The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-02-18
A woNpEiRI.FilUlL rox.nuSr.
a Good Story Told on son,o Alrsateos


~ Hunters. ~ u
Our Virginia mountaineersar are tough |
customers, aud they Squatted all over
the valleys at nominal rent, which
had to be drawn from them like their
eye teeth. The old gentleman, how.
ever, had o fancy for the place and used
TO como home with q whole string Of
horses behind him as the revenue of
his principality. But we boys, and IN
deed all our friends. used to look for
ward keenly to the annual excursion
to the mornlaius. My father had
pack of hounds of which he WAS ex-
ceedingly proud, and with which lie |
would hunt foxes at home, and deer |
when we went to --- county. A |
long cavalcade it used to be that every |
October started from this door for the |
mountains. My father and one Of his |
old cronies in the big carriage, two
wagons full of provender, ammunition,
blankets, etc, and fifteen or twenty
friends and servants, mounted Oh sad
dle>horses In the rear. The ninety
miles used to give us three days of
travelling, and at the end our noun
aineer tenants used to throng meet
US at the rude shootin%-box with
stories of deer and "bar," wonderful
to listen to, and with eyes looking
wistfully at the corner where the whis-
key jar always stood. | could ill the
night with stories of the odd ways and
curious, simple lives Of these noun
taineers, though none of them were
such curiosities as old Jake, my fathers
negro huntsman. Caleb here was his
nephew, and helped him as boy with
the dogs, and moreover Is the grandest
liar we have in these parts. He's sit
ting up with tho horse, so we'll call
him and make him give YOU q specimen
before we turn in. Caleb, these gen
tlencn want to hearabout Unble Jake's
great Christmas fox-chase. : -.s-
"Lor' me, Mar'se George, them ar
times done gone SO long now, mos
disremember oil bout EN-"
"Why, it's not six weeks since |
caught you telling those New York
gentlemen In the stable; let's have it
now without any variations"
"Well, gen'Pmens, it wur some If
teen or twenty years bcfo' s'rcndcr,
when wur just chap sorter helpin'
roun.' Uncle Jake. now the ole ledge,
mat is Mar'se Georges pa, had been
fooled ever 80 many times by an ole
red III Carter's mountain, not great
ways from yer, and got sortcr mad
with the dogs, and old Jake, who
loved dem Or hounds je5' as if they'd
bin folks, swore he c0tch that fox if it
took him the whole Of Christmas week
TO do 1t in. The jedge he had By
dinin' O. quality Oh Christmas Day, an'
ole Jake he jest slipped off with the
hounds bout day in the mcrnin' and
struck that fox's trail right to onst.
he'd got sorter used to dc ole red,
and knowed what line he'd take, fo'
sho' lie never went tar from home,
out Jes' kept gwine on roun' and roun,'
more like gray fox. Bout dinner
nme guV over, as the plow-mule on
which | rode began to get kinder
played out, but ole Uncle Jake had
taken the best horse in tho stable, and
Jes' pitched right on near tho hounds.
who were all the time on the scent.
maxim heap O. fuss.
AFTER dinner took another horse
and slipped out to see if could hear
anything o. the ole man, an there sho'
nun the hounds were travelling roun'
Inc mountain where they'd first found
tue fox. l soon cotched 'cm and kcp'
along with Uncle Jake, till sundown.
ana when began to talk bout gwine
home fo' dark the ole man ies' ripped
and cussed, and said he'd stay wild dat
ar fox till the new year fo' he'd let
him go.
"Well, gen'Pnlens, ies' thote bo'd
got may be 'ticklor' o. whisky in his
pocket, and was sorter uppish on that
account, so left him my fresh horse am
rode, or rather led, hi>'n home. In
the morning when went round TO the
stables and quarters, I didn't see no
honhdS, nor horse, nor yet no Uncle
Jake. SO says 1, Pll jcs' put the sad
dle on the gray, and a pone o. CORN
bread anu some meat in my pocket,
and slip ont and SEQ if the ole mans
still at IL.
"Woll, sirs, / rode roun' till near
midday, when suddenly secs q do.
cross the road befo' me, then a whole |
string comes along, and secs Jumper
-frolic-- Beauty, and the rest of them
you could most see through 'em thev |
were SO thin, and though they had |
their mouths open, and WAS tryin' to
raise bit OF n fuGs it warn'l no man
ner o. use.
81 knew Uncle Jake warn't far bc-
hind, and presently, sho' nuff. thnre
was rustlin' in the wood. and bc
cum ont right agin, the miserablest
sight yon ever seed. He didn' 'pear |
TO notice me much 'cept Just to slip Off |
his horse aud git on mine. | put the
pone o. bread an tho meat in his |
pocket, an he went lopin' off after the |
dogs on The colt
"Ihere wur no show fur me but to
glt home with the mar, who looked as
tho she'd drop dead In her tracks.
nursnt fool with no mo- horses, am
JeS' quietly sot up for Uncle Jake that
night, but durn me il it warnt for
holhiii; two o. the hounds cum
sNeakilr in bout sundown, but that
wur al.
Next mornin' went to ole mar'.c.
the Jedge, and he an the company wifi
tnote 1t mighty good joke, and the
biggest kinu of crowd started out TO
iooK for the chase. There wur nothin'
ieit to hear, and it wur about eleven
O'Clock he struck right in agin tho
Wnole gang, and / wur with him, or
no one wonid believe, gen'Pmens. what
Z teh yen now for, TO- God, sar, the
iox Is,,., Wnr Walkim, the hounds wur
W";kin,' an old Jake on the colt wnr r
1kAV nl