The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-08-08
A Home
In The Wilderness
Continued from page 6)


been a tapir, the color dark
brown, and in form resembling g
young rhinoceros, but with nc
horn on the nose, and the upper
lip prolonged into a trunk some
thing like that of an elephant on
a smaller scale. 1t is a gentle crea-
ture, but when attacked becomes
a fierce opponent, and a wound
dogs dangerously with it's power
full teeth.
The tapir can swim and dive
with perfect ease, and abounds in
the densely wooded swamps and
rivers of tropical America.
Fritz in his cajack followed for
a time the direction in which the
tapir proceeded, but saw no more
Of it.
Meanwhile the other two boys
returned to the farm by the rice
fields, and there fell in with a
flock of cranes, five or six of
which they caught alive, among
them two demoiselles or Numid-
ian cranes. These birds they shot
at with arrows arranged in a skill
full and original way, with loops
of cord dipped in birdlime attach
ed to them, so that it often hap
pened that the bird aimed at was
entangled and brought down I'M
injured.
The young hunters seemed to
have lived very comfortably ion
peccary ham, ASSAY bread and
fruit, and plenty of baked pota-
toes and milk.
One trial of the pemmican was
sufficient, and it was handed over
to the dogs. Fritz, however, de-
termined again to attempt the
manufacture, knowing it's value
when properly prepared.
After collecting a supply of rice
and cotton, they took their way
to Prospect Hill; "and," said
Fritz, as he afterward wildly des-
cribed the dreadful scene there
enacted, when we entered the
pine wood, we found it in posses
sion of troops of monkeys, who
resolved to make our passage
through it as disagreeable as pos
sible, for they howled and chat
tered at us like demons, pelting
us as hard as they could with
pine cones.
'They became so unbearable,
that at last we fired a few shot
right and left among them; sew
eral bit the dust, the rest fled,
and we continued our way in
peace to Prospect Hill, but only
to discover the havoc the wretches
had made there.
Would you believe it, father?
The pleasant cottage had been
over-run and ruined by apes just
as Woodland last summer! The
most dreadful dirt and disorder
met our eyes wherever we turn
ed, and we had hard work to make
the place fit for human habita-
ton; and even then we prefer
red the tent. | felt quite at a loss
how to guard the farm for the
future; but seeing a bottle of the
poisonous gum of the euphorbia
in the tool chest, l devised a plan
for the destruction Of the apes
succeeded beyond my ex-
pectations.
81 mixed poison with milk,
bruised millet, and anything l
the monkeys would eat,
and put it in cocoanut shells,
which I hung about in the trees, {
high enough to be out of reach |
If our own animals. The evening
was calm and lovely; the sea MUIR {
INJURED in the distance, and the
Using moon shed a beauty over {
he landscape which we seemed {
never before to have so admired !
and enjoyed. The summer night t
around us in all it's sol l
stiffness, and our deepest {
were touched, when sud- {
lenly the spell vas broken by an
outburst of the most hideous and
liscordant noises. AS by n con-
sent, every beast of the forest
seemed to arise from its den, and t
liter its wild nocturnal cry. Snort
ng, snarling, and shreiking filled {
he wood beneath us. 9
From the hills echoed the /
nournful bowls of jackals, answer /
ID by Fangs in the yard, who was a
up by the barking and 2
of his friends Floss and a
Bruno. Far away beyond the v
he rocky Businesses of the Gap, t
ounded unearthly, hollow snort .
ngs and neighings, reminding one b
f the strange cry Of the hippo q
lotamus; above these, occasional b
.eep majestic roaring made our a