D130. 189S.] 



FOREST ^ND STREAM. 



B31 



locate "coon trees," and in fresh snow this is a very easy 

 matter. Daring the winter months the low tides on this 

 coast occur at night. The coon is a great lover of fish 

 and clams, and when the tide is out his harvest U ripe, 

 and the broad trails going and returning from the beach 

 betrayed the poor little brutes. 



Smoking coons out of a big hollow cedar and picking 

 them off the top branches with a rifle may not be consid- 

 ered legitimate sport, but all the same there is a good 

 deal of fun in it, and a mat made of a dozen skins got in 

 this way in the neighborhood of Meiggs's cabin is now lying 

 on the floor where I -write, and cannot be bought for 

 money. 



One morning in early fall the long-drawn howls of a 

 wolf woke the echoes of the little settlement, and 

 although wolves were not uncommon in the district, thf^ 

 boldness of this particular one was the subject of a 

 special meeting lield at Meiggs's cabin, where after a good 

 deal of discussion and some rather wild propositions from 

 the Frenchman, the taonor of destroying the intruder 

 was assigned to me. But the brute was a wary one, and 

 after failing to bring him down with my rifle, 1 set a 

 trap, and half an hour afterward caught the l*"rench- 

 man's dog. Tnis lowered me considerably in the estima- 

 tion of Meiggs, and caused a coolness Isetween mys' lf 

 and Baptists, which however wore ofl" as the dog got well. 



But 1 am getting a little ahead of my story. There is 

 one circumstance connected with this business which I 

 have kept to myself because I did not wish to bring an 

 old companion — my rifle — into disgrace. I did have one 

 chance to annihilate that wolf. It was at the end of a 

 couple of hours' tramp through the wood that I sat down 

 on a little mossy knoll, placed my rifle across my knees, 

 .and was just in the act of taking out my pipe, 

 \when, on looking back over the way I had just 

 tcome I saw the wolf trotting along with his 

 ■nose to the ground, evidently following my 

 itrack. Slowly raising my rifle I covered him 

 iwith the sights, and as he was coming straight 

 ifor me it was an easy matter to keep him 

 ^covered. But I was going to take no cbances 

 with a running shot, and so waited till he was 

 \within 30yds. of me, when I whistled. He 

 ■.stopped at the sound and threw up his head, 

 :giving me a splendid chance at his full breast, 

 jl pulled the trigger, but a dull click was all 

 ithat followed. The cartridge had failed to ex- 

 ]plode, something that never occurred before 

 vwith that rifle during all the years I had carried 

 jit. I was so surprised that before I could re- 

 (Cover my senses the wolf was out of sight. 

 After this I set the trap with the result above 

 mentioned. 



The wolf still held the fort, till one morning, 

 ras Meiggs lay awake, revolving the thing in his 

 imind and thinking whether it would not be 

 ibstter for the credit of the community to step 

 an with his cyclone of traps and take the job 

 (Out of my hands, a blood-curdling howl started 

 \the echoes among the big trees which encircled 

 1the old man's cabin. Springing to the floor he 

 grasped his old Spencer rifle from the pegs 

 above his bed, ana without waiting to dress, 

 (Stole out into the foggy air and down in the 

 (direction from whenca came the sounds, and 

 presently located the wolf sitting on a log with 

 ita nose in the air ready for another howl. The 

 old man raised his rifle and fired, but the rest of 

 the story must be told by himself. 



"You see I hadn't used the rifle for a long 

 •dme, and the cartridges are some that I have 

 been packing through the mountains for the 

 last tea years, and I guess are no good anyhow, 

 because when I fired 1 distinctly saw the ball 

 leave the muzzle of the gun and watched it all 

 the way till it struck the wolf on the side and 

 fell down on the log. The wolf sprang off the 

 log toward me and I made a break for the cabin, 

 but my drawers fell down about my feet and 

 tripped me up, and I pitched head foremost 

 into a brush heap. I reached the cabin, part of 

 the way on my hands and knees and part of the 



up the bank and tore away in the direction of Meiggs's 

 cabin, where he was freed from the supposed monster, 

 and the object of the trap explained. But if ever there 

 was a disgusted Indian tnat was one. He strode ont of 

 the cabin and down the beach in the direction of his 

 canoe, remarking in the most classic Chinook, that if ever 

 he went in search of a pilten (fool), the first white man he 

 met would suit him. 



At the approach of September prejiarations were made 

 for our annual hunt for mountain goatsi, when guided by 

 the old Indian S^ammux we pitched our tent on the sum- 

 mit of the mountains whose rugged peaks could be seen 

 from the door of Meiggs's cabin. These were trips full of 

 enjoyments — enjoyments which seldom come even to 

 those who are capable of appreciating them. 



The ascent of course was a struggle for the best of us, 

 but then the summit brought with it more than a full 

 measure of compensation. The cool breeze that came to 

 us from the snowy peaks; the open stretches of grass and 

 heather; the deep caflons, their sides densely clothed with 

 low bushes, out of which we were always sure to start a 

 goat or bear; the stalking of some solitary, shaggy-coated 

 old male; the rifle's crack, which wakened such strange 

 echoes among the gloomy peaks: the rest for lunch after 

 a successful morning's work, and last but not least, the 

 evening camp-fire with its pleasant stories of by-gone 

 trips, and then the quiet smoke after the evening meal, in 

 which we forgot that we bad ever slipped or barked our 

 shins on the way up. 



So time wore on till one day I was offered and accepted 

 an appointment in a distant part of the Province, and 

 for three years amid the absorbing duties of my new 

 position I lost sight of Meiggs and his cabin. But at last 



^ , ^ . , going to catch 



itnat wolf inside the next forty-eight hours or I will 

 never set another trap in the country." But he failed to 

 ]keep his word, for the wolf was never heard of after. 



Another somewhat ludicrous circumstance connected 

 with our trapping, and one which turned the laugh on 

 me, may be mentioned here. I had made several at- 

 tempts to procure a specimen of a great blue heron to 

 make a skeleton of, but was always unfortunate in 

 breaking some of the bones when shooting them, so our 

 inventive genius was brought into play. After a great 

 many experiments a trap was made of steel wire, 

 coiled in the form of a cone, but so constructed that 

 when pressed flat and set the coils at the apex opened 

 out and formed the outside circle, and when sprung 

 these coils came together and. of course, grasped flrmly 

 anything within their folds. The trap was kept in a 

 set position by a number of wire levers, which con- 

 nected in the center with an upright spindle on which 

 the bait was fastened. So far so good. The trap was 

 pet on the beach, carefully conc?aled with sea weed 

 and baited with a temptingly fresh fish. But an Indian 

 instead of a heron was the first victim, and the stoical 

 indifference to pleasure or pain which is said to char- 

 acterize the noble red man of the forest did not count 

 for much on this occasion. Walking along the beach 

 the peculiar position of the fish attracted his attention, 

 for stuck as it was on the wire spindle it looked as if 

 it floated in space. He walked cautiously round it and 

 viewed it from all sides. He approached closer, and 

 bending forward and resting his hands on his knees, 

 looked long and earnestly at the phenomenon. He 

 muttered something in the guttural language of his 

 tribe, which, if interpreted, would probably be "Well, 

 Tm blowed if that don't get me,'' and was about to 

 turn away when, suddenly, either from curiosity or a 

 desire to obtain a cheap breakfast, he reached out and 

 took hold of the fish. 



For a few moments the men who were watching the 

 performance saw nothing but flying mud and seaweed, 

 and a confusion of legs and arms, but at length the 

 Indian, thinking no doubt that he was being slowly en- 

 circled in the coils of a sea Berpent, sprang toMs feet, flew 



ON WATCH. 



a longing to revi -it the old haunts cam3 over me, and 

 procuring a leavd of absence I boarded a steamer which 

 landed me on the evening of an October day at a place 

 nine miles from my destination. These nine miles were 

 covered by stage, which was to leave at 9 o'clock the 

 following morning. But I was impatient, and at 9 o'clock 

 the following morning I hoped to be taking a (j^uiet 

 smoke with Meiggs in his cabin. I rose at 5, went down 

 to the kitchen of the hotel, where I procured a cup of 

 cofl"ee from the good-natured cook, and long before the 

 city was astir I was out beyond its outskirts and on to 

 the sandy road, which led through the grand old woods 

 to the salt water. 



It was a beautiful still morning; just a breath of air, 

 bearing with it the scent of fern and cedar and balsam, 

 seemed to meet me at every turn of the tortuous road. 

 Among the branches of the stately firs the little pine 

 squirrels were busy throwing down their winter store of 

 seeds. Now and then a ruffed grouse would strut across 

 the road in front of me, and with a flirt of its tail disap- 

 pear in the thick bushes, or a hare would prance away 

 out of sight at the next bend, a hundred yards ahead. 



How often I footed it across that road, and how much I 

 enjoyed the scenes it always afforded. There is not a 

 turn in it, nor a tree that guards its sides, that I am not 

 familiar with, 



A tramp of a couple of hours brought me to the bridge 

 which spans the little stream, the scene of otir adven- 

 ture with the old punt mentioned earlier in this letter. 

 Here I took out my pipe for a smoke, and wondering 

 whether Meiggs still continued his trapping in this direc- 

 tion I scrambled down in search of tracks leading 

 beneath the bridge, our hiding place for the punt. Down 

 by the edge of the stream a coon had made an early 

 breakfast off a couple of clams, which he had fished 

 from the shallow water, while on the oi^posite side, where 

 the soft clay showed the fresh tracks, a great blue heron 

 had stalked along on the lookout for a hapless sucker. 



But nowhere on either side could be seen the tracks of 

 human feet. I parted the bushes and passed beneath the 

 bridge. The old punt was there just about as we left it 

 three years ago, but its gaping seams and warped seats 

 gave evidence that it had not been used for a long time. 



I looked up over the stringer and found the paddles in 

 their usual hiding place, but they were covered deep 

 with dust which had sifted down through the cracks 

 of the bridge. I began to feel apprehensive of some dis- 

 appointment in the result of my trip, and reaching the 

 road hurried on, not stopping till I arrived at the spot 

 where the big log crossed the ravine to Meiggs's trail. 

 But the log was gone and in its place a massive railroad 

 bri(lge, over which two iron tracks stretched away in the 

 direction of Meiggs's cabin. No vestige of the trail was 

 left, and so one of my anticipated pleasures was blighted. 



I had forgotten that during my absence the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway had wormed its way down from the 

 Rocky Mountains along the canons of the Fraser to the 

 coast, I reached the spot where the little clearing should 

 be, but what a change. The cabin was still there, but 

 for a hundred yards back, the tall, stately firs which used 

 to stand like grim sentinels keeping watch and ward 

 over the charmed spot were cut down and now strewed 

 the ground in blackened heaps. I picked my way over 

 their charred trunks to the cabin, and reaching the door, 

 which was slightly ajar, pushed it open. The empty 

 frame of the old man's bunk was all the furniture the 

 cabin contained. A few sprouts of grass and weeds had 

 forced themselves up through the joints in the flat stones 

 which formed the hearth. A bushrat scurried across the 

 floor and disappeared beneath the bunk, and this was all 

 of life within the old place. What a greeting to my 

 coming back ! 



I turned away, and working my way down to the beach 

 followed on to the old Frenchman's cabin, where, finding 

 him at work, I plied him with questions, 

 "Meiggs, oh he lef more two years ago. He no see youV 

 Well he speak he go see you sure. What's mat- 

 ter he go? Oh he no like railway; make too 

 much noise; cut down all big trees; by 'n' by 

 plenty peoples come; Meiggs he no like it. Sell 

 aim hax, saw, every ting and lef. Where he 

 go? Oh I spec' down bee-low [California], may 

 be Horigon, don't know. He no come back 

 sure," 



And so Meiggs's cabin, with all its pleasant 

 memories, are now things of the past. 



John Fannin. 



VicxoBiA., British Columbia. 



FROM THE FLORIDA COAST. 



Tropic, Fla., Dec. 1. — In a late issue of Forest 

 AND Stream I noticed an article of the evidence 

 of mind in animals, I did not suppose that it 

 was any more a matter of doubt. It has always 

 been a mystery to me how any one at all ob- 

 servant of our dumb friends and their ways 

 could for one moment question that animals 

 show almost all the faculties that are supposed 

 to be the inheritance of man, only in a less 

 degree. No one who has had for a companion a 

 faithful and intelligent dog but must have felt 

 that he had as a friend one who daily exhibited 

 many of the highest virtues and an alert intel- 

 ligence altogether remarkable, and showing in 

 every way an intellect differing not in kind but 

 in degree only from his own. The mentality 

 of animals has always been a subject of .great 

 interest to me, but this is not the subject of 

 this communication and so I forbear. 



The wide, beautiful sheet of water known as 

 the Banana, girding Mei-ritt's Island and in 

 reality only a part of Indian River, is now com- 

 ing a good deal into notice. It has for many 

 years been a favorite resort for those who love 

 duck shooting, but the beauty and fertility of 

 the strip of land lying between the river and the 

 ocean, where frost never reaches, has only 

 recently come to the knowledge of men. One 

 can here sit in his cottage door and look out on 

 the one side over the broad Atlantic and on the 

 other one on the river. 



For some reason the ducks are slow this 

 season in making their appearance, and there 

 are not so many as there were at the same time 

 a year ago. A few English snipe have put in 

 an appearance along the savannas. 

 A recent experience with a large rattle snake only serves 

 to confirm what I have written you before as to their 

 character. A neighbor and myself were riding along a 

 trail, when the horse stepped over the rattler who was 

 leisurely crossing the road, and so slow was his move- 

 ment the wheel of the wagon just missed the end of his 

 tail. The horse showed no alarm, nor did the snake 

 make any movement toward an attack, but crawled 

 slowly toward a pile of palmetto Jogs. My companion 

 leaped from the wagon to get something with which to 

 kill it; and of course on his approach the snake sprung 

 his rattle, but did not coil and was easily killed by a 

 blow from a light stick. Indeed these people seem to 

 regard a rattler as of no.more consequence than a harmless 

 snake, so sluggish is he, and so easily dispatched, The 

 only quick movement he makes is when yoti are within 

 sayBft, of him and he is coiled, has given his warning 

 rattle and is ready to strike, I have noted this common 

 incident because multitudes of Florida's winter visitors 

 come with such absurd ideas regarding snakes, and 

 especially rattlers, that much of their pleasure, if they 

 are in the country, is spoiled by needless fear of meeting 

 venomous serpents, when the fact is that they may spend 

 many winters without ever meeting with anything but 

 the most harmless grass snake; and if by any chance a 

 rattler should be met, the snake left to himself, will 

 slowly move away. 



Of the fishing on the Banana there is no need to speak. 

 The whole river fairly wiggles with fish of every des- 

 cription, to be taken in any way the fisherman may 

 desire. One way is this: We were coming up one even- 

 ing, after landing from the yacht, through a narrow 

 canal, opened for drainage purposes, when we alarmed a 

 large number of mullet which had been spending the 

 afternoon up the canal. Disturbed by our approach they 

 started back for the river in great haste, and meeting 

 the boat attempted to leap over the obstruction; thirty- 

 nine of them landed in the boat and were secured. This, 

 although a fish story, is not fishy. 



After all, the great charm of this vicinity is the climate 

 and surroundings, and this little section of the Indian 

 River country lying below Canavfral and known as the 

 peninsula is the most desirable of all. W. 



