Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1856-11-29

money nor ren5wn with his favorite bird. he
at last offered to stake hundred doubloo3s
against fifty, and no one accepting his cbal
lenge, be was preparing TO leave the ring,
when our boatswain sprnng up, and in very
bad Spanish, q smattering Of which he had
acquired in his wanderiDgs, nsked him If be
was willing to match him against a curious
looking bird which he had yii..h him In . bag.
Against anything that hea wings, ia my
challenge" proudly replied Amigo produce
your bird, sir."
Without further parley. Will united the
bag, and produced, to the astoniehment of
the officers and the rest Of the assembly, the
most curious looking specimen Of the festh-
cred tribe tha. bad ever graced or disgraced
| a cockpit.
1t was a bird about the size Of large
rooster, with no tail, no comb, and no steel
gaffles Comb it seems he never had,
and as for tail, if he had ever been blessed
with such en- appendage, the ruthless sailors
must have "clipped it short and driven il in,"
for not a vestige of it remained and to add
to the Disagreement, he was smeared with O
mixture of grease and blacking, until his
original color had been entirely lost. A loud
shout OF derision arose from the spectators
at the impudence Of the Yankees, in Offering
so miserable creature as the antagonist of
Satan" the pride Of the Havana, and as
they doubtless thought, the hero Of g hemis-
phere.
But to the experienced eyes Of the officers
of the Ohio, the secret was now revealed, and
beneath the grease and SCOT, in spite Of the
clipped wings and clipped feathers, they
perceived the eye Of an old bald eagle, and
the terrible beak and claws, which the sailors
had almost managed to conceal by covering
,.,.l L. IL. r.. l.
Of some by-gone dinner.
The officers now regretted that they had
permitted the men to come ashore, as they
were fearful that the artfce. if discovered,
might leud to blows and the determined
character of the men rendered them very
dangerous when excited
Matters, however, had now proceeded too
far to be stopped, and they had to Gontent
themselves with relying on the prudence of
Glover. Although they knew that he was
perfect devil when his blood was up, they
still knew hi n to be a man of his word, and
that he would not make q disturbance if he
could help it; so hoping that their presence
would have its influence with the audience,
they drew still closer to the boatswain, and
then quietly awaited the issue. But their
fears were unnecessary the sailors had no
intention OF getting into fight, and as their
chief object WAS to make up their losses by
winning pile of gold from the Habaneros,
they quietly staked all the money they had
among those around them, generally contri-
wing to get heavy odds in their favor. Besides
the money which the men had brought With
them, Glover had collected OH the ship about
thlTiy douei""ns. twenty i've of which he
staked against the fifty OF the Signors, who
had graciously condescended TO reduce the
3 I.t k..lT tin,,
of the poverty Of Les AmericanOs," and the
other five he had managed TO place advan-
tsgeously; at the rate OF about one to three
among the audience, all Of whom seemed
anxious TO have an opportunity OF turning
Yankees.
Even the officers themselves at last caught
the infection. Unable to resist the pressing
offers of those around them, knowing the
power OF their champion, and feeling gal
liant pride in sustaining the character Of their
national bird, they bet the last dollar they
had with them, until the amount staked by
officers and men exceeded hundred dou-
blooms and the odds given by the Cubans had
amounted TO nearly three times this sum.
Before proceeding further it was arranged
that the birds were to be placed in the ring,
and then both the Signor and Will we're TO
retire, while the actual death Of bird was
alone to decide the victory.
Tbs birds were accordingly set down few
feet from each other, and amid the acclama-
tions of the Habaneros, the instant that
Satan" touched the ground he threw himself
into su imposing attitude, and uttered a
crow of defiance which rang through the
building. and was Immediately answered by a
dozen of his neighbors outside the walls.
Black as u ravens wing, more beautiful
bird had never delighted the eyes OF the
Cubsns. He wore on his neck natural ruff,
which looked like that once worn by Mary,
Queen Of Scots, while his blood red comb
looked still redder when contrasted with the
jet-black hue of the rest of his body. His
tail fell gracefully to the ground, and 1t was
very evident to discriminating spectators that
he would never SHOW the white feather,
because be did not happen to possess any Of
that description.
Cock a. doodle doc" WAS all that he said,
and then looking round to see who he could
pick fight with, he espied the American
bird cudded up in heap, as if very much
annoyed at the embarrassing position in
which he found himself placed.
But if astonishmeAt was ever depicted on
the brow OF chicken, it certainly was de-
|
! than once he extended his long neck, as If to
obtain a nearer view, and convince himself
that he was not deceived, and then pulled out
his breast, as ii he considered it morally
impossible that he, the descendant perhaps
of a race that had crowed over Granada with
Alhamar, or who possibly had even displayed
their valor before Euric and his Goths, could
be pitted against such dirty specimen OF
the "canaille" as now stood before him. Had
there been an aperture in the wall OF the
ring sufficiently large to have enabled him to
stalk majesticaly away, it is probable that
this scion Of Granada would have declined
the contest, iu the same manner that We
might suppose the "Chevalier Bayard' would
have declined to sully his reputation by al
encounter with common prize-fghier; but
there was no chance of escape, and conscious
that both the nobility and democracy o
Havana were awaiting his movements, he
concluded to kill his antagonist at once, and
ertricste himself from the unpleasant pre-
dicament.
lie could not shout "a Bayard" OF "Ss
tan to rescue |" .or his voice was only adop'
ted to saying that eternat "cock-a-doodledoo,
and he had NC lance to couch, so instead, ht
lowered his head and tail to level, in imlta-
tion OF one, and precision sn his adversary
making the feathers hy as he struck him Sd