The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-09-19
cred with a kind of Wild cactus that ter.
rapins are very fond Of. There we're
thonsanis of thein there and sorna nf tha

rapins are very fond Of. There we're
thousands Of them there and some Of the
largest ever saw. Terrapins were then
worth forty dollars dozen in Baltimore,
and ne set our wits to work to get them
there. There was aaloop anchored at the
inlet getting up cargo Of eoeoanuts.
An old spaniafd Who lived near by told
us that terrapins we're fond Of music and
that he could call up hundred in half
an hour BY ringing little silver bell that
he had brought from spain-we got him
to make the experiment and found that
it was SO. They came from their hiding
places all found his cabin and held their
heads up high to drink in the music. A
happy thought struck me. I borrowed
his little bell and tied it around the neck
ofa large old terrapin and started him
toward the coast. In few. hours ne had
several hundred falling into line, but it
was the slowest work ever undertook
with all the urging and forcing that ne
could make We made only half q mile
day, but the number increased as ne
moved along and in thirty-six days we
had corralled about seVentS.hte thousand
terrapins, on the shore. We Chartered the
sloop and unloaded the cocoanuts and in
about month we had our cargo in Bal
timore and sold out for one hundred and
forty Thousand dollars. We ought to
have had twice as many terrapins as we
did, but thers was an old rickety bridge
across lagoon on the way, and it broke
down with the weight of the terrapins
that had piled upon it knee deep, and we
lost all the rear end of the drove. But
there was no peril, no adventure in the
like of that; cur wild western life was
the best. / was riding out one morning
with friend while ne we're camped on
the head waters Of the Colorado, and
suddenly prairie wolf bobbled up be-
fore US and trotted along just ahead of us
on three legs. We determined to make
him put down his fourth leg, and SO gave
chase in good earnest. We ran him for
an hour, bu: my friends horse got lame,
and he took the back track for the camp.
I had got my back up, and was gaining
on the brute. He mas only quarter of
a mile ahead, and had put down bis
fourth leg and / felt pretty sure of getting
within pistol shot when suddenly he
disappeared. My practiced eye swept the
prairie in every direction, but he was
gone. My horse vas still on his metal
and as I approached the spot where the
wolf vas last seen, an opening, or crack
in the ground gaped wide before nae. 1t
WAS too wide to leap, and I could not stop
my horse, and in q twinkling We went
down, down, down, about forty feet.
It was rock bottomed and rock-sided.
The fall killed my horse, broke his neck
and stunned me to insensibility for a few
minutes. When I came to I found that
I was not seriously hurt, but how to get
out of there vas the question. The walls
were perpendicular and as smooth and
hard as the neither milestone. For
night and day I sat upon my horse and
pondered and waited for some help from
the camp for I felt sure they would hunt
for me. My horse was beginning to
swell and vas almost driven to despair
and had laid down beside him
and vas thinking over my youthful
prayers and over my past life when sud.
denly the light above was darkened and
an immense male condor dropped down
and stood upon the dead horse. This mas
my last chance and I knew it. Before he
was aware of my presence had seized
him by the legs and with wild scream
he tapped his wings and carried me
upward and out of the chasm and dropped
me upon the ground and few away.
Weak and thankful, I dragged myself
back to camp, and found it almost desert.
ed, for the boys we're still hunting for ms
in every direction.
"But wish that these children could
have been with us when the San Suan
dried up and ne had to move hundred
miles to find water. It was during the
great drouth that lasted several months
and dried up and burnt up everything in
the Santa Fe country. Our stock liked
to have perished before we got out of it
and got to water. What delicious feast
ne had when we found it. It was moth
ing but small lagoon, but it was clear
and good. That night we heard awful
sounds, and re got up and got ready for
trouble. We had bull eye lantern and
threw the light strong upon the lagoon
where the sounds came from, and there
were deer and wolves and mountain lions
aud prairie. dogs and catamounts and
bears and big snakes and buffalo and
elks and wild horses, other reptiles and
beasts, all gathered at the pool to drink.
They had come miles and miles for water,
for you know wild animals can scent wa.
ter from afar off. But they didn't fight.
The common peril seemed to have hum.
bled them and they all drank close
together and kept the peace until they
had got enough and then the lions and
bears and such beasts went around
growing and moaning and were getting
ready for their prey. A panther had just
crouched to spring upon a young deer
when I drew bead upon him and drop.
ped him in his tracks and the report
alarmed the menagerie and they fed.
But night after night they continued to
come and We killed scores of the beasts
whose skins were valuable. But by and
by the winter rains set in and we saw no
more of them.