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"Look hyar, mister for I s'pose we must call a gentleman `mister' who speaks so fine an' looks so fine, tho' he be's an Injun it's mighty easy to settle who hut the bird. That thing's a fifty or tharabouts; Killbar's a ninety. 'Taint hard to tell which has plugged the varmint. We'll soon see;" and, so saying, the hunter stepped off towards the tree on which hung the gruya, high up.
There was music enough around us; the hum of the wild bee as it bade farewell to the closing corolla; the whoop of the gruya in the distant sedge; and the soft cooing of the doves as they sat in pairs upon the adjacent branches, like us whispering their mutual loves. Autumn had now painted the woods, and the frondage was of every hue.
All through the night the howling of the village dogs, the wild note of the swan, and the dismal whoops of the gruya, could be heard; and it is very difficult even under circumstances more favorable than those in which I was then placed to sleep with these noises ringing in one's ears.
In this case the chances of failure lay in the fact that, loosely buried as it was, the gruya would not allow its head to be approached by a hand, but jerked it from side to side, thus rendering it no easy matter to get hold of it. The signal being given, away went the string of horsemen! Carlos was among the last, but on coming up he saw the white bending neck still there.
There were men apparently of every hue and clime and tongue here assembled, drawn together by the accidents of life, by the instinct of adventure all more or less strange individuals of the strangest band it has ever been my lot to witness: the band of the Scalp-Hunters! I had returned to my blanket, and was about to stretch myself upon it, when the whoop of a gruya drew my attention.
The finest were those made by the chequered kerchiefs of Madras. Plumes surmounted them of coloured feathers from the wing of the war-eagle, or the blue plumage of the gruya. For the rest of their costume they wore deer-skin leggings and moccasins, nearly similar to those of the trappers.
"How are you to get it down?" cried one of the men, who had stepped forward to witness the settlement of this curious dispute. There was no reply, for everyone saw that Garey was poising his rifle for a shot. The crack followed; and the branch, shivered by his bullet, bent downward under the weight of the gruya. But the bird, caught in a double fork, still stuck fast on the broken limb.
The fires one by one go out, until the plain is wrapt in the gloom of a moonless midnight. Dark clouds travel over the sky, portending rain: a rare phenomenon in these regions. The swan utters its wild note, the gruya whoops over the stream, and the wolf howls upon the skirts of the sleeping village. The voice of the bull-bat wails through the air.
The swan utters its wild note, the gruya whoops over the stream, and the wolf howls on the skirts of the sleeping village. Dismounting, we gather in a little knot, and consult as to what plan we shall pursue.
There was a good deal of guessing and wondering as to who would be the recipient of the trophy. Some girl of his own rank, conjectured the crowd; some poblana or ranchero's daughter. The cibolero did not seem in haste to gratify their curiosity; but, after a few minutes, he astonished them all, by flinging the gruya into the air, and suffering it to fly off.
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