The Gold Hunter's Adventures Or, Life In Australia Volume 2 ( Of 2 ) by William H. Thomes (books to read in your 30s TXT) 📕

We Saw The Lieutenant Clap His Hand Upon His Wound, And When He Withdrew

It, Blood Dripped From His Fingers.

"D----N The Cassiowary!" Murden Roared, Struggling To His Feet, And

Rubbing His Bruised Limbs; But We Did Not Stop To Hear His Complaints,

For The Bird Was Going Off Like A Frightened Deer, And If We Expected To

Make A Prize, There Was No Time To Lose.

We Struck Our Animals, And They Followed The Object Of Pursuit At The

Top Of Their Speed, Yet For The First Five Minutes We Did Not Gain An

Inch; And Even Rover, Who Had Joined In The Chase With Renewed Vigor

Found That He Had Got His Match For Once.

At Length We Got Clear Of The Dried Grass And Bushes, And Entered Upon

The Prairie, That Was As Smooth And Level As A House Floor, And Then We

Began To Gradually Gain Upon The Huge Bird In Spite Of Its Immense

Strides.

Our Course Led Directly Towards The Main Road, And We Could See A Dozen

Teams Leisurely Pursuing Their Journey, And We Hoped That The Drivers

Would Head The Bird And Cause It To Turn Towards Us, When An Opportunity

Would Offer For A Shot, For We Began To Give Up All Hope Of Making The

Capture Alive.

We Flew Over The Ground As Fast As The Horses Could Stretch, And The

Animals Seemed To Enjoy The Sport Equally As Well As Ourselves; In A Few

Minutes We Saw That The Teamsters Were Watching The Chase, And That A

Number Of Them Had Got Their Guns In Readiness To Give The Bird A Shot

In Case It Went Near Enough To Their Carts. That Was Something That We

Did Not Desire, As We Wished The Honor Of Making The Capture; And Had We

Been Disposed To Trust To Our Revolvers, We Could Have Wounded The Bird

When It Unhorsed The Lieutenant And Left Him Sprawling In The Dirt.

The Eyes Of The Cassiowary Were As Sharp, However, As Our Own, And

Seeing The Danger In Front, Slackened Its Speed As Though Uncertain What

To Do, And We Took Advantage Of The Hesitancy To Urge The Pace Of Our

Horses To The Utmost, And Gained So Rapidly That Fred Determined To Try

His Reatta. He Whirled It Over His Head In True Mexican Style, And Threw

It, But The Mexican Science Was Not In The Act; It Struck Upon The

Bird's Back, And Then Slipped To The Ground.

Nothing Daunted, Fred Gathered Up His Rope Again, And By The Time That

It Was In His Hand The Chase Suddenly Stopped, Raised Its Long Neck, And

Attempted To Pass Between Us, And Again Seek Refuge Amidst The Grass

That Was Growing In Profusion On Our Right.

That Act Was Fatal To The Poor Bird, For Before It Could Gain Headway

Rover Had Caught One Of Its Long Legs In His Mouth And Bit So Hard That

A Shrill Shriek Was Elicited--Something Like The Cry Of An Enraged Ape.

Again Did The Bird Strike Him With Beak And Claw, But The Dog Held On

With The Tenacity Of A Death-Grip; And During The Struggle We Rode

Quickly Up And Threw Our Slip-Nooses Over That Long Neck, Which Had Cut

Through The Air With More Than Railroad Speed. Even Then, The Cassiowary

Seemed To Be More Concerned About Rover Than Ourselves, And Fought Him

Fiercely.

"Call Off The Dog," Shouted Fred; "We Have Him Sure, Now."

That Was A Task Of Some Difficulty, For Rover Had Got His Blood Up And

Was Fighting Desperately, Making The Feathers Fly In All Directions; And

Even His Antagonist Was Using All The Weapons That Nature Had Given Him,

And Was Striking Out Like A Prize-Fighter, Fighting With Wings And Beak,

And Sometimes With Feet, In A Manner That Would Have Excited The

Admiration Of A Cock-Fighting Padre.

By The Time That I Got Rover To Relinquish The Combat,--And During Its

Continuance I Did Not Escape Harmless,--The Teamsters Had Stopped Their

Oxen And Were Rushing Towards Us, Anxious To See What Kind Of An Animal

We Were Struggling With. The Bird Made Frantic Efforts To Escape, But By

Means Of The Rope We Were Enabled To Frustrate Them, And Were Getting

Him Quite Subdued When The Crowd Reached Us.

"What On Airth Is That?" Inquired A Man, Whose Voice Readily Proclaimed

His Nation.

"Why, That Is An Australian Turkey," Replied Murden, Who Joined Us At

That Instant, Looking Somewhat The Worse For His Trip, And We Noticed

That His Seat In The Saddle Was Not Very Firm.

"Why, You Don't Say That, 'Squire?" Asked Our New Acquaintance,

Approaching The Captive To Get A Nearer View.

"Yes, It Is. We Pasture Them Out A Little Ways, And When The People At

Ballarat Feel Like Having A Feast We Catch One, But Sometimes They Get A

Little Wild."

"Wall, I Swow To Man, If That Don't Beat All That I Ever Heard Of, And

No Mistake. I've Seen Big Cock-Turkeys, And Uncle Josiah Raised One For

Last Thanksgiving That Was A Whopper, But This Knocks Him. I Say, What

Could I Get A Pair Of These 'Ere For?"

The Stranger Very Imprudently Laid His Hand Upon The Bird For The

Purpose Of Feeling His Condition, And What Proportion Of Flesh There Was

To Feathers. Hardly Had The Captive Felt His Touch When All Of His

Native Fierceness Returned, And While Our Countryman, With A Grave Face,

Was Still Expressing His Wonder, The Cassiowary Raised One Of His

Muscular Legs And Kicked Him Full On His Breast. In Another Instant The

American Was Going Backward At A Rapid Rate, And Finally Brought Up Full

Length Upon The Earth. For A Second He Didn't Move, Then Slowly

Gathering Up His Lank Form, He Looked First At The Cassiowary, And Then

At Murden, And Muttered,--

"Dod Rot Yer Australia Turkeys,--They Don't Know Manners."

The Crowd Roared With Laughter, And For A Long Time Our American Friend

Was Known By The Nickname Of "Turkey Johnson."

Even After We Had Captured The Cassiowary We Did Not Know What To Do

With It, As Murden Would Not Listen For A Moment To The Idea Of Its

Being Killed, And Yet The Bird Was Too Formidable An Opponent To Play

With. While We Were Debating How To Get The Bird To Ballarat, An Old

Stockman, Who Upon The Discovery Of Gold Had Left His Employment And

Gone Into The Teaming Business, Suggested That We Should Tie A

Handkerchief Over His Head, And Guaranteed That We Would Then Lead As

Docile As A Pet Lamb.

"Now, Then, How Are We To Improve The Advice Of The Stockman?" Asked

Murden. "Who Will Throw A Handkerchief Over The Bird's Head, And Then

Have The Hardihood To Tie It?"

No One Volunteered To Perform So Perilous A Duty Until Our American

Friend, Who Had Recovered From The Effects Of His Kick, Suggested That

All Present Should Take Hold Of The Two Ropes, And By Pulling In

Opposite Directions Manage To Keep The Bird In A State Of Strangulation

That Would Utterly Prevent All Resistance.

Murden Was Delighted With The Hint, And Acted On It Without Delay. We

Pressed Those Present Into Service, And In A Few Minutes The Eyes Of The

Huge Bird Were Screened From The Light, And He Was Ready To Follow Us

Wherever We Should Lead. In This Way We Escorted Him To Town, And

Murden, When He Returned To Melbourne, Carried His Pet; And The Bird May

Be Alive Now For All That I Know, For The Lieutenant Gave Him To The

Governor-General, And For Many Months After The Presentation The

Cassiowary Was To Be Seen On The Grounds, Near The Palace, An Object Of

Great Curiosity To All New-Comers.

After Seeing The Bird Safely Housed At The Back Part Of Our Store, Where

We Kept Our Horses, And After Astonishing Steel Spring By Telling Him

That He Was To Make His Entree Into Melbourne On The Back Of The Bird,

We Again Took The Road, And Were Soon Gratified By Meeting Our Partner,

Smith, With Two Huge Loads Of Merchandise Of All Descriptions, And Each

Drawn By Four Yokes Of Oxen.

"Well, I've Got Along," He Said, With One Of His Most Cheerful Smiles,

"And A Precious Whack Of Itself I've Got Piled On The Carts. Here's A

Little Of Every Thing. Cheap For Cash, You Know."

"Then You Made Good Trades In Melbourne?" We Both Demanded.

"I Should Rather Think I Had. There's Three Or Four American Clipper

Ships In Port With Cargoes That Must Be Sold, And No Demand. I Bought A

Lot Of Stuff At Auction, And I Never Paid Such A Low Figure Before."

"But How Did You Manage To Get Clear Of Your Wife So Soon After

Marriage?" Fred Asked.

"Ah, I See That The Lieutenant Has Been Giving You The News," Replied

Smith, With A Genuine Blush. "Well, The Fact Of It Is, She Is Too

Sensible A Woman To Regret The Absence Of One Whom She Knows Is

Bettering Himself, So That There Were But Few Tears Shed Between Us."

The Lieutenant, With A Consideration That Did Him Credit, Rode In

Advance A Few Rods, Out Of Hearing, As He Rightly Judged That We Must

Desire To Make A Few Inquiries Of A Private Nature Respecting Our

Business Relation.

"Did You Get The Gold That Was In The Custody Of The Old--"

We Were About