The Last of the Plainsmen 



way to amusement, and repeated Wallace s para 

 doxical formula : &quot; Pet the lions and shoot the 

 hounds.&quot; 



So I headed down the ravine, looking for a blunt, 

 bold crag, which I had descried from camp. I found 

 it before long, and profiting by past failures to judge 

 of distance, gave my first impression a great stretch, 

 and then decided that I was more than two miles 

 from Oak. 



Long after two miles had been covered, and I had 

 begun to associate Jim s biscuits with a certain soft 

 seat near a ruddy fire, I was apparently still the same 

 distance from my landmark crag. Suddenly a slight 

 noise brought me to a halt. I listened intently. Only 

 an indistinct rattling of small rocks disturbed the 

 impressive stillness. It might have been the weather 

 ing that goes on constantly, and it might have been 

 an animal. I inclined to the former idea till I saw 

 Satan s ears go up. Jones had told me to watch 

 the ears of my horse, and short as had been my 

 acquaintance with Satan, I had learned that he always 

 discovered things more quickly than I. So I waited 

 patiently. 



From time to time a rattling roll of pebbles, almost 

 musical, caught my ear. It came from the base of 

 the wall of yellow cliff that barred the summit of 

 all those ridges. Satan threw up his head and nosed 



94 



