The Hunters' Feast: Conversations Around the Camp Fire Read online

  CHAPTER FIVE.

  HUNT WITH A HOWITZER.

  When the conversation about the haunts and habits of these birds beganto flag, some one called for a "pigeon story." Who could tell a pigeonstory? To our surprise the doctor volunteered one, and all gatheredaround to listen.

  "Yes, gentlemen," began the doctor, "I have a pigeon adventure, whichoccurred to me some years ago. I was then living in Cincinnati,following my respectable calling, when I had the good fortune to set abroken leg for one Colonel P--, a wealthy planter, who lived upon thebank of the river some sixty miles from the city. I made a handsome setof if, and won the colonel's friendship for ever. Shortly after, I wasinvited to his house, to be present at a great pigeon-hunt which was tocome off in the fall. The colonel's plantation stood among beech woods,and he had therefore an annual visitation of the pigeons, and could tellalmost to a day when they would appear. The hunt he had arranged forthe gratification of his numerous friends.

  "As you all know, gentlemen, sixty miles in our western travel is a merebagatelle; and tired of pills and prescriptions, I flung myself into aboat, and in a few hours arrived at the colonel's stately home. A wordor two about this stately home and its proprietor.

  "Colonel P-- was a splendid specimen of the backwoods' gentleman--youwill admit there _are_ gentlemen in the backwoods." (Here the doctorglanced good-humouredly, first at our English friend Thompson, and thenat the Kentuckian, both of whom answered him with a laugh.) "His housewas the type of a backwoods mansion; a wooden structure, both walls androof. No matter. It has distributed as much hospitality in its time asmany a marble palace; that was one of its backwoods' characteristics.It stood, and I hope still stands, upon the north bank of the Ohio--thatbeautiful stream--`_La belle riviere_,' as the French colonists, andbefore their time the Indians, used to call it. It was in the midst ofthe woods, though around it were a thousand acres of `clearing,' whereyou might distinguish fields of golden wheat, and groves of shiningmaize plants waving aloft their yellow-flower tassels. You might note,too, the broad green leaf of the Nicotian `weed,' or the bursting pod ofthe snow-white cotton. In the garden you might observe the sweetpotato, the common one, the refreshing tomato, the huge water-melon,cantelopes, and musk melons, with many other delicious vegetables. Youcould see pods of red and green pepper growing upon trailing plants; andbeside them several species of peas and beans--all valuable for thecolonel's _cuisine_. There was an orchard, too, of several acres inextent. It was filled with fruit-trees, the finest peaches in theworld, and the finest apples--the Newton pippins. Besides, there wereluscious pears and plums, and upon the espaliers, vines bearing bushelsof sweet grapes. If Colonel P-- lived in the woods, it cannot be saidthat he was surrounded by a desert.

  "There were several substantial log-houses near the main building ormansion. They were the stable--and good horses there were in thatstable; the cow-house, for milk cattle; the barn, to hold the wheat andmaize-corn; the smoke-house, for curing bacon; a large building for thedry tobacco; a cotton-gin, with its shed of clap-boards; bins for thehusk fodder, and several smaller structures. In one corner you saw alow-walled erection that reminded you of a kennel, and the rich musicthat from time to time issued from its apertures would convince you thatit _was_ a kennel. If you had peeped into it, you would have seen adozen of as fine stag-hounds as ever lifted a trail. The colonel wassomewhat partial to these pets, for he was a `mighty hunter.' You mightsee a number of young colts in an adjoining lot; a pet deer, abuffalo-calf, that had been brought from the far prairies, pea-fowl,guinea-hens, turkeys, geese, ducks, and the usual proportion of commonfowls. Rail-fences zigzagged off in all directions towards the edge ofthe woods. Huge trees, dead and divested of their leaves, stood up inthe cleared fields. Turkey buzzards and carrion, crows might be seenperched upon their grey naked limbs; upon their summit you might observethe great rough-legged falcon; and above all, cutting sharply againstthe blue sky, the fork-tailed kite sailing gently about."

  Here the doctor's auditory interrupted him with a murmur of applause.The doctor was in fine spirits, and in a poetical mood. He continued.

  "Such, gentlemen, was the sort of place I had come to visit; and I sawat a glance that I could spend a few days there pleasantly enough--evenwithout the additional attractions of a pigeon-hunt.

  "On my arrival I found the party assembled. It consisted of a score anda half of ladies and gentlemen, nearly all young people. The pigeonshad not yet made their appearance, but were looked for every hour. Thewoods had assumed the gorgeous tints of autumn, that loveliest ofseasons in the `far west.' Already the ripe nuts and berries werescattered profusely over the earth offering their annual banquet toGod's wild creatures. The `mast' of the beech-tree, of which the wildpigeon is so fond, was showering down among the dead leaves. It was thevery season at which the birds were accustomed to visit the beechenwoods that girdled the colonel's plantation. They would no doubt soonappear. With this expectation everything was made ready; each of thegentlemen was provided with a fowling-piece, or rifle if he preferredit; and even some of the ladies insisted upon being armed.

  "To render the sport more exciting, our host had established certainregulations. They were as follows:--The gentlemen were divided into twoparties, of equal numbers. These were to go in opposite directions, theladies upon the first day of the hunt accompanying whichever they chose.Upon all succeeding days, however, the case would be different. Theladies were to accompany that party which upon the day previous hadbagged the greatest number of birds. The victorious gentlemen,moreover, were endowed with other privileges, which lasted throughoutthe evening; such as the choice of partners for the dinner-table and thedance.

  "I need not tell you, gentlemen, that in these conditions existedpowerful motives for exertion. The colonel's guests were the _elite_ ofwestern society. Most of the gentlemen were young men or bachelors; andamong the ladies there were _belles_; three or four of them rich andbeautiful. On my arrival I could perceive signs of incipientflirtations. Attachments had already arisen; and by many it would havebeen esteemed anything but pleasant to be separated in the mannerprescribed. A strong _esprit du corps_ was thus established; and, bythe time the pigeons arrived, both parties had determined to do theirutmost. In fact, I have never known so strong a feeling of rivalry toexist between two parties of amateur sportsmen.

  "The pigeons at length arrived. It was a bright sunny morning, and yetthe atmosphere was darkened, as the vast flock, a mile in breadth byseveral in length, passed across the canopy. The sound of their wingsresembled a strong wind whistling among tree-tops, or through therigging of a ship. We saw that they hovered over the woods, and settledamong the tall beeches.

  "The beginning of the hunt was announced, and we set forth, each partytaking the direction allotted to it. With each went a number of ladies,and even some of these were armed with light fowling-pieces, determinedthat the party of their choice should be the victorious one. After ashort ride, we found ourselves fairly `in the woods,' and in thepresence of the birds, and then the cracking commenced.

  "In our party we had eight guns, exclusive of the small fowling-pieces(two of those), with which a brace of our heroines were armed, andwhich, truth compels me to confess, were less dangerous to the pigeonsthan to ourselves. Some of our guns were double-barrelled shot-guns,others were rifles. You will wonder at rifles being used in such asport, and yet it is a fact that the gentlemen who carried riflesmanaged to do more execution than those who were armed with the otherspecies. This arose from the circumstance that they were contented toaim at single birds, and, being good shots, they were almost sure tobring these down. The woods were filled with straggling pigeons. Oddbirds were always within rifle range; and thus, instead of wasting theirtime in endeavouring to approach the great flocks, our riflemen didnothing but load and fire. In this way they soon counted their game bydozens.

  "Early in the evening, the pigeons, having filled their crops with themast, disappeared. The
y flew off to some distant `roost.' This ofcourse concluded our sport for the day. We got together and counted ournumbers. We had 640 birds. We returned home full of hope; we feltcertain that we had won for that day. Our antagonists had arrivedbefore us. They showed us 736 dead pigeons. We were beaten.

  "I really cannot explain the chagrin which this defeat occasioned tomost of our party. They felt humiliated in the eyes of the ladies,whose company they were to lose on the morrow. To some there wasextreme bitterness in the idea; for, as I have already stated,attachments had sprung up, and jealous thoughts were naturally theirconcomitants. It was quite tantalising, as we parted next morning, tosee the galaxy of lovely women ride off with our antagonists, while wesought the woods in the opposite direction, dispirited and in silence.

  "We went, however, determined to do our best, and win the ladies for themorrow. A council was held, and each imparted his advice andencouragement; and then we all set to work with shot-gun and rifle.

  "On this day an incident occurred that aided our `count' materially. Asyou know, gentlemen, the wild pigeons, while feeding, sometimes coverthe ground so thickly that they crowd upon each other. They all advancein the same direction, those behind continually rising up and flutteringto the front, so that the surface presents a series of undulations likesea-waves. Frequently the birds alight upon each other's backs, forwant of room upon the ground, and a confused mass of winged creatures isseen rolling through the woods. At such times, if the sportsman canonly `head' the flock, he is sure of a good shot. Almost every pellettells, and dozens may be brought down at a single discharge.

  "In my progress through the woods, I had got separated from mycompanions, when I observed an immense flock approaching me after themanner described. I saw from their plumage that they were young birds,and therefore not likely to be easily alarmed. I drew my horse (I wasmounted) behind a tree, and awaited their approach. This I did morefrom curiosity than any other motive, as, unfortunately I carried arifle, and could only have killed one or two at the best. The crowdcame `swirling' forward, and when they were within some ten or fifteenpaces distant, I fired into their midst. To my surprise, the flock didnot take flight, but continued to advance as before, until they werealmost among the horse's feet. I could stand it no longer. I drove thespurs deeply, and galloped into their midst, striking right and left asthey fluttered up round me. Of course they were soon off; but of thosethat had been trodden upon by my horse, and others I had knocked down, Icounted no less than twenty-seven! Proud of my exploit, I gathered thebirds into my bag, and rode in search of my companions.

  "Our party on this day numbered over 800 head killed; but, to oursurprise and chagrin, our antagonists had beaten us by more than ahundred!

  "The gentlemen of `ours' were wretched. The belles were monopolised byour antagonists; we were scouted, and debarred every privilege.

  "It was not to be endured; something must be done. What was to be done?counselled we. If fair means will not answer, we must try the opposite.It was evident that our antagonists were better shots than we.

  "The colonel, too, was one of them, and he was sure to kill every timehe pulled trigger. The odds were against us; some plan must be devised;some _ruse_ must be adopted, and the idea of one had been passingthrough my mind during the whole of that day. It was this:--I hadnoticed, what has been just remarked, that, although the pigeons willnot allow the sportsman to come within range of a fowling-piece, yet ata distance of little over a hundred yards they neither fear man norbeast. At that distance they sit unconcerned, thousands of them upon asingle tree. It struck me that a gun large enough to throw shot amongthem would be certain of killing hundreds at each discharge; but wherewas such a gun to be had? As I reflected thus, `mountain howitzers'came into my mind. I remembered the small mountain howitzers I had seenat Covington. One of these loaded with shot would be the very weapon.I knew there was a battery of them at the Barracks. I knew that afriend of mine commanded the battery. By steamer, should one pass, itwas but a few hours to Covington. I proposed sending for a `mountainhowitzer.'

  "I need hardly say that my proposal was hailed with a universal welcomeon the part of my companions; and without dropping a hint to the otherparty, it was at once resolved that the design should be carried intoexecution. It was carried into execution. An `up-river' boat chancedto pass in the nick of time. A messenger was forthwith, despatched toCovington, and before twelve o'clock upon the following day another boaton her down trip brought the howitzer, and we had it secretly landed andconveyed to a place in the woods previously agreed upon. My friend,Captain C--, had sent a `live corporal' along with it, and we had nodifficulty in its management.

  "As I had anticipated, it answered our purpose as though it had beenmade for it. Every shot brought down a shower of dead birds, and afterone discharge alone the number obtained was 123! At night our`game-bag' counted over three thousand birds! We were sure of theladies for the morrow.

  "Before returning home to our certain triumph, however, there were someconsiderations. To-morrow we should have the ladies in our company;some of the fair creatures would be as good as sure to `split' upon thehowitzer. What was to be done to prevent this?

  "We eight had sworn to be staunch to each other. We had taken everyprecaution; we had only used our `great gun' when far off, so that itsreport might not reach the ears of our antagonists; but how aboutto-morrow? Could we trust our fair companions with a secret? Decidedlynot. This was the unanimous conclusion. A new idea now came to ouraid. We saw that we might dispense with the howitzer, and still manageto out-count our opponents. We would make a depository of birds in asafe place. There was a squatter's house near by: that would do. So wetook the squatter into our council, and left some 1500 birds in hischarge, the remainder being deemed sufficient for that day. From the1500 thus left, we might each day take a few hundred to make up ourgame-bag just enough to out-number the other party. We did not sendhome the corporal and his howitzer. We might require him again; so wequartered him upon the squatter.

  "On returning home, we found that our opponents had also made a `bigday's work of it;' but they were beaten by hundreds. The ladies wereours!

  "And we kept them until the end of the hunt, to the no littlemortification of the gentlemen in the `minority:' to their surprise, aswell; for most of them being crack-shots, and several of us not at allso, they could not comprehend why they were every day beaten sooutrageously. We had hundreds to spare, and barrels of the birds werecured for winter use.

  "Another thing quite puzzled our opponents, as well as many good peoplein the neighbourhood. That was the loud reports that had been heard inthe woods. Some argued they were thunder, while others declared theymust have proceeded from an earthquake. This last seemed the moreprobable, as the events I am narrating occurred but a few years afterthe great earthquake in the Mississippi Valley, and people's minds wereprepared for such a thing.

  "I need not tell you how the knowing ones enjoyed the laugh for severaldays, and it was not until the colonel's _reunion_ was about to breakup, that our secret was let out, to the no small chagrin of ouropponents, but to the infinite amusement of our host himself, who,although one of the defeated party, often narrates to his friends thestory of the `Hunt with a Howitzer.'"