Among the many queer characters I have encountered in the shadow of the
forest, or the sunshine of the prairie, I can remember none _queerer_,
or more original, than Zebulon Stump--"Old Zeb Stump," as he was
familiarly known among his acquaintances.
"Kaintuck by birth and raisin'," as he used to describe himself, he was
a hunter of the pure Daniel Boone breed. The chase was his sole
railing; and he would have indignantly scouted the suggestion, that he
ever followed it for mere amusement.
Though by no means of uncongenial disposition, he affected to hold all
amateur hunters in a kind of lordly contempt; and his conversation with
such was always of a condescending character. For all this, he was not
averse to their company; especially that of the young gentlemen of the
neighbourhood who chanced to be honoured with his acquaintance.
Being myself one of those who could lay claim to this privilege, I
oft-times availed myself of it; and many of my hunting excursions were
made in the companionship of Old Zeb Stump. He was, in truth, my guide
and instructor, as well as companion; and initiated me into many
mysteries of American woodcraft, in which I was at that time but little
skilled.
To me one of the most insoluble of these mysteries was that of Old Zeb's
own existence; and I was acquainted with him for a considerable time
before I could unravel the clue to it. He stood six feet in boots,
fabricated out of the tanned skin of an alligator--into the ample tops
of which were crowded the legs of a pair of coarse "copperas" trowsers;
while the only other garments upon his body were a doeskin shirt, and a
"blanket-coat" that had once been green, but, like the leaves of the
autumnal forest, had become changed to a sere and yellowish hue. A
slouch "felt" shaded his cheeks from the sun; though for this purpose it
was not often needed: since it was only upon very rare occasions that
Old Zeb strayed beyond the shadows of the "Timber."
Where he lived, and how he supported himself, were to me the two points
that chiefly required clearing up. In the tract of virgin forest, where
I was in the habit of meeting him by appointment, there was neither
house nor hut. So said the people of Grand Gulf (a small town upon the
Mississippi in which I was sojourning). And yet Old Zeb had told me
that in this forest region was his home.
It was only after our acquaintance had ripened into a strong feeling of
fellowship, that I became his guest; and had the pleasure of spending an
hour under his humble roof.
Humble I may truly designate it, since it consisted of the hollow trunk
of a gigantic sycamore-tree, still strading and growing!
In this cavity Old Zeb found sufficient shelter for him self, his
"squaw," as he termed Mrs Stump (whose existence was now for the first
time revealed to me), his _penates_, and, when the weather required it,
for the tough old cob that carried him in his forest wanderings.
His household was no longer a puzzle; though there still remained the
mystery of how he managed to maintain it.
A skilled hunter might easily procure sufficient food for himself and
family; but even the hunter disdains a diet exclusively game. There was
the coffee (to a strong cup of which I was myself made welcome); the
"pone" of corn-bread; the corn itself necessary to the sustenance of the
old horse; the muslin gown that shrouded the somewhat angular outlines
of Mrs Stump; with many other commodities that could not be procured by
a rifle. Even the rifle itself required food not to be found in the
forest.
Presuming on our friendly intimacy, I put the question:
"How do you make out to live? You don't appear to manufacture anything,
nor do I see any signs of cultivation around your dwelling. How, then,
do you support yourself?"
"Them keeps us--them thar," answered my host, pointing to a corner of
his tree-cabin.
I looked in the direction indicated. The skins of several species of
animals, among which I recognised those of the painter, 'possum, and
'coon, along with a haunch or two of recently-killed venison, met my
glance.
"Oh! you traffic in these?"
"Jess so, stranger. Sells the skins to the storekeeper an' the deer
meat to anybody as'll buy it."
"But I have never seen you in the town."
"I never goes thar. I don't like them stinkin' storekeepers. They
allers cheats me."
"Who, then, does the marketing for you?"
"The ole 'oman thar. She kin manage them counter-jumpers better'n I
kin. Can't you, ole gurl?"
"Well, that I guess I can," replied the partner of Old Zeb's bosom, with
an emphasis that left no doubt upon my mind that she believed herself to
be speaking the truth.
I now recollected having more than once seen Mrs Stump in the streets
of Grand Gulf, on her marketing errands, and having dined at an hotel
upon a haunch of buck of her especial providing. Still more, I
remembered purchasing from her a brace of white-headed eagles
(_falco-leucocephalus_), which this good lady had brought in from the
forest, and which I had forwarded to the Zoological Society of London.
Old Zeb's shooting was something that to me at the time appeared
marvellous. He could "bark" a squirrel among the tops of the tallest
tree; or could equally kill it by sending his bullet through its eye.
He used to boast, in a quiet way, that he never "spoilt a skin, though
it war only that o' a contemptible squ'll."
But what interested me more than all was his tales of adventure, of most
of which he was himself the hero. Many of these were well worthy of
being recorded.
One I deemed of especial interest, partly from its own essential
oddness, partly from the quaint queerness of the language in which it
was related to me, and not a little from the fact of its hingeing on a
phenomenon, to which more than once I had myself been witness. I allude
to the caving in, or breaking down of the banks of the Mississippi
river, caused by the undermining influence of the current; when large
slips of land, often whole acres, thickly studded with gigantic trees,
glide into the water, to be swished away with a violence equalling the
vortex of Charybdis.
It was in connection with one of these land-slips that Old Zeb had met
with the adventure in question, which came very near depriving him of
his life, as it did of his liberty for a period of several days'
duration.
Perhaps the narration had best be given in his own piquant _patois_; and
I shall so set it forth, as nearly as I can transcribe it from the
tablets of my memory.
I was indebted for the tale to a chance circumstance: for it was a rare
thing in Old Zeb to volunteer a story, unless something turned up to
suggest it.
We had killed a fine buck, which had run several hundred lengths of
himself with the lead in his carcass, and had fallen within a few feet
of the bank of the river.
While stopping to "gralloch the deer," Old Zeb looked around with a
pointed expression, as he did so, exclaiming:
"Darn me! ef this ain't the place whar I war trapped in a tree!
Dog-gone ef taint! Thar's the very saplin' itself."
I looked at the "saplin'" to which my companion was pointing. It was a
swamp cypress, of some thirty feet in girth, by at least a hundred and
fifty in height.
"Trapped in a tree?" I echoed, with emphatic interest, perceiving that
Old Zeb was upon the edge of some odd adventure.
Desirous of tempting him to the relation of it, I continued, "Trapped in
a tree? How could that be, Mr Stump, an old forester like you?"
"It did be, howsomedever," was the quaint reply of my companion, "an'
not so very long agone neyther; only about three yeer. Ef ye'll sit
down a bit, an' we may as well, since the sun's putty consid'able
hellish hot jest now, I'll tell ye all about it. An' I kin tell ye, for
I hain't forgotten neery sarcumstance o' the hul thing. No, that I
hain't, an' I'll lay odds, young feller, that ef you ever be as badly
skeeart as I war then, you'll carry the recollexshun o' that skeear till
ye gets chucked into yur coffin--ay, that ye will!"
Old Zeb here paused; but whether to reflect on what he was going to say
next, or to give time for his last words to produce their due
impression, I could not determine. I refrained from making rejoinder,
knowing that I had now got him fairly over the edge of the adventure,
and was safe enough to "have it out."
"Wal, kumrade, I war out arter deer, jest as you an' me are the day;
only it had got to be lateish--nigh sundown i'deed--and I hadn't emptied
my rifle the hul day. Fact is, I hadn't sot eye on a thing wuth a
charge o' powder an' lead. I war afut; an', as you know yerself, it are
a good six mile from this to my shanty. I didn't like goin' home empy
handed, 'specially as I knowed we war empy-housed at the time, an' the
ole 'ooman wanted somethin' to get us a pound or two o' coffee an' sugar
fixins. So I thort I shed stay all night i' the wuds, trustin' to
gettin' a shot at a stray buck or a turkey-gobbler i' the urly daylight.
I war jest in the spot whar we air now; only it looked quite different
then. The under scrub's been all burnt down, as you may see. Then the
hul place about hyar war kivered wi' the tallest o' cane, an' so thick,
a coon ked scace a worm'd his way through it.
"Wal, stranger, 'ithout makin' more ado, I tuk up my quarters for the
night under that ere big cyprus. The groun' war dampish, for thar had
been a spell o' rain; so I tuk out my bowie, an' cut me enuf o' the
green cane to make me a sort o' a shake-down.
"It war comfitable enuf; an' in the twinklin' o' a buck's tail I war
sound asleep.
"I slep like a 'possum till the day war beginnin' to break; an' then I
awoke, or rayther, war awoke by the damdest noise as ever rousted a
fellar out o' his slumber. I heerd a skreekin', an' screamin', an'
screevin', as ef all the saws in Massissippi war bein' sharped 'ithin
twenty yards o' my ear.
"It all kim from overhead, from out the tops o' the cyprus.
"I warn't puzzled a bit by them thar sounds. I knowed it war the
calling o' the baldy eagles: for it warn't the fust time I had listened
to them thar.
"`Thar's a neest,' sez I to myself; `an' young uns too. Thet's why the
birds is makin' such a dod-rotted rumpus.'
"Not that I cared much about a eagle's neest, nor the birds themselves
neyther. But jess then I remembers some thin' my ole 'ooman hed tolt
me. She hed heerd thet there war a rich Britisher staying at the hotel
in Grand Gulf, who were offerin' no eend o' money to whomsoever ud git
him a brace o' young baldy eagles."
"You were rightly informed: it was I who made the offer."
"Dog-gone it, wur it you? Ef I'd know'd--but niver mind; I kudn't a
done diff'rent from what I did. Wal, strenger, in coorse I clomb the
tree. It warn't so easy as you may s'pose. Thar war forty feet o' the
stem 'ithout a branch, an' so smooth that a catamount kedn't a scaled
it. I thort at first that the cyprus warn't climeable nohow; but jess
then I seed a big fox-grape-vine, that arter sprawlin' up another tree
clost by, left this un, an' then sloped off to the one whar the baldies
hed thar neest. This war the very thing I wanted--a sort o' Jaykup's
ladder--an' 'ithout wastin' a minute o' time, I speeled up the
grape-vine.
"It warn't no joke neyther. The darned thing wobbled about till I wur
well nigh pitched back to the groun': an' there war a time when I thort
seriously o' slippin' down agin.
"But then kim the thort o' the ole woman an' the empty house at hum,
along wi' what she'd sayed about the Britisher an' his big purse; and
bein' freshly narved by these recolleckshuns, I swarmed up the vine like
a squ'll.
"Once upon the Cyprus thar warn't no diffeequilty in reachin' the neest.
There war plenty o' footin' among the top branches whar the birds had
made thar eyeray.
"For all that it warn't so easy to get into the neest. There kedn't a
been less than a waggon-load o' sticks in that thar construckshun, to
say nothin' o' Spanish moss, an' the baldies' own dreppins, an' all
sorts o' bones belonging to both fish an' four-footed anymals. It tuk
me nigh an hour to make a hole so that I ked get my head above the edge,
and see what the neest contained.
"As I expected, thar war young 'uns in it, two o' them about
half-feathered. All this time the ole birds had been abroad--as I
supposed, lookin' up a breakfast for thar chicks.
"`How darned disappointed they'll be!' sez I to myself, `when they gits
back an' find that thar young 'uns have fled the neest--'ithout
feathers!'
"I war too sure o' my game and too kewrious about the young baldies,
watchin' them as they cowered close together, hissin' and threetenin'
me, to take notice o' anythin' besides.
"But I war rousted out o' my rev'rie by feelin' the hat suddintly jirked
up off o' my head, at the same time gettin' a scratch across the cheek,
that sent the blood spurtin' all over my face. It wur the talons o' the
she eagle as did it; while the ole cock, clost to her tail, kept
skreekin' an' screamin' an' makin' a confusion o' noises, as if he had
jess come custrut from the towers o' Babylon.
"I had grupped one o' the young baldies afore the old 'uns kim up. I
needn't tell ye I war only too glad to let the durned thing go agen, an'
duck my head under the edge o' the neest; whar I kep it, till the
critters had got a sort o' tired threetenin' me, and guv up the attack.
"I needn't tell ye, neyther, thet I, too, hed gin up all thort o' takin'
the young eagles. Arter the wound I'd received I war contented to leave
'em alone; an' not all the gold in the Britisher's purse ked then have
bought that brace o' birds.
"I only waited to rekiver my composure; an' then I commenced makin' back
tracks down the tree.
"I hed got 'bout halfway atween the baldies' neest an' the place whar
the fox-grape tuk holt o' the cyprus, when I war stopped short by
somethin' I heerd--a sound far more terrific than the screech o' the
eagles.
"It war the creakin' and crashin' o' timber--along wi' that unairthly
rumblin' such as ye may hear when the banks o' the great Mississippi be
a cavin' in.
"It war that very thing itself. I kud see the trees that stood atween
me an' the river, tumblin' an' tossin' about, an' then goin' wi' a grand
swish an' a plunge into the fast flowin' current o' the stream. The
cyprus itself shook as if the wind war busy among its branches. I ked
feel a suddint jirk upon it, an' then it righted agin, and stood steady
as a rock. The eagles above me war screamin' wusa than ever, while I
below war tremblin' like an aspin.
"I knowed well enuf what it all meaned. I knowed that it war the bank
o' the river cavin' in; but knowin' this, didn't gie me any great
satisfaction: since I war under the belief that in another minute the
Cyprus mout _cave in too_.
"I didn't stay the ten thousandth frakshun o' a minute. I hurried to
git back to the groun; an' soon reached the place whar the grape-vine
jeined on to the Cyprus.
"There warn't no grape-vine to be seen. It war clur gone away.
"The tother tree to which its root had been clingin' war one o' them as
had falled into the river, takin' the fox-grape along wi' it. It war
that had gin the pluck I feeled when descendin' from the neest.
"I looked below. The river had changed its channel. Instead o' runnin'
twenty yurds from the spot it war surgin' along clost to the bottom o'
the cyprus. I seed that in another minuit the cyprus itself mout topple
over into the stream, an' be whirled along, or swallowed in the frothin'
water.
"For me to git to the ground was plainly unpossible. I ked only do so
by jumpin' forty foot in the clur, an' I knew that to do so wud a
shivered my ole thigh-bones, tough as they mout be.
"I ked do nothin' but stay whar I war--nothin' but wait and watch--
listenin' to the screamin' o' the eagles--as skeeart as myself--to the
hoarse roarin' o' the angry waters, an' the crashin' o' the trees, as
one arter another they fell victims to the underminin' influence o' the
flood."
I had by this time become fascinated by the narrative, Old Zeb's
thoughts, notwithstanding the _patois_ in which they were expressed, had
risen to the sublime; and although he paused for some minutes, I made no
attempt to interrupt his reflections, but in silence I waited for him to
continue his tale.
"Wal, strenger, what do ye suppose I did next?" was the interrogation
with which my ears were soon after saluted.
"Really, I cannot imagine," I replied, considerably surprised at Old
Zeb's question, abrupt as it was unexpected.
"Wal; ye don't suppose I kim down from the tree?"
"I don't see how you could."
"Neyther did I. I kedn't an' I didn't. I mout as well a tried to git
down the purpendikler face o' the Chicasaw bluff, or the wall o'
Lexin'ton Court-house. I seed I kedn't make a descent o' it no how, an'
thurfore I guv it up, an' stayed whar I war, crosslegs on a branch o'
the tree.
"It warn't the most comfutable kind o' seat, but I hed somethin' else
than kushions to think o'. I didn't know the minnit I mout be shot out
into the Massissippi; an' as I never war much o' a swimmer--to say
nothin' o' bein' smashed among the branches in fallin', I warn't over
satisfied wi' my situation.
"As I ked do nothin' but stick it out, I stuck it out, keepin' to my
seat like death to a dead nigger, only shiftin' a leetle now an' then to
ease my achin' posteerors.
"In this unkomfitable condishun I passed the hul o' that day. Though
there warn't an easy bone in my body, I had got to be a bit easier in my
mind; for on lookin' down at the river, I begun to believe that the
cavin' in had kum to an eend, an' that the Cyprus war goin' to keep its
place.
"So far I felt komfited; but this feelin' didn't last long. It war
follered by the reflexshun that whether the tree war to stand or fall, I
war equally a lost man.
"I knowd that I war beyond the reach o' human help. Nothin' but chance
ked fetch livin' critter within hearin' o' my voice. I seed the river
plain enuf, an' boats mout be passin' up an' down--both steam an' flat--
but I knowed that both was 'customed to steer along the opposite shore,
to 'void the dang'rous eddy as sets torst the side I war on. The river,
as ye see, young feller, are moren' a mile wide at this place. The
people on a passin' boat wudn't hear me; an' if they did, they'd take it
for some one a mockin' o' them. A man hailin' a boat from the top o' a
cyprus tree! I knowd it 'ud be no use.
"For all that I made trial o' it. Boats did come past, o' all kinds as
navigate the Massissippi; steamers, keel-boats, an' flats. I hailed
them all--hailed till I was hoarse. They must a heerd me. I'm sartain
some o' 'em did, for I war answered by shouts o' scornful laughter. My
own shouts o' despair mout a been mistuk for the cries o' a mocker or a
madman."
The hunter once more paused in his narrative, as if overpowered by the
remembrance of those moments of misery. I remained silent as before--as
before struck with the sublimity of thought, to which the backwoodsman
was unconsciously giving speech.
Observing my silence he resumed his narration.
"Wal, strenger; I kim to the konclusion that I war _trapped in that
tree_, an' no mistake. I seed no more chance o' gettin' clur than kud a
bar wi' a two ton log across the small o' his back. The only hope I hed
war that the ole ooman 'ud be arter me, as she usooally is whensoever
I'm missin' for a spell. But that moutn't be for a single night, nor
two on 'em in succession. Beside, what chance o' her findin' me in a
track o' timmer twenty mile in sarcumference? That hope war only
'vanesccnt, an' soon died out 'ithin me.
"It war just arter I had gin up all hope o' being suckered by anybody
else, that I begun to think o' doin' suthin' for myself. I needed to do
suthin'. Full thirty hours hed passed since I'd eyther ate or drunk,
for I'd been huntin' all the day before 'ithout doin' eyther. I war
both hungry an' thusty--if anythin', sufferin' most from the
last-mentioned o' them two evils. I ked a swallered the muddiest water
as ever war found in a puddle, an' neyther frogs nor tadpoles would a
deterred me. As to eatin', when I thort o' that, I kudn't help runnin'
my eyes up'ards; an' spite o' the spurt I'd hed wi' thar parents I ked
a' told them young baldies that thur lives war in danger.
"Possible, I mout a feeled hungrier an' thustier than I did, if it
hedn't been for the fear I war in, 'bout the cyprus topplin' over into
the river. That hed kep me in sich a state o' skeear as to hinder me
from thinkin' o' moust anythin' else. As the time passed, hows'ever,
an' the tree still kep its purpendicklar, I begun to b'lieve that the
bank warn't agoin to move any more. I ked see the water down below,
through the branches o' the cyprus, an' tho' it war clost by, thar
'peared to be a clanjamfery o' big roott stickin' out from the bank, as
war like to keep the dirt firm agin the underminin' o' the current--
leastwise for a good spell.
"Soon as I bekum satersfied o' this, I feeled easier; an once more tuk
to thinkin' how I war to get down. Jess as afore, the thinkin' warn't
to no purpiss. Thar war no way but to jump it, an' I mout as well ha'
thort o' jumpin' from the top o' a 'piscopy church steeple 'ithout
gettin' squashed. I gin the thing up in shur despurashun.
"By this time it hed got to be night; an' as thar warn't no use o' my
makin' things wuss than they war, I looked about the cyprus to see ef
thar war any limb softer than another, whar I ked lay my karkiss for a
snoose.
"I found a place in one o' the forks large enuf to lodge a full growd
bar. Thar I squatted.
"I slep putty well, considerin' thet the scratch the eagle had gin me
had got to be soreish, an' war wuss torst the mornin'. Beside, I warn't
quite easy in my mind 'bout the cavin' in o' the bank; an' more'n once I
woke wi' a start thinkin' I war being switched into the river. Nothin'
partickler happened till peep o' day, an' nothin' very partickler then,
'ceptin' that I feeled hungry enuf to eat a raw skunk. Jess at that
minnit the young baldies war in bad kumpny. While I war thinkin' o'
climbin' up to the neest an' ringin' one o' thar necks, I chanced to
look out over the river. All at onest I see one o' them big
water-hawks--_osparay_ they call 'em--plunge down an' rise up agin wi' a
catfish in his claws. He hadn't got twenty fut above the surface, when
one o' the old baldies--the hen it war--went shootin' torst him like a
streak o' greased lightnin'. Afore he ked a counted six, I seed the she
baldy comin' torst the tree wi' the catfish in _her_ claws.
"`Good,' sez I to myself, `ef I must make my breakfast on the raw, I'd
rayther it shed be fish than squab eagle.'
"I started for the neest. This time I tuk the purcaushun to unsheath my
bowie, and carry it in my hand ready for a fight; an' it warnt no idle
purcaushun as it proved, for scace hed I got my head above the edge o'
the neest, when both the ole birds attackted me jess as before.
"The fight war now more evenly atween us; an' the cunnin' critters
appeared to know it, for they kep' well out o' reach o' the bowie,
though floppin' an' clawin' at me whenever they seed a chance. I gin
the ole hen a prod thet cooled her courage considrable; an' as for the
cock, he warn't a sarcumstance to her, for, as you knows, young feller,
_the cock o' eagles is allers the hen bird_.
"The fish war lyin' in the bottom o' the neest whar the hen had dropped
it. It hadn't been touched, 'ceptin' by her claws whar she had carried
it; and the young 'uns war too much skeeart durin' the skrimmage to
think o' thar breakfast.
"I spiked the catfish on the blade o' my bowie, an' drawin' it torst me,
I slid back down the tree to the fork whar I had passed the night. Thar
I ate it."
"Raw?"
"Jess as it kum from the river. I mout a gin it a sort o' a cookin' ef
I'd liked; for I hed my punk pouch wi' me, an' I ked a got firin' from
the dead bark o' the cyprus. But I war too hungry to wait, an' I ate it
raw. The fish war a kupple o' pound weight; an' I left nothin' o' it
but the bones, fins, an' tail. The guts I gin to the young eagles, for
a purpose I hed jess then.
"As ye may guess, I warn't hungry any longer, but thar kumd upon me a
spell o' the durndest thust I ever sperienced in all my life. The fish
meat made it wuss, for arter I had swallered it, I feeled as ef my
inside war afire. It war like a pile o' hickery sticks burnin' in my
belly, an' bleezin' up through my breast and jugglers. The sun war
shinin' full upon the river, an' the glitterin' o' the water made things
wuss, for it made me hanker arter it, an' crave it all the more.
"Onest or twice I got out o' the fork, thinkin' I ked creep along a limb
an' drop down into the river. I shed a done so hed it been near enuf,
tho' I knowd I ked niver a swum ashore. But I seed the water war too
far off an' I hed to gie the idee up an' go back to my den.
"'Twar o' no use chawin' the twigs o' the cyprus. They war full o'
rozin, an 'ud only make the chokin' worse. Thar war some green leaves
o' the fox-grape-vine, an I chawed all o' them I ked lay my claws on.
It dud some good; but my sufferins war a'most unbarable.
"How war I to get at the water o' that river, that flowed so tauntinly
jess out o' reach? That war the queery that nixt occerpied me.
"I 'most jumped off o' the tree when at last I bethort me o' a way; for
I did bethink me o' one.
"I hed a piece o' string I allers carries about me. 'Twar quite long
enuf to reach the river bank, an' let it down into the water. I ked
empy my powder-horn and let it down. It wud fill, an' I ked then draw
it up agin. Hooray!
"I shouted that hooray only onest. On lookin' for the horn I diskivered
thet I hed left it on the ground, whar I hed tuk it off afore goin' to
sleep under the cyprus.
"I warn't agoin' to be beat in that easy way. Ef I had no vessel that
wud draw water I hed my ole doeskin shirt. I ked let that down, soak
it, an' pull it up agin'.
"No sooner sayed than done. The shirt war peeled off, gathered up into
a clew, tied to the eend o' the string, an' chucked out'ard.
"It struck a branch o' the cyprus, an' fell short.
"I tried agin, an' agin, an' over agin. The darned thing still fell
short several feet from the bank o' the river. It warn't any fault o'
the cord. It war long enuf. It war the thick branches o' the cyprus
that gin me no chance to make a clur cast. I tried till I got dead
tired of failin'--till I seed the thing war impossible--an' then I gin
it up.
"I shed a felt dreadful at failin' arter bein' so cock sure o' suckcess;
but jess then I bethut me o' another plan for reachin' that preecious
flooid. I've tolt ye 'bout my cuttin' a lot o' cane to make me a
shake-down for sleepin' on. Thar it still war, right under me--a hul
cord o' it.
"The sight o' the long tubes surgested a new idee, which I warn't long
in puttin' to practice. Takin' the shirt out o' its loop, I made the
string fast to the heft o' my bowie. I then shot the knife down among
the cane, sendin' it wi' all my might, an' takin' care to keep the peint
o' the blade down'ards. It warn't long afore I hed spiked up as much o'
thet ere cane as wud a streetched twenty yurds into the river.
"It tuk more time to manafacter the machine I intended makin', which war
a long tube as mout enable me to draw up the water o' the stream. Thar
war no eend o' whittlin' an' punchin' out the jeints, an' then splicin'
the tubes one to the tother. But I knowd it war a case o' life or
death; an' knowin' thet, I worked on constant as a ole gin-hoss.
"I war rewarded for my patience. I got my blow-gun completed, an'
shovin' it carefully out, takin' the percaushun to gie it a double rest
upon the branches, I hed the saterfaction to see its peint dippin' down
into the river.
"My mouth war applied to the other eend, an' oh, golly! Thar warn't no
mint julep ever sucked through a straw, as tasted like the flooid that
kim gurglin' up through that ere cane. I thort I ked niver take the
thing from my lips, an' I feel putty sartin thet while I war drinkin',
the Massissippi must a fell a kupple o' feet in the clur."
"Ha! ha! ha!"
"Ye may larf, young fellar, an' I'm glad to see ye in sech good spirits;
but ye ant so elevated as I war. When I tuk my mouth from the cane, I
feeled all over a new man, jess as ef I hed been raised from the dead,
or dragged out o' a consoomin' fire.
"Wal, strenger, I haint yet got to the eend o' my story--I s'pose you
wish to hear the hul on it?"
"By all means--let me hear the _finale_."
"I don't know what ye mean by the finalley, but I'll gie ye the wind-up
o' the affair; which preehaps are the most kewrious part o' it.
"I lived in the fork of thet ere cyprus for six long days, occasionally
payin' a visit to the eagles' necst, an' robbin' the young baldies o'
the food thar parents hed purvided for them. Thar diet war various,
consistin' o' fish, flesh, an' fowl, an' o' a konsequence so war mine.
I hed all three for a change; sometimes a rabbit, sometimes a squrrel,
with game to foller, sech as partridge, teal, an' widgeon. I didn't
cook 'em at all. I war afraid o' settin' fire to the withered leaves o'
the tree, an' burnin' up the neest--which wud a been like killin' the
goose as laid the eggs o' gold.
"I mout a managed that sort o' existence for a longer spell, tho' I
acknowledge it war tiresome enuf. But it warn't that as made me anxious
to gie up, but suthin' very diff'rent. I seed that the young baldies
war every day gettin' bigger. Thar feathers war comin' out all over an'
I ked tell that it wudn't be long till they'd take wing.
"When that time arrove whar shed I be? Still in the tree ov coorse; but
whar war my purvision to cum from? Who wud supply me wi' fish an' flesh
an' fowl, as the eagles had done? Clurly ne'er a one. It war this
thort as made me uneezy. I knew it war not likely I shed ever be
diskivered now, since my ole 'ooman hedn't made her appearance sooner;
an' as to any boat stoppin' for my hail, thet trick I hed tried till I
war a'most broken-winded--leastwise I hed kep' hollerin' every hour day
arter day till my thrapple war as sore as a blister.
"I seed clarly thet I must do suthin' to get down out o' that tree, or
die among its branches, an' I spent all my spare time in thinkin' what
_mout_ be did. I used to read in Webster's spellin'-book that
`needcessity are the mother o' invenshun.' I reckon old Web warn't fur
astray when he prented them ere words--anyways it proved true in the
case o' Zeb Stump, at the time he war stuck up in that cyprus.
"I hed noticed thet the two ole eagles bekim tamer and tamer as they got
used to me. They seed thet I did no harm to thar chicks, 'ceptin' so
far as to abstrack from them a portion o' thar daily allowance; but I
allers took care to leave them sufficient for themselves, an' as thar
parents appeared to hev no diffeequlty in purvidin' them wi' plenty--
unlike many parents in your country, as I've heerd, strenger--my
pilferins didn't seem much to distress them.
"They grew at last thet they'd sit on the one side o' the neest, while I
war peepin' over the other!
"I seed thet I ked easily snare them, an' I made up my mind to do thet
very thing: for a purtickler purpus thet kumm'd into my head, an' which
promised to extercate me out o' the ugly scrape I hed so foolishly got
into.
"Wal, strenger, my idee war this. I hed noticed thet the eagles war
both big birds, an' strong i' the wing. Everybody knows thet much. It
thurfore occurred to me that I mout make them wings do me a sarvice,--
otherways thet they _mout carry me out o' the tree_.
"In coorse I didn't intend they shed take me up i' the air. There
warn't much danger o' that. I only thort they mout sarve to break my
fall like one o' them things, _parryshoots_ I b'lieve they call 'em, an'
the which I myself had seed onest in Noo Orleans, sent up into the air
wi' a cat and a coon in it.
"Arter I'd got my plan tol'ably well traced out, I sot about trappin'
the old eagles.
"In less 'n an hour's time I hed both o' 'em in my keepin', wi' thar
beaks spliced to keep 'em from bitin' me, an' thar claws cropped clur
off wi' my bowie.
"I then strengthened the cord I hed used to draw up the canes, by
doublin' it half a dozen times, until it war stout enuf to carry my
weight. One eend o' it I looped round the legs o' the eagles, gatherin'
all four into a bunch, whilst the other eend I made fast around my own
karkiss, jess under the armpits.
"I did all this upon the lowest limb o' the cyprus, whar I had fetched
down the eagles.
"When all war ready, I drew my bowie from its sheath, and with its sharp
peint I pricked both the baldies at the same time, so as to set them
a-floppin. As soon as I seed thar four wings in full play, I slid off
o' the branch, directin' myself torst the groun' underneath.
"I ant very sartin as to what follered. I only recollex bein' dragged
through the branches o' the cyprus, an' the minnit arter plungin'
_cochuck_ into the waters o' the Massissippi. I shed most sartinly a
been drowned ef that ere cord had broken, or the eagles had got loose.
As it war, the birds kep' beatin' the water wi' thar big wings, and in
thet way hindered Zeb Stump from goin' under.
"I've heerd o' a woman they called Veenis bein' drawed through the sea
by a kupple o' swans; but I don't b'lieve they kud a drawed her at a
quicker rate o' speed than I war carried over the buzum o' the
Massissippi. In less than five minnits from the time I hed dropped out
o' the tree, I seed myself in the middle o' the river and still
scufflin' on. I seed that the baldies war boun' for the Arkansaw shore,
an' knowin' that my life depended on thar reachin' it, I offered no
opposition to thar efforts, but lay still an' allowed them to continue
thar career.
"As good luck wud hev it, they had strength enuf left to complete the
crossin'; an' thar war another bit o' good luck in the Arkansaw bank
bein' on a level wi' the surface o' the water; so that in five minnits
arter, I foun' myself among the bushes, the baldies still flutterin'
about me, as ef determined to carry me on over the great parairas o' the
West.
"I feeled that it war time to stop the steam, an' take in sail; so
clutchin' holt o' a branch, I brought the baldies to anchor. I war all
out o' breath, and it war some time afore I ked rekiver my legs, and
release myself from my feathered kumpanyuns. I tuk good care not to let
them go; though sartintly I owed them thet much for the sarvice they had
done me, but jess then I bethort me o' the Britisher at Grand Gulf--ah!
you it war, ye say, young feller?"
"Certainly. And those are the eagles I purchased from Mrs Stump?"
"Them same birds, strenger. You shed a hed the young 'uns, but thar
warn't no chance ever ag'in to clomb thet cyprus, an' what bekim o' the
poor critters arterward, I haint the most distant idee. I reckin they
ended thar days in the neest, which ye still see up thar; an' ef they
did, I reckin the buzzarts wudn't be long in makin' a meal o' 'em."
With my eyes directed to the top of the tall cypress, and fixed upon a
dark mass, resembling a stack of faggots, I listened to the concluding
words of this queer chapter of "Backwoods Adventure."
Story 7.