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BEARS! BEARS! S17 |
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carrying away huge pieces of the flesh. I thought, by the immense number of birds, that our work was finished, and nothing would be left but the bones, when suddenly we heard a flapping of wings above us, and a black shadow passed along the ground. We raised our eyes, and beheld a bird of prodigious size, whose wings extended full sixteen feet. As he came gradually sweeping down toward us, Fritz fired his gun and the formidable creature fell dead at our feet. It had been shot in the heart.
The report of the gun had frightened the band of marauders, and they flew away stunning our ears with the horrible discord that they made. We then entered the cavern, and found one of the bears half devoured, and the other partly so. We loaded our cart with the skins and the remaining meat, and placing the immense bird, which we had discovered to be a condor of the largest size, upon the top, we set off for the camp.
We devoted a whole day to the preparation of the bears' flesh. After having skinned the animals with the utmost care and precaution, I cut off the hams, and then divided the rest of the meat into long strips, about an inch in thickness, and these we exposed, with the hams, to a good current of |
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