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twg_000012582800 | comfort of these words at that moment, and he resolved seriously to peruse his mother's parting gift in time to come. The sun was hot, and a warm breeze gently shook the leaves, so that Dick's garments were soon dry. A few minutes served to change the locks of his rifle, draw the wet charges, dry out the barrels, and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582801 | re-load. Then, throwing it across his shoulder, he entered the wood, and walked lightly away. And well he might, poor fellow, for at that moment he felt light enough in person if not in heart. His worldly goods were not such as to oppress him, but the little note had turned his thoughts towards home, and he felt comfor... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582802 | the belt of woodland that marked the course of the river, Dick soon emerged on the wide prairie beyond, and here he paused in some uncertainty as to how he should proceed. He was too good a backwoodsman, albeit so young, to feel perplexed as to the points of the compass. He knew pretty well what hour it was, so | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582803 | that the sun showed him the general bearings of the country, and he knew that when night came he could correct his course by the pole star. Dick's knowledge of astronomy was limited; he knew only one star by name, but that one was an inestimable treasure of knowledge. His perplexity was owing to his uncertainty as to t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582804 | in which his companions and their pursuers had gone, for he had made up his mind to follow their trail if possible, and render all the succour his single arm might afford. To desert them, and make for the settlement, he held, would be a faithless and cowardly act. While they were together Joe Blunt had often talked to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582805 | about the route he meant to pursue to the Rocky Mountains, so that, if they had escaped the Indians, he thought there might be some chance of finding them at last. But, to set against this, there was the probability that they had been taken and carried away in a totally different direction, or they might have taken to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582806 | river, as he had done, and gone further down without his observing them. Then, again, if they had escaped, they would be sure to return and search the country round for him, so that if he left the spot he might miss them. "Oh, for my dear pup Crusoe!" he exclaimed aloud in this dilemma; but the faithful ear was | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582807 | shut now, and the deep silence that followed his cry was so oppressive that the young hunter sprang forward at a run over the plain, as if to fly from solitude. He soon became so absorbed, however, in his efforts to find the trail of his companions, that he forgot all other considerations, and ran straight forward for ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582808 | with his eyes eagerly fixed on the ground. At last he felt so hungry, having tasted no food since supper-time the previous evening, that he halted for the purpose of eating a morsel of maple sugar. A line of bushes in the distance indicated water, so he sped on again, and was soon seated beneath a willow, drinking wate... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582809 | the cool stream. No game was to be found here; but there were several kinds of berries, among which wild grapes and plums grew in abundance. With these and some sugar he made a meal, though not a good one, for the berries were quite green, and intensely sour. All that day Dick Varley followed up the trail of his | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582810 | companions, which he discovered at a ford in the river. They had crossed, therefore, in safety, though still pursued, so he ran on at a regular trot, and with a little more hope than he had felt during the day. Towards night, however, Dick's heart sank again, for he came upon innumerable buffalo tracks, among which tho... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582811 | soon became mingled up, so that he lost them altogether. Hoping to find them again more easily by broad daylight, he went to the nearest clump of willows he could find, and encamped for the night. Remembering the use formerly made of the tall willows, he set to work to construct a covering to protect him from the dew. ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582812 | he had no blanket or buffalo-skin, he used leaves and grass instead, and found it a better shelter than he had expected, especially when the fire was lighted, and a pannikin of hot sugar and water smoked at his feet; but as no game was to be found, he was again compelled to sup off unripe berries. Before lying down | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582813 | to rest he remembered his resolution, and, pulling out the little Bible, read a portion of it by the fitful blaze of the fire, and felt great comfort in its blessed words. It seemed to him like a friend with whom he could converse in the midst of his loneliness. The plunge into the river having broken Dick's pipe and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582814 | destroyed his tobacco, he now felt the want of that luxury very severely, and, never having wanted it before, he was greatly surprised to find how much he had become enslaved to the habit. It cost him more than an hour's rest that night, the craving for his wonted pipe. The sagacious reader will doubtless not fail here... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582815 | himself the question, whether it is wise in man to create in himself an unnatural and totally unnecessary appetite, which may, and often does, entail hours--ay, sometimes months--of exceeding discomfort; but we would not for a moment presume to suggest such a question to him. We have a distinct objection to the ordinar... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582816 | moral." It is much better to leave wise men to do this for themselves. Next morning Dick rose with the sun, and started without breakfast, preferring to take his chance of finding a bird or animal of some kind before long, to feeding again on sour berries. He was disappointed, however, in finding the tracks of his comp... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582817 | here was hard and sandy, so that little or no impression of a distinct kind was made on it; and, as buffaloes had traversed it in all directions, he was soon utterly bewildered. He thought it possible that, by running out for several miles in a straight line, and then taking a wide circuit round, he might find the trac... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582818 | emerging from the confusion made by the buffaloes. But he was again disappointed, for the buffalo tracks still continued, and the ground became less capable of showing a footprint. Soon Dick began to feel so ill and weak from eating such poor fare, that he gave up all hope of discovering the tracks, and was compelled t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582819 | his utmost speed in order to reach a less barren district, where he might procure fresh meat; but the further he advanced the worse and more sandy did the district become. For several days he pushed on over this arid waste without seeing bird or beast, and, to add to his misery, he failed at last to find water. For | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582820 | a day and a night he wandered about in a burning fever, and his throat so parched that he was almost suffocated. Towards the close of the second day he saw a slight line of bushes away down in a hollow on his right. With eager steps he staggered towards them, and, on drawing near, beheld--blessed sight!--a stream of wa... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582821 | glancing in the beams of the setting sun. Dick tried to shout for joy, but his parched throat refused to give utterance to the voice. It mattered not; exerting all his remaining strength he rushed down the bank, dropped his rifle, and plunged head-foremost into the stream. The first mouthful sent a thrill of horror to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582822 | salt as brine. The poor youth's cup of bitterness was now full to overflowing. Crawling out of the stream, he sank down on the bank in a species of lethargic torpor, from which he awakened next morning in a raging fever. Delirium soon rendered him insensible to his sufferings. The sun rose like a ball of fire, and shon... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582823 | with scorching power on the arid plain. What mattered it to Dick? He was far away in the shady groves of the Mustang Valley, chasing the deer at times, but more frequently cooling his limbs and sporting with Crusoe in the bright blue lake. Now he was in his mother's cottage, telling her how he had thought of her when | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582824 | far away on the prairie, and what a bright, sweet word it was she had whispered in his ear,--so unexpectedly, too. Anon he was scouring over the plains on horseback, with the savages at his heels; and at such times Dick would spring with almost supernatural strength from the ground, and run madly over the burning plain... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582825 | by a species of fascination, he always returned to the salt river, and sank exhausted by its side, or plunged helplessly into its waters. These sudden immersions usually restored him for a short time to reason, and he would crawl up the bank and gnaw a morsel of the maple sugar; but he could not eat much, for it was | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582826 | in a tough, compact cake, which his jaws had not power to break. All that day and the next night he lay on the banks of the salt stream, or rushed wildly over the plain. It was about noon of the second day after his attack that he crept slowly out of the water, into which he had plunged a | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582827 | few seconds before. His mind was restored, but he felt an indescribable sensation of weakness, that seemed to him to be the approach of death. Creeping towards the place where his rifle lay, he fell exhausted beside it, and laid his cheek on the Bible, which had fallen out of his pocket there. While his eyes were close... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582828 | dreamy sort of half-waking slumber, he felt the rough, hairy coat of an animal brush against his forehead. The idea of being torn to pieces by wolves flashed instantly across his mind, and with a shriek of terror he sprang up,--to be almost overwhelmed by the caresses of his faithful dog. Yes, there he was, bounding ro... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582829 | and whining, and giving vent to every possible expression of canine joy. CHAPTER FOURTEEN. CRUSOE'S RETURN AND HIS PRIVATE ADVENTURES AMONG THE INDIANS--DICK AT A VERY LOW EBB--CRUSOE SAVES HIM. The means by which Crusoe managed to escape from his two-legged captors, and rejoin his master, requires separate and special... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582830 | which Dick had seen begun but not concluded, he was almost crushed to death; and the instant the Indian gained his feet, he sent an arrow at his head with savage violence. Crusoe, however, had been so well used to dodging the blunt-headed arrows that were wont to be shot at him by the boys of the Mustang Valley, that | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582831 | he was quite prepared, and eluded the shaft by an active bound. Moreover, he uttered one of his own peculiar roars, flew at the Indian's throat, and dragged him down. At the same moment the other Indians came up, and one of them turned aside to the rescue. This man happened to have an old gun, of the cheap sort | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582832 | at that time exchanged for peltries by the fur-traders. With the butt of this he struck Crusoe a blow on the head that sent him sprawling on the grass. The rest of the savages, as we have seen, continued in pursuit of Dick until he leaped into the river; then they returned, took the saddle and bridle off his dead | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582833 | horse, and rejoined their comrades. Here they held a court-martial on Crusoe, who was now bound, foot and muzzle, with cords. Some were for killing him; others, who admired his noble appearance, immense size, and courage, thought it would be well to carry him to their village and keep him. There was a pretty violent di... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582834 | at length it was agreed that they should spare his life in the mean time, and perhaps have a dog-dance round him when they got to their wigwams. This dance, of which Crusoe was to be the chief, though passive performer, is peculiar to some of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, and consists in killing a dog and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582835 | cutting out its liver, which is afterwards sliced into shreds or strings and hung on a pole about the height of a man's head. A band of warriors then come and dance wildly round this pole, and each one in succession goes up to the raw liver and bites a piece off it, without, however, putting his hands near it. | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582836 | Such is the dog-dance, and to such was poor Crusoe destined by his fierce captors, especially by the one whose throat still bore very evident marks of his teeth. But Crusoe was much too clever a dog to be disposed of in so disgusting a manner. He had privately resolved in his own mind that he would escape, but the | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582837 | hopelessness of his ever carrying that resolution into effect would have been apparent to any one who could have seen the way in which his muzzle was secured, and his four paws were tied together in a bunch, as he hung suspended across the saddle of one of the savages! This particular party of Indians who had followed ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582838 | determined not to wait for the return of their comrades who were in pursuit of the other two hunters, but to go straight home, so for several days they galloped away over the prairie. At nights, when they encamped, Crusoe was thrown on the ground like a piece of old lumber, and left to lie there with a mere scrap | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582839 | of food till morning, when he was again thrown across the horse of his captor and carried on. When the village was reached, he was thrown again on the ground, and would certainly have been torn to pieces in five minutes by the Indian curs which came howling round him, had not an old woman come to the rescue and | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582840 | driven them away. With the help of her grandson--a little naked creature, just able to walk, or rather to stagger--she dragged him to her tent, and, undoing the line that fastened his mouth, offered him a bone. Although lying in a position that was unfavourable for eating purposes, Crusoe opened his jaws and took it. A... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582841 | by two crunches--and it was gone; and Crusoe looked up in the old squaw's face with a look that said plainly, "Another of the same, please, and as quick as possible." The old woman gave him another and then a lump of meat, which latter went down with a gulp--but he coughed after it! and it was well he didn't | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582842 | choke. After this the squaw left him, and Crusoe spent the remainder of that night gnawing the cords that bound him. So diligent was he that he was free before morning and walked deliberately out of the tent. Then he shook himself, and with a yell that one might have fancied was intended for defiance, he bounded joyful... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582843 | was soon out of sight. To a dog with a good appetite which had been on short allowance for several days, the mouthful given to him by the old squaw was a mere nothing. All that day he kept bounding over the plain from bluff to bluff in search of something to eat, but found nothing until dusk, when he | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582844 | pounced suddenly and most unexpectedly on a prairie-hen fast asleep. In one moment its life was gone. In less than a minute its body was gone too--feathers and bones and all--down Crusoe's ravenous throat. On the identical spot Crusoe lay down and slept like a top for four hours. At the end of that time he jumped up, b... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582845 | scrap of skin that somehow had been overlooked at supper, and flew straight over the prairie to the spot where he had had the scuffle with the Indian. He came to the edge of the river, took precisely the same leap that his master had done before him, and came out on the other side a good deal higher up | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582846 | than Dick had done, for the dog had no savages to dodge, and was, as we have said before, a powerful swimmer. It cost him a good deal of running about to find the trail, and it was nearly dark before he resumed his journey; then, putting his keen nose to the ground, he ran step by step over Dick's | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582847 | track, and at last found him, as we have shown, on the banks of the Salt Creek. It is quite impossible to describe the intense joy which filled Dick's heart on again beholding his favourite. Only those who have lost and found such an one can know it. Dick seized him round the neck and hugged him as well as | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582848 | he could, poor fellow, in his feeble arms; then he wept, then he laughed, and then he fainted. This was a consummation that took Crusoe quite aback! Never having seen his master in such a state before he seemed to think at first that he was playing some trick, for he bounded round him, and barked, and wagged his tail. | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582849 | But as Dick lay quite still and motionless, he went forward with a look of alarm; snuffed him once or twice and whined piteously; then he raised his nose in the air and uttered a long melancholy wail. The cry seemed to revive Dick, for he moved, and with some difficulty sat up, to the dog's evident relief. There is | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582850 | no doubt whatever that Crusoe learned an erroneous lesson that day, and was firmly convinced thenceforth that the best cure for a fainting-fit is a melancholy yell. So easy is it for the wisest of dogs as well as men to fall into gross error! "Crusoe," said Dick, in a feeble voice, "dear good pup, come here." He crawle... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582851 | he spoke, down to the water's edge where there was a level patch of dry sand. "Dig," said Dick, pointing to the sand. Crusoe looked at him in surprise, as well he might, for he had never heard the word "dig" in all his life before. Dick pondered a minute; then a thought struck him. He turned up a little | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582852 | of the sand with his fingers, and, pointing to the hole cried, "_Seek him out, pup_!" Ha! Crusoe understood _that_. Many and many a time had he unhoused rabbits, and squirrels, and other creatures at that word of command, so, without a moment's delay, he commenced to dig down into the sand, every now, and then stopping... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582853 | and shoving in his nose, and snuffing interrogatively, as if he fully expected to find a buffalo at the bottom of it. Then he would resume again, one paw after another so fast that you could scarce see them going "hand over hand" as sailors would have called it--while the sand flew out between his hind-legs in a contin... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582854 | When the sand accumulated so much behind him as to impede his motions he scraped it out of his way, and set to work again with tenfold earnestness. After a good while he paused and looked up at Dick with an "it--won't--do,--I--fear,--there's--nothing--here" expression on his face. "Seek him out, pup!" repeated Dick. "O... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582855 | went at it again, tooth and nail, harder than ever. In the course of a quarter of an hour there was a deep yawning hole in the sand, into which Dick peered with intense anxiety. The bottom appeared slightly _damp_. Hope now reanimated Dick Varley, and by various devices he succeeded in getting the dog to scrape away a ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582856 | of tunnel from the hole, into which he might roll himself and put down his lips to drink when the water should rise high enough. Impatiently and anxiously he lay watching the moisture slowly accumulate in the bottom of the hole, drop by drop, and while he gazed he fell into a troubled, restless slumber, and dreamed tha... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582857 | was a dream, and that he was alone again perishing for want of water. When he awakened the hole was half full of clear water, and Crusoe was lapping it greedily. "Back, pup!" he shouted, as he crept down to the hole and put his trembling lips to the water. It was brackish, but drinkable, and as Dick drank deeply | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582858 | of it he esteemed it at that moment better than nectar. Here he lay for half an hour alternately drinking and gazing in surprise at his own emaciated visage as reflected in the pool. The same afternoon Crusoe, in a private hunting excursion of his own, discovered and caught a prairie-hen, which he quietly proceeded to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582859 | when Dick, who saw what had occurred, whistled to him. Obedience was engrained in every fibre of Crusoe's mental and corporeal being. He did not merely answer at once to the call--he _sprang_ to it, leaving the prairie-hen untasted. "Fetch it, pup," cried Dick eagerly as the dog came up. In a few moments the hen was at... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582860 | Dick's circumstances could not brook the delay of cookery; he gashed the bird with his knife and drank the blood, and then gave the flesh to the dog, while he crept to the pool again for another draught. Ah! think not, reader, that although we have treated this subject in a slight vein of pleasantry, because it ended w... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582861 | therefore our tale is pure fiction. Not only are Indians glad to satisfy the urgent cravings of hunger with raw flesh, but many civilised men and delicately nurtured, have done the same--ay, and doubtless, will do the same again, as long as enterprising and fearless men shall go forth to dare the dangers of flood and f... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582862 | places of our wonderful world! Crusoe had finished his share of the feast before Dick returned from the pool. Then master and dog lay down together side by side and fell into a long, deep, peaceful slumber. CHAPTER FIFTEEN. HEALTH AND HAPPINESS RETURN--INCIDENTS OF THE JOURNEY--A BUFFALO SHOT--A WILD HORSE "CREASED"--D... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582863 | in the meantime, were ended. On the day following he awoke refreshed and happy--so happy and light at heart, as he felt the glow of returning health coursing through his veins, that he fancied he must have dreamed it all. In fact, he was so certain that his muscles were strong that he endeavoured to leap up, but was po... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582864 | convinced of his true condition by the miserable stagger that resulted from the effort. However, he knew he was recovering, so he rose, and thanking God for his recovery and for the new hope that was raised in his heart, he went down to the pool and drank deeply of its water. Then he returned, and, sitting down beside ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582865 | dog, opened the Bible and read long--and, for the first time, _earnestly_--the story of Christ's love for sinful man. He at last fell asleep over the book, and when he awakened felt so much refreshed in body and mind that he determined to attempt to pursue his journey. He had not proceeded far when he came upon a colon... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582866 | prairie-dogs. Upon this occasion he was little inclined to take a humorous view of the vagaries of these curious little creatures, but he shot one, and, as before, ate part of it raw. These creatures are so active that they are difficult to shoot, and even when killed generally fall into their holes and disappear. Crus... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582867 | dead animal on this occasion. That night the travellers came to a stream of fresh water, and Dick killed a turkey, so that he determined to spend a couple of days there to recruit. At the end of that time he again set out, but was able only to advance five miles when he broke down. In fact, it became | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582868 | evident to him that he must have a longer period of absolute repose ere he could hope to continue his journey, but to do so without food was impossible. Fortunately there was plenty of water, as his course lay along the margin of a small stream, and, as the arid piece of prairie was now behind him, he hoped to | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582869 | fall in with birds, or perhaps deer, soon. While he was plodding heavily and wearily along, pondering these things, he came to the brow of a wave from which he beheld a most magnificent view of green grassy plains, decked with flowers, and rolling out to the horizon, with a stream meandering through it, and clumps of t... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582870 | far and wide. It was a glorious sight; but the most glorious object in it to Dick, at that time, was a fat buffalo which stood grazing not a hundred yards off. The wind was blowing towards him, so that the animal did not scent him, and, as he came up very slowly, and it was turned away, it did | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582871 | not see him. Crusoe would have sprung forward in an instant, but his master's finger imposed silence and caution. Trembling with eagerness Dick sank flat down in the grass, cocked both barrels of his piece, and, resting it on his left hand with his left elbow on the ground, he waited until the animal should present its... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582872 | few seconds it moved; Dick's eye glanced along the barrel, but it trembled--his wonted steadiness of aim was gone. He fired, and the buffalo sprang off in terror. With a groan of despair he fired again,--almost recklessly,--and the buffalo fell! It rose once or twice and stumbled forward a few paces, then it fell again... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582873 | hand, and advanced to give it another shot, but it was not needful, the buffalo was already dead. "Now, Crusoe," said Dick, sitting down on the buffalo's shoulder and patting his favourite on the head, "we're all right at last. You and I shall have a jolly time o't, pup, from this time for'ard." Dick paused for breath,... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582874 | wagged his tail and looked as if to say--pshaw! "_as if_!" We tell ye what it is, reader, it's of no use at all to go on writing "as if," when we tell you what Crusoe said. If there is any language in eyes whatever,--if there is language in a tail; in a cocked ear; in a mobile eyebrow; in | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582875 | the point of a canine nose;--if there is language in any terrestrial thing at all, apart from that which flows from the tongue--then Crusoe _spoke_! Do we not speak at this moment to _you_? and if so, then tell me, wherein lies the difference between a written _letter_ and a given _sign_? Yes, Crusoe spoke. He said to ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582876 | plain as dog could say it, slowly and emphatically, "That's my opinion precisely, Dick. You're the dearest, most beloved, jolliest fellow that ever walked on two legs, you are; and whatever's your opinion is mine, no matter _how_ absurd it may be." Dick evidently understood him perfectly, for he laughed as he looked at... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582877 | head, and called him a "funny dog." Then he continued his discourse--"Yes, pup, we'll make our camp here for a long bit, old dog, in this beautiful plain. We'll make a willow wigwam to sleep in, you and me, jist in yon clump o' trees, not a stone's throw to our right, where we'll have a run o' pure water | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582878 | beside us, and be near our buffalo at the same time. For, ye see, we'll need to watch him lest the wolves take a notion to eat him--that'll be _your_ duty, pup. Then I'll skin him when I get strong enough, which'll be in a day or two I hope, and we'll put one half of the skin below us | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582879 | and t'other half above us i' the camp, an' sleep, an' eat, an' take it easy for a week or two-- won't we, pup?" "Hoora-a-a-y!" shouted Crusoe, with a jovial wag of his tail, that no human arm with hat, or cap, or kerchief ever equalled. Poor Dick Varley! He smiled to think how earnestly he had been talking to | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582880 | the dog, but he did not cease to do it, for, although he entered into discourses, the drift of which Crusoe's limited education did not permit him to follow, he found comfort in hearing the sound of his own voice, and in knowing that it fell pleasantly on another ear in that lonely wilderness. Our hero now set about hi... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582881 | preparations as vigorously as he could. He cut out the buffalo's tongue--a matter of great difficulty to one in his weak state--and carried it to a pleasant spot near to the stream where the turf was level and green, and decked with wild flowers. Here he resolved to make his camp. His first care was to select a bush wh... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582882 | branches were long enough to form a canopy over his head when bent, and the ends thrust into the ground. The completing of this exhausted him greatly, but after a rest he resumed his labours. The next thing was to light a fire--a comfort which he had not enjoyed for many weary days. Not that he required it for warmth, | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582883 | for the weather was extremely warm, but he required it to cook with, and the mere _sight_ of a blaze in a dark place is a most heart-cheering thing as every one knows. When the fire was lighted he filled his pannikin at the brook and put it on to boil, and, cutting several slices of buffalo tongue, he thrust | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582884 | short stakes through them and set them up before the fire to roast. By this time the water was boiling, so he took it off with difficulty, nearly burning his fingers and singeing the tail of his coat in so doing. Into the pannikin he put a lump of maple sugar and stirred it about with a stick, and tasted | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582885 | it. It seemed to him even better than tea or coffee. It was absolutely delicious! Really one has no notion what he can do if he makes believe _very hard_. The human mind is a nicely balanced and extremely complex machine, and when thrown a little off the balance can be made to believe almost anything, as we see in | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582886 | the case of some poor monomaniacs, who have fancied that they were made of all sorts of things--glass and porcelain, and suchlike. No wonder then that poor Dick Varley, after so much suffering and hardship, came to regard that pannikin of hot syrup as the most delicious beverage he ever drank. During all these operatio... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582887 | beside him and looked. And you haven't--no, you haven't--got the most distant notion of the way in which that dog manoeuvred with his head and face! He opened his eyes wide, and cocked his ears, and turned his head first a little to one side, then a little to the other. After that he turned it a _good deal_ to | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582888 | one side and then a good deal more to the other. Then he brought it straight and raised one eyebrow a little, and then the other a little, and then both together very much. Then, when Dick paused to rest and did nothing, Crusoe looked mild for a moment, and yawned vociferously. Presently Dick moved--up went the ears ag... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582889 | Crusoe came--in military parlance--"to the position of attention!" At last supper was ready and they began. Dick had purposely kept the dog's supper back from him, in order that they might eat it in company. And between every bite and sup that Dick took, he gave a bite--but not a sup--to Crusoe. Thus lovingly they ate ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582890 | lay that night under the willow branches looking up through them at the stars, with his feet to the fire, and Crusoe close along his side, he thought it the best and sweetest supper he ever ate, and the happiest evening he ever spent--so wonderfully do circumstances modify our notions of felicity! Two weeks after this ... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582891 | The muscles were springy, and the blood coursed fast and free, as was its wont. Only a slight, and, perhaps, salutary feeling of weakness remained, to remind him that young muscles might again become more helpless than those of an aged man or a child. Dick had left his encampment a week ago, and was now advancing by ra... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582892 | towards the Rocky Mountains, closely following the trail of his lost comrades, which he had no difficulty in finding and keeping, now that Crusoe was with him. The skin of the buffalo that he had killed was now strapped to his shoulders, and the skin of another animal that he had shot a few days after was cut up into | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582893 | a long line and slung in a coil round his neck. Crusoe was also laden. He had a little bundle of meat slung on each side of him. For some time past numerous herds of mustangs or wild horses, had crossed their path, and Dick was now on the look out for a chance to _crease_ one of those magnificent | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582894 | creatures. On one occasion a band of mustangs galloped close up to him before they were aware of his presence, and stopped short with a wild snort of surprise on beholding him; then, wheeling round, they dashed away at full gallop, their long tails and manes flying wildly in the air, and their hoofs thundering on the p... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582895 | not attempt to crease one upon this occasion, fearing that his recent illness might have rendered his hand too unsteady for so extremely delicate an operation. In order to crease a wild horse the hunter requires to be a perfect shot, and it is not every man of the west who carries a rifle that can do it successfully. C... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582896 | consists in sending a bullet through the gristle of the mustang's neck, just above the bone, so as to stun the animal. If the ball enters a hair's-breadth too low, the horse falls dead instantly. If it hits the exact spot the horse falls as instantaneously, and dead to all appearance; but, in reality, he is only stunne... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582897 | left for a few minutes will rise and gallop away nearly as well as ever. When hunters crease a horse successfully they put a rope, or halter, round his under jaw, and hobbles round his feet, so that when he rises he is secured, and, after considerable trouble, reduced to obedience. The mustangs which roam in wild freed... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582898 | prairies of the far west, are descended from the noble Spanish steeds that were brought over by the wealthy cavaliers who accompanied Fernando Cortez, the conqueror of Mexico, in his expedition to the new world in . These bold, and, we may add, lawless cavaliers, were mounted on the finest horses that could be procured... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
twg_000012582899 | of the Old World. The poor Indians of the New World were struck with amazement and terror at these awful beings, for, never having seen horses before, they believed that horse and rider were one animal. During the wars that followed many of the Spaniards were killed and their steeds bounded into the wilds of the new co... | 60 | gutenberg | unknown |
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