The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-03-14
I'm, III. Ne,n York Times.

nser With Tres iOi HiO'0O'1On III
animal Became Exhausted and
ped. a.. N.,, York Times
.-t-annely handsome pair Of antlers
AZ fine dining-room chimney piece Of a
sd'l ct IL this city, and the writer having
COY -sod admiration of them in the course
exp cant visit, the owner replied: There
OF ' .srilIing personal experience connected
.bose horns. If any truth be in the
'",hS,otch proverb that there IS death in
GU md of the horn of hart they came
tns " usar being fatal to me-" Urged to
va! Glory. the owner of the antlers re-
,lad as follows:
| P,I-o, know run down TO South Caro-
g.. every year about Christmas time,
Ao ,,v on business and partly for the sake
i-3aring no old associations. l believe
A99 nan once acquires a fondness for
s We he never loses it, and so whenever
9 9sHJ y3yself in the woods my thoughts all
ipnII,ntarilv run to the chase. Every
IN's-iastonian. may say every South Caro-
SSItn, knoys where old st. Paurs is. 1t is
u u. a church. mind you, but parish, or sub
9 gHis 9 of county if you like. 1t is truly
s.t1ri,. ground, having been the scene of
o-o than one battle in the revolution, and
NJ soar of very active hostilities during the
,ata nupleasantnoss, There are. parts OF
Smth Carolina where game is more abund-
srt at present, but in days gone by ST.
DIS was famous hunting ground. Still,
taw deer are left aud their scarcity in
ceases the zest of hunting them.
IN two successive annual visits l had
.o,-bt IN bring down an old buck, which,
I,dging by the size of his track, knew to
Io = variable Titan IF the deer family; but
an cunning was the old rogue that although
~ bad as fine a pack of hounds as ever
soiloSeed a deer and hunted him diligently
ia never once succeeded in getting him up.
The dogs would trail him to and fro and
round about for hours and finally come
N fault. But successive disappoint-
rnents increased my desire to get at least q
shot at the coveted game, so on each recur-
r &c visit to the spot found myself quite
mechanically looking for his tracks as
rode along the forest road. On my recent
visit | found the track as before, and
nromptly informed my previous companions
in the chase. We met by sunrise on crisp
December morning at place In the pine
{, rest convenient to the supposed lair.
There we're six guns and eight honnds. AS
we had approached the rendezvous from
different directions each had kept lookout
for the track, and it was my good fortune
10 find it less than a quarter Of a mile from
the place of meeting. 1t was scarcely two
hours old.
-Four of the party were hurried off to
IRE stands. while elected to go into the
drive with Dick, the master of the hounds.
Ass1on as the dogs were put on the track
they broke into full tongue and went down
into TIE swamp on a brisk trot. In the
Stiffness OF the early morning the woods re-
sounded with their cries and no sweeter
music was ever sung in hunters ear. On
they went into the south, clear across the
ssGmp, at least mile in width. Then they
came to halt, yelped for time in an I'M
certain sort of way, and finally made out
the trail to the eastward along the edge of
the swamp. A mile or a mile and half in
that direction they came to another halt,
then recrosse6 he swamp and turned back
to the westward on the northern border.
Half mile west of the point where the
trail entered the drive the dogs came to
fault upon knoll of one or two acres ex-
tent in the heart of the swamp.
1.-The same old storyp exclaimed Dick
Darn me if | ever saw anything like it.
Jt's almost enough to make man believe
that old buck has wings, and. after walking
around the woods till ne is tired finally flies
into his lair
The knoll was covered with the leahy
underbrush Of the southern swamp, and
dotted here and there with dense clumps of
sweetgum bushes. One of the largest of
these grew around the foot of huge fallen
pine, which, having snapped off about eight
eetabove the ground, lay lodged Upon the
stump. The dogs, completely at fault, cir
cled around that particular clump for at
least twenty minutes, and Dick and l, who
sat upon our horses about fifty yards dis
tant supposed they had gone all through it
doz n times.
"At last, when it was clear that the dogs
had lost the trail for good, said to Dick
that 1t was somewhat strange they made so
many circles around that clump of bushes
and suggested the propriety of riding
through it. But Dick was disguised and
worn out. 1t was now after 10 o'clock. and
we had been on the trail since the sun was
rising. L had hardly finished speaking
when Beauty, big blueish bitch, the most
active trailer and swiftest runner in the
pack, leaped upon the fallen pine and
trotted lelsurely, somewhat despairingly,
up the incline toward the stump. 1t is
wonderful how much can be expressed by a
single action. When that dog reached the
stump she looked down into the bushes be-
meath her with sudden interest that said
as plainly as words: why, here, under our
very noses, Is the old rascal we were about
to give up
AT the same instant it seemed as if a
whlrlWlnd hso struck the clump. and
beauty with wild yell, disappeared in the
vortex. The buck was out OF satisfactory
range when he came into view with spread
Jug ahtiers and snowy tail, truly magnif-
cent animal, and, besides, he was ma king
SIralgnt for one of the ISLANDERS. So Dick
anu held our powder, and we were soon
rewarded by hearing two shots in quick
succession. The buck, as if by the same
suOue instinct which enabled him 50 long
70 oaflle the dogs, had made for the worst
o1ot OF the party. When Dick and |
charged up close on the heels of the dogs,
We louno TINS hunter in state of high ex-
eiUenent. he ran to meet US, bareheaded,
hand.
~ hit hint I hit himp he exclaimed
Dick.
The question was answered by the dogs,
nIcn at tnat moment doubled back into
tne swamp In full cry. The course they
now TOOK was slightly westward of that by
" Tnlch they had come out of the swamp, and
1 inferred therefrom that the buck would
axe MS way up the swamp. There was a
Iiuge IN the heart of it which / felt sure he
would follow. This ridge could be reached
~ ROAD which crossed the swamp two or
three miles higher up. ard il I could get
Inere ahead OF the buck | might bring him
Gown after all. All of this came to me like
a nash, and my horse was off like the wind
before my fellow-huntsmen had time to ask
any questions. My nag was a small mare,
but of good blood and a1Irroooa s,ro