CHAPTER VIII
MR. TUCKER PASSES THE NIGHT AT ERROLSTRATH--HE TELLS SOME STORIES OF HUNTING BIG GAME IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS--SAGACITY OF THE FEMALE BIGHORN--THE AMERICAN COUGAR--THE BEAR AND THE PANTHER--THE RABBIT HUNT--HOW THE BOYS TRAINED THEIR HOUNDS.
THAT evening many of those who had acted as scouts under Captain Tuckercame to Errolstrath, where, on the shady veranda they discussed theirtrip and the possibilities of a prolonged Indian war. The Kiowas hadinaugurated hostilities by their raid on the settlements near CouncilGrove. General Sheridan had already established his headquarters at FortHarker, and every preparation was going on at that post for a wintercampaign against the allied tribes.
After the group on the porch had talked matters over for about twohours, they all went to their respective homes excepting old Mr. Tucker,whom the family had invited to stay all night. As it was but eighto'clock when the others left, Joe and Mr. Tucker turned to the subjectof hunting big game, and the latter told some of his own adventures whenhe was a trapper in the Rocky Mountains many years ago. As Joe had neverseen the bighorn of that region, Mr. Tucker related an adventure he oncehad when hunting for a pair of young ones. He was up in the YellowstoneRange, not very far from the scene of Custer's unequal battle withSitting Bull, in which the General's entire command was annihilated bythe savages.
"My camp was on the Green River," began the old man, "and one morningwhile I was out baiting my traps, I noticed a she bighorn that I knewwould soon have little ones. I was determined to have a pair of kids, asI had a sort of a small menagerie at my camp, but it contained nobighorn. So I started to follow her trail and stay with her until herkids were born, when I intended to capture them and make pets of them.
"I followed her for about two weeks, and was sometimes compelled tocreep cautiously after her in my stockinged feet. My stockings wereclumsy things made of buckskin, not such stockings as you buy. Oneevening being so near her, and obliged to climb a steep mountain, I tookout my knife and cut off all the silver trimmings of my buckskin suit,so that nothing could jingle and scare her.
"At last, after tracking her day after day, I came upon her den, whereshe had brought forth two kids. It was the very top of one of thetallest peaks in the Wind River Mountains, in a sort of cave about fivefeet deep, worn in the side of an enormous rock. When I first got asight of the kids, they were nearly two weeks old, and were jumping andplaying as all of the goat or sheep family are wont to do.
"They were alone, but their mother was on the brink of a precipice,within a hundred yards of them, carefully looking down into the valleybelow to see if she could discover anything hostile. They are greatwatchers. The old one had not seen me, and I had made a detour to thevery summit of the mountain, where I could see that there was a trailwhich the mother used to travel in going to and from her young ones. Ifelt sure that once at the mouth of the cave or hole in the big rock, Imight easily capture the kids, for which I had footed it so many milesand followed so many days.
"Before I reached the entrance of the den the old one caught a glimpseof me, and in an instant, filled with the courage which the maternalinstinct always prompts, she was upon me and trying to get the sharppoint of her crooked horns into my legs to toss me over the precipicewhich formed one of the walls of the mountain. The trail on which I wasstanding was narrow and slippery. I had left my rifle on the top of thedivide, and was in a mighty tight place, for the female bighorn isalmost as dangerous as a tiger when enraged and solicitous for thesafety of her little ones.
"I fought off the infuriated mother with my hands and feet as well as Icould, but the rage of the brute increased terribly every second. Justthen she caught sight of her kids, and leaving me, she rushed towardthem and ran around them several times, as if telling them she wantedthem to do something in her great trouble.
"The distance from the wall of one mountain to the precipice of theother was but eight feet. Both had originally been but one mountain,but ages ago some great convulsion of nature had split them apart, andhad left a huge fissure between them at least two thousand feet deep,with walls as smooth as glass.
"The old one ran back and forth from the precipice to the kids severaltimes, showing them as plainly as if she could talk that they must makethe leap to escape from their natural enemy. At last, as if the wholematter was understood, the mother flew back to the edge of the canyon,the little ones hot in her tracks, and then all three made the jump,just clearing the frightful gorge by half the length of the young ones.
"I was dumfounded for an instant, but soon recovered my senses and wentfor my rifle, but the coveted animals were far out of range on the topof the twin peak. I then returned to my camp on Green River more than ahundred miles away, disgusted and worn out, and never again attempted tocapture the kids of the bighorn in the fashion of my first venture."
Joe and the rest of the family, remembering Joe's scrap with the youngpanther, asked the old man if he had ever had any fight with one ofthem. He said that he had, and would tell them all about it. Then theywould go to bed, as it was very late for the ranche folks to be up.
"I remember the day you had that tussle with a young panther, Joe, and Itell you that you got off mighty luckily; the chances were that theanimal would have made mincemeat of you if it hadn't been for thatthrust with your knife.
"The California lion, puma, or panther, as the animal is indifferentlycalled according to locality, once had a very extensive range on theNorth American continent. It could be found from the Adirondacks toPatagonia, but now, like nearly all of our indigenous great mammals, isrelatively scarce, and is rapidly following the sad trail of thebuffalo.
"Although sometimes called a lion, he in nowise resembles either hisAfrican or Asiatic namesake. He is more nearly related to the tiger inhis habits, though lion-like in color. He is the puma or American cougarof the naturalists. He is really a long-tailed cat, and the only truerepresentative of the genus felis on the continent.
"He is a splendid fellow, too, with sleepy green eyes, skin as soft asvelvet and beautifully mottled, and teeth half an inch long and sharp asrazors. His paws measure four inches across, and his limbs are as finelyproportioned as a sculptor could desire, while all his muscles are asbrawny as a prize-fighter's. His breast is broad, and his body asflexible as a snake's. He is an active climber and generally drops orsprings upon his prey from a limb where he has carefully secretedhimself. Like the majority of wild beasts, he generally runs from man,excepting when cornered, or in the case of a female with kittens whensuddenly met; then her motherly love presents itself as strongly as inany other animal.
"The cougar attains its greatest size in the Rocky Mountains, where itsbody reaches a length of four feet ten inches, and its tail from two totwo and a half feet.
"The American panther has one inveterate foe, the bear. The grizzly andthe panther are mortal enemies. The famous trappers I have known, suchmen as Kit Carson and Lucien B. Maxwell, have told me that in theseanimals' frequent combats, the panther generally comes out victor, andthat in their early trapping days they often came across the carcass ofa bear which had evidently met its death in a lively encounter with amountain lion, as they called it.
"Carson once related a contest of that character which he hadaccidentally witnessed. A large deer was running at full speed, closelyfollowed by a panther. The chase had already been a long one, for asthey came nearer to where he stood, he could see both of their parchedtongues hanging out of their mouths, and their bounding, thoughpowerful, was no longer as elastic as usual. The deer having discoveredin the distance a large black bear playing with her cub, stopped for amoment to sniff the air, then coming nearer, he made a bound with headextended, to ascertain whether the bear had kept her position. As thepanther was closing with him, the deer wheeled sharply around, andturning almost upon its own trail, passed within thirty yards of itspursuer. The panther, not being able at once to stop his career, gavean angry growl and followed the deer again, but at a distance of somehundred yards. He
aring the growl, the bear drew her body half out of thebushes, remaining quietly on the lookout. Soon the deer again appeared,but his speed was much reduced, and as he approached the spot where thebear lay concealed, it was evident that the animal was calculating thedistance with admirable precision. The panther, now expecting to seizehis prey easily, followed about thirty yards behind, his eyes sointently fixed on the deer that he did not see the bear at all. Not sothe bear; she was aware of the close proximity of her wicked enemy, andshe cleared the briars before her and squared herself for action, whenthe deer with a powerful spring passed clear over her head anddisappeared.
"At the moment the deer took the flying leap the panther was close uponhim, and was just balancing himself for a spring, when he perceived, tohis astonishment, that he was now face to face with a formidableadversary. Not in the least disposed to fly, he crouched, lashing hisflanks with his long tail, while the bear, about five yards from him,remained like a statue, looking at the panther with her fierce, glaringeyes.
"They remained thus a minute: the panther agitated, and apparentlyundecided, and his sides heaving with exertion; the bear perfectly calmand motionless. Gradually the panther crawled backward until at theright distance for a spring; then throwing all his weight upon hishinder parts to increase his power, he darted upon the bear likelightning and forced his claws into her back. The bear then, withirresistible force, seized the panther with her two fore paws, pressingit with the weight of her body and rolling over it. Carson said that heheard a heavy grunt, a plaintive howl, a crashing of bones, and thepanther was dead.
"The cub of the bear came after a few minutes to learn what was goingon, examined the victim, and strutted down the hill followed by itsmother, who was apparently unhurt. The old trappers used to claim thatit was a common practice of the deer, when chased by the panther, tolead him to the haunt of a bear; but I won't vouch for the truth of thestatement.
"I have killed several of the creatures," continued Mr. Tucker, "butnever had a very serious tussle, excepting once, up in what was thencalled the Klikatat Valley, in Washington Territory. I had been outafter elk, but had not seen any, and was going up a very narrow, rockyravine looking for their tracks. When I arrived at the head of thelittle canyon, I heard a snarl. Casting my eyes in the direction of thesound, I saw, to my dismay, a she panther on a flat ledge under a clumpof dwarf cedars, with three kittens alongside of her.
"The enraged beast was in the attitude of springing, when I caught sightof her. I had no time to pull my rifle to my shoulder or jump aside. Theravine was so narrow that there was not room enough between the jaggedwalls to raise the piece and take aim. So quick were the cat's movementsthat she was almost upon me, her mouth wide open and her clawsunsheathed ready for business. I was calm, for I had trained myselfnever to become excited under danger, and just as she jumped for me Icocked my piece, stuck the muzzle down her throat, and pulled thetrigger as she fell upon my shoulder.
"The shot killed her instantly, but not before she had ripped some ofthe flesh off my arm as she rolled to the ground. It was a remarkablyclose shot, and a lucky one for me too. I skinned her, but was so sorethat I had to return to my camp and dress my wounds, which healed in afew days."
When the story was finished, they all went to bed. Mr. Tucker promisedthe boys and girls he would remain over the next day and go on a rabbithunt which they had planned for the morning.
It proved to be a glorious day as the sun rose next morning in acloudless sky. Breakfast was out of the way by six o'clock, and the boyssaddled their buffalo ponies, as they called those which they hadcaptured out of the herd; their sisters' ponies also were saddled.Gertrude had a very gentle animal which her father had traded for withthe Pawnees, but he was blind in one eye, and she called him Bartimaeus,or Barty for short. He was hard to catch, but when caught was a quiet,easily ridden animal. Kate's was an iron-gray which had been born on aneighboring ranche, and especially broken for her benefit. He was ofthat small breed peculiar to Texas, and his power of endurance wasphenomenal. On a long journey, with only the wild grass to subsist on,they soon wear out the pampered steed of the stable.
The relation between Ginger and his young mistress was remarkable forthe confidence and affection each had in and for the other. He was nowfive years old, and Kate had trained him herself, but had never usedwhip, spur, or severe curb during her long and patient training.Consequently Ginger responded cheerfully and promptly to her everycommand. His education had been based upon gentleness and affection. Herlove for him was reciprocated in a manner bordering upon humanintelligence, thus confirming the theory that kindness is more effectivein subordinating the brute creation to our will than the club or kindredharsh measures.
Kate's pony had never been confined by fence or lariat; he roamed atwill all over the beautiful prairie or in the timber surroundingErrolstrath. Yet day or night, in sunshine or in storm, if Kate requiredhis services, she had only to go and call him, and if within the soundof her voice, he would come galloping up to her, neighing cheerfully.When he arrived where she stood, bridle in hand, waiting for him, hewould affectionately rub his nose on her arm or shoulder, andsubmissively follow her to the house. If he happened to be a long wayoff when she went to seek him, she would jump on his bare back and ridehim home. He was always rewarded on these occasions with a lump of sugaror salt, of both of which he was very fond. In the three years of theircompanionship neither girl nor pony had ever deceived each other: hissugar or salt was never forgotten, nor had he once failed to respond toher summons.
It made no difference when Kate wanted to go anywhere, whether shemounted Ginger bareback and bridleless, or with saddle. Under eithercondition she was perfectly at her ease, and he equally obedient to hervoice, by which alone she frequently guided him.
He was as fleet as the wind, and more than once Kate had run down acottontail rabbit in a spirited chase over the prairie.
She had christened him Ginger, not because there was the slightestresemblance to that spice in his color, but rather for the "spice" inhis nature.
Mr. Tucker rode his favorite large roan horse, which he had brought tothe ranche with him, and which had carried him so bravely on the longand wearisome trip to the Elkhorn.
The happy little party left Errolstrath about seven o'clock, followed bythe old hounds Bluey and Brutus, which were as anxious as their youngmasters for the excitement of the impending chase.
They rode down the Oxhide under the shade of the elms which fringed itsborder, until they arrived at the open prairie a mile from the ranche.There the dogs were ordered ahead, and began to run, eagerly looking outfor a sight of any foolish rabbit, cottontail or jack, that might be outon the level stretch of country over which the hunters were now loping.
They had not gone on half a mile before they started a big jack from hislair of bunch-grass, where, probably, he had been taking a late nap.With a characteristic bound, jumping stiff-legged for a moment, hefairly flew over the short buffalo sod, the dogs after him with everymuscle strained to overtake him before he could hide in some tall weeds,or clump of plum bushes which were scattered throughout the prairie atintervals of five or six hundred yards.
Ever since they had come into possession of their ponies, Joe and Robhad trained Bluey and Brutus in such a manner that they scarcely everfailed to secure any game they hunted.
The rabbit is a very swift creature, and has a fashion, when pursued, ofsuddenly doubling on his own tracks. Being so much smaller than a hound,he can perform the feat a great deal quicker than a dog, and if thelatter is not trained to know just what to do under such circumstances,and just how to run, the rabbit almost invariably slips away from him.Bluey and Brutus were taught not to keep close to each other when on therun after rabbits. One of them, generally the younger, when they firststarted out for a hunt, remained far enough away from his mate to makethe turn when the rabbit did, without forging ahead of him, as theforemost hound was sure to do, by the sheer momentum of his rapidrunning. Then, the hound in the
rear had plenty of room and time tomake the turn as soon as the rabbit, and was right upon him, as close aswas the head dog when he doubled on his tracks. Then the old dog wouldrecover himself and take his place behind the one that was now ahead,ready for the same tactics whenever the rabbit made another attempt toescape by again doubling on himself. So the race was conducted until therabbit was caught. That was effected by the dog which happened to beahead when he came near enough to thrust his long nose under theanimal's belly and toss him high in the air, catching him in his mouthas he came down.
"Admirable!" said Mr. Tucker, as Bluey, who happened to be ahead, tossedthe rabbit up and caught him as he fell toward the ground. "I tell you,boys, that's as fine a piece of work as I ever saw done by any hounds Ihave run with. You must have taken a great deal of pains to teach themto do their work so splendidly?"
"It took a long time," said Rob, who had really given more attention totraining Bluey and Brutus, than had Joe, who had spent more of his sparehours in the camp of the Pawnees. "I sometimes almost gave up, theywere so stupid when I first tried to teach them, but by degrees theyunderstood what I wanted, and now I will put them against any hounds inthe settlement for doing good work."
"I must admit," said Joe, "that all they can do is to the credit of Rob;he has more patience with animals than I have, though you know, Mr.Tucker, that I am never cruel. I know that you can accomplish more witha dumb brute by kindness than you can with a whip."
By noon the hounds had caught ten rabbits--six cottontails and fourjacks--and, of course, were played out when the party turned back on thetrail to Errolstrath. Here they found dinner waiting for them, and theyall ate heartily, the delightful exercise having made them as ravenousas coyotes. The hounds were not forgotten; they had a rabbit each fortheir dinner, after eating which, they went to their accustomed beds onthe shady side of a haystack near the corral, and slept all the rest ofthe afternoon.
Mr. Tucker left for his ranche about an hour after dinner, promising tocome to visit the family again soon.
The family were worried about the impending Indian war, and when threeo'clock had arrived his mother sent Joe up to Fort Harker to find out ifthere was any news of Custer and the troops under his command, who hadgone after the Kiowas.