2C8 WILD SPOUTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



house by first making a large fire (o warm our hands 

 and feet. A man with an axe stood in each corner of 

 the rising house, to cut the mortices and fit them into 

 each other, while the rest of the party raised the logs ; 

 no trifling labor, as the house was to have two stories. 

 By the evening, it was all up except the roof, when rain 

 began to fall, and the logs became too slippery to admit 

 of our standing on them ; so the completion was left till 

 dry weather. 



We remained the night at Oollrnar's, and departed 

 next day on our various ways, after a very frugal break- 

 fast, for we had devoured all his store. 



It was cold and foggy, and I was glad to get to 

 Hogarth's, where I passed the night, returning next 

 day to Slowtrap's. On relating the extraordinary 

 behavior of the fox, he gave one of his smiles, and told 

 many droll stories of the tricks of foxes, and one of 

 a wild-cat, which attacked a man in the marshes of the 

 Cash. The man had gone out early in the morning 

 to shoot a turkey, and hearing a cock gobbling away 

 with all his might, he placed himself behind a fallen 

 tree, and began to use his call, when a wild-cat, prob- 

 ably deceived by the sound, sprang upon him like a 

 fury, and attempted to bite through the veins of his 

 neck. lie found it impossible to pull the beast oft', 

 and was obliged to kill it behind his back with his 

 seal ping-knife ; he was confined to his bed for several 

 weeks, before he recovered from the ugly wounds caused, 

 by the cat's teeth and claws. 



The weather cleared up next morning, and as old 

 Slowtrap was still unprepared for his journey, I resolved 

 to cross the river to thoot, and went to Curly's on the 



