870 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 16, 1911. 
A Hunt in the Snow 
By MOQUIS 
E ARLY one morning in December, just after 
a light snow had fallen quietly during the 
night, I awoke to find the earth wrapped 
in a fleecy mantle, and the trees bending earth¬ 
ward beneath its weight. We had previously had 
a fall upon which I made no venture, but now I 
thought it -was time to awake Augustus, who 
was with me, and tell him of the good fortune 
there would be in store for him and me if we 
could both contrive, through a sudden indisposi¬ 
tion^—to work—to go for recreation to the great 
green woods and make our first trial for the 
season. 
Accordingly, I tried to arouse Augustus, but 
he answered each call with a still louder and 
more defiant snore until, out of patience, I gave 
him a prod in the back, which at once brought 
him to his feet with a mad gleam in his eye and 
a big, round fist doubled up, which he shook 
in my face, but when I cried : “Halt, eyes right, 
look to the left!” he looked out of the window 
and smiled in a way that betokened that his un¬ 
ceremonious awakening had inflicted but momen¬ 
tary pain upon him, and he was ready vi et armis 
to go with me to the encounter. 
We dressed hurriedly, ordered the nag put into 
his harness, and the pung to be brought out from 
its long seclusion in the barn loft and lowered 
to the ground, the bells to be brought and hung 
around Dobbin’s neck, and soon our servitor an¬ 
nounced all to be in readiness, and with grins 
saw us partake of a hasty lunch and a cup of 
strong coffee and bestow ourselves within the 
pung. Dobbin pricked up his ears, lifted his feet 
lively, and we flew out of the yard on our way 
to Holloway’s with our hearts as full of hope as 
the unwhipped school boy who has run away 
from school and escaped his tyrant master's eye. 
We drove rapidly without a hitch for the first 
few miles, where the roads were smooth and 
level, but when we got out into the country, with 
its rough and uneven roads, we found a d'ffer- 
ence. The runners began to cut through the 
light surface of the snow, and to drag with a 
rasping and nerve-racking sound upon the hard 
ruts and gravel of the stratum beneath. The 
horse began to slacken his speed and to sweat 
profusely, so we were forced to let him walk, 
and did not urge him until we caught sight of 
Frank’s house, and there I bethought myself that 
I could probably make a temporary exchange of 
a pung for a wagon, and prosecute my journey 
to its end, for it was plainly apparent we could 
never reach our destination in the conveyance we 
had. We therefore drove into Frank’s yard. He 
was at his breakfast when we called him out and 
got him to loan us his wagon, which he readily 
agreed to do. 
We accordingly lost no time in slipping Dobbin 
out of the shafts and into the thills of the 
wagon, and with Frank wishing us a hearty good¬ 
bye and successful return, we drove out of his 
yard on our way to old Price’s, where we were 
sure of a warm reception, consisting of hard 
cider, mixed with a little mustard seed and old 
rum, which makes a very beneficial beverage for 
the cure of cramp in the stomach on a cold 
day. 
Arrived at Price's we found the old man glad 
to see us, and we think he was, but his dog was 
not, for he caught me by the right leg and tore 
a piece of corduroy a half yard in length from 
my nether extremities. However, my good wife 
had provided me with some safety pins as usual, 
for she always pinned her faith in the provi¬ 
dential resources of a woman’s wit; that is to 
say, pins and needles, and provided me with a 
supply both at home and abroad. 
Augustus and I entered the swamp of the 
Great Cedars, where the blackness of the night 
is not equalled by the darkness of the day un¬ 
derneath, for the dense frondage of the cedars 
lends a cavernous gloom to all beneath. 
We had hardly entered the swamp, Augustus 
on my right, the dog in front, and both just 
vanishing amid the intricacies of the cedars, 
when “Boom!” sounded a gun, then Augustus 
shouted : “I have got him ; a big white fellow!” 
Before I could fairly shout back in reply again 
both barrels roared forth. Augustus swore, for 
the rabbit gave two jumps, one at each report, 
and no report has ever been heard of him since, 
for he vanished from the view of Augustus for¬ 
ever. 
Augustus kicked the dog. The dog retaliated 
T HREE of us were away from our main camp 
on a trip of about ten days. Mr. Bowen 
was quite anxious to kill a bear—he having 
bet with Mr. Snow that he (Bowen) would get 
a bear on the trip—and had traveled the old 
roads for many miles without avail. One after¬ 
noon while he was away hunting for his bear 
Mr. Snow proposed to go out upon an old road 
for game. We started about 4 o’clock. He took 
my rifle. AI. Moore, the guide, took my shot¬ 
gun and I followed along whittling, going sim¬ 
ply for company. We came to a berry patch 
among burned stumps and bushes not far from 
camp, where Mr. Snow discovered a bear and 
blazed away, missing the first shot, and as the 
bear raised his head to investigate, he blazed 
away again The bear dropped his head slightly 
at the shot and started off at a good rate. Mr. 
Snow and Al. ran after him, both shooting as 
fast as practicable. I stood in the trail, and 
when the bear made a circle out of their sight 
and around some bushes, I called to them to 
look out, as he was coming back. 
1 he bear struck the trail and was evidently 
making for the cover in which he had slept dur¬ 
ing the day. I was standing in that very trail 
and had no weapon but my pocket knife. I 
hastily put it away and looked for a club, as he 
was only about sixty feet away. On my calling. 
by taking the route for home, and we saw him no 
more that day. We looked at each other and 
decided to play at being dog ourselves, then set 
forth in the same direction. The one on the 
right bank of the frozen stream near which we 
stood, and the other pursuing the left bank, and 
so we went for a long time. I saw no sign of 
life, but occasionally heard the boom of Augus¬ 
tus’ gun, whose boom for high place was evi¬ 
dently assured by the fixed decision of the fates 
for that day. So I felt, as another boom re¬ 
sounded on my ear. 
I called out: “What have you got this time?” 
“A big hare under a stump.” 
“Yes, with his eyes open.” 
And so it went until the shadows fell. I 
traversed a lot of territory. If the land had 
been productive, and it had been mine, I should 
have had the largest estate in the county. As it 
was I had done nothing and accounted myself 
a thermometer at zero. 
But lo! in a quiet place, a dense growth of cat 
briers, ferns and alders, so thick I could scarce 
pull myself through -them, nor would even 
safety pins prevent painful perforations of the 
epidermis while making the attempt and causing 
the victim to raise his voice in passionate anger, 
out sped a white rabbit that looked as big as a 
buck, and the big old ten-pound gun sent a charge 
after him that knocked him over with 10,000 
flecks of cotton streaking the air. 
“Hurrah ! Hurrah! the day is won; I get my 
share of hare and fun.” 
Mr. Snow and Al. had come back toward me, 
and on getting sight of the bear, Mr. Snow shot 
again, hitting the bear in the ear and dropping 
him, much to my relief. 
Perhaps the bear would have abandoned the 
trail on seeing me, but I was not sure of that. 
We found that the second shot had grazed the 
top of the bear’s head, and that no other shot 
but the last one had hit him. We took him to 
camp and hung him up in an old log blacksmith 
shop just out of sight, and as we often sat in 
the shop to rest up, we induced Mr. Bowen to 
enter without informing him of our luck. He 
was quite surprised and staggered back, as the 
shop was somewhat dark at that time of the day 
and he did not see the bear until he was quite 
close to it. He bemoaned his lack of luck, but 
said that he was glad we were successful, and 
all of the party were curious to conjecture what 
would have happened to me if the last shot had 
been a miss. 
We took the bear, after being drawn, to our 
main camp, where a photograph was taken, show¬ 
ing Mr. Snow somewhat out of his usual coun- < 
tenance by reason of the sun shining in his face, 
but looking as distressed as I was on the trail 
with the bear coming my way. The net result 
to Mr. Snow is a fine bear skin rug and a fine 
Milam reel. 
How We Secured the Bear 
By WILLIAM H. HOLDEN 
