The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-12-07

another part Of lilo STORY 3hico Viii hO0
tell to-day; but We were hunting for
moose aud caribou deer, Ii-l ing up what
small game, dncbs and pdri ridges we
could shoot when moose were not to lee
seen.
On one of the very last djys Of Oetoher,
the 30th, | think, set off shooting alone,
for we were still limiting, and gener-
ally went ont separately.
That day | took my way westerly,
through the thick woa,.s towards The foot
of the IIogbacl, or Boundary Mountains,
a region ia which I then felt 10 Il little
interest. For on the other side Ct The
same ridge, in Canada. thirty ili'es Dis
tant, gold is said to have been fcana ii
paying amount, and ! could moi. uE;ier-
stand why there might not also he wash
ings on the cast side Of the same hills,
where the brooks rua down into the @al-
loostook.
Something of this l had in mind, as
well rs the hunting; but ''prosPecting" in
athickly wooded locality, where tAerocks,
soil and brooks are buried in leaves and
other vegetable debris, is not easily nor
thoroughly carried ON,
There are as all hunters and sportsmen
know, game days" and 'no-game days"
On the previous day | had trampcd
twenty miles, and he'd not fired Il shot at
ANYTHING. Tho woods had seemed wholly
deserted and bare of life.
This proved to be Il field day" ran
into Il flock Of birch pa%ltridges at the out
set, and got two of them. Shortly after |
started a caribou-which | did not get;
and then, not ten minutes after, ! spied a
mink beside u brook, and flock after flock
of p~artridges.
Following the brook, | finally came out
to a little pond at the foot OF u consldera-
BILE mountain, aud there | saw Il bear
across a little DOGGY arm of the pond
and had two ''lovely" shots at the brute
as he numbered up a bank and took to
the thick woods at the top of it.
AS 1 had nothing but duck.shot car
tridges in my gun, with no time to change,
l could not expect to make Bruin larry
with me, but did make his black hair fly,
and brought q Handsome" yelp out Of
his throat.
After that l came upon two flocks CT
sheldrake along the pond shore; and as /
had been pegging away at everything
that showed u, | now walked to the fact
that | had but two more cartridges of the
twenty-five that | had filed and put into
my belt before starting off in the morn
ing, and also to the recollection that
was probably ten or twelve miles from
our camp, with Il to~lerably heavy game
bag, containing mink, two ducks and
nine or ten cartridges.
BY this time, as it was past two o'clock
in the afternoon, / made up my mindthat
it was time to be getting back. Accord
ingly, after climbing up the side of the
ridge Il few hundred feet, to get q look
across the country and take my bearings
from that point of vantage, with the aid
of Il pocket compass, l struck out across
the country for camp.
tranped a mile or Two rather monct-
onously through spruce and pine woods,
and then came out into an old brUle or
burnt tract, where IL second growth Of
poplar, cherry and white birch had sprung
up. 1t was a rocky, hillside tract, and
many of the old blackcned logs still en-
numbered the ground.
The leaves had now entirely fallen from
the deciduous trees, and the afternoonsun
fell in warmly upon the pale green poplar
trunks and branches. | was walking
rapidly, jumping from one log to another,
thence to 4 stone, when a short, odd, graf
ing sort Of cry caused me to stop and
glance into the poplar tops.
There my eye fell on Il brownish-gray
lump Of Il creature, apparently about the
siz. Of 4 large grounding or woodchack,
and perched on q limb twenty or thirty
feet from the ground.
In Il moment | had fired st it-one bar
Ireland with another ofthGse short harsh
little skrieks, it fell to thegrouud. Isaw
that it was Il hedgehog, or porcupine,
ercthi=oG dOrSdtus, and stepped forward
to turn the gully little, blackrosed mon
ster over with the nlazZlc Of my piece,
when ! heard numerous other similar
short cries, near, far and all about, and
looking around saw Il singular spectacle.
The other poplars all seemed to contain
porcupines. The trees were Of good size
for second growth, being eight or ten
inches in diameter and quite tall. As far
as l could see, through the tops, every
tree had it's hedgehog.
The branches lad the appearance Of
having been gnawed bare Of the green
bark. At that moment all the hedgehogs
were giving vent to those eldritch little
shrieks, and l at once discovered that they
were one ana all in motion and that their
motionwas downward.
In an Instant more, they began to- slide
Town the tree trunks and drop on the
earth-ihu1ap! bump all around me.
/ suddenly realized that-they meant
IHci that they were all raj Acknowledgements
TO the outSy Of the little brutcIhad fool
ishly shot. Tn 0 about Inc seemed
populated with them. / was plainly in
tie heart of IL hedgehog community and
had committed q gross act of violence of
which they were determined to take
knowledge.
Bumpi thnnp' down they dropped, and
the ground brush and twigs began to
sTacklc. Plainly there were scores OF
taen-aIl coming to inquire about their
injured comtade. Immediately one black
little snout and swapping, angry eyes
showed in sight among tsomedry brakes,
a felv yards from where | stood on a leg.
He was the first of the van. Half IL
dozea more were close by-all making in,
wiz. qtsrr complimentary c;uuts, each
delivered with amino atiar ofsuppressed
anger. Raising my ~ I knocked the
first one that came into a,sAt heels over
lend.
But it was my last c2rtridge and with
The report the chorus of cries was redoub-
lei. From every sid Tie gully little
beasts were pouring in. Then, fer the
first time, the iI ii occurred TO me that
they might r%eal.t prove formidable, and
that l might iGre TO fight my way clear
of them.
With a spring I gained another log and
then Jumped to aftou.der. Two Of the
bristly tykes were gruiIting and swapping
at me rs | made the last leap. With the
butt of my eiln ! krocked over II number
- Ia,. .- Ill. .-- IL --1