22 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Jan. 8, 1898.] 
Cherry, 
From "Trail and Camp-Fire." The Book of the Boone and 
Crockett Club. New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
1897. 
I HAD spemt a good many hours one October day on 
the Snake River plains searching for antelope, and it was 
well along toward nightfall when Rubber Boots and I 
pulled up before the door at the ranch, and I dismounted, 
leaving Boots to the care of the packer. The day had 
been raw and cold, and I hurried into the house and to 
the great open fire. I was a little blinded by the light 
at first, and turned all my attention to the fire, only re- 
plying to the usual question of "What luck?" addressed 
me by my companion. I was unaware of the presence 
of a third person until I heard a strange voice say, evi- 
dently in pursuance of a conversation which had been 
interrupted by my entrance: "For tliose biggest trout 
bait with grasshoppers, shove 3^our raft out from the 
shore, and when they take, jttst let 'em take, and sit down 
on your raft, and you are in for a run around the lake." 
Looking in the direction from whence the voice pro- 
ceeded, I observed for the first time a tall, lank, but pow- 
erfully built man, standing with his back toward me. I 
threw some more wood on the fire, and as it blazed up, 
and seemingly in acknowledgment of mj^ subdued 
laughter, a grizzled face was turned toward me, and its 
owner added, "but of course vou don't want a very big 
raft." 
This was my first acquaintance with Cherry, an ac- 
quaintance which has ripened and become closer with 
years, and on which I have never ceased to congratulate 
myself. Whatever I may know of woodcraft and hunt- 
ing is due largely to his tuition. For many years we have 
roughed it and smoothed it together; found game and 
found none; and day in and day out he was the best part- 
ner it has ever been my good fortune to meet. He pos- 
sessed the invaluable faculty of always being around 
when he was wanted, and was ready for whatever might 
turn up, from trout fishing to Indian fighting; he had an 
inexhaustible fund of good humor; was always on the 
alert, game to the core, and willing to endure any hard- 
ship. Cherry was a born sportsman, and a living ex- 
hibition of the noblest innate rules of the art; but he had 
his foibles and weaknesses, and of these only I speak. I 
think his greatest failing was the careless manner in 
which he handled the truth, often with ludicrous results, 
not the least humorous feature of which was his own 
entire oblivion of them. 
As a youngster, I imagine Cherry's education had been 
sadly neglected, and one of his queer conceits was to 
hide his evident deficiencies in this respect. It was de- 
cidedly a case where silence Was golden, but he much 
preferred fighting in the open to ambuscading in that 
fashion, and was never known to confess his ignorance 
of any subject under the sun. For instance, one year 
when we arrived for our annual hunt, we were met at the 
railroad station by Chferry and the other guides with a 
pack outfit, and journeyed from there to a small frontier 
town where our supplies were awaiting us. On reaching 
our destination, we went directly to the post-office, to 
inquire for any mail that might have arrived, and Cherry 
accompanied us. The postmaster gave us our mail, and 
witli it a letter which he had had for some time, the ad- 
dress on which was not clear, and asked us if we could 
make it out. We were unable to do so, and were about 
to hand it back, when Cherry said perhaps he could tell 
sometliing about it. As he could neither read nor write 
— a fact well known to all of us— we were somewhat sur- 
prised at his request; but in nowise abashed at the wit- 
ticisms which it provoked, Cherry examined the letter 
very minutely, scrutinizing it carefully from every pos- 
sible point of view, and finally handed it back to the post- 
master with the utmost gravity, remarking that "the 
devil himself could not read it." 
When we reached Cherry's ranch we found that his 
partner had just returned from a trip to the nearest rail- 
road station above, and had brought back a telegram and 
letter for Cherry. He as well as Cherry was unable 
to read, and Cherry brought the telegram to me, 
asking that I should read it, stating, by way of apol- 
ogy, that he "could read books and letters, but he hadn't 
got along quite as far as telegrams yet." The letter was 
typewritten, and this he also asked me to read, remarking 
that he could read "what had been writ in a good common 
school hand, but that letter had been writ most awful 
poor." 
One of Cherry's most elaborate essays at fiction was 
what would be known on the stage as "the story of his 
life." 
This narrative he imparted to me while we were snow- 
bound in camp together up among the foothills. The 
bear signs in our section had become rather poor, and 
a snowstorm aflfording us a more favorable opportunity, 
we started out to take advantage of it. But the storm 
proved to be rather more than we had bargained for, and 
after two days of travel, during all of which time it con- 
tinued to snow, we made as good a camp as possible, 
and in the loneliness and solitude that prevailed during 
that time Cherry took me into his confidence. Many of 
his stories derived too much of their charm from Cher- 
ry's picturesque manner of telling to be successfully re- 
counted, and others were imparted only under the pledge 
•of secrecy, but sufficient may be here set down to illus- 
trate his varied career and the resources of his imagina- 
tion. 
Cherry was about sixty; long, lank, and not exactly 
what might be called a handsome man; as he sat by the 
feamp-fire and related this veracious narrative, the result 
was impressive as well as ludicrous. He had been born 
in Texas; was a bit hazy as to location, but, as he put it, 
"by crossing the Rio Grande twice, and then going be- 
tween a butte and a sand hill, he could strike the old 
homestead in the center every time." But whether he 
followed his back tJ-ack or not, he said, it would be easy 
for him to get there when he struck Texas; everybody 
down there knew the place.' As a matter of fact, it was 
on his father's ranch that old Noah had built the Ark; it 
'was famous on that account, and about everybody in the 
State had been there at one time, or another to look at 
thfi place, and to secure a few chips as souvenirs. He 
recalled the days of his youth, when evil times came not, 
and he could travel eighty or ninety miles a day easily, 
always on the run, up hill and down; how, when he was 
fourteen years old, he had left his father's house to go 
to work on a cattle ranch, and when, after six months, 
word canje to him that his father's fortune had been lost 
in an unlucky speculation, he had returned and emptied 
out of his pockets $80,000 in gold, which had tided his 
father over, and saved the family from degradation. He 
also told me that liis name was not Cherry, but Ryan, and 
that he had two brothers, one of whom had become 
known to fame as Doc Middleton, the notorious road 
agent and confidence man, while the other had acquired 
a scarcely less enviable reputation under the pseudonym 
of Dick Turpin. The reason why he had himself as- 
sumed an alias was one of the things imparted to me in 
confidence. He had left Texas many years ago and jour- 
neyed to Montana, where he had started a ranch, and in- 
troduced a breed of horses which he said had since be- 
come known all over the world under the name of Suf- 
folk Punch. Of this stock he had some 80,000 head, be- 
sides the ordinary breed of horses, cattle, sheep, etc. 
As fortune smiled upon him, he had "done society" a 
little, as he expressed it, and, wishing to marry and settle 
down, had paid court to the fair daughter of a neighbor- 
ing cattle king. While, from Cherry's account, the at- 
tractions of this young lady were not such as would en- 
title her to pre-eminence among her sisters in the capi- 
tals of the effete East, they seemed to have secured for 
her decided precedence in her own circle of society, and 
suitors came from far and near. While Cherry was far 
too delicate to go into details, he gave nie to understand 
that his attentions were not unfavorably regarded by 
this damsel, and that he might long ago have been set- 
tled down to a happy matrimonial existence with the ob- 
ject of his affections, had it not been for his prospective 
father-in-law. Why the stern parent objected was not 
quite clear, but he did so, and finally his animosity at- 
tained to such a pitch that Cherry thought it safer -to 
leave the country, as the old, gentlemen was a dead shot 
and afflicted with a villainous temper. Being offered the 
alternative of migrating or of making a target of himself 
if he remained, he chose the former, and was forced to 
depart on such short notice that he was compelled to 
leave behind him his 80,000 Suffolk Punches, his ranch, 
and everything else of value he possessed. Up to the 
time of this conversation Cherry had not succeeded in 
retrieving his fortunes, but lived in the daily hope of 
doing so, and, indeed, according to his own account. 
Dame Fortune had so often and so unexpectedly taken 
a hand in his affairs that I should not be surprised at 
anything that might happen. I never read an account of 
some new western Monte Cristo that my thoughts do 
not instinctively turn to Cherry, as the possible possessor 
of this hastily acquired wealth. He could travel the whole 
road from poverty to wealth and back again in less time 
than any man I ever heard of. 
The storm having blown over in a couple of days, we 
broke camp and started for the ranch, and on the way ran 
across the tracks of an enormous grizzly, and, as luck 
would have it, caught up with him, and, having a fair 
shot, I killed him almost where he stood. As we were 
taking off his hide. Cherry told me about the last one 
he had killed, and as the story progressed, I began to 
feel that this one was only a cub in comparison. Accord- 
ing to this narrative, while he and his coiiipanion had 
been trapping on the upper waters of the Gros Ventre 
two years before, their trap had been set and been sprung, 
but the bear had somehow managed to escape. The 
same thing happened a second, and then a third time. 
Exasperated at such unbecoming conduct on the part of 
the bear, Cherry and his companion resolved that they 
would have him at any cost, and they set a spring gun 
by the trap, and also a spear with a dead fall, to pierce 
the wily animal's back. The next morning they found 
that the trap had been sprung, the gun had gone off, and 
the spear lay buried in the ground, but the bear had evi- 
dently escaped without a scratch. This was too much for 
Cherry's companion, who insisted upon taking up the 
death-dealing apparatus and letting the bear go, but 
Cherry pleaded for one more trial, and the next morning 
was at the trap as the sun rose over the hills, to see what 
had been the result of his last experiment. He found 
everything just as it had been left the day before. Ap- 
parently the bear had either risen later than usual, or had 
secured his breakfast elsewhere at less personal risk to 
himself. So Cherry, after examining his rifle, made him- 
self as comfortable as possible behind some bushes, and 
waited. Morning passed and noon came, and still no 
bear; but shortly after the sun passed the meridian, there 
was a crashing among the underbrush, and there came 
into sight what I judge, from Cherry's account, must 
have been not a grizzly bear, but one of those antedi- 
luvian monsters known as a cave bear, which were the 
terrors of our prehistoric ancestors. Cherry was an old 
campaigner in bear hunting, and not easily dismayed, 
but the sight of this tremendous brute as he came leaping 
toward him, clearing the intervening iogs at a single 
bound, and making the earth tremble at each succeed- 
ing jump, was so startling as to make him turn "goose- 
flesh" aU over, so that, as he expressed it, "you could 
have struck a match" on any part of him. Realizing that 
discretion Avas the better part of valor. Cherry, like Brer 
Rabbit, "laid low," and with bulging eyes watched the 
bear as he finally landed with one hindfoot square in the 
number six trap. This would have doomed an ordinary 
bear, but not so this one. and with the most intense aston- 
ishm'ent Cherrv watched him with the greatest delibera- 
tion press down the springs with his front feet, and then 
open the trap with his disengaged hindfoot, and step out, 
apparently little the worse for his experience. 
Up to this time Cherry had been so much interested 
in the bear's operations that he had forgotten all about 
his rifle, and it was not until bruin had dodged the spear 
and started to make off with his booty that he remem- 
bered it. He got in two shots on the bear then, but 
seemingiy with no other effect than to put him into 
an extreme state of irritation, and in this disagreeable 
mood he started for Cherry on the run. The situation 
was certainly precarious. Cherry tried another shot, but. 
as ill-luck would have it, the cartridge missed fire and 
the ejector refused to work. In the next second or two 
Cherry thought of all those things in this world that he 
should have done, but had left undone, and of all those 
other things which he should not have done, but had 
done;, but the instinct of self-preservation was still strong 
within him, and an open tree-trunk presenting itself at 
this opportune moment, he made a dive for it. It had 
been felled to the ground in some terrific battle of the 
elements years before, and Cheri-y got into it just in 
time to feel the bear's claws tickle the soles of his boots, 
as he jammed himself into its farther extremity. Do the 
best he could, this was as far as the bear could reach. He 
was baffled for a moment only, however, and then Cherry 
felt his impromptu habitation suddenly elevated into the 
air and borne along at a rapid rate. Working himself 
down to the opening again, he found that the bear had 
picked the log up on his shoulders and was making for 
a large beaver pond about ,300yds. distant, from ttie 
steep bank of which he dropped it into the water, and 
then sat down to lick his wounds and await develop- 
ments. Foreseeing what was coming, Cherry had taken 
such precautions as he could to keep his rifle dry, and 
a? the log floated high enough out of water to enable 
him to breathe after the first ducking, he set to work 
to remove the obstructing cartridge; but it was slow 
work, and he labered under great disadvantages. Mean- 
time the bear grew impatient, and evidently decided to 
force the fighting, for he walked out on the dam and 
fore a large section out of it. The pond drained rapidly, 
and to his horror Cherry soon felt the impetus of the 
current drawing him with ever increasing rapidity into 
the clutches of the bear, who was at the opening, bal- 
a^ncing himself on three legs preparatory to reaching for 
his victim with the fourth. When Cherry reached this 
point in his narrative I took a good look at him, to see 
if he was really present in the flesh, so completely did 
he seem to have closed every avenue of escape. But it 
seems a new cartridge did go home finally, and as he 
made the last cut with his skinning knife he told me 
that that hide brought him green. 
Apparently no adventure ever happened to Cherry that 
did not remind him of some parallel instance in which 
he had figured, usually of a much more dangerous and 
exciting character. One j^ear, while we were hunting in 
an extremely rough and broken country, we came across 
a good-sized bear, and finalh^, after a hot chase, brought 
him to bay on a narrow trail running around a huge 
clift', where we killed him. His death struggles sent 
him over the cliff and to the rocks below. All of these 
circumstances brought vividly to Cherry's mind an ad- 
venture which happened to him some years before, while 
hunting bear in the Sierre Madre Mountains. The coun- 
try was rough and almost impassable on horseback, and 
finally he came to such a place that he was compelled 
to dismount and seek a trail with a high bluff above 
him and a precipice below, and had reconnoitered this 
for some distance, when he saw, rounding the turn ahead 
of him, a huge California grizzly. He had left his rifle 
behind him, so hastened to make a retreat in good order, 
but on turning the curve behind him he Delield to his 
horror another grizzly . coming iri the opposite direc- 
tion. For thousands of feet, so it seemed to Cherry, the 
cliff rose above him almost perpendicularly, and the de- 
scent into the canyon below was just as steep. Most men 
in a similar predicament would have ceased to thinTc 
of the affairs of this earth, and concentrated their at- 
tention on the next world; but not so the resourceful 
Cherry. Short as was the time for deliberation, his 
fertile instinct was equal to the occasion. With the 
rapidity of a lightning-change artist he proceeded to 
divest himself of his clothing, which he tossed over the 
cliff, and then, throwing himself on all fours, he pro- 
ceeded to meet the advancing grizzly. In those days, 
as he explained, he was a most powerful man, and cov- 
ered with a superabundance of hair. This latter acted 
as his disguise, and, putting on a bold front, he awaited 
the approaching grizzly, which growled and showed his 
teeth as he came up. Cherr}'^ did likewise. They drew 
closer, and putting their noses together both bristled up 
and growled louder and fiercer. The t)ear snift'ed at 
Cherry, wdio returned the compliment. The bear pawed 
the earth; so did Cherry, and then, with bristles erect 
and a parting growl, each went his way, with an occa- 
sional snarl and a look backward, until the next turn hid 
them from view. As Cherry was whittling a stick and 
putting some sand on it, preparatory to sharpening his 
skinning knife for removing the hide of the bear, he 
remarked that that was about as close a call as he had 
ever had; but, as he stated with an air of apology, he 
knew it was all right, "because it was November, and 
March is the only month that counts for me. I always 
notice that if I manage to get through March I always 
live the rest of the year." 
While not an admirer of Indian character in general. 
Cherry paid the "sincerest form of flattery" to one oi 
them in the person of lago, and at one time this trait 
of his came near getting all of us into trouble. The last 
year we were together the "Indians, always more or' less 
dangerous, were especially treacherous. They would get 
together in small raiding parties, and swoop down on 
defenseless cattlemen, disappearing as quickly as they 
came, and leaving a trail of murder and desolation 
wherever they went, until finally the Government had to 
send several troops of infantry and cavalry to protect 
the lives and property of the settlers. One day our 
party surprised one of these murderous bands and made 
them all prisoners, and were marching them to the 
nearest army post, when, at a given signal, they made- 
a break for liberty. Most of them escaped; a few did 
not, Some time afterward the State authorities sent .an 
agent to inquire into this part of the "massacre," as the 
"New JournaHsm" styled it in flaming headlines. Know- 
ing he had been in our part of the country, we instructed 
Cherry to be most discreet, and not to laoast, as was his 
wont, over the Indians he had accounted for. As a 
matter of fact, he had not accounted for any of them. 
It was not long after this that a stranger rode up to 
the ranch, and, following the hospitalJle custom of the 
country. Cherry hailed him and invited him in. Some 
twelve' or fifteen of us were sitting outside the door at 
the time, most of us young fellows, and the agent, as 
he turned out to be, nodded in our direction and asked 
Cherry if those were all his. Cherry took a look at the 
throng gathered in front of the house, and then, turning 
on the agent, asked him, in a tone of undisguised con- 
tempt, "if he took him for an incubator?" He soon got 
on the good side of Cherry, though, by telling him that 
