The herald., 1897-07-11

own fattening would be nice. His hair
begins to rise as he finds fresh tracks
leading from the vineyard up the hill
and they are so easy to follow. He is
quite surprised that any one could ever
have said that deer were hard to track.
and equally amazed at the stupidity of
other grangers in letting the deer eat
up all their trees. Verify it must be
true, all that he has heard about the
laziness of Californians.
| All Of a sudden the tracks don't run
| together as they did, and strangely
! enough it is not so easy to follow bne
| track as it was the trail Of half dozen
deer all in the same path. And first
thing he knows they don't look as fresh
as they did when they were altogether,
and now he finds on the same ground
plenty Of tracks two or three days old
and there is a marvellous resemblance
| among them all He suddenly discovers
that the sun is growing hot and it seems
as if that sea breeze were somewhat
late this morning. And strangely
enough the tracks keep on the sunny
side of the hill and the first thing he
knows there is a feeling of vast vacuity
within, suggestive of a want of break
fast. Nature did we'll by us in giving
plenty of boulders in the hills to rest
on, but the more he sits the hotter the
sun is growing and the more he moves
on the thinner and more widely scat
tered the tracks are growing. About
| the time they begin to wander in all
directions the brush grows higher and
thicker than the cuss words that are
fast following his rapid grunts as the
hill grows sleeper by the minute with
rocks thicker and mea'ner to climb.
| But he has plenty of determination,
| and on he goes. He repeats the story of
| the boy and the woodchuck. and tears
| ahead through the thickening brush
which shuts off what little breeze has
| risen and let's in the sun as we'll as Il
built for the purpose. His keen eye sud
| denly sees something gray through the
brush and it sparkles with satisfaction
It's not deer, though, but gray gran
ite rock that reaches high above the
brush. 1t is swept by the breeze and in
twinkling the highest point is covered
From there he can look down upon the
valley below and see his little boy
bringing in the firewood for his mother
to cook the venison, while she stands al
| Tie QOOi lOOhlH6 dp iAC I'LL anu WOGueI
ing why she has not heard the report OF
the rifle. Over space of some 900 acres
or more a dozen such rocks rise and with
grim determination he tries them al!
Down in a little gulch lies big buck II
the shade, lazily Tapping one ear in the
gloom of the chaparral and keeping on,
eye on our friend. But why should hi
run when he knows the greehorn will
never see him? On yonder ridge dos
and two fawns lie with equal composurs
and a spike buck merely drops his heat
and moves few steps out of the way
when he hears him coming. And so hi
. sits till the rocks grow weary, ant
tranps about until he has spoiled thi
| years crop of manzanita berries, ant
then wanders down the hill to find tn.
foreleg Of a cottontail left from yester
days dinner powerful sweet" He onl,
; made very natural mistake. He wa
. wise enough to take a copy of "The Still
: Hunter in his pocket but forgot hi
glasses.
Wherever you go you will not fine
hunting too easy, but when a fat bucl
breaks cover and goes twisting G up Ion.
. hill with lofty jumps you will find few
seconds equal to half day of man,
kinds of sport. AS surely as you pull
j the trigger with the sights held on hi