The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-11-12

track ol tho sonora and Mono road, and the
white man making his way out was obiigeu
to turn aslde. for the wide, sharp.borned
heast {. bc,d the fart y aud threatened I'M
naleu,ent IA Ali that entered. Others, hnd-
inc tho south and sunny sides OF the noun
iains. lived there until February, browsing
on the oak leaves and BARK. These we killed
occasionally and buried the meat In tue
snow about our house. But 1t was beef
quite iuiceless, fasteiess, tough. and strlnpy.
IL was literally starvation beef for those VINO
Ate IL, and the soup we made from II was 10
color aud consistency thin and almost
transparent mud.
BLACK AND GRAY FOXES.
Foxes In abundance were about us, and
they stayed all winter. They were OF ai'
shades OF color, from red TO grayish black'
Now, story was current in the mountains
that black.fox skins commanded very nigh
prices--say from $50 TO 800 each-and that
silyery-erays" would bring $50 or $50:
So we bought strychnine, powdered bits OF
beef Herewith, scattered them iudiciously
about the valley, and were rewarded
with twenty or Thirty dead foxes 0y
spring. 1t required many hours Ia
Dor TO dress skin properly, TOT the
meat aud fat must be carefully scrapeo
away with bit Of glass, andf that happens
to cut through the hide your SKIN Is good
for nothing. Certainly, at very moderate
wages, each skin cost 81 or 50 In the labor
required to trap or poison IL, II you please,
and 10 cure and dress IL afterward. When
the gentle spring.ume came, and access was
obtained to certsin opuent San Francisco
furriers, we were offered 81 80 for the
choicest skins aud ga cents for the ordi'
nary ones; whereat the moun,aineer got on
his indcpe3dence, refused to sell bis bard
earned peltries at such beggarly prices, and
kept them for bis own use and adornment.
However, foX.skins are not the only articles
in the mercantile world where the remune-
ration grows smaller aid smaller exactly In
proportion as the labor OF producing IN
creases.
Then our dogs, too, would wander oil,
eat the strychniued fox-bait, and become
dead dogs. We had five when the winter
commenced, which number in the spring
was reduced to one-the most worthless OF
all. and the very one which we prayed might
gel poisoned. These dogs had plenty OF
oak-haik fattened beef at home. They were
never s.inled in this respect. What we
would not eat-and The most OF that beef
we cooked we couldn't eat-we gave
freely to our dogs. But that wouldn't
content the dog. Like man, lie
had the bunting instinct in his ma.
ture. He wanted something new, some"
thing rich. rare, racy, with spice OF adj
venture ia il; something he couldn't get at
home. He wanted to find bit OF frozen
beef IN some far-of romantic SPOT mile or
two from the house; aud this on bnding ne
would devour, under the impression that
md 10
eaten In secret Is pleasant. And then be
would lay himself down by the frozen
brookSide and gently breathe his LIE
away; or come staggering snak'ng.
trembling home, under the action OF
the drug, and thus dashing in our
domestic circle scatter US to the four
corners Of the big log house, thinking
him a mad dog. lost thus my own dog
"Put," named briefly after General Israel
Putnam, OF the Revolution; most intelIl-
gent animal Of some hybrid species-a dog
that while alone in the mountsins j could
leave TO guard my camp with certainty
that he would devour every eatable thing
left within his reach ere my return, and
meet me afterward, waeging his tail and
licking his chops, with that truthful, COM
Danionabie expression in his eye which said
Dlaner than words, "Fve done il again,
hut il was so good" | shall never own
another dog like "Put," and | never
want TO, He would climb a tree as far
az one could hang a bit Of bacon upon it.
He would In lonesome places keep me
awake all night, growing and barking at
imaginary beasts, and then fra,ernlZe with
the coyotes and invite them home to break
fast. Near the Big Meadows, in Mono coun-
ty, q disreputable female coyote came down
from a moun.ain-side and followed "Put"
one morning as iourneyed by OH my bor-
rowed steed, bowling. yelping, and filling
the surrounding air with viragoi-h clamor.
[ presume it was aEother case OF abandon
ment.
DIATHLY QUIET.
II was winter OF deathiy quiet in En-
reka Valley. Enveloped in snow, 1t lay in
a sbroud. Occasionally tempest would
find IFS way into the gorge and rampage
around for awhile, roaring through the
pines and dIslodging the frozen Jumps Of
snow In their branches, which whirled
down bang! bang! bang! like so many
rocks, on our bouse-tOp. Sometimes We
heard the rumble OF rocks or snowslidos
tumbling from the mountains. But
usually a dead, awful quiet prevailed.
II wore on one wOlse than any up
roar. No sound from day to day OF
rumble or rattle OF cart or wagon, no
church. bells, no milkman's bell. no gossip
or chatter OF inhabitants, no street for them
10 walk down or gossi? in, none OF the
daily ci,mor OF civilized life save what we
made ourselves. 1t was a curious sensation
10 see one or both OF my two companions
st a distance from the house. They looked
such insignificant specks in the whitened
valley. And TO meet the same man after
four or five hours OF absence and TO know
that he had nothing new to tell, that he
hadn't been anywh here in certain sense,
since without neighbors' houses or neigh
boriug villages there was +" nowhere" to
get that sort Of brscing-up that one de-
rives from any sort OF cOmpanionsbp.
We were very cosy and comfortable du-
ring those long winter nights, seated in the
red glare OF our rudely-built, wide-mouthed
fireplace. But sometimes on clear, NOON
light night, I have. for the sake OF change,
nut on the snow.shoes and glided few
hundred yards away from the house. In
that intense and icy silence the beating
OF ones heart could be distinctly heard,
and the crunching OF the snow I'M
der foot sounded harsh and disagree
BILE. All about the myriads OF tall pines.
In the valley and on the mountain-side,
were pointing straight to the heavens, and
the craes in black shadow above and behind
them maintained also the same stern, un.
Welding silence. The faintest whisper OF
breeze would have been relief III You
gained au elevation it was but to see and
feel more miles on miles OF snow, pines,
peaks, and silence. Very grand, but trlfie
awful; it seemed as II everybody must have
STONED In such isolation II was difficult