The Ottawa free trader., 1875-01-02

straw delivered al their mn or on the iarin, they
10 DO the hauling or otherwise. So sell ut once,
and avail yourselves of this opportunity.
4 The Grow.
The crows had kept up racket since dawn
Trees and palmetto scrub were black with
them They alighted in camp within 10 feet
OF us, and stole the provisions the instant our
backs we're turned. necessarily did they
scold US. 1t was plain that they were anxious
for us TO break camp so that they might pick
up what was lett
Talk about crows,' said Moore, while
putting his morning pipe, they're the most
knowing bird in Florida. Yes, sir, their in.
,elligence is ahead of the niger They can
tell niger from white man mile off, and
they know shotgun from a rifle. They
know that they are of no account. Nobody
hankers after crow meat, and no hunter
wastes powder and shot on them. Why, I've
been hunting and had the crows follow me
and point out the game. They were willing
to take their share of the work, too, and were
satisfied with the lcnvings. If a man only
knows how 10 take him, a crows just as
good as dog. When I've been jumping a
bear or deer, I've had the crows light on the
trees abovo EN- aad sing out Here he is,
old man, down below here! Go for himn
ANU IL SH)l anu lliSStil llCdI llltlu lulhlilH
to one another ana saying, those crows would
actually get disgusteC: oh, he's an old
hombrc-hc don't know how to shoot But
if brought down the game, they'd scream
and bounce from the trees and sail in for their
divvy.
'But the greatest case Of sagacity IN Il crow
that ever saw" continued Moore, "was on
the ocean beach, just across the lower end OF
the lake. Last year me and fellow named
Crowell were down there catching turtle. We
used to clean 'em on a big beam Of mahOg.
any that had drifted ashore. There were
thousands of crows ON hand a picking up the
entralls and scooplng out the shells. They
were 50 noisy that we had to holler TO under
stand one another. You never see such raft
of crows, They were pretty shy along in the
beginning, but they kept getting bolder and
bolder, and by and by they walked right up
10 the mahogany beam, and Stole the choice
steaks we were saving for ourselves. Well
when Crowell see that he began to get man
He swOre lie couldn't stand It. and he hauled
up and gave the crows two barrels OF duck
shot. He had in thunlerin' charge,--a pail
, ful of shot IN each barrel. You never saw
such a sight If il had been raining crows
the beach wouldn't have been blacker. You
see, this was in the morning. Wei, for sew
eral hours the crows were mighty shy again
but along in the afternoon they took theil
chances once more, and were around thicker
than ever. They fought among themsclve,
t for the shells and the entrails, but they
gave the steaks a wide berth. They were
, smart enough to know what the shooting was
for
"Well, among the flock we noticed lam,
crow, with sickly kind Of cav. He hao
come out from under CTowell's battery Will
one leg gone He was hard sight. Wher
We first saw him his wing was II dropping
and he was limping along and a skirmlsh
ing around for something to eat, with the res
Of them. We felt sorry for him. If you'd
seen him, you couldn't help but feel sorry
too. You see, the other crows di0n't give
5 him living show. He would have starveC
. to death if we hadn't sympathized with him
, and seen that he got his share. We fed hin
the incest chunks of turtle, and lie got 81
tame that he would limp up within 2 or
feet, and almost eat out Of our hands. W,
> used to call him Santa Ann, because, you see
he had lost his leg.
"Wel," continued. Moore "for some timt
Santa Anna turned up regularly for his ia
tions. He seemed to be growing weak II
spite of all the building up we gave him
One day we missed him. CrOwell felt mighty
bad. He almost cried. Poor Santa Anna,
says he, couldn't roost any place but on th'
ground. Some snake has got him, and that
the last of him You see the bird had got Il
be great tayorite. felt as bad about it Il,
Crowel, and no mistake. Down here in the
Wilderness, where you don't see a white mal
once in years, fellow gets nightly attached
to a crow when he's social like and puts con
fidence in you. We'll, all that day the crow,
kept coming IN and ripping away at the
lights and liyers, but poor Santa never turned
up. / reckon if we talked about him once We
talked about him hundred times.
Tine next forenoon, while we were dressing
} IL big turtle, we heard feeble Kind Of a cav
and CrOwcll sung out, Here's Santa Anna
) again. as sure as you're horn and sur,
; enough there was the little black Cuss II hop
ping along on one foot over the sand. ilt
: cooked his head on one side, and seemed
, Numbering glad to see rs We were hyper
J cane. We picked ont The richest part Of the
turtle and fed him Wen, good Lord, You d
ought to have seen that crow eat. lie stuffed
J himself so tull that he couldn't holler. You
could see him swell out like n rubber ball.
d The other crows stood off about 90 feet watch
} ing him. The little hOmbrC got all he want
ed, and then started oil. He llmpcd awrully
for about II feet and / heard CroHcll say
!, Poor little devil, I'm afraid he'll never gel
we'll Just then the crow stopped, and kind
shook up his wing Den-as I'm alive
and sinner-hc dropped another little black
foot, and walked off on two legs as sound as
q dollar The other crows set up mighty
cawing, and then all ofth"m few away in a
I BODY"
"WcN," inquired Hammond, chow did AC
\ get his leg fixed"
at wasn't Santa Anna at all Moore re
piled Some other crow had played Santa
y Anna on us. Our crow had been eaten M
by possum. We found the feathers after
ward And" continued Moore, turning t,
me, you won't believe me, but that story
just as true as ihe gosPcl-eyery word Of r.
|-fl,ydt Cor. Y. \. SHL