The Republican journal., 1882-11-02
Shooting Porpoises.

n0ndescript of a gun. II bought her,
he continued, keeping one eye affection
ately on the ancient relic, "at a govern
ment sale Of Revolutionary tiXins in ~
she wore flint lock then, and her sight
was a chunk Of rust but | billed her in
lie, cut her down into a fore and after,
and he'd a lock put onto her, and there
she is as putty as a picture, and it II out
shoot and out kick any cannon IN the
country. I'm 10 great talker myself and
don't like to see man Overtalk himself,
but my fathers got son thet II shoot
the conceit eout OF anybody that wants
to shoot If there amt any one here
what kin shoot" he continued, looking
over the heads of the assembled crowd Of
loungers, 'I'll guess against any man,
woman, or child in the place. Naow,
| then, how many herrin's in this heap for
| the Aledtord p
! 1t chanced that the repOrterlad watch
ed the unloading of the net, and to pass
away time had counted the fish as they
were taken from the meshes, so, holding
a winning hand, he responded to the
challenge by answering three hundred
and five, the real number being three
| hundred, the five being added to allay
suspicion. Other guesses were made, un-
til the tall man came. He walked around
the glistening pile once, drew off, and
| shaded his eyes, and guessed three hun
dred in cold blood, which in cents Just foot
ed the Medlord bill paid after the count
ing by the reporter
III you'll accept my company, said the
| guesser after the ceremonies had salts
| tactorily terminated, III show you how
the gun works shootin' putin pigs. Well,
that's what we cali them some folks calls
| EN- porpOises."
Willing to see porpose shot, the re-
porter jumped into the dory, and was
soon headed ont through the swell.
"'m counted a master hand at guess
| ing. said the rover; "but amt nothin'
to my father, Stephen Moses bed been
counted q prophet in old times, saltin.
| ! never knew him to be out guessed or
worked ahead on but once,3 and the re-
later Of bis parents poculiarties stopped
rowing to laugh heartily at the recollect-
| ion. ''But he was always Wantin to guess.
one day kind Of tinker came around
and walked into the kitchen, where my
father, Stephen Moses Bragberry s0t
a-gangin' traWl hooks'and let out how he'd
! like to mend up any tin pans that wanted
! tjXin'. WALL seZ father, here's a coffee
! POT that wants nose and Ill tell We, if
! ye'il guess nearer to the number of nails
/ in your own shoe than | kin, Ill give ye
! the job, but if | beat you, you're to DO the
| job for nothing Done sez the tinker
| and the long and short Of it was that the
| Old man beat him Two nails, and he com
menced mending the coffee pot. Na0W,
| the old teler didn't have any nose to put
on the pot, so turning to father, Stephen
| Moses, he sez, seZ he, 'Alr. Bragberry,
he seZ, I'd thank We for drink Of water
I'm monstrOus parched. 'Sartin, seq
| father, and out he goes to the WELL The
minute he stepped out, the tinker made
q jump for the dresser and pulled the
nose of a new coffee pot that was stand
ing there, and when father came back
with the water, lie was a-soddern' of it
on, and in a few minutes he was off. lcav-
I'M the Old man laughin' at the game he'd
played on him. But Lord bless We, when
that other pot was took out The next
| morning, it seemed like hush sot down
on the hull house. The old man kind O.
took a set back from that time, and |
never heard of his a-guessng after. That
same tinker" continued the boatman.
warming up with rec0llections, ''was one
Of the cutest chaps that ever slid through
the township. He'd curious faculty Of
gittin' along without money he never
seemed to need it.
cone evenin' he dropped into Uncle
Peltiah's, up on the Portland road, Jest
about suppertime and when the folks
drew around he wasn't invited, 50 he sez :;
Curious case that of Moses Stephens
ca0W, Peltiah.' 'HoW's thet p asked Pei
tiah. why, she's gone and had five
calves, said the tinker. Wall, wall, said
Pcltiah, but what does the fifth one do 2
(there being only four tits, you know.)
WALL, sez the tinker, Il reckon it waits
around like burned fool, same's | do; :
and" continued the rover, ''it wasn't
many minutes afore he was sot at the
| table. The very next day he was ADDING
some tinkerng for an old aunt of mine
She was a-peeling squashes, and he up
and sez: Amelia, | wish you'd gimme
some OF them seeds the squash crop up
our way was complete failure Take
all you want, sez Amelia, and he did :;
took about quart, and reaching the
next house about supper time, he seZ:
Mrs. Muggeridge, don't you want some
pumpkin seeds imported from Asia, some
that our elder brought back when he
came? They grow pumpkins as big as a
| barrel Mrs. Muggeridge was glad to
get 'em, and in course invited him to
supper to pay for it, not finding ont where
the seeds come from until after she'd
| planted 'em.
"Hold on aminute," suddenly whisper
ed the story teller, dropping the oars
and seiZing the old treock. "Jest keep
as steady as you kim and standing up
! right in the pitching boat, he raised the
| piece, carefully aimed at nothing, waited
moment, when right in range a black
| form arose and glistened a few seconds.
A low puff came to us, followed by a
tremendous discharge, and as the smoke
/ cleared away the gunner appeared rapid
! ly rowing toward the spot where puff
ing pig was lashing the water into foam
''Jest get to the wind'ard a minute, .
shouted the son of Stephen Moses, and
| as the boat shot alongside the black form,
he reached down and grasped the dying
porpoise. The reporter balanced himself
on the windward rail, the sea threatening
TO sink the dory, and the animal thrash
lng and plunging, but watching his
chance the man jerked the game into the
boat, and seizing the bars we were soon
| headed out again.
"Took me kind O. unaweers," said the
sportsman. stopping to reload, using a
piece Of Goldfish skin as waddng "We
don't generally get 'em so close in. Out
around the pint's the best place, and in
old times they used to be SO thick that
! you could float about and shoot 'em as
fast as you could load. See that feller,"
he continued, as big porpoise rose high
out Of water, preaching half mile away.
"Now you wouldn't believe how them
pigs will jump. You perhaps noticed
how the creek sets in there as we pulled
out. "Well, some two years ago the tide
sot in dreadful heavy one afternoon, and
the first thing we knowed the creek was
full ofporpoise. Wall, Pm a-telling of it :;
it warn't ten minutes afore every man,
woman, child and dog in this ere town
was on the spot ; thought they had reg
ular bonanzy, for, ye see, the mouth of
1