162 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



LSEPT. 17, 1891. 



NO-MAN'S LAND AND BEYOND.— II. 



WE were all invited to supper at Harlan's camp, and 

 had an excellent meal of buffalo Bteak. It was 

 very good, and Lee told me to take what meat I wanted. 

 I took a 101b. chunk, and would have taken more but we 

 had plenty of antelope meat, and I hate to rob a man of 

 meat worth 9 cents a pound. 



The next morning it was very cold, but we started 

 south and left the Springfield men still camped. We 

 made a dry camp on San Francisco Creek, 35 miles south, 

 that night; and only had some water for coffee and half a 

 bucket each for the horses. We had plenty of wood and 

 some coal in the wagon, and were reasonably comfortable, 

 thougli I can't feel good when the horses are suffering for 

 water. 



With an early start, we reached Cold Water Creek, 

 Texas, at noon. Found good water, good grass, and 

 enough cone chips for a dozen camps. Saw wild horses 

 and anteloj)B just before we made camp, and I shot some 

 mallard ducks in the afternoon, while the rest hunted 

 antelope. The ducks were big and fat and I potted them 

 sitting. There were nice little springy ponds with high 

 banks and open water. We had stewed duck for supper; 

 and parboiled and roasted a dozen. I wanted to stay 

 ' there and hunt a few days, but Price, who was somewhat 

 of an old granny, was afraid we would get caught in a 

 storm away from wood; and so we pulled for Palo Duro 

 Creek in the morning. I left my cough about here— wore 

 it out or froze it out- 

 Reached Palo Duro Creek at noon. A Texas cowman's 

 ranch every five miles: plenty of wood, good water, lots 

 of cattle and no game. Price^ concluded that the Cana- 

 dian was too far, and wanted to edge toward home, so he 

 said he wanted to go down Palo Duro and in east of 

 Beaver City on the Beaver. The other boys didn't care, 

 so we we went down Palo Duro 20 miles, and overtook 

 three hunters with two wagons loaded down with deer 

 and turkey, straight from Moore Creek on the Canadian 

 Eiver. We camped with them, and the next morning 

 went back up Palo Duro, heading for Moore Creek. 

 Camped at a post office called Zulu, at Cater's ranch, 

 where I could not make Cater believe but what I was a 

 land hunter seeking a ranch. He could not understand 

 why a man with good teams should be strolling around 

 the country if he was not a market-hunter or hunting a 

 ranch. Hanny said, "Curse the ranches, I would not 

 take the whole Panhandle of Texas if you would give it to 

 me." To tell the truth, I felt the same way, for I had a 

 wife, four young ones and a home 200 miles north, and I 

 sometimes wished that I was home a little, when the bed 

 felt hard at night and I could not sleep. 



We went twenty miles south next day, and struck 

 broken ground; ten miles down a slope and we landed 

 on Moose Creek. It was a beauty— a valley a mile wide 

 and about six miles long, with 'beautiful groves of big 

 timber on both sides of the creek at intervals, with fine 

 clear water and good grass. Oh, what a camp we made 

 under a big cofctonwood on a lawn as level as a billiard 

 table, with a spring close behind the tent in a little hol- 

 low; deadwood lying around wanting to be brolce up for 

 the fire; and the north wind that had followed us for 

 many a day blowing harmlessly over our heads through 

 the tops of the giant trees that sung all night like ^^olian 

 harpo, while the Texas owls— big fellows that looked as 

 large as turkeys— sat around after dark and said who. 

 who, v:1io. 



There were deer tracks all over the bottom, and tiu-key 

 tracks on the bank of the creek behind camp. 1 wont 

 down the creek a mile and found our Springfield hunters 

 who didn't seem much pleased to see me, but didn't say 

 much. They had a fine camp; had arrived there two 

 days before us and had a deer hung up, three turkeys 

 and ducks till you couldn't rest. Trout told me that the 

 deer were all scared away, and that they were going to 

 move next day, I told him that I had plenty of meat 

 and should stay a week anyhow, deer or no deer. 



Hanny got up first next morning, and began getting 

 breakfast. When he came back from the spring with 

 the waterpail he told me that there were a flock of quail 

 in front of the door. I jumped up and had pants and 

 boots on in a minute, grabbed the 10-bore and stepped 

 out bareheaded. The quail were just starting into some 

 brush about 40yds. from the tent.' I let go the right at 

 them on the ground, and got one more as they rose; 

 picked up an even dozen (there were about forty in the 

 flock); and was back in the tent getting warm in about 

 five minutes. 



After breakfast, when I went to drive up the horses to 

 feed them, I heard a rifle crack twice about a mile up the 

 creek, and shortly Trout came past and said he had killed 

 a deer, I saw he must have gone past our" camp before 

 day, and now I began to see why they wanted us to leave. 

 We were camped between them and the best hunting 

 ground. 



The boys all struck out after breakfast, Hanny with my 

 shotgun, which he tried to appropriate from that time. I 

 took it away from him occasionally, but he grumbled 

 awful when I did. He said that I could shoot a rifle and 

 he couldn't; that I had better kill big game and let him 

 kill the little birds. When the little birds are 16 lb. 

 turkeys, big fat mallard and spoonbill ducks, great flocks 

 of quail and a few prairie chickens for a change, I kick. 

 It is more fun to loaf along Moose Creek with a shotgun 

 than to walk over slippery sandhills hunting deer for 

 hours with a rifle. 



Price went east about four miles on foot to another creek 

 called Carson Creek. Noah went off no one knows where, 

 and I saddled a pony and tried to get the lay of the coun- 

 try up and down the creek and around. I rode about 

 forty miles that day and saw a few turkeys and two flocks 

 of quail, but lots of deer tracks. I found a place two miles 

 up the creek where deer bedded every night, and I could 

 see Trout's tracks where he had jumped them before he 

 got near them every morning. That was what I was 

 after, and I went to camp early. Hanny had a quail 

 supper about ready. 



Price came in packing a big fawn on his back. He had 

 found a bunch of deer; a few had jumped up at oOyds, 

 and he had killed it. The shell stuck in his Sharps, and 

 while he hammered and dug at it, a big buck got up and 

 looked at him a while. Then several does got up from 

 the tall grass, and all of them scooted, leaving Price fool- 

 jBi^ away wjth the empt.7 shell. Then pretty 800^ it came 



out easily. Before Price had done talking about that buck 

 one would have thought it must have been the biggest 

 deer in Texas. 



When we sat down to supper we had a treat. Hanny 

 had skinned the quail, cleaned them out and boiled them 

 as you would potatoes. Poor little fellows; they looked 

 lonesome and shriveled. They tasted just the "same as 

 some boiled chips. I guess it was because I had acted so 

 mean to them when I shot them on the ground. 



Noah came in while we were eating and looked sour. 

 He did not kill a deer or antelope the whole trip, and he 

 set out intending to make money hunting. He hunted 

 faithfully every day. He could make as much noise 

 going up a creek through the brush as a four-year-old 

 steer, and I often came in at the head of the timber when 

 I knew he was going to hunt up a creek, and would catch 

 a deer sneaking out occasionally before Noah got within 

 half a mile of it. Price asked Noah if he had seen any- 

 thing. "Yes, I have seen lots of fresh tracks. What did 

 you get, Hanny !" "I got a string of ducks, and got them 

 all out of two little spring ponds down below Trout's 

 camp." 



After eating a lot of meat cooked by myself, and trying 

 some of Hanny 's experiments he and I washed the dishes, 

 and then the youngsters, Noah, Hanny and I, went down 

 to Trout's camp visiting, leaving Dad Price seated by the 

 fire reading an old newspaper. The Trout party consisted 

 of four— Trout, a man of about twenty-five, 6ft. tall and 

 very slim; a Scotchman who was as tough as a mule, and 

 who hunted all the time but didn't kill much; a man 

 named James who said he was Jesse James's cousin, and 

 who occasionally told us how desperate he was himself 

 (he was, in fact, a mild-mannered, little old bald-headed, 

 pop-eyed man of about forty-five); and a real nice young 

 fellow of twenty -five whose name I forgot. They hunted 

 so steady that they couldn't help getting game, and Trout 

 was a dandy in spite of the French horn and his long 

 tongue. We played seven-up a while and then went 

 home. Price was abed and grumbled when we came in, 

 "You boys stayed out late." I am forty, rather an old 

 boy. We set the alarm for 4 o'clock and it seemed as if 

 I hadn't slept five minutes when the thing went off, and 

 T crawled out and got breakfast, ate it and struck out up 

 the creek well out on the hills. I was above Trout's deer 

 bed before a person could see through his sights, and lay 

 down on the bank where I could see all over the bottom. 

 Just after it got light I caught glimpses of a man slipping 

 through the groves away down the creek, and in a few 

 minutes here came five whitetail deer, slipping along a 

 long way ahead of him and looking back as cunning as a 

 man. 



Nearer and nearer they came to me until they stood in 

 full view about lOOyds, away. They had got to decamp 

 soon, for Trout was coming, and so I shot at the buck, 

 aiming behind the shoulder, and broke his backbone. He 

 was below me and my gun is sighted for 125yds. any- 

 how. Two or three shots at the others did not hit any- 

 thing, and I went down and was dressing my deer (a 

 pretty fair buck) when Trout came up. He grinned and 

 said he hated to play dog, but he guessed he had. We 

 went on up the creek together. 



We saw nothing more and went back. Reached my 

 camp by nine, ate another big breakfast and went to 

 shooting at mark. Trout beat me out of $3 at a dollar a 

 shot, and then gave me back the money and advised me 

 to buy cartridges with it and practice before I shot 

 against a man! He put all three shots into a Sin. ring at 

 lOOyds. off-hand. 



By some real nice talk I got Noah and Hanny to go up 

 and get my deer, and I sneaked off down the creek with 

 my shotgun and went to sleep in the sun near a nice 

 spring pond. I woke up at last very chilly and saw as 

 beautiful a eight as it often falls to the lot of man to 

 look at. A doe and two big fawns had drank at the fur- 

 ther edge of the pond, and the fawns were playing around 

 on a flat not over ISOyds. distant like two little kids as 

 they were. The old doe seemed to be watching their 

 gambols proudly. A flock of mallards were quacking 

 and eating at the spring not over 60yds. from me. The 

 sun was going down. I lay still and watched the deer, 

 hardly daring to breathe, the air was so still, until 

 finally I heard some one coming down the creek; the 

 deer ran away into the sandhills as silently as shadows; 

 I got up and threw a stick at the ducks, and they flew 

 with whistling wings in a circle and then went straight as 

 [ arrows down Moore Creek for the Canadian. Price came 

 I up with his rifle and I met him in the dim trail that runs 

 down the creek, I told him about the deer and how I 

 let the ducks go (for we had plenty of them in camp), 

 and he said, "I suppose I could get one of those deer if 

 I followed them up, but I really left camp only for a 

 walk, let us go back." So we went home to camp in a 

 . very contented frame of mind. 



Noah and Hanny were cooking supper when we got 

 there; and after we had eaten Hanny and I played seven- 

 up to see who should wash the dishes; he lost, but I com- 

 promised and wiped them. 



After supper Trout's gang dropped in, and said that 

 they were going to start for home in the morning. They 

 said that the game was too scarce and wild. They asked 

 when we were going; and we looked at each other and 

 laughed. "I dunno," said Price, "it's as Dick says." I 

 said, "If I only had my wife and young ones here. I don't 

 believe I'd ever go back." Hanny remarked cheerfully, 

 "We are doin' pretty well here;" and Trout sighed and 

 said that he had a great mind to stay another week. So 

 we played some seven-up and had some more supper at 

 about 10 o'clock. The Trout gang went off to their camp 

 by moonUght; a.nd the owls said whoo! all aroimd us as 

 we went to sleep 200 miles from nowhere. 



When the Trouts passed our camp at daybreak next 

 morning I sent a letter to my wife, to be put in the first 

 post office they struck. I inclosed the tip of a txirkey's 

 neck feather in it, also a lock of deer hair, and pi-om- 

 ised to be home some time. I was a little homesick when 

 I saw them disappear; but there was only one twinge and 

 it was gone. 



Trout had said that there was a ranch near the mouth 

 of the creek; and Hanny and I decided to go down and 

 see if any one was there. So when breakfast was done 

 we took the buggy and drove down. Found a good 

 house and three men. It was the D. B. L. ranch. I 

 asked the foreman what D, B. L. meant. He said that 

 formerly it meant Damn Big Luck, but that for the last 

 three years he had concluded it stood for Damn Bad Luck. 

 They seemed a little stiff at first; but finally thawed out 

 and proved uipe fellows. They occasiouall;y Ijiiye trouble 



with hunters who kill cattle or set fire to timber or prairie 

 carelessly. They said that they had heard us shoot, and 

 knew we were camped up the creek. I promised to be 

 careful about tire; and we drove on down to the Canadian 

 River, and forded it with the buggy to try it. It was 

 shallow, but with a very soft bottom of quicksand. So 

 we forded back and went to camp. 



Price came in with a deer on his mule at sunset, and 

 we decided to cross the river the next day and go on to 

 Bear Creek, which the D. B, L, foreman had told us 

 about. He said there were lots of turkeys over there. 

 We started early the next morning and forded the river, 

 after storing some of our supplies and most of our meat 

 at the D. B, L. ranch. 



The ford was better than when I crossed the day be- 

 fore, and we soon pulled up the bed of Bear Creek— sand 

 six inches deep and no water for seven miles; and then I 

 found a spring in a side canon, made camp and Hanny 

 and I hunted for a ttu-key roost for several miles up the 

 creek by moonlight. Didn't find anything. Next day 

 hunted all day, I saw three deer tracks and a little 

 turkey sign. When I came in I saw where a panther 

 had followed Hanny and me around the night before. 

 He must have been quite close to us. His tracks were 

 4in, in diameter. Noah said that night that we had 

 better go back across the river, for the water might get 

 up and then we couldn't get back, Hanny meowed like 

 a cat, and Price grinned a little; but we went back. 



We got our meat and corn and went on to Carson 

 Creek, where Price had had the fight with his shell in 

 the gun and had killed the fawn. lie had talked ev^ry 

 day about that big buck and I wanted a crack at it badly. 

 We camped near the creek on a little sandy bank of 

 grass, sheltered by a big sand bill. The grafs was full of 

 sand burrs and we sat on them some for the next two 

 days. Hanny found a flock of quail before we got the 

 tent up, and was off after them with my shotgun. He 

 came back to supper with about twenty quail and twelve 

 prairie chickens, mostly killed sitting; but they were fat 

 and tasted as good as if they had been killed over a dog 

 on the wing, I remarked just for fun that I thought 

 that I should use the shotgun next day and Hanny fairly 

 begged, "Now, Dick, you know I can't shoot a rifle and l 

 want to try to kill a deer with buckshot." I made him 

 promise to get up and build fire in the morning every 

 time it was my turn and then told him that I was only 

 joking about the gun. I asked Price the lay of the creek 

 and he said that he thought that the best hunting was up 

 the bottom through the timber; so we all went out at 

 daylight after a good breakfast. The creek had about a 

 mile of scattering scrubby timber on one side of it in the 

 bottom, interspersed with a little brush. We went up 

 the creek abreast with Noah where he would make the 

 least noise, but I know I could have heard him half a 

 mile if I had been listening. There were several deer 

 ahead of u?, but they got out before we got a shot; I saw 

 one running like a ghost and tried to get a sight for a 

 running shot, but he was gone too quick. There was 

 some more timber up the creek, but Price decided to go 

 over where he kiUed his fawn the time before; and Noah 

 followed him, to my relief, and Hanny and I went up the 

 creek. We soon came to good deer ground — more brush, 

 low trees, little corners, where there were hollows setting 

 back forty yards or so from the creek, full of brush. I 

 was standing on a little ridge that ran down to the edge 

 of the creek (which was lOOyds. wide here and with no 

 water but just a sand bed), where Hanny, who was hunt- 

 ing on the head of the hollow behind me, shot off both 

 barrels of the shotgun, and a fine buck ran out of the 

 brush a little above me. I sighted about five inches ahead 

 of his breast as he trotted across the sand, and at the 

 crack of the rifle he came down, just as he gained the 

 grass on the other side. "Did you hit him?" yelled Hanny, 

 who could see me but not the deer. "Yes." "I don't 

 believe it. I killed mine though," said he. "Go quick 

 and bleed it and then come to me," I said ; and I stood 

 with my gun cocked so that if my deer got up I could 

 knock him down again, till Hanny came up with his 

 hands bloody, and then we walked cautiously up to mine. 

 He was a good five-prong buck, and stone dead, shot 

 through the heart at 125 paces. As I looked at him I felt 

 good, "That's better than hitting a four-inch ring at 

 lOOyds.," said Hanny; and I, well, I just loved myself. 

 We hung him in a tree and then went to Hanny's doe. 

 He had hit her all over with buckshot, but he had her, 

 and Hanny smiled unutterable contentment after we had 

 her hung up. We went to camp, got the buggy, and re- 

 turned for the deer. Coming back with the deer, we saw 

 a big flock of mallards on a spring pond, and Hanny shot 

 three at two shots. They were in the middle of the pond 

 and I encouraged Hanny until he stripped oft' everything 

 but his little short undershirt and waded in after them. 

 It was awfuU^ cold water with some ice in it. There was 

 a tree lying with its butt on the bank and the trunk under 

 water. He walked out on that till the water camo above 

 his knees, then his feet shpped off the log and he went in 

 up to his waist. Ob, how he yelled, but I howled, "Gro 

 on! go on! they are only ten feet further;" and he went 

 for them reluctantly, but got them. When he came out 

 I rubbed him down till he was as red as a lobster all over, 

 and then he put on his clothes and ran to camp on foot 

 behind the buggy. I produced the whisky: he took a big 

 drink and the wetting didn't hurt him a bit. 



We hung the deer in front of the tent on a tree before 

 Price and Noah got in, and got a late dinner or an early 

 supper of fried liver and bacon, fried potatoes and fried 

 onions. The coffee was strong, and when the other boys 

 got in we had a second instalment ready for them. 

 They had seen two bunches of deer, but had not killed a 

 thing; and old man Price actually almost cried when he 

 told how his rifle snapped twice when he had a dead aim. 

 It was tough. Noah's feeUngs were almost too deep for 

 utterance, and I will not repeat his remarks. 



Hanny went down the creek after dinner, and came 

 back at sundown with several ducks and a sora rail. He 

 said that there was a swamp full of rail a mile down the 

 creek. After dark we had a little supper, and soon after, 

 while we were smoking, and it was pitch dark (for the 

 moon had not risen), we heard a coarse meaw, nieaw, 

 down near the trees in the bottom, not over lObyds. from 

 camp. The horses and mules were picketed between us 

 and the trees. I grabbed the shotgun, loaded with buck- 

 shot, the rest their rifles, and stepped out of the tent. 

 The thing kept yowling, and I told Hanny to get the 

 lantern and come down and get the horses and mules up 

 to camp, for any minute I expected it would jump on one 

 of them and kill it. I said, "T wi|.l carry the shotgun, 



