The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-21

with the sounds OF street cars and steam
whistles still in their ears. Others wore the
tan OF the West on their oheeks and could
travel at night by the stars.
Southwark a few miles was the Arkansas
River. Fashioned with gigantic hills that rose
terrace upon terrace, glowing with all the
fires Of autumn foliage. Back from the
river these hills ran for miles at every i'm
aginable angle. their caions debouching
one into another as II some great finger had
traced their course in darkness.
Little upland valleys, deep In grass and
watered by living springs, Struggled among
the hills, making an ideal feeding ground
for deer and turkey. The ridges were
bronzed with shaggy oaks whose acorns
clattered down with every breath OF the fall
wind.
In the Arkansas bottoms noon sank TO q
softer light underneath the great forests
mysterious In their immensity. Squirrels
cAattered everywhere, and big boot owls
tapped hundsringly from tree to tree when
disturbed In their daylight slumbsr.
Don Sager, a rancher, whose cattle ranged
the Opetonka, rode In from the darkness,
threw OF hs slicker and sat down by the
fire. Then 1t was that the hunters first heard
VI u JUN " LILO NPObOhAA ahN VI OA8hb
big gobblers that lived alone in q secluded
canon Of the Arkansas.
The buck, with antIers like a hayrack;
had shown himself too wary for hunters
and too feet for hounds. Tho gobblsrs,
elusive as shadows, had been feeding In
the canon since last fall, roosting wherever
night found them and hiding among tho
rocks when pursued. Other deer there
were, and turkeys, too, but those were
the most to be desired by sportsmen.
More than One hunter, al he lay warm
In his blanket that night, listened to the
wind roaring in the trees and thought Of
thu buck and the gobblers. Two tenderfeet
had agreed to start early next morning
for the Arkansas for geese and ducks.
Neither had ever seen a wild deer, and
one declared that II he could see one he
would not ask for the privilege of shooting
at IL. This same person was awake long
after his companions were asleep, arguing
with himself whether or not he should carry
o Winchester In addition to his shotgun.
He decided to leave the rife in camp, with
results to be known later in this narrative.
Tho next morning threatened rain, but
the two tenderfeet were on their way to
the Arkansas when the da wn was stil gray.
The footprints Of a big gobbler in sight Of
camp established brisk circulation. The
heaviest ammunition carried by the hunters
was three loads Of No. d.
The confluence Of the Arkansas and the
Opetonka was as barren Of geese and ducks
as the old lady's cupboard Of bones. Below
the 0petonka the Arkansas swung in q
majestic horseshoe bend to the southeast,
! its northern shore presenting a crescent
background Of mountainous and umbra-
geous hills.
The river valley spread southwark as
level asa floor. A sandbar about seventy
five yards from the shore ran up the Ar
kansas from the mouth Of tho Opetonka
about 30 yards.
Weary OF scanning the sky for triangies
Of geese, the two tenderfeet, known among
their companions a. John and Bnl. found
about 300 yards above the opstonka Q
sunny spot concealed ~ grass and wtllows
on the sdGs Of the rkansaB. John had Q