448 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
IJtjne 5, 1897. 
IN IDAHO MOUNTAINS.-III. 
(.Continued from page $US.) 
Our camp was at the union of two valleys, and into each 
of them reached an Indian trail of immemorial usage. Their 
dust was cut'deep with the hoofs of pony trains which bad 
passed up into the summer hunting grounds. Occasional 
intimations of Indian hunting parties had come to us in the 
heavy columns of pitchy smoke to the north ; but we were 
camped just short of the field of their operations, and for 
the first ten days had not been foul of their baneful presence. 
The efliuent wave of cayuses, squaws and hunters rolled in 
on m at last with such results as you may now hear. 
We were juRt lighting our pipes after the evening meal 
when the visitation appeared in dusty file at a slight eleva- 
tion of the trail and a scant fifty paces from our fire. It was 
a piebald crowd, savage to its smallest detail and yet orderly. 
A wise old pony pioneered the way, and she carried a precious 
freight ! Highest upon her back, with legs stretched astride 
like a strained wish-bone, rode a shapeless squaw, separated 
from the submerged ponv by bales of hide, hair and meat. 
Hung to the perimeter of this mass of the hunting harvest, 
and sustained in some wild-fashioned pouch was a glittering- 
eyed child. Following this leadership came an endless pro- 
cession of ponies and colts, some burdened, some ranging 
free. Three bucks, mounted lightly, passed toward the end 
of the line; but at the extreme rear, among the dogs 
stoically trudging in the dust was a sauaw who was being 
disciplined for some infraction of this Indian code of fsmily 
duty. We had been entirely ignored, although furtively and 
thoroughly inspected. Jim prophesied a visit later when in 
the view of these people the time was proper — and he was 
right. 
Camp was made below us, and while the squaws were 
shaping things for the night two of the bucks came ridina 
back lo call. They slipped from their ponies and moved to 
the log by the fire without a word, and seated themselves. 
Taking our cue from Jim, we awaited their pleasure, offer- 
ing them what coffee was still in the pot by way of good will. 
They drank it as if it was their right, but' sat on in silence, 
moving not whether the smoke poured over them or away 
from them. At last the elder man arose to look at a pair of 
elk horns whose massive growth attracted him. He gave us 
to understand then by signs and broken English that he had 
left a phenomenal set cf horns back on the mountain. I 
finally persuaded him to go for them. 
During his absence the Major and I agreed that it would 
be a day well spent to place ourselves under the guidance of 
these men for a day's hunt. And we opened negotiations to 
that end with the young buck, who was stolidly awaiting his 
companion's return, still in the smoke of the fire. The bar- 
gain was finally struck after much affectation of indifference 
on the Indian's part. The terms were these: When the sun 
reached a certain point in the pines above us these two In- 
dians should present themselves on the following morning; 
they were to receive a fixed sum for the day, and they were 
to receive from the Major $5 additional for any bull elk which 
the Major might get through their assistance. 
By six on the following morning the sun had climbed to 
its appointed place, and true to the bargain our native hun- 
ters promptly took their places by the steaming coffee. 
Picturesque and primitive were they indeed. Apart from 
their modern guns, these men might have passed for the 
same wild hunters inimitably described by Parkman as 
roaming the Western mountains a half century since. 
Their unbonneted heads shone like crows' backs in May. 
Their raiment was of the materials yielded m the chase. 
The younger man, standing about 6ft. 4in., was the type of 
mounted Indian hunter. His broad shoulders were covered 
with an unbuttoned Bkin coat ; his deep, heavily muscled 
chest was bare. Each of his short, powerful legs was 
wrapped to the knee with a separate strip of soft buckskin, 
wound round and round. From the knee to his moccasins 
the lower leg had no covering. 
Equally rude were the trappings of the ponies. The two 
animals together weighed scarce l,4001bs., and were fat 
with mountain grass. Small elk horn saddles without stir- 
rups, and elk thong bridles without bits, were their only 
harness 
They were sufficiently unpretentious to look at, but in the 
chase of that day it was well for the Major and me that we 
followed on ponies, whose strength had been built up with 
three weeks of grain feeding. 
When we were all in the saddle not a moment was lost by 
our new guides in taking us into their confidence. They 
started straight up the face of the mountain at a dog trot. 
For the next hour I might as well have been astride a saddle 
hung up on the wall. If there was an easy way to get 
around a tangle of chapparal, the Indian avoided it with un- 
failing determination. If there was a steep, slippery rock 
with an easy trail around it, he dodged that trail as though 
it had been an ambush. Not a word was spoken. 'The 
Indians looked not back once tp see if we were still on the 
mountain or in the ravine at the bottom. 
Their thongs fell steadily on their ponies' flanks, their heels 
kicked steadily on the ponies' ribs, and they sailed along, far 
above and in the fading distance, for a summit which looked 
to he on the yonder side of Heaven . 
The Major's trials lightened my own burdens greatly. He 
suffered in that hour as few men are given to suffer in Ihis 
life. His pony lahored with him in the chapparal as a small 
ant wrestles with a fat caterpiller. When the pony was lost 
to sight among the roots, his succesfesand failures in getting 
a footing were traced m the lurchings and reelings of the 
Major. When we reached the top we found the Indians 
waiting for us. Their ponies were running rivers of per- 
spiration and sobbing tor breath. They had been mercilessly 
overridden, but their riders stood so idly by them, cool and 
im concerned. I suspect these people had used the occation 
to indulge in a bit of bravado. We got more of it within the 
day 
We were off again at once across the short level of the 
mountain's crest. The steep, deep pitch, which ceased only 
in the white waters of Snake River, quickly bade us pause. 
Here a game trail stretched its dusty belt along the upper 
face of the ridge. Its kindly footing and easy descent made 
grateful contrast to the arduous, untracked route just left. 
The lull in our tribulation was brief. My stomach barely 
had the dent of the pommel out of it before we entered a 
whirlwind of Nimrodic experiences that bewilder my mind 
even in the recollection, and at the time my brain just missed 
being turned to gray chaos. 
These experiences began, I remember, by one of the In- 
dians slinking to the ground as a cat flattens when an unex- 
pected bird dropped near by. His companion behind fol- 
lowed the act spontaneously, as one dog heeds the other 
when taint of quail stiffens the leader Their eager eyes led 
my own to the valley, and there, 1,000ft.. below, shone the 
white rump of an elk. The beast was wholly unconscious 
of dangei, as were his four or five companions. There was 
every chance for a successful stalk, and my ingenious brain 
at once mapped out the protecting cover by which the Major 
might approach and secure his coveted bull, but I was to 
learn a new thing about Indian hunting. Already the coun- 
tenances of those men were blazing with eagerness. Our 
presence was forgotten The money reward which was 
theirs for an atom of self-restraint was forgotten. Little 
cared they that some thirty carcassf^s were already strapped 
to their packs in camp — a plethora for the winters food and 
buckskin. Little cared they that to kill, as it was now in 
their hearts to do, was improvident, useless and wanton. 
They were the reincarnation of the savages who cut in strips 
the body and ate the heart of Captain Campbell at the ,«iege 
of Detroit by Pontiac two centuries and more ago. 1 have 
seen white mm kill game with unhetding ruthlessness, but 
it was to boast of afterward in sporting journals or elsewhere. 
I never saw human faces so transformed with pure lu-t of 
blood as were those of these two men. 
The elk were now an anti-climax. The Indians them- 
. selves held my interest. A flashing sign or two of the hard 
and their plan was revealed to each other. Then, like 
bounds from the leash, they fell from the edge of the trail 
and went bounding with yells down the mountain, straight 
for the game. 
Our action must be prompt to keep the chase in si^ht, for 
the startled animals were already placing a small knoll in 
the line of our vision 
With a cry to the Major to follow, I plunged in the wake 
of our bold leaders. The Major burlea his aSOibs after me. 
1 will revert to his fortunes later. Mighty little thought I 
of him after I had unauchored myself from the honest foot- 
ing of the trail, except as the 'bought flashed over me— if be 
gets rolling end on, what will happen to all living things 
below, since there is no telegraph system connected with him 
by which to get a clear line ? 
But I was pursuing Injuns, and all fibers of mind and 
body were in use to that end, you bet! 
When I had gone .50ft. 1 had as merry a concourse of 
stones and sticks flyirgalongin company as could possibly be 
desired. And there were intervals, protracted enough 
to smoke a pipe, iu which my feet were in midair. . It is not. 
implied that I did smoke a pipe at such times— I shouldn't 
have known where to find my trousers for striking a match 
— nor is it implied that [ traveled on my head all the time, 
although there were "reversals of form/' to use a turf phrjispj 
when my head seemed lo make good walking. There were 
gaps in the ground, and I think they were put there to show 
me why the Lord made birds. 
About 800ft. from the top— I had been "all over the 
ground" and my information is quite accurate — my contem- 
plative frame of mind was interrupted by the bark cf a rifle. 
"Ah!" thought I, 'they have rounded up their cattle^ 
calves and all, and if there is any good anchorage I will 
calm myself and lake an observation/' I maneuvered for a 
"pople," but down went its lithe form under my onward 
rush, and over I slid in leap-frog fashion. Art is long, how- 
ever, and I got myself slowid up to moderate going. When 
I felt that I had some time to myself once more 1 opened a 
weather eye for a pair of lost Indians. They were there. 
The elk were fairly run down, and one by one were falling 
before the rifles as they toiled heavily up through the burnt 
timber. It was a sickening sight. I sat down on thehaunch 
of a splendid great bull whose horns were distorted and 
worthless — not one ounce of hoof, hide, horn or meat to tie 
stirred from where death struck it down— and the spot was a 
good one from which to have edited the game hog depart- 
ment of Forest ant> Stream. 
I turned my perturbed thoughts to the Major for diversion. 
Not a sign of him. There seemed to be < uiy one method of 
escape so complete as his— he had traveled ceo fast for grav- 
ity to hold him on the earth, and must have moved out into 
space, a betrowsered asteroid with sombrero on its head. 
Wefl, thought I, he will do well at if. He has the sizei 
and with his .50 110 ought lo make a Hrst-rate poHceman to 
enforce heavenly peace. But the Major had not taken that 
tack. It is true he was nowhere along the line of our re 
cent travels, but a rifleshot a little to one side gave notice 
that he was one of us; and yi.u must know the Maj )r had 
done a wonderfully cute thing. When he discovered that hs 
was running away with himself, he received an inspiration 
to the effect that a "switchback" could save him, and that 
nothing else could, not even free silver. There was a shoul- 
der of the mountain just at his left. He tacked for it, It 
was his switchback, and his velocity just missed running 
him up over the top of it. I made the toilsome return to 
him, and there we awaited the recreant Jnciians. These red 
hounds came in time from their forbidden chase. When 
they found where the Major had lodged, and why, they 
promptly dubbed him him scjuaw man— that phrase of un- 
fathomed contempt; but they warded oft' all rebuke by 
calmly assuming that they could not understand English. 
Twice again during the day was this performance repeated 
under varying conditions. The second time the setting was 
spectacular and the ptrformance thrilUng. 
We were in a great stretch of burnt timbpr— burnt per- 
haps by these same men and in stretches of thousands of 
acres solely to drive game from cover for easy killing. Two 
young elk jumped up a little distance ahead. The Indians 
look it into their heads to "course" the animals in pure joy 
of the chase. It was genuine "timber topping" that fol- 
lowed. Their course lay on a hillside bristling' with log.s 
cut by the fire and felled by the wind, as if giants had 
planned a Titan's game of jackstraws. To see these men in 
this wild sport made easy tne forgetting of their sins against 
life. 
A more reckless and dexterous race could not be ridden. 
The younger man embodied the boldness, horsemanship* 
courage and wild abandon of the best traditions of his race 
— nor did his pony fail him.- Both were game to the core. 
They passed through places— their unity unbroken— where a 
fawn might have hesitated; literally lost in the spaces closed 
in by the stacked windfalls. One picture stands in memory 
with especial vividness. The pony was driven with a yell at a 
log, face high on the side of approach and a third higher on the 
distant side. He gallantly rose to it, mounted far enough to 
hook his fore legs over it and hung with his hind toes barely 
touching the ground. His rider saw the situation before it 
was really disclosed, sprang to the log while the pony still 
seemed in midair, seized the frame of the saddle as the pony 
recewed the struggle to get over, half twisted the brave lit- 
tle beast to where he balanced with all feet dangling, then 
both disappeared over the log to reappear almost instantly, 
the boy in the saddle and both again in excited pursuit. It 
was a tableau of a past time. It was an anachronism in the 
decade which has witnessed the beschooled and becalicoed 
Indian holding pathetic ghost dances to conjure back the 
vanished buffalo and the youth of his race. This chase 
ended in a sight which is prophetic. 'The two elk paused 
on the summit of the mountain — mce forms on the horizon 
— looked for a moment at their pursuers and passed from 
sight, hunted off the face of the earth as it seemed. 
In a time brief as this writing, the Indians too passed from 
view, following close on the vanished game. How soon 
does that certain hour strike when both the Indian and the 
elk are to cease save as Ihe one is coralled in the netted en- 
closure and the other is cabined, cribbed and confined with 
the impassable restraints of the white man's civilization? 
Nay, baa it not already struck? Twiivkle. 
Armless but Able. 
l2Si reply to a letter of inquiry, Mr. J, B. Thompson; post- 
master at Grilniore, Ark., writes as follows: 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Yours of 13th to Wm, Bell, the armless man', was referred 
by Bell himself to me with request to answer for him. As 
be has no hands his handwriting is done by the mouth. 
Taking the pen in his mouth, he can sign his name and write 
a liltle, but of course very slowly. 
I suppose what you have seen in papers is true. I have 
known Bell for ten years, and it is wonderful what he can 
do without his arms. As for fishing and trapping, I never 
saw him fishing with hook and line, but he can dolt holding 
the fishing rod under his chin. He has several fall and 
winters here run a line of traps, attending them himself. He 
sets the traps with his feet and I have seen him often come 
in with raccoons and other game taken from his traps. He 
uses a Winchester rifle and is an expert shot; can put the 
gun on his shoulder himself, balance it there and get it down, 
and shoots quickly and accurately, using a string li6d to the 
trigger, and pulling it with his teeth. Of course, when in 
the woods he often uses a stump or log to rest his gun. If 
none is convenient he lies down and holds the gun with his 
feet. 
He does 'most anything without arms that an ordinary per- 
son can do. During the recent floods here he went out sev- 
eral times with me to rescue stock from the water, wading 
where he could, and when too deep swimming after them. 
He swims well, but on his back entirely. He plays cards, 
throws dice, fights, and does a liltle of everything. 
He can throw a stone or brick, placing it on his foot and 
kicking it accurately and with great force. He is very strong 
in the legs and neck, and can hold an ordinary man by get- 
ting his arm under bis chin and by catching him by one leg- 
between his (BeU's) leg. It would be impossible to tell al! 
about him; he is simply wonderful. Both arms are oft' at the 
shoulder. He lost them in a woolen mill when he was only 
ten years old. He is about 5ft. 9in. high and will weigh 
1801 bs. 
When he came in to-day and asked me to reply to this 
letter I asked him which pocket it was in, and went through 
him and got your letter. When he comes into the store to 
buy anything the clerks have to feel in his pocket and get the 
money. Nothing you have heard or can surmise would ex- 
aggerate his casei J. B. Thojipson, P. M. 
•The Platform Plank" a Hundred Tears Ago. 
Professor Jno. D Quackenbos of this city writes to the 
Manchester N. H., Mirror: 
A man of more than average wisdom remarked some 
twenty -nine hundred years ago that there is nothing new 
under the sun. I have just met with an interesting applica- 
tion of this piece of philosophy, in a little pamphlet that has 
come into my possession, entitled "Thoughts on the Present 
Laws for Preserving Game, and B.^me Methods Proposed 
for Making a Game Law both Useful and Effectual," pub- 
lished in London in 1750. It anticipates the "platform 
plank" of Forest and Stream— the Sale of Game should 
be forbidden at all Seasons — by insisting on the absolute 
prohibition of game traffic as an essential to game preserva- 
tion. The quaint old author deplores Ihe prevalence of 
poaching, aud the rapid diminution of game birds and quad- 
rupeds in consequence of the improvements in firearms and 
the growing skill of sportsmen. 
"The Art of shootmg flying," he says, "is come to such a' 
Degree of Perfection that few Fowls escape. And it can be 
no Wonder that Pheasant. Partridges, Woodcocks, and the 
like, are so scarce to b ; found, when there are hardly any 
left to breed. Many Marksmen are so expert at the woik 
that, with a tolerable good Pointer, they will destroy more 
birds than a Setter can do with his Net, altho' this latter 
seems to be as compleat an Engine of Destruction as can be 
invented." How applicable the argument in this day of 
breech-loading and repeating shotguns. Poaching, he adds, 
may be made unprofitable "by preventing any Game being 
sold to any manner of Persons." And the author further 
shows his mastery of the situation by contending that: 
"Provision should be made for effectually preventing all 
Sorts of Carriers from carrying Game that has not a Direc- 
tion signed by a Person eiualified, expressing the Carrier by 
whom it is sent, and upon what I)ay, and whither to be car- 
ried. And such as carry Game should be obliged to have a 
Basket or place for that Use only, that Search might be 
made moie easily, and forged Tickets may be more fj(uickly 
discovered; and all Persons counterfeiiing or forging any 
Directions should be severely punished." Verily, the tricks 
of to-day are old. Johjt D. Quaokekbos. 
[The wise old fellow who had these sensible thoughts in 
England in 1750 would think then all the harder in 1897 in 
the United States.] 
Pennsylvania Game Law. 
The new Pennsylvania game law approved last week for- 
bids entirely the sale or export of game killed in the Com- 
monwealth. The open seasons are as follows : 
Wild turkey, pheasant, grouse, quail, partridge, prairie 
chicken, Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 inclusive. Woodcock, month of 
July and Oct. 15 to Dec. 15 English and Mongolian or 
Chinese pheasant protected to 1902. Hare or rabbit, Nov. 1 
to Dec. 15 inclusive. Black gray or fox squirrel, Oc 15 to 
Dec. 15 inclusive. Ferrets forbidden. Elk, deer, fawn, 
mouth of November. Killing in water and use of dogj for- 
bidden. 
One person may not kill in one day more than ten rufl'ed 
grouse (commonly called pheasant), or fifteen quail (or Vir- 
ginia partridge), or ten woodcock, or two wild turkeys; or in 
one season more than two deer, 
