After the singing was over, the wildcat hunter hung about, trying in vain to recover his gun, and finally departed in discreet silence as the daylight faded in the west. Many of Davy’s admirers became acquainted with him at the barbecues and shooting-matches that were frequent during his campaigns. With so little diversion in their narrow lives, the frontiersmen flocked to such meetings from far and near, bringing their wives and children, and driving before them the cattle to be put up as prizes for the marksmen. Davy was always ready for such a competition, and was never obliged to content himself with the “hide and tallow.” The usual method in such matches was to sell several chances on each animal. The best marksmen took their choice of the several parts of the beef, the order of their choosing to be fixed by the result of the match. The one making the lowest score took the hide and tallow as a consolation. The score of such a match was kept about as follows: each man handed the judges a burnt board, rubbed down nearly to the sound part of the wood. On this circles of one half-inch, one inch, and one and a half inches, were made with a pair of dividers or the ruder compasses of the carpenter. Each man shot the agreed number of times at his own board, at from fifty to sixty yards’ distance, “toeing the mark” made by the judges. Upon many an occasion Davy divided up his winnings with the men who had been unsuccessful. Davy won this election after much hard work on the stump. XVII. DAVY’S POPULARITY Rejoicing in the East over Davy’s reëlection――One of his attacks upon Jackson in Congress――He undertakes a journey to the Atlantic cities――Starts for Baltimore by stage――The Steamboat _Carroll of Carrollton_――Davy first sees a railway train――A grand welcome in Philadelphia――Davy addresses five thousand people in front of the Exchange――He visits Fairmount, the United States Mint, the Walnut Street Theatre, and sees Jim Crow――His reflections upon Eastern manners――He is dined by the young Whigs――Gives directions for making the celebrated rifle “Betsy,” the gift of Philadelphia admirers. The news of Davy Crockett’s reëlection, in spite of the opposition of the Jackson party, was received in the Eastern States with joy, and even the Southern States of the Atlantic coast, hugging to their bosoms the fragments of the new idol of Nullification, heard of the backwoodsman’s victory with grim satisfaction. Clay and Webster and John Quincy Adams stood with such men as Albert Gallatin and the Quaker statesmen of Philadelphia. The voters who had made the hero of the treaty at Hickory Grove their President still had a kindly feeling for the man who had dared to offer an honest opposition to the irascible old General. The wily politicians cultivated the renown of Davy Crockett as a plant of great promise, that might even make Presidential timber.