The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-09-29

hour 1T SO ev'ry day, but 'twan't no
USE
be a trapper on tn South Fork o. tn
F1ambeau way back in tn fifties. said
tn way to git that an'mul was to jack
him. Salge he said: Eat deer ees hell
on corn, but he mus drink sometime,
mon br-rave. He mus go to re lax TO
hees waiter wen re moon ees gone
down. TEX re canoe an re 'eadlight,
re paddle an re gon, Feirguson, mon
or Salge he knowed I were the bes'
jacker wat ever whipped a bar-keep in
FifieP an / said to myself, I said, that
tn deer's name was dog-hSh
ct git out on TIN lake at 1 o'clock that
mornin'-ur mebbe it were 1:15-an
paddle slow round tn aidge. | don't
make no more noise than a young teal
swimmin'. 1 got TIL jack on TIL front
cd git at it without trouble. go nearly
'roun' Letourneau an don't see noth1n-
At las, JUS as paddle roun ieetle
pint o. trees that run out inter tn water,
I see two big roun' eyes blazin' ike
stars, not twenty yard away. Mebbe
they weren't more'n nineteen yard They
was a good five feet six inches above
the lake, an I says to myself either
that deer is Standin' on log ur ne. IS
tn bigges' thing that ever hit tn North
Woods. He stares at me an L stares at
him. an then l notice that, Two Ieel
lower down an yard away, IS TWO
more eyes. ET-nun, say , ~ 1AAS SCI,
you got a fren' with you, / says.
reached FIR tn gun, an as reached f'r
it they was splash like mouse tuln-
bled inter tn water an then crash Oh
tn bank like eleven trees had fell an
the eyes was gone l was 50 mad JUS
raised TIN gun and let loose both bar
rels to onst an that turned the canoe
over in twenty-three feet O. water an
los tn gun. Wen I git back TO camp
OF Salge is up waitin' to arsk me
w'ether git him. 1 tell him bout tn
gun an he do a Chippewa corn dance
and say tn gun comes outn my wages.
Then / do a Leech Injun walk-eround'
an tell him no French cigreet smoker
ever pupped en- dock me fr cent
Then he say it amt my fault an we go
to bed. Seer"
cause he had lost three frogs IN rapid
succession, said that he saw and FerGy
resumed: Then we still hunt that deer
This was in August. You Couldn't near
yourself think FIR tn hummin' Of tn
shelters. TIL leaves on tn trees was so
thick it were more'n a human beln,
could do to breathe 'mong EN-. IN,
groun' were soggy under foot rom tn
rains an climbin' over a rotten log
made you feel wuSSn fallin' 90 trees
day in tn winter. There were tn trail
plain marked ev'ry day roun' tn lake,
an now it gotter be so that they was
two trails. Evidently tn frien' of tn
big buck were stayin' with him. Still,
huntin' him was like huntin' fr cart
ridge cap in a box car O. password
shavin's I don't fisdoubt that we was
within so yards O. him 20 times that
month, but we never see him. He use
ter lead us rOun' an roun' an roun' an
roun', SOS we'd cover 20 mile before an,
ner an never be three miles f'om tn
lake. Then, wen give it up FIR tn day.
we'd hear a snort someers near us an
tn double crash o two somep'n MS jump
in inter tn brush, an thatd end it.
or Salge were one O. these redface,
w ite-mustash Frenchmun watts obStnlt
as pigs, an he let tn hay an TIL corn
an 'ev'ything else go to thunder VILE
him an tn hay hams chased tn buck
They was Is o. us an I calkerlated on
tn fust o. September we'd walked all
tergether 9,121 miles an eight rod. But
we never git no buck
I'VE brulx camp an went inter Fifiel
near tn eend O. September an 1 lay
round there an spen' my good money.
I CANT git that deer out'n my haid, an
1 CANT git 'nough wood alkyhol inter
me ter make me fergit that l like ter
had him that night on tn lake. In Oc-
tober tn leaves turn red an fall off,
maxim tn woods clear, an to'rd Noyem-
Der tn fust light snow come down. Then
McWhirte lopeS inter town. McW mir
ter's Scotchmun f'om a loggin camp
over on Big Beaver. He can't shoot
much but he's got pair o 1aigs on him
like fishin' poles, an he's good FIR 60
mile a day seven days in a week. It's
his business to be telfone tween a
loggin' camps 20 mile apart, an they
never were a Injun runner atween the
Mississippi an Lake Michigan as could
touch him FIR eatin' up tn groun'. He's
had a row an whipped tn camp cook
cause tn grub weren't up to contrac,
an he's quit. 7 says to him we gotter
git that deer. an he says to me how
much money I got, an I says to him,
nearly IS; an he says to me, it's too
much; an we drink up 81 of it. Mex
morning, with some grub an Ticker an
blankets an our guns, we hit tn woods
"a
wen we hit 'em you could a-heard us
hum. I ulster be lumber camp telfone
myself.
weeks before we strike thtrail. 1 dunno
were TIL buck were, but he weren't
there. Meantime tn snow'd come down
more'n foot deep, the lake'd froze over
an we ketched lots o fish out'n hole
in tn ice. Wen we fin tn trail we fol-
Ter it awhile JUS to see that it run bout
in tn lake neighborhood. We know'd
then as tn buckd be up to his OF tricks
an we knOw'd we had him. This Nc
Whirter was shore a smart Scotchmun.
He couldn't shoot none, but he was
shore smart. He says to me: That buck
is back on his OF stompin- groun's an
he's goin' to hang roun' here all winter.
He's got his partner with him, as we
see by th'double trail. You couldn't
drive him away fom Letourneau Lake
with axe he says. I'll take him FIR IL
hours an wen I quit him he wont be
three mile FIN this camp he says. Then
you take him FIR II hours. The SHOWS
deep he says, AN the bucks big as
moose says he, AN he'll break through
tn crust an bleed like a beef he says,
AN eff you're hats good as you useter
be- says he, wen git him shore
Then 1 says I'm good to trot tn
laigs off'n any bloomin' Scotchmun as
ever squeezed a dollar until tn eagle
th'owed fits, says I, an we git out tn
snow Shoes McWhirter he gifts up at
daylight next mornin' an he takes a
blankit an a hunk O. bread an fried
fish an no gun an he hikes. I stay in
camp all day an cook grub an ketch
fish through tn ice an bout hour by
sun straps on my shoes an starts out
FIR tn trail. / hit it a mile an two
hundred yards f'om camp, an half