32 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



This time I felt that the spirit, the " jumbie," or 

 whatever it was, had me at a disadvantage; for I 

 could only retreat slowly, and would require all my 

 attention to get out of the gorge. So I rashly turned 

 at bay ; finding I was " in for it," 1 determined to 

 make the best of the situation and present a bold 

 front. Setting my back against the rock (for a man 

 always feels less nervous with something solid at his 

 back) I grasped my gun and peered anxiously into 

 the gathering darkness of the chasm. 



Suddenly the hollow voice sounded right over my 

 head : " Who ? " There was a rift in the network of 

 vines that gave me a view of the projecting branch of 

 a tree, and on this branch sat a strange bird : strange 

 at the moment, and yet I felt that I had seen it some- 

 where before. All at once it broke upon me, and I 

 sat down on the sand again and burst into laughter ; 

 for I then recalled the cry as one I had heard years 

 ago, in a cave in Yucatan. 



" Why," I said to myself, " it is Toh, dear old 

 Toh; and instead of intending me harm he only 

 meant to greet me." 



Now Toh, you must know, dear reader, was the 

 only bird left out of the ark at the time of universal 

 deluge, the Yucatecans told me. He sat upon a tree 

 and scoffed at Noah, while the patriarch was build- 

 ing, and after the ark was finished he refused to enter 

 along with the rest of the passengers. The elephant 

 and the giraffe and other tall animals that could reach 

 up to his perch urged him to go in, and emphasized 

 their remarks by tearing out some of Toh's tail feath- 



