The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-27
[. iIII5;;gZEZ:lI...I..E 81

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them pickerel didn't let up on me I'd be
so tired I'd never git home so jest pulled
up all my lines and quit. You ought TO
been there and seen the stacks o pick
erel | had layin' round there on the ice
see there wasn't no kind o use o me
thinkin o gittin' anyways nigh a quar-
ter OF EN- home by backin' em in SO I
was startin' for home to git Sam an the
OK team when l heerd a noise behind me-
l looked back over my shoulder, and there
! see a slammin big buck comm right
lords me. There was a lot o snow on
the Ice, and the old Teller had good foot
in. First along I thought he han't seen
or smiled me, and was only crossin' the
pond didn't want to be run down and
walked over By no deer and so I turned
square around and hollered at him Now
what mad that eonsarned deer ought 10
up and done? Accordin' to the geneTl
idee of the natur' o. deer, that buck ought
TO been scared half to death then and
there, and turned and Bounced away like
a gale o wind. Did he do it? If he did,
| hain't heerd of it yet. No. sir, he didn't
Inste'd OF turnin' an boundin' away like
real, law-abidin' deer ought to done, he
rlz up the bristles on his neck till they
stood five inches high, and givin' a snort
like mad bull, he come for me like a
locomotive
Here" I says. THAT buck acts to
me as If he had an idee o. doin some
hookin'"
That's what he had too. and as he
come tearin' where l stood I jumped to
one side. The deer was goin' so fast that
he went on by me more'n fifty yards fore
he could stop and turn. I didn't calculate
to stand there and be hooked into shoe
strings by that buck. and away I dug
for shore, hopin' to git there and climb a
tree fore the buck could ketch me, if he
was rantankerous enough to foller me.
He was rantankerous enough, all right,
and he follered me, but I didn't climb the
tree. / have always kind O. looked up to
deer, John. I've always sot deer down as
bein critters that was high feelin' and
| wouldn't stoop to do anything low.
But l want to tell 1t right now that
| I'm disappointed in deer! They amt what
I've always cracked EN- up to be. If that
buck had been of the natur I've always
| sot deer natur' down to be I'd a clumb
that tree. But he wasn't, and jest as I
| had grabbed the trunk o. that tree and
was goin' up it like a red squirrel, that
| buck reached up and fastened onto me
| with his jaws jest below where my hind
! gallus buttons is hitched to my trousers,
and sloshed me down ag'in so quick that
1 can't never tell you now which end O.
me hit the snow first! Fastened onto me
| jest as If he was nothin' more than a
| sneakin snarlin sniffin sheep-stealin'
dog, insted of a bold and boundin' roe
buck o. the mountains! Disappointed? 1
was never so disappointed in my life!
| Then what does that deer do? Moth
! in only chuck me clean back on the pond
| agin, and come follern' me as tight
as he could come. He came so tight that
he stubbed his toes on me, and went all
in heap on the ice himself 1 was up
fore he was, and / want to tell you was
| mad I-i4isfu- .lc
g This is a-goin' a leetle too furp' I
says. Il hain't got no objections to you
| havin' the hun o that pond to yourself
| If you want it," says, but there hain't
no deer ever lived kin sneak up and bite
me like darn emery sheep-stealin' dog
without me a hittin' back
| The deer was a-comin' for me head
on agin and l knowed from the wav he
looked that he was p'intin' to hook me
! down and then churn the innards out O.
me. I'd turned and lodged him and got
| up the tree this time if he hadn't BIT me
| tother time. That was more'n 1 could
| stand, and when he come a prancin' IN
TO me with his head down to scoop me.
| ketched him by the horns, whopped him
over on his back, and run my knife across
his llIOdl lOIG he ever knOWeQ what he
had run ag'in Did 1? Well, do Won
s'pose I'm goin' to let a deer bite me and
then set down and let him hook me and
stomp me into hash besides? Not this
year!
"Well. sir. the first thing I knowed this
mornin' Gabe Sawyer, the constable
comes over here and says TO me:
Joe" says he, I've got a warrant
for you and I'll have to yank you"
oyalr
"Killin' deer outen season." he saws
was so took back that 1 COULDN'T
say durn word till me and Gabe got dowr
to the squirrels. Then l up and told 'en
jest how it all happened, but if the squire
didn't bind me over to pear fore the
grand jury, you kin have my hull blame
clearn'. Now, l jest want to know what
be we comm to? If the day O. the month
amt right you've got to lay down anC
let deer chaw and horn and stomp the day
lights outen you, and leave your wife g
wilder or else be held for the grand jury
1 got that durn sheep-stealin' dog of q
! deer's carcase hangin' out here in the
| barn. Come and see it..
Il went out to the barn. The deer was
a big one and no mistake. wondered
how in the world Joe could have whipped
it on its back SO quick. BY and by, in
looking the carcass over 1 found a hole
in its side, just behind the left shoulder
| The hole was fresh and L could put my
forefinger all the way in it. The hole was
a bullet hole, sure as guns.
Why joe ! said, there's bullet hole
in this deer
Joe came around and looked at it. He
stood a minute as if dumb with amaze
ment. Then he struck his fist against the
side of the barn and shouted:
"In give $50 this here very minute tC
know who plunked that bullet in that
deer No wonder that deer bit me. Nc
wonder he wanted to hook and stomp the
daylights out o me. l take it all back
That bullets what done it. Some prowin
bushwhacker socked that bullet in that
deer, and the pain o. the wound jest sol
him crazy, and he turned in to spit it out
on me. And here 1 been yanked and held
for the grand jury and jest es like as not
they'll sock it to me. III give $50 to know
who fired that bullet. Here, Sam. Taxi
this here deer down in the cellar and wei
cut it up and salt It down fore il spiles.
IL caught nice lot O. pickerel, but
haven't been able TO make up my mind We
whether my friend Joe is a liar or simply
the victim OF peculiar circumstances ant
it worries me"
Putting Into Practice.-Mauma-D