"Now, Mass' George," said Pomp, as we stood at the foot of the tree, and
stamped about to get rid of the stiffness, and cold brought on by our
cramped position on the branch, "de fuss ting am breckfuss. I so
dreffle hungry."
"But we ate everything last night," I said.
"Neb mind; plenty duck in de ribber. You go shoot four lil duck, dat
two piece, while Pomp make fire to roace um."
"But how are we to get a light?"
"You see," he said, as he busily began to get together all the loose
sticks he could find lying about, at the same time showing me a stone
and his knife with a little bag full of tinder. "I soon get light,
Mass' George; I get big fire much soon you get de duck."
The proposition was so sensible that I went off with the gun, and
following the course of the river beyond the bluff, I was not long
before I heard a familiar noise, and creeping forward in the grey dawn,
I was soon crouching behind the low growth by a wide pool of the river,
where quite a flock of ducks were disporting themselves, preening their
feathers, diving, making the bright drops run over their backs like
pearls, and ending by flapping and beating the water heavily with their
wings, exactly as I had seen them perform in the pond at home.
I waited my opportunity, lying flat now on my chest, and at last, after
nearly firing three or four times and always waiting for a better
chance, I drew trigger upon a knot of the ducks after getting several
well in a line. There was a deafening report, a sensation as if my
shoulder was broken, and a thick film of smoke hid everything from my
sight. But as the shot went echoing along the side of the forest, I
could hear the whistling and whirring of wings where the ducks flapped
along the water, rose, and swept away over the trees. Then the smoke
rose, and to my great delight there lay five of the unfortunate ducks;
three perfectly still, and floating slowly to the shallow below the
pool, the other two flapping wildly and trying to reach the farther
shore.
To get the three was easy. I had but to wait and then wade in over the
shallow to where I could see the sandy and pebbly bottom quite plain.
To get the wounded ducks meant a swim, and perhaps a long hunt.
"Better shoot at them again," I thought, when I shuddered, for something
dark appeared behind one; there was a snap, and it disappeared, while
almost at the same moment the other, which must have been nearly twenty
yards away, was suddenly struck down beneath the water by something
which puzzled me at first, but which the next minute I knew to be an
alligator's tail.
I turned to my three, now well over the shallows, and hesitated as to
whether I dared risk going after them, not knowing but that an alligator
might make a rush out of the deep black pool and seize them first, or
failing them perhaps seize me.
But I was hungry too, and leaping in, I secured all three birds after
splashing through the water a bit, and reached the shore again in
safety, but not without many an excited look round at the deep place
where I knew the monsters were lurking; and as I shook the water from my
legs, and stamped about on the bank, I found myself thinking what a pity
it was such a lovely country should be marred by dangerous beasts and
horrible reptiles like the rattlesnakes and alligators.
Then I thought of the ducks, and as I held them all three by their
orange legs, and looked down at their beautifully-coloured plumage, all
soft browns and chestnuts, and with wing-spots of lovely green, and
having a head of the same colour, my conscience smote me, and I found
myself wondering what the ducks thought that beautiful morning when they
were having their baths and preening themselves ready for a long flight
or a good swim. And I seemed to see them all again playing about, and
passing their heads over their backs, and rubbing the points of their
beaks in the oil-gland to make their plumage keep off the water. And
how soft and close it was!
"What must they have thought," I said to myself, "about a monster who
came with a horrible, fire-dealing weapon that strikes them down like a
flash of lightning? Not much room for me to complain about the
alligators!" I exclaimed. "But if I had not killed the ducks they
would have killed all kinds of insects and little fishes, and if they
did not kill the insects and fishes, the insects and fishes would have
killed smaller ones. Everything seems to be killing everything else,
and I suppose it's because we are all hungry, as I am now."
I walked sharply back along the river-bank with the sun now well up, and
before long came in sight of a little cloud of smoke rising softly above
the trees, and soon after I could hear the crackling of wood, and as I
drew near, there was Pomp dodging about in the smoke, piling up pieces
of dried stick, and making a roaring fire.
The sight of this took away all my feelings of compunction, and in
imagination I began to see the brown sides of the well-roasted ducks, to
smell their appetising odour, and to taste the juicy, tender bits about
the bones.
"I heard you shoot um, Mass' George," cried Pomp, excitedly. "Got
lubbly fire. How many?"
"Three," I said.
"Oh!"
"What's the matter?"
"On'y got flee. Dat two Mass' George, and on'y one for Pomp, an' I so
dreffle hungly, I mose eat bit a 'gator."
"There'll be plenty," I said. "I shall only eat one."
"Eh? Mass' George on'y eat one duck-bird?"
"That's all."
"Mass' George sure?"
"Yes. Let's cook them."
"But is Mass' George quite sure?"
"Yes--yes--yes!"
"Oh! Den Mass' George hab dis bewfler one wid um green head. Dat's
biggess and bess."
"Here, what are you going to do?" I cried, as Pomp suddenly seized the
three ducks and threw them into the fire. "That's not the way to roast
ducks."
"Pomp know dat, Mass' George," cried the boy, poking the birds about
with a long, sharp-pointed stick, one of several which he had cut ready.
"Pomp fader show um how to do ober dah."
"Ober dah" evidently meant Africa.
"Dat a way to get all de fedder off fuss. Dah, see dat?" he cried, as
he turned one out scorched brown. "Now Mass' George see."
As I watched him, he cleverly ran his sharp-pointed stick through this
first duck, stuck the point down into the sand, so that the bird was
close in to the glowing embers, and then deftly served the others the
same.
"Mass' George shoot um duck, Pomp cook um; same Pomp cook and make de
cake at home. Pomp fader nebber cook. Pomp cook de fis, and de yam,
and make um hominy. Pomp berry clebber 'deed, Mass' George. Ah, you
try burn you 'tick an' tummle in de fire, would you, sah? No, you
don't! You 'top dah an' get rock nice for Mass' George."
As he spoke he made a snatch at one of the sticks, and turned the bird,
as he stuck it afresh in the sand, closer to the glowing embers, for the
flame and smoke had nearly gone now, and the ducks were sputtering,
browning, and beginning to give forth a tempting odour.
As the boy was evidently, as he modestly said, so "clebber," I did not
interfere, but took off my shoes and stockings, wrung the latter well
out, and laid them and the shoes in the warm glow to dry, a little
rubbing about in the hot dry sand from the bluff soon drying my feet.
Then I carefully reloaded the gun, in accordance with Morgan's
instructions, making the ramrod leap well on the powder charge and wad,
while Pomp looked on eagerly, his fingers working, his lips moving, and
his eyes seeming to devour everything that was done.
"Pomp load um gun," he said all at once.
"You go on with your cooking," I replied; "that one's `burning um
'tick.'"
Pomp darted at the wooden spit, and drawing it out replaced it in a
better position.
"Dat duck lil rarksle," he said, showing his teeth. "Dat free time try
to burn um 'tick and tummle in de fire, rock umself. Dah, you 'tan
'till, will you? Oh, I say, Mass' George, done um 'mell good?"
"Yes; they begin to smell nice."
"Dat de one hab green head. He berry juicy 'deed; dat one for Mass'
George. What Mass' George going to do?"
"Put the gun and powder and shot farther away from the fire."
"What for?"
"A spark might set the powder off."
"Oh!" ejaculated Pomp. Then, "What powder do if 'park send um off?"
"Blow the fire out and send the ducks into the river."
"What? An' de 'gator get um? Pomp not cook de duck for 'gator. 'Gator
eat de duck raw, and no pick um fedder. Take de gun away."
I was already doing so, and standing it up behind us against a patch of
low bushes, I hung the powder and shot pouches by their straps to the
iron ramrod. Then going back to my place I sat watching the cooking, as
the boy turned and re-turned the birds, which grew browner and more
appetising every moment.
There were faults in that cooking, no doubt. There was neither plate
nor dish, no bread, no salt or pepper, and no table-cloth. But there
was something else--young, healthy appetite, as we sat at last in the
bright morning sunshine, drawn back now from the fire, Pomp and I, each
with a roasting-stick in one hand, his knife in the other, cutting off
the juicy brown bits, and eating them with the greatest of gusto, after
an incision had been made, and the whole of the hardened interior had
been allowed to fall out into the fire.
We hardly spoke, but went on eating, Pomp watching me and cutting the
bird exactly as I did mine; then picking each bone as it was detached
from the stick, and so on and on, till we had each finished his duck.
Our hands were not very clean, and we had no table napkins for our lips;
but as we ate that meal, I can safely say for myself that it was the
most delicious repast I ever had.
Then we sat perfectly still, after throwing our sticks into the remains
of the fire, reduced now to a few glowing embers.
But there is one thing more of which I must speak, that is the third
duck, which, certainly the best cooked and least burned of the three,
had been served to table; that is to say, its burnt stick had been stuck
in the sand between us, and there it was, nicely cooling down, and
looking tempting in the extreme.
Pomp looked at me, and I looked at Pomp.
"I dreffle glad we come an' 'top out all night," he said, showing his
white teeth. "Mass' George, go an' shoot more duck, an' Pomp cook um."
"We haven't finished that one," I said.
"No, Mass' George, no hab finish dat oder duck."
"Well, go on; I've had quite enough."
"Pomp had quite nuff too."
"Then we'll wrap it up in the napkin, and we'll eat it by and by for
lunch."
"Yes; wrap um up an' eat um bime by."
I drew out the napkin, and Pomp shot the duck off the wooden spit on to
the cloth, which, with due care to avoid the addition of sand, was
folded up, and then I said--
"Now, Pomp, we must find the boat as we go back."
"Mass' George go back?" he said.
"Yes, of course; and get there as soon as we can."
"Yes, Mass' George," he said, sadly. "Pomp wouldn't mind 'top if Mass'
George say 'top here."
"We'll come again," I said, laughing. "Let's find the boat if we can,
but we must make haste back."
"Hi! Ohey!" he shouted.
"What's the matter?" I said.
"Wha dat all gun?"