ear that in this gloomy valley some strange
monster would suddenly appear before us, to resent our intrusion into
his domains. Suddenly Lejoillie, who was a short distance in front,
slipped on the slimy ground over which we were walking, as if on ice,
and in falling struck one of the largest mushrooms, which, to my
astonishment and dismay, immediately exploded with a report like that of
a piece of artillery, throwing into the air a vast cloud of dust.
Losing my balance almost immediately afterwards, I followed his example,
when directly the whole valley resounded with reports, the mushrooms
bursting on every side, as if defending their colony against the visit
of strangers. Confused by the sound and blinded by the red dust which,
filling our ears and irritating our eyes, made us sneeze and cough
continuously, we beat a hasty retreat, entirely forgetting the duck we
had come to seek. Not until we had got clear of the fusillade directed
against us by the fungi, did we stop in our flight, when, clearing the
dust from our eyes, and shaking it off from our heads and clothes,
Lejoillie burst into a fit of laughter.

"You will like to understand how this happened, my young friend," he
observed. "Possibly others will be incredulous when they hear of our
adventure. These mushrooms, like other vegetables, have the power of
suddenly bursting without being touched, Nature having provided them
with this means of spreading their seed over a wide extent of ground.
The red dust which so disagreeably filled our eyes is composed of
imperceptible spores, each atom containing a germ. The shock produced
when we fell caused the explosion of some of the largest of these, and
they set all the others agoing, though who would have believed that two
brave hunters could be put to flight by mushrooms!"

Comical as was the adventure, the result to us was far from pleasant,
for we both had our faces and hands covered with pimples, while it was
some time before we ceased coughing and spluttering from the quantity
which had got down our throats; indeed, the mushroom germs had
completely poisoned us. We were still more vexed at the thought of
losing the bird after encountering so much annoyance, when Caesar, who
had followed us, appeared, bringing it in his mouth. Although we did
not venture back again into the bottom of the hummock, we succeeded in
killing a couple of fat gobblers, which amply supplied us all with
supper and breakfast the next