220 WITH THE U. S. NATURALISTS 



shooting anything else, on my land,' said the 

 stranger, so I'm told, 'I'm going to shoot out his 

 teeth, one by one, without killin' him. If there 

 is any one here who is inclined to disbelieve that I 

 can do it, he may step up right now and I'll ac- 

 commodate him,' 



'' 'But, see here, you' — ' Ned Thompson began, 

 but the stranger interrupted. 



" 'And if any one disputes the question,' he said. 

 'I'll take the tooth out of his head whether he 

 wants it or not. You may observe,' he went on, 

 'that every one of you is trespassing now.' 



' ' I reckon that kept 'em silent. 



" 'Remember,' he went on, so I was told, 'the 

 Old Book says, an eye for an eye and a tooth for 

 a tooth. I'm goin' to change that a bit. I'm go- 

 ing to make it an eye for a nest an' a tooth for a 

 feather. Every feather I find from a bird that's 

 been shot on my land is going to cost somebody 

 a tooth.' 



"I reckon there's been no shootin' there since 

 then, leastways, I never heard of none." 



' ' Haven 't you ever shot on that land, Bull ? ' ' the 

 lad asked. 



"Once," the old pot-hunter replied, "un- 

 knownst. I didn't intend to be on the land. A 



