"The next adventure which befell us was near having a more serious
termination. This time Frank was my companion, while Harry remained at
home with his mother. Our errand was to procure some of the long
Spanish moss that grew upon the live-oaks in the lower end of the
valley. This moss, when smoked and cleansed of the leaves and pieces of
bark that adhere to it, makes most excellent stuffing for
bed-mattresses--in fact, almost equal to curled hair--and for this
purpose we wanted it. We did not take the cart, as Cudjo had Pompo in
the plough, preparing a large tract for our second crop of corn. We
only carried with us a couple of raw-hide ropes, intending to bring home
good burdens of the moss upon our rock.
"We travelled on down the valley, looking for a tree with moss upon it,
that we could climb. At length, almost close to the foot of the cliff,
we chanced upon a very large live-oak, with low branches, from which the
long, silvery moss was hanging down in streamers, like the tails of
horses. We soon stripped off what was on the lower branches; and then,
climbing up on these, proceeded to rob the others, that were higher, of
their long stringy parasites.
"While thus engaged, our attention was attracted to the chirping and
chattering of some birds in a thicket of pawpaws close to our tree. We
looked in that direction, and we could see down into the thicket very
plainly from where we stood among the branches. We saw that the birds
making the noise were a pair of orioles, or `Baltimore birds,' as they
are often called, from the fact that, in the early settlements, their
colour--a mixture of black and orange--was observed to be the same as
that in the coat-of-arms of Lord Baltimore. Frank and I conjectured
that they must have a nest among the pawpaws, for they had scolded us as
we were passing through but a moment before. But what were they
scolding at now? asked we of one another--for the birds were fluttering
among the broad green leaves, uttering their shrill screams, and
evidently under great excitement. We left off gathering our moss, and
stood for a moment to see what it was all about.
"Presently we noticed a strange-looking object in motion along the
ground, and close in to the edge of the thicket. At first sight we knew
not what to make of it. Was it an animal? No--it could not be that.
It had not the shape of any animal we had ever seen: and yet we could
see legs and tails, and ears and eyes, and heads--heads, indeed!--there
seemed to be a head sticking out of every part of its body, for we
counted half a score of them as it moved along. It moved very slowly,
and when nearly opposite to us it stopped, so that we had a good view of
it. All at once the numerous heads seemed to separate from the main
body, becoming little bodies of themselves with long tails upon them,
and looking just like a squad of white rats! The large body to which
they had all been attached we now saw was an old female opossum, and
evidently the mother of the whole troop. She was about the size of a
cat, and covered with woolly hair of a light grey colour. She had a
snout somewhat resembling that of a pig, though much sharper at the
point, and with whiskers like a cat. Her ears were short and standing--
her mouth very wide, and, as we could see, full of sharp teeth. The
legs were short and stout, and the feet with their keen claws seemed to
spread out upon the ground more like hands than feet. The tail was very
peculiar; it was nearly as long as the body, tapering like that of a
rat, and quite naked. But the greatest curiosity in the structure of
this creature was a pouch like opening which appeared under her belly,
and which showed that she belonged to the family of the _marsupialia_,
or pouched animals. This, of course, we had known before. The little
`'possums' were exact pictures of their mother--all having the same
sharp snouts and long naked tails. We counted no less than thirteen of
them, playing and tumbling about among the leaves.
"As soon as the old one had shaken them all off, she stepped more nimbly
over the ground--going backwards and forwards, and looking up into one
of the pawpaws that grew above the spot where she had halted. In this
tree the orioles were now fluttering about, chirruping wildly, and at
intervals making a dash downward, until their wings almost swept the
nose of the opossum. The latter, however, appeared to take all this
very coolly; and evidently did not care for the imbecile efforts of the
birds to frighten her off, but continued her survey without paying any
attention to their manoeuvres. On looking upward, we discovered the
object of her search--the nest of the orioles--which was hanging like a
large purse, or rather like a distended stocking, from the topmost twigs
of the tree.
"After a few moments the old 'possum seemed to have made up her mind;
and, approaching the spot where the young ones were scrambling about,
she uttered a short sharp note that brought them all around her.
Several of them ran into the pouch which she had caused to open for
them. Two of them took a turn of their little tails around the root of
hers, and climbed up on her rump, almost burying themselves in the long
wool; while two or three others fastened themselves about her neck and
shoulders. It was a most singular sight to see the little creatures
holding on with `tails, teeth, and toe-nails,' while some peeped
comically out of the great breast-pocket.
"We thought she was going to move away with her cargo; but, to our
astonishment, she walked up to the pawpaw, and commenced climbing it.
When she had reached the lowermost branch--which grew nearly
horizontal--she halted; then, taking the young ones, one by one, in her
mouth, she caused each of them to make a turn or two of its tail around
the branch, and hang head downwards. Five or six of the `kittens' were
still upon the ground. For these she returned, and taking them up as
before, again climbed the tree. She disposed of the second load,
precisely as she had done the others--until the thirteen little 'possums
hung head downwards along the branch, like a string of candles!
"It was such a comical sight to see these monkey-looking little
creatures dangling by their tails, that my companion and I could not
restrain our laughter as we gazed upon it. We took care, however, not
to laugh aloud--as we were anxious to observe the further movements of
the old 'possum, and we knew that if she should hear us it would spoil
the sport at once.
"As soon as she saw the young ones all fairly suspended, she left them,
and commenced climbing higher up the tree. We noticed that she caught
the branches in her claws, exactly as a human being would have done with
his hands, hoisting herself from limb to limb. At length she reached
that branch upon which hung the nest, far out at its top. For a moment
she stopped and surveyed it. She was evidently in doubt whether it
would carry her weight without breaking, and so were we. Should it
break, she would have a smart fall to the ground--for the tree was one
of the highest, for a pawpaw, we had ever seen; and there were no other
branches below to which she could clutch in case of falling.
"The nest, however, full of eggs no doubt, tempted her on; and, after a
moment's pause, she started along the branch. When about half-way up
it--holding on both with tail and feet--the slender sapling began to
creak and bend, and show symptoms of breaking. This, with the screaming
of the birds--that now flapped against her very nose--seemed all at once
to cow her; and she crept down again, going backwards along the limb.
On reaching the fork, she paused, and looked about with an air that
showed she was both vexed and puzzled. All at once her eyes rested upon
the branch of an oak-tree, that stretched out over the pawpaw, and
directly above the orioles' nest. She looked at this for a moment--as
if calculating its height from the nest; then seeming to make up her
mind, she ran nimbly down the pawpaw, over the ground that intervened,
and up the trunk of the oak. We lost sight of her for an instant among
the thick leaves; but the next we saw her crawling out upon the branch
that overhung the pawpaw.
"When she had reached a point directly above the nest, she flung herself
fearlessly from the branch, and hung to her whole length--suspended by
the tail. In this position she oscillated back and forward, with gaping
mouth and outstretched claws, endeavouring to seize hold of the nest;
but, with all her efforts, and no doubt to her great mortification, she
was unable to reach it. She hung for several minutes, clutching, now at
the nest, now at the leaves of the pawpaw, and evidently tantalised by
the thought of the delicious eggs so near her very nose. We could see
that she had lowered herself to the last link of her tail--until only a
single turn of it sustained her upon the limb--and we expected every
moment to see her fall to the ground. Her stretching was all to no
purpose, however; and at length, uttering a bitter snarl, she swung
herself back to the limb, and came running down from the oak.
"She seemed to have given up her purpose in a sort of angry despair; for
climbing up the pawpaw, she hurried her young from the branch, pitching
them somewhat rudely to the ground. In a short while she had gathered
them all upon her back and into her pouch; and commenced retreating from
the spot--while the orioles changed their terrified screaming into
chirrups of victory.
"Frank and I now deemed it proper to interfere, and cut off the retreat
of the `old 'possum;' so, dropping from our perch, we soon overtook and
captured the whole family. The old one, on first seeing us approach,
rolled herself into a round clump--so that neither her head nor legs
could be seen--and in this attitude feigned to be quite dead. Several
of the youngsters, who were _outside_, immediately detached themselves,
and imitated the example of their mother--so that the family now
presented the appearance of a large ball of whitish wool, with several
smaller `clews' lying around it!
"On finding, however, that we were not to be cheated, and being pricked
gently with the point of an arrow, the old one unwound herself; and,
opening her long jaws, snapped and bit on every side of her, uttering
all the while a sharp noise, like the snarling of a poodle.
"Her snarling did not avail her, for in a few minutes we had muzzled her
securely, and made her fast to one of the saplings--intending to take
the whole family with us when we returned to the house."