116 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



ITeb. 9, 1893, 



A VERACIOUS NARRATION. 



"Looks as though the storm is about over and I guess 

 it's going to be colder," were Charley Steele's words of 

 salutation and prophecy when he dropped in one after- 

 noon in autumn after a driving rain that lasted several 

 days. The words were not hastily spoken, and their 

 manner of utterance would not remind one of the im- 

 petuous school boy bubbhng over with animal spirits and 

 over-elated at the prospect of soon enjoying a day on tJie 

 ice with his skates. No! there is nothing impetuous about 

 Charley and his going out and coming in, his easy, swing- 

 ing gait and drawhng intonation, suggests tliat he was 

 not born in a hm-ry and that he has not made war ux3on 

 his inheritance. 



Be the fates propitious or otherwise, his equanimity is 

 not disturbed and his a,bility, patience, perseverance and 

 untiring industry combined with droll humor and apt re- 

 joinder, make him a prized companion for an outing. Are 

 there any trout brooks accessible, Charley carries a mental 

 map of the topography of the country for miles around, 

 each rippling brook clearly defined from source to conflu- 

 ence as if givaven on metal, and each bend and pool that 

 furnishes homo and hiding place for piscatorial beauty 

 yields abundant tribute to his tempting lure. 



Birds! Well the boys say that they don't dare mate in 

 the spring imtil he gives consent and designates their nest- 

 ing places. 



I agreed with him that we were likely to get colder 

 weather, and now that the leaves had been beaten from 

 the trees, it would be a good time to take a daj^ off and 

 pay our respects to the bu-ds. Tl ie suggestion proved an 

 exact fit, and the next morning, keen and frosty, two 

 gunners well bundled up witli all necessary impedimenta, 

 drove out to the northern covers. Buoyant at the i^rospect, 

 we were at peace with ourselves and all the world, the 

 smoke from tlie fragrant Havanna lending added comfort 

 and perfimiing the air for jaxds around. 



An hour's drive lands us several miles out where a small 

 cover fiUs in one corner and a swale with scrub growth 

 the opposite where the turndike crosses at right angles. 



"Guess we had better hitch here and try this little patch. 

 You go into the open pasture on the other side of the road 

 and rU take Pete and go down the road and beat the 

 cover back to you. If a bird boils out he will come right 

 into your face as he cuts across the corner for the swale, 

 and you know he don't comit if you don't drop hun." 



"All right, Charley. You put him vip and he is our 

 bird. I feel just like it this clear, frosty morning." 



I am not long in my place l^efore I hear the tinkle, 

 tinkle of Pete's bell as he carefully quarters the narrow 

 cover, and soon I get an occasional ghmpse of Charley's 

 head as he works his way toward me. Coming within 

 speaking distance he says: 



"I guess there ain't any birds here this morning, but 

 somehow Pete don't seem to want to give it itp. He's 

 been challenging and trailing, but I guess it must be a 

 rabbit that's rim into the wall in front of you." 



Pete meanwhile has woi-ked up under an ap^jle tree in a 

 jungle of undergrowth by the stone wall on the roadside 

 and stiffens out rigid. 



"Pete has a point, Doc!" 



"Whirr-rr-r, hang! and a plump grouse falls within 

 two yards of my feet. 



"Didn't I tell you, Charley, that I felt just like it! Why, 

 I feel that it is just the easiest tiling in the world to down 

 anything that flies to-day." 



We smooth the ruffled plumage and carefully fold the 

 wings of the noble bird that but a moment ago was 

 instinct with life and deposit it in our game pocket. We 

 drive along to the farmhouse beyond the hill, where we 

 receive a cordial welcome and an invitation to put our 

 team in the barn. We are soon in the apple tree run west 

 of the house. 



"Doc, you go up around and take your stand by that 

 big chestnut in the open up there about 200yds. I can 

 take care of any tha,t may be about here, but "when I get 

 into that tangled grapevine mess up there I can't shoot, 

 and you know that they cut right across the opening to 

 the cover beyond." 



"All right, Charley, and I'll cut them down before they 

 cut across." 



Charley works the covert out faithfully and well, but 

 starts no bird until he gets into the grapevine thicket, 

 where Pete makes a staunch point, which Charley duly 

 announces. 



"All right here, Charley; send her along." 



At command Pete flushes, and I see Mrs. Grouse mak- 

 ing a bee line for my head. I have amj^le time to put my 

 gun to my shoulder and take deliberate aim, as I might 

 with a rifle, and when I judged the bird to be at a proper 

 distance, pulled the trigger, feeling absolutely certain that 

 that bird would fall dead at my feet, she Avas coming at 

 such speed; but like a flash by me slae went to the cover 

 beyond, and so surprised and astounded was I that it 

 never occurred to me to-iise the second charge on her! 



Talk about the heights of expectation and the depths of 

 disappointment, talk about the dead certainties of Kfe 

 and find yourself clinging only to the baseless fabric of a 

 dream! 



"That's our bird, too, I suppose," said Charley when he 

 appeared all too soon upon the scene. 



' 'Yes, our bird to get. Charley, do you suppose I could 

 get a job from some of these farmers to pile up stones?" 



"Why, what do you mean? Didn't you get that bird?" 



"Get that bird? No. I think I had better break my 

 gun over that stone wall and go home." 



"Oh, come now, don't get rattled, I thought you were 

 feeling a little too fine when we started in, but the day is 

 before us and we will do something yet. She was coming 

 quicker than you thought and you didn't shoot quick 

 enough. You let her get too near and your shot went by 

 her like a bullet. Where did she go?" 



"Eight on up the run." 



"She is probably hid up in tlie scrub pine up in that 

 alder run. You get right up to the chestnuts by that big 

 boulder and I will soon have her going again." 



I had not long to wait before I heard Charley's "mark" 

 as she left a pine tree-top when he was just where he 

 couldn't shoot. Just as soon as she broke cover bang! 

 bang! went my gun and on went the bird by me up the 

 run. 



Rattled? Please don't mention it. I began to think that 

 I hadn't lost any partridge, and it wouldn't make much 

 difference if I didn't captm-e the one belonging to some 

 one else. 



Charley emerged from the cover before she was lost to 



view, and seeing that I had again missed her clean, and 

 doubtless appreciating my frame of mind, only said: 



' 'I've marked her down in that brier patch imder the 

 sumacs up there and we'll get her now." 



We soon surround her and Peter is ordered in. She is 

 running and soon takes wing at a long distance, but both 

 send salutation and unheeded orders to halt. 



She ceases not in her flight until after reaching the 

 dense pine woods beyond the old road to Maiden, where 

 it would be useless and unwise to pursue her. 



But why recount the adventures of that day in detail? 

 We had journeyed some miles from the team and we 

 agreed to go back around Maiden HiU in the hope that 

 fate would be more propitious. But bird after bird Charley 

 sent uncomplainingl}^ over my head, to the right and to 

 the left, until I had used nmeteen shells and only had one 

 bird to show for them, and this without a word of criti- 

 cism or fault finding from him! 



We reach the summit of the hill, in sight of the farm- 

 house, a little after midday, when Charley says: "You 

 stand out there in the opening and I will go down this 

 narroAv strip of cover. There's usually some birds down 

 at the lower end, where mast is plenty, and they will fly 

 right over this open spot to the big woods. If you don't 

 kill any of them I think we had better go home." 



I was not in a talkative mood just then and answer 

 made I none. Cliarley worked down through the almost 

 impenetrable scrub growth, and when nearing the lower 

 end up boiled three liirds, and veering around they gave 

 him no shot, and from my point of vantage on the sum- 

 nait I could see all as they swiftly scaled the scrub tops 

 directly toward me. Two more shells were wasted, a,nd 

 crest-fallen and disheartened I started for the barn. 

 Charley did not wait for my tardy steps and he was 

 seated on a log near the barn in the warm sunlight eating 

 his lunch on my arrival. 



Not a word passed between us. I watered and fed the 

 horse and sat down and ate my lunch. Pete wagged his 

 tail in recognition for the morsel thrown to him, but to 

 me it seemed clear that disdain was pictured on his 

 countenance. Charley's kmch was disposed of long 

 before I finished mine, and I could not but observe that 

 he held the stem of his meerschaum more firmly between 

 his teeth and sent forth greater volumns of the fragrant 

 smoke than usual. 



Luncheon ended, we proceed to hitch up the team. As 

 Charley was tucking the blanket around Pete under the 

 seat, he bi-eaks the silence with the brief question: 



"Going home?" 



"I don't know but what we might as well, but I hate to 

 give it up so." 



"WeU, perhaps luck might turn. SuxDpose we go on to 

 the old red house cover. It gets dark early, but it's not 

 far over there, and perhaps we might do something." 



We are driving out of the yard now, and the horse's 

 head is not turned homeward. We reach our destination 

 and Chai'ley says: 



' 'Now, you go doAATi by the big chestnuts by the bars 

 and I will go up to the apple trees in the rim above. If I 

 start any birds I am bound to kill some jmd the rest will 

 come right down in easy gunshot of you, and I don't want 

 you to waste any more am_munition either. I will stay 

 here on this knoll until I see you in yom- position." 



On I go, caxelessly carrying my gun over my shoulder, 

 thinking of nothing but getting down to the bars. I had 

 covered about half the distance, when out from rmder a 

 scrub pine by the side of a thorn apple tree jumped five 

 partridges so unexpectedly and the thunder of whose pin- 

 ions so disconcerted me that I forgot that I had a gun, so 

 I "didn't waste any more ammmiition." 



I thougiit I heard Chfirley say h-U, but of tliis I would 

 not want to affirm positively, as those avIio know him best 

 would hardly beheA'e he could commit such a breach of 

 proiiriety, and besides, if woodcock whistle with their 

 wing's why may not partridge, who are more highly de- 

 veloped, say cuss words with theirs? 



Time is too precious to be frittered away indulging in 

 vain regrets, and so I am soon in the place assigned me 

 under the chestnuts. Soon I hear, "Point! mark!" Bang, 

 bang — bang, bang! 



The gunners have done their work, but it is Pete's hour 

 of triumph. Promptly and delicately he reti'ieves three 

 plump birds, two of which fell to Charley's gun. We 

 mark down the balance, and in less than 10 minutes two 

 more are in our pockets, one to each gun. We tm-n and 

 see the covey that I blmidered upon, and have no diffi- 

 culty in locating them in a nice open growth of chestnuts, 

 where we can woi-k together. Pete points a single that 

 gives me a shot on the right when flushed. I make a 

 nice clean kill and add the sixth bird to our score. A 

 seventh is soon flushed that makes straight away, but falls 

 to the report of two gims a,t the same instant. The day is 

 fast going, and we make a detom- toward our team, and 

 on the way we kill another bird apiece, successfully end- 

 ing a day with the biggest hole in it that it has ever been 

 our lot to spend together. Geoege McAleer. 



AVoHCESTER, Mass. 



Trajectoi^ of Hvmting Bifles. 



iNPLtFENCED by the discussion in Forest and Strbajvi, 

 I recently changed my .38-40 repeater for a .45-90 Win- 

 chester, S. S. rifle (no wonder, by the way, that game iy 

 disappearing when such arms can be sold as cheaply as at 

 present). As I only have killed two deer with it so far 

 and one of them was crippled, I have but httlenew to say 

 on the killing ijower of the cartridge. The hollow-pointed 

 baU does terrible work. 



But tha,t which siu-prised and impressed me was the tra- 

 jectory of the cartridge. I missed two deer, each at about 

 200yds., because I couldn't get over my old habit of aim- 

 ing high. Afterward I found, in shooting jack rabbits, 

 that there was no perceptible difference in the Lyman 

 sights between correct aim at 50yds. and at 200. This is a 

 striking advantage over the .88-40 or .44-40 cartridge, 

 though I do not remember that it has been mentioned. I 

 may say that there is no perceptible recoil when shooting 

 my new gun at game, though it weighs only Sflbs. At 

 the target one feels a shght jar. Azteo. 



The Ontario Duck Law. 



SlMCOE, Out., Jan. 20.— We have a law here that only 

 ?.00 ducks can be killed by any one individual in one sea- 

 son, and it w^orks achnirably, as a few persons cannot kill 

 all the ducks in the marsh, S, M. S. 



CHICAGO AND THE-SOUTH. 



[JEh-om, a Staff Correspondent.'] 



Stephenson's Lake, Gulf Coast, Texas, Jan. 24.— So far 

 as I can see there is going to be more West than Chicago 

 in my copy this week, and a good deal more South than 

 West, for aU of which, in view of the present state of un- 

 bridled license of the thermometer in Chicago, the West 

 and the South in general, I am truly thankful. At f)res- 

 ent I do not know exactly where I am, but 1 think it must 

 be heaven. The blue water and the blue sky meet in 

 front of the gallery where I sit. Below me, and at the 

 left, is an orange grove in fuU fruitage, the big yellow 

 globes showing finely against the dark-green leaves. I 

 have gathered an armful of oranges as aid to one produc- 

 ing copy for a newspaper so far away that one mio-ht 

 justly question its existence. At every comma in tills 

 copy the prmter man may know that the copy man took a 

 bite of orange, and at every period the proof-i-eader may 

 reflect, with jealousy in his soul, that the copy man has 

 sent another whole orange to its last abiding-place. 

 Probably the editor man will feel bad when he reads this, 

 too. Probably the printer, the proof-reader and the edi- 

 tor are all wearing oversleeves and chest-protectors. The 

 copy man isn't. He is in his shirt sleeves, on the outside 

 of a, house whose doors are all open, and whose fireplace 

 only in the night time Ivas, the tiniest fire. They don't 

 wear overshoes down here. The children are playing in 

 the yard beloAv me, and they are barefooted, bareheaded 

 and happy. The copy man is happy also. He sneezeth 

 not, neither hath any cold at all. 



This, I jiresume, is heaven, or a grade of it. It is an 

 out-of-door country, and nature has been very kind to her 

 children here. In the bay in front of the house here we 

 go out and get oysters and shrimps and flounders and 

 crabs and many other things that are good to eat. Three 

 of us have bagged S43 jacksnipe in three days, or rather 

 half days, and we didn't try very hard, either. Nobody 

 tries very hard at anji^hing down here. You don't even 

 have to try to be happy, but you get there just the same. 

 If there comes up a good wind we will go out Mithin a 

 quarter of a mile of the house and kill 30 or 40 canvas- 

 back ducks, and we will do that easy. too. The lake is 

 full of wild celeiy, and it runs up to within 500yds. of the 

 house. Last night I could hear the great rafts of canvas- 

 backs feeding, tearing up the celery and splasliing around 

 in a perfect paradise for canvasba,eks. Tlie first thing we 

 do of a morning is to go out on the gallery with a field 

 glass and take a look at tlie canvasbacks. They are here 

 in unestimated numbers, and wo can see a. body of them 

 a quarter of a mile long out in tlio lake. TiieVe may be 

 100,000 of them, or perhaps twice that. They are undis- 

 turbed in fair weather, as no good shootmg can then be 

 had. In windy, rough weather only can they be worked, 

 and not even then so well at this date as early in the win- 

 ter or late faU, when they first come in from the north. 

 Bags have been made here this season of 140 to orer 200. 

 This is beyond doubt the finest canvasback ground left in 

 America. It is not open to the ])ubiic, but is controlled 

 by t^vo parties of market-shooters, as I sliall later explain. 



It is here that Billy Griggs, the most successful, most 

 widely tu'aveled and best jiosted market-hunter in America, 

 has been shooting the jiast few winter seasons. It is as 

 a friend of Billy Griggs's that I am permitted to come 

 here, to study the present methods of shooting the can- 

 vasback and to make some report of it for Forest AND 

 Stream. This I shall do, as time oii'eis, later on. At 

 present the days are so full of oranges, oyriti-rs and jack- 

 snipe that I do not find much op])t» tiiriity hn- writing. 

 Moreover, the post-office can oiily l)e i e;iclied \\ hen our 

 schooner goes down to Galveston," 25 miles southwest of 

 us, and the schooner only goes once or twice a week in 

 its most exuberant moments, and often not oftener 

 than half that often; so there you are. When Billy Griggs 

 goes anywhere he doesn't tell anybody where it is, or how 

 to find him, and I am where Billy Griggs is. We both 

 get our mail at Galveston, when. Ave feel like it, and w^e 

 both send our mail dowji tJierc, wlien the Hi lioojier feels 

 like it, but you might go to Gah^eston and iies ei- be able 

 to find either of us, unless you lilundered on that able 

 seaman Billy Young, the way I did. and get his fast cat- 

 boat, the Wren, to transport you. If Billy Young didn't 

 like your looks he might only take you to Smith's Point, 

 or Morgan's Point, or Key West, or Culja, rmd so you 

 never would get here. Under these circumstances the 

 copy man has a great advantage over the editor man, 

 which is the only time I ever knew that to happen. The 

 editor can't call for more copy, or less copy, or better 

 cop5^ He just has to take what he can get, and he ought 

 to be glad if he gets any, in view of the aforesaid oranges 

 and oysters. No one can come in my office here and talk 

 to me when I don't want to be talked to. No one can 

 send me any mail to answer. No one can ask me to 

 contribute to the building of a new church, or touch me 

 for five, or ask for the loan of my dress suit. Moreover, 

 I don't have to wear any overcoat, or any other coat, im- 

 less I want to, and when I want to go anywdiere I don't 

 have to hang on to the strap of a street car, but can get 

 aboard the deck of a genuine Texas pony, that goes with- 

 stopping in the middle of the long blocks. I can likewise 

 gather up shells on the sea shore, and moreover, swat sand 

 snipe and doAvitches in the same locality. Or I coxild go 

 two miles up the bay shore and shoot Canada geese, or on 

 almost any decent ducking day could fire two or three 

 hundred shots at "puzzle ducks" as they caU them here 

 (marsh ducks), on alniost any of the lakes three or four 

 miles back of the house. As for snipe, I have already 

 said. As for canvasback, I hope yet to have much to say. 



Evidently tliis is paradise. But did ever any one hear 

 of one in paradise writing about paradise? Bj^ no means. 

 When one is in paradise his most sensible act is to hold 

 still and enjoy it, and not Avaste golden time in the vain 

 effort to convey to Avhite paper for the benefit of a cyni- 

 cal editor man, a shadoAv of the keen delights that be. I 

 have a vague schoolboy remembrance of a Latin gentle- 

 man who said somethmg about Dum vivinvus. We will 

 dmn vivimus a while first before Ave do anything else. 

 Then I Avill tell you about Billy Griggs, and about things 

 more germane to sport than oranges and oysters. Mean- 

 time, I think I Avill eat about four oranges right aAvay. 



Lafayette, La., Jan. 31. — In an earher communication 

 I made mention of the fact that the sunny South was not 

 sunny but cloudy at that time. The climate lias redeemed 

 itself, and to-day, as indeed for the past ten days, the aii- 

 is soft and balmy. House heating is an unknown art in 

 Louisiana, more thanks for it. It is perpetual spring here, 

 and tlie rare days when the thermometer forgets itself ai"e 



