could make no new friendships, and so it pined prey, and urge them to flight by the only away and died. WOLVES IN THE SNOW. During the arduous journeys of Captain Franklin to the shores of the Polar Sea, he and his companions were often obliged to dispute their scanty food with the prowling wolves of those inclement regions. On one occasion, when they had captured a moosedeer, and had buried part of the body, the wolves absolutely dug it out from their very feet and devoured it, while the weary men were sleeping. On another occasion, when the travellers had killed a deer, they saw, by the flashes of the aurora borealis, eight wolves waiting around for their share of the prey, and the intense howling of the ferocious animals, and the cracking of the ice by which they were surrounded, prevented them sleeping, even if they had dared. But the wolves were sometimes caterers for the hungry wanderers in these dreary regions. When a group of wolves and a flight of crows were discovered, the travellers knew that there was a carcase to be divided, and they sometimes succeeded in obtaining a share of the prey, if it had been recently killed. Even the wolves have a fear 66 CHASING THE RED DEER." of man. So much snow had fallen on the previous night, says an Arctic traveller, that the track we intended to follow was completely covered; and our march to-day was very fatiguing. We passed the remains of two red deer lying at the bases of perpendicular cliffs, from the summits of which they had probably been forced by the wolves. These voracious animals, who are inferior in speed to the moose or red deer, are said frequently to have recourse to this expedient, in places where extensive plains are bounded by precipitous cliffs. Whilst the deer are quietly grazing the wolves assemble in great numbers, and forming a crescent, creep slowly towards the herd, so as not to alarm them much at first, but when they perceive that they have fairly hemmed in the unsuspecting creatures, and cut off their retreat across the plain, they move more quickly, and with hideous yells terrify their open way, which is towards the precipice; appearing to know that, when the herd is once at full speed, it is easily driven over the cliff, the rearmost urging on those that are before. The wolves then descend at leisure, and feast on the mangled carcasses. THE WOLF IN AMERICA. In his "Adventures on the Columbian America is a destructive and rapacious animal; River," "Mr. Ross Cox says that the wolf of whole herds of them, he tells us, assemble together in the winter time and destroy a vast number of horses and cattle, which in the cold regions get entangled in the snow. In this situation they become an easy prey to which will fasten on one animal. With their their light-footed pursuers, ten or fifteen of long fangs they fix on the poor horse's neck, and in a few minutes drag him down and separate his head from his body. If, however, the horses are not prevented from using their legs, they sometimes punish their enemy "As an instance of this, I saw, one severely. morning," says Mr. Cox, "the bodies of two of before; and around them were lying no fewer our horses, which had been killed the night than eight dead or mortally wounded wolves; some with their brains scattered about, and others with their limbs and ribs broken by the hoofs of the furious animals, in their vain attempts to escape from their sanguinary assailants." By wintry famine roused from all the track ENCOUNTERING AN ICEBERG. FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF A VOYAGER. MOR ten days we had fine weather and light and drove us to the northward, and I then found out what it was to be at sea. After the gale had lasted a week, the wind came round from the northward, and bitter cold it was. We then stood on rather further to the north than the usual track, I believe. These words made the second mate, who had the watch, jump into the weather rigging. "A ship!" he exclaimed. An iceberg it is, rather, and. All hands wear ship," he shouted, in a tone which showed there was not a moment to lose. ship, in a far worse predicament than we were, by ice, though she still floated in a sort of basin. The wind held to the northward, so that we could stand clear out of the passage, should it remain open long enough. She by this time had discovered her own perilous condition, as we perceived that she had hoisted a signal of distress, and we heard the guns she was firing to call our attention to her; but regard to our own safety compelled us to disregard them until we had ourselves got clear of the ice. It was night, and blowing fresh. The sky was overcast, and there was no moon, so that darkness was on the face of the deep-not total darkness, it must be understood, for that is seldom known at sea. I was in the middle watch from midnight to four o'clock, and had It was very dreadful to watch the stranger, been on deck about half an hour, when the and to feel that we could render her no assistlook-out forward sung out, "Ship ahead-star-ance. All hands were at the braces, ready to board-hard a starboard." trim the sails should the wind head us; for in that case we should have to beat out of the channel, which was every instant growing narrower and narrower. The captain stood at the weather gangway, conning the ship. When he saw the ice closing in on us, he ordered every stitch of canvas the ship would carry to be set on her, in hopes of carrying her out before this should occur. It was a chance, whether or not we should be nipped. However, I was not so much occupied with our own danger as not to keep an eye on the stranger, and to feel deep interest in her fate. I was in the mizen-top, and as I possessed a spyglass, I could see clearly all that occurred. The water on which she floated was nearly smooth, though covered with foam, caused by the masses of ice as they approached each other. I looked; she had but a few fathoms of water on either side of her. As yet she floated unharmed. The peril was great; but the direction of the ice might change, and she might yet be free. Still on it came with terrifie force; and I fancied that I could hear the edges grinding and crushing together. The watch sprung to the braces and bowlines, while the rest of the crew tumbled up from below, and the captain and other officers rushed out of their cabins. The helm was kept up, and the yards swung round, and the ship's head turned towards the direction whence we had come. The captain glanced his eye round, and then ordered the courses to be brailed up, and the maintopsail to be backed, so as to lay the ship to. I soon discovered the cause of these manoeuvres, for before the ship had quite wore round I perceived close to us a towering mass with a refulgent appearance, which the look-out man had taken for the white sails of a ship, but which proved in reality to be a vast iceberg, and attached to it, and extending a considerable distance to leeward, was a field or very extensive floe of ice, against which the ship would have run, had it not been discovered in time, and would, in all probability, instantly have gone down, with every one on board. In consequence of the extreme darkness, it was dangerous to sail either way; for it was impossible to say what other floes, or smaller cakes of ice, might be in the neighbourhood, and we might probably be on them before they could be seen. We therefore remained hove to. As it was, I could not see the floe till it was pointed out to me by one of the crew. When daylight broke, the next morning, the dangerous position in which the ship was placed was seen. On every side of us appeared large floes of ice, with several icebergs floating, like mountains on a plain, among them; while the only opening through which we could escape was a narrow passage to the north-east, through which we must have come. What made our position the more perilous was, that the vast masses of ice were approaching nearer and nearer to each other, so that we had not a moment to lose, if we would effect our escape. As the light increased, we saw, at the distance of three miles to the westward, another The ice closed on the ill-fated ship. She was probably as totally unprepared to resist its pressure as we were. At first I thought that it lifted her bodily up; but it was not so, I suspect. She was too deep in the water for that. Her sides were crushed in-her stout timbers were rent into a thousand fragments her tall masts tottered and fell, though still attached to the hull. For an instant I concluded that the ice must have separated, or perhaps the edges broke with the force of the concussion; for, as I gazed, the wrecked mass of hull, and spars, and canvas, seemed drawn suddenly downward with irresistible force, and a few fragments which had been hurled by the force of the concussion to a distance, were all that remained of the hapless vessel. Not a soul of her crew could have had time to escape to the ice. I looked anxiously; not a speck could be seen stirring near the spot. Such, thought I, may be the fate of the four hundred and forty human beings on board this ship ere many minutes are over. I believe that I was the only person on board who witnessed the catastrophe. Most of the THE ODD BOY.-CONCERNING THE BRITISH UNICORN. emigrants were below, and the few who were on deck were with the crew watching our own progress. Still narrower grew the passage. Some of the parts we had passed through were already closed. The wind, fortunately, held fair; and though it contributed to drive the ice faster in upon us, it yet favoured our escape. The ship flew through the water at a great rate, heeling over to her ports; but, though at times it seemed as if the masts would go over the sides, still the captain held on. A minute's delay might prove our destruction. Every one held his breath as the width of the passage decreased, though we had but a short distance more to make good before we should be free. I must confess that all the time I did not myself feel any sense of fear. I thought it was 153 a danger more to be apprehended for others than for myself. At length a shout from the deck reached my ears, and looking round I saw that we were on the outside of the floe. We were just in time, for the instant after the ice met, and the passage through which we had come was completely closed up. The order was now given to keep the helm up and to square away the yards, and with a flowing sheet we ran down the edge of the ice for upwards of three miles before we were clear of it. Only then did people begin to inquire what had become of the ship we had lately seen. I gave my account, but few expressed any great commiseration for the fate of those who were lost. Our captain had had enough of ice, so he steered a course to get as fast as possible into more southern latitudes. THE ODD BOY.-CONCERNING THE BRITISH UNICORN. DEAR MR. EDITOR: Going up Holborn the other day I saw, in the Royal arms over some tradesman's door,I won't say whose door, or some sharp-sighted critic will suggest that it is an advertising dodge, -well, I saw in the Royal arms over a tradesman's door the British unicorn with his head knocked off. Now at that time I had the idea of giving you my views on second fiddles; but the sight of that poor brute-come to grief while prancing against the Royal shield, with his tail arranged, on picturesque principles, with a knob on the end to preserve his equilibrium-made me change my mind, and I said to myself, "No; let the British unicorn be the thesis of our theme: and yet the thoughts which bubble up under your thatch, O Odd Boy, may assume the same aspect as though Violin Secondo had been thy text. But what am I that I should speak of the British unicorn? Rusticus abnormis sapiens crassaque Minerva. Tuck in your twopenny, and let me have an over before I begin! I have a large share of respect for the British lion-whether I see him stretched out at his ease, or crouching in a vigilant attitude, or rampant on one leg-whether he be of his own proper colour or blazing with gold-the British lion is the British lion. It is his roar which makes the hearts of foemen shake within them. It is his eye (or eyes), which detects (or detect) any lurking conspiracy; it is the stamp of his foot changes the political condition of humanity. I see him everywhere, I hear of him everywhere. He is the last resource of a parliamentary orator;-if the House of Commons can stand the British lion, it can stand anything. Leo is always in the ascendant. Take him out of the Royal arms, and eo magis prae fulgebat quod non videbatur-conspicuous by his absence, he would shine the more. But who cares for the British unicorn? O headless unicorn, I look towards you; tell me your sad 154 THE ODD BOY.-CONCERNING THE BRITISH UNICORN. story, and you tell me the story of a second fiddle. "I am a fabulous beast," says the British unicorn; “and, not to put too fine a point upon it, I don't know who invented me, nor where, nor why. My earliest recollections are in connection with the Royal arms, and with having to stand, often in a perilous position, on a blue ribbon, which I am free to confess is but a frail support for a goodsized quadruped of prancing tendencies. I have been usually compelled to wear a collar and a chain, as if I was a highly dangerous brute, given to biting or to running my single horn through creatures of your species, which I would do if I could, and don't deceive you. I have usually had my hoofs gilded, as if I had been shod at some auriferous smithy; and with an expression of preternatural intelligence thrown into my eye, which is no more like me than your carte de visite with an intellectual expression is like you: I have been made to face the lion in a defiant manner, but with no more chance of being respected or thought equal to him than Monsieur at your academy is likely to be mistaken for the doctor. I am playing, I have been playing, I shall go on playing second fiddle to the lion; and I have the mortification of hearing a libellous and fictitious story regarding myself freely circulated in my.presence : The lion and the unicorn There is no truth in the statement. I never aspired after the crown: to me it were as useless as a feed of oyster-shells. I never fought with the lion; I never had the chance of getting at him; he always stands on the other side of the shield. If I could get at him he would catch it hot; but as for beating me about the town, there is no shadow of foundation for the charge. No; there he is, there he has been, there I suppose he will continue to be, looking as big as bull beef and as bold as brass, but with nothing in him-on the word of a much put upon and long-suffering unicorn." 66 Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites," say I. "Stow it," says my headless unicorn; what is that when it is fried? "Your education," I reply," has been obviously neglected, the quotation signifies-satirically, of course-that it is not for us to adjust such grave disputes." You mean my row with that rampagious lion. Well, a fellow can't help his feelings. How would you like it yourself? He does no more work than I do, but he walks off with all the credit; while I am stuck up to be snubbed, and of no more account than as if I were Mr. Nobody, and lived at Number Nothing, Nowhere. Why, if a foreign fellow abroad somewhere builds a few more ships, or drills a few more troops, the lion is invited to roar as a friendly admonition that too much gunpowder will end in a blow-up. If the High Church churchwarden of the parish of St. Dives. cum-Lazarus tries on a rate, the Nonconformist chandler's-shop keeper attends the vestry, and makes the British lion roar for the liberties of Protestant dissenters. Big or little, it don't matter-at a religious meeting at Exeter Hall, or a free-and-easy meeting in the parlour of the Toad-in-the-Hole-it is always the British lion, and not me. Who would threaten anybody with a thrust from the British unicorn? I pause for a reply, and get none." (No, we never mention him; his name is never heard.) And I thought of the words of the British unicorn, and applied them in this way, just as young B. Constrictor does in his sermons:In conclusion, dear friends, let us inquire what are the practical lessons deducible from the subject which has occupied our attention. 1st. We may observe that there is an inequality in the common lot of mankind: some are lions and others are unicorns. By lions we are to understand those who are exceedingly prosperous, and held in great reputation-not on account of any innate worth, but by reason of the position into which they have been lifted or into which they have forced themselves. By unicorns we are to understand those who in vain endeavour to obtain either the respect or attention of mankind, who with an equal amount of worth, and accomplishing an equal amount of work as the lion, are invariably rendered subservient to the lion. They are nothing; he is everything; it is theirs to play the second fiddle. 2nd. Look around, dear brethren, upon the lions and unicorns of your acquaintance. There is Brazenmug, the rich city man, who dines with dukes-he is not half so worthy a man as the poor clerk, Threadbare, who has toiled in his office for fifty years on a salary of as many pounds. Haresfoot, the actor, can play quite as well as Tinfoil, the tragedian; but he is, and ever must be, unicorn to that great lion. Smeary Smudge is not half so clever a painter as Struggling Tintoe; but one is an R.A. and the other is A.R.-that is, awfully ragged. Such things What, then, thirdly and lastly, is the practical lesson ? It is this, that we require a better standard than that of success, whereby to measure our lions and our unicorns. Success, fortune, popularity, are no proper tests of lionhood or unicornism. Worth is the true test. Whether a man play first or second fiddle is a matter of little moment if he plays it well. And thus, my dear unicorns, we are brought to the comfortable conclusion that, if it be ours to drive a quill for Brazenmug, to subject our histrionic talent to the exaggerations of Tinfoil, to find our choice little picture sacrificed to the gigantic canvas of Smeary Smudge; if we are compelled to stand on one hind-leg in a singularly rampant attitude in the Royal arms;-let us be content to do what we have to do well, with a swing on our tail, a roll in our eye, a graceful pose in our attitude, that shall at least deserve, if it never wins, respect and admiration. Persta atque obdura. Yours truly, are. THE ODD Boy. THA CHAPTER III. THE GRISLY BEAR. AS RELATED BY HIMSELF.* HAT night we spent at the couch of the wounded man, but, owing to the good nurse tending, and of course to the efficient medical skill of Mrs. Kinneardie, in a fortnight he was able to rise for a little time, and from this time forth he gradually recovered strength. We were obliged in common charity, aided by the earnest entreaties of the charming senoritas to stay at the wooden house, and, to tell the truth, I could not wish for pleasanter quarters. The ranche was indeed a pleasant place when the wounded man, fast recovering, used to come down to the principal room, off which was the apartment in which Dugald and I were located, opposite the invalid's, inside of which was the senoritas' quarto. By day we used to wander about the island and the savannah, and fish in the arroyo, or go out "gunning;" and in the night time we would prevail on the young ladies to sing for us those delightful cancions accompanied by the guitarra. Dugald too would favour us with a liberal display of his bagpipes' capabilities, and give us "Cam' ye by Athol ?" "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen" was a great favourite, and then he would give us some fine old Scotch songs, "Whistle, and I'll come to you my lad," par exemple, and then "Auld lang Syne," "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to min'? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o' auld lang syne?' was an inquiry which he was constantly making. The name of our host, I have forgotten to mention, was Senor Federico Gaston Arangoiz. The elder daughter, Senorita Mariquita Rosalia; and the younger, Senorita Eulalia * From this point in our narrative, Stephen Halston relates his own adventures. |