Pembroke High School - Mattakeesett Yearbook (Pembroke, MA)

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12 THE WAMPUM ly dressed and wore a heavy canvas coat and leggins. On his head was a woolen cap of the style worn by north- ern trappers. Under one arm he car- ried a double-barreled shotgun. This he leaned against a tree, and proceeded to thrash his arms, for the morning was cold. As he stood there, he looked about and saw the fox track just in front of him, and picking up his gun, he stepped to the track and examined it carefully; then raising his head, he note d the direction of the wind, and, changing the shells in his gun, he started off at a swift walk up the old road. For a long time he swung along through a maze of paths, choosing first one and then another without hesita- tion until he reached a ridge with a faint path running along the top of it. He gave a quick glance at the path to see if the fox had passed, and gave a sigh of relief as he saw the path was free from tracks. Then walking to a thick clump of bushes, he went behind them, brushed the snow from an old 6tump, and seated himself with his gun across his knees, loaded and ready. After the fox crossed the road, he kept trotting slowly along through the woods, now and then stopping to sniff the track of a rabbit or partridge, but he had had his breakfast, and beyond satisfying an idle curiosity, he wanted nothing to do with any of these ani- mals. Finally he left the swamp and came to a ridge, the same one in fact, where the man was watching for him. When he reached the top, he turned and went slowly on in the direction of the hunter, without a suspicion of dan- ger. The hunter, in the meantime, had been sitting patiently on his stump, watching the trail. Once a blue jay lit on a branch a few feet above his head and watched him carefully, but as he sat perfectly quiet, the jay flew away with a derisive scream. At last some- thing, reddish brown in color, flashed in the trees along the path. The man ' s eyes narrowed a little as he raised his gun and waited for an open view of the same. The fox appeared, still traveling slowly, and thirty or forty yards from the gunner, he stopped as if his suspicions were aroused. He stood for a second with his head thrown back listening, and then the roar of a gun broke the silence, closely followed by another as the man fired the other barrel. The fox whirled, ran from the ridge in long leaps, and vanished among the pines. The man stood for an in- stant, then went and examined the tracks. jSTo telltale drop of blood met his gaze, and he muttered a curse as he drew the empty shells from his gun and started for home. That evening the man stepped to the door of his house. The moon was shining brightly, and the snow-covered fields were light as day, while the shadows of the woods and buildings were black as ink. The woods where the hunt had taken place were dark and still. Suddenly from the woods came the sharp bark of a fox. The man shook his fist at the sound, turned and entered his house, slamming the door behind him, and again silence reigned over the dark, cold woods. W. E. C. ' 16. Son Amie. II n ' y a pas long temps qu ' une petite fille voyageait un jour a la Boston sur le train. Elle n ' avait que six ans, et etait absolument seule. Une dame dans le banc derriere elle, ayant peur qu ' elle s ' effraye, pensa qu ' elle lui parlerait. Ma petite enfant, n ' avez-vous pas peur de voyager seule? elle demanda. Non, reponda la petite fille, je n ' ai pas peur. Mon pere me recontra quand j ' arriverai a Boston. Mais supposez que le train s ' arre- terait, et que vous iriez, a pied, et iriez a pied, et ensuite vous ne trouveriez pas votre pere; que feriez vous? demanda la dame. Mon pere me dit n ' avoir pas peur, quelconque arriverait, parceque Dieu serait pres de moi, reponda la jeune fille. Bien ne se dit plus, mais la dame re- garda avec un oeil la jeune fille pour

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THE WAMPUM 11 then went to change his clothes, but more troubles were in store for him. He discovered that he had lost his pocket- book, and what was worse, the ten dol- lars and sixty-two cents which were in it! This he decided must have been lost when he fell down, and he made up his mind to go over and try to find it. This time he took the lantern, so that he would have no more difficul- ties. It was now about ten o ' clock so the neighbor and dog were home and in bed. Taylor reached the hen house door in safety, but since the hinges were rusty, it squeaked quite loudly when he opened it. Naturally this awoke the dog, and he began to bark. Neigh- bor Smith poked his head out of the window, and in a loud voice demanded who was there. Eeceiving no answer and seeing the light at the hen house door, he picked up the shotgun which always stood in the corner of his room, and delivered a charge of rock salt. Taylor was just entering the hen house when Smith shouted, so he stepped back from the door. But not daring to make himself known and not want- ing to lose the money, he was just step- ping in when the rock salt struck the door. It struck with a rattle and crash, and swung the door against him, blow- ing out the lantern. As he did not want to risk another shot, Taylor pick- ed up the blown out lantern, and ran home for the second time that evening. After going home, he sat for about two hours, trying to think of some way of getting the money back. He could think of nothing better than to go over to Smith ' s the next morning. Upon this decision he went to bed. He lay awake for some time, worrying about the money and wishing that he could get it back, but finally he went to sleep. The next morning he went out and did the chores as usual, and when he arrived at the hen house, he found the three lost White Rock hens trying to get in. Somehow he did not seem pleased to find that his neighbor did not steal them ; and the realization of what a fool he had been came to him sud- denly. After finishing the chores and eating breakfast, he started for neigh- bor Smith ' s. He found Smith with his sleeves rolled up, hard at work at the wood pile. After talking about the weather and various other things, Taylor asked him if he had found any- thing around there lately. Smith re- plied that he had found a pocket-book with some money in it, belonging to a dirty hen thief. He went on to say that he had shot at the thief once and missed him, but that if he caught him around there again, he would push him to the full extent of the law. Mr. Tay- lor had nothing more to say, and a few minutes later started home, a sadder but wiser man. He never told anyone about it, not even his wife, but after that, he never looked at a neighbor ' s for anything until he had first looked at home. H. B. J. ' 16. Stung. Imagine a swamp of large pines, large for these days, when the lumber- man ' s axe has made many a broad woodland a waste of brush, stumps, and scrub oaks, standing tall and straight in the cold winter sunlight, the snow of a recent storm lying white and smooth between the trunks and making a broad, white lane of an old wood road which ran through them. The silence, which is particularly noticeable in the winter wood was unbroken until a blue jay screamed as if in warning. Then slipping silently through the pines from the direction of the bird ' s call came a fox. He trotted along with his head held low and his tail almost brushing the snow until he reached the road, where he stopped for a minute, testing the light breeze, which had sprung up, for suspicious odors. After that he got leisurely onto his : feet, stretched, and trotted off in the woods on the other side of the road, as silent- ly as he came. A half hour later the silence was broken by the creak of heavy footsteps on the snow, and a tall man appeared, walking down the road with a quick, swinging stride. He was rather rough-

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THE WAMPUM 13 voir qu ' elle trouva son pere. Aussitot que le train arriva a la gare, et s ' arreta, la dame vit un vieux homme chercher pour quelqu ' un. Tout de suite il decouvrit la jeune fille, il l ' embrassa avec un petit cri de joie. Ensuite avec l ' instinct d ' un vrai pere, il regarda la dame et dit a sa fille, Qui est votre amie, Bess? La jeune fille regarda son amie et ensuite dit, Je ne sais pas, mais je pense qu ' elle doit etre Dieu. H. C. ' 15. The Persistency of Hannibal. The name of Hannibal was a com- mon one among the Carthaginians, a list of those famed include fourteen or fifteen. Greatest of all was Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, who was born in 247 B. C. When nine years of age, while with his father on the famous Spanish expedition, he was led to the altar and there swore an oath of eternal hatred against the Roman peo- ple and the Roman state as a whole, which he so faithfully kept throughout his life. He was held in high esteem by the soldiers, and an example of this is shown, when at the death of Has- drubal the army with one voice elected him as their leader, an appointment which was met with immediate approval by the authorities at Carthage. He es- tablished among his soldiers a repu- tation of bravery and of strategic skill of handling his troops properly at close quarters. An example of this is shown when besieging the city of Sargantum, he for eight months kept up an inces- sant attack against the city, and at the end through his persistency won a com- plete victory. Hannibal, having taken measures for the defense of Africa and Spain during his absence, mobilized an army consist- ing of 90,000 foot soldiers and 12,000 horsemen. With this army Hannibal proposed a most difficult feat, to under- take a perilous journey across the Alps, then to descend into the valley of the Po and attack the Romans from the north. Hitherto such a thing as cross- ing the Alps with an army was deemed impossible. Up to this time no man had ever undertaken such a thing, but Hannibal ' s undaunted courage which had carried him through many a grim campaign was with him, and he suc- ceeded in the passage of the Alps in fifteen days. During this march his men withstood terrible suffering and when Hannibal descended into the valley of the Po, he had but 26,000 men left, and with these he proposed to attack the Roman state, consisting of seven hundred thousand men. After resting his men for a few days, he met the Roman army under Scipio on the banks of the river Tic- inus, and there put to flight the entire Roman army which met with many The greatest battle of his career was at the battle of Cannae. Here with his small army he completely annihilated the Roman army composed of 90,000 men. Forming a solid mass he charged against their columns and surrounding them slaughtered 50,000 men, includ- ing many men of note in Rome. His great military ingenuity, his ability to handle troops in a manner which made defeat almost impossible was never be- fore shown to such an advantage. The Battle of Cannae is called the turning point in the career of Hannibal. At the battle of Metaurus, fought on the banks of the Metaurus River, Has- drubal, while attempting to carry aid to his brother, suffered a defeat at the hands of the Romans and his head was cut off and brought to Hannibal upon a tray. Hannibal, gazing on the fea- tures of his lifeless brother slowly shook his head as he said, Carthage, I read thy fate. At Zama, Hannibal suffered his first and last defeat. Here his army of 20,000 men were unmercifully slaught- ered by the army of Scipio. This bat- tle practically ended the Second Punic War, and peace was declared between the two warring nations. Seeing that he was to be a victim of the war, Han- nibal fled to Prusias, King of Bithynia, and while there gained a naval victory over the King of Pergamos.