Beadle's Half Dime Library Vol. XL, No. 1020 — page 11: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Barney Blake, the Boy Privateer. chase, He greeted us cordially, and in a short time we were mounted and moving at a brisk pace for the prairies of the interiur, where the ostriches most do congregate, It would be impossible to chase the ostrich successfully if he started as fresh as his pursuer as they are not only far fleeter than the swiftest steed, but have also far greater powers of en- durance. But they have a way of managing it in Patagonia, by which the birds are taken at a disadvantage. Itisoneof the peculiarities of the ostrich of South America to always run be- fore the wind, if possible, when pursued. Thestrong galestaat are prevalent, and, in- deed, almost incessant in this region, blowing against their plumes from behind, thus serve to give them a considerable acceleraion of speed. Therefore, when a Patagonian chief decides to have a day of ostrich-hunting, he usually, the night beforehand, sends some of his people twenty or thirty miles down the coast (that is, 2f a south wind is blowing, forinstancs.) These outriders then proceed inland, and slowly drive what birds they may meet with northward, The men do not approach near enough to cause any excessive alarm, but maintain a suificient dis- tance in the rear to keep the timid creatures on a moderate trot before the wind, giving them no time to halt for any con-iderable length of time. In this way, they keep them almost perpetuaily ona trot for the entire distance of twenty or thirty miles, whatever it may be. Then the sa- gacious chieftain, with histrain of fresh horse- men, do not have much diiliculty in running down the poor ostriches, already fatigued from their long thirty-mile trot. In this way the en- durance of te ostrich is tested by the combined endurance of two stout horses, and, of course, is found wanting, ° Dicky Drake, when he heard of this modus operandi, swore that it was a mean, unfairthing on tha ostrich, and vowed,if it wasn’t for the sake of sceing the thing through, he would drop the enterprise, Weil, our outriders had been dispatched down the coast on the preceding night, and Walgilka assured us we should meet with excellent sport. The inevitable, incessant rain of Patagonia was falling, but not heavily, and we had come to hes upon a mere drizzle almost as a sunshiny ay. At length we broke from the rough country, upon a bare hill, whence, far below and beyond us, rolled the glorious land of the pampas—por- tions of it almost as level as a floor, but the greater part rolling like the billows of the sea. A large troop of ostriches were feeding below us, and we could sea several herds of horses and guanacos in the distance, Walgilka immediately gave the signal to charge, and, with a ringing shout, we dashed down the hill upon the astonished ostriches, who immediately started off at a tremendous ace. ‘*They run well for having just finished a twenty-miletrot!” said Tony Trybrace, who was riding at my side. I thought the same thing. But we had not got very far before we heard a cry in our rear. Walgilka turned and then gave the signal for ahalt, When we looked back we perceived one of the natives pursuing us at a great rate, and, upon coming up, we were informed that we were pursuing the wrong flock of birds. Those which had been specially fatigued for our benefit were feeding some.miles further inland. So, with many a joke at our own mistake, we left the pursuit of the fresh flock—and it would pvrob- ably have been a long stern-chase, if we had kept it up—and proceeded eastward, over the pampas, to find the tired game, Wecameupon them in about halfan hour. And this time it was no mistake, Although the birés ran very swiitly at first, several of them limped painfully, and soon, one by one, they be- gantodrop behind each other. We could see them flap their little wings painfully, as they panted on before our fresh and momentarily nearing steeds, At length, one of the poor creatures stopped and laid down, at the same time extending itshead despairingly along the ground, and tacitly receiving the deadly arrow oc the nearest horseman. We rapidly gained on the whole flock and were soon in the midst of them, knocking them down inevery direction. 1gotashot ata very fine bird and laid him low, while, almost simul- taneously, Tony and the captain each brought one down. Bluefish also did well. but little Dicky Drake, as usual, made a laughing-stock of himself, Histender heart gotthe better of his desire for carnage just as we got in the midst of the flock, and he conceived the brilliant concep- tion of taking one of the birds alive, apprehensive. Springing from his horse, he made at a very large ostrich with outstretched arms, when he received a most unmerciful kick from the pow- erful leg of the bird, which doubled him up and laid him sprawling. Nevertheless, he was plucky: and immediately got up to try it again. his time, evading the legs of the bird, he made a spring and alighted upon her back, when the bird, no doubt extremely terrified at this man- euver, Summoned up her remaining energies and started on a briskrun. Dickyclung to her, probably as much frightened as she, and bellow- ing likea good’un amid the noisy laughter of all the huntsmen, : ‘¢ Stick to her! Good-by, Dicky!” shouted old Bluefish, | But the bird ran only a few rods before she dropped and expired, and the amateur hunter returned to his horse looking rather sheepish. We killed about thirty birds altogether and took up our homeward way with our horses heavily laden, after having enjoyed the novel sport hugely. We saw vast herds of guanacos, as well as a great many horses on our way back, but we were in no condition to take up another chase, although the opportunity was very tempting. I here also had the opportunity of seeing, for the first time in my life, that enormous bird, the Condor of the Andes. Hea had been feeding up- on some carrion a few rodsin front of us, and, startled at our approach, rose slowly up with a guttural cry and flew toward his mountain home. I let off my gun at him at rather short range, I thought, but without effect. The reports of the size of this bird have been greatly exaggerated, but | am sure this one was twice as large as the largest eagle [ ever saw. The condor flies higher than any other bird and is only found in the Andes of South America— usually frequenting the most elevated and inac- cessible parts. Its strength is prodigious. Wal- gilkainformed me that it was not an untrequent thing to see them seize upon and carry off the guanaco; and this animal is of about equal weight I think with the merino sheep. CHAPTER X, VAUPARAISON. 4° In a few days after our ostrich-hunt, our pre- parations for leaving Wellington Sound and our kind Patagonian friends were complete. Wal- gilka was very pressing in his desire for us to defer our departure, promising us all the hunt- ing we could desire, but duty was duty, so we pate farewell to him and his people, and hoisted sail. The American Government had agentsin the Chilian port of Valparaiso, whom it was im- portant for Captain Joker to see, and it was therefore decided to make sail in that direction. Another inducement for entering Va!)paraiso was our scarcity of .hands, owing to the deple- tion our crew had suifered through the many detachments we had been compelled to make in the way of prize-crews. We hoped to obtain some recruits among the merchantmen of Val- paraiso. But there was even more difficulty in entering this port than we had experienced at Rio, because the former was then one of the principal rendezvous of the British Pacific squadron, and we expected little mercy if we should be so unfortunate as to run afoul of one of them. Nevertheless, we had been so successful thus far that we were not by any means specially We had not lost a single man since westarted. But now, on our way to Val- paraiso, there was a little event happened on board the Queer Fish, which, though it at first appeared trifling, was afterward viewed in the light of importance. Little Willie Warner, our pretty cabin-boy, received a severe contusion of the head by a fall down the companionway, and had to go under medical treatment in consequence. He had al- ways been exceedingly quiet and reticent, but was belovea by the whole crew on account of his gentleness and beauty. Every kindness was now evinced for him from every quarter. The captain especially was very considerate. He allowed Roddy Prinn to be nearly altogether ex- cused from duty,in order that he might wait upon his little chum—a favor for which Roddy was exceedingly grateful. The doctor—I have forgotten ta mention him; he was a good old body by the name of Benedict—the doctor was very attentive to Willie Warner, and always had something encouraging to say about ais charge. come hastily up from below, looking very queer mm eee a rw OOO 0000000000080 NN nr eu one day, we noticed Doctor Benedict | Li in the face. He went up to Captain Joker, and spoke apart with him in low tones, when they both looked pretty serious, and there was an ex- pression on the captain’s smiling lips—they al- ways smiled more or less—which I had never noticed them wear before. Well, we didn’t know what to make of this mystery; and it was not cleared up for a long time afterward. Willie got well and returned to bis duties, but the captain and doctcr were, somehow, kinder and more gentle with him than they had ever been before, and his duties were made as light as possible. Before Willie’s convalescence was thoroughly over, we arrived off Valparaiso, but did not dare to enter openly, for fear of being Sones atthe entrance bya British man-o’-war. e expected a signal from our agents, and hung off the coast a long time, watching for it. But none appeared, and Captain Joker resolved to attempt an entrance at his own hazard. Luckily, he was perfectly familiar with the harbor, and, choosing a dark and stormy night, we succeeded in running in, without meeting any molestation. The tempest went off during the night, and the bright sunlight of the ensuing morning saw us riding safely at anchor, not forty fathoms from the city’s wharves. Valparaiso was a city of much less impoft- ance then than now, but it was, nevertheless, a smart seaport for that remote portion of the globe. It is built right at the water’s edge, with the grand mountain- wall of the Andes run- ning so stiffly, loftily and impenetrably up be- hind, that you wonder how the rays of the ris- ing sun ever reach the little city nestled at their rocky feet. Atleast you think they must have daylight on the level pampas beyond many mo- ments before it surmounts those mountains to reach the narrow strip of plain between them and the sea. There is a fine cathedral in the city now, but when I was there, the largest es- tablishment of this kind appeared to be a wood- en structure. It was surmounted bya great red, wooden cross, and every morning and even- ing, we heard the sweet music of the Cath lic service come floating to us over the waters of the bay. We only remained in this port a few days, but, while at anchor there, l was a party in a kind of sport seldom, probably never, met with in any other portion of the globe, This was nothing more nor less than a hunt for electric eels, : Tony Trybrace and I became acquainted, while at Valparaiso, with a Chilian gentleman named Jose Gonzales. He possessed a large landed estate in the interior, and, when Tony had told him of our ostrich hunt in Patagonia, invited us to visit him at his country place, and he would promise us sport of, at least, a more novel character. Dicky Drake begged us to have the invitation extended to him also, which was readily complied with by Don Jose. And, one morning, having obtained a three-days’ “leave” of Captain Joker, we mounted some fine mules, and set forth with our pleasant host. A portion of cur journey lay through mountain land—the outskirts of the Andes, and we had a good opportunity of observing the inhabitants of the country. Chili is, at present, considered, and with jus- tice, the first of South American countries in point of everything pertaining to population: and evidences of her future were not lacking in the year 1812. TheSpanish population of the mountain region were a Simaple and hardy race; whose hospitality alone causes the heart of the stranger to warm toward them with a kindly thrill, We saw a great many of the llamas of the country, more condors, as well as monkeys, and many other strange and interesting individuals of brute creation. A ride of about six hours from Valparaiso brought us to the ranch cf our host. It was most beautifully situated on the fertile table- land,and made me in love with South American rural life. As we approached the mansion, we passed several black-looking pools, or 1* goons, and were much surprised when told, by our host, that they were to be our hunting- grounds. As we rode by the largest of these lagoons, which was scarcely a furlong from the ranch, Don Jose drew a biscuit from his saddle-bags and tossed it into the middle of the still, blaek waters. Instantly, and before it touched the surface, the lifeless-looking lagoon was filled with a strange and horribleexistence. Myriads of snakes (as they appeared) rose suddenly to the surface. and en in a ious combat Siete COMIGDOOKSICOM