The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-05-03

eoursed that hare, gentlemen yet every
 time she got near him the hare seemed to gain fresh speed. At last I got sho
 at him and dropped him. and the mys-
 tery of the speed was explained The
 hare had not only the regulation foul legs underneath: he had four legs on his back. l have never seen a similar hare again.
 Poor Zephyrette ran so long and SC continuously that toward the latter part of her life her legs were almost worn of and I was compelled to use her as a daehschund instead of a greyhound. But it is wretehed and unprincpled inven- ton to say. as some do, that she became so blind that had to tie a lantern to her tail when We went hunting
 T had another splendid dog, concern ing whose deeds a great many lies are told by persons who think that it is a ,, joke to tamper with the truth. The strict facts about this intelligent animal. Pikas. are interesting enough, though they may not be so extraordinary as inventions might be.
 l One day I was quan hunting with i Pikas, when he came to a point before a flock of several hundred birds. l with i held my shot because l was waiting for my wife, who was to come up with my lieutenant and my groom. They did not arrive and l rode back part of the way, ;, leaving Pizas on his point A courier on ] a foam-lathered horse met me with an order to go without delay to the Fortress l Wesel on a matter of the highest import anee. I galloped to my castle, changed my clothes and rode there straightway. It was If days before I returned.
 On the day after my arrival home wished to go hunting and called for Pikas My servants told me that the dog had not been seen since my departure 1 and that they had supposed he was with me I rode to the field and soon found myself near the spot where I had left Pikas two weeks before. Beholdl There was the faithful dog. holding his point, but so nearly starved that h. looked like d skeleton. 1 advanced and up sprang the birds. equally thin. Not wishing to slaughter them in that condition 1 con- tented myself with one shot. which brought down only 9 O. them. l have rarely heard of a dog holding his birds longer than that. Have you?
 He was really one of the best dogs that l ever had. When he died l had his skin tanned and fashioned into hunting waistcoat, for I had a sentimental desire to have Pikas with me on all my hunts in some form or another. A rather pe- l;a I wore this garment On the field.
 All at once, quite without warning, the waistcoat became as rigid as iron, so that it actually squeezed my heart. I stopped. A button flew off and up sprang a covey of quail, of which 1 shot five. I had not walked 50 feet before the same thing happened. In short, gentlemen, since that day I need no dog. But it costs me a pretty penny for buttons. l consider this one of the most touching proofs of the fidelity of dog even after death
 ''Of course every hunter has odd expe- riences. and mine are not to be called wonderful, although some are rather in- teresting For instance, one morning I saw flock of wild fowl on the lake and hurried so eagerly to get a shot that I struck my head against the doorpost with a crash that made sparks fly out of my eyes. I did not permit that to deter me, of course. But when l arrived at the lake I found that the collision had also knocked the flint from my gun. There I was with a loaded weapon and no way to fire 1t I had happy thought. l put the gun to my shoulder. aimed and then hit myself in the eye with all my might. Of course I saw sparks immediately and one of them exploded the priming. The shot went off and I had the pleasure of returning with five pairs of duck, four geese and two moorhens.
 That trip to the Fortress Wesel, which I have just mentioned, was connected with mysterious occurrence that I did not intend to mention, because it is a state secret. But I see that you are all curious, and. as there is little danger of a recurrence of the episode. I will simply ask you to respect my confidence and keep the matter to yourselves.
 "When arrived in Wesel, the Com
 
 with desperate alarm in every feature Silently they led me to the batteries, and silently with despair in the very motion of his hand, the Commandant pointed to the guns.
 1T looked and saw an almost incredible sight. The immense cannon were full of worm holesl The terrible iron worm had attacked them! There were 63 cases last night said the surgeon with hope less voice, and since then we have had eight more
 'I shuddered. for this was quick and fearful work even for the iron worm immediately ordered the construction of great caldron, which was ready within three days. But swiftly as they men worked. Il more guns had been at tackled before it was ready.
 sI must confess that l myself did not know exactly at that time how to de- stroy the worm: but l ordered the call dron to be made white hot and then we threw 20 of the worm-eaten cannon into it with 12 that were still sound. To make long story short we kept them there in white heat for three days and nights during which time 51 other cannon were eaten by the worms. The garrison had already begun to toast me as the worm hero and cannon doctor when we took the guns out-and found to our horror that all the guns, even the F originally sound ones, were pierced through and tbro,,oh with worm holes.