462 
f^OREST AND STREAM. 
In Old Virginia* 
Xm.-Bifly. 
One morning, just after the family assembled for 
breakfast, a little darkey rushed in and in great excite- 
ment announced: 
"Dey's a man out heah wid a sho' 'nough live deah 
foh Miss Lady." 
Breakfast waited while everyone went to see the deer. 
At the back porch they found a colored man carry- 
ing in his arms a beautiful little spotted fawn, evidently 
but a few days old. 
The little animal lay curled up in the man's arms as 
quiet as a pet kitten, turning to look with mild curi- 
osity first at one and then another of the admiring 
throng surrounding him. 
"I ketched him day foh yistiddy," explained the man, 
"but didn't have time to bring him 'long 'til to-day. I 
was crossin' de fiel's back of Cap'n Liggets, takin' 
short cut home, w'en 1 walked rite up on de old doe, 
layin' in some thick sedge grass, 'en she des up an' 
sneak ofif like a ole haar, an' de little feller tried to 
foller' long, but he was so on-stiddy an' wabbly on his 
legs, dat 1 des make one big jump an' grab him 'fore 
he git started. He kick an' scromble a little, an' den 
lay still, like you see him now. 
"W'en I git him home de ole woman feed him wid 
a little rag soaked in milk, an' we shut him up in de^ 
cow shed foh de night. Nex' mawnin' he foller us des 
like a dog, an' now he would'n' go 'way at all. 
"He would have follered me all de way heah, but he 
ain't much on de walk yit, an' so I bin totin' him." 
Knowing the object of his visit was to find an 
opportunity of turning his embryo venison into coin, 
after further admiration, the ladies broached the sub- 
ject of the price set on the deer. 
"I don' know des how much he wuth — a rite smaht, I 
reckon — but he too pooty to eat, an' I ain't got no time 
to look aftah him, an' den I say to mysef des soon as 
I drop on him, dat I was goin' to bring him to Miss 
Ladv, att' now you kin have him foh what you say is 
right." _ 
This is a shreWd Way of trading often pursued by the 
wise ones when they know the vendee. The transfer 
was arranged, to the satisfaction of all parties, and in a 
very short space of time the faTvn had a new home and 
name. 
A seven-foot picket fence surrounded the house, in- 
closing abont four acres of ground divided into front 
and backyard, flower and vegetable garden, and this 
was considered sufficient range for one small deer, even 
when shut out of the garden, which he would often have 
to be; and the high picket fence was believed to be an 
effectual barrier against any inclination on his part to 
rejoin his wild friends, so Billy was named, and released 
in the backyard. 
He took kindly to his new home and friends, and 
soon learned to distinguish the voice, and even step, 
of his young mistress. The first characteristic ob- 
served was an abnormal bump of caution. Billy was 
suspicious of everything, animate and inanimate. He 
assumed nothing, and took no chances. Every object 
with which he came in contact was subjected to a care- 
ful, searching and exhaustive examination from every 
point of view. 
With the inanimate objects on his range he was 
soon on fairly familiar terms, but with his living asso- 
ciates, consisting of human beings, fowls, cats, dogs 
and occasionally pigs, he got on slower. His manner 
of expressing distrust and surprise was to jump in the 
air. If an old hen near-by clucked, he jumped moder- 
ately high. If a cat lying asleep in the sun wakened 
suddenly to find his little black nose investigating near 
her face, and swelled up and spit savagely, as cats will, 
he jumped very high, and sometimes more than once. 
If the pigs in the lot came near the fence, he would 
approach and gaze intently at them through the palings, 
as though wondering what manner of things they could 
be, until one would suddenly grunt, when he would go 
half across the yard in a succession of high jumps. 
His star acrobatic feat, however, was always reserved 
to express his surprise and indignation when the old 
pea fowl screamed; then he jumped high, fast and furi- 
ously, and generally lit running. 
No effort was apparent in these really remarkable 
jumps, nor did he ever make any preparation for them. 
He seemed set to go off at any surprise, and never 
missed — or hung- — fire. Friends he made, deliberately 
and carefully, but he had no intimates and permitted no 
liberties. At the call of his j'oung mistress he would 
come running, but unless she wanted to feed him, he 
would remain with her but a short while. He would 
east table scraps, such as bread and vegetables, posi- 
tively declining anything greasy. Standing on the 
porch, some four or five feet from the ground, his 
mistress would feed him bread, which he would reach 
by standing on his hind legs, balancing as cleverly as a 
trick spaniel. 
Shortly after Billy arrived at the age when he put off 
fawn colors, and donned the real deer coat, he was 
one day observed walking along the fence which sepa- 
rated him from the forest trees. After walking the en- 
tire length of the fence, apparently carefully inspecting 
for openings, he calmly jumped over to the other side 
as though the fence was three, instead of seven, feet 
high. After walking around the grove of trees outside 
for some time, he strolled up to the fence, and, without 
apparent effort, jumped back again. From that time 
on Billy came and went at his own pleasure. 
' Such good use did he make of his newly discovered 
privilege, . he was soon heard of visiting plantations 
miles away, and frequently returned blown and excited, 
having been chased by dogs. Fearing that someone 
might shoot him by mistake, his young mistress pro- 
vided him with a bell as a safeguard. This he was 
rather inclined to resent, at first, but soon became 
reconciled to it, and would jump and play about appar- 
ently enjoyin| the g^iifid g\ thg ^^}}, JJg fjn^lljr gof %g 
losing his bells in the most mysterious manner, going 
off with a bell firmly strapped around his neck and slip- 
ping home without so much as the strap. 
This occurred so often that it became both trouble- 
some and expensive to keep him belled, and finally a 
collar of bright cloth was substituted for the bell as a 
distinguishing mark. 
The mystery of how Billy lost his bells was finally 
solved by some disinterested spectator, who had ob- 
served him busily munching a turnip held in the left 
hand of a colored individual, while the right hand of the 
aforesaid colored gentleman was removing the bell from 
his neck. The bell might have been of more value 
than a bit of succulent vegetable, but not to Billy; and 
he did a thriving business in bells while his stock lasted. 
He made friends in his wanderings with some of his 
wild kinsfolk, and would occasionally return from a 
tour in the woods accompanied by one or more wild 
deer. 
Generally some of the excitable darkeys would dis- 
cover them first and put them to flight, often chased by 
the dogs, in which event Billy would jump over into 
his yard, where he was safe, leaving his wild friends 
to look out for themselves. 
Billy was sensitive to changes in the weather, and 
on the eve of a storm would be excited and restless. 
He would run back and forth across the yard stamping 
the grpund- with -fore and hind feet, at the same time 
blowing shrill whistles. 
The' advent of his horns seemed to afford the little 
fellow much food for thought, and that of a serious 
nature. He would lie around in the shelter of the yard 
shrubbery, turning his head often from side to side as 
though listening to the horns grow, or in wonder as to 
what was going on, varying this occasionally by long, 
gentle rubs on the rough bark of convenient trees. 
A misfortune befell the first (and only) pair of horns 
that Billy grew. When about one-half developed, and 
in the velvet, he wandered off from home and was 
captured by a colored individual, who hoped to gain a 
reward by returning him. It not suiting his conveni- 
ence to start at once, he dragged Billy into a shed and 
tied him up with a strong rope. Rebelling against such 
treatment, the deer struggled desperately until he 
broke one horn partly off and injured the other so that 
it grew into a deformity. 
Almost dead from loss of blood, and much broken in 
spirit, he was returned to his devoted young mistress, 
who promptly proceeded to reward his captor — not as 
he expected — but as he deserved. Regaining his 
strength, he resumed his wanderings, sometimes re- 
maining away for two or three days, and occasionally 
returning hard pushed by the hounds, but retaining 
throughout his love of home, and affection for his mis- 
tress. 
Then one sad day he came home in a wagon, accom- 
panied by a very penitent young hunter, who explained 
as best he could w-hy he had shot a deer wearing a 
bright band of crimson cloth around its neck. But it 
did not matter as to the "whys" and "wherefores." 
Billy, the beloved, was dead, and all his grief stricken 
young mistress desired was that his slayer finish his 
explanations and apologies, and take himself off, leav- 
ing her with her sorrow. 
Many sincere tears were shed for the loA^ed and lost 
pet, and his memory has survived the lapse of years. If 
allowed to elect, the story most frequently requested! 
at story time hour — if mama is narrator — is "The 'tory 
'bout Billee." Lewis Hopkins. 
Grizzly Bear Bottom. 
You who have read the Journal of Lewis & Clark's 
Expedition, will remember that frequent mention is made 
of the grizzly bear. Sometimes they called it the "grizly," 
sometimes the "white," or "brown" bear. Regardless of 
color, these bears were all, of course, of the one variety, 
Ursus horrihilis. 
Except in parts of California, nowhere else in all the 
land did the grizzlies attain such immense size as those 
which made their home along the course of the Yellow- 
stone and Upper Missouri rivers. From the time of their 
birth, everything was favorable for their rapid and con- 
tinuous growth. The valleys of these streams, deep, wide 
gashes in the rolling plains, were warm and sunny when 
all other parts of the country were fast locked in the 
enibrace of winter. And the timbered bottoms and slopes 
of these valleys fairly teemed with game of all kinds, 
the buffalo, the elk, mountain sheep, deer and antelope, 
in countless thousands furnishing abundant food for the 
bears at all times. If they were too fat and lazy them- 
selves to kill meat, there were always carcases for thent 
tc feast upon; buffalo mired in the quicksands of the 
river, various other animals killed by the wolves in 
wanton sport. And then in the autumn, what a feast of 
hardy fruits they found; plums, wild cherries and vast 
thickets of bull laerries. Their kindred in the mountains 
retired to their dens in November, and remained there 
until April, and even to the middle of May. And when 
they did come out, they were forced to travel day and 
night in search of food. The females, nursing a litter of 
young, had little milk for them, and the cubs were 
stunted in growth from their birth. The bears of the 
river valleys, however, did not den for more than a 
couple of months on an average. Indeed, they were to 
be found wandering around at any time during the win- 
ter, whenever a warm chinook wind set in. Even the 
females remained in good condition the year round. 
There was always an abundance of meat, their teats 
were always full of milk, and their young thrived and 
grew amazing fast. When a year old, they were nearly 
as large and heavy as a two year old of the mountains, 
and w'hen they attained their full growth, were of almost 
unbelievable size. In 1882 one was killed about forty 
miles below Fort Benton, which was estimated to weigli 
eighteen hundred pounds. Its hide was considerably 
longer and broader than an average cow buffalo i-obe. 
Accustomed to pounce upon and kill the buffalo, even 
the huge bulls, crushing the skull with one blow of their 
terrible paws, it is little wonder that the grizzlies had 
no fear of men, and attacked them often without any 
provocation whatever. The Journal relates a number 
of instances of this kind, and several times the men of 
tj^p fxpedition hai narrew aR4 fxciting ggpa|>es from 
the dreaded animals. Yet such was the indomitable 
courage of this little band of explorers, that they seldom 
let pass an opportunity to attack and kill a grizzly with 
their clumsy flintlocks. What a brave set we modern 
hunters are, to be sure. We have the .50-100; the high 
power .35 caliber, and are still seeking something better, 
something that will absolutely annihilate a grizzly with 
one shot. How many of us would try conclusions with 
one of those old time bears, had we nothing but one of 
the fukes which the early explorers and voyagers used 1 
In the afternoon of May 21, 1804, Lewis & Clark 
passed Snow Creek (they named it Pine Creek), and 
camped in the next point of timber above it on the south 
side of the Missouri. Just below the timber some of 
the men discovered a very large bear asleep in the open 
plain, and fired a volley into him, Up the old fellow rose 
and with a roar charged them, with such surprising speed 
and fury that three of them, dropping their guns, jumped 
over a twenty foot cut bank into the river. And the 
bear also leaped out, and struck the water only a second 
or two behind them. The two or three men whO' had not 
been obliged to take to the water, lost no time in reload- 
ing their guns and firing at the animal, luckily succeed- 
ing in killing him before he could overtake atiy of their 
comrades. 
That point of timber still stands, and under some of 
its ancient and gnarled old cottonwoods, the explorers 
built their evening fire, and feasted upon the tenderer 
I'ortions of their quarr.y. The Missouri river has 
changed its channel many times in manj'- places during 
the past one hundred years, but at this point it is evi- 
dent that there has been no change for very much more 
than a century. Just back of the rather narrow bottom 
the slope of the valley rises abruptly, up and up to the 
distant level of the plain. And opposite, on the north 
side of the river, is a broad, level flat, ending at the 
water's edge in a cut bank some forty feet in height. 
Nor can there be any doubt that this was the very spot 
where the expedition camped, on that May night, for 
under date of May 22d the Journal relates that after 
breaking camp and resuming the voyage, at a distance of 
five miles they came to a stream emptying into the river 
on the north side, which they named Gibson Creek, in 
honor of one of the men, a sergeant of the command, 
ri name which it bears to this daj^ The creek is exactly 
five miles above the point of timber, and two miles above 
the Round Butte, a most remarkable cone-like hill about 
a mile south of the river, visible to the voyager for many 
miles above and below it. 
Nothing is more satisfactory to the student of the earlv 
history of our great West, than to go over the ground 
ihe brave pioneers explored and locate the exact scenes 
of their trials and splendid achievements. Here, for in- 
stance, in this point of ancient timber, one can camp 
beneath the very trees which sheltered Lewis & Clark 
and their men for a night. Nothing has changed there 
in the hundred years which have elapsed since they tied 
their boats to the shore and built the evening fire, except 
that the buffalo and the elk have disappeared forever. 
Deer still frequent the thickets and pine-crowned hills. 
Goodly numbers of mountain sheep are still tO' be found 
among the sandstone cliffs which rim the edge of the 
valley; and there, as of yore, one is lulled to sleep by the 
long-drawn, melancholy howl of the wolf. Indian or 
w-diite, there never yet was a wanderer of these plains 
■who did not love to listen to their deep-toned notes, and 
think upon the weird and melancholy thoughts they 
seemed to be trying to express. 
- _ Yes, and the grizzly still roams the bottoms of the 
river thereabouts and the bad land breaks which extend 
far back into the plains. This very point of timber has 
been the scene of more than one exciting and sanguinary 
encounter with them. 
In the spring of i860, thre employes of the American 
F\ir Co., at Fort Benton, were ordered by the Factor to 
go to Fort Union, the company's post at the mouth of 
the Yellowstone, and report for duty there. They were: 
Malcolm Clark, trader; John Neubert, tailor, and an- 
other, one Carson, a cordellier. Of the three, Neubert 
still lives. He is a prosperous cattle man, and has a 
ranch on the Teton river, a few miles north of Fort Ben- 
ton. Clark, a black haired, black eyed, swarthy colored 
man of splendid physique, would have held an important 
place as an officer of the great companv^, for he was very 
shrewd and intelligent, had it not been for his fierce 
and ungovernable temper. He had not the tact, patience, 
and forbearance so necessary in one who had to deal 
v/ith thousands of Indians, whO' were all powerful, verit- 
.able lords of the illimitable plains. It was this terrible 
temper of his which finally led to his untimely end, for 
he was killed by an Indian youth he had raised, who 
could no longer bear his blows and abuse. But Clark 
was a brave man, often foolishly brave. Nothing pleased 
him better than an encounter with hostile Indians or wild 
beasts. He loved to make blood flow. 
Having received their orders, the men patched up a 
small skift', threw in their bedding, a sack of salt, some 
tea and a kettle to steep it in, and started down the 
river. Think of that, ye latter day hunters ! Tea and 
salt only for a trip of five hundred miles! The men of 
those days subsisted on meat straight, and were content. 
On the 2ist of May, by a strange coincidence, the 
voyagers landed at the very point of timber where, fifty- 
four years before, to a day, Lewis & Clark had made 
their camp. They had been pulling steadily down stream 
since daylight, and were tired. The sun was still an 
hour high, but they had yet to kill some meat of some 
kind for their evening meal, before making camp. Beach- 
ing the skiff just below the timber, they climbed the 
bank, and saw a variety of game, buffalo, elk, and deer, 
grazing here and there in the open sage brush flat. But 
much nearer to them than any of these was a huge 
grizzly, just shambling into the woods. 
/'That's the fellow we want," said Clark. "He'll fur- 
nish us a plenty of good fat. Some slices of it skewered 
onto a good big piece of broiling meat will give it just 
the right medicine." 
Both Neubert and Carson objected to having anything 
to do with the bear. But Clark insisted: "I'll trail him 
up myself," he said. "Yon fellows post yourselves just 
back of the timber, and if I fail to kill him he is bound 
to come out and give you a fair chance at him." 
-Accordingly, Neubert and Carson went part way up 
the length of the timber and posted themselves on the 
slope 9f ti]? ^Jl, wher^ ^hey 9©uld obtain a good view 
