Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/459

Rh full of plants, branches, and fruit, when Fritz handed to Jack a dripping wet bag which he had brought along partly under water. A curious pattering noise proceeded from this bag, but they kept the contents a secret for the present, Jack running with it behind a bush before peeping in, and I could just hear him exclaim,— “Hollo! I say, what monsters they are! It's enough to make a fellow's flesh creep to look at them!”

With that he hastily shut up the bag, and put it away safely out of sight in water.

Securing the cajack, Fritz sprang towards us, his handsome face radiant with pleasure, as he exhibited a beautiful water-fowl.

Its plumage was rich purple, changing on the back to dark green; the legs, feet, and a mark above the bill, bright red. This lovely bird I concluded to be the Sultan cock described by Buffon, and as it was gentle, we gladly received it among our domestic pets. Fritz gave a stirring account of his exploring trip, having made his way far up the river, between fertile plains and majestic forests of lofty trees, where the cries of vast numbers of birds, parrots, peacocks, guinea fowls, and hundreds unknown to him, quite bewildered, and made him feel giddy.

“It was in the Buffalo Swamp,” continued he, “that I saw the splendid birds you call Sultan cocks, and I set my heart on catching one alive, which, as they seemed to have little fear of my approach, I managed by means of a wire snare. Farther on I saw a grove of mimosa trees, among which huge dark masses were moving in a deliberate way. Guess what they were!”

“Savages?” asked Franz timidly.

“Black bears, I bet!” cried Jack.

“Your words suggest to my mind the manner and appearance of elephants,” said Ernest.