Frozen Toes - Part 2

Well, here I be ta finnish dis yarn dat I begun...

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Day 3 (Friday, November 13) - After slitherin' grudgingly outa our warm bedrolls, and gettin' a bite ta eat, we three mountaineers got down ta business. I straightened up camp a bit, and did some checkin' up on de gun bags ta make shur nothin' were missin'. Meanwhile, Dad an' Little Big Man - ferget it, he be LBM from now on - trudged up to tha shootin' range to make shur de latter's smokepole was flingin' lead where it was s'pposed to. We figurd it would be a mytie unfortunate thing fer LBM ta 'ncounter injuns an' find his sights wuz off.

When dey returned, Dad an' I disided ta have a go at de pistol trail walk. We didn't shoot squat started off jest dandy, but stopped because we knew we were jest wastin' powder figurd it'd be nice ta let de other shooters have a chance.

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De big event of dat day wuz the de "One-Tie-All-Tie" shoot. It were scheduled 'bout 1:30 in de afternoon, so as that time rolled around, LBM, Dad, and I slung our gun bags over our shuldurs, grabbed our smokepoles, and joined the others assembling at de range. De shoot ran dis way: the target - an 8x12 inch plate of solid steel - was set up on de hillside in front of us. Then all de shooters, about eighteen in all, retired about eighty yards away, and de fun began as everybody had a go at makin' the steel target ring an' swing. Now, what makes dis shoot so fun is de yuneek rools dat ackumpny it: if, during a round, two people in the group both hit de target and tie, den the entire groop ties, and everybody moves farther back ta shoot anudder round. However, if only one person hits de steel during the course o' a round, den dat person be de winner, an' it be he dat walks away with de loot. Usually, a shoot o' dis kind only lasts an hour er so. But dis time, it continued fer three hours! And durin' de final round, all of us shooters wuz flingin' lead from close to three hundred yards away! Waugh!

LBM an' yer's truly with Dad before de "One-Tie-All-Tie"

Some o' de other shooters in de "One-Tie-All-Tie"

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Day 4 (Saturday, November 14) - Well, havin' pretty much done all de shootin' dere wuz ta do, de three of us turned our attention to our belts . Er, rather what wuz ahangin' on de belts. Yesiree, we decided it wer time to pay de logs our respects. Therefore, with rezaloot hearts steel'd ta peril, we faced 'em, an' got down ta business. An' it got ugly, reel fast. Boy, doze devil's must o' had hearts of... oak. It were tough ta get anything ta stick in 'em at first. But, as we warmed to de fight, things began ta look up, and de ornery varmintz acknowledged our prowess with sharp things. But dat were jest de beginning. We had jest been practicin', doin' a bit o' warm up throwing. Now came de serious task. We had to face de logs once more, only this time, dere were other mountain men to compete with. (Drumroll, if'n ye please)

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If de first battle with de logs wuz ugly, de second battle wuz uglier. Take my wurd fer it, dere be some good - an' I mean extreemly good - throwers ta compete with. Ta make things e'en more bizarre, we didn't jest do de regular shabang of throwin' from five paces away. We did distance throws, card throws, threw between rubber bands stretched across de face of de log, an' even threw standin' inside a small coil of rope on de ground (it's tougher den it sounds, trust me). It wuz certainly a challengin' ordeal, but then again it's usually doze kinda ordeals dat are de best. In de end, all three of us placed within de top four of our divisions, which be perty good after all, considerin' de talent we wuz up against.

   

LBM to Log: "Ready... set... draw!"

 

"Ha! Got ya! Now we'll see how knotheads bleed! Waugh!"

Keepin' score durin' de throw

Some o' our competetors

Ready ta stick it

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Day 5 (Sunday, November 15) - Well, that be about all dere is to tell 'bout our adventures at de "Frozen Toes" rondy-voo. On the fifth day, we got up earlier dan usual, had a nice hot breakfast, an' then began takin' down camp and loadin' de mules. After dat wuz done, an' we had made absolutely, positively, undeniably shur dat we weren't leavin' anythin' behind, we said good-bye to our fellow mountaineers, shook hands all round, exchanged a joke er two, and den began de trek back home. By dat time, we wuz champin' at de bit ta to be reunited with de rest o' de family... an' get showers! Waugh!

~Scribe