Oct. 6, 1894.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
289 
traded for coffee; wild game exchanged for bacon; pota- 
toes bartered for jerked beef, and dog hides swapped for 
molasses, until I was tired of confusion and longed for 
our camp again. 
We had hardly alighted from our wagon, after reach- 
ing camp, when Absalom, instead of being pleased to see 
us, began to growl and bark in a savage manner. He had 
forgotten our faces., and showing his sharp te^th, defied 
us to approach the tent. It was in vain we saluted him 
by his name, Absalom, called him "good doggy," or 
adopted any procedure to show him who we were: he 
would not allow us to approach him. We tried to knock 
him out by throwing clubs of wood, but he was a good 
dodger, and suoh mode of attack only seemed to make 
him worse. I was a little afraid he mightmake a dash at 
us, for having once felt his teeth, I knew them to be sharp 
and capable of inflicting a painful wound. 
After beating- the bush for half an hour, Mr. Priour 
became desperate. "Give me my gun," said he, 'Til see 
if I'm going to be kept from my own camp by that 
whelp." 
"What are you going to do?" I asked. 
"What am I going to do! I'm going to blow that cut- 
back to Corpus Christi!" 
I gave him the gun, but hadn't the slightest idea that 
he would shoot. Taking the weapon in his hand, he 
turned to me and exclaimed: "You fool! Do you suppose 
I'aa going to kill my dog!" 
I was getting tired myself, and stating the same to my 
partner, I went into a thick clump of brush down the 
bluff, and lying upon my face, watched the maneuvers of 
the opposing forces. I could do no good at camp, and 
thought it only a question of time when the dog would 
recognize us. 
Mr. Priour walked around and around the tent in a 
large circle, but whether he went fast or slow the savage 
animal kept between him and the goal, all the while 
showing his gleaming canine teeth and barking vocifer- 
ously. At last the man went to his wagon, got his harness 
lines, and making a noose in them, returned to the vicin- 
ity of the dog. Going as near his foe as he cared to, he 
cast the noose over the animal's head, and then breaking 
into a run, choked the animal into quietude by dragging 
him over the rough ground. He then entered the tent 
hauling the dog behind. 
I had a comfortable bed in the brush, and not wishing 
my partner to know that I had seen the performance, I 
waited ten or fifteen rain utes before going to camp. When 
I entered the tent Mr. Priour was smoking and the dog 
lay at his feet, nearly lifeless from garroting. Saying 
that I had just awakened from a sound sleep I asked 'how 
he had made himself known to the dog. He answered 
that as soon as I was out of sight the intelligent animal 
had come to him of his own accord, and it was I against 
whom his threats had been so furiously directed. An in- 
quiry as to the cause of the dog's present unconsciousness 
elicited the opinion that having barked at me so energet- 
ically he had completely exhausted himself. My partner 
evidently was not quite sure that the explanation he 
offered would prove satiofactory to me; however, he said 
but little more on the subject, omitting the customary 
eulogy on the animal's wonderful memory. By daylight 
on the following morning the dog had recovered his sen- 
sibility enough to be about, and exhibited evidences of 
rapid convalescence. 
* * # * * * 
In re-arranging our property I came across the cake of 
soap which we had bought at Papalote, and which I had 
not thought of since leaving camp on the Aransas River. 
The pigs had eaten nearly half of this substance and I 
determined to try the remainder of it for washing pur- 
poses. 
Taking the soap in my hand I walked to the creek and 
prepared to shampoo my head. The soap-like substance 
was odorless and not very soluble, but after soaking it 
in the water a short time it felt a little moist and I rubbed 
it thoroughly into my hair, now quite long. 
After having, as I supposed, insinuated a sufficient 
quantity into my flowing locks I attempted to lay the 
material upon the ground, but it stuck fast to my plumage. 
I labored diligently and tried my utmost to liberate my 
head from the sticky mass, and as a last resort was 
obliged to take my pocketknife and cut all the hair 
between the soap and my head. I then tried to wash 
away what had stuck to my hair, but it was as useless 
as to try to wash. off pitch, and I was thankful when, 
after a severe exertion, I had succeeded in freeing my 
hand from my occiput. 
I had to spend a half-hour rubbing my hands in the 
sand before I could take hold of anything and let go 
again; and if this was a fair sample of Texas soap I felt 
that a thorough washing once a year would be often 
enough for any one. 
Harpooning with a sharp stick the piece that I had cut 
from my head, and pulling out the tufts of hair clinging 
to it, I returned to camp. 
Mr. Priour was getting ready to go to the creek and 
take a wash himself. 
"How's that soap for washing?" he asked, for, like my- 
self, he had never seen anything like it before. 
"Fine," I replied. "I don't care whether you call it 
soap, cheese, glue or scrap iron. It's the best thing to 
remove dirt that I have ever seen, and I wish I had 
bought another dollar's worth to take home with me and 
show the people that Texas is far ahead of New England 
in the soap line." 
Mr. Priour's face assumed a pleased expression at my 
compliment to the State of which he was a native, and 
taking the soap by the handle I had left in it, he pro- 
ceeded to the creek. 
T watched him until the brush hid him from view, and 
felt just a little guilty at the false report I had made con- 
cerning the soap, for I knew from what he had previously 
said that he would use it on his head before trying it else- 
where. I imagined myself as cruel and heartless as the 
uncle m "Babes in the Woods," who smiled upon his 
brother's children just before sending them away to die, 
and I repented almost to the point of running after the 
man and correcting my statements. But he was now out 
of sight and hearing, and I thought he could not well get 
stuck up worse than I had been, and I let him go. 
During his absence I took a stroll with my gun and 
killed a barred owl from the top of a cotton wood tree. 
The top of this tree was thickly set with short branches 
and my owl caught fast in his network of twigs. Going 
back to camp I procured the harness-linps, and by their 
help reached my bird. The place in which it had lodged 
was such an almost impenetrable tangle of branches, that 
I tore my clothing in many places, and after I had de- 
scended to the ground I found that I had left a large 
piece of my overalls among the highest branches. I 
thought little of my loss, and hearing my partner shout, 
I picked up my bird, shouldered my gun and hurried 
back to camp. 
Mr. Priour was there. His hands were stuck fast in his 
hair, and as he had removed his crat and shirt before 
wrestling with the soap, the upper part of his body~was 
entirely nude. 
"Where's your shirt?" I asked. 
"Where's my shirt! Down by the creek, you fool, and 
to keep my pants from coming- off, I've had to walk bow- 
legged all the way up here! Get that axe and cut off my 
head or my hands. I don't care which. Some cuss'll come 
along and carry off my gun if I don't get back to the 
creek pretty soon." 
"Did you see any mermaids in the creek?" I asked. 
"No, you fool! Do you suppose I'd come to camp this 
wav if I'd seen a mermaid? I'd rubbed the dog-gon'd 
stuff all over her." 
Conducting the man to a tree, and backing him up 
against it, with the axe I chopped him from his fetters. 
. He then asked me why I had deceived him in regard to 
the character of the soap. 1 told Kim that I had had no 
difficulty with it, and that he must have struck an imper- 
fection that was not uncovered when I had made use of it. 
This answer satisfied him to a certain extent, and 
calling Absalom to him, he cleaned his hands as best as 
he could by rubbing them the whole length of the 
animal, ears and tail included. But he took from the 
poor dog about as much hair as he gave him pitch in 
return, and I thought if Absalom should attempt to 
scratch himself against a tree, he too. would have to be 
chopped out. Having his hands free again, my partner 
hurried away to get his shirt and gun. 
Although we had had such a serious time with the 
soap, I thought our experience must have been a good 
deal less trying than if we had bought the stuff for 
cheese. 
I thought of the family of the man who had bought 
cheese at Papalote on the day we were there, and I could 
picture them seated around their humble board, all 
anxious for a bite of the infrequent food which the loving 
husband and father had procured at the expense of a 
pint of buzzard oil. In my imagination I could see some 
wee tot's face, all aglow with pleasing expectancy as she 
said: "Papa, papa, I want teese." Poor child. How 
her little heart would ache from the keen disappointment 
in store for her. I pitied her. That sweet innocent 
mouth bedaubed with such sticky stuff. I felt like howl 
ing to the Papalote merchant: "If you didn't have 
cheese, why didn't you say so! If you had never seen any 
soap, why didn't you own up to it like a man, and not be 
the cause of men losing their hair and scalp, and babes 
their tongue and teeth!" But the man who had bought 
the substance for something edible was broad-shouldered 
and well-built, and I fancied that on the day following 
his tussle with the sticky compound, the groceryman 
might need to be pitied most of all. 
Seating myself upon an old log near our camp, I skinned 
and stuffed my barred owl. Priour had reached the creek 
in time to get ahead of any "cuss" after his gun, and 
down in the depth of the grove I heard him shooting 
rapidly. Thinking he had come across a flock of warb- 
lers, and was going to get a dozen or two, I at first paid 
little attention to the continued banging, but as it con- 
tinued without abatement I was curious to know its 
meaning, not knowing but he was in trouble, and was 
firing as a signal for me to come to his rescue. Going 
rapidly in the direction of the sound 1 soon found him 
directly under the tree from which a short time before I 
had taken my owl. The piece of cloth from my overalls, 
which I had left in the tree, was still there, and it was at 
this that Mr. Priour was sending charge after charge of 
No. 4 shot. Without desisting from firing he informed 
me that there was a bird in that tree not described in any 
book, and that it was so protected by vines that the shot 
didn't seem to reach it, but he was going to have it if it 
took the last charge of powder and shot he possessed to 
bore a hole to it through the briers. 
From where I was standing I could see this object very 
plainly, and as iu fluttered back and forth with the wind 
it did resemble a living thing. I had often been deceived 
in a like manner myself, for very often a bird almost 
hidden from view in a tangle of twigs and branches will 
only show its whereabouts by the slightest visible move- 
ment. 
Many a charge of shot have I sent after a bunch of 
feathers, a piece of moss, or the remains of a dilapidated 
nest, and as Priour always laughed at me on such occa- 
sions, I was glad at last to see him deceived likewise. I 
should not have mourned the loss of my whole suit, if by 
leaving it in a treetop I could have sold my partner, for I 
was tired of such questions as "What you going to do 
with that snarl of grass you killed this morning?" "You've 
killed that bunch of briers, now why don't you climb the 
tree and get it?" 
Wishing the man good luck in his undertaking I re- 
turned to camp. 
Ten or fifteen minutes later Mr. Priour came for his 
harness-lines, stating that he had killed the bird, and was 
going back to get it. 
I wondered what he would say upon his return. 
I thought if I were in his place I should be likely to 
report that during my absence from the tree a hawk had 
come and carried away the prize. But Priour would 
know the source of the piece of cloth as soon as he 
reached it, and I was anxious for his arrival at camp with 
some explanation or excuse for his fierce attack upon an 
inanimate thing. 
It was getting late, and I made coffee, and cooked as 
good a supper as possible with our supply of provisions, 
for I thought Priour could find some solace in filling his 
stomach. I expected the man every minute. I knew he 
had plenty of time to climb the tree and reach camp while 
I was getting ready our fare. 
An hour passed. It was quite dark and I was somewhat 
anxious, and thinking the man might have met with some 
accident in climbing the tree, I went into the timber to 
look for him. But everything about the scene of the 
heavy canonading was as quiet as death, and satisfying 
myself that the man was not in the near vicinity, I re- 
turned to camp, knowing that a search for him in the 
darkness would be in vain. Building a large and bright 
camp-fire I seated myself by it, and smoked my pipe. 
It was a dark night, and my range of vision extended 
only a short distance from the blazing pile which was 
just far enough from the timber to outline indistinctly 
the tall trees, which stood about like so many motionless 
sentinels. 
Absalom I supposed to be with his master. 
I could hear an occasional squeal and grunt from the 
pigs which had made their headquarters near our own. 
These being the only sounds that came to my ears, they 
were rather agreeable than otherwise — much more agree- 
able than when the animals were ravaging our stores. 
Having smoked to my satisfaction, and being tired of 
sitting by the fire without company, I crept into the tent 
aD d was soon asleep. 
I had camped long enough in Texas to know that a man 
was liable to have his sleep disturbed at almost any time. 
By spending eight nights out of every ten in the open 
air for years, a man may accustom himself to the toler- 
ance of all kinds of noise, and all sensations short of 
Hevere pain; but I hadn't camped out long enough for 
that, and when Mr. Priour came creeping back to camp 
at about midnight, I was fully aware of his proximity 
before he entered the tent. Keeping perfectly quiet and 
feigning sleep I waited for his entrance. 
Going to the dying fire he mended it. and by its light 
aopeased his hunger with the stew that I had left for him. 
He then came to the tent, and carefully pulling back the 
fold of cloth at the entrance, peered "in, and satisfying 
himself that I was unconscious, he noiselessly stepped 
over me and crawled into his blanket. He said nothing 
to me nor I to him, and we were both soon asleep, 
The next morning Mr. Priour was an entirely different 
person from what he had been on the day before. His 
loquacity had entirely disappeared and his face bore an 
expression of general dissatisfaction. I asked him no 
questions about the heavy firing, but he volunteered a 
story himself. 
He said that he had reached the bird, that it was differ- 
ent from any he had ever seen, but so torn in pieces by 
the shot as to be worthless, and he was go'ng to try and 
get his mate, which be had seen flying about the same tree. 
As he had broached the subject, I thought it safe to say 
something myself. "Did you have much trouble in 
climbing the tree?" I asked. 
"No, not very much. I saw a piece of your overalls 
about 6ft. above where my bird was killed. Did you 
climb that tree?" 
"Yes; I climbed it to get an owl I had killed in its very 
top; aDd by the way, what kept you out so late last night?" 
"0,1 was hunting for Absalom. He's gone somewhere. 
I haven't seen him since 4 o'clock yesterday " 
Mr. Priour told such a straight storvthat I could hardly 
discredit it, but I couldn't quite believe that he would 
spend half a night tramping through that dark grove 
looking for his dog, neither could I think he wasn't de- 
ceived by the piece of clothing which I had left in the 
tree. But I said nothing of my doubts. 
Absalom had not yet returned, and Priour asked me if 
I had seen anything of him during my ride up the creek. 
He mused awhile and finally exclaimed: "I know 
where that dog is; he's at the San Antonio River." 
"How do you know he is there?" 
"I know dog-on'd well he is. Some coon has followed 
us and stole him, and I'm going to ride back there to- 
morrow and kill every nigger in the bottoms!" 
In the afternoon it rained in torrents. About dark we 
saw some object approaching us from the direction of the 
creek. It was moving slowly and apparently with great 
effort. From our position near the tent we studied the 
appearance and gait of this oscillating body which was so 
clumsily nearing us, and tried to decide whether it was a 
huge tortoise o r a devil-fish. "Well, I'll be dog-on'd." 
said Priour. "I've traveled over every square foot of this 
State and I never saw anything like that before. What 
kind of a critter can that be; I'll have his hide and make 
a stew of his liver whatever it is," and he reached for his 
rifle. 
The object drew nearer and nearer, and we could see 
that there were projections from its sides and after part — 
projections somewhat suggestive of crippled wings in 
front and a dragging parachute behind. 
"Isn't that a pterodactyle?" I asked of my partner. 
"No. sir; it's no pterodactyle. Pterodactyles don't have 
that style of motion. They can travel faster than a nig- 
ger chased by bees;, and what's more, did you ever see a 
pterodactyle so far from the salt water?" 
"I never saw one anywhere. That animal's near 
enough to shoot now, why don't you do it?" 
My words were lost, for with an enthusiastic spasm of 
joy my comrade made a dash forward and embraced the 
object in his arms, Peeling the leaves, grass, brush and 
bark away he at last reached the nucleus— Absalom. 
Poor buzzard, he had evidently had a serious time with 
the soap Priour had rubbed into him, while trying to 
clean his own hands. 
Probably the dog had tried to clean himself by rolling 
among the underbrush until he had incased himself in a 
straight-jacket; and it was surprising what an amount' of 
vines and briers he had been able to drag about. 
The return of the missing dog filled his master's heart 
with ecstasy. He at once reassumed his wonted mirth- 
fulness, and not even reminiscences of the "undescribed 
specimen" interfered with his glee. 
"I tell you," he said, "I knew that was Absalom as 
soon as I saw him; I knew he wouldn't be away from 
this camp another night, if -he had to drag out the bottom 
of the creek to get here." 
"If you knew it was Absalom, what did you get your 
rifle for?" I asked. 
"To clean it, of course. Wa'n't it under all them water- 
spouts in the tent? I take care of my rifle if I don't do 
anything else. I hope you don't think I didn't know my 
own dog." 
"I didn't know but you might have been deceived by 
the cocoon he had spun about him." 
"No,-sir, no cocoon has the memory of that dog. He 
does beat all, coming back to camp all alone and bring- 
ing specimens too. I found the prettiest set of vulture's 
eggs wrapped up on his back you ever saw. He'd found 
them and remembered his master." 
"I didn't know the dog was an egg hunter." 
"Well he is; I've known him to crack open a turtle 
shell as big as your hat, and dig out the eggs and bring 
them to me." 
Finding that Priour could do nothing but sing the praises 
of Absalom, I left him with the dog, while I cooked our 
supper. 
