DbO. 5 1896.J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
448 
flang down sliowed that the Indians had been taken by 
surprise, although the camp had probably been made 
near the rock aa a place of refuge. 
Fronting the ravine and facing the retreat of the Sioux, 
some ISOyds. away, was the crest of a hill; thitber the 
Cheyennes had betaken themselves, and in a short time 
the gfeatef portion of our party had congregated at the 
same point for eonsultation. \ 
One of the cavalrymen who had ventured too near the 
Sioux had received a shot in the breasfc, and aa he was 
^ery weak it was deemed beat to sefid in to the post fof a 
surgeon. 
A volunteer was called for to carry a dispatch; none of 
the Cheyennes responding, a young Sioux scout who was 
with the party stepped forward and offered to go. And 
here occurred an incident. As soon as the Cheyennes 
iaw that the message was to be intrusted to a young man 
ef the same nation as the fugitives we had surrounded, 
and who might be suspected of a fellow feeling for their 
tinfoftunate predicament, they came forw^ard in a body 
and protested against his being employed in the service, 
offering eagerly to send one of their own party. But 
here again the young Sioux interposed, settitlg forth his 
good faith and claim as a volunteer, when the others in 
the first instance had declined to go. 
In this dilemma the corporal appealed to my knowl- 
edge of Indian character to decide the matter. The re- 
sult was the Sioux received the dispatch, and how well 
he acquitted himself of the lonely and disagreeable night 
ride may be seen later on. 
After our courier had departed the rest of our party 
brought rocks, while I built a mound near the crest of 
the hill. At a sufficient height to overlook the spot 
where the three Sioux were concealed I made a port-hole 
with the rooks, with enough cover for protection for the 
observer. 
The Sioux were very quiet whUe this work was pro- 
gressing, but when Sandy elevated his hat on a ramrod 
and held it up at a proper height to attract their atten- 
tion, they very promptly put a couple of bullets through 
it. 
A survey through the port-hole with a field glass re- 
vealed nothing but the dark entrance under the rock. 
The position under ordinary circumstances was an im- 
pregnable one, but we knew that it was icy cold there, 
that the Indians were scantily clad, and would not dare 
to make a fire if they had the materials. 
Night was approaching and I believed that, growing 
desperate, they would make a break in the dark to get 
away. Disposition was made for camp in the little hollow 
near the ravine, also for a guard over the Sioux for the 
night to prevent their escape. It was a chee'leas camp, a 
chill night and dark, the moon showing itself but dimly 
through the drifting clouds, a raw wind making aleep im- 
possible in that unaheltered spot even with such robes and 
blankets as were obtainable. 
The first glimpse of daylight found the camp aatir, and 
while discussing our hastily cooked breakfast we decided 
upon a scheme to rout the Sioux from their nest under 
the rock. Our plan was simply to rush in a body upon 
their retreat, to kill them if they made any resistance, 
otherwise to drag them out. This plan met the approval 
of our allies, the Cheyennes, who, it is safe to say, 
though brave enough, had no idea of forming the van of 
any such enterprise. 
While making our preparations for this attack some 
one drew our attention to a body of Indians riding 
rapidly toward our camp from the nearest line of hills. 
While observing them we saw they were followed by a 
column or company of mounted soldiers, and we knew 
then that our Sioux scout had lost no time in conveying 
the dispatch to the fort. Captain S,, of the Fifth U. S. 
Infantry, was in command, and learning how matters 
stood, sent White Bull, a Cheyenne scout, to talk with 
the Sioux and persuade them to surrender. 
White Bull took position on a small eminence and har- 
angued the hollow some little time without eliciting any 
reply. Finally a faint response came, then a short parley, 
and the way being made clear, our three "tetons" came 
forth. The foremost was a tall, suUen-looking fellow, 
wrapped in a white blanket coat with hood of the same 
material lined with white wolf fur; the other two were 
of the same type, but shorter, and with stolid, impassive 
fades. They were promptly taken charge of by the 
guard and escorted to the military post as prisoners, 
One of them had received a shot in the leg while lying 
in the hole. 
The wounded soldier was cared for by the surgeon. 
The dead soldier was wrapped in a canvas, lashed on to a 
pack mule, and so transported to the Yellowstone. On 
being questioned the prisoners stated that they came from 
Sitting Bull's camp near Woody Mountain, north of Milk 
River, and were bound on a horse-stealing expedition 
against their enemies, the Mountain Crowa, and had no 
intention of molesting the whites until their leader came 
to grief at the hands of Sandy. They then continued 
their original course in a desperate hope to draw the pur- 
suit from the wounded comrade. 
Notwithstanding their assertion that they had no inten- 
tion of molesting whites, they were sure enough des- 
perate cutthroats. In the route they had marked out for 
themselves, settlers with their families were moving into 
the country to clear the waste plades and cultivate the 
land. It was some satisfaction to know that the three 
savages^our ijriaoners— would not kill, maim or torture 
any more in this life. 
From my knowledge of the Indian character, I can 
readily see how it was that the leader of the war party 
ventured to attack, single-handed and unarmed, two 
experienced white hunters; Sandy, though full of grit 
and "sand," was by nature nervous and excitable, and 
when the Indian found himself face to face with two 
resolute men, caged as it were in the corral, with the 
probability that if he turned back they would either kill 
pirn or hold him for their own safety, moved by the first 
impulse or by despair, grasped their rifles; then if his 
party had rushed on, his "coup" would have been com- 
plete, but he slipped and fell with the two white men, and 
out of sight behind the walls of the little corral, hia friends 
Were afraid to venture up. 
" This incident, fortunately for Sandy and his companion, 
led to the discomfiture of the hostiles. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Luthj:b. Saqb KellY. 
Tlie FoBBST AND Strbam is put to press each week on Tuesday 
porrespondenoe intended for publication should reowft -ug af f^e 
PARTRIDGE SHOOTING IN ITALY. 
The dark profile of the Apennini Mountains detached 
itself with cutting neatness from the pale hue of the east- 
ern sky, when our carriage came to a standstill just at a 
paint where the Flaminian road crossed the summit of a 
small eminence; it dawned and the solitude of the Cam- 
pagna Eomana extended far around us, hill after hill, in 
the gray and uncertain light of a first of November morn- 
ing. 
A fine aight and a fine morning indeed, and we were 
very much inclined to admire both, forgetful of anything 
else, when a man with a long double-barreled gun, fol- 
lowed by a small dog, came out from the shade of some 
bu<?hes, welcoming ua with a hearty good morning. 
So h*^ was not a brigand. Banditti are growing rather 
scarce in Italy. He was my man Fred, our guide for the 
trip. In a couple of minutea we alighted, and in a couple 
more were all ready with our shooting paraphernalia. 
Meanwhile he informed ua of some bevies of gray par- 
tridges he had located in the neighborhood, extending 
his arm and covering with its sweep half the horizon. 
What an extraordinary idea he had of neighborhood we 
had yet to learn, but of that hereafter. 
The carriage was sent away with ordera to wait for ua at 
Rignano Flaminio, a very little town of 1,000 inhabitants; 
and while it rattled away we left the road, taking our 
path across a grassy slope toward some stubble fields 
Whefe we expected to find the first bevy; but, "Take 
ciare,'* said the guide, knowing a good old habit of mine, 
"you must be cautious and alert, and particularly nothing 
of your stop a little; the birds have been hunted hard by 
many, and are too much disposed for journeying across 
mountains and valleys before you can even see them. It 
is snap-shooting or nothing; don't forget it, sir." 
And cautious we were indeed, but to no great purpoae 
for that. 
It was broad daylight when we reached the stubbles, 
which extended far enough upon undulated ground, 
broken now and then by deep, Woody chasms and small 
thicbets; so aeeing that the neighborhood was quite a large 
one, in the wish of exploring it thoroughly we separated, 
Mr. H. taking to the left with the gUide, and myself to 
the right, while Willy was keeping a uiiddle Course. 
It fell to my lot to explore a little valley, and 1 had not 
yet gone lOOyda. when Tell, my old pointer, began to 
show very clearly that something was at hand; but at the 
very same moment I perceived, almost a quarter of a mile 
away, some fifteen birds spring wild from the stubble and 
disappear beyond a small eminence. So I went ahead 
and Tip came across a couple of quail, both of which I 
brought down, the second perhaps at 40yd8. 
The double shot attracted the attention of Willy, who 
was exploring the next valley; and he appeared on the top 
of the hill when I told him of the partridges, and away he 
went for passing the welcome news to Mr. H. The result 
was that after ten minutes we found ourselves all together 
at the beginning of the valley, where I thought the birds 
would be. 
Now we began in earnest, and the guide, pointing to a 
thicket, said: "There they are." But he was mistaken, 
for before we had covered half the distance Tell pointed 
right ahead of Willy, and immediately the bevy got up 
with a terrific whir of wings that almost soared the boy. 
But he winged hia bird notwithstanding, and two more 
ahota by Mr. H. , quite out of range, had the happy reault 
of acattering the remainder. 
It waa up hill and down hill all the time, but we were 
aure of aome very good aport; ao along we went till Willy 
started a partridge and scored a miss, but Mr. H. was 
near at hand, and with his left barrel shot the bird for 
him. 
Just then the guide called our attention to Rsno, the 
splendid setter of Mr. H., pointing beautifully some hun- 
dred yarda on his left, but as we were going there Tip 
and Tell came to a point also — Tip through a thicket of 
bushes and Tell far beyond in the stubble. It was a fine 
sight, and sure enough we were enjoying it. Bat unhap- 
pily the guide started a hare, and away went his dog 
across the field yelping. The hare was promptly stopped 
by Mr. H. Yet it was too late, as half a dozen partridges 
had got up out of range, and Tell was coming very sulkily 
toward us. 
We parted then, Mr. H. and Willy going for Reno, and 
myself for Tip. The good dog had never stirred, and I 
had the luck of starting three full-grown birds, but I 
stopped a little too much, so when I was ready with my 
first shot I had to content myaelf with killing one, uaing 
my choke-bore because they were too far away for any 
common barrel; indeed in trying it I got a bunch of 
feathers and nothing else. Willy and Mr. H. were 
more fortunate and cut down three out of four birds. 
I had located pretty closely my two partridges and 
went alone for them. Meanwhile my friends, judging 
the stubble very promising, started for quail, and were 
lucky enough, aa notwithstanding the late season they 
killed five in an hour. For my part I did find the par- 
tridges, but they got up wild aome hundred yards away 
and made for a large and deep chasm, where I followed 
them, but found the place ao thick with trees, bushes and 
thorns of every description that I judged better and left 
them alone. 
The sun waa now high and rather hot, so I came back 
to my friends and proposed a stop for breakfast, to which 
they readily assented. 
At noon we started for Rignano, perhaps ten miles dis- 
tant across a broken land, mostly stubbles, with oaks scat- 
tered all over it. We worked up hill and down hill a 
couple of hours or ao, crossing some twelve or fifteen 
woody creeks, ao deeply burrowed in the earth that it 
took our utmost exertions to go down safe and get up at 
all. Willy had the chance of shooting a good-sized hare, 
neatly pointed by Tell, Mr. H. a lone partridge and my- 
aelf three more quail. 
We were now quite near the town. The creeks 
swarmed with blackbirds and thrushes, but we were not 
hunting for them, although in Italy it is a common prac- 
tice to shoot such birds, the latter particularly, as they 
are such delicious eating and so destructive of olives. 
In fact, we were seeking for the second bevy located 
by Fred in the neighborhood, but had almost given up 
hunting and were walking leisurely toward the road, 
when from a vineyard Tip flushed our quarry. "Seven 
birds," said Willy, who had a chance of aeeing them be- 
tween two rows of vines; so we took a new start, although 
-there waa little hope of retracing them in the woody hills 
where they hjid sought refuse, witb-Buaset aear at hsmi 
and a very indifferent idea of the direction they had 
taken. 
But never mind; in five minutes inore we were explor- 
ing a thicket well nigh impenetrable, and after it an olive 
tree grove, then another vineyard, and were just emerg- 
ing upon a prairie when the birda took to their wings in 
a hurry, yet not so quickly but that five shots were dis- 
charged and three more partridges went to our bag. 
An hour later around the dinner table we made the in- 
ventory of our game and found two hares, ten gray 
partridges and ten quail. Not a bad catch, after all, so 
late in the season, eighty days after its opening, and 
what was better yet, we had enjoyed a day of real sport. 
We were tired enough after more than ten hours' walk- 
ing across a very hilly country, hut that mattered not; so, 
having had a good and substantial dinner, we went to 
bed, and dreaming partridges again and again, prepared 
our limbs for greater exertions. 
Unluckily our hopes were fated to end in nothing. 
During the night a thick fog aet in, and when morning 
broke rain was pouring down in torrents, so we packed 
our traps and took to the carriage homeward bound, but 
quite satisfied with our trip. A. Camxteri. 
RoMK, Italy, Nov. 3. 
CAMP BLAIR. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
" Leaves have their time to fall ; " and the North Wake- 
field Trout Fishing Club gets itself together in September 
of each and every year at its comfortable club house in 
the Province of Quebec to catch the wily trout, shoot the 
foolish partridge, inhale the unpolluted air, drink from the 
crystal lakes, and, in short, have that real honost enjoy- 
ment that can only be measured by the lifetime of its 
members. 
The 15th of September is the usual time for the congre- 
gation of the faithful, but this year three " old stagers," 
having an early attack of the fever, prpsented themselves 
at the Grand Central Depot on the evening of the 9th, 
armed and equipped as the law directs in such cases, and 
by the excellent arrangements of the N Y. and Vermont 
Central Railroads we were landed in Ottawa the next 
day at 11 o'clock A, M. without a transfer. On inquiring 
for our old cook we found he had gone out with a 
surveying party, not expecting us to call before the 
usual time. We were not long in engaging the services 
of another cook, directing him to take the first train to 
North Wakefipld, while we after lunch chartered a team, 
loaded our duffle, made a few purchases and started on a 
delightful twenty-seven mile ride, for the roads were in 
good condition, the weather fine, the foliage clothed in 
ita autumn garb, and the team and driver just suited to 
the occasion, Comments are unnecessary to those who 
have taken such a drive. We arrived at Camp Blair 
about 6 o'clock hungry as bears, only to find the cook 
had not put in an appearance, and Pat had gone to the 
depot six miles away expecting to meet ua there. Did 
we go hungry long ? Not much. We could all do a little 
cooking ourselves. A fire was soon made— tea, fried 
ham, sliced peaches and a fresh loaf of bread we had 
taken from Ottawa gave us a comfortable supper, aad by 
the time we had finished it Pat and the cook arrived, so 
we did not have to wash the dishes and clean up the 
table. 
While smoking before the big fireplace after supper 
we jointed and strung our rods, and having repeatedly read 
in Forest and Stream of trout having been caught 
after dark, I went down to the large pine that had fallen 
into the lake, where I had repeatedlv taken trout in the 
daytime, and cast until I got tired with never a rise, and 
here I may say that myself and others tried several 
evenings from the shore and from boats with the same 
result, never getting a single trout, and we tried a 
variety of flies. The next morning, by the time the 
cook had his arrangements for breakfast started, I was 
down to the fallen tree, and the third cast made I hooked 
and landed a trout, and, taking it up to the cook in my 
landing net, he served it for our breakfast, and it would 
be superfluous to say it was very good, and that we 
enjoyed our first trout in camp better, I ween, than 
epicures could have done at Delmonico's, 
For four or five days we three were lords of the 
manor, with trout and partridge enough to supply the 
table, prospecting from lake to lake to see where the 
big ones dwelt in their crystal solitudes, and taking quiet 
yet very solid comfort. On the fifth day of our sojourn 
other members and their guests began to arrive, and 
soon we numbered a party of ten just such men aa an 
increase of numbers only adds to the enjoyment of all. 
With three doctors in the party, of course no one would 
dare to get sick, lest he be done for in short order; with an 
ex-congreaaman to occasionally put on a dignity that did 
not fit him at all, and a sort of a politician who had some- 
times laid plans whereby his friends had found office, but 
who never shot his mouth off on politics in camp unless 
someone would extend an open palm, saying. "Five 
dollars, please, or dry up; " and he always dried. ' It was 
an unwritten law of the club that no politics was to be 
ventilated in camp; and it required little trouble to 
enforce it. Some of the party were expert fishermen, 
and all could cast a fly fairly well, except one of the 
medical fraternity, and he persisted in telling about 
going out and " swatting" the water to catch a fish; but 
he being a guest we had to deal kindly with him, but 
having since become a member of the club he will find 
the wax in his ears warmed at hia next visit to Camp 
Blair. It has been the blessed privilege of your scribe to 
mingle with many an outing party, both in fishing and 
shooting, and he has no hesitation in saying this was the 
most congenial party with whom he ever gathered. One 
we missed, and our hearts ached with his for the sorrow 
that prevented his joining our annual outing. 
We caught abundance of fish for the table, and no one 
left camp without a well-filled basket ; in fact we caught 
a greater number than in any previous year, the largest 
weighing a trifie over Slbs., and we turned loose all 
under |lb. We found trout in the various lakes 
in localitiea we had never tried before. If there be 
any country for a " fiah hog" (I don't like the term) 
that is not the place for him ; but a reasonable man can 
always find fish enough to make it interesting and truly 
aport. Although partridges were not aa plenty as in 
previous years, yet there were few days when they wer^ 
not served for dinner. One day two of us were casting 
from either end of the boat, while the guide quietly 
paddled tb§ fega^ ^ong shore, when I hesrd my friend 
