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To My Boy on His Birthday.
This day, my darling, marks the line
Thy pilgrimage began :
Just ten years of thine hour glass,
Has slowly dropped its sand.
Ten years, my darling; and I gaze
On thy brow broad and fair,
And seek the veil of years to raise,
To read what’s written there.
To read thy futuro, little one ;
Ah! could I mark the line,
Thou’t never know the weight of care,
Nor feel the blight of time.
Each day I watch thy dawning mind,
And mark its shades and light,
And oh! I pray the light therein,
Will guide my boy aright.
I long to see thee, darling, tread
On manhood’s rugged plain,
And on the granite rocks of truth,
There firmly carve thy name.
But ah ! the future is not ours;
God holds it in His hands ;
And His all wise and mighty power.
May mar our best laid plans.
Then let the future rest with God ;
While of his mercy pray,
That health and wisdom may combine,
To bless thy tenth birthday.
Nero Orleans. E- B.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
JACK DOBELL;
Or, A Boy’s Adventures in Texas.
A STORY FOR BOYS.
CHAPTER XIY.
CAPTURING A HOG —KILLING PORK UNDER
DIFETCULTIES BESET BY WOLVES
“CHUNKING” THEM WITH EIRE —INDIAN
SIGNS —“ SIGNAL SMOKES ” —THE TARAN
TULA —BEWILDERED THE THREE PALA
CES —MANUFACTURING A BOW.
l°ng I slept I know
not, but some time du
ring the night, I was
paa awakened by a noise
JWM r proceeding apparently
from beneath the floor
t bhe room i n which I was sleep
in o- U P flatly? and listen
ing attentively! heard the grunt
ing of a hog under the very spot upon
which I was standing. The floor was
made of rough puncheons, loosely laid
down, and lifting up one of these as easily
as possible, I reached my hand down and
seized a hog by the leg. He instantly
set up a terrible squealing, and struggled
violently to break loose, but I knew if I
let him go that I should lose my only op
portunity to secure him, so I held on in
spite of all his efforts to escape, and at
length with much difficulty drew him up
into the room and let the puncheon down
in its place.
But how to kill him was the next ques
tion. The moon was shining brightly, so
I went out, carefully fastening the door
behind me, to see if I could not find some
thing to dispatch him with. I could find
nothing but a sort of heavy maul used for
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
splitting rails, and with this I returned,
and at once commenced an attack upon
the porker. Round and round the room
we went, the squealing of the hog and
the clattering of his hoofs upon the pun
cheon floor kicking up a racket that
might have been heard for a mile, but
either I was awkward at striking, or he
was expert at dodging, and it was some
time before I succeeded in inflicting a fa
tal blow upon his head. I then laid down
upon the bed again and went to sleep,
and when I awoke in the morning, the
sun was shining in the window of my
room.
I got up, and taking the hog by the
legs, I dragged him to a little brook about
twenty paces from the house, where I
built up a fire, with the intention of cook
ing some of the meat for my breakfast.
But here another difficulty presented it
self—l had nothing to cut the hog up
with, except the half of a small pair of
scissors, the other blade of which I had
given to II . So I returned to the
house to search for something more suit
able for this purpose. At length, in a
corner of one of the rooms, I found the
half of the blade of an old drawing knife,
with which I contrived to butcher my
hog after a very clumsy fashion. I then
stuck one of his hams upon a stick before
the fire, upon which, when cooked, I made
a hearty breakfast, and then having tied
up in a cloth as much of the meat as I
could conveniently carry, I slung it over
my shoulders, and set out once more up
on my travels, greatly invigorated by the
food and rest I had taken.
My way was mostly through an open
prairie, interspersed with occasional
“mots,” or clumps of timber. Near one
of these, where there was a pool of water,
I stopped about midday and broiled some
of the meat I had with me, upon which I
made my dinner. After resting an hour
or so, I continued on my way, and towards
sundown came to the timber bordering
upon a small stream called, as I after
wards ascertained, the West Caranchua.
I had scarcely entered this timber, which
was open and free from undergrowth,
when I observed several large wolves
trotting along behind me. Every now
and then, they set up a howl, which was
answered by others at a distance, and be
fore long a large number of them gather
ed around me, attracted I suppose by the
howling of those I had first seen, or by
the smell of the fresh meat I carried along
with me. I had no apprehensions of an
immediate attack from them, neverthe
less, I hurried on as fast as I could, until
I came to the Caranchua, on the bank
of which I struck camp, near a large fall
en tree, which I knew would afford suffi.
cient fuel to keep my fire going through
the night. I am confident that if I had
not had a fire that night, the wolves
would have torn me to pieces, for. as it
was, they ventured up sometimes to with
in a few feet of me, howling and gnashiiw
their teeth in the most uncomfortable
manner. It was impossible to sleep, sol
took my spite out of them by occasionally
throwing a chunk of fire into the midst
of the crowd. This would astonish them
into silence for an instant, but they would
soon renew their howlings, after such of
fensive demonstrations upon n\} T part.
Towards daylight they raised the siege
and departed, and I got a little sleep be
tween that time and sunrise.
That day I crossed another large prai
rie, lying between the West and East Ca
ranchua, and encamped about sundown
on the latter stream. I built me a fire
beneath the spreading branches of a live
oak, aud after cooking and eating some
of my fresh pork, I took a hearty drink
from the creek, and laid down at the root
of the tree and slept soundly till morning,
notwithstanding a drizzly rain had set
in, which rendered my leafy couch rather
damp and uncomfortable.
I slept rather late, owing, I suppose, to
the fact that I had been so much disturb
ed the night previous by the wolves, for
when I awoke the sun was shining above
the tops of the trees. I hastily broiled
some of my meat, which I ate, and then
fording the creek, which was here not
more than knee deep, I struck out again
in my old direction, a little north of east.
Before I came to the large prairie that
lies between this creek and the next wa
ter course, I passed an Indian encamp
ment that appeared to have been deserted
only a day or two previously. From the
number of their fires, I suppose there
must have been tw r enty-five or thirty m
the party- Around these fires, or rather
the places where they had been built,
were scattered a great number of bones,
principally those of deer, though the head
of a mustang, or wild horse, picked clean
of all the flesh, proved that their diet had
not consisted of venison alone. The sight
of this camp gave me some uneasiness, as
indicating the proximity of Indians, ami
I kept a good look out, but saw nothing
of them.
During the day, I saw several “ signal
smokes ” that were no doubt raised bj
them for some purpose, but they seemed
to be a long way off. These “signal
smokes ” are strange affairs. Often, when
traveling upon the great plains of B est
ern Texas, a column of smoke will be
seen suddenly to rise perpendicularly m