But first he went to the forest and caught a lynx, and cutting off the creature's sharp
claws, he fastened them on to his own hands and feet.
"He was the more confirmed in this opinion, because, he observed, that as I agreed in every feature of my body with other YAHOOS, except where it was to my real disadvantage in point of strength, speed, and activity, the shortness of my
claws, and some other particulars where nature had no part; so from the representation I had given him of our lives, our manners, and our actions, he found as near a resemblance in the disposition of our minds." He said, "the YAHOOS were known to hate one another, more than they did any different species of animals; and the reason usually assigned was, the odiousness of their own shapes, which all could see in the rest, but not in themselves.
We swarmed out of our holes, examining the marks his
claws had made on the crumbling rock of the bluff, all of us talking at once.
However, I was too keenly aware of white teeth and strong
claws about me to stop my chanting on that account.
I had often seen one placed at the end of a road on a hillock, and in the light of the sun its black arms, bending in every direction, always reminded me of the
claws of an immense beetle, and I assure you it was never without emotion that I gazed on it, for I could not help thinking how wonderful it was that these various signs should be made to cleave the air with such precision as to convey to the distance of three hundred leagues the ideas and wishes of a man sitting at a table at one end of the line to another man similarly placed at the opposite extremity, and all this effected by a simple act of volition on the part of the sender of the message.
Look what he done to me." The man held up his right arm, the shirt and undershirt ripped to shreds, and red parallel grooves, slightly clotted with blood, showing where the
claws had broken the skin.
The favorite ornaments of the men were collars of bears'
claws, the proud trophies of hunting exploits; while the women and children wore similar decorations of elks' tusks.
The beast was quite dead from the sword thrusts, and after a glance at its terrible
claws and sharp teeth the little man turned in a panic and rushed out upon the water, for other menacing growls told him more bears were near.
Such lawing also shall be done by the assize commonly used, and which is, that three
claws shall be cut off without the ball of the right foot.
"And pray how do I and these my friends around me seem to you?' "Thou art," he said, "a most excellent Ape, and all these thy companions after thy example are excellent Apes too." The King of the Apes, enraged at hearing these truths, gave him over to the teeth and
claws of his companions.
A few of the pirates leant over the bulwarks, drinking in the miasma [putrid mist] of the night; others sprawled by barrels over games of dice and cards; and the exhausted four who had carried the little house lay prone on the deck, where even in their sleep they rolled skillfully to this side or that out of Hook's reach, lest he should
claw them mechanically in passing.
The bird flew down and took the gold chain in his right
claw, and then he alighted again in front of the goldsmith and sang: