842 
FOREST ANt) STREAM. 
tMAY 2, 1903. 
«! 
Letters to a Chum. — IE, 
{Continued from page 824.1 
Chicago, III., Feb. iS, 1903— D^^ar Clark: It has been 
such a very long time since I sent you the first installment 
of this letter that it is doubtful if you remember where 
1 left off, or what it was all about. 
I trust you will forgive this long delay, and I think 
you wU\ when you recollect that I sat up all night long 
in writing that long letter, and you know how well I love 
to sleep. 
Do you wonder that I have hesitated to take it up 
again? 
In my former letter I gave you a history of our trip 
into the White River country, and told you of my ad- 
venture with the first mule deer I ever saw, and whose 
head now graces my den and looks benignly down on me 
while I write this. I also have before me various other 
trophies of that glorious hunt in the Rocky Mountains, 
of which I will tell you here. 
The following day being Sunday, we decided to stay in 
camp and rest, and take care of our deer meat, head and 
hide. We found the deer to be a very fat one, indeed ; 
there were places under the skin on his rump where the 
fat was nearly an inch thick. 
We had made a resolution at the outset to try to kill 
all the game we could eat and to eat all the game we 
killed. As we viewed the mammoth hams and shoulders 
of the noble animal Ave had secured, it seemed to us th?t 
we would have to wait until Christmas before we could 
go hunting again, unless we could find someone to share 
with us. Accordingly Lem saddled his horse and took a 
goodly portion of the carcass and distributed it among 
our neighbors ten miles down the valley, whom Lem said 
were very glad to get the meat. 
To provide a cool place for the remainder of the meat, 
we dug a cave under the overhanging bank at the water's 
edge, where the sun could never reach. This cave proved 
to be a living spring of ice water, and made as good an 
ice box as one could ask. We spent the most of the daj' 
at this work, and in dressing and curing the deer head 
and hide. The day was a perfect one, as were all the 
days we were out on this trip. 
That night we were disturbed by the savage barking 
and growling of Old Bull, the big dog. We bore with 
this for some time, hoping he would have done with his 
uproar. Then I arose and went out to investigate. Bull 
was out under the trees in the deep shadow where it was 
black dark. The only animal I could find was the dog, 
which was glad to see me. He leaped upon me out of 
the darkness, nearly knocking me off my feet, and gave 
me a swipe with his long wet tongue right in the face. 
Then he made off again into the bushes, barking as if he 
had treed something noble. Then he would dart away in 
some other direction, and make another stand and more 
noise. If he heard or saw anything, his senses were bet- 
ter than mine. I had my gun and was ready to use it, but 
no opportunity occurred. 
I came to the conclusion that the dog was playing a 
joke on me, but I failed to see the point. I was getting 
out of patience with so much fuss and noise when I 
wanted to sleep. I didn't like it. So I caught the dog 
and boxed his ears soundly, ' then I led him up to the 
camp and told him to lie down and keep still. 
Now, a more intelligent or wise dog than Bull never 
lived. He could do almost anything you told him. He 
was a regular trick dog, and learned easily. Talk to him, 
and he would watch your eye, trying his best to under- 
stand you, and it is my opinion that he did understand 
the most that was said to him. Lem would say to him, 
"Go and drive in the horses," after they had been gone a 
half day, and it would not be long till in would come 
the horses on the dead run, with Bull at their heels. 
Bull was a good dog, all but the name ; he deserved a bet- 
ter one. So when I said to him, "Lie down and keep 
still," he did so. evidently against his will, and I went 
back to my cosy nest. 
Bull laid still about three minutes, when away he went 
again, leaving behind him a streak of yelps and barks 
enough to wake the dead. Then we heard a screech and 
howl of another complexion, and Old Bull suddenly 
changed his tune also. Back he came as fast as he had 
gone, only now Itis aggressive bark had changed to "ki-yi, 
ki-yi" at every jump. 
I grabbed for my trousers and gun again, but before 
I got "cleared for action" Bull bounced into the tent and 
stayed there. 
I could find nothing outside to have caused such a com- 
motion; all was dark and silent. Each dark spot looked 
like an animal, and when a twig broke under my foot, I 
confess to a queer feeling on the top of my head. I now 
understand why people speak of their hair rising when 
scarefl. ■ I did not go far, you may be sure of that. 
Soon I heard Lem coming down the path. He had 
pitched his tent about 200 feet away from ours, and out 
of sight of it, and lived there with his wife and two boys. 
Lem lighted the lantern, and we made an excursion out 
into the bush. Bull had had enough of it. and was loth 
to leave the tent. At his master's command he came 
with us, biit his heart was not in the hunt. We could not 
persuade him to "hie on." He stayed at our heels. 
Lern.said: "That dog ain't afeared of anything that 
walkst I can't understand what he had out there in the 
bushes; it must • have been something big. That squall 
sounded like a Catr-don't you think so?'' 
I said that I had never heard anything like it, but for a 
genuine, hair-raiser it certainly took the cake. 
Lem went back to roost, but I sat and watched the 
gpots of moonlight — and they were mighty few in that 
glade — for a long time, till I got so sleepy I couldn't keep 
awake, then I turned in, arid things remained quiet till 
morning. 
Lem was out at daybreak looking for signs of last 
night's disturbance, and we all joined him, though the bed 
never felt better. We had tramped over the ground so 
much that nothing could be discovered in the way of 
signs of the marauder. Bull had capered over the ground 
so. long that nothing in the way of tracks could we find. 
Finally, down at the water's edge, some distance from 
cafjip, \yp fQuncl 4 fresh track pointing tg-^ard pmp th^t 
Lem pronounced that of a mountain lion. This track was 
not so large as the bear's track we had seen along the 
trail coming up to camp, but it was big enough to suit us, 
and rather too near home for comfort. Lem said that 
after breakfast we would put the dog on the trail and 
see if we could find the other end of it. 
The ladies did not want to hunt lions, nor did they 
want to stay in camp with all the natural protectors gone. 
50 we compromised by saddling the horses for them, and 
telling them to ride up on the bank and wait till we found 
which way the trail led, then they could follow us. 
Lem took the dog, who was now as eager and anxious 
as ever to hunt, and put his nose into the tracks 
we had found in the sand. The dog soon took the 
hint, and followed the trail up toward camp and into 
the place where the fracas had occurred. There the 
trail seemed to end. No matter where we took the 
dog, he would soon be back to that spot. 
After a half hour of this work, Lem said: "It is no 
use trying to follow the trail out of here. It can't be- 
done. The cat's been around here so much and crossed 
his trail so many times that it confuses the dog. Now, 
it seems to me that the natural direction for the cat to 
take would be south. He was south of the camp all the 
time; he could not go north without passing both camps, 
which I don't believe he would do. He could not go 
west without going up that bank which nothing but a 
bird could do, unless at our trail in the ravine, which is 
north of us. If he went east he must cross the river and 
we will find his tracks in the sand farther down. But his 
natural course is straight south between the bank and 
the river, where he would have an open course through 
the bushes, in just the kind of a place he likes to travel in. 
My advice is to strike right out south, and look for the 
trail in a new place. You follow along the water's edge 
and watch for tracks in the sand, and I'll take the dog 
down the center." 
So calling to the girls up on the bank to go south, we 
struck out. 
I found it very difficult to follow the stream, there was 
such a growth of bushes and weeds right up to an over- 
hanging bank; at other places there was a margin of 
boulders between the bushes and water, where an ele- 
phant would not make a track. 
I was making slow time when I heard Lem's "Halloo" 
away off south, so I pushed out into the open and hurried 
down there. 
■ Lem was waiting for me, and as I came up he pointed 
to a little spot of soft earth with the cat's track in it. He 
51 id that the dog had picked up the trail some distance 
back in a game trail, and had gone on ahead. Further on 
we came up with the girls, who were waiting for us at a 
place where the high bank did not occur, who told us 
that the dog was away on ahead. 
Following the direction they had seen the dog take, 
which was not along the river, but up into the timber 
toward the mountain, we hurried on. 
Soon we saw the dog coming back to look for us, and 
it took a long time to find the trail again, then we lost it 
and could not locate it again, so we struck out in the 
general direction the animal seemed to be going, till we 
came to a tiny brook with muddy edges. Here we 
separated, some going up and some down stream, until 
we who had gone up stream heard Lem's "Halloo." He 
had struck the trail again, where the cat had crossed the 
brook. Here Lem took the precaution to take a hitch- 
strap from one of the horses and put tround Bull's neck, 
so we could keep up with him. Lem said that Bull was 
half blood hound, and could follow a trail that was two 
days old. It is my opinion, however, that some allowance 
should be made in this statement for ownership, and the 
unusual affection that existed between the man and dog. 
Be this as it may. Bull had much difficulty in following 
the trail, and had it not been for the patience and untiring 
good nature of the man, who could almost "smell out" 
the trail himself, we should never have found the other 
end of it. 
Finally the leaders brought us into a path, where evi- 
dently the scent was strong, for the dog tugged at his 
strap and made us go at a trot. 
This path led us along a hillside, and then into, or 
along, the side of a ravine, where the horses could not 
go without danger of slipping off and rolling to the bot- 
tom. So the ladies dismounted. Lem slipped the bridle 
reins over the horses' heads and let them go where they 
pleased, and we all went on on foot. _ 
The path became more rugged and narrow until it was 
along the middle of a veritable precipice, where we could 
not have gone had it not been for the bushes and shrubs 
growing there to hang on to. 
Lupkily this kind of traveling did not last long; our 
trail ended in a hole in the face of the cliff under a great 
overhanging rock that went away up half-way to the 
sky. 
This hole looked black and forbidding. It was about 
three feet high by about twelve feet wide, with a smooth 
floor and a rough, rugged ceiling. There was a level 
platform in front of the opening, like the floor of a porch, 
level with the floor of the opening; there was a roof over 
it, too, for the old rock overhung the opening by thirty 
or forty feet. 
To stand on the "porch" and look down made one's 
head swim. Away down there three or four hundred 
feet below us was a mass of red looking boulders at the 
bottom of the ravine. 
The entrance to the cave was covered with the dust of 
countless ages, where a drop of rain had never fallen. 
In this dust were hundreds of foot marks of the same 
general appearance as those we had been following ;_ some 
were large and some smaller, but were great big cat 
tracks. 
Rest assured that I had my Savage ready, and loaded 
to its fullest capacity. 
Lem was for loosing the dog, and sending him in, but 
here vigorous expostulation.-: were heard from the rear, 
and not without reason. For if the dog wgrg to drive put 
anything, there was but one place for it to go, and we 
were o(;cupying that place. 
Nothing, could be seen in that black hole. I str^iiief} 
my eyes to get a glimpse of those two balls of 'firp I ha(4 
read about, but they were not in evidence. 
We called a council of war, and decided to retrace ouf 
steps to where we could procure torches of pine knots, 
which were plentiful in that country, eat a luncJ}, Xl\e\\ 
come back anii fUl our game bags witl^ ljo|i|, 
Soon we were back again with faggots, and built a fire 
on the front porch of the lion house. 
When our torches were nicely lighted, Lem distributed 
them, one to each, with some extfa unlighted ones, ex- 
cept that I had none. 
Then Lem said: "Mr. Paddock, you and 1 and Buil 
Will take the lead, and the rest follow us. I will carrv 
my gun and a torch, but you Carry your gun onlyr and be 
ni readiness to shoot quickly.' If you get a dhanCe to 
use your gun, shoot as you shot at that buck the day 
before yesterday." 
Now, I hadn't supposed that we were really going into 
that hole. One would have to get down on hands and 
knees to get in at all. 
It seemed to me a good deal like sticking one's head 
into the lion's mouth. We were well satisfied that there 
were a lot of lions in the hole, and it seemed to me that 
they would have the advantage of us in ihat narrow 
place, and in the dark. I thought Lem was joking or try- 
hig" to frighten the girls when he mentioned it. I looked 
at the girls to see how they were taking it, and could see 
no signs of weakineng on their part. They were pale, 
but never said a word against ^oing in there. - If they 
were scared, they did not show it very much, and I felt 
ashamed of myself for the scared feeling that I could 
not keep down. I said to Lem : "Let the dog go in first, 
and we will stand at one side out here and 'pot' them as 
they come out." 
Well, sir, we couldn't get that dog even to look into 
that hole. He felt just as I did about it. He was 
scared. 
"Come on," Lem said. "The dog won't go in first, but 
there is no danger; we will keep to one side and leave 
room for the animals to pass us if they want to." 
I had either to go in or back out entirely, and be a 
kughing stock forever after. 
I don't believe Lem had ever heard the word "fear." 
If there was any of that element in his composition it 
must have been mislaid where he had never found it. 
In any event, he walked up to the hole, got down on his 
hands and knees and started in. Then it was up to 
me. 
Clark, you have been with me years enough to know 
whether I am a coward or not. What is your opinion? 
Honestly I would almost as willingly have jumped 
from that ledge down 200 feet to the rocks below as to 
get down on my hand and knees and crawl in there, 
where I could not see two feet ahead of my nose, and 
where, from the indications, there might be twenty moun- 
tain lions. 
On the other hand I had rather take the 200-foot leap 
than to own that I was afraid. Luckily I had sense 
enough, or luck enough, to keep my mouth shut as to my 
feelings, and nobody knows to this day how I felt at 
that time. 
I don't know just what the girls thought about it, but 
I have a shrewd idea that they felt about the same as 
I did. 
Well, it was up to me, and I went, and the rest fol- 
lowed ; all but Bull, and he soon came on as a rear guard. 
I could plainly smell the animals in there, and you 
may bet that I intended to sell my life dearly. 
About twenty feet back from the entrance the ceiling 
rose, and the floor descended until we could stand up- 
right. Further on the room grew wider and higher, until 
it must have been sixty feet wide by nearly as many feet 
high. The entire walls and ceiling seemed made of gold 
or diamonds ; there was a sparkle everywhere. I thought 
we had found a treasure cave, and forgot all about my 
fear. Upon closer examination we found the sparkling 
things to be flint. There were things hanging down from 
the ceiling that looked like icicles. There were other 
icicles standing up on the floor. I believe these things 
are called stalactites and stalagmites, but "icicles" 
describes them exactly. In one place the stalactite at the 
ceiling had reached down and connected with the stalag- 
mite coming up from the floor, and enlarged until it must 
have been twelve inches through at the smallest point 
(the center), and twenty feet high. It looked as if it had 
grown there to hold up the ceiling. 
This large room extended back about three or four, 
hundred feet, then grew smaller. There were numerous 
holes at the sides at the floor line, looking Hke a row of 
dog kennels. We thrust our torches into some of them 
as far as we could reach, but the depth could not be told. 
There were about twenty of these holes in the room, of 
just about the size to accommodate comfortably a good 
sized wild animal, and they went away back into the rock, 
no telling where. 
Even Lem did not care to get down on his stomach and 
crawl into one of them ; not that he was afraid, but it 
seemed a foolhardy thing to do. No one volunteered to 
explore' any of them, and it soon became plain to us that 
we would never find any lions in there — there were too 
many hiding places for them. Strange to say, no one 
seemed to care very much whether we found game or 
not; we had found something more interesting. 
Further down the cave where it was about thirty feet 
broad by about twenty feet high there was a drop ofl; 
in the floor, straight down about fifteen feet. It was a 
lucky thing that we had lights or we would have broken 
our necks sure. 
There was no way to get down there safely that we 
could see. At one side, hanging over the precipice, and 
resting against one side of the cave wall, was a rock 
about -the size and shape of a load of hay. 
Lem was snooping around this rock and found a hole 
at the back lower corner about the size of his body, and 
crawled into it. 
Soon he called out to us to "Come on, we can go 
through here." 
I left my gun and took a torch and went in. 
I have more avoirdupois than Lem; I made a snug fit 
of it. 
About eight or ten feet in I stuck fagt and could get 
no further. 
I called to Lem that I couldn't get through, and would 
have to go back. 
Imagine my horror when I found that I could not get 
bapk an inch' My clothes would bunch up and wedge 
me fast until I was as solid as the rock around me. 
I certainly had a bad five minutes in that hole. I've 
heard of people's hair turning gray in a single night, 
but I don't believf it, qr mine wtfuld have beei^ vvliitn 
after that day, 
