第18章

For fire we used a flint with a spongy piece of dry wood and a stone to strike with.Another way of starting fire was for several of the boys to sit down in a circle and rub two pieces of dry,spongy wood together,one after another,until the wood took fire.

We hunted in company a great deal,though it was a common thing for a boy to set out for the woods quite alone,and he usually enjoyed himself fully as much.Our game consisted mainly of small birds,rabbits,squirrels and grouse.Fish-ing,too,occupied much of our time.We hardly ever passed a creek or a pond without searching for some signs of fish.When fish were present,we always managed to get some.Fish-lines were made of wild hemp,sinew or horse-hair.We either caught fish with lines,snared or speared them,or shot them with bow and arrows.In the fall we charmed them up to the surface by gently tickling them with a stick and quickly threw them out.We have sometimes dammed the brooks and driven the larger fish into a willow basket made for that purpose.

It was part of our hunting to find new and strange things in the woods.We examined the slightest sign of life;and if a bird had scratched the leaves off the ground,or a bear dragged up a root for his morning meal,we stopped to specu-late on the time it was done.If we saw a large old tree with some scratches on its bark,we con-cluded that a bear or some raccoons must be living there.In that case we did not go any nearer than was necessary,but later reported the incident at home.An old deer-track would at once bring on a warm discussion as to whether it was the track of a buck or a doe.Generally,at noon,we met and compared our game,noting at the same time the peculiar characteristics of everything we had killed.It was not merely a hunt,for we combined with it the study of animal life.We also kept strict account of our game,and thus learned who were the best shots among the boys.

I am sorry to say that we were merciless toward the birds.We often took their eggs and their young ones.My brother Chatanna and I once had a disagreeable adventure while bird-hunting.

We were accustomed to catch in our hands young ducks and geese during the summer,and while do-ing this we happened to find a crane's nest.Of course,we were delighted with our good luck.

But,as it was already midsummer,the young cranes--two in number--were rather large and they were a little way from the nest;we also ob-served that the two old cranes were in a swampy place near by;but,as it was moulting-time,we did not suppose that they would venture on dry land.So we proceeded to chase the young birds;but they were fleet runners and it took us some time to come up with them.

Meanwhile,the parent birds had heard the cries of their little ones and come to their rescue.They were chasing us,while we followed the birds.It was really a perilous encounter!Our strong bows finally gained the victory in a hand-to-hand struggle with the angry cranes;but after that we hardly ever hunted a crane's nest.Almost all birds make some resistance when their eggs or young are taken,but they will seldom attack man fear-lessly.

We used to climb large trees for birds of all kinds;but we never undertook to get young owls unless they were on the ground.The hooting owl especially is a dangerous bird to attack under these circumstances.

I was once trying to catch a yellow-winged wood-pecker in its nest when my arm became twisted and lodged in the deep hole so that I could not get it out without the aid of a knife;but we were a long way from home and my only companion was a deaf mute cousin of mine.I was about fifty feet up in the tree,in a very uncomfortable posi-tion,but I had to wait there for more than an hour before he brought me the knife with which I fin-ally released myself.

Our devices for trapping small animals were rude,but they were often successful.For instance,we used to gather up a peck or so of large,sharp-pointed burrs and scatter them in the rabbit's fur-row-like path.In the morning,we would find the little fellow sitting quietly in his tracks,unable to move,for the burrs stuck to his feet.

Another way of snaring rabbits and grouse was the following:We made nooses of twisted horse-hair,which we tied very firmly to the top of a limber young tree,then bent the latter down to the track and fastened the whole with a slip-knot,after adjusting the noose.When the rabbit runs his head through the noose,he pulls the slip-knot and is quickly carried up by the spring of the young tree.This is a good plan,for the rabbit is out of harm's way as he swings high in the air.

Perhaps the most enjoyable of all was the chip-munk hunt.We killed these animals at any time of year,but the special time to hunt them was in March.After the first thaw,the chipmunks bur-row a hole through the snow crust and make their first appearance for the season.Sometimes as many as fifty will come together and hold a social reunion.These gatherings occur early in the morning,from daybreak to about nine o'clock.

We boys learned this,among other secrets of nature,and got our blunt-headed arrows together in good season for the chipmunk expedition.

We generally went in groups of six to a dozen or fifteen,to see which would get the most.On the evening before,we selected several boys who could imitate the chipmunk's call with wild oat-straws and each of these provided himself with a supply of straws.

The crust will hold the boys nicely at this time of the year.Bright and early,they all come to-gether at the appointed place,from which each group starts out in a different direction,agreeing to meet somewhere at a given position of the sun.