Hardtack

“ They hardly needed his guidance—the noise of the row was echoing from the hills.
“Cheese it!” shouted one of the combatants as the officer reached the door.
They went from there any way they could—out the back way, through windows, down cellar. Hardtack and Wally managed to gain the backyard, whence they streaked down an alley. But several of the gobs fell into the hands of the patrol.
“This is a fine business, isn’t it?” roared the gunnery officer. “You men ought to be ashamed of yourselves.” ”

“ Indeed, instances have been reported, though perhaps not in the official records, where the haversack of a soldier stopped the bullet of the enemy, and these perhaps are the only cases where it was found that the hardtack saved life. It is well known that the army mule would not eat it, and it is another proof of the high intelligence of that noble animal, without whose constant aid the rebellion never would have been put down. ”

“ The Hardened Exception, who has occupied much of his time while digging in sketching distasteful pictures for the Profane Man to swear at, now makes a change of base, and calls upon the Paper-Collar Young Man to “take hold and help roll in,” which the young man reluctantly and gingerly does; but when the noxious gases begin to make their presence manifest, and the Hardened Wretch hands him an axe to break the legs that would otherwise protrude from the grave, it is the last straw to an already overburdened sentimental soul ”

“ Every degree of force had its exponent. Some answered in a low voice, only to tease the sergeant, and roar out a second answer when called again. There were upward slides and downward slides, guttural tones and nasal tones. Occasionally, some one would answer for a messmate, who was absent without leave, and take his chances of being detected in the act. Darkness gave cover to much good-natured knavery.
Tattoo was blown in artillery with the company at “Parade Rest,” as at Réveillé. The roll-call and reports followed just as before, and the company was then dismissed. ”

“ At least a quarter of each regiment was occupied in escorting its wagons, piled up with ammunition, provisions, tents, etc.; and long after the head of the column had settled in bivouac could be heard the loud shouting of the teamsters to their jaded and mire-bedraggled brutes, the clatter of wagon and artillery wheels, the lowing of the driven herds, the rattling of sabres, canteens, and other equipments, as the men strode along in the darkness, anxious to reach the spot selected for their uncertain quantity of rest. ”

“ That man who seems to be flour and grease from head to heels, who needs no shelter nor rubber blanket because he is waterproof already, perhaps, inside and out, whose shabby, well-stuffed knapsack furnishes the complement to the mule’s lading, who shuffles along with “no style about him,” is the cook, perhaps, for the regiment, probably for headquarters, certainly not for Delmonico. It is singular, but none the less true, that if a man made a slovenly, indifferent soldier he was fully as likely to get a berth in the cook-house as to have any other fate befall him. ”

“ When fastened properly to a bush or light drag, the game rarely escapes even though the trap has only a toe hold, unless the trapper is days in making the rounds. Should an animal escape when only slightly injured it is apt to soon return.
In many cases where game has escaped after once being caught it is not the fault of the trap but of the trapper. Should the bone in the animal's leg be broken and after days of endeavoring the animal frees itself there should be no blame attached to the trap, the fault is with the trapper — he should have visited the trap sooner. ”

“ Now bend down and catch the small end under a notched peg or root in such a way that the least struggle of an animal in the trap will release the pole and lift him high in the air. Of course the trapper will proportion the strength of his pole to the size of his intended victim.
All trappers have experienced a feeling of regret when visiting traps where game has been caught and escaped. The ones who properly fasten traps seldom have their game escape, altho occasionally, when not securely caught and the trapper does not make his rounds often, an animal will get away. ”

“ A large quantity does not alarm him, but a small piece, half hidden in the dirt, in field or wood where he is not accustomed to see it, awakes his distrust. For the same reason, he will trot deliberately out in the road in front of a passing team, when the mere snapping of a twig beneath the hunter's feet would send him off flying. He has learned that danger rarely comes to him from persons traveling by team; it is of the stealthy step and the swift act of raising a gun that instinct has taught him to stand in fear. ”

“ In regard to traps being sprung, it is possible they are set too easy, and go off of their own accord, after the trapper has left them. Again they may work too hard, not going off easy enough. All these things the trapper should guard against. If the trap has been properly set there will be no trouble from the source just named, and traps once set the trapper should keep away from, as far as possible when making his rounds, unless they are sprung, the bait gone or contain game. ”

“ Every trapper, like all other classes, have many things to contend with. One of the worst, perhaps, is the trap stealer, who having once found one of your traps will follow up your line and take them all. If he can not find them by your tracks, he is apt to hide close by and wait until you go the round, then follow up and take your entire outfit of traps. To be sure that they are your property you should mark each and every trap before the trapping season or just as soon as they are bought, at any rate before they are set. ”

“ Before a trapper has much experience he loses much of his game, after it has been caught, by not having his traps properly fastened. Having his traps so securely staked that anything caught can get a dead pull is usually the way the trapper with little experience fails. ”

“ While baiting traps is not necessary when trapping at dens, yet the trapper who baits his traps will catch more game than if the traps were not baited. To show where a baited trap has the advantage, we will suppose that an animal passes a den where a trap is set but not baited. It is just as a notion takes the animal — it may pay a visit to the den and go in, and again it may not. If a trap is baited the chances are that if the animal passes within a few feet, it will reach the bait. ”

“ Hardy raised heavy-lidded eyes and started to rise, but the effort was too much for him. He sank back like a sack of meal.
Keith Morely kicked the door shut.
Hardy’s nerveless hand reached for the gun in his holster, but it was strangely fumbling and uncertain. The two men stared at each other.
“So we both chanced across the same cabin. Put up your hands!” Hardy’s voice was thick. The gun wavered in his hand. It seemed intolerably heavy.
Morely stared curiously at that unsteady hand, at the swollen, flushed face of the officer. ”

“ If the animal was caught and only escaped after prolonged struggles is may not return for some time and possibly not at all. Yet when a trap is set and fastened as directed, few animals when once caught escape. Here is where proper fastening comes into use; if the trap had a fairly good hold on the animal and the trap was staked solid the game might have escaped but would be so badly injured and frightened that it might never return. ”

“ Among the first requisites and of the utmost importance to successful trapping is the possession of an outfit of well made Steel Traps.
That the young trappers may understand what are the requisites of a good trap we will describe in detail one that has held its own in the estimation of the professional trappers for sixty years, and then we will endeavor to point out wherein the many so-called "improvements," that have been put on the market, have uniformly failed of success. ”

“ To have enough steel traps to set one at each is something few trappers do, yet two or three deadfalls in connection with a line of steel traps is all that is necessary and the trapper can move on to the next bluff where dens are numerous and set another trap or two. As a rule it is where there are many dens, close together, that deadfalls make the best catches, yet when you find a good den anywhere, set or construct a deadfall. ”

“ Deadfalls come in handy sometimes and with no cost whatever — unless the cost is building them. Will send two illustrations of the stone deadfalls writes a successful deadfall trapper. Will say that there is a right and a wrong way to set the deadfall. If you want to make sure of your catch never set your deadfall flat with short triggers shaped like figure 4, but make long triggers instead and have the weight or choker sit almost upright and draw the top trigger close to the one that it rests on at the bottom. In this way you have a trap that will be very easy to touch off. ”

“ I will say to those trappers who never use anything but leaves to cover their traps, that they could not get many mink around here that way, for I have tried it, and they would either go around trap or jump over it. Always carry some kind of firearms; it will more than pay for its trouble. Then too, it leads others to believe you are hunting and they won't be so apt to see you setting traps, and if you let as few as possible see you set traps you won't have to accuse "Sneakum" so often. It doesn't matter what you are trapping, cover your traps the best you can, and then it won't be a fine job ”

“ Then when all the men had taken their places in the boat, he turned to his comrade—
"Remember, Harding, if the gunboat should unfortunately come along, you must fight at anchor. You have got a good stock of hand-grenades if they should try and board you by boats; and as they won't know how weak your crew is, it will be a case of big guns for some time. If the worst comes to the worst, and should they lay her alongside and board you, we shall do our best to recapture you. The wind is very light now, and even if they tried to tow you off, we should be able to overtake you. ”

“ The lieutenant began to fume at the loss of time.
‘What cursed fools to let the man go! Why, look here, what’s this?’ He had opened the door by which sacks were taken in from waggons without, and dangling from the cat-head projecting above it was the rope used in lifting them. ‘There’s the way he went down,’ the officer continued. ‘The man’s gone.’
Amidst mumblings and curses the gang descended the pair of ladders and came into the open air; but Captain Bob was nowhere to be seen. ”

“ Hardy's men had been riding around after stray stock until late; had passed camp after ten o'clock. About one in the morning the snow was falling thick; a little racket was heard in the long shed where the horses were tied, and the sentry, thinking some of Hardy's stray stock had wandered in there, tramped around with a light to see what was wrong. He had barely reached the end of the corral when someone from behind struck him over the head. In falling, his gun was discharged ”

“ This trap was designed by a man who thought it desirable to fasten the bait to the pan. Only a novice at trapping would think of doing such a thing as that, as drawing the animal's attention to the trap is sure to excite his suspicion and to catch him by the head is not desirable, even if possible. A common trap is quite certain to only nip him and slip off. ”

“ Every trapper knows how difficult it is to set a large trap alone in the woods, especially in cold weather, when the fingers are stiff, and the difficulty is greatly increased when one has to work in a boat. One of these clamps applied to each spring will, by a few turns of the thumb-screws, bend the springs to their places, so that the pan may be adjusted without difficulty. ”

“ The crew had been ordered into the forecastle, and a heavy cable had been coiled against the door.
"We will run in, Harding, to within ten or fifteen miles of the land, then we will lay her to. It will be dark by that time. I will leave you with twelve men in charge of her. You will, of course, bring up ammunition and load the guns. I shall run in and anchor as close as I can to the land—of course showing no lights—and then make my way up to the château. ”

“ No trapper should go into the woods without providing himself with an outfit of traps to meet any of the varying emergencies that are likely arise. For instance, along a deep stream it is generally easy to arrange a common trap so that by drowning the animal it will answer every purpose, but in a very small or shallow stream this is sometimes a difficult thing to accomplish. In such a case if the trapper has provided himself with a Webbed or Double Jawed Trap his chances of finding the game awaiting him on his return will be greatly increased. ”

“ I know an old trapper that has trapped for forty years and all he uses for muskrat is a No. 0 Newhouse trap."
"A rat does not gnaw the foot off as many trappers will tell you, but the forefoot is very tender and as a rat always struggles very hard when caught, it does not take very long to twist the foot off if the trap is not set so the rat will drown. Different trappers have different ways of fastening the traps when trapping for rats."
"I use a No. 1 Newhouse trap for mink and a No. 1 1/2 for skunk. I notice that the Newhouse people have a new trap called the "Webbed Jaw Trap". ”