon we had 

 each had several shots at antelope, and some were good 

 ones— the shots, I mean. Most of the balls fell too short, 

 and one, I regret to say, wounded an antelope in the hip 

 and he got away. With H.'s field glasses we could see 

 him as he ran limj)ing up a lower place in the bluff two 

 miles away. A true hunter hates to wound his game and 

 see it get away. It is to be regretted that a sport in most 

 ways so manly, and that makes the hunter a student of 

 nature as well, should have the taint of blood about it. 

 Cruelty is only for the brute. What fascinates in hunt- 

 ing is' the matching of one's faculties and endurance, 

 one's skill and courage, against those of the game. 



At noon we drew up near a thick patch of "bluejoint" 

 and not far from a water hole. The horses were un- 

 hitched and turned loose with their picket ropes drag- 

 ging. Though the wagon stood in a hollow, or swale, the 

 wind blew rather strong and cold, so a blankpt was hung 

 over the wheels on one side for shelter. After a hearty 

 lunch of tea, boiled over a fire of sage roots, buffalo 

 chips and the few dry sticks in the wagon, and plenty of 

 sandwiches, cookies and pie, we stretched out in the shade 

 of the blanket and dozed a while. 



A couple of hours later we were again on the ti'ail. An 

 isolated pine or two could be seen later in the afternoon 

 on the horizon ahead; and not long after we were trotting 

 down the sandy and steep trail through a kind of cailon 

 i» bluffs. From our elevated outlook we could trace 

 for a while the g?ef* bare valley to the northj through 



which Horse Creek flowed as it swept in a big curve 

 northerly to Goshen Hole. A mile down, on our way 

 occasionally startling a kildeer from the little brook we 

 crossed and recrossed, or a mourning dove from the box 

 elders that lined its banks, wo struck this valley, and 

 turning to the left, foUowed it up west for four or five 

 miles to H.'s ranch. A few log cabins were passed, but 

 hardly half a mile of fencing was seen in all till we 

 reached our friend's. After a cordial greeting from Mrs. 

 H., we dragged in our trunks and traps and were made 

 to feel at home. 



Next morning we were taken over to our friend's 

 ranch. Within a week he took us over the prairies in 

 several antelope hunts: but we were still unsuccessful. 

 A week of this ranch life satiated my cousin, and we took 

 him back to Pine Bluffs, I had arranged to spend the 

 summer on the ranch, so we made our farewells as the 

 train left. 



It being late in the afternoon when we left the station 

 H. decided to camp at Pole Creek, Avhere we might get 

 an antelnpe coming in to water in the morning. 



We picketed the marea seom-ely toward nightfall, and 

 built us the usual tiny camp-fire "of dead sticks and odd 

 scraps of wood, and siipper was soon over. 



As it looked somewhat overcast the ground under the 

 wagon was smoothed of its hummocks, stones and prickly 

 pears, and our mattress spread there. A blanket was 

 fastened to the wheels on tlie windy side and weighted 

 down with stones, and then we snuggled down in our 

 blankets, and I tried to sleep. But the novelty of the 

 thing kept me awake. It was my first bivouac. 



Through the spokes of one hind wheel I could catch an 

 occasional glimpse of a star or two, as the clouds broke 

 over them. A coyote's distant bowlings, the murmuring 

 of the breeze about the wagon, the noise of a dragging 

 picket rope as a mare nosed along to a more tempting bit 

 of grass, the sigh of one of the colts lying down, were all 

 distinctive and agreeable sounds enough, and made more 

 interesting in the gloom of night. The brisk breeze 

 made the coals of the dying fire glow and glow, till 

 finally they burnt out. 



We got an early start next day, and made eight or ten 

 miles before the sun got very hot. Pretty lark bim tings 

 were soaring, to stay suspended for awhile singing above 

 their mates (squatting in the grass) and till they lit again. 

 Some scratching marks in the road attracted our atten- 

 tion, and our companion explained them as made by a 

 buck antelope, who will often follow a road for a mile or 

 two pawing and leaving his sign at frequent intervals. 

 We kept alert and soon spied the buck off to our right at 

 long rifle range. Like many another fool buck, he is con- 

 vinced we mean harm to him on that side of the road 

 and his only safety lies on the other. Away he dashes oft' 

 toward the road and way ahead of us. Crossing it at top 

 speed, and with a grace and elegance hard to describe, 

 he heads for our other side— the right — there stopping 

 short, not nearly as far away as his first position. H. has 

 the rifle and succeeds in dropi)ing a shot near bis feet. 

 The buck does not run, only swings a little and shows 

 more of himself. Another shot; another, and he goes 

 down in a heap, and we hear the ball spat at the same 

 time. We drive right up to where he lies, to find him 

 dead enough. The game is soon di-eased by my friend 

 and lifted into the wagon; and the horns are added as a 

 trophy. 



Ten days or so later, after I had shot my tirst antelope, 

 a doe, we started one morning with the ponies and their 

 colts, having enough provisions in the wagon for a five 

 or six days' hunt. We head for Jordan's Canon, which 

 lies just over the Nebraska line a few miles, and was 

 about twenty-five or thirty miles away to the northeast. 

 There were fewer ranches in this section; in fact they 

 lay fifteen or twenty miles apart; so H. hoped there 

 would be more game of all kinds for us to hunt. Ante- 

 lope, mountain sheep, blacktails, with a stray elk now 

 and then, were to be expected there. We nooned at 

 Hawk's Spring, sixteen or seventeen miles north, and 

 found ourselves in the late afternoon about twelve miles 

 beyond this to the northeast, after a fiery hot drive over 

 an extensive alkali flat, where the air was almost like a 

 furnace blast. Jordan's Canon we had passed a couple of 

 miles to she south, and as the bluffy wall was here much 

 broken we had no great trouble to drive to a rather ele- 

 vated place on the tableland and near the source of a 

 tiny stream, which flowed a couple of miles into the 

 plains from its north side. Antelope we had seen in 

 numbers, both singly and in herds, and we knew we 

 could get all we wanted here. 



As soon as the horses were unhitched and picketed we 

 started off for a still-hunt. Not far from camp we saw a 

 doe ahead, and H. shot at her. She flung up her head 

 repeatedly as if hit there. The game did not run far, and 

 after some maneuvering we spy it feeding behind a sandy, 

 irregular knoll. With this for a cover we crept up within 

 easy range, about 60yds. , and I rise up, take hasty and 

 excited aim, and fire. ' She falls and lies struggling till 

 another shot hits a vital spot. We examine her and find 

 the shot H. fired had cut a slight hole in the bone of her 

 nose. The game was dressed and packed to our tent on 

 one of the ponies. While H. was kindling a fire and col- 

 lecting the dried limbs and sticks lying under the few 

 Cottonwood and box-elders growing down in the gulch, 

 I scooped out a place near the bank and brought some 

 clear water. Soon tea was boiling and venison steak 

 broiling, and not long after, as we were about to sit down 

 to supper, a coyote's despairing, agonizing yowls told us 

 the steaks smelt sweet, but were not for him, he quite 

 realized. Dishes washed, tent pitched and horses re- 

 picketed, we stood a while near them watching a fine sun- 

 set. When the sun was well down, the evening chill of 

 this high altitude (5,000ft,) drew us to the fire, where 

 guns were cleaned and inspected, and then for a time we 

 reclined in a thoughtful spirit, thottgh keeping up a 

 pleasant if rather desultory conversation. Perhaps the 

 most agreeable part of camp life is had around the camp- 

 fire after all the day's work is done, and when the har- 

 monious spirit has its full sway. The disagreeable is 

 forgotten ; one lies about the blaze comfortable and rest- 

 ful in body, and mind, too; and so one's fancies are 

 peaceful and pleasant. One's imagination also is more 

 free, and we conceive new adventures where we should 

 have acted more cleverly at some critical time than we 

 yet had. There is something, too, about the night which 

 gives a spice to any narrative or story; and H., who had 

 fought in the war with an Indiana regiment, and spent 

 ten or twelve years in the Far West, had many an inter- 

 esting tale to tell, that he told with considerable skill, 



We sought our bed late, but I resolved nevertheless to 

 get up early. 



In the gray of the morning, while yet a few stars 

 sparkled and before even an attenuated coyote had given 

 so much as a howl, I crept out of the blankets, softly 

 untied the flap of the little A tent and taking the carbine 

 sallied forth. The horses were up and feeding— it seemed 

 as if they never stoi^ped eating and never lay down — but 

 I did not wait to get any breakfast. The night before I 

 had resolved to get an antelope by my skill alone. Strik- 

 ing off southward through the broken, bluffy, rising 

 ground which continued to the south, I had covered nearly 

 two miles while the east reddened. After the sun was 

 up I found myself crossing the heads of two deep draws 

 which swept off eastward and united, a mile away, in a 

 larger valley. Here I saw several antelope, but the 

 nature of the ground and the direction of the wind pre- 

 vented me from working them. About five miles from 

 camp I decided to return, as the hungry stomach com- 

 plained. As I crossed the small ridge between the heads 

 of the two draws I had passed earlier in the morning I 

 saw an antelope scud across the wider valley a mile east 

 of me. It was no use, I saw, to try to get him, but my 

 glance in returning happened to rest on a black shining 

 object, half hidden in the grass, well up the south side of 

 the nearest draw; and it was surely an antelope, I 

 thought. Over a slight rise in the ground ahead of me 

 I could just see it with my field glasses; and it proved 

 to be a fine buck, lying beside a cluster of soap weed 

 and now and then licking its side or nibbling at 

 some grass within reach. I stood all this time, of course, 

 stock-still and ca.ref ally studied the lay of the land with 

 the aid of my glasses. It was evident I must retrace my 

 steps four or five hundred yards; then swing rapidly 

 around to the east and northeast and ascend to the crest 

 of the ridge he was on, at some place above him. The 

 latter jxart of the way a slight breeze would be blowing 

 at my back. Bad that; but if I walked or trotted fast 

 enough I might at least travel with its not gaining on me 

 much. Drawing carefully back behind the hill, I skulked 

 off, and in twenty or thirty minutes was hurrying rap- 

 idly up the ridge which was now between me and the 

 game. Rifle ready, and I ascended a rather steep pitch 

 near the top, to find the buck right ahead in plain sight 

 and not eighty yards away. He was standing looking at 

 me, slightly quartering. I stopped instantly, bringing 

 carbine to shoulder, and took steady, careful aim at his 

 breast. With the report of the piece he took a great leap 

 sideways and backward, and dashed over the top of the 

 swell out of sight. I ran after him, reloading the gun. 

 He was not in sight from the top of tlie ridge, so I ran at 

 full speed down the hill in the direction he must have 

 taken. Near the bottom a few sprawling footprints in 

 the loose, dry earth guided me further; and on, another 

 hundred yards or so, over a broken sandy knoll, I found 

 bim lying on his side quite dead, shot through the heart. 

 He looked trim and pretty enough in his clean btiff color 

 and plump outline, and I felt a vague regret at having 

 ended his harmless life. 



The sun was beating down fiercely hot in this sandy, 

 scantily grassed valley, and I hastened to dress the car- 

 cass; then started toward camp for a pony, first, how- 

 ever, having stuck my ramrod with handkerchief attached 

 in the ground beside' the game to guide me back from a 

 distance, as also to warn off any predatory wolf or coy- 

 ote. About nine o'clock I reached camp to find it deserted. 

 A scant breakfast was eaten, Judith was saddled, and I 

 rode back the four or four and a half miles for my quarry, 

 I had not appreciated what an undertaking it was to se- 

 cure a good-sized buck on to the saddle. It took a deal of 

 planning, lifting and tugging to get the hind legs fast- 

 ened to the cantle, though the mare stood quiet enough. 

 After a lot more contriving and efforts I tied the buck's 

 forelegs securely with the ends of a rope, then getting up 

 and standing in the saddle, I lifted my beet. The limp 

 and before unmanageable body had to come up, and I 

 got it across the saddle and properly fastened. Herrick 

 was back in camp when I got there, and gave me "pleas- 

 ing flattery" for the good shot and good luck. He had 

 not been successful, having wounded a buck which got 

 away. But he had two cottontails for our larder. We 

 rested about the tent and among the cottonwoods in the 

 gulch during the heat of the day, and in the afternoon 

 when it was cooler hitched up and drove down over the 

 bluff's and up into Goodwin's caiion, southwest, where we 

 hoped to find a blacktail. The bluffs here rose sheer and 

 precipitous from the great basin called "Goshen Hole," and 

 several smaller canons tributary to this large one, made 

 it a fine hunting ground. Tillicum. 



SHAWANGUNK WILD HOGS. 



THAT the wild boars of the Shawangunks have been 

 increasing in numbers almost from the time of their 

 escape is now generally believed in this vicinity. Indeed, 

 the killing of a two-year-old native of the species last fall 

 put the fact beyond dispute. That event proved that 

 there were at least two distinct herds, one in Forestburgh, 

 one inhabiting the mountain fastnesses east of theNever- 

 sink. Shortly after the boar was slain a denizen of 

 Lumberland, an adjoining township of Sullivan county, 

 but separated from Forestbm-gh by the Mongaup TJiver, 

 announced that he had seen wild hogs in the woods on 

 his side of the river. 



When the strange quarry was exhibited in Port Jervis 

 immense excitement prevailed among our local nimrods, 

 and several parties started out after the game, boasting 

 that they would not return without securing at least one 

 porker. The announcement of the departure of these 

 hunting parties by the local press fairly glowed with ex- 

 citement, and readers were led to expect great things. 

 Alas, not one of these expeditions returned, judging from 

 the silence of the newspapers on the subject. So far as I 

 have been able to learn, not a glimpse of the wild boars 

 were again seen by any one for several months. It was 

 even mooted that Judge Crane's "wild hog" was secured 

 from elsewhere, the whole aft'air being an ingenious 

 election ering dodge. However, the close cover within 

 which the creatures have su^cceeded in keeping themselves 

 did not at all disturb the confidence of many that blue 

 boars were ranging the woods around us in considerable 

 numbers. At various times last year, from early spring 

 until snow, the gamekeeper at Hartwood discovered 

 boar tracks (which, by the way, are quite different from 

 deer tracks). They ranee in size from those of a few- 

 weeks'-old pig to the fathers of ,the herd— tusky, ugly- 

 looking oustomers, no doubt. 



