Part 5 (1/2)
”I soon filledfor Cudjo, when I heard him shout,--
”'Massa Roff! come dis away, and see de var the rocks On reaching the spot where Cudjo was, I found hiround, fro
”'What is it, Cudjo?' I asked
”'Don't know, Massa Var 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 'i, ly with all his ht--but to no purpose
”'Did you see the animal when it was outside?' I inquired
”'Yes, Massa; see 'im and chase 'im 'till I tree him yar in dis cave'
”'What was it like?'
”'Berry like a pig--maybe more belike ole 'possuinny turtle'
”'Oh! then--it is an armadillo'
”'An amadiller! Cudjo niver hear o' dat varmint afore'
”I saw that the animal which had so astonished s--which Nature, in giving variety to her creatures, has thought proper to forhout Mexico and South America by the name of 'armadilloes' They are so called fronifies armed--because all over their body there is a hard, shell-like covering divided into bands and regular figures, exactly like the coats-of-mail worn by the warriors of ancient ti the head, connected with the other parts of the armour by a joint, which renders this reseular There are e as a full-sized sheep, but the generality of the of the shell that covers theain, they are of a pentagonal shape In all of theures have a e and beautiful
They look as though they were artificial,--that is, carved by the hand of man They are harrass They do not run very niothe heavy armour which they carry This, however, is not all in one shell, but in h, pliable skin Hence they can use their limbs with sufficient ease They are not such slow travellers as the turtles and tortoises When they are pursued and overtaken, they sos do; and if they should happen to be near the edge of a precipice they will roll themselves over to escape from their enemy More often when pursued they betake the rocks that may be near; and this was evidently the case with that which Cudjo had surprised When they can hide their heads, like the ostrich they fancy theht this one, until he felt the sinewy fingers of Cudjo grasping him by the tail It was evident the aniet no farther, else ould soon have lost sight of his tail; but it was equally evident, that pulling by that appendage was not the et him out I could see that he had pushed the scaly arainst the rocks on every side Moreover, his clahich are reainst the bottom of the crevice It would have taken a tearin
”I had heard of a plan used by the Indians who hunt the armadillo, and are very fond of his flesh; and as I was detero the tail, and stand to one side
”I now knelt down in front of the cave, and, taking a s the hind-quarters of the animal with the sharp needles In a an to relax, as the shell to separate fro the operation for some minutes, I observed that he had reduced hiotten to keep a look-out with his claws Seeing this, I seized the tail fir the armadillo out between the feet of my companion Cudjo aimed a bloith the axe which nearly severed its head froht It was about the size of a rabbit, and proved to be of the eight-banded species--reckonedthan any other
”We now returned to camp with our firewood, our locust-beans, and our armadillo--the last of which horrified reat curiosity to the boys, however, who aers all over itsthat amused the little Mary and Luisa still more-- the delicious, honey-like pulp froreedily ate The seeds we extracted fro to roast them as soon as we had kindled our fire
”And now,to his feet, ”since we have got to talking about this sa of my home-brewed beer, which Iabout h the valley It is, perhaps, not equal to Barclay and Perkins'; but I flatter myself that, under the circu this, our host brought forward a large flagon, and pouring into our cups a brown-coloured liquid, set them before us We all drank of the ”locust beer,” which was not unlike ain and again
This ceremony over Rolfe once more resumed his narrative
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A VERY LEAN BUFFALO