04 
'THEAM, 
"And now, T'solo, the sun shines with good heat, the 
snow is soft, and Washiki, the deer, moves because of 
water in his bedding ground. The snow will show his 
sign and we will kill feast meat for the feast of the Star 
Chief." 
Then we walked among the breaks of the hillside there 
in the sage desert, and saw the sign of Washiki in the 
snow and followed it, we two, until Washiki bounded 
across the white of the snow. 
Then the rifles spoke, and the snow was red where 
Washiki fell because of the feast medicine in the guns 
that sent the bullet true and gave meat for the feast of the 
Star Chief. 
When night came Wise Thoughts stood by my side and 
we saw the sign star burn blue and red and white. _ 
"I have seen the sign star of the Star Chief, Christ, and 
I will remember," said Ar-kee-kee-tah. 
El Comancho. 
The Waste of the Warp and Woof. 
The laws of the chase are clearly denned. The "rule 
of conduct" is nowhere better understood. In the elabo- 
rate fox chasing of England, carried on with so much 
fuss and feathers, the rule of conduct is fully prescribed, 
and a first-class Magna Charta Briton may be a first 
class outlaw on the hunting field. You remember the 
famous case in "Handley Cross" of "Par shoots the 
fox!" 
But in a much more intense degree, if not so elaborate, 
is the rule of conduct prescribed when a party of men 
go into the woods to hunt deer. The lex non scripta is 
well understood, and the association of a party of men 
in camp presents a study for the sociologist. The veneer 
of society is rubbed off. The men recover the faculty 
they possessed as boys to know a good fellow from a 
chump. Like Mark Tapley, the men come out strong, 
and the largeness of their nature can be well gauged. 
The most damning incident of a man's record is that, 
having gone out with a party of men once, he never 
received the second invitation. He had been exiled from 
the democracy of the camp. 
This should make a man feel very humble, and the man 
who is not bidden to come when the gang goes back 
should become ashamed about himself and hold an in- 
vestigation at once. It is time for him to do the sack- 
cloth and ashes act. 
I am sure the importance of this question must be 
recognized by everyone who goes camping. The unin- 
formed think that with no orte else to depend upon for 
society, the camper must feel drawn to his camp-mates. 
He will if they are the right sort, but one "crank" (not 
to use a harsher expression) will destroy half the pleas- 
ure of the trip. 
To illustrate this, take a historical incident. The first 
settlement made west of the Alleghanies, in Virginia, was 
on the site of this county-seat town. Two hunters, Mar- 
lin and Sewell, decided to winter here. They built a 
cabin, but could not occupy it in peace. Marlin drew off 
and camped in the huge, hollow hole of a sycamore tree. 
It would be interesting to know what transcendent acts 
of hoggishness his brother hunter was guilty of to com- 
pel him to leave the cabin. I take it Marlin was the 
better man, and that in justice to him the town bears 
his name. 
It is a standing wonder how the two men alone in the 
wilderness could have parted company, to all who have 
not tried to live in the woods with a crank. Those who 
have tried it can understand. But if the select democracy 
of the woods by their lex non scripta can prescribe what 
is right, they can also prohibit what is wrong and provide 
penalties, and it is such a custom that we wish to discuss. 
In this section there has been a custom, since the mem- 
ory of man runs not to the contrary, that the hunter who 
misses a deer which in all reason he should have killed 
is subjected to the mortification of having his shirt cut 
off under the arms, and torn into ribbons, to be worn by 
the rest of the hunt, in the manner that college colors a^e 
worn at a football game. 
I have recently learned that this is good law all over 
the country. 
Of course it is confined to the chase, and is one of the 
many ' snorting features that marks the community of 
interest of men and hounds in the chase, over the solitary i 
delights of the still hunter. It might be a relief to the 
feelings of a still hunter who has missed, when he ought 
to have kept cool and killed, to do penance for his error, 
^but for him to do it would identify himself with that won- 
derful character of whom we have all heard, but never 
seen, who took himself to one side and gave himself a 
good kicking. I know a man who says he did kick him- 
self for not shooting at a flock of turkeys he had figured 
out as tame, when they all sailed away, and he a-turkey 
hunting too. 
Everyone who hunts deer knows that the best shots 
will miss on good opportunities to kill, at times. But 
there is very little mercy shown to victims of the dreaded 
buck-fever. They are disciplined to the fullest extent. 
It takes a cool man to kill a bounding deer fleeing from 
the hounds. How often has the stander wished for the 
opportunity given to the still hunter to shoot a deer in 
its bed or standing unconscious of danger. He is called 
upon to kill the deer as it whips out of the dense forest 
into the narrow bed of the stream and out of sight again 
in five seconds. 
How often we observe the compensation plan in nature. 
The size of big game, which makes such a h,uge mark, 
brings on such excitement in the nervous system of the 
hunter that it makes it quite safe with the average man, 
and his failure sends him into camp exceedingly sor- 
rowful. *" 5 — 
Many hunters have never seen this law of the short- 
ened shirt executed, though it is in full force and effect. 
In the same way one may never have seen a man hanged, 
though affected'by the laws providing this punishment for 
certain offenses. Some of the proceedings are very sum- 
mary : 
A" hunter was standing at the Island Stand and a big 
buck was driven into the river at that point, and crossed 
within about 'twenty steps of where the hunter was stand- 
ing. The buck had a track as big as a mule, and evi- 
dently its size brought on a fit of nervousness, for he fired 
a few times and scored a miss. When he confronted the 
camp his pleas were too complicated for frontier life. 
however well they might have answered ill a Court of 
justice. His defense was that the deer had never come 
into the stand, and that a little Skye terrier, which was 
with him, had barked at the deer and scared it away. 
Having "done told two tales about it," his shirt was 
promptly taken off below the arms and he was "bucked" 
for "bringing such a dog as that" on a hunting trip. The 
above is the only incident of that day narrated by the 
party, except that a moonshiner had just marketed a two- 
gallon jug of white whisky with them. 
A man was standing on the Greenbrier, with a moun- 
tain rifle as his weapon. A deer came dashing down the 
shingle and he pointed his gun in that direction and fired. 
The deer stopped to see what was up, and the hunter was 
in such a state of excitement that he poured all his 
powder out of his horn on the ground without succeed- 
ing in getting a charge in the gun barrel. The deer ran 
on and was killed about four miles down the river. He 
had no defense to make, and "walked up to rack" to 
suffer the penalty. 
One of the best hunters in a hunt had spent the morn- 
ing on a deer stand, and instead of going into camp, had 
gone to the post-office for the mail. The post-office was 
kept in a country store, a low, weather-beaten shanty, 
and off in a lumber-room were several barrels of whisky 
with spigots in them, "from which the liquor was drawn 
off to be distributed to such customers as had a taste for 
the vile stuff, He met some friends there, and several 
rounds of drinks followed. Realizing that it was time to 
get back to camp, he started down the road. When he 
had gone about a mile, a buck with a big head of horns 
jumped the fence and stood before him in the road. 
Then he was a victim of a most remarkable phenomena. 
He could see the deer standing motionless before him, 
but when he leveled his gun at it and looked along the. 
barrel, a mist seemed to surround the weapon, causing a 
blur and obscuring the deer. He could not get rid of the 
aggravation, and he had to shoot more or less by guess. 
The buck ran away unharmed. In a few moments he 
met the hunt, who destroyed a garment which had "cost 
two dollars at the Warm Springs the week before!" 
They divided it among them and each wore a part of it, 
according to the custom of the country. 
The justness of the custom is realized, as may be seen 
in the following incident: A party of nine went out for 
a week's hunt. They were farmers with hunting instincts 
strongly developed, and when they got their corn cribbed 
they went out to enjoy the pleasures of the chase. Their 
custom was to impose the fines the last day in camp, 
This particular trip there was an. unusual number Of deer 
missed. What with the deer running straight across the 
stream or turning up when they should have turned down 
and vice versa, there were but two in the party who had 
not missed a deer. One of these was a young man. out 
for 'the first time, who had emptied a Winchester into 
the body of a big buck. When the settling time came, 
the rest of the party gravely did execution on themselves 
and handed the trophies over to the two who had not been 
guilty of missing a deer. 
The foregoing are typical instances of their kind's The 
average case is a rough, informal method of meting out 
justice, in sport, which unhappily savors of another sort 
of summary vengeance that is anything but sport. But 
in Virginia there was once a hunting club where all the 
dignity and safeguards of the law were thrown around the 
accused. There was a regular nisi priits judge to sit on 
the case, who knew what it was to say to a shrinking, 
palpitating, terrified prisoner, that on a certain day he 
should be led to scaffold ; there were able lawyers to con- 
duct the case, expert witnesses to testify, and jurors who 
felt properly— tiiat is, that any day any one of them might 
be before that solemn tribunal on a similar charge. 
The club was domiciled in a long two-story log house 
in the woods. The lower story was used for the kitchen 
and dining rooms, and the upper story for the living and 
sleeping rooms. A big fireplace afforded a cheery blaze. 
The bunks were ranged along the walls. The hunt gen- 
erally numbered from twenty to thirty. 
The rule of procedure was to arrest any hunter who 
had missed a deer immediately after the morning hunt, 
and admit him to bail to appear for trial after supper in 
the sum of $J0. If he forfeited his bail, the sum was 
charged against him and it went to pay expenses. 
There was a particularly plain case against a young 
man named Newman. He had been on the stand on the 
bank of a stream and a big buck had passed down the 
stream in front of him, not 20yds. away. Newman had 
been so paralyzed that he did not fire,^ though he was 
armed with a double-barreled shotgun. There seemed to 
be no defense to such a case, but they worked a noted 
trial out of it. The prisoner secured a lawyer who had 
a large practice in criminal courts. Their defense was 
"uncontrollable nervousness." The prosecutor wished 
the court to compel them to plead "buck fever," but after 
a very learned argument the court decided that there 
might be a shade of difference in the two terms, and the 
plea was accordingly entered. 
The case being proved as stated, Newman went on the 
stand and stated that he had from his childhood been 
the victim of uncontrollable nervousness, which had a 
. paralyzing effect upon his faculties. Instances were given 
as follows: As a child he had gone into an orchard to 
steal apples; owner appeared, other boys ran, he was too 
badly scared, was unable to run, and the farmer "took it 
out of his hide." When a schoolboy had tried to say a 
piece in school one day and could not open his mouth; 
had on one occasion tried to. respond to a toast and made 
a total failure. Had tried to propose to a young lady and 
nearly choked to death. Eound himself unable very often 
to ask a waiter for what he wanted at a strange hotel. 
When excited was often unable to write his name. On 
cross-examination he admitted that it excited him to be 
asked to indorse a note. As to not shooting at the deer, he 
remembered the occurrence as a frightful nightmare, in 
which he was powerless to move hand or foot. 
A doctor, called to pass his opinion upon the effect the 
sudden appearance of a large deer would have upon a 
man of the excitable nature described above, said that he 
thought he would "explode." He said further that it 
might or might not be possible for tie prisoner to OA r er- 
come that nervousness -in time, and rnless he knew his 
previous hunting record could not say whether it was 
inexperience or mental disability. He expressed a some- 
what learned opinion that this nervousness was due to 
the patient holding his breath. When asked if he meant 
by "patient" a man on a deer stand, witness became very 
violent and used strong language. Witness said further 
that this unconscious holding the breath could be prob- 
ably overcome by holding a hunting knife or other article 
between the teeth to keep the mouth open. 
On the whole, the trial was very warm and very long, 
but must be imagined, as the details are not to be had. 
But it was clearly shown that the prisoner had not taken 
the precaution to have a hunting knife between his teeth, 
and was consequently liable to be punished. 
The jury brought in a verdict of "Guilty" and the sen- 
tence, as pronounced by the judge, was duly carried out : 
That the prisoner at the bar be deprived of the lower part ,, 
of his hunting shirt, the same to be nailed to the gable 
end of the house, there to remain until he do kill a deer. 
Andrew Price. 
Marunton, W. Vi^ * 
Sport in Santiago Hills* 
Several years ago an old Cuban gentleman told me of 
the fine hunting that he used to enjoy in the hills around 
about Santiago, but I little thought then that I should 
ever visit that interesting country. 
As a member of the Sir Thomas Lipton War Relief 
Committee, it was my fortune to pass about a fortnight 
in Santiago Harbor, and I employed a portion of my 
time in looking up the game and fish. On either side of 
the Yellow Fever Island there come in two small rivers, , 
navigable in canoes for about five miles, when we reach 1 
the lofty mountains. The water is cool and clear, and 
quantities of fine fish could be seen. None were taken by 
our party, on account/ of the lack of tackle. The bushy 
' shores contained snip'e, quail and guinea fowl in abun- . 
dance. No hawks were visible, but the air was dark with I 
buzzards around about the city. The hunters all said 
that the buzzards did no harm to the game birds or their 1 
eggs, but were merely scavengers. The waters of the | 
harbor are pretty sluggish, and the bottom is covered 
deep with greasy mud, but the sailors managed to catch ', 
some fish one day, including a big red snapper, which j 
were served in the captain's cabin and pronounced ex- 
cellent. In the harbors of San Juan, Ponce and Santiago ' 
the gars seemed fairly to swarm. These fish ran from J 
1 to 3ft. in length. At night there were many | 
large fish about, judging from the splashing. 
. One day a party of us, including Captain Alexander, of 
-the Rough Riders, went to San J.uan Hill on horseback, 
as there are no roads in that part of the country.. While 
the Captain was trying to find the body of Captain 
"Buck" O'Neil, of Prescott, Arizona, one of his com- 
rades who had fallen there, the rest of us wandered 
around in the mule trails, now nearly obliterated and 
grown up to bushes and tall- weeds. From time to time 
the sound of something familiar would come to the ear, 
creating the impression that a farmyard was near. 
"Buckwheat! buckwheat!" was the cry, and as we drew 
near up went a score of guinea fowl, the regular dark { 
gray variety, with white spots on each feather. The birds 
didn't go far. so we employed our time chasing them from 
place to place. In doing so, we saw a lot of quail, some-j 
what larger than our Bob White. These too were very 1 
tame, and would let you approach very near. The boys 
got out their revolvers and blazed away, but as no one 
had any shot cartridges, nothing came to bag. 
The utter absence of any venomous snakes or insects 
made us all the more anxious to hunt for these birds next 
day, and we tried all that evening in Santiago to gel a 
decent shotgun. More than ever did 1 mourn for ray, 
new Baker hammer gun lying in its case in New York 
city. How I should have enjoyed a glance along that 
"cylinder" Damascus right loaded with "E. C." smoke- 
less and No. 8 shot. No one cared to try Mausers on the 
game, and as no amount of persuasion could induce Gen. 
Wood to loan his valuable double-barrel, we had to give 
up all thoughts, of hunting. Captain Brickley and the 
"Port Victor's" doctor, McClintic, both vowed that their 
guns would be on board next trip, and I expect to hear 
from them soon. 
The dogs in Santiago were mostly short-legged hounds 
with long ears. This I wondered at until T learned that 
the mountains are full of deer. There is a railway run- 
ning back to some iron mines at Firmeza, thirty miles 
distant, where there is excellent deer hunting. The ani^ 
mals are similar in form and color to our deer, but are 
smaller. The flesh is excellent. They are killed by still- 
hunting. 
One day we chanced upon some Cubans living in a 
hut near the battlefield. They had shot several quail and 
one young guinea cock, which we ordered them to cook 1 
for us. Dinner was soon ready and we made a hearty 
meal. The meat of the wild guinea fowl, unlike that of 
the domestic variety, is mostly white and very tender. 
This may arise from the fact that the guinea is often 
crossed with the ordinary game fowl here for fighting 1 
stock. The cross-bird is said to have greater courage 
and endtirance. Peter Flint. 
Abe: "Ole Sile Harrower may be a hayseed, but he's 
jest cute 'nough to skin them city sportsmen who was 
shootin' round his place yesterday." like: "How'd he 
do it?" "He seed them fellers pullin' fer the train in the 
evenin' with three or four ducks apiece, an' he up an' 
made 'ern pony up $10 for shootin' of 'em, claimin' they 
was his'n. An' the fellers left the ducks behind, too," 
"Shoo, Sile never raised no ducks." " 'Course not. 
"Whose was they, then?" "Nobody's. They was wild 
ones all right, but Sile calk'lated them fellers wouldn't! 
know the difference." — Life. 
A number of sportsmen have been discussing the nuestion otj 
how far a quail can fly. There are a good many contingencies 
to be considered in arriving at a definite conclusion of the 
question. If there is a stiff wind blowing and the bird's course 
is with the wind, ?. full-grown quail could certainly go more than, 
a mile with ease, and doubtless a much greater distance. Those 
who have noticed quail trying to fly across the Missouri River,. 1 
where the distance is about a mile, recall that not all the birdSj! 
mate the trip safely. They usually pick a spot where they can' 
make a halt on a sandbar in midstream, and thus cross the 
river in two flights. But sometimes they make the distance at 
a single flight, and this seems to be their full limit under normal 
conditions, for when they alight rhey are completely exhausted. 
It is generally believed that on an average a mile is about the limit 
of the flight of a quail where it is neither favored or retarded 
by the wind. It happens very often that in crossing the Missouri- 
River at a single flight quail drorj exhausted into the water, Prob- 
ably these are young birds, — St, JUouis Republic, 
