
496 
FORESTS AND STREAM: 
[Sert. 28, 1907. 

Our best hunting points lay about seven or 
eight miles up the run, and at that distance we 
were well out among the Indians. We used 
the greatest precaution, keeping in the openings 
as much as possible, taking turns at shooting. 
Half of our time was spent in scanning our sur- 
roundings, keeping constant watch for our toes, 
but this only gave zest to our sport, and go out 
we would in the face of all dangers, as redheads, 
canvasback and mallards, plover, curlews and 
jacksnipe with many others, such as geese, sarnid- 
hill cranes, swans and pelicans were in abund: 
ance all around us, and at times we would almost 
forget our foes. Big bald, black and gray eagles 
were other foes we had to contend with, ani 
many a fine big duck they would swoop down 
1 steal from us ere we could get to our 
Out from some pinnacle far up the moun- 
tain they would shoot like an arrow, gather up 
a duck in their talons and get away as fast as 
wing could carry them. Oh, yes, we often poured 
a load of No. 6 into them which made them drop 
the duck while feathers lew. We got them some- 

on and 
game 
times with BB’s. ; 
On one occasion three of us went out to our 
favorite ground. Fritz Moleman, one of the 
party, went up the river some three hundred 
yards above Mr. McManus and myself. Pres- 
ently we heard him give a regular Comanche 
yell and saw him coming toward us at break- 
neck speed, motioning toward the opposite side 
of the river, the shore of which was thickly 
studded with big boulders. Our horses were tied 
in some willows nearby and in short order we 
were in our saddles, shotguns thrust into scab- 
bards we carried for the purpose, and out flew 
our .44 long Colts. By this time Moleman had 
reached us. He did not have to explain his haste, 
for nearly opposite on the other side of the run, 
which was fordable at most any point, nine 
Apaches let out a warwhoop that started all the 
ducks down the run. . The Indians were some 
250 yards away. We rode up just out of range 
of the arrows and sent eight or ten .44s in among 
the rocks when they hastened to conceal them- 
They were foot Indians and we had little 
fear of them. ‘hey let fly a few arrows which 
fell far short of us, and our bullets rattling 
among the rocks quieted them. They had evi- 
dently made an attempt to sneak up on Mole- 
man, thinking him alone, but on discovering there 
were three of us they made no further demon- 
stration. 
We then rode down the river two or three 
miles, got among the ducks again and continued 
shooting to our hearts’ content; still keeping an 
eye open for Apaches. How often in boyhood 
days I read of a few white men being attacked 
by hordes of Indians and getting out of the scrape 
without a scratch. Northern and middle West 
tribes, such as the Cheyennes, Kaws, Utes and 
Sioux, had but few guns in those days and the 
Apache tribes These were Mescalero 
Apaches and they could obtain guns only when 
they killed an American or Mexican. Ammu- 
nition was scarce 
Many labor under the impression that an In- 
dian could send an arrow a long distance, while 
it took a powerful Indian with a strong bow to 
cast an arrow on rainbow line 125 or 150 yards. 
Shooting in a direct line fifty or seventy-five 
yards was exceptional. At seventy-five yards 
they could drop an arrow on a tin plate by fol- 
lowing the rainbow line. Thus it was that men 
with good pistols or rifles had no trouble in 
keeping them at a safe distance, as they were 
not anxious to get killed. 
I have never been able to determine what it 
is or whence comes this reckless desire to find 
this excitement so absorbing. 
Joun D. 

selves. 

€3ss. 

AYRES. 

Death of Frank F. Gilham. 
PorTLAND, Ore., Sept. 16.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: I have to regret being compelled to 
announce the very sudden taking off of Frank 
F. Gilham, a very old friend.» and thorough 
sportsman and gentleman, whose demise is very 
generally mourned by his many friends and ac- 
quaintances in this vicinity. Mr. Gilham died on 
Sept:-11 of Bright’s disease. His age was forty- 
seven years. Frep BEAL, Jr. 
Rain in the Woods. 
SARANAC Lake, N. Y., Sept. 15—Editor Forest 
and Stream: Your correspondent Juvenal re- 
ports in the issue of Sept. 14 from the Adiron- 
dacks that “the long continued drouth has been 
succeeded by ‘an abundance of rain.’ * * * It 
has rained most of the time this month, day and 
night, and also during the last days of August.” 
Why should the long weeks of fine weather have 
ceased so suddenly in the last days of August? 
Bitter experience makes the answer clear to me 
at least; in the last days of August I started 
out camping. 
This annual “taking to the woods” on my part 
is the surest sign of rain I know. All during 
July, and for nearly all of August, there was 
scarcely any rain in the Adirondacks. One 
beautiful day succeeded another until it seemed 
that southern California had sent us a section 
of her cloudless sky. But in those beautiful days 
of course I could not get away to take my 
annual trip. Like Juvenal I had to spend sev- 
eral of the best weeks in the city, and even 
after my return our start was postponed for one 
reason or another until Aug. 23, still another 
beautiful day. As we drove toward our jump- 
ing-off place on the north side of the big range 
we prayed that the weather might hold for a 
week longer; only a week. On, the afternoon 
of the 24th it began to rain. It rained nearly 
all might, and it rained for at least a part of 
four out of the seven days that we spent in the 
woods. 
It has ever been thus. As I look back over 
my many camping trips I can recall very. few 
during which the weather has been really decent. 
[ have camped in New England, New York, 
New Brunswick, Ontario; have chosen July, 
August, September in turn, but the result in 
the vast majority of cases has been the same. 
My first initiation into real camp life was a 
veritable baptism in the thorough-going Baptist 
It was in Vermont. As usual the start 
was made on a beautiful day. We got well into 
the woods and made camp. At 2 o’clock of the 
next morning the rain began—no gentle moun- 
tain mist, but a series of full grown, rip roar- 
ing New England thunder storms, one follow- 
ing close upon the track of another for. three 
days on end until the woods were soaked, the 
trout streams were raging torrents, and we had 
to replenish the larder from the outlying farms. 
In the entire week we had only two fairly pleas- 
ant days. 
Again in the same region a few years later I 
had almost the same experience, although this 
time the rain was of the drizzling variety and 
the fishing was not spoiled. But it continued 
with brief intermissions for five days out of our 
seven. One of the party, who was taking his 
first trip and was forced to leave on account of 
sense, 
some pressing work before the week was over, 
remarked afterward: “Lovely place to camp— 
Vermont! I was there four days and never 
saw the sun!” 
Still again ins company with five others I set 
forth to climb one of the highest peaks of the 
Green Mountains. We took four days for the 
trip. It rained nearly all the time except one 
day, and during the night we camped on the 
mountain the heavens fairly opened. We were 
glad we were so high up. 
But why spin out this tale of woe? Doubt- 
less there are many others who can parallel it. 
and there is a brighter side on which I have 
not dwelt—because I am dealing with the darker! 
And rain, even to the camper, is not always an 
unmixed evil. On my last trip, for example, the 
woods were so dry before the rain came that 
it was positively dangerous to light a fire except 
in a carefully chosen spot. The streams were 
pitifully, almost unprecedentedly low. So we wel- 
comed the first rain, for thereafter we could 
kindle a fire with no uneasiness. But one wet 
day or two would have amply sufficed for us 
at that time. More were uncalled for. Four 
seemed rather piling it on. Nevertheless the 
rains meted out to us were mild in comparison 
with the deluges that have descended since our 
return and we may be thankful for that. Verily 
we broke the drouth! 
From a broader point of View, rain in the 
| 
woods is a test not only of the camper’s temper 
and mettle, but also of his ability. It forces} 
him to adopt all sorts of expedients to secure! 
hot, unspoiled meals, to keep a dry bed, and to} 
search out sufficient supplies of suitable fire! 
wood. There is a certain joy to be the dyed- 
in-the-wool camper in devising various means} 
of circumventing old Jupiter Pluvius—at least} 
so far as the essentials of mere comfort are con-| 
cerned. It reminds me of the remark of an old| 
camping friend of mine when we first tried the) 
inner cheese cloth tent as a bar against mosqui- | 
toes, black flies, punkies and that ilk. It was) 
early July and the usual shower on our first 
evening brought out these pests in swarms. In 
the morning the outside of our cheese cloth was 
black with them and the vicious, baffled hum 
aroused us early. “Sing away, dern ye!” said 
my friend, “I like to hear ye!” We had for 
once euchred the brutes. 
One can even hunt or fish much as usual in 
spite of the rain, but the rainy deity has his 
revenge nevertheless, for after all one does not 
go into the woods to lie about all day in the 
tent, certain of a drenching if he persists in stir- 
ring abroad. Persistent rain ruins all that pleas- 
ant loafing about in the woodland trails, along 
the brook, or in some berry patch on the moun- 
tain side. And in this is one of the chief joys 
of camping for me. It is not pleasant to sit on 
a sodden log in the rain watching for the sights | 
of the forest, but how different when that same 
log is dry and the filtered disks of sunlight are 
shifting over the forest floor! 
Another resultant profit of a rainy trip in the 
woods is the quickening it gives to one’s sym- 
pathies. How much more appreciative you are 
of the account given. by Lewis and Clark of 
those soaking weeks near the mouth of the 
Columbia! Or of explorations in the coastal 
region of Alaska!» Your own ‘humble experi- 
ences have supplied you with the proper mental 
attitude. I have read and have even heard peo- 
ple say that the continuous ‘cloudless skies of 
parts of California in the summer time become 
monotonous as they recur day after day, week 
after week. Has any camper ever found them 
so? I, for one, am quite willing to risk a few 
weeks of such monotony. 
But every day cannot be fair for the camper, 
at least in the northeastern. portion of our 
glorious country. If one has had experience of 
the worst he is all the better prepared to enjoy 
the best. No trip in which I have taken part 
has ever been so wet that the spirits of the party 
were damped thereby, and my luck will have to 
be worse than it has yet been before I abandon 
my annual outing in the woods. PN ba NIA 


Shooting Prospects in North Carolina. 
RareicH, N. C., Sept. 21.—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Inquiries made of a number of sport- 
ing friends in quite a wide circle of counties in 
North Carolina show that the quail crop is a 
good one this season. June was dry, exactly what 
they wanted, and the food has been varied and 
abundant. In a great many cases there have 
been double broods of birds, it is said. The 
news from the shooting preserves is also of a 
character to show that birds are numerous and 
in many cases well grown. The protecticn of 
birds has had a very marked effect and many 
core into the towns. 
Sportsmen assure me that the game laws have 
been better enforced in the up country than ever 
before. Public sentiment has turned all in favor 
of the support of bird protection laws, and while 
at the first there was some outcry at every prose- 
cution of violators, this is all now ended. and 
witnesses are not hard to find and evidence 
forthcomes as promptly as could be desired. 
Governor Glenn has appointed several new 
wardens and the general work done by them 
is good. Two new shooting clubs have been 
chartered. The opening of the new railway from 
Raleigh to the coast at Washington, which is 
an event of October, brings into use a territory 
not heretofore reachable, and sportsmen are going 
to find the gunning particularly fine, notably in 
the eastern part of this county, through Nash, 
Wilson, Pitt and other counties. This will give 
a new way of getting into the lower river and 


