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166 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