I had heard that these and
such like beasts will stand still if you play an air on a pipe. So I
crept near, and made a low sound with my lips, while I held in my right
hand a stout stick, to which I had tied a cord with a noose, and in my
left hand a slight wand. I saw it first move its tail, and then draw
its head from side to side, as if to look where the sound came from. I
then threw the noose round its neck, drew it tight, got on its back
with a leap and thrust the wand up its nose, which is the sole part of
the beast where there are no hard scales. It bled at once, and was soon
dead, nor did it seem to feel any pain. Our prize, which was near five
feet long was no slight weight to lift. I got it at last on my back,
and thus we went back to the gourd tree, where we found the rest quite
safe.
It took us a long time to reach The Nest that night. My wife did her
best to dress some of the flesh of the land crab, but it was tough, and
did not taste so nice as the soup made from the beast that we had
caught by the nose.
CHAPTER IX.
FRITZ and I spent the whole of the next day in the woods. We took the
ass and one of the dogs with us, but left all else at home.
Our way first lay through a dense wood, where we saw no end of small
birds, but such game could not now tempt Fritz to waste his shot.
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