Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1885-07-15
How q Virginia Patriarch
Won His Bride.
Shooting Big OatamOunt That Was
Clinging to Her Horses Neck.

were killed in the Confederate and the
other in the Union service. He listen.
with the profoundest interest to the
story of Bogardus and Carver, and
with smile he shrugged his shoulders,
saying:
Thar, strangers, you're comm to
the pint now. Why, when was
young" and he stopped to think;
"when l was young, about 20, guess,
[ could outshoot any man in the val
ley We used to swing an apple on a
string, an mountin' our horses, gallop
like mad and fire at it. | could hit it
every time. l could knock an apple
off II post nine times outn ten fifty
yards away, an could take the bill
off bird in a tree as clear as whistle
an never disturb feather That's a
fact"
"What do you regard as the most
,killful shot you ever made?' we ask
ed.
"You mean the best ever made;
Ses, an thought say, the happiest o
any life
We nodded in the Affirmative.
swell, strangers" he began, "Ill
tell you all about it. 1t war years
ago, though; | was twenty-one then,
an but few people lived hereabouts,
an what did war a good ways apart.
Down in the tother end O the valley
lived John Angletord, who had a dar-
ter, an ! loved her like mad, but,
some way or other, she didn't kinder
want to hitch to me. About three
miles away lived another man who
had Il son, an she TUX to that boy.
This made me kind Of jealous like, an
him an me used to tight often. But |
didn't Civ in; I'd made up my mind to
git that gal ef l could. One day, in
the fall o the year-l'll never torgit
that day-I shouldered Old Faithful,
that's my musket, an went up inter
the mountains to see what kind o
game was abroad. Well, reckon I'd
been trudgin' around in the thicket
for nigh on to three hours, without
seem Of thing, when all of sudden
heard scream that almost friz my
blood. ! heard it again, and | know
ed it whar a woman's holler: so iea'
cocks Old Faithful an starts through
the bushes. But arore got to the
openin' | heard horses boots a-Clank-
ing an a-clatterin' over the stones.
hurried right on to the openin', an
thar seed wat it war all about.
seed it at a glance. Old Angleford's
norse whas a-tcarin' along like as if
The old boy war arter him, an thar
war Sary Jane, her face as white as
chalk, a-clingin' to his back for dear
life, an right bctwiX' her an the
norse's head. his claws driv into the
flesh of the horses neck, a-tryin' to
reach the gal, war the biggest cata-
mount ever seed.
Your times come, john says l to
myself. Steady, now; aim right, an
you'll win the gal Jes' as thar ar
hoss with the screamin' gal got oppo-
site to me l blazed away for the
catamOunts head. knew it war life
or death to one Of the three on 'em;
but didn't miscalculate; / never did.
The load went into that ar cata-
mounts head, an he rolled over dead
on the ground; the hoss stumbled, an
as he disappeared over the precipice |
cotched the faintin' gal in my arms
an hurried down the road with her to
her home. For long time she had Il
ragin' fever, and kept a-callin': is he
come? Is he GOMEZ? Nobody could
tell what it meant. You see, men
them days would go off an stay for
days a-huntin', so the absence o old
Struthers's boy didn't make anybody
think strange. Well, one day she cum
to, an the first thing she aXed about
war if AL Struthers had cum home
Thinks !, thar's somethin' quar-
somethin' wrong about this, 50 I'll
see. | shouldered Old Faithful an
started out. Away up war the cata-
mount had jumped on Sary James hoss
] found him.-uyh. what a sight l
ed. Thar he war, stark dead, IL
stickin' on an oak limb, that had gone
clar through his body, an his hoss war
dead, away down on the shdrp-pointed
rocks below. We Civ the poor fellow
decent burial. The only way | could
account for his death war that Sary
James screamin' frightened his hoss,
an runnin' in among the trees he got
caught on the sharp pint o the low
down limb"
Here he reflled his pipe, and said:
"Come in, strangers, an I'll snow you
suthin'."
We followed him into the cabin.
"rhis are Old Faithful he said,
taking down an ancient-looking gun
from the rack and patting it affection
ateIy, "what done the business for me.
An this" he continued, unrolling
musty looking parcel, ear the skin O.