The Warwick woodlands; or, Things as they were twenty years ago

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THE

WARWICK WOODLANDS;

OR,

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TWENTY YEARS AGO.

BY FRANK FORESTER, tx

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NEW EDITION. REVISED AND CORRECTED

3Hlusti*ations fti? t|je

NEW YORK:

STRINGER & TOWNSEND,

222 BR o AD WAT.

1851.

ENTERED, according to act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight
Hundred and Fifty, by STRINGER & TOWNSEND, in the Clerk's Office of
the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

THE WARWICK WOODLANDS,

MY FIRST VISIT.

DAY THE FIRST.

IT was a fine October evening when I was sitting on the back
stoop of his. cheerful little bachelor's establishment in Mercer
street, with my old friend and comrade, Henry Archer. Many
a frown of fortune had we two weathered out together ; in many
of her brightest smiles had we two revelled — never was there a
stauncher friend, a merrier companion, a keener sportsman, or a
better fellow, than this said Harry ; and here had we two met,
three thousand miles from home, after almost ten years of
separation, just the same careless, happy, dare-all do-no-goods
that we were when we parted in St. James's street, — he for the
West, I for the Eastern World — he to fell trees, and build log
huts in the back-woods of Canada, — I to shoot tigers and drink
arrack punch in the Carnatic. The world had wagged with us
as with most others : now up, now down, and laid us to, at last,
far enough from the goal for which we started — so that, as I
have said already, on landing in New York, having heard
nothing of him for ten years, whom the deuce should I tumble
on but that same worthy, snugly housed, with a neat bachelor's
menage, and everything ship-shape about him? — So, in the
natural course of things, we were at once inseparables.

Well — as I said before, it was a bright October evening, with
the clear sky, rich sunshine, and brisk breezy freshness, which
indicate that loveliest of the American months, — dinner was
over, and with a pitcher of the liquid ruby of Latour, a brace
of half-pint beakers, and a score — my contribution — of those
most exquisite of smokables, the true old Manilla cheroots, we
were consoling the inward man in a way that would have
opened the eyes, with abhorrent admiration, of any advocate

6 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

of that coldest of comforts — cold water — who should have got
a chance peep at our snuggery.

Suddenly, after a long pause, during which he had been
stimulating his ideas by assiduous fumigation, blowing off his
steam in a long vapory cloud that curled a minute afterward
about his temples, — "What say you, Frank, to a start to-
morrow ?" exclaimed Harry, — " and a week's right good shoot-
ing ?»

" Why, as for that," said I, " I wish for nothing better — but
where the deuce would you go to get shooting ?"

"Never fash your beard, man," he replied, "I'll find the
ground and the game too, so you'll 6nd share of the shooting !
—Holloa ! there— Tim, Tim Matlock."

And in brief space that worthy minister of mine host's
pleasures made his appearance, smoothing down his short black
hair, clipped in the orthodox bowl fashion, over his bluff good-
natured visage with one hand, while he employed its fellow in
hitching up a pair of most voluminous unmentionables, of thick
Yorkshire cord.

A character was Tim — and now I think of it, worthy of brief
description. Born, I believe — bred, certainly, in a hunting
stable, far more of his life passed in the saddle than elsewhere,
it was not a little characteristic of my friend Harry to have
selected this piece of Yorkshire oddity as his especial body
servant ; but if the choice were queer, it was at least successful,
for an honester, more faithful, hard-working, and withal, better
hearted, and more humorous varlet never drew curry-comb over
horse-hide, or clothes-brush over broad-cloth.

His visage was, as I have said already, bluff and good-natured,
with a pair of hazel eyes, of the smallest — but, at the same
time, of the very merriest — twinkling from under the thick
black eye-brows, which were the only hairs suffered to grace his
clean-shaved countenance. An indescribable pug nose, and a
good clean cut mouth, with a continual dimple at the left corner,
made up his phiz. For the rest, four feet ten inches did Tim
stand in his stockings, about two-ten of which were monopolized
by his back, the shoulders of which would have done honor to
a six foot pugilist, — his legs, though short and bowed a little
outward, by continual horse exercise, were right tough service-
able members, and I have seen them bearing their owner on
through mud and mire, when straighter, longer, and more fair
proportioned limbs were at an awful discount.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 7

Depositing Lis hat then on the floor, smoothing his hair, and
hitching up his smalls, and striving most laboriously not to grin
till he should have -cause, stood Tina, like " Giafar awaiting his
master's award !"

"Tim !'' said Harry Archer —

"SurT said Tim,

*' Tim ! Mr. Forester and I are 'talking of going np to-morrow
— what do you say to it ?"

u Oop yonner?" queried Tim, in the most extraordinary
West- Riding Yorkshire, indicating the direction, by pointing his
right thumb over his left shoulder — " Weel, Ay'se nought to say
.-aboot k — not Ay !"

" Soli ! the cattk are all right, .and the wagon in good trim,
and the dogs in exercise, are they ?7t

"Ay'se warrant um !"

" Well, then, have all ready for a start at six to-morrow, —
put Mr. Forester's Manton alongside my Joe Spurling in the
top tray of the case, my single gun and my double rifle in the
lower, and see the magazine well filled — the Diamond gun-
powder, you know, from Mr. Brought Yau'll put up what
Mr. Forester will want, for a week, yoti know — he does not
know the -country yet, Tim ; — and, hark you, what wine have I
at Tom Draw's 3"

" No but a case of claret"

•" I thought so, then away with you ! down to the Baron's
-and get two baskets of the Star, and stop at Fulton Market, and
get the best half hundred round of spiced beef you -can find —
and then go up to Starke's at the Octagon, and get a gallon
of his old Ferintosh — that's all, Tim — off wife you! — No I stop
a minute 1" and he filled up a beaker and handed it to the
original, who, shutting both his eyes, suffered the fragrant claret
to roll down his gullet in the most scientific fashion, and then,
with what he called a bow, turned right about, and exit.

The sun rose blight on the next morning, and half an hour
before the appointed time, Tim entered my bed-chamber, with
a cup of mocha, and the intelligence that u Measter had been
oop this hour and better, and did na like to be kept waiting !"-
ao up I jumped, and scarcely had got through the business of
rigging myself, before the rattle of wheels announced the arrival
of the wagon.

And a model was that shooting wagon — a long, light-bodied
box, with a low rail — a high seat and dash in front, and a low

8 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

servant's seat behind, with lots of room for four men and as
many dogs, with guns and luggage, and all appliances to boot,
enough to last a month, stowed away out of sight, and out of
reach of weather. The nags, both nearly thorough-bred, fifteen
two inches high, stout, clean-limbed, active animals — the off-side
horse a gray, almost snow-white — the near, a dark chestnut, near-
ly black — with square docks setting admirably off their beautiful
round quarters, high crests, small blood-like heads, and long
thin manes — spoke volumes for Tim's stable science; for though
their ribs were slightly visible, their muscles were well filled,
and hard as granite. Their coats glanced in the sunshine — the
white's like statuary marble ; the chestnut's like high polished
copper — in short the whole turn-out was perfect.

The neat black harness, relieved merely by a crest, with every
strap that could be needed, in its place, and not one buckle or
one thong superfluous ; the bright steel curbs, with the chains
jingling as the horses tossed and pawed impatient for a start ;
the tapering holly whip ; the bear-skins covering the seats ; the
top-coats spread above them — every thing, in a word, without
bordering on the slang, was perfectly correct and gnostic.

Four dogs — a brace of setters of the light active breed, one
of which will out-work a brace of the large, lumpy, heavy-
headed dogs, — one reel, the other white and liver, both with
black noses, their legs and sterns beautifully feathered, and their
hair, glossy and smooth as silk, showing their excellent condition
— and a brace of short-legged, bony, liver-colored spaniels —
with their heads thrust one above the other, over or through
the railings, and their tails waving with impatient joy — occupied
the after portion of the wagon.

Tim, rigged in plain gray frock, with leathers and white tops,
stood, in true tiger fashion, at the horses' heads, with the fore-
finger of his right hand resting upon the curb of the gray horse,
as with his left he rubbed the nose of the chestnut; while
Harry, cigar in mouth, was standing at the wheel, reviewing
with a steady and experienced eye the gear, which seemed to
give him perfect satisfaction. The moment I appeared on the
steps,

"In with you, Frank — in with you," he exclaimed, disengag-
ing the hand-reins from the terrets into which they had been
thrust, " I have been waiting here these five minutes. Jump
up, Tim !"

And, gathering the reins up firmly, he mounted by the wheel,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 9

tucked the top-coat about his legs, shook out the long lash of
his tandem whip, and lapped it up in good style.

"I always drive with one of these77 — he said, half apologeti-
cally, as I thought — " they are so handy on the road for the
cur dogs, when you have setters with you — they plague your
life out else. Have you the pistol-case in, Tim, for I don't see
it?"

"All raight, sur," answered he, not over well pleased, as it
seemed, that it should even be suspected that he could have
forgotten any thing — "All raight !"

" Go along, then," cried Harry, and at the word the high
bred nags went off; and though my friend was too good and
too old a hand to worry his cattle at the beginning of a long
day's journey — many minutes had not passed before we found
ourselves on board the ferry-boat, steaming it merrily towards
the Jersey shore.

"A quarter past six to the minute," said Harry, as we landed
at Hoboken.

" Let Shot and Chase run, Tim, but keep the spaniels in till
we pass Hackensack."

"Awa wi ye, ye rascals," exclaimed Tim, and out went the
high blooded dogs upon the instant, yelling and jumping in
delight about the horses — and off we went, through the long
sandy street of Hoboken, leaving the private race-course of
that stanch sportsman, Mr. Stevens, on the left, with several
powerful horses taking their walking exercise in their neat body
clothes.

*' That puts me in mind, Frank," said Harry, as he called my
attention to the thorough-breds, "we must be back next Tuesday
for the Beacon Races — the new course up there on the hill ;
you can see the steps that lead to it — and now is not this
lovely?" he continued, as we mounted the first ridge of Wee-
hawken, and looked back over the beautiful broad Hudson,
gemmed with a thousand snowy sails of craft or shipping — " Is
not this lovely, Frank ? and, by the by, you will say, when we
get to our journey's end, you never drove through prettier
scenery in your life. Get away, Bob, you villain — nibbling,
nibbling at your curb ! get away, lads !"

And away we went at a right rattling pace over the hills,
and through the cedar swamp ; and, passing through a toll-
gate, stopped with a sudden jerk at a long low tavern on the
left-hand side.

10 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

11 We must stop here, Frank. My old friend, Ingliss, a bro-
ther trigger, too, would think the world was coming to an end
if I drove by — twenty-nine minutes these six miles," he added,
looking at his watch, "that will do ! Now, Tim, look sharp —
just a sup of water ! Good day — good day to you, Mr. In-
gliss ; now for a glass of your milk punch" — and mine host
disappeared, and in a moment came forth with two rummers of
the delicious compound, a big bright lump of ice bobbing about
in each among the nutmeg.

" What, off again for Orange county, Mr. Archer ? I was
telling the old woman yesterday that we should have you by
before long ; well, you'll find cock pretty plenty, I expect ; there
was a chap by here from Ulster — let me see, what day was it —
Friday, I guess — with produce, and he was telling, they have had
no cold snap yet up there ! Thank you, sir, good luck to you 1"
And off we went again, along a level road, crossing the broad,
slow river from whence it takes its name, into the town of Hack-
ensack.

" We breakfast here, Frank" — as he pulled up beneath the
low Dutch shed projecting over half the road in front of the
neat tavern — " How are you, Mr. Vanderbeck — we want a beef-
steak, and a cup of tea, as quick as you can give it us ; we'll
make the tea ourselves ; bring in the black tea, Tim — the nags
as usual."

" Aye ! aye ! sur" — " tak them out — leave t' harness on, all
but their bridles" — to an old gray-headed hostler. " Whisp off
their legs a bit ; Ay will be oot enoo !"

After as good a breakfast as fresh eggs, good country bread —
worth ten times the poor trash of city bakers — prime butter,
cream, and a fat steak could furnish, at a cheap rate, and with
a civil and obliging landlord, away we went again over the red-
hills — an infernal ugly road, sandy, and rough, and stony — for
ten miles farther to New Prospect.

" Now you shall see some scenery worth looking at," said
Harry, as we started again, after watering the horses, and taking
in a bag with a peck of oats — " to feed at three o'clock, Frank,
when we stop to grub, which must do al fresco — " my friend
explained — " for the landlord, who kept the only tavern on the
road, went West this summer, bit by the land mania, and there
is now no stopping place 'twixt this and Warwick," naming the
village for which we were bound. " You ffot that beef boiled,
Tim ?"

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 11

ft Ay'd been a fouil else, and aye so often oop t' road too," an-
swered he with a grin, " and C moostard is mixed, and t' pilot
biscuit in, and a good bit o' Cheshire cheese-! wee's doo, Ay
reckon. Ha! hal hal"

And now my friend's boast was indeed fulfilled; for when we
had driven a few miles farther, the country became undulating,
with many and bright streams of water ; the hill sides clothed
with luxuriant woodlands, now in their many-colored garb of
autumn beauty ; the meadow-land rich in unchanged fresh
greenery — for the summer had been mild and rainy — with here
and there a buckwheat stubble showing its ruddy face, replete
with promise of quail in the present, and of hot cakes in future ;
and the bold chain of mountains, which, under many names,
but always beautiful and wild, sweeps from the Highlands of
the Hudson, west and southwardly, quite through New Jersey,
Conning a link between the White and Green Mountains of New
Hampshire and Vermont, and the more famous Alleghanies of
the South.

A few miles farther yet, the road wheeled round the base of
the Tourne Mountain, a magnificent bold hill, with a bare craggy
head, its sides and skirts thick set with cedars and hickory — en-
tering a defile through which the liamapo, one of the loveliest
streams eye ever looked upon, comes rippling with its crystal
waters over bright pebbles, on its way to join the two kindred
rivulets which form the fair Passaic. Throughout the whole of
that defile, nothing -can possibly surpass the loveliness of nature ;
the road hard, and smooth, arid level, winding and wheeling
parallel to the gurgling river, crossing it two or three times in
each mile, now on one side, and now on the other — the valley
now barely broad enough to permit the highway and the stream
•to pass between the abrupt masses of rock and forest, and now
expanding into rich basins of green meadow-land, the deepest
and most fertile possible — the hills of every shape and size —
here bold, and bare, and rocky — there swelling up in grand
round masses, pile above pile of verdure, to the blue firmament
of autumn. By and by we drove through a thriving little vil-
lage, nestling in a hollow of the hills, beside a broad bright
pond, whose waters keep a dozen manufactories of cotton and
of iron — with which mineral these hills abound — in constant
operation ; and passing by the tavern, the departure of whose
owner Harry had so patheticallly mourned, we wheeled again
round a projecting spur of hill into a narrower defile, and reached
1*

12 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

another hamlet, far different in its aspect from the busy bustling
place we had left some five miles behind*

There were some twenty houses, with two large mills of solid
masonry ; but of these not one building was now tenanted ; the
roof- trees broken, the doors and shutters either torn from their
hinges, or flapping wildly to and fro ; the mill wheels cumber-
ing the stream with masses of decaying timber, and the whole
presenting a most desolate and mournful aspect.

"Its story is soon told," Harry said, catching my inquiring
glance — " a speculating, clever New York merchant — a water-
power — a failure — and a consequent desertion of the project ;
but we must find a birth among the ruins !"

And as he spoke, turning a little off the road, he pulled up
on the green sward ; " there's an old stable here that has a
manger in it yet ! Now, Tim, look sharp !"

And in a twinkling the horses were loosed from the wagon,
the harness taken off and hanging on the corners of the ruined
hovels, and Tim hissing and rubbing away at the gray horse,
while Harry did like duty on the chestnut, in a style that would
have done no shame to Melton Mowbray !

" Come, Frank, make yourself useful ! Get out the round of
beef, and all the rest of the provant — it's on the rack behind ;
you'll find all right there. Spread our table-cloth on that flat
stone by the waterfall, under the willow ; clap a couple of bot-
tles of the Baron's champagne into the pool there underneath
the fall ; let's see whether your Indian campaigning has taught
you anything worth knowing !"

To work 1 went at once, and by the time I had got through
— " Come, Tim,'' I heard him say, " I've got the rough dirt off
this fellow, you must polish him, while I take a wash, and get a
bit of dinner. Holloa ! Frank, are you ready 1"

And he came bounding down to the water's edge, with his
Newmarket coat in hand, and sleeves rolled up to the elbows,
plunged his face into the cool stream, and took a good wash of
his soiled hands in the same natural basin. Five minutes after-
ward we were employed most pleasantly with the spiced beef,
white biscuit, and good wine, which came out of the waterfall as
cool as Gunter could have made it with all his icing. When we
had pretty well got through, and were engaged with our che-
roots, up came Tim Matlock.

" 1' horses have got through wi' t' corn — they have fed rare-

WARWICK WOODLANDS. IS

ly — so I harnessed them, sur, all to the bridles — we can start
when you will."

u Sit clown, and get your dinner then, sir — there's a heel-tap
in that bottle we have left for you — and when you have done,
put up the things, and we'll be off. I say, Frank, let us try a
shot with the pistols — I'll get the case — stick up that fellow-
commoner upon the fence there, and mark off* a twenty paces."

The marking irons were produced, and loaded — "Fire — one
two — three" — bang I and the shivering of the glass announced
that never more would that chap hold the generous liquor ; the
ball had struck it plump in the centre, and broken off the whole
above the shoulder, for it was fixed neck downward on the stake.

" It is my turn now," said I ; and more by luck, I fancy, than
by skill, I took the neck off, leaving nothing but the thick ring
of the mouth still sticking on the summit of the fence.

" I'll hold you a dozen of my best Regalias against as many
of Manillas, that I break the ring."

" Done, Harry !"

" Done !"

Again the pistol cracked, and the unerring ball drove the
small fragment into a thousand splinters.

"That fotched 'urn!" exclaimed Tim, who had come up to
announce all ready. " Ecod, measter Frank, you munna wager
i' that gate* wi' master, or my name beant Tim, but thou'lt be
clean bamboozled."

Well, not to make a short story long, we got under way
again, and, with speed unabated, spanked along at full twelve
miles an hour for live miles farther. There, down a wild look-
ing glen, on the left hand, comes brawling, over stump and stone,
a tributary streamlet, by the side of which a rough track, made
by the charcoal burners and the iron miners, intersects the main
road ; and up this miserable looking path, for it was little more,
Harry wheeled at full trot.

" Now for twelve miles of mountain, the roughest road and
wildest country you ever saw crossed in a phaeton, good master
Frank/'

And wild it was, indeed, and rough enough in all conscience ;
narrow, unfenced in many places, winding along the brow of
precipices without rail or" breast-work, encumbered with huge
blocks of stone, and broken by the summer rains ! An English

* Gate— Yorkshire ! Anglice, way I

14 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

stage coachman would have stared aghast at the steep zigzags
up the hills, the awkward turns on the descents, the sudden
pitches, with now an unsafe bridge, and now a stony ford at the
bottom ; but through all this, the delicate quick finger, keen
eye, and cool head of Harry, assisted by the rare mouths of his
exquisitely bitted cattle, piloted us at the rate of full ten miles
the hour ; the scenery, through which the wild track ran, being
entirely of the most wild and savage character of woodland ; the
bottom filled with gigantic timber trees, cedar, and pine, and
hemlock, with a dense undergrowth of rhododendron, calmia,
and azalia, which, as my friend informed me, made the whole
mountains in the summer season one rich bed of bloom. About,
six miles from the point Where we had entered them we scaled
the highest ridge of the hills, by three almost precipitous zig-
zags, the topmost ledge paved by a stratum of broken shaley
limestone ; and, passing at once from the forest into well culti-
vated fields, came o« a new and lovelier prospect — a narrow
deep vale scarce a mile in breadth- — scooped, as it were, out of
the mighty mountains which embosomed it on every side — in
the highest state of culture, with rich orchards, and deep mead-
ows, and brown stubbles, whereon the shocks of maize stood
fair and frequent; and westward of the road, which, diving
down obliquely to the bottom, loses itself in the woods of the
opposite hill-side, and only becomes visible again when it
emerges to cross over the next summit — the loveliest sheet of
water my eyes has ever seen, varying from half a mile to a mile
in breadth, and about five miles long, with shores indented
deeply with the capes and promontories of the wood-clothed
hills, which sink abruptl}' to its very margin.

4i That is the Greenwood Lake, Frank, called by the monsters
here Long Pond ! — 'the fiends receive their souls therefor/ as
Walter Scott says — in my mind prettier than Lake George by
far, though known to few except chance sportsmen like myself!
Full of fish, perch of a pound in weight, and yellow bass in the
deep waters, and a good sprinkling of trout, towards this end 1
Ellis Ketchurn killed a five-pounder there this spring ! and
heaps of summer-duck, the loveliest in plumage of the genus,
and the best too, me judice, excepting only the inimitable can-
vass-back. There are a few deer, too, in the hills, though they
are getting scarce of late years, There, from that headland, I
killed one, three summers since ; I was placed at a stand by the
lake's edge, and the dogs drove him right down to me ; but I

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 15

got too eager, and he heard or saw me, and so fetched a turn ;
but they were close upon him, and the day was hot, and he
was forced to soil. I never saw him till he was in the act of
leaping from a bluff of ten or twelve feet into the deep lake, but
I pitched up my rifle at him, a snap shot ! as 1 would my gun
at a cock in a summer brake, and by good luck sent my ball
through his heart. There is a finer view yet when we cross
this hiil, the Bellevale mountain ; look out, for we are just upon
it; there! Now admire P

And on the summit he pulled up, and never did I see a land-
scape more extensively magnificent. Ridge after ridge the
mountain sloped down from our feet into a vast rich basin ten
miles at least in breadth, by thirty, if not more, in length, gir-
dled on every side by mountains — the whole diversified with
wood and water, meadow, and pasture-land, and corn-field —
studded with small white villages — with more than one bright
lakelet glittering like beaten gold in the declining sun, and several
isolated hills standing up boldly from the vale !

" Glorious indeed ! Most glorious !" I exclaimed.

" Right, Frank," he said ; " a man may travel many a day,
and not see any thing to beat the vale of Sugar-loaf — so named
from that cone-like lull, over the pond there — that peak is eight
hundred feet above tide water. Those blue hills, to the far
right, are the Hudson Highlands ; that bold bluff is the far-
famed Anthony's Nose ; that ridge across the vale, the second
ridge I mean, is the Shawariguuks ; and those three rounded
summits, farther yet — those are the Kaatskills ! But now a
truce with the romantic, for there lies Warwick, and this keen
mountain air has found me a fresh appetite !"

Away we went again, rattling down the hills, nothing daunted
at their steep pitches, with the nags just as fresh as when they
started, champing and snapping at their curbs, till on a table-
land above the brook, with the tin steeple of its church peering
from out the massy foliage of sycamore and locust, the haven
of our journey lay before us.

" Hilloa, hill-oa ho ! whoop ! who-whoop !" and with a cheery
shout, as we clattered across the wooden bridge, he roused out
half the population of the village.

"Ya ha ha! — ya yah !" yelled a great woolly-headed coal-
black negro. " Here 'm massa Archer back again — massa ben
well, I spect —

" Well— to be sure I have, Sam," cried Harry. " How's old

16

Poll ? Bid her come up to Draw's to-morrow night — I've got
a red and yellow frock for her — a deuce of a concern !"

" Yah ha ! yah ha ha yaah I" and amid a most discordant
chorus of African merriment, we passed by a neat farm-house
shaded by two glorious locusts on the right, and a new red
brick mansion, the pride of the village, with a flourishing store
on the left — and wheeled up to the famous Tom Draw's tavern
- — a long white house with a piazza six feet wide, at the top of
eight steep steps, and a one-story kitchen at the end of it ; a
pump with a gilt pine-apple at the top of it, and horse-trough ;
a wagon shed and stable sixty feet long ; a sign-post with an
indescribable female figure swinging upon it, and an ice house
over the way !

Such was the house, before which we pulled up just as the
sun was setting, amid a gabbling of ducks, a barking of terri-
ers, mixed with the deep bay of two or three large heavy fox-
hounds which had been lounging about in the shade, and a
peal of joyous welcome from all beings, quadruped or biped,
within hearing.

" Hulloa ! boys !'' cried a deep hearty voice from within the
bar-room. " Hulloa ! boys ! Walk in ! walk in ! What the
eternal h — 11 are you about there ?"

Wrell, we did walk into a large neat bar-room, with a bright
hickory log crackling upon the hearth-stone, a large round table
in one corner, covered with draught-boards, and old newspapers,
among which showed pre-eminent the " Spirit of the Times ;"
a range of pegs well stored with great-coats, fishing-rods, whips,
game-bags, spurs, and every other stray appurtenance of sport-
ing, gracing one end ; while the other was more gaily decorated
by the well furnished bar, in the right-hand angle of which my
eye detected in an instant a handsome nine pound double barrel,
an old six foot Queen Ann's tower-musket, and a long smooth-
bored rifle ; and last, not least, outstretched at easy length upon
the counter of his bar, to the left-hand of the gang-way — the
right side being more suitably decorated with tumblers, and de-
canters of strange compounds — supine, with fair round belly
towering upward, and head voluptuously pillowed on a heap of
wagon cushions — lay in his glory — but no ! hold ! — the end of
a chapter is no place to introduce — Tom Draw !*

* It ia almost a painful task to read over and revise this chapter. The
" twenty years ago" is too keenly visible to the mind's eye in every line. Of

WARWICK WOODLAND'S.

DAY THE SECOND.

MUCH as I had heard of Tom Draw, I was I must confess,
taken altogether aback when I, for the first time, set eyes upon
him. I had heard Harry Archer talk of him fifty times as a
crack shot ; as a top sawyer at a long day's fag ; as the man of
all others he would choose as his mate, if he were to shoot a
match, two against two — what then was my astonishment at
beholding this worthy, as he reared himself slowly from his re-
cumbent position ? It is tiue, I had -heard his sobriquet, " Fat
Tom," but, Heaven and Earth ! such a mass of beef and brandy
as stood before me, I had never even dreamt of. About five
feet six inches at the very utmost in the perpendicular, by six
or — " by'r lady" — nearer seven in circumference, weighing, at
the least computation, two hundred and fifty pounds, with a
broad jolly face, its every feature — well-formed and handsome,
rather than otherwise — mantling with an expression of the most
perfect excellence of heart and temper, and overshadowed by a
vast mass of brown hair, sprinkled pretty well with gray ! —
Down he plumped from the counter with a thud that made the
whole floor shake, and with a hand outstretched, that might
have done for a Goliah, out he strode to meet us.

" Why, hulloa ! hulloa ! Mr. Archer," shaking his hand till
I thought he would have dragged the arm clean out of the
socket — " How be you, boy ? How be you ?"

"Right well, Tom, can't you see? Why confound you,
you've grown twenty pound heavier since July ! — but here, I'm

the persons mentioned in its pages, more than one have passed away from
our world forever ; and even the natural features of rock, wood, and river,
in other countries so vastly more enduring than their perishable owners,
have been so much altered by the march of improvement, Heaven save
the mark ! that the traveller up the Erie railroad, will certainly not recog-
nise in the description of the vale of Ramapo, the hill-sides all denuded of
their leafy honors, the bright streams dammed by unsightly mounds and
changed into foul stagnant pools, the snug country tavern deserted for a
huge hideous barnlike depot, and all the lovely sights and sweet harmo-
nies of nature defaced and drowned by the deformities consequent on a
railroad, by the disgusting roar and screech of the steam-engine.

One word to the wise ! Let no man be deluded by the following pages,
into the setting forth for Warwick now in search of sporting. These things
are strictly as they were twenty years ago ! Mr. Seward, in his zeal for the
improvement of Chatauque and Cattaraugus, has certainly destroyed the
cock-shooting of Orange county. A sportsman's benison to him therefor \

18 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

losing all my manners ! — this is Frank Forester, whom you
have heard me talk about so often ! He dropped down here
out of the moon, Tom, I believe ! at least I thought about as
much of seeing the man in the moon, as of meeting him in
this wooden country — but here he is, as you see, come all the
way to take a look at the natives: And so, you see, as you're
about the greatest curiosity I know of in these parts, I brought
him straight up here to take a peep ! Look at him, Frank —
look at him well '! Now, did you ever see, in all your life, so
extraordinary an old devil? — and yet, Frank, which no man
could possibly believe, the old fat animal has some good points
about him — he can walk some / shoot, as he says, first best !
and drink — good Lord, how he can drink !"

u And that reminds me," exclaimed Tom, who with a ludi-
crous mixture of pleasure, bashfulness, and mock anger, had
been listening to what he evidently deemed a high encomium ;
" that we hav'nt drinked yet ; have you quit drink, Archer,
since I was to York ? What'll you take, Mr. Forester ? Gin 1
yes, I have got some prime gin ! You never sent me up them
groceries though, Archer ; well, then, here's luck ! What,
Yorkshire, is that you ? I should ha' thought now, Archer,
you'd have cleared that lazy Injun out afore this time !''

" Whoy, measter Draa — what 'na loike's that kind o'talk ? —
coom coom now, where'Il Ay tak t' things tull ?"

" Put Mr. Forester's box in the bed-room off the parlor — mine
up stairs, as usual," cried Archer. " Look sharp and get the
traps out. Now, Tom, I suppose you have got no supper
for us ?"

" Cooper, Cooper ! you snooping little devil," yelled Tom,
addressing his second hope, a fine dark-eyed, bright-looking lad
of ten or twelve years ; " Don't you see Mr. Archer's come ? —
away with you and light the parlor fire, look smart now, or I'll
cure you! Supper — you're always eat! eat! eat! or, drink!
drink! — drunk J Yes I supper; we've got pork] and chick-
ens "

" Oh ! d — n your pork," said I, " salt as the ocean I sup-
pose !'' " And double d — n your chickens," chimed in Harry,
" old superannuated cocks which must be caught now, and then
beheaded, and then soused into hot water to fetch off the feath-
ers ; and save you lazy devils the trouble of picking them. No,
no, Tom ! get us some fresh meat for to-morrow ; and for to-
night let us have some hot potatoes, and some bread and but-

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 19

ter, and we'll find beef ; eh, Frank? and now look sharp, for
we must be up in good time to-morrow, and, to be so, we must
to bed betimes. And now, Tom, are there any cock ?"

'l Cock ! yes, I guess there be, and quail, too, pretty plenty !
quite a smart chance of them, and not a shot fired among them
this fall, any how !"

" Well, which way must we beat to-morrow ? I calculate to
shoot three days with you here-; and, on Wednesday night,
when we get in, to hitch up and drive into Sullivan, and see if
we can't get a deer or two ! You'll go, Tom ?"

" Well, well, we'll see any how ; but for to-morrow, why, I
guess we must beat the 'Squire's swamp-hole first ; there's ten
or twelve cock there, I know ; I see them there myself last Sun-
day ; and then acrost them buck-wheat stubbles, and the big
bog meadow, there's a drove of quail there ; two or three bevys
got in one, I reckon ; leastwise I counted thirty-three last Fri-
day was a week ; and through Seer's big swamp, over to the
great spring !'*

" How is Seer's swarnp ? too wet, I fancy," Archer interposed,
" at least I noticed, from the mountain, that all the leaves were
changed in it, and that the maples were quite bare."

" Pretty fair, pretty fair, I guess," replied stout Tom, " I
harnt been there myself though, but Jem was down with the
hounds arter an old fox t'other day, and sure enough he said
the cock kept flopping up quite thick afore him ; but then the
critter will lie, Harry ; he will lie like thunder, you know ; but
somehow I concaits there be cock there too ; and then, as I was
saying, we'll stop at the great spring and get a bite of summat,
and then beat Hell-hole ; you'll have sport there for sartin !
What dogs have you got with you, Harry ?"

" Your old friends, Shot and Chase, and a couple of spaniels
for thick covert !"

"Now, gentlemen, your suppers are all ready."

" Come, Tom," cried Archer ; " you must take a bite with
us — Tim, bring us in three bottles of champagne, and lots of
ice, do you hear ?"

And the next moment we found ourselves installed in a snug
parlor, decorated with a dozen sporting prints, a blazing hickory
fire snapping and sputtering and roaring in a huge Franklin,
stove ; our luggage safely stowed in various corners, and Ar-
cher's double gun -case propped on two chairs below the
window.

20 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

An old-fashioned round table, covered with clean white linen
of domestic manufacture, displayed the noble round of beef
which we had brought up with us, flanked by a platter of mag-
nificent potatoes, pouring forth volumes of dense steam through
the cracks in their dusky skins ; a lordly dish of butter, that
might have pleased the appetite of Sisera; while eggs and
ham, and pies of apple, mince-meat, cranberry, and custard, oc-
cupied every vacant space, save where two ponderous pitchers,
mantling with ale and cider, and two respectable square bot-
tles, labelled "Old Rum" and " Brandy— 181 7," relieved the
prospect. Before we had sat down, Timothy entered, bearing
a horse bucket filled to the brim with ice, from whence pro-
truded the long necks and split corks of three champagne
bottles.

" Now, Tim," said Archer, " get your own supper, when
you've finished with the cattle; feed the dogs well to-night;
and then to bed. And hark you, call me at five in the morn-
ing; we shall want you to carry the game-bag and the drinka-
bles ; take care of yourself, Tim, and good night !"

" No need to tell him that," cried Tom, " he 's something
like yourself; / tell you, Archer, if Tim ever dies of thirst, it
must be where there is nothing wet, but water !"

" Now hark to the old scoundrel, Frank," said Archer, " hark
to him pray, and if he doesn't out-eat both of us, and out-drink
anything you ever saw, may I miss my first bird to-morrow —
that's all ! Give me a slice of beef, Frank ; that old Goth
would cut it an inch thick, if 1 let him touch it ; out with a
cork, Tom ! Here's to our sport to-morrow !"

" Uh ; that goes good !" replied Tom, with an oath, which,
by the apparent gusto of the speaker, seemed to betoken that
the wine had tickled his palate — u that goes good ! that's dif-
ferent from the darned red trash you left up here last time."

"And of which you have left none, I'll be bound," answered
Archer, laughing ; " my best Latour, Frank, which the old infi-
del calls trash."

" It's all below, every bottle of it," answered Tom : " I
wouldn't use such rot-gut stuff, no, not for vinegar. 'Taint
half so good as that red sherry you had up here oncet ; that
was poor weak stuff, too, but it did well to make milk punch
of; it did well instead of milk."

" Now, Frank," said Archer, " you won't believe me, that I
know ; but it's true, all the same. A year ago, this autumn, I

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 21

brought up five gallons of exceedingly stout, rather fiery, young,
brown sherry — draught wine, you know ! — and what did Tom
do here, but mix it, half and half, with brandy, nutmeg, and
sugar, and drink it for milk punch !"

" I did so, by the eternal," replied Tom, bolting a huge lump
of beef, in order to enable himself to answer — " I did so, and
good milk punch it made, too, but it was too weak ! Come,
Mr. Forester, we harn't drinked yet, and I'm kind o' gittin
dry !"

And now the mirth waxed fast and furious — the champagne
speedily was finished, the supper things cleared off, hot water
and Starke's Ferintosh succeeded, cheroots were lighted, we
drew closer in about the fire, and, during the circulation of two
tumblers — for to this did Harry limit us, having the prospect
of unsteady hands and aching heads before him for the morrow
— never did I hear more genuine and real humor, than went
round our merry trio.

Tom Draw, especially, though all his jokes were not such al-
together as I can venture to insert in my chaste paragraphs,
and though at times his oaths were too extravagantly rich to
brook repetition, shone forth resplendent. No longer did I
wonder at what I had before deemed Harry Archer's strange
hallucination ; Tom Draw is a decided genius — rough as a pine
knot in his native woods — but full of mirth, of shrewdness, of
keen mother wit, of hard horse sense, and last, not least, of the
most genuine milk of human kindness. He is a rough block ;
but, as Harry says, there is solid timber under the uncouth
bark enough to make five hundred men, as men go now-a-days
in cities !

At ten o'clock, thanks to the excellent precautions of my
friend Harry, we were all snugly berthed, before the whiskey,
which had well justified the high praise I had heard lavished
on it, had made any serious inroads on our understanding, but
not before we had laid in a quantum to ensure a good night's
rest.

Bright and early was I on foot the next day, but before I
had half dressed myself I was assured, by the clatter of the
breakfast things, that Archer had again stolen a march upon
me ; and the next moment my bed-room door, driven open by
the thick boot of that worthy, gave me a full view of his per-
son— arrayed in a stout fustian jacket — with half a dozen pock-
ets in full view, and Heaven only knows how many more lying

22 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

perdu in the broad skirts. Knee-breeches of the same mate-
rial, with laced half-boots and leather leggiiis, set off his stout
calf and well turned ankle.

" Up ! up ! Frank," he exclaimed, " it is a morning of ten
thousand ; there has been quite a heavy dew, and by the time
we are afoot it will be well evaporated ; and then the scent
will lie, I promise you ! make haste, I tell you, breakfast is
ready !"

Stimulated by his hurrying voice, I soon completed my toilet,
and entering the parlor found Harry busily employed in stirring
to and fro a pound of powder on one heated dinner plate, while
a second was undergoing the process of preparation on the
hearth-stone under a glowing pile of hickory ashes.

At the side-table, covered with guns, dog-whips, nipple-
wrenches, and the like, Tim, rigged like his master, in half
boots and leggins, but with a short roundabout of velveteen, in
place of the full-skirted jacket, was filling our shot-pouches by
aid of a capacious funnel, more used, as its odor betokened, to
facilitate the passage of gin or Jamaica spirits than of so sober
a material as cold lead.

At the same moment entered mine host, togged for the field
in a huge pair of cow-hide boots, reaching almost to the knee,
into the tops of which were tucked the lower ends of a pair of
trowsers, containing yards enough of buffalo-cloth to have eked
out the main-sail of a North River sloop ; a waistcoat and sin-
gle-breasted jacket of the same material, with a fur cap, com-
pleted his attire ; but in his hand he bore a large decanter filled
with a pale yellowish liquor, embalming a dense mass of fine
and worm-like threads, not very different in appearance from
the best vermicelli.

" Come, boys, come — here's your bitters," he exclaimed ;
and, as if to set the example, filled a big tumbler to the brim,
gulped it down as if it had been water, smacked his lips, and
incontinently tendered it to Archer, who, to my great amaze-
ment, filled himself likewise a more moderate draught, and
quaffed it without hesitation.

" That's good, Tom," he said, pausing after the first sip ;
" that's the best I ever tasted here ; how old's that ?"

" Five years !" Tom replied : " five years last fall ! Daddy
Tom made it out of my own best apples — take a horn, Mr.
Forester," he added, turning to me — " it's first best cider sper-
rits — better a darned sight than that Scotch stuff you make

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 23

such an etarnal fuss about, toting it up here every time, as if
we'd nothing fit to drink in the country !"

And to my sorrow I did taste it — old apple whiskey, with
Lord knows how much snake-root soaked in it for five years !
They may talk about gall being bitter ; but, by all that's won-
derful, there was enough of the amari aliquid in this fonte, to
me by no means of leporum, to have given an extra touch of
bitterness to all the gall beneath the canopy ; and with my
mouth puckered up, till it was like anything on earth but a
mouth, I set the glass down on the table ; and for the next five
minutes could do nothing but shake my head to and fro like a
Chinese mandarin, amidst the loud and prolonged roars of
laughter that burst like thunder claps from the huge jaws of
Thomas Draw, and the subdued and half respectful cachinna-
tions of Tim Matlock.

By the time I had got a little better, the black tea was ready,
and with thick cream, hot buckwheat cakes, beautiful honey,
and — as a stand by — the still venerable round, we made out a
very tolerable meal.

This done, with due deliberation Archer supplied his several
pockets with their accustomed load — the clean-punched wads in
this — in that the Westley Richards' caps — here a pound horn
of powder — there a shot-pouch on Syke's lever principle, with
double mouth-piece — in another, screw-driver, nipple-wrench,
and the spare cones ; and, to make up the tale, dog-whip, dram-
bottle, and silk handkerchief in the sixth and last.

" Nothing like method in this world," said Harry, clapping
his low-crowned broad-brimmed mohair cap upon his head ;
" take my word for it. Now, Tim, what have you got in the
bag 3"

" A bottle of champagne, sur," answered Tim, who was now
employed slinging a huge fustian game-bag, with a net-work
front, over his right shoulder, to counterbalance two full shot-
belts which were already thrown across the other — <l a bottle of
champagne, sur — a cold roast chicken — t' Cheshire cheese — and
t' pilot biscuits. Is your dram-bottle filled wi' t' whiskey, please
sur 3"

" Aye, aye, Tim. Now let loose the dogs — carry a pair of
couples and a leash along with you ; and mind you, gentlemen,
Tim carries shot for all hands ; and luncheon — but each one
finds his own powder, caps, &c. ; and any one who wants a
dram, carries his own — the devil a-one of you gets a sup out of

24 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

my bottle, or a charge out of my flask ! That's right, old
Trojan, isn't it ?" with a good slap on Tom's broad shoulder.

" Shot ! Shot — why Shot ! don't you know me, old dog ?"
cried Tom, as the two setters bounded into the room, joyful at
their release — " good dog ! good Chase !" feeding them with
great lumps of beef.

" Avast ! there Tom — have done with that," cried Harry ;
"you'll have the dogs so full that they can't run."

" Why, how'd you like to hunt all day without your break-
fast—hey ?"

" Here, lads ! here, lads ! wh-e-ew !" and followed by his
setters, with his gun under his arm, away went Harry ; and
catching up our pieces likewise, we followed, nothing loth, Tim
bringing up the rear with the two spaniels fretting in their
couples, and a huge black thorn cudgel, which he had brought,
as he informed me, " all t' way from bonny Cawoods."

It was as beautiful a morning as ever lighted sportsmen to
their labors. The dew, exhaled already from the long grass,
still glittered here and there upon the shrubs and trees, though
a soft fresh south-western breeze was shaking it thence mo-
mently in bright and rustling showers ; the sun, but newly
risen, and as yet partially enveloped in the thin gauze-like mists
so frequent at that season, was casting shadows, seemingly end-
less, from every object that intercepted his low rays, and
chequering the whole landscape with that play of light and
shade, which is the loveliest accessory to a lovely scene ; and
lovely was the scene, indeed, as e'er was looked upon by painter's
or by poet's eye — how then should humble prose do justice
to it?

Seated upon the first slope of a gentle hill, midway of the
great valley heretofore described, the village looked due south,
toward the chains of mountains, which we had crossed on the
preceding evening, and which in that direction bounded the
landscape. These ridges, cultivated half-way up their swelling
sides, which lay mapped out before our eyes in all the various
beauty of orchards, yellow stubbles, and rich pastures dotted
with sleek and comely cattle, were rendered yet more lovely
and romantic, by here and there a woody gorge, or rocky chasm,
channelling their smooth flanks, and carrying down their tribu-
tary rills, to swell the main stream at their base. Toward
these we took our way by the same road which we had followed
in an opposite direction on the previous night — but for a short

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 25

space only — for Laving crossed the stream, by the same bridge
which we had passed on entering the village, Tom Draw pulled
down a set of bars to the left, and strode out manfully into the
stubble.

" Hold up, good lads ! — whe-ew — whewt !" and away went
the setters through the moist stubble, heads up and sterns down,
like fox-hounds on a breast-high scent, yet under the most per-
fect discipline ; for at the very first note of Harry's whistle,
even when racing at the top of their pace, they would turn
simultaneously, alter their course, cross each other at right an-
gles, and quarter the whole field, leaving no foot of ground un-
beaten.

No game, however, in this instance, rewarded their exertions ;
and on we went across a meadow, and two other stubbles, with
the like result. But now we crossed a gentle hill, and, at its
base, came on a level tract, containing at the most ten acres of
marsh land, overgrown with high coarse grass and flags. Be-
yond this, on the right, was a steep rocky hillock, covered with
tall and thrifty timber of some thirty years* growth, but wholly
free from underwood. Along the left-hand fence ran a thick
belt of underwood, sumach and birch, with a few young oak
trees interspersed ; but in the middle of the swampy level, cov-
ering at most some five or six acres, was a dense circular thicket
composed of every sort of thorny bush and shrub, matted with
cat-briers and wild vines, and overshadowed by a clump of tall
and leafy ashes, which had not as yet lost one atom of their fo-
liage, although the underwood beneath them was quite sere and
leafless.

" Now then," cried Harry, " this is the * Squire's swamp-hole !'
Now for a dozen cock ! hey, Tom ? Here, couple up the setters,
Tim ; and let the spaniels loose. Now Flash ! now Dan ! down
charge, you little villains !" and the well broke brutes dropped
on the instant. " How must we beat this cursed hole 3"

" You must go through the very thick of it, congarn you !"
exclaimed Tom ; " at your old work already, hey ? trying to
shirk at first !"

" Don't swear so ! you old reprobate ! I know my place, de-
pend on it," cried Archer ; " but what to do with the rest of
you ! — there's the rub !"

" Not a bit of it," cried Tom — " here, Yorkshire — Ducklegs
— here, what's your name — get away you with those big dogs
— atwixt the swamp hole, and the brush there by the fence, and

26 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

look out that you mark every bird to an inch ! You, Mr. Fores-
ter, go in there, under that butter-nut; you'll find a blind track
there, right through the brush — keep that 'twixt Tim and Mr.
Archer ; and keep your eyes skinned, do ! there'll be a cock up
before you're ten yards in. Archer, you'll go right through,
and I'll »

"You'll keep well forward on the right — and mind that no
bird crosses to the hill ; we never get them, if they once get
over. All right ! In with you now ! Steady, Flash 1 steady I
hie up, Dan !" and in a moment Harry was out of sight among
the brush-wood, though his progress might be traced by the
continual crackling of the thick underwood.

Scarce had I passed the butter-nut, when, even as Tom had
said, up flapped a woodcock scarcely ten yards before me, in the
open path, and rising heavily to clear the branches of a tall thorn
bush, showed me his full black eye, and tawny breast, as fair a
shot as could be fancied.

" Mark 1" holloaed Harry to my right, his quick ear having
caught the flap of the bird's wing, as he rose. " Mark cock —
Frank !"

Well — steadily enough, as I thought, I pitched my gun up I
covered my bird fairly ! pulled ! — the trigger gave not to my
finger. I tried the other. Devil's in it, I had forgot to cock
my gun ! and ere I could retrieve my error, the bird had topped
the bush, and dodged out of sight, and off — " Mark 1 mark ! —
Tim !" I shouted.

" Ey ! ey ! sur — Ay see's um !"

" Why, how's that, Frank ?" cried Harry. " Couldn't you
get a shot ?"

" Forgot to cock my gun !'' I cried ; but at the self-same mo-
ment the quick sharp yelping of the spaniels came on my ear.
'• Steady, Flash ! steady, sir 1 Mark 1" But close upon the
word came the full round report of Harry's gun. " Mark I
again !" shouted Harry, and again his own piece sent its loud
ringing voice abroad. " Mark ! now a third ! mark, Frank !"

And as he spoke I caught the quick rush of his wing, and saw
him dart across a space, a few yards to my right. I felt my hand
shake : I had not pulled a trigger in ten months, but in a second's
space I rallied. There was an opening just before me between a
stumpy thick thorn-bush which had saved the last bird, and a
dwarf cedar; it was not two yards over ; he glanced across it;

ARWICK WOODLANDS. 27

he was gone, just as my barrel sent its charge into the splinter-
ed branches.

'* Beautiful !" shouted Harry, who, looking through a cross
glade, saw the bird fall, which I could not. " Beautiful shot,
Frank ! Do all your work like that, and we'll get twenty couple
before night !""

"Have 1 killed him !" answered I, half doubting if he were
not quizzing me.

" Killed him ? of course you have ; doubled him up complete-
ly ! But look sharp ! there are more birds before me ! I can
hardly keep the dogs down, now ! There ! there goes one —
clean out of shot of me, though ! Mark ! mark, Tom ! Gad, how
the fat dog's running !" he continued. "He sees him! Ten
to one he gets him ! There he goes — bang! Along shot, and
killed clean !"

44 Ready !" cried I. " I'm ready, Archer 1"

" Bag your bird, then. He lies under that dock leaf, at the
foot of yon red maple ! That's it ; you've got him. Steady
now, till Tom gets loaded !"

" What did you do ?'' asked I. " You fired twice, I think !"

" Killed two !" he answered. " Ready, now !" and on he went,
smashing away the boughs before him, while ever and anon I
heard his cheery voice, calling or whistling to his dogs, or rous-
ing up the tenants of some thickets into which even he could
not force his way ; and I, creeping, as best I might, among the
tangled brush, now plunging half thigh deep in holes full of
tenacious mire, now blundering over the moss-covered stubs,
pressed forward, fancying every instant that the rustling of the
briers against my jacket was the flip-flap of a rising woodcock.
Suddenly, after bursting through a mass of thorns and wild-
vine, which was in truth almost impassable, I came upon a little
grassy spot quite clear of trees, and covered with the tenderest
verdure, through which a narrow rill stole silently ; and as I set
my first foot on it, up jumped, with his beautiful variegated back
all reddened by the sunbeams, a fine and full-fed woodcock,
with the peculiar twitter which he utters when surprised. He
had not gone ten yards, however, before my gun was at my
shoulder and the trigger drawn ; before I heard the crack I saw
him cringe ; and, as the white smoke drifted off to leeward, he
fell heavily, completely riddled by the shot, into the brake be-
fore me ; while at the same moment, whir-r-r ! up sprung a
bevy of twenty quail, at least, startling me for the moment by

"i5*

28 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

the thick whirring of their wings, and skirring over the under-
wood right toward Archer. " Mark, quail !" 1 shouted, and, re-
covering instantly my nerves, fired my one remaining barrel af-
ter the last bird ! It was a long shot, yet I struck him fairly,
and he rose instantly right upward, towering high ! high ! into
the clear blue sky, and soaring still, till his life left him in the
air, and he fell like a stone, plump downward !

" Mark him ! Tim !"

" Ey ! ey ! sur. He's a de-ad un, that's a sure thing !"

At my shot all the bevy rose a little, yet altered not their
course the least, wheeling across the thicket directly round the
front of Archer, whose whereabout I knew, though I could
neither see nor hear him. So high did they fly that I could
observe them clearly, every bird well defined against the sunny
heavens. I watched them eagerly. Suddenly one turned over;
a cloud of feathers streamed off down the wind ; and then, be-
fore the sound of the first shot had reached my ears, a second
pitched a few yards upward, and, after a heavy flutter, followed
its hapless comrade.

Turned by the fall of the two leading birds, the bevy again
wheeled, still rising higher, and now flying very fast ; so that, as
I saw by the direction which they took, they would probably
give Draw a chance of getting in both barrels. And so indeed
it was ; for, as before, long ere I caught the booming echoes of
his heavy gun, I saw two birds keeled over, and, almost at the
same instant, the cheery shout of Tim announced to me that Le
had bagged my towered bird ! After a little pause, again we
started, and, hailing one another now and then, gradually forced
our way through brake and brier toward the outward verge of
the dense covert. Before we met again, however, I had the
luck to pick up a third woodcock, and as I heard another double
shot from Archer, and two single bangs from Draw, I judged
that my companions had not been less successful than myself.
At last, emerging from the thicket, we all converged, as to a
common point, toward Tim ; who, with his game-bag on the
ground, with its capacious mouth wide open to receive our
game, sat on a stump with the two setters at a charge beside
him.

" What do we score ?" cried I, as we drew near ; " what do
we score ?"

" I have four woodcocks, and a brace of quail," said Harry.

" And I, two cock and a brace," cried Tom, " and missed an-

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 29

other cock ; but he's down in the meadow here, behind that
'ere stump alder !"

" And I, three woodcock and one quail !" I chimed in, naught
abashed.

u And Ay'se marked doon three woodcock — two more be-
side yon big un, that measter Draa made siccan a bungle of —
and all t' quail — every feather on um — doon i' t' bog meadow
yonner — ooh ! but we'se mak grand sport o't!" interposed Tim,
now busily employed stringing bird after bird up by the head,
with loops and buttons in the game-bag !

u Well done then, all !" said Harry. " Nine timber-doodles
and five quail, and only one shot missed ! That's not bad shoot-
ing, considering what a hole it is to shoot in. Gentlemen,
here's your health," and filling himself out a fair sized wine-
glass-full of Ferintosh, into the silver cup of his dram-bottle, he
tossfd it off; and then poured out a similar libation for Tim
Matlock. Tom and myself, nothing loth, obeyed the hint, and
sipped our modicums of distilled waters out of our private
flasks.

" Now, then," cried Archer, " let us pick up these scattering
birds. Tom Draw, you can get yours without a dog ! And
now, Tim, where are yours?"

tk T' first lies oop yonner in yon boonch of brachens, ahint t'
big scarlet maple ; and t' other — "

u Well ! Til go to the first. You take Mr. Forester to the
other, and when we have bagged all three, we'll meet at the
bog meadow fence, and then hie at the bevy !"

This job was soon done, for Draw and Harry bagged their
birds cleverly at the first rise ; and although mine got off at first
without a shot, by dodging round a birch tree straight in Tim's
face, and flew back slap toward the thicket, yet he pitched in its
outer skirt, and as he jumped up wild I cut him down with a
broken pinion and a shot through his bill at fifty yards, and
Chase retrieved him well.

44 Cleverly stopped, indeed !" Frank halloaed ; " and by no
means an easy shot ! and so our work's clean done for this
place, at the least !"

*' The boy can shoot some,"* observed Tom Draw, who loved
to bother Timothy; " the boy can shoot some, though he doos
come from Yorkshire !"

" Gad ! and Ay wush Ay'd no but gotten thee i' Yorkshire,
measter Draa !" responded Tim.

30 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" Why ! what if you had got me there ?"

"What? Whoy, Ay'd clap thee iv a cage, and hug thee
round t' feasts and fairs loike ; and shew thee to t' folks at so
mooch a head. Ay'se sure Ay'd mak a fortune o' t !''

" He has you there, Tom ! Ha ! ha ! ha !'' laughed Archer.
"Tim 7s down upon you there, by George! Now, Frank, do
fancy Tom Draw in a cage at Borough-bridge or Catterick fair!
Lord! how the folks would pay to look at him! Fancy the
sign board too! The Great American Man-Mammoth! Ha!
ha! ha! But come, we must not stay here talking nonsense,
or we shall do no good. Show me, Tim, where are the quail !"

" Doon i' t' bog meadow yonner ! joost i' t' slack,* see thee,
there !" pointing with the stout black-thorn ; " amang yon bits
o' bushes !"

" Very well — that 's it ; now let go the setters ; take Flash
and Dan along with you, and cut across the country as straight
as you can go to the spring head, where we lunched last year ;
that day, you know, Tom, when McTavish frightened the bull
out of the meadow, under the pin-oak tree. Well ! put the
champagne into the spring to cool, and rest yourself there till
we come *, we shan't be long behind you."

Away went Tim, stopping from time to time to mark our
progress, and over the fence into the bog meadow we proceeded ;
a rascally piece of broken tussocky ground, with black mud
knee-deep between the hags, all covered with long grass. The
third step I took, over I went upon my nose, but luckily avoided
shoving my gun-barrels into the filthy mire.

" Steady, Frank, steady ! I'm ashamed of you !" said Harry ;
"so hot and so impetuous ; and your gun too at the full cock ;
that 's the reason, man, why you missed firing at your first bird,
this morning. I never cock either barrel till I see my bird ;
and, if a bevy rises, only one at a time. The birds will lie like
stones here ; and we cannot walk too slow. Steady, Shot, have
a care, sir !"

Never, in all my life, did I see any thing more perfect than
the style in which the setters drew those bogs. There was no
more of racing, no more of impetuous dash ; it seemed as if
they knew the birds were close before them. At a slow trot,
their sterns whipping their flanks at every step, they threaded

* Slack — Yorkshire. Anglice, Moist hollow.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 31

the high tussocks. See ! the red dog straightens his neck, and
snuffs the air.

" Look to ! look to, Frank ! they are close before old Chase !"

Now he draws on again, crouching close to the earth. "Toho!
Shot !" Now he stands ! no ! no ! not yet — at least he is not
certain ! He turns his head to catch his master's eye ! Now
his stern moves a little; he draws on again.

There ! he is sure now ! what a picture— his black full eye
intently glaring, though he cannot see any thing in that thick
mass of herbage ; his nostril wide expanded, his lips slavering
from intense excitement; his whole form motionless, and sharply
drawn, and rigid, even to the straight stern and lifted foot, as a
block wrought to mimic life by some skilful sculptor's chisel ;
and, scarce ten yards behind, his liver-colored comrade backs
him — as firm, as stationary, as immovable, but in his attitude,
how different ! Chase feels the hot scent steaming up under his
very nostril ; feels it in every nerve, and quivers with anxiety
to dash on his prey, even while perfectly restrained and steady.
Shot, on the contrary, though a few minutes since he too was
drawing, knows nothing of himself, perceives no indication of
the game's near presence, although improved by discipline, his
instinct tells him that his mate has found them. Hence the
same rigid form, stiff' tail, and constrained attitude, but in his
face — for dogs have faces — there is none of that tense energy,
that evident anxiety ; there is no frown upon his brow, no glare
in his mild open eye, no slaver on his lip !

44 Come up, Tom ; come up, Frank, they are all here ; we
must get in six barrels ; they will not move : come up, I say !"

And on we came, deliberately prompt, and ready. Now we
were all in line : Harry the centre man, I on the right, and Tom
on the left hand. The attitude of Archer was superb ; his legs,
set a little way apart, as firm as if they had been rooted in the
soil ; his form drawn back a little, and his head erect, with his
eye fixed upon the dogs ; his gun held in both hands, across
his person, the muzzle slightly elevated, his left grasping the
trigger guard ; the thumb of the right resting upon the hammer,
and the fore-finger on the trigger of the left hand barrel ; but,
as he had said, neither cocked. " Fall back, Tom, if you please,
five yards or so," he said, as coolly as if he were unconcerned,
" and you come forward, Frank, as many ; I want to drive them
to the left, into those low red bushes ; that will do : now then,
I '11 flush them ; never mind me, boys, I '11 reserve my fire."

82 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

And, as he spoke, he moved a yard or two in front of us, and
under his very feet, positively startling me by their noisy flutter,
up sprang the gallant bevy : fifteen or sixteen well grown birds,
crowding and jostling one against the other. Tom Draw's gun,
as I well believe, was at his shoulder when they rose ; at least
his first shot was discharged before they had flown half a rood,
and of course harmlessly: the charge must have been driven
through them like a single ball ; his second barrel instant'y
succeeded, and down came two birds, caught in the act of
crossing. I am myself a quick shot, too quick if anything, yet
my first barrel was exploded a moment after Tom Draw's
second ; the other followed, and I had the satisfaction of
bringing both my birds down handsomely ; then up went
Harry's piece — the bevy being now twenty or twenty-five yards
distant — cocking it as it rose, he pulled the trigger almost before
it touched his shoulder, so rapid was the movement ; and,
though he lowered the stock a little to cock the second barrel,
a moment scarcely passed between the two reports, and almost
on the instant two quail were fluttering out their lives among
the bog grass.

Dropping his butt, without a word, or even a glance to the
dogs, he quietly went on to load ; nor indeed was it needed : at
the first shot they dropped into the grass, and there they lay
as motionless as if they had been dead, with their heads
crouched between their paws ; nor did they stir thence till the
tick of the gun-locks announced that we again were ready.
Then lifting up their heads, and rising on their fore-feet, they
sat half erect, eagerly waiting for the signal.

" Hold up, good lads !" and on they drew, and in an instant
pointed on two several birds. " Fetch !" and each brought his
burthen to our feet ; six birds were bagged at that rise, and thus
before eleven o'clock we had picked up a dozen cock, and within
one of the same number of fine quail, with only two shots
missed. The poor remainder of the bevy had dropped, singly,
and scattered, in the red bushes, whither we instantly pursued
them, and where we got six more, making a total of seventeen
birds bagged out of a bevy, twenty strong at first.

One towered bird of Harry's, certainly killed dead, we could
not with all our efforts bring to bag ; one bird Tom Draw missed
clean, and the remaining one we could not find again ; another
dram of whiskey, and into Seer's great swamp we started : a
large piece of woodland, with every kind of lying. At one end

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 33

it was open, with soft black loamy soil, covered with docks and
colts-foot leaves under the shade of large but leafless willows,
and here we picked up a good many scattered woodcock ;
afterward we got into the heavy thicket with much tangled
grass, wherein we flushed a bevy, but they all took to tree, and
we made very little of them ; and here Tom Draw began to
blow and labor ; the covert was too thick, the bottom too deep
and unsteady for him.

Archer perceiving this, sent him at once to the outside ; and
three times, as we went along, ourselves moving nothing, we
heard the round reports of his large calibre. "A bird at every
shot, I 'd stake my life," said Harry, " he never misses cross
shots in the open ;" at the same instant, a tremendous rush
of wings burst from the heaviest thicket : " Mark ! partridge !
partridge !" and as I caught a glimpse of a dozen large birds
fluttering up, one close upon the other, and darting away as
straight and nearly as fast as bullets, through the dense branches
of a cedar brake, I saw the flashes of both Harry's barrels,
almost simultaneously discharged, and at the same time over
went the objects of his aim ; but ere I could get up my gun
the rest were out of sight. " You must shoot, Frank, like
lightning, to kill these beggars ; they are the ruffed grouse,
though they call them partridge here : see ! are they not fine
fellows F

Another hour's beating, in which we still kept picking up,
from time to time, some scattering birds, brought us to the
spring head, where we found Tim with luncheon ready, and
our fat friend reposing at his side, with two more grouse, and a
rabbit which he had bagged along the covert's edge. Cool
was the Star champagne ; and capital was the cold fowl and
Cheshire cheese ; and most delicious was the repose that
followed, enlivened with gay wit and free good humor, soothed
by the fragrance of the exquisite cheroots, moistened by the last
drops of the Ferintosh qualified by the crystal waters of the
spring. After an hour's rest, we counted up our spoil ; four
ruffed grouse, nineteen woodcocks, with ten brace and a half of
quail beside the bunny, made up our score — done comfortably
in four hours.

"Now we have finished for to-day with quail," said Archer,

k" but we '11 get full ten couple more of woodcock ; come, let us
>e stirring ; hang up your game-bag in the tree, and tie the
otters to the fence ; I want you in with me to beat, Tim ; you
,.

84 WARWICK WOODLANDS*

two chaps must botli keep the outside — you all the time, Tom \
you, Frank, till you get to that tall thunder-shivered ash tree ;
turn in there, and follow up the margin of a wide slank you
will see; but be careful) the mud is very deep, and dangerous
in places ; now then, here goes I"

And in he went, jumping a narrow streamlet into a point of
thicket, through which he drove by main force* Scarce had he
got six yards into the brake, before both spaniels quested ; and,
to my no small wonder, the jungle seemed alive with woodcock ;
eight or nine, at the least, flapped up at once, and skimmed
along the tongue of coppice toward the high wood, which ran
along the valley, as I learned afterward, for full three miles in
length — while four or five more wheeled off to the sides, giving
myself and Draw fair shots, by which we did not fail to profit ;
but I confess it was with absolute astonishment that I saw two of
those turned over, which flew inward, killed by the marvellously
quick and unerring aim of Archer, where a less thorough
sportsman would have been quite unable to discharge a gun at
all, so dense was the tangled jungle. Throughout the whole
length of that skirt of coppice, a hundred and fifty yards, I
should suppose at the utmost, the birds kept rising as it were
incessantly — thirty-five, or, I think, nearly forty, being flushed
in less than twenty minutes, although comparatively few were
killed, partly from the difficulty of the ground, and partly from
their getting up by fours and fives at once. Into the high
wood, however, at the last we drove them ; and there, till
daylight failed us, we did our work like men. By the cold
light of the full moon we wended homeward, rejoicing in the
possession of twenty-six couple and a half of cock, twelve brace
of quail — we found another bevy on our way home and bagged
three birds almost by moonlight — five ruffed grouse, and a
rabbit. Before our wet clothes were well changed, supper was
ready, and a good blow-out was followed by sound slumbers
arid sweet dreams, fairly earned by nine hours of incessant
walking.

WARWICK WOODLANDS, 35

DAY THE THIRD.

So thoroughly was I tired out by the effects of the first day's
fagging I bad undergone in many months, and so sound was
the slumber into which I sank the moment my head touched
the pillow, that it scarcely seemed as if five minutes had elapsed
between my falling into sweet forgetfulness, and my starting
bolt upright in bed, aroused by the vociferous shout, and pon-
derous tramping, equal to nothing less than that of a full-grown
rhinoceros, with which Tom Draw rushed, long before the sun
was up, into my chamber.

" What's this, what's this now ?" he exclaimed ; " why the
plague arn't JTOU up and ready ? — why here's the bitters mixed,
and Archer in the stable this half hour past, and Jem's here
with the hounds — and you, you lazy snorting Injun, wasting
the morning here in bed !"

My only reply to this most -characteristic salutation, was to
hurl my pillow slap in his face, and — threatening to follow up
the missile with the contents of the water pitcher, which stood
temptingly within my reach, if he did not get out incontinently
— to jump up and array myself with all due speed ; for, when
I had collected my bewildered thoughts, I well remembered that
we had settled on a fox-bunt before breakfast, as a preliminary
to a fresh skirmish with the quail.

In a few minutes I was on foot and in the parlor, where I
found a bright crackling fire, a mighty pitcher of milk punch,
and a plate of biscuit, a<n apt substitute for breakfast before
starting ; while, however, I was discussing these, Archer arrived,
dressed just as I have described him on the preceding day, with,
the addition of a pair of heavy hunting spurs, buckled on over
his half- boots, and a large iron-hammered whip in his right
hand.

" That's right, Frank,"" he exclaimed, after the ordinary salu-
tations of the morning.

" Why that old porpoise told me you would not be ready
these two hours ; he's grumbling out yonder by the stable door,
like a hog stuck in a farm-yard gate. But come, we may as
well be moving, for the hounds are all uncoupled, and the nags
saddled — p^ut on a pair of straps to your fustian trowsers and
take these racing spurs, though Peacock does not want them—
-and now, hurrah ]"

36 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

This was soon done, and going out upon the stoop, a scene-
it is true, widely different from the kennel door at Melton, or
the covert side at Billesdon Coplow, yet riot by any means de-
void of interest or animation — presented itself to my eyes.
About six couple of large heavy hounds, with deep and pendant
ears, heavy well-feathered sterns, broad chests, and muscular
strong limbs, were gathered round their feeder, the renowned
Jem Lyn ; on whom it may not be impertinent to waste a word
or two, before proceeding to the mountain, which, as I learned,
to my no little wonder, was destined to be our hunting ground.

Picture to yourself, then, gentle reader, a small but actively
formed man, with a face of most unusual and portentous ugli-
ness, an uncouth grin doing the part of a smile ; a pair of eyes
so small that they would have been invisible, but for the ser-
pent-like vivacity and brightness with which they sparkled from
their deep sockets, and a profusion of long hair, coal-black, but
lank and uncurled as an Indian's, combed smoothly down with
a degree of care entirely out of keeping with the other details,
whether of dress or countenance, on either cheek. Above these
sleek and cherished tresses he wore a thing which might have
passed for either cap or castor, at the wearer's pleasure ; for it
was wholly destitute of brim except for a space some three or
four inches wide over the eyebrows ; and the crown had been so
pertinaciously and completely beaten in, that the sides sloped
inward at the top, as if to personate a bishop's mitre ; a fishing
line was wound about this graceful and, if its appearance belied
it not most foully, odoriferous head-dress ; and into the fishing
line was stuck the bowl and some two inches of the shank of a
well-sooted pipe. An old red handkerchief was twisted rope-
wise about his lean and scraggy neck, but it by no means sufficed
to hide the scar of what had evidently been a most appalling
gash, extending right across his throat, almost from ear to ear,
the great cicatrix clearly visible like a white line through the
thick stubble of some ten days' standing that graced his chin
and neck.

An old green coat, the skirts of which had long since been
docked by the encroachment of thorn-bushes and cat-briers,
with the mouth-piece of a powder-horn peeping from its breast
pocket, and a full shot-belt crossing his right shoulder ; a pair
of fustian trowsers, patched at the knees with corduroy, and
heavy cowhide boots completed his attire. This, as it seemed,
was to be our huntsman ; and sooth to say, although he did

WARWICK WOODLANDS. S7

not look the character, he played the part, when he got to work,
right handsomely. At a more fitting season, Harry in a few
words let me into this worthy's history and disposition. " He
is," he said, " the most incorrigible rascal I ever met with — an
unredeemed and utter vagabond ; he started life as a stallion*
leader, a business which he understands — as in fact he does al-
most every thing else within his scope — thoroughly well. He
got on prodigiously ! — was employed by the first breeders in
the country ! — took to drinking, and then, in due rotation, to
gambling, pilfering, lying, every vice, in short, which is com-
patible with utter want of any thing like moral sense, deep
shrewdness, and uncommon cowardice.

" He cut his throat once — you may see the scar now — in a
fit of delirium tremens, and Tom Draw, who, though he is per-
petually cursing him for the most lying critter under heaven,
has, I believe, a sort of fellow feeling for him — nursed him and
gut him well ; and ever since he has hung about here, getting
at times a country stallion to look after, at others hunting, or
fishing, or doing little jobs about the stable, for which Tom
gives him plenty of abuse, plenty to eat, and as little rum as
possible, for if he gets a second glass it is all up with Jem Lyn
for a week at least.

" He came to see me once in New York, when I was down
upon my back with a broken leg — I was lying in the parlor,
about three weeks after the accident had happened. Tim. Mat-
lock had gone out for something, and the cook let him in ; and,
after he had sat there about lialf an hour, telling me all the
news of the races, and making me laugh more than was good
for my broken leg, he gave me such a hint, that I was compelled
to direct him to the cupboard, wherein 1 kept the liquor-stand ;
and unluckily enough, as I had not for some time been in drink-
ing tune, all three of the bottles were brimful ; and, as I am a
Christian man, he drank in spite of all I could say — I could not
leave the couch to get at him — two of them to the dregs ; and,
after frightening me almost to death, fell flat upon the floor, and
lay there fast asleep when Tim came in again. He dragged him
instantly, by my directions, under the pump in the garden, and
soused him for about two hours, but without producing the
least effect, except eliciting a grunt or two from this most sea-
soned cask.

a Such is Jem Lyn, and yet, absurd to say, I have tried the
fellow, and believe him perfectly trustworthy — at least to me !

S3 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

"He is a coward, yet I have seen him fight like a hero more
than once, and against heavy odds, to save me from a threshing,
which I got after all, though not without some damage to our
foes, whose name might have been legion.

" He is the greatest liar I ever met with ; and yet I never
caught him in a falsehood, for he believes it is no use to tell
me one.

" He is most utterly dishonest, yet I have trusted him with
sums that would, in his opinion, have made him a rich man for
life, and he accounted to the utmost shilling ; but I advise you
not to try the same, for if you do he most assuredly will cheat
you !"

Among the heavy looking hounds, which clustered round this
hopeful gentleman, I quickly singled out two couple of widely
different breed and character from the rest ; your thorough
high-bred racing fox-hounds, with ears rounded, thin shining
coats, clean limbs, and all the marks of the best class of English
hounds.

" Aye ! Frank," said Archer, as he caught my eye fixed on
them, " you have found out my favorites. Why, Bonny Belle,
good lass, why Bonny Belle •! — here Blossom, Blossom, come
Up and show your pretty figures to your countryman! Poor
Hanbury — do you remember, Frank, how many a merry day
we've had with him by Thorley Church, and Takely forest ? —
poor Hanbury sent them to me with such a letter, only the year
before he died; and those, Dauntless and Dangerous, I had
from Will, Lord Harewood's huntsman, the same season -!"

" There never was sich dogs — there never was afore in Or-
ange," said Tom. "I will say that, though they be English^
and though they be too fast for fox, entirely, there never was
sich dogs for deer" —

"But how the deuce," I interrupted, "can hounds be too
fast, if they have bone and stanchness !''

" Stanchness be darned ; they holes them ln

" No earthstoppers in these parts, Frank," cried Harry ; " and
•as the object of these gentlemen is not to hunt solely for the
fun of the thing, but to destroy a noxious varmint, they prefer
a slow, sure, deep-mouthed dog, that does not press too closely
•on Pug, but lets him take his time about the coverts, till he
•comes into fair gunshot of these hunters, who are lying perdu
•as he runs to get a crack at him.'7

** And pray," said I, "is this your method of proceeding 3"

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 8$

M You shall see, you shall see ; come get to horse, or it will
be late before we get our breakfast, and 1 assure you I don't
wish to lose either that, or my days's quail-shooting. This
hunt is merely for a change, and to get something of an appe*
tite for breakfast* Now, Tim, be sure that every thing is ready
by eight o'clock at the latest — we shall be in by that time with.
a furious appetite."

Thus saying he mounted, without more delay} his favorite,
the gray ; while I backed) nothing loth, the chestnut horse 5
and at the same time to my vast astonishment, from under the
long shed out rode the mighty Tom, bestriding a tall powerful
brown mare, showing a monstrous deal of blood combined with
no slight bone — equipped with a cavalry bridle, and strange to
say, without the universal martingal ; he was rigged just as
usual, with the exception of a broad-brimmed hat in place of
his fur cap) and grasped in his right hand a heavy smooth-bored
rifle, while with the left he wheeled his mare, with a degree of
active skill, which I should certainly have looked for any where
rather than in so vast a mass of flesh as that which was exhibi*
ted by our worthy host.

Two other sportsmen, grave> sober-looking farmers, whom
Harry greeted cheerily by name, and to whom in all due form
I was next introduced, well-mounted, and armed with long sin-
gle-barrelled guns, completed our party ; and away we went at
a rattling trot, the hounds following at Archer's heels, as stead4
ily as though he hunted them three times a week.

" Now arn't it a strange thing," said Tom, " arn't it a strange
thing, Mr» Forester, that every critter under Heaven takes
somehow nat'rally to that are Archer — the very hounds — old
Whino there ! that I have had these eight years, and fed with
my own hands, and hunted steady every winter, quits me the
very moment he claps sight on him ; by the eternal, I believe
he is half dog himseitV

" You hunted them indeed," interrupted Harry, " you old
rhinoceros, why hang your hide, you never so much as heard a
good view-holloa till I came up here — you hunted them — a
man talk of hunting, that carries a cannon about with him on
horseback ; but come, where are we to try first, on Rocky Hill,
or in the Spring Swamps ?'5

" Why now I reckon, Archer, we'd best stop down to Sam
Blain's — by the blacksmith's — he was telling t'other morning of
an eternal sight of them he'd seen down hereaway — and we'll

40 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

be there to rights ! — Jem, cus you, out of my way, you dumb
nigger — out of my way, or I'll ride over you'* — for, travelling
along at a strange shambling run, that worthy had contrived to
keep up with us, though we were going fully at the rate of eight
or nine miles in the hour.

" Hurrah !" cried Tom, suddenly pulling up at the door of a
neat farm-house on the brow of a hill, with a clear streamlet sweep-
ing round its base, and a fine piece of woodland at the farther
side. " Hurrah ! Sam Blain,we've come to make them foxes, you
were telling of a Sunday, sme.ll h — 11 right straight away. Here's
Archer, and another Yorker with him — leastwise an Englisher I
should say — and Squire Conklin, and Bill Speers, and that white
nigger Jem ! Look sharp, I say ! Look sharp, cuss you, else
we'll pull off the ruff of the old Immstead."

In a few minutes Sam made his appearance, armed, like the
rest, with a Queen Ann's tower-musket.

" Well ! well !" he said, " I'm ready. Quit making such a
clatter ! Lend me a load of powder, one of you ; my horn's
leaked dry, I reckon !''

Tom forthwith handed him his own, and the next thing I
heard was Blain exclaiming that it was " desperate pretty pow-
der," and wondered if it shot strong.

"Shoot strong ? I guess you'll rind it strong enough to s^w
you up, if you go charging your old musket that ways!'' answer-
ed Tom. " By the Lord, Archer, he's put in three full charges P

" Well, it will kill him, that's all !" answered Harry, very
coolly ; " and there'll be one less of you. But come ! come !
"let's be bustling; the sun's going to get up already. You'll
leave your horses here, I suppose, gentlemen, and get to the old
stands. Tom Draw, put Mr. Forester at my old post down by
the big pin-oak at the creek side ; and you stand there, Frank,
still as a church-mouse. It's ten to one, if some of those fellows
don't shoot him first, that he'll break covert close by you, and
run the meadows for a mile or two, up to the turnpike road,
and over it to Rocky hill — that black knob yonder, covered with
pine and hemlock. There are some queer snake fences in the
flat, and a big brook or two, but Peacock has been over every
inch of it before, and you may trust in him implicitly. Good
bye ! I'm going up the road with Jem to drive it from the
.upper end."

And off he went at a merry trot, with the hounds gamboling
about his stirrups, and Jem Lyn running at his best pace to keep

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 41

up with him. In a few minutes they were lost behind a swell
of woodland, round which the road wheeled suddenly. At the
same moment Tom and his companions re-appeared from the
stables, where they had been securing their four-footed friends ;
and, after a few seconds, spent in running ramrods down the
barrels to see that all was right, inspecting primings, knapping
flints, or putting on fresh copper caps, it was announced that all
was ready ; and passing through the farm-yard, we entered,
through a set of bars, a broad bright buckwheat stubble. Scarcely
an hundred yards had we proceeded, before we sprung the finest
bevy of the largest quail I had yet seen, and flying high and
wild crossed half-a-dozen fields in the direction of the village,
whence we had started, and pitched at length into an alder brake
beside the stream.

u Them chaps has gone the right way," Tom exclaimed, with
a deep sigh, who had with wondrous difficulty refrained from
firing into them, though he was loaded with buckshot ; " right
in the couise we count to take this forenoon. Now, Squire, keep
to the left here, take your station by the old earths there away,
under the tall dead pine; and you, Bill, make tracks there, straight
through the middle cart- way, down to the other meadow, and
sit you down right where the two streams fork ; there'll be an
old red snooping down that side afore long, I reckon. We'll go
on, Mr. Forester ; here's a big rail fence nowr ; 1*11 throw off the
top rail, for I'll be darned if I climb any day when I can creep
— there, that'll do, I reckon ; leastwise if you can ride like Ar-
cher— he d — ns me always if I so much as shakes a fence afore
lie jumps it — you've got the best horse, too, for lepping. Now
let's see ! Well done ! well done !" he continued, with a most
boisterous burst of laughter — " well done, horse, any how !" — as
Peacock, who had been chafing ever since he parted from his
comrade Bob, went at the fence as though he were about to take
it in his stroke — stopped short when within a yard of it, and
then bucked over it, without touching a splinter, although it was
at least five feet, and shaking me so much, that, greatly to Tom's
joy, I showed no little glimpse of day-light.

44 1 reckon if they run the meadows, you'll hardly ride them,
Forester," he grinned ; 44 but now away with you. You see the
tall dark pin oak, it hasn't lost one leaf yet ; right in the nook
there of the bars you'll find a quiet shady spot, where you can
see clear up the rail fence to this knob, where I'll be. Off with
you, boy — and mind you now, you keep as dumb as the old wo-

42 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

man when her husband cut her tongue out, 'cause she had too
much jaw."

Finishing his discourse, he squatted himself down on the stool
of a largo hemlock, which, being recently cut down, cumbered
the woodside with its giant stern, and secured him, with its ever-
green top now lowly laid and withering, from the most narrow
scrutiny ; while I, giving the gallant horse his head, went at a
brisk hand-gallop across the firm short turf of the fair sloping
hill-side, taking a moderate fence in my stroke, which Peacock
cleared in a style that satisfied me Harry had by no means ex-
aggerated his capacity to act as hunter, in lieu of the less glorious
occupation, to which in general he was doomed.

In half a minute more I reached my post, and though an hour
passed before I heard the slightest sound betokening the chase,
never did I more thoroughly enjoy an hour.

The loveliness of the whole scene before me — the broad rich
sweep of meadowland lying, all bathed in dew, under the pale
gray light of an autumnal morning, with groups of cattle couch-
ed still between the trees where they had passed the night ; the
distant hills, veiled partially in mist, partially rearing their round
leafy heads toward the brightening sky ; and then the various
changes of the landscape, as slowly the day broke behind the
eastern hill ; and all the various sounds of bird, and beast, and
insect, which each succeeding variation of the morning served
to call into life as if by magic. First a faint rosy flush stole up
the eastern sky, and nearly at the self-same moment, two or
three vagrant crows came flapping heavily along, at a height so
immeasurable that their harsh voices were by distance modified
into a pleasing murmur. And now a little fish jumped in the
streamlet ; and the splash, trifling as it was, with which he fell
back on the quiet surface, half startled me.

A moment afterward an acorn plumped down on my head, and
as I looked up, there sat, on a limb not ten feet above me, an
impudent rogue of a gray squirrel, half as big as a rabbit, erect
upon his haunches, working away at the twin brother of the
acorn he had dropped upon my hat to break my reverie, rasping
it audibly with his chisel-shaped teeth, and grinning at me just
as coolly as though I were a harmless scare-crow.

When I grew tired of observing him, and looked toward the
sky again, behold the western ridge, which is far higher than the
eastern hills, had caught upon its summits the first bright rays
of the yet unseen day-god ; while the rosy flush of the east had

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 43

brightened into a blaze of living gold, exceeded only by the glo-
rious hues with which a few bright specks of misty cloud glowed
out against the azure firmament, like coals of actual tire.

Again a louder splash aroused me; and, as I turned, there float-
ed on a glassy basin, into which the ripples of a tiny fall sub-
sided, three wood-ducks, with a noble drake, that loveliest in
plumage of all aquatic fowl, perfectly undisturbed and fearless,
although within ten yards of their most dreaded enemy.

How beautiful are all their motions ! There ! one has reared
herself half way out of the water; another stretches forth a
delicate web foot to scratch her ear, as handily as a dog on dry
land ; and now the drake reflects his purple neck to preen his
ruffled wing, and now — bad luck to you, Peacock, why did you
snort and stamp ? — they are off like a bullet, and out of sight
in an instant.

And now out comes the sun himself, and with him the accur-
sed hum of a musquitoe — and hark ! hush ! — what was that ?
— was it ? By Heavens ! it was the deep note of a fox- hound !
Aye ! there comes Harry's cheer, faintly heard, swelling up the
breeze.

" Have at him, there ! Ha-a-ve at him, good lads !"

Again ! again ! those are the musical deep voices of the slow
hounds ! They have a dash in them of the old Southern breed !
And now ! there goes the yell! the quick sharp yelping rally of
those two high-bred bitches.

By heaven ! they must be viewing him ! How the woods ring
and crash !

u Together hark ! Together hark ! Together ! For-ra-ard,
good lads, get fur-a-ard ! Hya~a-aravvay !''

Well halloaed, Harry ! I could swear to that last screech, out
of ten thousand, though it is near ten years since I last heard it !
But heavens ! how they press him ! Hang it ! there goes a shot
— the squire has fired at him, as he tried the earths ! Now, if
he have but missed him, and Pan, the god of hunters, send it
so, he has no chance but to try the open.

By Jove he has ! he must have missed ! for Bonny Belle and
Blossom are raving half a mile this side of him already. And
now Tom sees him — how quietly he steals up to the fence.
There ! he has fired ! and all our sport is up ! No ! no ! he
waves his hat and points this way ! Can he have missed ? No !
he has got a fox ! — he lifts it out by the brush — there must
have been two, then, on foot together. He has done it well to

44 WARWICK WOODIJ^7DS.

get that he has killed away, or they would have stopped on
him !

Hush ! the leaves rustle here beside me, with a quick patter —
the twigs crackle — it is he ! Move not ! not for your life, Peacock !
There ! he has broken cover fairly ! Now he is half across the
field ! he stops to listen ! Ah ! he will head again. No ! no !
that crash, when they came upon the warm blood, has decided
him — away he goes, with his brush high, and its white tag bran-
dished in the sunshine — now I may halloa him away.

u Whoop ! gone awa-ay ! whoop !v

I was answered on the instant by Harry's quick —

" Hark holloa ! get awa-ay ! to him hark ! to him hark ! hark
holloa !"

Most glorious Artemis, what heaven-stirring music ! And yet
there are but poor six couple ; the scent must be as hot as fine,
for every hound seems to have twenty tongues, and every leaf
an hundred echoes ! How the boughs crash again ! Lo ! they
are here ! Bonny Belle leading — head and stern up, with a quick
panting yelp ! Blossom, and Dangerous, and Dauntless scarcely
a length behind her, striving together, neck and neck ; and, by
St. Hubert, it must be a scent of twenty thousand, for here
these heavy Southrons are scarcely two rods behind them.

But fidget not, good Peacock ! fret not, most excellent Pytha-
goras ! one moment more, and I am not the boy to baulk you.
And here comes Harry on the gray ; by George ! he makes the
brushwood crackle ! Now for a nasty leap out of the tangled
swamp ! a high six-barred fence of rough trees, leaning toward
him, and up hill ! surely he will not try it !

Will he not though ?

See ! — his rein is tight yet easy ! his seat, how beautiful, how
firm, yet how relaxed and graceful ! Well done, indeed ! He
slacks his rein one instant as the gray rises ! the rugged rails
are cleared, and the firm pull supports him ! but Harry moves
not in the saddle — no ! not one hair's breadth ! A five foot fence
to him is nothing ! You shall not see the slightest variation
between his attitude in that strong effort, and in the easy gallop.
If Tom Draw saw him now, he could have some excuse for call-
ing him " half horse" — and he does see him ! hark to that
most unearthly knell ! like unto nothing, either heavenly or hu-
man ! He waves his hat and hurries back as fast as he is able
to the horses, well knowing that for pedestrians at least, the
morning's sport is ended.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 45

Harry and I were now almost abreast, riding in parallel lines,
down the rich valley, very nearly at the top speed of our horses ;
taking fence after fence in our stroke, and keeping well up with
the hounds, which were running almost mute, such was the fu-
rious speed to which the blazing scent excited them.

We had already passed above two-thirds of the whole dis-
tance that divides the range of woods, wherein we found him,
and the pretty village which we had constituted our head quar-
ters, a distance of at least three miles ; and now a very difficult
and awkward obstacle presented itself to our farther progress, in
the shape of a wide yawning brook between sheer banks of sev-
eral feet in height, broken, with rough and pointed stones, the
whole being at least five yards across. The gallant hounds
dashed over it ; and, when we reached it, were half way across
the grass field next beyond it.

" Hold him hard, Frank," Harry shouted ; " hold him hard,
man, and cram him at it !"

And so I did, though I had little hope of clearing it. I lifted
him a little on the snaffle, gave him the spur just as he reached
the brink, and with a long and swinging leap, so easy that its
motion was in truth scarce perceptible, he swept across it ; be-
fore I had the time to think, we were again going at our best
pace almost among the hounds.

Over myself, I cast a quick glance back toward Harry, who,
by a short turn of the chase had been thrown a few yards be-
hind me. He charged it gallantly ; but on the very verge,
cowed by the brightness of the rippling water, the gray made a
half stop, but leaped immediately, beneath the application of
the galling spur ; he made a noble effort, but it was scarce a
thing to be effected by a standing leap, and it was with far less
pleasure than surprise, that I saw him drop his hind legs down
the steep bank, having just landed with fore-feet in the meadow.

I was afraid, indeed, he must have had an ugly fall, but,
picked up quickly by the delicate and steady finger of his rider,
the good horse found some slight projection of the bank, where-
by to make a second spring. After a heavy flounder, however,
which must have dismounted any less perfect horseman, he re-
covered himself well, and before many minutes was again abreast
of me.

Thus far the course of the hunted fox had lain directly home-
ward, down the valley ; but now the turnpike road making a
sudden turn crossed his line at right angles, while another nar-

46 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

rower road coming in at a tangent, went off to the south-west-
ward in the direction of the bold projection, which i had learned
to recognise as Rocky Hill ; over the high I'ence into the road ;
well performed, gallant horses ! And now they check for a mo-
ment, puzzling about on the dry sandy turnpike.

u Dangerous feathers on it now! Speak to it ! speak to it.
good hound !"

How beautiful that flourish of the stern with which he darts
away on the recovered scent; with what a yell they open it
once again ! Harry was right, he makes for Rocky Hill, but up
this plaguey lane, where the scent lies but faintly. Now! now!
the road turns off again far westward of his point ! He may, by
Jove ! and he has left it !

" Have at him then, lads ; he is ours !"

And lo ! the pace increases. Ha ! what a sudden turn, and
in the middle too of a clear pasture.

" Has he been headed, Harry ?"

u No, no ; his strength is failing."

And see ! he makes his point again toward the hill ; it is
within a quarter of a mile, and if he gain it we can do nothing
with him, for it is full of earths. But he will never reach it.
See ! he turns once again ; how exquisitely well those bitches
run it; three times he has doubled, now almost as short as a
hare, and they, running breast-high, have turned with him each
time, not over-running it a yard.

See how the sheep have drawn together into phalanx yonder,
in that bare pasture to the eastward ; he has crossed that field
for a thousand ! Yes, I am right. See ! they turn once again.
What a delicious rally ! An outspread towel would cover those
four leading hounds — now Dauntless has it; has it by half a
neck.

" He always goes up when a fox is sinking," Harry exclaimed,
pointing toward him with his hunting whip.

Aye ! he has given up his point entirely ; he knew he could
not face the hill. Look ! look at those carrion crows ! how low
they stoop over that woody bank. That is his line. Here is
the road again. Over it once more merrily ! and now we view him.

" Whoop ! Forra-ard, lads, forra-ard !"

He cannot hold five minutes ; and see, there comes fat Tom,
pounding that mare along the road as if her fore-feet were of
hammered iron ; he has come up along the turnpike, at an in-

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 47

fernal pace, while that turn favored him ; but he will only see
us kill him, and that, too, at a respectful distance.

Another brook stretches across our course, hurrying to join
the greater stream along the banks of which we have so long
been speeding; but this is a little one; there! we have cleared
it cleverly. Now ! now ! the hounds are viewing him. Poor
brute ! his day is come. See how he twists and doubles. Ah !
now they have him ! No ! that short turn has saved him, and
he gains the fence — he will lie down there ! No ! he stretches
gallantly across the next field — game to the last, poor devil !
There !

" Who-whoop ! Dead ! dead ! who-whoop !"

And in another instant Harry had snatched him from the
hounds, and holding him aloft displayed him to the rest, as they
came up along the road.

" A pretty burst," he said to me, " a pretty burst, Frank, and
a good kill ; but they can't stand before the hounds, the foxes
here, like our stout islanders ; they are not forced to work so
hard to gain their living. But now let us get homeward ; I
want my breakfast, I can tell you, and then a rattle at the quail.
I mean to get full forty brace to-day, I promise you/7

"And we," said I, "have marked down fifteen brace already
toward it ; right in the line of our beat, Torn says."

" That's right ; well, let us go on.'7

And in a short half hour we were all once again assembled
about Tom's hospitable board, and making such a breakfast, on
every sort of eatable that can be crowded on a breakfast table,
as sportsmen only have a right to make ; nor they, unless they
have walked ten, or galloped half as many miles, before it.

Before we had been in an hour, Harry once again roused us
out. All had been, during our absence, fully prepared by the
indefatigable Tim ; who, as the day before, accoutred with
spare shot and lots of provender, seemed to grudge us each
morsel that we ate, so eager was he to see us take the field in
season.

Off we went then ; but what boots it to repeat a thrice told
tale ; suffice it, that the dogs worked as well as dogs can work ;
that birds were plentiful, and lying good ; that we fagged hard,
and shot on the whole passably, so that by sunset we had ex-
ceeded Harry's forty brace by fifteen birds, and got beside nine
couple and a half of woodcock ; which we found, most unex-
pectedly, basking themselves in the open meadow, along the

48 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

grassy banks of a small rill, without a bush or tree within five
hundred yards of them.

Evening had closed before we reached the well known tavern-
stand, and the merry blaze of the fire, and many candles,
showed us, while yet far distant, that due preparations were in
course for our entertainment.

" What have we here ?" cried Harry, as we reached the door
— " Race horses ? Why, Tom, by heaven ! we've got the Fly-
ing Dutchman here again ; now for a night of it."

And so in truth it was, a most wet, and most jovial one, sea-
soned with no small wit ; but of that, more anon.

DAY THE FOURTH.

WHEN we had entered Tom's hospitable dwelling, and deliv-
ered over our guns to be duly cleaned, and the dogs to be sup-
pered, by Tim Matlock, I passed through the parlor, on my way
to my own crib, where I found Archer in close confabulation
with a tall rawboned Dutchman, with a keen freckled face, small
'cute gray eyes, looking suspiciously about from under the shade
of a pair of straggling sandy eyebrows, small reddish whiskers,
and a head of carroty hair as rough and tangled as a fox's back.

His aspect was a wondrous mixture of sneakingness and
smartness, and his expression did most villainously belie him,
if he were not as sharp a customer as ever wagged an elbow, or
betted on a horse-race.

" Frank," exclaimed Harry, as I entered, " I make you know
Mr. McTaggart, better known hereabouts as the Flying Dutch-
man, though how he came by a Scotch name I can't pretend to
say ; he keeps the best quarter horses, and plays the best hand
of whist in the country ; and now, get yourself clean as quick as
possible, for Tom never gives one five minutes wherein to dress
himself; so bustle."

And off he went as he had finished speaking, and I shaking
my new friend cordially by an exceeding bony unwashed paw,
incontinently followed his example — and in good time I did so ;
for I had scarcely changed my shooting boots and wet worsteds
for slippers and silk socks, before my door, as usual, was lounged
open by Tom's massy foot, and I was thus exhorted.

WARWICK WOODLANDS, 49

* Conre, come, your supper's gittin' cold ; I never see such
men as you and Archer is ; you're wash, wash, wash — all day.
It's little water enough that you use any other ways."

" Why, is there any other use for water, Tom ?" I asked,
sknply enough,

"It's lucky if there ahat, any how — leastwise, where you and
Archer is — else you'd leave none for the rest of us. It's a good
thing you han't thought of washing your darned stinking hides
in ruin — you will be at it some of these odd days, I warrant
me — why now, McTaggart, it's only yesterday I caught Archer
up stairs, a fiddling away up there at his teeth with a little ivory
brush ; brushing them with cold water — cleaning them he calls
it. Cuss all such trash, says I."

While I was listening in mute astonishment, wondering
whether in trutli the old savage never cleaned his teeth, Archer
made his appearance, and to a better supper never did I sit
down, than was spread at the old round table, in such profusion
as might have well sufficed to feed a troop of horse.

" What have we got here, Tom 2" cried Harry, as he took the
head of the social board ; " quail-pie, by George — are there any
peppers in it, Tom '?''

" Sartain there is," replied that worthy, " and a prime rump-
steak in the bottom, and some first-best salt pork, chopped fine,
and three small onions ; like little Wax-skin used to fix them,
when he was up here last fall."

" Take some of this pie, Frank ;" said Archer, as he handed
me a huge plate of leafy reeking pie-crust, with a slice of fat
steak, and a plump hen quail, and gravy, and etceteras, that might
have made an alderman's mouth water ; " and if you don't say
it's the very best thing you ever tasted, you are not half so good
a judge as I used to hold you. It took little Johnny and my-
self three wet days to concoct it. Pie, Tom, or roast pig ?" he
continued ; " or broiled woodcock ? Here they are, all of
them ?"

" Why, I reckon I'll take cock ; briled meat wants to be ate
right stret away as soon as it comes off the griddle ; and of all
darned nice ways of cooking, to brile a thing, quick now, over
hot hickory ashes, is the best for me !"

" I believe you're right about eating the cock first, for they
will not be worth a farthing if they get cold. So you stick to
the pig, do you— hey, McTaggart ? Well, there is no reckoning

3

50 WARWICK WOODLANDS,

on taste — holloa, Tim, look sharp 1 the champagne all 'round—
I'm choaking !"

And for some time no sound was heard, but the continuous
clatter of knives and forks, the occasional popping of a cork,
succeeded by the gurgling of the generous wine as it flowed in-
to the tall rummers ; and every now and then a loud and rat-
tling eructation from Tom Draw, who* as he saidr could never
half enjoy a meal if he could not stop now and then to blow
off steam.

At last, however — for supper, alas I like all other earthly
pleasures, must come to an end — " The fairest still the fleetest"
— our appetites waned gradually ; and notwithstanding Harry's
earnest exhortations, and the production of a broiled ham-bone,
devilled to the very utmost pitch of English mustard, soy, oil
of Aix, and cayenne pepper, by no hands, as may be guessed,
but those of that universal genius, Timothy ; one by oney we
gave over our labors edacious, to betake us to potations of no
small depth or frequency.

" It is directly contrary to my rule, Frank, to drink before a
good day's shooting — and a good day I mean to have to-mor-
row ! — but I am thirsty, and the least thought chilly ; so here
goes for a debauch ! Tim, look in my box with the clothes, and
you will find two flasks of Curasao ; bring them down, and a
dozen lemons, and some lump sugar — look alive ! and you, Tomr
out with your best brandy ; I'll make a jorum that will open
your eyes tight before you've done with it. That's right, Tim ;
now get the soup-tureen, the biggest one, and see that it's clean.
The old villain has got a punch-bowl — bring half a dozen of
champagne, a bucket full of ice, and then go down into the
kitchen, and make two quarts of green tea, as strong as possi-
ble ; and when it's made, set it to cool in the ice-house !"

In a few minutes all the ingredients were at hand ; the rind,
peeled carefully from all the lemons, was deposited with two
tumblers full of finely powdered sugar in the bottom of the tu-
reen ; thereupon were poured instantly three pints of pale old
Cognac ; and these were left to steep, without admixture, until
Tim Matlock made his entrance with the cold, strong, green tea ;
two quarts of this, strained clear, were added to the brandy, and
then two flasks of curagoa !

Into this mixture a dozen lumps of clear ice were thrown, arid
the whole stirred up 'till the sugar was entirely suspended ; then
pop ! pop ! went the long necks, and their creaming nectar was

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 51

discharged into the bowl ; and by the body of Bacchus — as the
Italians swear — and by his soul, too, which he never steeped in
such delicious nectar, what a drink that was, when it was com-
pleted.

Even Tom Draw, who ever was much disposed to look upon
strange potables as trash, and who had eyed the whole proceed-
ings with ill-concealed suspicion and disdain, when he had quaffed
off a pint-beaker full, which he did without once moving the
vessel from his head, smacked his lips with a report which might
have been heard half a mile off, and which resembled very
nearly the crack of a first-rate huntsman's whip.

" That's not slow, now !'' he said, half dubiously, " to tell
the truth now, that's first rate ; I reckon, though, it would be
better if there wasn't that tea into it — it makes it weak and
trashy-like !"

" You be hanged !'' answered Harry, " that's mere affectation —
that smack of your lips told the story ; did you ever hear such
an infernal sound ? I never did, by George !"

" Begging your pardon, Measter Archer,'' interposed Timothy,
pulling ids forelock, with an expression of profound respect,
mingled with a ludicrous air of regret, at being forced to differ
in the least degree from his master ; " begging your pardon,
Measter Archer, that was a roommer noise, and by a vary gre-at
de-al too, when Measter McTavish sneezed me clean oot o' t'

° W7hat's that ?— what the devil's that ?" cried I ; "this Mc-
Tavish must be a queer genius ; one day I hear of his frighten-
ing a bull out of a meadow, and the next of his sneezing a man
out of a phaeton."

" It's simply true ! both are simply true ! We were driving-
very slowly on an immensely hot day in the middle of August,
between Lebanon Springs and Claverack ; McTavish and I on
the front seat, and Tim behind. Well ! we were creeping at a
foot's pace, upon a long, steep hill, just at the very hottest time
of day ; not a word had been spoken for above an hour, for we
were all tired and languid — except once, when McTavish asked
for his third tumbler, since breakfast, of Starke's Feriritosh, of
which we had three two-quart bottles in the liquor case — when
suddenly, without any sign or warning, McTavish gave a sneeze
which, on my honor, was scarcely inferior in loudness to a pistol
shot ! The horses started almost off the road, I jumped about
half a foot off my seat, and positively without exaggeration,

52 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

Timothy tumbled slap out of the wagon into the road, and lay
there sprawling in the dust, while Mac sat perfectly unmoved,
without a smile upon his face, looking straight before him, ex-
actly as if nothing had happened/'

u Nonsence, Harry," exclaimed I ; " that positively won't go
down."

" That's an etarnal lie, now, Archer !" Tom chimed in ; " least-
wise I don't know why I should say so neither, for I never saw
no deviltry goin' on yet, that didn't come as nat'ral to McTav-
ish, as lying to a minister, or" —

" Rum to Tom Draw !" responded Harry. " But it's as true
as the gospel, ask Timothy there !"

" Nay it's all true ; only it's scarce so bad i' t' story, as it was
i' right airnest ! Ay cooped oot o' t' drag — loike ivry thing —
my hinder eend was sair a moanth and better P

"Now then," said I, " it's Tom's turn; "let us hear about
the bull."

" Oh, the bull !" answered Tom. " Well you see, Archer
there, and little Waxskin — you know little Waxskin, I guess,
Mister Forester — and old McTavish, had gone down to shoot to
Hell-hole — where we was yesterday, you see ! — well now ! it
was hot — hot, worst kind ; I tell you — and I was sort o' tired
out — so Waxskin, in he goes into the thick, and Archer arter
him, and up the old crick side — thinkin, you see, that we was
goin up, where you and I walked yesterday — but not a bit of
it ; we never thought of no such thing, not we ! We sot our-
selves down underneath the haystacks, and made ourselves two
good stiff horns of toddy ; and cooled off there, all in the shade,
as slick as silk.

" Well, arter we'd been there quite a piece, bang ! we hears,
in the very thick of the swamp — bang ! bang ! — and then I
heerd Harry Archer roar out i mark ! mark ! — Tom, mark ! —
you old fat rascal,' — and sure enough, right where I should have
been, if I'd been a doin right, out came two woodcock — big ones
— they looked like hens, and I kind o' thought it was a shame,
so I got up to go to them, and called McTavish to go with me ;
but torights, jest as he was a gitting up, a heap of critters comes
all chasin up, scart by a dog, I reckon, kickin their darned heels
up, and bellowin like mad — and there was one young bull
amongst them, quite a lump of a bull now I tell you ; and the
bull he came up pretty nigh to us, and stood, and stawmped,
and sort o' snorted, as if he didn't know right what he would

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 53

be arter, and McTavish, he gits up, and turns right round with
his back to the critter ; he got a bit of a round jacket on, and
he stoops down till his head came right atween his legs, kind o'
straddlin like, so that the bull could see nothing of him but his
t'other eend, and his head right under it, chin uppermost, with
his big black whiskers, lookin as fierce as all h — 11, and fiercer ;
well ! the bull he stawmped agin, and pawed, and bellowed, and
I was in hopes, I swon, that he would have hooked him ; but
just then McTavish, starts to run, going along as I have told
you, hind eend foremost — bo-oo went the bull, a-boo-oo, and off
he starts like a stride, with his tail stret on eend, and his eyes
staiiu, and all the critters arter him, and then they kind o' circled
round — and all stood still and stared — and stawmped, 'till he
got nigh to them, and then they all stricks off agin ; and so they
went on — runnin and then standin still, — and so they went on
the hull of an hour, I'll be bound ; and I lay there upon my
back laughin 'till I was stiff and sore all over ; and then came
Waxskin and all Archer, wrathy as h — 11 and sweaiin' — Lord
how they did swear !

"They'd been a flavin there through the darned thorns and
briers, and the old stinkin mud holes, and flushed a most almigh-
ty sight of cock, where the brush was too thick to shoot them,
and every one they flushed, he came stret out into the open field,
where. Archer knew we should have been, and where we should
have killed a thunderin mess, and no mistake ; and they went on
dainmin, and wonderin, and sweatin through the brush, till they
got out to the far eend, and there they had to make tracks back
to us through the bog meadow, under a brilin sun, and when
they did get back, the bull was jest a goin through the bars —
and every d — d drop o' the rum was drinked up ; and the sun
wns settin, and the day's shootin — that was spoiled ! — and then
McTavish tantalized them the worst sort. But I did laugh to
kill ; it was the best I ever did see, was that spree — Ha ! ha !
ha !"

And, as he finished, he burst out into his first horse laugh, in
which I chorused him most heartily, having in truth been in
convulsions, between the queerness of his lingo, and the absurd-
ly grotesque attitudes into which he threw himself, in imitating
the persons concerning whom his story ran. After this, jest
succeeded jest ! and story, story ! 'till, in good truth, the glass
circling the while with most portentous speed, I began to feel
bees in my head, and till in truth no one, I believe, of the party,

54 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

was entirely collected in his thoughts, except Tom Draw, whom
it is as impossible for liquor to affect, as it would be for brandy
to make a hogshead drunk, and who stalked oft' to bed with an
air of solemn gravity that would have well become a Spanish
grandee of the olden time, telling us, as he left the room, that
we were all as drunk as thunder, and that we should be stinkin
in our beds till noon to-morrow.

A prediction, by the way, which he took right good care to
defeat in his own person ; for in less than five hours after we
retired, which was about the first of the small hours, he rushed
into my room, and finding that the awful noises which he made,
had no effect in waking me, dragged me bodily out of bed, and
clapping xny wet sponge in my face, walked off, as he said, to
fetch the bitters, which were to make me as fine as silk upon
the instant.

This time, I must confess that I did not look with quite so
much disgust on the old apple-jack ; and in fact, after a mode-
rate horn, I completed my ablutions, and found myself perfectly
fresh and ready for the field. Breakfast was soon despatched,
and on this occasion as soon as we had got through the broiled
ham and eggs, the wagon made its appearance at the door.

" What's this, Harry ?" I exclaimed ; " where are we bound
for, now 2"

""Why, Master Frank," he answered, u to tell you tho plain
truth, while you were sleeping oft* the effects of the last night's
regent's punch, I was on foot inquiring into the state of mat-
ters and things ; and since we have pretty well exhausted our
home beats, and I have heard that some ground, about ten
miles distant, is in prime order, I have determined to take a try
there; but we must look pretty lively, for it is seven now, and
we have got a drive of ten stifY miles before us. Now, old
Grampus, are you ready ?"

" Aye, aye !" responded Tom, and mounted up, a work of no
small toil for him, into the back seat of the wagon, where I
soon took my seat beside him, with the two well-broke setters
crouching at our feet, and the three guns strapped neatly to the
side rails of the wagons. Harry next mounted the box. Tim
touched his hat and jumped up to his side, and off we rattled
at a merry trot, wheeling around the rival tavern which stood
in close propinquity to Tom's ; then turning short again to the
left hand, along a broken stony road, with several high and

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 55

long hills, and very awkward bridges in the valleys, to the
north-westward of the village.

Five miles brought us into a pretty little village lying at the
base of another ridge of what might almost be denominated
mountains, save that they were cultivated to the very top. As
we paused on the brow of this, another glorious valley spread
out to our view, with the broad sluggish waters of the Wallkill
winding away, with hardly any visible motion, toward the north-
east, through a vast tract of meadow-land covered with high,
rank grass, dotted with clumps of willows and alder brakes, and
interspersed with large, deep swamps, thick-set with high grown
timber ; while far beyond these, to the west, lay the tall varie-
gated chain of the Shawangunk mountains.

Rattling briskly down the hill, we passed another thriving
village, built on the mountain side ; made two or three sharp
ugly turns, still going at a smashing pace, and coming on the
level ground, entered an extensive cedar swamp, impenetrable
above with the dark boughs of the evergreen colossi, and be-
low with half a dozen varieties of rhododendron, calmia, and
azalia. Through this dark, dreary track, the road ran straight
as the bird flies, supported on the trunks of trees, constituting
what is here called a corduroy road ; an article which, praise be
to all the gods, is disappearing now so rapidly, that this is the
only bit to be found in the civilized regions of New York — and
bordered to the right and left by ditches of black tenacious
mire. Beyond this we scaled another sandy hillock, and pulled
up at a little wayside tavern, at the door of which Harry set
himself lustily to halloa.

" Why, John ; hilloa, hillo ; John Riker !"

Whereon, out came, stooping low to pass under the lintel of
a very fair sized door, one of the tallest men I ever looked upon ;
his height, too, was exaggerated by the narrowness of his chest
and shoulders, which would have been rather small for a man
of five foot seven ; but to make up for this, his legs were mon-
strous, his arms muscular, and his whole frame evidently power-
ful and athletic, though his gait was slouching, and his air sin-
gularly awkward and unhandy.

" Why, how do, Mr. Archer ? I hadn't heerd you was in
these pairts — arter woodcock, I reckon ?"

" Yes, John, as usual ; and you must go along with us, and
show us the best ground."

" Well, you see, I carn't go to-day — for Squire Breawn, and

50 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

Dan Faushe.% and a whole grist of Goshen boys is comin' over
c> island horo to fish ; but you carn't well go wrong."

• NVhy not ; are birds plenty!"

" \Yoii ! 1 cuoss thev bo ! Plentier than ever yet I see them
hero."

44 By Jove ! that's fijood news," Harry nMwered ; " whore
shall we find the first !*

NVhv, amost anywheres — but here, jist down by the first
bridge, uiere's a hull heap — leastwise there was a Friday — and
then you'd best go on to the second bridge, and keep the edge
of the hill right up and down to Merrit's Island; and then
boat UO-NMI lure homo to the t;.rst hrio.^e a^iin. l*«t uon'l you

liquor P

44 No, not this morning, John; we did our liquoring last
night Tom, do you hear" what John says I"

44 1 hear, I hear/' growled out old torn ; * but the critter
lies like nauthen. He always does lie, cuss him."

%% Well, hew goes, and we'll soon seel*

And away we went again, spinning down a little descent, to
a flat space between the lull-foot and the river, having a thick
tangled swamp on the right, and a small boggy meadow full of
grass, breast-high, with a thin open alder grove beyond it on
the left Just as we reached the bridge Harry pulled up.

44 Jump out, boys, jump out ! Here's the spot*'

44 1 tell you there aint none ; dam you ! There aint none
never here, nor haint been these six years ; you know that now,
yourself Archer**

44 We'll try it, all the same;' said Harry, who was coolly
loading his gun. " The season has been wetter than common,
and this ground is generally too dry. Drive on, Tim, over the
bridge, into the hollow ; you'll be out of shot there : and wait
till we come. Holloa ! mark, Tom.*

For, as the wagon wheels rattled upon the brid$*, up jumped
a cock ottt of the ditch by the road side, from under a willow
brush, and skimmed past all of us within five yards. Tom
Dtmw and I, who had got out after Harry, were but in the act
of ramming down our first barrels ; but Harry, who had loaded
one* and was at that moment rutting down the wad upon the
second, dropped his ramrod with the most perfect sang-troid I
witnessed, took a cap ont of his right-hand pocket, applied
and piU^ «p hfe gun, knocked down the bird

WARWICK WOODLAHO8. 5t

us It wheeled to cross the fond behind tts, by the cleverest shot

"That's pretty well for no birds, anyhow, Torn," he ex-
claimed, dropping his butt to load. *' lu> and gather that bird,
Frank, to save time ; he lies in the wagon rut, there* How
now I down charge, you Chase, sir ! what are yon about !'*

The bird was quickly bagged, and Harry loaded. ^ o
stepped across a dry ditch, and both doga made game at the

44 Follow the red dog, Frank !" cried Archer, " and go very
slow ; there are birds here !"

And as he spoke, while the dogs were crawling along, cat-
like, pointing at every step, and then again creeping onward, up
d two birds under the very nose of the white setter, and
crossed quite to the left of Harry. I saw him raise his guu,
but that was all ; for at the self-same rnonu m one rose to me,
and my ear caught the flap of vet another to my right ; tivo
barrels were discharged so quickly, that they made, but three
reports ; 1 out my bird well down, and looking quickly to the
left, saw nothing but a stream of feathers drilling along the
wind. At • on the right,

44 1 have killed two, bv George! What hau vou done,
boys!"

u Two, I !" said Archer. " Wait, Frank, don't you begin to
load till one of us is ready ; there'll be another . like

enough. Keep your barrel ; I'll be ready in a jifty !"

Aud well it was that I obeyed him, for at the squeak of the
card, in its descent down his barrel, another bird did rise.
was making off for the open alders, when my \\ hole charge rid-
died him ; and instantly at the report three, more flapped up,
and of course went off unharmed; but we marked them, one
by one, down in the grass at the wood edge. Harry K
again. Wo set oft* to piek up our dead birds. Shot drew, as I
thought, on my first, and pointed dead within a yard of where
he fell. I walked up carelessly, with my guu under my arm,
and was actually stooping to bag him, as 1 thought, when whiz !
one rose almost iu my face ; and, bothered by seeing us all
around him, towered straight up into the air. Taken com-
pletely bv surprise, I blazed away in a hurry, and missed e
but not tve yards did he go, before Tom cut him down.

44 Aha, boy ! whose eye's wiped now !"

58 WAftWlCK WOODLANDS.

" Mine, Tom, very fairly ; but can that be tlie same cock I
knocked down, Archer ?"

" Not a bit of it ; I saw your's fall dead as a stone ; he lies
half a yard farther in that tussoc."

" How the deuce did you see him ? Why, you were shoot-
ing your own at the same moment."

" All knack, Frank ; I marked both my own and yours, and
one of Tom's besides. Are you ready ? Hold up, Shot 1
There ; he has got your dead bird. Was I not right ? And
look to ! for, by Jove I he is standing on another, with the dead
bird in his mouth 1 That's pretty, is it not ?"

Again two rose, and both were killed ; one by Tom, and one
by Archer ; my gun hanging fire.

"That's nine birds down before we have bagged one," said
Archer ; " I hope no more will rise, or we'll be losing these."

But this time his hopes were not destined to meet accom-
plishment, for seven more woodcock got up, five of which were
scattered in the grass around us, wing-broken or dead, before
we had even bagged the bird which Shot was gently mouthing.

44 1 never saw anything like this in my life, Tom. Did you P'
cried Harry.

" I never did, by George !" responded Tom. " Now do you
think there's any three men to be found in York, such darned
etarnal fools as to be willing to shoot a match agin us ?"

44 To be sure I do, lots of them ; and to beat us too, to boot,
you stupid old porpoise. Why, there's Harry T - — , and Nick
L - , and a dozen more of them, that you and I would have
no more chance with, than a gallon of brandy would have of
escaping from you at a single sitting. But we have shot
pretty well, to-day. Now do, for heaven's sake, let us try to
bag them !"

And scattered though they were in all directions, among the
most infernal tangled grass I ever stood on, those excellent dogs
retrieved them one by one, till every bird was pocketed. We
then beat on and swept the rest of the meadow, and the outer
verge of the alders, picking up three more birds, making a to-
tal of seventeen brought to bag in less than half an hour. We
then proceeded to the wagon, took a good pull of water from a
beautiful clear spring by the roadside, properly qualified with
whiskey, and rattled on about one mile farther to the second
bridge. Here we again got out.

44 Now, Tim," said Harry, 4' mark me well I Drive gently

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 59

to the old barrack yonder under the west-end "of that wood-
side, unhitch the horses and tie them in the shade ; you can
give them a bite of meadow hay at the same time ; and then
get luncheon ready. We shall be with you by two o'clock at
farthest."

" Ay, ay, sur !"

And off he drove at a steady pace, while we, striking into
the meadow, to the left hand of the road, went along getting
sport such as I never beheld, or even dreamed of before. For
about five hundred yards in width from the stream, the ground
was soft and miry to the depth of some four inches, with long
sword-grass quite knee-deep, and at every fifty yards a bunch
of willows or swamp alders. In every cluinp of bushes we
found from three to five birds, and as the shooting was for the
most part very open, we rendered on the whole a good account
of them. The clogs throughout behaved superbly, and Tom
was altogether frantic with the excitement of the sport. The
time seemed short indeed, and I could not for a moment have
imagined that it was even noon, when we reached the barrack.

This was a hut of rude, unplaned boards, which had been
put up formerly with the intent of furnishing a permanent abode
for some laboring men, but which, having been long deserted,
was now used only as a temporary shelter by charcoal burners,
hay-makers, or like ourselves, stray sportsmen. It was, how-
ever, though rudely built, and fallen considerably into decay,
perfectly beautiful from its romantic site ; for it stood just at
the end of a long tangled covert, with a huge pin oak-tree, lean-
ing abruptly out from an almost precipitous bank of yellow sand,
completely canopying it ; while from a crevice in the sand-stone
there welled out a little source of crystal water, which expanded
into as sweet a basin as ever served a Dryad for her bath in
Arcady, of old.

Before it stretched the wide sweep of meadow land, with the
broad blue Wellkill gliding through it, fringed by a skirt of cop-
pice, and the high mountains, veiled with a soft autumnal mist,
sleeping beyond, robed in their many-colored garb of crimson,
gold, and green. Besides the spring the indefatigable Tim had
kindled a bright glancing fire, while in the basin were 'cooling
two long-necked bottles of the Baron's best; a dean white cloth
was spread in the shade before the barrack door, with plates
mnd cups, and bread cut duly, and a travelling case of cruets,
with all the other appurtenances needful

60 WARWICK WOODLAK6S,

On our appearance he commenced rooting in a heap of em-
bers, and soon produced six nondescript looking articles enclosed
— as they dress maintenon cutlets or red mullet — in double
sheets of greasy letter paper — these he incontinently dished, and
to my. huge astonishment they turned out to be three couple
of our woodcock, which that indefatigable varlet had picked,
and baked under the ashes, according to some strange idea,
whether original, or borrowed at second hand from his master,
I never was enabled to ascertain.

The man, be he whom he may, who invented that plat, is
second neither to Caramel nor to Ude — the exquisite juicy ten-
derness of the meat, the preservation of the gravy, the richness
of the trailr— by heaven! they were inimitable.

In that sweet spot we loitered a full hour — then counted our
bag^ which amounted already to fifty-nine cock, not including
those with which Tim's gastronomic art had spread for us a
table in the wilderness — then leaving him to pack up and meet
us at the spot where we first started, we struck down the stream
homeward, shooting our way along a strip of coppice about ten
yards in breadth, bounded on one side by a dry bare bank of the
river, and on the other by the open meadows. We of course
kept the verges of this covert, our dogs working down the mid-
dle, and so well did we manage it, that when we reached the
wagon, just as the sun was setting, we numbered a hundred and
twenty-five birds bagged, besides two which were so cut by the
shot as to be useless, six which we had devoured, and four or
five which we lost in spite of the excellence of our retrievers.
When we got home again, although the Dutchman was on the
spot, promising us a quarter race upon the morrow, and press-
ing earnestly for a rubber to-night, we were too much used up
to think of anything but a good supper and an early bed.

WARWICK WOODLANDS.

DAY THE FIFTH.

OUR last day's shooting in the vale of Sugar-loaf was over ;
and, something contrary to Harry's first intention, we had de-
cided, instead of striking westward into Sullivan or Ulster, to
drive five miles upon our homeward route, and beat the Long-
pond mountain — not now for such small game as woodcock,
quail, or partridge ; but for a herd of deer, which, although now
but rarely found along the western hills, was said to have been
seen already several times, to the number of six or seven head,
in a small cove, or hollow basin, close to the summit of the
Bellevale ridge.

As it was not of course our plan to return again to Tom
Draw's, everything was now carefully and neatly packed away;
the game, of which we had indeed a goodly stock, was produced
from Tom's ice-house, where, suspended from the rafters, it had
been kept as sound and fresh as though it had been all killed
only on the preceding day.

A long deep box, fitting beneath the gun-case under the front
seat, was now produced, and proved to be another of Harry's
notable inventions; for it was lined throughout, lid, bottom,
sides and all, with zinc, and in the centre had a well or small
compartment of the same material, with a raised grating in the
bottom. This well was forthwith lined with a square yard, or
rather more, of flannel, into which was heaped a quantity of
ice pounded as fine as possible, sufficient to cram it absolutely
to the top ; the rest of the box was then filled with the birds,
displayed in regular rows, with heads and tails alternating, and
a thin coat of clean dry wheaten straw between each layer, until
but a few inches' depth remained between the noble pile and
the lid of this extempore refrigerator ; this space being filled in
with flannel packed close and folded tightly, the box was lock-
ed and thrust into the accurately fitting boot by dint of the
exertion of Timothy's whole strength.

" There, Frank,5' cried Harry, who had superintended the
storage of the whole with nice scrutiny, " those chaps will keep
there as sound as roaches, till we get to young Tom's at Ram-
apo ; you cannot think what work I had, trying in vain to save
them, before I hit upon this method ; I tried hops, which I have
known in England to keep birds in an extraordinary manner —
for, what you'll scarce believe, I once ate a Ptarmigan, the day

62 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

year after it was killed, which had been packed with hops, in
perfect preservation, at Farnley, Mr* Fawke's place in York-
shire!— and I tried prepared charcoal, and got my woodcock
down to New York, looking like chimney sweeps, and smell-
ing -"

" What the devil difference does it make to you now, Archer,
I'd be pleased to know I" interposed Tom; " what under heaven
they smells like — a man that eats cock with their guts in, like
you does, needn't stick now, I reckon, for a leetle mite of a
stink !"

" Shut up, you old villain," answered Harry, laughing, "bring
the milk punch, and get your great coat on, if you mean to go
with us; for it's quite keen this morning, I can tell you; and
we must be stirring too, for the sun will be up before we get to
Teach man's. Now, Jem, get out the hounds ; how do you take
them, Tom ?"

" Why, that darned Injun, Jem, he'll take them in my lumber
wagon — and, I say, Jem, see that you don't over-drive old
roan — away with you, and rouse up Garry, he means to go, I
guess !'*

After a mighty round of punch, in which, as we were now
•departing, one half at least of the village joined, we all got un-
der way ; Tom, buttoned up to the throat in a huge white lion
«kin wrap-rascal, looking for all the world like a polar bear erect
•on its hind legs ; and all of us muffled up pretty snugly, a pro-
ceeding which was rendered necessary by a brisk bracing north-
west breeze.

The sky, though it was scarcely the first twilight of an autum-
nal dawn, was beautifully clear, and as transparent — though still
somewhat dusky — as a wide sheet of crystal ; a few pale stars
were twinkling here and there ; but in the east a broad gray
streak changing on the horizon's edge to a faint straw color,
announced the sum's approach.

The whole face of the country, hill, vale, and woodland, was
overspread by an universal coat of silvery hoar-frost; thip,
wreaths of snowy mist rising above the tops of the sere wood-
lands, throughout the whole length ©f the lovely vale, indicated
-as clearly as though it were traced on a map, the direction of
the. stream that watered it; and as we paused upon the brow
•of the first hillock, and looked back toward the village, with its
white steeples and neat cottage dwellings buried in the still re-
pose of that early hour, with only one <©r two faint columns of

WOODLANDS, 63

blue smoke worming their way up lazily into the cloudless at*
mosphere, a feeling of regret — such as has often crossed my
mind before, when leaving any place wherein I have spent a
few days happily, and which I never may see more — rendered
me somewhat indisposed to talk.

Something or other — it might with Harry, perhaps, have
been a similar train of thought — caused both my comrades to
be more taciturn by far than was their wont ; and we had rat-
tled over five miles of our route, and scaled the first ridge of
the hills, and dived into the wide ravine ; midway the depth
of this the pretty village of Bellevale lies on the brink of the
dammed rivulet, which, a few yards below the neat stone bridge,
takes a precipitous leap of fifty feet, over a rustic wier, and
rushes onward, bounding from ledge to ledge of rifted rocks,
chafing and fretting as if it were doing a match against time,
and were in danger of losing its race.

Thus we had passed the heavy lumber wagon, with Jem and
Garry perched on a board laid across it, and the four couple of
stanch hounds nestling in the straw which Tom had provided in
abundance for their comfort, before the silence was broken by
any sounds except the rattle of the wheels, the occasional ii>
terjectional whistle of Harry to his horses, or the flip of the
well handled whip.

Ju?t, however, as we were shooting ahead of the lumber
wain, an exclamation from Torn Draw, which should have been
a sentence, had it not been very abruptly terminated in a long
rattling eructation, arrested Archer's progress.

Pulling short up where a jog across the road, constructed — •
after the damnable mode adopted in all the hilly portions of the
interior^^in order to prevent the heavy rains from channelling
the descent, afforded him a chance of stopping on the hill, so as
to slack his traces. " How now," he exclaimed ; " what the
deuce ails you now, you old rhinoceros V

"Oh, Archer, I feels bad; worst sort, by Judas 1 It's that
milk punch, 1 reckon ; it keeps a raising — raising, all the time,

" And you want to lay it, I suppose, like a ghost, in a sea
of whiskey ; well, I've no especial objection I Here, Tim, hand
the case bottle, and the dram cup ! No 1 no ! confound you,
pass it this way first, for if Tom once gets hold of it, we may
say good-bye to it altogether. There," he continued, after we
had both taken a moderate sip at the superb old Ferintosh)

64 WARWICK WOODLANDS,

" there, now take your chance at it, and for Heaven's sake do
leave a drop for Jem and Garry ; by George now, you shall not
drink it all /" as Tom poured down the third cup full, each be-
ing as big as an ordinary beer-glass. " There was above a pint
and a half in it when you began, and now there's barely one
cup-full between the two of them. An't you ashamed of your-
self now, you greedy old devil ?"

" It doos go right, I swon 1" was the only reply that could
be got out of him.

" That's more a plaguy sight than the bullets will do, out of
your old tower musket; you're so drunk now, I fancy, that
you could'nt hold it straight enough to hit a deer at three rods,
let alone thirty, which you are so fond of chattering about."

" Do tell now," replied Tom, " did you, or any other feller,
ever see me shoot the worser for a mite of liquor, and as for
deer, that's all a no sich thing ; there arnt no deer a this side
of Duck-seedar's. It's all a lie of Teach man's and that Deck-
ering son of a gun."

" Holloa ! hold up, Tom- — recollect yesterday ! — -I thought
there had been no cock down by the first bridge there, these
six years ; why you're getting quite stupid, and a croaker too,
in your old age."

" Mayhap I be,'' he answered rather gruffly ; " mayhap I be,
but you won't git no deer to-day, I'll stand drinks for the com-
pany; and if we doos start one, I'll lay on my own musket agin
your rifle."

Well ! we'll soon see, for here we are," Harry replied, as af-
ter leaving the high-road just at the summit of the Bellevale
mountain, he rattled down a very broken rutty bye-road at
the rate of at least eight miles an hour, vastly to the discomfit-
ure of our fat host, whose fleshy sides were jolted almost out
of their skin by the concussion of the wheels against the many
stones and jogs which opposed their progress.

"Here we are, or at least soon will be. It is but a short half
mile through these woods to Teach man's cottage. Is there a
gun loaded, Tim ? It's ten to one we shall have a partridge
fluttering up and treeing here directly ; I'll let the dogs out —
get away, Flash ! get away, Dan ! you little rascals. Jump out,
good dogs, Shot, Chase — hie up with you !'' and out they went
rattling and scrambling through the brush-wood all four
abreast !

At the same moment Tim, leaning over into the body of the

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 65

wagon, lugged out a brace of guns from their leathern cases ;
Harry's short ounce ball rifle, and the long single barrelled
duck gun.

*' 'T roifle is loaden wi' a single ball, and 't single goan wi' yan
of them green cartridges !"

" Much good ball and buck-shot will do us against partridge;
nevertheless, if one trees, Fll try if I can't cut his head off for
him," said Archer, laughing.

" Nay ! nay ! it be-ant book-shot ; it's BO but noomber three ;
tak' haud on't, Measter Draa, tak' haud on't. It's no hoort thee?
mon, and 't horses boath stand foire cannily !"

Scarce had Fat Tom obeyed his imperative solicitations, and
scarce had Tim taken hold of the ribbands which Harry relin-
quished the moment he got the rifle into his hands, before a
most extraordinary hubbub arose in the little skirt of coppice
to our left ; the spaniels quested for a second's space at the ut-
most, when a tremendous crash of the branches arose, and both
the setters gave tongue furiously with a quick savage yell.

The road at this point of the wood made a short and very
sudden angle, so as to enclose a small point of extremely dense
thicket between its two branches ; on one of these was our
wagon, and down the other the lumber-wain was rumbling, at
the moment when this strange and most unexpected outcry
started us all.

u What in t' fient's neam is yon ?" cried Timothy.

" And what the devil's that ?" responded I and Archer in a
breath.

But whatever it was that had aroused the dogs to such a
most unusual pitch of fury, it went crashing through the brush-
wood for some five or six strokes at a fearful rate toward the
other wagon; before, however it had reached the road, a most
appalling shout from Jem, followed upon the instant by the
blended voices of all the hounds opening at once, as on a view,
excited us yet farther !

I was still tugging at my double gun, in the vain hope of
getting it out time enough for action. Tom had scrambled out
of the wagon on the first alarm, and stood eye, ear, and heart
erect, by the off side of the horses, which were very restless,
pawing, and plunging violently, and almost defying Timothy's
best skill to hold them ; while Harry, having cast oft* his box-
coat, stood firm and upright on the foot board as a carved statue,
with his rifle cocked and ready ; when, headed back upon us

66 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

by tne yell of Lyn and the loud clamor of his fresh foes, the
first buck I had seen in America, and the largest I had seen
any where, clashed at a single plunge into the round, clearing
the green head of a fallen hemlock, apparently without an
effort, his splendid antlers laid back on his neck, and his white
flag lushing his fair round haunch as the fleet bitches Bonny
Belle and Blossom yelled with their shrill fierce trebles close
behind him.

Seeing that it was useless to persist in my endeavor to extri-
cate my gun, and satisfied that the matter was in good hands,
I was content to look on, an inactive but most eager witness.

Tom, who from his position at the head of the off horse,
commanded the first view of the splendid creature, pitched his
gun to his shoulder hastily and fired ; the smoke drifted across
my face, but through its vapory folds I could distinguish the
dim figure of the noble hart still bounding unhurt onward ;
but, before the first echo of the round ringing report of Tom's
shot-gun reached my ear, the sharp flat crack of Harry's rifle
followed it, and at the self-same instant the buck sprang six
feet into the air, and pitched head foremost on the ground ; it
was but for a moment, however, for with the speed of light he
struggled to his feet, and though sore wounded, was yet toiling
onward when the two English foxhounds dashed at his throat
and pulled him down again.

" Eun in, Tom, run in ! quick," shouted Harry, " he's not
clean killed, and may gore the dogs sadly !"

" I've got no knife," responded Tom, but dauntlessly he
dashed in, all the same, to the rescue of the bitches — which I
believe he loved almost as well as his own children — and though,
encumbered by his ponderous white top-coat, not to say by his
two hundred and fifty weight of solid flesh, seized the fierce
animal by the brow-antlers, and bore him to the ground, before
Harry, who had leaped out of the wagon, with his first words,
could reach him.

The next moment the keen short hunting knife, without
which Archer never takes the field, had severed at a single
stroke the weasand of the gallant brute ; the black blood
streamed out on the smoking hoar-frost, the full eyes glazed,
and, after one sharp fluttering struggle, the life departed from
those graceful limbs, which had been but a few short instants
previous so full of glorious energy — of fiery vigor.

" Well, that's the strangest thing I ever heard of, let alone

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 67

seeing," exclaimed Archer, "fancy a buck like that lying in
such a mere fringe of coppice, and so near to the road-side,
too ! and why the deuce did he lay here till we almost passed
him !"

u I know how it's been, any heaw,'' said Jem, who had by
this time come up, and was looking on with much exultation
flashing in his keen small eye. "Bill Speer up on the hill there
telled me jist now, that they druv a big deer down from the
back-bone clear down to this here hollow just above, last night
arter dark. Bill shot at him, and kind o' reckoned he hot him —
but I guess he's mistaken — leastwise he jumped strong enough
jist neaw ! — but which on you was 't 'at killed him P

"I did," exclaimed Torn, "I did by !"

" Why you most impudent of all old liars," replied Harry —
while at the same time, with a most prodigious chuckle, Tim
Matlock pointed to the white bark of a birch sapling, about
the thickness of a man's thigh, standing at somewhat less than
fifteen paces' distance, wherein the large shot contained by the
wire cartridge — the best sporting invention by the way, that
has been made since percussion caps — had bedded themselves
in a black circle, cut an inch at least into the solid wood, and
about two inches in diameter !

" I ken gay and fairly," exclaimed Tim, '"at Ay rammed an
Eley's patent cartridge into 't single goon this morning; and
yonder is 't i' t' birk tree, and Ay ken a load o' shot fra an unce
bullet !"

The laugh was general now against fat Tom ; especially as
the small Avound made by the heavy ball of Harry's rifle was
plainly visible, about a hand's breadth behind the heart, on the
side toward which he had aimed; while the lead had passed
directly through, in an oblique direction forward, breaking the
left shoulder blade, and lodging just beneath the skin, whence
a touch of the knife dislodged it.

" What now — what now, boys ?" cried the old sinner, no
whit disconcerted by the general mirth against him. " I say,
by gin ! I killed him, and I say so yet. Which on ye all —
which on ye all daared to go in on him, wishout a knife nor
nothen. I killed him, I say, anyhow, and so let's drink !"

."Well, I believe we must wet him," Harry answered, "so
get out another flask of whiskey, Tim ; and you Jem and Gar-
ry lend me a hand to lift this tine chap into the wagon. By
Jove! but this will make the Teachmans open their eyes ; and

68 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

now look sharp ! You sent the Teachmans word that we were
coming, Tom ?''

" Sartin ! and they've got breakfast ready long enough before
this, anyways."

With no more of delay, but with lots more of merriment
and shouting, on we drove ; and in five minutes' space, just as
the sun was rising, reached the small rude enclosure around two
or three log huts, lying just on the verge of the beautiful clear
lake. Two long sharp boats, and a canoe scooped out of a
whole tree, were drawn up on the sandy beach ; a fishing net
of many yards in length was drying on the rails ; a brace of
large, strong, black and tan foxhounds were lying on the step
before the door ; a dozen mongrel geese, with one wing-tipped
wild one among them, were sauntering and gabbling about the
narrow yard ; and a glorious white-headed fishing eagle, with a
clipped wing, but otherwise at large, was perched upon the
roof hard by the chimney.

At the rattle of our arrival, out came from the larger of the
cottages, three tall rough-looking countrymen to greet us, not
one of whom stood less than six foot in his stockings, while
two were several inches taller.

Great was their wonder, and loud were their congratutations
when they beheld the unexpected prize which we had gained,
while on our route ; but little space was given at that time to
either ; for the coffee, which, by the way, was poor enough,
and the hot cakes and fried perch, which were capital, and the
grilled salt pork, swimming in fat, and the large mealy potatoes
bursting through their brown skins, were ready smoking upon
a rough wooden board, covered, however, by. a clean white ta-
ble cloth, beside a sparkling fire of wood, which our drive
through the brisk mountain air had rendered by no means un-
acceptable.

We breakfasted like hungry men and hunters, both rapidly
and well ; and before half an hour elapsed, Archer, with Jem
and one of our bold hosts, started away, well provided with
powder and ball, and whiskey, and accompanied by all the
hounds, to make a circuit of the western hill, on the summit of
which they expected to be joined by two or three more of the
neighbors, whence they proposed to drive the whole sweep of
the forest-clad descent down to the water's edge.

Tim was enjoined to see to the provisions, and to provide- as
good a dinner as his best gastronomic skill and the contents of

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 69

our portable larder might afford, and I was put under the
charge of Tom, who seemed, for about an hour,, disposed to do
nothing but to lie dozing, with a cigar in his mouth, stretched
upon the broad of his back, on a bank facing the early sunshine
just without the door ; while our hosts were collecting bait,
preparing fishing tackle, and cleaning or repairing their huge
clumsy muskets. At length, when the drivers had been gone
already for considerably more than an hour, he got up and
shook himself.

" Now, then, boys," he exclaimed, " we'll be a movin. You
Joe Teach man, what are you lazin there about, cuss you ? You
go with Mr. Forester and Garry in the big boat, and pull as
fast as you can put your oars to water, till you git opposite the
white-stone pint — and there lie still as fishes ! You may fish,
though, if you will, Forester," he added, turning to me, " and
I do reckon the big yellow pearch will bite the darndest, this
cold morning, arter the sun gits fairly up — but soon as ever you
hear the hounds holler, or one of them chaps shoot, then look
you out right stret away for business ! Gale, here, and I'll take
the small boat, and keep in sight of you ; and so we can kiver
all this eend of the pond like, if the deer tries to cross herea-
ways. How long is't, Gale, since we had six on them all at once
in the water — six — seven — eight ! well, I swon, it's ten years
agone now ! But come, we mus'nt stand here talkin, else we'll
get a dammin when they drives down a buck into the pond,
and none of us in there to tackle with him !''

So without more ado, we got into our boats, disposed our
guns, with the stocks towards us in the bows, laid in our stock
of tinder, pipes, and liquor, and rowed off merrily to our ap-
pointed stations.

Never, in the whole course of my life, has it been my for-
tune to look upon more lovely scenery than I beheld that morn-
ing. The long narrow winding lake, lying as pure as crystal
beneath the liquid skies, reflecting, with the correctness of the
most perfect mirror, the abrupt and broken hills, which sank
down so precipitously into ifc — clad as they were in foliage of
every gorgeous dye, with which the autumn of America loves
to enhance the beatuy of her forest pictures — that, could they
find their way into its mountain-girdled basin, ships of large
burthen might lie afloat within a stone's throw of the shore —
the slopes of the wood-covered knolls, here brown, or golden,
and interspersed with the rich crimson of the faded maples,

70

WARWICK WOODLANDS.

there verdant with the evergreen leaves of the pine and cedar —
and the far azure summits of the most distant peaks, all steeped
in the serene and glowing sunshine of an October morning.

For hours we lay there, our little vessel floating as the
occasional breath of a sudden breeze, curling the lake into
sparkling waveKts, cho:>e to direct our course, smoking our
Cigars, and chatting cozily, and now and then pulling up a great
broad-backed yellow bass, whose flapping would for a time
disturb the peaceful silence, which reigned over wood, and dale,
and water, quite unbroken save by the chance c'amor of a
passing crow : yet not a sound betokening the approach of our
drivers had reached our ears.

Suddenly, when the sun had long passed his meridian height,
and was declining rapidly toward the horizon, the full round
shot of a musket rang from the mountain top, followed imme-
diately by a sharp yell, and in an instant the wiu,le basin of the
lake was tilled with the harmonious discord of the hounds.

I could distinguish on the moment the clear sharp challenge
of Harry's high-bred foxhounds, the deep bass voices of the
Southern dogs, and the untamable and cur-like yelping of the
dogs which the Teach mans had taken with them.

Ten minutes passed full of anxiety, almost of fear.

We knew not as yet whither to turn our boats' head, for
every second the course of the hounds seemed to vary, at one
instant they would appear to be rushing directly down to us,
and the next instant they would turn as though they were
going up the hill again. Meantime our beat rs were not idle —
their stirring shouts, serving alike to animate the hounds, and
to force the deer to water, made rock and wood reply in cheery
echoes; but, to my wonder, I caught not for a long time one
note of Harry's gladsome voice.

At length, as I strained my eyes against the broad hill-side,
gilt by the rays of the declining sun, J caught a glimpse of his
form running at a tremendous pace, bounding over stock and
stone, and plunging through dense thickets, on a portion of the
declivity where the tall trees had a few years before been
destroyed by accidental fire.

At this moment the hounds were running, to judge from
their tongues, parallel to the lake and to the line which he was
running — the next minute, with a redoubled clamor, they turned
directly down to him. I lost sight of him. But half a minute
afterward, the sharp crack of his rifle again rang upon the air,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 71

followed by a triumphant " Whoop ! who-whoop !" and then, I
knew, another stag had fallen.

The beaters on the bill shouted again louder and louder than
before — and the hounds still raved on. By heaven ! but there
must be a herd of them a-foot ! And now the pack divides ! The
English hounds are bringing their game down — here — by the
Lord ! just here — right in our very faces ! The Southrons have
borne away over the shoulder of the bill, still running hot and
hard in Jolly Tom's direction.

" By heaven !" 1 cried, i4 look, Teachman 1 Garry, look ! There!
See you not that noble buck ? — he leaped that sumach bush like
a race-horse ! and see ! see ! now he will take the water. Bad
luck on it ! he sees us, and heads back !"

Again the fleet hounds rally in his rear, and chide till earth
and air are vocal and harmonious. Hark I hark! how Archer's
cheers ring.on the wind ! Now he turns once again — he nears
the edge — how glorious ! with what a beautiful bold bound he
leaped from that high bluff into the flashing wave ! with what
a majesty he tossed his antlered head above the spray ! with
how magnificent and brave a stroke he breasts the curling

billows r

" Give way ! my men, give way !"

How the frail bark creaks and groans as we ply the long oars
in the rullocks — how the ash bends in our sturdy grasp — how
the boat springs beneath their impulse.

"Together, boys ! together ! now — now we gain — now, Garry,
lay your oar aside — up with your musket — now you are near
enough — give it to him, in heaven's name ! a good shot, too!
the bullet ricochetted from the lake scarcely six inches from bis
nose ! Give way again — it 's my shot now !'T

And lifting my Joe Manton, each barrel loaded with a bullet
carefully wadded with greased buckskin, I took a careful aim
arid fired.

"That's it," cried Garry; " well done, Forester — right through
the head, by George !"

And, as lie spoke, I fancied for a moment he Xvas right.
The noble buck plunged half his height out of the bright blue
water, shaking his head as if in the death agony, but the next
instant he stretched out again with vigor unimpaired, and I

could see that mv ball had only knocked a tine off his left

i *

antler.

My second barrel still remained, and without lowering the

72 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

gun, I drew my second trigger. Again a fierce plunge told
that the ball had not erred widely ; and this time, when he
again sank into his wonted posture, the deep crimson dye that
tinged the foam which curled about his graceful neck, as he
still struggled, feebly fleet, before his unrelenting foes, gave
token of a deadly wound.

Six more strokes of the bending oars — we shot alongside — a
noose of rope was cast across his branching tines, the keen knife
flashed across his throat, and all was over ! We towed him to
the shore, where Harry and his comrades were awaiting us with
another victim to his unerring aim. We took both bucks and
all hands on board, pulled stoutly homeward, and found Tom
lamenting.

Two deer, a buck of the first head, and a doe, had taken water
close beside him — he had missed his first shot, and in toiling
over-hard to recover lost ground, had broken his oar, and been
compelled inactively to witness their escape.

Three fat bucks made the total of the day's sport — not one of
which had fallen to Tom's boasted musket.

It needed all that Tim's best dinner, with lots of champagne
and Ferintosh, could do to restore the fat chap's equanimity ;
but he at last consoled himself, as we threw ourselves on the
lowly beds of the log hut, by swearing that by the etarnal devil
he'd beat us both at partridges to-morrow.

DAY THE SIXTH.

THE sun rose broad and bright in a firmament of that most
brilliant and transparent blue, which I have witnessed in no
other country than America, so pure, so cloudless, so immeasur-
ably distant as it seems from the beholder's eye ! There was not
a speck of cloud from east to west, from zenith to horizon ; not
a fleece of vapor on the mountain sides ; not a breath of air to
ruffle .the calm basin of the Greenwood lake.

The rock-crowned, forest-mantled ridge, on the farther side of
the narrow sheet, was visible almost as distinctly through the
medium of the pure fresh atmosphere, as though it had been
gazed at through a telescope — the hues of the innumerable

WARWICK WOODLANDS.

maples, in their various stages of decay, purple, and crimson, and
bright gorgeous scarlet, were contrasted with the rich chrome
yellow of the birch and poplars, the sere red leaves of the gi-
gantic oaks, and with the ever verdant plumage of the junipers,
clustered in massy patches on every rocky promontory, and the
tail spires of the dark pines and hemlock.

Over this mass of many-colored foliage, the pale thin yellow
light of the new-risen sun was pouring down a flood of chaste
illumination ; while, exhaled from the waters by his first beams,
a silvery gauze-like haze floated along the shores, not rising to
the height of ten feet from the limped surface, which lay unbro-
ken by the smallest ripple, undisturbed by the slightest splash
of fish or insect, as still and tranquil to the eye as though it
had been one huge plate of beaten burnished silver ; with the
tall cones of the gorgeous hills in all their rich variety, in all
their clear minuteness, reflected, summit downward, palpable as
their reality, in that most perfect mirror.

Such was the scene on which I gazed, as on the last day of
our sojourn in the Woodlands of fair Orange, I issued from the
little cabin, under the roof of which I had slept so dreamlessly
and deep, after the fierce excitement of our deer hunt, that while
I was yet slumbering, all save myself had risen, donned their
accoutrements, and sallied forth, I knew not whither, leaving me
certainly alone, although as certainly not so much to my glory.

From the other cottage, as I stood upon the threshold, I
might hear the voices of the females, busy at their culinary
labors, the speedily approaching term of which was obviously
denoted by the rich savory steams which tainted — not, I con-
fess, unpleasantly — the fragrant morning air.

As I looked out upon this lovely morning, I did not, I acknow-
ledge it, regret the absence of my excellent though boisterous com-
panions ; for there was something which I cannot define in the
deep stillness, in the sweet harmonious quiet of the whole scene
before me, that disposed my spirit to meditation far more than to
mirth ; the very smoke which rose from the low chimneys of the
Teachmans' colony — not surging to and fro, obedient to the fickle
winds — but soaring straight, tall, unbroken, upward, like Corin-
thian columns, each with its curled capital — seemed to invite the
soul of the spectator to mount with it toward the sunny heavens.

By-and-bye I strayed downward to the beach, a narrow strip
of silvery sand and variegated pebbles, and stood there long, si-
Jently watching the unknown sports, the seemingly — to us at
4

74 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

least — unmeaning movements, and strange groupings of the
small fry, which darted to and fro in the clear shallows within
two yards of my feet; or marking the brief circling ripples,
wrought by the morning swallow's wing, and momently subsi-
ding into the wonted rest of the calm lake.

How long I stood there musing I know not, for I had fallen
into a train of thought so deep that I was utterly unconscious
of everything around me, when I was suddenly aroused from
my reverie by the quick dash of oars, and by a volley of some
seven barrels discharged in quick succession. As I looked up
with an air, I presume somewhat bewildered, I heard the loud
and bellowing laugh of Tom, and saw the whole of our stout
company gliding up in two boats, the skiff and the canoe, to-
ward the landing place, perhaps a hundred yards from the spot
where I stood.

" Come here, darn you," were, the first words I heard, from
the mouth of what speaker it need not be said — " come here,
you lazy, snortin, snoozin Decker — lend a hand here right stret
away, will you? We've got more perch than all of us can
carry — and Archer's got six wood-duck."

Hurrying down in obedience to this unceremonious mandate,
I perceived that indeed their time had not been misemployed,
for the whole bottom of the larger boat was heaped with fish —
the small and delicate green perch, the cat-fish, hideous in its
natural, but most delicious in its artificial shape, and, above all,
the large and broad-backed yellow bass, from two to four pounds
weight. While Archer, who had gone forth with Garry only in
the canoe, had picked up half a dozen wood-duck, two or three
of the large yellow-legs, a little bittern, known by a far less ele-
gant appellative throughout the country, and thirteen English
snipe.

" By Jove !" cried I, " but this is something like — where the
deuce did you pick the snipe up, Harry — and, above all, why
the deuce did you let me lie wallowing in bed this lovely morn-
ing?"

"One question at a time," responded he, "good Master Frank ;
one question at a time. For the snipe, I found them very un-
expectedly, I tell you, in a bit of marshy meadow just at the
outlet of the pond. Garry was paddling me along at the top
of his pace, after a wing:tipped wood-duck, when up jumped
one of the long-billed rascals, and had the impudence to skim
across the creek under my very nose — ' skeap ! skeap !' Well,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 7"5

I dropped him, you may be sure, with a charge, too, of duck
shot ; and he fell some ten yards over on the meadow ; so leav-
ing Garry to pursue the drake, I landed, loaded my gun with
No. 9, and went to work — the result as you see ; but I cleared
the meadow — devil a bird is left there, except one I cut to
pieces, and could not find for want of Chase — two went away
without a shot, over the hills and far away. As for letting you
lie in bed, you must talk to Tom about it ; I bid him call you,
and the fat rascal never did so, and never said a word about
you, till we were ready for a start, and then no Master Frank
was to the fore."

" Well, Tom," cried I, " what have you got to say to this ?"

•' Now, cuss you, don't come foolin' about me," replied that
worthy, aiming a blow at me, which, had it taken place, might
well have felled Goliah ; but which, as I sprang aside, wasting
its energies on the impassive air, had well nigh floored the
striker. " Don't you come foolin' about me — you knows right
well I called you, and you knows, too, you almost cried, and
told me to clear out, and let you git an hour's sleep ; for by the
Lord you thought Archer and I was made of steel ! — you
couldn't and you wouldn't — and now you wants to know the
reason why you warn't along with us !''

" Never mind the old thief, Frank," said Archer, seeing that
I was on the point of answering, " even his own aunt says he
is the most notorious liar in all Orange county — and Heaven
forbid we should gainsay that most respectable old lady !"

Into what violent asseveration our host would have plunged
at this declaration, remains, like the tale of Cambuscan bold,
veiled in deep mystery ; for as he started from the log on which
he had been reposing while in the act of unsplicing his bam-
boo fishing pole, the elder of the Teachmans thrust his head
out of the cabin nearest to us — " Come, boys, to breakfast !" —
and at the first word of his welcome voice, Tom made, as he
would have himself defined it, stret tracks for the table. And
a mighty different table it was from that to which we had sat
down on the preceding morning. Timothy — unscared by the
wonder of the mountain nymphs, who deemed a being of the
masculine gender as an intruder, scarce to be tolerated, on the
mysteries of the culinary art — had exerted his whole skill, and
brought forth all the contents of his canteen ! We had a su-
perb steak of the fattest venison, graced by cranberries stewed
with cayenne pepper, and sliced lemons. A pot of excellent

Y6 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

black tea, almost as strong as the cognac which flanked it ; a
dish of beautiful fried perch, with cream as thick as porridge,
our own loaf sugar, and Teach man's new laid eggs, hot wheaten
cakes, and hissing rashers of right tender pork, furnished a
breakfast forth that might have vied successfully with those
which called forth, in the Hebrides, such raptures from the lexi-
cographer.

Breakfast despatched — for which, to say the truth, Harry
gave us but little time — we mustered our array and started ;
Harry and Tom and I making one party, with the spaniels —
Garry, the Teachmans, and Timothy, with the setters, which
would hunt very willingly for him in Archer's absence, forming
a second. It was scarce eight o'clock when we went out, each
on a separate beat, having arranged our routes so as to meet at
one o'clock in the great swamp, said to abound, beyond all
other places, in the ruffed grouse or partridge, to the pursuit of
which especially we had devoted our last day.

"Now, Frank," said Harry, "you have done right well
throughout the week; and if you can stand this day's tramp, I
will say for you that you are a sportsman, aye, every inch of

Vone. We have got seven miles right hard walking over the
roughest hills you ever saw — the hardest moors of Yorkshire
are nothing to them — before we reach the swamp, and that
you'll find a settler ! Tom, here, will keep along the bottoms,
workings his way as best he can ; while we make good the up-
lands ! Are your flasks full ?"

" Sartain, they are !" cried Tom — u and I've got a rousin big-
black bottle, too — but not a drop of the old cider sperrits do
you git this day, boys ; not if your thirsty throats were crack-
ing for it !''

" Well, well ! we won't bother you — you'll need it all, old
porpoise, before you get to the far end. Here, take a hard
boiled egg or two, Frank, and some salt, and I'll pocket a few
biscuits — we must depend on ourselves to-day."

"Ay, ay, Sur," chuckled Timothy, "there's naw Tim Mat-
lock to mak looncheon ready for ye 'a the day. See thee,
measter Frank. Ay'se gotten 't measter's single barrel ; and
gin I dunna ootshoot measter Draa — whoy Ay'se deny my
coon try !"

" Most certainly you will deny it then, Tim," answered I,
" for Mr. Draw shoots excellently well, and you "

"And Ay'se shot mony a hare by 't braw moon, doon i'

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 77

bonny Ca woods. Ay'se beat, Ay'se oophaud* it !" So saying,
he shouldered the long single barrel, and paddled off with the
most extraordinary expedition after the Teachmans, who had
already started, leading the setters in a leash, till they were out
of sight of Archer.

" They have the longest way to go," said Harry, " by a mile
at the least ; so we have time for a cheroot before we three get
under way."

Cigars were instantly produced and lighted, and we lounged
about the little court for the best part of half an hour, till the
report of a distant gunshot, ringing with almost innumerable
reverberations along the woodland shores, announced to us that
our companions had already got into their work.

" Here goes," oiecl Harry, springing to his feet at once, and
grasping his good gun ; " here goes — they have got into the
long hollow, Tom, and by the time we've crossed the ridge,
and got upon our ground, they'll be abreast of us.''

"Hold on ! hold on !'' Tom bellowed, "you are the darndest
critter, when you do git goin — now hold on, do — I wants some
rum, and Forester here looks a kind of white about the gills,
his what-d'ye-call, cheeroot, has made him sick, I reckon !"

Of course, with such an exhortation in our ears as this, it
was impossible to do otherwise than wet our whistles with one
drop of the old Ferintosh ; and then, Tom having once again
recovered his good humor, away we went, and " clombe the
high hill/' though we "swam not the deep river," as merrily as
ever sportsman did, from the days of Arbalast and Longbow,
down to those times of Westley Richards' caps and Eley's wire
cartridges.

A tramp of fifteen minutes through some scrubby brushwood,
brought us to the base of a steep stony ridge covered with tall
and thrifty hickories and a few oaks and maples intermixed,
rising so steeply from the shore that it was necessary not only
to strain every nerve of the leg, but to swing our bodies up
from tree to tree, by dint of hand. It was indeed a hard and
heavy tug ; and I had pretty tough work, what between the
exertion of the ascent, and the incessant fits of laughter into
which I was thrown by the grotesquely agile movements of fat
Tom ; who, grunting, panting, sputtering, and launching forth
from time to time the strangest and most blasphemously horrid

* Oophaud, Yorkshire. Anglice, uphold

78 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

oaths, contrived to make way to the summit faster than either
of us — crashing through the dense underwood of juniper and
sumach, uprooting the oak saplings as he swung from this to
that, and spurning down huge stones upon us, as we followed
at a cautious distance. When we at last crowned the ridge, we
found him, just as Harry had predicted, stretched in a half-
recumbent attitude, leaning against a huge gray stone, with his
fur cap and double-barrel lying upon the withered leaves beside
him, puffing, as Archer told him, to his mighty indignation,
like a great grampus in shoal water.

After a little rest, however, FalstafF revived, though not before
he had imbibed about a pint of applejack, an occupation in
which he could not persuade either of us, this time, to join him.
Descending from our elevated perch, we now got into a deep
glen, with a small brooklet winding along the bottom, bordered
on either hand by a stripe of marshy bog earth, bearing a low
growth of alder bushes, mixed with stunted willows. On the
side opposite to that by which we had descended, the hill rose
long and lofty, covered with mighty timber-trees standing in
open ranks and overshadowing a rugged and unequal surface,
covered with whortleberry, wintergreen, and cranberries, the
latter growing only along the courses of the little runnels, which
channelled the whole slope. Here, stony ledges and gray
broken crags peered through the underwood, among the crevices
of which the stunted cedars stood thick set, and matted with a
thousand creeping vines and brambles ; while there, from some
small marshy basin, the giant Rhododendron Maximum rose
almost to the height of a timber tree.

" Here, Tom," said Harry, " keep you along this run — you'll
have a woodcock every here and there, and look sharp when
you hear them fire over the ridge, for they can't shoot to speak
of, and the ruffed grouse will cross — you know. You, master
Frank, stretch your long legs and get three parts of the way
up this hill: — over the second mound — there, do you see that
great blue stone with a thunder-splintered tree beside it? just
beyond that ! then turn due west, and mark the trending of the
valley, keeping a little way ahead of me, which you will find
quite easy, for I shall have to beat across you both. Go very
slow, Tom — now, hurrah !"

Exhorted thus, I bounded up the hill and soon reached my
appointed station ; but not before I heard the cheery voice of

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 79

Archer encouraging the eager spaniels — " Hie cock ! hie cock !
pu-r-r-h !" — till the woods rang to the clear shout.

Scarce had I reached the top, before, as I looked down into
the glen below me, a puff of white smoke, instantly succeeded
by a second, and the loud full reports of both his barrels from
among the green-leafed alders, showed me that Tom had sprung
game. The next second I heard the sharp questing of the
spaniel Dan, followed by Harry's " Charge ! — down Cha-arge,
you little thief — down to cha-arge, will you !"

But it was all in vain — for on he went furious and fast, and
the next moment the thick whirring of a grouse reached my
excited ears. Carefully, eagerly, I gazed out to mark the wary
bird ; but the discharge of Harry's piece assured me, as I
thought, that further watch was needless ; and stupidly enough
I dropped the muzzle of my gun.

Just at the self-same point of time — " Mark ! mark, Frank !"
shouted Archer, " mark ! there are a brace of them !" — and as
he spoke, gliding with speed scarcely inferior to a bullet's flight
upon their balanced pinions, the noble birds swept past me, so
close that I could have struck them with a riding whip.

Awfully fluttered was I — I confess — but by a species of in-
voluntary and instinctive consideration I rallied instantly, and
became cool. The grouse had seen me, and wheeled diverse ;
one darting to the right, through a small opening between a
cedar bush and a tali hemlock — the other skimming through
the open oak woods a little toward the left.

At such a crisis thought comes in a second's space ; and I
have often fancied that in times of emergency or great surprise,
a man deliberates more promptly, and more prudently withal,
than when he has full time to let his second thought trench on
his first and mar it. So was it in this case with me. At half a
glance I saw, that if I meant to get both birds, the right-hand
fugitive must be the first, and that with all due speed ; for but
a few yards further he would have gained a brake which would
have laughed to scorn Lord Kennedy or Harry T r.

Pitching my gun up to my shoulder, both barrels loaded
with Eley's red wire cartridge No. 6, I gave him a snap shot,
and had* the satisfaction of seeing him keeled well over, not
wing-tipped or leg-broken, but fairly riddled by the concentrated
charge of something within thirty yards. Turning as quick as
light, I caught a fleet sight of the other, which by a rapid
zig-zag was now flying full across my front, certainly over

80 WARWICK WOODLANDS,

forty-five yards distant, among a growth of thick-set saplings —
the hardest shot, in my opinion, that can be selected to test a
quick and steady sportsman. I gave it him, and down he came
too — killed dead — that I knew, for I had shot full half a yard
before him. Just as I dropped my butt to load, the hill began
to echo with the vociferous yells of master Dan, the quick
redoubled cracks of Harry's heavy dog-whip, and his incessant
rating — " Down, cha-arge ! For sha-ame ! Dan ! Dan ! down
cha-arge ! for sha-ame !" — broken at times by the impatient
oaths of Tom Draw, in the gulley, who had, it seems, knocked
down two woodcock, neither of which he could bag, owing to
the depth and instability of the wet bog.

" Quit ! quit ! cuss you, quit there, leatherin that brute !
Quit, I say, or I'll send a shot at you ! Gome here, Archer — I
say, come here ! — there be the darndest lot of droppins here, I
ever see — full twenty cock, I swon !"

But still the scourge continued to resound, and still the
raving of the spaniel excited Tom's hot ire.

" Frank Forester !" exclaimed he once again. " Do see now
— Harry missed them partridge, and so he licks the poor dumb
brute for it. I wish I were a spannel, and he'd try it on with
me !"

" I will, too/' answered Archer, with a laugh ; " I will, too,
if you wish it, though you are not a spaniel, nor any thing else
half so good. And why, pray, should I not scourge this wild
little imp ? he ran slap into the best pack of ruffed grouse I
have seen this two years — fifteen or sixteen birds^ I wonder
they're not scattered — it's full late to find them packed 1"

" Did you kill ere a one ?" Tom holloaed ; " not one, either
of you !"

" I did," answered Harry, " I nailed the old cock bird, and a
rare dog he is ! — two pounds, good weight, I warrant him/' he
added, weighing him as he spoke. " Look at the crimson round
his eye, Frank, like a cock pheasant's, and his black ruff or
tippet — by George! but he's a beauty! And what did you
do ?" he continued.

" I bagged a brace — the only two that crossed me."

" Did you, though ?" exclaimed Archer, with no small expres-
sion of surprise ; " did you, though ? — that's prime work — it
takes a thorough workman to bag a double shot upon October
grouse. But come, we must go down to Tom ; hark how the
old hound keeps bawling."

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 81

Well, down we went. The spaniels quickly retrieved his
dead birds, and flushed some fifteen more, of which we gave a
clean account — Harry making up for lost time by killing six
cock, right and left, almost before they topped the bushes —
seven more fell to me, but single birds all of them — and but
one brace to Tom, who now began to wax indignant; for Archer,
as I saw, for fun's sake, was making it a point to cut down every
bird that rose to him, before he could get up his gun ; and then
laughed at him for being fat and slow. But the laugh was on
Tom's side before long — for while we were yet in the valley, the
report of a gun came faintly down the wind from beyond the
hill, and as we all looked out attentively, a grouse skimmed
the brow, flying before the wind at a tremendous pace, and
skated across the valley without stooping from his altitude. I
stood the first, and fired, a yard at least ahead of him — on he
went, unharmed and undaunted ; bang went my second barrel
— still on he went, the faster, as it seemed, for the weak insult.

Harry came next, and he too fired twice, and — tell it not in
Gath — missed twice ! " Now, Fat-Guts !" shouted Archer, not
altogether in his most amiable or pleasing tones ; and sure
enough up went the old man's piece — roundly it echoed with
its mighty charge — a cloud of feathers drifted away in a long
line from the slaughtered victim — which fell not direct, so rapid
was its previous flight, but darted onward in a long declining
tangent, and struck the rocky soil with a thud clearly audible
where we stood, full a hundred yards from the spot where it
fell.

He bagged, amid Tom's mighty exultation, forward again we
went and in a short half hour got into the remainder of the
pack which we had flushed before, in some low tangled thorn
cover, among which they lay well, and we made havoc of them.
And here the oddest accident I ever witnessed in the field took
place — so odd, that I. am half ashamed to write to it — but
where's the odds, for it is true.

A fine cock bird was flushed close at Tom's feet, and went
off to the left, Harry and I both standing to the right ; he blazed
away, and at the shot the bird sprung up six or eight feet into
the air, with a sharp staggering flutter. " Killed dead !'' cried
I; " well done again, Fat Tom." But to my great surprise the
grouse gathered wing, and flew on, feebly at first, and dizzily,
but gaining strength more and more as he went on the farther.
At the last, after a long flight, he treed in a tall leaflless pine.

82 WARWICK WOODLANDS*

" Run after him, Frank," Archer called to me, " you are the
lightest ; and we'll beat up the swale till you return. You saw
the tree he took ?"

"Aye, aye I" said I preparing to make off.

" Well ! he sits near the top — now mind me ! no chivalry,
Frank ! give him no second chance — a ruffed grouse, darting
downward from a tall pine tree, is a shot to balk the devil — it's
full five to one that you shoot over and behind him — give him
no mercy !"

Off I went, and after a brisk trot, five or six minutes long,
reached my tree, saw my bird perched on a broken limb close
to the time-blanched trunk, cocked my Joe Manton, and was in
the very act of taking aim, when something so peculiar in the
motion of the bird attracted me, that I paused. He was nodding
like a sleepy man, and seemed with difficulty to retain his foot-
hold. While I was gazing, he let go, pitched headlong, fluttered
his wings in the death-struggle, yet in air, and struck the ground
close at my feet, stone-dead. Tom's first shot had cut off the
whole crown of the head, with half the brain and the right
eye ; and after that the bird had power to fly five or six hun-
dred yards, and then to cling upon its perch for at least ten
minutes.

Rejoining my companions, we again went onward, slaying
and bagging as we went, till when the sun was at meridian we
sat down beside the brook to make our frugal meal — not to-day
of grilled woodcock and champagne, but of hard eggs, salt,
biscuit, and Scotch whiskey — not so bad either — nor were we
disinclined to profit by it. We were still smoking on the marge,
when a shot right ahead told us that our out-skirting party was
at hand.

All in an instant were on the alert ; in twenty minutes we
joined forces, and compared results. We had twelve grouse,
five rabbits, seventeen woodcock ; they, six gray squirrels,
seven grouse, and one solitary cock — Tim, proud as Lucifer at
having led the field. But his joy now was at an end — for to
his charge the setters were committed to be led in leash, while
we shot on, over the spaniels. Another dozen grouse, and
eighteen rabbits, completed our last bag in the Woodlands.

Late was it when we reached the Teachmans' hut — and long
and deep was the carouse that followed ; and when the moon
had sunk and we were turning in, Tom Draw swore with a
mighty oath of deepest emphasis — that since we had passed a

TTARWICK WOODLANDS. 83

week with him, he'd take a seat down in the wagon, and see
the Beacon Races. So we filled round once more, and clinked
our glasses to bind the joyous contract, and turned in happy.

DAY THE SEVENTH.

ONCE more we were compelled to change our purpose.

When we left Tom Draw's, it had been, as we thought, final-
ly decided that we were for this bout to visit that fair village no
more, but when that worthy announced his own determination
to accompany us on our homeward route, and when we had
taken into consideration the fact, that, independent of Tom's
two hundred and fifty weight of solid flesh, we had two noble
bucks, beside quail, ruffed grouse, woodcock, and rabbit almost
innumerable to transport, in addition to our two selves and
Timothy, with the four dogs, and lots of luggage — when we, I
say, considered all this, it became apparent that another rehicle
must be provided for our return. So during the last jorum, it
had been put to the vote and unanimously carried that we
should start for Tom's, by a retrograde movement, at four
o'clock in the morning, breakfast with him, and rig up some
drag or other wherein -Timothy might get the two deer and the
dogs, as best he might, into the city.

" As for us," said Harry, " we will go down the other road,
Tom, over the back-bone of the mountain, dine with old Colonel
Beams, stop at Paterson, and take a taste at the Holy Father's
poteen — you may look at the Falls if you like it, Frank, while
we're looking at the Innishowen — and so get home to supper.
1*11 give you both beds for one night — but not an hour longer —
my little cellar would be broken, past all doubt, if old Tom
were to get two nights out of it !"

" Ay'se sure it would," responded Timothy, who had been
listening, all attention, mixing meanwhile some strange com-
pound of eggs and rum and sugar. " Whoy, measter Draa did
pratty nigh drink 't out yance — that noight 'at eight chaps,
measter Frank, drank oop two baskets o' champagne, and fifteen
bottles o7 't breawn sherry — Ay carried six on 'em to bed, Ay'se
warrant it — and yan o' them, young measter Clark, he spoilt
me a new suit o' liveries, wi' vomiting a top cm me."

84 WARWICK WOODLANDS,

" That'll do, Timothy," interposed Archer, unwilling, as I
thought, that the secret mysteries of his establishment should
be revealed any further to the profane ears which were gaping
round about us — " that'll do for the present — give Mr. Draw
that flip — he's looking at it very angrily, I see ! and then turn
in, or you'll be late in the morning ; and, by George, we must
be away by four o'clock at latest, for we have all of sixty miles
to make to-morrow, and Tom's fat carcase will try the springs
most consumedly, down hill."

Matters thus settled, in we turned, and — as it seemed to me,
within five minutes, I was awakened by Harry Archer, who
stood beside my bed full dressed, with a candle in his hand.

" Get up," he whispered, u get up, Frank, very quietly ; slip
on your great-coat and your slippers — we have a chance to serve
Tom out — he's not awake for once ! and Timothy will have the
horses ready in five minutes !"

Up I jumped on the instant, hauled on a rough-frieze pea-
jacket, thrust my unstockinged feet into their contrary slippers,
and followed Harry, on the tips of my toes, along a creaking
passage, guided by the portentous ruckling snorts, which varied
the profundity of the fat man's slumbers. When I reached his
door, there stood Harry, laughing to himself, with a small quiet
chuckle, perfectly inaudible at three feet distance, the intensity
of which could, however, be judged by the manner in which it
shook his whole person. Two huge horse-buckets, filled to the
brim, were set beside him ; and he had cut a piece of an old
broomstick so as to fit exactly to the width of the passage,
across which he had fastened it, at about two feet from the
ground, so that it must most indubitably trip up any person,
who should attempt to run along that dark and narrow thor-
oughfare.

" Now, Frank," said he, " see here ! I'll set this bucket here
behind the door — we'll heave the other slap into his face — there
he lies, full on the broad of his fat back, with his mouth wide
open — and when he jumps up full of fight, which he is sure to
do, run you with the candle, whfch blow out the moment .he
appears, straight down the passage. I'll stand back here, and
as he trips over that broomstick, which he is certain to do, I'll
pitch the other bucket on his back — and if he does not think
he's bewitched, I'll promise not to laugh. I owe him two or
three practical jokes, and now I've got a chance, so I'll pay him
all at once."

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 85

Well ! we peeped in, aided by the glare of the streaming tal-
low candle, and there, sure enough, with all the clothes kicked
otF him, and his immense rotundity protected only from the
cold by an exceeding scanty shirt of most ancient cotton, lay
Tom, flat on his back, like a stranded porpoise, with his mouth
wide open, through which he was puffing and breathing like a
broken-winded cab-horse, while through his expanded nostrils
he was snoring loudly enough to have awaked the seven sleep-
ers. Neither of us could well stand up for laughing. One
bucket was deposited behind the door, and back stood Harry
ready to slip behind it also at half a moment's warning — the
candlestick was placed upon the floor, which I was to kick over
in my flight.

" Stand by to heave !" whispered my trusty comrade —
" heave !" and with the word — flash ! — slush ! — out went the
whole contents of the full pail, two gallons at the least of ice-
cold water, slap in the chaps, neck, breast, and stomach of the
sound sleeper. With the most wondrous noise that ears of
mine have ever witnessed — a mixture of sob, snort, and groan,
concluding in the longest and most portentous howl that mouth
of man ever uttered — Tom started out of bed ; but, at the
very instant I discharged my bucket, I put my foot upon the
light, flung down the empty pail, and bolted. Poor devil ! — as
he got upon his feet the bucket rolled up with its iron handles
full against his shins, the oath he swore at which encounter,
while he dashed headlong after me, directed by the noise I made
on purpose, is most unmentionable. Well knowing where it
was, I easily jumped over the stick which barred the passage.
Not so Tom — for going at the very top of his pace, swearing
like forty troopers all the time, he caught it with both legs just
below the knees, and went down with a squelch that shook the
whole hut to the rooftree, while at the self-same instant Harry
once again soused him with the contents of the second pail,
and made his escape unobserved by the window of Tom's own
chamber. Meanwhile I had reached my room, and flinging off my
jacket, carne running out with nothing but my shirt and a light-
ed candle, to Tom's assistance, in which the next moment I was
joined by Harry, who rushed in from out of doors with the sta-
ble lanthorn.

" What's the row now ?" he said, with his face admirably
cool and quiet. " What the devil's in the wind ?"

" Oh ! Archer !" grunted poor Tom, in most piteous accents —

86 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" them darned etarnal Teachmans — they've murdered me right
out ! I'll never get over this — ugh ! ugh ! ugh ! Half drowned
and smashed up the darndest ! Now aint it an etarnal shame !
Cuss them, if I doos n't sarve them out for it, my name's not
Thomas Draw !"

" Well, it is not," rejoined Harry, " who in the name of won-
der ever called you Thomas ? Christened you never were at
all, that's evident enough, you barbarous old heathen — but you
were certainly named Tom."

Swearing, and vowing vengeance on Jem Lyn, and Garry,
and the Teachmans — each one of whom, by the way, was sound
asleep during this pleasant interlude — and shaking with the
cold, and sputtering with uncontrollable fury, the fat man did
at length get dressed, and after two or three libations of milk
punch, recovered his temper somewhat, and his spirits alto-
gether.

Although, however, Harry and I told him very frankly that
we were not merely the sole planners, but the sole executors,
of the trick — it was in vain we spoke. Tom would not have it.

" No — he knew — he knew well enough ; did we go for to
think he was such an old etarnai fool as not to know Jem's
voice — a bloody Decker — he would be the death of him.''

And direful, in good truth, I do believe, were the jokes prac-
tical, and to him no jokes at all, which poor Jem had to under-
go, in expiation of his fancied share in this our misdemeanor.

Scarce had the row subsided, before the horses were an-
nounced. Harry and I, and Tom and Timothy, mounted the
old green drag ; and, with our cheroots lighted — the only lights,
by the way, that were visible at all — oft* we went at a rattling
trot, the horses in prime condition, full of fire, biting and snap-
ping at each other, and making their bits clash and jingle every
moment. Up the long hill, and through the shadowy wood,
they strained, at full ten miles an hour, without a touch of the
whip, or even a word of Harry's well-known voice.

We reached the brow of the mountain, where there are four
cleared fields — whereon I once saw snow lie five, feet deep on
the tenth day of April— and an old barn ; and thence we look-
ed back through the cold gray gloom of an autumnal morning,
three hours at least before the rising of the sun, while the stars
were waning in the dull sky, and the moon had long since set,
toward the Greenwood lake.

Never was there a stronger contrast, than between that lovely

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 87

sheet of limpid water, as it lay now — cold, dun, and dismal,
like a huge plate of pewter, without one glittering ripple, with-
out one clear reflection, surrounded by the wooded hills which,
swathed in a dim mist, hung grim and gloomy over its silent
bosom — and its bright sunny aspect on the previous day.

Adieu ! fair Greenwood Lake ! adieu ! Many and blithe have
been the hours which I have spent around, and in, and on you —
and it may well be I shall never see you more — whether reflecting
the full fresh greenery of summer ; or the rich tints of cisatlantic
autumn ; or sheeted with the treacherous ice ; but never, thou
sweet lake, never will thy remembrance fade from my bosom,
while one drop of life-blood warms it ; so art thou intertwined
with memories of happy careless days, that never can return —
of friends, truer, perhaps, though rude and humble, than all
of prouder seeming. Farewell to thee, fair lake ! Long may
it be before thy rugged hills be stripped of their green garni-
ture, or thy bright waters* marred by the unpicturesque im-
provements of man's avarice ! — for truly thou, in this utilitarian
age, and at brief distance from America's metropolis, art young,
and innocent, and unpolluted, as when the red man drank of
thy pure waters, long centuries ere he dreamed of the pale-
faced oppressors, who have already rooted out his race from
half its native continent.

Another half hour brought us down at a rattling pace to the
village, and once again we pulled up at Tom's well-known
dwelling, just as the day was breaking. A crowd of loiterers,
as usual, was gathered even at that untimely season in the
large bar-room ; and when the clatter of our hoofs and wheels
announced us, we found no lack of ready-handed and quick-
tongued assistants.

* Marred it has been long ago. A huge dam has been drawn across its
outlet, in order to supply a feeder to the Morris Canal — a gigantic piece
of unprofitable improvement, made, I believe, merely as a basis on which
for brokers, stock-jobbers — et id genus omne of men too untilitarian and
ambitious to be content with earning money honestly — to exercise their
prodigious 'cuteness.

The effect of this has been to,,, change the bold shores into pestilential
submerged swamps, whereon the dead- trees still stand, tall, gray and
ghostly; to convert a number of acres of beautiful meadow-land into
stagnant grassy shallows ; to back up the waters at the lake's head, to the
utter destruction of several fine farms ; and, last not least, to create fever
and ague in abundance, where no such thing had ever been heard tell of
before.

Certainly ! your well devised improvement is a great thing for a country I

88 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" Take out the horses, Timothy," cried Harry, " unharness
them, and rub them down as quickly and as thoroughly as may
be — let them have four quarts each, and mind that all is ready
for a start before an hour. Meantime, Frank, we will overhaul
the game, get breakfast, and hunt up a wagon for the deer and
setters."

"Don't bother yourself about no wagon," interposed Tom,
" but come you in and liquor, else we shall have you gruntin
half the day ; and if old roan and my long pig-box wont carry
down the deer, why I'll stand treat."

A jorum was prepared, and discussed accordingly ; fresh ice
produced, the quail and woodcock carefully unpacked, and in-
stantly re-stowed with clean straw, a measure which, however,
seemed almost supererogatory, since so completely had the ex-
ternal air been excluded from the game-box, that we found not
only the lumps of ice in the bottom un thawed, but the flannel
which lay over it stiff frozen ; the birds were of course perfectly
fresh, cool, and in good condition. Our last day's batch, which
it was found impossible to get into the box, with all the ruffed
grouse, fifty at least in number, \vere tied up by the feet, two
brace and two brace, and hung in festoons round the inside rails
of the front seat and body, while about thirty hares dangled by
their hind legs, with their long ears flapping to and fro, from
the back seat and baggage rack. The wagon looked, I scarce
know how, something between an English stage-coach when the
merry days of Christmas are at hand, and a game-hunter's
taxed cart.

The business of re-packing had been scarce ficcornplished, and
Harry and myself had just retired to change our shooting-jack-
ets and coarse fustians for habiliments more suitable for the day
and our destination — New York, to-wit, and Sunday — when
forth came Tom, bedizened from top to toe in his most new and
knowing rig, and looking now, to do him justice, a most re-
spectable and- portly yeoman.

A broad-brimmed, low-crowned, and long-napped white hat,
set forth assuredly to the best advantage his rotund, rubicund,
good-humored phiz ; a clean white handkerchief circled his
sturdy neck, on the voluminous folds of which reposed in placid
dignity the mighty collops of his double chin. A bright canary
waistcoat of imported kerseymere, with vast mother-of-pearl
buttons, and a broad-skirted coat of bright blue cloth, with glit-
tering brass buttons half the size of dollars, covered his upper

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 80

man, while loose drab trousers of stout double-milled, and a
pair of well-blacked boots, completed his attire ; so that he
looked as different an animal as possible, from the unwashed,
uncombed, half-naked creature he presented, when lounging in
his bar-room in his every-day apparel.

" Why, halloa, Guts !" cried Archer, as he entered, " you've
broken out here in a new place altogether."

" Now quit, you, callin of me Guts," responded Tom, more
testily than I had ever heard him speak to Harry, whose every
whim and frolic he seemed religiously to venerate and humor f
" a fellow doesn't want to have it 4 Guts' here, -and * Guts' there,
over half a county. Why, now, it was but a week since, while
'lections was a goin' on, I got a letter from some d — d chaps to
Newburg — ' Eouse about now, old Guts, you'll need it this
election f "

" Ha ! ha ! ha !" shouted Harry and I almost simultaneously,
delighted at Tom's evident annoyance.

""Who wrote it, Tom ?"

" That's what I'd jist give fifty dollars to know now," replied
mine iiost, clinching his mighty paw.

" Why, what would you do,'7 said I, " if you did know ?"

" Lick him, by George ! Lick him, in the first place, till he
was as nigh dead as I daared lick him — and then I'd make him
eat up every darned line of it ! But come, come — breakfast's
ready ; and while we're getting through with it, Timothy and
Jem Lyn will fix the pig-box, and make the deer all right and
tight for travelling !"

No sooner said than done — an ample meal was speedily de-
spatched— and when that worthy came in to announce all ready,
for the saving of time, master Timothy was accommodated with
a seat at a side-table, which he occupied with becoming dignity,
abstaining, as it were, in consciousness of his honorable promo-
tion, from any of the quaint and curious witticisms, in which he
was wont to indulge ; but manducating, with vast energy, the
various good things which were set before him.

It was a clear, bright Sabbath morning, as ever shone down
on a sinful world, on which we started homeward — and, though
I fear there was not quite so much solemnity in our demeanor
as might have best accorded with the notions of over strict pro-
fessors, I can still answer that, with much mirth, much merri-
ment, and much good feeling in our hearts, there was no touch
of irreverence, or any taint of what could be called sinful thought.

90 WARWICK WOODLANDS*

The sun had risen fairly, but the hour was still too early for the
sweet peaceful music of the church-going bells to have made
their echoes tunable through the rich valley. A merry caval-
cade, indeed, we started — Harry leading the way at his usual
slap-dash pace, so that one, less a workman than himself, would
have said he went up hill and down at the same break-neck
pace, find would take all the grit out of his team before he had
gone ten miles — while a more accurate observer would have
seen, at a glance, that he varied his rate at almost every ine-
quality of road, that he quartered every rut, avoided every jog
or mud-hole, husbanded for the very best his horses' strength,
never making them either pull or hold a moment longer than
was absolutely necessary from the abruptness of the ground.

At his left hand sat I, while Tom, in honor of his superior
bulk and weight, occupied with his magnificent and portly per-
son the whole of the back seat, keeping his countenance as
sanctified as possible, and nodding, with some quaint and char-
acteristic observation, to each one of the scattered groups of
country-people, which we encountered every quarter of a mile
for the first hour of our route, wending their way toward the
village church — but, when we reached the forest-mantled road
which clombe the mountain, making the arched woods resound
to many a jovial catch or merry hunting chorus.

Mounted sublime on an arm- chair lashed to the forepart of
the pig-box, sat Timothy in state — his legs well muffled in a
noble scarlet-fringed buffalo skin, and his body encased in his
livery top-coat — the setters and the spaniels crouching most
meekly at his feet, and the two noble bucks — the fellow on
whose steaks we had already made an inroad, having been left
as fat Tom's portion — securely corded down upon a pile of
straw, with their sublime and antlered crests drooping all spirit-
less and humble over the backboard, toward the frozen soil
which crashed and rattled under the ponderous hoofs of the
magnificent roan horse — Tom's special favorite — which, though
full seventeen hands high, and heavy in proportion, yet showing
a good strain of blood, trotted away with his huge load at full
ten miles an hour.

Plunging into the deep recesses of the Greenwoods, hill after
hill we scaled, a toilsome length of stony steep ascents, almost
precipitous, until we reached the back-bone of the mountain
ridge— a rugged, bare, sharp edge of granite rock, without a
particle of soil upon it, diving down at an angle not much less

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 91

than forty-five degrees into a deep ravine, through which, thun-
dered and roared a flashing torrent. This fearful descent over-
past, and that in perfect safety, we rolled merrily away down
hill, till we reached Colonel Beam's tavern, a neat, low-browed,
Dutch, stone farm-house, situate in an angle scooped out of a
green hill-side, with half a dozen tall and shadowy elms before
it — a bright crystal stream purling along into the horse-trough
through a miniature aqueduct of hollowed logs, and a clear cold
spring in front of it, with half a score of fat and lazy trout float-
ing in its transparent waters.

A hearty welcome, and a no less hearty meal having been
here encountered and despatched, we rattled off again, through
laden orchards and rich meadows ; passed the confluence of the
three bright rivers which issue from their three mountain gorges,
to form, by their junction, the fairest of New Jersey's rivers, the
broad Passaic ; reached the small village noted for rum-drink-
ing and quarter racing — high Pompton — thence by the Preak-
ness mountain, and Mose Canouze's tavern — whereat, in honor
of Tom's friend, a worthy of the self-same kidney with himself,
we paused awhile — to Paterson, the filthiest town, situate on
one of the loveliest rivers in the world, and famous only for the
possession, in the person of its Catholic priest, of the finest
scholar and best fellow in America, whom we unluckily found
not at home, and therefore tasted not, according to friend Har-
ry's promise, the splendid Innishowen which graces at all times
his hospitable board.

Eight o'clock brought us to Hoboken, where, by good luck,
the ferry boat lay ready — and nine o'clock had not struck when
we three sat down once again about a neat small supper-table,
before a bright coal fire, in Archer's snuggery — Tom glorying
in the prospect of the races on the morrow, and I regretting
that I had brought to its conclusion

MY FIRST WEEK IN THE WOODLANDS.

THE WARWICK WOODLANDS,

ON A SECOND VISIT.

THE WAYSIDE INN.

ON a still clear October evening, Frank Forester and Harry
Archer were sitting at the open window of a neat country tav-
ern, in a sequestered nook of Rockland County, looking out
upon as beautiful a view as ever gladdened the eyes of wander-
ing amateur or artist.

The house was a large old-fashioned stone mansion, certainly
not of later date than the commencement of the revolution ;
and probably had been, in its better days, the manor-house of
some considerable proprietor — the windows were of a form very
unusual in the States, opening like doors, with heavy wooden
mullions and small lattices, while the walls were so thick as to
form a deep embrasure, provided with a cushioned window-
seat ; the parlor, in which the friends had taken up their tem-
porary domicile, contained two of these pleasant lounges, the
larger looking out due south upon the little garden, with the
road before it, and, beyond the road, a prospect, of which more
anon — the other commanding a space of smooth green turf in
front of the stables, whereon our old acquaintance, Timothy,
was leading to and fro a pair of smoking horses. The dark-
green drag, with all its winter furniture of gaily decorated bear-
skins, stood half-seen beneath the low-arched wagon-shed.

The walls of the room — the best room of the tavern — were
pannelled with the dark glossy wood of the black cherry, and
a huge mantel-piece of the same material, took up at least one
half of the side opposite the larger window, while on the hearth
below reposed a glowing bed of red-hot hickory ashes, a foot at
least in depth, a huge log of that glorious fuel blazing upon
the massive andirons. Two large, deep gun-cases, a leathern

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 93

magazine of shot, and sundry canisters of diamond gunpowder,
B rough's, were displayed on a long table under the end win-
dow— a four-horse whip, and two fly-rods in India-rubber cases,
stood in the chimney-corner; while revelling in the luxurious
warmth of the piled hearth lay basking on the rug, three ex-
quisitely formed Blenheim spaniels of the large breed — short-
legged and bony, with ears that almost swept the ground as
they stood upright, and coats as soft and lustrous as floss
silk.

On a round table, which should have occupied the centre of
the parlor, now pulled up to the window-seat, whereon reclined
the worthies, stood a large pitcher of iced water ; a square case-
bottle of cut crystal filled, as the flavor which pervaded the
whole room sufficiently demonstrated, with superb old Antigua
Shrub ; several large rummers corresponding to the fashion of
the bottle ; a twisted taper of green wax, and a small silver
plate with six or eight cheroots, real manillas.

Supper was evidently over, and the friends, amply feasted,
were now luxuriating in the delicious indolence, half-dozing,
half-day-dreaming, of a calm sleepy smoke, modestly lubricated
by an occasional sip of the cool beverage before them. If we
except a pile of box-coats, capes, and macintoshes of every cut
and color — a travelling liquor-case which, standing open, dis-
played the tops of three more bottles similar to that on the ta-
ble, and spaces lined with velvet for all the glass in use — and
another little leathern box, which, like the liquor-case, showed
its contents of several silver plates, knives, forks, spoons, flasks
of sauce, and condiments of different kinds — the whole interior,
as a painter would have called it, has been depicted with all
accuracy.

Without, the view on which the windows opened was indeed
most lovely. The day had been very bright and calm ; there
was not a single cloud in the pale transparent heaven, and the
sun, which had shone cheerfully all day from his first rising in
the east, till now when he was hanging like a ball of bloody
fire in the thin filmy haze which curtained the horizon, was still
shooting his long rays, and casting many a shadow over tfye
slopes and hollows which diversified the scene.

Immediately across the road lay a rich velvet meadow, luxu-
riant still and green — for the preceding month had been rather
wet, and frost had not set in to nip its verdure — sloping down
southerly to a broad shallow trout-stream, which rippled all

94 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

glittering and bright over a pebbly bed, although the margin
on the hither side was somewhat swampy, with tufts of willows
and bushes of dark alder fringing it here and there, and dip-
ping their branches in its waters — the farther bank was skirted
by a tall grove of maple, hickory, and oak, with a thick under-
growth of sumach arrayed in all the gorgeous garniture of au-
tumn, purples and brilliant scarlets and chrome yellows, mixed
up and harmonized with the dark copper foliage of a few sere
beeches, and the gray trunks apparent here and there through
the thin screen of the fast falling leaves.

Beyond this grove, the bank rose bold and rich in swelling
curves, with a tine corn-field, topped already to admit every
sunbeam to the ripening ears. A buckwheat stubble, conspicu-
ous by its deep ruddy hue, and two or three brown pastures
divided by high fences, along the lines of which flourished a
copious growth of cat-briers and sumachs, with here and there
a goodly tree waving above them, made up the centre of the
picture. Beyond this cultured knoll there seemed to be a deep
pitch of the land clothed with a hanging wood of heavy tim-
ber ; and, above this again, the soil surged upward into a huge
and round-topped hill, with several golden stubbles, shining out
from the frame- work of primeval forest, which, dark with many
a mighty pine, covered the mountain to the top, except where
at its western edge it showed a huge and rifted precipice of
rock.

To the right, looking down the stream, the hills closed in
quite to the water's brink on the far side, rough and uncultiva-
ted, with many a blue and misty peak discovered through the
gaps in their bold, broken outline, and a broad, lake-like sheet,
as calm and brightly pictured as a mirror, reflecting their in-
verted beauties so wondrously distinct and vivid, that the
amazed eye might not recognise the parting between reality and
shadow. An old gray mill, deeply embosomed in a clump of
weeping willows, still verdant, though the woods were sere and
waxing leafless, explained the nature of that tranquil pool,
while, beyond that, the hills swept down from the rear of the
building, which contained the parlor whence the two sportsmen
gazed, and seemed entirely to bar the valley, so suddenly, and
in so short a curve, did it wind round their western shoulder.
To the left hand, the view was closed by a thick belt of second
growth, through which the sandy road and glittering stream
wandered away together on their mazy path, and over which

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 95

the summits of yet loftier and more rugged steeps towered
heavenward.

Over this valley they had for some time gazed in silence, till
now the broad sun sank behind the mountains, and the shrill
whistle of the quail, which had been momently audible during
the whole afternoon, ceased suddenly ; four or five night-hawks
might be seen wheeling high in pursuit of their insect prey
through the thin atmosphere, and the sharp chirrup of a soli-
tary katydid, the last of its summer tribe, was the only sound
that interrupted the faint rush of the rapid stream, which came
more clearly on the ear now that the louder noises of busy bab-
bling daylight had yielded to the stillness of approaching night.
Before long a bright gleam shot through the tufted outline of
a dark wooded hill, and shortly after, just when a gray and
misty shadow had settled down upon the half-seen landscape,
the broad full moon came soaring up above the tree-tops, pour-
ing her soft and silver radiance over the lovely valley, and
investing its rare beauties with something of romance — a sen-
timent which belongs not to the gay, gaudy sunshine.

Just at this moment, while neither of the friends felt much
inclined to talk, the door opened suddenly, and Timothy's black
head was thrust in, with a query if " they did'nt need t' waax
candles ?"

" Not yet, Tim," answered Archer, " not yet for an hour or
so — but hold a minute — how have the horses fed ?"

" T* ould gray drayed off directly, and he's gane tull t' loike
bricks — but t' bay's no but sillyish — he keeps a breaking oot
again for iver — and s'ae Ay'se give him a hot maash enow !"

" That's right. I saw he wasn't quite up to the mark the
last ten miles or so. If he don't dry off now, give him a cor-
dial ball out of the tool-chest — one of the number 3 — camphire
and cardamums and ginger ; a clove of garlic, and treacle quan-
tum suff : hey, Frank, that will set him to rights, I warrant it.
Now have you dined yourself, or supped, as the good people
here insist on calling it ?"

" Weel Ay wot, have I, sur," responded Timothy ; " an hour
agone and better."

" Exactly ; then step out yourself into the kitchen, and make
us a good cup of our own coffee, strong and hot, do you see 1
and when that's done, bring it in with the candles ; and, hark
you, run up to the bed-room and bring my netting needles
down, and the ball of silk twist, and the front of that new

98 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

game-bag, I began the other night. If you were not as lazy
as possible, friend Frank, you would bring your fly-book out,
when the light comes, and tie some hackles."

" Perhaps I may, when the light comes," Forester answered ;
" but I'm in no hurry for it ; I like of all things to look out,
and watch the changes of the night over a landscape even less
beautiful than this. One half the pleasures of field sports to
me, is other than the mere excitement. If there were nothing
but the eagerness of the pursuit, and the gratification of suc-
cessful vanity, fond as I am of shooting, I should, I believe,
have long since wearied of it ; but there are so many other
things connected with it — the wandering among the loveliest
scenery — the full enjoyment of the sweetest weather — the learn-
ing the innumerable and all-wondrous attributes and instincts
of animated nature — all these are what make up to me the
rapture I derive from woodcraft ! Why, such a scene as this
— -a scene which how few, save the vagrant sportsman, or the
countryman who but rarely appreciates the picturesque, have
ever witnessed — is enough, with the pure and tranquil thoughts
it calls up in the heart, to plead a trumpet-tongued apology, for
all the vanity, and uselessness, and cruelty, and what not, so
constantly alleged against our field sports."

"Oh! yes," cried "Harry; " yes, indeed, Frank, I perfectly
agree with you. But all that last is mere humbug—humbug,
too, of the lowest and most foolish order — I never hear a man
droning about the cruelty of field sports, but I set him down,
on the spot, either as a hypocrite or a fool, and probably a glo-
rious union of the two. When man can exist without killing
myriads of animals with every breath of vital air he draws, with
every draught of water he imbibes, with every footstep he prints
upon the turf or gravel of his garden— when he abstains from
every sort of animal food — and, above all, when he abstains
from his great pursuit of torturing his fellow men— then let
him prate, if he will, of sportsmen's cruelty.

" For show me one trade, one profession, wherein one man's
success is not based upon another's failure ; all rivalry, all com-
petition, triumph and rapture to the winner, disgrace and an-
guish to the loser ! And then these fellows, fattened on widows'
tears and orphans' misery, preach you pure homilies about the
cruelty of taking life. But you are quite right about the com-
bination of pleasures — the excitement, too, of quick motion
through the fresh air — the sense of liberty amid wide plains, or

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 97

tangled woods, or on the wild hill tops — this, surely, to the re-
flective sportsman — and who can be a true sportsman, and not
reflective — is the great charm of his pursuit."

" And do you not think that this pleasure exists in a higher
degree here in America than in our own England ?''

" As how, Frank ?— I don't take."

" Why, in the greater, I will not say beauty — for I don't
think there is greater natural beauty in the general landscape
of the States — but novelty and wild ness of the scenery ! Even
the richest and most cultivated tracts of America, that I have
seen, except the Western part of New York, which is unques-
tionably the ugliest, and dullest, and most unpoetical region on
earth, have a young untamed freshness about them, which you
do not find in England.

" In the middle of the high-tilled and fertile cornfield you
come upon some sudden hollow, tangled with brake and bush,
which hedge in some small pool where float the brilliant cups
and smooth leaves of the water lily, and whence, on your ap-
proach, up springs the blue-winged teal or gorgeous wood-duck.
Then the long sweeping woodlands, embracing in themselves
•every variety of ground, deep marshy swamp, and fertile level
thick-set with giant timber, and sandy barrens with their scrubby
undergrowth, and difficult rocky steeps ; and, above all, the
seeming and comparative solitude — the dinner carried along
with you and eaten under the shady tree, beside the bubbling
basin of some spring — all this is vastly more exciting, than
walking through trim stubbles and rich turnip fields, and lunch-
ing on bread and cheese and home-brewed, in a snug farm-
house. In short, field sports here have a richer range, are much
more various, wilder — "

" Hold there, Frank ; hold hard there ; I cannot concede the .
wilder, not the really wilder — seemingly they are wilder ; for,
as you say, the scenery is wilder — and all the game, with the
exception of the English snipe, being wood-haunters, you are
led into rougher districts. But oh ! no, no ! — the field sports
are not really wilder — in the Atlantic States at least — nor half
so wild as those of England !"

" I should like to hear you prove that, Archer," answered
Frank, " for I am constantly beset with the superiority of Amer-
ican field sports to tame English preserve shooting !''

** Pooh ! pooh ! that is only by people who know nothing
about either ; by people who fancy that a preserve means a
5

08 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

park full of tame birds, instead of a range, perhaps, of many
thousand acres, of the very wildest, barest moorland, stocked
with the wariest and shyest of the feathered race, the red grouse.
But what I mean to say, is this, that every English game-bird —
to use an American phrase — is warier and wilder than its com-
peer in the United States. Who, for instance, ever saw in Eng-
land, Ireland, or Scotland, eighteen or twenty snipe or wood-
cock, lying within a space of twelve yards square, two or three
dogs pointing in the midst of them, and the birds rising one
by one, the gunshots rattling over them, till ten or twelve are
on the ground before there is time to bag one.

" English partridge will, I grant, do this sometimes, on very
warm days in September ; but let a man go out with his heavy
gun and steady dog late in December, or the month preceding
it, let him see thirty or more covies — as on good ground he
may — let him see every covey rise at a hundred yards, and fly
a mile ; let him be proud and glad to bag his three or four
brace ; and then tell me that there is any sport in these Atlan-
tic States so wild as English winter field-shooting.

" Of grouse shooting on the bare hills, which, by the way,
are wilder, more solitary far, and more aloof from the abodes of
men, than any thing between Boston and the Green Bay, I do
not of course speak ; as it confessedly is the most wild and
difficult kind of shooting.

" Still less of deer stalking — for Scrope's book has been read
largely even here ; and no man, how prejudiced soever, can
compare with the standing at a deer-path all day long waiting
till a great timid beast is driven up within ten* yards of your
muzzle, with that extraordinary sport on bald and barren moun-
tains, where nothing but vast and muscular exertion, the eye of
the eagle, and the cunning of the serpent, can bring you within
range of the wild cattle of the hills.

"Battue shooting, i grant, is tame work; but partridge
shooting, after the middle of October, is infinitely wilder, re-
quiring more exertion and more toil than quail shooting. Even
the pheasant — the tamest of our English game — is infinitely
bolder on the wing than the ruffed grouse, or New York part-
ridge ; while about snipe and woodcock there exists no com-
parison— since by my own observation, confirmed by the opinion
of old sportsmen, I am convinced that nine-tenths of the snipe
and cock bagged in the States, are killed between fifteen and
twenty paces ; while I can safely say, I never saw a full snipe

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 99

rise in England within that average distance. Quail even, the
hardest bird to kill, the swiftest and the boldest on the wing,
are very rarely killed further than twenty-five to thirty, whereas
you may shoot from daylight to sunset in England, after Octo-
ber, and not pick up a single partridge within the farthest, as a
minimum distance."

"Well! that's all true, I grant," said Forester, "yet even
you allow that it is harder to kill game here than at home ; and
if I do not err, I have heard you admit that the best shot in all
England could be beat easily by the crack shots on this side ;
how does all this agree !"

" Why very easily, I think," Harry replied, " though to the
last remark, I added in his first season here ! Now that Amer-
ican field sports are wilder in one sense, I grant readily; with
the exception of snipe-shooting here, and grouse-shooting in
Scotland, the former being tamer, in all senses, than any Eng-
lish— the latter wilder in all senses than any American — field-
sport.

" American sporting, however, is certainly wilder, in so much
as it is pursued on much wilder ground ; in so much as we
have a greater variety of game — and in so much as we have
many more snap shots, and fewer fair dead points.

" Harder it is, I grant ; for it is all, with scarcely an excep-
tion, followed in very thick and heavy covert — covert to which
the thickest woods I ever saw in England are but as open
ground. Moreover, the woods are so very large that the gun
must be close up with the dog ; and consequently the shots
must, half of them, be fired in attitudes most awkward, and in
ground which would, I think, at home, be generally styled im-
practicable ; thirdly, all the summer shooting here is made with
the leaf on — with these thick tangled matted swamps clad in
the thickest foliage.

" Your dogs must beat within twenty yards at farthest, and
when they stand you are aware of the fact rather by ceasing to
hear their motion, than by seeing them at point ; I am satisfied
that of six pointed shots in summer shooting, three at the least
must be treated as snap shots ! Many birds must be shot at —
and many are killed — which are never seen at all, till they are
bagged ; and many men here will kill three out of four summer
woodcock, day in and day out, where an English sportsman,
however crack a shot he might be, would give the thing up in
despair in half an hour.

100 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" Practice, however, soon brings this all to rights. The first
season I shot here — I was a very fair, indeed a good, young
shot, when I came out hither — not at all crack, but decidedly
better than the common run ! — the first day I shot was on 4th
of July, 1832, the place Seer's swamp, the open end of it; the
witness old Tom Draw — and there I missed, in what we now
call open covert, fourteen birds running ; and left the place in
despair — I could not, though I missed at home by shooting too
quick — I could not, for the life of me, shoot quick enough.
Even you, Frank, shoot three times as well as you did, when
you began here ; yet you began in autumn, which is decidedly
a great advantage, and came on by degrees, so that the follow-
ing summer you were not so much nonplussed, though I re-
member the first day or two, you bitched it badly."

" Well, I believe I must knock under, Harry," Forester an-
swered ; " and here comes Timothy with the coffee, and so we
will to bed, that taken, though I do want to argufy with you,
on some of your other notions about dogs, scent, and so forth.
But do you think the Commodore will join us here to-morrow ?"

" No 1 I don't think so," Harry said, " I know it ! Did not
he arrive in New York last first of July, from a yachting tour at
four o'clock in the afternoon ; receive my note saying that I
was off to Tom's that morning ; and start by the Highlander at
five that evening ? Did he not get a team at Whited's and
travel all night through, and find me just sitting down to break-
fast, and change his toggery, and out, and walk all day — like a
trump as he is ? And did not we, by the same token, bag —
besides twenty-five more killed that we could not find — one
hundred and fifteen cock between ten o'clock and sunset ; while
you, you false deceiver, were kicking up your heels in Buffalo ?
Is not all this a true bill, and have you now the impudence to
ask me whether / think the Commodore will come ? I only
wish I was as sure of a day's sport to-morrow, as I am of his
being to the fore at luncheon time !"

" At luncheon time, hey ? I did not know that you looked
for him so early ! Will he be in time, then, for the afternoon's
shooting ?"

" Why, certainly he will," returned Archer. " The wind has
been fair up the river all day long, though it has been but light ;
and the lanthe will run up before it like a race-horse. I should
not be much surprised if he were here to breakfast."

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 101

" And that we may be up in time for him, if perchance he
should, let us to bed forthwith," said Frank with a heavy yawn.

" I am content/' answered Harry, finishing his cup of coffee,
and flinging the stump of his cheroot into the fire. " Good-
night ! Timothy will call you in the morning."

" Goodnight, old fellow."

And the friends parted merrily, in prospect of a pleasant day's
sport on the morrow.

THE MORNING'S SPORT.

IT was not yet broad daylight when Harry Archer, who had,
as was usual with him on his sporting tour, arisen with the lark,
was sitting in the little parlor I have before described, close to
the chimney corner, where a bright lively fire was already burn-
ing, and spreading a warm cheerful glow through the apart-
ment.

The large round table, drawn up close to the hearth, was
covered with a clean though coarse white cloth, and laid for
breakfast, with two cups and saucers, flanked by as many plates
and egg-cups, although as yet no further preparations for the
morning meal, except the presence of a huge home-made loaf
and a large roll of rich goklen-hued butter, had been made by
the neat-handed Phillis of the country inn. Two candles were
lighted, for though the clay had broken, the sun was not yet
high enough to cast his rays into that deep and rock-walled val-
ley, and by their light Archer was busy with the game-bag, the
front of which he had finished netting on the previous night.

Frank Forester had not as yet made Irs appearance ; and
still, while the gigantic copper kettle bubbled and steamed away
upon the hearth, discoursing eloquent music, and servant after
servant bustled in, one with a cold quail-pie, another with a
quart jug of cream, and fresh eggs ready to be boiled by the
fastidious epicures in person, he steadily worked on, housewife
and saddler's silk, and wax and scissors ready to his hand; and
when at last the door flew open, and the delinquent comrade
entered, he flung his finished job upon the chair, and gathered
up his implements, with

"Now, Frank, let's lose no time, but get our breakfasts.

102 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

Halloa ! Tim, bring the rockingham and the tea-chest ; do you
hear!"

"Well, Harry, so you've done the game-bag," exclaimed the
other, as he lifted it up and eyed it somewhat superciliously —
" Well, it is a good one certainly ; but you are the queerest
fellow I ever met, to give yourself unnecessary trouble. Here
you have been three days about this bag, hard all ; and when
it's done, it is not half as good a one as you can buy at Cooper's
for a dollar, with all this new-fangled machinery of loops and
buttons, and I don't know what."

" And you, Master Frank," retorted Harry, nothing daunted,
" to be a good shot and a good sportsman — which, with some
few exceptions, I must confess you are — are the most culpably
and wilfully careless about your appointments I ever met. I
don't call a man half a sportsman, who has not every thing he
wants at hand for an emergency, at half a minute's notice. Now
it so happens that you cannot get, in New York at all, anything
like a decent game-bag — a little fancy-worked French or Ger-
man jigmaree machine you can get anywhere, I grant, that will
do well enough for a fellow to carry on his shoulders, who goes
out robin-gunning, but nothing for your man to carry, wherein to
keep your birds cool, fresh, and unmutilated. Now, these loops
and buttons, at which you laugh, will make the difference of a
week at least in the bird's keeping, if every hour or so you
empty your pockets — wherein I take it for granted you put
your birds as fast as you bag them — smooth down their plum-
age gently, stretch their legs out, and hang them by the heads,
running the button down close to the neck of each. In this
way this bag, which is, as you see, half a yard long, by a quar-
ter and a half a quarter deep, made double, one bag of fustian,
with a net front, which makes two pockets — will carry fifty-one
quail or woodcock, no one of them pressing upon, or interfering
with, another, and it would carry sixty-eight if I had put ano-
ther row of loops in the inner bag ; which I did not, that I
might have the bottom vacant to carry a few spare articles, such
as a bag of Westley Richards' caps, and a couple of dozen of
Ely's cartridges."

" Oh ! that's all very well," said Frank, " but who the deuce
can be at the bore of it ?"

'• Why be at the bore of shooting at all, for that matter ?"
replied Harry — "I, for one, think that if a thing is worth doing
at all, it is worth doing well — and I can't bear to kill a hundred

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 103

or a hundred and fifty birds> as our party almost always do out
here, and then be obliged to throw them away, just for want of
a little care. Why, I was shooting summer cock one July day
two years ago — there had been heavy rain in the early morning,
and the grass and bushes were very wet — Jem Blake was with
me, and we had great sport, and he laughed at me like the
deuce for taking my birds out of my pocket at the end of every
hour's sport, and making Timothy smooth them down carefully,
and bag them all after my fashion. Egad I had the laugh
though, when we got home at night !"

" How so," asked Frank, " in what way had you the laugh ?"

" Simply in this — a good many of the birds were very hard
shot, as is always the case in summer shooting, and all of them
got more or less wet, as did the pockets of Jem's shooting jacket,
wherein he persisted in carrying his birds all day — the end was,
that when we got home at night, it having been a close, hot,
steamy day, he had not one bird which was not more or less
tainted* — and, as you know of course, when taint has once be-
gun, nothing can check it."

" Ay ! ay ! well that indeed's a reason ; if you can't buy
such a bag, especially !"

" Well, you cannot then, I can tell you ! and I'm glad you're
convinced for once ; and here comes breakfast — so now let us to
work, that we may get on our ground as early as may be. For
quail you cannot be too early ; for if you don't find them while
they are rambling on their feeding ground, it is a great chance
if you find them at all."

" But, after all, you can only use up one or two bevies or so ;
and, that done, you must hunt for them in the basking time of
day, after all's done and said," replied Frank, who seemed to
have got up somewhat paradoxically given that morning.

" Not at all, Frank, not at all," answered Harry — u that is
if you know your ground ; and know it to be well stocked ; and
have a good marker with you."

" Oh ! this is something new of yours — some strange device
fantastical — let's have it, pray."

" Certainly you shall ; you shall have it now in precept, and
in an hour or two in practice. You see those stubbles on the
hill — in those seven or eight fields there are, or at least should

* This is a fact— thirty birds were thrown away at night, which had
beea killed that same day.

104 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

be, some fire bevies ; there is good covert, good easy covert all
about, and we can mark our birds down easily ; now, when I
find one bevy, I shall get as many barrels into it as I can, mark
it down as correctly as possible, and then go and look for
another."

" What ! and not follow it up ? Now, Harry, that's mere
stuff; wait till the scent's gone cold, and till the dogs can't
find them ? 'Gad, that's clever, any way !"

" Exactly the reverse, friend Frank ; exactly the reverse. If
you follow up a bevy, of quail mark you, on the instant, it's
ten to one almost that you don't spring them. If, on the con-
trary, you wait for half an hour, you are sure of them. How
it is, I cannot precisely tell you. I have sometimes thought
that quail have the power of holding in their scent, whether
purposely or naturally — from the effect of fear perhaps con-
tracting the pores, and hindering the escape of the effluvia — I
know not, but I am far from being convinced even now that it
is not so. A very good sportsman, and true friend of mine,
insists upon it that birds give out no scent except from the feet,
and that, consequently, if they squat without running they can-
not be found. I do not, however, believe the theory, and hold
it to be disproved by the fact that dead birds do give out scent,
I have generally observed that there is no difficulty in retrieving
dead quail, but that, wounded, they are constantly lost. But,
be that as it may, the birds pitch down, each into the best bit
of covert he can find, and squat there like so many stones, leav-
ing no trail or taint upon the grass or bushes, and being of
course proportionally hard to find ; in half an hour they will
begin, if not disturbed, to call and travel, and you can hunt
them up, without the slightest trouble. If you have a very
large tract of country to beat, and birds are very scarce, of
course it would not answer to pass on ; nor ever, even if they
are plentiful, in wild or windy weather, or in large open woods ;
but where you have a fair ground, lots of birds, and fine weath-
er, I would always beat on in a circuit, for the reason I have
given you. In the first place, every bevy you flush flies from
its feeding to its basking ground, so that you get over all the
first early, and know where to look afterward; instead of killing
off one bevy, and then going blundering on, at blind guess
work, and finding nothing. In the second place, you have a
chance of driving two or three bevies into one brake, and of
getting sport proportionate ; and in the third place, as I have

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 105

told you, you are much surer of finding marked birds after an
hour's lapse, than on the moment."

" I will do you the justice to say," Forester replied, " that
you always make a tolerably good fight in support of your
opinions ; and so you have done now, but I want to hear some-
thing more about this matter of holding scent — facts ! facts !
and let me judge for myself."

" Well, Frank, give me a bit more of that pie in the mean
time, and I will tell you the strongest case in point I ever wit-
nessed. I was shooting near Stamford, in Connecticut, three

years ago, with C K , and another friend ; we had

three as good dogs out, as ever had a trigger drawn over them.
My little imported yellow and white setter, Chase, after which
this old rascal is called — which Mike Sandford considered the
best-nosed dog he had ever broken — a capital young pointer
dog of K 's, which has since turned out, as I hear, superla-
tive, and P 's old and stanch setter Count. It was the mid-
dle of a fine autumn day, and the scenting was very uncom-
monly good. One of our beaters flushed a bevy of quail very
wide of us, and they came over our heads down a steep hill-
side, and all lighted in a small circular hollow, without a bit of
underbrush or even grass, full of tali thrifty oak trees, of per-
haps twenty-five years' growth. They were not much out of
gun-shot, and we all three distinctly saw them light ; and I ob-
served them flap and fold their wings as they settled. We
walked straight to the spot, and beat it five or six times over,
not one of our dogs ever drawing, and not one bird rising. We
could not make it out ; my friends thought they had treed, and
laughed at me when I expressed my belief that they were still
before us, under our very noses. The ground was covered only
by a deep bed of sere decaying oak leaves. Well, we went on,
and beat all round the neighborhood within a quarter of a mile,
and did not find a bird, when lo ! at the end of perhaps half
an hour, we heard them calling — followed the cry back to that
very hollow ; the instant we entered it, all the three dogs made
game, drawing upon three several birds, roaded them up, and
pointed steady, and we had half an hour's good sport, and we
were all convinced that the birds had been there all the time. I
have seen many instances of the same kind, and more particu-
larly with wing-tipped birds, but none I think so tangible as
this I"

5*

106 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" Well, I am not a convert, Harry ; but, as the Chancellor
said, I doubt."

" And that I consider not a little, from such a positive wretch
as you are ; but come, we have done breakfast, and it's broad
daylight. Come, Timothy, on with the bag and belts ; he
breakfasted before we had got up, and gave the dogs a bite*"

" Which dogs do you take, Harry ; and do you use cart-
ridge ?"

" Oh ! the setters for the morning ; they are the only fellows
for the stubble ; we should be all day with the cockers ; even
setters, as we must break them here for wood shooting, have
not enough of speed or dash for the open, Cartridges ? yes !
I shall use a loose charge in my right, and a blue cartridge in
my left ; later in the season I use a blue in my right and a red
in my left. It just makes the difference between killing with
both, or with one barrel. The blue kills all of twenty, and the
red all of thirty-five yards further than loose shot ; and they
kill dean /"

" Yet many good sportsmen dislike them," Frank replied ;
" they say they ball I"

" They do not now, if you load with them properly ; formerly
they would do so at times, but that defect is now rectified — -
with the blue and red cartridges at least — the green, which are
only fit for wild-fowl, or deer-shooting, will do so sometimes,
but very rarely ; and they will execute surprisingly. For a bad
or uncertain rifle-shot, the green cartridge, with SG shot is the
thing — twelve good-sized slugs, propelled with force enough to
go through an inch plank, at eighty yards, within a compass
of three feet — but no wad must be used, either upon the car-
tridge or between that and the powder ; the small end must be
inserted downward, and the cartridge must be chosen so that
the wad at the top shall fit the gun, the case being two sizes
less than the calibre. With these directions no man need make
a mistake ; and, if he can cover a bird fairly, and is cool enough
not to fire within twenty yards, he will never complain of car-
tridges, after a single trial. Kemember, too, that vice versa to
the rule of a loose charge, the heavier you load with powder,
the closer will your cartridge carry. The men who do not like
cartridges are — you may rely upon it — of the class which pre-
fers scattering guns. I always use them, except in July shoot-
ing, and I shall even put a few red in my pockets, in case the
wind should get up in the afternoon. Besides which, I always

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 107

take along two buckshot cartridges, in case of happening, as
Timothy would say, on some big varmint. I have four pockets
in my shooting waistcoat, each stitched off into four compartr
merits — each of which holds, erect, one cartridge — you cannot
carry them loose in your pocket, as they are very apt to break.
Another advantage of this is, that in no way can you carry shot
with so little inconvenience, as to weight ; besides which, you
load one third quicker, and your gun never leads !'J

" Well ! I believe I will take some to-day — but don't you
wait for the Commodore ?''

" No ! He drives up, as I told you, from Nyack, where he
lands from his yacht, and will be here at twelve o'clock to
luncheon ; if he had been coming for the morning shooting, he
would have been here ere this. By that time we shall have
bagged twenty-five or thirty quail, and a ruffed grouse or two ;
besides driving two or three bevies down into the meadows and
the alder bushes by the stream, which are quite full of wood-
cock. After luncheon, with the Commodore's aid, we will pick
up these stragglers, and all the timber-doodles !"

In another moment the setters were unchained, and came
careering, at the top of their speed, into the breakfast room,
where Harry stood before the fire, loading his double gun, while
Timothy was buttoning on his left leggin. Frank, meanwhile,
had taken up his gun, and quietly sneaked out of the door, two
flat irregular reports explaining, half a moment after, the pur-
port of his absence.

" Well, now, Frank, that is" — expostulated Harry — " that is
just the most snobbish thing I ever saw you do ; aint you
ashamed of yourself now, you genuine cockney!"

" Not a bit — my gun has not been used these three months,
and something might have got into the chamber !"

" Something might not, if when you cleaned it last you had
laid a wad in the centre of a bit of greased rag three inches
square and rammed it about an inch down the barrel, leaving
the ends of the linen hanging out. And by running your rod
down you could have ascertained the fact, without unnecessarily
fouling your piece. A gun has no right ever to miss fire now ;
and never does, if you use Westley Richards' caps, and diamond
gunpowder — putting the caps on the last thing — which has the
further advantage of being much the safer plan, and seeing that
the powder is up to the cones before you do so. If it is not so,
let your hammer down, and give a smart tap to the under side

108 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

of the breech, holding it uppermost, and you will never need a
picker ; or at least almost never. Remember, too, that the best
picker in the world is a strong needle headed with sealing wax.
And now that you have finished loading, and I lecturing, just
jump over the fence to your right ; and that footpath will bring
us to the stepping-stones across the Ramapo. By Jove, but we
shall have a lovely morning."

He did so, and away they went, with the dogs folio wing-
steadily at the heel, crossed the small river dry-shod, climbed
up the wooded bank by dint of hand and foot, and reached the
broad brown corn stubble. Harry, however, did not wave his
dogs to the right-hand and left, but calling them in, quietly
plodded along the headland, and climbed another fence, and
crossed a buckwheat stubble, still without beating or disturbing
any ground, and then another field full of long bents and rag-
wort, an old deserted pasture, and Frank began to grumble,
but just then a pair of bars gave access to a wide fifty acre lot,
which had been wheat, the stubble standing still knee deep, and
yielding a rare covert.

" Now we are at the far end of our beat, and we have got the
wind too in the dogs' noses, Master Frank — and so hold up,
good lads," said Harry. And off the setters shot like lightning,
crossing and quartering their ground superbly.

" There ! there ! well done, old Chase — a dead stiff point
already, and Shot backing him as steady as a rail. Step up,
Frank, step up quietly, and let us keep the hill of them."

They came up close, quite close to the stanch dog, and then,
but not till then, he feathered and drew on, and Shot came
crawling up till his nose was but a few inches in the rear of
Chase's, whose point he never thought of taking from him.
Now they are both upon the game. See how they frown and
slaver, the birds are close below their noses.

Whirr — r — r ! " There they go — a glorious bevy !" exclaimed
Harry, as he cocked his right barrel and cut down the old cock
bird, which had risen rather to his right hand, with his loose
charge — " blaze away, Frank !" Bang — bang ! — and two more
birds came fluttering down, and then he pitched his gun up to
his eye again, and sent the cartridge after the now distant bevy,
and to Frank's admiration a fourth bird was keeled over mo^t
beautifully, and clean killed, while crossing to the right, at
forty-six yards, as they paced it afterward.

" Now mark ! mark, Timothy — mark, Frank !" And shading

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 109

their eyes from the level sunbeams, the three stood gazing
steadily after the rapid bevy. They cross the pasture, skim
very low over the brush fence of the cornfield — they disappear
behind it — they are down I no ! no ! not yet — they are just skirt-
ino* the summit of the topped maize stalks — now they are down
indeed, just by that old ruined hovel, where the cat-briers and
sumach have overspread its-cellar and foundation with thick un-
derwood. And all the while the sturdy dogs are crouching at
their feet unmoving.

" Will you not follow those, Harry ?" Forester inquired —
" there are at least sixteen of them !"

" Not I," said Archer, " not I, indeed, till I have beat this
fold — I expect to put up another bevy among those little crags
there in the corner, where the red cedars grow — and if we do,
they will strike down the fence of the buckwheat stubble — that
stubble we must make good, and the rye beside it, and drive,
if possible, all that we find before us to the corn field. Don't
be impatient, and you'll see in time that I am in the right."

No more words were now wasted ; the four birds were bagged
without trouble, and the sportsmen being in the open, were hand-
ed over on the spot to Tim ; who stroked their freckled breasts,
and beautifully mottled wing-coverts and backs, with a caress-
ing touch, as though he loved them ; and finally, in true Jack
Ketch style, tucked them up severally by the neck. Archer was
not mistaken in his prognostics — another bevy had run into the
dwarf cedars from the stubble at the sound of the firing, and
were roaded up in right good style, first one dog, and then the
other, leading ; but without any jealousy or haste.

They had, however, run so far, that they had got wild, and,
as there was no bottom covert on the crags, had traversed them
quite over to the open, on the far side — and, just as Archer was
in the act of warning Forester to hurry softly round and head
them, they flushed at thirty yards, and had flown some five
more before they were in sight, the feathery evergreens for a
while cutting off the view — the dogs stood dead at the sound
of their wings. Then, as they came in sight, Harry discharged
both barrels very quickly — the loose shot first, which evidently
took effect, for one bird cowered and seemed about to fall, but
gathered wing again, and went on for the present — the cartridge,
which went next, although the bevy had flown ten yards fur-
ther, did its work clean, and stopped its bird. Frank fired but
once, and killed, using his cartridge first, and thinking it in vain

110 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

to fire the loose shot. The remaining birds skimmed down the
hill, and lighted in the thick bushy hedge-row, as Archer had
foreseen.

" So much for Ely !" exclaimed Harry — " had we both used
two of them, we should have bagged four then. As it is, I
have killed one which we shall not get ; a thing that I most
particularly hate."

" That bird will rise again,'' said Frank.

" Never!" replied the other, " he has one, if not two, shot in
him, well forward — if I am not much mistaken, before the wing
— he is dead now ! but let us on. These we must follow, for
they are on our line ; you keep this side the fence, and I will
cross it with the dogs — come with me, Timothy."

In a few minutes more there was a dead point at the hedge-
row.

" Look to, Frank !"

" Ay ! ay ! Poke them out, Tim ;" then followed sundry
bumps and threshings of the briers, and out with a noisy flutter
burst two birds under Forester's nose. Bang ! bang !

" The first shot too quick, altogether," muttered Archer ;
"Ay, he has missed one ; mark it, Tim — there he goes down in
the corn, by jingo — you've got that bird, Frank ! That's well !
Hold up, Shot" — another point within five yards. " Look out
again, Frank."

But this time vainly did Tim poke, and thrash, and peer into
the bushes — yet still Shot stood, stiff as a marble statue — then
Chase drew up and snuffed about, and pushed his head and
fore-legs into the matted briers, and thereupon a muzzling noise
ensued, and forthwith out he came, mouthing a dead bird,
warm still, and bleeding from the neck and breast.

" Frank, he has got my bird — and shot, just as I told you,
through the neck and near the great wing joint — good dog I
good dog !"

" The devil 1"

" Yes, the devil ! but look out man, here is yet one more
point ;" and this time ten or twelve birds flushed upon Archer's
side ; he slew, as usual, his brace, and as they crossed, at long
distance, Frank knocked down one more — the rest flew to the
corn-field.

In the middle of the buckwheat they flushed another, and, in
the rye, another bevy, both of which crossed the stream, and
settled down among the alders. They reached the corn-field,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. HI

and picked Up their birds there, quite as fast as Frank himself
desired — three ruffed grouse they had bagged, and four rabbits,
in a small dingle full of thorns, before they reached the corn ;
and just as the tin horns were sounding for noon and dinner
from many a neighboring farm, they bagged their thirty-fourth
quail. At the same moment, the rattle of a distant wagon on
the hard road, and a loud cheer replying to the last shot, an-
nounced the Commodore ; who pulled up at the tavern door just
as they crossed the stepping-stones, having made a right good
morning's work, with a dead certainty of better sport in the
afternoon, since they had marked two untouched bevies, thirty-
five birds at least, beside some ten or twelve more stragglers
into the alder brakes, which Harry knew to hold — moreover,
thirty woodcock, as he said, at the fewest.

" Well ! Harry," exclaimed Frank, as he set down his gun,
and sat down to the table, "I must for once knock under —
practice has borne out your precepts"

THE WOODCOCK.

LUNCHEON was soon discussed, a noble cold quail pie and a
spiced round of beef, which formed the most essential parts
thereof, displaying in their rapidly diminished bulk ocular evi-
dence of the extent of sportinen's appetites ; a single glass of
shrub and water followed, cheroots were lighted, and forth the
comrades sallied, the Commodore inquiring as they went what
were the prospects of success.

" You fellows/' he concluded, " have, I suppose, swept the
ground completely."

" That you shall see directly," answered Archer ; " I shall
make you no promises. But see how evidently Grouse recol-
lects those dogs of mine, though it is nearly a year since they
have met ; don't you think so, A >?"

" To be sure I do," replied the Commodore ; " I saw it the
first moment you came up — had they been strangers he would
have tackled them upon the instant ; and instead of that he be-
gan wagging his tail, and wriggling about, and playing with
them. Oh ! depend upon it, dogs think, and remember, and
reflect far more than we imagine — "

112 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

"Oh! run back, Timothy — run back!" here Archer inter-
rupted him — " we don't want you this afternoon. Harness the
nags and pack the wagon, and put them to, at five — we shall
be at home by then, for we intend to be at Tom's to-night.
Now look out, Frank, those three last quail we marked in from
the hill dropped in the next field, where the ragwort stands so
thick ; and five to one, as there is a thin growth of brushwood
all down this wall side, they will have run down hither. Why,
man alive ! you've got no copper caps on !"

" By George ! no more I have — 1 took them off when I laid
down my gun in the house, and forgot to repliice them.''

" And a very dangerous thing you did in taking them off,
permit me to assure you. Any one but a fool, or a very young
child, knows at once that a gun with caps on is loaded. You
leave yours on the table without caps, and in comes some med-
dling chap or other, puts on one to try the locks, or to frighten
his sweetheart, or for some other no less sapient purpose, and
off it goes ! and if it kill no one, it's God's mercy ! Never do
that again, Frank !"

Meanwhile they had arrived within ten yards of the low
rickety stone Avail, skirted by a thin fringe of saplings, in which
Archer expected to find game — Grouse, never in what might be
called exact command, had disappeared beyond it.

" Hold up, good dogs !" cried Harry, and as he spoke away
went Shot and Chase — the red dog, some three yards ahead,
jumped on the wall, and, in the act of bounding over it, saw
Grouse at point beyond. Rigid as stone he stood upon that
tottering ridge, one hind foot drawn up in the act of pointing,
for both the fore were occupied in clinging to some trivial ine-
qualities of the rough coping, his feathery flag erect, his black
eye fixed, and his lip slavering ; for so hot was the scent that it
reached his exquisitely fashioned organs, though Grouse was
many feet advanced between him and the game. Shot backed
at the wall-foot, seeing the red dog only, and utterly uncon-
scious that the pointer had made the game beyond.

"By Jove! but that is beautiful !" exclaimed the Commo-
dore. " That is a perfect picture ! — the very perfection of
steadiness and breaking."

They crossed the wall, and poor Shot, in the rear, saw them
no more ; his instinct strongly, aye ! naturally, tempted him to
break in, but second nature, in the shape of discipline, prevailed ;
and, though he trembled with excitement, he moved not an inch.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 113

Grouse was as firm as iron, his nose within six inches of a bunch
of wintergreen, pointed directly downward, and his head cocked
a little on one side — they stepped up to him, and, still on the
wall-top, Chase held to his uneasy attitude.

" Now, then," said Harry, " look out, till I kick him up."

No sooner said than done — the toe of his thick shooting-boot
crushed the slight evergreen, and out whirred, with his white
chaps and speckled breast conspicuous, an old cock quail. He
rose to Forester, but ere that worthy had even cocked his gun
— for he had now adopted Archer's plan, and carried his piece
always at half cock, till needed — flew to the right across the
Commodore ; so Frank released his hammer and brought down

his Manton, while A deliberately covered, and handsomely

cut down the bird at h've-and-twenty yards.

Grouse made a movement to run in, but came back instantly
when called.

" Just look back, if you please, one moment, before loading,'*
said Harry, " for that down-charge is well worth looking at."

And so indeed it was — for there, upon the wall-top, where he
had been balancing, Chase had contrived to lie down at the
gunshot — wagging his stern slightly to and fro, with his white
fore-paws hanging down, and his head couched between them,
his haunches propped up on the coping stone, and his whole at-
titude apparently untenable for half a minute.

" Now, load away for pity's sake, as quickly as you can ; that
posture must be any thing but pleasant."

This was soon done ; inasmuch as the Commodore is not ex-
actly one 'to dally in such matters ; and when his locks ticked,
as he drew the hammers to half-cock, Chase quietly dismounted
from his perch, and Shot's head and fore-paws appeared above
the barrier ; but not till Archer's hand gave the expected signal
did the stanch brutes move on.

u Come, Shot, good dog — it is but fair you should have some
part of the fun ! Seek dead ! seek dead ! that's it, sir ! Toho !
steady ! Fetch him, good lad ! Well done !"

In a few minutes' space, four or five more birds came to
bag — they had run, at the near report, up the wall side among
the bushes, and the dogs footed them along it, now one and
now another taking the lead successively, but without any eager-
ness or raking — looking round constantly, each to observe his
comrades' or his master's movements, and pointing slightly, but

. •

114 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

not steadily, at every foot, till at the last all three, in different
places, stood almost simultaneously — all three dead points.

One bird jumped up to Frank, which he knocked over. A
double shot fell to the Commodore, who held the centre of the
line, and dropped both cleverly — the second, a long shot, wing-
tipped only. Harry flushed three and killed two clean, both
within thirty paces, and then covered the third bird with his
empty barrels — but, though no shot could follow from that
quarter, he was not to escape scot free, for wheeling short to the
left hand, and flying high, he crossed the Commodore in easy
distance, and afterward gave Forester a chance.

44 Try him, Frank," halloaed Archer — and "It's no .use!"

cried A , almost together, just as he raised his gun, and

levelled it a good two feet before the quail.

But it was use, and Harry's practised eye had judged the
distance more correctly than the short sight of the Commodore
permitted — the bird quailed instantly as the shot struck, but
flew on notwithstanding, slanting down wind, however, towards
the ground, and falling on the hill-side at a full hundred yards.

" We shall not get him," Forester exclaimed ; 4: and I am
sorry for it, since it was a good shot."

" A right good shot," responded Harry, "and we shall get
him. He fell quite dead ; I saw him bounce up, like a ball, when

he struck the hard ground. But A 's second bird is only

wing-tipped, and I don't think we shall get him ; for the ground
where he fell is very tussocky and full of grass, and if he creeps
in, as they mostly will do, into some hole in the bog-ground, it
is ten to one against the best dog in America !"

And so it came to pass, for they did bag Forester's, and all
the other quail except the Commodore's, which, though the
dogs trailed him well, and worked like Trojans, they could not
for their lives make out.

After this little rally they went down to the alders by the
stream-side, and had enough to do, till it was growing rapidly
too dark to shoot — for the woodcock were very plentiful — it
was sweet ground, too, not for feeding only, but for lying, and
that, as Harry pointed out, is a great thfng in the autumn.

The grass was short and still rich under foot, although it
froze hard every night ; but all along the brook's marge there
were many small oozy bubbling springlets, which it required a
stinging night to congeal ; and round these the ground was
poached up by the cattle, and laid bare in spots of deep, soft,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 115

black loam ; and the innumerable chalkings told the experienced
eye at half a glance, that, where they laid up for the night so-
ever, here was their feeding ground, and here it had been
through the autumn.

But this was not all, for at every ten or twenty paces was a
dense tuft of willow bushes, growing for the most part upon the
higher knolls where it was dry and sunny, their roots heaped
round with drift wood, from the decay of which had shot up a
dense tangled growth of cat-briers. In these the birds were ly-
ing, all but some five or six which had run out to feed, and
were flushed, fat, and large, and lazy, quite in the open meadow.

kt They stay here later," Harry said, as they bagged the last
bird, which, be it observed, was the twenty-seventh, "' than any
where I know. Here I have killed them when there was ice
thicker than a dollar on all the waters round about, and when
you might see a thin and smoke-like mist boiling up from each
springlet. Kill them all off to-day, and you will find a dozen
fresh birds here to-morrow, and so on for a fortnight — they
come down from the high ground as it gets too cold for them
to endure their high and raritied atmosphere, and congregate
hither!"

" And why not more in number at a time ?" asked A .

" Ay ! there we are in the dark — we do not know sufficiently
the habits of the bird to speak with certainty. I do not think
they are pugnacious, and yet you never find more on a feeding
ground than v it will well accommodate for many days, nay
weeks, together. One might imagine that their migrations
would be made en masse, that all the birds upon these neighbor-
ing hills would crowd down to this spot together, and feed here
till it was exhausted, and then on — but this is not so ! I know
fifty small spots like this, each a sure find in the summer for
three or four broods, say from eight to twelve birds. During
the summer, when you have killed the first lot, no more return
— but the moment the frost begins, there you will find them —
never exceeding the original eight or ten in number, but keep-
ing up continually to that mark — and whether you kill none at
all, or thirty birds a week, there you will always find about that
number, and in no case any more. Those that are killed oft'
are supplied, within two days at farthest, by new comers ; yet,
so far as I can judge, the original birds, if not killed, hold their
own, unmolested by intruders. Whence the supplies come in —
for they must be near neighbors by the rapidity of their succes-

116 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

sion — and why they abstain from their favorite grounds in
worse locations, remains, and I fear we must remain, in the
dark. All the habits of the woodcock are, indeed, very partial-
ly and slightly understood. They arrive here, and breed early
in the spring — sometimes, indeed, before the snow is off the
hills — get their young off in June, and with their young are
most unmercifully, most urisportsmanly, thinned off, when they
can hardly fly — such is the error, as I think it, of the law — but
I could not convince my stanch friends, Philo, and J. Cypress, Jr.,
of the fact, when they bestirred themselves in favor of the pro-
geny of their especial favorites, perdix virginiana and tetrad
umbellus, and did defer the times for slaying them legitimately
to such a period, that it is in fact next to impossible to kill the
latter bird at all. But vainly did I plead, and a false advocate
was Cypress after all, despite his nominal friendship, for that
unhappy Scolopax, who in July at least deserves his nickname
minor, or the infant. For, setting joke apart, what a burning
shame it is to murder the poor little half-fledged younglings in
July, when they will scarcely weigh six ounces ; when they will
drop again within ten paces of the dog that flushes, or the gun
that misses them ; and when the heat will not allow you even
to enjoy the consummation of their slaughter. Look at these
fellows now, with their gray foreheads, their plump ruddy
breasts, their strong, well-feathered pinions, each one ten ounces
at the least. Think how these jolly old cocks tower away, with
their shrill whistle, through the tree-tops, and twist and dodge
with an agility of wing and thought-like speed, scarcely inferior
to the snipe's or swallow's, and fly a half mile if you miss them ;
and laugh to scorn the efforts of any one to bag them, who is
not an out-and-outer ! No chance shot, no stray pellet speaks
for these — it must be the charge, the whole charge, and nothing
but the charge, which will cut down the grown bird of October !
The law should have said woodcock thou shall not kill until
September ; quail thou shalt not kill till October, the twenty-
fifth if you please ; partridge thou shalt kill in all places, and
at all times, when thou canst ! and that, as we know, Frank,
and A , that is not everywhere or often."

" But, seriously," said the Commodore, " seriously, would you
indeed abolish summer shooting ?"

" Most seriously ! most solemnly I would !" Archer responded.
" In the first place because, as I have said, it is a perfect sin to
shoot cock in July ; and secondly, because no one would, I am

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 117

convinced, shoot for his own pleasure at that season, if it were
not a question of now or never. Between the intense heat, and
the swarms of musquitoes, and the unfitness of that season for
the dogs, which can rarely scent their game half the proper
distance, and the density of the leafy coverts ; and lastly, the
difficulty of keeping the game fresh till you can use it, render
July shooting a toil, in my opinion, rather than a real pleasure ;
although we are such hunting creatures, that rather than not
have our prey at all, we will pursue it in all times, and through
all inconveniences. Fancy, my dear fellows, only fancy what
superb shooting we should have if not a bird were killed till
they were all full grown, and fit to kill ; fancy bagging a hun-
dred and twenty-five fall woodcock in a single autumn day, as
we did this very year on a summer's day !"

" Oh ! I agree with you completely," said Frank Forester,
" but I am afraid such a law will never be brought to bear in
this country — the very day on which cock shooting does not
really begin, but is supposed by nine tenths of the people to
begin — the fourth of July is against it.* Moreover, the amateur
killers of game are so very few, in comparison with the amateur
eaters thereof, that it is all but impossible to enforce the laws at
all upon this subject. Woodcock even now are eaten in June
— nay, I have heard, and believe it to be true, that many hotels
in New York serve them up even in March and April ; quail,
this autumn, have been sold openly in the markets, many days
previous to the expiration of close time. And, in fact, sorry I
am to say it, as far as eating-houses are in question, the game
laws are nearly a dead letter.

" In the country, also, I have universally found it to be the
case, that although the penalty of a breach may be exacted
from strangers, no farmer will differ with a neighbor, as they
call it, for the sake of a bird. Whether time, and a greater
diffusion of sporting propensities, and sporting feelings, may
alter this for the better or no, I leave to sager and more politic
pates than mine. And now I say, Harry, you surely do not in-
tend to trundle us off to Tom Draw's to-night without a drink
at starting ? I see Timothy has got the drag up to the door,
and the horses harnessed, and all ready for a start."

* In the State of New York close time for woodcock expires on the last
day of June — in New Jersey on the fourth of July — leaving the bird
lawful prey on the 1st and the 5th, respectively.

118 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" Yes ! yes ! all that's true," answered Harry, " but take my
word for it, the liquor case is not put in yet. Well, Timothy,"
he went on, as they reached the door, " that is right. Have
you got everything put up 3"

" All but t' gam' bag and t' liquor ca-ase, sur," Tim replied,
touching his hat gnostically as he spoke ; " Ay reckoned pie-
ease sur, 'at you'd maybe want to fill t' yan oop, and empty t'
oother !"

" Very well thought, indeed !'' said Archer, winking to Fores-
ter the while. " Let that boy stand a few minutes to the hor-
ses' heads, and come into the house yourself and pack the birds
up, and fetch us some water."

u T' watter is upon t' table, sur, and t' cigars, and a loight ;
but Ay'se be in \vi' you directly. Coom hither, lad, till Ay
shew thee hoo to guide 'em ; thou rnunna tooch t' bits for the
loife o' thee, but joost stan' there .anent them — if they stir
loike, joost speak to 'em — Ayse hear thee !" and he left his
charge and entered the small parlor, where the three friends
were now assembled, with a cheroot apiece already lighted, and
three tall brimming rummers on the table.

" Look sharp and put the birds up," said Harry, pitching, as
he spoke, the fine fat fellows right and left out of his wide
game pockets, " and when that's done fill yourself out a drink,
and help us on with our great coats."

" What are you going to do with the guns ?" inquired the
Commodore.

"To carry them uncased and loaded ; substituting in my own
two buckshot cartridges for loose shot," replied Archer. " The
Irish are playing the very devil through this part of the coun-
try— we are close to the line of the great Erie railroad — and
they are murdering, and robbing, and I know not what, for
miles around. The last time I was at old Tom's he told me
that but ten days or a fortnight previously a poor Irish woman,
who lived in his village, started to pay a visit to her mother by
the self same road we shall pass to-night ; and was found the
next morning with her person brutally abused, kneeling against
a fence stone dead, strangled with her own cambric handkerchief.
He says, too, that not a week passes but some of them are found
dead in the meadows, or in the ditches, killed in some lawless
fray ; and no one ever dreams of taking any notice, or making
any inquiry about the matter !"

"Is it possible? then keep the guns at hand by all means !"

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 110

" Yes ! but this time we will violate my rule about the cop-
per caps — there is no rule, you are aware, but what has some
exception — and the exception to this of mine is, always take
off your copper caps before getting into a wagon ; the jar will
occasionally explode them, an upset will undoubtedly. So un-
cap, Messrs. Forester and A , and put the bright little ex-
ploders into your pockets, where they will be both safe and
handy ! And now, birds are in, drinks are in, dogs and guns
are in, and now let us be off!"

No more words were wasted ; the landlord's bill was paid,
Frank Forester and Timothy got up behind, the Commodore
took the front seat, Harry sprang, reins in hand, to the box, and
off they bowled, with lamps and cigars burning merrily, for it
was now quite dark, along the well-known mountain road, which
Archer boasted he could drive as safely in the most gloomy
night of winter as in a summer noon. And so it proved this
time, for though he piloted his horses with a cool head and
delicate finger through every sort of difficulty that a road can
offer, up long and toilsome hills without a rail between the nar-
row track and the deep precipice, down sharp and stony pitches,
over loose clattering bridges, along wet marshy levels, he never
seemed in doubt or trouble for a moment, but talked and laughed
away, as if he were a mere spectator.

After they had gone a few miles on their way — " you broke
off short, Archer,'* said the Commodore, "in the middle of your
dissertation on the natural history and habits of the woodcock,
turning a propos des bottes to the cruelty of killing them in
midsummer. In all which, by the way, I quite agree with you.
But I don't want to lose the rest of your lucubrations on this
most interesting topic. What do you think becomes of the
birds in August, after the moult begins ?"

" Verily, Commodore, that is a positive poser. Many good
sportsmen believe that they remain where they were before ;
getting into the thickest and wettest brakes, refusing to rise be-
fore the dog, and giving out little or no scent !"

" Do you believe this ?"

" No ; I believe there is a brief migration, but whither I can-
not tell you with any certainty. Some birds do stay, as they
assert ; and that a few do stay, and do give out enough scent to
enable dogs to find them, is a proof to me that all do not. A
good sportsman can always find a few birds even during the
moult, and I do not think that birds killed at that time are at

120 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

all worse eating than others. But I am satisfied that the great
bulk shift their quarters, whither I have not yet fully ascertained ;
but I believe to the small runnels and deep swales which are
found throughout all the mountain tracts of the middle States ;
and in these, as I believe, they remain dispersed and scattered
in such small parties that they are not worth looking after, till
the frost drives them down to their old haunts. A gentleman,
whom I can depend on, told me once that he climbed Bull Hill
one year late in September — Bull Hill is one of the loftiest peaks
in the Highlands of the Hudson — merely to show the prospect
to a friend, and he found all the brushwood on the summit full
of fine autumn cock, not a bird having been seen for weeks in
the low woodlands at the base. They had no guns with them
at the time, and some days elapsed before he could again spare
a few hours to hunt them up ; in the meantime frost came, the
birds returned to their accustomed swamps and levels, and,
when he did again scale the rough mountain, not a bird re-
warded his trouble. This, if true, which I do not doubt, would
go far to prove my theory correct ; but it is not easy to arrive
at absolute certainty, for if I am right, during that period birds
are to be found no where in abundance, and a man must be a
downright Audubon to be willing to go mountain-stalking — the
hardest walking in the world, by the way — purely for the sake
of learning the habits of friend Scotyxzx, with no hope of get-
ting a good bag after all."

" How late have you ever killed a cock previous to their great
southern flight ?"

"Never myself beyond the fifteenth of November ; but Tom
Draw assures me, and his asseveration was accidently cor-
roborated by a man who walked along with him, that he killed
thirty birds last year in Hell-hole, which both of you fellows
know, on the thirteenth of December. There had been a very
severe frost indeed, and the ice on that very morning was quite
thick, and the mud frozen hard enough to bear in places. But
the day was warm, bright, and genial, and, as he says, it came
into his head to see * if cock was all gone,' and he went to what
he knew to be the latest ground, and found the very heaviest
and finest birds he ever saw !"

" Oh ! that of course," said A , " if he found any ! Did

you ever hear of any other bird so late ?3>

" Yes ! later — Mike Sandford, I think, but some Jerseyman
or other — killed a couple the day after Christmas day, on a

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 121

long southern slope covered with close dwarf cedars, and
watered by some tepid springs, not far from Pine Brook ; and I
liave been told that the rabbit shooters, who always go out in a
party between Christmas and New Year's day, almost invariably
flush a bird or two there in mid-winter. The same thing is
told of a similar situation on the seuth-western slope of Staten
island ; and I believe truly in both instances. These, however,
inust, I think, be looked upon not as cases of late emigration,
but as rare instances of the bird wintering here to the north-
ward; which. I doubt not a few do annually. I should like
much to know if there is any State of the Union where the
•cock is perennial* I do not see why he should not be so in
Maryland or Delaware, though I have never heard it stated so
to be. The great heat of the extreme southern summer drives
them north, as surely as our northern winter sends them south ;
and the great emigrations of the main flight are northward in
February and March, and southward in November, varying by
a few days only according to the variations of the seasons !"

" Well, I trust they have not emigrated hence yet — ha ! ha !
ha !" laughed the Commodore, with his peculiar hearty, deep-
toned merriment.

" Not they ! not they ! I warrant them," said Archer ; " but
that to-morrow must bring forth."

" Come, Harry," exclaimed Forester, after a little pause, " spin
us a shooting yarn, to kill the time, till we get to fat Tom's."

" A yarn ! well, what shall it be ?"

" I don't know ; oh ! yes ! yes ! I do. You once told me some-
thing about a wolf-hunt, and then shut up your mouth all at
once, and would give me no satisfaction."

" A wolf-hunt f " cried the Commodore, " were you ever at a
wolf-hunt ; and here in this country, Harry ?"

" Indeed was I, and — "

u The story, then, the story ; we must have it,"

u Oh ! as for story, there is not much — "

" The story ! the story !" shouted Frank. « You may as well
begin at once, for we will have it."

Oh ! very well. All is one to me, but you will be tired
of it before I have got through, so here goes for

A WOLF HUNT ON THE WARWICK HILLS,"
said Archer, and without more ado, spun his yarn as follows :
% There are few wilder regions within the compass of the
6

122 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

United States, much less in the vicinity of its most populous and
cultivated districts, than that long line of rocky wood-crowned
heights which — at times rising to an elevation and exhibiting a
boldness of outline that justifies the application to them of the
term * mountains/ while at others they would be more appro-
priately designated as hills or knolls — run all across the Eastern
and the Midland States, from the White Mountains westward to
the Alleghanies, between which mighty chains they form an in-
termediate and continuous link.

" Through this stern barrier, all the great rivers of the States,
through which they run, have rent themselves a passage, exhibit-
ing in every instance the most sublime and boldest scenery,
while many of the minor, though still noble streams, come forth
sparkling and bright and cold from the clear lakes and lonely
springs embosomed in its dark recesses.

"Possessing, for the most part, a width of eight or ten miles,
this chain of hills consists, at some points, of a single ridge,
rude, forest-clad and lonely — at others, of two, three, or even
four distinct and separate lines of heights, with valleys more or
less highly cultured, long sheets of most translucent water, and
wild mountain streams dividing them.

" With these hills — known as the Highlands — where the
gigantic Hudson has cloven, at some distant day, a devious path
for his eternal and resistless waters, and by a hundred other
names, the Warwick Hills, the Greenwoods, and yet farther
west, the Blue Ridge and the Kittatinny Mountains, as they
trend southerly and west across New York and New Jersey —
with these hills I have now to do.

" Not as the temples meet for the lonely muse, fit habitations
for the poet's rich imaginings ! not as they are most glorious in
their natural scenery — whether the youthful May is covering
their rugged brows with the bright tender verdure of the tas-
selled larch, and the yet brighter green of maple, mountain ash
and willow — or the full flush of summer has clothed their forests
with impervious and shadowy foliage, while carpeting their sides
with the unnumbered blossoms of calmia, rhododendron and
azalia ! — whether the gorgeous hues of autumn gleam like the
banners of ten thousand victor armies along their rugged slopes,
or the frozen winds of winter have roofed their headlands with
inviolate white snow ! Not as their bowels teem with the wealth
of mines which ages of man's avarice may vainly labor to ex-
haust ! but as they are the loved abode of many a woodland

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 123

denizen that has retreated, even from more remote and seem-
ingly far wilder fastnesses, to these sequestered haunts. I love
them, in that the graceful hind conceals her timid fawn among
the ferns that wave on the lone banks of many a nameless rill,
threading their hills, untrodden save by the miner, or the un-
frequent huntsman's foot — in that the noble stag frays often-
times his antlers against their giant trees— in that the mighty
bear lies hushed in grim repose amid their tangled swamps — in
that their bushy dingles resound nightly to the long-drawn howl
of the gaunt famished wolf — in that the lynx and wild-cat yet
mark their prey from the pine branches — in that the ruffed
grouse drums, the woodcock bleats, and the quail chirrups from
every height or hollow — in that, more strange to tell, the noblest
game of trans-atlantic fowl, the glorious turkey — although, like
angels' visits, they be indeed but few and far between — yet spread
their bronzed tails to the sun, and swell and gobble in their
most secret wilds.

" I love those hills of Warwick — many a glorious day have
I passed in their green recesses ; many a wild tale have I heard
of sylvan sport and forest warfare, and many, too, of patriot
partisanship in the old revolutionary days — the days that tried
men's souls — while sitting at my noontide meal by the secluded
well-head, under the canopy of some primeval oak, with imple-
ments of woodland sport, rifle or shot-gun by my side, and well-
broke setter or stanch hound recumbent at my feet. And ono
of these tales will I now venture to record, though it will sound
but weak and feeble from my lips, if compared to the rich, racy,
quaint and humorous thing it was, when flowing from the nature-
gifted tongue of our old friend Tom Draw."

" Hear ! hear !" cried Frank, " the chap is eloquent !"

"It was the middle of the winter 1832 — which was, as you
will recollect, of most unusual severity — that I had gone up to
Tom Draw's, with a view merely to quail shooting, though I had
taken up, as usual, my rifle, hoping perhaps to get a chance shot
at a deer. The very first night I arrived, the old bar-room was
full of farmers, talking all very eagerly about the ravages which
had been wrought among their flocks by a small pack of wolves,
five or six, as they said, in number, headed by an old gaunt
famished brute, which had for many )-ears been known through
the whole region, by the loss of one hind foot, which had been
cut off in a steel trap.

" More than a hundred sheep had been destroyed during the

124 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

winter, and several calves beside ; and what had stirred espe-
cially the bile of the good yeomen, was that, with more than
customary boldness, they had the previous night made a descent
into the precints of the village, and carried off a fat wether of
Tom Draw's.

" A slight fall of snow had taken place the morning I arrived,
and, this suggesting to Tom's mind a possibility of hunting up
the felons, a party had gone out and tracked them to a small
swamp on the Bellevale Mountain, wherein they had undoubt-
edly made their head-quarters. Arrangements had been made
on all sides — forty or fifty stout and active men were mustered,
well armed, though variously, with muskets, ducking-guns and
rifles — some fifteen couple of strong hounds, of every height
and color, were collected — some twenty horses saddled and
bridled, and twice as many sleighs were ready ; with provisions,
ammunition, liquor and blankets, all prepared for a week's
bivouac. The plan prescribed was in the first place to surround
the swamp, as silently as possible, with all our forces, and then
to force the pack out so as to face our volley. This, should the
method be successful, would finish the whole hunt at once ; but
should the three-legged savage succeed in making his escape,
we were to hunt him by relays, bivouacking upon the ground
wherever night should find us, and taking up the chase again
upon the following morning, until continual fatigue should wear
out the fierce brute. I had two horses with me, and Tim Mat-
lock ; so I made up my mind at once, got a light one-horse
sleigh up in the village, rigged it with all my bear-skins, good
store of whiskey, eatables, and so forth, saddled the gray with
my best Somerset, holsters and surcingle attached, and made one
of the party on the instant.

"Before daylight we started, a dozen mounted men leading
the way, with the intent to get quite round the ridge, and cut
off the retreat of these most wily beasts of prey, before the
coming of the rear-guard should alarm them — and the remain-
der of the party, sleighing it merrily along, with all the hounds
attached to them. The dawn was yet in its first gray dimness
when we got into line along the little ridge which bounds that
small dense brake on the northeastern side — upon the southern
side the hill rose almost inaccessibly in a succession of short
limestone ledges — westward the open woods, through which the
hounds and footmen were approaching, sloped down in a long
easy fall, into the deep secluded basin, filled with the densest and

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 125

most thorny coverts, and in the summer time waist deep in
water, and almost inaccessible, though now floored with a sheet
of solid ice, firm as the rocks around it — due northward was an
open field, dividing the wolf-dingle from the mountain road by
which we always travel.

" Our plot had been well laid, and thus far had succeeded. I,
with eleven horsemen, drawn up in easy pistol shot one of the
other, had taken our ground in perfect silence ; and, as we readily
discovered, by the untrodden surface of the snow, our enemies
were as yet undisturbed. My station was the extreme left of
our line, as we faced westward, close to the first ridge of the
southern hill ; and there I sat in mute expectancy, my holsters
thrown wide open, my Kuchenre liters loaded and cocked, and
my good ounce-ball rifle lying prepared within the hollow of my
arm.

" Within a short half hour I saw the second party, captained
by our friend Garry, coming up one by one, and forming silently
and promptly upon the hill side — and directly after I heard the
crash and shout of our beaters, as they plunged into the thicket
at its westward end. So far as I could perceive, all had gone
well. Two sides, my own eyes told me, were surrounded, and
the continuous line in which the shouts ran all along the farther
end, would have assured me, if assurance had been needful, for
Tom himself commanded in that quarter, that all was perfectly
secure on that side. A Jersey man, a hunter of no small repute,
had been detached with a fourth band to guard the open fields
upon the north ; due time had been allotted to him, and, as we
judged, he was upon his ground. Scarce had the first yell
echoed through the forest before the pattering of many feet
might be heard, mingled with the rustling of the matted boughs
throughout the covert — and as the beaters came on, a whole
host of rabbits, with no less than seven foxes, two of them gray,
came scampering through our line in mortal terror ; but on they
went unharmed, for strict had been the orders that no shot
should be fired, save at the lawful objects of the chase. Just
at this moment I saw Garry, who stood a hundred feet above
me on the hill, commanding the whole basin of the swamp,
bring up his rifle. This was enough for me — my thumb was on
the cock, the nail of my forefinger pressed closely on the trigger-
guard. He lowered it again, as though he had lost sight of his
object — raised it again with great rapidity, and fired. My eye-
was on the muzzle of his piece, and just as the bright stream of

126 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

flame glanced from it, distinctly visible in the dim of morning
twilight, before my ear had caught the sound of the report, a
sharp long snarl rose from the thicket, announcing that a wolf
was wounded. Eagerly, keenly did I listen ; but there came no
further sound to tell me of his whereabout.

" 4I hit him,' shouted Garry, ' I hit him then, I swon ; but I
guess not so badly, but he can travel still. Look out you,
Archer, he's squatted in the thick there, and won't stir 'till they
get close a top on him.'

" While he was speaking yet, a loud and startling shout arose
from the open field, announcing to my ear upon the instant that
one or more had broken covert at some unguarded spot, as it was
evident from the absence of any firing. The leader of our squad
was clearly of the same opinion ; for, motioning to us to spread
our line a little wider, he galloped off at a tremendous rate,
spurning the snowballs high into the air, accompanied by three
of his best men, to stop the gap which had been left through
the misapprehension of the Jersey man.

" This he accomplished ; but not until the great wolf, wilier
than his comrades, had got off unharmed. He had not moved
five minutes before a small dark bitch-wolf broke away through
our line, at the angle furthest from my station, and drew a scat-
tering volley from more than half our men — too rapid and too
random to be deadly — though several of the balls struck close
about her, I thought she had got off scot free ; but Jem Mc-
Daniel — whom you know — a cool, old steady hand, had held
his fire, and taking a long quiet aim, lodged his ball fairly in
the centre of her shoulders — over she went, and over, tearing
the snow with tooth and claw in her death agony ; while fancy-
ing, I suppose, that all our guns were emptied — for, by my life,
I think the crafty brutes can almost reason — out popped two
more ! one between me and my right hand man — the other, a
large dog, dragging a wounded leg behind him, under my horse's
very feet. Bob made a curious demi-volte, I do assure you, as
the dark brindled villain darted between his fore legs with an
angry snarl ; bu,t at a single word and slight admonition of the
curb, stood motionless as though he had been carved in marble.
Quickly I brought my rifle up, though steadily enough, and —
more, I fancy, by good luck than management — planted my
bullet in the neck, just where the skull and spine unite, so that
he bounced three feet at least above the frozen snow, and fell
quite dead, within twelve paces of the covert. The other wolf,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 127

which had crept out to my right hand, was ^welcomed by the
almost simultaneous fire of three pieces, one of which only
lodged its bullet, a small one by the way — eighty or ninety only
to the pound — too light entirely to tell a story, in the brute's
loins,

" He gave a savage yell enough as the shot told ; and, for
the first twenty or thirty yards, dragged his hind quarters
heavily ; but, as he went on, he recovered, gathering headway
very rapidly over the little ridge, and through the open wood-
land, toward a clear field on the mountain's brow. Just as this
passed, a dozen shots were fired, in a quick running volley, from
the thicket, just where an old cart-way divides it ; followed,
after a moment's pause, by one full, round report, which I knew
instantly to be the voice of old Tom's musket ; nor did I err,
for, while its echoes were yet vocal in the leafless forest, the
owner's jovial shout was heard —

" 4 Wiped all your eyes, boys ! all of them, by the Etarnal ! —
Who-whoop for our side ! — and I'll bet horns for all on us, old
leather-breeches has killed his'n.'

<c This passed so rapidly — in fact it was all nearly simultaneous
— that the fourth wolf was yet in sight, when the last shot was
fired. We all knew well enough that the main object of our
chase had for the time escaped us ! — the game was all afoot ! —
three of them slain already ; nor was there any longer aught to
be gained by sticking to our stations. So, more for deviltry than
from entertaining any real hope of overtaking him, I chucked
my rifle to the nearest of the farmers, touched old Bob with the
spur, and went away on a hard gallop after the wounded fugi-
tive, who was now plodding onward at the usual long loping
canter of his tribe. For about half a mile the wood was open,
and sloped gently upward, until it joined the open country,
where it was bounded by a high rugged fence, made in the
usual snake fashion, with a huge heavy top-rail. This we soon
reached ; the wolf, which was more hurt than I had fancied, be-
ginning to lag grievously, crept through it scarcely a hundred
yards ahead of me, and, by good luck, at a spot where the top
rail had been partially dislodged, so that Bob swept over it, al-
most without an effort, in his gallop ; though it presented an
impenetrable rampart to some half dozen of the horsemen who
had followed. I was now in a cleared lot of some ten acres,
forming the summit of the hill, which, farther on, sunk steeply
into a dark ravine full of thick brushwood, with a small verge

128 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

of thinly growing coppice not more than twenty yards in width,
on tolerably level ground, within the low stone-wall which part-
ed it from the cultivated land. I felt that I was now upon my
vantage ground ; and you may be sure, Frank, that I spared
not the spurs ; but the wolf, conscious probably of the vicinity
of some place of safety, strained every nerve and ran, in fact, as
if he had been almost unwounded ; so that he was still twelve
or fourteen paces from me when he jumped on the wall.

" Once over this, I well knew he was safe ; for I was thor-
oughly acquainted with the ground, and was of course aware
that no horse could descend the banks of the precipitous ravine.
In this predicament, I thought I might as well take a chance at
him with one of my good pistols, though of course with faint
hopes of touching him. However, I pulled out the right hand
nine-inch barrel, took a quick sight, and let drive a* him ; and,
much to my delight, the sound was answered by the long snarl-
ing howl, which I had that day heard too often to doubt any
more its meaning. Over he jumped, however, and the wall
covering him from my sight, I had no means of judging how
badly he was hurt ; so on I went, and charged the wall with a
tight rein, and a steady pull ; and lucky for me was it, that I
had a steady pull ; for under the lee of the wall there was a
heap of rugged logs into which Bob plunged gallantly, and, in
spite of my hard hold on him, floundered a moment, and went
over. Had I been going at top speed, a very nasty fall must
have been the immediate consequence — as it was, both of us
rolled over ; but with small violence, and on soft snow, so that
no harm was done.

" As I came off, however, I found myself in a most unplea-
sant neighborhood ; for my good friend the wolf, hurt pretty
badly by the last shot, had, as it seemed, ensconced himself
among the logs, whence Bob's assault and subsequent discomfit-
ure had somewhat suddenly dislodged him ; so that, as I rolled
over on the snow, I found myself within six feet of my friend,
seemingly very doubtful whether to fight or fly ! But, by good
luck, my bullet had struck him on the hip-bone, and being of a
rather large calibre, had let his claret pretty freely loose, besides
shattering the bone, so that he was but in poor fighting trim ;
and I had time to get back to the gray — who stood snorting
and panting, up to his knees in snow and rubbish, but without
offering to stir — to draw my second pistol, and to give Isegrin
— as the Germans call him — the coup de grace, before he could

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 129

attain the friendly shelter of the dingle, to which with all due
speed he was retreating. By this time all our comrades had as-
sembled. Loud was the glee — boisterous the applause, which
fell especially to me, who had performed with my own hand the
glorious feat of slaying two wolves in one morning ; and deep
the cups of applejack. Scotch whiskey, and Jamaica spirits,
which flowed in rich libations, according to the tastes of the
compotators, over the slaughtered quarry.

" Breakfast was produced on the spot ; cold salt pork, onions,
and hard biscuit forming the principal dishes, washed down by
nothing weaker than the pure ardent ! Not long, however, did
fat Tom permit us to enjoy our ease.

" * Come, boys/ he shouted, * no lazin' here ; no gormandizin'
— the worst part of our work's afore us ; the old lame devil is
afoot, and five miles off by now. We must get back, and lay
the hounds on, right stret off — and well if the scent an't cold
now ! He's tuk right off toward Duckcedars' — for so Tom ever
calls Truxedo Pond — a lovely crescent-shaped lakelet deep in
the bosom of the Greenwoods — ' so off with you, Jem, down by
the road, as hard as you can strick with ten of your boys in
sleighs, and half the hounds ; and if you find his tracks acrost
the road, don't wait for us, but strick right arter him. Yon,
Garry, keep stret down the old road with ten dogs and all the
plunder — we'll meet at night, I reckon.'

" No sooner said than done ! the parties were sent off with
the relays. This was on Monday morning — Tom and I, and
some thirteen others, with eight couple of the best dogs, stuck
to his slot on foot. It was two hours at least, so long had he
been gone, before a single hound spoke to it, and I had begun
well nigh to despair ; but Tom's immense sagacity, which seem-
ed almost to know instinctively the course of the wily savage,
enabling us to cut off the angles of his course, at last brought
us up somewhat nearer to him. At about noon, two or three
of the hounds opened, but doubtfully and faintly. His slot,
however, showed that they were right, and lustily we cheered
them on ! Tom, marvelling the while that we heard not the
cry of Jem's relay.

" ' For I'll be darned,' he said, * if he hasn't crossed the road
long enough since ; and that dumb nigger, Jenrs not had the
sense to stick to him !'

" For once, however, the fat man was wrong ; for, as it ap-
peared when we neared the road, the wolf had headed back,
6*

ISO WARWICK WOODLANDS.

scared doubtless by some injudicious noise of our companions^
and making a wide ring, had crossed three miles below the spot
where Jem was posted. This circuit we were forced to make,
as at first sight we fancied he had headed altogether back, and
it was four o'clock before we got upon his scent, hot, fresh, and
breast-high ; running toward the road, that is, due eastward
from the covert whence he had bolted in the morning. Nor
were our friends inactive ; for, guided by the clamors of our
pack, making the forest musical, they now held down the road ;
and, as the felon crossed, caught a long view of him as he limp*
ed over it, and laid the fresh hounds on.

" A brilliant rally followed — we calling off our wearied dogs?
and hasting to the lower road, where we found Garry with the
sleighs, and dashing off in our turn through all sorts of by-
paths and wood-roads to head them once again ! This, with
much labor, we effected ; but the full winter-moon had risen,
and the innumerable stars were sparkling in the frosty skies,
when we flogged off the hounds — kindled our night fires — pre-
pared our evening meal, feasted, and spread our blankets, and
slept soundly under no warmer canopy than the blue firmament
— secure that our lame friend would lie up for the night at no
great distance. With the first peep of dawn we were again
afoot, and, the snow still befriending us, we roused him from a
cedar-brake at about nine o'clock, cut him off three times with
fresh dogs and men, the second day, and passed the night,
some sixteen miles from home, in the rude hovel of a charcoal
burner.

" Greater excitement I cannot imagine, than that wild, inde-
pendent chace ! — sometimes on foot, cheering the hounds through
swamp and dingle, over rough cliffs and ledges where foot of
horse could avail nothing. Sometimes on horseback, galloping
merrily through the more open woodlands. Sometimes career-
ing in the flying sleigh, to the gay music of its bells, along the
wild wood-paths ! Well did we fare, too — ay, sumptuously !
— for our outskirters, though they reserved their rifles for the
appropriate game, were not so sparing with the shot-gun ; so
that, night after night, our chaldron reeked with the mingled
steam of rabbit, quail, and partridge, seethed up a la Meg Mer~
rilieSj with fat pork, onions, and potatoes — by the Lord Harry !
Frank, a glorious and unmatched consummee.

" To make, however, a long tale short — for every day's work,
although varied to the actors by thousands of minute but un-

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 131

narratable particulars, would appear but as a repetition of the
last, to the mere listener — to make a long tale short, on the
third day he doubled back, took us directly over the same
ground — and in the middle of the day, on Saturday, was roused
in view by the leading hounds, from the same little swamp in
which the five had harbored during the early winter. No man
was near the hounds when he broke covert. But fat Tom, who
had been detached from the party to bring up provisions from
the village, was driving in his sleigh steadily along the road,
when the sharp chorus of the hounds aroused him. A minute
after, the lame scoundrel limped across the turnpike, scant thir-
ty yards before him. Alas ! Tom had but his double-barrel,
one loaded with buck shot, the other merely prepared for part-
ridge— he blazed away, however, but in vain ! Out came ten
couple on his track, hard after him ; and old Tom, cursing his
bad luck, stood to survey the chase across the open.

" Strange was the felon's fate ! The first fence, after he had
crossed the road, was full six feet in height, framed of huge split
logs, piled so close together that, save between the two topmost
rails, a small dog even could have found no passage. Full at this
opening the wolf dashed, as fresh, Tom said, as though he had
not run a yard ; but as he struggled through it, his efforts shook
the top rails from the yokes, and the huge piece of timber falling
across his loins, pinned him completely ! At a mile off I heard
his howl myself, and the confused and savage hubbub, as the
hounds front and rear, assailed him.

" Hampered although he was, he battled it out fiercely — ay,
heroically — as six of our best hounds maimed for life, and one
slain outright, testified.

" Heavens ! how the fat man scrambled across the fence ! he
reached the spot, and, far too much excited to reload his piece
and quietly blow out the fierce brute's brains, fell to belaboring
him about the head with his gun-stock, shouting the while and
yelling ; so that the din of his tongue, mixed with the snails
and long howls of the mangled savage, and the fierce baying of
the dogs, fairly alarmed me, as I said before, at a mile's distance !

" As it chanced, Timothy was on the road close by, with Pea-
cock ; I caught sight of him, mounted, and spurred on fiercely
to the rescue ; but when I reached the hill's brow, all was over.
Tom, puffing and panting like a grampus in shoal water, covered
— garments and face and hands — with lupine gore, had finished
his huge enemy, after he had destroyed his gun, with what he

132 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

called a stick, but what you and I, Frank, should term a fair-
sized tree ; and with his foot upon the brindled monster's neck
was quaffing copious rapture from the neck of a quart bottle —
once full, but now well nigh exhausted — of his appropriate and
cherished beverage.* Thus fell the last wolf on the Hills of
Warwick !

" There, I have finished my yarn, and in good time," cried
Harry, " for here we are at the bridge, and in five minutes more
we shall be at old Tom's door.''

"A right good yarn !" said Forester ; " and right well spun,
upon my word."

" But is it a yarn ?" asked A , " or is it intended to be

the truth V

" Oh ! the truth," laughed Frank, " the truth, as much as
Archer can tell the truth ; embellished, you understand, embel-
lished I"

" The truth, strictly," answered Harry, quietly — " the truth
not embellished. When I tell personal adventures, I am not in
the habit of decorating them with falsehood."

" I had no idea," responded the Commodore, " that there
had been any wolves here so recently."

" There are wolves here now" said Archer, " though they are
scarce and wary. It was but last year that I rode down over
the back-bone of the mountain, on the Pompton road, in the
night-time, and that on the third of July, and one fellow follow-
ed me along the road till I got quite down into the cultivated
country."

" The devil he did !"

" How did you know he was following you ?'' exclaimed Frank
and the Commodore, almost in a breath.

" Did you see him ?"

" Not I — but I heard him howl half a dozen times, and each
time nearer than before. When I got out of the hills he was
not six hundred yards behind me."

" Pleasant, that ! Were you armed ? What did you do ?''

"It was not really so unpleasant, after all — for I knew that
he would not attack me at that season of the year. I had my
pistols in my holsters ; and for the rest, I jogged steadily along,
taking care to keep my nag in good wind for a spirt, if it should

* The facts and incidents of the lame wolf's death are strictly true, al-
though they were not witnessed by the writer.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 133

be needed* I knew that for three or four miles I could outrun
him, if it should come to the worst, though in the end a wolf
can run down the fastest horse ; and, as every mile brought me
nearer to the settlement, I did not care much about it. Had it
been winter, when the brutes are hard pressed for food, and the
deep snows are against a horse's speed, it would be a very dif-
ferent thing. Hurrah ! here we are ! Hurrah ! fat Tom ! ahoy !
a-ho-oy I"

THE SUPPER PARTY.

BLITHE, loud and hearty was the welcome of fat Tom, when
by the clear view halloa with which Harry drove up to the door
at a spanking trot, the horses stopping willingly at the high
well-known stoop, he learned who were these his nocturnal visi-
ters. There was a slight tinge of frostiness in the evening air,
and a bright blazing fire filled the whole bar-room with a cheer-
ful merry light, and cast a long stream of red lustre from the
tall windows, and halt-open doorway, but in an instant all that
escaped from the last mentioned aperture was totally obstructed,
as if the door had been pushed to, by the huge body of mine host.

" Why, darn it,'* he exclaimed, " if that beant Archer ! and
a hull grist of boys he's brought along with him, too, any how.
How are you, Harry, who've you got along ? It's so etarnal
thunderin' dark as I carnt see 'em no how !"

" Frank and the Commodore, that's all," Archer replied, " and
how are you, old Corporation ?"

" Oh ! oh ! I'm most darned glad as you've brought A ;

you might have left that other critter to home, though, jest as
well — we doosn't want him blowin' out his little hide here ;
lazin' about, and doin' nothin' day nor night but eat and grum-
ble ; and drink, and drink, as if he'd got a meal-sack in his little
guts. Why, Timothy, how be you ?" he concluded, smiting him
on the back a downright blow, that would have almost felled an
ox, as he was getting out the baggage.

u Doant thee noo, Measter Draa,5' expostulated Tim, " behaave
thyself, man, or Ay'se give thee soomat thou woant loike, I'm
thinking. Noo ! send oot yan o' t' nagers, joost to stand till t'
nags till Ay lift oot t' boxes !"

134 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" A nigger, is it ? darn their black skins ! there was a dozen
here jest now, a blockin' up the fire-side, and stinkin' so no white
man could come nearst it, till I got an axe-handle, half an hour
or so since, and cleared out the heap of them ! Niggers ! they'll
be here all of them torights, I warrant ; where you sees Archer,
there's never no scarceness of dogs and niggers. But come,
walk in, boys ! walk in, anyhow — Jem'll be here to rights, and
he's worth two niggers any day, though he's black-fleshed, I
guess, if one was jest to skin the etarnal creatur."

Very few minutes passed before they were all drawn up round
the fire, Captain Reade and two or three more making room for
them, as they pulled up their chairs about the glowing hearth —
having hung up their coats and capes against the wall.

" You'll be here best, boys," said Tom, " for a piece — the
parlor fire's not been lit yet this fall, and it is quite cold nights
now — but Brower '11 kindle it up agin supper, for you'll be
wantin' to eat, all of you, I reckon, you're sich darned everlastin'
gormandizers.''

" That most undoubtedly we shall," said Frank, " for it's past
eight now, and the deuce a mouthful have we put into our heads
since twelve."

" Barrin' the liquor, Frank ! barriii' the liquor — now don't
lie ! don't lie, boy, so ridic'lous — as if I'd known you these six
years, and then was a goin' to believe as you'd not drinked since
noon !"

" Why, you old hogshead, you ! who wants you to believe
anything of the kind — we had one drink at Tom's, your cousin's,
when we started, but deuce the drop since."

" That's just the reason why you're so snarlish, then, I reckon!
Your coppers is got bilin', leastwise if they beant all biled out —
you'd best drink stret away, I guess, afore the bottom of the
biler gits left bare — for if it does, and it's red hot now, boy,
you'll be a blowin' up, like an old steamboat, when you pumps
in fresh water."

" Well, Tom," said Archer, " I do not think it would be a
bad move to take a drop of something, and a cracker ; for I
suppose we shall not get supper much short of two hours ; and
I'm so deuced hungry, that if I don't get something just to take
off the edge, I shall not be able to eat when it does come !"

" I'll make a pitcher of egg nog ; A drinks egg nog, I

guess, although he's the poorest drinkin' man I ever did see.
Now, Brower, look alive — the fire's lit, is it ? Well, then, jump

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 135

now and feed them poor starvin' bags-a-bones, as Archer calls
dogs, and tell your mother to git supper. Have you brought
anything alon£ to eat or drink, boys— I guess we haven't nothin'
in the house I

" Oh ! you be hanged," said Harry, " I've brought a round
of cold spiced beef, but I'm not going to cut that up for supper ;
\ve shall want it to take along for luncheon — you must get some-
thing ! Oh ! by the way, you may let the girls pick half a dozen
quail, and broil them, if you choose !"

" Quail ! do you say ? and where'll I git quail, I'd be pleased
to know?"

" Out of that gamebag," answered Harry, deliberately, point-
ing to the well filled plump net which Timothy had just brought
in and hung up on the pegs beside the box-coats* Without a
word or syllable the old chap rushed to the wall, seized it, and
scarcely pausing to sweep out of the way a large file of " The
Spirit," and several numbers of " The Register,'5 emptied it on
the table.

" Where the plague, Archer, did you kill them ?" he asked,
" you didn't kill all them to-day, I guess ! One, two, three —
why, there's twenty-seven cock, and forty-nine quail 1 By gin !
here's another ; just fifty quail, three partridge, and six rabbits ;
well that's a most all-fired nice mess, I swon ; if you killed them
to-day you done right well, I tell you — you won't get no such
mess of birds here now — but you was two days killing these, I
guess 1"

" Not we, Tom I Frank and I drove up from York last night,
and slept at young Tom's, down the valley — we were out just
as soon as it was light, and got the quail, all except fifteen or
sixteen, the ruffed grouse and four hares, before twelve o'clock.
At twelve the Commodore came up from Nyack, where he left
his yacht, and joined us ; we got some luncheon, went out
again at one, and between that and five bagged all the cock, the
balance, as you would call it, of the quail, and the other two
bunnies*"

" Well, then, you made good work of it, 1 tell you, and you
won't do nothin' like that agin this winter — not in Warwick ;
but I won't touch them quail — it's a sin to break that bunch —
but you don't never care to take the rabbits home, and the old
woman's got some beautiful fresh onions- — she'll make a stew
of them— a smother, as you call it, in a little less than no time,
Archer ; and I've got half a dozen of them big gray snipe — •

186 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

English snipe — that I killed down by ray little run'-side ; you'll
have them roasted with the guts in, I guess ! and then there's
a pork-steak and sassagers — and if you don't like that, you can
jist go without. Here, Brower, take these to your mother, and
tell her to git supper right stret off — and you tell Emma Jane

to make some buckwheat cakes for A ! he can't sup no

how without buckwheat cakes ; and I sets a great store by

A ! I does, by G — ! and you needn't laugh, boys, for I

doos a darned sight more than what I doos by you."

" That's civil, at all events, and candid," replied Frank ; " and
it's consolatory, too, for I can fancy no greater reproach to a
man, than to be set store on by you. T do not comprehend at

all, how A bears up under it. But come, do make that

egg-nog that you're chattering about."

" How will I make it, Harry — with beer, or milk, or cider ?"

" All three ! now be off, and don't jaw any more !" answered
Archer — " asking such silly questions, as if you did not know
better than any of us.''

In a few minutes the delicious compound was prepared, and,
with a plate of toasted crackers and some right good Orange
County butter, was set on a small round stand before the fire ;
while from the neighboring kitchen rich fumes began to load
the air, indicative of the approaching supper. In the mean
time, the wagon was unloaded ; Timothy bustled to and fro ;
the parlor was arranged ; the bed-rooms were selected by that
worthy; and everything set out in its own place, so that they
could not possibly have been more comfortable in their own
houses. The horses had been duly cleaned, and clothed, and
fed ; the dogs provided with abundance of dry straw, and a hot
mess of milk and meal ; and now, in the far corner of the bar-
room, the indefatigable varlet was cleaning the three double
guns, as scientifically as though he had served his apprentice-
ship to a gunsmith.

Just at this moment a heavy foot was heard upon the stoop,
succeeded by a whining and a great scratching at the door.
" Here comes that Indian, Jem,'' cried Tom, and as he spoke the
door flew open, and in rushed old Whino, the tall black and tan
fox-hound, and Bonnybelle, and Blossom, and another large
blue-mottled bitch, of the Southern breed. It was a curious
sight to observe by how sudden and intuitive an instinct the
hounds rushed up to Archer, and fawned upon him, jumping
up with their fore-paws upon his knees, and thrusting their

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 18lF

bland smiling faces almost into his face ; as he, nothing loath,
nor repelling their caresses, discoursed most eloquent dog-lan-
guage to them, until, excited beyond all measure, old Whino
seated himself deliberately on the floor, raised his nose toward
the ceiling, and set up a long, protracted, and most melancholy
howl, which, before it had attained, however, to its grand cli-
max, was brought to a conclusion by being converted into a
sharp and treble yell ! a consummation brought about by a
smart application of Harry's double-thonged four-horse whip7
wielded with all the power of Tom's right arm, and accom-
panied by a " Git out, now — the whole grist ! Kennel ! now,
kennel ! out with them, Jem, consarn you ; out with them,- and
yourself, too ! out of this, or I'll put the gad about you, you
white Deckerin' nigger you I''

" Come back, when you have put them up, Jem ; and mind
you don't let them be where they can get at the setters, or
they'll be fighting like the devil," interposed Archer — " I want
to have a chat with you. By-the-by, Tom, where's Dash —
you'd better look out, or the Commodore's dog, Grouse, will
eat him before morning — mine will not quarrel with him, but
Grouse will to a certainty."

" Then for a sartainty I'll shoot Grouse, and wallop Grouse's
master, and that 'ill be two right things done one mornin' ; the
first would be a most darned right one, any how, and kind too I
for then A would be forced to git himself a good, nice set-
ter dog, and not go shootin' over a great old fat bustin' pinter,
as isn't worth so much as I be to hunt birds !"

" Ha ! ha ! ha !" shouted the Commodore, whom nothing can,,
by any earthly means, put out of temper, " ha ! ha ! ha ! I
should like to see you shoot Grouse, Tom, for all the store you
set by me, you'd get the worst of that game. You had better
take Archer's advice, I can tell you."

" Archer's advice, indeed ! it's likely now that I'd have left
rny nice little dog to be spiled by your big brutes, now aiut it ?
Come, come, here's supper."

" Get something to drink, Jem, along with Timothy, and
come in when we've got through supper."

" Yes, sir," replied the knight of the cut-throat ; " I've got
some news to tell you, too, Tom, if you'll wait a bit."

" Cuss you, and your news too," responded Tom, " you're
sich a thunderin' liar, there's no k no win' when you do speak

138 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

truth. We'll not be losin' our supper for no lies, I guess !
Leastways I won't ! Come Archer."

And with a right good appetite they walked into the parlor ;
every thing was in order ; every article placed just as it had
been when Frank went up to spend his first week in the Wood-
lands ; the gun-case stood on the same chairs below the win-
dow ; the table by the door was laid out with the same display
of powder-flasks, shot-pouches, and accoutrements of all sizes.
The liquor-stand was placed by Harry's chair, open, containing
the case-bottles, the rummers being duly ranged upon the
board, which was well lighted by four tall wax candles, and be-
ing laid with Harry's silver, made quite a smart display. The
rabbits smoked at the head, smothered in a rich sauce of cream,
and nicely shredded onions ; the pork chops, thin and crisply
broiled, exhaled rich odors at the bottom ; the English snipe,
roasted to half a turn, and reposing on their neat squares of
toast, were balanced by a dish of well-fried sausages, reclining
on a bed of mashed potatoes ; champagne was on the table, un-
resined and unwired, awaiting only one touch of the knife to re-
lease the struggling spirit from its transparent prison. Few
words were spoken for some time, unless it were a challenge to
champagne, the corks of which popped frequently and furious ;
or a request for another snipe, or another spoonful of the sauce;
while all devoted themselves to the work in hand with a sincere
and business-like earnestness of demeanor, that proved either
the excellence of Tom Draw's cookery, or the efficacy of the
Spartan sauce which the sportsmen had brought to assist them
at their meal. The last rich drops of the fourth flask were trick-
ling into Tom's wide-lipped rummer, when Harry said,

" Come, we have clone, I think, for one night ; let's have the
eatables removed, and we will have a pipe, and hear what Jem
has got to say ; and you have told us nothing about birds, either,
you old elephant ; what do you mean by it ? That's right, Tim,
now bring in my cigars, and Mr. Forester's cheroots, and cold
iced water, and boiling-hot water, and sugar, out of my box, and
lemons. The shrub is here, and the Scotch whiskey ; will you
have another bottle of champagne, Tom ? No ! Well, then,
look sharp, Timothy, and send Jem in."

And thereupon Jem entered, thumbing his hat assiduously,
and sat down in the corner, by the window, where he was
speedily accommodated with a supply of liquor, enough to tem-
per any quantity of clay.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 139

" Well, Jem," said Archer, " unbutton your bag now ; what's
the news ?"

" Well, Mr. Aircher, it ben't no use to tell you on't, with Tom,
there, puttin' a body out, and swearin' it's a lie, and dammin' a
chap up and down. It ben't no use to tell you, and yet I'd
kind o' like to, but then you won't believe a fellow, not one on
you !"

"In course not," answered Forester; and at the same instant
Tom struck in likewise —

" It's a lie, afore you tell it ; it's a lie, cuss you, and you
knows it. I'd sooner take a nigger's word than yours, Jem, any
how, for the darned niggers will tell the truth when they can't
git no good by lyin', but you, you will lie all times ! When
the truth would do the best, and you would tell it if you could,
you can't help lyin' !"

" Shut up, you old thief; shut up instantly, and let the man
speak, will you ; I can see by his face that he has got something
to tell ; and as for lying, you beat him at it any day."

Torn was about to answer, when Harry, who had been eager-
ly engaged in mixing a Luge tumbler-full of strong cold shrub
punch, thrust it under his nose, and he, unable to resist the soft
seductive odor, seized it incontinently, and neither spoke nor
breathed again until the bottom of the rummer was brought
parallel to the ceiling ; then, with a deep heart-felt sigh, he set
it down ; and, with a calm placid smile, exclaimed, " Tell on,
Jem." Whereupon that worthy launched into his full tide of
narrative, as follows:

" Well, you sees, Mr. Aircher, I tuk up this mornin' clean up
the old crick side, nigh to Vernon, and then I turned in back
of old Squire Vandergriff's, and druv the mountains clear down
here till I reached Rocky Hill ; I'd pretty good sport, too, I
tell you ; I shot a big gray fox on Round Top, and started a
raal rouser of a red one down in the big swamp, in the bottom,
and them sluts did keep the darndest ragin' you ever did hear
tell on. Well, they tuk him clean out across the open, past
Andy Joneses, and they skeart up in his stubbles three bevies,
I guess, got into one like ! there was a drove of them, I tell
you, and "then they brought him back to the hills agin, and run
him twice clean round the Rocky Hill, and when they came
round the last time, the English sluts warn't half a rod from his
tail no how, and so he tried his last chance, and he holed : but
roy! now, Mr. Aircher, by darn, you niver did see nothin' like

140 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

the partridges ; they kept a brushin' up and brushin' up, and
treein' every little while ; I guess if I seen one I seen a hun-
dred ; why, I killed seven on 'em with coarse shot up in the
pines, and I daredn't shoot exceptin' at their heads. If you'd
go up there now, to-morrow, and take the dogs along, I know
as you'll git fifty.''

" Well, if that's all your news, Jem, I won't give you much
for it ; and, as for going into the mountains to look after par-
tridges, you don't catch me at it, that's all !" said Harry. " Is
that all?"

" Not by a great shot !" answered Jem, grinning, u but the
truth is, I know you won't believe me ; but I can tell you
what, you can kill a big fat buck, if you'll git up a little afore
daylight !"

" A buck, Jem ! a buck near here ?" inquired Forester and
Archer in a breath.

" I told you, boys, the critter couldn't help it ; he's stuck to
truth just so long, and he was forced to lie, or else he would
have busted !"

" It's true, by thunder," answered Jem ; " I wish I mayn't
eat nor drink nother, if there's one bit of lie in it ; d — n the
bit, Tom ! I'm in airnest, now, right down ; and you knows as
I wouldn't go to lie about it !"

" Well ! well ! where was't, Jem ?"

" Why, he lies, I guess, now, in that little thickest swamp of
all, jist in the eend of the swale atween Round Top and Rocky
Hill, right in the pines and laurels ; leastways I druv him down
there with the dogs, and I swon that he never crossed into the
open meadow ; and I went round, and made a circle like clean
round about him, and darn the dog trailed on him no how ;
and bein' as he's hard hot, I guess he'll stay there since he har-
bored."

" Hard hit, is he ! why, did you get a shot at him ?"

" A fair one," Jem replied ; " not three rod off from rne ; he
jumped up out of the channel of Stony Brook, where, in a sort
o' bend, there was a lot of bushes, sumach and winter-green,
and ferns ; he skeart me, that's a fact, or I'd a killed him. He
warn't ten yards off when he bounced up first, but I pulled
without cocking, and when I'd got my gun fixed, he'd got off' a
little piece, and I'd got nauthen but fox-shot, but I hot him jist
in the side of the flank ; the blood flew out like winkin', and the
hounds arter him like mad, up and down, and round and back,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 141

and he a kind of weak like, and they'd overhauled him once and
again, and tackled him, but there was only four on them, and
so he beat them off like every time, and onned again ! They
couldn't hold him no how, till I got up to them, and I couldn't
fix it no how, so as I'd git another shot at him ; but it was
growin' dark fast, and I flogged off the sluts arter a deal o'
work, and viewed him down the old blind run-way into the
swale eend, where I telled you ; and then I laid still quite a
piece ; and then I circled round, to see if he'd quit it, and not
one dog tuk track on him, and so I feels right sartain as he's in
that hole now, and will be in the mornin', if so be we goes there
in time, afore the sun's up.''

" That we can do easily enough," said Archer, " what do you
say, Tom ? Is it worth while ?"

" Why," answered old Draw instantly, " if so be only we
could be sartain that the darned critter warn't a lyin', there
couldn't be no doubt about it; for if the buck did lay up there this
night, why he'll be there to-morrow ; and if so be he's there,
why we can get him sure !''

" Well, Jem, what have you got to say now," said the Com-
modore ; " is it the truth or no ?"

" Why, darn it all," retorted Jem, " harn't I just told you it
was true ; it's most blamed hard a fellow can't be believed now
— why, Mr Aircher, did I ever lie to you ?"

"Oh ! if you ask me that,'' said Harry, "you know I must
say * Yes !' — for you have, fifty times at the least computation.
Do you remember the day you towed me up the Decker's run
to look for woodcock ?"

" And you found nothing," interrupted Tom, " but "

" Oh shut up, do, Tom," broke in Forester, " and let us hear
about this buck. If we agree to give you a five dollar bill,
Jem, in case we do find him where you say, what will you be
willing to forfeit if we do not ?"

" You may shoot at me !'' answered Jem, " all on you — ivery
one on you — at forty yards, with rifle or buckshot !''

" It certainly is very likely that we should be willing to get
hanged for the sake of shooting such a mangy hound as you,
Jem," answered Forester, *' when one could shoot a good clean
dog — Tom's Dash, for example — for nothing !"

" Could you though ?" Tom replied, " I'd like to catch you
at it, my dear boy — I'd wax the little hide off of you. But
come, let us be settling. Is it a lie now, Jeai ; speak out—is

142 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

it a lie, consarn you ? for if it be, you'd best jest say 't out
now, and save your bones to-morrow. Well, boys, the critter's
sulky, so most like it is true — and I guess we'll be arter him.
We'll be up bright and airly, and go a horseback, and if he be
there, we can kill him in no time at all, and be right back to
breakfast. I'll start Jem and the captain here, and Dave Seers,
with the dogs, an hour afore us ! and let them come right down
the swale, and drive him to the open — Harry and Forester, you

two can ride your own nags, and I'll take old Roan, and A

here shall have the colt."

" Very well ! Timothy, did they feed well to-night ? if they
did, give them their oats very early, and no water. I know it's
too bad after their work to-day, but we shall not be out two hours !''

" Weel ! it's no matter gin they were oot six," responded
Timothy, " they wadna be a pin the waur o't !"

" Take out my rifle, then — and pick some buckshot cartridges
to fit the bore of all the double guns. Frank's got his rifle ; so

you can take my heavy single gun — your gauge is 17, A ,

quite too small for buckshot; mine is 11, and will do its work
clean with Ely's cartridge and pretty heavy powder, at eighty-
five to ninety yards. Tom's bore is twelve, and I've brought
some to fit his old double, and some, too, for my own gun,
though it is almost too small !"

" What gauge is yours, Harry ?"

" Fourteen ; which I consider the very best bore possible for
general shooting. I think the gunsmiths are running headlong
now into the opposite of their old error — when they found that
6fteens and fourteens outshot vastly the old small calibres —
fifty years since no guns were larger than eighteen, and few
than twenty; they are now quite out-doing it. I have seen
late-imported guns of seven pounds, and not above twenty-six
inches Jong, with eleven and even ten gauge calibres ! you might
as well shoot with a blunderbus at once F'

" They would tell at cock in close summer covert," answered
A .

" For a man who can't cover his bird they might," replied
Harry ; " but you may rely on it they lose three times as much
in force as they gain in the space they cover ; at forty yards
you could not kill even a woodcock with them once in fifty
times, and a quail, or English snipe, at that distance never !"

" What do you think the right length and weight, then, for
an eleven bore ?"

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 143

** Certainly not less than nine pounds, and thirty inches ; but
I would prefer ten pounds and thirty-three inches ; though, ex-
cept for a fowl-gun to use in boat-shooting, such a piece would
be quite too ponderous and clumsy. My single gun is eleven
gauge, eight pounds and thirty-three inches ; and even with
loose shot executes superbly ; but with Ely's green cartridge I
have put forty BB shot into a square of two and a half feet at
one hundred and twenty-five yards ; sharply enough, too, to
imbed the shot so firmly in the fence against which I had fixed
my mark, that it required a good strong knife to get them out.
This 1 propose that you should use to-morrow, with a l\ oz.
SG cartridge, which contains eighteen buck-shot, and which, if
you get a shot any where within a hundred yards, will kill him.
as dead, 1 warrant it, as an ounce bullet."

" Which you intend to try, I fancy," added Frank.

" Not quite ! my rifle carries eighteen only to the pound ;
and yours, if I forget not, only thirty-two."

" But mine is double.''

" Never mind that ; thirty-two will not execute with certainty
above a hundred and fifty yards !"

" And how far in the devil's name would you have it execute,
as you calls it," asked old Tom.

" Three hundred !" replied Harry, coolly.

" Thunder !" replied Draw, " don't tell me no sich thunderhV
nonsense ; I'll stand all day and be shot at, like a Christmas
turkey, at sixty rods, for six-pence a shot, any how.''

" I'll bet you all the liquor we can drink while we are here,
Tom," answered Harry, " that I hit a four foot target at three
hundred yards to-morrow !"

" Off hand ?" inquired Tom, with an attempt at a sneer.

" Yes, off hand ! and no shot to do that either ; I know men
— lots of them — who would bet to hit a foot* square at that
distance !''

* When this was written strong exception was taken to it by a Southern
writer in the Spirit of the Times. Had that gentleman known what is the
practice of the heavy Tyrolese rifle he would not have written so confi-
dently. But it is needless to go so far as to the Tyrol. There is a well
known rifle-shot in New York, who can perform the feat, any day, which
the Southern writer scoffed at as utterly impossible.

Scrope on Deerstalking will show to any impartial reader's satisfaction,
that stags in the Highlands are rarely lulled within 200 and generally be-
yond 300 yards' distance.

144 WARWICK WOOBLANDS,

4i Well ! you can't hit four, no how /"

" Will you bet «"

« Sartain !"

" Very well — Done — Twenty dollars I will stake against a£l
the liquor we drink while we're here. Is it a bet ?"

" Yes ! Done !" cried Tom — " at the first shot, you know ; I
gives no second chances."

" Very well, as you please ! — I'm sure of it, that's all-
Lord, Frank, how we will drink and treat — I shall invite all the
town up here to-morrow — Come ! — One more round for luck,
and then to bed !"

" Content !" cried A ; " but I mean Mr. Draw to have

an argument to-morrow night about this point of Setter vs.
Pointer ! How do you say, Harry ? — which is best ?"

" Oh ! I'll be Judge and Jury," — answered Archer — "-and
you shall plead before me ; and I'll make up my mind in the
meantime !'J

" He's for me, any how," — shouted Tom — " Darn it all,
Harry, you knows you wouldn't own a pinter — no, not if it was
gin you !"

*' I believe you are about right there, old fellow, so far as this
country goes at least !J> — said Archer — " different dogs for
different soils and seasons — and, in my judgment, setters are
far the best this side the Atlantic — but it is late now, and I
can't stand chattering here — good night — you shall have as
much dog-talk as you like to-morrow."

THE OUTLYING STAG.

IT was still pitch dark, although the skies were quite clear and
doudless, when Harry, Frank, and the Commodore re-assembled
on the following morning, in Tom's best parlor, preparatory to
the stag hunt which, as determined on the previous night, was
to be their first sporting move in the valley.

Early, however, as it was, Timothy had contrived to make a
glorious fire upon the hearth, and to lay out a slight breakfast of
biscuits, butter, and cold beef, flankecl by a square case-bottle of
Jamaica, and a huge jorum of boiled milk. Tom Draw had not
yet made his appearance, but the sound of his ponderous tramr

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 145

mixed with strange oaths and loud vociferations, showed that he
was on foot, and ready for the field.

" I'll tell you what, Master A ," said Archer, as he stood

with his back to the fire, mixing some rum with sugar and cold
water, previous to pouring the hot milk into it — u You'll be so
cold in that light jacket on the stand this morning, that you'll
never be able to hold your gun true, if you get a shot. It
froze quite hard last night, and there's some wind, too, this
morning."

" That's very true," replied the Commodore, " but devil a
thing have I got else to wear, unless I put on my great coat,
and that's too much the other way — too big and clumsy alto-
gether. I shall do well enough, I dare say ; and after all, my
•drilling jacket is not much thinner than your fustian."

" No," said Harry, " but you don't fancy that I'm going out
in this, do you ? No ! no ! I'm too old a hand for that sort of
thing — I know that to shoot well, a man must be comfortable,
and I mean to be so. Why, man, I shall put on my Canadian
hunting shirt over this " — and with the word he slipped a loose
frock, shaped much like a wagoner's smock, or a Flemish blouse,
over his head, with large full sleeves, reaching almost to his
knees, and belted round his waist, by a broad worsted sash.
This excellent garment was composed of a thick coarse home-
spun woollen, bottle-green in color, with fringe and bindings of
clingy red, to match the sash about his waist. From the sash
was suspended an otter skin pouch, containing bullets and
patches, nipple wrench and turn-screw, a bit of dry tow, an oiled
rag, and all the indispensables for rifle cleaning ; while into it
were thrust two knives — one a broad two-edged implement, with
a stout buck-horn haft, and a bhicle of at least twelve inches —
the other a much smaller weapon, not being, hilt and all, half
the length of the other's blade, but very strong, sharp as a razor,
and of surpassing temper. While he was fitting all these in
their proper places, and slinging under his left arm a small
buffalo horn of powder, he continued talking —

" Now," he said, " if you take my advice, you'll go into my
room, and there, hanging against the wall, you'll find my winter
shooting jacket, I had it made last year when I went up to
Maine, of pilot cloth, lined throughout with flannel. It will fit
you just as well as your own, for we're pretty much of a size.
Frank, there, will wear his old monkey jacket, the skirts of
which he razeed last winter for the very purpose. Ah, here is
7

146 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

Brower — just run up, Brower, and bring down my shooting
jacket off the wall from behind the door — look sharp, will you !
Now, then, I shall load, and I advise you both to do likewise ;
for it's bad work doing that same with cold fingers."

Thus saying, he walked to the corner, and brought out his
rifle, a short heavy double barrel, with two grooves only, carry-
ing a bitted ball of twelve to the pound, quite plain but ex-
quisitely finished. Before proceeding, however, to load, he tried
the passage of the nipple with a fine needle — three or four of
which, thrust into a cork, and headed with sealing wax, formed
a portion of the contents of his pouch — brushed the cone, and
the inside of the hammer, carefully, and wiped them, to con*
elude, with a small piece of clean white kid — then measuring
his powder out exactly, into a little charger, screwed to the end
of his ramrod, he inverted the piece, and introduced the rod
upward till the cup reached the chamber ; when, righting the
gun, he withdrew it, leaving the powder all lodged safely at the
breech, without the loss of a single grain in the groovings. Next,
he chose out a piece of leather, the finest grained kid, without
a seam or wrinkle, slightly greased with the best watch-maker's
oil — selected a ball perfectly round and true— laid the patch
upon the muzzle, and placing the bullet exactly in the centre
over the bore, buried it with a single rap of a small lignum vitse
mallet, which hung from his button-hole ; -and then, with but a
trifling effort, drove it home by one steady thrust of the stout
copper-headed charging rod. This done, he again inspected the
cone, and seeing that the powder was forced quite up into sight,
picked out, with the same anxious scrutiny that had marked all
of his proceedings, a copper cap, which he pronounced sure to
go, applied it to the nipple, crushed it down firmly, with the
hammer, which he then drew back to half-cock, and bolted.
Then he set the piece down by the fireside, drained his hot jorum,
and —

" That fellow will do his work, and no mistake/' said he.

" Now A , here is my single gun " — handing to him, as he

spoke, one of the handsomest Westley Richards a sportsman
ever handled — " thirty-three inches, nine pounds and eleven
gauge. Put in one-third above that charger, which is its usual
load, and one of those green cartridges, and I'll be bound that
it will execute at eighty paces ; and that is more than Master
Frank there can say for his Manton Rifle, at least if he loads it

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 147

with bullets patched in that slovenly and most unsportsmanlike
fashion."

" I should like to know what the deuce you mean by slovenly
and unsportsmanlike," said Frank, pulling out of his breast
pocket a couple of bullets, carefully sewed up in leather — " it is
the best plan possible, and saves lots of time — you see I can
just shove my balls in at once, without any bother of fitting
patches."

" Yes," replied Harry, " and five to one the seam, which, how-
ever neatly it is drawn, must leave a slight ridge, will cross the
direction of the grooving, and give the ball a counter movement ;
either destroying altogether the rotatory motion communicated
by the rifling, or causing it to take a direction quite out of the
true line ; accordingly as the counteraction is conveyed near the
breech, or near the muzzle of the piece."

u Will so trifling a cause produce so powerful an effect ?'* in-
quired the Commodore.

" The least variation, whether of concavity or convexity in the
bullet, will do so unquestionably — and I cannot see why the
same thing in a covering superinduced to the ball should not
have the same effect. Even a hole in a pellet of shot, will cause
it to leave the charge, and fly off at a tangent. I was once
shooting in the fens of the Isle of Ely, and fired at a mallard
sixty or sixty-five yards off, with double B shot, when to my
great amazement a workman — digging peat at about the same
distance from me with the bird, but at least ninety yards to the
right of the mallard — roared out lustily that I had killed him.
I saw that the drake was knocked over as dead as a stone, and
consequently laughed at the fellow, and set it down as a cool
trick to extort money, not uncommon among the fen men, as
applied to members of the University. I had just finished load-
ing, and my retriever had just brought in the dead bird, which
was quite riddled, cut up evidently by the whole body of the
charge — both the wings broken, one in three places, one leg
almost dissevered, and several shots in the neck and body — when
up came my friend, and sure enough he was hit — one pellet had
struck him on the cheek bone, and was imbedded in the skin.
Half a crown, and a lotion of whiskey — not applied to the part,
but taken inwardly — soon proved a sovereign medicine, and
picking out the shot with the point of a needle, I found a hole
in it big enough to admit a pin's head, and about the twentieth
part of an inch in depth. This I should think is proof enough

148 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

for you — but, besides this, I have seen bullets in pistol-shooting
play strange vagaries, glancing off from the target at all sorts of
queer angles."

" Well ! well !'' replied Frank, " my rifle shoots true enough
for me — true enough to kill generally — and who the deuce can
be at the bother of your pragmatical preparations ! I am sure
it might be said of you, as it was of James the First, of most
pacific and pedantic memory, that you are i Captain of arts and
Clerk of arms ' — at least you are a very pedant in gunnery."

" No ! no !" said A ; " you're wrong there altogether,

Master Forester ; there is nothing on earth that makes so great
a difference in sportsmanship as the observation of small things.
I don't call him a sportsman who can walk stoutly, and kill well,
unless he can give causes for effects — unless he knows the haunts
and habits both of his game and his dogs — unless he can give
a why for every wherefore !"

" Then devil a bit will you ever call me one," — answered
Frank — " For I can't be at the trouble of thinking about it."

" Stuff — humbug — folly " — interrupted Archer — " you know
a great deal better than that — and so do we, too ! — you're only
cranky ! a little cranky, Frank, and given to defending any folly
you commit without either rhyme or reason— as when you tried
to persuade me that it is the safest thing in nature to pour gun-
powder out of a canister into a pound flask, with a lighted cigar
between your teeth ; to demonstrate which you had scarcely
screwed the top of the horn on, before the lighted ashes fell all
over it — had they done so a moment sooner, we should all have
been blown out of the room."

By this time, the Commodore had donned Harry's winter
jacket, and Frank, grumbling and paradoxizing all the while,
had loaded his rifle, and buttoned up his pea-jacket, when in
stalked Tom, swathed up to his chin in a stout dreadnought coat.

u What are ye lazin' here about !" he shouted, "you're niver
ready no how. Jem's been agone these two hours, and we'll
jest be too late, and miss gittin' a shot — if so be there be a buck
— which I'll be sworn there arn't !"

"Ha! ha!" the Commodore burst out; "ha! ha! ha! 1
should like to know which side the laziness has been on this
morning, Mister Draw.''

" On little wax skin's there," answered the old man, as quick
as lightning ; " the little snoopin' critter carn't find his gloves
now ; though the nags is at the door, and we all ready.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 149

drink, boys, while he's lookin' arter 'em — and then when he's
found them, and's jest a gittin' on his horse, he'll find he's left
his powder-horn or knife, or somethin' else, behind him ; and
then we'll drink agin, while he snoops back to fetch it."

" You be hanged, you old rascal," replied Forester, a little
bothered by the huge shouts of laughter which followed this
most strictly accurate account of his accustomed method of pro-
ceeding ; an account which, by the way, was fully justified not
twenty minutes afterward, by his galloping back, neck or nothing,
to get his pocket handkerchief, which he had left " in course"
as Tom said, in his dressing-gown beside the fire.

" Come, bustle — bustle !" Harry added, as he put on his
hunting cap and pulled a huge pair of fen boots on, reaching to
the midthigh, which Timothy had garnished with a pair of bright
English spurs. In another minute they were all on horseback,
trotting away at a brisk pace toward the little glen, wherein, ac-
cording to Jem's last report, the stag was harbored. It was in
vain that during their quick ride the old man was entreated to
inform them where they were to take post, or what they were
to do, as he would give them no reply, nor any information
whatever.

At last, however, when Forester rejoined them, after his re-
turn to the village, he turned short off from the high road to
the left, and as he passed a set of bars into a wild hill pasture,
struck into a hard gallop.

Before them lay the high and ridgy head of Round Top, his
flanks sloping toward them, in two broad pine-clad knobs, with
a wild streamlet brawling down between them, and a thick tan-
gled swamp of small extent, but full of tall dense thornbushes,
matted with vines and cat-briers, and carpeted with a rich under-
growth of fern and wintergreen, and whortleberries. To the
right and left of the two knobs or spurs just mentioned, were
two other deep gorges, or dry channels, bare of brushwood, and
stony — rock-walled, with steep precipitous ledges toward the
mountain, but sloping easily up to the lower ridges. As they
reached the first of these, Tom motioned Forester to stop.

" Stand here," he whispered, " close in here, jest behind this
here crag — and look out hereaways toward the village. If he
comes down this runway, kill him, but mind you doosn't show
a hair out of this corner ; for Archer, he'll stand next, and if so
be he crosses from the swamp hole hereaways, you'll chance to

150 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

fet a bullet. Be still, now, as a mouse, and tie your horse
ere in the cove ! — Now, lads'7 —

And off he set again, rounded the knob, and making one
slight motion toward the nook, wherein he wished that Harry
should keep guard, wheeled back in utter silence, and very
slowly — for they were close to the spot wherein, as they sup-
posed, the object of their chase was laid up ; and as yet but two
of his paths were guarded toward the plain ; Jem and his com-
rades having long since got with the hounds into his rear, and
waiting only for the rising of the sun to lay them on, and push
along the channel of the brook.

This would compel him to break covert, either directly from
the swamp, or by one of the dry gorges mentioned. Now,
therefore, was the crisis of the whole matter ; for if — before the
other passes were made good — the stag should take alarm, he
might steal off without affording a chance of a shot, and get
into the mountains to the right, where they might hunt him for
a week in vain.

No marble statue could stand more silently or still than
Harry and his favorite gray, who, with erected ears and watch-
ful eye, trembling a little with excitement, seemed to know
what he was about, and to enjoy it no less keenly than his rider.
Tom and the Commodore, quickening their pace as they got
out of ear-shot, retraced their steps quite back to the turnpike
road, along which Harry saw them gallop furiously, in a few
minutes, and turn up, half a mile off, toward the further gulley
— he saw no more, however ; though he felt certain that the
Commodore was, scarce ten minutes after he lost sight of them,
standing within twelve paces of him, at the further angle of the
swamp — Tom having warily determined that the two single
guns should take post together, while the two doubles should
be placed where the wild quarry could get off encountering but
a single sportsman.

It was a period of intense excitement before the sun rose,
though it was of short duration — but scarcely had his first rays
touched the open meadow, casting a huge gray shadow from
the rounded hill which covered half the valley, while all the
farther slope was laughing in broad light, the mist wreaths curl-
ing up, thinner and thinner every moment, from the broad
streamlet in the bottom, which here and there flashed out ex-
ultingly from its wood-covered margins — scarcely had his first
rays topped the hill, before a distant shout came swelling on

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 151

the air, down the ravine, announcing Jem's approach. No
hound gave tongue, however, nor did a rustle in the brake, or
any sound of life, give token of the presence of the game —
louder and nearer drew the shouts — and now Harry himself be-
gan to doubt if there were any truth in Jem's relation, when
suddenly the sharp, quick crack of Forester's rifle gave token
that the game was afoot — a loud yell from that worthy followed.

" Look out ! Mark- — back — mark back !"

And keenly Archer did look out, and warily did he listen —
once he detected, or fancied he detected, a rustling of the under-
wood, and the crack of a dry stick, and dropping his reins on
the horse's neck, he cocked his rifle — but the sound was not re-
peated, nor did any thing come into sight — so he let down the
hammer once again, and resumed his silent watch, saying to
himself —

" Frank fired too quick, and he has headed up the brook to
Jem. If he is forward enough now, we shall have him back in-
stantly, with the hounds at his heels ; but if he has loitered
and hung back, * over the hills and far away' is the word for
this time."

* But Jem was in his place, and in another moment a long-
whoop came ringing down the glen, and the shrill yelping rally
of the hounds as they all opened on a view together ! Fiercer
and wilder grew the hubbub ! And now the eager watcher
might hea»r the brushwood torn in all directions by the impetu-
ous passage of the wild deer and his inveterate pursuers.

" Now, then, it is old Tom's chance, or ours," he thought,
" for he will not try Forester again, I warrant him, and we are
all down wind of him — so he can't judge of our whereabouts."

In another second the bushes crashed to his left hand, and
behind him, while the dogs were raving scarcely a pistol-shot
off, in the tangled swamp. Yet he well knew that if the stag
should break there it would be A 's shot, and, though anx-
ious, he kept his eye fixed steadily on his own point, holding
his good piece cocked and ready.

" Mark ! Harry, mark him !" — a loud yell from the Commodore.

The stag had broken midway between them, in full sight of

A , and seeing him, had wheeled off to the right. He was

now sweeping onward across the open field with high graceful
bounds, tossing his antlered head aloft, as if already safe, and
little hurt, if anything, by Jem Lyn's boasted shot of the last
evening. The gray stood motionless, trembling, however, pal-

152 WARWICK WOODLANDS,

pably, in every limb, with eagerness — his ears laid flat upon his
neck, and cowering a little, as if he feared the shot, which it
would seem his instinct told him to expect. Harry had dropped
his reins once more, and levelled his unerring rifle — yet for a

moment's space he paused, waiting for A to fire ; there was

no hurry for himself, nay, a few seconds more would give him a
yet fairer shot, for the buck now was running partially toward
him, so that a moment more would place him broadside on,
and within twenty paces.

" Bang !" came the full and round report of A 's large

shot-gun, fired before the beast was fifteen yards away from
him. He had aimed at the head, as he was forced to do, lest
he should spoil the haunches, for he was running now directly
from him — and had the buck been fifty paces off he would have
killed him dead, lodging his whole charge, or the best part of
it, in the junction of the neck and skull — but as it was, the
cartridge — the green cartridge — had not yet spread at all ; nor
had one buckshot left the case ! Whistling like a single ball,
as it passed Harry's front eight or nine yards off, it drove, as
his quick eye discovered, clean through the stag's right ear, al-
most dissevering it, and making the animal bound six feet off*
the green sward.

Just as he touched the earth again, alighting from his mighty
spring, with an aim sure and steady, and a cool practised finger,
the marksman drew his trigger, and, quick, as light, the piece —
well loaded, as its dry crack announced — discharged its ponder-
ous missile ! But, bad luck on it, even at that very instant,
just in the point of time wherein the charge was ignited,
eighteen or twenty quail, flushed by the hubbub of the hounds,
rose with a loud and startling whirr, on every side of the gray
horse, under his belly and about his ears, so close as almost to
brush him with their wings — he bolted and reared up — yet
even at that disadvantage the practised rifleman missed not his
aim entirely, though he erred somewhat, and the wound in con-
sequence was not quite deadly.

The ball, which he had meant for the heart, his sight being
taken under the fore-shoulder, was raised and thrown forward
by the motion of the horse, and passed clean through the neck
close to the blade bone. Another leap, wilder and loftier than
the last ! yet still the stag dashed onward, with the blood gush-
ing out in streams from the wide wound, though as yet neither

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 153

speed nor strength appeared to be impaired, so fleetly did he
scour the meadow.

"He will cross Frank yet!" cried Archer. "Mark! mark
him, Forester 1"

But, as he spoke, he set his rifle down against the fence, and
holloaed to the hounds, which instantly, obedient to his well-
known and cheery whoop, broke covert in a body, and settled,
heads up and sterns down, to the blazing scent.

At the same moment A came trotting out from his post,

gun in hand ; while at a thundering gallop, blaspheming aw-
fully as he came on, and rating them for " know-nothins, and
blunderin' etarnal spoil-sports," Tom rounded the farther hill,
and spurred across the level. By this time they were all in
sight of Forester, who stood on foot, close to his horse, in the
mouth of the last gorge, the buck running across him sixty
yards off, and quartering a little from him toward the road ;
the hounds were, however, all midway between him and the
quarry, and as the ground sloped steeply from the marksman,
he was afraid of firing low — but took a long, and, as it seemed,
sure aim at the head.

The rifle flashed — a tine flew, splintered by the bullet, from
the brow antler, not an inch above the eye.

" Give him the other !" shouted Archer. " Give him the
other barrel I"

But Frank shook his head spitefully, and dropped the muzzle
of his piece.

"By thunder! then, he's forgot his bullets — and hadn't
nothen to load up agen, when he missed the first time !''

" Ha ! ha ! ha !'' roared once again the Commodore — " ha !
ha ! hah ! — ha ! ha !" till rock and mountain rang again.

" By the Etarnal !" exclaimed Draw, perfectly frantic with pas-
sion and excitement — "By thunder! A , I guess you'd laugh

if your best friends was all a dyin' at your feet. You would for
sartain ! But look, look ! — what the plague's Harry goin' at ?''

For when he saw that Forester had now, for some reason or
other, no farther means of stopping the stag's career, Archer
had set spurs to his horse, and dashed away at a hard furious
gallop after the wounded buck. The hounds, which had lost sight
of it as it leaped a high stone wall with much brush round the
base of it, were running fast and furious on the scent — but still,
though flagging somewhat in his speed, the stag was leaving
them. He had turned, as the last shot struck his horns, down
7*

164 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

hill, as if to cross the valley ; but immediately, as if perceiving
that he had passed the last of his enemies, turned up again to-
ward the mountain, describing an arc, almost, in fact, a semi-
circle, from the point where he had broken covert to that — an-
other gully, at perhaps a short mile's distance — from which he
was now aiming.

Across the chord, then, of this arc, Harry was driving furious-
ly, with the intent, as it would seem, to cut him off from the
gulley — the stone wall crossed his line, but not a second did he
pause for it, but gave his horse both spurs, and lifting him a
little, landed him safely at the other side. Frank mounted

rapidly, dashed after him, and soon passed A , who was

less aptly mounted for a chase — he likewise topped the wall,
and disappeared beyond it, though the stones flew, where the
bay struck the coping with his heels.

All pluck to the back-bone, the Commodore craned not nor
hesitated, but dashed the colt, for the first time in his life, at
the high barrier — he tried to stop, but could not, so powerfully
did his rider cram him — leaped short, and tumbled head over
heels, carrying half the wall away with him, and leaving a gap
as if a wagon had passed through it — to Tom's astonishment
and agony — for he supposed the colt destroyed forever.

Scarcely, however, had A gained his feet, before a sight

met his eyes, which made him leave the colt, and run as fast
as his legs could carry him toward the scene of action.

The stag, seeing his human enemy so near, had strained
every nerve to escape, and Harry, desperately rash and daring,
seeing he could not turn or head him, actually spurred upon
him counter to broadside, in hope to ride him down ; foiled
once again, in this — his last hope, as it seemed — he drew his
longest knife, and as — a quarter of a second too late only — he
crossed behind the buck, he swung himself half out of his
saddle, and striking a full blow, succeeded in hamstringing him ;
while the gray, missing the support of the master-hand,
stumbled and fell upon his head.

Horse, stag, and man, all rolled upon the ground within the
compass of ten yards — the terrified and wounded deer striking
out furiously in all directions — so that it seemed impossible that
Archer could escape some deadly injury — while, to in-
crease the fury and the peril of the scene, the hounds came up,
and added their fresh fierceness to the fierce confusion. Before,
however, A came up, Harry had gained his feet, drawn his

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 155

small knife — the larger having luckily flown many yards as he
fell — and running in behind the struggling quarry, had seized
the brow antler, and at one strong and skilful blow, severed
the weasand and the jugular. One gush of dark red gore —
one plunging effort, and the superb and stately beast lay mo-
tionless forever — while the loud death halloo rang over the
broad valley — all fears, all perils, utterly forgotton in the strong
rapture of that thrilling moment.

SNIPE ON THE UPLAND.

" Now then, boys, we've no time to lose," said Archer, as he
replaced his knives, which he had been employed in wiping with
great care, in their respective scabbards, " it's getting toward
eight o'clock, and I feel tolerably peckish, the milk punch and
biscuits notwithstanding ; we shall not be in the field before ten
o'clock, do our best for it. Now, Jem," he continued, as that
worthy, followed by David Seers and the Captain made their
appearance, hot and breathless, but in high spirits at the glori-
ous termination of the morning's sport — " Now, Jem, you and
the Captain must look out a good strong pole, and tie that
fellow's legs, and carry him between you as far as Blain's house
— you can come up with the wagon this afternoon and bring
him down to the village. What the deuce are you pottering
at that colt about, Torn ? He's not hurt a pin's value, on the
contrary — "

" Better for 't, I suppose, you'll be a tellin' me torights ; bet-
ter for that all-fired etarnal tumble, aint he ?" responded the fat
chap, with a lamentable attempt at an ironical smile, put on to
hide his real chagrin.

" In course he is," replied Frank, who had recovered his
wonted equanimity, and who, having been most unmercifully
rallied by the whole party for leaving his bullets at home, was
glad of an opportunity to carry the war into the enemy's coun-
try, " in course he is a great deal better — if a thing can be said
to be better which, under all circumstances, is so infernally bad,
as that brute. I should think he was better for it. Why, by
the time he's had half a dozen more such purls, he'll leap a
six foot fence without shaking a loose rail. In fact, I'll bet a

156 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

dollar I carry him back over that same wall without touching
a stone.'7 And, as he spoke, he set his foot into the stirrup,
as if he were about to put his threat into immediate execution.

" Quit, Forester — quit, I say — quit, now — consarn the hide
on you " — shouted the fat man, now in great tribulation, and
apprehending a second edition of the tumble — " quit foolin', or
by h — 1 I'll put a grist of shot, or one of they green cartridges
into you stret away — I will, by the Etarnal !" and as he spoke
he dropped the muzzle of his gun, and put his thumb upon
the cock.

"/say quit fooling too," cried Harry, "both of you quit it;
you old fool, Tom, do you really suppose he is mad enough to
ride that brute of yours again at the wall ?"

" Mad enough ! — Yes, I swon he be," responded Tom ; " both
of you be as mad as the hull Asylum down to York. If Frank
arn't mad, then there aint such a word as mad !" But as he
spoke he replaced his gun under his arm, and walked off to his
horse, which he mounted, without farther words, his example
being followed by the whole party, who set off on the spur, and
reached the village in less than half an hour.

Breakfast was on the table when they got there — black tea,
produced from Harry's magazine of stores, rich cream, hot
bread, and Goshen butter — eggs in abundance, boiled, roasted,
fried with ham — an omelet au fines herbes, no inconsiderable
token of Tim's culinary skill — a cold round of spiced beef, and
last, not least, a dish of wood-duck hot from the gridiron.

" By George," said Harry, " here's a feast for an epicure, and
I can find the appetite."

" Find it " — said Forester, grinning, who, pretending to eat
nothing, or next to nothing, and not to care what was set
before him, was really the greatest gourmet and heaviest feeder
of the party — " Find it, Harry 1 it's quite new to me that you
ever lost it. When was it, hey ?"

"Arter he'd eat a hull roast pig, I reckon — leastwise that
might make Harry lose his'n ; but I'll be darned if two would
be a sarcumstance to set before you, Frank, no how. Here's
A , too, he don't never eat."

" These wood-duck are delicious," answered the Commodore,
who was very busily employed in stowing away his pro van t,
" What a capital bird it is, Harry."

" Indeed, is it," said he, " and this is, me judice, the very
best way to eat it, red hot from the gridiron, cooked very quick,

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 157

and brown on the outside, and full of gravy when you cut ;
with a squeeze of a lemon and a dash of cayenne it is sublime*
What say you, Forester ?"

" Oh, you wont ketch him sayin' nauthen, leastwise not this
half hour — but the way he'll keep a feedin' wont be slow, I
tell you — that's the way to judge how Forester likes his grub
—jest see how he takes hold on V

" Are there many wood-duck about this season, Tom ?" asked
Forester, affecting to be .perfectly careless and indifferent to all
that had passed. " Did you kill these yourself?"

" There was a sight on them a piece back, but they're gittin'
scase — pretty scase now, I tell you. Yes, I shot these down
by Aunt Sally's big spring-hole a Friday. I'd been a lookin'
round, you see, to find where the quail kept afore you came up
here — for I'd a been expectin' you a week and better — and I'd
got in quite late, toward sundown, with an outsidin' bevy, down
by the cedar swamp, and druv them off into the big bog
meadows, below Sugar-loaf, and I'd killed quite a bunch on
them — sixteen, I reckon, Archer ; and there wasn't but eighteen
when I lit on 'em — and it was gittin' pretty well dark when I
came to the big spring, and little Dash was worn dead out, and
1 was tired, and hot, and thunderin' thirsty, so I sets down
aside the outlet where the spring water comes in good and cool,
and I was mixin' up a nice long drink in thejbig glass we hid
last slimmer down in the mudhole, with some great cider sper-
rits — when what should I hear all at once but whistle, whistlin'
over head, the wings of a whole drove on 'em, so up I buckled
the old gun ; but they'd plumped down into the crick fifteen
rod off or better, down by the big pin oak, and there they sot,
seven ducks and two big purple-headed drakes — beauties, I tell
you. Well, boys, I upped gun and tuck sight stret away, but
just as I was drawin', I kind o' thought I'd got two little char-
ges of number eight, and that to shoot at ducks at fifteen rod
wasn't nauthen. Well, then, I fell a thinkin', and then I
sairched my pockets, and arter a piece found two green car-
tridges of number three, as Archer gave me in the Spring, so I
dravved out the small shot, and inned with these, and put fresh
caps on to be sarten. But jest when I'd got ready, the ducks
had floated down with the stream, and dropped behind the
pint — so I downed on my knees, and crawled, and Dash along
side on me, for all the world as if the darned dog knowed ;
well, I crawled quite a piece, till I'd got under a bit of alder

158 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

bush, and then I seen them — all in a lump like, except two — ;
six ducks and a big drake — feeding and stickin' down their
heads into the weeds, and flutterin' up their hinder eends, and
chatterin' and jokin' — I could have covered them all with a
handkercher, exeeptin' two, as I said afore, one duck and the
little drake, and they was off a rod or better from the rest, at
the two different sides of the stream — the big bunch warn't
over ten rods off me, nor so far ; so T tuck sight right at the big
drake's neck. The water was quite clear and still, and seemed
to have caught all the little light as was left by the sun, for the
skies had got pretty dark, I tell you ; and I could see his head
quite clear agin the water — well, I draw'd trigger, and the hull
charge ripped into 'em — and there was a scrabblin' and a
squatterin' in the water now, I tell you — but not one on 'em
riz — not the darned one of the hull bunch ; but up jumped
both the others, and I d rawed on the drake — more by the
whistlin' of his wings, than that I seen him — but I drawed
stret, Archer, any ways ; and arter I'd pulled half a moment I
hard him plump down into the creek with a splash, and the
water sparkled up like a fountain where he fell. So then I
didn't wait to load, but ran along the bank as hard as I could
strick it, and when I'd got down to the spot, I tell you, little
Dash had got two on 'em out afore I carne, and was in with a
third. Well, sich, a cuttin' and a splashin' as there was you
niver did see, none on you — I guess, for sartin — leastwise I
niver did. I'd killed, you see, the drake and two ducks, dead
at the first fire, but three was only wounded, wing-tipped, and
leg-broken, and I can't tell you what all. It was all of nine
o'clock at night, and dark as all out doors, afore I gathered
them three ducks, but I did gather 'em ; Lord, boys, why I'd
stayed till mornin, but I'd a got them, sarten. Well, the drake
I killed flyin' I couldn't find him that night, no how, for the
stream swept him down, and I hadn't got no guide to go by,
so I let him go then, but I was up next mornin' bright and
airly, and started up the stream clean from the bridge here, up
through Garry's backside, and my boghole, and so on along the
meadows to Aunt Sally's run — and looked in every willow bush
that dammed the waters back, like, and every bunch of weeds,
and brier-brake, all the way, and sure enough I found him, he'd
been killed dead, and floated down the crick, and then the
stream had washed him up into a heap of broken sticks and
briers, and when the waters fell, for there had been a little

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 150

freshet, they left him there breast uppermost — and I was glad
to find him — for I think, Archer, as that shot was the nicest,
prettiest, etarnal, darndest, long, good shot, I iver did make,
anyhow ; and it was so dark I couldn't see him."

" A sweet shot, Tom," responded Forester, " a sweet pretty
shot, if there had only been one word of truth in it, which there
is not — don't answer me, you old thief — shut up instantly, and
get your traps ; for we've done feeding, and you've done lying,
for the present, at least I hope so — and now we'll out, and see
whether you've poached up all the game in the country."

" Well, it be gettin' late for sartain," answered Tom, " and
that'll save your little wax skin for the time ; but see, jest see,
boy, if I doesn't sarve you out, now, afore sundown !"

" Which way shall we beat, Tom," asked Harry, as he changed
his riding boots for heavy shooting shoes and leggins ; " which
course to-day ?"

" Why, Timothy's gittin' out the wagon, and we'll drive up
the old road round the ridge, and so strike in by Minthorne's,
and take them ridges down, and so across the hill — there's some
big stubbles there, and nice thick brush holes along the fence
sides, and the boys does tell us there be one or two big bevies
— but, cuss them, they will lie ! — and over back of Gin'ral Ber-
tolf 's barns, and so acrost the road, and round the upper eend of
the big pond, and down the long swamp into Hell hole, and
Tim can meet us with the wagon at five o'clock, under Bill Wis-
ner's white oak — does that suit you ?"

" Excellently well, Tom," replied Harry, " I could not have
cut a better day's work out myself, if I had tried. Well, all the
traps are in, and the dogs, Timothy, is it not so ?"

" Ey ! ey ! Sur," shouted that worthy from without, " all in,
this half-hour, and all roight !"

" Light your cigars then, quick, and let us start — hurrah !"

Within two minutes, they were all seated, Fat Tom in the
post of honor by Harry's side upon the driving box, the Com-
modore and Frank, with Timothy, on the back seat, and off they
rattled — ten miles an hour without the whip, up hill and down
dale all alike, for they had but three miles to go, and that was
gone in double quick time.

" What mun Ay do wi' t' horses, Sur ?" asked Tim, touching
his castor as he spoke.

" Take them home, to be sure," replied Harry, " and meet us

160 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

with them under the oak tree, close to Mr. Wisner's house, at
five o'clock this evening."

" Nay ! nay ! Sur !" answered Tim, with a broad grin, eager
to see the sport, and hating to be sent so unceremoniously home,
" that winna do, I'm thinking — who'll hug t' gam bag, and carry
t' bottles, and make t' loonchun ready ; that winna do, Sur,
niver. If you pie-ease, Sur, Ay'll pit oop t' horses i' Measter
Minthorne's barn here, and shak' doon a bite o' hay tull 'em, and
so gang on wi' you, and carry t' bag whaile four o' t' clock, and
then awa back and hitch oop, and draive doon to t' aik tree !"

" I understand, Tim," said his master, laughing ; " I under-
stand right well 1 you want to see the sport."

" Ayse oophaud it !" grinned Timothy, seeing at once that he
should gain his point.

" Well ! well ! I don't care about it ; will Minthorne let us put
up the beasts in his barn, Tom ?"

" Let us ! let us 1" exclaimed the fat man ; " by gad I'd like
to see Joe Minthorne, or any other of his breed, a tellin' me I
should'nt put my cattle where I pleased ; jest let me ketch him
at it !"

" Very well ; have it your own way, Tim, take care of
the beasts, and overtake us as quick as you can !" and as he
spoke, he let down the bars which parted a fine wheat stubble
from the road, and entered the field with the dogs at heel. " We
must part company to beat these little woods, must we not,
Tom ?"

" I guess so — I'll go on with A ; his Grouse and my

Dash will work well enough, and you and Frank keep down the
valley hereaways ; we'll beat that little swamp-hole, and then
the open woods to the brook side, and so along the meadows to
the big bottom ; you keep the hill-side coverts, and look the
little pond-holes well on Minthorne's Ridge, you'll find a cock or
two there anyhow ; and beat the bushes by the wall ; I guess
you'll have a bevy jumpin' up ; and try, boys, do, to git 'em
down the hill into the boggy bottom, for we can use them, I tell
you !" arid so they parted.

Archer and Forester, with Shot and Chase at heel, entered
the little thicket indicated, and beat it carefully, but blank ;
although the dogs worked hard, and seemed as if about to make
game more than once. They crossed the road, and came into
another little wood, thicker and wetter than the first, with
several springy pools, although it was almost upon the summit

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 161

of the hill. Here Harry took the left or lower hand, bidding
Frank keep near the outside at top, and full ten yards ahead
of him.

" And mind, if you hear Tom shoot, or cry mark? jump over
into the open field, and be all eyes, for that's their line of country
into the swamp, where we would have them. Hold up, good
dogs, hold up !"

And off they went, crashing and rattling through the dry
matted briers, crossing each other evenly, and quartering the
ground with rare accuracy. Scarcely, however, had they beat
ten paces, before Shot flushed a cock as he was in the very act
of turning at the end of his beat, having run in on him down
wind, without crossing the line of scent. Flip — flip — flap rose
the bird, but as the dog had turned, and was now running from
him, he perceived no cause for alarm, fluttered a yard or two
onward, and alighted. The dog, who had neither scented nor
seen the bird, caught the sound of his wing, and stood stiff on
the instant, though his stern was waved doubtfully, and though
he turned his sagacious knowing phiz over his shoulder, as if to
look out for the pinion, the flap of which had arrested his quick
ear. The bird had settled ere he turned, but Shot's eye fell
upon his master, as with his finger on the trigger-guard, and
thumb on the hammer, he was stepping softly up in a direct
line, with eye intently fixed, toward the place where the
woodcock had dropped ; he knew as well as though he had
been blessed with human intellect, that game was in the wind,
and remained still and steady. Flip — flap again up jumped the
bird.

" Mark cock," cried Forester, from the other side of the wood,
not having seen any thing, but hearing the sound of the timber
doodle's wing somewhere or other ; and at the self-same moment
bang ! boomed the full report of Harry's right hand barrel, the
feathers drifting off down wind toward Frank, told him the work
was done, and he asked no question ; but ere the cock had struck
the ground, which he did within half a second, completely
doubled up — whirr, whirr-r-r ! the loud and startling hubbub of
ruffed grouse taking wing at the report of Harry's gun, suc-
ceeded— and instantly, before that worthy had got his eye about
from marking the killed woodcock, bang ! bang ! from Forester.
Archer dropped butt, and loaded as fast as it was possible, and
bagged his dead bird quietly, but scarcely had he done so before
Frank hailed him.

162 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

" Bring up the dogs, old fellow ; I knocked down two, and
I've bagged one, but I'm afraid the other's run !"

" Stand still, then — stand still, till I join you. He-here, he-
here good dogs,'' cried Harry, striding away through the brush
like a good one.

In a moment he stood by Frank, who was just pocketing his
first, a fine hen grouse.

" The other was the cock," said Frank, " and a very large one,
too ; he was a long shot, but he's very hard hit ; he flew against
this tree before he fell, and bounded off it here ; look at the
feathers !"

" Ay ! we'll have him in a moment ; seek dead, Shot ; seek,
good dogs ; ha ! now they wind him ; there ! Chase has him —
no ! he draws again — now Shot is standing ; hold up, hold up,
lads, he's running like the mischief, and won't stop till he reaches
some thick covert.''

Bang ! bang ! " Mark — ma-ark !'' bang ! bang ! " mark, Harry
Archer, mark," came down the wind in quick succession from
the other party, who were beating some thick briers by the brook
side, at three or four fields' distance.

u Quick, Forester, quick !" shouted Archer ; " over the wall,
lad, and mark them ! those are quail ; I'm man enough to get
this fellow by myself. Steady, lads ! steady-y-y !" as they were
roading on at the top of their pace. " Toho ! toho-o-o, Chase ;
fie, for shame — don't you see, sir, Shot's got him dead there
under his very nose in those cat-briers. Ha ! dead ! good lads —
good lads ; dead ! dead ! fetch him, good dog; by George but
he is a fine bird. I've got him, Forester ; have you marked
down the quail ?''

" Ay ! ay ! in the bog bottom !"

" How many ?"

"Twenty-three !"

" Then we'll have sport, by Jove !" and, as he spoke, they en-
tered a wide rushy pasture, across which, at some two or three

hundred yards, A and fat Tom were seen advancing toward

them. They had not made three steps before both dogs stood
stiff as stones in the short grass, where there was not a particle
of covert.

" Why, what the deuce is this, Harry ?"

" Devil a know know I," responded he ; " but step up to the
red dog, Frank — I'll go to the other — they've got game, and no
mistake !"

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 163

" Skeap — ske-eap !" up sprang a couple of English snipe before
Shot's nose, and Harry cut them down, a splendid double shot,
before they had flown twenty yards, just as Frank dropped the
one which rose to him at the same moment. At the sound of the
guns a dozen more rose hard by, and fluttering on in rapid zig-
zags, dropped once again within a hundred yards — the meadow
was alive with them.

" Did you ever see snipe here before, Tom ?" asked Harry, as
he loaded.

" Never in all my life — but it's full now — load up ! load up !
for heaven's sake !"

" No hurry, Tom ! Tom — steady! the birds are tame and
lie like stones. We can get thirty or forty here, I know, if you'll
be steady only — but if we go in with these four dogs, we shall
lose all. Here comes Tirn with the couples, and we'll take up
all but two !"

" That's right," said A ; " take up Grouse and Tom's dog,

for they won't hunt with yours — and yours are the steadiest, and
fetch — that's it, Tim, couple them, and carry them away. What
have you killed, Archer ?" he added, while his injunctions were
complied with.

" One woodcock and a brace of ruffed grouse ! and Frank has
marked down three-and-twenty quail into that rushy bottom
yonder, where we can get every bird of them. We are going
to have great sport to-day !"

" I think so. Tom and I each killed a double shot out of that
bevy !"

" That was well ! Now, then, walk slowly and far apart — we
must beat this three or four times, at least — the dogs will get
them up!"

It was not a moment before the first bird rose, but it was quite
two hours, and all the dinner horns had long blown for noon,
before the last was bagged — the four guns having scored, in that
one meadow, forty-nine English snipe — fifteen for Harry Archer
— thirteen for Tom Draw — twelve for the Commodore, and only
nine for Forester, who never killed snipe quite so well as he did
cock or quail.

"And now, boys," exclaimed Tom, as he flung his huge car-
case on the ground, with a thud that shook it many a rod around
— " there's a cold roast fowl, and some nice salt pork and crack-
ers, in that 'ar game bag — and I'm a whale now, I tell you, for
a drink I'7

164 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

"Which will you take to drink, Tom?" inquired Forester,
very gravely — " fowl, pork, or crackers ? Here they are, all of
them! I prefer whiskey and water, myself!" qualifying, as he
spoke, a moderate cup with some of the ice-cold water which
welled out in a crystal stream from a small basin under the
wreathed roots of the sycamore which overshadowed them.

" None of your nonsense, Forester — hand us the liquor, lad
—I'm dry, I tell you !"

" I wish you'd tell me something I don't know, then, if you
feel communicative ; for I know that you're dry — now and al-
ways ! Well ! don't be mad, old fellow, here's the bottle —
don't empty it— that's all !"

" Well ! now I've drinked," said Tom, after a vast potation,
" now I've drinked good — we'll have a bite and rest awhile,
and smoke a pipe ; and then we'll use them quail, and we'll
have time to pick up twenty cock in Hell-hole arterwards, and
that won't be a slow day's work, I reckon."

THE QUAIL.

"CERTAINLY this, is a very lovely country," exclaimed the
Commodore suddenly, as he gazed with a quiet eye, puffing his
cigar the while, over the beautiful vale, with the clear expanse
of Wickham's Pond in the middle foreground, and the wild
hoary mountains framing the rich landscape in the distance.

" Truly, you may say that," replied Harry ; " I have travelled
over a large part of the world, and for its own peculiar style of
loveliness, I must say that I never have seen any thing to match
with the vale of Warwick. I would give much, very much, to
own a few acres, and a snug cottage here, in which I might
pass the rest of my days, far aloof from the

Fumum et opes strepitumque Romae."

" Then, why the h — 1 don't you own a few acres ?" put in an-
cient Tom ; " I'd be right glad to know, and gladder yit to have
you up here, Archer."

" I would indeed, Tom," answered Harry ; " I'm not joking at
all ; but there are never any small places to be bought here-
about ; and, as for large ones, your land is so confounded good,
that a fellow must be a nabob to think of buying."

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 165

" Well, how would Jem Burt's place suit you, Archer ?" ask-
ed the fat man. " You knows it — jist a mile and a half 'tother
side Warwick, by the crick side ? I guess it will have to be
sold anyhow next April ; leastways the old man's dead, and the
heirs want the estate settled up like."

" Suit me !" cried Harry, " by George ! it's just the thing, if
I recollect it rightly. But how much land is there?"

" Twenty acres, I guess — not over twenty-five, no how.'*

" And the house V

" Well, that wants fixin' some ; and the bridge over the
crick's putty bad, too, it will want putty nigh a new one. Why,
the house is a story and a half like ; and it's jist an entry stret
through the middle, and a parlor on one side on't, and a kitchen
on the t'other ; and a chamber behind both on 'em."

" What can it be bought for, Tom ?"

" I guess three thousand dollars ; twenty-five hundred, may-
be. It will go cheap, I reckon ; I don't hear tell o' no one look-
in' at it."

" What will it cost me more to fix it, think you ?"

" Well, you see, Archer, the land's ben most darned badly
done by, this last three years, since old 'squire's ben so low ;
and the bridge, that'll take a smart sum ; and the fences is
putty much gone to rack ; I guess it'll take hard on to a thou-
sand more to fix it up right, like you'd like to have it, without
doin' nothin' at the house."

" And fifteen hundred more for that and the stables. I wish
to heaven I had known this yesterday ; or rather before I came
up hither," said Harry.

" Why so ?" asked the Commodore.

" Why, as the deuce would have it, I told my broker to invest
six thousand, that I have got loose, in a good mortgage, if he
could find one, for five years ; and I have got no stocks that I
can sell out ; all that I have but this, is on good bond and
mortgage, in Boston, and little enough of it, too."

" Well, if that's all," said Forester, " we can run down to-
morrow, and you will be in time to stop him."

" That's true, too," answered Harry, pondering. " Are you
sure it can be bought, Tom ?"

" I guess so," was the response. '

" That means, I suppose, that you're perfectly certain of it.
Why the devil can't you speak English ?"

" English !" exclaimed Frank ; u Good Lord ! why don't you

168 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

ask him why he can't speak Greek? English! Lord! Lord!
Lord ! Tom Draw and English !"

" I'll jist tell Archer what he warnts to know, and then see
you, my clear little, critter, if I doosn't English you some !" re-
plied the old man, waxing wroth. "Well, Archer, to tell hea-
ven's truth, now, I doos know it ; but it's an etarnal all-fired
shame of me to be tellin' it, bein' as how I knows it in the way
of business like. It's got to be selled by vandoo* in April.

" Then, by Jove ! I will buy it," said Harry ; " and down I'll
go to-morrow. But that need not take you away, boys ; you
can stay and finish out the week here, and go home in the
lanthe ; Tom will send you down to Nyack."

" Sartain," responded Tom ; " but now I'm most darned
glad I told you that, Archer. I meant to a told you on't afore,
but it clean slipped out of my head ; but all's right, now. Hark !
hark ! don't you hear, boys ? The quails hasn't all got to-
gether yit — better luck ! Hush, A , and you'll hear them

callin' — whew-wheet ! whew-wheet ! whe-vvhe-whe ;" and the
old Turk began to call most scientifically ; and in ten minutes
the birds were answering him from all quarters, through the
circular space of Bog-meadow, and through the thorny brake
beyond it, and some from a large ragwort field further yet.

u How is this, Frank — did they scatter so much when they
dropped ?" asked Harry.

" Yes ; part of them 'lighted in the little bank on this edge,
by the spring, you know; and some, a dozen or so, right in the
middle of the bog, by the single hickory ; and five or six went
into the swamp, and a few over it."

" That's it ! that's it ! and they've been running to try to get
together," said the Commodore.

" But was too skeart to call, till we'd quit shootin' !" said
Tom. " But come, boys, let's be stirrin', else they'll git to-
gether like ; they keeps drawin', drawin', into one place now, I
can hear."

No sooner said than done ; we were all on foot in an instant,
and ten minutes brought us to the edge of the first thicket ; and
here was the truth of Harry's precepts tested by practice in a
moment; for they had not yet entered the thin bushes, on

* Vendue. Why the French word for a public auction has been adopt-
ed throughout the Northern and Eastern States, as applied to a Sheriff's
sale, deponent saith not.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 167

•which now the red leaves hung few and sere, before old Shot
threw his nose high into the air, straightened his neck and his
stern, and struck out at a high trot ; the other setter evidently
knowing what he meant, though as yet he had not caught the
wind of them. In a moment they both stood steady ; and, al-
most at the same instant, Tom Draw's Dash, and A "s

Grouse came to the point, all on different birds, in a bit of very
open ground, covered with wintergreen about knee deep, and
interspersed with only a few scattered bushes.

Whir-r-r-r — up they got all at once ! what a jostle — what a
hubbub ! Bang ! bang ! crack ! bang ! crack ! bang ! Four bar-
rels exploded in an instant, almost simultaneously ; and two
sharp unmeaning cracks announced that, by some means or
other, Frank Forester's gun had missed fire with both barrels.

" What the deuce is the matter, boys !" cried Harry, laugh-
ing, as he threw up his gun, after the hubbub had subsided, and
dropped two birds — the only two that fell, for all that waste of
shot and powder.

" What the deuce ails you ?" he repeated, no one replying,
and all hands looking bashful and crest-fallen. " Are you all
drunk ? or what is the matter ? I ask merely for information."

" Upon my life ! I believe / am!" said Frank Forester. " For
I have not loaded my gun at all, since I killed those two last
snipe. And, when we got up from luncheon, I put on the caps
just as if all was right — but all is right now," he added, for he

had repaired his fault, and loaded, before A or fat Tom had

done staring, each in the other's face, in blank astonishment.

" Step up to Grouse, then," said Archer, who had never taken
his eye off the old brown pointer, while he was loading as fast
as he could. " He has got a bird, close under his nose ; and it
will get up, and steal away directly. That's a trick they will
play very often."

" He haint got no bird," said Tom, sulkily. And Frank
paused doubtful.

" Step up, I tell you, Frank," said Harry, " the old Turk's
savage ; that's all."

And Frank did step up, close to the dog's nose ; and sent
his foot through the grass close under it. Still the dog stood
perfectly stiff; but no bird rose.

" I telled you there warn't no quails there ;" growled Tom.

"And I tell you there are !" answered Archer, more sharply

168 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

than he often spoke to his old ally ; for, in truth, he was annoy-
ed at his obstinate pertinacity.

" What do you say, Commodore ? Is Grouse lying ! Kick
that tussock — kick it hard, Frank."

" Not he/' replied A- ; " I'll bet fifty to one, there's a

bird there."

" It's devilish odd, then, that he won't get up !" said Frank.

Whack ! whack ! and he gave the hard tussock two kicks
with his heavy boot, that fairly made it shake. Nothing stirred.
Grouse still kept his point, but seemed half inclined to dash in.
Whack! a third kick that absolutely loosened the tough has-
sock from the ground, and then, whirr-r, from within six inches
of the spot where all three blows had been delivered, up got the
bird, in a desperate hurry ; and in quite as desperate a hurry
Forester covered it— covered it before it was six yards off! His
finger was on the trigger, when Harry quietly said, " Steady,
Frank !" and the word acted like magic"

He took the gun quite down from his shoulder, nodded to
his friend, brought it up again, and turned the bird over very
handsomely, at twenty yards, or a little further.

" Beautifully done, indeed, Frank/' said Harry. " So much
for coolness !"

" What do you say to that, Tom ?" said the Commodore,
laughing.

But there was no laugh in Tom ; he only muttered a savage
growl, and an awful imprecation ; and Harry's quick glance
warned A not to plague the old Trojan further.

All this passed in a moment ; and then was seen one of those
singular things that will at times happen ; but with regard to
quail only, so far as I have ever seen or heard tell. For as
Forester was putting down the card upon the powder in the
barrel which he had just fired, a second bird rose, almost from
the identical spot whence the first had been so difficultly flushed,
and went off in the same direction. But not in the least was
Frank flurried now. He dropped his ramrod quietly upon the
grass, brought up his piece deliberately to his eye, and killed
his bird again.

" Excellent — excellent ! Frank," said Harry again. " I never
saw two prettier shots in all my life. Nor did I ever see birds
lie harder."

During all this time, amidst all the kicking of tussocks,
threshing of bog-grass, and banging of guns, and, worst of all,

\ V -V

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 160

bouncing up of fresh birds, from the instant when they dropped
at the first shot, neither one of Harry's dogs, nor Tom's little
Dash, had budged from their down charge. Now, however,
they got up quickly, and soon retrieved all the dead birds.

" Now, then, we will divide into two parties," said Harry.
41 Frank, you go with Tom ; and you corne with me, Commo-
dore. It will never do to have you two jealous fellows togeth-
er, you wont kill a bird all day," he added, in a lower voice,
" That is the worst of old Tom, when he gets jealous he's the
very devil, Frank is the only fellow that can get along with
him at all. He puts me out of temper, and if we both got an-
gry, it would be very disagreeable. For, though he is the very
best fellow in the world, when he is in a rage he is untameable.
I cannot think what has put him out, now ; for he has shot
very well to-day. It is only when he gets behindhand, that he
is usually jealous in his shooting ; but he has got the deuce
into him now.''

By this time the two parties were perhaps forty yards apart,
when Dash came to a point again. Up got a single bird, the
old cock, and flew directly away from Tom, across Frank's face ;
but not for that did the old chap pause. Up went his cannon
to his shoulder, there was a flash and a roar, and the quail,
which was literally not twelve feet from him, disappeared as if
it had been resolved into thin air. The whole of Tom's con-
centrated charge had struck the bird endwise, as it flew from
him ; and, except the extreme tips of his wings and one foot, no
.part of him could be found.

" The devil !" cried Harry, " that is too bad I" .

"Never mind," said the Commodore, "Frank will manage
him.'1

As he spoke a second bird got up, and crossed Forester in
the same manner, Draw doing precisely as he had done before ;
but, this time, missing the quail clear, which Forester turned
over.

" Load quick ! .and step up to that fellow. He will run, I
think !" said Archer.

" Ay ! ay I11 responded Frank, and, having rammed down his
charge like lightning, moved forward, before he had put the cap
on the barrel he had fired.

Just as he took the cap out of his pocket between his finger
and thumb, a second quail rose. As cool and self-possessed as
it is possible to conceive, Frank cocked the left hand barrel with

170 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

his little finger, still holding the cap between his forefinger and
thumb, and actually contrived to bring up the gun, some how
or other,* and to kill the bird, pulling the trigger with his
middle finger.

At the report a third quail sprang, close under his feet ; and,
still unshaken, he capped the right hand barrel, fired, and the
bird towered !

" Mark ! mark ! Tom — ma-ark Timothy P' shouted Harry and
A in a breath.

" That bird is as dead as Hannibal now !" added Archer, as,
having spun up three hundred feet into the air, and flown twice
as many hundred yards, it turned over, and fell plumb, like a
stone, through the clear atmosphere.

" Ayse gotten that chap marked doon roight, ayse warrant
un !" shouted Timothy from the hill side, where with some
trouble, he was holding in the obstreperous spaniels. " He's
doon in a roight laine atwixt 't muckle gray stean and yon
hoigh ashen tree.'

" Did you ever see such admirable shooting, though ?" asked

A , in a low voice. " I did not know Forester shot like

that."

" Sometimes he does. When he's cool. He is not certain ;
that is his only fault. One day he is the coolest man I ever
saw in a field, and the next the most impetuous ; but when he

is cool, he shoots splendidly. As you say, A , I never saw

anything better done in my life. It was the perfection of cool-
ness and quickness combined."

" I cannot conceive how it was done at all. How he brought
up and fired that first barrel with a cap between his thumb and
forefinger ! Why, I could not fire a gun so, in cold blood !"

"Nor could he, probably. Deliberate promptitude is the
thing ! Well, Tom, what do you think of that 1 Wasn't that
pretty shooting ?"

" It was so, pretty shootin'," responded the fat man, quite de-
lighted out of his crusty mood. " I guess the darned little
critter's got three barrels to his gun somehow ; leastwise it
seems to me, I swon, 'at he fired her off three times without
loadin' ! I guess I'll quit tryin' to shoot agin Frank, to-day."

" I told you so !" said Harry to the Commodore, with a low

* If I had not seen the whole of this scene with my eyes, and had I
not witnesses of the fact, I would scarce dare to relate it. From the cut-
ting the first bird to atoms, all is strictly true.

WARWICK WOODLANDS. ll

laugh, and then added aloud — " I think you may as well, Tom
— for I don't believe the fellow will miss another bird to-day."

And in truth, strange to say, it fell out, in reality, nearly as
Archer had spoken in jest. The whole party shot exceedingly
well. The four birds, which Tom and the Commodore had
missed at the first start, were found again in an old ragwort
field, and brought to bay ; and of the twenty-three quail which
Forester had marked down into the bog meadow, not one bird
escaped, and of that bevy not one bird did Frank miss, killing
twelve, all of them double shots, to his own share, and beating
Archer in a canter.

But that sterling sportsman cared not a stiver; too many
times by far had he had the field, too sure was he of doing the
same many a time again, to dislike being beaten once. Besides
this, he was always the least jealous shot in the world, for a
very quick one ; and, in this instance, he was perhaps better
pleased to see his friend " go in and win/' than he would have
been to do the like himself.

Exactly at two o'clock, by A 's repeater, the last bird

was bagged ; making twenty-seven quail, forty-nine snipe, two
ruffed grouse, and one woodcock, bagged in about five hours.

" So far, this is the very best day's sport I ever saw," said
Archer ; " and two things I have seen which I never saw be-
fore ; a whole bevy of quail killed without the escape of one
bird, and a whole bevy killed entirely by double shots, except

the odd bird. You, A , have killed three double shots — I

have killed three — Tom Draw one double shot, and the odd
bird ; and Master Frank there, confound him, six double shots
running — the cleverest thing I ever heard of, and, in Forester's
case, the best shooting possible. I have missed one bird, you
two, and Tom three."

" But Tom beant a goin' to miss no more birds, I can tell
you, boy. Tom's drinked agin, and feels kind o' righter than
he did — kind o' first best ! You'd best all drink, boys — the
spring's handy, close by here ; and after we gits down acrost
the road into the big swamp, and Hell-Hole, there arn't a drop
o' water fit to drink, till we gits way down to Aunt Sally's big
spring-hole, jest to home."

" I second the motion," said Harry ; " and then let us be
quick, for the day is wearing away, and we have got a long
beat yet before us. I wish it were a sure one. But it is not.
Once in three or four years we get a grand day's sport in the

172 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

big swamp ; but for one good day we have ten bad ones.
However, we are sure to find a dozen birds or so in Hell-Hole ;
and a bevy of quail in the Captain's swamp, shan't we, Tom ?"

" Yes, if we gits so far; but somehow or other I rather guess
we'll find quite a smart chance o' cock. Captain Reed was
down there a' Satterday, and he saw heaps on 'em."

" That's no sure sign. They move very quickly now. Here
to-day and there to-morrow," said Archer. " In the large
woods especially. In the small places there are plenty of sure
finds.'1

<k There harn't been nothing of frosts yet keen enough to stir
them," said Tom. " I guess we'll find them. And there harn't
been a gun shot off this three weeks there. Hoel's wife's ben
down sick all the fall, and Halbert's gun busted in the critter's
hand."

"Ah! did it hurt him ?"

" Hurt him some — skeart him considerable, though. I guess
he's quit shootin' pretty much. But come — here we be, boys.
I'll keep along the outside, where the walkings good. You git

next me, and Archer next with the dogs, and A inside of

all. Keep right close to the cedars, A ; all the birds 'at

you flushes will come stret out this aways. They never flies
into the cedar swamp. Archer, how does the ground look ?"

" I never saw it look so well, Tom. There is not near so
much water as usual, and yet the bottom is all quite moist and
soft."

" Then we'll get cock for sartain."

" By George !" cried A , " the ground is like a honey-
comb, with their borings ; and as white in places with their
droppings, as if there had been a snow fall !"

" Are they fresh droppings, A ?"

" Mark ! Ah ! Grouse ! Grouse ! for shame. There he is
down. Do you see him, Harry ?"

" Ay ! ay ! Did Grouse flush him ?"

" Deliberately, at fifty yards off. I must lick him."

" Pray do ; and that mercifully."

"And that soundly," suggested Frank, as an improvement.

" Soundly is mercifully," said Harry, " because one good flog-
ging settles the business ; whereas twenty slight ones only ha-
rass a dog, and do nothing in the way of correction or preven-
tion."

" True, oh king !" said Frank, laughing. " Now let us go

WARWICK WOODLANDS. 173

on ; for, as the bellowing of that brute is over, I suppose * chas-
tisement has hidden her head.' "

And on they did go ; and sweet shooting they had of it ; all
the way down to the thick deep spot, known by the pleasing
sobriquet of Hell-Hole.

The birds were scattered everywhere throughout the swamp,
so excellent was the condition of the ground ; scattered so
much, that, in no instance did two rise at once ; but one kept
flapping up after another, large and lazy, at every few paces ;
and the sportsmen scored them fast, although scarcely aware
how fast they were killing them. At length, when they reached
the old creek-side, and the deep black mud-holes, and the
tangled vines and leafy alders, there was, as usual, a quick,
sharp, and decisive rally. Before the dogs were thrown into it,
Frank was sent forward to the extreme point, and the Commo-
dore out into the open field, on the opposite side from that oc-
cupied by fat Tom.

On the signal of a whistle, from each of the party, Harry
drove into the brake with the spaniels, the setters being now
consigned to the care of Timothy ; and in a moment, his loud
" Hie cock ! Hie cock ! Pur-r-r — Hie cock ! good dogs !" was
succeeded by the shrill yelping of the cockers, the flap of the fast
rising birds, and the continuous rattling of shots.

In twenty minutes the work was done ; and it was well that
it was done ; for, within a quarter of an hour afterwards, it was
too dark to shoot at all.

In that last twenty minutes twenty-two cock were actually
brought to bag, by the eight barrels ; twenty-eight had been
picked up, one by one, as they came down the long swamp, and
one Harry had killed in the morning. When Timothy met
them, with the horses, at the big oak tree, half an hour after-
ward— for he had gone off across the fields, as hard as he could
foot it to the farm, as soon as he had received the setters — it
was quite dark ; and the friends had counted their game out
regularly, and hung it up secundum artem in the loops of the
new game bag.

It was a huge day's sport — a day's sport to talk about for
years afterward — Tom Draw does talk about it now !

Fifty-one woodcock, forty-nine English snipe, twenty-seven
quail, and a brace of ruffed grouse. A hundred and twenty-
nine head in all, on unpreserved ground, and in very wild

174 WARWICK WOODLANDS.

walking. It is to be feared it will never be done any more in
the vale of Warwick. For this, alas ! was ten years ago.

When they reached Tom's it was decided that they should
all return home on the morrow ; that Harry should attend to
the procuring his purchase money ; and Tom to the cheapening
of the purchase.

In addition to this, the old boy swore, by all his patron saints,
that he would come down in spring, and have a touch at the
snipe he had heerd Archer tell on at Pine Brook.

A capital supper followed ; and of course lots of good liquor,
and the toast, to which the last cup was quaffed, was

LONG LIFE TO HARRY ARCHER, AND LUCK TO HIS SHOOTING BOX,

to which Frank Forester added

" I wish he may get it."

And so that party ended ; all of its members hoping to enjoy
many more like it, and that very speedily.

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK,

THE SPORTSMAN'S SPREAD.

THE long cold winter had passed away and been succeeded
by the usual alternations of damp sloppy thaws, and piercing
eastern gales, which constitute a North American Spring ; and
now the croaking of the bull-frogs, heark from every pool and
puddle, the bursting buds of the young willows, and, above all,
the appearance of Shad in market, announced to the experienced
sportsman, the arrival of the English Snipe upon the marshes.
For some days Harry Archer had been busily employed in
overhauling his shooting apparatus, exercising his setters,
watching every change of wind, and threatening a speedy ex-
pedition into the meadows of New Jersey, so soon as three days
of easterly rain should be followed by mild weather from the
southward. Anxiously looked for, and long desired, at last the
eastern storm set in, cold, chilling, misty, with showers of smo-
ky driving rain, and Harry for two entire days had rubbed his
hands in ecstacy ; while Timothy stood ever in the stable door
— his fists plunged deep in the recesses of his breeches' pockets,
and a queer smile illuminating the honest ugliness of his bluff
visage — patiently watching for a break in the dull clouds — his
harness hanging the while in readiness for instant use, with
every crest and turret as bright as burnished gold ; his wagon
all prepared, with bear-skins and top-coats displayed ; and his
own kit packed up in prompt anticipation of the first auspicious
moment. The third dark morning had dawned dingily ; the
rain still drifted noiselessly against the windows, while gutters
overflowed, and kennels swollen into torrents announced its
volume and duration. There was not then the least temptation
to stir out of doors, and, sulky myself, I was employed in coax-
ing a sulky cigar beside a yet more sulky fire, with an empty
coffee-cup and a large quarto volume of Froissart upon the
table at my elbow, when a quick cheery triple rap at the street

176 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

door announced a visitor, and was succeeded instantly by a
firm rapid footstep on the stairs, accompanied by the multitudi-
nous pattering and whimpering of spaniels. Without the
ceremony of a knock the door flew open ; and in marched,
with his hat on one side, a dirty looking letter in his hand,
and Messrs. Dan and Flash at his heel, the renowned Harry
Archer.

" Here's a lark, Frank," exclaimed that worthy, pitching the
billet down upon the table, and casting himself into an arm-
chair : " Old Tom is to be here to-day to dinner, and wants to
go with us to the snipe meadow. So we will dine, if it so
please yon, at my house at three — I have invited Mae to join
us — and start directly after for Pine Brook."

" The devil !'* I responded, somewhat energetically ; " what,
in this rain ?"

" Rain — yes, indeed. The wind has hauled already to the
westward of the south, and we shall have a starlight night, and
a clear day to-morrow, and grand sport, I'll warrant you ! Rain
— yes ! I'm glad it does rain ; it will keep cockney gunners off
the meadows.'7

"But will Tom really be here ? How do you know it ? Have
you seen him ?"

" Read — read, man !v he responded, lighting the while a dark
cheroot, and lugging out my gun-case to inspect its traps. And
I in due obedience took up the billet-doux, which had produced
this notable combustion. It was a thin, dirty, oblong letter,
written across the lines upon ruled paper, with a pencil, wafered,
and stamped with a key, and bearing in round school-boy char-
acters the following direction : —

for Mr. Harrye Archere Newe Yorke Esqro
69 Merceye streete.

Internally it ran —

Olde friende

havin to git some grocerees down to Yorke, I reckons
to quit here on Satterdaye, and so be i can fix it counts to see you tews-
daye for sartain. quaile promises to be considerable plentye, and cocke
has come on most ongodly thicke, i was down to Sam Blainses one night
a fortnite since and heerd a heape on them a drumminge and ehatteringe
everywheres round aboute. if snipes is come on yit i reckon i could
git awaye a daye or soe down into Jarsey ways — no more at preasente
from ever youre old friende

Thomas Drawe
i shall look in at Merceye streete bout three oclocke dinner time i guesse,

tOM DRAWLS VISIT TO t»IN£ BROOit. 177

li Well ! that matter seems to be settled,'* answered I, when I
had finished the perusal of this most notable epistle. " I sup-
pose he will be here to the fore !''

" Sartain !" responded Archer, grinning; "and do you for
once, if possible — which I suppose it is not — be in time for dinner ;
I will not wait five minutes, and I shall give you a good feed ;
pack up your traps, and Tim shall call for them at two. We
dine at three, mind ! Start from my door at half-past five, so
as to get across in the six o'clock boat. Hard will be looking
out for us, I know, about this time, at Pine Brook ; and we
shall do it easy in three hours, for the roads will be heavy. Come
along, dogs. Good bye, Frank. Three o'clock ! now don't be
late, there's a good lad. Here Flash ! here Dan !" and gather-
ing his Macintosh about him, exit Harry.

Thereupon to work I went with a will ; rummaged up gun,
cleaning-rod, copper-caps, powder-horns, shot-pouch, and all the
et ceteras of shooting, which — being always stowed away with
so much care at the end of one season, that they are undis-
coverable at the beginning of the next — are sources of eternal
discomfiture to those most all-accomplished geniuses, high
sportsmen's servants : got out and greased my fen boots with
the fit admixture of tallow, tar, beeswax, and Venice turpentine ;
hunted up shooting jacket, corduroys, plaid waistcoat, and
check shirts ; and, in fact, perpetrated the detested task of pack-
ing, barely in time for Timothy, who, as he shouldered my port-
manteau, and hitched up the waistband of his own most volu-
minous unmentionables, made out in the midst of grins and
nods, and winks, to deliver himself to the following effect —

" Please sur, measter says, if you ple-ase to moind three o't
clock — for he'll be dommed, he said, please Measter Forester, av
he waits haaf a minit — "

" Very well, Tim, very well— that'll do — I'll be ready."

" And Measter Draw be coom'd tew — nay but Ay do think
'at he's fatter noo than iver — ecod, Ayse laff to see him doon i'
t' mossy meadows laike — he'll swear, Ayse warrant him."

And with a burst of merriment, that no one pair of mortal
lips save Timothy's alone could ever have accomplished, he with-
drew, leaving me to complete my toilet ; in which, believe me,
gentle reader, mindful of a good feed and of short law, I made
no needless tarrying.

The last stroke of the hour appointed had not yet stricken
when I was on the steps of Harry's well-known snug two-storied

178 TOM DRAWLS VISIT TO PlNfi BROOK*

domicile ; in half a minute more I was at my ease in his study,
where, to my no small wonder, I found myself alone, with no
other employment than to survey, for the nine hundredth time,
the adornments of that exquisite model for that most snug of all
things, a cozy bachelor's peculiar snuggery. It was a small back
room, with two large windows looking out upon a neatly trim-
med grass-plat bordered with lilacs and laburnums ; its area, of
sixteen feet by fourteen, was strewn with a rich Turkey carpet,
and covered with every appurtenance for luxury and comfort
that could be brought into its limits without encumbering its
brief dimensions. A bright steel grate, with a brilliant fire of
Cannel coal, occupied the centre of the south side, facing the
entrance, while a superb book-case and secretaire of exquisite
mahogany filled the recess on either hand of it, their glass doors
showing an assortment, handsomely bound, of some eight hun-
dred volumes, classics, and history, and the gems of modern poe-
sie and old romance. Above the mantel-piece, where should have
hung the mirror, was a wide case, covering the whole front of
the pier, with doors of plate glass, through which might be dis-
covered, supported on a rack of ebony, and set off by a back-
ground of rich crimson velvet, the select armory, prized above
all his earthly goods by their enthusiastic owner — consisting of
a choice pair of twin London-made double-barrels, a short
splendidly finished once-ball rifle, a heavy single pigeon gun, a
pair of genuine Kuchenreuter's nine-inch duelling pistols, and a
smaller pair by Joe Manton, for the belt or pocket — all in the
most perfect order, and ready for immediate use. Facing this
case upon the opposite wall, along the whole length of which
ran a divan, or wide low sofa, of crimson damask, hung two oil
paintings, originals by Edward Landseer, of dogs — hounds, ter-
riers, and all, in fact, of canine race, mongrels of low degree
alone excepted — under these were suspended, upon brackets,
two long cluck guns, and an array of tandem and four-horse
whips, besides two fly-rods, and a cherry-stick Persian pipe, ten
feet at least in length. The space between the windows was
occupied by two fine engravings, one of the Duke of Welling-
ton, the other of Sir Walter in his study — Harry's political and
literary idols ; a library centre table, with an inkstand of costly
buhl, covered with periodicals and papers, and no less than four
sumptuous arm-chairs of divers forms and patterns, completed
the appointments of the room ; but the picture still would be
incomplete, were I to pass over a huge tortoise-shell Tom Cat,

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 179

which dozed upon the rug in amicable vicinity to our old friends
the spaniels Dan and Flash. It did not occupy me quite so long
to take a survey of these well-remembered articles, as it has
done to describe them ; nor, in fact, had that been the case,
should I have found the time to reconnoitre them ; for scarcely
was I seated by the fire, before the ponderous trampling of Old
Tom might be heard on the stair-case, as in vociferous converse
with our host he came down from the chamber, wherein, by some
strange process of persuasion assuredly peculiar to himself, Harry
had forced him to go through the ceremony of ablution, pre-
vious to his attack upon the viands, which were in truth not
likely to be dealt with more mercifully in consequence of this de-
lay. Another moment, and they entered — " Arcades ambo " duly
rigged for the occasion — Harry in his neat claret-colored jocky-
coat, white waistcoat, corduroys and gaiters — Tom in Canary-
colored vest, sky-blue dress coat with huge brass buttons, gray
kerseymere unmentionables, with his hair positively brushed, and
his broad jolly face clean shaved, and wonderfully redolent of
soap and water. The good old souPs face beamed with unfeign-
ed delight, and grasping me affectionately by the hand —

" How be you ?'' he exclaimed — " How be you, Forester — you
looks well, anyways."

"Why, I am well, Tom," responded I, " but I shall be better
after I've had that drink that Archer's getting ready — yotfre
dry, I fancy — "

'* Sartain !" was the expected answer ; and in a moment the
pale Amontillado sherry and the bitters were paraded — but no
such darned washy stutf, as he termed it, would the old Trojan
look at, much less taste ; and Harry was compelled to produce
the liquor stand, well stored with potent waters, when at the
nick of time McTavish entered in full fig for a regular slap-up
party, not knowing at all whom he had been asked to meet.
Not the least discomposed, however, that capital fellow was in-
stantly at home, and as usual, up to every sort of fun.

" What, Draw," said he, " who the devil thought of seeing
you here — when did you come down ? Oh ! the dew, certainly,"
he continued, in reply to Archer, who was pressing a drink on
him — " the mountain dew for me — catch a Highlander at any
other dram, when Whasky's to the fore — ay, Tom ?"

" Catch you at any dram, exceptin' that what's strongest. See
to him now !" as Mac tossed off his modicum, and smacked his
lips approvingly ; " see to him now ! I'd jist as lief drink down

180 TO& DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOX.

so much fire, and he pours it in — pours it in, jist like as one it
was mother's milk to the darned critter."

" Ple-ase Sur, t' dinner's re-ady," announced Timothy, throw-
ing open the folding doors, and displaying the front room, with
a beautiful fire blazing, and a good old fashioned round table,
covered with exquisite white damask-linen, and laid with four
covers, each flanked by a most unusual display of glasses — a
mighty bell-mouthed rummer, namely, on a tall slender stock
with a white spiral line running up through the centre, an apt
substitute for that most awkward of all contrivances, the ordi-
nary champagne glass — a beautiful green hock goblet, with a
wreath of grapes and vine leaves wrought in relief about the
rim — a massy water tumber elaborately diamond-cut — and a
capacious sherry -glass so delicate and thin that the slender crystal
actually seemed to bend under the pressure of your lip ; nor,
were the liquors wanting in proportion — two silver wine-coolers,
all frosted over with the exudations from the ice within, display-
ed the long necks of a champagne flask and a bottle of Johan-
nisbergher, and four decanters hung out their labels of Port, Ma-
deira, brown Sherry, and Amontillado — while two or three black,
copper-wired bottles, in the chimney-corner, announced a stock
of heavy-wet, for such as should incline to malt. I had expected
from Tom's lips some preternatural burst of wonder, at this dis-
play of preparation, the like of which, as I conceived, had never
met his eyes before — but, whether he had been indoctrinated by
previous feeds at Harry's hospitable board, or had learned by
his own native wit the difficult lesson of nil admirarij he sat
down without any comment, though he stared a little wildly,
when he saw nothing eatable upon the table, except a large dish
of raw oysters, flanked by a lemon and a cruet of cayenne.
With most ineffable disdain, he waved off the plate which Tim
presented to him, with a " Consarn you, I arnt a goin to give
my belly cold with no such chillin' stuff as that. I'd like to
know now, Archer, if this bees all that you're a goin' to give us
— for if so be it is, I'll go stret down to the nigger's yonder, and
git me a beef steak and onions ?"

" Why, not exactly, Tom," responded Archer, when he could
speak for laughing — " these are merely for a whet to give us an
appetite."

" A blamed queer sort of wet, I think — why I'd have thought
that ere rum, what McTavish took, would have been wet enough,
till what time as you got at the champagne — and, as for appe-

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO rlNE BROOK. 181

tite, I reckon now a man whose guts is always cravin — cravin —
like yours be, had better a taken somethin' dry to keep it down
like, than a tvet to moisten it up more."

By this time the natives, which had so moved Tom's indigna-
tion, were succeeded by a tureen of superb mutton broth, to
which the old man did devote himself most assiduously, while
Mac was loud in approbation of the brouse, saying it only want-
ed bannocks to be perfection.

" Cuss you, you're niver satisfied, you aint," Tom had com-
menced, when he was cut short by " The Sherry round — Tim "
— from our host — " you'd better take the brown, Tom, it's the
strongest !" The old man thrust his rummer forth, as being in-
finitely the biggest, and — Timothy persisting in pouring out the
strong and fruity sherry into the proper glass — burst out again
indignantly —

" I'd be pleased to know, Archer, now, why you puts big
glasses on the table, if you don't mean they should be drinked
out of — to tantalize a chap, I reckon " — down went the wine at
one gulp, and the exquisite aroma conquered — he licked his lips,
sighed audibly, smiled, grinned, then laughed aloud. " I see —
I see," he said at last ; " you reckon it's too prime to be drinked
out of big ones — and I dun* know but what you're right too —
but what on airthe is we to drink out of these — not water, that
I know ! leastways, I niver see none in this house, no how."

" The green one is for brandy, Tom !" McTavish answered.

" Ey, ey !" Tom interrupted him, " and they makes them
green, I guess, so as no one shall see how much a body takes —
now that's what I does call gentz<A !"

u And this large plain one," added Mac, looking as grave as
a judge, and lifting one of the huge champagne glasses — " is a
dram glass for drinking Scotch whiskey — what they call in the
Highlands a thimblefull — "

" They take it as a medicine there, you see, Tom," continued
Archer ; " a preventive to a disease well known in those parts,
called the Scotch fiddle — did you ever hear of it ?"

" Carnt say," responded Tom ; " what like is't ?"

" Oh, Mac will tell you, he suffers from it sadly — didn't you
see him tuck in the specific — it was in compliment to him I had
the thimbles set out to-day.''

" Oh ! that's it, ay ?" the fat man answered. " Well, I don't
care if I do " — in answer to Harry's inquiry whether he would
take some boiled shad, which, with caper sauce, had replaced

182 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

the soup — " I don't care if I do — shads isn't got to Newburgh
yet, leastways I harnt seen none — "

Well might he say that, by the way, for they had scarce ap-
peared in New York, and were attainable now only at the mo-
derate rate of something near their weight in silver. After the
fish, a dram of Ferintosh was circulated in one small glass, ex-
quisitely carved into the semblance of a thistle, which Draw
disposed of with no comment save a passing wonder that when
men could get applejack, they should be willing to take up with
such smoky trash as that.

A saddle of roast mutton, which had been hanging, Harry
said, six weeks, a present from that excellent good fellow, the
Captain of the Swallow, followed, and with it came the split-
corks — " By heavens,'' I cried, almost involuntarily — " what a
superb champagne'' — suffering, after the interjection, something
exceeding half a pint of that delicious, dry, high-flavored, and
rich-bodied nectar, to glide down my gullet.

" Yes'' — answered Harry — " yes — alack ! that it should be
the last! This is the last but one of the first importation of the
Crown — no such wine ever came before into this country, no
such has followed it. We shall discuss the brace to-day — what
better opportunity ? Here is McTavish, its originator, the best
judge in the land"! Frank Forester, who has sipped of the like
at Crockie's, and a place or two beside, which we could men-
tion— myself, who am not slow at any decent tipple, and Thomas
Draw, who knows it, I suppose, from Jarsey Cider!"

" Yes, and I knows it from the Jarsey champagne tew —
which you stick into poor chaps, what you fancies doosn't know
no better — give me some more of that ere mutton and some
jelly — you are most darned sparin' of your jelly now — and
Timothy, you snoopin rascal, fill this ere thimbleful agin with
that Creawn wine !"

Wild fowl succeeded, cooked to a turn, hot claret duly quali-
fied with cayenne in a sauce-boat by their side — washed down
by the last flask of Mac's champagne, of which the last round
we quaffed sorrowfully, as in duty bound, to the importer's
health, and to the memory of the crowned head departed — the
only crown, as Harry in his funeral oration, truly and pithily
observed, which gives the lie to the assertion that " uneasy lies
the head that wears a crown."

No womanish display of pastry marred the unity of this most
solemn masculine repast, a Stilton cheese, a red herring, with

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO JPIKE fcfcoofc. 183

Goshen butter, pilot bread, and porter, concluded the rare ban-
quet. A plate of devilled biscuit, and a magnum of Latour,
furnished forth the dessert, which we discussed right jovially ;
while Timothy, after removing Harry's guns from their post of
honor above the mantel-piece to their appropriate cases, stole
away to the stable to prepare his cattle,

" Now, boys, " said Harry, "make the most of your time.
There is the claret, the best in my opinion going — for I have
always prized Mac's black-sealed Latour far above Lynch's Mar-
gaux — yes, even above that of '26. For Lynch's wine, though
exquisitely delicate, was perilous thin ; I never tasted it without
assenting to Serjeant Bothwell's objection, ' Claret's ower cauld
for my stamach,' and desiring like him to qualify it ' wi' a tass
of eau di vieC Now this wine has no such fault, it has a
body—"

" I don't know, Archer," interrupted Tom> " what that ere
sarjeant meant with his darned o di vee^ but I know now that
I'd a cussed sight rayther have a drink o' brandy, or the least
mite of applejack, than a whole keg of this red rot-gut !"

" You've hit the nail on the head, Tom,'5 answered I, while
Harry, knowing the old man's propensities, marched off in
search of the liquor-stand — " It ivas brandy that the serjeant
meant !"

" Then why the thunder didn't he say brandy, like a man
• — instead of coming out with his snivelling o di vee?"

" Why, Tom," said I, in explanation, " he admired your fa-
vorite drink so much, that he used the French name as most
complimentary ; it means water of life /"

" What, he watered it too, did he 1 I thought he must be a
darned poor drinkin' man, to call things out of their right
names — precious little of the raal stuff had he ever drinked, I
reckon, watered or not — o di veef Cuss all such Latin trash,
says L But here 't comes. Take a drop, doo, McTavish, it's
better fifty times, and healthier tew, than that eternal darned
sour old vinegar, take a drop, doo /''

" Thank you, 120," answered McTavish, well contented with
his present beverage, and after a pause went on addressing
Archer — -" I wish to heaven you'd let me know what you were
up to — I'd have gone along."

" What hinders you from going now ?" said Harry. " I can
rig you out for the drive, and we can stop at the Carlton, and

184 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PI&E SHOOS.

get your gun, and the rest of jour traps. I wish to the Lord
you would !"

" Oh ! oh !" Tom burst out, on the instant, " oh ! oh ! I won't
go, sartain, less so be McTavish concludes on going tew — we
carn't do nothing without him."

It was in vain, however, that we all united in entreating him
to go along—he had business to do to-morrow — he was afraid
of getting his feet wet, and fifty other equally valid excuses, till
Harry exclaimed — " It's no use, I can tell you Donald's bluid's
up, and there's an end of it — "

Whereat McTavish laughed, and saying that he did not think,
for a very short-sighted man, snipe-shooting up to his waist in
water, and up to his knees in mud, was the great thing it is
cracked up to be, filled himself a pretty sufficient dose of hot
toddy, and drank to our good. luck. Just at this moment, up
rattled, ready packed, with the dogs in, the gun-cases stowed,
and store of topcoats, capes, and bear-skins, all displayed, the
wagon to the door*

" I need not tell you, Mac,'' cried Archer, as he wrung the
gallant Celt by the hand, " to make yourself at home — we must
be off, you know ;" — then opening the window, " hand in those
coats, Timothy, out of that drizzling rain — I thought you had
more sense."

"Nay, then, they're no but just coom fra under t' approns,"
responded Tim, not over and above delighted at the reflection
on his genius — " they're droy as booans, Ayse warrant urn."

" Well ! hand them in then — hand them in — where's your
coat, Tom ? — that's it ; now look here, buckle on this crape of
mine over your shoulders, and take this India-rubber hood, and
tie it over your hat, and you may laugh at four -and- twenty-
hours' rain, let alone two. You have got toggery enough,
Frank, I conclude — so here goes for myself." Whereupon he
indued, first a pea-jacket of extra pilot-cloth, and a pair of
English mud-boots, buttoning to the mid-thigh ; and, above
these, a regular box coat of stout blue dreadnought, with half a
dozen capes ; an oil-skin covered hat, with a curtain to protect
his neck and ears, fastening with a hook and eye under the
chin, completing his attire. In we got, thereupon, without
more ado. Myself and Timothy, with the two setters, in the
box-seat behind, the leathern apron unrolled and buttoned up,
over a brace of buffalo robes, hairy side inward, to our middles
• — Harry and Tom in front, with one superb black bearskin

TOM DRAW S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 185

drawn up by a ring and strap to the centre of the back rail be-
tween them, and the patent water-proof apron hooked up to
either end of the seat — the effeminacy of umbrellas we despised
— our cigars lighted, and our bodies duly muffled up, off we
went, at a single chirrup of our driver, whose holly four-horse
whip stood in the socket by his side unheeded, as with his
hands ungloved, and his beautiful, firm, upright seat upon the
box, he wheeled off at a gentle trot, the good nags knowing
their master's hand and voice, as well as if they had been his
children, and obeying them far better.

Our drive, it must be admitted, through the heavy rain was
nothing to brag of. Luckily, however, before we had got over
much more than half our journey, the storm gradually ceased,
as the night fell ; and, by the time we reached the big swamp,
it was clear all over the firmament ; with a dark, dark blue sky,
and millions of stars twinkling gayly — and the wind blowing
freshly but pleasantly out of the nor-norwest !

" Did I not tell you so, boys ?" exclaimed Archer, joyously
pointing with his whip to the bright skies—" we'll have a glori-
ous day to-morrow." Just as he spoke, we reached the little
toll-gate by the Morris Canal ; and, as we paused to change a
fifty cent piece, what should we hear, high in air, rapidly pass-
ing over our heads, but the well-known " sJceap ! skeap?" the
thin shrill squeak of unnumbered snipe, busy in their nocturnal
voyage ; and within an hour thereafter we arrived at our jour-
ney's end, where a glass all round of tip-top champagne brandy
— a neat snug supper of capital veal cutlets, ham and eggs, and
pork steaks and sausages, finished the day, and tired enough, we
went to bed early and dreamed.

THE SNIPE.

" WHAT sort of a morning is it, Timothy ?" asked I, rubbing
my eyes, as I sat bolt upright in bed on the irruption of that
fidus Achates, some half hour before sunrise, into my little dor-
mitory ; " What sort of a morning is it 2"

" A varry bonny mornin, Measter Frank,7' responded he ;
" there was a leetle tooch o' whaite frost aboot midnaight, but
sin' t* moon set,, there's been a soop o* warm ra-ain, and it's

186 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

dooll noo, and saft loike, wi' V wind sootherly — but it's boon to
be noogbt at all, Ayse warrant it. T' Soon'll be oot enoo — see
if he beant — and t' snaipe '11 laie laike steans. Ayse awa noo,
and fetch t' het watter — t' veal cootlets is i' t' pann, and John
Van Dyne he's been a wa-aiting iver sin 't got laight."

u That's not very long, then," answered I, springing out of
bed, " at all events ; for it's as dark as pitch now ; bring me a
caudle, I can't shave by this light; there ! leave the door into
the parlor open, and tell John to come in and amuse me while
I'm shaving. Is Mr. Archer up ?"

" Oop ? Weel Ay wot he is oop ; and awa wi' Measter Draa,
and t' lang goons, doon to t' brigg ; to watch t' doocks flay, but
Van Dyne says t' doocks has dean flaying."

" Yes, yes — they'se quit sartain," answered a merry voice
without, and in stalked John, the best fowl-shot, the best snipe-
marker, the best canoe-paddler, and the best fellow every way,
in New Jersey.

" How are you, John ? — any birds on the Piece ?"

" Nicely !" he answered, to my first query — " nicely," — shak-
ing me warmly by the hand, and, after a pause, added, " I can't
say as there be ; the Piece is too wet altogether !"

" Too wet— aye ? that's bad, John !"

"Lord, yes — too wet entirely; I was half over it with the
canoe last week, and didn't see — no not half a dozen, and they
was round the edges like, where there wasn't no good lying ;
there was a heap o' yellow legs, though, and a smart chance o*
plover."

" Oh, hang the plover, John ; but shall we find no snipe ?"

" Not upon neither of the Pieces, no how — but there was
heaps of them a flyin' over all last night ; yes ! yes ! I guess
Archer and I can fix it so as we'll git a few — but, do tell, who's
that darned fat chap as I see goin' down — "

Here he was interrupted by the distant report of a heavy gun,
followed almost upon the instant by a second.

" Ding !" he exclaimed, " but there's a flight now ! ar'n't
there ? I guess now, Mr. Forester, I'd as well jist run down
with old Shot, leastwise he'll fetch urn, if so be they've fallen in
the water."

" Do ! do !" cried I, " by all means, John ; and tell them to
come back directly ; for half the breakfast's on the table, and
I'll be ready by the time they're here."

By the time I had got my jacket on, and while I was in the

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 187

act of pulling up my long fen boots before the cheerful fire, I
perceived by the clack of tongues without, that the sportsmen
had returned ; and the next moment Harry entered, accom-
panied by Fat Tom in his glory, with no less than two couple
and a half of that most beautiful and delicate of wild-fowl, the
green- winged teal.

" That's not so bad, Frank," exclaimed Harry, depositing, as
he spoke, his heavy single-barrel in the chimney-corner, and
throwing himself into an arm-chair; " that's not so bad for ten
minutes' work, is it ?''

"Better, a darned sight," Tom chimed in, u than layin snoozin
till the sun is high ; but that's the way with these etarnal drinkin
men, they does keep bright just so long as they keeps a liquorin ;
but when that's done with, you don't hear nothin more of them
till noon, or arter. Cuss all sich drunken critters.''

" That's a devilish good one," answered I ; " the deuce a one
of you has shaved, or for that matter, washed his face, to the
best of my belief; and then, because you tumble out of bed
like Hottentots, and rush out, gun in hand, with all the accu-
mulated filth of a hard day's drive, and a long night's sweat,
reeking upon you, you abuse a Christian gentleman, who gets
up soberly, and dresses himself decently — for idleness and what
not !"

" Soberly !" answered Tom ; — " Soberly ! Jest hear, now
Harry, — Soberly ! — -jest like as though he hadn't a had his bit-
ters, and blamed bitter bitters, too !'7

" Not a drop, upon honor," I replied ; " not a drop this
morning I"

"What? — oh! oh! that's the reason, then, why you're so
'tarnal cross. Here, landlord, bring us in them cider sperrits —
I harnt had only a small taste myself — take a drink, Frank, and
you'll feel slick as silk torights, I tell you."

"Thank you, no /" said I, falling foul of the veal cutlets deli-
cately fried in batter, with collops of ham interspersed, for which
my worthy host is justly celebrated — " thank you, no ! bitters
are good things in their way, but not when breakfast treads so
close upon the heels of them !"

" Tak a soop, Measter Frank — tak a soop, sur !" exhorted
Timothy, who was bearing around a salver laden with tum-
blers, the decanter gracing his better hand. " Tak a soop, thou'lt
be all t' betther for't enoo. Measter Draa 'si' t' roight o' 't.
It's varry good stooff Ay'se oophaud it."

188 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

" I dont doubt that at all, Tim ; natheless I'll be excused just
now."

I was soon joined at the table by the fat man and Archer,
who were so busily employed in stowing away what Sir Dugald
Dalgetty terms pro van t, that few words passed between us. At
length when the furor edendi was partially suppressed : u Now
then, John," said Harry, " we are going to be here two days —
to-morrow, that is, and to-day — what are we to beat, so MS to
get ground for both days 1 Begin with the long meadow, I
suppose, and beat the vlies toward the small piece home, and
finish here before the door."

"That's it, I reckon,'' answered the jolly Dutchman, " but
you knows pretty nigh as well as I can tell you."

" Better, John, better, if I knew exactly how the ground was
— but that will be the driest, won't it ?"

" Sartain," replied the other, " but we'll get work enough
without beating the ground hereaways before the house ; we'll
keep that to begin upon to-morrow, and so follow up the big
meadow, and to Loises, and all along under the widow Mulford's,
if it holds dry to-day; and somehow now I kind o' guess it will.
There'll be a heap o' birds there by to-morrow — they were a-
flyin' cur'ous, now, last night, I tell you."

" Well, then, let us be moving. Where's the game-bag,
Timothy ? give it to John ! Is the brandy bottle in it, and the
luncheon ? hey ?"

" Ay, ay ! Sur !'' answered Tim ; " t' brandy 's t' big wicker
bottle, wi' t' tin cup — and soom cauld pork and crackers 'i 't
gam bag—and a spare horn of powder, wi' a pund in 't. Here,
tak it, John Van Dyne, and mooch good may't do ye — and —
haud a bit, man ! here's t' dooble shot belt, sling it across your
shoulder, and awa wi' you."

Everything being now prepared, and having ordered dinner
to be in readiness at seven, we lighted aur cigars and started ;
Harry, with the two setters trotting steadily at his heels, and
his gun on his shoulder, leading the way at a step that would
have cleared above five miles an hour, I following at my best
pace, Tom Draw puffing and blowing like a grampus in shoal
water, and John Van Dyne swinging along at a queer loping
trot behind me. We crossed the bridges and the causeway by
which we had arrived the previous night, passed through the
toll-gate, and, turning short to the right hand, followed a nar-
row sandy lane for some three quarters of a mile, till it turned

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 189

off abruptly to the left, crossing a muddy streamlet by a small
wooden bridge. Here Harry paused, flung the stump of his
cheroot into the ditch, and dropping the butt of his gun, began
very quietly to load, I following his example without saying a
word.

" Here we are, Frank,'5 said he ; " this long stripe of rushy
fields, on both sides of the ditch, is what they call the long mea-
dow, and rare sport have I had on it in my day, but I'm afraid
it's too wet now — we'll soon see, though," and he strode across
the fence, and waved the dogs off to the right and left. " You
take the right hand, Frank ; and Tom, keep you the ditch bank,
all the way ; the ground is firmest there ; we've got the wind
in our favor ; a little farther off, Frank, they wont lie hard for
an hour or two, at all events ; and I don't believe we shall find
a bird before we cross the next fence."

Heads up and sterns down, off raced the fleet setters, beating
the meadows fairly from the right hand fence to the ditch,
crossing each other in mid course, and quartering the ground
superbly — but nothing rose before them, nor did their motions
indicate the slightest taint of scent upon the dewy herbage. The
ground, however, contrary to Harry's expectations, was in prime
order — loose, loamy, moist, black soil, with the young tender
grass of spring shooting up everywhere, bright, succulent and
sweet ; tall tufts of rushes here and there, and patches of brown
flags, the reliques of the by-gone year, affording a sure shelter
for the timid waders. The day was cool and calm, with a soft
mellow light — for the sun was curtained, though not hidden,
by wavy folds of gauze-like mist — and a delicious softness in
the mild western breeze, before which we were wending our
way, as every one who would bag snipe, must do, down wind.
We crossed the second fence ; the ground was barer, wetter,
splashy in places, and much poached by the footsteps of the
cattle, which had been pastured there last autumn. See, the red
dog has turned off at a right angle from his course ; he lifts his
head high, straightens his neck and snuffs the air slackening his
pace to a slow, guarded trot, and waving his stern gently — Chase
sees him, pauses, almost backs !

" Look to, Frank — there's a bird before him !"

Skeap ! skeap ! skeap ! — up they jumped eighty yards off
at the least, as wild as hawks ; skimming the surface of the
meadow, and still by their shrill squeak calling up other birds
to join them till seven or eight were on the wing together ;

190 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

then up they rose clearly defined against the sky, and wheeled
in short zigzags above the plain, as if uncertain whither they
should fly, till at length they launched off straight to the right
hand, and after a flight of a full mile, pitched suddenly and
steeply down behind a clump of newly budding birches.

" I knows where them jokers be, Mr. Archer ;" exclaimed
Yari Dyne.

" In heaven, I guess the)'' be,7' responded Master Draw ;
" leastwise they flew far enough to be there, anyhow !"

" No, no ! Tom, they've not gone so very far," said Archer,
" and there's good lying for them there, I shall be satisfied if
they all go that way. To ho ! to ho !" he interrupted himself,
for the dogs had both come to a dead point among some tall
flags ; and Shot's head cocked on one side, with his nose pointed
directly downward, and his brow furrowed into a knotty frown,
showed that the bird was under his very feet. " Come up, Tom
• — come up, you old sinner — don't you see Shot's got a snipe
under his very nose ?"

" Well ! well ! I sees," answered Tom ; " I sees it, darn you !
but give a fellow time, you'd best, in this etarnal miry mud-
hole !" and, sinking mid leg deep at every step, the fat man
floundered on, keeping, however, his gun ever in position, and
his keen quick eye steadily fixed on the stanch setter.

" Are you ready, now ? I'll flush him," exclaimed Harry,
taking a step in advance ; and instantly up sprang the bird, with
his sharp, thrice- repeated cry, and a quick flutter of his wings,
almost straight into the air over the head of Tom, striving to
get the wind.

Bang ! Draw's first barrel was discharged, the snipe being
at that moment scarce ten feet from the muzzle, the whole load
going like a bullet, of course harmlessly ! — his second followed,
but, like the first, in vain ; for the bird, having fairly weathered
him, was flying very fast, and twisting all the time, directly up
wind. Then Harry's gun was pitched up, and the trigger drawn
almost before the butt was at his shoulder. Down went the
bird ; slanting away six yards, though killed stone dead, in the
direction of his former flight, so rapidly had he been going,
when the shot struck him.

" Mark ! mark !'' I shouted, " Harry. Mark ! mark ! behind
you !" As three more birds took wing, before the red dog, and
were bearing off, too far from me, to the right hand, like those
which had preceded them. I had, when I cried " mark," not

TOM DRAWS VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 191

an idea that he could possibly have killed one ; for he had
turned already quite round in his tracks, to shoot the first bird,
and the others had risen wild, in the first place, and were now
forty yards off at the least ; but quick as thought he wheeled
again, cocking his second barrel in the very act of turning, and
sooner almost than I could imagine the possibility of his even
catching sight of them, a second snipe was fluttering down
wing-tipped.

" Beautiful, beautiful indeed," I cried, involuntarily ; " the

rickest and the cleanest double-shot I have seen in many a
y-"

"It warnt.so darned slow, no how," replied Tom, somewhat
crest-fallen, as he re-loaded his huge demi-cannon.

" Slow ! you old heathen ! if you could shoot better than a
boy five years old, we should have had three birds — I could
have got two of those last just as well as not, if you had
knocked the first clown like a Christian sportsman — but look !
look at those devils," Harry went on, pointing toward the birds,
which had gone off, and at which he had been gazing all the
time ; " confound them, they're going to drum !"

And so indeed they were ; and for the first time in my life I
beheld a spectacle, which I had heard of indeed, but never had
believed fully, till my own eyes now witnessed it. The two
birds, which had been flushed, mounted up ! up ! scaling the
sky in short small circles, till they were quite as far from this
dull earth, as the lark, when " at heaven's gate he sings " — and
then dropt plumb down, as it would seem, fifty feet in an in-
stant, with a strange drumming sound, which might be heard
for a mile or more. Then up they soared again, and again re-
peated their manoeuvre ; while at each repetition of the sound
another and another bird flew up from every part of the wide
meadow, and joined those in mid ether ; till there must have
been, at the least reckoning, forty snipe soaring and drumming
within the compass of a mile, rendering the whole air vocal
with that strange quivering hum, which has been stated by
some authors — and among these by the ingenious and observant
Gilbert White — to be ventriloquous ; although it is now pretty
generally — and probably with justice — conceded to be the
effect of a vibratory motion of the quill feathers set obliquely,
so as to make the air whistle through them. For above an.
hour did this wild work continue ; not a bird descending from
its " bad eminence," but, on the contrary, each one that we

192 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK,

Hushed out of distance, for they would not lie to the dogs at all,
rising at once to join them. " We have no chance," said Harry,
" no chance at all of doing anything, unless the day changes,
and the sun gets out hot, which I fear it wont. Look out^ Tom,
watch that beggar to your right there ; he has done drumming,
and is going to 'light ;" and with the word, sheer down he
darted some ninety yards from <lli£ spot where we stood, till he
was scarce three feet above the marsh ; when he wheeled off,
and skimmed the flat, uttering a sharp harsh clatter, entirely
different from any sound I ever heard proceed from a snipe's bill
before, though in wild weather in the early spring time I have
heard it since, full many a day. The cry resembled more the
cackling of a hen, which has just laid an egg, than any oth-er
sound I -can compare it to ; and consisted of a repetition some
ten times in succession of the syllable kek, so hard and jarring
that it was difficult to believe it the utterance of so small a
bird. But if I was surprised at what I heard, what was I,
when I saw the bird alight on the top rail of a high snake
fence, and continue there five or ten minutes, when it dropped
down into the long marsh grass. Pointing toward the spot-
where I had marked it, I was advancing stealthily, when Archer
said, " You may try if you like, but I can tell you that you
wont get near him!" I persevered, however, and fancied I
should get within long shot, but Harry was quite right ; for he
rose again skeap ! skeap ! and went off as wild as ever, tower-
ing as before, and drumming ; but for a short time only, when,
tired apparently of the long flight he had already taken, he
stooped from his elevation with the same jarring chatter, and
alighted — this time to my unmitigated wonder — upon the
topmost spray of a large willow tree, which grew by the ditch
side!*

"It's not the least use — not the least — pottering after these
birds now," said Harry. " We'll get on to the farther end of the
meadows, where the grass is long, and where they may lie
something better ; and we'll beat back for these birds in the
afternoon, if Dan Phoebus will but deign to shine out."

* I am aware that this will be difficulty believed even in the United
States. But I will not, on that account, fail to record so singular a fact
Not a week before I saw this myself, I was told of the fact by a gentle-
man, since an Alderman, of New York ; and I am now ashamed to say,
doubted it Michael Sanford, of Newark, N". J., was along with me, mid
can certify to the fact

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 193

On we went, therefore, Tom Draw swearing strange oaths at
the birds, that acted so darnation cur'ous, and at myself and
Harry for being such etarnal fools as to have brought him
sweatin into them darned stinkin mud-holes ; and I, to say the
truth, almost despairing of success. In half an hour's walking
we did, however, reach some ground, which — yielding far more
shelter to the birds, as being meadow-land not pastured, but
covered with coarse rushy tussocks — seemed to promise some-
thing better in the way of sport ; and before we had gone many
yards beyond the first fence, a bird rose at long distance to
Tom's right, and was cut down immediately by a quick snap
shot of that worthy, on whose temper, and ability to shoot, the
firmer ground and easier walking had already begun to work a
miracle.

" Who says I can't shoot now, no more than a five-year old,
cuss you !" he shouted, dropping the butt of his gun deliberate*
ly, when skeap ! skeap ! startled by the near report, two more
snipe rose within five yards of him ! — fluttered he was assuredly,
and fully did I expect to see a clear miss — but he refrained, took
time, cocked his gun coolly, and letting the birds get twenty
yards away, dropped that to his right hand, killed clean with
his second barrel, while Harry doubled up the other in his ac-
customed style, I not having as yet got a chance of any bird.

" Down, charge !" said Harry ; " down, charge! Shot, you
villain !" — for the last bird had fallen wing-tipped only, and was
now making ineffectual attempts to rise, bouncing three or four
feet from the ground, with his usual cry, and falling back again
only to repeat his effort within five minutes — this proved too
much, as it seemed, for the poor dog's endurance, so that, after
rising once or twice uneasily, and sitting down again at his mas-
ters's word, he drew on steadily, and began roading the running
bird, regardless of the score which he might ha-ve been well
aware he was running up against himself. During this business
Chase had sat pretty quiet, though I observed a nervous twitch-
ing of ears, and a latent spark of the devil in his keen black eye,
which led me to expect some mischief, so that I kept my gun
all ready for immediate action ; and well it was that I did so ;
for the next moment he dashed in, passing Shot, who was
pointing steadily enough, and picked up the bird after a trifling
scuffle, the result of which was that a couple more snipe were
flushed wild by the noise. "Without a moment's hesitation I let
drive at them with both barrels, knocking the right hand snipe
9

194 TOM DRAWrS VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

down very neatly ; the left hand bird, however, pitched up a
few feet just as I drew the trigger, and the consequence was
that, as I fancied, I missed him clean.

" There ! there ! you stoopid, blundering, no-sich-thing —
there ! now who talks of missing ? That was the nicest, pretti-
est, easiest shot I ever did see ; and you — you shiftless nigger
you — you talks to me of missing !'*

" Shut up ! shut up ! you most incorrigible old brute !" re-
sponded Harry, who had been steadily employed in marking the
missed bird, as I deemed him. " Shut up your stupid jaw !
That snipe's as dead as the old cow you gave us for supper, the
last time we slept at Warwick, though from a different cause ;
for the cow, Jem Flyn says, died of the murrain or some other
foul rotten disorder ; and that small winged fellow has got a
very sufficient dose of blue pill to account for his decease ! So
shut up ! and keep still while I take the change out of these
confounded dogs, or we shall have every bird we get near to-
day flushed like those two. Ha ! Shot ! Ha ! Chase ! Down
cha-a-arge — down cha-a-arge — will you ? will you ? Down
charge !"

And for about five minutes, nothing was heard upon the
meadows but the resounding clang of the short heavy dog-
whip, the stifled grunts of Shot, and the vociferous yells of
Chase, under the merited and necessary chastisement.

" Down charge, now, will you ?" he continued, as, pocketing
his whip, he wiped his heated brow, picked up his gun, and
proceeded to bag the scattered game. " There ! that job's
done," he said, " and a job that I hate most confoundedly it is
— but it must be done now and then ; and the more severely,
when necessary, the more mercifully !"

" Now that's what I doos call a right down lie," the fat man
interposed. " You loves it, and you knows you do — you loves
to lick them poor dumb brutes, cause they can't lick back, no
how. You, Chase, darn you, quit mouthing that there snipe —
quit mouthing it, I sav — else I'll cut out the snoopin soul of
you !»

" So much for Tom Draw's lecture upon cruelty to animals —
that's what I call rich !" answered Harry. " But come, let us
get on. I marked that bird to a yard, down among those
dwarf rose-bushes ; and there we shall find, I'll be bound on it,
good shooting. How very stupid of me not to think of that

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 195

spot ! You know, John, we always find birds there, when they
can't be found anywhere else."

On we went, after a re-invigorating cup of mountain-dew,
with spirits raised at the prospect of some sport at last, and as
we bagged the snipe which — Harry was right — had fallen killed
quite dead, the sun came out hot, broad, and full. The birds
were lying thick among the stunted bushes and warm bubbling
springs which covered, in this portion of the ground, some
twenty acres of marsh meadow ; and as the afternoon waxed
warm, they lay right well before the dogs, which, having learned
the consequences of misdemeanor, behaved with all discretion.
We shot well I and the sport waxed so fast and furious, that till
the shades of evening fell, we had forgotten — all the three — that
our luncheon, saving the article of drams, was still untasted ;
and that, when we assembled at seven of the clock in Hard's
cozey parlor, and shook out of bag and pocket our complement
of sixty-three well-grown and well-fed snipe, we were in reason-
able case to do good justice to a right good supper.

THE PARTING DRINK.

BREAKFAST concluded, the next morning we pulled our fen
boots on, and on the instant up rattled Timothy, who had dis-
appeared a few minutes before, with the well-known drag to the
door, guns stowed away, dogs whimpering, and sticking out
their eager noses between the railings of the box — game bags
well packed with lots of prog and of spare ammunition.

Away we rattled at a brisk pace, swinging round corner after
corner, skilfully shaving the huge blocks of stone, and dexter-
ously quartering the deep ravine-like ruts which grace the roads
of Jersey — crossing two or three bridges over as many of those
tributaries of the beautiful Passaic, which water this superb
snipe-country — and reaching at least a sweep of smooth level
road parallel to a long tract of meadows under the widow Mul-
ford's. And here, mort de ma vie ! that was a shot from the
snipe-ground, and right on our beat, too — Ay ! there are two
guns, and two, three, pointers ! — liver and white a brace, and
one all liver.

196 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

" I know them," Harry said, " I know them, good shots and
hard walkers both, but a little too much of the old school — a
little too much of the twaddle and potter system. Jem Tickler,
there, used, when I landed here, to kill as many birds as any
shot out of the city — though even then the Jersey boys, poor

Ward and Harry T gave him no chance ; but now heaven

help him ! Fat Tom here would get over more ground, and
bag more snipe, too, in a day ! The other is a canny Scot, — I
have forgot his name, but he shoots well and walks better.
Never mind ! we can outshoot them, I believe ; and I am sure
we can outmanoeuvre them. Get away ! get away. Bob," as he
flanked the near-side horse under the collar on the inside — " get
away you old thief — we must forereach on them." Away we
went another mile, wheeled short to the left hand through a
small bit of swampy woodland, and over a rough causeway,
crossing a narrow flaggy bog, with three straight ditches, and a
meandering muddy streamlet, traversing its black surface.
" Ha ! what's John at there 3" exclaimed Harry, pulling short
up, and pointing to that worthy crawling on all fours behind a
tuft of high bullrushes toward the circuitous creek — " There are
duck there for a thousand !" — and as he spoke, up rose with
splash and quack and flutter, four or five long-winged wild-fowl ;
bang ! went John's long duck-gun, and simultaneously with the
report, one of the fowl keeled over, killed quite dead, two oth-
ers faltering somewhat in their flight, and hanging on the air
heavily for a little space ; when over went a second into the
creek, driving the water six feet into the air in a bright spark-
ling shower.

The other three, including the hit bird, which rallied as it
flew, dived forward, flying very fast, obliquely to the road ; and
to my great surprise Harry put the whip on his horses with
such vigor that in an instant both were on the gallop, the wag-
on bouncing and rattling violently on the rude log-floored cause-
way. An instant's thought showed me his object, which was
to weather on the fowl sufficiently to get a shot, ere they should
cross the road ; although I marvelled still how he intended to
pull up from the furious pace at which he was going in time to
get a chance. Little space, however, had I for amazement ; for
the ducks, which had not risen high into the air, were forced to
cross some thirty yards ahead of us, by a piece of tall woodland,
on the verge of which were several woodcutters, with two or
three large fires burning among the brushwood. " Now, Tom,"

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 197

cried Harry, feeling his horses' mouths as he spoke, but not at-
tempting to pull up ; and instantly the old man's heavy double
rose steadily but quickly to his face — bang ! neatly aimed, a
yard ahead of the first drake, which fell quite dead into the
ditch on the right hand of the causeway — bang ! right across
Harry's face, who leaned back to make roonx^for the fat fellow's
shot, so perfectly did the two rare and crafty sportsmen com-
prehend one another — and before I heard the close report, the
second wild-duck slanted down wing-tipped before the wind,
into the flags on the left hand, having already crossed the road
when the shot struck him. The fifth and only now remaining
bird, which had been touched by Van Dyne's first discharge,
alighting in the marsh not far from his crippled comrade.

" Beautiful ! beautiful indeed !" cried I ; " that was the very
prettiest thing — the quickest, smartest, and best calculated shoot-
ing I ever yet have seen !"

" We have done that same once or twice before though — hey,
Tom ?" replied Harry, pulling his horses well together, and ga-
thering them up by slow degrees — not coming to a dead stop
till we had passed Tom's first bird, some six yards or better.
" Now jump out, all of you ; we have no time to lose ; no not
a minute ! for we must bag these fowl ; and those two chaps
we saw on Mulford's meadows, are racing now at their top speed
behind that hill, to cut into the big meadow just ahead of us,
you may rely on that. You, Timothy, drive on under that big
pin oak — take off the bridles — halter the horses to the tree, not
to the fence — and put their sheets and hoods on, for, early as it
is, the flies are troublesome already. Then mount the game-
bags and be ready — by the time you're on foot we shall be with
you. Forester, take the red dog to Van Dyne, that second bird
of his will balk him else, and I sha'nt be surprised if he gets
up again ! Pick up that mallard out of the ditch as you go by
— he lies quite dead at the foot of those tall reeds. Come, Tom,
load up your old cannon, and we'll take Shot, bag that wing-
tipped duck, and see if we can't nab the crippled bird, too ! come
along !"

Off we set without further parley ; within five minutes I had
bagged Tom's first, a rare green-headed Drake, and joined Van
Dyne, who, with the head and neck of his first bird hanging out
of his breeches pocket, where, in default of game-bag, he had
stowed it, was just in the act of pouring a double handful of
BB into his Queen's Ann's musket. Before he had loaded, we

198 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

heard a shot across the road, and saw the fifth bird fall to Harry
at long distance, while Shot was gently mouthing Draw's se-
cond duck, to his unutterable contentment. We had some
trouble in gathering the other, for it was merely body-shot, and
that not mortally, so that it dived like a 6sh, bothering poor
Chase beyond expression. This done, we re-united our forces,
and instantly proceeded to the big meadow, which we found, as
Harry had anticipated, in the most perfect possible condition —
the grass was short, and of a delicate and tender green, not above
ankle deep, with a rich close black mould, moist and soft enough
for boring everywhere, under foot — with, at rare intervals, a
slank, as it is termed in Jersey, or hollow winding course, in
which the waters have lain longer than elsewhere, covered with
a deep, rust-colored scum, floating upon the stagnant pools. We
had not walked ten yards before a bird jumped up to my left
hand, which I cut down — and while I was in the act of loading,
another and another rose, but scarcely cleared the grass ere the
unerring shot of my two stanch companions had stopped their
flight forever. Some ten yards from the spot on which my bird
had fallen, lay one of these wet slanks which I have mentioned
— Chase drew on the dead bird and pointed — another fluttered
up under his very nose, dodged three or four yards to and fro,
and before I could draw my trigger, greatly to my surprise,
spread out his wings and settled. Harry and Tom had seen
the move, and walked up to join me ; just as they came Chase
retrieved the snipe I had shot, and when I had entombed it in
my pocket, we moved on all abreast. Skeap ! skeap ! skeap !
Up they jumped, not six yards from our feet, positively in a
flock, their bright white bellies glancing in the sun, twenty at
least in number Six barrels were discharged, and six birds fell ;
we loaded and moved on, the dogs drawing at every step, back-
ing and pointing, so foiled was the ground with the close scent ;
again, before we had gathered the fruit of our first volley, a
dozen birds rose altogether ; again six barrels bellowed across
the plain, and again Tom and Harry slew their shots right and
left, while I, alas ! shooting too quick, missed one ! I know
what I aver will hardly be believed, but it is true, notwithstand-
ing ; a third time the same thing happened, except that instead
of twelve, thirty or forty birds rose at the least, six of which came
again to earth, within, at farthest, thirty paces — making an
aggregate of eighteen shots, fired in less, assuredly, than so
many minutes, and seventeen birds fairly brought to bag. These

TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK. 199

pocketed, by twos and threes Van Dyne had marked the others
down in every quarter of the meadow — and, breaking off, singly
or in pairs, we worked our will with them. So hard, however,
did they lie, that many could not be got up again at all. In
one instance I had marked four, as I thought, to a yard, between
three little stakes, placed in the angles of a plat, not above
twenty paces in diameter — taking Van Dyne along with me,
who is so capital a marker that for a dead bird I would back
him against any retriever living— I went without a dog to walk
them up. But no ! I quartered the ground, re-quartered it,
crossed it a third time, and was just quitting it despairing, when
a loud shout from John, a pace or two behind, warmed me they
were on wing ! Two crossed me to the right, one of which
dropped to John's Queen Ann almost as soon as I caught sight
of them, and one to my left. At the latter I shot first, and,
without waiting to note the effect of my discharge, turned
quickly and fired at the other. Him I saw drop, for the smoke
drifted, and as I turned my head, I scarcely can believe it now,
I saw my first bird falling. I concluded he had fluttered on
some small space, but John Van Dyne swears point blank that
I shot so quick that the second bird was on the ground before
the first had reached it. In this — a solitary case, however — I
fear John's famed veracity will scarce obtain for him that credit,
or for me that renown, to which he deemed us both entitled.

Before eleven of the clock, we had bagged forty-seven birds ;
we sat down in the shade of the big pin oak, and fed deliciously,
and went our way rejoicing, toward the upper meadows, fully
expecting that before returning we should have doubled our bag.

But, alas ! the hopes of men ! — Troy meadows were too dry
— Persipany too wet — Loise's had been beat already, and not
one snipe did we even see or hear, nor one head of game did we
bag ; the morning's sport, however, had put us in such merry
mood that we regarded not the evening's disappointment, and
we sat down in great glee to supper. What we devoured, or
what we drank, it boots not to record ; but it was late at night
before the horses were ordered, and we prepared for a start.

After the horses were announced as ready, somewhat to my
surprise, Harry took old Tom aside, and was engaged for some
time in deep conversation ; and when they had got through with
it, Harry shook him very warmly by the hand, saying —

" Well, Tom, I am sincerely obliged to you ; and it is not the
first time either."

£00 TOM DRAW'S VISIT TO PINE BROOK.

" Well, well, boy," responded Tom, "I guess it 'taint the first
time as you've said so, though I don't know right well what for
neither. Any how, I hope 't won't be the last time as I'll fix
you as you wants to be. But come, it's gittin' late, and I've got
to drive Hard's horse over to Paterson to-night."

." Oh, that will not be much," said Harry. " It is but nine
miles, and we are twenty from New York."

" Any how, we must take a partin' drink, and I stands treat.
I showed Beers Hard how to make that egg nog. Timothy —
Timothy, you darned critter, bring in that ere egg nog.'*

This was soon done, and Tom, replenishing all the glasses to
the brim, said very solemnly, " this is a toast, boys, now a raal
bumper."

Harry grinned conscious. I stood, waiting, wondering.

"Here's luck !" said Tom, "luck to Harry Archer, a land-
holder in our own old Orange !"

The toast was quaffed in an instant ; and, as I drew my breath,
I said —

" Well, Harry, I congratulate you, truly. So you have bought
the Jem Burt Place ?"

" Thanks to old Tom, dog cheap !" replied Archer ; " and I
have only to say, farther, that early in the Autumn, I hope to
introduce you, and all my old friends, to the interior of the new
box."

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" THB LORGNETTE," by an Opera-Goer, has won a flattering reputation
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with several engravings, and is sold at retail for 25 cents — by the year $3.
— Noah's Times.

We welcome it as another valuable agent in the work of originating
and disseminating the sound and wholesome literature of our language.
— Wash. Rep.

14 DAY USE

RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED

LOAN DEPT.

This book is due on the last date stamped below, or

on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.

18!.in'62BRX

REC'D LD

ji!N 1 p 138?

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LD 21A-50m-3,'62 T . General L ibrary
( 07097810 ) 476B Umverai^of Calif ornia

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