Luckily, near two
o'clock Ned Land brought down a magnificent wild pig of the type
the natives call "bari-outang." This animal came in the nick of time
for us to bag some real quadruped meat, and it was warmly welcomed.
Ned Land proved himself quite gloriously with his gunshot.
Hit by an electric bullet, the pig dropped dead on the spot.
The Canadian properly skinned and cleaned it, after removing half
a dozen cutlets destined to serve as the grilled meat course of our
evening meal. Then the hunt was on again, and once more would
be marked by the exploits of Ned and Conseil.
In essence, beating the bushes, the two friends flushed a herd
of kangaroos that fled by bounding away on their elastic paws.
But these animals didn't flee so swiftly that our electric capsules
couldn't catch up with them.
"Oh, professor!" shouted Ned Land, whose hunting fever had gone
to his brain. "What excellent game, especially in a stew!
What a supply for the Nautilus! Two, three, five down!
And just think how we'll devour all this meat ourselves,
while those numbskulls on board won't get a shred!"
In his uncontrollable glee, I think the Canadian might have
slaughtered the whole horde, if he hadn't been so busy talking!
But he was content with a dozen of these fascinating marsupials,
which make up the first order of aplacental mammals, as Conseil
just had to tell us.
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