Many were the mistakes that were made in regard to our identity—some of them laughable, 6others proving exactly the reverse, especially when I was called upon to stand punishment for his misdeeds. On one occasion Mark got into a difficulty with a half-breed. About a week afterward2, while I was riding along the road, I met this same half-breed with a big switch in his hand, and all that saved me from a severe whipping was the speed of my horse.
Then there was our old enemy, Tom Mason, who had been badly worsted in an attempt to whip Mark, and ever since that time he had been robbing my traps, shooting at my dog and killing3 my doves, thinking all the while that he was revenging himself upon Mark, when he was in reality punishing me.
At the time of which I write we lived in Warren County, ten miles below Vicksburg, where our father owned an extensive plantation4. He cultivated one thousand acres of cotton and six hundred acres of corn. He owned one hundred and fifty working mules5 and horses, twice as many young cattle, which ran loose in the swamp, and about twenty-five hundred hogs7. It required from sixty to seventy-five cows to supply the plantation 7with milk and butter, and almost as many dogs to protect the stock from the wild beasts.
Just think of that! Think what music this pack must have made when in pursuit of a bear or deer, and imagine, if you can, the delightful8 concerts to which we listened on bright moonlight nights!
Perhaps you will wonder if we needed all these dogs. We should have been sorry to part with them, for they were as necessary to our existence as our horses, cows or mules.
Warren County at that time was almost a wilderness9. Wolves, foxes and minks10 were numerous, and our henroosts would have been cleared in a single night, if the dogs had not been there to protect them. Wild-cats were abundant, and panthers were so often met with, that traveling after dark was seldom undertaken for pleasure. Bears, however, were the principal pests. They were, to quote from the settlers, “as plenty as blackberries,” and employed their leisure time during the night in roaming about the plantations11, picking up every luckless hog6 and calf12 that happened to fall in their way.
8I must not forget to say that our fellows had nothing to do with all these plantation dogs. The most of them belonged to father, a few to the overseer, and the rest to the servants.
Our pack numbered only five dogs. Mark was the happy possessor of Rock and Dash, two splendid deer-hounds, which, for size, speed, endurance and courage, were unequaled in all that country except by Sandy’s Sharp and Music. These four hounds were animals worth having. They could run all day, and when they once started on a trail, they never left it until the game, whatever it was, had been killed, or they were called away.
I laid claim to Zip. He was what we boys called a “bench-legged catch-dog”—that is, his fore13 legs stood wide apart and curved outward, like those of a bulldog, and he was used for catching14 and holding game.
He was yellow all over except his head, which was as black as jet. His nose and ears were as sharp as those of a wolf, and he was bobtailed.
Zip was unlike any other dog I ever saw. There were a good many queer things about 9him, and he had at least one peculiarity15 that every body noticed. He never wagged his tail sideways, as other dogs do, but up and down, and he never wagged it at all except when following a warm trail.
There were five of us boys—Duke Hampton, his cousin, Herbert Dickson, Sandy, Mark and myself. We were near neighbors—that is, we lived about a mile and a half apart—and we were together almost all the time. We always spoke16 of one another as “our fellows,” and we had finally come to be known by that name all over the country. Sandy merits a short description.
His name was Gabriel Lucien Todd—an odd name, perhaps, but it suited him, for he was an odd boy. No one ever thought the race of giants extinct after seeing him. When he was thirteen years old he was as tall and heavy as his father, and much stronger. Indeed Sandy often boasted that he could pull as many bales of cotton on a wagon17 as any yoke18 of oxen in Warren County.
That, of course, was saying a great deal too much; but his strength was really something 10wonderful. He could outlift any two of our fellows, without puffing19 out his cheeks, but we could all take his measure on the ground as fast as he could get up.
There were other noticeable things about Sandy, such as his utter disregard for all the proprieties20 of language, his bright-red hair, and his extreme good nature, which I seldom saw ruffled21. The first was by no means the result of ignorance, for Sandy, besides being a capital scholar in other respects, was looked upon by our fellows as a walking repository of grammatical knowledge.
He wrote splendid letters—and that is an accomplishment22 that every boy, or man either, does not possess—and he would correctly analyze23 and parse24 any sentence you could give him, no matter how complex; but when it came to talking he was all afloat. He twisted his sentences into all sorts of awkward shapes, and sometimes used words that had but little connection with the idea he wished to communicate. It was not the result of carelessness either, for he made some desperate attempts to “talk proper,” as he expressed it, especially 11in the presence of strangers; but the harder he tried the more he blundered.
After saying this much, it is scarcely necessary to add that Sandy was as slow as an elephant in all his movements, and that he never got surprised at any thing that happened.
Mark’s room and mine was regarded as the headquarters of our fellows. On one side two windows looked out upon a wide porch, and on the other was a fire-place, backed up by an immense brick chimney.
An unpainted board over the fireplace formed the mantel, on which were a collection of books, a couple of lamps, an ornamental25 clock, and a few articles of curiosity, such as alligators’ teeth, bears’ claws, stone arrow-heads and hatchets26.
Two pairs of deer’s antlers were fastened to the wall over the head of the bed, and on them hung our guns, game-bags, shot-pouches, riding-whips, gloves and hunting-horns. These last were of great use to us. They were simply cows’ horns scraped thin and supplied with carved mouth-pieces. They were used principally for calling the hounds during a bear or 12deer-hunt (it may astonish you to learn that every dog knew the sound of his master’s horn and would obey no other), and with them we could talk to a friend on a calm day a mile distant.
I have lately learned that when boys in a city want a companion, they will station themselves in front of his gate and whistle. We did not go to all that trouble. If Mark and I had any thing exciting on hand, and wanted our fellows to join in, one of us would go out on the porch and blow three long blasts on his horn.
We were always sure of an answer, and in a few minutes here would come Sandy Todd from one direction, and Duke and Herbert from the other. We had written out a regular code of signals, and each of us kept a copy at hand for reference, so that there could be no mistake.
We could tell our friends that we wanted them to go hunting, fishing or blackberrying with us; we could ask them to come over and pay us a visit; and we could tell them when to expect us. We had signals of distress27, too, 13and we were all bound to give heed28 to them when we heard them.
I ought to say that this idea did not originate with us; we learned it from the settlers, who also had a code of signals which had been in use as long as I could remember.
If a planter some evening took it into his head that he would like to go bear-hunting on the following day he would go out with his horn and blow five long blasts and three short ones; and, like us when we called our fellows, he was certain of a reply.
The neighbor who heard him first would respond, then another and another would follow, until all the men in the settlement for two or three miles around, had agreed to go bear-hunting, and that, too, without having seen one another.
Perhaps, now that you have heard so much about our fellows, you would like to have them personally presented. Step into headquarters, and I will introduce you. After that, if you think you would enjoy a four-mile gallop29 before supper, we will find you a good horse to ride. We are going down the bayou to visit an Indian 14camp: and if you have never seen one, now is your chance.
The boy who sits in that big arm-chair, thrumming on his guitar and tickling30 the dog’s ears with the toe of his boot, is my brother Mark. If you don’t find him in some mischief31 every time you meet him, you mustn’t think it is his fault.
Do you see that broad-shouldered, long-legged, awkward-looking fellow sitting on the floor at the opposite side of the fire-place, with a hammer in his hand and a pan of hickory nuts by his side? That is Sandy Todd, the strongest boy and the best shot in our party.
That curly-headed, blue-eyed fellow, who smiles so good-naturedly every time he speaks, and who sits at the table devouring32 the hickory-nuts as fast as Sandy cracks them, is Herbert Dickson. He is blessed with a good deal of flesh, is Herbert, and sometimes answers to the name of “Chub”; at others, “Ducklegs.”
I have known plenty of boys at school to be badly deceived in that same Herbert Dickson. As clumsy as he looks, he can run faster and 15jump higher and further than any other fellow of his age in the settlement. There is nothing in the world that Herbert more enjoys than the astonishment33 and chagrin34 of some lithe35 young fellow who may have challenged him, “just for the fun of the thing,” to run a race; for I don’t remember that I ever saw him beaten.
On the table at Herbert’s elbow is a chessboard with men scattered36 over it. I am sitting at one end of it, and the tall, dark, dignified-looking youth, in blue jeans roundabout and heavy horseman’s boots, who is sitting opposite me, is Duke Hampton, than whom a better fellow never lived. He is an acknowledged leader. He settles all our disputes, when we have any—which, by the way, does not often happen—and is the projector37 and manager of most of our plans for amusement. He is handsome and polite, and, of course, a great favorite with the girls. He is a boy of high moral principle, strictly38 truthful39, and honorable even in the smallest matters, and these qualities render him a favorite with the men. He is the most daring and graceful40 rider among our fellows, and, next to Mark, the best wrestler41. 16He is a good chess-player, too; but by some unaccountable fortune I have driven him into a tight corner.
I do not suppose there is any necessity that I should again introduce myself. If it will help to place me in your good books, however, I will tell you that I own the swiftest horse and the best dog in the settlement. Black Bess has never been beaten in a fair race, and Zip has yet to find his equal as a fighter and bear dog. I am not so modest but that I can tell you, also, that I am the champion hunter among our fellows. I killed a bear alone and unaided, and his skin now hangs on that nail at the foot of the bed; but my companions, one and all, are determined42 to equal me in this respect, and consequently I do not expect to hold the honors much longer. But here comes our little negro, Bob, to announce that the horses are waiting, and we must off for the camp if we intend to be back in time for supper.
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1
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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5
mules
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| 骡( mule的名词复数 )； 拖鞋； 顽固的人； 越境运毒者 | |
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6
hog
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| n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占 | |
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7
hogs
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| n.（尤指喂肥供食用的）猪( hog的名词复数 )；（供食用的）阉公猪；彻底地做某事；自私的或贪婪的人 | |
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8
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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9
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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10
minks
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| n.水貂( mink的名词复数 )；水貂皮 | |
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plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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12
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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13
fore
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| adv.在前面；adj.先前的；在前部的；n.前部 | |
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14
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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15
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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16
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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17
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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19
puffing
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| v.使喷出( puff的现在分词 )；喷着汽（或烟）移动；吹嘘；吹捧 | |
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20
proprieties
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| n.礼仪，礼节；礼貌( propriety的名词复数 )；规矩；正当；合适 | |
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21
ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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22
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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24
parse
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| v.从语法上分析；n.从语法上分析 | |
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25
ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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26
hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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27
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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28
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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29
gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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30
tickling
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| 反馈，回授，自旋挠痒法 | |
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31
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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32
devouring
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| 吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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33
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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34
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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35
lithe
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| adj.(指人、身体)柔软的，易弯的 | |
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36
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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37
projector
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| n.投影机，放映机，幻灯机 | |
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38
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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39
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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40
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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41
wrestler
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| n.摔角选手，扭 | |
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42
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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