The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-02-01
CIRCULATING.
BY MARTIN HUNTER,

S Come, Ben, let us have that moos
t yarn OF yours. Charley, here has nc
g heard it,"
e The person addressed as Ben was a
/ old white hunter of the Upper S,
2 Maurice, who was at that momen
quietly enjoying a glass of grog, SUP
phed to him by some of his young &C
quaintances and admirers of the tow
, of Three Rivers.
Old Ben used to visit towns once
year regularly to dispose of his pelts
have good time, and go back to thu
wllds with fresh supply of bacon
tea, tobacco, ammunition, etc
Nothing definite was known of the
early history of Ben; in fact. the peo
pie OF Three Rivers knew not his sec.
ond name They conjectured that
like most men, he had family name:
but this Ben kept to himself, and he
was known by one and all of his friends
simply as Ben
Everyone agreed that he had moved
IN good society in his younger days, for
his early training would show out at
times in spite of his assumed hunters
| English.
On the glasses being replenished by
the young man called Charley, Ben
told them the moose story somewhat
as follows:
well, look here, boys, l had very
little to do with that particular moose.
or the moose with me; but / had
good deal to do on that occasion to
keep from freezing. Howsoever. here
it is just as it happened:
ut was toward the end of March.
1865, that | was camped, along with
Wabanake Indian, on one of the large
streams that fall into the west side of
the upper part of the ST. Maurice. We
had made our head camp there in the |
fall, and had done pretty well with
beaver till the ice formed, after that
we trapped for martens straight along
through the winter. Once only we
left our hunting grounds, and that was
on New Years eve. Nicholas, the
Wabanake, my chum, said: Lets 90
into Fort Weymontachingue and see
the Indians feast and dancer for on
New Years 1t is the custom of the
Hudson's Bay company to hold open
house to all corners. So we took few
marten skins to trade for tobacco and
went, and we saw big Indians eat big
much
Il had made bargain with Nicholas
before leaving Three Rivers, to hunt
'ogether during the fall, winter and
prlng and to go equal snooks on the
urs after the trapping was over In t
he beginning of spring, or rather, l
mould say, the very last part of win /
er, for 1T was the end of February, my i
artner found a yard of moose. Saws
e; Now Ben, we will just let those e
moose put on fat till there is good a
rust on the snow, and then we are n
lre of killing them t,
" All right, Nick says 1; iust as d
gu think best n
But, as bad luck would have it, be- a
IRE rain or sunshine came to form q 81
'ust. we got news at one of the lum- C;
ar shanties that there was a party of m
lrveyors up. running lines for timber b
nits. made inquiries in what di- ca
ctlon they were then working, and CT
und by what the shanty men told D
e, that they would strike our moose lii
I'D the following day or the day aft sa
; at furthest. Well, l just pegged vi
me to camp, a distance of about five tn
les. and told the news to Nick; and
iybe he was not just hopping. an
- However, Ben, says he, those beg ca
RS will brighten our moose tomorrow. l f.,
we may as well give them the wind no
rselves, and run the chance of kill co
: one. Let us start at once, and jul
ep at the foot of the mountain. SO as AFT
be ready at the break of day to wind
2 critters wa
With biscuit and pork in our blank WI
, we reached the base of the noun roo
q before dark, made a rousing fire. tai
plenty of green boughs, laid down. he
oked and told yarns the best part of .
night, for it was too blamed cold VIII
sleep much. Morning came at last. pic
!, after hasty breakfast, we start to
We each showed biscuit in our tru
It and fastened tin cup on our belt. ON
: cup was to melt snow in. if pushed fou
thirst. Our blankets, of course. we :.
. as we wished to be as light as pos wa,
S tai1
We had almost reached the top of viii
mountain, when Nick said: They the
off, His quick ear had heard a self