Oak Spring 



rid me of my cold, and with the return of strength, 

 and the coming of confidence, full, joyous appreci 

 ation of wild environment and life made me unspeak 

 ably happy. And I noticed that my companions were 

 in like condition of mind, though self-contained 

 where I was exuberant. Wallace galloped his sorrel 

 and watched the crags; Jones talked more kindly to 

 the dogs; Jim baked biscuits indefatigably, and 

 smoked in contented silence; Frank said always: 

 &quot; We ll ooze along easy like, for we ve all the time 

 there is.&quot; Which sentiment, whether from reiter 

 ated suggestion, or increasing confidence in the prac 

 tical cowboy, or charm of its free import, gradually 

 won us all. 



&quot; Boys, b; _d Jones, as we sat round the campfire, 

 u I see you re getting in shape. Well, I ve worn off 

 the wire edge myself. And I have the hounds corn 

 ing fine. They mind me now, but they*re mystified. 

 For the life of them they can t under; tar; .] what I 

 mean. I don t blame them. Wait till, by good luck, 

 we get a cougar in a tree. When Sounder and Don 

 see that, we ve lion dogs, boys! we ve lion dogs! 

 But Moze is a stubborn brute. In all my years of 

 animal experience, I ve never discovered any other 

 way to make animals obey than by instilling fear and 

 respect into their hearts. I ve been fond of buffalo, 

 horses and dogs, but sentiment never ruled me. 



107 



