. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . several of them with charges of the largestshot I had, I desisted from my attempts to drive themaway, for I had not cartridges enough to exterminatethe whole gang. So there they sat all day long, grimly pictured to myself the horrors of the situation ifthey should persist in the siege until fatigue or star-vation should cause me to succumb, for I knew thatthey were capable of prolonged waiting, their naturebeing so vindictive that they would stay for days, inorder to gratify their rage. Even after it became sodark that I could not distingui
. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . several of them with charges of the largestshot I had, I desisted from my attempts to drive themaway, for I had not cartridges enough to exterminatethe whole gang. So there they sat all day long, grimly pictured to myself the horrors of the situation ifthey should persist in the siege until fatigue or star-vation should cause me to succumb, for I knew thatthey were capable of prolonged waiting, their naturebeing so vindictive that they would stay for days, inorder to gratify their rage. Even after it became sodark that I could not distinguish their forms, I couldstill hear them lunging at one another, keeping uptheir vengeful appetite by frequent quarrels amongthemselves, and clattering their tusks like castanets. I did not dare attempt to sleep, and to preventmyself from falling in case sleep overcame me, I TREED BY WILD PECCARIES. 161 passed my waist belt around a perpendicular , the moon came out of the clouds and looked 1J% 0k*^\ ; ■ \[[- : ■•• Treed by peccaries. down through the branches, but only succeeded infaintly lighting up the ground below, where the mov- 162 CRUSOES ISLAND. ing forms were converted into veritable imps of dark-ness. How slowly those night hours dragged along!It seemed as if daylight would never come ; but atlast it appeared, sweetly heralded by the twittering ofbirds; but greeted, too, with grunts \ by my blackjailers, who glanced up at me anxiously, to assurethemselves that I was still in evidence. As the sun rose above the tree tops its heat soondried my clothes; yet still I sat there, cramped andweary, undecided what to do, but revolving manyplans for escape. A sudden disturbance in the herdbeneath me drew my attention. The peccaries wereall facing southward, sniffing the air suspiciously, evi-dently startled. Two or three of the old boars startedout to reconnoiter. They returned in a few minuteswith some information, apparently, that caused everymember o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcrusoesi, booksubjectbirds
