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Biochemistry 1st Edition Raymond S. Ochs Digital Instant
Download
Author(s): Raymond S. Ochs
ISBN(s): 9781449661373, 1449661378
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 39.26 MB
Year: 2012
Language: english
 Biochemistry
Raymond S. Ochs
St. John’s University

57366_FMxx_i_xx.indd 1 9/7/12 1:48 PM

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ochs, Raymond S.
Biochemistry / Ray Ochs. — 1st ed.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7637-5736-6 (alk. paper)
I. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Biochemistry. 2. Biochemical Phenomena. QU 4]
572—dc23 2012008575

6048

Printed in the United States of America

16 15 14 13 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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 To my wife, Jessica, for her immeasurable support.

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 Brief Contents

Preface xvi
Chapter 1 Foundations 1
Chapter 2 Water 12
Chapter 3 Lipids 29
Chapter 4 Carbohydrates 43
Chapter 5 Amino Acids and Proteins 61
Chapter 6 Enzymes 83
Chapter 7 Metabolism and Energy 104
Chapter 8 Glycolysis 124
Chapter 9 The Krebs Cycle 148
Chapter 10 Oxidative Phosphorylation 165
Chapter 11 Photosynthesis 191
Chapter 12 Carbohydrate Pathways Related to Glycolysis 214
Chapter 13 Lipid Metabolism 245
Chapter 14 Nitrogen Metabolism 280
Chapter 15 Nucleic Acids 319
Chapter 16 Protein Synthesis and Degradation 341
Appendix 359
Glossary 386
Index 403

Image © Dr. Mark J. Winter/Photo Researchers, Inc.

iv

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 Contents

Preface xvi

Chapter 1 Foundations 1
1.1 Origins of Biochemistry 2
1.2 Some Chemical Ideas 3
Reactions and Their Kinetic Description 3
Equilibrium 4
The Steady State 5
1.3 Energy 7
1.4 Cell Theory 8
1.5 The Species Hierarchy and Evolution 9
1.6 Biological Systems 10
Key Terms 11
References 11
Box 1.1 WORD ORIGINS: Organic 1
Chapter 2 Water 12
2.1 Structure of Water 13
Gas Phase Water 13
Partial Charges and Electronegativity 14
Condensed Phase Water: Hydrogen Bonding 15
2.2 Properties of Water Follow from the Hydrogen
Bonded Structure 17
2.3 The Hydrophobic Effect 18
2.4 Molecules Soluble in Water 18
2.5 High Heat Retention: The Unusual Specific Heat of
Liquid Water 21
2.6 Ionization of Water 21
2.7 Some Definitions for the Study of
Acids and Bases 22
2.8 The pH Scale 23
2.9 The Henderson–Hasselbalch Equation 24
2.10 Titration and Buffering 25
Summary 26
Key Terms 27
Review Questions 27
References 28
Image © Dr. Mark J. Winter/Photo Researchers, Inc. v

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 Box 2.1 Covalent and Ionic: Discreet or Continuous
Distinction? 16
Box 2.2 WORD ORIGINS: Hydrophobic 18
Box 2.3 A Thermodynamic Look at the
Hydrophobic Effect 19

Chapter 3 Lipids 29
3.1 Significance 30
3.2 Fatty Acids 30
3.3 Triacylglycerols 33
3.4 Phospholipids 35
3.5 Cholesterol 37
3.6 Lipid–Water Interactions of Amphipathic
Molecules 37
3.7 Water Permeability of Membranes and Osmosis 38
3.8 Effect of Lipids on Membrane Composition 40
Summary 40
Key Terms 41
Review Questions 41
References 41
Box 3.1 On Steak and Fish: Polyunsaturated Fats,
Trans Fats, and Health Risks 31
Box 3.2 Lipid Composition of Pizza 34
Box 3.3 Lecithin and Emulsification 36
Box 3.4 WORD ORIGINS: Osmosis 40
Chapter 4 Carbohydrates 43
4.1 Monosaccharides 44
4.2 Ring Formation in Sugars 45
4.3 Disaccharides 48
4.4 Polysaccharides 51
Linear Polysaccharides 52
Branched Polysaccharides 53
4.5 Carbohydrate Derivatives 54
Simple Modifications 54
Substituted Carbohydrates 55
Summary 57
Key Terms 60
Review Questions 60
References 60
Box 4.1 Stereochemical Conventions: Little d/l 46
Box 4.2 WORD ORIGINS: Reducing 51
Box 4.3 Irony of Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonds 53
Box 4.4 Medical Connections: Sugars and Digestion 59

Chapter 5 Amino Acids and Proteins 61

5.1 Identity and Roles of Amino Acids 62

vi Contents

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 5.2 Amino Acid Individuality: The R Groups 62
Polarities 62
Functional Groups 62
5.3 Acid–Base Properties and Charge 64
Titration and Net Charge 64
Zwitterions 67
Multiple Dissociable Groups 67
5.4 The Peptide Bond 68
5.5 Peptides and Proteins 68
5.6 Levels of Protein Structure 69
Primary Structure 70
Secondary Structure 70
Domains 71
Tertiary Structure 73
Quaternary Structure 73
5.7 Protein Folding 74
5.8 Oxygen Binding in Myoglobin and Hemoglobin 74
5.9 Protein Purification and Analysis 78
Purification 78
Analysis 79
Summary 80
Key Terms 81
Review Questions 81
References 82
Box 5.1 Fractional Charges 66
Box 5.2 Protein Digestion: Proteins, Peptides, and
Amino Acids 69
Box 5.3 Domain Names 72
Box 5.4 WORD ORIGINS: Chromatography 79
Chapter 6 Enzymes 83
6.1 A Brief Look at Enzyme Energetics and Enzyme
Chemistry 84
6.2 The Enzyme Assay and Initial Velocity 86
6.3 A Simple Kinetic Mechanism 87
Assumptions 88
The Michaelis–Menten Equation 88
6.4 How the Michaelis–Menten Equation Describes
Enzyme Behavior 89
6.5 The Meaning of Km 90
6.6 Reversible Inhibition 91
Competitive Inhibition 92
Anticompetitive Inhibition (Uncompetitive) 93
Mixed Inhibition (Noncompetitive) 94
6.7 Double-Reciprocal or Lineweaver–Burk Plot 96
6.8 Allosteric Enzymes 97
6.9 Irreversible Inhibition 98

Contents vii

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 6.10 Enzyme Mechanisms 98
Nucleophilic Substitution 99
Acid–Base Catalysis 99
6.11 Enzyme Categories 99
6.12 Enzyme-Like Qualities of Membrane Transport
Proteins 100
Summary 101
Key Terms 102
Review Questions 102
References 103
Box 6.1 Activation Energy and Murphy’s Law 85
Box 6.2 The Spectrophotometer and Beer’s Law 86
Box 6.3 Inhibition and Active Sites 91
Box 6.4WORD ORIGINS: Noncompetitive and
Uncompetitive 94
Box 6.5 Can Km Explain Enzyme Inhibition? 96
Chapter 7 Metabolism and Energy 104
7.1 Origins of Thermodynamics 105
7.2 First Law of Thermodynamics 105
Heat and Work 105
Enthalpy 107
7.3 Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics 108
Entropy as a Ratio of Heat to Temperature 108
Entropy as a Statistical Distribution of States 109
7.4 Free Energy 109
7.5 Standard Free Energy 110
7.6 Nonstandard Free Energy Changes 111
7.7 Near-Equilibrium and Metabolically Irreversible
Reactions 112
7.8 ATP 113
7.9 Energy Coupling with ATP 115
Creatine Phosphokinase 117
NDP Kinase 117
Adenylate Kinase 118
7.10 NADH 119
7.11 Mobile Cofactors and the Pathway View 120
Summary 121
Key Terms 122
Review Questions 122
References 123
Box 7.1 Joules, Calories, and Food Calories 106
Box 7.2 WORD ORIGINS: Spontaneous 112
Box 7.3 Standard Thermodynamic Values 113
Chapter 8 Glycolysis 124
8.1 Glucose Transport 125

viii Contents

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 8.2 From Glucose to Pyruvate 127
Hexokinase 127
Glucose Phosphate Isomerase 129
Phosphofructokinase 130
Aldolase 131
Triose Phosphate Isomerase 132
Glyceraldehyde Phosphate Dehydrogenase 133
Phosphoglycerate Kinase 135
Phosphoglycerate Mutase 135
Enolase 135
Pyruvate Kinase 136
8.3 Completing the Pathway 138
Lactate Formation 138
Ethanol Formation 138
8.4 Energetics of Glycolysis 140
Pathway Thermodynamics 141
Red Blood Cell Shunt Pathway 142
Arsenate Poisoning 143
Fructose Metabolism 143
8.5 Metabolic Connections to Glycolysis 145
Alternative Entry Points 145
Glycolytic Intermediates as Intersection Points 145
Alternative Endpoints of Glycolysis 145
Summary 146
Key Terms 146
Review Questions 146
References 147
Box 8.1 WORD ORIGINS: Zymo 125
Box 8.2 A Separate Class of Glucose Transporters 126
Box 8.3 In Vitro Modulators of PFK 130
Box 8.4 Vitamins 139
Box 8.5 High-Fructose Corn Syrup 144

Chapter 9 The Krebs Cycle 148

9.1 A Cyclic Pathway 149
9.2 Acetyl-CoA: Substrate of the Krebs Cycle 150
9.3 Overview of Carbon Flow 152
9.4 Steps of the Pathway 153
Citrate Synthase 154
Aconitase 155
Fluoroacetate Poisoning Involves the First Two Enzymes of the
Krebs Cycle 156
Isocitrate DH 156
2-Ketoglutarate DH Complex 157
Succinyl-CoA Synthetase 157
Succinate DH 159
Fumarase 159
Malate DH 159
9.5 Energy Balance 160

Contents ix

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 9.6 Regulation 161
9.7 Krebs Cycle as a Second Crossroad of Metabolic
Pathways 162
Summary 163
Key Terms 164
Review Questions 164
References 164
Box 9.1 WORD ORIGINS: Krebs Cycle Intermediates 149
Box 9.2 Estimating ATP Energy Equivalents 160
Chapter 10 Oxidative Phosphorylation 165
10.1 The Phenomenon 166
10.2 Mitochondrial Inner Membrane 167
10.3 Carriers of Electrons, Protons, or Both 167
Carriers of Electrons 167
Carriers of Protons 168
Carriers of Both Electrons and Protons 168
10.4 Membrane-Bound Complexes 168
10.5 Electron Pathways 169
Electrochemical Cells 169
Sequence of Electron Flow 170
Energetics of Electron Flow 171
10.6 Mechanisms for Electron and Proton Flows Through
the Mitochondrial Membrane 172
Complex I: Proton Pump 172
Complex II: Succinate Dehydrogenase 175
Complex III: Loop Mechanism 175
Complex IV: Pump and Annihilation 177
Complex V: ATP Synthesis 178
10.7 Mitochondrial Membrane Transport 180
Adenine Nucleotide Translocase 181
Phosphate Exchange 181
Other Transport Proteins 182
10.8 Coupling of Oxidation and Phosphorylation 182
10.9 Uncoupling 183
10.10 Superoxide Formation by Mitochondria 183
10.11 Control of Mitochondria 185
10.12 How Mitochondria Can Utilize Cytosolic NADH 185
Glycerol Phosphate Shuttle 186
Malate/Aspartate Shuttle 187
Summary 188
Key Terms 189
Review Questions 189
References 190
Box 10.1 WORD ORIGINS: Flavins 168
Box 10.2 A New Class of Complex II Inhibitors 173
Box 10.3 The Once and Future Uncoupling Diet 184

x Contents

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 Chapter 11 Photosynthesis 191
11.1 Light and Dark Reactions 192
11.2 Chloroplasts 193
Orientations: N and P Sides of the Membrane 193
Light Reactions of Photosynthesis as a “Reversed Oxidative
Phosphorylation” 194
Dark Reactions of Photosynthesis: “CO2 Fixation” 195
11.3 Harnessing Light Energy 196
Light Absorption and the Antennae 196
Electron Transfer at Reaction Centers 197
11.4 Proton and Electron Flow for the Light
Reactions 198
11.5 Cyclic Electron Transfer and Other Variations 201
11.6 The Calvin Cycle 202
Ribulose Bisphosphate Carboxylase 202
Reaction Steps Following Carbon Fixation to Glyceraldehyde-P:
Energy Consuming Portion 203
From GAP to the RuBisCo Step: Overview 204
From GAP to the RuBisCo Step: Reactions 205
11.7 Variations in CO2 Handling: C3, C4, and
CAM Plants 208
11.8 Pathway Endpoints: Sucrose and Starch 210
Summary 211
Key Terms 212
Review Questions 212
References 213
Box 11.1 WORD ORIGINS: Behind the Z-Scheme 199
Box 11.2 Plants and the Visual Cycle 211
Chapter 12 Carbohydrate Pathways Related to Glycolysis 214
12.1 Glycogen Metabolism 216
Glycogen Synthesis 216
Glycogenolysis 219
Physiological Context of Glycogen Metabolism 222
Regulation of Glycogen Metabolism by Glucagon 222
Regulation of Glycogen Metabolism by Epinephrine 225
Regulation of Glycogen Metabolism by Insulin 226
Regulation of Glycogen Metabolism by AMP Kinase 228
12.2 Gluconeogenesis 229
Lactate Dehydrogenase as a Gluconeogenic Enzyme 229
Pyruvate to PEP 229
Indirect Transport of Oxaloacetate from Mitochondria to
Cytosol 233
Fructose-1,6-P2 to Fructose-6-P 234
Glucose-6-P to Glucose 235
Pathway Integration: Glycolysis, Glycogen Metabolism, and
Gluconeogenesis 236
12.3 The Pentose Phosphate Shunt 238
Oxidative Stage 238
Nonoxidative Stage 239
Distribution Between NADPH Production and Ribose-5-P 241
Contents xi

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 12.4 Galactose Utilization 241
Summary 243
Key Terms 244
Review Questions 244
References 244
Box 12.1 Glycogen Storage Diseases 221
Box 12.2 WORD ORIGINS: What’s Really New About
Gluconeogenesis? 229
Box 12.3 CO2 Fixation in Animals? 233
Box 12.4 Alligators and the Resting–Exercise
Transition 237

Chapter 13 Lipid Metabolism 245

13.1 Absorption of Dietary Lipids 246
13.2 Fatty Acid Oxidation 248
Activation 249
Transport 250
β-Oxidation 251
Ancillary Enzymes 253
13.3 Ketone Body Metabolism 254
13.4 Fatty Acid Biosynthesis 256
Export of Acetyl-CoA to the Cytosol 257
Carboxylation of Acetyl-CoA to Malonyl-CoA 258
Sequential Addition of Two-Carbon Fragments to Form
Palmitate 260
13.5 Triacylglycerol Formation 262
13.6 Phospholipid Metabolism 265
13.7 Cholesterol Metabolism 267
13.8 Other Lipids 270
Eicosanoids 270
Sphingolipids 272
Unusual Bacterial Fatty Acids 272
13.9 Overview of Lipid Metabolism in the Fed and
Fasted States 272
13.10 Integration of Lipid and Carbohydrate
Metabolism 276
Lipid and Carbohydrate Intersections in the Feeding–Fasting
Transition 276
Lipid and Carbohydrate Intersections in the Resting–Exercise
Transition 276
Lipid and Carbohydrate Intersections in Diabetes
Mellitus 277
Summary 277
Key Terms 279
Review Questions 279
References 279
Box 13.1 Fatty Acid Binding Proteins 247
Box 13.2 WORD ORIGINS: Oleate 253

xii Contents

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 Box 13.3 Acetone Breath 256
Box 13.4 Regulatory Circuit of Lipid Metabolism 260
Box 13.5 Origins of the Triacylglycerol Backbone 265
Chapter 14 Nitrogen Metabolism 280
14.1 The Nitrogen Cycle 281
14.2 Reaction Types in NH3 Assimilation 283
Redox Neutral 283
Redox Active 283
Redox Balanced 283
14.3 Metabolically Irreversible Nitrogen Exchange
Reactions 283
14.4 Near-Equilibrium Nitrogen Exchange Reactions 284
Glutamate DH 284
Transaminases 285
14.5 The Urea Cycle 286
[NH3] Exceeds [Aspartate] 287
[Aspartate] Exceeds [NH3] 287
Steps from NH3 to Citrulline 288
Cytosolic Steps of the Urea Cycle 289
Overall Urea Cycle 290
14.6 Amino Acid Metabolism: Catabolism 291
Branched-Chain Amino Acid Breakdown 291
Threonine 293
Lysine 293
Tryptophan 293
Phenylalanine and Tyrosine Degradation 293
Amino Acids Directly Connected to Major Metabolic
Pathways 295
Arginine, Proline, and Histidine Are All Converted to
Glutamate 295
One-Carbon (1C) Metabolism and Serine, Glycine, and
Methionine Breakdown 297
14.7 Amino Acids: Anabolism 300
Nonessential Amino Acids 301
Essential Amino Acids 302
Aromatic Amino Acid Biosynthesis 302
14.8 Nucleotide Metabolism 304
Pyrimidine Synthesis 306
Pyrimidine Degradation 307
Purine Synthesis 307
Purine Degradation 309
Salvage Reactions 311
Purine Nucleotide Regulation 311
Purine Nucleotide Cycle 311
Deoxynucleotide Formation 312
A Unique Methylation to Form dTMP 314
14.9 Other Nitrogen Pathways 316
Summary 317
Key Terms 318

Contents xiii

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 Review Questions 318
References 318
Box 14.1 Clinical Cases of Defects in Amino Acid
Metabolism 292
Box 14.2 WORD ORIGINS: Folate 297
Box 14.3 Vitamin B12 and Folate Deficiencies 301
Box 14.4 The Chorismate Pathway and Weed Control 304
Chapter 15 Nucleic Acids 319
15.1 Strand Structures of the Nucleic Acids 320
15.2 Structure of the Double Helix 321
15.3 Supercoiling 325
15.4 Histones 326
15.5 Replication 327
Initiation 327
Replication Fork and the Replisome 328
Primer Formation 329
Creating the Double Helix 330
Distinctive Features of Eukaryotic Replication 330
15.6 DNA Repair 331
15.7 Transcription 332
RNA Polymerase Binding to DNA 333
Transcription Events in E. coli 333
Eukaryotic Transcription 335
Summary 338
Key Terms 340
Review Questions 340
References 340
Box 15.1 WORD ORIGINS: Palindrome 335
Box 15.2 Exome Sequencing 338
Chapter 16 Protein Synthesis and Degradation 341
16.1 Three Forms of RNA Are Employed in Protein
Synthesis 342
tRNA 342
rRNA and the Ribosomes 344
16.2 The Genetic Code 345
16.3 Steps in Protein Synthesis 346
Initiation 346
Elongation 346
Termination 350
Distinctive Features of Eukaryotic Translation 350
Regulation of Eukaryotic Translation 350
16.4 Posttranslational Modifications of Proteins 351
Immediate Modifications 351
Longer Term Modifications 352
16.5 Protein Degradation 353
Extracellular Proteases 353
Intracellular Proteases 353

xiv Contents

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 16.6 The mTOR Pathway in the Control of Protein
Synthesis 356
Summary 357
Key Terms 357
Review Questions 358
References 358
Box 16.1 UNIT ORIGINS: The Svedberg 345
Box 16.2 Macromolecular Inhibitory Complexes 352
Appendix 359
1. Mathematical Ideas 360
Vectors 360
Logarithms 360
Geometric Mean 361
2. Chemical Fundamentals 362
3. Derivation of the Henderson–Hasselbalch
Equation 364
4. Derivation of the General Free Energy Equation 366
5. Lipids 366
Fatty Acids 366
Phospholipids 366
6. Aspects of Enzyme Kinetics 367
Derivation of the Michaelis–Menten Equation 367
Derivation of Equations for Reversible Enzyme Inhibition 370
The Problem with Double Reciprocal Plots 371
The Lipid–Water Interface 372
7. Vitamins and Cofactors 373
8. The RS System of Stereochemistry 375
9. Reactive Oxygen Species 377
10. Enzyme Mechanisms 378
Aconitase 378
Prenyltransferase 379
11. Metabolic Pathways 381
Glyoxylate Cycle 381
Odd Chain Number Fatty Acids 382
Later Steps in Cholesterol Synthesis 383
The Purine Biosynthesis Pathway 384
References 385

GLOSSARY 386
INDEX 403

Contents xv

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 Preface

Considering Metabolism
Metabolic diseases such as diabetes and others associated with the current obesity
crisis have thrust metabolism into the forefront of popular thinking. In many ways,
metabolism is the central science of biochemistry. This is the view I have adopted as
the core concept of this textbook.
Having a research background in metabolism, a long-standing interest in the
fundamental topics of biochemistry—including kinetics and thermodynamics—and
having taught a one-semester biochemistry course for over 25 years, I have long
wanted to write a book that reflects the whole of the subject with the unifying theme
of metabolism.

Brevity
A key consideration when writing this text was to keep the book short enough and
approachable enough that a student can read it in one semester. The alternative
approach—having a book far too long for continuous reading and having the instructor
suggest which portions to omit—is already well represented. In my experience, for
students who are not biochemistry majors, the fragmentation resulting from parsing
longer texts leads to less reading and, therefore, less understanding. The areas of
special interest to the instructor can be readily augmented with primary sources,
while the textbook provides continuity and context.
I have emphasized recurring ideas such as commonalities in chemical reaction
mechanisms and pathway construction as much as possible. The decision of whether
the book is for teaching or reference is decidedly in favor of teaching; for example,
only a few protein domains are presented. The wealth of information available on
the Web (notably ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) can substitute for a more extensive collection.
The present text will provide students with an introduction to the foundations of
biochemistry.

Organization
The presentation of biochemistry topics is mostly a classical one, with a slight
divergence: the introduction to lipids directly follows the chemistry of water. This
is in keeping with presenting molecular classes in the order of increasing chemical
complexity: water, lipids, carbohydrates, nitrogen compounds. It also has the virtue
of contrasting water solubility with water insolubility in the case of lipids.

Image © Dr. Mark J. Winter/Photo Researchers, Inc.

xvi

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 When using this book for medically oriented courses, the chapter on photosynthesis
may be omitted. In that case, however, the photosynthetic “dark reactions” should
at least be referenced, as they are similar to those in the pentose cycle; this analogy
is made explicit in the chapter on carbohydrate pathways.

Key Features
• Dual diagrams of enzymatic reactions. A unique method of presenting electron
flow for reaction mechanisms was devised for this book. For each mechanism,
the substrate, intermediates, and product are presented on the top line. Below
a separator (dotted line), the molecules are redrawn with their electron flows,
using the traditional curved arrows. This separation allows the student to
visualize the result of the electron flow, which is commonly obscured by the
need to show the electron arrows for the next transformation.
• Word Origins feature box. Included in most chapters is a box that provides a
short history of certain words that are rich in meaning, without which it is often
more difficult to understand the underlying concept. Providing an explanation
of their origins helps students become familiar with these important terms and
achieve a better understanding of what is being described.
• Thermodynamics treatment. The development of thermodynamics for
metabolic purposes leads to the distinction between two classes of enzymes:
near-equilibrium and metabolically irreversible. This allows a simplification,
as near-equilibrium reactions are not sites of cellular regulation. The roles of
standard, actual, and near-equilibrium states for free energy are distinct and
consistently presented to aid student understanding.
• Chemical mechanisms. A study of biochemistry should impart a viewpoint
enriched by understanding the underlying chemistry of events in living systems.
This extended view of biology is best achieved by understanding how enzymatic
reactions function. All of the background chemistry needed for this text should
be covered by prerequisite courses of chemistry. Some further information is
presented in the appendix; a review of organic chemistry reaction mechanisms
(most critically, nucleophilic reactions) may be necessary for those who are less
comfortable with the material.
• Enzyme kinetics treatment. The text emphasizes direct plots of substrate
concentration against initial velocity, introducing double-reciprocals only after
a complete development of the subject. While in widespread use, the double-
reciprocal form is difficult to visualize and leads to the false impression that
memorizing patterns of lines for enzyme inhibition provides insight into how
inhibitors work. Instead, direct plots, with an emphasis on the behavior of
reaction velocity at different substrate concentrations, deliver the message
clearly. Coupled with everyday descriptions of the different types of inhibition,
these critical ideas are easily grasped. A further distinct notion is the use of the
kinetic term Vmax/Km rather than Km in developing kinetics. Too often, “Km”
becomes a focal point and is treated as an equilibrium constant rather than a
steady-state constant. This common misuse of Km versus Vmax/Km is part of the
reason that many students have difficulty understanding enzyme kinetics, and
it is a problem this text carefully avoids.
• Minimalist molecular biology treatment. The essence of molecular biology is
included in the final two chapters. The emphasis is on providing an overview
with a chemical perspective. For example, stacking interactions in DNA, the
basis for forming the double helix, are explained in simple, chemical terms.

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 • The pathway view. The distinction between a reaction view and a pathway
view is clearly emphasized to facilitate student comprehension. For example,
the distinction between a bound cofactor like FADH2 from a free cofactor
like NADH becomes obvious: only NADH can transfer electrons between
metabolic reactions.
• Appendix. The appendix of this text contains both entries for students
needing a little extra help and more advanced material that, while perhaps not
appropriate for the level of this particular text, is nonetheless important to the
field of biochemistry as a whole. For remediation, basic ideas of mathematics
and chemistry with which students traditionally have difficulty can be found in
the appendix, as can certain extended pathways like amino acid and cholesterol
routes. The advanced material includes the mechanism of aconitase and the
role of fluoroacetate, which represent milestone achievements in biochemistry.
These may be of interest to the more inquisitive student wishing to go beyond
the fundamentals.

Resources
For Instructors
An Instructor’s Media CD, compatible with Windows® and Macintosh® platforms,
provides instructors with the following resources:
• The PowerPoint® ImageBank contains all of the illustrations, photographs,
and tables (to which Jones & Bartlett Learning holds the copyright or has
permission to reproduce electronically). These images are inserted into
PowerPoint slides. Instructors can quickly and easily copy individual images
into existing lecture slides.
• The PowerPoint Lecture Outline presentation package provides lecture notes
and images for each chapter of Biochemistry. Instructors with the Microsoft®
PowerPoint software can customize the outlines, art, and order of the
presentation.
To receive a copy of the Instructor’s Media CD, please contact your sales
representative.
Also available for qualified instructors to download from the Jones & Bartlett
Learning website, www.jblearning.com, are the text files of the Testbank.
For Students
To further enhance the learning experience, Jones & Bartlett Learning offers the
following ancillary materials:
The Student Companion Website (http://science.jbpub.com/biochemistry)
provides content exclusively designed to accompany Biochemistry. The site hosts an
array of study tools including chapter outlines, study quizzes, an interactive glossary,
animated flashcards, crossword puzzles, and web links for further exploration of
the topics discussed in this book.

xviii Preface

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 Acknowledgments
This book has come a long way from my original, draft manuscript. It has gone
through several rounds of reviews and edits, and it benefitted from the feedback of
many individuals to whom I owe great thanks.

Sergio Abreu, Fordham University

Lois Bartsch, Graceland University
Sajid Bashir, Texas A&M University—Kingsville
Mrinal Bhattacharjee, Long Island University
Debra Boyd-Kimball, University of Mount Union
Barbara Bowman, University of California—Berkeley
Jeanne Buccigross, College of Mount St. Joseph
Mickael Cariveau, Mount Olive College
James Cheetham, Carleton University
Zhe-Sheng Chen, St. John’s University
David Eldridge, Baylor University
Susan Evans, Ohio University
John Fain, University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Sue Ford, St. John’s University
Matthew Gage, Northern Arizona University
Eric Gauthier, Laurentian University
Neil Haave, University of Alberta, Augustana Campus
David Hilmey, St. Bonaventure University
Blaine Legaree, Keyano College
Lisa Lindert, California State University—Sacramento
Meagan Mann, Austin Peay State University
Nick Menhart, Illinois Institute of Technology
Abdel Omri, Laurentian University
Gordon Rule, Carnegie Mellon University
Mary Railing, Wheeling Jesuit University
Gerald Reeck, Kansas State University
Abbey Rosen, Marian College of Fond du Lac
Frank Schmidt, University of Missouri
Michael Sehorn, Clemson University
Kavita Shah, Purdue University
Andrew Shiemke, West Virginia University
Amruthesh Shivachar, Texas Southern University
Todd Silverstein, Willamette University
Madhavan Soundararajan, University of Nebraska—Lincoln
Salvatore Sparace, Clemson University
Vicky Valancius-Mangel, Governors State University
David Watt, University of Kentucky
Wu Xu, University of Louisiana—Lafayette

I would also like to thank the entire team at Jones & Bartlett Learning: Shoshanna
Goldberg, former editor Molly Steinbach, Erin O’Connor, Cathleen Sether, Rachel
Isaacs, Lauren Miller, Scott Moden, and Louis Bruno. Without all of your support
and guidance, this book would never have come to fruition.

Ray Ochs
St. John’s University
[email protected]

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57366_FMxx_i_xx.indd 20 9/7/12 1:48 PM
Other documents randomly have
different content
 MASK AND FOIL FOR LADIES.
By CHARLES E. CLAY.
MONG the infant nations of the world woman was expected to share the
labors of the field with her lord. The exotic conditions of a pernicious
civilization, as wealth accumulated and luxury grew, imposed trammels on
woman and relegated her to the enervating confinement of the house in
order that she might preserve a more delicate and pleasing form for the
gratification of man returning after the day’s toil. Woman was, however,
originally intended to be a much more competent companion and
helpmate than the selfishness of man will concede.
So long as a community remained pastoral and nomadic, so surely did
woman retain a physical development equal and perfect as that of her
mate. Thus, we find that Atalanta was as fleet of foot as any of her male
companions, and not until she allowed her cupidity to get the better of her
judgment, while striving to secure the golden apples dropped by
Hippomenes during the race, was she vanquished. That woman was once
as skillful as man in the practice and art of venery, was symbolized by the
fact that men did not deem it unworthy to worship a virgin huntress, and called upon Diana to lend
them her knowledge and support in the chase. That war even claimed their services is evidenced by
Herodotus and other ancient historians; and although the prowess of the doughty Amazons, who, in
order that they might not be impeded in the use of the bow, mutilated their right breasts, may be in a
great measure mythical, still such testimony goes to prove conclusively that woman, while perhaps not
endowed with the same brute strength as man, can be his peer in most games, pastimes and
recreations that call for dexterity and quickness of hand, foot and eye.
No one can gainsay the fact that the long-continued seclusion of our fair sisters from sports and
exercises has undoubtedly much deteriorated the physical stamina of the female race, at least in
civilized countries. They are not capable of undergoing the fatigue, exertion and exposure nature
intended they should; they are the victims of many ailments that have become hereditary to their sex
simply from inaction. They are not (I am talking now of the upper and leisure classes of civilized society
more especially) in as thoroughly a healthy physical condition to sustain the burdens of maternity and
its consequent strain upon the system as they ought to be, as it was intended by nature that they
should be, and as they undoubtedly would be, if healthy exercise was more universally prevalent among
the sex. If any reader doubts this statement he has only to analyze the statistics of any European nation
that bear upon this subject to be convinced.
Happily, the baneful results of an indoor life of inaction have been realized before its effects have
become ineradicable, and the growing superiority of the physical development of the Anglo-Saxon over
her Latin sister is due chiefly to the revival of athletic outdoor exercise among the women of this family.
English girls may surely claim the lead in the good work of athletic regeneration. They are closely
followed by their fair sisters and rivals on this side of the Atlantic, and both are head and shoulders
ahead of the daughters of France, Germany, and the other Continental nations. I will not waste words in
contrasting the physical condition of the women of the West with the deplorable state of the sex in the
East. It would be an insult to Christianity.
 EN GARDE.
FIRST POSITION. SECOND POSITION.

I need hardly enumerate the rich catalogue of sports, games and recreations that claim the attention
of our enlightened sisters of to-day, but this much I will say, that there is not an exercise that will repay
a girl so well, and at the same time rouse her enthusiasm and enjoyment so thoroughly as the practice
of fencing—and in that term I include the handling of foil, broadsword and single-stick. In considering
the art of fencing in the present article I shall not attempt to give any instruction in the rudiments or the
more finished evolutions of the science, because, in the first place, to treat only the principal thrusts
and parries would occupy more space than I have at my command, and in the second, fencing cannot
be learned from the book. One lesson from a competent maitre d’armes will effect more than the
perusal of a volume. I shall, however, endeavor to point out the beneficial results to be reaped from the
exercise, to create a feeling, if possible, that fencing ought really to be an indispensable necessity of a
young lady’s complete physical education, and to offer a few hints and suggestions as to the best
means of learning and enjoying the art, as well as the proper dress and equipment to be employed.
Fencing, then, may be popularly defined as the art and science of attack and defense, the weapon
used being the foil for pleasure, and the rapier in a duel of deadly intent. The attack consists of a
number of thrusts, points and lunges, the latter being an extension of the thrust. The defense is the art
of warding off an adversary’s thrusts by evolutions, termed guards or parries. It is also admissible to
advance the whole body while dealing thrusts or to assist the execution of the guard by a timely retreat.
The participation in this exercise by two persons is called a “bout,” or a “passage,” with the foils, and
when one line of assailants faces another, fencing two and two, this general bout is distinguished as an
assault of arms.
The exercise will give to the carriage and general poise of the body a grace, dignity and freedom,
with majesty of step and mien to be attained in a like degree by no other means. Some finniking miss
will, perhaps, venture that dancing and the idiotic steps of deportment taught by a mincing Frenchman
is all the setting up that a young lady properly brought up should require; but there is just as much
difference in the walk of a young lady who has been well drilled in a salle d’armes and a dancing-school
miss as there is between the walk of a lithe young panther and a cat stepping over hot bricks. In
fencing, every part of the body is brought into play. The strain on the wrist, and the rapid movements
with the foil work every muscle in the shoulder and forearm. The quick advance and hasty retreat
develop the lower limbs. The tension of the whole body brings into healthy action the internal organs.
The chest expands, the lungs are quickened and produce a stronger circulation; the whole frame is
invigorated, hardened, strengthened and braced up. Moreover, exercise with the foils does not
abnormally develop one member, or one set of muscles to the detriment of others equally important.
For, as Captain Nicholas, of the New York Fencers’ Club, very happily expressed it to me, “fencing rather
places the muscles of the body in the very best position to perform their several functions to the best
advantage.” That some pastimes, notably lawn tennis, will develop one member to an inordinate
degree, if pursued to excess, is proved by the experience of many of the fashionable dressmakers, one
of whom assured me not long ago, that since the general craze for tennis among her customers she has
found it necessary to measure both arms and shoulders of her most ardent tennis-playing clientèle, as
she finds as much as three to four inches difference in the deltoid and biceps measurements of the
playing arm. And many of my lady friends have assured me that since taking up tennis they have found
it impossible to put on the right hand the mate of the glove that snugly fits their left. In fencing this
cannot occur, for the lessons are always given equally with left and right hand holding the foil.
 LOW QUARTE.

To prove that this healthy exercise is one of the very best means that can be employed to efface the
serious effects to the lungs and heart involved by a narrow contracted chest and stooping shoulders, let
me instance the experience of one of the young Viennese lady fencers at present with Professor Hartl’s
accomplished troupe, as Fraulein A. related it to me herself. “Oh, no; it is not at all for the money that I
continue to remain with Professor Hartl, neither did I join his excellent school in Vienna with the idea of
ever going before a public audience, but I first took up fencing on my doctor’s orders, and the
wonderful results in the improvement of my health from this training made me loth to quit the exercise.”
“You would hardly think,” said the fraulein, smiling archly at me as I surveyed her plump and comely
figure, “that barely twelve months ago I was so puny and sickly a creature that I could not rise from my
chair nor walk across the room without assistance. I stooped like a broken-down old woman, my chest
was so hollow and bent inwards that it was pain for me to draw a breath, and I was troubled all the
time with a dry, hacking cough that was as distressing to my dear mother as it was painful to me. I had
been for months in the doctor’s hands and nothing bettered by his treatment, though he was one of the
leading physicians in Vienna. At last he told my mother that if I did not mend shortly she would be
childless (for I am her only child), and as a last resource he would recommend my being sent to
Professor Hartl’s fencing school. My mother was astounded, and demurred; but I, like some drowning
wretch catching at a straw, was bent on going, and carried the day. I was conveyed to his salle d’armes
in a carriage. The professor was very kind and prescribed a course of exercise as gentle and easily
progressive as it was judicious. In three weeks I could walk, breathe and move my limbs as well as any
of the other girls. Then my lessons with the foil commenced—very short and very feeble attempts they
were at first, I can tell you, but I grew stronger and heartier every day. I became straight and strong,
my chest became full, and my shoulders humped no longer. I had such an appetite, too, that my mother
was appalled. Then the professor made arrangements to come to America. The doctor told me the sea
voyage would be most beneficial. My mother reluctantly consented as I wanted much to see this great
country. Ainsi me voici, monsieur!” Pretty conclusive evidence that, I take it, as regards the benefits of
fencing to a weak constitution.
Let us now consider the subject of the most suitable costume to wear while taking a turn with the
foils. In the first place let me say that, as a general thing, young ladies fashionably dressed in the
prevailing styles are not properly attired even for a walk to do them any real good from an athletic point
of view. The waist is too tightly laced. The bodice is worn too tight at shoulders and in the sleeves to
give the freedom of play necessary for arms and shoulders, to walk beneficially. The dresses are “pulled
back” to such a degree that they cramp the forward movement of hip and knee. The abominable shoes,
with a tiny heel, with head no bigger than a dime, planted almost in the middle of the foot, tilt the body
forward in such a manner that it becomes a miracle why ladies don’t pitch forward more often on their
noses. Besides, this abnormal elevation of the heel throws the whole weight of the body on the ball and
toe of the foot, causes a fearful strain on the instep and the extensor muscles of the leg, and throws all
the posterior muscles of the calf and ankle out of use.

OCTAVE.
 Such being the case of affairs, my advice to a young lady commencing to fence would be: Discard all
the impedimenta and addenda, especially the latter, with which you so successfully break “the continuity
of beauty’s lines and curves” on the street. Don a skirt of flannel, velvet or tweed that is moderately
heavy, i. e., heavy enough to stay down without being weighted at the bottom with leads. The skirt
should be amply kilted or plaited to a good broad, strong band, which when fastened round the waist
should act the part of a man’s gymnasium belt. The plaits, of course, should be made so that they open
easily at the bottom to allow the easy and rapid advance of the leg. The length may be left to the good
taste and judgment of the wearer, only don’t have it made so long that when extended at your full
length in the lunge the skirt will trail round the heel of the rear foot, for if this is the case you may be
apt to step on the skirt as you recover to the “en garde” position.
Another style of dress much in vogue, and especially approved by ladies of the theatrical profession,
is the divided skirt. Any one who has seen pretty Rosina Vokes in this costume will readily recognize that
when properly made and artistically managed it gives the greatest scope for perfect freedom of action
with the acme of grace in movement. But the plain kilted skirt is the simpler and more natural garment,
and I recommend it to young ladies who practice fencing as an amusement and occasionally cross foils
with their brothers or their male friends.
It is absolutely necessary that the upper portion of the figure should be well supported, and for this
purpose a short underwaist reaching barely to the waistband of the skirt should be worn. This should be
made of some twilled or ribbed material and laced snugly down the back, but should not contain
whalebone or steel of any kind. I believe they are known as corset-waists. The ordinary steel corsets
extend too low over the hips and are apt to be inconvenient when lunging. A good, elastic, silk jersey is
the very best thing for a waist. But let it give ample room under the arms and across the chest. Many
girls wear a simple blouse or sailor jacket, and they are very serviceable; but the jersey is preferable,
inasmuch as it clings closely to the arm and the foil is not so likely to get caught in the sleeve as is apt
to happen with a sailor-jacket sleeve. Let the throat be bare and wear no collar. Nothing, in fact, that
will come above the neck of the plastron, or chest shield. Be shod with tennis shoes; they are better
than high boots, because they allow more play to the ankle. If leather soles are worn it will be well to
rub them liberally with some preparation that will prevent the foot slipping.
The accoutrements necessary are a plastron, or chest shield, mask, gauntlets, and a foil. The
plastron is generally of finely dressed leather, quilted chamois leather, padded canvas or buckram. All
these equally serve their purpose, which is to protect the chest when sharply struck with the button of
the foil. They are made of various thicknesses and weights. Those thickly quilted and cotton stuffed, of
course, insure perfect immunity from the blow, but they are ungainly, heavy-looking coverings, and for
ordinary practice, I think a stout canvas or leather plastron will be found to be all that is required. They
slip over the shoulders on which the straps rest, are cut out under the armpits, and are buckled at the
back or side; if at the side, better on the left. They should fit closely round the neck and lie perfectly flat
upon the chest.
 PRIME.

In choosing the gauntlets care should be taken to have the fingers, and especially the thumbs,
thoroughly well padded. They should be perforated in the palm, and the wrist shield should be stiff and
extend half-way up to the elbow. The mask must fit easily and comfortably well over the head and
completely under the chin, protecting as much as possible the throat as well. The foil should be of best
tempered steel and, for young girls particularly, as light as possible. The French make the best fencing
paraphernalia, and if a young lady wants to get a thoroughly serviceable equipment, my advice would
be to take counsel with some experienced male fencing friend on the selection, or perhaps better, to go
to one of the leading maitres d’armes and trust him to get the complete outfit. One caution, and a most
serious one I will emphasize, which every fencer, young or old, expert or tyro, should always bear in
mind, and that is, never use a foil until you have thoroughly satisfied yourself that the button is firmly
on the point, and that it is well covered. Negligence in this important particular may risk life. I vividly
recall an instance that occurred in the class of Professor Angelo, of London, of which I was a member at
the time. We were awaiting the advent of our teacher, being, as boys are very apt to be, a little before
the appointed hour. Two of my classmates, donning masks and gauntlets but no plastrons, took their
foils and were soon engaged in a furious bout, all the more earnest because of the keen rivalry that
existed between them. Both were fairly expert fencers, and thrust and lunge and parry and feint
succeeded with lightning rapidity. Suddenly young C—— received his adversary’s foil full on the chest,
and with a sharp cry of anguish staggered backward, dropping his foil and falling heavily into a chair: a
ghastly pallor overspread his face and a small red stream of blood trickled slowly from his parted lips.
We hurried to him and hastily divested him of waistcoat and shirt, which we found stained with blood.
We laid bare the chest and found a nasty livid-looking puncture just above the nipple of the left breast.
The poor boy never spoke again, and before we could summon medical aid he expired. The cause of
this tragedy was found to be that his opponent’s foil had lost its button; whether it was off before they
engaged or was knocked off during the bout could not be ascertained, but the moral is easy to point.
Never skylark with foils, broadswords or single-sticks, unless you are thoroughly dressed and prepared
for the bout.
The proper method of holding the foil, as well as the correct position to assume, I quote from Mr.
Van Schaick’s excellent article on fencing which appeared in OUTING for October, 1887:
The body must be placed so as to present a profile to the adversary. The right foot forward, the right
arm half bent, with the elbow at the distance of about ten inches from the body, the left foot some
twenty inches behind the right and at right angles to it. The knees bent, the body erect and well poised
on the hips, but a trifle more on the left than on the right, so as not to interfere with the right leg when
“lunging.” The general position must be such that the shoulders, the arms and the right leg will have the
same direction towards the adversary; the purpose is to cover the vital parts and facilitate the lunge.
The right arm, half bent, the wrist at the height of the breast, and the point of the foil at that of the
eye. The left hand must be at the height of the head, the fingers well rounded, the thumb free. The
head erect, looking in the direction of the right shoulder. The eyes fixed frankly on those of the
adversary. The whole posture must be free and easy.
Advance takes place when the contestants are too far apart; retreat when too near. In order to
advance, carry the right foot forward without in any way disturbing the position of the body or that of
the sword, and bring immediately the left foot within its proper distance of the right (twenty inches). In
order to retreat, carry the left foot backwards without in any way disturbing the position of the body or
that of the sword, and bring immediately the right foot within its proper distance of the left.
The foil must be held so that the hand will take the direction of the forearm, and the point of the
blade will be at the height of the eye. Hold the foil very firmly only when thrusting or parrying; if you
grasp it tightly during a bout of any length, the muscles of your hand will become cramped and will
prevent your handling the foil with the necessary delicacy.
The hand can assume three different positions when thrusting or parrying.
(1.) In quarte, where the palm is uppermost.
(2.) In tierce, where the knuckles are uppermost.
(3.) And in six, where the thumb is uppermost and the fingers are on the left; this last position is
also called middling.
And to this article I refer all my young lady readers and fencers, but recommend you, as he himself
would, to go to a master first and study his instructions as an aid to your maitre’s practical teaching.
There are a number of excellent teachers of fencing in New York. Among the best will be found
Captain Nicholas, of the New York Fencers’ Club; Mons. Regis Senac, of the New York Athletic Club;
Mons. Tronchet, of the Manhattan A. C., and Mons. Louis Rondell, of the Knickerbocker Fencing Club.
The last two named gentlemen are graduates of the celebrated French Military Academy, at Joinville-les-
Ponts, France, the highest authority on this subject in the world.
A last point I will make ere I close. Learn fencing, if for no other reason, at least as an additional
means of protection and self-defense in case of a sudden emergency.
Although you, my fair sisters, may not be called upon to defend yourselves against the murderous
attacks of drunken or lawless ruffians, yet instances are on record where women have been compelled
literally to fight for the lives of themselves and their children. With the knowledge and practical
experience gained in the salle d’armes, or the friendly bouts with foil and single-stick that helped to
while away a winter afternoon, they have been able to hold their own, nay, even to come off victorious
in a contest in which the stakes were life against life. I remember an instance of such a nature which,
when told round the jovial mess-table, with clinking glasses and flashing lights and bursts of jocund
laughter, hushed every tongue and caused the breath to come with panting gasps from breasts
suffocating with feelings of hatred and vengeance.
A gay young subaltern returning to India after his first leave of absence, brought with him a tall, fair
flower of English girlhood, gathered from a quiet vicarage away in Devonshire. Passing her life in the
free enjoyment of the glorious English air, taking long rambles o’er fen and field and wold with her
father, or joining in the more hardy sports by flood and field when her brothers were home for the
holidays, she had built up a constitution that defied the weather and had acquired a freedom of action,
a superb grace of deportment that would have been the envy of the sylvan Diana. She was a perfect
horsewoman, a capital shot with gun and pistol, and could give points to most of her brothers at pool or
billiards. Mrs. K—— had been well drilled in fencing and single-stick practice, and was passionately fond
of the pastime; often after the early morning parade the young husband would invite some one or other
of his brother officers to their cool bungalow veranda, where many a lusty bout was fought by the
ardent young swordswoman, while the happy husband laughed merrily at the discomfiture of his warrior
brothers.
But this pleasant scene was soon to change. Rumors of the deadly mutiny raging in Bengal were
brought to the out-of-the-way cantonment. The swarthy Punjaubees, who a month or two before had
paraded so quietly and calmly, and were so alert to obey orders, came now to drill or stables with
dogged step and sullen brow.
It was an anxious time for every one. The officers were keenly alive to the volcano on which they
trod, yet dared not show any semblance of fear or mistrust. All ammunition was carefully removed to
the mess-house, and the sabres and lances of the men (for Lieutenant K——‘s was a cavalry regiment)
were only issued for parade, when every officer carried loaded revolvers and a goodly stock of
cartridges. At last, one morning, the regiment was paraded to attend the funeral of a young officer who
had sickened and died. The men had already drilled that morning, and as they mustered for the funeral,
ominous signs of disorder and disaffection were rife. With heavy and anxious hearts the little knot of
officers gathered to perform the last sad rites to their dead comrade. But they were destined never to
complete their mournful task. Just as the adjutant had formed the parade and the officers were
awaiting the coming of the colonel, at a given signal, preconcerted doubtless, the entire regiment broke
ranks and stampeded helter-skelter over the parade-ground.
The majority of the mutineers hurried to their huts, and gathering together all their chattels
decamped as soon as possible to join the headquarters of insurgent sepoys. But a band of more
desperate characters, longing to steep their hands in English blood, and eager to join their revolted
brethren with the prestige born of some glaring deed of butchery, hastened to the colonel’s residence,
where the only two ladies of the regiment were known to be. Most of the officers were at the bungalow
of their deceased comrade, which was situated on the opposite side of the parade-ground. The adjutant
and the officers on parade retreated, immediately on the outbreak, to the mess-house, which had been
prepared for defense in anticipation of just such an occurrence. The colonel, coming from the orderly
room, took in the status of affairs and hastened to join the mess-house defenders.
In the meanwhile the ladies had been watching the forming of the parade from the colonel’s private
smoking den, where there was littered in truly masculine chaos the thousand and one articles with
which a keen sportsman and soldier loves to surround himself—a well selected battery of rifles and
shotguns, half a dozen pig spears, a varied and choice assortment of hunting-knives, powder-flasks,
bullet moulds, rods and whips, and crops of all descriptions were everywhere. Hanging in a little more
order and by themselves were the colonel’s military accoutrements, a couple of cavalry sabres, a pair of
pistols, an old sabretache, and an extra set of bits and bridles. The ladies gazing out from this
sportsman’s snuggery saw with a thrill of horror the stampede, witnessed the hurried retreat of the
officers to the mess-bungalow, and before their dazed senses realized the awful catastrophe saw some
half-dozen yelling sowars making for the house in which they were. The colonel’s wife, perceiving the
peril with which they were threatened, uttered one piercing shriek and fell fainting on the floor. But
young Mrs. K. was made of sterner stuff. She, too, saw the danger, but it stirred her to action: Self-
reliant and heroic by nature, she rose grandly to the occasion. No help was to be expected from the
servants. Peons, kitmutgar, syces and chokras all had fled. But not a moment was to be lost. As she
dashed frantically to the entrance, and as she closed and bolted the teak doors, she heard menaces
that chilled the very marrow in her bones. She flew to every window and barred the blinds—poor weak
defenses at best!—yet the breaking of them would gain a moment’s respite for her to prepare for the
attack. She then retreated to the room in which the colonel’s wife still lay as she had fallen. There was
no time to care for her. Mrs. K. took down the heavy cavalry pistols and ascertained with delight that
they were loaded. She next drew the heavy barrack-table in front of her fallen friend and facing the
door. Placing the pistols at hand on the table, she took down from a peg on the wall the mask with head
protector used for broadsword exercise, and as she adjusted the cumbrous thing over her bonny waves
of golden hair, she thought sadly of the pleasant bouts she had had with the bluff old gentleman whose
property it was, and how the gallant soldier would puff and blow in his attempts to make good his
cranium against the blows which she rained with lightning rapidity on each exposed point.
Heavy blows on door and windows cut short her meditations, and selecting the lighter of the two
sabres (made more to wear at dress parades or levées than actual warfare) the brave girl took up her
position behind the table. The fiends did not keep her waiting long. The stout old veranda chairs, hurled
with the force of battering rams by the strong arms of the now thoroughly infuriated natives, soon
wrenched the door from its hinges, and with a thundering crash it fell inwards, creating havoc with the
dainty little tables, with their delicate bric-a-brac. She heard the exulting shout of the troopers and the
tramp of their heavy boots as they scoured the house in search of their intended victims. With dauntless
mien and white lips the young wife grasped the pistol, and with one short muttered prayer for him she
loved, awaited the supreme moment. A rush—a heavy thud as of bodies hurled against the door—a
smashing of wood, and four burly sowars tumbled headlong into the room. As the first sepoy with a
horrid oath picked himself hastily up, Mrs. K.’s pistol was discharged within a dozen feet of the would-be
murderer’s breast, and with a choking sob the ruffian fell backwards. Instantly catching up the second
weapon she fired at the advancing trio. Another howl of anguish told that the true ball found fatal
lodgment. She seized her sabre as the table was overturned, and found herself hotly assailed by the
two surviving troopers. Skillfully she parried the savage onslaught. With the rage of baffled demons they
plied her with a perfect hailstorm of blows regardless of method or science. Some she eluded by her
activity, some she caught on the frail blade she wielded, and she felt that some had wounded her on
arm and side. She grew faint and dizzy—a black mist spread before her darkening eyes. She staggered
—reeled—and fell upon the still unconscious form of Mrs. P. A hoarse shout from behind arrested the
murderers. They turned one moment. It was their last. A couple of pistol-shots rang out, and the
assassins fell dead on the bodies of their antagonist.
The rescue is easily explained. When the officers perceived the attack was meant for the colonel’s
house, and that the mess-house was comparatively safe, the colonel, adjutant, and a couple of others
rushed after the attacking mutineers, and arrived in time to turn the tables on the dastardly cowards.
The whole affray, assault, defense, and vengeance, was enacted in less moments than it takes to read
the account. Mrs. K. recovered after long months of illness, and is now living among the scenes of her
childhood.
 SPORT—PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE.
BY ALEXANDER HUNTER.

PART II.

OR four years the game in Virginia, all undisturbed, increased and multiplied at
an astonishing rate. There was no shot to be had in the Confederacy, and the
only way an ardent sportsman, when home on furlough, could take a shy at the
game, was to hammer out from a leaden bullet long, square blocks, and then
cutting off the ends with a knife, to use a brick to roll these bits on the floor
until each pellet became round enough for use. It would take a man a day, and
exhaust all his patience, to make one pound of shot; and he would naturally be
very chary about using his ammunition, and rarely pull a trigger except when
certain of his game. In most sections of Virginia to fire a gun was a dangerous
pastime, for what with raids, irruptions, incursions and forays, the people were
in a state of siege, and the report of a firearm was as likely as not to be followed by a bullet from some
traveling soldier, prowling bushwhacker, or passing cavalryman, thrown just for good luck in the
direction of the sound. Then, if it should happen that a raid was in progress, the shot would attract the
videttes and scouts, and the luckless gunner would find himself in hostile hands; and if too old or too
young for military service, he might consider himself lucky if he were allowed to depart minus his
fowling-piece and dog.
 In the mountains of Virginia the wild turkeys were more numerous than they ever were before, the
various bivouacs furnishing them in winter with an ample supply of food, while, best of all, they were
allowed to feed unmolested. The water-fowl on the Potomac kept up their ratio of increase, for except
the officers of the gunboats patrolling up and down the river, none dared to fire a gun. There were
hunters of men in those times scattered along the banks, as well as floating on the bosom of the blue
water. The explosion of a sportsman’s gun, and its smoke, might serve as an admirable target for the
boatswain of an iron-clad with a crew nearly dead with listlessness and ennui, and glad to get an excuse
to blaze away at anything.
In the fall of 1865, those Virginians who loved sporting, and had the good luck to return to the
homes of their youth with their arms and legs intact, had a rare and royal time among the fur and
feather, and a moderate shot would return in the evening and show such a bag as the result of the
day’s sport as would last the family for a week. A couple of sportsmen living about ten miles from
Culpeper Court House, Virginia, killed, in one day, eighty-four rabbits and fourteen wild turkeys. If a
gunner can start even half a dozen cotton-tails now in a long day’s tramp he considers himself
fortunate, and he won’t see a wild turkey in a season’s shooting. I well remember a hunt that I had in
the autumn of 1865, just after the war ended. It was a perfect day in November, with the morning mists
still hanging around the tree-tops. I had borrowed a double-barrel from one friend, and a good, staunch
pointer named “Josh” from another. I climbed the fence of an orchard, and put the dog out in a huge
field near Warrenton Junction, where portions of both armies had often encamped. Josh had not gone
seventy-five yards before he came to a dead stand, and with beating heart I advanced and hied him on.
As the birds rose I let fly both barrels, and—did not touch a feather! Loading up, I again sent Josh
careering over the stubble. In ten minutes he had pointed a covey, and I again emptied the gun with
the same result as before. If ever a dog’s face expressed contempt Josh’s was surely the one. His
dewlaps curled up, and he absolutely showed his teeth, whether in anger or derision I never found out.
The third time I approached a covey that Josh had cornered in a big patch of briers, and two more
loads were sent harmless as Macbeth’s sword “cutting the intrenchant air.” This was enough for that
disgusted dog. He sneaked off, and I never laid my eyes upon him again.
It was no great matter, the birds were so plentiful that I had merely to walk up and down the field,
and I banged away most lustily. All in vain! I could not touch one. I fired with both eyes open, then with
one shut, and still no partridge lingered on that account. I became superstitious and fired with both
eyes shut. I doubled the charges, until I swept that meadow with leaden pellets, as a field is cleared by
grape-shot. But there were no dead. At last, in my despair, I would shoot even if the bird was half a
mile off. I went home that evening, after shooting away about ten pounds of shot, with one solitary
partridge in my game-bag, and this bird, when I flushed him suddenly, was so scared that he flew from
the edge of the field across a fence and against the trunk of a black-jack tree with such force as to
knock himself silly, and before he could hustle himself away I had jumped the fence and wrung his
neck.
 SHOOTING OVER DECOYS.

There was apparently enough fur and feather in Virginia just after the war to supply the whole of
America with small game, but in one decade the state of the case was completely altered. First came
the invention of the breech-loader, which enables one to shoot all day without intermission. The game
stood but little chance against these machines of perpetual destruction. But worse even than the
breech-loader was the old army musket, loaded with a handful of shot, with a lately enfranchised
freedman behind the big end of it. The darkey is a nocturnal prowler, as much so as a ’coon or ’possum,
and his prowls through meadow, woods and fallow cause him frequently to stumble on the wary turkey
that forgets his cunning as he struts around preparatory to flying to his roost, generally a dead limb on
a lofty tree. He bags many a molly cotton-tail loping down the road to get his evening drink at the
branch. But it is when “our friend and brother” catches sight, in the shades of the evening, of a flock of
partridges settling in some field for their night’s rest, that he becomes dangerous. It is then that the old
army musket is converted into a terror, and when its muzzle bears upon the whole covey squatted in a
space that can be covered by a bandana handkerchief, and its contents are turned loose, every bird will
be either killed or crippled.
 RED-HEAD DUCKS AT HOME.

The freedman’s musket, battered and patched though it be, must look down upon the handsome,
resplendent breechloader as a great orator does upon the garrulous, loquacious youth who talks upon
every subject at any time, and at any length, while he only opens his mouth to make knock-down
arguments, or to utter words of great import that thrill and convince. When the reverberating roar of
that old A. M. was heard, it was safe to bet that something that did not come from the barnyard would
fill the shooter’s iron pot that night.
A weather-beaten old darkey said to me once: “It dun cos’ me nearly five cents to load that air
musket, countin’ powder, caps, shot and everythin’, an’ I ain’t gwine to let er off ’less I knows I’se sartin
to make by de shot.”
The baybird-shooting in the summer, and the duck-shooting outside the Virginia capes, was at its
zenith some fifteen years ago. Then, too, the canvas-back, that king of water-fowl, before whose name
the gourmand bows in homage, still lingered in the tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, but now it is
nearly extinct. A sportsman may gun for a whole winter in the bay and not kill half a dozen “canvas-
backs,” but, if a good shot over the decoys, he can count on the kind known as the “red-head”—and if
he knew how to pull out a few feathers, as does the professional pot-hunter, he could easily follow that
gentleman’s example and sell them at fancy figures for “canvas-backs,” which in another decade will be
as utterly annihilated as the dodo. Still, great is the culinary chef’s art, and if he can, by the magic
power of his sauces, herbs and seasonings, pass calf’s head off for green turtle, and the skillpot for
diamond-back terrapin stew, then nobody is hurt. His patrons enjoy it just the same, and to the average
man the red-head duck tastes as well with his champagne as its incomparable relative.

POTOMAC SHOOTING—OLD STYLE.

 ROBIN-SNIPE.

Fifteen years ago—even ten years—many an amateur would pack his trunk with ammunition, and
taking steamer for Old Point Comfort, disembark there, and after a few hours’ wait at the Hygeia Hotel,
proceed on his way to the eastern shore of Virginia by crossing the Chesapeake Bay. Or he would go
outside the capes, and stop at Cape Charles, or Cobb’s Island. Once at his objective point, he could be
certain in the right season of having his fill of shooting every day at the baybirds. They were so plentiful
that all along the Virginia Broadwater every oyster-bar or mud-flat would be covered with them, and all
the shooter would have to do would be to make a blind out of sea-grass, place his decoys around him,
and then try his hand on singles, doubles and flocks, striking them on the turn, while a hundred pair of
yellow-legs, or willet, would not be considered anything out of the way. As it is now—well, the finest
shot in the country could not kill that many snipe in a week, simply because they are not there to kill.
The vast flocks of robin-snipe that tarried in their migrations along the shores of the Chesapeake and
the Broadwater of the Atlantic coast have entirely disappeared. The curlew still haunt their favorite
places, but have become so wary that neither blind nor decoys can lure them, except, indeed, at the
earliest dawn of day, before their eyes are wide open. Half a dozen curlew, between sunrise and sunset,
in the blinds, is something for a sportsman to be proud of, for no crow is keener-eyed, more suspicious,
and keeps a sharper lookout than these birds. Fifteen years ago I have often killed from thirty to fifty
from sun to sun, at Smith Island or Cape Charles, but now one has to load his shell with No. 3 shot to
bring down the high-circling, distrustful curlew.
The willet is still fairly plentiful. They lay their eggs and rear their young in the neighboring sea-
meadows, and though preyed upon by crabs, snakes and raccoons from the time the egg is laid until
the bird is able to fly, they still hold their own. They are such sociable birds that whenever a flock of
snipe is fired into, one of the dead is almost certain to be a willet.
The ox-eye, another variety of the snipe family, is found in abundance on the shores and sea-
meadows, and they owe their preservation, like the sandpipers, to their insignificant size. There are no
birds in existence that keep so close together when on the wing as these ox-eyes. A large flock
resembles a solid mass, and dire is the destruction that a double-barrel makes as it pours forth its
contents of No. 8 shot at point-blank distance and strikes them on the turn. I asked old Nathan Cobb, of
Cobb’s Island, which is outside the Virginia capes—a pot-hunter of half a century’s experience, who has
grown independent from the proceeds of his gun—what was the greatest number of snipe he had ever
killed by one discharge of his double-barrel.
 POTOMAC SHOOTING—NEW STYLE.

“Wal,” said Nathan, with his Eastern Shore drawl, “I was out gunning one spring, about thirty years
ago, and had a No. 8 muzzle-loader that would hold comfortably six ounces of shot. I ran in on a solid
acre of robin-snipe on the beach, and fired one load raking them as they fed, giving them the other
barrel as they rose. I picked up three hundred and two.”
I next asked him the greatest number of brant he had ever killed in one day over the decoys, with
single shots.
“I bagged,” he answered, “about ten years ago, one hundred and seventy brant, and nearly every
one of them was a single shot.”
I can easily believe this, for I have shot in blinds with many sportsmen, at redhead, shufflers, black
duck and brant, and I never yet saw amateur, professional, or pot-hunter, whose aim was so unerring
and deadly at the flying ducks as Nathan Cobb’s. I do not believe this score has ever been beaten in this
country.
At the present day this same story of the disappearance of the waterfowl on the Virginia coast and
along the Capes becomes dreary from repetition. It does not pay the sportsman to go to Cobb’s Island
now. I spent three seasons there in the winter, during the “Eighties,” and found that the brant were so
wild that they would not stool. Then I went to Cape Charles, just outside the Capes, and, though it is a
most inaccessible place, the brant would not come near the decoys.
Two winters ago, I tried Currituck Sound, and found palatial club-houses open all about that noble
sheet of water. Some of these houses are so splendid in appointment that when you glance around the
elegantly furnished rooms, with their damask curtains, Brussels carpets and open grates where the
anthracite is piled high, it is impossible to imagine that just outside roll the dark waters of the Sound,
while miles upon miles of barren sea-meadows, marshes and swamp separate the house from
civilization. All of these club-houses are owned by Northern men—rich in world’s gear, of course—men
who count their incomes by thousands, where ordinary bread-winners of the professions count their
earnings by tens. Think of having in the magazine of a club-house thirty thousand dollars in guns!
Gordon Cumming, starting for a ten years’ game hunt in the jungles of Africa, or Stanley, setting out to
fight his way through the “Dark Continent,” with countless hordes of savage “Wawangi” disputing his
passage, never had that amount invested in weapons—and all to kill the wary geese and swift-flying
ducks.
Even with such perfection of outfit—with guns of every imaginable make from the 12 to the 4 bore,
and trained gunners to oversee every arrangement, the clubmen were talking gloomily about the sport
fast deteriorating. Pot-hunters, “duck pirates,” countrymen, freedmen—all who lived or robbed along the
shores of the Sound had their shy at the ducks, day in and night out, and such a fusillade was never
heard since Burnside stormed and carried Roanoke Island, some miles below, in the glinting spring days
of 1862. I found good enough sport on the private point of a friend who lived on a large farm by the
shores of the Sound. Still the birds were thinning rapidly.
Last winter’s experience with Currituck made me determine never to go to that spot again for sport.
I do not think I overstate matters when I say that wildfowl-shooting on the finest grounds in the world
is doomed. Gone are the vast flocks, decimated are the swans and geese that were so plentiful in
certain localities even three short years ago, and indigo blue are the rich sportsmen who quaff their
champagne in silence and puff moodily at their twenty-five cent cigars as they think of the meagre bags
they have made, and how matters, now so bad, are always getting worse, thereby proving the old saw
which saith “Nothing can be so bad that it cannot be made worse.” The club men should, however, be
glad that the snipe will always be with them.
For keen trading, guileless equivocation and general deviltry commend me to the “cracker” of the
North Carolina Coast. He could discount the Jersey Yankee upstairs and down-stairs. The typical
specimen is slab-sided and always thin; I never met a fat one yet. Their complexion shows that they
have wrestled for years with “chills,” and their cheeks are as yellow as a newly-pulled gourd; they drawl
in their speech, look at you with half-shut eyes, are afraid of neither man nor devil, have no hero-
worship in their composition, and are as familiar with the captain of a yacht as with the roustabout.
They are as keen as a brier, despite their listless, indifferent air, and to them more than any other cause
is due the extermination of the wild fowl in Currituck Sound. They cleaned out the wild geese by setting
steel traps on the bars. What they did not catch they frightened away.
Mr. William Palmer, the superintendent of the Palmer Island Club, states, moreover, that the number
of sportsmen who come to Currituck to shoot has increased twenty-five per cent., while the natives
have crowded the Sound with their blinds, and every male “cracker” who can hold a gun straight is on
the watch.
It is true that there are stringent State Laws against the illegal killing of wild fowl, and also a close
season. If these rules were enforced there would be first-class shooting in Currituck Sound for years to
come, but the laws seem to be completely ignored; there is not even a pretense of observing them. The
law makes a strong provision against a gun being fired at a duck after sunset, but there are numbers of
murderous, greedy natives who have their skiffs hid in the woods and swamps in which are the huge
ducking guns already referred to. Every hour during the night can be heard the sullen boom of these
swivels floating across the waters, and the true sportsman, as he listens to the echoing roar, can only
grind his teeth with rage, for he knows what a slaughter is going on, and how the survivors will take
wing and abandon the Sound for good and all.
But the worst remains to be told. As if steel traps and big guns were not enough to destroy the wild
fowl, the ingenious natives make fires on the banks of the creeks that run through the marshes, and, as
the ducks float in ricks up to the illuminated waters, the ambushed assassin gets in his deadly work.
Unless the sportsmen who own the club-houses on the Sound, by concerted action and vast outlay, can
prosecute the offenders, then “Othello’s occupation’s gone.”
My own idea is that these clubs are too exclusive. They should make it a point to cultivate the
entente cordiale with the sportsmen of the State of North Carolina, and thus, by gaining their co-
operation, they could induce the State authorities to take stringent action against the law-breakers.
Unless this is done the sporting code will remain a dead letter as far as Currituck is concerned. The
people shrug their shoulders when the subject is mentioned and say, “Those fancy Northern sportsmen
don’t want a North Carolinian to kill a North Carolina duck in North Carolina waters,” and so on, and so
on. Had I the arranging and the forming of a game protective association of the club men in Currituck, I
would extend a pressing and standing invitation to every member of the Legislature and every officer of
the State Government to make the club-houses their own, and the Governor and his staff should be
kidnapped every winter, and be made to enjoy the gilt-edge sport of the “Yankee” clubs.
Seeing in a State paper that the Light-house Board intended to abandon the Pamlico (N. C.) Light-
house, I applied to the Treasury Department to turn it over to me for a “shooting box.” This was done,
and I hope to have some good sporting in the future.
Southward the sportsmen must make their way, and find more inaccessible spots than Currituck to
establish club-houses. This being the case, the topography and charts of the regions lying south of
Currituck become interesting to the handlers of the gun. Four miles across the mainland is that grand
sheet of water, the Albemarle Sound, some fifteen miles wide. Though this sound cannot compare with
Currituck for the number and variety of its waterfowl in past years, at the present time it is filled with
the birds that have been driven by night-shooting away from Currituck to find safer quarters there.
Undoubtedly there will, in the next few years, be erected many club-houses in Albemarle Sound. Some
twelve miles as the crow flies across the peninsula, another sheet of water is encountered. This is the
Crotan Sound, apparently of about the area of Currituck. There is an abundance of waterfowl here, and
but few, if any, club-houses, which will, however, soon follow.
Ten miles southward, across a swampy, barren pine country, there appears the largest and grandest
sound of all, the Pamlico. I have no data to furnish the exact size, but the steamer travels over 100
miles before it arrives at Pamlico Point light, at the spot where the Pamlico River enters the Sound. Here
is the home and haunt of the swan, and, as they have been but comparatively little hunted, they furnish
fine sport to those who have their own yachts and plenty of time. There are no spots at Currituck that
can afford more exciting sport or show a greater abundance of all kinds of waterfowl than Pamlico
Point, Porpoise Point, about five miles distant, or Brant Island, some twelve miles away. The
inaccessibility of the place prevents the shore pot-hunters from disturbing the game, and the “duck
murderer,” with his night-shooting, has not yet put in an appearance.
The water of Pamlico Sound is neutral to the taste; sometimes fresh, again decidedly saline, but, for
most of the time, it is simply brackish. This condition arises from the fact that the Neuse and Pamlico
Rivers pour fresh waters into its area, while New Hatteras and Oregon inlets and Core Sound admit the
salt waters of the ocean. This mixture of fresh, brackish and salt waters in a common receptacle
naturally attracts every variety of waterfowl. The red-head and shuffler haunt the mingling of the fresh-
water rivers with the Sound waters, while the black duck, mallard, and that king of aquatic birds, the
gamest of all—the brant, stay in the vicinity of Oregon Inlet. In my opinion, within a few years Pamlico
Sound is destined to be the greatest sporting-ground in the country, and the costly and expensive club-
houses at Currituck will be discounted by the new ones at Pamlico Sound.
How long it will be before the breech-loader in the hands of the natives and the swivel gun, killing in
the night, will drive the wild fowl out of that extensive region is a question that none can answer. Many
sportsmen who have been forced southward and still southward during the past years in quest of game
hope that Pamlico Sound will furnish winter sport to last them at least the balance of their days.
 MR. PERKER’S BEAR; OR, MR. BEAR’S
PERKER?
BY PRESIDENT BATES.

SINCE his marriage with Effie Cameron, Mr. Perker has greatly
improved in many respects. In his attire, his wheel, and his general
style, Mr. Perker still retains his proud pre-eminence as the pink of
fashion of the club. Taken all in all, he is the nattiest wheelman that
ever sat on a saddle. But now it is a chastened and refined glory.
The little “loudness,” indicative of an ambition soaring after effects
not quite attainable, which formerly marred Mr. Perker’s brilliancy at
times, has given place to a subdued chasteness, suggesting that he
could be still more elegant if a rival should appear. Plainly he exhibits
evidences of being toned by feminine taste.
Mr. Perker still clings fondly to his bicycle gun, but nowadays he
keeps it in the barn. Mrs. Effie will not permit it to be brought into
the house. I mention this for the tranquilization of visiting
wheelmen, so that they need not hesitate to accept an invitation to
one of the elegant lunches with which Mrs. Effie is wont to regale
the club and its guests on occasions. And pilgrim wheelmen, who
have read OUTING in former years, do not need to be assured that
Mrs. Effie Perker is an altogether charming hostess, and one of the
prettiest and most warm-hearted Scotchwomen that ever made a
home happy.
Former readers of OUTING also know that Mr. Perker’s remarkable
dog, Smart, gave promise in his puppyhood of becoming one of the
most intelligent animals in the country. In fact, he achieved wide
notoriety in his early career. He is now famous for sagacity and
accumulated wisdom. As a bicycle hunting dog he is not only
peerless, but the founder of a new race—bicycle hunting dogs—a
species of dog not hitherto known; and several clubs have obtained
specimens of his progeny.
When Mr. Perker was required by the firm to whose interests he
devotes his talents to visit a settlement upon the northern coast of
Lake Michigan, upon business that would occupy him for two or
three weeks, he determined to take with him his dog, his bicycle gun
and his wheel. Mrs. Perker protested mildly; but yielded sweetly
upon hearing Mr. Perker’s solemn promise not to hunt wildcats. For a
woman whose girlhood was spent in the frontier wilds of Canada,
Mrs. Perker entertains a singular apprehension of wildcats—all on Mr.
Perker’s account. Of course, he is a hero in her wifely estimation;
but she does not consider him a wildcat hero. And she has very little
faith in Mr. Perker’s bicycle gun, or in the tried courage and sagacity
of Mr. Perker’s dog Smart, as against wildcats. She mingled with the
packing of Mr. Perker’s clean linen a loving remonstrance against
hunting wildcats; and she mixed with Mr. Perker’s toothbrush and
razor a tender warning against being led by “that fool, Smart,” into
danger. Mr. Perker solemnly promised, with his parting kiss, to take
good care of himself. And he meant it.
When Mr. Perker left the city, in Southern Michigan, the spring
was well advanced. The roads had dried and were ridable, while the
trees were beginning to show yellow-green buds. When, however, he
arrived in the Northern woods, the snow still lingered in patches in
the dim shades of the pine and hemlock forests, and ice clung to the
shores of the lake. The rivers and brooks had cleared themselves,
but were still in spring flood. The sharp frosts at night were followed
by warm, sunny days, and occasionally by a day that remained cold
enough not to melt the surface frost. There was no chance to ride
except along the lake shore, where the sloping sands had frozen
smoothly and were firm when their surface was unmelted. At various
distances from the shore, generally ten to thirty rods, ice-banks, in
some places twenty feet high, had formed in the shoal water, from
great fields of drifting ice being driven upon the coast by the winter
gales, and breaking and piling up their shore edges. Between the
ice-banks and the shore sands the ice was reasonably flat, with a
top surface of roughly frozen snow. Wherever a swollen river
discharged into the lake, its freshet had cut an open channel
through the flat ice and through the ice-banks, though the ice-banks
still furnished bridges by which to cross the channels of the smaller
streams.
At that season of the year there was little hunting, for most game
was protected by the game-laws. To be sure the open spaces of
water were visited by flocks of wild fowl flying northward, and there
were rabbits in the woods, and of them Mr. Perker bagged a few.
But, as of old, his hunter’s soul longed for larger game, and only his
solemn promise to Effie prevented his joining the settlers in their
wildcat hunting. There were wolves in the woods—large gray wolves.
But it requires good hunting to get sight of one of these wary
prowlers; and Mr. Perker had not the time to take long tramps into
the swamps where they kept their lairs. The bears had also come
out from their winter sleep, and almost every day Mr. Perker heard
of their slaughter. But bears require skilled hunting, unless one
happens upon a specimen by accident. If there was any one thing
more than another that Mr. Perker longed for it was a bear. He ached
for the glory of killing a bear. A bearskin, captured by his own hand,
would elevate him several degrees in the estimation of the club and
would greatly enhance the reputation of his bicycle gun. But the
days of his sojourn in the wilderness were waning fast, and an
encounter with a real live bear still remained the thing “he long had
sought and mourned because he found it not,” as the hymn-book
feelingly remarks. What made his disappointment more bitter was
the fact that everybody in the settlement freely conceded that Smart
undoubtedly possessed all the faculties and qualities of a good bear
dog, except that of finding a bear. Smart, with his master, had made
the acquaintance of every dead bear brought into the settlement,
but the live bears perversely avoided his distinguished society.
 Bears have provokingly peculiar ways. When you arm yourself
with rifle, axe, knife and dog, and go hunting expressly for bear
society, every bear in the woods hangs out a sign, “not at home,”
and declines to be interviewed. When you particularly prefer not to
be disturbed in your solitude, as your gun is at home, and you forgot
to bring either axe or knife, and your dog is a mile off, rushing
around after fugacious rabbits, then is the time that the largest and
savagest, and most impudent of all bears is most apt to thrust
himself upon your attention, with alarming indications of begging for
a chew.
Mr. Perker had reached the last day of his stay in the settlement.
It was a fine but cold Sunday. There was a moderate northwest wind
swaying the dull evergreen tree-tops and ruffling the gray-blue
waters of the lake, but in the woods and along the shore, sheltered
by the bordering pines and hemlocks, the air was still and just cool
enough not to melt the surface of the frozen sand. Five miles up the
shore lived a man with whom Mr. Perker had done business for the
firm. Mr. Perker desired to call upon him once more, not really on
business, but to show him attention and leave a good impression.
This man had a thirteen-year-old boy who, during a visit to a city the
previous summer, had seen cowboys perform in a circus, and this
had fired his youthful spirit with ambition to lasso something. Mr.
Perker thought to win the heart—and custom—of the father by
making the boy a present of a lasso. To this end he bought a
suitable rope, thirty-six feet long. On one end he had a sailor make a
Turk’s-head knot, to prevent its slipping through the grasp. On the
other end was the lasso loop. But, lest the ambitious youth should
accidentally strangle his younger brother, or his father’s favorite calf
or pig, the sailor put a knot in the rope so that the loop could close
sufficiently to hold but not to choke. The rope was stretched and
limbered with oil and wax, making it a very good lasso for a boy, and
strong enough to hold a mule.
Mr. Perker would not go a-hunting on Sunday—he never did.
There was, however, no service till evening, so he determined to ride
along the beach on his wheel, make the visit, return in time for the
service, and start for home on Monday morning. He coiled the lasso
and tied it with a thread, so that he could easily carry it on the head
of his wheel, and though he did not take his bicycle gun, Smart, of
course, accompanied him. The beach sand proved hard and
moderately smooth, so that the riding was fair. He was in good
spirits, having succeeded well in his business, and at peace with the
world, and had no thought of seeing game of any kind.
He had gone nearly half-way, and was riding quietly and
comfortably along, minding his own business, when he was startled
by seeing a large bear come out of the woods, ahead of him, and
walk down to the shore, where it turned and went leisurely forward,
evidently not having seen him.
Smart, as was his habit, was—very sagaciously—somewhere else
when he was wanted to put himself in danger. If Smart had
reasoned that he did not know that his master would meet a bear
but, in case his master should meet a bear, it would be a great deal
safer for him to be absent, he could not have acted with shrewder
wisdom. At that moment he was a quarter of a mile behind in the
woods, enjoying himself greatly, trying to ram himself down a
woodchuck’s hole, at the bottom of which, his wise nose informed
him, a woodchuck either was or recently had been. He was sternly
resolved to have that woodchuck out, if it took all day. So now and
then he would pull out his head to bark, by way of signaling his
master for help, and then ram it down the hole again, so that the
woodchuck couldn’t get out without running down his yawning
throat.
In the absence of Smart, Mr. Perker conceived a brilliant scheme
for the capture of the bear. He would lasso the beast, and then call
Smart, whom he supposed to be somewhere close at hand. So
breaking the thread that kept the coils of the rope together, he
opened the loop, slipped the knotted end under his right thigh, and
drew it around the saddle behind him, holding the knot in his left
hand, and then pedaled rapidly toward the unconscious and
innocent forest monarch, the rubber-tired wheel making no noise. As
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