"And now their hatchets, with resounding stroke,
Hew'd down the boscage that around them rose,
And the dry pine of brittle branches broke,
To yield them fuel for the night's repose;
The gathered heap an ample store bespoke.
They smite the steel: the tinder brightly glows,
And the fired match the kindled flames awoke,
And light upon night's seated darkness broke.
High branch'd the pines, and far the colonnade
Of tapering trunks stood glimmering through the glen;
So joyed the hunters in their lonely glade."
"Hurra! the stragglers have arrived!" exclaimed Codman, the first to notice
the hunter and Claud as they shot into the mouth of the small, quiet river,
on whose bank was busily progressing the work of the incipient encampment.
"Hurra for the arrival of the good ship Brag, Phillips, master; but where
is his black duck, with a big trout to its foot? Ah, ha! not forthcoming,
hey? Kuk-kuk-ke-oh-o!"
"Don't crow till you see what I have got, Mr. Trapper," replied the hunter,
running in his canoe by the sides of those of his companions on shore.
"Don't crow yet,--especially over the failure of what I didn't undertake:
you or Mr. Carvil was to furnish the big trout, you will recollect."
"That has been attended to by me, to the satisfaction of the company, I
rather think," remarked Carvil, now advancing towards the bank with the
rest. "Not only one big trout, but two more with it, was drawn in by my
method, on the way."
"O, accident, accident!" waggishly rejoined the trapper; "they were hooked
by mere accident. The fact is, the trouts are so thick in these lakes that
a hook and line can't be drawn such a distance through them without getting
into some of their mouths. But, allowing it otherwise, it don't cure but
half of your case, Mr. Hunter. Where is the black duck?"
"_Here_ is the black duck," responded the hunter, stepping ashore and
drawing his cub out from under some screening boughs in the bow of the
boat.
A lively shout of laughter burst from the lips of the company at the
disclosure, showing alike their amusement at the practical way in which the
hunter had turned the jokes of the teasing trapper, and their agreeable
surprise at his luck in the uncertain hunting cruise along the shores, on
which they, without any expectation of his success, had banteringly
dispatched him. "Ah, I think you may as well give up beat, all round, Mr.
Codman," observed Mark Elwood, after the surprise and laughter had
subsided. "But come up here, neighbor Phillips, and see what a nice place
we are going to have for our camp."
Leaving the game in charge of Claud and Carvil, who volunteered to dress
it, the rest of the company walked up with the hunter to the spot where the
new shanty was in progress, wishing to hear his opinion of the location
selected, and the plan on which it had been commenced.
The location to which the company had been guided by the trapper was a
level space, about ten rods back from the stream here falling into the lake
from the east, and at the foot of a rocky acclivity forming a portion of
the southern side of a high ridge that ran down to the lake. The first ten
feet of the rise was formed by the smooth, even face of a perpendicular
rock, which from the narrow shelf at the top fell off into a less
precipitous ascent, extending up as far as the eye could reach among the
stunted evergreens and other low bushes that partially covered it. About a
dozen feet in front of this abutting rock, equidistant from it, and some
fifteen feet apart, stood two spruce trees, six or eight inches in diameter
at the bottom, but tall, and tapering towards the top. These, the company,
who had reached the place about two hours before, had contrived, by rolling
up some old logs to stand on, to cut off, and fell, six or seven feet from
the ground; so that the tall stumps might serve for the two front posts of
the proposed structure. And, having trimmed out the tops of the two fallen
trees, and cut them into the required lengths, they had laid them from the
top of the rock to the tops of the stumps, which had been first grooved
out, so as to receive and securely fasten the ends of the timbers. These,
with the stout poles which they had then cut and laid on transversely, at
short intervals, made a substantial framework for the roof of the shantee.
And, in addition to this, rows of side and front posts had been cut,
sharpened, driven into the ground at the bottom, and securely fastened at
the top to the two rafters at the sides and the principal beam, which had
been notched into them at the lower ends to serve for the front plate.
"Just the spot," said the hunter, after running his eye over and around
the locality a moment, and then going up and inspecting the structure in
progress. "I thought Codman could not miss so remarkable a place. I have
been thinking of building a camp here for several years; but it never
seemed to come just right till this fall. Why, you all must have worked
like beavers to get along with the job so well, and to do it so thoroughly.
The bones of the thing are all now up, as far as I can see, and made strong
enough to withstand all the snows and blows of half a dozen winters. So,
now, nothing remains but to put on the bark covering."
"But how are we to get the bark covering?" asked Gaut Gurley. "Bark will
not peel well at this season, will it?"
"No, not very well, I suppose," replied the former. "But I will see what I
can do towards hunting up the material, to-morrow. A coat of these spruce
boughs, spread over this framework above, and set up here against the
sides, will answer for to-night. And this rigging up, gathering hemlock
boughs for our beds, building a good fire here in front, and cooking the
supper, are all we had better think of attempting this evening; and, as it
is now about sunset, let us divide off the labor, and go at it."
The encampment of these adventurous woodsmen presented, for the next hour,
a stirring and animated scene. The different duties to be performed having
been apportioned by mutual agreement among the company, they proceeded with
cheerful alacrity to the performance of their respective tasks. Phillips
and Carvil set busily to work in covering, inclosing, and rigging up the
camp,--to adopt the woodsman's use of that word, as we notify the critic we
shall do, as often as we please, albeit that use, contrary to Noah Webster,
indicates the structure in which men lodge in the woods, rather than the
place or company encamping. Mark Elwood, Gaut Gurley, and the young Indian
Tomah, proceeding to a neighboring windfall of different kinds of wood,
went to work in cutting and drawing up a supply of fuel, among which, the
accustomed backlog, forestick, and intermediate kindling-wood, being
adjusted before the entrance of the camp, the fire from the smitten steel
and preserving punkwood was soon crackling and throwing around its ruddy
glow, as it more and more successfully competed with the waning light of
the departing day. Claud and Codman, in fulfilment of their part of the
business on hand, then unpacked the light frying-pans, laid in them the
customary slices of fat salted pork, and shortly had them sharply hissing
over the fire, preparatory to receiving respectively their allotted quotas
of the tender and nutritious bearsteaks, or the broad layers of the rich,
red-meated trout.
In a short time the plentiful contents of the pans were thoroughly cooked,
the pans taken from the fires, the potatoes raked from the glowing embers,
in which they had been roasting under the forestick, the brown bread and
condiments brought forward, and all placed upon the even face of a broad,
thin sheet of cleft rock, which they had luckily found in the adjacent
ledge, and brought forward and elevated on blocks within the camp, to
serve, as it well did, for their sylvan table. Gathering round this, they
proceeded to help themselves, with their camp knives and rude trenchers,
split from blocks of the freely-cleaving basswood, to such kinds and
portions of the savory viands, smoking so invitingly in the pans before
them, as their inclinations severally prompted. Having done this, they drew
back to seats on broad chips, blocks of wood, piles of boughs, or other
objects nearest at hand, and began upon their long anticipated meal with a
gusto which made them for a while too busy for conversation, other than an
occasional brief remark on the quality of the food, or some jocose allusion
to the adventures of the day. After they had finished their repast,
however, and cleared away the relics of the supper, together with the few
utensils they had used in cooking and eating it, they replenished their
fire; and, while the cheerful light of its fagot-fed blaze was flashing up
against the dark forest around, and shooting away through the openings of
the foliage in long glimmering lines over the waters below, they all placed
themselves at their ease,--some sitting on blocks, some leaning against the
posts, and some reclining on piles of boughs,--and commenced the social
confab, or that general conversation, in which woodsmen, if they ever do,
are prone to indulge after the fatigues of the day are over, and the
consequent demands of appetite have been appeased by a satisfactory meal.
"Now, gentlemen, I will make a proposition," said Mark Elwood, in a pause
of the conversation, which, though it had been engaged in with considerable
spirit, yet now began to flag. "I will propose, as we have an hour or two
on hand, to be spent somehow, before we shall think of rolling ourselves up
in our blankets for the night,--I propose that you professional hunters,
like Phillips, Codman, and Carvil, here, each give us a story of one of
your most remarkable adventures in the woods. It would not only while away
the hour pleasantly for us all, but might furnish useful information and
timely hints for us beginners in this new life, upon which we are about to
enter. For my part, I should like to listen to a story, by these old
witnesses, of the strange things they must have encountered in the woods.
What say you, Gurley, Claud, and Tomah? Shall we put them on the stand?"
"Yes, a good idea," replied Gaut, his habitual cold reserve relaxing into
something like cordiality; "I feel just in the humor to listen,--more so
than to talk, on this hearty supper. Yes, by all means let us have the
stories."
"O, I should be exceedingly gratified," joined in Claud, in his usual frank
and animated manner.
"I like that, too; like to hear hunting story, always, much," added Tomah,
with a glistening eye.
"Well, no particular objection as far as I am concerned," responded the
trapper, seriously; but adding, with his old waggish gleam of the eye:
"that is, if you will take what I give, and swallow it as easily as you did
Phillips' fish story. But let Carvil, who must be the youngest, go on with
_his_ story first; I will follow; and Phillips shall bring up the rear."
Carvil, after making a few excuses that were not suffered to avail him,
commenced his narration, which we will head
THE AMATEUR WOODSMAN'S STORY.
"I call myself a woodsman, and a pretty good one, now; but, four years ago,
I was almost any thing else but one of _any_ kind. I should have then
thought it would have certainly been the death of me to have lain out one
night in the woods. And I had no more idea of ever becoming a hunter or
trapper, to remain out, as I have since done, for weeks and months in the
depths of the wilderness, with no other protection than my rifle, and no
other shelter than what I could fix up with my hatchet for the night, where
I happened to be, on the approach of darkness, than I now have of
undertaking to swim the Atlantic. And, as the circumstances which led to
this revolution in my opinions and habits, when _out_ of the woods, may as
much interest you, in the account, as any thing that happened to me after I
got into them, I will first briefly tell you how I came to be a woodsman,
and then answer your call by relating a hunting incident which occurred to
me after I became one; which, if not very marvellous, shall, at least, have
the merit of truth and reality.
"I was brought up rather tenderly, as to work; and my parents, absurdly
believing that, with my then slight frame, any employment requiring any
labor or physical exertion would injure me, put me to study, and assisted
me to the means of entering college at eighteen, and of graduating at
twenty-two. Well, I did not misimprove my opportunities for knowledge, I
believe; but, instead of gaining strength and manhood by my exemption from
labor, I grew feebler and feebler. Still, I did not know what was wanting
to give me health and constitution, nor once think that a mind without a
body is a thing not worth having; and so I went on, keeping within doors
and studying a profession, until I found myself a poor, nervous, miserable
dyspeptic, and threatened with consumption. It was now plain enough that,
if I would avoid a speedy death, something must be done; and, by the advice
of the doctors, who were about as ignorant of the philosophy of health as
myself, I concluded to seek a residence and livelihood in one of the
Southern States. Accordingly, I packed up and took stage for Boston, timing
my journey so as to get there the day before the ship, on which I had
previously ascertained I could find a passage, was to sail for Savannah.
But, the morning after I arrived, a severe storm came on, and the sailing
of the ship was deferred till the next day; so, having nothing to do,
knowing nobody to talk with, and the weather being too stormy to go out to
see the city, I took to my solitary room in the hotel, where, fortunately,
there were neither books nor papers to prevent me from thinking. And I
_did_ think, that day, almost for the first time in my life, without the
trammels of fashionable book-theories, and more effectually than I had ever
done before. I had a favorite classmate in college, whose name was Silas
Wright, who had a mind that penetrated, like light, every thing it was
turned upon, and who never failed to see the truth of a matter, though his
towering ambition sometimes prevented him from following the path where it
led. In recalling, as I was pacing the floor that gloomy day, my old
college friends and their conversation, I happened to think of what Wright
once said to me on the subject of health and long life.
"'Carvil,' said he, 'did you know that we students were committing treason
against the great laws of life which God has laid down for us?'
"'No.'
"'Well, we are. Man was made for active life, and in the open air.'
"'But _you_, it seems, are not observing the theory about which you are so
positive?'
"'No, and don't intend to. To observe that, I must relinquish all thought
of mounting the professional and political ladder, even half way to the
mark I _must_ and _will_ reach. I have naturally a strong constitution, and
I calculate it will last, with the rapid mounting I intend, till I reach
the top round, and that is all that I care for. But I shall know, all the
while, that I am going up like a rocket, whose height and brilliancy are
only attained by the certain and rapid wasting of the substance that
composes it. But the case is different with you, Carvil. You have a
constitution yet to make, or your rocket will go out, before you can get
high enough, in these days of jostling and severe competition, to warrant
the attempt of mounting at all.'
"Such was one of Wright's intuitive grasps at the truth, hid under the
false notions of the times, or the artificial theories of books, which he
was wasting his life to master, and often only mastering to despise. And I,
being now earnestly in search of the best means of health, eagerly caught
at his notion, which placed the matter in a light in which I had never
before seriously viewed it, and, indeed, struck me with a force that soon
brought me to a dead stand in all my calculations for the future. 'What is
it,' thought I, running into a sort of mental dialogue with myself, and
calling in what little true science I had learned, to aid me in fully
testing the soundness of the notion, before I finally gave in to it; 'what
is it that hardens the muscles, and compacts the human system?'--'Thorough
exercise, and constant use.'--'Can these be had in the study-room?'
'No.'--'And what is the invigorating and fattening principle of the air we
breathe?'--'Oxygen.'--'Can this be had in the close or artificially-heated
room?'--'No, except in stinted and uncertain proportions. It can be
breathed in the open fields, but much more abundantly in the
woods.'--'Well, what do I need?'--'Only hardening and invigorating.'--'But
shall I go to the relaxing clime of the South for this?'--'No; the northern
wilderness were a hundred times better.'--'It is settled,
then.'--'Landlord,' I cried aloud, as I saw that personage at that moment
passing by my partly open door, 'when does the first stage, going north,
start?'
"'In twenty minutes, and from my door.'
"'Order on my luggage, here; make out your bill; and I will be on hand.'
"And I was on hand at the time, and the next hour on my way home, which I
duly reached, but only to start off immediately to the residence of a
hunter acquaintance, a dozen miles off, who, I knew, was about to start for
the head-waters of the Connecticut, on his annual fall hunting expedition.
I found him, joined him, and within ten days was entering, with pack and
rifle, the unbroken wilderness, by his side, though with many misgivings.
But my first night out tested and settled the matter forever. We had had a
fatiguing march, at least to me, and the last part of it in the rain. We
had to lay down in a leaking camp, and I counted myself a dead man. But, to
my astonishment, I awoke the next morning, unhurt, and even feeling better
than I had for a month. And I constantly grew better and hardier, through
that and my next year's campaign in that region, and through the two
succeeding ones I made on the Great Megantic; where the incident which I
propose to relate to you, it being my best strike in moose-hunting,
occurred, and which happened in this wise:
"It was a raw, gloomy day in November, and I had been lazily lying in my
solitary camp, on the borders of this magnificent lake, all the forenoon.
But, after dinner, I began to feel a little more like action, and soon
concluded I would explore a sort of creek-looking stream, four or five rods
wide, which I had noticed entering the lake about a mile off, but which I
had never entered. Accordingly, I loaded my rifle, took my powder-horn, put
two spare bullets in my vest-pocket, not supposing I could have use for
more, entered my canoe, and pulled leisurely away for the place. After
reaching and entering this sluggish stream, I went on paddling and pushing
my way along through and under the overhanging bushes and treetops,
something like half a mile, when I came to higher banks and a series of
knolls jutting down to the stream, which, with frequent sharp curves and
crooks, wound its way among them. On turning one of these sharp points, my
eyes suddenly encountered a sight that made my heart jump. On a high, open,
and almost bare bluff, directly before me, and not fifteen rods distant,
stood two tremendous moose, as unconcernedly as a pair of oxen chewing
their cuds, or dozing in a pasture. The last was unusually large, the
biggest a monster, appearing, to my wide-opened eyes, with his eight or
nine foot height, and ten or eleven foot spread of antlers, as he stood up
there against the sky, like some reproduced mastodon of the old legends.
Quietly falling back and running in under a screening treetop, I pulled
down a branch and put in under my foot to hold and steady my canoe. When I
raised my rifle, I aimed it for the heart of the big moose, and fired. But,
to my great surprise, the animal never stirred nor moved a muscle.
Supposing I had somehow unaccountably missed hitting him, even at all, I
fell, with nervous haste, to reloading my piece; and, having got all right,
as I supposed, I raised it this time towards the smaller moose, standing a
little nearer and presenting a fairer mark; took a long and careful aim,
and again let drive; but again without the least effect. Utterly confounded
to have missed a second time, with so fair a shot, I stood half confused a
moment, first querying whether something was not the matter with my eyes,
and then thinking of stories I had heard of witches turning away bullets
from their object. But I soon mechanically began to load up again; and,
having got in my powder, I put my hand in my pocket for a bullet, when I
found there both the balls I had brought with me from camp, and
consequently knew that in my eager haste in loading for my last shot, I had
neglected to put in any bullet at all! But I now put in the bullet, looked
at it after it was entered, to make sure it was there, and then felt it all
the way down, till I had rammed it home. I then raised the luckless piece
once more, uncertain at first which of the two moose I should take, this
time. But, seeing the smaller one beginning to move his head and lay back
his horns, which I well enough knew was his signal for running, I instantly
decided to take _him_, took a quick, good aim, and fired. With three
dashing bounds forward, the animal plunged headlong to the ground. Knowing
that one to be secure, at least, I then turned my attention to the big one.
To my astonishment, he was still there, and, notwithstanding all the
firing, had not moved an inch. But, before I got loaded for another trial
upon him, I looked up again, when a motion in his body had become plainly
visible. Presently he began to sway to and fro, like a rocking tower, and,
the next moment, went over broadside, with a thundering crash, into the
bushes. My first shot, it appeared, had, after all, done the business,
having pierced his lungs and caused an inward flow of blood, that stopped
his breath at the time he fell. All was now explained, except the wonder
that such shy animals should stand so much firing without running. But the
probability is, that, not seeing me, they took the reports of my rifle for
some natural sound, such as that of thunder, or the falling of a tree;
while, perhaps, the great one, when he was hit, was too much paralyzed to
move, by the rupture of some important nerve. But, however that may be, you
have the facts by which to judge for yourselves. And I have now only to
add, that, having gone to the spot, bled, partially dressed the animals,
and got them into a condition to be left, I went off to the nearest camps
and rallied out help; when, after much toil and tugging, we got the
carcases home to my shanty, for present eating, curing, and distributing
among the neighboring hunters, who soon flocked in to congratulate me on my
singular good luck, and receive their ever freely-bestowed portions, and
who unanimously pronounced my big prize the largest moose ever slain in all
the regions of the Great Megantic."
THE TRAPPER'S STORY.
"My story," commenced the trapper, who was next called on for his promised
contribution to the entertainment of the evening, "my story is of a
different character from the one you have just heard. It don't run so much
to the great and terrible as the small and curious. It may appear to you
perhaps a little queer, in some parts; but which, after the modest drafts
that have been made on my credulity, you will, of course, have the good
manners to believe. It relates to an adventure in beaver-hunting, which I
met with, many years ago, on Moosehead Lake, where I served my
apprenticeship at trapping. I had established myself in camp, the last of
August, about the time the beavers, after having collected in communities,
and established their never-failing democratic government, generally get
fairly at work on their dams and dwelling-houses, for the ensuing cold
months, in places along the small streams, which they have looked out and
decided on for the purpose. I was thus early on the ground, in order to
have time, before I went to other hunting, to look up the localities of the
different societies, so that I need not blunder on them and disturb them,
in the chase for other animals, and so that I should know where to find
them, when their fur got thick enough to warrant the onslaught upon them
which I designed to make.
"In hunting for these localities in the vicinity around me, I soon
unexpectedly discovered marks of what I thought must be a very promising
one, situated on a small stream, not over half a mile in a bee-line over
the hills from my camp. When I discovered the place,--as I did from
encountering, at short intervals in the woods, two wolverines, always the
great enemy and generally the prowling attendant of assembled
beavers,--these curious creatures had just begun to lay the foundation of
their dam. And the place being so near, and the nights moon-light, I
concluded I would go over occasionally, evenings,--the night being the only
time when they can ever be seen engaged on their work,--and see if I could
gain some covert near the bank, where, unperceived, I might watch their
operations, and obtain some new knowledge of their habits, of which I might
thereafter avail myself, when the season for hunting them arrived.
Accordingly, I went over that very evening, in the twilight, secured a
favorable lookout, and laid in wait for the appearance of the beavers.
Presently I was startled by a loud rap, as of a small paddle struck
flatwise on the water, then another, and another, in quick succession. It
was the signal of the master workman, for all the workers to leave their
hiding-places in the banks, and repair to their labors in making the dam.
The next moment the whole stream seemed to be alive with the numbers in
motion. I could hear them, sousing and plunging in the water, in every
direction,--then swimming and puffing across or up and down the
stream,--then scrambling up the banks,--then the auger-like sound of their
sharp teeth, at work on the small trees,--then soon the falling of the
trees,--then the rustling and tugging of the creatures, in getting the
fallen trees out of the water,--and, finally, the surging and splashing
with which they came swimming towards the ground-work of the dam, with the
butt end of those trees in their mouths. The line of the dam they had
begun, passed with a curve up stream in the middle, so as to give it more
strength to resist the current; across the low-water bed of the river some
five rods; and extended up over the first low bank, about as much farther,
to a second and higher bank, which must have bounded the water at the
greatest floods. They had already cut, drawn on, and put down, a double
layer of trees, with their butts brought up evenly to the central line, and
their tops pointing in opposite directions,--those of one layer, or row,
pointing up, and those of the other, down stream. Among and under this line
of butts had been worked in an extra quantity of limbs, old wood, and short
bushes, so as to give the centre an elevation of a foot or two, over the
lowest part of the sides, which, of course, fell off considerably each way
in the lessening of the tops of the trees, thus put down. Over all these
they had plastered mud, mixed in with stones, grass, and moss, so thick as
not only to hold down securely the bodies of the trees, but nearly conceal
them from sight.
"Scarcely had I time to glance over these works, which I had not approached
near enough to inspect much, before the beavers from below, and above came
tugging along, by dozens on a side to the lower edges of their embankment,
with the loads or rafts of trees which they had respectively drawn to the
spot. Lodging these on the solid ground, with the ends just out of water,
they relinquished their holds, mounted the slopes, paused a minute to take
breath, and then, seizing these ends again, drew them, with the seeming
strength of horses, out of the water and up to the central line on top;
laid the stems or bodies of the trees parallel, and as near together as
they could be got; and adjusted the butt ends, as I have stated they did
with the foundation layers, so as to bring them to a sort of joint on the
top. They then all went off for new loads, with the exception of a small
squad, a part of which were still holding their trees in a small space in
the dam, where the current had not been checked, and the other part
bringing stones, till they had confined the trees down to the bottom, so
that they would not be swept away. This task of filling the gap, however,
after some severe struggling with the current, was before long
accomplished; when those engaged upon it joined in the common work, in
which they steadily persevered till this second double layer of trees, with
the large quantities of short bushes which they brought and wove into the
chinks, near the top, was completed, through the whole length of their dam.
They then collected along on the top of the dam, and seemed to hold a sort
of consultation, after which they scattered for the banks of the stream,
but soon returned, walking on their hind legs, and each bringing a load of
mud or stones, held between his fore paws and throat. These loads were
successively deposited, as they came up, among the stems and interlacing
branches of the trees and bushes they had just laid down, giving each
deposited pile, as they turned to go back, a smart blow with the flat of
their broad thick tails, producing the same sound as the one I have
mentioned as the signal-raps for calling them out to work, only far less
loud and sharp, since the former raps were struck on water, and the latter
on mud or rubbish. Thus they continued to work,--and work, too, with a
will, if any creatures ever did,--till I had seen nearly the whole of the
last layers plastered over.
"Thinking now I had seen all that would be new and useful to me, I
noiselessly crept away and returned to camp, to lay awake half the night,
in my excitement, and to dream, the other half, about this magnificent
society of beavers, whose numbers I could not make less than three dozen.
I did not go to steal another view of the place for nearly a week, and then
went in the daytime, there now being no moon, till late,--when, to my
surprise, I found the dam finished, and the river flowed into a pond of
several acres, while on each side, ranged along, one after another, stood
three family dwellings in different states of progress; some of them only
rising to the surface of the water, showing the nature of the structure,
which, you know, is built up with short, small logs, and mud, in a squarish
form, of about the size of a large chimney; while others, having been built
up a foot or two above the water, and the windows fashioned, had been
arched over with mud and sticks, and were already nearly finished.
"Knowing that the establishment was now so nearly completed that the
beavers would not relinquish it without being disturbed by the presence of
a human foe,--which they will sometimes detect, I think, at nearly a
quarter of a mile distance,--I concluded to keep entirely away from them
till the time of my contemplated onslaught, which I finally decided to
begin on one of the first days of the coming November.
"Well, what with hunting deer, bear, and so on, for food, and lynx, otter,
and sable, for furs, the next two months passed away, and the long
anticipated November at length arrived; when, one dark, cloudy day, having
cut a lot of bits of green wood for bait, got out my vial of castor to
scent them with, and got my steel traps in order, with these equipments and
my rifle I set off, for the purpose of commencing operations, of some kind,
on my community of beavers. On reaching the spot, I crept to my old covert
with the same precautions I had used on my former visits, thinking it
likely enough that, on so dark a day, some of the beavers might be out;
and, wishing to know how this was, before proceeding openly along, the
banks to look out the right places to set my traps, I listened a while, but
could hear no splashing about the pond, or detect any _other_ sounds
indicating that the creatures were astir; but, on peering out, I saw a
large, old beaver perched in a window of one of the beaver-houses on the
opposite shore. I instinctively drew up my rifle,--for it was a fair shot,
and I knew I could draw him,--but I forbore, and contented myself with
watching his motions. I might have lain there ten minutes, perhaps, when
this leader, or judge in the beaver Israel, as he soon showed himself to
be, quietly slid out into the water, swam into a central part of the pond,
and, after swimming twice or three times round in a small circle, lifted
his tail on high, and slowly and deliberately gave three of those same old
loud and startling raps on the water. He then swam back to his cabin, and
ascended an open flat on the bank, where all the underbrush had been cut
and cleared off in building the dam. In a few minutes more, a large number
of beavers might be seen hastening to the spot, where they ranged
themselves in a sort of circle, so as just to inclose the old beaver which
came first, and which had now taken his stand on a little moss hillock, on
the farther side of the little opening, to which he had thus called them,
and, evidently, for some important public purpose. Soon another small band
of the creatures made their appearance on the bank above, seeming to have
in custody two great, lubberly, cowed-down looking beavers, that they were
hunching and driving along, as legal officers sometimes have to do with
_their_ prisoners, when taking them to some dreaded punishment. When this
last band reached the place, with these two culprit-looking fellows, they
pushed them forward in front of the judge, as we will call him, and then
fell into the ranks, so as to close up the circle. There was then a long,
solemn pause, in which they all kept still in their places round the
prisoners, which had crouched sneaking down, without stirring an inch from
the places where they had been put. Soon, however, a great, fierce,
gruff-appearing beaver left the ranks, and, advancing a few steps within
them, reared himself on his haunches, and began to sputter and gibber away
at a great rate, making his fore-paws go like the hands of some over-heated
orator; now motioning respectfully towards the judge, and now spitefully
towards the prisoners, as if he was making bitter accusations, and
demanding judgment against them. After this old fellow had got through, two
or three others, in turn, came forward, and appeared also to be holding
forth about the matter, but in a far milder manner than the other, which I
now began much to dislike for his spitefulness, and in the same proportion
to pity the two poor objects of his evident malice. There was then another
long and silent pause, after which, the judge proceeded to utter what
appeared to be his sentence; and, having brought it to a conclusion, he
gave a rap with his tail on the ground. At this signal, the beavers in the
ranks advanced, one after another, in rapid succession toward the
prisoners, and, circling round them once, turned and gave each one of them
a tremendous blow with their tails over the head and shoulders; and so the
heavy blows rapidly fell, whack, whack, whack, till every beaver had taken
his part in the punishment, and till the poor prisoners keeled over, and
lay nearly or quite dead on the ground. The judge beaver then quietly left
his stand and went off; and, following his example, all the rest scattered
and disappeared, except the spiteful old fellow that had so raised my
dislike, by the rancor he displayed in pressing his accusations, and,
afterwards, by giving the culprits an extra blow, when it came his turn to
strike them. He now remained on the ground till all the rest were out of
sight, when,--as if to make sure of finishing what little remains of life
the others, in their compunction, might have left in the victims, so as to
give them, if they were not quite killed by the terrible bastinadoing they
had received, a chance to revive and crawl off,--he ran up, and began to
belabor them with the greatest fury over the head. This mean and malicious
addition to the old fellow's previously unfair conduct was too much for me
to witness, and I instantly drew my rifle and laid him dead beside the
bodies he was so rancorously beating. Wading the stream below the dam, I
hastened to my prizes, finished their last struggles with a stick, seized
them by their tails, and dragged them to the spot I had just left; and
then, after concealing my traps, with the view of waiting a few days before
I set them, so as to give the society a chance to get settled, I tugged the
game I had so strangely come by, home to camp, where a more particular
examination showed them to be the three largest and best-furred beavers I
had ever taken.
"This brings me to the end of the unaccountable affair, and all I can say
in explanation of it; for how these creatures, ingenious and knowing as
they are, should have the intelligence to make laws,--as this case seems to
pre-suppose,--get up a regular court, try, sentence, and execute offenders;
what these offenders had done,--whether they were thievish interlopers from
some other society, or whether they had committed some crime, such as
burglary, bigamy, or adultery, or high treason, or whether they had been
dishonest office-holders in the society and plundered the common treasury,
is a mystery which you can solve as well as I. Certainly you cannot be more
puzzled than I have always been, in giving the matter a satisfactory
explanation.
"And now, in conclusion, if you wish to know how I afterwards succeeded in
taking more of this notable society of beavers, I have only to say, that,
having soon commenced operations anew, I took, before I quit the ground
that fall, by rifle, by traps, by digging or hooking them out of their
hiding places in the banks, and, finally, by breaking up their
dwelling-houses, twenty-one beavers in all; making the best lot which I
ever had the pleasure of carrying out of the woods, and for which, a month
or two after, I was paid, in market, one hundred and sixty-eight hard
dollars."
THE OLD HUNTER'S STORY.
"I never but once," commenced the hunter, who had announced himself ready
with the last story, when called on for that purpose by his comrades, after
they had commented to their liking on the trapper's strange adventure,--"I
never but once, in my whole life, became afraid of encountering a wild
beast, or was too much unnerved in the presence of one to fire my rifle
with certainty and effect. But that, in one event, I _was_ in such a sorry
condition for a hunter, I freely confess. And, as you called for our most
remarkable adventures, and as the occurrence I allude to was certainly the
most remarkable one _I_ ever met with in _my_ hunting experience, I will
relate it for the story you assign me.
"It was about a dozen years ago, and on the borders of lake Parmagena, a
squarish-shaped body of water, four or five miles in extent, lying
twenty-five miles or so over these mountains to the northwest of us, and
making up the chief head-water of the river Magalloway. My camp was at the
mouth of the principal inlet, and my most frequented hunting route up along
its bank. On my excursions up that river, I had often noticed a
deeply-wooded, rough, and singularly-shaped mountain, which, at the
distance of four or five miles from the nearest point of the stream,
westward, reared its shaggy sides over the surrounding wilderness, and
which I thought must make one of the best haunts for bear and moose that I
had seen in that region. So, once having a leisure day, and my fresh
provisions being low, I concluded I would take a jaunt up to this mountain,
thinking that I should stand a good chance to find something there, or on
the way, to replenish my larder. And accordingly I rigged up, after
breakfast, and, setting my course in what I judged would prove a bee-line
for the place, in order to save distance over the river route, I took up my
march through the woods, without path, trail, or marked trees to guide me.
"After a rough and toilsome walk of about three hours, I reached the foot
of the mountain of which I was in search, and seated myself on a fallen
tree, to rest and look about me. The side of the eminence next to me was
made up of a succession of rocky, heavily-timbered steeps and shelves, that
rose like battlements before me, while, about midway, it was pierced or
notched down by a dark, wild, thicket-tangled gorge, which extended along
back up the mountain, as far as the eye could penetrate beneath, or
overlook above the tops of the overhanging trees.
"To think of trying to ascend such steeps was out of the question; and I
was debating in mind whether I would attempt to go up through that
forbidding and _pokerish_-looking gorge, or, giving up the job altogether,
strike off in the direction of the river, and so go home that way, when a
hideous yell, which brought me instantly to my feet, rose from an upper
portion of the ravine, apparently about a hundred rods distant. I at once
knew it came from a painter, or 'evil devil,' as the Indians justly call
that scourge and terror of the woods; and, from the strength and volume of
his voice, I also knew he must be a large one, while, from its savage
sharpness, I further conjectured it must be a famine cry, which, if so,
would show the animal to be a doubly ticklish one to encounter.
"Feeling conscious that it was but the part of wisdom to avoid such an
encounter as I should be likely to be favored with if I remained where I
was, I soon moved off in an opposite direction, steering at once for the
nearest point of the river, which was at the termination of a long, sharp
sweep of the stream to the west, and nearer by a mile than in most other
parts of its course. I had not proceeded more than a quarter of a mile
before the same savage screech,--which was more frightful than I can
describe, being seemingly made up of the mingling tones of a man's and a
woman's voice, raised to the highest pitch in an agony of rage or
pain,--the same awful screech, I say, rose and thrilled through the
shuddering forest, coming this time, I perceived, from the mouth of the
gorge, where the animal had so quickly arrived, found my trail, doubtless,
and started on in pursuit. I now, though still not really afraid, quickened
my steps into a rapid walk, hoping that, now he had got out of the thickets
of the ravine, he would not follow me far in the more open woods; yet
thinking it best, at all events, to put what distance I could between him
and me, without too much disturbing myself. Another of those terrific
yells, however, coming from a nearer point than before, as fast as I had
made my way from him, told me that the creature was on my tracks, and
rapidly gaining on me in the race. I then started off at a full run; but
even this did not insure my escape, for I was soon startled by another
yell, so near and fierce, that I involuntarily turned round, cocked my
rifle, and stood on the defence. The next moment the animal met my sight,
as he leaped up on to the trunk of a lodged tree, where he stood in open
view, eagerly snuffing and glaring around him, about forty rods from the
place where I had been brought to a stand,--revealing a monster whose size,
big as I had conjectured it, perfectly amazed me. He could not have been
much less than six feet from, snout to tail, nor much short of nine, tail
included. But for his bowed-up back, gaunter form, and mottled color, he
might have passed for an ordinary lioness. The instant he saw me, he began
nervously fixing his paws, rapidly swaying his tail, like a cat at the
first sight of her intended prey, and giving other plain indications that
he was intent on having me for his dinner.
"I had my rifle to my shoulder: it was a fair shot, but still I hesitated
about firing. My experience with catamounts, which, though of the same
nature, are yet no more to be compared with a real panther, like this, than
a common cur to a stout bulldog, had taught me the danger of wounding
without killing them outright. If _those_ were so dangerous under ordinary
circumstances, what would this be, already bent on destroying me? And
should I stand, at that distance, an even chance to finish him, which could
only be done by putting a ball through his brain, or spine, or directly
through his heart? I thought not. The distance was too great to be sure of
any thing like that; and besides, my nerves, I felt, were getting a little
unsteady, and I also found I was losing my faith, which is just the worst
thing in the world for a hunter to lose. While I was thinking of all this,
the creature leaped down, and, the next instant, I saw his head rise above
the bushes, in his prodigious bounds towards me. With that glance, I turned
and ran; ran as I never did before; leaping over logs, and smashing
headlong through brush and bushes, but still distinctly hearing, above all
the noise I made, the louder crash of the creature's footfalls, striking
closer and closer behind me. All at once, however, those crashing sounds
ceased to fall on my ear, and the thought that my pursuer had sprung one
side into an ambush, from whence he would pounce on me before I could see
him, flashing over my mind, I suddenly came to a stand, and peered eagerly
but vainly among the bushes around me for the crouching form, of my foe.
While thus engaged, a seeming shadow passing over the open space above
caused me to glance upward, when, to my horror, I saw the monster coming
down from a tree-top, with glaring eyes, open mouth, and outspread claws,
directly upon me! With a bound, which at any other time I should have been
utterly incapable of making, I threw myself aside into the bushes just in
time to escape his terrible embrace; and, before he had rallied from the
confusion caused by striking the ground and missing his prey, I had gained
the distance of a dozen rods, and thrown myself behind a large tree. But
what was now to be done? I knew, from his trotting about and snuffing to
regain the sight and scent of me, which I could now distinctly hear, that
he would soon be upon me. If I distrusted the certainty of my aim before
this last fright, should I not do it much more now? I felt so; and, as I
was now within a mile of the river,--where, if I could reach it, I thought
it possible to find a way to baffle, at least, if I did not kill, my
ruthless pursuer,--I concluded that my best chance for life was to run for
the place. But, in peering out to ascertain the exact whereabouts of the
painter before I started, my ear caught the sound of other and different
footsteps; and the next moment I had a glimpse of a bear's head, bobbing up
and down in his rapid course through the bushes, as he ran at right angles,
with all his might, directly through the space between me and the painter,
which, I saw, was now just beginning to advance towards me, but which, to
my great relief, had seen and was turning in pursuit of the flying and
frightened bear.
"But still, fearing he would give up that pursuit, and again take after me,
I ran for the river, which I at length reached, and threw myself exhausted
down on the bank. As it happened, I had struck the river exactly at the
intended point, which was where a small sand-island had been thrown up in
the middle of the stream. To this island, in case I kept out of the claws
and jaws of the painter till I reached the river, I had calculated to wade;
believing, from, what I knew of the repugnance of this class of animals to
water, that he would not follow me, or, if he did, I need not fail of
shooting him dead while coming through the stream. But I soon found that
_I_ was not the only one that had thought of this island, in our terrible
extremity.
"I had lain but a few minutes on the bank, before I caught the sounds of
near and more distant footfalls approaching apace through the forest above
me. Starting up, I cocked my rifle, and darted behind a bush near the edge
of the water, and had scarcely gained the stand, when the same bear that I
had left fleeing before the painter, made his appearance a few rods above
me, coming full jump down the bank, plunging into the stream, and swimming
and rushing amain for the island. As soon as he could clear the water, he
galloped up to the highest part of his new refuge, and commenced digging,
in hot haste, a hole in the sand. The instant he had made an excavation
large and deep enough to hold his body and sink it below the surface, he
threw himself in on his back, hurriedly scratched the sand at the sides a
little over his belly and shoulders, and lay still, with his paws stiffly
braced upwards.
"The next moment the eagerly-pursuing painter came rushing down the bank to
the water, where the bear had entered it; when, after a hesitating pause,
he gave an angry yell, and, in two prodigious bounds, landed on the edge of
the island. Having raised my rifle for a helping shot, if needed, I
awaited, with beating heart and eyes wide open, the coming encounter. With
eyes shooting fire, the painter hastily fixed his feet, and, with a long
leap, came down on his intrenched opponent. A cloud of dust instantly
enveloped the combatants, but through it I could see the ineffectual passes
of the painter at the bear's head, and the rapid play of the bear's hind
paws under the painter's belly. This bout between them, however, was of but
short continuance, and terminated by the painter, which now leaped suddenly
aside, and stood for a moment eyeing his opponent askance, as if he had
found in those rending hind-claws already much more than he had bargained
for. But, quickly rousing himself, he prepared for the final conflict; and,
backing to the water's edge, he gave one short bound forward, and, leaping
ten feet into the air, came down again, with a wild screech, on his still
unmoved antagonist.
"This time, so much more furiously flew up the dust and sand from the spot,
that I could see nothing; but the mingling growls and yells of the
desperately-grappling brutes were so terrific as to make the hair stand up
on my head. Presently, however, I could perceive that the cries of the
assailant, which had been becoming less and less fierce, were now turning
into howls of pain; and, the next moment, I saw him, rent and bloody, with
his entrails out and dragging on the ground behind him, making off till he
reached the water on the opposite side of the island, when he staggered
through the current, feebly crawled up the bank, and disappeared in the
woods, where he must have died miserably within the hour.
"I went home a grateful man; leaving the bear, that had done me such good
service, to depart in peace, as I saw him doing before I left, apparently
little injured from the conflict."