324 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[APBIL 27, 1805. 
word of protest, as is the custom among anglprs, but 
would say softly and in no ill temper, "Well, I declare!" 
A very good tempered and courteous angler is Wilbur 
Dubois, aud no one grudged him even the biggest of the 
big drums with which he now and again had desperate 
struggles. 
THE NUEOES BLUEBILL PLIGHT. 
All the afternoon and far into the dusk we could see 
going over the bridge and along the bay back of us a con- 
tinuous flight of bluebills, I think the heaviest flight of 
ducks I ever saw and the longest in continuance. These 
birds were coming from the fresh water of the Nueces 
River, and were a great many of them settling on the salt 
water in the shallow inlets of the bay n ront of Corpus 
Christi. They rose as they crossed the bridge, but settled 
at once after going over. " A man who had nerve enough 
to lie out in the Gulf swell in a sink box with decoys could 
that afternoon have had all the shooting he liked. As it 
was, we were not shooting, but we got a better idea than 
even before of the enormous numbers of wildfowl which 
winter on the Texas coast. 
Across the bay from- where we were fishing we could 
see a low black line of cedars, and Mi. Guessaz told us 
that this was the famous Gum Hollow tank where he and 
Max Luther had made their great bags so often. The 
flight did not seem to be favoring Gum Hollow, but came 
from off [the mouth of the Nueces Eiver. Guessaz said 
we only needed a norther to see the greatest sort of sport 
at Gum Hollow, and we promised ourselves to have a try 
at those classic precincts before we left the country. 
SWEET MARIE AND THE OPERA, 
That night we ate a chile supper, as Max Luther's 
guests, at a certain chile restaurant of local fame, and 
then explored the city of Corpus. Among other celebri- 
ties we met Capt. Pat. Shiele, who led the rangers at the 
close of the late Garcia campaign, taking eighty-five 
prisoners in sixty days, where the U. £. troops had only 
taken ten men in four months. 
Our next day was Dec 1, and we saw no more fitting 
way to celebrate this wintry-sounding date than by tak- 
ing off our coats and sitting about on the bridge again for 
a little more fishing, which latter we varied by a good 
deal of oyster eating'. At the bridge we had visitors in 
the person of Mr. E. J. Martin, general passenger agent 
of the Aransas Pass Railroad, who came out with Mr. 
Roth, of the emigration bureati of the same road, on the 
schooner of Commodore Bennett of the Corpus yacht 
fleet,;the flag ship coming to anchor in the bay beyond 
the reefs. Mr. Martin wanted to know if we were getting 
everything we needed, and we told him we had every- 
thing but his right of way working for us, which seemed 
to please him. "Then we all went out to the flag ship and 
beat out into open water for a sail down to the wharf 
near our car, singing the wnile a certain melody by the 
name of "Sweet" Marie," at which we had by this time 
become wondimis skillful by reason of ceaseless practice 
for two weeks. Indeed, I state it but mildly when I say 
that thenceforth our progress through Texas was only 
one continuous round of "Sweet Marie," though I must 
say our troubadours did acquit themselves like men. Col. 
Bill Peabody has a tenor voice which would be the envy 
of both the De Reszke boys, and Oscar Guessaz can give 
Tamagno cards and spades on "Sweet Marie," to my no- 
tion, or on any other classical selection he cares to name. 
"Sweet Marie'" is good stuff, and if a lot of these foreign 
opera people would give us less Gotterdamerung and 
more "Sweet Marie" they would make more money in 
America; which after all. I taue it, is what they want. 
I give them this tip for nothing. Not that I suppose 
thev could sing "Sweet Marie" the way Col. Bill Pea- 
body and Ossar Guessaz and Bob Burton, and Richard 
Merrill, the celebrated dog man from Milwaukee can 
sing it, for I don't think they could. It takes practice. 
BLUEBILLS ON THE OSO. 
One day we went out for a try at some flight shooting 
on bluebills at what is called the Oso, this having refer- 
ence to the mouth of the same stream of water which is 
dammed at the Portales to the Loreles ranch. This land 
at the Oso is, 1 believp, on the Loreles ground, but it is 
only fair to say that Mr. Christie and Mr. Tod made r.o 
objection to shooting there, and that is an open shooting 
rendezvous for all sorts and conditions of men, (I believe 
Mr. Christie wrote to the ranchmen of the Loreles outfit 
to show us to any of the places on their ground except the 
tanks at the portales and one or two other watering places 
of the cattle; so let us give them all credit for extending 
us probably more courtesies than we deserved.) At the 
Oso we found the lower end of the Portales' flight, but it 
was lower in only* one sense, for the birds flew much 
higher, so high indeed that it was only scratch shooting 
at flocks, not a very sportmanlike or satisfactory sort of 
shooting, as one could not tell anything about where he 
was holding or what bird he harl killed. A great many 
cripples were one product of this line of fire, and Commo- 
dore Bennett, who had sailed the ten miles down tliB 
coast to the Oso and dropped anchor back of us, did a 
thriving business in picking up the wounded birds which 
went down in the salt water behind us. Even as it was, 
we got together quite a big bag of birds, and the Greasers 
and negroes were once more made happy in Corpus by 
Mitchell's Santa Glaus activity among them, Mitchell, by 
reason of his high position in life, his dignified bearing 
and his white apron, impressed the native population as 
one great in authority. 
LOST IN THE CHAPARRAL. 
Guessaz and I had a bit of an adventure that morning 
we went to the Oso. It was very foggy, and as \vp went 
on ahead in a light buggy, alone, we took the wrong turn 
of the road at a certain gate to a big pasture of twenty or 
thirty miles across, and wandered away from the sea 
coast out into the -chaparral. The others took the right' 
road along the beach and so of course did not come up 
with us. The fog was so very heavy that we could only 
see a few yards ahead, but thinking we could strike 
straight across to the beach, we laid a line for the sea, and 
promptly got lost in the fog, in the worbt bit of country 
I ever tried to negotiate with a horse and buggy. Then 
we concluded we would take our own trail back to the 
Avagon track we had followed, but at this we must have 
failed had . not the dew hung very heavily, for in places 
the wheels had left no imprint on the iron like soil. By 
dint of sending a trailer ahead as scout, we at length got 
back to the gate whence we had come, losing about an 
li our and a half of time at the best time of the day for 
shooting. This mor fitted us so that we did not tell the 
others we had been lost, but said "we had just been back 
in the chaparral a little." There was a small pond oft 
the road away, and they supposed we had been there, and 
I suppose they will all always believe so still, it they do 
not happen to see this confession of uncandidness. We 
did stop at the pond, but tne householder there said it was 
dried up. I noticed on the side of the house the stretched 
skins of two "leopard cats" (ocelots) and inquiry drew 
out the fact that the rancher had a few hounds, and that 
on "most any morning'- he could go out and kill a 
leopard cat, a bob cat, or a wild hog, provided it did not 
get too hot and dry before the trail was run. 
"In this big chaparral between here and the coast,' 
said my companion, "there may be almost any thing- 
cats, javelinas, panther, no one knows what all. No one 
hunts in there, and no one can who nasn't a good pack 
of dogs. Come down some time and we'll get the pack 
from Portland and go out after javelinas. If you ever 
get tangled up with a lot of them, I think you'll say it 
was tne liveliest time you ever had. There used to be a 
good many javelinas in here, but the Mexicans killed 
them off pretty well at the water holes. They eat the 
pork, but they are the only ones, so far as I know, who 
are fond of javelina bacon." 
Commodore Bennett offering us a sail home that even- 
ing, about half of our party, including Guessaz and my- 
self, went in on the schooner, the others remaining for 
the evening flight. Tney chose very ill, for hardly had 
we gotten out of that part of the bay before a terrible 
Texas storm of wind and rain struck in behind us. We 
on the boats got in pasily, but the hacks with our friends 
had a sad time of it, for they were wet through, and the 
road all went to gumbo, so that the horses could barely 
drag the empty vehicles. Mr. Roth, who had kindly 
volunteered to bring in the hoodoo buggy which had led 
us astray that morning, broke down entirely, and Max 
Luther's buggy came in to town on the end of a cowboy's 
lariat, he having bpen chartered by the way. Evidently 
the Italian climate of Texas wanted to show what it 
could do upon occasion by way of a sudden change. 
Still, all these damages were not irreparable, so we smiled 
as we ate supper, and hoped it would be a norther, for a 
norther is the hope of the coast shooter's heart, as it 
drives the fowl all back into the salt water territory from 
the whole country inland, perhaps far to the north of 
Texas. 
A "NORTHER" and some hustling. 
And a norther we got. It came about 3 o'clock in the 
morning, a howling, screaming, black storm of rain and 
shivers. We were all in bed, but Guessaz heard it com- 
ing and at once said to himself, "Gum Hollow to-mor- 
row." The train to Portland, across the bay at the Gum 
Hollow getting-off place, came through at 5 a. m. We 
needed some supplies, and Mitchell, who advanced this 
last argument to Mr. Guessaz as they two talked it over 
together alone in the dead of the night, shivered as he 
looked out into the cold blackness, and said he Avas 
scared to go out alone to the market place. Moreover, he 
pointed out that no shops avouM be open at such an hour. 
Not so easily daunted was the Anglo Saxon soul. It 
seems that Mr. Guessaz said naught, but pulled on his 
sweater and plunged out into the rain. In the dark he 
fell over a ten-foot bank and into a pool of water, but 
still did not stop, but went on and woke up bakers, 
grocers, station agents, everybody, everything needed to 
perfect preliminaries, and came surging down to the car 
with a,rms full of supplies just before the morning train 
crossed the bay. When we awoke the next morning the 
negro meeting house that had been our landmark at 
Corpus had disappeared, and so had the summer skies, 
About us stretched a great, gray, desolate country in ex- 
panse, broken only by one dingy station house, and over 
us sighed and wept a wintry, dismal heaven. Then Gues- 
saz told us how it had happened. To this day Mitchell 
thinks Mr. Guessaz is a wonderful man, so deeply did 
this sample of hustling impress itself on his mind. 
Mitchell Avas afraid of the dark, I much misdoubt, and 
methinks also of other things, and I am of the persuasion 
that when we were all away from the car, Mitchell 
locked the doors and drew his razor and sat backed up in 
a corner. But this is mere surmise, and that against 
Mitchell's strenuous denial, which is hardly fair to so 
excellent a cook. 
And Gum Hollow was only five miles away. 
909 Security Building, Chicago. E. HOUGH. 
ROUGHING FOR DUCKS. 
Worthington, Minn. — For a number of months 1 have 
watched the columns of the Forest and Stream, expect- 
ing in each succeeding issue to find a graphic account of 
our last duck hunt of the fall shooting, in which I occu- 
pied a prominent, though by no means dignified position. 
My adventures during that memorable trip caused many 
a laugh and jest at my expense, and I fully expected 
that some member of the party would carry out the 
threat of telling tales on me in the columns of "our 
family journal." As the boys haA^e all evinced a spirit of 
forbearance, and spared me so mercifully, I think I can 
do no better than to recount our experiences myself, to 
some of which I fear, however, I cannot do full justice, 
owing to my embarrassing position and limited point of 
view during some of the occurrences. 
To start at the beginning, George and I had been try- 
ing to kill a few ducks for some time. We hunt and fish 
together very often, in fact whenever we can frame an 
excuse, no matter how lame it may be, Ave sieze our rods 
or guns and hie to the nearest lake or field, and proceed to 
slaughter the innocents, or to be truthful, endeavor so to 
do. We like to shoot chickens pretty well, to shoot snipe 
and quail much better, but most of all Ave love to seek 
the wily mallard, redhead and teal. Our favorite resort 
is a lake of considerable size, "and Avith slough attach- 
ments, a tew miles from town, not remarkable for depth 
of water or beauty, but making up for Avhat it lacks in 
that respect by having two or three thousand acres of 
marsh and a fine mud bottom of unknown depth, and 
unexcelled adhesive quality. 
This past season the water was so low that the rushes 
and wild rice were left on dry land, and Avhere we had 
usually made our blinds, the cattle chewed their cud, and 
in consequence, the ducks stayed in the open water in 
the middle of the lake, a mile from shore, and the only 
shots Ave got were at an occasional duck flying out or in 
—low enough to risk a long shot^at. To make matters 
worse, a party of sportsmen (?) from Cherokee, Iowa- 
came to spy out the land, and finding it pleasant to the 
eye, concluded to possess it. They pitched their tents 
and set their household gods on the shore of our own par- 
ticular preserve and announced their intention to make 
us a good long visit and kill all the ducks in the country. 
Now these cheerful fellows were no doubt Avell meaning 
fellows, and tried to; be real sociable, but they didn't 
understand the first principles of hunting ducks; we haA-e 
all met this peculiar breed of nimrods.. They dress in 
black clothes and make themselves as conspicuous as pos- 
sible. This outfit Avas of that kind; every man- jack had 
on black clothes and hats, and one of them sported a 
macintosh of the same somber hue. They would Avalk 
up to one's blind, stand in full view and endeavor to 
start an animated conversation. I am afraid our replies 
Avere rather harsh in character and a bit personal as well, 
for they quit speaking to us after awhile. Their arms 
were of various and sundry patterns, and ranged all the 
way from a 45-90 Winchester rifle down to a double- 
barreled muzzle-loader with one hammer; and they cut 
loose at everything that came within a mile of them. It 
made things real pleasant for George and me. Fre- 
quently some of our acquaintances and friends accom- 
pany us to the lake, but last fall, after a trip or tAvo, they 
would stay at home, remarking that they would remain in 
town and attend to business so long as tnese dashity dashed 
idiots were camped there. There were nearly a dozen, 
and they formed into squads and took turns at patrolling 
the entire shore line of the lake, and kept it up until 
they wore a good path along the water's edge all the way 
aroundr 
After a time, even Ave ourselves got discouraged, for no 
sooner Avould a flock of ducks show signs of visiting our 
decoys than one of these funeral processions would 
solemnly file in sight, and then, good-bye to our chance 
for a shot. W T e saved lots of shells those clays. 
Finally becoming desperate, Ave concluded to move to 
greener past ures. Writing to a couple of friends to join 
us, we loaded dogs and guns, canvas boat and decoys on 
the train, and were soon rolling away in the direction 
of a more promising field. The brakeman and conductor 
wanted to put George off the train, naturally mistaking 
him for a tramp and it took all of my persuasive elo- 
quence to alter their determination. I explained that his 
muddy and somewhat Avorn hunting suit was his misfor- 
tune, but not his fault, and that nature was to blame for 
the stubby aud likewise ruddy growth that adorned his 
classic profile, but cot until we produced our "roll" did 
we allay their suspicions. All of this was George's fault, 
for my own outfit was immaculately neat of course. 
At the depot Ave found our friends Uri and Stein 
awaiting our arrival, and both eager to start for the lake, 
some twenty miles in the interior. 
Arrived at the lake, we hastily put the canvas boat to- 
gether, and dumping in shell cases and decoys, George 
and I pulled for the center of the lake, a shallow body of 
water, and setting the canvas birds to our satisfaction, 
were soon hidden away in a bunch of rushes, Avhere. by 
exceeding care, Ave could stand Avithout having the 
water run in at the tops of our hip boots; but woe betide 
the luckless wight who took a careless step. . Some people 
may Avonder Avhy we preferred to stand in the mud and 
water when we' had a boat along; Ave used to sit in the 
boat, but somehow or other neither of us care to do that 
any more. Now a canvas boat is a very nice thing as far 
as it goes, but there are a whole lot of dont's connected 
with it. One is, don't two men try to shoot at once out 
of it. George and I know for we tried it. After fishing 
ourselves and our belongings out of the Water once or 
twice we have been content to take our chances stand- 
ing in the mud and water. 
We Avaited patiently but in vain for the countless 
flocks of ducks predicted by Stein, By and by a lone- 
some and belated blue wing teal hove in sight. Passing 
Uri and Stein, he Avas saluted with four barrels, which 
only caused him to slide out another reef. Passing us, 
George's ejector sent a couple of loads of nitro that 
failed to reach him in time. It was now my turn, and I 
mentally hugged myself as I Aviped their eye in anticipa- 
tion. Something was wrong, however, aud I did not 
give them a lesson in killing ducks, for as I turned to 
cover that blue wing, I discovered too late that my right 
foot had a violent affection for the spot in Avhich it was 
planted, and refused to be separated, and I sat doAvn to 
think about it. My hip boots fit pretty tight, fortu- 
nately, around the tops, so I shipped scarcely any Avater 
in that direction, though the region nearest the tail of 
my hunting coat felt suspiciously damp. Regaining 
equilibrium, I turned a deaf ear to the siliy remarks of 
my companions, and gave my sole attention to watching 
for the promised flight of ducks. It was snowing slightly, 
by this time, and the wind was turning cold, but with 
the falling temperature came the ducks, and soon all 
hands were busy. Mallards, spoonbills, teal, redheads, 
and an occasional canvas back kept our guns hot f or 
some time, and then the flight ceased as suddenly as it 
began. . 
George and I had between forty and fifty clucks on the 
water by this time, and as there seemed no immediate 
prospect of more coming, 1 climbed into that measly can- 
vas boat and started to gather them up; several of them 
were only winged, ani it required some further expendi- 
ture of E. C. before I corralled tnemall. This Avas safely 
accomplished at length, and I started back to the blind 
with a load of ducks to be proud of. If it had stopped 
right there it would have been all right, and tins stcry 
would not have teen written, but just then a miserable 
little "trash" cluck took a notion into its head to fly right 
over George and of course he had to shoot it. If lie had 
killed it clean I would not have cared so muucb, but he 
only Avinged it, and from that small beginning came all 
my Avoes. I will never forgive him for shooting that 
duck. It fell Avith a splash within a few feet of my boat, 
and just paddled around in a most tantalizing fashion, 
too close to shoot but too far to reach with an oar. 
When I stopped rowing it would stop swimming au-ay, 
and with a wink of its left eye wait until 1 searched lor 
my gun. and then swim within a couple of yards of the 
boat. Finally I ran it into a corner, from which there 
was no escape, and I reached over the side of the boat to 
gather it in. Something was wrong. hovveA'er, for I only 
grasped the water. George said the bird flew aAvay witn , 
a fiendish chuckle. I don't vouch for that, for I Avas 
otherwise engaged just ihen. Instead of regaining an | 
upright position when 1 failed to connect with that tough 
