The Opelousas courier., 1900-04-14

be as useful as the white Klnd one
would say who saw the daily embark
alton Of well-equipped "sports"-
every city man in the woods is called
q 'sport"-who take to the road with
one of these dark and unknowable off
spring OF the lumber camps. Perhaps
the general idea is that a little Indian
blood in a man means so much true
hunter, or maybe the Indian will go
for a little less than the whites in the
business. However these things are,
the would-be hunter should pause to
consider the significance Of this tale,
remembering that Indians neve
change, and that back somewhere in
the sixties lived one lone Indian, o
mere remnant, who fought controls
and the vested interests of great SPAR
ties from the outside, because of an
idea. The game was his; nc white
man should have of it OF come to
spoil it; not even the logging crew,
who did not come to kill.
San Indian~'ll never show you the
game; not il he can help it."
I had picked my guide, Snow, for
his age and experience. He was q
friend of the late Jock Darling, that
famous character and once sinful dog
ger of deer, and the things he said
about the woods went. Still, as he
made this remark, I was considering
the natural results of competition.
Snow met my doubling look with the
firm-jawed, solid contemptuousuess OF
his kind; but on this occasion he con-
descended to speak ont. We sat in
the public room Of the road "hotel''
that surmounted o barred and windy
ridge. Fate had showed as in here on
the way to our projected camp, between
an memorable round, red, scorching
stove and the depth of an open
window. And the weather was cold
hunting weather, when the deer would
be out of their safe swamps and feed
ing-at their peril-along the ridges.
"Back in the Sixties" said Snow,
ST was a Witty young fellow, and I've
lived round logging camps ever since
I could remember anything. I believe
I used a baby axe. After a while I
had my spell at swampin' roads
swampin's the only work that's con
sidered fit for youngsters and green
horns, ~@@because, then, it's NO matter
how the trees fall-and I'd become a
regular chopper. And when, on top
of this, I say I worked three seasons
ct river drivin' and kept hearty, you'll
realize that I must have been q we'll
muscled young chap for my years.
"Now, besides this natural educa-
ton, as You might say, I'd had o little
schoolin' through an uncle of mine at
Houlton, SO that when the time came
that a big new lumber company
wanted to put a ~surveyorin the woods
for EN-, I about filed the bill. That
was q good job in those days, when the
business was new, though I didn't do
what you're thinkin' OF. I didn't lay
down lines, but I just walked straight
into the woods and looked over the
standin' timber, and I took it in as
straight as I could with my eye, saw
what the trees would amount to, saw
how many pair horses and how many
men could get the logs to water, and
then I wrote down my IDEAS and my
fggers TO the company that was wait
in to begin work on what ] said. This
was the practical side, aud it was easy
larnin' the headwork, but I must say
by the end of the second winter I'D
had enough. A man gets used to
being by himself in the woods, though
I've heard regular old sports, who'd
been down here huntin' fall after fall,
tell Of nigh losin' their wits at the
chance, as it seemed, they'd be obliged
to sleep ont alone away from camp. /
had my little grub outfit and a blanket,
and, of course, / knew how to s11s
myself snug in all kinds OF weather, SO
that I never had o thought that warn't
pleasant till the day I met up with
F~ransway. It was a funny thing ]
hadn't seen .Fransway before, as I'd
been workin' more or less right in the
fcounsry where he pnt in his time.
Fransway was q character, O big In
dian, the biggest ! ever saw, a mighty
man with d chest like q pork barrel,
though he must have been old then,
and with a bad, squirting eye. He
used TO be q chief, the story was, bui
the rest of his tribe were dead. Well,
the day / saw him he eve looked in
my direction 81 all, just kept right
along on his snowshoes-it was in
January-and got ont Of sight,
thought, in d hurry. After that hard.
" q week passed but what Fransway
showed up somewhere TO the east,
west, north OF south Of me and my
work, never coming decently near,
however. held on to my blanket in
case he wal looking for a chance t.
steal that, but after he'd been follow,
in me round q spell longer T made out
his business was something different
If it was anything to do with me, why
couldn't he come straight up and spit
il out?
"I began to think some rnea. Il
no sooner get fixed fox. the night il
some nice hollow with some boughs
butted up against the biggest ant
most comfortablest lenloca OF the lo'
when I'd begiu to look fer Transway
You'll hear plenty of noises in til,
woods SO long as the sun IL shining
but take it at night aud I cant thinl
of any place so still. Maybe Td'hav.
All owl for company perched UP OF
sonle tree opposite, starin' al me, ana
mad clean through at the sight Of nj
fire. I never noticed owls before, bn
I began to get lonesome, and, well
that Indian got on my neryeA