| Show A NIGHT MIGHT WITH ansh A xit floss death sa to the t WU it was if I 1 mistake not the tint dy day in december Doco rober on which I 1 got ft is mot most beautiful hot shot at a large buck elk and it proved my last hot shot for that season say a writ in forest and stream I 1 did not civo him timo time to dod dodal to o As ho he canto to a full atop stop the bead filled handsomely bandeo moly oa on his breast and I 1 pulled se sending adlair a email small harp sharp cone one of load lead directly ico lna the sticking place which must have ranged nearly tho whole length of him away li hd lii i went over tho the opposite knoll and I 1 loaded quickly whittling whistling meanwhile to convince myself that I 1 a bit eielt od ad mile after I 1 followed the trail eluding of blood all the tho way but seeing nothing of the elk and at last tho the sua out which wont want down at a preposterously early hour on that day cave gave indication indications of sudden leave leste tak ing infelt it began to grow dark I 1 still hurried on as beat best I 1 could feeling hot and anxious until at the edge m of an a immense swamp night overtook me and I 1 could keep the trail no further hero I 1 decided to lot the dog go gol he bad had boon beau showing unwonted eagerness all tho the way and I 1 was ure sure he could find the elk in a fow few minutes alo also having found it he was sure to notify by ong and loud so I 1 sent himin him in for tome some five give minutes after restarted ho be started all was silent then than camo came tho the howl bowl I 1 was waiting walting and wishing for the elk was safo safe and with in half halt a mile of me there was wall no uso use attempting to penetrate such a swamp after dark a man would be a fool to try it atso go I 1 commenced commence d collecting wood for a fire and making other little arrangements arrange monts for parsing the night endurably hard Is y had I 1 begun to fix a rough camp however when from the swamp arose euch sueh a series of yell and howls as fow few nervous persons would care card to hear in close proximity on a dark night and in a marvelously short time pete tho doy dog was cowering and growling at my plat in n an agony of terror the swamp seemed literally alive with wolves they collected about the carcass of the elk and in the stillness of the night I 1 fancied I 1 could hear bear aba bones bonee crack under their powerful jact as they fought snarled and howled by turns it was in vain that I 1 went as far into the swamp as 69 I 1 could get shouting myself hoarse and firing toward them re repeatedly the rascals seemed to know I 1 was impotent to do them any arty barm harm and only howled the louder I 1 knew know the brutes too well to expect anything more than the bare antlers after they were done with it to eo I 1 gace gave up trying to scare them and listened to their beastly snarling and wrangling as they gobbled and tore at my elk inwardly swearing that while I 1 lived I 1 never would let slip an opportunity for taking a wolf scalp they soon fin lebed the elk and after that kept up a hullabaloo at intervals all night to the extreme terror of pete who shivered and watched incessantly somo some time after midnight it commenced raining most furiously tho the wind blowing almost a P hurricane at the same time and it was with the area greatest test difficulty that I 1 could keep tho the fire alive to make matters worse the weather crew rapidly colder and before morning I 1 was shaking to the point of dissolution with the ague I 1 had nothing to eat had left my half pint plat flask at the shanty and had neither blanket nor axe on the whole it was one of the nights to be remembered and more or lees less of them are chronicled in the memory of every genuine still hunter but for tho the confounded ague I 1 could havo have managed to extort some fun from it 11 too after the lira firo gut got low and gave out but very little light the wolves grow very bold coming within a few rods aud howling as if for a wager at every fresh yell pete would with redoubled vigor fr pressing bis his ribs against the log and whining pitt bously at last in the very extreme of cowardice and fear be jammed himself as far under the log as po 03 sible lay whining and shivering until daylight few hunting doge doga will face a wolf singly very few low indeed but will cower when near nour a pack of them in justice to pete wad md as I 1 may not have oc occasion caon to mention him gain again I 1 will say tast be turned out all things considered the best still hunt bunt dog I 1 have ever owned or trained morl marlig iz dawned at length and sick as I 1 certainly was I 1 determined to have a look at the scene of the previous nights carnival taking a large pine for a guide I 1 found the spot without difficulty but there was nothing loft of my elk save the antlers gnawed and broken apart a ii few frag fragment menti of bono bone and part of a jaw the antlers were very long lonz und and heavy but adly badly mutilated still as the they might adorn a tale I 1 lugged them with much labor to toe the openings ings and deposited them in the branches of an oak for safety intending to call cal I 1 for them some time when I J felt more like packing I 1 never caw saw them afterward nor the buck wiloh I 1 had left in h |
