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Updated: May 7, 2025
"Yes, I heard one last night." Still the boy shook his head. He had never heard of such a bird. "Oh, yes, you know what I mean," said the doctor; "they keep in the shelter of the jungle, and are very rarely shot; but I must have one." The boy shook his head. "Don't I tell you I heard one last night, after we had camped down? It calls out Coo-ai." "No, no! no, no!" cried the boy; "Coo-ow, Coo-ow."
The doctor cocked both barrels of his gun, after opening the breech and making sure that the cartridges were in their place, and, in momentary expectation of setting a shot, he kept close behind the Malay. Coo-ow! came the cry again, this time a little to the left; and the Malay stretched out a hand behind him to grasp that of the doctor as he went cautiously on.
Coo-ow! again, but a little farther off, and with his nerves throbbing with excitement, the doctor kept up the chase, now seeming close to the bird, then being left behind, but never once getting within shot. It was very provoking, but the guide was in earnest, and the doctor would have gone through ten times the trouble to achieve his end.
The doctor was ruffled exceedingly at his slip of grammar, and looked very much annoyed; but the thought of being able to secure a specimen of the much-prized Argus pheasant chased away the other trouble, and he walked on closely behind his guide. "How far have we to go, my lad?" he said. "Walk two hours," said the Malay, "then sit down and listen. No speak a word till Coo-ow come.
They had reached an opening in the forest, by the side of what was evidently a mountain of considerable height, and the doctor smiled as he recalled the fact that the Argus pheasant was reputed to haunt such places; when to his intense delight there soddenly rang out from the distance on the silent night air a peculiar cry that resembled the name given to the bird Coo-ow.
Coo-ow rang out the strange cry, and it seemed quite near. Then again Coo-ow, and this time it appeared to be a long way off. This was tantalising, but he concluded directly after, that the second cry might be that of another bird answering the first.
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