The National tribune., 1878-04-01
An Old Residenter.
4 sroNY oF An oLp Gus.


M @ STORY
You couldn't call him a sportsman by any strain
your naginaton and yet he was by no means loafer
though ae did talk with drawl which indicated that he
didn't regard time very valuable commodity He sat
the fence the train up TO Siegfreds Bridge
with the three Easton fancy gunners aboard whom he
to pilot the country after quail His gun, hav
ing the lock edon with string reposed his knees
and his dog looking like the ghost of starvation reposed
at his feet The Easton up TO him
"Do you know Abe Hertzog?
9 Y-a-a.s, know him
''Where we find him?'
9 Right hyar, guess. !"
:" Are YOU Mr.. Hertzog?
"Y-a-a-s that's what I'm taxed for, any way"
Jimmy = said one of the party soto ''can this
be the that Cap told personally acquainted
with every quail family in Allen township"
g You felers want to go arter some quals eh?
That's what we come for Do you know any thing
about them -
''W-a-a-l, yaas l can tell one when see it,"
'What kind of a gun have you got there? ?''
W a-a, ye see mister, that guns old residenter;
bin family since the first old Hertzog moved
up hyar That guns rifle mister an she shoots mighty
as handed the old thing for inspection 'she has
a way of tumblin apart if she's used rough like
The old rifle had barrel about long fence rail,
with enough in it for young Gatling gun, and
bore larger than healthy rye straw, while all the
stock it had absorbed in brass rap-door leading
into cellar smelling of Nerdgris and filled with grease
and little pieces OF rags.
"How do you kin any thing with this2 Knock it
down.
sW-a-a !. yes sometimes That's the way busted the
stock thar whar the 1awhde bandage air. a-knockin'
fellow down what made fun of it,
at this point the investigator suddenly lost interest in
the gun and the party moved off into the country AS
they climbed the fifteenth fence the old paused
the top rail and waved his hand indefinitely the fields
before them
Gents there's quails all about hyar and yander
was am thar one on en- now he added as he drew
up his old resdenter and knocked it over where it sat
What do you shoot bird on the ground? Why
old man. that's internal potting
4 SIS that ?'' inquired the old man. humby, he
picked up piece of his gunstosk that had been Jared
off by the shot
u. a.
who scorned pothuntng blazed away with both bar
rels of costly breech- loader and missed.
:" har? Whar do you shoot en- mister inquired
the old quietly he put his patch and bullet
the muzze Of his rifle which he held between his legs
while he rammed the charge home and then, stray
bird flew overhead he raised and dropped it.
Is that ar the way you want it done, mister?"
The obector said nothing, and the cunning proceeded
but it became evident that the spolsmen doing
the cunning and the old man doing the shooting
The lock tumbled off his gun occasionally, and the bar
rel had loose habit of parting company with the stock
but the old had pocket full of strings and fast
gave out he tied made ready TO shoot when
bird showed and he occasionally varied the monot
ony of the proceedings by cooy blazing into the bushes
whereupon his meanloong dog would rush in and drag
out a dead rabbit
lights and shot upon the most scientific principles but
somehow the old man got the game the count showed
five quail and pheasant among the three tor the day
work while MIR Hertzog toddled along under twenty
two quail and four rabbits and they sat on the board
pile at the depot bargaining for the old mans lot he
"Ye see gents Old Resdenter beant much Of gun
to look at She amt purity handsome at ALL but tell
you she's mighty on the shoot All you's got to do is
jest grease the patch right well and ram the bail down
close and then If you pint her at bird and pull the
birds got stop LeaswiSe alters find iC Ye see,
gents where has sich awfully purity gun, his
entions kinder taken Up admirin Of il like an the bird
goes away after he shoots Leastwse, alters find it so
Just then the lock dropped off Old Residenter for
the eleventh time and, the old man wasn't going to
shoot any that day he put II in his pocket along
with his game money, saying
+" Thank ye, gents, thankee Come up soon again, an
III take Old Residenter out any time we'll be purity
sure get something. And he nieanders off into the
Indian summer haze.
HQ A Rough Retort.