The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1930-04-04

Continuation of
CHAPTER FOUR

The boys were delighted wit
the experiment. l then drew som
of the threads from the leaves
and presented them to my wife
But what" said Fritz, "is the
use of all these other prickly
plants, except to annoy one? Here
for instance, is a disagreeable
little tree"
That is an Indian fig" said l
at grows best on dry, rocky
ground; for most of it's nourish.
ment is derived from the air. It's
juice is used, I believe. medicin-
ally. while its fruit is pleasant
and wholesome"
Master Jack was off in a mo-
ment when he heard of a new
delicacy, and attempted to gather
some of the fruit, but in vain,
the sharp thorns defied his eff
forts, and with bleeding hands,
and rueful countenance, he re-
turned. l removed the thorns
from his hands, and making a
sharp wooden skewer, l thrust it
into a fig, and quickly twisted it
from it's branch and split it open
with a knife, still holding it upon
the skewer. The rest followed
my example, and we regaled our
selves upon the fruit, which we
found excellent. Ernest carefully
examined the fig he was eating.
What are these" he exclaimed
presently; little red insects! they
cling all over the fruit, and I
cannot shake them off. Can they
be cochineal?"
He handed me the fig, and
examined it attentively.
'You are quite right, my boy"
/ said; "there is no doubt this is
the real cochineal. However,
though it is worth it's weight in
gold to European traders, it is
of little use to us, I am afraid,
unless any of you care to appear
in gay colors. The cochineal, you
know, forms the most lovely
scarlet dye"
NO, thank you" said Jack.
but we will take a lot of it when
we go home again. Now let US
find something more useful to u.s."
And they thereupon piled me in
%cessantly with questions concern
ing every plant and shrub we
passed.
Stop, stop l said at length;
the most learned naturalist would
be much puzzled with many of
these trees, and / who have new
er seen any of them before, and
know them merely by description,
cannot pretend to tell you the
names, or explain to you the use
of one-quarter of them
Discussing, however, the proper
ties of such shrubs as | did know,
we at length reached Tentholm.
Everything was safe, and we set
to work to collect what we want
ed. l opened the butter cask,
from which my wife filled her
pot. Fritz saw after the ammuni-
ton, and Jack and Ernest ran
down to the beach to capture
the geese and ducks, This they
found no easy matter, for the
birds, left so long alone, were
shy, and nothing would induce
them to come on shore and be
caught. Ernest at length hit upon
an ingenious plan. He took some
pieces of cheese, and tied them
to long strings. This bait he
threw into the water, and the
ducks instantly made a
grab at it; then with a little
maneuvering he drew
them on shore. While Jack and
he were thus busily employed
catching and tying the rebels to-
by the feet, We procured
4 fresh supply of salt, which we
upon Turks back, first
'elieving him of his coat of mail. ;
The birds we fastened to our
game bags, and carefully closing
he door of our tent, started
lomeward by the s~eashore. After
/ cheerful and pleasant walk, we
)nce more reached our woodland
| released the birds and, {
clipping their wings to prevent {
heir leaving us, established them {
IN the stream. Then. after a de- (
icious supper of potatoes, milk, {
ind butter, we assembled our tree (
md turned In. E
Having remarked a great deal S
If driftwood on the sands the '
preceding evening, it occurred to t
ne that it would be well to get v
ONE of it, and make a kind Of t
ledge, so that the labor Of fetch e
ng what we wanted from our b
torres at Tentholm might not fall
heavily on ourselves. s
| woke early, and reused Err a
est as my assistant, wishing to e
ncourage him to overcome his v
atural fault of Incidence. After V
little stretching and yawning, s
3 got up cheerfully, pleased with
idea of an expedition while S
others still slept, and we h
ade our way to the beach, TAX r.
g with us the donkey, who drew n
large broad bough, which | ex- Fl