The Desert Home Part 19

"All this, as I have said, occurred afterwards. Let us now return to the narrative of our fishing excursion.

"As soon as the porcupine had been disposed of, we were reminded of the sufferings of our dogs, who had ceased their howling, but required to be relieved of the barbed spines with which their lips were sticking full.

We drew them out as easily as we could; but, notwithstanding this, their heads began to swell up to twice the natural size, and the poor brutes appeared to be in great pain. They were fairly punished for their inconsiderate rashness; and it was not likely that they would run their noses against another porcupine for some time to come."

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

THE CUNNING OLD "'c.o.o.n."

"We now continued our journey toward our fishing-ground, Cudjo having hung the porcupine to a tree, with the design of taking it home with him on our return. It was Cudjo's intention to skin it, and eat part or the whole of it,--a species of food, which he a.s.sured 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. This was an object, certainly; as, out of our scanty larder, Castor and Pollux did not fare the best sometimes.

"We soon arrived upon the bank of the creek, and close to the pool.

This was a long stretch of deep dark water, with a high bank on one side, shadowed over with leafy trees. On the opposite side, the bank was low, and shelved down to the edge--while several logs lay along it, half covered with water, and half of them stretching up against the bank.

"We took the high bank for our station, as upon this there was a spot of smooth gra.s.sy turf, shaded by beautiful palmetto-trees, where the children could tumble about. Here Mary sat down with them, while the rest of us proceeded to fish. Of course, we could do no more than throw in our lines, and then wait until the fish should be fools enough to bite. We conversed very quietly, lest the noise of our talking should frighten the fish--though this was only an imagination of our own. We had not been watching our floats more than five minutes, when we noticed, here and there, a slight stir in the water; and, in the midst of the little circles thus made, we could see small black objects not unlike the heads of snakes. At first we took them for these. Cudjo, however, knew better than we what they were, for he had often seen them while fishing in the creeks of Virginia.

"'Golly, Ma.s.sa!' cried he, as soon as they made their appearance, 'de creek here am full ob de turtle.'

"'Turtles!' exclaimed Harry.

"'Yes, Ma.s.sa Harry,' replied Cudjo; 'and as dis n.i.g.g.e.r lib, de am de real soff-sh.e.l.l turtle! Dat's de meat for dis child Cudjo,--better dan fish, flesh, fowl, or 'possum,--dat am de soff-sh.e.l.l.'

"As Cudjo spoke, one of the turtles 'bobbed' up nearly under where we sat; and, from the elongated shape of its head, resembling a snout, and the flexible sh.e.l.l that bent up and down along its edges, as he swam, I saw it was a species of _trionyx_, or soft-sh.e.l.led turtle,--in fact, it was that known as _trionyx ferox_, the most prized of all the turtle race for the table of the epicure. Here, then, was another luxury for us, as soon as we could catch them.

"I turned round; and was on the point of asking Cudjo how this could be accomplished, when I saw that my float went suddenly down, and I felt a pull upon the line. 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. As I learnt from Cudjo, these creatures will eagerly bite at anything that may be thrown into the water and appears strange to them. Of the truth of this we had a curious demonstration shortly afterwards.

"In a few minutes more, each of us had taken several good-sized fish; and we still continued watching our rods in silence, when our attention was attracted to the movements of an animal upon the opposite bank, and about one hundred yards below where we sat. We were all well acquainted with this animal; and Harry, the moment he saw it, whispered,--

"'Look, papa! mamma! a 'c.o.o.n!'

"Yes, it was a racc.o.o.n. There was no mistaking the broad dark-brown back, the sharp fox-looking face and snout, and the long bushy tail, with its alternate rings of black and yellowish white. The short thick legs, the erect ears, and the white and black marks of the face, were familiar to all of us--for the racc.o.o.n is one of the best-known animals in America, and we had it among our pets.

"At the sight of the ''c.o.o.n,' Cudjo's eyes fairly glistened--for there is no animal that affords so much sport to the negroes of the United States as the 'c.o.o.n; and he is, therefore, to them as interesting a creature as the fox to the red-coated hunters of England. Hunting the racc.o.o.n is one of the princ.i.p.al amus.e.m.e.nts which the poor slave enjoys, in the beautiful moonlight nights of the Southern States, after he has got free from his hard toil. By them, too, the flesh of the 'c.o.o.n is eaten, although it is not esteemed much of a dainty. The 'possum is held in far higher estimation. Cudjo's eyes then glistened as soon as he set them upon his old and familiar victim.

"The 'c.o.o.n all this while had seen none of us, else he would soon have widened the distance between us and himself. He was crawling cautiously along the bank of the creek, now hopping up on a log, and now stopping for a while, and looking earnestly into the water.

"'De ole 'c.o.o.n go to fish,' whispered Cudjo; 'dat's what he am after.'

"'Fish!' said Harry.

"'Yes, Ma.s.sa Harry. He fish for de turtle.'

"'And how will he catch them?' inquired Harry.

"'Golly, Ma.s.sa Harry, he catch 'em. Wait, you see.'

"We all sat quietly watching his manoeuvres, and curious to witness how he would catch the turtles; for none of us, with the exception of Cudjo, knew how. We knew that it was not likely he would leap at them in the water, for these animals can dive as quickly as a fish; besides they can bite very severely, and would be sure to take a piece out of the 'c.o.o.n's skin, should he attack them in their own element. But that was not his intention, as we presently saw. Near the end of one of the logs that protruded into the water, we observed the heads of several turtles moving about on the surface. The racc.o.o.n saw them also, for he was stealthily approaching this log with his eyes fixed upon the swimming reptiles. On reaching it, he climbed upon it with great silence and caution. He then placed his head between his fore-legs; and, turning his tail toward the creek, commenced crawling down the log, tail-foremost. He proceeded slowly, bit by bit, until his long bushy tail hung over into the water, where he caused it to move gently backwards and forwards. His body was rolled up into a sort of clew, until one could not have told what sort of a creature was upon the log.

"He had not remained many moments in this att.i.tude, when one of the turtles, swimming about, caught sight of the moving tail; and, attracted partly by curiosity, and partly in hopes of getting something to eat, approached, and seized hold of the long hair in his h.o.r.n.y mandibles.

But he had scarce caught it, before the 'c.o.o.n unwound himself upon the log; and, at the same time, with a sudden and violent jerk of his tail, plucked the turtle out of the water, and flung him high and dry upon the bank! Then following after, in three springs, he was beside his victim, which with his long sharp nose he immediately turned over upon its back--taking care all the while to avoid coming in contact with the bill-like snout of the turtle. The latter was now at the mercy of the 'c.o.o.n, who was proceeding to demolish him in his usual fashion; but Cudjo could stand it no longer, and away went he and the dogs, with loud shouts, across the creek.

"The chase was not a long one, for in a few seconds the steady barking of the dogs told us that poor 'c.o.o.ny' was 'treed.' Unfortunately, for himself, he had run up a very low tree, where Cudjo was able to reach him with his long spear; and when the rest of us got forward to the spot, we found that Cudjo had finished him, and was holding him up by the tail, quite dead.

"We now went back to our fishing; and although we caught no more of the turtles, we succeeded in taking as many fish as we wanted; and returning to the house, Mary cooked for us a most excellent fish dinner, which we all ate with a keen appet.i.te."

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

LITTLE MARY AND THE BEE.

"During the winter we saw very little of our beavers. Through the cold season they lay snug in their houses--although not in a state of torpidity, as the beaver does not become torpid in winter. He only keeps within doors, and spends most of his time in eating and sleeping; but he goes out of his house at intervals to wash and clean himself, for the beaver is an animal of very precise habits. He is not compelled, however, to go abroad in search of food. As we have seen, he lays up a stock which serves him throughout the cold season.

"For several weeks in mid-winter, the dam was frozen over with ice strong enough to bear our weight; and we visited the houses of the beavers that stood up like so many hay-stacks. We found them so hard and firm, that we could climb upon them, and pounce down upon their tops, without the least danger of breaking them in. In fact, it would have been anything but an easy task to have opened one of them from above; and no animal--not even the wolverene with his crooked claws,-- could have done it. We observed that in every case the doors were far below the ice, so that the entrance still remained open to the animals within; and, moreover, when any one stamped heavily upon the roof, through the clear ice we could see the frightened creatures making their escape by darting off into the water. Sometimes we remained to see if they would return, but in no instance did they come back. At the time we wondered at this--as we knew they could not possibly live under the ice, where there was no air. We soon found, however, that these cunning creatures knew what they were about; and that they had already provided means to escape from the danger of being drowned.

"Along one side of the dam there was a bank, that rose considerably above the water; and into this bank they had made large holes, or as they are termed 'washes.' These were so constructed that the entrances to them could not be frozen up; and we found that whenever the beavers were disturbed or frightened from their houses, they invariably betook themselves to these washes, where they could crawl quietly up above the surface of the water, and breathe in safety!

"This was the proper season to trap the beaver, as their fur is more valuable in winter than at any other time; but, as I have already said, it was not our intention to disturb them, until they should become very numerous.

"The ice upon the dam was exceedingly smooth, and of course suggested the idea of skates. Both Frank and Harry were very fond of this amus.e.m.e.nt, and, indeed, I was rather partial to it myself.

"Skates then must be had, at all cost, and again we had recourse to the _bois d'arc_, the wood of which was sufficiently light and compact for our purpose Cudjo, with his hammer and a good hickory-fire, soon drew out the shoeing for them, making it very thin--as our stock of iron consisted in what we had taken from the body of the wagon, and was of course very precious, and not to be wasted upon articles designed merely for amus.e.m.e.nt. However, we knew it would not be lost upon the skates; as we could take it from them, whenever we should want to apply it to a more useful purpose. In a short time, we had three pairs; and, strapping them firmly to our feet with strips of deerskin, were soon gliding over the dam, and spinning around the beaver-houses--no doubt to the great wonderment of such of the animals as came out under the ice to look at us. Mary, with Cudjo and the children, stood watching us from the sh.o.r.e, and clapping their hands with delight.

"With these and such-like innocent recreations, we pa.s.sed the winter very agreeably. It was but a very short winter; and as soon as the spring returned, Cudjo, with his wooden plough, turned up our little field, and we planted our corn. It occupied nearly an acre of ground; and we had now the pleasant prospect that, in six weeks' time, we should gather about fifty bushels. We did not neglect our hundred grains of wheat, but sowed that carefully in a corner by itself. You may fancy that it did not take up much ground. Mary had also her garden, with beds of wild potatoes, and other roots, which she had discovered in the valley. One of these was the species of turnip already mentioned as the _pomme-blanche_, or Indian turnip. She had found wild onions too, which proved of great service in soup-making. In her garden were many others of which I only know the names; but three of them, the 'kamas,' the 'kooyah,' and 'yampah' roots are worth mentioning, as thousands of the miserable Indians who inhabit the American Desert subsist chiefly on them. The widely scattered tribes known as the 'Diggers,' take their name from the fact of their digging for, and living upon, these roots.

"The flowers now came out in full bloom; and some of the openings near the upper end of the valley were a sight to behold. They were literally covered with beautiful blossoms--_malvas, cleomes, asclepiae_, and _helianthi_. We frequently visited this part, making pic-nic excursions to all the places of note in our little dominion. The cataract where the stream dashed over the cliff, the salt spring, and such-like places, formed points of interest; and we rarely failed in any of these excursions to draw some useful lesson from the school of Nature.

Indeed, Mary and I frequently designed them, for the purpose of instructing our children in such of the natural sciences as we ourselves knew. We had no books, and we ill.u.s.trated our teachings by the objects around us.

"One day we had strayed up as usual among the openings. It was very early in the spring, just as the flowers were beginning to appear. We had sat down to rest ourselves in the middle of a glade, surrounded by beautiful magnolias. There was a bed of large blue flowers close by; and Frank, taking little Mary by the hand, had gone in among them to gather a bouquet for his mother. All at once the child uttered a scream, and then continued to cry loudly! Had she been bitten by a snake? Alarmed at the thought, we all started to our feet, and ran for the spot. The little creature still cried--holding out her hand, which we at once perceived was the seat of the pain. The cause of it was evident--she had been stung by a bee. No doubt she had clasped a flower, upon which some bee had been making his honey, and the angry insect had punished such a rude interference with his pleasures.

"As soon as the child had been pacified by a soothing application to the wound, a train of reflection occurred to the minds of all of us. 'There are bees, then, in the place,' said we. We had not known this fact before. In the autumn previous we had been too busy with other things to notice them; and of course during the winter season they were not to be seen. They were just now coming out for the early spring flowers.

"It was natural to infer, that where there were bees there should also be honey; and the word 'honey' had a magic sound in the ears of our little community. Bees and honey now became the topic of conversation; and not a sentence was uttered for some minutes that did not contain an allusion to bees or bees' nests, or bee-trees, or bee-hunters, or honey.

"We all scattered among the flowers to a.s.sure ourselves that it really was a bee, and not some rascally wasp that had wounded our little Mary.

If it was a bee, we should find some of his companions roaming about among the blossoms of the helianthus.

"In a short time Harry was heard crying out, 'A bee!--a bee!' and almost at the same instant Frank shouted, 'Another!' 'Hya--hya!' cried Cudjo, 'yar's de oder one--see 'im!--biz-z-z. Gollies! how he am loaded with de wax!'

"Two or three others were now discovered, all busily plying their industrious calling; and proving that there was one hive, at least, in some part of the valley.

"The question now arose, how this hive was to be found? No doubt it was in some hollow tree--but how were we to find this tree, standing as it likely did among hundreds of others, and not differing from the rest in appearance? This was the question that puzzled us.

"It did not puzzle all of us though. Fortunately there chanced to be a bee-hunter among us--a real old bee-hunter, and that individual was our famous Cudjo. Cudjo had 'treed' bees many's the time in the woods of 'Ole Vaginny,' and cut down the trees too, and licked the honey--for Cudjo was as sweet upon honey as a bear. Yes, Cudjo had 'treed' bees many's the time, and knew how--that did Cudjo.

"We should have to return to the house, however, to enable him to make ready his implements; and as the day was now pretty far advanced, we determined to leave our bee-hunting for the morrow."