FOREST AND STREAM. 
w-uods and entered the blind, which was a circular incioa- 
lire of brush and hnibs with one opening.which Ben closed 
with a large leafy limb after our entrance. The dog en- 
tered with us and quickly curled up in as small space as 
possible in the spot indicated by his master. Ben and I 
iook opposite sides of the blind and he produced his tur- 
key call. He used the box and slate call, a very in- 
genious contrivance, probably familiar to all readers of 
i;OKE.ST AND Stream-. Day was fairly breaking by the 
tune we got fairly settled in comfortable positions, and 
there was light enough to distinguish objects within sun 
shot. 
With a swing or two of his wrist to get the motion, re- 
mii|ding me of the preliminary attack of the professional 
violinist, Ben brought the box and slate together with 
three quick touches, producing a quit, quit, quit, that was 
i>> sitivcly an improvement on nature. As the clear 
sound rang ont on the still air and died away down 
through the shadows of the heavy woods, in spite of a 
prejudice against calling anylhing up to shoot instead of 
going after it I foimd my blood tingling and my heart 
throbbing with excitement. One, two, three minutes we 
waited, and not a sound. It was fully ten minutes before 
Ben called again, and the echoes of the call had not died 
away before a quick answering "Put! Put!" was heard 
from a turkey near by. I was not sure of the direction 
and turned to my companion, who showed me witli his 
eyes that it was a Httle on my left. Setting my face in the 
direction of the answering sound, I slid the stock of my 
gun well up toward my shoulder, so that I could take a 
firing position without moving. Ben was scanning the 
ground in all directions, leaving me to watch the line of 
the expected approach. The dog was shaking all over, 
and his eyes fairly blazed with suppressed excitement. 
The next few moments I felt would be full of the glory of 
game bagged, and was w^ondering whether it would be a 
lordly gobbler with a long beard or a fat hen, when, 
•'Whoop-ee!" came a loud shout off to mv right, followed 
by ringing strokes of an axe on a tree. ' Ben sank back 
with a groan, as though in pain, and as the yell was re- 
peated, followed with more blows of the axe, he raised to 
his feet and faced the direction of the sound. 
"Who is that?" I asked. 
"Some fool niggah, suh," he said; "he goin' to wuk, 
suh, an' can't Iceep his mouf shet." 
And as the yell rang out again, ending in a shrill 
"Ye-oo-hee!" his wrath fairly boiled. 
"T sho' do wish I was clos' to dat niggah wid a han'ful 
of rags. If I didn' stop his mouf an' choke all de fool 
holler out of him. I mos' suttenly would, suh." 
Pitching aside the branch that closed the opening of 
I otir blind, Ben strode forth, followed by the dog." 
"We got to hunt 'em now' suh," said he; "dat our 
onhest chance." 
Taking a course in an opposite direction from the "fool 
niggah," who was alternately chopping and yelling, we 
set out on what I felt to be a rather hopeless quest. We 
had traveled about a mile from the blind and were slip- 
ping along through the heavy timber when a turkey 
pitched out of a big pine tree just ahead. I was carrying 
my gun on my shoulder with my thumb on the safety and 
was not readj^ when Ben took a quick shot with his big 
muzzle-loader. He missed and so did I the first barrel; 
but my second broke a wing and brought the turkey down 
running. I was trying to crowd in fresh shells when the 
dog, like a yellow streak, shot across, from out at our 
left, and took, the bird's trail. 
"Come on, suh," said Ben, and off \ve dashed ta the 
direction they had gone. The pace was too fast for me, 
but before I was entirely exhausted I came on them, the 
dog sitting quietly by while Ben smoothed the feathers of 
a fine j^oung gobbler. 
"Dab he is, suh," said the delighted fellow; "a fine 
fat gobblah; an' it was a good shot dat got him. I didn't 
do nuffin' but make him fly fastah; I ain' no wing shooter, 
suh." 
When the turkey had been swung over his shoulder by 
a heavy cord, Ben suggested that as it was yet early in 
the morning, perhaps we might find the "mossheads" 
and get a shot if I did not mind a rather long tramp. 
Upon my assurance that I was willing to undertake a 
long tramp with the possibility of another shot we started 
off again. I supposed a mosshead was some kind of a 
turkey, but had never heard of them before, so proceeded 
[(to question Ben as to what and where they were. 
I "De mosshead," he explained, "is a tuckey wid a mossy 
lookin' head, an' he won't come to nor answer a call. You 
can't git him 'less you dis run up on him an' kill him on 
I de rise. Dis gang we goin' aftah has five in hit, an' dey 
all big gobblahs. I done jump dem tuckeys foah or five 
times, but can't hit 'em. so I is layin' oft to track 'em when 
snow come an' shoot 'em on de groun'." 
Arrived at a dense piece of woods grown up in under- 
brush until a rabbit could hardly get through, my man 
posted me in an open field on one side, and he and the 
dog skirted around to come through and try to flush the 
turkeys so that I could get a shot as they flew over. 
"De dog will bark, suh," he explained, "an' 1 will shoot 
ii we run on dem, so yo' will heah dem in time to git 
reddy." 
The field where I was had been m grass and ran up to a 
fence which divided it from the woods. There Avas a deep 
hollow about half way down, where ran a branch through 
a thick brier patch; but on the other side of the branch the 
land rose steeply to a level with the point on which I stood. 
I figured that the turkeys would pass over me if flushed 
on my side of the branch; but if from the other side of it 
they would pass over the opposite high point of the field, 
necessitating a quick run down into the hollow and up the 
other side in order to get a shot. 
I had waited some time without hearing anything, when 
a .short, sharp bark sounded from the woods, and the next 
moment a turkey rose over the trees and started in a direc- 
tion that would take him over the opposite side of the 
field. Hoping that there would be others following a lit- 
tle later, I dashed down the hill to try to get to the other 
side by the time thev came. The ground was rough and 
needed all of mv attention: but I could not take my eyes 
ofT of that maenificent bird sailing away just ahead. 
About half wav down the steen incline I hung my foot in 
a vine and made the rest of the descent on alternate end.=.. 
Just as T reached the bottom and pulled up with a cra.sh 
in the brier patch I heard the dog again, followed by the 
borm of Ben's big gun. Scrambling to my feet I dashed 
on throush the briers, scattering bits of cuticle and cloth- 
ing, and was panting up the hill when another turkey 
sailed over just out of raiiRe- With lungs pumping as 
though they would hurst, I toiled on, hoping that I might 
yet be in time for one of the five, as only two had passed. 
Before I had run ten steps more I saw the third one com- 
ing in the same line of flight the others had pursued, and 
putting on a final spurt made position just as he sailed 
over the trees into the open. Gasping for breath and with 
my whole body shaking and trembling, I drew on the fair 
mark. For a moment niy gun jerked erratically round in 
a hopeless manner, and then steadied a moment just 
wheie I wanted it. I knew the bird was mine when the 
gun spoke, and felt no surprise when he pitched down 
vvith a crash 50 yards away. No more flushed in my direc- 
tion, but I felt fully compensated for my long tramp and 
hard run. 
Half an hour after, when Ben worked down to where 
I was lying by my fine old mosshead gobbler, I had only 
recovered sufiiciently tp begin to take an interest in the 
missing sections of my skin and apparel scattered so 
carelessly in the brier patch below. JVIy face felt much 
disfigured, and I was not much surprised when Ben in- 
quired very anxiously: 
'What done hu't yo' dat way, suh, an' toh you' close be- 
side?" 
When I assured him that my wounds were only 
scratches and that 1 had a turkey he waa delighted and 
unsparing in his praise of my skill. 
"W'y, suh," he said; " all dem tuckeys flush rite 'long 
one aftah de odder, an' how you run 'cross from dat 
fah side time to git one, I can' see. Yo' sholy mus' run 
like yo' shoots, suh." 
Arrived back at the brother-in-law's, where we had left 
my horse, Ben concluded to stop there for dinner. Tying 
a turkey to each stirrup leather, he set me on the 
straight road home, calling after me assurances that 
he would be "proud to go ag'in, an' thank yo', suh, fo' 
dis hea," "dis hca" being his share of the game, which 
I made him take in the current coin of the realm. Gov- 
ernor spied mc as T rode up to the gate, and issued a 
call that brought all hands and the cook to welcome 
me. My success w.as generally applauded and con- 
gratulations offered. When I had turned my horse over 
to a boy and loaded the two turkeys into Governor's arms 
to be proudly carried to Aunt Ellen, I turned to enter the 
house to remove, as far as possible, the very evident signs 
of roughing it from my clothes and cuticle before any 
one had time to critically inspect and remark on the 
same, but I was not to escape entirely. 
"Yon hunted in rather rough country, did you not?" 
said my hostess. 
" Yes, rather," I replied. 
"Did you shoot the turkeys you brought in?" she 
asked, with the accent on the word "shoot." 
"Why, certainly. How did you think I got them." 
"Well," she slowly replied, scanning me up and down, 
"I thought from your general appearance that you might 
have run them down, as you tried to do that fox a few 
days ago: but probably that is a mistake on my part. 
Hurry on, now. and get ready for dinner, and you 
can tell us all about it later on." Lewis Hopkins. 
A Sampan Christmas Feast. 
That there is ho good hunting in this account of the 
fashion in which the Samoan savages keep the great 
festival which Chri.stianity has brought to them is all 
Talolo's fault. Yet after all it does not seem quite fair 
for me to lay all the blame on that cheery companion 
who was ever ready to propose new exploits for me in 
the jungle with that light hammerless "shoot gun" which 
he coveted so greatly that to be in its company was 
happiness itself for the boy. Talolo had proposed an 
expedition after big game, even the biggest on his 
island; he had led me to the most likely covers and 
runways: that we drew blank was a matter beyond the 
lad's control. He was fully as disappointed as I. 
For some time Talolo had been in the dire diisgrace 
which dogs the steps of the malefactor. There had been 
one glorious day of tame shoat shooting in the com- 
pound. Tanoa had tiptoed into the house and brought 
out my gun, which he handed me at the breakfast table 
out on the veranda with the information that the com- 
pound was fairly full of pigs in defiance of the solemn 
law on the subject. The multitude of swine was not 
legion; it resolved itself into four impertinent and grunt- 
ing little piglets, each doing its porcine best to root up 
the few flowers which I could succeed in stimulating 
into growth in the salt air of the beach of the South 
Sea. It was a little close shooting Avith a single-barrel 
and cartridges loaded with bird shot to bring all four 
little pigs to the untimely end which their assault on 
my scanty beds of sweet peas entitled them to. But it 
was done, and Talolo with much shouting of my prowess 
cast the carcasses over the hedge to form a feast for all 
Vaiala town. It turned out that this was not fair hunting. 
Talolo had sneaked down to the next village on Matautu 
Point in the early dawn and by savage art and treacher- 
ous wiles had beguiled away from their own place the 
young pigs of that connnunity. Most of them got away 
from him, for it is no more easy to drive a pig in Samoa 
than it is in other lands. Yet he was successful in 
cajoling four to leave Matautu and come to the perilous 
pleasures of Vaiala. These four piglets he had insinu- 
ated through the hedge and given them a single taste of 
the forbidden delights of rooting up my flower beds 
where they met their fate. Unfortunately for young 
Talolo some one had brought this guilt home to him; 
Toonialatai, the chief of Matautu, visited prompt castiga- 
tion on the offender and thereby made proof that a one- 
armed man can hit just as hard" as a more perfect .speci- 
men of humanity. More than that, Toomalatai com- 
plained to the chiefs and elders of A^'aiala, and it became 
necessary to discipline the boy, more for being found out 
than for his original offense. Poor Talolo's punishment 
was that he had to work. It was saddening to see him 
about the village divested of the gay colors which his 
taste ran to in his waist cloths, to see his head tied up in 
a banana leaf, to watch his chagrin when he was caught 
in the mo.st unusual act of .really doing something. It 
was a sore trial. One might just as well expect to find 
kittens indnstriou? rmd butterflies thrifty, as to think 
that Talolo really liked work. 
But the term of labor expired, Talolo again donn«d his 
gaudy attire, and with his usual air of confidence clicked 
open the gate of the compound and settled himself by 
me on the veranda. 
"Tamaitai ! How many days to-day ?" 
I thought that Talolo had come in to consult the 
calendar. The gamoans never have calendars, and are' 
forever consulting their white friends to find out what 
day of the month it is when they have a letter to write. 
Therefore, I had no difficulty in understanding what 
Talolo meant in the somewhat incomprehensible English 
which he was trying to learn from association with me. 
So I told the boy that it was Dec. 21. 
Then he plunged into calculation and proved to me 
that Christmas was no more than four days off. It 
began to be manifest that the calendar was worrying 
Talolo on other grounds than the needs of epistolary 
correspondence. What he was really after came to light 
m his next remarks: 
"Pretty soon bimeby orle day Kilimasi next day, meb-. 
be so, Ave tAvo go to bush and I, you take shoot gun and 
Ave kill pulumakau and pig for eat for me for you." 
Talolo's English was ahvays of the sort that takes a 
lot of understanding, and in this case it was only by 
having him say it all over again in Samoan and trans- 
lating that I could get at his real meaning. What he was 
after Avas to convey to me an invitation to go with him 
a-hunting on the day before Christmas on the chance of 
bagging a wild cow or SAvine. Talolo could not have 
thought out any more attractive lure to toll me to the 
Avild mountain tops. I had heard tales of the fierce 
charges of the cattle which had been growing wild for 
several generations in the most inaccessible fastnesses 
ot the mountain solitudes, of the savagery of the old 
tuskers m the bamboo thickets, of the caution with which 
one had to seek the game, and the need of shooting the 
charge of buckshot in the single instant of the fierce 
charge. Would I go to the bush with that in prospect? 
lalolo would take me there or anyAvhere that promised 
results good for eat for me for you," and up to the 
last It was only on that basis that the benighted heathen 
could appreciate sport. 
It is just as well to explain that on this Christmas 
:b.ve hunt we drew blank; we did not even see a trail 
And the same ill luck pursued us throughout; froni 
nrst to last 1 had no chance to stop or even see the rush 
? • te i^^u^'^T- Christmas was a 
tnghttuUy hot day; not a breath of wind was stirring 
and there was more than a promise of rain at the beach, 
i^ack m the hflls it showered brief waterfalls all day 
and even when it was not raining, one got just as wet in 
the steaming mugginess. We followed the main crests 
of the spurs of the main hills as far as possible, and 
lalolo went scouting down to the bottom o'f every in- 
tervening gully that was not too perpendicular for climb- 
ing It was all without avail ; the wild creatures seemed 
to haye vanished quietly somewhere out of the wet 
But the ill luck of the hunters did not cause any 
lack of supphes for the next day's feast. The Samoan 
takes kindly to holidays for two very compelling reasons' 
one that he does not have to work on holidays the 
other that such a day can be made the excuse for a 
hearty dinner. To be sure, no Samoan ever does work 
and he is always eating the heartiest of dinners, but the 
presence of the holidays in the calendar sort of en- 
courages him to follow out observances so thorouo-hly in 
accord with his inclination. The elements of that feast 
and some of the incidents may be seasonable reading 
now that it has been made clear that the fairest kind of 
ettort has been made to get some hunting into it 
As soon as it was light enough in the morning to see 
one s way about, there was heard the clear, sharp ring- • 
'"f • °J u "^"^^^.^ °f gouged out billets of wood 
which boys carried to every part of the vfllage with in- 
cessant dm. The wooden drums had not fairly stopped 
when the unmelodious church bell began ringing in the 
belfry ot the native church. After the service in which 
the bamoan pastor delivered a seasonable sermon the 
congregation adjourned to the village green, each person 
tetching out from the church or some nearby house a 
floor mat on which to sit. Then, from one group and 
another, the young men scampered to the house of the 
chiei and threw on the ground some article of use to the 
pastor. It might be a bunch of taro, a brace of chickens 
a young pig, a few yards of calico, even a piece of silver' 
which was rare in the extreme, and never was of larger 
denomination than a shilling. Each gift was shouted 
aloud with the name of the donor and its full amount 
the announcement being proclaimed by the official talk- 
ing man of the vfllage. When the last donation had been 
cast on the somewhat considerable heap, the young 
men descended on the pile and assorted it into its com- 
ponent element.s of fish, taro, tins of meat, calico, tur- 
meric and .so through the catalogue of objects of insu- 
ar utility The reckoning of each of these heaps was 
leported lo the village speech-maker, who stalked across 
the town green to its remotest limit, where he took his 
station with his long rod of office. Thence he shouted 
his tornial speech of presentation on behalf of the town 
of these tew articles to their pastor. Then from the 
tront ot the chief s house a younger orator bawled the 
ceremonious oration of thanks on the part of the pastor 
I hen there was a distinct set- of • speeches over the 
contribution which I deemed it politic to make with an 
Idea that by that I might secure the assistance of 
the pastor m checking the petty depredations unavoid- 
able to hying in the heart of a native community 
After all this the village settled down to its customary 
quiet tor a time, the different families retiring to their 
own houses for . breakfast. It was during this period 
tliat the domestic presents were interchanged between 
house and house, each family clubbing the eflforts of its 
member.^ to present some one article to each other 
family. In no long tunc the alleys of the village Avere gay 
with rainbow umbrellas (they were particularly in favor 
hat season with the leaders of South Sea fashion, al- 
though in more ciyihzed towns they would have been the 
signal for a riot), with the latest barbarity of colors 
from German looms. Avith thrilling velvets and passionate 
satins. Samoan gifts run to the decorative values as ap- 
plied to_ thmgs to wear pos.<=ibly because so little is worn 
by the islanders that things are looked upon as in some 
sort evened up by making that little as prominent as 
possiDle. 
« 
