United States or Chile ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Their neighing proved this for Pompo had neighed in his stable, and we could hear a dozen of them uttering their loud responses. "`Indians! thought we: and we gave ourselves up for lost. "We all ran to our arms. Harry, Frank, and I, seized hold of our rifles, while Cudjo betook himself to his great spear. I opened one of the windows, and looked cautiously out.
Here Cudjo set lustily to work with his axe; and in half an hour we had felled a tree across the track, completely blocking it up. We took care to make it secure, by adding several rails, in such a way that no horse without wings could have leaped over it.
Cudjo approached it stealthily, and with an adroit movement inverted the glass upon it, so as to inclose both bee and flower; at the same instant one of his hands upon which was a strong buckskin glove was slipped under the mouth of the glass, to prevent the bee from getting out; and, nipping the flower stalk between his fingers, he bore off both the bee and the blossom.
We did not take the cart, as Cudjo had Pompo in the plough, preparing a large tract for our second crop of corn. We only carried with us a couple of raw-hide ropes, intending to bring home good burdens of the moss upon our rock. "We travelled on down the valley, looking for a tree with moss upon it, that we could climb.
To do this, Cudjo stooped down, and with his knife cut an oblong notch upon the bark of the log, which pointed lengthwise in the direction the bee had taken. This he executed with great precision. He next proceeded to the tree which he had used as a marker, and `blazed' it with his axe. "`What next? thought we. Cudjo was not long in showing us what was to be next.
Our whole party went, Frank, Mary, and the little ones, as they were all eager to see the trap, and whether we had taken anything. Cudjo brought with him his long spear, while Harry and I carried our rifles. Frank armed himself with his bow. We were prepared for the wolves every way.
I fired as soon as his hips made their appearance, and almost at the same instant Cudjo dealt them a hearty blow with his axe. It was enough to have killed him, as we thought, but to our surprise the hind-quarters suddenly disappeared. He had gone up the tree again. "What next? would he turn himself in the hollow, and come down head-foremost?
It was Cudjo's intention to skin it, and eat part or the whole of it, a species of food, which he assured us, he had often eaten before, and which tasted equal to young pig. None of us were likely to join Cudjo in such a meal; but at all events, thought we, when the quills and skin are removed, our dogs might get a morsel of it as a reward for their sufferings.
On reaching the spot where Cudjo was, I found him bending over a crevice or hole in the ground, from which protruded an object very much like the tail of a pig. "`What is it, Cudjo? I asked. "`Don't know, Massa. Varmint I never see in Vaginny looks someting like de ole 'possum. "`Catch hold of the tail, and pull him out, said I. "`Lor! Massa Roff, I've tried ma best, but can't fetch 'im no how.
I thought, of course, it was a fish, and commenced handling it; but, to my surprise, on bringing it to the surface, I perceived that I had hooked one of the turtles, and no doubt the same one which had looked up at us but a moment before. He was not a very large one; and we soon landed him; when Cudjo secured him simply by turning him over upon his back.
Word Of The Day