A Pint Pot Of Tea Swallowed - What A Blessing It Is That This Glorious
Beverage Is So Portable That Abundance
Can always be carried - three of us
sallied forth with our carbines, from which we had extracted the bullets
and
Substituted shot, each taking a different direction, the troopers
guaranteeing a crab breakfast, and Lizzie cutting and peeling wooden
skewers to roast the game on; for in this climate nothing will keep beyond
a few hours, unless partially cooked. I struck away towards the left with
the intention of making the mangroves as soon as possible, where I knew I
should find plenty of birds. The walk of the day previous had made me a
little stiff; but I felt lightly clad, without the heavy blanket, which I
had left in camp; and, by way of getting rid of the stiffness, I started
off at a run and soon reached my destination, where I sat down until there
was sufficient daylight to enable me to see the game. As I rested on the
root of a tree, perfectly motionless, I saw something large moving among
the mangroves; but the dawn was as yet so uncertain that I could not
distinguish whether it was a human being or not.
"If that is a black fellow," I thought, "he's worth all the pigeons put
together, and I'll wait quietly to try and capture him," for the object I
saw was moving in the direction my companions had taken; and if it were a
native, he would be certain to return by the road he had come, when he
heard the firing. Sitting still, waiting for anything or anybody, when
waited on yourself by hungry mosquitoes, may be agreeable enough to Mr.
Fenimore Cooper's typical Red Indian, but I can safely say that it is
anything but pleasant work to a thin-skinned Englishman. Daylight had now
fully come, and I was beginning to hesitate as to whether I had not better
bag some of the birds that were fluttering over my head, and get out of the
swamp as fast as I could, when I heard the distant report of a gun, and
said to myself, "Well, I'll give the nondescript five minutes more, and if
it doesn't turn up by then, I'll blaze away at the pigeons." Half the
allotted time had barely elapsed, when another report broke the stillness
of the morning, and immediately afterwards I heard a rustling among the
mangrove-leaves, and a slight crackling, as though some heavy weight were
passing over the arched roots. I stayed quiet, almost breathless, as the
noise came nearer and nearer, and, turning my head, I peered through the
bush behind which I had taken up my quarters, and saw a fine-looking black
gliding cautiously from one to another of the interlaced mangroves. He was
evidently quite unsuspicious of any danger in front, and kept all his
faculties concentrated on the direction in which he had heard the
carbine-shots, which now followed each other rapidly, as the two gunners
fired at the birds as fast as they could load.
"Now," thought I, "if I can only cut you off so as to keep you between me
and them, I am pretty certain to capture you, my friend;" and, judging my
time, I rushed from behind my bush, and was within ten yards of him before
he saw me. In his amazement he dropped the long fish-spear with which he
was armed, stood one moment undetermined, and then made his way, with the
greatest agility, from tree to tree, not back towards my friends, as I had
fondly hoped, but straight for the bay. I followed as fast as I could, but
he went two paces to my one. I confess I felt sorely tempted to handicap
him with a charge of small shot, lodged somewhere about the calves of those
lean legs that were carrying him over the roots with such provoking
rapidity, and have often wondered since why I refrained; but I did, and
continued to scuttle after him, now slipping down and barking my shins, now
nearly losing my carbine, and often compelled to sprawl on all fours. He
was now forty or fifty yards ahead of me, and I was nearly giving up the
useless chase, when an unforeseen accident turned the tables in my favour,
and caused me to push on with redoubled vigour. As we approached the bay,
the whole of the roots and lower portions of the mangroves became thickly
studded with oysters, whose shells, sharp as razors, cut the bare feet of
the fugitive; while, on the contrary, they proved of assistance to me by
preventing my thick boots from slipping off the treacherous roots. I now
gained ground as fast as I had previously lost it, and made certain of
capturing my prisoner on arriving at the end of the mangroves, through
which I could already catch glimpses of the sea. Animated by the thoughts
of bringing a captive into camp, from whom we should probably gain valuable
information, I jumped from tree to tree in hot pursuit, and when the bay
opened out clearly, I was only a short distance in the rear.
"Now I've got you," I muttered, as the black fellow jumped on to the last
stool of roots, and as I was eagerly following, holding my breath for a
tussle; when, to my intense mortification, he plunged headlong into the
sea, leaving me disconsolate and out of wind, to get back as best I could.
I waited until his head reappeared, which was not until he had put a good
thirty yards between us, and, pointing my carbine, shouted to him to return
or I would fire. It was quite useless. He went quietly out seaward, and
at the last, when I turned unwillingly to retrace my steps, I saw his black
head bobbing about on the calm surface. When, after a series of
involuntary feats on the mangrove rope, I again stood on 'terra firma', all
the pigeons had left; and I was compelled to make my way back to camp,
empty-handed, muddy, cut about the shins, and with my boots almost in
tatters.
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