The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-11-26

UeQU was SECURING Uno COuIUFy du1aConC
for game. The bare piny woods, with
their scant soil and tall trees, offered little
in the way of real sport except a few
focks of quails and now and then a deer
or a fox squirrel 1t so happened that
had extremely bad luck that Thanksgiving
week, and my primitive larder on the
morning of the eventful day contained
nothing more than some salt pork bacon
and hard tack, with few vegetables.
The grove in which my tent was pitched
belonged to an abandoned plantation. and
not far away. in the center of half wild
garden lived one of the ancient retainers
of the departed household in a little, tum-
BILE down shanty He was an ola negro,
known as Daddy Paddy, who claimed to
have come into Florida when it was an
| Indian possession and to have been at one
time slave of Coachochee, the Seminole
wildcat He was over 80 years old,
| anyway, for he could tell tales of the times
of Andrew jackson and was at the battle
| of New Orleans. He always insisted. how
| ever, that General Washington was present
at that memorable event, declaring with
great pertinacity that if he did rot take
part in the fight he was thar or thar
abouts." His wrinkled skin was black as
ebony, but his wool and his eyebrows were
white as snow, giving to this old man the
| air and dignity of patriarch.
Early in the morning, while the dew
was still glistening on the grass blades
and the river hidden beneath banks of mist
] took my gun and sauntered down toward
the garden where Daddy Paddy had his
dwelling place, intending to hunt the
hammock that lay beyond it,
| l saw his white, woolly head bobbing
about among the fig and oleander trees,
and as threw my leg over the snake fence
| he saw me and cried out excitedly: Hi,
dar, massa! Lemme tell 20 me jes' see de
bigges' gobblah may eyes eber. look at
Fac done shuah yo', massa."
(Which way did he go, Daddy Tell me,
quick We haven't any time to lose. " The
old man turned and gazed at me with an
air of offended dignity in face and atti-
tude, Notwithstanding his bent form and
shaking limbs.
putin on aihs. Now, whose am dat tub
keyp Am it yorn, or am it mine? Les
settle dat ques ion right now on dis spot "
"Wel, it won't be anybody if we don't
get after it soon will it? Come now, Dad
dy, don t lose time fooling. Tell me which
way he went "
dat ain what me axes yo' Am it
yorn, or am it mine? I'm de one dat sees
de turkey an puts yo' on de trail Now,
de ques ion am, Eff we git um, whose am
| itY''
well, Daddy, if we get the turkey,
which looks mighty doubtful, you'll have
your share Does that satisfy you?''
"Yessir, dat am de talk Oh, we git
um shuah 'nuffl Dat ar turkey am goin
toe be our meat When me see turkey fly
dat away, me knows ezackly whar toe fin
um, sab An, wha's mo-. he am likely toe
hab hen Turkeys wiz UNI, sab Now go
mosey right long fer dat big pine on de
aige OBJ de hammik. an ole Daddy'I foller
benin 20"
The old man went back to set a stick up
against his door, to keep it fastened dur
ing his absence, then began to hobble after
me-
Finally after more than an hour of
agonizingly slow progress we came to the
border of a broad savanna. where we
stopped under the shade of wide spread
ing live oak, and Daddy gave me final in
structions t8HN
"See dat lone palmeeter ober dab by de
creek? Well, right beyon dat palmeeter
am buhn (tract of grass recently burned
over) an, boy shuah s. yos a'ibe, dab is
an cral, keerful, keerful along de aige
OBJ de hammik, an when 20 gifts neah de
palmeeter 20 raise up an glib it toe EN-
pam Yo' un stan wha' me done tole yo'.
boyp'
"Yes, Daddy, l understand Ny re-
spect for the old man had increased since
he had shown himself so well informed re-
garding wild turkey habits, and followed
his instructions implicitly Casting my
self prone upon the grass, | painfully
worked my way toward the spot indicated
by Daddy, my heart beating loudly at the
prospect of near shot at the turkeys In
front of me, after had accomplished my
painful Journey, was natural screen Of
high grasses and scrub palmetto, and to
prove D~cdy Paddy's prediction correct l
had only to rise to my feet and peer over
it Taking off my hat and slowly assum-
ing STOPPING posture, raising my head
inch by inch, peered cautiously through
the grass tops, but suddenly dropped to
the ground, clutching my gun, my hands
shaking as in an ague fit
The sight before me on the burned space
near the creek for the moment unnerved
me, for it was the first time in my life
that had beheld wild turkeys at short
range and in large flock There were
nine of them there-a great, bronze hued
gobbler, whose glossy plumage shone like
FURNISHED copper and gold in the morning
sun, and eight hen turkeys, all feeding
quietly. not more than so yards away
The remembrance of my lean larder,
without even a bit of meat for the Thanks