New National Fourth Reader Part 6

"This time he skated up close behind them, just at the moment when Harry had turned again, and thus made his second escape.

"At this moment, we heard Frank calling out to his brother to make for the sh.o.r.e, while, instead of retreating himself, he stopped until Harry had pa.s.sed, and then dashed off, followed closely by the whole pack.

"Another slight turn brought him nearly in our direction; but there was a large hole broken through the ice close by the sh.o.r.e, and we saw that, unless he turned again, he would skate into it.

"We thought he was watching the wolves too intently to see it, and we shouted to warn him. Not so; he knew better than we what he was about.

"When he had reached within a few feet of the hole, he wheeled sharply to the left, and came das.h.i.+ng up to the point where we stood to receive him.

"The wolves, too intent upon their chase to see any thing else, went sweeping past the point where he had turned, and the next moment plunged through the broken ice into the water.

"Then Cudjo and I ran forward, shouting loudly, and, with the heavy rail and the long spear, commenced dealing death among them.

"It was but a short, though exciting scene. Five of them were speared and drowned, while the sixth crawled out upon the ice and was rapidly making off, frightened enough at his cold ducking.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

"At that moment I heard the crack of a rifle and saw the wolf tumble over.

"On turning round I saw Harry with, my rifle, which my wife had brought down and handed to him, as a better marksman than herself.

"The wolf, only wounded, was kicking furiously about on the ice; but Cudjo now ran out, and, after a short struggle, finished the business with his spear.

"This was, indeed, a day of great excitement in our forest home. Frank, who was the hero of the day, although he said nothing, was no doubt not a little proud of his skating feat.

"And well he might be, as, but for his skill, poor Harry would no doubt have fallen a prey to the fierce wolves."

Language Lesson.--Let pupils use other words to express the meaning of what is given below in dark type.

Again he _changed his direction_.

He then _dashed off_.

He wheeled _sharply_ to the left.

Cudjo and I commenced _dealing death among them_.

Cudjo _finished the business_ with his spear.

Harry would have _fallen a prey to_ the fierce wolves.

Tell the story in your own words, using the points in the following

a.n.a.lysis.--1. Frank and Harry go to skate. 2. The alarm. 3. The wolves. 4. The pursuit. 5. The escape. 6. Death of the wolves.

LESSON VII.

craft, _s.h.i.+p; a boat of any kind_.

mew'ing, _crying, like a cat_.

a dopt'ed, _received as one's own_.

ad mir'er, _one who likes another_.

voy'age, _journey by water_.

dain'ty, _nice in form or taste_.

a loft', _on high; in the air_.

wind'ward, _the point from which the wind blows_.

star'board, _the right-hand side of a s.h.i.+p_.

bruised, _injured, hurt_.

OUR SAILOR CAT.

She was a sailor cat, indeed, and it was a sailor who first brought her on board.

Our steamer was lying at her pier in the North River, at New York, taking in cargo.

One of our men, who had been ash.o.r.e, came back with a little gray-and-white kitten in his arms. She was very poor and thin, and her little furry coat was sadly soiled with dirt and grease.

But she had not lost all her fun, for she was making play with her tiny fore-paws at the ends of the sailor's red beard, to honest Jack's great delight.

"Where did you pick that up, Jack?" asked the third officer.

"Well, your honor," said Jack Harmon, touching his cap with a grin, "seems to me she must have left her s.h.i.+p and gone to look for another, for I found her tramping along the pier there, and mewing as if she was calling out for somebody to show her the road.