The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-11-21

mad let him 90 1oOt loose since. He be-
haved cleverly, and never after put a rope
on him of 4 night.
When awoke in the morning, l fou nd
my scaffold had dried the meat and fish
almost to a bake. and if had had little
pepper sauce and bread the fish would have
been very nice. l drew out my fish from
the embers, and found it still enveloped in
the grass, which was only scorched little
on the outside. But the fish was thor
Oughly done, and nearly as dry as good
bread. 1t had absorbed sufficient guam
tity of the alkaline principle from the ashes
to answer in place of salt, and it was, to
say the least of 1t, a very savory dish. /
made a full breakfast from it, and it went
very well.
] | called up my companion, and after
packing up, We set out for another day S
journey, leaving the nice dried meat and
fish and ten or twelve pounds of excellently
cooked fish on the ground. / had no wal
let, or any way to carry any eatables along.
About an hour by sun | came to good
camping place. turned old Ned loose,
made a rousng fire, and went off half a
mile to grove, where | thought to get a
deer. But they had been some way dis
turbed: they were all on the alert and run
ming in every direction. 1t may have been
gang of wolves that had excited them so
! badly, or there might have been a party of
| Indians amongst them recently. l didn' t
succeed in getting any venison that even
ing. There were hundreds of turkeys in
/ that fine oak grove, and l had to take one
of them; it was a good fat hen. l put
one-half of her, wrapped up in grass, in
the embers, like l did the cat fish. For
my supper, | toasted, broiled and wallowed
it in the ashes, but l couldn't make it
7 H., -,
| time that day, as l travelled in the far
reaching sea of grass, out Of sight of droves
/ of deer, and, if had thought it necessary
had several good chances to have shot
one. The scenery | passed over that day
was wonderful TO behold. Except when
passing in 4 grove of timber, the view was
rarely less than ten or twelve miles. There
were four droveS of mustangs. One drove
I had perhaps five hundred horses in it, and
the horses were IA long way the widest
animals | saw that day; they would STAN.
pede before | got within a mile of Them
and never stop till they had sunk to nothing
in the off haze of the distance. The
deer were not so wild as the horses.
have been riding past drove when some
of them would lie down so near to me that
| could distinctly see the action of their
jaws while chewing their cud; l might
have got one of them. Everywhere several
species of geese were in large f1ocks, crop
ping the tender grass iust springing up.
A great many t1ocksef the sand-hil cranes
were whooping out their loud warnings.
| There was another large white bird, with
the pinion feathers all black. He is as
large again as the crane, screams ont the
same note the crane does, and can be heard
five miles. In all the puddles and shashes
of water, ducks would rise in clouds. The
| pinnated grouse, curlew, plover, sand piper,
and, i'll the wet places, good many snipe.
Many of these birds, when flushed mp, are
very noisy, and my riding through their
tiocks all day kept up i continual uproar
| slept very well after the wolves quit try
ing to catch the geese. They were near
enough three or four times for me to hear
the sentinel distinctly when he warned the
flock of the approach of the wolf. The
laklak. | heard it often; and the wolf
howled ont his disappointment when he
gave out trying any longer.
At the first peep of day, when the morn
! ing sparrow made his first low note old
Ned, who had been standing a long time,
sleeping with his fore feet on the edge of
my pallet, on hearing the sparrow, pushed
me with his nose. | was not asleep; but
he didn't know that, and wanted me to get
up. l arose, and opening the ashes hauled
out my roasted turkey. 1t was good; not
very palatable, but its ntrient qualities sup
piled the demand of the digestive mill, and
felt quite comfortable after it.
This camp was at the upper border of a
streak of timber, twelve miles wide. Pc
can, pinoak. and the largest and tallest live
oak (Quercus rirens} ever saw any where
else, with a thick set canebrake. vines,
Rlf hpinr liz ~ 4
scraggy shrubbery for underground. 1t
was hard days travel to get through it.
had to walk greater part of the time and
cut the vines that thwarted our course with
my hunting knife. I saw plenty of bear
and Mexican hog signs, but there was no
chance to kill any of them the cane was so
thick This wild hog is the peccary, a
pachyderm, belonging TO Decotyles. have
forgotten his specific character. When you
can skin out 4 quarter of one of them,
without touching the musk tumor on his
back, it is equal to half fat hog, pretty
well tasted, and, on pinch, makes a salts
factory meal.
| began TO think toward evening that
should have to camp, and sleep in that
thicket without any thing to eat or drink
saw no water all day. | succeeded in
breaking through into the prairie which
spread out south and southeast as far as
| could see. l felt like freedman-Ned
! was glad too. He stood gazing at a drove
| of mustangs away to the right, with high
head aud dlated nostrils, until began to
fear lie might take it int, his head to go to
them, and laid my hand on his bride.
| Two or three miles to my left. | saw some
cows, and supposiDg they had a home.
'urned in that direction, intending if
found house to try to get little bag of
salt and then could eat fowls or fish when
| failed to get deer.
1t was evening, and before got to the
cows, | saw a man come riding out from
the Bernard timber toward them, and we
met at the cattle. He Instantly invited me
to go and stay all hight or week with
him, if had time. | went with him. His
name was Churchwell His dwelling was
on the south bank of the Bernard: had re-
sided there twelve years; had Mdy wife
and six children. Had a neishbor fifteen
miles north-toward Brazoria, which was
forty miles distant. They treated me very
kindly, the good lady made me Il little
pocket that held pound and a half of salt
and gave it to me. Morning came, and
asked for information for the purpose of
steering clear of getting hemmed in among
the lakes and bayous, he could give me
none. Said it was eleven miles to the sea
beach, but he had never been there in his
life. Said he should be afraid of the In
dams. set ont, found no difficulty or
| Indians; but fowls endless. There were a
great many swans. l couldn't get near
| enough to shoot, but thousands we've flying
over me every few minutes, and concluded
to try one with my rifle. let Ned go and
waited few minutes until large flock
came over not exceeding forty yards high
| found could hold my gun on one good
enough, let fly, and he whirled down in
| stan,ly. The balance of the flock turned
and circling round four Or five times, max
/ ing such fuss about it that | was sorry
had killed it. | was soon reloaded and
could have killed another, bat had no need
/ for it. took the dead one to clump Of
| timber 10y the side of which ran little
! drain of fresh water from the prairie. |
stripped old Ned, dressed the swan. 1t
was a young fat one. l prepared low
scatfold, and big fire Of green wood,
| sailed poi ton of the swans breast in a
/ little pile on the scaifold, and set ont to
explore the beach. There were to be seen
in the lakes long ranges and banks of white
/ pellicans. And yet the swans were most
Il Il