The Young Voyageurs: Boy Hunters in the North Page 9

  CHAPTER NINE.

  A "PARTRIDGE DANCE."

  "After leaving here," said Basil, "I struck off through the woods in aline that led from the river, in a diagonal direction. I hadn't walkedmore than three hundred yards, when I heard a drumming sound, which I atfirst took to be thunder; but, after listening a while, I knew it wasnot that, but the drumming of the ruffed grouse. As soon as I couldascertain the direction of the sound, I hurried on in that way; but fora long time I appeared to get no nearer it, so greatly does this sounddeceive one. I should think I walked a full mile before I arrived atthe place where the birds were, for there were many of them. I then hada full view of them, as they went through their singular performances.

  "There were, in all, about a score. They had selected a piece of openand level ground, and over this they were running in a circle, abouttwenty feet in diameter. They did not all run in the same direction,but met and crossed each other, although they never deviated much fromthe circumference of the circle, around which the grass was worn quitebare, and a ring upon the turf looked baked and black. When I first gotnear, they heard my foot among the leaves, and I saw that one and all ofthem stopped running, and squatted close down. I halted, and hid myselfbehind a tree. After remaining quiet a minute or so, the birds began tostretch up their necks, and then all rose together to their feet, andcommenced running round the ring as before. I knew they were performingwhat is called the `Partridge Dance;' and as I had never witnessed it Iheld back awhile, and looked on. Even hungry as I was, and as I knewall of you to be, so odd were the movements of these creatures, that Icould not resist watching them a while, before I sent my unwelcomemessenger into their `ballroom.' Now and then an old cock wouldseparate from the pack, and running out to some distance, would leapupon a rock that was there; then, after dropping his wings, flirtingwith his spread tail, erecting the ruff upon his neck, and throwing backhis head, he would swell and strut upon the rock, exhibiting himselflike a diminutive turkey-cock. After manoeuvring in this way for a fewmoments, he would commence flapping his wings in short quick strokes,which grew more rapid as he proceeded, until a `booming' sound wasproduced, more like the rumble of distant thunder than anything I canthink of.

  "This appeared to be a challenge to the others; and then a second wouldcome out, and, after replying to it by putting himself through a similarseries of attitudes, the two would attack each other, and fight with allthe fury of a pair of game-cocks.

  "I could have watched their manoeuvres much longer," continued Basil,"but hunger got the better of me, and I made ready to fire. Those thatwere `dancing' moved so quickly round the ring that I could not sightone of them. If I had had a shot-gun, I might have covered several, butwith the rifle I could not hope for more than a single bird; so, wantingto make sure of that, I waited until an old cock mounted the rock, andgot to `drumming.' Then I sighted him, and sent my bullet through hiscrop. I heard the loud whirr of the pack as they rose up from the ring;and, marking them, I saw that they all alighted only a couple of hundredyards off, upon a large spruce-tree. Hoping they would sit there untilI could get another shot, I loaded as quickly as possible, and steppedforward. The course I took brought me past the one I had killed, whichI picked up, and thrust hastily into my bag. Beyond this I had to passover some logs that lay along the ground, with level spaces betweenthem. What was my surprise in getting among these, to see two of thecocks down upon the grass, and righting so desperately that they took nonotice of my approach! At first I threw up my rifle, intending to fire,but seeing that the birds were within a few feet of me, I thought theymight let me lay hold of them, which they, in fact, did; for the nextmoment I had `grabbed' both of them, and cooled their bellicose spiritsby wringing their heads off.

  "I now proceeded to the pack, that still kept the tree. When nearenough, I sheltered myself behind another tree; and taking aim at one, Ibrought him tumbling to the ground. The others sat still. Of course, Ishot the one upon the lowest branch: I knew that, so long as I did this,the others would sit until I might get the whole of them; but that if Ishot one of the upper ones, its fluttering down through the brancheswould alarm the rest, and cause them to fly off. I loaded and fired,and loaded and fired, until half-a-dozen of the birds lay around theroot of the tree. I believe I could have killed the whole pack, but itjust then occurred to me that I was wasting our precious ammunition, andthat, considering the value of powder and shot to us just now, the birdswere hardly worth a load apiece; so I left off cracking at them. As Istepped forward to gather what I had killed, the rest whirred away intothe woods.

  "On reaching the tree where they had perched, I was very much surprisedto find a raw-hide rope neatly coiled up, and hanging from one of thelower branches. I knew that somebody must have placed it there, and Ilooked round to see what `sign' there was besides. My eye fell upon thecinders of an old fire near the foot of the tree; and I could tell thatsome Indians had made their camp by it. It must have been a good whileago, as the ashes were beaten into the ground by the rain, and,moreover, some young plants were springing up through them. Iconcluded, therefore, that whoever had camped there had hung the ropeupon the tree, and on leaving the place had forgotten it. I took therope down to examine it: it was no other than a lasso, full fifty feetlong, with an iron ring neatly whipped into the loop-end; and, on tryingit with a pull, I saw it was in the best condition. Of course, I wasnot likely to leave such a prize behind me. I had grown, as you may allconceive, to have a very great regard for a rope, considering that onehad just saved all our lives; so I resolved on bringing the lasso withme. In order to carry it the more conveniently, I coiled it, and thenhung the coil across my shoulders like a belt. I next packed my gameinto the bag, which they filled chock up to the mouth, and was turningto come back to camp, when my eye fell upon an object that caused mesuddenly to change my intention.

  "I was near the edge of the woods, and through the trunks I could see alarge open space beyond, where there were no trees, or only one here andthere. In the middle of this opening there was a cloud of dust, and inthe thick of it I could see two great dark animals in motion. They wererunning about, and now and then coming together with a sudden rush; andevery time they did so, I could hear a loud thump, like the stroke of asledgehammer. The sun was shining upon the yellow dust-cloud, and theanimals appeared from this circumstance to be of immense size--muchlarger than they really were. Had I not known what kind of creatureswere before me, I should have believed that the mammoths were still inexistence. But I knew well what they were: I had seen many before,carrying on just such a game. I knew they were buffalo bulls, engagedin one of their terrible battles."

  Here Basil's narrative was interrupted by a singular incident. Indeed,it had been interrupted more than once by strange noises that were heardat some distance off in the woods. These noises were not all alike: atone time they resembled the barking of a cur dog; at another, they mighthave been mistaken for the gurglings of a person who was being hanged;and then would follow a shriek so dreadful that for some time the woodswould echo with its dismal sound! After the shriek a laugh would beheard, but a miserable "haw-haw-haw!" unlike the laugh of a sane person.

  All these strange voices were calculated to inspire terror, and so havethey many a time, with travellers not accustomed to the solitary woodsof America. But our young voyageurs were not at all alarmed by them.They knew from what sort of a creature they proceeded; they knew theywere the varying notes of the great horned-owl (_Strix Virginiana_); andas they had seen and heard many a one before, they paid no heed to thisindividual.

  While Basil was going on with his relation, the bird had been severaltimes seen to glide past, and circle around upon his noiseless pinions.So easy was his flight, that the slightest inclining of his spread tail,or the bending of his broad wing, seemed sufficient to turn and carryhim in any direction. Nothing could be more graceful than his flight,which was not unlike that of the eagle, while he was but little inferiorin size to one of thes
e noble birds.

  What interrupted Basil was, that the owl had alighted upon a branch nottwenty feet from where they were all sitting round the fire, by theblaze of which they now had a full view of this singular creature. Themoment it alighted, it commenced uttering its hideous and unmusicalcries, at the same time going through such a variety of contortions,both with its head and body, as to cause the whole party a fit oflaughter. It was, in fact, an odd and interesting sight to witness itsgrotesque movements, as it turned first its body, and then its headaround, without moving the shoulders, while its great honey-colouredeyes glared in the light of the fire. At the end of every attitude andutterance, it would snap its bill with such violence, that the crackingof the mandibles upon each other might have been heard to the distanceof several hundred yards.

  This was too much for Francois' patience to bear, and he immediatelycrept to his gun. He had got hold of the piece, and cocked it; but,just as he was about to take aim, the owl dropped silently down from thebranch, and, gliding gently forward, thrust out its feathered leg, andlifted one of the grouse in its talons. The latter had been lying uponthe top of a fallen tree not six feet from the fire! The owl, afterclutching it, rose into the air; and the next moment would have beenlost in darkness, but the crack of Francois' rifle put a sudden stop toits flight, and with the grouse still clinging to its claws it fellfluttering to the earth. Marengo jumped forward to seize it; butMarengo little knew the sort of creature he had to deal with. Ithappened to be only "winged," and as soon as the dog came near, it threwitself upon its back, and struck at him with its talons so wickedly,that he was fain to approach it with more caution. It cost Marengo aconsiderable fight before he succeeded in getting his jaws over it.During the contest it continually snapped its bill, while its greatgoggle eyes kept alternately and quickly opening and closing, and thefeathers being erected all over its body, gave it the appearance ofbeing twice its real size. Marengo at length succeeded in "crunching"it--although not until he was well scratched about the snout--and itsuseless carcass having been thrown upon the ground, the dog continued toworry and chew at it, while Basil went on with his narration.