Beautiful Joe - Marshall Saunders (the reading strategies book .TXT) 📗
- Author: Marshall Saunders
Book online «Beautiful Joe - Marshall Saunders (the reading strategies book .TXT) 📗». Author Marshall Saunders
village, Mr. Maxwell?"
"No, Mrs. Wood," he said; "ours is a much paler yellow," and then there
was a great tinkling of china, and passing of dishes, and talking and
laughing, and no one noticed that I was not in my usual place in the
hall. I could not get over my dread of the green creature, and I had
crept under the table, so that if it came out and frightened Miss Laura,
I could jump up and catch it.
When tea was half over, she gave a little cry. I sprang up on her lap,
and there, gliding over the table toward her, was the wicked-looking
green thing. I stepped on the table, and had it by the middle before it
could get to her. My hind legs were in a dish of jelly, and my front
ones were in a plate of cake, and I was very uncomfortable. The tail of
the green thing hung in a milk pitcher, and its tongue was still going
at me, but I held it firmly and stood quite still.
"Drop it, drop it!" cried Miss Laura, in tones of distress, and Mr.
Maxwell struck me on the back, so I let the thing go, and stood
sheepishly looking about me. Mr. Wood was leaning back in his chair,
laughing with all his might, and Mrs. Wood was staring at her untidy
table with rather a long face. Miss Laura told me to jump on the floor,
and then she helped her aunt to take the spoiled things off the table.
I felt that I had done wrong, so I slunk out into the hall. Mr. Maxwell
was sitting on the lounge, tearing his handkerchief in strips and tying
them around the creature where my teeth had stuck in. I had been careful
not to hurt it much, for I knew it was a pet of his; but he did not know
that, and scowled at me, saying: "You rascal; you've hurt my poor snake
terribly."
I felt so badly to hear this that I went and stood with my head in a
corner. I had almost rather be whipped than scolded. After a while, Mr.
Maxwell went back into the room, and they all went on with their tea. I
could hear Mr. Wood's loud, cheery voice, "The dog did quite right. A
snake is mostly a poisonous creature, and his instinct told him to
protect his mistress. Where is he? Joe, Joe!"
I would not move till Miss Laura came and spoke to me. "Dear old dog,"
she whispered, "You knew the snake was there all the time, didn't you?"
Her words made me feel better, and I followed her to the dining room,
where Mr. Wood made me sit beside him and eat scraps from his hand all
through the meal.
Mr. Maxwell had got over his ill humor, and was chatting in a lively
way. "Good Joe," he said, "I was cross to you, and I beg your pardon It
always riles me to have any of my pets injured. You didn't know my poor
snake was only after something to eat. Mrs. Wood has pinned him in my
pocket so he won't come out again. Do you know where I got that snake,
Mrs. Wood?"
"No," she said; "you never told me."
"It was across the river by Blue Ridge," he said. "One day last summer I
was out rowing, and, getting very hot, tied my boat in the shade of a
big tree. Some village boys were in the woods, and, hearing a great
noise, I went to see what it was all about They were Band of Mercy boys,
and finding a country boy beating a snake to death, they were
remonstrating with him for his cruelty, telling him that some kinds of
snakes were a help to the farmer, and destroyed large numbers of field
mice and other vermin. The boy was obstinate. He had found the snake,
and he insisted upon his right to kill it, and they were having rather a
lively time when I appeared. I persuaded them to make the snake over to
Apparently it was already dead. Thinking it might revive, I put iton some grass in the bow of the boat. It lay there motionless for a long
time, and I picked up my oars and started for home. I had got half way
across the river, when I turned around and saw that the snake was gone.
It had just dropped into the water, and was swimming toward the bank we
had left. I turned and followed it.
"It swam slowly and with evident pain, lifting Its head every few
seconds high above the water, to see which way it was going. On reaching
the bank it coiled itself up, throwing up blood and water. I took it up
carefully, carried it home, and nursed it. It soon got better, and has
been a pet of mine ever since."
After tea was over, and Mrs. Wood and Miss Laura had helped Adele finish
the work, they all gathered in the parlor. The day had been quite warm,
but now a cool wind had sprung up, and Mr. Wood said that it was blowing
up rain.
Mrs. Wood said that she thought a fire would be pleasant; so they
lighted the sticks of wood in the open grate, and all sat round the
blazing fire.
Mr. Maxwell tried to get me to make friends with the little snake that
he held in his hands toward the blaze, and now that I knew that it was
harmless I was not afraid of it; but it did not like me, and put out its
funny little tongue whenever I looked at it.
By-and-by the rain began to strike against the windows, and Mr. Maxwell
said, "This is just the night for a story. Tell us something out of your
experience, won't you, Mr. Wood?"
"What shall I tell you?" he said, good-humoredly. He was sitting between
his wife and Mr. Harry, and had his hand on Mr. Harry's knee.
"Something about animals," said Mr. Maxwell. "We seem to be on that
subject to-day."
"Well," said Mr. Wood, "I'll talk about something that has been running
in my head for many a day. There is a good deal of talk nowadays about
kindness to domestic animals; but I do not hear much about kindness to
wild ones. The same Creator formed them both. I do not see why you
should not protect one as well as the other. I have no more right to
torture a bear than a cow. Our wild animals around here are getting
pretty well killed off, but there are lots in other places. I used to be
fond of hunting when I was a boy; but I have got rather disgusted with
killing these late years, and unless the wild creatures ran in our
streets, I would lift no hand to them. Shall I tell you some of the
sport we had when I was a youngster?"
"Yes, yes!" they all exclaimed.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XXIII (TRAPPING WILD ANIMALS)
"Well," Mr. Wood began. "I was brought up, as you all know, in the
eastern part of Maine, and we often used to go over into New Brunswick
for our sport. Moose were our best game. Did you ever see one, Laura?"
"No, uncle," she said.
"Well, when I was a boy there was no more beautiful sight to me in the
world than a moose with his dusky hide, and long legs, and branching
antlers, and shoulders standing higher than a horse's. Their legs are so
long that they can't eat close to the ground. They browse on the tops of
plants, and the tender shoots and leaves of trees. They walk among the
thick underbrush, carrying their horns adroitly to prevent their
catching in the branches, and they step so well, and aim so true, that
you'll scarcely hear a twig fall as they go.
"They're a timid creature except at times. Then they'll attack with
hoofs and antlers whatever comes in their way. They hate mosquitoes, and
when they're tormented by them it's just as well to be careful about
approaching them. Like all other creatures, the Lord has put into them a
wonderful amount of sense, and when a female moose has her one or two
fawns she goes into the deepest part of the forest, or swims to islands
in large lakes, till they are able to look out for themselves.
"Well, we used to like to catch a moose, and we had different ways of
doing it. One way was to snare them. We' d make a loop in a rope and
hide it on the ground under the dead leaves in one of their paths. This
was connected with a young sapling whose top was bent down. When the
moose stepped on the loop it would release the sapling, and up it would
bound, catching him by the leg. These snares were always set deep in the
woods, and we couldn't visit them very often. Sometimes the moose would
be there for days, raging and tearing around, and scratching the skin
off his legs. That was cruel. I wouldn't catch a moose in that way now
for a hundred dollars.
"Another way was to hunt them on snow shoes with dogs. In February and
March the snow was deep, and would carry men and dogs. Moose don't go
together in herds. In the summer they wander about over the forest, and
in the autumn they come together in small groups, and select a hundred
or two of acres where there is plenty of heavy undergrowth, and to which
they usually confine themselves. They do this so that their tracks won't
tell their enemies where they are.
"Any of these places where there were several moose we called a moose
yard. We went through the woods till we got on to the tracks of some of
the animals belonging to it, then the dogs smelled them and went ahead
to start them. If I shut my eyes now I can see one of our moose hunts.
The moose running and plunging through the snow crust, and occasionally
rising up and striking at the dogs that hang on to his bleeding flanks
and legs. The hunters' rifles going crack, crack, crack, sometimes
killing or wounding dogs as well as moose. That, too, was cruel.
"Two other ways we had of hunting moose: Calling and stalking. The
calling was done in this way: We took a bit of birch bark and rolled it
up in the shape of a horn. We took this horn and started out, either on
a bright moonlight night or just at evening, or early in the morning.
The man who carried the horn hid himself, and then began to make a
lowing sound like a female moose. He had to do it pretty well to deceive
them. Away in the distance some moose would hear it, and with answering
grunts would start off to come to it. If a young male moose was coming,
he'd mind his steps, I can assure you, on account of fear of the old
ones, but if it was an old fellow, you'd hear him stepping out bravely
and rapping his horns against the trees, and plunging into any water
that came in his way. When he got pretty near, he'd stop to listen, and
then the caller had to be very careful and put his trumpet down close to
the ground, so as to make a lower sound. If the moose felt doubtful he'd
turn; if not, he'd come on, and unlucky for him if he did, for he got a
warm reception, either from the rifles in our hands as we lay hid near
the caller, or from some of the party stationed at a distance.
"In stalking, we crept on them the way a cat creeps on a mouse. In the
daytime a moose is usually lying down. We'd find their tracks
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