MIKE FINK, THE KEEL-BOATMAN. 177 



something to keep me from growing dull ; without some 

 such business I'd be as musty as an old swamp moccason 

 snake. I would build a cabin on that ar hill yonder, and 

 could, from its location, with my rifle, repulse a whole 

 tribe, if they dar'd to come after me. 



"' What a beautiful time I'd have of it ! I never was 

 particular about what's called a fair tight ; I just ask 

 half a chance, and the odds against me. — and if I then 

 don't keep clear of snags and sawyers, let me spring 

 a leak and go to the bottom. It's natur that the big fish 

 should eat the little ones. I've seen trout swallow a 

 perch, and a cat would come along and swallow the 

 trout, and perhaps, on the Mississippi, the alligators use 

 up the cat, and so on to the end of the row. 



" "Well, I will walk tall into varmint and Indian ; it's 

 a way I've got, and it comes as natural as grinning to a 

 hyena. I'm a regular tornado — tough as a hickory — 

 and long-winded as a nor'-wester. I can strike a blow 

 like a falling tree — and every lick makes a gap in the 

 crowd that lets in an acre of sunshine. Whew, boys ! " 

 shouted Mike, twirling his rifle like a walking-stick 

 around his head, at the ideas suggested in his mind. 

 " Whew, boys ! if the Choctaw divils in them ar woods 

 thar would give us a brush, just as I feel now, I'd call 

 them gentlemen. I must fight something, or I'll catch 

 the dry rot — burnt brandy won't save me." 



Such were some of the expressions which Mike gave 

 utterance to, and in which his companions heartily 



