256 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



make faces in tiyiiig to swallow tliem, and often do not 

 succeed at all. One of the button-holes in my over- 

 coat is suffering from a strained jaw now ! " 



Olive laughed and blushed at this, saying that it really 

 was not so very easy to give the button a nice little neck 

 of thread to hold it and yet make it strong and fast. 



" Double thread, four times through, and wind four 

 times round the neck is my receipt," said Dr. Roy. 



So this is how it came about that Nat was sitting 

 tailor fashion on the Avolf skin facing the campfire, 

 sewing on buttons, the Saturday before Christmas, 

 having borrowed ^Nlammy Bun's thimble, wliich he 

 wore on his thumb. 



"It's my turn again to choose," said Dodo, going to 

 the portfolio; "but won't you please help me. Uncle 

 Roy? I want to find one of those animals Avith the 

 between horns, that are lioUow like a cow's and yet fall 

 off like a Deer's I " 



"Tlie Antelope, you mean. Turn a little further 

 over — there is a head of a l^rongbuck ^ (as the males 

 are called), showing the horns, and here is a picture 

 with the doe and fawn being chased across the plain by 

 a Coyote, while the Prairie Dogs watch nervously from 

 the doors of their holes, wondering when this little 

 brother of the Wolf will turn his attention to them. 

 This picture is quite a drama in itself, and we only need 

 add one more character to have a group of plainsmen 

 about whom books of stories could be Avritten. Stop, 

 there is the picture that I wish, — the Badger. 



" If you think a moment about the animals of our 

 stories, you will remember that they have almost all 



1 See page 300. 



