Part 5 (1/2)
But several hours passed over and he did not coth of tie woods of which he knew nothing; moreover, he was in his shi+rt sleeves, and the rest of his clothing had been dripping hen he set out Under these circu unpleasant had happened to hian to ask one another They began to grow uneasy about their absent co, their uneasiness increased to serious alaro in search of him They took different directions, so that there would be a better chance of finding him Norman struck out into the woods, while Lucien and Francois, followed by the dog Marengo, kept down the bank--thinking that if Basil had got lost, he would ht approached All were to return to the cahtfall whether successful or not
After several hours spent in traversing the woods and openings, Norman came back He had been unable to find any traces of their ot back before hi hearts, for neither had they fallen in with the track of living creature Basil was lost, beyond a doubt He would never have stayed so long, had not some accident happened to him Perhaps he was dead--killed by some wild animal--a panther or a bear Perhaps he had met with Indians, who had carried him off, or put him to death on the spot Such were the painful conjectures of his coht All three satthe deep dejection they felt Although in need of repose, none of theo to sleep At intervals they discussed the probability of his return, and then they would reht They could only await the ht, when they would renew their search, and scour the country in every direction
It was nearsilently around the fire, when Marengo started to his feet, and uttered three or four loud barks
The echoes of these had hardly died a the trees when a shrill whistle was heard at some distance off in the woods
”Hurrah!” shouted Francois, leaping to his feet at the instant; ”that's Basil's whistle, I'll be bound I'd know it a h the woods, and the next nised as the voice of Basil
”Hilloa!” shouted the three by the fire
”Hilloa, ht!” replied the voice; and a few seconds after, the tall upright forlare of the pine-knots A shout of congratulation was again raised; and all the party, preceded by Marengo, rushed out toBasil up to the fire, when it was seen that he had not returned erouse, or ”prairie hens,” while fro that was at once recognised as a brace of buffalo tongues
”_Voila_!” cried Basil, flinging down the bag, ”how are you off for supper? And here,” continued he, pointing to the tongues, ”here's a pair of tit-bits that'll make you lick your lips Coh to eat either of them raw”
Basil's request was instantly complied with The fire was raked up, spits were speedily procured, a tongue and one of the grouse were roasted; and although Lucien, Francois, and Noroat's meat,” they set to upon the new viands with fresh appetites Basil was hungrier than any, for he had been all the while fasting It was not because he ithout meat, but because he knew that his comrades would be uneasy about hih, since he had slain the two buffaloes to which the tongues had belonged; and these same buffaloes, he now infor absence
Of course, all were eager to kno the buffaloes could have delayed hi their savoury supper, Basil narrated the details of his day's adventure
CHAPTER VIII
A ”PARTRIDGE DANCE”
”After leaving here,” said Basil, ”I struck off through the woods in a line that led froonal direction I hadn't walkedsound, which I at first took to be thunder; but, after listening a while, I kneas not that, but the drurouse As soon as I could ascertain the direction of the sound, I hurried on in that way; but for a long tireatly does this sound deceive one I should think I walked a full mile before I arrived at the place where the birds were, for there were many of theh their singular performances
”There were, in all, about a score They had selected a piece of open and level ground, and over this they were running in a circle, about twenty feet in diameter They did not all run in the sah they never deviated much frorass orn quite bare, and a ring upon the turf looked baked and black When I first got near, they heardthe leaves, and I saw that one and all of the, and squatted close down
”I halted, and hidquiet a an to stretch up their necks, and then all rose together to their feet, and co as before
I knew they were perfore Dance;' and as I had never witnessed it I held back awhile, and looked on Even hungry as I was, and as I knew all of you to be, so odd were thetheer into their 'ball-room'
”Now and then an old cock would separate fro out to some distance, would leap upon a rock that was there; then, after dropping his wings, flirting with his spread tail, erecting the ruff upon his neck, and throwing back his head, he would swell and strut upon the rock, exhibiting hi in this way for a few s in short quick strokes, which grew ' sound was produced,I can think of
”This appeared to be a challenge to the others; and then a second would coh a similar series of attitudes, the tould attack each other, and fight with all the fury of a pair of game-cocks”
”I could have watched their ot the better of ' ht one of theht have covered several, but with the rifle I could not hope forto make sure of that, I waited until an old cock hted hih his crop I heard the loud whirr of the pack as they rose up frohted only a couple of hundred yards off, upon a large spruce-tree
”Hoping they would sit there until I could get another shot, I loaded, as quickly as possible, and stepped forward The course I took brought me past the one I had killed, which I picked up, and thrust hastily into s that lay along the ground, with level spaces between the these, to see two of the cocks down upon the grass, and fighting so desperately that they took no notice ofto fire, but seeing that the birds ithin a few feet of ht let me lay hold of therabbed' both of the their heads off
”I now proceeded to the pack, that still kept the tree When near enough, I sheltered ht hiround The others sat still Of course, I shot the one upon the lowest branch: I knew that, so long as I did this, the others would sit until I et the whole of the down through the branches would 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 the root of the tree
”I believe I could have killed the whole pack, but it just then occurred toour precious a the value of powder and shot to us just now, the birds were hardly worth a load a-piece; so I left off cracking at theather what I had killed, the rest whirred away into the woods
”On reaching the tree where they had perched, I was very much surprised to find a raw-hide rope neatly coiled up, and hanging from one of the lower branches I knew that somebody n” there was besides My eye fell upon the cinders of an old fire near the foot of the tree; and I could tell that soood while ago, as the ashes were beaten into the ground by the rain, and, h them I concluded, therefore, that whoever had ca the place had forgotten it