The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1866-08-07

aud assembled S ladder into a loib with
ihe old man close upon bis heels
Ii was dark AZ thls tImC, and he ml
himself in ouo corner 81 the loft. but
lis father noped around until be
was satisfied that the neat instant ht
would be n lis grasp. and be saw ia,
one method uie-eaplug detection which
be instantly reerted to he leapcd
upon ,he poor Old man, and gave hnn
blow which knocked him down. and
thus secured an opportunity 10 make
his escape 20 ihe house.
The old man soon recovered himself
however, and called oat Martini Mar
TIN ! come here quick; there are rob
bers about and one Of them has knock
ed me down Martin turned and run
ming back to the courthouse, aided his
father for a considerable time IN search
ing for the supposed robbcr.
During the winter Of 1856, whilo
Cen Taylors army occupied Corpus
Christi, Col Garland Capts. Scott, Me-
Call, and myself went about one hun
dred miles up the Nueces upon a hunt
ing expedition. Our hunt after we
reached the ground, lasted four days,
and the result was we bagged twenty
seven deer, seyonty-throe wild turkeys,
fou tiger-cats, besides quito number
/ Of geese and ducks, and Of these Capt.
Mccall and myself killed the greater
part. Capt Scott only killed one deer
and d few turkeys
] soon perceived that he considered
( his reputation us somewhat damaged by
these disparaging results, and as we
We're returning to Corpus Christi, he
remarked to mc that il might be Just as
web not tomention to the officers at
camp which one Of Us bagged the great
est amount Of game, as this would not
probably please the other two gentle
mon, / replied that ii would be exceed
ingly unbecoming ia me to boast Of my
own exploits, Therefore / should, Of
course, say nothing upon the subject
On our arrival at the encampment
/ with the extraordinary quantity Of game,
the officers collected around US, an
manifested great desire to ascertain
which Of the four had oxcelled in the
hunt. i made an eyasiyo answer, stat
ing that we had not been very particu-
lar IN keeping accurate count, but TINT
there was not probably much differ
ence. The question was then put To
Capt. Scott, who, after my generous re-
ply thought be must Say something
/ magn0mlnous IN return, and he an
swered that he was not al-
I together certain as to which had bag
ged the most game, but Of one thing
he was quite sure, aud that was that he
had seen q great many deer hunters ID
his day, and that he had never met with
one who could cra'H, and sacah. and
sQuira up to deer like Marcy. / APP
preciatcd the motive which dictated
the remark fully, but, at the same time
l regarded the intended compliment
as somewhat equivocal in it's import.
The Captain was not upon all other
occasions as magnanimous as ho might
have been toward those who attempted
to come in competition with him rs
marksmen or hunters While in Green
Bay in 1898 | had procured n riled
pistol, which description ofmm had on
! ly been III use q short time then. and
Capt. Scott, having never before seen
one, was incredHlous in regard to my
assertion az to its performances Tie
barrel Of this pistol was about twelve
inches in length and would throw a
ball fifty yards with as much accuracy
as a rifle. Scott did not believe it. how
ever, and often bantered me to give a
specimen Of its powers; but not feeling
/ disposed to subject myself to the ridi-
cule OF this celebrated sportsman by in
curing the risk Of making a possible
/ failure IN the presence OF spectators, i
( declined, until one day he proposed
that we should 60 out alone and try it,
to which proposition | assented. Ia
order fully to appreciate the sequel Of
our target excursion, it must be remem-
bercd that the Captain vas exceedingly
economical, and estimated dollar at IFS
full value. lie had that morning treat
ed himself 10 q new high-priced pocket
knis, with which he cut out a piece of
paper about four inches square, and
/ lastened it to a board by sticking his
knife directly through the centre Of it.
made ashot standing about fifty yards
distant, and struck the lower part Of
the paper He expressed some aston
ishnent at the precision OF the shot, but
gave it as his opinion that it was acci-
dental ana doubted ifit could be done
again assured him that it was byno
means the result of chance, and that, il
all probability, / should make a better
shot the nest time; indeed, j added
that be must not be surprised il struck
LIS new pen-hnlie only the end II tile
handle was ezposed) He replied
Never mind tie knife; don't let that
give y0u the slightest uneQsineas, sir;
20 ahead and make Your shot Ill be
responsible for the knife. Nhereupon
1 r.ased the pistol and fred again, and
at the same instant the paper feilto the
ground Upon examination we discO4-
ered tAa, the ball lad hil the knife il
the end q tie haadle and split it into
Il least dozen pieces Scott made 10
comments. but booking daggers at ne,
abruptly turned and walked Of 10 h.s
quarters and il was some days before
Le received me into favor az n
With tae exception d the money he