The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1880-04-02

Gourse' generally managed to make
Brush creek the first pight, Hnd, after
prepating slipper, no matter how cold
1t might be, i had to put out the fire,
as | was afraid it might attract the at
tention of neighboring Indians. On
one of my excursions, when ] reached
Brush creek the night was intensely,
cold, and l thought, Indians or no In
dians, III keep fire this night. My
blankets, were stretched near the fire,
and was doing (sound sleep was out
OF the question:, when I heard crack
ling. among the tvigs and dry leaves.
On looking around, about ten feet dis
tant saw q pair Of shining eyes glar-
ing right, at me. MY htst impression
was that it was hn Indian crawling on
his hands and knees, and / acknowl-
edge feeling of fear, On reaching
Tor my rifle, 4 began to think it might
possibly be only wolf, and, if so, it
was dangerous to fire of, a gun at that
time Of night, not knowing who my
neighbors might be, or their where
abouts. Finally, becoming satisfied it
was q vol, I drew o brand from the fire
and threw it at the two eyes. With a
snort and . rush, my visitor ttnceretno>
niously left me. as., .lt. .,,,. ,-s,,..,4 ,l9..
/ have read accounts of buffalo bel
lowing and paving the ground before
making charge; but I never heard
one even moan, and they do not even
lose any time in paving. Inever heard
OF them attacking a man, unless badly
wounded. Until bull is Q years old,
his horns stand mp erect, and he is then
called spike-bnll. After that his
horns commence ourving toward each
other The old patriarch bulls, who
have outlived their usefulness, are run
out Of the harem and rove around dis
consulate, either singly or in herds.
Buffalo sometimes exhibit astonishing
tenacity of life. I have known them
get bclean away with probably a pound
of lead in them. Occasionally the first
shot viii kill one "too dead to skin" A
The most noisy animal on the plains
is the coyote. When about three Of
them congregate at dusk and begin
warbling their evening hymn, instead
Of trio you would imagine it was a
grand chorus in which 500 voices par
ticipated., The music produced is
about as melodious as what We are &C,
customed to hear rendered by that back
yard artist, the Thomas cat. The coy
ote, although notendowed with superior
musical abilities to the feline, has a
greater compass of voice. AS his song
is not productive of sleep, I have often
wished to conclude his serenade by
gently caressing him with club.rl N
During stormy weather we had ample
time to cut up and salt what meat we
had on hand. Although the winter
passed pleasantly, it was a Robinson
Crusoe kind of existence. On Christ
mas day our big camp-kettle contained
the breasts Of three or four turkeys, a
iack-fabbit, small pieces of deer and
antelope, and a portion Of buffalo
hump. / doubt whether there was a
family ON the continent which had
such ,Yariegated bill Of fare. My
partner, who had weakness for leccen-
trio costume, during the winter made
himself a cap from badgers skin,i a
vest from beaver pelts, and pair Of
pants from the hide of q buffalo calf.
He also seriously contemplated the
manufacture of coat from wolf-skips.
BuAalo-hunting is hard work, but there
is SO much excitement attached to it
that the hunter does not feel tired un
til his days work is done and he finds
himself five or six miles away from
camp. = aal rla5a n
Toward spring we divided our spoils
and / returned to Denver. never saw
or heard OF my partner since.
Il.