Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-04-23
DIANA'S SPIDER.


crossed by a pair of scissors argent
on a background of flannel gules sur
mounted by a spool Of thread couchant.
The demure maid who serves bouil-
lon, tea and chocolate TO the society :
fair Decreases hears tales from every
quarter of the globe-of life in the sum
mer colonies along the New England
coast, Of yachting cruises through Nor
wegian fi0rds in the yellow wake Of the
midnight sun, of walking tours in the
Landes and camping trips in the north
woods. She knows her planet better
than many whose orbits are less cir
cumscribed and can safely be relied up
on for information regarding elk in Ore
gou or salmon in the Columbia, the
proper time to hunt the grizzly in AS
siniboia and the relative merits of the
Andalusian donkey and his twin broth
er. the Rocky mountain Lu1To.
After serving the Bradamante of the
society with cup of tea and a caviare
sandwich, she retires to dusky corner
Of the room, refills the lamp under the
brazen kettle and rearrangcs the Dres-
den cups and saucers and the jewel
mounted spoons upon the teakwood ta-
BILE.
When the fluffy haired Mrs. Jack,
the society's president and the hostess
of the occasion, begins her story, there
is a lull in the talk, which the wind
fills in with a neatly executed arpeggio.
Mrs. Jacks mouth droops in wistful
curves, and beside her eyes an infant
would seem sophisticated.
Jack says must go with him to
Africa, but shall never dare to look "a
tiger in the face after my experience on
the Big Muddy"
Mrs. Jacks adventures have familiar
lied the society with Tin Cup, Big Bug,
Bumblebee and Medicine Hat But the
Big Muddy offers delightful fields for
speculation, for it has not yet found a
place ON any map, and its only high
roads are the half obliterated trails left
by the Utes when they unwillingly de-
parted for new hunting grounds.
you remember the bighorn / shot
after Jack and the guides had tracked
him for ten days over the Rattlesnake
range in Wyoming?' Mrs. Jack contin-
ues plalntlvely.
The society remembers the big-horn
as well as the giant shark in the Mexi-
can gulf, the mountain lion and the Gin
namon bear with amber eyes picked off
bv Mrs Jacks rife in the San Francis
quito mountains. The idea OF her Iloe
daring to look a tiger in the face under
any circumstances taxes the credulity Of
the society. Has she ever known fear,
ever quailed before beast, bird or fish
this modern Artemis?
When she accompanies her husband
on his hunting expedition, she wears the
woods autumn livery-leaf brown and
scarlet-an abbreviated skirt and leg
gings of brown corduroy, a scarlet leath-
er shirt with elk's teeth for buttons, a
hat festooned with trout and salmon
flies and shining leaders. A cartridge
belt girdlcs her slender waist, with its
depending revolver and hunting knife.
1t is remarkable that Mrs. Jack has
escaped the cinnamon's embrace, and
bruin might well be pardoned such an
indiscretion-
Jack has always said that my phys
had never confessed to him that there
was one test to which / should be un-
equal. 1t came on the Big Muddy. Lis
ten:
1--WE were camped in the quaking as
pen Snow had fallen, and the elk were
coming down. You could hear them
bungling ON every side just before dawn.
t. :. 90 e oil
pass near your camp by initiating their
call upon an empty cartridge shell. l
have learned the trick, and Jack had
no hesitation in permitting me to choose
my own trail one morning and follow
ing it alone afoot, he and the guides
scattering in other directions. The taste
of the camp coffee was still upon my
lips, my cheeks tingled with the frosty
breath of the morning air as | kept eau
tiously to the windward of the elk,
whose trumpeting stirred me like mar
tial music.
"a stray bear track showed here and
there i'll the fresh snow But / was aft
er elk A hundred miles lay between
our camp and the nearest settlement
All, the solitude of those woodsP'
Mrs Jack leans back in her chair and
sighs reminiscently as she gazes into
the blazing hearth fire, a charming pic
ture in her house gown Of old blue,
frightened with CLEANS Of Persian en-
broidery, interviewer with uncut jewels.
81 had gone three miles, perhaps
four, over fallen spruce up the steep
side of a rugged mountain, when crash
across my trail came a band Of elk,
headed by magnificent bull.
"Crorching behind bowlder, Iwait-
ed. | have waited so often for big game,
from Alaska to the gulf. Jack says
have seen more than he can ever hope
to see if he lives to be 100. My hand
was steady. Jack often gets buck fever.
I never do. l took deliberate aim. The
elk came toward the bullet and dropped
dead without struggle Blazing the
trail as / retraced it toward camp fol
the pack animals, / saw that there were
new bear tracks. | was not out that
day for bear, and did not care to come
upon one alone, although l had M
thought Of shirking the encounter were
it forced upon me.
"a bear in bear pit is clumsy
creature. In tho woods he challenges
your admiration by his clever fashion
Of covering the ground without apparent
effort The one / soon deserted ahead OF
me was numbering along like bunci
Of tumbleweed, lengthening the dis
tance between rs at a rapid rate.
''Foolishly i INDUCED myself in &
shot at him, striking his shoulder. He
turned upon me with n roar of pain. Al
that instant i needed all my nerve, This
time | chose a tree for cover and await
ed. He came ON without halt, straight
toward me. l fired again, missing him
| was just about to try n third shot
when the test came, of which have
spoken.
1.-The test?'' murmurs the society
breathlossly.
1.-The test of my courage to which
had always felt / should be unequal
the thing l had dreaded in my forest
| wanderings with Jack"
"Whatr" the society demands, with
one voice
81 had raised my rife, when l felt
something fiuttering in my hair. l fan