The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-05-28

| every time we tried to shoe EN- oil
| they Jest bristled up and run us off the
| patch and went on with their chawin'
| and PAWN and elawin'. Why amt
| they here now? An accident happened
to one on 'em t'other day. says Jim.
That's why they amt here now. |
guess they amt quite SO sure o. them
selves as they was, and they're layin'
low says Jim. Yes says he. One
o. them deer shot himself. Broke the
game law, by gravy, and shot himself
out o season., says Jim.
TRAP gum says the game con-
stable. That's what you call an ae-
cident, hey2 Guess you'll nave to go
long with me. James, says he.
mot yit awhile.' says Jim. There
want no trap gun. 1t was an accident,
I tell you, and the deer shot himself.
Shot himself dead. | was over in the
| three-acre patch tryin' TO red things
up and save little o next years crop.
says Jim, when a deer come trottin'
| down out'n the woods, drove me off,
| and begun TO ehaw and paw and claw.
L
nothin' could a-stopped me pitchin'
| in and poundin' that deer all to pieces,
says Jim, but KEEP my temper. had
gun in the house. | knowed that If
| the deer had been a crow my fetchln'
| out gun without any load in it
wouldn't have skeert il bit, cause a
crow kin tell loaded gun from an un-
| loaded one a mile off. But as the deer
want crow, | went to the house and
got my old gun that | hadn't loaded in
five years, thinkin' that il ! strutted out
in the patch with it on my shoulder it'd
make the deer think didn't care for
the game Jaw any more. and he'd skip.
| had strlItted as close as 20 foot to the
deer fore he seen me- says jim, he
was SO busy chaNin' and PAWN aud
clawin' them Strawberries. Then he
looked up. He didn't turn skeert bit.
lie turned madden than wild ball and
come for me a-tearin.' l whipped
round says Jim, and broke for the
house, but the deer ketehed me. He
ketched me about three inches below
where the hind gallus buttons fits into
the galluses, aud down | went, says
Jim, and plowed as much as 20 foot
through that three-aere patch. The OF
musket was shook loose from me by the
jar the deer give me.
AZ guess maybe the butt end o the
musket must a struck ag'in fence post
that stood ahead of it some ten or
dozen foot and sort o ratified up the
lock. Anyhow, says Jim, i heerd a
roar that made the hull o that three
acre strawberry patch raise up and
shake itself, and when | got up and
tried to view the landscape DER there
seemed to be smell o powder hover
in round and the smoke was so thick
l couldn't see anything for as much as
minute. Then things sort o cleared.
Over by the fence post the gun was
layin' as peaceful as lamb, and down
in the patch where the biggest clawin
in the patch was, laid the deer, jest as
peaceful as the gun was. There couldn't
be no two ways about 1t, squire, says
Jim. Somebody must loaded that
gun unbeknownst to me, and the rash
and unfortunate critter of deer had
shot itself dead with it. Broke the
game law, by gravy and shot himself
out o. season. What's the reason, says
jim, that your business hain't got
nothin' to do with strawberry patches,
squireY says jim.
James,, says the game constable,
where's that DEER?
"'Well, squire, says Jim, as soon as
/ see what had happened ! run into the
house and told the folks. Then | run
down yonder to tell a neighbor. When
| got back home the deer wasn't layin'
in that three-acre strawberry patch no
more. asked my neighbor, who knows
all about deer, whether he thought
otherdeers could come down outen the
woods and carried that dead deer back
with 'em, and he said, KNOWN what
he knowed about deer, specially deer
that hung around this district, that it
wouldn't surprise him bit if they had.
So the deer amt here. But kin show
you the musket the deer shot himself
with, squire, in that three-acre straw
berry PATCH says Jim.
But the game constable he didn't
care to see the gun, and after warnin'
Jim about bein' so careless with fire.
arms after that, he went home.
"'And now, Bill says, you see how
them game laws led Jim Collins into
lynn says.
"'That's So says Bill. Thunder
says he, but that was an all whoppin'
whopper about that deer, wasn't it?'
says he.
"'About the deer?' | says. Why |
says, Jim was all right about the deer.
Jim didn't lie none about the DEER |
says. What he told about the deer
was straight as string.
What says Bill. Where did the
game law make Jim a liar, then?'
says he.
"Why, about the three-acre straw
berry patch says. Jim Collins never
had as much even as a quarter-acre
strawberry patch in his life, says.
And if it hadn't been for the game law
Jim wouldn't a been tempted to say
he had | says.
bill he didn't say nothin', and we
went on to the Eddy and got the new
clothes, and when Bill planked down
the seven dollars and quarter for EN-.
and see that the upshot Of it would be
that I'd have TO be lendin' Bill my dog |
and my fishin' tackle for the next six |
months or more, felt consumed sorry,
cause he had to spend that money for
clothes, and couldn't help sayin' ag'in:
.nnrh n all nill ,,.h,. didr,,t ~. L..