The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-30

threw at them several times, ana came
near breaking window in the church,
and dislocating her shoulder, when
she quit. l should have said that my
house was only about twenty feet from
the village church, and in warm
weather, when windows were opened,
we could sit in our bedroom and hear
the services very well.
Fright under the droppings of the
sanctuary, SO to speak," said the vis-
itor, 81 should think that it would
have been unpleasant"
1t was a sultry morning, and the
guinea towels were more than usually
vociferous. Foreseeing that they would
disturb the minister and congregation,
l considered it my duty to drive them
away, and did so several times before
church time, getting so warm and
mad that 1 concluded l wouldn't go
to chnrch. About a quarter past ten
the torments appeared again, and an
inspiration seized me. / had been
practicing archery considerab bly-this
was during the popular craze over
that splendid pastime-and had good
bow and about a dozen arrows, and
could shoot quite well. 1 got some
empty rifle cartridge shells>which fit
ted tightly over the steel points of the
arrows, and put them on, as did not
wish to kill the fowls or have any of
my seventy-fve-c cents-apiece arrows
stick in them and be carried off to nv
neighbours and then have to go and
explain matters.
'Just before services commenced,
the guinea towels appeared and open
ed up in good voice, running around
the garden and even up near the
church. My wife and children had
| already gone, and slipped out of the
back basement door just out of sight
from the rear window of the church,
and prepared to do the William Tell
act. / waved my hat and started the
nuisances, toward the hen yard, and
when they were about three rods away
opened fire.
''The first shot struck short, plow-
ing up the dirt in front of one of them,
causing her to jump about three feet
in the air and scream louder than
ever. Two other efforts were unsuc-
cessful, but the fourth struck the male
bird amidships, and he sailed right up
in the air like a prairie chicken, eX-
pressing in loud tones his indignation
and alarm. The two other ones fol-
lowed suit. You know the old couplet,
sOne flew East, and one flew West,
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest.'
Well, that was the way they went,
only there was no cuckoo's nest be-
tween the church and my house, and
all three kept up their peculiar calls,
just as the pastor said, Let us pray
Presently Bro. Kean came out of
church to see what the matter was.
but had put the bow and remaining
arrows back in the kitchen, and was
busy at the pump.
s'sWhat's the row out here?' said
he.
Something scared Mr.. Is
guinea hens replied l; don't believe
they will come around again. and he
went back to take his regular sncoze.
II felt sure they would, however,
and after hunting up my arrows, laid
for, them again. In about twenty
minutes, sure enough, they came run
ming around the corner of my hen
house, and just as the pastor had got
to that part of the parable of the three
grangers who sowed seed on different
kinds of soil, and was saying-'brought
forth an hundred fold one of the
guinea hens Clipped in the remark:
'buckacheGt, bucEWhe0t, bucEaUheatr'
I was told afterwards that everybody
laughed, including the minister, and
the small boys and girls had regular
picnic.
presently the birds quieted down
and commenced walking around
among the young potato vines. L
brought out my artillery, and it was
not long before 1 had splendid shot
at the cock standing still. The arrow
hitting him in the body. as intended,
head. The dull thud' brought the
sive kicks showed apparently that he
bug again. The others seeing that
something was wrong with their
mate, went up to him and made few
remarks such as: "A ftp Bad hit'
Let's git!' You betr etc., and sor-
rowfully went home to hang Grape on
the crate they came in.
81 put the bow and arrow away,
and sat down to figure out what to do
in the premises. Finally concluded
that the fowl might not be missed that
day, and in the evening I would bag
nv game and leave it in the grass on
the rear of my neighbours lot, and
went out to get the arrow and kick
him down between the rows of potatoes
where he would not be quite so promi-
nent.
.'Wel1, when I got there [ found the
arrow and some feathers, but no gum
ea fowl. You may doubt it, but it's
fact that that bird had come to and
walked off after being hit plump on
the neck by four ounce arrow, a
blow that would almost, if not quite,
knock down man. I saw him after
wards. He carried his head in a
peculiar way, as if suffering from the
toothache OF neuralgia, and seemed to
have lost his voice and appetite"
Ibid your neighbor say anything to
YOU about itp'' asked the visitor.
mo, but in a few days he killed the
three himself and made dinner of
them. don't know whether he saw
me shooting at them or not, but rather