HUNTING ANECDOTES AND EXPERIENCES—CHRISTMAS—CONWELL AND HIS REMINISCENCES.
A backwoods gun—Anecdote of a panther—My dog “Bearsgrease”—Collmar’s house—Hunting a tame bear—Hunting expedition—Hailstorm—Spirit-seller—Route of Eastern Indians; their sufferings—The “Mulberry” river—Christmas-eve—Conwell, the old settler—Hunting with Conwell—His age and robust frame—A bear—Fat turkeys—Anecdotes of the Indians; their cunning—Anecdote of the moccasins—Method of hanging up deer—Dangerous work with a buck—Anecdote of a buffalo-hunt—successful sport.
Meantime it grew dusk, and Slowtrap returned with seven ducks, three of which had had their heads shot off. Meat was now plentiful. After S. had made himself comfortable—that is to say, had taken off his hat, laid aside his rifle and pouch, pulled off his wet shoes and stockings, taken unto himself a slice of cold turkey, with its appropriate maize bread and boiled pumpkin, seated himself with his feet to the fire, cut off a piece of his chair to make a toothpick, and begun complacently to pick his teeth, a sure sign that he felt comfortable, all which operations took about three quarters of an hour—he asked, “Well, what’s the news?” As the answer was not encouraging, another long pause ensued. When it was quite dark, and a good fire was burning, his wife brought us some bread and milk, of which he partook largely, and then began to thaw, and speak of his exploits: he had fired eleven times, and his piece had missed fire twenty-seven times, a habit the old flint gun had; but he had nevertheless brought home seven ducks, and he had seen a fresh panther trail; the panther had probably seen him from a tree, and jumped down and escaped.
He took particular notice of my panther skin, and thought that there must be a number of them about, but that formerly there were more than twice as many in Kentucky. “Ah, at that time,” said he, “a man might shoot five or six deer before breakfast, and once I had got up at daylight, and shot two noble bucks, and stalked a third for half a mile, when he got scent of me, and escaped. I was tired with my exertions, and had scarcely any sleep all night, for a rascally panther had been howling near me, and several times came so close to the fire that I could make out his form, though he never gave me time to put a ball into him with certainty. So I threw myself under a tree, to rest a little, meaning then to continue my sport; but somehow my eyes closed unconsciously;—and I can’t say how long I may have lain there, when, still half asleep, I heard a strong rustling amongst the dry leaves which surrounded me, and felt that they were being thrown over me, so that I was quite covered in a few minutes. Surprise at first, and then an instinct of danger, which I did not quite understand, kept me motionless, awaiting the result: before I had formed any resolution, I heard something moving stealthily away, and cautiously raising my head, saw a panther disappear in the thicket. My first act was to jump up and look to my priming, and as I saw nothing more of the beast, though I was sure that it would return, I resolved to oppose cunning to cunning. A piece of a broken bough lay near; I dragged it to the spot, and covered it carefully with dried leaves—then, slinging my rifle on my back, I mounted a neighboring oak to await in patience, but with a beating heart, the conclusion of the adventure, as the panther might return at any moment. I may have sat for rather more than half an hour, my eyes steadfastly fixed on the place where the panther had vanished, when the bough began to move, and the female panther (for a female it turned out to be), reappeared with two cubs, intending, no doubt, that I should serve as supper for the family. This time she had reckoned without her host. I remained silent and motionless in the tree, watching every movement and keeping the rifle in readiness. She crept stealthily to within fifteen paces of the spot where she had left me covered up with leaves, and crouched down with her green eyes glaring upon the log; the next instant she made a spring, struck the claws of both her fore feet into it, and buried her sharp fangs deep in the rotten wood. When she found herself deceived she remained for a moment or two in the same attitude, quite confounded. I did not leave her much time for consideration; my ball crashed through her brain, and she fell dead on her supposed prey, without a moan. I killed the two young ones easily enough.”
He had hardly finished the anecdote, when the dogs began to bark, and, by and by, we jumped up to see what was the matter. It was a neighbor, named Collmar, from the other side of the hill. I took the
saddle off his horse, and laid it under one of the beds, tied up the horse to a young tree, shoved a roughly-hewn trough before him, which I filled with maize, and his eager munching proved how well he was satisfied with all the proceedings. Collmar had come over the hill to invite us to assist in erecting a new house. He had collected all the logs on the spot, and now, according to American custom, was calling on his neighbors to come and assist in raising them. S. was his nearest neighbor but one, and lived nine miles distant; the next dwelt eight miles further.