THE MAJOR'S BIG-TALK STORIES. BY F. BLAKE CROFTON. NO. IX.-A MISUNDERSTANDING. thing turned up. They had two advantages over us,—in not being obliged to cling to branches, and "WHY do I keep up that horrid habit of taking in having water at hand, to which they went, one snuff?" Perhaps, my dear boy, you would n't think it quite such a "horrid habit" if it had saved your life, as it did mine. "Saved your life, Major?" That's just what it did. What's the good of repeating what I said, in such a tone as that-just as if anybody had doubted it? "Only wanted to hear the story," did you? Well, that 's natural enough, boys, and I suppose I'm caught now, and in for telling it: A party of three-myself and two negroes-had been collecting young animals. We had just captured a fine young rhinoceros and a very promising little crocodile, and had tied the captives in our wagon. We were taking a hasty meal before starting for home, when we perceived the parent animals advancing from different quarters to the rescue of their offspring. In an instant our guns were cocked. Two aimed at the galloping rhinoceros, one at the waddling crocodile. We pulled together. One negro's bullet hit the reptile on the back; but he was a hard-shelled crocodile, and was n't a bit hurt. My gun and the other negro's missed fire. When we were struggling with the baby crocodile, the locks of our guns had got under water, and we had carelessly forgotten to unload and clean the weapons. The oxen had not been yoked, and the wagon stood near a tamarind-tree, which we hastened to climb. The negroes got up it like monkeys, but I was indebted to the rhinoceros for the favor of a hoist. It arrived before I could pull myself up on the second branch, and it just managed to touch my foot with its horn, giving me a very useful and unexpected lift. The tamarind shook with the shock of the beast's charge. Soon the crocodile arrived, too, and the blockade of the tree was complete. At first we had hoped the animals might contrive to release their young ones and retreat; but the cords had been too well tied, and the awkward parents could do nothing for their young without injuring the little creatures; so they waited on and on for their revenge. They were quite friendly to each other, and seemed to have formed a sort of alliance. at a time, to refresh themselves. Before climbing, we had been forced to drop our fire-arms, wet and dry. At last I got out my snuff-box, and took a pinch to aid my deliberations. I wondered whether the crocodile would think it "a horrid habit"; at all events, I thought it could do no harm to try. One of my negroes always carried whip-cord, to mend the whips and harness of the wagon. I borrowed this cord, and let down some snuff, in a piece of paper, within a few inches of the crocodile's snout, then I shook the string and scattered the snuff. Shortly afterward, the crocodile made a sound so very human that I was almost going to call it a remark. "Ackachu!" observed the reptile. "Ackachu! Ackachu! Ackachu!" it repeated at intervals, opening its jaws wide every time. The rhinoceros was surprised and grieved at this behavior on the part of its ally. It seemed undecided whether to take it as a personal insult or as a sign of insanity. This furnished me with an idea. I would sow the seeds of discord between the friendly monsters, and turn their brute strength against each other. I could not get at the rhinoceros myself, but one of the negroes was just above it; so I passed him the box and the string, and directed him to give the beast a few pinches of snuff, as I had done to the crocodile. The latter had just ceased sneezing, when, to its vexation and disgust, it heard the rhinoceros apparently beginning to mimic it. "Ackachu!" remarked the rhinoceros; "Ackachu! Ackachu!" opening his mouth in the very way the crocodile had done. It was too much for a crocodile to stand. To be mocked thus, and in the presence of its child! The blood of the Leviathans was up! At this moment, we scattered the last of the snuff in the faces of both animals, impartially. "Ackachu!" they roared, grimacing at each other hideously and threateningly for a few moments. Then they rushed to battle, uttering the same war-cry. "Ackachu!" The rhinoceros had the best in the first round. Half a hot day went by, and it became plain He got his horn under the crocodile's lower jaw, that the animals would outlast us, unless some- and tossed it over on its back. The reptile now a convulsive sneeze came to the reptile's aid, and I was sailing over a grove, watching the antics of a gave an electric energy to its muscles. With a parrot perched on the very top of a tall palm, triumphant "Ackachu!" it regained its feet, and when suddenly something like a bent arrow, or clutched a leg of the rhinoceros in its huge jaws. rocket, shot out of a lower tree, struck the bird, This was turning the scales with a vengeance on and sank down with it through the leaves of the the enemy, who now tried to crush the saurian's palm. shell by means of his superior weight. Such was the blindness of their fury that I now felt it was quite safe to descend and yoke the oxen. We drove off with their young ones before the very eyes of the monsters, who were too busy to note our departure. For the moment, their parental affection had been fairly snuffed out. NO. X. THE CATAPULT SNAKE. Unlike an arrow in one respect, the strange missile coiled and curved in its passage through the air. Perhaps I should have likened it to a sling, dragged from the hand of an unskillful slinger by the force of the slung stone, and following the latter in its flight. Anxious to read the riddle, I descended and anchored my balloon. Here, perhaps, I thought, was some new weapon, marvelous as the Australian boomerang, to grace my collection of savage arms. However, I saw no lurking savage, and no strange new missile, from the top of the tree on which I If the ancients were right, my boy, then flying alighted; but I saw a family party of snakes on "So you believe there were no such things as flying serpents in ancient times, Major?" the ground beneath. Two young ones were evidently being drilled by their parents in the mode of warfare peculiar to their race. Placing the dead parrot aside, as the prize of valor or skill, the parent snakes formed a ring with their bodies. On entering this arena, each young one-by a strange contortion-formed a knot upon its gristly tail, and attacked the other with this artificial weapon. They would advance to the attack spinning like wheels, and, once within striking distance, down would come their knots with a surprisingly quick jerk. They could con "THE CATAPULT SNAKE STRUCK ME SHARPLY ON THE SHOULDER." vert a circle into a straight line and a straight line into a circle, more rapidly than any professor of geometry I ever met; yet, though they hit each other several times, they seemed to do little damage, for these youngsters, of course, could not be expected to tie such hard and tight knots as their elders. A combat between two hardened old catapults-as I named these reptiles-would be a very serious matter, I should judge. This spirited tournament came to a sudden close. As I was straining forward to get a better view, a branch cracked beneath my foot, and the sound caught the heedful ear of the mother snake. In a second the wary reptile called "time," and issued a warning hiss; at which her well-trained offspring hastily retreated, jumping down her throat for protection. The catapult is a great inventor-an Edison among snakes; yet it cannot justly claim a patent for this mode of sheltering its young in time of danger. Vipers and rattlesnakes are said to have practiced the same trick for a great many years.* The color of the catapult is green; but it is not half as green as it looks. This I found out to my cost; for, although the mother had vanished beneath the long grass, the male began to make mysterious preparations for war. He began operations by knotting his tail with an audible crack. He twisted its knotted end firmly around a projecting root of the tree on which I was perched. Then he reared his head toward a branch which lay directly between his tail and me. This branch, though seemingly too high, he reached with ease by simply shooting out an extra joint for the catapult is the only serpent that is built upon the telescopic plan. Having grasped the branch in his jaws, he began shortening himself with wonderful contractile power, until his body, stretched between the root and the branch, looked like the string of a bent bow, or of a catapult at full cock. I now thought it high time to set about unmooring my balloon, as I did not exactly know what to expect next. But, before I had untied the first rope, the snake unwound his tail from the root of the tree, let go his hold of the branch, shot himself into the air, and struck me sharply, with his knot, on the left shoulder. The shock of the contact with my shoulder changed the snake's course in the air. He fell to the ground some little distance away. He was quite unhurt, and hastened to prepare for a second assault. However, I happened to be in as great a hurry as he was, and just when he had taken position for another flight, I let go my anchor-rope, and up went the balloon. I had discovered what missile it was that killed the parrot, but I paid dearly for the knowledge. My shoulder ached for weeks afterward. *[Strange to say, the remarkable Major has a foundation for his statement here. The records of some naturalists support him. If it is true, the viper certainly may claim disinterested parental devotion as an offset against its wicked ways.-EDITOR.] MAMMA, WHO IS READING THE LATEST NOVEL, BY THE WINDOW, IS DELIGHTED THAT LITTLE ROB SHOULD FIND SO MUCH FUN IN HIS LETTER-BLOCKS. "LITTLE fairy people! Little fairy people! FAIRIES. BY HANNAH R. HUDSON. 'T is your own midsummer day, So a little maiden sang Tying on her home-spun gown, Nut-brown robin overhead Caught the sunlight on his breast, As he heard her singing. Bees that swung in garden flowers, All around, without, within, Dimpled as it listened Where the sunbeams glistened. "Fairies?" sang the brook and bees, Sang the robin higher, "If she wants them she must look "Little fairy people! Little fairy people!" Rang the accents sweet and gay, TO MAKE A NET WITHOUT A NEEDLE. BY HENRY W. TROY. HERE, boys, is a simple way to make a "scapnet" or crab-net, without using a mesh-needle. If there are no stores which keep such things, any blacksmith can make the ring; and a pole is easily provided. The ring must have a spike to drive into the end of the pole, around which should be a ferrule to prevent splitting. Having all ready, fasten the pole at some convenient height, so that the ring will be out toward you, and on a level with your eyes. Take a ball of twine and cut it in pieces three or four times as long as you wish your net to be deep. Double these and loop them, about one inch and a half apart, around the ring, as in Fig. 1. Of course they will be much longer than here represented. Then, beginning anywhere, take two strings, one from each adjoining pair, and make one knot of them, as in Fig. 2. And so go once around the whole ring, before beginning the next row. Very little care and judgment will keep them even and regular. After five or six rows, you can begin making the meshes smaller by knotting closer. Continue making them smaller until the knots become too crowded, when the opening at the bottom will be small enough to be tied across by the exercise of some home-made ingenuity. This will give a handsome-looking net, such as Fig. 3, which has the advantage of being strongest where the most wear-and-tear comes, and where other nets are weak. But if you prefer to make the net lighter, and to narrow it like the regularly made nets, a method is suggested in Figs. 4 and 5. When you have made the requisite number of even rows, as before, begin narrowing by clipping off one string of a pair (see B, Fig. 5) at four places equidistant on the same row. Then proceed to knot as before, excepting at these places, where you |