companion, and walked on after him saying nothing. I thought I would
leave him to find it out for himself.

I had not long to wait for this event. Before we had advanced a hundred
paces, I saw Ben suddenly untie the cord by which the bird was fastened,
and, lifting it over his shoulders, hold the body up nearer his nose--
then, uttering a loud exclamation, he pitched the game as far from him
as he could, at the same time crying out:--

"Turkey, i'deed--dang it, Will, 'tan't no turkey. Shiver my timbers if
'tan't a stinking vulture!"

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

I pretended to express surprise, though I was bursting with laughter,
for I had become quite satisfied as to the species of the bird. Indeed,
the horrid effluvium that came from the filthy creature, as my companion
carried it in front of me, was quite as strong as that of the carrion
itself; and it was this reaching Ben's nostrils that first led him to
suspect the genuineness of the game. Ben would have known the bird had
it been the Pondicherry vulture--for he had been to the East Indies, and
had seen the latter--or the griffon vulture of yellowish colour, which
he had seen at Gibraltar, and on the Nile; but this one was smaller than
either, and was far more like a turkey than they. It was in reality a
kind of vulture that is found in these parts of Africa, and is not known
anywhere else; for since that time I have visited most parts of the
world, and never saw another of the kind. No wonder, then, my companion
was deceived--for he had never been at the place before, and had never
seen the bird--but now that he had smelt it, there could be no longer
any deception. No game could have emitted such an odour. It was
nothing else than a stinking vulture.

The expression upon Ben's face, as he flung the creature from him, was
ludicrous in the extreme, and I could have laughed at him with all my
might, but that I did not wish to add to my companion's chagrin. I
therefore approached the bird, and examining it with a look of pretended
surprise, gave an affirmative rejoinder to Ben's emphatic declaration.
Leaving it where it had been thrown, we again faced forward, and jogged
leisurely along in hopes of finding some sweeter game.

We had not gone much farther when we entered a forest of palm-trees, and
one of the ardent longings of my youth here met with its full
gratification. If there was anything in foreign lands I had longed
particularly to behold, it was