JuxY 10, 1897. J 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
28 
During the night we were awakened by the thunder of 
thousands of hoofs upon the hard ground, as the buffalo 
were startled by wolves or hunters. With anxiety we waited 
for the first gray streak of coming dawn ; and at last as I saw 
the darkness begin to roll back, I arose, took my rifle and 
loaded with eneugh cartridges to ammunition a Spanish 
regiment, started due south from camp, following up the 
bed of a wide ravine, in which the blue stem grass was thick 
and high. I argued that the buffalo were looking for good 
feed, and there I should find them. After advancing slowly 
up the ravine 300 or 400yds., I saw not over 75yds. away, 
in the uncertain light before day, the dusky forms of two of 
the giant game I was after. I crouched down, advanced a 
few feet to a slight hummock, across which I rested my rifle, 
waited until the nearest buffalo turned his broadside to me, 
then took deliberate aim behind the foreshoulder and fired. 
He fell to bis knees, his nose struck the ground, then he 
rolled on his side. His mate ran away, snorting and blow- 
ing. 
1 had frequently been cautioned by old hunters never to 
approach a wounded buffalo, so while I waited what a 
crowd of thoughts came to me; the joy and pride with which 
I would return to camp and report to my comrades the kill- 
ing of this big fellow; this I thought of in less time than it 
takes to tell it. 
And so I advanced towaid my prize, now quite still in 
death. As I came near I observed a white spot on the upper 
side. As I walked around to the head I saw a white stripe 
in the face, and there was a recognition. It came to me as a 
bolt from a clear sky— I saw and felt it all — I had shot and 
killed Jerry, our nigh ox. 
This was my first buffalo but not the last, 
W. J. Ratnok. 
Colorado. 
dnie ^ug mid ^mu 
THE CRUISE OF THE SINDA. 
Last year the writer told a brief tale, under the caption of 
"Ducks on the Gulf Coast," of his little adventures on a 
winter hunt in the South, and intimated that he would like 
a companion for a similar trip, to be made the winter of 96- 
97. The result was indeed gratifying, for replies came ad- 
dressed in care of Fokest akd Stream from nearly every 
State and the maritime provinces. Evidently all were from 
practical gunners, but some had queer notions. One New 
Brunswick man— no doubt a good hunter in his own coub- 
try— wanted to bring his birch, "the finest hunting craft in 
the world " I think I <=ee a birch in a norther! One man 
wanted me to pay his expenses as well as my own, and some 
considered it as a mercantile venture only. One man pos- 
sessed a great number of the best hollow decoys, and dis- 
dained all other; him I imagined a Crcesus. Some were 
blessed with wives, and wives must be reckoned with when 
one proposes to make a cruise, with the probability of being 
out of reach of post-office for weeks at a time. We roor 
bachelors have one privilege — there is less on our conscience 
if we see fit to go off and drown ourselves. I answered most 
of the letters (no small task), and many of these replies called 
forth a second series of letters, and finally I had the list 
sifted down to three that seemed most eligible. This choos- 
ing a chum for a voyage "sightless and unseen," as the boys 
say when they swap jack-knives, is about as risky a thing as, 
say marriage, for instance. However, I had great confidence 
in my ability to judge character by a letter, and to make a 
long story short, I finally arranged with a gentleman in 
Hastings, Neb., to meet me in the South after I had pros- 
pected around a little and seen how the ground lay. 
Accordingly, about Thanksgiving time I collected all my 
old clothes, my blankets and my two guns, a Fox and a 
Winchester, slide action, and took ship for the Gulf port 
where I had had such an enjoyable winter before. Almost 
the first sight that met my eyes upon landing was my former 
chum, the market-hunter, riding through town perched on 
one of the two wheeled carts of the country, the box of 
which was literally heaping full of fat sprigs, 100 pairs of 
them nearly, that he and his brother had killed in about a 
day at a water hole. This looked as though there was still 
game on the old stamping grounds, and 1 decided to fit out a 
boat, and at any rate get a lunch while the others were hav- 
ing a meal. The first thing was a boat to live in. There 
were very few boats idle just then, as the oystering and 
hunting season was at its height; either the owners of the 
few boats to be had doubted my seamanship and the safety 
of their crafts, or they imagined I was fitting out a filibuster- 
ing expedition to Cuba. Any way, not a boat could I hire, 
until finally I met a native whom 1 knew slightly, who said 
his old uncle had a boat that could be had if the old man 
were properly approached. He said that negotiations should 
properly be opened by means of a bottle, and that his uncle 
Jived across the bay, a good day's sail from the city. We 
found a market boat going that way, and took passage, as 
this seemed the only chance to get hold of a boat. 
The first sight of the sloop Sinda was not encouraging, as 
she was a flat-bottomed boat, with a square "knuckle;" her 
sails were old, rigging poor, and anchor chain nearly rusted 
in two. Also, having a worm eaten plank or tvFO in her 
bottom, she leaked like a sieve— a pleasant prospect, truly! 
I foresaw lots of work, but didn't see my way clear to do 
better just then; so decided to take the old craft, rerig her, 
and put her into seaworthy condition, charging my expendi- 
ture against her rental. A good skiff we got with her, after 
some persuasion, and back we started with a fair wind, hoist- 
ing the skiff on deck. Our wind lasted about half way 
across the bay and then died out, and it was evident that we 
were in for a night of it out there in a boat absolutely bare of 
bedding, food or fuel. I had a light overcoat and slept half 
the night under that, when I was awakened by the poor 
native, who said he was freezing, and proposed tearing up 
the boat's ceihng to make a fire. I gave him the coat, and 
for the balance of the night I played freeze-out, catching a 
wretched cold. At daylight we had wind again and went on 
to town. 
This native was not a model companion, but he could sail 
a boat and be of some use, so I kept him around me quite a 
while and endured his shortcomings, giving him a gun, am- 
munition and grub for what I could get out of him.' He 
would sit .and steer all day, constantly smoking cigarettes 
and never get tired of it, but other work he would not do if 
he could help it; he was over- fond of whisky, and the truth 
was not in him. We lay several days at the dock, where 
with the assistance of an old deep-waier sailor, we renewed 
and set up our rigging, patched the sails, and made all as 
snug as we could. 1 got a spare anchor and a new cable 
and moved the bulkhead.*[between"'the cabin and hold some 
2ft. forward, as the cabin was so short a tall man couldn't 
straighten out in the bunks. We set up a little stove and 
wired it in place, and had a bonnet made for the funnel, so 
that we could cook while under way or when the wind was 
strong. 
Before I left Boston T had ordered some six dozen decoys, 
a tent, grass suit some provisions and other things, and they 
now made their appearance, and I got to work nailing lead 
strips on the decoys for ballast and fitting them out with 
anchors and strings. I wished to make one hunt and eet 
everything running smoothly before I wrote my correspond- 
ent to join me. 
The other hunters evpd my lirand new outfit with f nvj' — 
all but ttie b^at, hpr they called a "•box"— and were not at 
all pleas(d to see a Yankee getting ready to share their hunt- 
ing ground?, but that cut no ice. 
My cough, the result of my night's exposure, still hung 
on to mfi and was very annoying, "but I had faith in my abil 
i'y to shake 't off, once I got to burning powder, so when 
all things s'iemed ready we cast off our lines and bore away 
up the b^y. Seven miles from town four long bridges stretch 
across an arm of the bay, and the four draws are swung 
open for every craft, large or small, that wishes to pass. We 
felt qiute grand as we swept through and answered the 
draw-tender's hail. My companion had never been in this 
portion of the bay, but I could recollect the channel well 
enough from my visits of two years before to navigate it 
fairly well, and as we sailed along we began to s^e numerous 
bunches of sprigs and bald-pates (widgeon) in the air, but 
no great "body of game," as the hunters say. I was pretty 
sick, but still, the sight of the game did me good, and I 
went aloft on the mast-hoops to find some lakes that lay near 
the bay shore, where I expected to find the game resorting. 
Just after nightfall we came abreast of the lakes and anchored. 
In the morning we went ashore with half a dozen canvas 
decoys apiece, and as it was too warm for high rubber boots, 
I just tied my trousers at the bottom and wallowed through 
mud and water, in spite of my cough, as I knew the salt 
water wouldn't hurt me, and so'it proved, for a few days of 
this cur. d the cough entirely. 
We put out our decoys at the mouth of a little bayou and 
squatted in the rushes, putting other tufts of rushes around 
to form a blind. The ducks wore there all right, but were 
evidently educated, for they didn't decoy well; the wind was 
right, but not heavy enough, and we only got about a dozen 
birds apiece, greeu winged teal and sprigs. Then the wind 
died out altogether and nothing would decoy. Still, I was 
happy. It was enough to have left the frozen North and to 
bask in this sunny land, my own boss, with nothing more 
urgent to do than to keep enough stuff cooked up to eat and 
to see that we lay in safe anchoring ground for the night. 1 
only wished that others whom I had left toiling away at home 
might join me and help me loaf. 
It wasn't all beer and skittles, though, for we found our 
boat leaked so fast that we had to pump pretty often to keep 
afloat, and it was evident that we had got to pull her out 
and repair her bottom. So we cut short our hunt and re- 
turned to town. Here I found the man from Nebraska in 
the hotel rotunda looking as if he had just stepped out cf a 
bandbox. He probably thought I was a tramp when I spoke 
to him. However, I soon had him looking nearly as dis- 
reputable as myself, and with a beautiful coat of tan on. 
As there were only two bunks in the cabin, the new- 
comer, whom I dubbed Bert, set to work building one io the 
hold, a place where there wasn't much headroom, and 
which must have been chilly certain nights I can remember, 
but Btrt always insisted that it was the finest place aboard 
to sleep. We got his things aboard, including a lot more 
decoys, and set sail once more. It was evident that our first 
duty was to pull out the boat and repair her bottom. This 
we did on some ship ways across the bay, and we found the 
removal of the worm-eaten planks anything but easy or 
agreeable. These ship worms {Teredo navalis) ai-e most vile- 
smelling things, and to chop into their dwelUngs was a nasty 
job. We found holes, hundreds of them, some Jin. in diam- 
eter, perfectly round, and entirely honey combing the 
affected planks. With the help of a shipwright, we re- 
placed these with two l^in. X 13 yellow pine planks, and 
caulked all the seams carefully. When we slid her off 
the ways we were delighted to find that she was tight at 
last. 
This time we had a fine, strong N.E. breeze, a fair wind 
for certain islands where I used to hunt, and thither we 
turned the Sinda's bowsprit and let her plow with a reef in. 
On the way we knocked down a few bluebills which rose 
before us; but it was such a job to pick them up after we 
killed them that we always said we would shoot no more— 
until the next flock appeared. A long-handled dip-net is 
the only way to do this right, if a man wanted bluebills 
They are not highly prized in those waters, but are apt to be 
extremely poor. 
It was ihirty miles, nearly, to the islands, but with that wind 
we made it in a short half day, and as we drew near I com- 
menced getting dinner. Just as we anchored I had the meal 
ready, but we had such a sight before us we could hardly 
eat. Thousands of ducks and hundreds of geese were in 
sight, resting on the water when we approached ; but as we 
drew near the ducks moved further off and settled again, 
while the knowing old Canadas simply stretched up their 
necks a little, and sat there eyeing us some 350yds. away. 
It did look encouraging, and we were soon passing decoys 
up from the hold and into the skiff. We still had but one 
skitt'.and aU three managed to go ashore in it and rig out. 
Bert and the native rigged out together, I by myself. The 
wind still kept up, and we had fair shooting, but all of us 
burned a good many shells needlessly. For my part, I seemed 
to have lost the knack of killing ducks. I had made a re- 
cord of fifty birds with sixty -eight shells on these islands two 
winters before, but now I managed to use three and four 
shells to the bird, and never better than two, probably from 
shooting at birds too far off. One day, marveling much at 
the amount of powder I was wasting, 1 stepped off the dis- 
tance at which a bird fell, and found I was shooting at 70 
and 75yd8. right along, as that was the nearest the wary old 
sprigs would come. We didn't decrease the visible supply 
much that afternoon, but as the wind shifted to the south 
we knew a big tide would come in, and conditions would be 
all the belter on the mon'ow. A high tide drives the birds 
off their feeding grounds elsewhere, and they seek these 
islands. These were all "paddle ducks" which do not dive, 
but must seek their food from the surface. In the night we 
had a sharp squall, but swung to our anchors safely. We 
found the cabin roof leaked in a few places, which was not 
pleasant, but we put cups under the leaks. We had con- 
gratulated ourselves that we had this place all to ourselves, 
but ia the morning another hunting sloop lay near us with 
her headgear missing, having carried it away in the blow. 
The newcomers waited until we got r'gged out in the morn- 
ing, and then chose position intended to spoil our shooting. 
Two of them did spoil mine, for they built a blind about 
150yds. from mine on a point that nearly all the ducks were 
passing, but I had gathered in twenty-eight birds before they 
disturbed me. It turned out that they had been hunting 
there all winter, and naturally regarded us as intruders. 
We got sixty pairs of fine, heavy ducks here in about a 
day and a half, and then the weather got too calm for good 
fihootinar and we returned tn town with the ducks in our ice 
box. The next day being New Year's Day, and ours being 
the only hunting boat in town, our game went like hot 
cakes. 
This proved to be the best hunt we made, though nothing 
very big_, for, though we had lots of fun mailing, and made 
many fair little hunts during the succeeding two months, 
we never struck the weather conditions so favorable again. 
The next tiiu we took along some lumber and built another 
pkiff on a still day after we reached the hunting grounds. 
The other boys built her while T was ashore, and they got 
her somewhat lop-sided, still you might call it a skiff, and 
you could take decoys ashore in it, bu*^ a man had to have 
his hair parted in the middle not to capsize her if there was 
anv sea on. 
One of the great attractions of a sojourn in these waters is 
the abundance of excellent oysters. We always took along 
plenty of lemons; and those oysters, right out of their native 
mud, eaten with a squeeze of lemon juice, were certainly 
great. We could buy them at $1 per barrel <"rom the oyster- 
men, but the ones we picked up ourselve.^ were far better. 
My friend from Nebraska took kindlv to the shell fish. 
Oysters grow in tin cans up there, I understand, and are not 
so good as these. I found T had sized Bert up all right by 
his letters, for he was a model chum, and no matter how 
rocky things looked, there was never a kick from him. 
One day when a gale was blowing and the rain coming in 
level sheets and we had just escaped dragging ashore by the 
merest chance, and everything looked dismal, I tried to 
make him say he was sorry he had come, but he said no, he 
liked it! 
"We finally got very tired cf our native and were not sorry 
to part company with him, and got in his place a vastly 
superior man, thoroughly trustworthy and an excellent guide 
to the best ducking grounds Him we paid wages, and it 
was a good investment, for he was well worth them. If we 
ever repeat the trip another winter, as we hope to, wj3 shall 
certainly endeavor to get hold of Will again. 
Now I must tell how I was punished for theft. One 
hunger told me he used a piece of railroad iron for a skiff 
anchor, and that it worked first rate, so I must needs try it, 
and accordingly "swiped" a nice heavy coupling link off a 
car near the dock, and bent it on to my boat painter It 
worked so well that T came to put great confidence in it, and 
so came to grief at last. It happened the coldest day we had 
during the winter. A northeast gale was blowing with rain 
which froze as it fell, and since we lay under the land and 
the wind was off shore, it was useless to put out our block 
decoys to leeward of the land, and so we went ashore and 
left the decoys in the skiff, anchoring her and starting for 
the marshes with a few canvas decoys. I rigged out in a 
little pool where the ducks seemed to come for the shelter of 
the weeds, and Bert said he would tramp around and jump 
them up, as his boots leaked, and sitting still in freezing 
weather was uncomfortable Only six birds came to me, 
while Bert wandered far and wide in pursuit of jacksnipe, 
whereof he captured five or six. The game seemed not 
worth the light, and we thought of our warm cabin and 
grub supply and started for it. The boat lay far out in the 
channel where she belonged, but the skiff was gone. "We 
could hardly believe our eyes but she was certainly missing 
and somebody was in for a job of wading. I started for the 
boat, hoping that I could make it without getting over my 
boots, but soon found that I hadn't figured on the tide, . 
which had risen several feet, and presently I felt a 
chill stream enter my boots, and knew I was in for it. Bert 
started to wade out with me, but I told him there was no 
need of more than one getting wet, and that I would get the 
other boat, which was on deck, and come after him. As I 
proceeded the water got deeper, until I was wading up to my 
armpits, and when I reached the boat, with my bunch of ice- 
coated ducks over one shoulder and my gun over the other, 
and overcoat saturated with water, it was no easy job to climb 
aboard. However, Ithrew my burden on deck and managed 
to climb up the fore chain and launch the other skiff and 
fetch my chum aboard, although a slender pole was my only 
means of navigating. 
The oars and thirty- two decoys had floated off in the skiff, 
and we never saw them again. The high wind and tide had 
enabled her to gradually work out into deep water, and 
finally float off. It was a chilly bath, but after putting on 
dry clothes I felt none the worse for it. Next morning we 
had a glass ship, apparently, for there was 2in. of ice on 
everything, and we had to break the running rigging and 
sails loose with clubs before we could make sail. Our birds, 
which hung from the boom, were also thickly encased, and 
we hoped to be able to send them North in that shape, but 
the ice fell away from them after they had been in the ice- 
box a while. 
If I go South again I shall try to strike it about the first 
week of November, as then the shooting is said to be much 
better. Although birds were not so plenty this time as they 
were two years before, I had lots more fun. There is a great 
difference between having some of your own kind of people- 
to share your fortunes — good or ill — and chumming with a lot 
of sordid natives, as I did the first time. 
We found some nice quail shooting on shore sometimes, 
but, having no dog, made but sorry work of it generally. 
Yellowlegs, willets, beetleheads and curlews winter there, 
but few people shoot them, Ipsabraka. 
The Fokest and Stream is put' to press each week on 
Tuesday. Correspondence intended for publication 
should reach ua at the latest iy Monda/y, and as much 
earlier as prattieable. 
1 CHAINED 
El%^ .to Business? * 
^^^mf Can't go Shootingr? 
^^^H Do the next best thing* 
Read ^le 
Forest Slr^aRL 
