Sept. 28, 1901.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
A 
243 
making plans for the future with the perfect hopefulness 
which ever lights the path of youth — a path that opens a 
broad, clear way to every desired object, Alas! it grew 
rough and steep before we had traveled far along it. It 
was unfortunate for our ease that Mercy was the daughter 
of an austerely pious man, bur parson, and her lover an 
ntirighteous person. No sooner did the nature of our 
affection become apparent to her family than her father 
declared war against me, and my pious uncle was no 
more amicably inclined toward mc. An alliance with the 
minister's family was an exaltation which such as I had 
nn right to aspire to. If any young man of our com- 
munity was to be .so honored it should be my nncle's 
eldest son. a person of good standing in the church and 
with tangible prospect of earthly, as well as spiritual, wel- 
fare. 
I could not but believe Mercy loved me truly, yet she 
vva^ «o conscientious in her duty to her parents, that she 
would not for a moment listen to mc when I urged her to 
go secretly with me to a distant part of the colony, or, 
what better suited me, to one of the new settlements to 
the northward on the Connecticut River, where we might 
live in peace beyond reach of our kindred, even if in peril 
of the common enemy, All my pleading, joined to the in- 
clination of love, could not swerve her from filial obedi- 
ence, even when she was come of age and to the right 
to choose for herself. Only so far would she go as to 
meet me in secret of rare evenings and rarer Sunday 
afternoons, the more delightful meeting times tO' me be- 
cause I could then behold her face, so fair and comely that 
it was a delight to any eyes. 
"We must wait," she would say. "till God in His own 
time softens mj' father's heart toward you, or in some 
manner opens the way for us. We must wait and hope." 
So she told me for the hundredth time one evening 
when I met her in our trysting place, which was behind a 
wall at the foot of the parsonage orchard, where a thicket 
of sumacs pitched a tent for us, now of green, now of 
scarlet, till it was struck in chill blasts of November and 
no longer gave us shelter or hiding. 
"I will not wait any longer," I declared. "Come away 
with me, Mercy, and wc will make a home for ourselves 
in one of the new settlements far up the river, where our 
people will nfever find us. Squire Bassett will marry us 
•in spite of your father and my imcle, and then we will 
take a week's provisions and go up the river in my boat 
in search of a home. It will be an easy quest, for there 
is no end of fine land waiting for settlers, and game 
enough for an Indian's heaven, so the hunters tell me. 
And such a happy voyage — Mercy, you and I alone to- 
gether in this pleasant fall weather." 
I saw in the dim light such a faraway look in her soft 
eyes, as if they already beheld the new home in the land 
of promi.se, as gave me more hope than ever before that I 
was about to prevail over her scruples and I beset her 
with greater earnestness. But she shook her head with 
slow decision, and held as steadfastly as ever to her 
resolution. 
"You are hard and cruel," I burst out, angrily. "You 
do not love me as I love you or yoir would forsake kindred 
;md friends for me ! What are your father's pious whims 
to my love? You will wait and wait and make me Avait 
till my heart breaks, and when I am gone, and they have 
found some one rich and godly enough to be your mate, 
they will marry yow to him, and that will be the end on't." 
"It is you who are cruel, Paul, for you know that I 
never loved any one but you, and so I never will, but 
will wait for you. But you will not be patient." 
My anger melted away before her gentle upbraiding, 
and her tender, reproachful eyes beamed with the soft 
light of love, and I answered : 
"Yes, I will wait, Mercy, but I cannot wait here. I 
cannot bear it. T must be in some stir of life, or in some 
way busy my hands to dull this heartache and longing. I 
will go to the army or tip into the wilderness and begin 
making a home for us." 
"You must do as seems best to you. Paul," she sighed. 
"It will be the hardest for the one who stays, but I can 
bear it, if it is easier for you to go than stay. But do not 
go to the dreadful war. I shall never have peace for 
thinking what might befall you." 
"The wilderness has its dangers, too," I said. "I might 
go to sea, but that's as perilous, and I have, of all things, 
the least liking for it, though I know nothing of it but by 
hearsay." 
"Alas!" she sighed again. "A poor maid knows not 
which way to turn when she must choose what peril her 
lov^er must dare. You must choose for yourself, and may 
God keep you safe and send you back to me." 
"I shall not choose in haste to repent at leisure, and I 
shall see you before I go to let you know where I go ;" and 
with this we parted with never a thought but that we were 
to meet again, and under such common circumstances as 
marked oi:r usual meetings. 
I turned a little way along my secret path and looked 
back through its pillared and arched vista to see her 
standing outside the sumac bower motionless as a carved 
image, with her hands clasped against her breast, the 
full harvest moon shedding its light upon her golden 
hair and half-upturned face, and I knew that she was 
praying for me. Little I bethought me what years of 
heartache should pass before I again beheld her, nor how 
my heart should be hardened against her. 
[to be continxjed.] 
It stands to reason that the managers of railroads would 
resent the purloining of game which their shooting patrons 
may have intrusted to the baggagemen. Such treatment 
of passengers is not good business. We may be sure that 
wherever the abuse exists it will be stopped speedily 
enough, once it has- come to the attention of those in 
authority. The sportsman who has been imposed upon in 
this way owes it to himself and to others to prevent a 
repetition of the abuse by reporting it to headquarters. 
Carrying on Portages. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I notice an article in the Forest and Stream of Sept. 
7. by Cecil Clay, criticising me because I had so much 
luggage on the trip through the Maine woods of which 
1 wrote under date of Aug. 31. I am free to admit that I 
took with me more than was absolutely necessary. He won- 
ders what my idea is of "a heavy back load." Evidently 
he considers 70 or 80 pounds about a fair amount. I have 
carried such Joads in the woods, and can do it when 
necessary, but the man who does this or asks his guide to 
thus make a mule of himself when on a pleasure trip such 
as I described, when time is of no importance and pleasure 
everything, has ideas very different from mine. We did 
not have one-half the weight he imagines, but still thought 
it best to divide it into ten loads, which could be carried 
With ease, rather than to make horses of ourselves. Had 
I been in a hurry, perhaps we would have carried more 
at a time, but 40 poimds, in my opinion, is a "heavv load" 
for one on a pleasure trip. 
I also notice the article by Mr. Hardy in the issue of 
Sept. 21. He concludes I must have slept most of the 
time and allowed persons to walk over me. A reference 
With another effort these disappear, he straightens up, 
raises his horns and is ready for another. The solemnity 
with which he opens and shuts his eyes— one at a time — 
after bolting a refractory mouthful is amusing. 
Owls do not drink,, and pay little attention to theiT 
feathers, never washing or combing them — hawks wash 
and dress their plumage— hence, our bird does not like 
soft, mushy food; viscera he rarely eats, and shellfish are 
usually rejected, but we have coaxed him to eat a lob- 
worm — one of those big fellows that are found in the dam 
Hats. These worms are elastic, with a leathery skin, orna- 
mented with two rows of tuft-like excrescences along one- 
third of their length. As the bird swallowed one end a 
good deal of fluid ran from the othei-. Our owl hoots once 
in a while in the evening, and sometimes when he has just 
taken a chicken while it is yet in his mouth. He occa- 
sionally makes a little whistling sound, but is generally 
quiet, unless approached; then he hisses and snaps his 
bill. 
The horned owl is built for killing, strong and very solid 
for his alar extent, with prodigious legs and feet for 
graspmg and holding. It can kill any American bird out- 
side of the Raptores. If they were diurnal these owls 
would be among the worst enemies to our feathered game, 
but they are strictly crepuscular, and are not very rapid 
A PAIR OF IOWA BULLSNAICES. 
to my article will show we were thirteen days on the- 
trip, not eight days, as this gentleman seems to think. 
We slept only during the hours intended for sleep. I 
do not know what Mr. Hardy saw in this territory ten 
years ago; I do know that out of the thirteen days there 
were eight days we did not see any one, and we were not 
asleep, either. I did not discover any lakes or new terri- 
tory and I did not claim to have done so. I was not afraid 
of getting lost in the woods, though I have been lost on 
other occasions. I did not spend my time running through 
the woods to find "natives" from whom I could obtain 
food, but took plenty with me instead. 
I did not make the trip to see how heavy a load I could 
carry, nor to depend upon the generosity of the people 
whom I might find along the way to obtain supplies. I 
went to get rest from business, and took with me ample 
in the way of provisions and outfit, and spent my time in 
more pleasant recreation than traiuping through the woods 
in search for lumber camps or "natives" from whom I 
could get food. William S. Reed. 
Corning, N. Y, 
Notice. 
All conimtinications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., and 
not to any individual connected with the paper. 
The Ways of an Owl. 
Mr. Walter B. Savary sends these further notes of 
the captive owl whose ways were described in our issue of 
Sept. 7 : 
He fluffs out his feathers when approached, and snaps 
his bill and hangs to his game with one foot. He never 
strikes with both feet, but will use both to hold a tough 
piece of food while tearing it apart. His grip is some- 
thing fearful. A small chicken or mouse is squashed 
almost to pulp, but he can let go at will, though stories 
are told of other birds getting their claws fixed in fish 
too heavy for them to lift, and being taken under and 
drowned. _ Another tells of a darky who climbed to a 
fish hawk's nest and the mother bird struck into his wool 
and was brought down by its frightened and unwilling 
captor. Our bird is very fond of house rats, and takes 
one quickly, shifting it from his bill to a foot and then 
flying to his high perch; if he is not hungry he will sit 
on the rat all day. We have tried to see what he could 
do in the swallowing line. He bolted the heads of two 
bantam cocks, then their four shanks, feet and all ; the 
leg bones were broken so they would take the bend- of his 
throat. He ate the Cooper's hawk clean to its bones, and 
swallowed the shanks — broken — feet, claws and all; this 
was a feat indeed, and probably the most indigestible food 
he had ever eaten. Here it may be said, that all bones, 
hair or feathers are thrown up in a wad or plug after the 
flesh has^ separated from them by the stomach's action. 
• One of the most difficult thing for him to swallow 
whole is a dead chicken — one about three weeks old. He 
has to be "worked" to make him do it. Given the chick 
head first, he will make an effort to bolt it, and must be 
kept busy by prodding with a small stick, or he will shift 
the bird to one of his feet and then tear it to bits. If 
kept at it, he makes some violent contortions with his 
head, his eartufts are laid flat, his tongue protrudes and 
breath comes hard, his eyes glare and slowly the chicken 
goes down. When it has passed his mandibles he will 
rest, but it is not over yet. A few more jerks, and only 
the feet remain sticking out from either side of his bill. 
fliers, but can sustain a long flight. I saw one this win- 
ter that the crows teased until he went up into the air at 
■u ■' ^"^ °^ Buzzard's Bay out of 
sight ; that is the only time I ever saw an owl go up to a 
great height. 
A year ago I had an owl that was much smaller than the 
present one. and without ear tufts, except two tiny points 
which were rarely shown. He could depress the feathers 
around his head and neck and look quite hawk-like He 
had a good spread of wing, and slender legs and feet, with 
very long, sharp claws. 
I filed the points from his talons first thing after 
1 got him home. He was wing-tipped with a shot, but 
soon recovered, and became quite gentle, and could be 
handled; would sit on one's hand and eat a variety of 
ir° 't^J,- t--^^/, P'^ and swallowed rims, soft parts and 
all. this bird had the run of the woodhouse, and often 
came into the kitchen; afterward he was transferred to the 
ttarn and got out' somehow and was never seen again 
1 ^^^^ "^^^ "^^^ P^ts. They are a little 
larger-bodied than a robin, and grow very gentle I had 
one that would sit on my finger while I scratched his head, 
-tie would eat gingerbread and other cooked food and 
showed no desire to attack anything. I think it likely that 
these tmy owls may catch insects. They are much easier 
to Keep than the larger varieties, who demand raw meat 
and are unpleasant to handle. Walter B. Savary 
A Flocfc of Loons in Aerial Evolution. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Yesterday morning, at 7 o'clock, I was leaving my 
home to inspect the farm. As I left the back door my 
ears were saluted with the plaintive but unmistakable crv 
ot one or more great Northern divers or loons My 
house stands two miles from the salt water of Long 
island Sound, and two miles from the fresh water of the 
Housatonic River. Looking upward, in the direction of 
the sounds I descried against the background of a clear 
blue sky, the forms of five loons, who were describing 
large circles m a manner similar to our hawks They 
seemed to try to preserve about the same distance one 
from the other, and one seemed distinctly the leader 
i-rom time to time the leader (presumabfy) would let 
go his cry, and one or two of his companions would an- 
swer m more subdued tones. I timed them, and after 
eight minutes of circling, the leader gave a signal, and 
they got together and took a Northwest line tOAvard the 
Housatonic River, preserving a somewhat regular align- 
ment m triangular form with the leader at the apex My 
superintendent (a sportsman and naturalist of some note) 
and my gardener were Avitnesses of the above occurrence 
and would make affidavit that the birds were loons Thev 
were some i,noo feet in the air. 
Morton Grinnell, M. D. 
MiLFORD, Conn , Sept. 22. 
A Pair of Iowa Ballsnakes. 
Nevada, la.— Editor Forest and Stream: I inclose a 
photograph of a pair of Iowa bullsnakes. The one shown 
on the left my father caught in the act of robbing an old 
turkey's nest. My father had missed eggs from the nest 
several days, and finally caught the old fellow coiled up in 
the nest with an egg partly swallowed. When he struck 
the snake with a stick it disgorged the egg, which was 
returned to the nest and hatched out a turkey. The other 
snake was killed near by the same dav. They measured 
over 4^ feet in length. ' a \ Cole 
