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Silently through the dense, shadowy wood crept the sheriff and his men, followed by the tall woman in black and a lank, bearded man whose rifle-stock bore seven tiny but significant notches, sinister epitaphs for as many by-gone men. A dog barked, the first alarm. Then another, and still a third joined in a fierce outcry against the invaders.
They may either be fixed in place and the cross piece sprung in between them at the top, or the latter may be held in the notches of the first pair, while the second are being inserted.
The workman draws the bast, without any regard to quality, between the knife and block, commencing in the middle, and then from side to side. The knife must be free from notches, or all indentations, according to the direction of Father Blanco.
He also places mullein stalks on a pole, and the swarms often cluster on them. He told me that on one day last summer he had ten swarms to look after, and that he hived them all; and he says that his wife is as good at the work as he is. On a pole which forms the corner of a little poultry-coop he keeps the record of the swarms of each season, and for last summer there are sixty-one notches.
In the Solutreen period, so named after the celebrated Lake Station of Solutre, we find stalked arrow-heads with lateral notches, flint-heads of the form of laurel leaves, which are remarkable for their regularity of shape and delicacy of finish; as compared with those of previous periods, the forms are much more delicate and elegant.
Still there was the danger of deflected shots, and when, by cutting a succession of notches in which to place one foot at a time, he had ascended to the height of an average three-storey house, the danger of losing his balance or slipping a foot became very great indeed.
I was a young buck them days, an' purty much of a desperado, I'm thinkin'. Though of all the seventeen notches on my gun an' each notch meant a man killed face to face there was only one thet I was ashamed of. Thet one was fer an express messenger who I hit on the head most unprofessional like, jest because he wouldn't hand over a leetle package.
In many cases notches had evidently been made, the better to place the cross-beams; whilst in others forked branches had been selected, so that a second branch could be fitted into the fork. Primeval man soon learnt to appreciate the solidity of such a combination. Do these stations, however, really date from prehistoric times?
But Leigh ignored his thrust, saying: "When Pryor leaves, he doesn't want to say good-by to anybody, not even to Uncle Jim. He says China is only a little way off, just behind the purple notches over there. I'm going to take him to the train tomorrow and then I'm going on to Wykerton on business. After that, I may need lots of advice."
A ladder of this kind is given a more presentable appearance if the rungs are let in square to the sides and flush, but at the sacrifice either of strength or lightness, unless narrow rungs of a hard wood, such as oak, be used. Moreover, square notches are not so easy to cut out as triangular.