by Mayne Reid
CHAPTER VIII.
A "PARTRIDGE DANCE."
"After leaving here," said Basil, "I struck off through the woods in aline that led from the river, in a diagonal direction. I hadn't walkedmore than three hundred yards, when I heard a drumming sound, which I atfirst took to be thunder; but, after listening a while, I knew it wasnot that, but the drumming of the ruffed grouse. As soon as I couldascertain the direction of the sound, I hurried on in that way; but fora long time I appeared to get no nearer it, so greatly does this sounddeceive one. I should think I walked a full mile before I arrived at theplace where the birds were, for there were many of them. I then had afull view of them, as they went through their singular performances.
"There were, in all, about a score. They had selected a piece of openand level ground, and over this they were running in a circle, abouttwenty feet in diameter. They did not all run in the same direction, butmet and crossed each other, although they never deviated much from thecircumference of the circle, around which the grass was worn quite bare,and a ring upon the turf looked baked and black. When I first got near,they heard my foot among the leaves, and I saw that one and all of themstopped running, and squatted close down.
"I halted, and hid myself behind a tree. After remaining quiet a minuteor so, the birds began to stretch up their necks, and then all rosetogether to their feet, and commenced running round the ring as before.I knew they were performing what is called the 'Partridge Dance;' and asI had never witnessed it I held back awhile, and looked on. Even hungryas I was, and as I knew all of you to be, so odd were the movements ofthese creatures, that I could not resist watching them a while, before Isent my unwelcome messenger into their 'ball-room.'
"Now and then an old cock would separate from the pack, and running outto some distance, would leap upon a rock that was there; then, afterdropping his wings, flirting with his spread tail, erecting the ruffupon his neck, and throwing back his head, he would swell and strut uponthe rock, exhibiting himself like a diminutive turkey-cock. Aftermanoeuvring in this way for a few moments, he would commence flapping hiswings in short quick strokes, which grew more rapid as he proceeded,until a 'booming' sound was produced, more like the rumble of distantthunder than anything I can think of.
"This appeared to be a challenge to the others; and then a second wouldcome out, and, after replying to it by putting himself through a similarseries of attitudes, the two would attack each other, and fight with allthe fury of a pair of game-cocks."
"I could have watched their manoeuvres much longer," continued Basil,"but hunger got the better of me, and I made ready to fire. Those thatwere 'dancing' moved so quickly round the ring that I could not sightone of them. If I had had a shot gun, I might have covered several, butwith the rifle I could not hope for more than a single bird; so, wantingto make sure of that, I waited until an old cock mounted the rock, andgot to 'drumming.' Then I sighted him, and sent my bullet through hiscrop. I heard the loud whirr of the pack as they rose up from the ring;and, marking them, I saw that they all alighted only a couple of hundredyards 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 broughtme past the one I had killed, which I picked up, and thrust hastily intomy bag. Beyond this I had to pass over some logs that lay along theground, with level spaces between them. What was my surprise in gettingamong these, to see two of the cocks down upon the grass, and fightingso desperately that they took no notice of my approach! At first I threwup my rifle, intending to fire, but seeing that the birds were within afew feet of me, I thought they might let me lay hold of them, whichthey, in fact, did; for the next moment I had 'grabbed' both of them,and cooled their bellicose spirits by wringing their heads off.
"I now proceeded to the pack, that still kept the tree. When nearenough, I sheltered myself behind another tree; and taking aim at one, Ibrought him tumbling to the ground. The others sat still. Of course, Ishot the one upon the lowest branch: I knew that, so long as I did this,the others would sit until I might get the whole of them; but that if Ishot one of the upper ones, its fluttering down through the brancheswould alarm the rest, and cause them to fly off. I loaded and fired, andloaded and fired, until half-a-dozen of the birds lay around the root ofthe tree.
"I believe I could have killed the whole pack, but it just then occurredto me that I was wasting our precious ammunition, and that, consideringthe value of powder and shot to us just now, the birds were hardly wortha load a-piece; so I left off cracking at them. As I stepped forward togather what I had killed, the rest whirred away into the woods.
"On reaching the tree where they had perched, I was very much surprisedto find a raw-hide rope neatly coiled up, and hanging from one of thelower branches. I knew that somebody must have placed it there, and Ilooked round to see what "sign" there was besides. My eye fell upon thecinders of an old fire near the foot of the tree; and I could tell thatsome Indians had made their camp by it. It must have been a good whileago, as the ashes were beaten into the ground by the rain, and,moreover, some young plants were springing up through them. I concluded,therefore, that whoever had camped there had hung the rope upon thetree, and on leaving the place had forgotten it.
"I took the rope down to examine it: it was no other than a lasso, fullfifty feet long, with an iron ring neatly whipped into the loop-end;and, on trying it with a pull, I saw it was in the best condition. Ofcourse, I was not likely to leave such a prize behind me. I had grown,as you may all conceive, to have a very great regard for a rope,considering that one had just saved all our lives; so I resolved onbringing the lasso with me. In order to carry it the more conveniently,I coiled it, and then hung the coil across my shoulders like a belt. Inext packed my game into the bag, which they filled chock up to themouth, and was turning to come back to camp, when my eye fell upon anobject that caused me suddenly to change my intention.
"I was near the edge of the woods, and through the trunks I could see alarge open space beyond, where there were no trees, or only one here andthere. In the middle of this opening there was a cloud of dust, and inthe thick of it I could see two great dark animals in motion. They wererunning about, and now and then coming together with a sudden rush; andevery time they did so, I could hear a loud thump, like the stroke of asledge-hammer. The sun was shining upon the yellow dust-cloud, and theanimals appeared from this circumstance to be of immense size--muchlarger than they really were. Had I not known what kind of creatureswere before me, I should have believed that the mammoths were still inexistence. But I knew well what they were: I had seen many before,carrying on just such a game. I knew they were buffalo bulls, engaged inone of their terrible battles.
"Here Basil's narrative was interrupted by a singular incident. Indeed,it had been interrupted more than once by strange noises that were heardat some distance off in the woods. These noises were not all alike: atone time they resembled the barking of a cur dog; at another, they mighthave been mistaken for the gurglings of a person who was being hanged;and then would follow a shriek so dreadful that for some time the woodswould echo with its dismal sound! After the shriek a laugh would beheard, but a miserable "haw-haw-haw!" unlike the laugh of a sane person.
"All these strange voices were calculated to inspire terror, and so havethey many a time, with travellers not accustomed to the solitary woodsof America. But our young voyageurs were not at all alarmed by them.They knew from what sort of a creature they proceeded; they knew theywere the varying notes of the great horned-owl; and as they had seen andheard many a one before, they paid no heed to this individual.
"While Basil was going on with his relation, the bird had been severaltimes seen to glide past, and circle around upon his noiseless pinions.So easy was his flight, that the slightest inclining of his spread tail,or the bending of his broad wing, seemed sufficient to turn and carryhim in any direction. Nothing could be more graceful than his flight,which was not unlike that of the eagle, while he w
as but little inferiorin size to one of these noble birds.
"What interrupted Basil was, that the owl had alighted upon a branch nottwenty feet from where they were all sitting round the fire, by theblaze of which they now had a full view of this singular creature. Themoment it alighted, it commenced uttering its hideous and unmusicalcries, at the same time going through such a variety of contortions,both with its head and body, as to cause the whole party a fit oflaughter. It was, in fact, an odd and interesting sight to witness itsgrotesque movements, as it turned first its body, and then its headaround, without moving the shoulders, while its great honey-colouredeyes glared in the light of the fire. At the end of every attitude andutterance, it would snap its bill with such violence, that the crackingof the mandibles upon each other might have been heard to the distanceof several hundred yards.
"This was too much for Francois' patience to bear, and he immediatelycrept to his gun. He had got hold of the piece, and cocked it; but, justas he was about to take aim, the owl dropped silently down from thebranch, and, gliding gently forward, thrust out its feathered leg, andlifted one of the grouse in its talons. The latter had been lying uponthe top of a fallen tree not six feet from the fire! The owl, afterclutching it, rose into the air; and the next moment would have beenlost in darkness, but the crack of Francois' rifle put a sudden stop toits flight, and with the grouse still clinging to its claws it fellfluttering to the earth. Marengo jumped forward to seize it; but Marengolittle knew the sort of creature he had to deal with."
It happened to be only "winged," and as soon as the dog came near, itthrew itself upon its back, and struck at him with its talons sowickedly, that he was fain to approach it with more caution. It costMarengo a considerable fight before he succeeded in getting his jawsover it. During the contest it continually snapped its bill, while itsgreat goggle eyes kept alternately and quickly opening and closing, andthe feathers being erected all over its body, gave it the appearance ofbeing twice its real size. Marengo at length succeeded in "crunching"it--although not until he was well scratched about the snout--and itsuseless carcass having been thrown upon the ground, the dog continued toworry and chew at it, while Basil went on with his narration.
