The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-06-13
ANATURAl lRoN-clAD.

We had proceeded perhaps quarter
Of mile without incident, when. on
entering Il little oasis Of grass among
the sand hilloeks, Hans stopped short.
thinking he heard slight noise near At
hand. When il WAS repeated an In
slant later he stepped softly toward
the spot from which il seemed to come.
and saw i dark object about rs large
a. 4 woodehaek and almost as Hat as
its own shadow, shuiliing from one tuft
Of GRASS TO another. stopping but Il mo-
nlent To sniff about the roots of each.
and then frotting away TO the next.
Reasoning as | had done the previous
night. he leseled his gun and pulled
the trigger Just as the pelndo emerged
from the shadow into the full light OF
the moon Rushing forward through
the smoke TO pick mp the game he was
amazed 10 see the peludo scudding
away anhnrt. a. fast as its short legs
would carry il. lie gave chase at once
and soon overlook il, but il lodged
suddenly and made off In another di-
rection, while he ran some distance
past. Recovering himself, he dashed
after It again aud bringing his foot
down fairly on It's back succeeded only
in upseiting himself without stopping
the armadillo. Again and again he
overlook and stopped 10 grasp II. but
each time got only handful of sand
and grass. He was rapidly being
winded. while peludo still seemed per-
fectlv fresh and in all probability we
should have lost our game after all. had
not Miguel al this iuneture brought hls
club down on the auimats head, ap
parently killing 1t outright. Il wa,
onlv shamniug. however. and bE dig
ging its long claws into the ground wa'
able for several minutes To defy
Miguel's knife. But eventually vita
spot was found. ard as soon rs il wa
dead we began to examine il curiouslv
Including the tail. it was not far from
two feet III length, and weighed per
haps seven or eight pounds. 1t wa
little wonder that Hans's shot had nt
effect. for the rounded back Was coveret
completely with cost of mail formet
of cross rows or bands of thick. bon,
plates. so hard and smooth that min,
times 0at OF ten they would have turues
oil a riiie-bnlIet. The seams or liue
OF skin between the bands we're almoS
hidden by the overlapping the pilates
and we're thinlY Sprink.ed with coars
hair. This became more abundant O
the belly and legs. The teeth, whicl
grew only on the sides OF the JAWS
we're OF small size, but the feet wer
armed with large claws. Those on th
fore feet we're especially long ant
strong. Altogether. il was rather
repuisive-fooking beast, aud it was har
10 credit the Assertions of Miguel am
+ the doctor thA the flesh resembIed i
flavor that of young roast pig. and wa
even more delicious. This species, tn
hairy arlnadillo OF the pampas. has n
power 10 roll itself up in ball whic
many OF its relatives possess. but
attacked often escapes its enemies b
hattening itself close against tn
ground and feignipg death. Durin
not weather it seldom ventures abroa
bv dav. but searches at night for il
food OF roots aud insects. Ia winter
however, or in duh dark weather.
sometimes roams about 10y day, takin
f refuge. in ease of necessity, in an
burrow ut hand. or, if surprised wher
the soil is moderately soft. it can bui
row out OF sight and out Of danger i
few seconds. - Waiter b. Btrr0tcS, i
81. Nicholas.