of 



soft hat was unduly slouchy, and fourteen 

 nights' intimate association with a camp-fire, 

 along with only an infrequent, indifferent con- 

 tact with water, had made me a sight to behold, 

 for dogs, anyway. On the outskirts, one 

 snarly cur noticed me and barked; in a few 

 minutes at least a dozen dogs were closely fol- 

 lowing and making me unwelcome to their 

 haunts. They grew bold with time, numbers, 

 and closer inspection of me. They crowded 

 unpleasantly close. Realizing that if one of 

 them became courageous enough to make a snap 

 at my legs, all might follow his example, I began 

 to sidle out of the middle of the street, intending 

 to leap a fence close by and take refuge in a 

 house. 



Before I could realize it, they were snapping 

 right and left at me, and howling as they col- 

 lided with the tail of a snowshoe which I used as 

 a bayonet. We were close to the fence, I trying 

 to find time to turn and leap over; but I was 

 too busy, and, without assistance, it is probable 

 that I should have been badly bitten. 



Suddenly there was something like a football 

 99 



