men. Cries of agonized distress are mingled with the wild roar of the surf. You turn away with mute horror, feeling the utter insignificance of human power to cope with the rage that vents itself upon this stern and inhospitable coast. 66 It till they reached the camp, where Mr. Tom Fry took an opportunity of publicly returning thanks to Captain Toby, and where he subsequently devoured such a dinner of broiled venison as completely restored the circulation of his blood and frightened away the chills-a fact that reminded his Honor the Judge of many pleasing anecdotes, with which he entertained the company till long after midnight. Our hunters were becoming more successful every day. The camp was literally ornamented with festoons of game hung from the branches of the trees. Even the veriest tyro had killed a rabbit or a quail. The force of example at length produced its effect upon the Judge. It was evident, from the manner in which he picked up stray rifles and pointed them at distant stumps of trees, that something was brewing in his mind. Ambition had seized upon his Honor. He would go out in the hills and kill a deer. After much consideration he stated the case to Captain Toby, whose experience in these Cap-matters was at once profound and extensive. Last es. mil Here a terrific whoop startled the Judge. was the voice of Captain Toby, who came charging down the hill-side on his Broncho, swinging his riata over his head, and driving the two mules in advance. Whichever way they turned to avoid the inexorable swing of the riata, Toby was after them: over jagged rocks, through chaparral, down abrupt banks, along the edges of fearful precipices, till, panting and reeking wet, they were brought up "with a round turn" in front of the Judge and Mr. Tom Fry. As the former was about to resume his discourse on the horrors of the shores of Mendocino by giving some account of the adventures of Pedro Cabrillo, the Spanish pilot who first advanced so far to the northward, Captain Toby dismounted and requested to be informed "if the vinegar was safe?" To which his Honor responded that it was. tain Toby drew the bung, put his mouth to th orifice, held the keg up, and found that it was. Gentlemen," said he, "I have been there. I was the original discoverer of that trail. summer I met with a very singular adventure in the immediate vicinity. I went out from camp to kill a deer. We were badly in want of meat. In the course of my ramble the Indians began to gather round me, first one, then two, then three or four, and so on until there were twenty or thirty. They seemed perfectly friendly, only they annoyed me. Each Indian as he appeared began to whistle, until the whistling swelled to a chorus that was perfectly intolerable. I begged them to desist; the more I begged the closer they followed me, and the louder they whistled.especially when one of I turned off in various directions; they still fol- could barely hit the side of lowed whistling with all their might. I pointed of a hundred yards. my rifle at them; they held up their bows, and kept on whistling. No matter what I said or did, the miserable wretches kept up their abominable discord. I walked back to camp. They still followed, whistling. For two days they whistled at us without cessation. There were four of us in camp; but as we did not wish to kill them, there was no other resource than to pull up stakes and leave. It was the first time I was ever whistled out of a country. The incident is strictly true, gentlemen. You may depend upon it." Mr. Fry said that, "upon the whole, he would rather depend upon getting to camp. He was wet to the skin, and if he remained stationary much longer he would be certain to die of cramps in the stomach." The hint was sufficient for Captain Toby, who immediately helped his friends to mount their mules. This done, he gave a whoop that struck terror into the souls of those refractory animals, put spurs to his Broncho, whirled his lasso over his head and drove all before him, at a fearful rate, up hill and down hill, over frightful gulches, through dense masses of chaparral, Toby was personally acquainted with every deer anging the hills within a circuit of twenty He knew exactly the local habitation of old bucks, with five-pointed antlers, and was intimate his Honor desired it, they would atte with two grizzly bears in the same vicinity. tack the grizz ies first, and after killing them there would be no difficulty in getting a chance at the bucks. Judge took the proposition under advisement. It would certainly be an achievement worth tar king of to kill two grizzlies; but then there w as a great deal of testimony going to show that the chances were about even whether the bears o the hunters would be most likely to suffer in an encounter of this kind the attacking party The "If you know of any bucks," voided by grizsaid his Honor, more attract oey usual rabbits of that buck, Captain Toby knew of any numbe miles diser of places. There was a point of rocks about five their aptant where a doe and two fawns madd a white pearance every evening; the doe ha face, and the fawns were speckled. Th ly appeared in company with two small and a flock of quail. Within a mile point, in a deep gulch, there was a spiked of the with a black nose, a little lame in onle there hind legs. To the right about half a mi was a fine fat roe, with a bullet hole thr ough the left ear, which he (Captain Toby) had last year merely by way of a mark. bucks, there was a hill about ten miles with bucks, and no grizzly bears within of three miles. out there As for off alive a range 3 alive The Judge thought the hill that wa with bucks would suit. nly hit He could certai some part of the hill, and kill at least one buck. It was confidentially arranged that his Hon pr and Captain Toby should start at daylight on the following morning, properly equipped for the spot where you want to put your bullet, and then adventure. Of course I can only give the result, as it was subsequently detailed to me by Captain Toby. They reached the hill in due time, after a most laborious ride through brush and chaparral, during which the Judge had become so enthusiastic that he manifested a strong disposition to devote the remainder of his days to the destruction of deer. As they approached the locality of the game, it was deemed necessary by Captain Toby to subdue the Judge's enthusiasm by a few brief instructions. "You must keep perfectly cool," said he, "or you will be sure to miss your game. When you see a buck and feel the ague coming on you, draw a long breath and brace your nerves. Aim a little back of the fore shoulder, nearly on a line with the fore legs, so as to take him in the heart. Get your sight plumb on the bang away." Scarcely had the Judge time to comprehend the full force of these useful hints, when a splendid buck bounced out from a bunch of chaparral on the opposite side of a ravine, and stood broadside within sixty yards, antlers erect, and staring fixedly at the intruders. "Draw a "There he is!" whispered Toby. fine bead on him, and he's a dead buck." "Where? Where?" whispered the Judge, eagerly. "There-don't you see him-a little to the right of that bush yonder." "Oh, yes. to take aim. I see." The Judge proceeded "Hold!" cried Toby. "If your Honor will excuse me, that's a stump you're aiming at." "Is it? I thought you said it was a deer." "The deer's yonder, about fifty yards to the left. There, don't you see? Be quick, Judge. | miserable imitation of a serpent, lolling from "I'll point the rifle toward him for you." "Oh! that's the deer, is it? Now I see him." And the Judge proceeded again to fire. He drew a fine bead on the fore shoulder, as directed by Captain Toby; he then drew a long breath and braced his nerves, as likewise directed. It was a magnificent sight. The buck stood full broadside, as motionless as if carved from the solid rock-his Honor standing in beautiful relief, with a "dead bead" on him. side to side like an ill-trimmed punt, and cackling angrily as if King George the Fourth were meditating mischief against him." The picture is graphic, yet, after all, is not the goose a noble bird? Popular tradition or vulgar prejudice has fixed upon him as the emblem of foolishness. Never was there a greater mistake, Captain Toby. I do not speak of that ignoble bird whose home is in the barn-yard. He is no more to be compared to the wild goose, whose eye pierces the firmament, and whose graceful form, sleek and sharp, cleaves the heavens, than the fatted calf is to the fleet and slender antelope. This noble bird is the very incarnation of beauty and wisdom. How low, dull, and groveling is the owl in comparison-the carnivorous nightbird that sits hooting in the trees, with goggle and unmeaning eyes, watching for bats! Not even the Royal Eagle, the Bird of Jove, the re "Toby," said the Judge, turning his face toward the Captain, the rifle still fixed accurately upon the deer-" Toby, I shall never forget your kindness in affording me this opportunity of killing so noble an animal. Such a buck as that would be a splendid achievement for any man. Should it ever be in my power to reciprocate this favor, rest assured, my dear Sir, it will afford me the most sincere pleasure to do so. Call upon me at any time in San Francis-puted King of the Skies, born on 'the rock of co, and command me for any service not incon- ages,' in noble instinct gazing upon the sun, sistent with my public duties. Amidst the cares 'affronting and outstaring the light,' whose of office, this will be an incident to remember palace is in the craggy cliffs, and whose domain with unbounded satisfaction. I can now truly is in the high heavens-not even he can compare appreciate the fine flow of spirits with which with the wintry wanderer who carries the seasons Christopher North describes the chase of the red upon his prow. Gross in his appetites, fierce deer in the Highlands of Scotland. His sketches, and sensual in his character, a semi-domestic indeed, may be considered the very poetry of bird with a local habitation, the eagle is limited hunting. With what genial freshness he dashes in his flights, wheeling over a few miles of them off, as if his pen were dipped in the dew weather-beaten rocks. Not for him is it to cross that sparkles on the mountain heather! We wintry oceans, trackless deserts, and boundless hear the birds sing as we wander through his continents, in a line drawn by an inscrutable inaviary; we see the eagle perched upon his eyrie stinct through the firmament. See with what and the hawk swoop upon his prey. We laugh ease, steadiness, and precision the emigrant geese at the green goose "splay-footed and hissing in move in their long journey; how adroitly they "Yes, Judge," said Captain Toby, who was by this time getting a little thirsty-"that's so. I know it by personal experience. I have been there frequently in the course of my travels, and am perfectly familiar with the trail. I killed a fine buck there last summer. But, by-the-way, Judge, our deer has vanished. He started off about ten minutes ago." elect their leader and cleave the air in an acute | Toby? A strange question, perhaps, yet not angle; how undeviating is their course! But without reason. The eye is peculiar; round, Wilson, who has fallen into the prevailing error red-rimmed, cold, and clear, as if cut out of an of ridiculing this noble bird, says, forsooth, it arctic sky; not bold and piercing like that of an waddles upon the ground like an ill-trimmed eagle, nor cruel and malignant like that of a punt-a comparison both unjust and unreason- hawk, but far-reaching and steadfast-looking able. The Royal Eagle scarcely walks more beyond you into remote and indefinite regions. gracefully. Earth is not his element. Man, You are lost in space as you gaze upon it; icy erect and noble, made after God's own image, wastes are spread before you, and the imaginawalks upon the earth with a firm and elastic tion is filled with vague pictures of an untrodden step, but he can not fly. Is he a subject of con- wilderness—a wilderness of infinite spaces." tempt when he topples from a height like a bag of meal? is he the less graceful that he has no balance in mid-air? Then, again, the voice. What earthly sound can be compared with the cry of the wild geese, when the flood-gates of heaven' are opened, and they pass night after night over the plains in their journey to the far south. It has some peculiar quality of remoteness that fills the soul with awe-something clear, cold, distant, and intangible in its melody, that is not of earth. No eagle makes such music as this. The intonation of their voices possesses a penetrating power beyond the influence of space. While they cackle cozily to each other in their rapid and steady flight miles up in the sky, one might imagine they were within gunshot. They are the incarnation of wildness, the antipodes of civilization, the Ishmaelites of the feathery world. Whence they come we know not, where they go who can tell? From north to south in autumn, and back again in spring, is all we know. What a wonderful instinct is that which teaches them to follow a line through the trackless wastes of ether, thousands of miles long, by day and by night, in sunshine and in darkness, without guide or compass, resting by the way only for food, rising again and pushing steadily onward till they reach their destination in some wild watery plain! He who holds the winds in the hollow of his hand, who sweeps the earth with trailing clouds, hath created a power more wonderful than reason; but it is not for man to penetrate the mysteries of this inscrutable instinct. "Vanished! started off!" exclaimed the Judge, who during all this time had kept, as he supposed, dead aim on the animal. "Have you any idea where he has gone, Captain Toby?" "Oh yes, I am perfectly familiar with the spot. It is about three miles off; but the trail is a little gulchy." "Very strange," said the Judge, musingly, "that he should have disappeared so suddenly!" "Oh, not at all strange," remarked Captain Toby; "I know that buck intimately. He has a habit of getting out of the way when he sees a rifle pointed at him. Like Jack and the gal lows, he thinks it is a sign of civilization." As the prospect of getting another chance at the same buck was somewhat remote, the Judge thought it best to explore the hill in search of another. After several hours of ineffectual research, Captain Toby remembered that at this season the deer lie concealed in the brush, and it would not be possible to get them out without a dog. He remembered also that he had once come near crippling himself for life, at this season of the year, by stumbling over a fine buck that was lying concealed in some chapIn early boyhood the flight of geese pos- arral. On another occasion, as he was seated unsesses a charm that fills the imagination. The der a bank of brush waiting for the deer to come uncertainty of their destination is a fascination out, a buck and a doe jumped on his back, and in itself. We know not where they will rest, very nearly trampled him to death. Fortunatewhat new and unexplored regions they will visit.ly the buck's foot struck the trigger of his rifle, As they grow dim in the distance we feel that and set it off; so that he accidentally killed a we are of earth, earthy. Something akin to de- fine doe that was trying to make its escape in spair seizes us as the great truth flashes upon us another direction. He thought it would be best that man, the noblest of God's works, is, after to postpone further proceedings for about two all, but a kneaded clod; in this respect at least months. inferior to the goose, that he can not fly. I never hear the voice of this strange and tireless wanderer of the firmament-this thing of distance and the unfathomable wilderness-without an undefinable feeling that carries me back to the days of boyhood; to something that has been, and never will be again. They strike in their rapid flight an Eolian chord, as if the wild winds played upon the heart, and wrought out of it a strain of harmony in unison with the untamed spirit that lies in the inner nature of man. Did you ever study the eye of a goose, Captain "On the whole, however," said the Judge, cheerfully, as they rode back toward the camp, "I am satisfied that the buck I was about to shoot pursued the most judicious course. I had a very fine aim on him, and would certainly have killed him had he remained in the same spot a moment longer." To which Captain Toby assented; but there was a twinkle in the corner of his eye that caught the attention of the Judge. "Toby," said his Honor, gravely, "you will confer an additional obligation on me by not detailing the incidents of this adventure in the boat. Herein likewise consists a notable camp." Of course the Captain promised. It was not until six months after that I came in possession of the facts; and I now place them upon record with a conviction that, so far from reflecting any discredit upon the Judge, they present some of the most amiable traits of his character in a new light. I had by this time killed several deer and innumerable rabbits and squirrels. The sport was getting rather tame. Constant practice with the rifle had so far developed my natural talent in that branch of science, that I could without difficulty shoot the head of a quail off at the distance of forty paces. Colonel Jack had killed a grizzly, and his man John, the Irishman, had killed a cinnamon cub. There was no reason why I should not also distinguish myself by killing a bear. I had helped to harpoon a large number of whales; and every body knows that whales, if not so active, are much larger and more formidable than bears. The grand and primary difference between an attack upon the leviathan of the deep and any engagement upon land of which history presents a record is, that the general who leads the forces makes the attack in person, and carries his men to the "imminent deadly breach" with their backs to the enemy. The greatest warriors of antiquity never dared to do such a thing as that. It was reserved for such men as the Coffins, the Macys, the Tabers, the Potters, and their descendants, to go into battle with their ragged regiments of red-shirts facing the logger-head at the stern of difference between attacking a grizzly and a whale-that while the bear-hunter always reserves to himself a chance to run or climb some hospitable tree, the pent-up whaleman, in the worst extremity, can only jump overboard, where the hungry sharks of the deep are ever ready to devour him. Allowing for a difference of elements, this is little better than jumping from the frying-pan into the fire. In fact, such a jump has often been made-not into the fire, but into the water. It is related in the Missionary Journal of Tyerman and Bennet that an old whaler once attacked a whale and wounded him. The furious monster rushed on the boat, and the crew were only preserved by leaping into the water when they saw that the onset was inevitable. I mention these facts merely to show that, by analogy, I was amply qualified to kill a grizzly; and I determined to do it. The risk was great, to be sure. I knew several gentlemen in California who had been horribly mutilated by these ferocious animals. One had the side of his face torn off; another had one of his arms "chawed up," as he expressed it; a third had suffered paralysis from a bite in the spine; a fourth had received eighteen wounds in a fight with one bear; and I knew of various cases in which men had been otherwise crippled for life or killed on the spot. Hence the peculiar charm of a fight with a grizzly! If you kill your bear, it is a triumph worthy enjoying; if you get killed yourself, some of the newspapers will give you a friendly notice; if you get crippled for life, you carry about you a patent of courage which |