Dec. 20, 1902.]' 
FOREST AND STREAM, 
489 
friends of mine in that- country, and Frank Taylor, who 
keeps the village barber shop under the spreading 
chestnut tree. Mr. Taylor is ' the owner of a meat 
dog known as Dan, and as we had along Dolly also, 
we certainly had no reason to complain of our rolling 
stock. We reached our hunting grounds a little after 
noon and started out from Vanderville on foot. Dur- 
ing the afternoon we put up quite a lot of quail here, 
there and everywhere, mostly in the woods and thick- 
ets. Between us we gathered up 30 birds, but Mr. 
Powel was responsible for our not getting a good many 
more. His innate kindness and dislike to ofltend once 
in a while makes him a victim. In this case he met a. 
solitary hunter who was out trying to shoot quail 
without any dog and without any experience. He 
seemed to gravitate in toward our party, and in order 
to save the lives of the rest of us Mr. Powel took him 
in tow and wandered around all the rest of the after- 
noon. Hence he got only two or three birds to his 
own gun, thereby cutting down our bag to lighter 
proportions than it should have shown. He explained 
later that he was so busy most of the time dodging 
around trees, to keep from getting shot by his new 
friend, that he didn't have time to do any quail hunt- 
ing. 
As to the dogs, they behaved beautifully. They are 
all used to hunting together, have all got noses, and 
are all perfectly up in every point of the game. I 
think that in all my experience. North or South, in any 
kind of company, I never saw three dogs put up a bet- 
ter exhibition of field work. They were perfectly inde- 
pendent of each other, all good rangers, and everyone 
of them had good bird sense. They seemed always 
to know where to go and what to do. A keener nose 
than Rock showed would be a matter of superfluity, a 
Ijetter single bird dog than Dolly never went on four 
or three legs, and as for Dan, he supplied the only pos- 
sible deficiency by being a perfect retriever. The 
other two dogs have not been trained to retrieve, but 
content themselves Avith pointing dead birds. It was 
such a comfort to watch these dogs going about their 
business so contentedly and methodically that we did 
not insist so very much upon the shooting part of the 
game. 
To some extent I retrieved the reputation which I 
lost as a quail shooter in Minnesota; but even so we 
did not shoot perfectly, the birds being strong and 
wild, and for the most part in heavy cover. Taylor 
proved a good quail shot, and Harner was always 
able to account for over half his birds, which I call 
excellent shooting. The only possible regret one could 
feel under such circumstances was that twilight came 
about three or four hours earher than ought to have 
been legally permissible. I imagine that any lover of 
ihe nervous, horse-racing whippet known as a field 
trial winner, would have been disabused of a few 
notions could he have seen these three level-headed 
meat dogs follow their vocations on that afternoon. 
It was a joy forever. I have tried for two or three 
years to buy this Dan dog from Mr. Taylor, but after 
seeing them work together, it seemed to me it would 
be a shame to part them. I would not sell a dog of 
that kind myself, nor does it seem right to ask any 
other fellow to. It is all right to sell field trial win- 
ners, but meat dogs — never! As to buying Dolly or 
Rock, methinks there is not money enough in the 
present unsettled condition of our banking institutions. 
A 'CooQ Hunt. 
I am satisfied that Warren Powel will be the death 
of me yet, one way or another. He will either kill me 
laughing or walking. He is the most merciless walker 
I ever got tangled up with, and he can see no reason 
why his pedestrian enthusiasm should not extend itself 
to all mankind. It seemed to Mr. Powel a pretty good 
thing after walking 15 miles or so in the afternoon, to 
go out and hunt 'coons the rest of the night. He had 
a couple of his men come out from town in the even- 
ing, bringing a pair of his 'coon dogs, which he values 
almost more than he does Dolly herself. These were a 
present from Mr. W. I. Speers, of Byhalia, Miss., and 
have killed many a fat ring-tail since they came into 
Mr. Powel's possession. I was not especially hanker- 
ing after any moi'e walking, but it was impossible to 
resist Mr. Powel's blandishments in regard to 'coon 
hunting in general. Accordingly, at about nine or ten 
o'clock we started out. One cannot do justice to the 
disappointment Mr. Powel felt when we found that 
the conditions were so much against us. Without 
doubt these heavy timbered tracts along the creek bot- 
toms held good store of 'coons. Indeed, we heard of 
a local hunter who had killed several but a night or 
tAvo before. The hour was, however, too early for the 
raccoons to be disporting themselves, and, most disap- 
pointing of all, there came a cold north wind and a 
heavy freeze. Now all men well posted in raccoon lore 
know well that it takes a moist, warm night for Mr. 
'Coon to do his traveling, and that the latter gentle- 
man is most apt to begin his wandering at some hour 
after midnight. Our dogs opened two or three times, 
possibly after mink or 'possums. Once they made 
quite a run, and we were satisfied killed some small 
animal at the end of it, although we could never tell 
what it was — surely not rabbit, perhaps mink, 'pos- 
sum or house cat. It was pleasant music, this deep 
voice of the hounds, in the silent, frosty woods, and I 
felt myself enjojang the situation. We were out for 
three or four hours, and finally gave it up on account 
of the unfavorable weather conditions; hence, having 
to record almost the first blank for Mr. Powel's re- 
doubtable 'coon dogs. These latter have a good many 
pelts to their credit this fall, notably that of one old 
grandfather 'coon, which weighed 23i,l pounds. Mr. 
Powel and his friend Harner got up at three o'clock 
one morning, took the dogs and went out for a little 
festivity, and this big 'coon was the product of their 
morning devotion to sport. They got a good run 
nearly every night, and hence felt very much disap- 
pointed at the bad success on this particular occasion. 
A Nigfat in a Coantry Stote. 
After our 'coon hunt we rounded up at our tempor- 
ary headquarters, which were in a country store located 
^t Vanderville crpssro^cis "Xlne kindly proprietor of 
this store, Mr. Busby, took care of us the best way 
he could, and gave us plenty to eat, but he had no 
beds where we could sleep that night. It seemed a 
long way to ride into town against the cold north 
wind, so we concluded to send the teams in and to hunt 
in toward town on the following morning. That left 
our four quail shooters, Messrs. Powel, Harner, Tay- 
lor and myself, to pass the balance of the night as best 
we could. We had a big stove in the middle of the 
long storeroom, and around this stove dogs and men 
disposed themselves as best they could under the cir- 
cumstances. Mr. Powel slept on the counter with 3 
sack of flour as a pillow. He describes a sack of flour 
as most excellent good for such purposes, though a 
trifle cold. Mr. Harner arranged three boxes of un- 
equal height as his own personal couch, and Mr. Tay- 
lor made preparations of a similar nature. I found that 
a sheet of brown wrapping paper makes an excellent 
mattress upon occasion. This I .spread upon the floor, 
put a rubber coat on top of it, and with a shooting 
coat for a pillow, did very nicely, indeed. It was a 
little cold during the night, and Dolly, good soul, came 
to share my bed with me. I found that she made even 
a better pillow than a sack of flour or a shooting 
coat. We got along very nicely until four o'clock, 
when Mr. Busby informed us that breakfast would be 
ready very soon. By break of day we were ready for 
the road once more, a little bit short of sleep and a 
little bit long of pedestrian experience, but all of us 
feeling better than we had any right to feel under the 
circumstances. As Mr. Powel was due home that morn- 
ing, and as the quail country was not so good close 
toward town, the rest of the expedition resolved itself 
mostly into a steady tramp through the muddy fields 
or the side of the still muddier road. We put up 
three bevies of quail en route, one of them on the 
grounds of a man who ordered us off his place. On 
the whole, we thought ourselves fortunate to add nine 
quail to our stock. The dogs still behaved beautifully, 
the weather was clear, and although the going was 
heavy, I am sure that our hearts were light and we 
enjoyed every foot of the way. ' Some other time we 
are going out to attack that 'coon who was too fast 
asleep to entertain us on the evening of our visit to his 
domain. Perhaps I am getting old; I do not know; at 
any rate, I can go out and have a good time even if 
we don't kill a 'coon or more than a dozen birds. Be- 
side that, a visit to the Powel household is medicinal 
in its nature. It is a comfort to get out of the city 
and to meet people who are real folks. This not to 
mention the great Powel store of Things like Mother 
used to make. 
On Pie. 
Speaking of eating, what a wonderful thing is the 
stomach of a sportsman! When we went away from 
Taylorville early in the morning, we forgot to take any 
lunch. Mr. Powel sent to a restaurant and got some 
sandwiches and also four or five pies. That night at 
our Vanderville bivouac, we ate up all these things, 
Mr. Powel thinking that pie could not by any possi- 
bility hurt anybody. I have no religious scruples 
against eating a pie or so upon occasion, and am here 
to bear testimony that pie is perfectly innocuous when 
taken in connection with a 'coon hunt at tnidnight. 
This hunger, which comes from the outdoor air — what 
a splendid and beautiful thing it is! 
■Wouldn't Stand for It. 
We had only one really unpleasant incident in our 
Illinois quail shooting, and that arose from the un- 
willingness of a certain farmer to let us conduct oper- 
ations with a certain bunch of quail, which we had 
marked down in his cornfield. Of course, as soon as 
he told us he didn't allow shooting, we signified our 
willingness to go on our way, but as quickly as we 
turned to go this individual seemed to think that his 
occasion had come to show authority and masterful- 
ness. 
"You'd better go right on out," said he. 
''We're going" out," said we. 
"Well, you'd better go on," said he. 
"We are," was our rejoinder. We also tried to ex- 
plain matters, saying that we did not intend to shoot 
against his will, and that we never did such things; 
but the more we tried to treat this fellow like a gentle- 
man the more he acted like anything else. At length 
Mr. Powel said to him: "My friend, how far does your 
jurisdiction extend, anyhow?" 
"Never you mind," was the reply. "I'm just as good 
as you are, if I haven't got on store clothes." We 
wondered a little bit at this, but about an hour or so 
after Mr. Powel's face lightened up. "I've got it," 
said he. "When I asked that fellow about his juris- 
diction he thought I was calling him some kind of a 
name or other. You mind, after this 'jurisdiction' 
don't go. Just ask him where his land runs to, and 
let it go at that." 
The Sultan Called a Halt. 
When I was out in Minnesota a week or so ago I 
met one of the well-known political characters of that 
State. Hon. Thomas Dowling, member of the Legis- 
lature, formerly speaker of the House in Minnesota, at 
one time secretary of the National Republican League, 
and in very many ways a prominent man in the West- 
ern political world. Mr. DowHng, it may be remeni- 
bered, was sent as a special commissioner to our Ori- 
ental possessions by the late President McKinley, and, 
among other things, was instructed to visit the Sultan 
of Sulu and to report upon matters as he found them 
at the court of that functionary. 
To look at Mr. Dowling one would not know that 
he was a badly crippled man. The truth, however, is 
that when he was a boy, a farmhand working on a 
ranch, he was caught out in one of the terrible bliz- 
zards which constituted one of the dangers of the 
Western pioneer, and was so badly frozen that he lost 
both of his legs below the knees, one of his arms be- 
low the elbow, and all but the stumps of his fingers 
and thumb on the other hand. In form Mr. Dowling 
is well-nigh gigantic, and mentally^ is equalljr well en- 
dowed by nature, yet one would think that this misfor- 
tunPi polling qpon a young man, \vould either hav^ 
killed him or utterly wiped out all hope and enter- 
prise in his soul. This was not the case with Mr, 
Dowling. He says to-day that his misfortune was the 
making of him. He at once began to study to get him- 
self a good education, and worked up from one line of 
business to another until he has come to be one of the 
most prominent men, not only in his community, but 
in his State. Clear-headed, kindly of soul, unsoured 
by his misfortune, he is one of the best examples of 
what clear grit will do for the American man. 
Above all things Mr. Dowling is a keen sportsman, 
and about a year ago was so lucky as to kill his moose 
up in Minnesota. He can walk perfectly well on smooth 
going, but is obliged to hunt on horseback in the 
woods. He kiUed his moose from horseback, one of 
the few instances of this kind, perhaps, ever to be 
chronicled. I should not write thus freely of him did 
he retain any sensitiveness as to his own disfigure- 
ment. Upon the contrary of this, he discusses it 
freely and relates many humorous incidents in con- 
nection with it. 
One night, when in a sleeping car, he followed his 
usual custom of removing his trousers, with his feet 
and boots attached, and hung them over the edge of 
the upper berth in the sleping car. He left instructions 
with the porter that he should be called for at a cer- 
tain station. The porter in the morning, on parting 
the curtains, saAv what he supposed to be the form of 
his client sitting on the edge of the berth with his legs 
hanging over and all dressed for rising. As a matter 
of fact, Mr. Dowling was still sound asleep. The 
porter did not call him, and he was carried past his 
station. The matter was reported to the conductor, 
who called up the astonished and terrified negro. 
"'Deed, boss," said the latter, "I went into dat man's 
bu'th to call him at the place where he was to git off, 
and I swar to God, he was sittin* up there all dressed 
with his feet hangin' over the bu'th. I didn't see no 
use a wakin' up a man what was a'ready woke up. 
You can't blame me. They ain't nuthin' in the rules 
says I got to wake up a man what's a'ready up and 
dressed." To this day the porter cannot understand 
how his man could be both asleep and awake at the 
same time. 
But in regard to the Sultan of Sulu. Mr. Dowling 
duly visited the court of the sultan and discharged his 
duties conscientiously, as is his wont. He thought it 
might be well to inquire into the domestic relations of 
the august monarch, and stated that it would give him 
much pleasure to visit the harem of the sultan. But 
the sultan drew the line at this, stating that the harem 
was a private institution pure and simple, and that no 
human being, not even Uncle Sam, had ever been ad- 
mitted to its precincts save himself. During this con- 
versation Mr. Dowling and the sultan were sitting 
comfortably on the floor, after the fashion of that 
country. It was warm, and both residents and non- 
residents participating in the conversation, were clad 
lightly as befitted the temperature then prevailing. 
"It is a little warm, I find," said Mr. Dowling, finally, 
to the sultan through his interpreter, "and if you don't 
mind, I'll just cool off a little bit." So saying, he 
reached down to his ankle and unscrewed one of his 
legs, which he calmly laid on the floor in front of the 
sultan.. The latter was astonished but game, and al- 
though he was evidentl}' scared, managed to keep his 
face straight. Mr. Dowling also kept his countenance 
unmoved, and presently remarked that he found the 
heat still quite depressing, and that, if the sultan didn't 
mind, he would still further disencumber himself. 
Whereupon he unscrewed the other leg and laid that 
also on the floor in front of the sultan. The old man 
got a little nervous at that and shifted his seat, but 
was unable to keep his eyes away from these disjecta 
membra before him. Seeing this, Mr. Dowling reached 
around and unscrewed his arm, which he also placed 
upon the floor. That settled it. The sultan threw up 
both hands in horror. 
"Hitherto," said he, "I have lived somewhat in seclu- 
sion in this empire of mine. I admit that I have not 
become fully acquainted with the customs of American 
civilization as you represent them to me. It will not 
he. necessary for you to take yourself apart further. 
I you want to go into the harem, very well. The place 
is at your disposal." 
This is the tale as it was told to me, between St. 
Paul and Norwood, upon the Milwaukee and St. Paul 
Road, upon a certain evening m November. Verily, 
the world of sportsmanship is wide and not without 
a varied interest. 
Ftjta New Brunswick^ 
Mr. Chas. K. Palmer, of Fredericton, N. B., is this 
week making his second visit to Chicago, and paid the 
Forest and Stre.am office a pleasant call. Mr. Pal- 
mer was here with the New Brunswick guides at the 
sportsmen's show winter before last. 
Weasels and Ermine. 
In the woods it is a weasel, but in the city it is an 
ermine, and there is a difference. Last winter up in 
New Brunswick Charlie Cremin gave to a Certain 
Person a bunch of six weasel skins, saying that they 
would only net him perhaps ten or fifteen cents apiece 
at the fur buyers. This winter the Certain Person sug- 
gested to me that these skins — they were "ermine" by 
the time they got to Chicago — ^would make an excel- 
lent collar for an opera wrap, and that as we had such 
a good start on such wrap, it might be well to finish it, 
since it would probably not cost more than $300 or 
$400 or so. In the course of operations it came out 
that a Certain Person was shy one or two of these 
black-tail tips, which are supposed to go with ermine 
when it moveth itself aright. ' "Go buy a tip," said I 
"go buy a couple of dozen ef them.'_' I was figuring 
on the New Brunswick basis. It is different here. 
Charlie Crem.in gets fifteen cents for a whole weasel 
skin. The fur dealer here ^ets just sixty-five cents for 
the end of that weasel's tail. This goes a little easier 
when you call it "ermine." 
Turning Soothwatd. 
Chicago, 111., Dec. 10. — At this season the thoughts 
of a great many sportsmen ^re beginning to tv«r^ 
