The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-12-12

like little man. But, seriously, the |
gun is 80 long that observed, on the
sly, that Port, although nearly six
feet, cannot look down the. barrels un-
less they are inclined at considerable
angle. And the weight thereof is ac-
cording to the length.
Our route lay in a different direction
from that of the morning, but the OBJ
jective point was the same-where we
had lost our reputation and 1 my
grip. Pretty soon after entering the
woods we met Mr.. Nick, who had
been out to feed his hogs-an employ
ment which to him is only pastime
and to get some fresh pork. He had
fat little guinea shoat tied to his
saddle behind and was returning
home with his Offering. We exchanged
few hurried words with Mr.. M. very
briefly speaking of the lost deer, and
plunged into the woods.
1t was not long before Port spied a
black squirrel. He was in the midst
of an anecdote which he rudely broke
off with 81 see one now" Mr.. Squirrel
(the Mr.. for black was in a small pin
oak, but it reached high up, but not so
high by half as gum close by, and
upon which bunny jumped after had
delivered one of my usual missing
SuOlS az uAIQs kALu lIeES 10I IuC Say
that the gums of this region are real
They are lofty, extended, strung out
almost to the clouds. And they are
numerous, and are valuable, too, or
would be if they could be got to mar
ket where gum lumber is used to make
furniture. Port told me they are
worth $40 per M. feet in New Orleans,
and he stood in one spot and counted
5000 worth of trees. He said that upon
three acres he could get $500 worth of
timber. Why not raft it then: in
quired.
Why, it will not float, unless buoyed
up with pine or cypress, and there is
none here, replied he. And that set
tied an incipient speculation with me.
But the black squirrel assembled the
gum and kept climbing, until he APP
peared mere speck against the blue
sky. Albeit, I said we must shoot at
him-aye, shoot at the moon, if it
crossed the squirrels disc-and Port
said we would, ssfor a fact.' The un-
suspecting victim of this ultimatum
lay on the tip end of one of the three
highest limbs of the tree. One shot
was fired, another followed and another
and two more, the only result being
that bunny would change from the
end of one limb to that of its neighbor,
while we were losing ammunition as
we'll as caste. We strolled away final
ly, to hunt squirrels on lower trees
and squirrels not in holes.
Trees without holes down here are
very, very hard to meet up with. If
I looked up one tree Saturday, I looked
up one thousand, and verify believe
they all had holes in their bodies, and
am as firmly convinced that every
hole contained a squirrel, if not two,
as hno,c some of them did. Whether
! the holes account for SO many squirrels,
or the squirrels for the holes, or
! whether the trees were made for the
squirrels, or the squirrels for the trees,
or whether, or what, or when, or
well, you just go down to Darby's and
see how all this is.
Our next find was Il grey fox, or, as
Port calls them, red squirrel, feeding
on haws on the ground. Port was to
sneak up on him, which he did not do,
but freed him up a tall oak. 1t was
myself that fired the first shot-the
only fair one got the whole day-and
Gas usual,' as Gov. McEnery said of
himself in a speech on one occasion, I
missed. The heavens were placid and
I intoned the 10th psalm, while Port
was enOeaVOflnS 10 1lnO better POSI-
ton for the delivery of his Gat(in. But
that squirrel went unframed, as did
many, many more that afternoon.
| At this point Port and the writer
separated. Port had said he thought
it best not to hunt together, and
meekly assente6l, and said, as did Joe
Bowers's girl, it was whack. I had
prepared for getting lost. Port had
told me all had to do when I got lost
was just to go from the sun, or in his
words, s'to put the sun on my back, -
and go straight ahead, and 1 could not
get lost. With this simple direction in
mind Port and I, like Byron and his
wife, Il believe) shook hands and
parted, each ganging his ain gate. 1
| very soon found Il lively little frisk
talking like Major from among one
of these thickets of vines and bushes
yes, these thickets, and that is exactly
what mean all over, but not through
and through. No man dare do that.
I approached near enough to find my
victim was alive-and would continue
to live. Passing on, another talkative
little rascal began jabbering, and then