FALSE ALARM SQUIRREL FOR BREAKFAST. 153 



when I positively felt something move under my knee, 

 and hearing of nothing else, thinking of nothing else, 

 of course I supposed it must be a snake. I dared not 

 raise myself slowly for fear of pressing on the snalve, 

 when he would certainly have bitten me. I sprang up 

 as quickly as I could, and at once burst away from my 

 couch : my two comrades, with their brains full of all 

 sorts of monsters, no sooner saw me start up so sud- 

 denly, than they followed my example, as if they had 

 been fired from a gun, and we looked at each other in 

 dismay. 



I examined the place where I supposed the snake to 

 be, and found a little twig of about eight or nine inches 

 growing out of the ground, and which had been under 

 my knee. We all laughed heartily at our fright, and 

 were soon fast asleep. 



Our appetites next morning were very sharp. In 

 the course of a couple of hours Jim shot a squirrel, 

 which afforded but a meagre breakfast for three people. 

 After breakfast we tried again, and with better success 

 on my part, for, happening to espy a deer in the jungle, 

 I knocked him over, and we returned to S.'s well laden 

 with venison. Although we had found several spots 

 suitable for our tent, we had not fixed on any one in 

 particular, and we were well pleased with the place 

 altogether, notwithstanding snakes and mosquitoes. 



Hitherto we had always eaten maize bread, because, 

 although S. could grind wheat, he had no means of 

 bolting it ; and as it was stacked in the field he decided 

 on sending it to a mill about fifteen miles distant. The 

 wheat was in sheaves, but there was neither barn nor 

 thrashmg floor, neither flail nor winnowing machine. 



