Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1879-10-20
Bill MarstOn, the Trapper.


travelling in northwest direction, well
supplied with the simple necessaries for
a six months absence in that wild re-
gion. l had provided myself with a
monstrous Kentucky rifle. which in itself
was heavy load, but which / valued
highly on account of accuracy and long
range. Ny companion in this expedi-
ton was an old trapper, with whom l
had become intimate at trading post.
He had taken fancy to me at shoot
ing ing Wastsh Ehegsin- M had Eoa the enyia,
was no mean distinction where eight out
of ten bullets were always put into the
"bullseye," of about one and half inches
in diameter, at distance of eighty
yards. This excellence as a rifeman
stood me in good stead as the sequel
will show. My companion was a tall,
rawboned, heavy shouldered man, whose
nationality would have puzzled ply
siognomist, as nothing of his face could
be seen but very large Roman nose, a
pair of piercing gray eyes. and an un-
limited quantity of grizzled beard. He
said 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 'ud
find his old grizzled karkis out there
some bright day, for he couldn't abide
the settlements nohow" AS for myself,
| was young man of ordinary variety,
about twenty-five years of age, and a
Canadian by birth. l had spent some
years in the Hudson's Bay territory and
was on my way southwark when | form
ed the idea of joining Bill Marston in
his winters hunt.
Marston's reputation as keen and
wary hunter stood high among the band
of which he had been quasi member,
and il was admitted that he could draw
quicker and truer "bead" than any
man thereabouts. He never hunted in
company with others of his class, but
came and went-no one knew whence or
whittier; and the surprise was great
when l was seen stepping into his old
"dugout and taking hand in the man.
agement of that rather ticklish craft. l
even heard annthnr- -sriuulAa- hnek-skin-
ned old trapper say that he had propos-
ed accompanying my companion, but be
had been repulsed in pretty short terms;
sand now said the indignant trapper,
splitting out a huge food of tobacco
juice, ''he's tuck that young 'un instead
to keep him in perpetooal hot water.
Marston must have heard this, as l did.
but he took no notice of it whatever; /;
and /, little taken down, was glad
when he gave the dugout strong push
off shore, and sprang in with astonishing
agility for man of his age-which l
afterwards learned was over fifty.
We were about three weeks in reaching
Marston's camp-far, far from any hu-
man habitation, except the occasional
wigwam of some Indian hunter engaged
like ourselves. Part of the way We
sailed along in our dugout between the
beautifully tinted and ever varying 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 over hanging
tree, passing the night enveloped in oul
warm blankets.
At the end of two weeks we arrived
at fork of the river, where we left oul
canoe-concealing it in the hollow O.
cottonwood log, which Marston haC
used for this purpose many years. Fl,
told me there was considerable fall f;
short distance above the forks. owe
which we could not get the canoe; 81
we shouldered our packs and mad
the rest of our journey on foot.
On the fourth day of our march, Mar
ston's keen eye detected Indian sign
here and there along our route, an
while hs seemed to feel annoyed at be
ing ''meddled with" and perhaps hi
traps stolen" it did not greatly affec
me as | knew that all the tribes of Brit
ish Indians were on friendly terms wit
the Company and the hunters.
At length we reached ''the lodge" a
r Marston invariable called his hut, with
/ out seeing anything more of the Indian.
! and my hosts temper was visibly in
,, proved when he found everything wa
exactly as he left 1t sometime before
He at once commenced initiating m
, into the art and mystery of making u
: and setting traps for mink. beaver an
, otter, with which the river and adjacer
meadows seemed to be alive. and in
short time | could do this as we'll as m
: teacher. though perhaps less exped
o tiously.
One morning, after we had been thu
occupied about three weeks, and ha
4 taken and cured a large number of fiji
l. skins, Marston got up and went out vel
= early, saying that he would visit son
:, distant otter traps that had been set
~ long time. remained in camp sever
- hours, but finally. after having n Wis