Nov, 25, Ism.] 



FOREST ANiJ STREAM. 



481 



MUD AND MISERY. 



A YEAE ago this winter I was in Caddo Parish, La., 

 building a mill. On Saturday there was to be a cucus in 

 Shreveport, and the hands all said they wanted to go. 

 This met with my approval, as I had been wanting to 

 work in a day's shooting at Soda Lake. So I paid off on 

 Friday and bade the boys be on hand by sun-up Monday 

 morning. They all returned except one, who met with 

 a female that — but of this in future. 



The accounts which I had heard of the ducks on Soda 

 Lake were enough to cause one to adopt the creed that all 

 men are liars. There live a civil engineer and his rod- 

 man at the house, who, when I told them of my plan, 

 said that as it looked Uke a spell of wet weather, when 

 they, of course, couid do no work, they would like to go 

 along, besides ithe U. S. engineers were working some- 

 where about the lake. I did not find out what that had 

 to do with the case. Then there was Church, of course 

 he would go. Church was a "dead game sport" of tiie 

 sort peculiar to some sections — ^ warm-hear ted, reckless, 

 generous to many faults, but a good shot and rider. 

 Also, he knew the trail to Soda. The civil engineer was 

 not just a plain engineer, but rejoiced in the title of 

 assistant engineer. That night we found Church in his 

 favorite seat by the big 

 open fire at the back 

 of the store, playing 

 "sell out" with the 

 Doctor. In about five 

 minutes we had bor- 

 rowed two horses and 

 a mule and gotten 

 down from the shelves 

 our grub for a couple 

 of meals. As ducks 

 were to be so plenty 

 we did not need to 

 take much — just a 

 hunk of bacon, a little 

 salt, two bottles of 

 pickles and some 

 crackers. No use to 

 fool with canned corn- 

 edbeef. However, I 

 stuck into the sack two 

 cans from Armour's, 

 and as the rodmanhad 

 a predilection for on- 

 ions, I put in about a 

 peck. Have you ever 

 noticed that an amount 

 of stuff which seems 

 more than ample in 

 the store dwindles 

 down to a most ridic- 

 ulously small portion 

 when you open up the 

 sack at dinner time? 

 Church told uj» of a 

 colored woman who 

 would get some hot 

 coffee and biscuit at 2 

 o'clock the next morn- 

 ing, and offered to ride 

 and tell her to have it 

 ready for us. In about 

 an hour he returned, 

 said "all right," and 

 took up the game with 

 the Doctor. 



When I woke up at 

 1 o'clock and called 

 the leveler and rodman 

 it was cloudy and cold, 

 the wind blew hard, 

 and the scummy clouds 

 dashed across the moon 

 in a wild race. Old 

 Uncle Felix, who held 

 the keys to the yard, 

 was hard to rouse, 

 though I knew he 

 heard me pound on 

 his cabin door. When 

 he came out, slowly 

 rubbing his eyes, he 

 said,"youse gwine hab 

 rain to-day," and after 

 catching up and sad- 

 dling the stock he re- 

 marked, "Boss, done 

 fouget dat nickel!" 

 This was the first I 

 had heard of " dat 

 nickel," however, I 

 gave him one. '"Got 



your slicker?" Mine was tied on to my McCiurnen saddle. 

 "I'm going to leave mine and wear this big coat," said 

 the Engineer. "Guby Boss," said Uncle Felix, as his 

 legs cast swift shifting shadows while he swings the 

 lantern. 



As we ride out of the httle lane from the yard the geese 

 hiss and scold, and some pigs grunt and scramble out of 

 the way. The clouds cast strange moon shadows and it 

 is cooler. In a few minutes we see the fire light showing 

 in red streaks through the sides of Aunt Susan's cabin. 

 She is on time with her biscuit and coffee, and as a work 

 of special courtesy has some "salt meat" in the pan over 

 the fire. Her husband, jjro tern., objects to her charge 

 of fifteen cents and urges her to collect twenty. We 

 settle the matter by giving her twenty-five cents. Now 

 it is quarter after two and almost dark; the clouds are 

 thick and heavy as we ride past the mill and take the 

 road along the river toward "Hayti," where we expect to 

 meet Church at the crossroads. We ride through miles 

 of cottonfields and acres of dead cotton woods, bleached 

 skeletons of trees. Before we are within a mile of the 

 crossroads we hear furious riding behind us and Church 

 comes loiJrng along. "I had to stay and finish my game 

 with the Doctor. When you all come to the crossroads 

 take the right hand trail bj'- the row of cabins and I will 

 overtake you about the Gum Spring. I've got to ride on 

 and get Walter Ivy's maverick." Church always called 

 Ivy's gun "maverick," because there was no name on the 

 rib. It had done wonderful shooting in the past, accord- 

 ng to tradition, and I saw it bring down 115 ducks on 



another trip. The Engineer was armed with a Colt's 

 10-gauge, his rodman had an old Scott gun, and I had a 

 Parker 12-gauge and a .4ocal. Colt's six-shooter. Church 

 had been a deputy sheriff in '84 and always had a .41cal. 

 Colt's at his saddle horn. The rodman rode the mule, an 

 old gray sway-backed relic of the War. His chief had a 

 pony of which it& rider stood in awe, I had a pretty good 

 horse, the best swimmer of the lot, and Church rode a 

 httle black stallion that was always having to be hunted 

 whenever he was not being ridden. We had been riding 

 now for two hours or more and w-ere past the Gum 

 Springs. It blew harder every minute, and began to 

 rain, the fog drifted through the trees in great clouds, 

 every now and then a branch torn off by the wind would 

 come crashing down. 



Church had overtaken us with the miraculous gun and 

 assumed the lead. We so'm came to Eed Bayou, which 

 we could not cross, for the ford was too deep and swift to 

 attempt before day. "We will have to ride up the bayou 

 to the bridge at Nute Smith's and cross there." The wind 

 had gone down but the rain descended still; there was no 

 end of the water. We had to partly reconstruct the floor 

 of the bridge before it was safe to cross. In the bayou 

 were heaped up cabins and outhouses which had been 

 brought down by last spring's floods, the water was rising 



AMONG THE WILDFOWL.— XXI. 



THE DOCK THAT NKVER COMES VP 



fast. It was beginning to get a little light now, and the 

 high water marks left on the trees by the last flood could 

 be seen above the reach of our gun muzzles as we sat on 

 horseback and splashed through the mud and water in 

 single file. 



About three mUes further on we were riding in pro- 

 found silence except for the slosh, slosh of the horses' feet 

 in the mud, when two beautiful turkeys sailed across a 

 little opening in the woods just ahead of us. Church 

 tried to fire his gun without any cartridge in it, dropped 

 it with a withering denunciation, pulled his Colt's and 

 shot twice, the second ball broke the wing of the last 

 turkey, which fell floundering in the short brush. I did 

 not know whether to congratulate him for the shot or 

 revile him for not having his gun ready. We had been 

 in line, so that I, who rode next, did not hke to risk a 

 shot for fear of hitting him. Unfortunately for us, when 

 Church jumped off his horae at the exact spot where the 

 turkey fell, no turkey was visible. It had vanished, and 

 though we hunted for half an hour we had to abandon 

 the foolish bird at last. We rode on again in sflence, 

 save a few mntterings from Church in reference to his 

 luck. I noticed that our guide turned his horse's head 

 oftener than it seemed necessary to me. We were in the 

 heart of an interminable swamp, and still the rain fell 

 and the water rose to meet it. 



At last I hinted that we should be somewhere near the 

 lake now as it was after 2 o'clock P. M. and we had been 

 riding steadily for about twelve hours. Church said he 

 could put his finger on the Use at a few moments' notice, 



but it was an hour later when we broke out of the willow 

 brush and saw the lake in front of us and the Caddo 

 hUls on the opposite side. We had come in to the lake 

 about fifteen miles from the point where the cabin was 

 situated. Our horses w^ere up to their knees in water 

 now as we began our return march, skirting along the 

 edge of the lake. 



As yet we had not seen a duck. Church said it was 

 too warm, but our fingers were numb and I don't think 

 Church was competent to give an xmprejudiced opinion. 



At last we came in sight of our cabin, but there was 

 Red Bayou between us, much deeper and almost as swift 

 as it had been in the morning when we refused to cross 

 it about ten miles above. As we dismounted to rest and 

 consult, a fat maUard drake dashed out of a little clump 

 of willows, four guns came up, and the poor old drake 

 fell as though he had flown against a board fence. Each 

 one asked the other "What made you fire?" and each one 

 said, "I did not want to have any more turkey scrapes." 



It was decided by a majority vote, with only one dis- 

 senting voice, that Church should swim across and get 

 the old punt which we could see fast to a tree by the 

 cabin. In the meantime the mallard should be picked 

 and our gi-ub gotten ready to cook as soon as we should 

 be across. At the first attempt Church's pony got bogged 



up, and after being 

 helped out refused to 

 go into the water 

 again; so Church 

 waded out as far as he 

 could and struck out 

 for the other shore. 

 The water was cold, 

 as we aU found after- 

 war d . At last the 

 leaky old boat, which 

 the Engineer called a 

 "canoe," arrived; our 

 saddles and guns were 

 crossed safely, and I 

 was to work up the 

 dinner while Church 

 crossed the horses. 



The cabin had lately 

 been under water and 

 the inside was soft 

 mud, not an inviting 

 place for a banquet, 

 but we were hungry 

 and the Engineer and 

 Church were thirsty. 



The horses were 

 crossed in a most 

 unique way, the rod- 

 man made the bridle 

 fast to the stern of the 

 punt, and Church 

 grasped the horse's 

 tail with one hand and 

 a thick club in the 

 other. The rodman 

 paddled and Church, 

 swam and pounded, 

 sometimes under the 

 water and occasion- 

 ally above, until one 

 horse was over. 



The mule was the 

 last to undergo the 

 ordeal. Judging from 

 the language and 

 noise, he made it very 

 interesting for Church. ■ 

 I was too busy trying 

 to keep a fire in the 

 smoky hut to look out 

 at the fun. It was be- 

 ginning to get dark 

 when all were across 

 and Chtirch had found 

 his pony, which he 

 had forgotten to tie 

 and which had wan- 

 dered off as usual. 

 The duck was de- 

 voured in a minute, 

 the crackers (nothing 

 but dough now) were 

 sent after the duck, 

 the comedbeef was not 

 ^ fit to eat, having a 



"sort of grees pus" 

 over it, in short, we 

 cleaned up everything 

 but a dozen or so of 

 the onions. 



Church removed his 

 clothes and tried to dry them, with poor success. 



"Are you sure of the trail back? If you are not, let us 

 stay here to-night," said I. 



"Certainly I am; I know every tree in the parish," said 

 our guide. 



Our horses had had nothing but water and were shiver- 

 ing and tired, but I made up my mind to a twenty mile 

 ride, and we were soon in the saddle again. Still it 

 rained, and it was "plumb" dark. I suppose we had 

 gone about a mQe when Church had the grace to ac- 

 knowledge that he had not the remotest idea of where he 

 was. We could hear the rushing of water on all sides 

 and seemed to be surrounded by torrents. 



"Here is where the old bridge used to be, we will have 

 to swim this bayou." 



"All right, guide." 



We had tried the foolish experiment of loosening the 

 bridle and giving the horses their heads; they at once 

 made motions as though they would roU, instead of im- 

 mediately taking the right course, as they should have 

 done according to the books. The little horse swam 

 boldly over — and back. 



"The bank is too steep to land. I'll try it further up." 



This time they did not return and it was my tm-n. I 

 did not like it. The cold rushing water -with no shore 

 visible was not inviting, but Church yelled "Come on," ' 

 and I thought of the fmi of hearing the Engineer cross, 

 80 I thrashed my horse rmtil he slipped into the water 

 with a deep grunt. When we reached the opposite bank 

 there were logs in such a jam that we had to swjm up 



