The Washington herald., 1911-08-13
copYRroHr BY JAMES EIvsasoy

To him l am indebted for many delightful
evenings passed in listening to narrations o
HE adventures.
Speaking OF wildcats one evening, chance,
70 make some disparaging remarks bearing OF
the wildcat as an antagonist.
Coleman smiled and replied:
had you been In the shoes of friend o.
tnte, several years ago, you would have {
peter opinion Of wildcats, especially wher
tneir business nature ia aroused"
,,, seeming another story, l looked incredu
Then he related The follow;no adventur.
which, though not as exciting az the AVERAGE
was sne most unique and peculiar l had yet
.,.In, the fall of 'se arranged with Tom
sa wssk one q my bunting crones 70 spend
We proceeded by rail to Garden Sty. and
secured an outfit there. - - -
"A few days before we started Alfred
Wmppie, young ornithoiogist from the East,
posed trip he petitioned to be allowed W ' to % ac.
Having no objection to an addition. ".
readiiy consented to make him one Of the
ALFRED, in the refined vernacu,ar of IN.
West, would be called a decided tenderfoot
Notwithstanding he showed himself not lack.
occasion. '-"A o"e
o hau Deen In camp over a week. Two
aeer, one antelope and half a score Of coyotes
mad suceumbed to Tom and myself, while All.
ired mad not been slow in collecting skins of
the numerous birds found in that locality.
lom said Alfred, one afternoon. lets
20 soword up .ne eSsni myes. We might see wildcat
Bah! WHO wants to waste ammunition
on cats! For my part, move that we 90
farther up the river in the big timber. where
swerad Wo esr n nnd something worth shooting, an
amend the motion. by adding that we
start tomorrow morning. said. w
second the motion, including the amend.
ment, agreed Alfred; and while YOU fellows
Pscn up, 1 VIII 60 up the river after the
,,n neron we saw flying in that direction this
With his double-barreled, sixteen.o,uve
farker on his shoulder, he disappeared in
tha sRr brush which grew along the river.
needed PACKED scn everything that would not be
wagon, :, The nights not being cold enough to
make sleeping in the open air uncomforfa abIe
we rolled up the tent also '''e'
ims kept us busy until supper time. AL
ate our supper alone. No anxiety was fe1t sha
however, as ne had habit of remaining ont
very iate. After supper we caught the horses
and tied them to the wagon, to keen them
from from wandering away during the night.
1hinklng Alfred would return in a few min.
utes, we rolled up in our blankets and went
1T awoke during the night and found that
Alfred was not among us. 1t was faaan
minutes z ae to IL o'clock. Thoroughly alarmed,
What shall we do?' asked. as soon =.
ne got his Suspended faculties in working
What can we doY was the answer. we
cannot hnd him now. even if the moon ia
charge our rifes' "Au oS-
Following the suggestion, we built buoe
fire OF driftwood, also firing our rifles at ;S.
sefSga,s' seS~a' but received no answer save the
ecnoes from the sand hills across the river.
Tom soon went to sleep again, but remained
awake to watch the fire.
Under any other circumstances I would
have enjoyed the weird beauty of that night.
INC isd Moon EI well above the horizon, cast sub
river. now reduced to narrow stream marL.
ing the main channel, appeared like a wind
ing path OF silver, strewn with sparkling
gems.
!, The cry Of night hawk high overhead,
lonesome boots of the prairie owls, the un-
canny, pumping sounds of bittern in a
neighboring slough, and the dismal bowling
Of the coyotes across the river. added to the
ssraangeness strang Of the hour, produced in me the
can experience. The more familiar Sound of
voice aroused me from the reverie in
which had fallen @I...
Trying to stare the moon clear out of
sight! When went to sleep left you look
ing at her. overhead; now you've got her
away over there by the hills. Perhaps she
has helped you fix up some plan for finding
SO she has, I answered. 1T is now 3
o'clock. After we have eaten something. you
may put the rest of the things iB the wagon
and drive up the river, while will search for
AHreds tran l can easily keep you in view
plan?
he could propose nothing better, so, after
eating hasty breakfast Of cold coffee and
biscuits, took my Winchester and hurried
Oft in the direction Alfred had gone the even
ing before, leaving Tom to follow as soon as
nc could The brush being too thick for easy
walking, ! rightly surmised that Alfred had
kept to the river bed but found no proof of