The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-01-02
] Deer Stalking
! In Cuba
Sports of the Soldiers in the JunSlt
difficulties of the Chase.
es,ssss,s :. =, :ai;;.: :,:sa

on the piazza with his rifle and am
munition box. Instantly sat W
Where are you going?" | demanded
Deer stalking. The soldiers get i
deer nearly every day. Then | an
going, too" | said. | looked away
across the railroad and beyond Inc
old Spanish block house toward the
young American town of Ccballos
and there up the dusty, red road came
several khaki-clad boys from the 14tf
Infantry that Uncle Sam has station
ed here to hold the lid down il
Cuba "Oh, don't go with them. Lei
me go. I'll be quiet" pleaded-and
l meant to be. So we started. the
man wit is rifle over his shoulder
and | with a jarver-a basket made
of fbre-and a machete for
wanted to get some ferns
Down through our young orange
orchard we went to the dry bed of
the tiny river-the river that dur
ing the rainy season runs flush. and
sometimes overfiows This made a
splendid path through the jungle, for
the bottom was hard sand and the
bou2hS overhead made a nice cool
shade, SO that walking was a pleas
ure, save when great dams of drift
wood forced us up into the tangled
underground on the banks. Gladly
we would slide down into the sand
again, for the woods are a regular
jungle, a perfect network of tangled
vines twining from tree to tree, i'm
penetrable. save as one cuts way
through with machete, or fellows an
ancient Cuban path. Parasites are
these vines, and they in turn bear
up great masses of parasites. 1t is
this, with the loads of orchids on
the trees, that makes, for the north
erner, the Cuban woods SO marvellous.
Here and there. royal palms thrust
their slender, straight boles up. UP
through the tangled mass, to the open
sky beyond, wave their tuft Of plumes
above the confusion and riot and give
character to the scene. Great trees
we passed loaded down with large
scarlet blossoms: mighty silk cotton
trees and forest giants in the deadly
grasp of the creeping vine-that ter
rible parasite of the Cuban jungle |
Like a bad habit, this vine has its
beginning in small way. Piablc |
I is, but strong of fibre At first it |
simply clings to the tree, but gradu- |
ally it winds itself about and climbs |
md twists, until it's ever Tightening !
chokes the life out of it's
victim; then with new roots that !
has all this time been sending
downward it nourishes itself, until it
ctually blends together around the
rec it has attacked. and throwing
ut great branches, becomes itself a
monarch of the forest.
Everywhere one looks he sees para
ite feeding on parasite; and If it
we're not SO beautiful and strange it
Tould give one an uncanny feeling.
Tut uncanniness has no place here.
he sky Is so gloriously blue, and the
lnlight filters down through the dense
ollage like golden shafts of light;
thousand indistinguishable odors of
cody things fill the air, and the
INT perfume OF the wild orange
'ees, that all along the bank hang
ut their brilliant lamps, make too
UGH for reality to give place to the
1real.
through the glory of it all we
amped, seeing now and then great I
asses OF deer tracks in the moist
md, but more often only trees and r
mes and sky-and |, forgetting my +
omise to be quiet, talked and laugh h
|, until the swapping of twigs and c
glimpse of grayish-fawn creatures, i:
out Of sight up a pathway, t
ought me, to a realization of the h
siness of the day. r
But the spirit of the true huntsman
d not been absent from my COM Fl
Mon With rifle at shoulder he sent c
shot after the disappearing deer. il
d was off in pursuit and out of S,
INT in a twinkling A second shot
az ont and q joyful shout followed It
ich told Me it had been a lucky to
e. a,
Away | went slashing madly at the a:
les that caught my skirt in their V;
'rny grasp. Good service | did
n the machete, and flew along in ST
direction of the answering shouts. Ii,
IN l came up and found the deer. W
is small. but plump, and will be tn
IVY before we get home" said the tn
ltsman. do you suppose you could m
p carry it," r,
stopped my excited jumping an
und to answer certainly" but 1 or
too eager over our success to re. ga
mber the rough roads by which
should be obliged to return home.