River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-10-23
BILL MARSTON THE IRAPPER
BY GOODRICH.


90 on hunting trip to the head waters
of the Sascatchewan-the North Branch
and / speedily found myself travelling
in northwest direction, well supplied
with the simple necessaries for six
months absence in that wild region. |
had provided myself with mOnstrous
Kentucky rifle, which in itself was
heavy lO4d, but which | valued high
~ on account of its accuracy and long
range. My companion in this expedi-
ton was an old trapper, with whom |
had become intimate at trading post
He had taken a fancy to me at shoot
ing match wherein had won the envi-
able reputation of "the crack shot"
This was no mean distinction in place
where eight out of ten bullets were al
ways put into "bulls eye" of about
one and a half inches in diameter, at a
distance of eighty yards. THIS excel
lence as a rifleman stood me in good
stead, as the sequel will show.
Nv companion was 4 tall, raw boned,
heavily-shOulGered man. whose nation
atty would have puzzled a physiognO-
mist, as nothing of his lace could be
seen but very large Roman nose,
pair of piercing gray eyes, and an I'M
limited quantity of grizzled beard. He
sid little Of himself, except that he had
trapped and hunted off and on for he
didn't know how long in them parts"
and "kalkerlated as how some-un nd
find bis old grizzled karkis out there
some bright day, fur he couldn't abide
the settlements nohow." As for myself
| was young man of the ordinary va
riety, about % years OF age, and Ca
madam by birth. | had spent some five
years In the Hudson's Bay territory, and
was on my WAY southwark and home
wards when / formed the idea of Join
ing Bill MarstC in his winters hunt.
Marston's reputation as a keen and
wary hunter stood high among the
rough band of which he had been a
member, and it was admitted that he
could draw a quicker and truer bead"
than any man Whereabouts. He never
hunted in company with others of his
class, but came and went-nO one knew
whence or wilher; and the surprise was
great when | was seen stepping into his
old ''dugout" and taking a hand in the
management ofthat rather ticklsh craft
I even heard another grizzled, buck-skin-
ned old trapper say that he had propos-
VI 1CSOtA pan ms MY SCAAA E'eh4AOil3 OAe
he had repulsed in pretty short terms,
land now" said the indignant one, spit
ting out huge flood of Tobacco juice,
hes took n young 'un instead otto keep
him in perpetooal not water" Marston
must have heard this, as l did, but he
took no notice of it whatever; and |, a
little taken down, was glad when he
gave the "dugout" strong push off
shore, and, and spraDg in with astonish-
ing agility for q man of his age-which
afterwards learned was over 80.
We were about three weeks in reach
ing Marston's camp-far, far from any
human habitation, except the occasion
al wigwam of some Indian hunter en-
gagged like ourselves. Part of the way
we sailed along i'll our ;'dugout" between
the beautifully timed and evervarying
tree-clad banks of the river, pushing
along by day as rapidly as possible
against the strong current, and carefully
drawing up our canoe under some I'M
derhanging trees, passing the night en-
veloped in our warm blankets.
At the end of two weeks we arrived
at a fork of the river, where we left our
canoe-concealng it in the hollow of
an old button-wOod log, which Marston
had used for this purpose for many
years. He told me there was a consid-
cradle fall short distance above the
forks, over which we could not get the
canoe, so We shouldered our packs and
made the rest of our journey on foot.
On the fourth day of our march Mars
tons keen eye detected Indian signs
here and there along our route, and
while he seemed to be ANNOYED at be-
ing med6led with and perhaps his traps
stolen, it did not greatly affect me, as l
knew that all the tribes of British In
dams we're on friendly terms with the
company and the hunters.
At length we reached "the lodge" as
Marston invariably called his hut, with
out seeing anything more of the In
dams, and my hosts temper was WISH
bly, improved when he found every
thing was exactly as he had left it two
months before. He at once commenc-
ed initiating me into the art and mys-
terry of making up and setting traps for
mink, beaver and otter, with which the
river and adjacent meadows seemed to
be alive, anu III short time l could do
this as well as my teacher, though per-
haps less expeditiously.
One morning, after we had been thus
occupied about three weeks. and had
taken and cured large number of fine
skins, Marston got up and went out
very early. saying he would visit some
distant otter traps which had been set
long time. | remained in camp several
hours, but finally after paving visit to
all the other traps IN our neighborhood
-resetting those that mad been sprung
Il took my rifle and went in search OF
game to supply our lsrder. This
usually fell to my lot, and it was by no
means a laborious occupation, as deer
were plenty and tame, while partridges
and grouse flew up at almost every
step.
had been out about an hour, had
bagged several fine birds, and was in.
teutly looking up into giant old pine
for one of a covey | had just flushed,
when the distant report of a rife broke
the stiffness of the mid-forest air. 1t
seemed to me as if there were two re-
ports almost simultaneous; but Just as
/ came to the conclusion that it must
have been merely the echo of Marston's
gun, the thought suddenly struck me
that he had that morning left his rifle
at the lodge, as he expected to be laden
with pe!,ties on his return, and the rifle
would make his journey rather irksome.
No sooner had this flashed through my
mind than felt sure that some of the
wandering Indians, who perhaps knew
of Marston's solitary habits, had at
tempted to murder him for his peltries
and traps.
Leaving the partridge undiscovered, I
hastily turned in the direction of the
camp. Among the first things that met
my eye on reaching it, was a small
mink skin hanging from the brackets
where my gun usually hung, and on
looking at the inside of this | read the
following words rudely scrawled there
on with the point of bullet:
"Iniuns round. I've been hit. Keen
dark. Foller round by Otter Bluff
This confirmed my suspicious. and
hastily turned TO obey the injanctions
of my wounded friend, when be
thought me that had better concea