-^j:^TT'"TTn T^ -']t^"'' • ■ n ai wr'ini'rmBV^"r''! i ^ 
About sundown, pecliaps U^n iinles away frotii towiii 
we entered a region of friirly grown post-uak and short- 
leafed pine timber, and presently reached the edge of a 
sluggish, muddy little drain-way, iJic turbid waters of 
which stood rather in a succession of puddles than in any 
continuous stream. PTt re were seen in the soft mud of the 
puddle margins numerous footprhits of raccoons, herons 
and cranes which had been in search of tadpoles and 
frogs, and among the broad tracks of cattle were discern- 
ible those of deer in considerable numbers. 
Determining it a likely locality in wdiich to findantlered 
game, my companion proposed that we stop here, having 
wood and water, and that we fire-hunt the range that 
night and push on next day in the sunlight to Sim's 
Baj'^ou, the point we had started out to reach, and hunt 
that cover the next night. This arrangement was deter- 
mined upon, and while my companion got the ponies 
out of their gear and led and watered them, I kindled a 
fire, made a pot of coffee, and spread cut upon an un- 
cushioned wagon seat, placed on the ground, some of the 
contents of our well-filled lunch basket. After the meal 
Bricsoe suggested that he would saddle the horses, while 
I refilled and trimmed the lamp, preparatory to riding out 
in search of deer. 
The truth was, that fire-hunting, or the effort fo shoot 
deer at night by shining or reflecting their eyes with a 
light carried for the purpose, was a method of taking such 
game with which I had very slight familiarity, and was 
not at all in conceit of. In Florida, where my hunting 
experiences had been evolved, that particular caper was 
scarcely the thing, but, on the contrary, was held by real 
sportsmen considerably in contempt, as smacking of a 
potting purpose really too greasy for a sportsman's toler- 
ation. Among "meat-hunting" country folk there such 
practice was sometimes indulged in, but in a very clumsy 
fashion, by two men afoot, one going ahead with a gun, 
looking out for shining eyes reflecting the light of blazing 
pine knots, the knots being carried in a long-handled pan 
over the shoulder of the other man, who walks behind. 
Two such demons go stalking tlirough the woods, casting 
silver light and dancing shadows far ahead of them, that 
every kind of intelligent creature might see them afar oft 
and clear out. Occasionally the hunters come upon a 
feeble-minded, unsuspicious creature, now and then a 
deer, oftener some domesticated animal, and while it 
stands innocently staring the hunters march up and blow 
out its brains. I had once or twice, in eai'lier life, gone 
"fire-hunting" after the manner that obtained in Florida. 
I had never succeeded in killing anything but my pointer 
dog, which, poor creature, incautiously looked back at- 
me as he ran unobserved ahead. 
I had said nothing when Briscoe first mentioned "fire- 
hunting" as a favorite scheme of his, but had kept up a 
thinking. What a fine, large, open, extensive sort of rec- 
reation it must be, thought I, wandering about afoot at 
night on a nice broad prairie looking for deer with a 
lamp. Then I remembered that when a boy I had been 
induced to accompany another chap at night with a torch, 
at low tide, in the Gulf of Mexico, in pursuit of flounders 
on a mud flat, and that besides actually jabbing a sting- 
ray I had scalded my hand with dripping pitch from the 
torch, cut my foot badly on an oyster-shell, skinned my 
hands with barnacles and had "lots more fun." My ex- 
periences clearly vi^re that you can't sometimes tell just 
how a thing will turn out until you've tried it. So when 
this contriving Texan said he would saddle the horses 
while I fixed the lamp, and we would ride after deer, I 
began to take a little heart, and thought so much better 
of the project. We were going into the wild, delirious 
sort of thing mounted, at any rate. 
Knocking the ashes out of my old Powhatan, I rose 
and sauntered leisurely toward the wagon. On the out- 
side of the body of the vehicle was attached a capacious 
covered box, or locker, for axle-grease, wrench and other 
paraphernalia of camping. Out of it I had already fetched 
a coffee pot, tin cups, etc., and as I now approached it I 
endeavored to recall having seen any article in it that 
suggested a lamp, but 1 could not, so into it again I began 
to rummage, whistling the while in as nonchalant manner 
as I could assume. I had never seen a Texas "head 
lamp" that I was aware of. Failing, among the mass of 
discovered contents, to find anything at all resembling 
any conceptions I had of a lamp of any kind, I finally 
fastened on to the only thing I saw I did not know the 
name or use of. I entertained a sort of general impres- 
sion that upon closer inspection, in a better light, the 
nondescript I had captured might turn out to be a dilapi- 
dated coal scuttle, an abandoned grocer's scoop, or pos- 
sibly only a bit of battered guttering; but I didn't intend 
t« play "greeny," and so whistled away desperately as I 
approached the fire, swinging the tin contraption as a 
careless girl might her sunbonnet. 
"Now, trim her up nice," said my hunter friend. At a 
glance I saw he was regarding the machine in my hand. 
Then I knew I had the lamp. To picture a Texas "fire 
■ lamp," fancy one of those little French carriages, yclept 
'a cabriolet, made entirely of tin, the wheels removed, the 
shafts put on the back side, and you have at least an out- 
line idea of it. It holds a pint or more of oil, sits on the 
hat brim in front, backed by a shield or tin shade, re- 
sembling one , of those to footlights on a dramatic stage, 
made fast by bending the tin "shafts" or strips around the 
hat crown and tying behind with string. Jack-lamps, 
flash-lamps, bullseyes, "can't hold a candle" to a Texas 
fire lamp. 
I filled the oil receptacle from the can of mixed lard 
and kersosene oil, carefully sat the oil can away from the 
fire near the root of a big tree, and announced in a loud 
voice that things were "all right." 
In the meantime Briscoe, having saddled the horses, 
had taken the old gun out of its case, put it carefully to- 
gether and stood, back to fire, fetching it smartly to 
shoulder and catching quick aim at numbers.of imaginary 
eyes peering at hihi from the shadows. 
"She certainly comes up nice," he muttered. "Well, 
let's ride. You take the mare. She is steady under the 
gun. Here, hold your head still, while I fasten the lamp 
on." 
"No; no!" I exclaimed. "You do the shooting. I 
want you to shoot that gun, you know." 
"Yes; but you don't know these woods; yoti can't 
steer, follo^v the feeding grounds, and come back to 
camp," he suggested. It was too apparent to admit of 
argument; so on to the mare I sprang, lamp atop, the old 
FOREST AND STOSAM, 
gun across my lap; and heading along the trend of the 
drain, away we rode. 
After a short stretch Briscoe suni: "I don't like the 
way old Jim behaves." 
"What's the matter with liim?" 
"He 'pears to worry and keep,s a-sCenti]tg tile wittdj like 
it Miight have wolf in it." 
"Wolves! there's no danger of wolves about here, I 
hope." 
"No danger from them, I reckon, but mighty apt to be 
wolves, and if so, our chance of getting deer is bad." 
I soon found' the effect of the method of hunting we 
were engaged in exciting and interesting in the extreme, 
and was instantly a convert to the fascination of mounted 
hunting with a Texas lire lamp. 
In front, and for an angle of 30 degrees on either side, 
was thrown a bright, steady light 50ft. away, within 
the radii of which objects could be distinctly discerned. 
Beyond hung impenetrable darkness. My person, the 
horse under me. the mounted companion and everything 
else behind could not be discovered by ei^es looking to- 
ward us from the front. I then readily conjectured what 
I subsequently verified, that even a man, looking at such 
an approaching light, has no suggestion offered him of 
anything else; he sees only an air-tossed flame, the real 
nature of which, or its distance away, cannot be most 
vaguely guessed at — a very will-o^-the-wisp, startling, 
curious, murderous to staring creatures along its route. 
It was while reflections of that kind were passing 
through my mind, yet with all my hunter's instinct on the 
alert, that out of the depths, beyond the range of brisrht 
light, I saw two yellow balls — a mere flash. Then t^ey 
were gone. Instantly there they were again — and two 
more. Certainly those were eyes — live things — and look- 
ing at nie. The mare checked her own headway, my gun 
came up involuntarily, and in an instant the sharp, snappy 
report awoke the echoes of the dark woods. There fol- 
lowed a furious yelping, howling, growling, and the mare, 
as steady as a grave-stone under fire, began to dance. 
"Wolves!" shouted Briscoe. "That settles to-night's 
htmt, sure; but you have settled one of the yellow var- 
mints. Whoa! Jim, you old idiot! Here, Mr. Call! hold 
my horse and give me the lamp. You can't ride that mare 
up to a dead wolf." 
Fastening the lamp on his head he took the gun and 
went forward. "Here he is!" he cried; "dead as Hector." 
After stooping a moment he shouted, "There are five 
shot in his front, two of them in his face. You are surely 
right about that gun. As my old friend Jones would 
say, Tiit flings *m p'intedly;' but see here, there's no sort 
of use in our progging around in this neck of the woods 
any longer; that pack have put every deer away from 
hereabouts. The moon will be up in half an hour. A good 
scheme will be to get down to Sim's before daylight, 
take a rest there to-morrow, and hunt that cover at night, 
when we will be fresh." 
It was so ordered, and back to our camp we rode. 
I quickly had a pot of hot coft'ee, and after a bite of 
snack we hooked up the ponies, extinguished the fire 
and rolled out. 
"There comes the moon, now. We'll shake the nags 
out and race right along." 
As the sun rose and sent its autumnal rays slanting 
through the boughs of the scattered tree growth along 
the secluded margins of Sim's Bayou, Briscoe picketed 
our horses to graze on tender mesquite grass of the 
prairie; hardly our blankets were spread in the shade be- 
neath a giant pecan tree, and stretching our tired limbs 
upon them we soon drifted away into that "sure-enough" 
kind of sleep that comes to tired hunters lying on the 
ground. It was some hours later when the first period 
of sound, restoring slumber was over, that I sat upon my 
blanket, and glancing through overhanging boughs 
noticed that the sun had slipped well down the western 
slope, and then the mare looked intently toward me and 
whinnied. 
A merciful man totes fair with his broncho. "Arise! 
oh, sluggish son of Big Sneeze!" I cried. "Fetch hither 
yon lariatted brutes, that they may slake their thirst 
even in the tepid ooi:c of this muddy slough." 
"The thirsty critters may have a suck of warm mud," 
he responded, "and while I fetch them, be handy-lLke 
with your cooking tools, and then we'll mouth a bite." 
And the hearty fellow strode away for the horses. 
After kindling a blaze, I was slicing some bacon, when 
I saw a gray squirrel skip from one tree to another near- 
by. "Ah-ha! I need you in my business," thought I, 
and fetching a gun quickly from the wagon I tumble 
him from a limb. Making him ready for the roasting, I 
was struck with the exceeding fatness of the little rodent. 
Very soon, stretched on a forked twig, sprinkled with 
salt and just a pinch of pepper, the bit of venison was 
stuck before the fire. Seeing the fat briskly dripping 
into the ashes, it occurred to me it would serve to soften 
our bit of stale loaf, and I placed a tin cup to catch the 
unctuous drip. While "mouthing our bite," as my Texas 
friend expressed it, we both sopped our criist in the 
sweet squirrel grease, and marvelled what a lot of it 
liad been tried out of one little creature. 
Briscoe glanced at the declining sun and said, re- 
flectively, while gazing acrtss the prairie. "I think we'll 
find game to-night over there, where the horses were 
tied; I saw fresh deer sign. A buck loafed around here 
last night." 
While speaking, he sauntered toward the wagon. "You 
shall do the shooting to-night," I declared. "Here, in 
the prairie, where I can .see stars and take courses, I 
can steer as well as not." 
"We'll take it turn about," he said, slowly, as he 
fumbled the things a1)0Ut in the wagon locker. "See 
here, where's the oil can?" 
"The oil can?" I reflected a moment; a cold chill 
climbed up my spine, and then the mortifying tiatth 
jumped on me with both feet — I had set it away from the 
fire the night before, and came away without it. In 
a sheepish tone I suggested, "It's back at the other 
camp." 
I shall never forget the patient, melancholy look 
that Texas man gave me, half pity, the other half rank 
contempt. 
"H'm!" he grunted, "that's thirteen miles away; no 
time to go for it and back before moon rise. There's 
not enough left in the lamp to last an hour." 
6 
I sat down, mortified beyond measure. "Can we do 
nothing?" 
"Yes, we c.iu jug along homeward," he said, mildly, 
"I did want to try that gun, but we've had a pleasant day 
of it, and may have better luck another tin)e." 
Would he ever want such a numb-skull along "an- 
other time," thought I. 
"Haven't you some loaded bird shells in your gun 
case?" he presently inquired, "I'll step up the timber a 
little way and try and bag a mess of squirrels to take 
home. Suppose you fetch the horses to the wagon, 
give them a feed of grain, and when it's cooler we'll roll 
out." And he strode away. 
Moodily lighting a pipe, I sat and smoked, feeling 
meaner than pewter money. I cussed the confounded 
luck, and heard Briscoe popping away at the squirrels. 
Presently I went for the horses. One of the lariats had 
fouled a mesquite bush, and I was some time disen- 
tangling it. On approaching the camp again, I saw the 
fire freshened up, blazing away merrily, while the dough- 
ty son of Big .Sneeze sat. near by composedly, but busily 
skinning squirrels. 
' What a lot of them you've gotten," said I, "but 
they'll carry better with their hides on." 
"See here," said the Texan, "what's the matter with 
'circumventing' our gay gazelles with squirrel grease?" 
"Do you think it possible?" I exclaimed, as the novelty 
and feasibility of the project dawned on me. 
"Well, now. we might just as well find out about that, 
practically. Just see there," holding up a skinned squir- 
rel, "did you ever see such fat beggar? Remember 
Avhat slathers of grease trickled out of that one little chap 
we had for dinner? There's plenty more of it in these, 
plenty more of these sort up the bayou yonder, plenty 
of fire to roast them with, and plenty of time to do it 
in; so come along. Give those brutes a bite of stuff, 
get some pans out to drip grease with, and let's set all 
these kittens a-sputtering." 
Within an hour we were fairly through with our try- 
ing-out process, and as a result had two tin cups full 
of melted fat. 
About 3 o'clock the next morning, the moon getting 
up a little way, we rode back to camp, each with a buck 
athwart his horse's haunches. Both were of Briscoe's 
kill. 
"I can cover four shot holes with my open hand," 
said Permenus, as, kneeling, lamp on head, he examined 
the wounds in the breast of one of the dead deer. "She 
certainly do fling 'cm close together." 
After swallowing some hot coffee, we hooked up the 
bronchos; then, standing uncovered, we solemnly 
pledged our faith in squirrel fat, and drove away in the 
night from Sim's pecan girt borders in excellent conceit 
of ourselves. 
On the Historic York River* 
The annual gathering of the tribe of Taskinas took 
place, in December, at the hunting lodge of its chief, 
Opecancanough, on the banks of the York River, the 
Honorable, the Colonel, the Squire and the Man from 
Boston comprising the party. 
Owing tu the close season of the past few years, quail 
were abundant, some woodcock were found in the bot- 
toms, wild turkeys were plenty, a gang of fifteen or more 
frequenting the inunediate vicinity of the lodge; black 
ducks were numerous, with a few mallards, although the 
redheads were scarce. There has been less deer hunting 
than commonly this year, and as a result the dogs started 
■one or more each time the hunt went out. 
An unusual variation from the daily deer chase came 
one day when the tribe was invited to a hunt for wild 
cattle, by a gentleman living near, who nominally owned a 
herd, descendants of cows which had escaped into the 
forest some years ago, and which had become perfectly 
wild, never having been handled or approached by man, 
excepting when darkies had endeavored to capture the 
calves. 
We assembled one fine morning, the party from the 
lodge armed with rifles ranging from .45 Winchester 
through ,38-55 Marlin to .30-30 Winchester, but alas we 
were on foot, and through some misunderstanding on 
their part the cattle, when started by the hounds, 
neglected to pass the stands where the riflemen were sta- 
tioned. The pack consisted of some ten foxhounds, the 
best deer dogs in the country and two shepherd dogs,- 
which were found very useful when the cattle were 
brought to bay. Fortunately for the success of the hunt 
there was a cavalry contingent composed of the neighbors, 
armed with double shotguns charged with buckshot, and 
they each succeeded in getting a shot, and in the chase 
killed three. Then ensued a scene such as is seldom wit- 
nessed in this section of the country. At the crack of the 
gun. almost as if they had sprung from the earth, ap- 
peared three or four darkies, each armed with a long, 
keen-edged knife, and the butchering began on the sward 
under the greenwood tree. The horses, whinnying, fast- 
ened to surrounding threes, the hounds running about, 
quarreling for bits of the beef, the gleaming blades, and 
hands crimsoned with gore made a strange sight to those 
of us who were from the North, and one not readily 
to be forgotten. Following the rule of the chase, the 
owner of the cattle, who had redeemed his equity in them 
by the capture, was expected to divide the beef equally 
among the participants in the hunt, but, although the 
party from Taskinas were offered their share, they de- 
clined with alacrity, visions of tough beef, made sinewy 
by running through the forest, possessing no attractions 
for those familiar with the markets of Richmond and 
Boston. 
To vary the monotony of a daily deer hunt, one of the 
party visited the neighboring city of Williamsburg, where 
he was most hospitably entertained by one of the repre- 
sentative citizens of the ancient town, and met numberless 
descendants of the F. F. Vs. 
The day passed all too quickly, in driving to the battle- 
field, looking over the buildings of William and Mary 
College, barring Harvard, the oldest college in the 
country; inspecting its library and viewing the portraits 
of dead-and-gone celebrities, prominent in the annals of 
Virginia; peeping into the old powder magazine, now 
occupied by the local historical society, and possessing 
a stained glass window in memory of the Roydist Gov- 
ernor Spottswood; visiting the court house, built in 
