Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-08-09

them dry and insipid; but all his desire
seemed to be to have me near him and to
hear my voice talking nonsense. FINDING
that to say something, however absurd,
was needful to his peace, thought OF
"kiliing two birds with one stone" and
that, as I had given him folly enough, ne
should have something better. took q
book from my knapsack and read aloud,
irving any dialogue in a conversational
fone and I can assure Mr.. Charles Dick
ems. or whom it may concern, that Pick
wick'' never met with more attentive or
apparently gratiied listener than in "Cap-
tain Rhino," as | called my friend.
/ ceased reading to have smoke. l had
not INDUCED in twenty whifts when Cap
tain Rhino became as impatient as the
gods of a gallery of London theatre. He
grunted-no reply; grunted again, louder
and repeatedly-no notice taken grunted
again, louder and repeatedly-no notice
taken; grunted very loud and stamped
furiously-same result then, yes, by all
the gods of all the theatres on both sides
of the water, he fairly whistled, pretty
much as they do when they want sna00ssc
only a hundred times louder. My ears were
pierced. "What the devil do you make
that row for?" L asked and then came the
low, cultural murmurs, comparatively, in
dicating his joy that / was neither dead
nor speeches. began to fancy that l
should have regular night OF talking, and
to feel no pleasure in the prospect. For
the present would humor hlm--he might
grow sleepy or hungry-so Fkept up a
desultory fire of ,arrant nonsense be-
tween puffs, as "feW and, far between t"
as he would letme, and he was tolerably
at ease. '9"e hf'" =ff,@a fsA'8 i''
! I had filled and nearly smoked out my
meerschaum the third time when l in
qulrediif hismamma was aware Of hsinot
being at home? He was replying in his
own mrUmurng way when a row began
on the eastern lake. Trombones, big
drums, thunder, shrill flies, donkey bray
ing, bagpipes, sharpening of saws, roaring
of bulls, dying groans, and squeaklng OF
unoiled cart wheels, all and srlndry, and
much more, in "Dutch medley" en-
tranced the ear:IoThe captain turned his
ear towards the water, and looked up to
me with an I-know-all -about-it sort of air.
It was plain such rows were not new to
him he took the matter philos0phically.
Presently came more noise; and more
still more sounds in greater variety and
violence; horrors accumulated 1" fast and
furious" Over the bank from one lake to
the other, rushed dense masses of saurians,
hippopotimi and rhinoceros, b thickly
massed till they became tightly wedged, all
fighting for precedence, roaring, plunging.
tearing each other madly, the latter gor-.
ing and disemboweling the nearest to them
and quite reckless; whether they were OF
their own. species or not. Serpents, long
and large, bounded through the trees like
flashes of lightning, Kissing hoarsely as
they went. The birds of night and day
were alike aroused. - 8
At.length the narrow bank was quite
blocked, the dense mass of huge beasts
swayed to and fro, one or more occasion
ally falling over. Captain Rhino" now
thought it time to interfere; his head and
horn went up and down as bull moves
when he thinks evil. He could see me
plainly by the light of my lamp, as l sat
smoking, and looking at the fight; his
looks said, "you'll see some fun presently"
buthe uttered no sound. He went to work
silently; in all cases | observed he re-
served his trumpeting till victory was
achieved i rather liked that; for silent
dogs bite deepest Elevating and depress-
ing, his head and bell-rope tail, with its lit
tie tassel fit for night cap at the end of
it, he went off deliberately as before, but
stern determination in every step. If those
in his way had not made their wills, their
last opportunity was gone. His horns
made forcible entries into many interiors
as he plowed his way through the mass,
casting bodies forwards, backwards, side
ways and all ways clearing the path as if
an Irishman to the manor born and
Faugh.a- ballagh" was his family. The
ightest went over his head and back,
yards behind him, many into the lakes each
side; in three minutes the bank was freed
of all living, only the dead encountered it.
Then he plunged into the eastern lake, af
ter the scudding legion before him to the
seat Of war. ~ - . a
sAs the.tide of battle surged near or re-
mote, the horrible sounds increased or
diminished. I took the straps off my
knapsack and haversack, passed them
round the branch and my own body, Sc
curely buckling them. My roer was laid
alongside me, the muzzle towards my feet,
everything ready to my hand in the event
of danger, and after commencing myself to
the. care of Him who was as much with
me in those wilds as in the temple, l was
AT sunrise my leviathan friend had not
put in anappearance. | thought him late,
but he might not belong to the early ris-
ing association, or was he killed in last
nights melee? was rather anxious for
wished to know why he had sought me. l
was sure he had some reason in doing so.
AS / took coffee saw his head upon the
lake, like a small boat with one mast and
nn coil nc Il foI1 ind
quarters like another boat Gin tow" He
SWAN slowly till thewater or ink shoaled,
then he imped to the bank, up which he
got with difficulty, and walked as if he
had four wooden legs without ankles or
knee joints, sending forth sounds which L
thought denoted gladness to see me. / sa-
luted him with a Volley Of nonsense as he
approached me- l had gone down to
meet him-he seemed in great pain,
but as pleased as if he had found fortune
He! was very demonstrative, and, being
wet, might have been dispensed with; but
he thought otherwise, and his sincerity
could not be questioned. l offered biscuit,
butlo that he took no notice; he rubbed
his head against my hand, and placed his
face to my chest. | fancy no animal can
be more clumsy than a rhinoceros, and,
though he was less SO than the animals
exhibited under that name in Europe, his
limitations of the movements of a lively
lapdog were highly ludlcrous, but he what
wanted in grace he made up in energy, and,
in displaying it, he seemed to forget his
pain.
l now saw that he was not so old as l
thought him. had seen him at night inn
perfectly. He was but Just at maturity,
and a fine specimen of his race, that race
being what I, for the.want of a better
term, call the rhinoceros major. chasing