I^EB. l8, 1^99.) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
i8B 
Owing to the exceedingly cold weather, there were but two mem- 
bers of the Owl's Head Gun Club present at their weekly shoot at 
Dexter Park, L. I., on Feb. 10, namely, Mr. J. S. Remsen and 
J H. Hallock. In one lO-bird even! Mr. Remsen killed 8; Mr. 
Hallock, 6. In another, Mr, Hallock killed 9. Mr. Remsen 8. 
Mr. Edward Banks and J. P. Millikeii were visitors. The former 
scored 22 out of 25 live birds with one at tvro dead out of 
bounds. 
Mr. E. C. Burkhardt defeated Dr. E. S. Carroll in the contest 
for the Clinton Bidwell trophy on Saturday last by the score of 
20 to 19. The former lost three dead out; the latter two. The next 
contest for this trophy will be between Messrs. E. C. Burkhardt 
and C. S. Burkhardt, on Feb. 22, at Audubon Park, beginning at 
2 P. M. 
The Oceanic Rod and Gun Club and the HiJdson Gun Club will 
.shoot their second match of their series on the grounds of the 
latter club on March IR. The Oceanic won the first match on an 
extremely narrow margin, therefore the presumption is that the 
Hudson 'Club will bestir itself and give the Oceanic a race such 
as it never had before. 
There were six members present at the shoot of the Rochester 
Gun Club last Aveek, Wednesday, notwithstanding the cold tem- 
perature, high wind and flying snow. In an event at live birds. 
Glover and McCord killed 10 straight. If they can do that in the 
Grand American Handicap, and add fifteen more to it, they will be 
in a good position. 
Under date of Feb. 10, Mr. E. G. Ilorton, 100 Railroad avenue. 
White Plains. N. Y., writes us that Miss Annie Oalcley will enter 
the handicap at White Plains on March 1. Tie adds: "Everything 
looks rosy. Several, during the past week, have promised to enter 
in this shoot, and I feel assured of a pleasant and successful shoot." 
There seems to be some misapprehension concerning the weight 
of guns and bores allowable in competition in the Grand American 
Handicap. Mr. Edward Banks, secretary-treasurer of the Interstate 
Association, sets forth the matter clearly in a letter published this 
week in our trap columns. 
Owing to the numerous shoots about the end uf the month, _Mr. 
John Wright, manager of Uie Brooklyn Gun Club, has decided 
to postpone the club's live-bird shoot till after the Sportsmen's 
show, in March. 
The Teannette Gun Club will hold its regular shoot on the 
grounds of the Columbia Fishing Club, Eltingville, S. I., on Friday 
of this week. 
On Feb. 22 there will be an open all-day shoot at live birds at 
Dexter Park, Brooklyn, L. I. H. S. Lippack, manager. 
Mr. E. S. Rice, Western agent of the Hazard and Dupont Pow- 
der Go's, was a visitor in New York last week. 
Mr. Chas. Schmelzer, of Kansas City, was in evidence about 
Sportsman's Row, Broadway, New York, last week. 
Bernard Waters. 
Confabulations of the Cadi, — ^XVI. 
The programme for the day had a total of ten events, varying 
from 15 to 20 targets, excepting one, a team race at 25 targets. 
Any team whose members were bona fide members of the clubs 
which they were representing was eligible to competition in 
the team event. 
In practice, in reference to the fbregoing",' bona fide is com- 
monly accepted in Egypt as implying that the members of the 
teams lived somewhere in the same section of country wherein 
their clubs have their domicile, and that if they were not really 
members they were at least acquainted with some of the members. 
In organizing a team of good shooting abilities, it is thus at 
times in Egypt deemed quite necessary to construe the matter 
of eligibility quite liberally. If a team happens to be organized 
of members and non-members, it is many times, in Egypt, kindly 
winked at, unless the team should in an ungracious moment 
happen to win. 
Notwithstanding that many matters of detail concerning the 
conduct of the shoot were put off until the last moment, it 
opened merrily. Moke, who was acting as squad hustler and 
referee, had about a dozen things on his mind, and though he 
forgot two or three every moment, he forthwith replaced them 
by remembering two or three others, or had them forced on his 
attention by the shooters who were anxious to begin the com- 
petition. He bustled about, starting with great determination to 
settle one matter, then changing- his mind before he. had accom- 
plished anything, so that most of the time he was industriously 
making beginnings and nothing more. It at length came to the 
point where all unfinished business had to be abandoned, and 
the merry contest formally begun. 
Moke held the score sheet in his hand, and in a loud voice cried 
out, "Squad No, 1 shoots. Pachyderm McGinty, No. 1. Theo- 
phrastus Rooney, No. 2. Euclid Jones, No. 3. Crocodile Dennis, 
No. 4. Praxitiles Bummer, No. 5. Some Pumpkins, No. 6. Are 
you all ready?" 
Every man was in his place, excepting Some Pumpkins. Moke 
flew here and there, from one group to another, shouting "Some 
Pumpkins!" He hurriedly asked if any one knew Some Pump- 
kins or had seen Some Pumpkins. At length he approached a 
manufacturer's agent who was showing the mechanism of a gun 
to a small, hypnotized gentleman with a matted yellow beard. 
"As I was remarking about the phenomenal killing powers and 
the everlasting durability of this gun," said the agent, "I only de- 
sire that you will look over this record which I happen to have 
with—" 
"Some Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Does anybody know Some 
Pumpkins?" exclaimed Moke, in despairing query, as he drew 
near. 
"Some Pumpkins? Why, I'm Some Pumpkins," replied the 
yellow-bearded gentleman. "Who wants me?" 
"Why in the Moses don't you answer your name when you 
are called? You are delaying this shoot. Get your gun, quick, 
and go to the score! And. next time, Punk, when you are called, 
answer." 
"Pumpkins isn't my name," said the bearded gentleman, some- 
what nettled. "I'm Mummy the Kid, from the Libyan country." 
"Then who's Pumpkins?" 
"I'm Pumpkins," replied Mummy. "That's my nom de fusil. 
I adopted it this morning for the first time and forgot all about 
it till you came here this moment." 
"This is dog-gasted rot," retorted Moke. "Why in the name 
of common sense do you not use your own name? You are 
bright enough to recognize it, and it is a better name too." 
"I'm just as good as any one else," replied Mummy, "and f 
have noticed that it seems to carry a distinction as being some- 
thing out of the ordinary when one feebly tries to conceal one's 
identity at a shoot by an assumed name. I like to shoot incog." 
"Men who use a" shooting name do so in most instances because 
as a business reason they do not care to have published where 
they are during business hours — ^but, Mummj', you seem to do it 
out of a silly vanity. You are No. 6, and if you do not get 
there in a hurry your name in about two minutes will be Mud." 
Moke returned hurriedly to the squad, which was murmuring 
with discontent. "Play ball!" he exclaimed, in the voice of 
authority. 
McGinty immediately put his gun to his shoulder, stood in a 
natural position, yet" with faculties intensely alert, - called "Pull" 
in a natural and distinct tone of voice, and broke the target 
with such ease and quickness that it seemed to be a most trifling 
feat,, requiring no effort in its accomplishment. Whether he hit 
or niissed, he maintained the same equable composure, neither 
voice nor manhet changing at ally fltictuation of success, as is 
becoming to him who aspires to be a class man. He who stops 
to express fegrets, or register anathema, or explain how it all 
happened, it not concentrating his energies to the best purpose 
in a contest of skill with the gun. ' 
Moke was keenly alert, and promptly called out "Dead." 
Rooney, at No. 2, the moment No. 1 had fired, put bis gun 
to his shoulder, humped up his back in a most misshapen man- 
ner, half-twisted his body, bent his knees at a knee-sprung angle 
and thereupon there issued from him a roar not imlike the hoarse 
bellow of a bull, frightened and angry when caught and doubled 
up amidship on the horns of a fierce rival. He simply had in his 
own way bellowed "Pull!" He caught a straightaway, hit it full 
and ground it up so line that, excepting a thimbleful! of dust, it 
was snuffed out in.stantly from sight. 
"Lost!" said Moke, in a sing-song voice. 
"What!" said Rooney. "Where are your eyes, man? 1 snuffed 
that target out!" 
"Lost target!" said Moke, without the least perturbation. 
The whole squad stood aghast. At length McGinty found 
his voice, and declared that the target was broken. Jones, Dennis, 
Bummer and Pumpkins loudly supported him. Still Moke de- 
clared that it was a lost target. 
"Why, it's contrary to the fact, the rules, and common sense," 
hotly declared Rooney. 
"The facts are governed by the rules, and the rules are in a 
way governed by the facts," replied Moke, "but as to common 
sense 1, as referee, cannot .admit for a moment that there is 
any which is left out of the rules. I will have you understand 
that I am deciding this matter strictly according to the rules, 
and to settle the matter once for all I will read you the ndc 
governing it," saying which Moke pulled from his pocket a 
folder and read as follows: "A target to be scored 'broken' must 
have a perceptible piece broken from it while in the air. A 
'dusted' target is not a broken target! Now, did any of you gen- 
tlemen see- a piece broken from that target in the air?" 
There was no piece, they all declared, but the fact that it 
was snuffed out of sight in midair was sufficient evidence that 
it was broken. 
"if it was, snuffed out of sight, then how could you see it?" 
Moke retorted. "The rule is mandatory, for it states that to be 
scored broken a perceptible piece must be broken from it while 
it is in the air. I can only decide by the rules, gentlemen, and 
under them it is a lost target." 
"Where the law ends, equity begins," said a famous moose 
hunter from Bitter Creek, who had been listening attentively 
to the debate. 
"The law ha.sn't ended in this ca-;e." retorted Moke. "It has 
only just begun. Play ball." 
-No. 3 twisted himself sidewi.se, readied his left hand out nearly 
to the muzzle of his gun, and his right foot far back as it 
could be extended. He was very successful in breaking straight- 
away targets, but right and left-quarterers were frequently missed. 
He shot and missed. 
No. 4, who was Crocodile Dennis, stood very erect, with his 
head 'thrown far back in statuesque pose, so far back of the 
center of gravity that he had to exercise great care that the mere 
calling "Pull" did not throw his gun out of alignment. 
Bummer, who was at No. 5, held his gun well below the 
elbow, threw it hurriedly to his shoulder after the target was 
well on its. way, and snapped at it wthout the slightest attempt 
at aiming, with the result that he made some very pretty shots 
and some equally pretty misses. 
Mummy the Kid, alias Some Pumpkins, was the pivot man. 
He had a 10-bore, in which he shot 4drs. of black powder, and 
every shot that he tired could easily be distinguished from all 
the others. 
At the end of the 15 shots the score stood McGinty 14, Rooney 
13, and all the others 11. Moke, who was itching to shoot, and had 
his mind much more on it than on the managing, here asked 
McGinty to referee the next squad, who obligingly consented. 
Moke hurriedly got his gun and shells, and told one of the 
shooters who was already in the squad that he had been trans- 
ferred to the last squad, and the shoot then went on. Moke 
broke 15, and was the only man with a straight score up to that 
time. He had intended to resume the management of the shoot 
as soon as his sqiiad finished, but his mind was on that straight 
score, and he watched the score sheet after every shot to see 
how the scores stood. W^hen a shooter missed. Moke smiled 
with pleasure. When one was shooting with such skill that a 
straight score seemed imminent, he looked dark. However, two 
men in the last squad broke 15 straight, and the three divided. 
Moke was exceedingly irritated at this, for he had expected to 
take first money all alone, and although he was shooting for fun, 
as became a good amateur, he was not entirely oblivious to the 
value of money or the getting as well as the losing of it, 
Moke entered afterward in every event, and thereafter was a 
most inefficient manager. In the second event there were three 
moneys. There were two 15s, four 14s, no 13s and four 12s. 
If no one of the 14s missed a bird the 12s would be in the 
money. Mummy the Kid. who had 13 to his credit when the 
last round began, was the last man to shoot, and if he broke the 
target, all was well with the 12.s. But Mummy apparently didn't 
care much whether he broke or missed. He missed, and took 
third money all alone, and the 12s got nothing. 
Then there were angry protests and accusations of dropping- 
for place made against him, and many more angry threats of ' 
putting up of guns and of going home if Some Pumpkins was 
not forthwith ejected from the grounds for good and all. The 
latter was a small man; so at length Moke took him by the 
collar and said to him, "'Vile creature, avaunt; you have dropped 
for place, and I must fire you!" He forced him to take his gun 
in one hand and his ammunition box in the other, and then 
walked him urgently toward the entrance, near which they met 
two new arrivals, Reddy the Shoemaker and Sir J. Augustus 
Smith, of Smithtown-on-Hudson. They gazed with amazement 
at the sight of Moke with a firm grip on the back of Mummy's 
collar, walking ,him out. 
"What's the matter with my old friend Mummv?" exclaimed 
Reddy. ; 
"He took a drop too much," Moke replied. 
"Intoxicated," remarked Reddy to Smith, as they hurried on. 
He was a pious man, was Reddy, and he made sundry remarks 
about the depravity of a man who would put that in his mouth 
which woiild steal his brains away, but nevertheless left his friend 
in distress to his own shifts. He told the incident to his friends 
and his friends' friends, with the result that Mummy had a repu- 
tation as a hard drinker from that day ever afterward in the 
section round about where Reddy lived, and the reputation of a ' 
hardened rascal elsewhere; all of which came from an ability to 
do better and oftener that which the others could only do awk- 
wardly betimes. 
The Cadi, who was acting as cashier, had taken in some good 
sums of money, but had kept his accounts very loosely, liaving 
trusted to memory. Owing to the dif&culty in making change, con- 
sequent to the lade of foresight or negligence in starting business 
with an empty till, he had small imsettled accounts with every 
shooter, ranging in sums from dimes to dollars, which he owed 
or wluch were owed to him. He remembered each item clearly 
at first; but as they began to increase in number and variety, 
there was some confusion Ln his mind, which later increased into 
total uncertainty concerning them. Some of the shooters entered 
for targets only, but there was nothing in his book which dis- 
tinguished those who entered so from those who entered the 
sweepstakes. He also was so intent on exchanges of greetings 
and bon mots with distinguished shooters whom he knew, or to 
whom he was introduced, that the other shooters could not make 
their entries so promptly as they wished to; so that, a.side from 
the mere taking in of the money and the writing down of the 
names, he knew as little of the details of the cash department as 
did any man on the grounds. The shooting was delayed now 
and then on this account early in the day, but later, when some 
men wanted their winnings so that they would have the funds 
to re-enter; when others again wanted the change which was due 
them, or asked what a straight score paid in the last event or 
who was in for targets only, the cash department was chaotic. 
There was then a long delay in readjusting, as a court of in- 
quiry was necessary as to who was in for targets only, and who 
had paid and who had not, etc., all of which was just so much 
loss to the club; for, when the traps stop throwing targets, there 
is no revenue coming in. W^hile, on the other hand, the expenses 
of running the tournament! go on just the same. 
And tbe traps, too, were working badly, and there were many 
delays fixing wires and springs, which should have been mended 
and adjusted a day or two at least before the tournament began. 
From a merry start the tournament evolved into an irritating, 
unpleasant affair, with more or less of open discontent and indig- 
nant denunciation of the management, and declarations of an in- 
tent to stay away from its shoots in the future. 
In the third event the scores were all mixed up, the error ap- 
parently being caused by the boy who was acting as scorer having 
skipped a target, thereby marking down to No. 1 a target lost by 
No. 2. Thus, the error being perpetuated, each shooter's score 
was partly his own and partly that of some one of the others. 
Some scathing rebukes were given the boy for his stupidity, but 
he boldly made the defence that there were always two or three 
shooters on each side of him, bending over his shoulders with 
their noses within a few inches of the score sheet, scanning it and. 
talking so volubly and withal so loudly that he could not hear 
Moke half the time when he called "lost" or "dead," and that 
Moke himself was the most frequent offender in his anxiety to 
-see with whom he was tied, or whether he was lucky in getting: 
into a place alone. Moke promptly retorted by telling the boy 
that he was star-gazing most of the time when he was not listenmg 
to the conversations of those about him— all of which was not ex- 
tremely edifying to those who wished to shoot in a peaceful and 
orderly manner. 
Thereafter, all the shooters lost confidence in the scorer and the 
scoring, and were captious and contentious. A few who were 
not over scrupulous presumed on the lack of confidence, and 
regardless of the facts boldly made claims that their scores were 
short of a target or two, which claims were not infrequently al- 
lowed. 
The team ^'aCe, however, revived interest and infused new 
activity into the competition. The home club, which was ex- 
pected to give this event a strong support, had no entry. There 
was, however, great rivalry between two sections of Egypt, each 
of which sent teams. 
The team of tlie Bedouin Gun Club had great fame in its own 
town. The members walked about with expanded chests and a 
hauteur almost austere in its rigor, for they came from a section 
of Egypt which had a fame throughout the civilized world for 
the surpassing excellence and abundance of the mammoth, golden, 
be-warted squashes which it produced. This, with a large tent, 
made of fancy-colored, wide-striped awning material, in which they 
stored their belongings and rested between times when not shoot- 
ing, they deemed suflScient warrant for an exhibition of all tlie 
airs and graces which justly appertain to so much greatness. 
Some yards away was the tent of the Libyan Gun Club, many 
of whose members were old and warm friends of the members of 
the Eg>'ptian Gun Club. They had shot together in their club 
shoots, and were supposed to have a clannish tie of friendship, 
inasmucb as they lived in the same locality. Crocodile Dennis 
was the captain of the Bedouins; Euclid Jones filled the like office 
for the Libyans. After the Larget race was finished, the score 
showed that the Libyans were the victors by twenty-five targets. 
The Bedouins made an effort to appear amiable, but the surface 
indications could not conceal the underlying ugliness of their 
feelings. They held furtive conferences every few minutes, and 
the wise and serious nods exchanged indicated that they were all 
agreed about something. 
The Libyans felt a certain pride in their victory, and, wishing 
to round it out by a show of confidence, they instructed Jones to 
inform Dennis that they would be pleased to give his team a re- 
turn match any time that he desired it. 
"A return match!" said Dennis, with an affectation of great sur- 
prise. "We haven't had any match at all yet." 
"You know better, Dennis," rejoined Jones. "We have just 
shot a match, and we will shoot you another if you care for it." 
"Do you call this rotten, put-up-job kind of a thing a match? 
We are no fools! We know when we are getting the worst of it! 
When we shoot a match again, w'e want to shoot with honest peo- 
ple; with gentlemen and sportsmen such as we have in our sec- 
tion. Go to." and Dennis looked angry and warm. 
"Why, you fairly astonish me," replied Jones. "I don't know 
what you mean. Explain yourself?" 
"What did you fellers put our team up in a squad by itself for? 
Yes, what for? Do you think we are infants? Do you think that 
we don't know that our team, in a squad by itself, had all the hard 
targets, while you fellers in a squad by yourselves had all easy 
ones? The angles were all easy, and the targets didn't fliy half 
as far. Any one with half an eye could see it. Shoot another 
match? Oh, yes, we will— I don't think!" 
"You are entirely and egregiously mistaken, Crocodile. It was 
as fair a race as ever was shot. If we can't win a match fairly we 
don't care to win at all. Come, let us get the two teams together 
and talk it over." 
"Not as long as my name's Dennis. We have had enough of 
this deal," saying which he turned contemptuously on his 
heel and joined his fellows. 
In a few minutes the ca;mp of the Bedouins was struck, and 
they marched forth haughtily, guns and grips in hand, en route to 
the land of mammoth squashes. The other shooters looked on in 
puzzled wonderment, and later in talking it over some were quite 
convinced that the Bedouins were shamefully used, while others 
maintained that they had absolutely no ground for grievance. ' 
When the Bedouins returned to their own section, they told their 
story with a great deal of elaboration. Their friends told it to 
other friends, till, what with the natural embellishments whicU 
