The desert home : or, The adventures of a lost family in the wilderness . It was a strange way to thank usfor delivering over to them their enemy. We were upon the lower branches, and they could seeus distinctly. We might easily have climbed higher; butthat would have served no purpose, as they could not reachus where we were. They could only destroy us by keepingus in the tree, until we might perish by hunger or thirst; andfrom what I had heard of the nature of these animals I knewthat it was not improbable that they might do this. At first, I was determined not to fire at them, thinkingthat
The desert home : or, The adventures of a lost family in the wilderness . It was a strange way to thank usfor delivering over to them their enemy. We were upon the lower branches, and they could seeus distinctly. We might easily have climbed higher; butthat would have served no purpose, as they could not reachus where we were. They could only destroy us by keepingus in the tree, until we might perish by hunger or thirst; andfrom what I had heard of the nature of these animals I knewthat it was not improbable that they might do this. At first, I was determined not to fire at them, thinkingthat after a while their fury might subside, and they woulddisperse. Frank and I, therefore, chmbed a little higher,and concealed ourselves, as well as we could, in the thicktufts of the moss. After remaining thus for above two hours, we saw thatit was all to no purpose; for the peccaries, although theyhad become more quiet, still formed a dense circle aroundthe tree, and appeared determined to carry out the of them had lain down,—intending, no doubt, to take. The Enraged Peccaries. 268 THE DESERT HOME. knew it could not be that, for it was growing thicker andthicker and we noticed that it had a smell very different fromthat of burnt powder. Moreover, it produced a stifling,choking sensation, causing us to cough, and rub our eyeswith the pain. On looking downward, I was unable to seeeither the ground or the peccaries ; but I could perceive athick cloud rising up all around the tree. I could hear thevoices of the fierce brutes loud as ever ; but they appearedto be scattering outward, and their cry was differefit to whatit had hitherto been. It now occurred to me that the mosshad caught fire from the wadding of my rifle; and this soonproved to be the fact, for the smoke all at once became il-luminated with a bright blaze, that seemed to spread almostinstantaneously over the surface of the ground. We saw thatit did not fully envelop the tree, but burnt on that side wherewe
Size: 1330px × 1879px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookiddeserthomeor, bookyear1900
