POOR REDSKIN. 69 



wur a-gwine to happen. It wur plaguy hard work, I 

 reck'n, to climb up whur the Injun wur. He tuck 

 a rest every few minutes, and then began agin. 



" The cliff wur well-nigh perpendic'lur, an' once or 

 twice I thort he'd lose his balance and fall back into 

 the crick. Jest below him wur a pile o' big stones, 

 agin which the water rushed. Ef he fell on them I 

 guessed he'd be a gone coon in a quarter less'n no 

 time. I wur mighty cur'ous to see what he wur up to, 

 and hardly breathed for fear I'd lose a single bit of it. 



" I noticed a line hangin' out o' the cave above, and 

 torst this the Injun dragged hisself. At last he got his 

 claws upon it, and hung upon it, hauling hisself up, 

 hand over hand. I now thort he wur safe ; but jest as 

 he brought his head level with the bottom of the cave, 

 the rope broke, and with a mighty screech, which I 

 heerd above the roarin' o' the crick, he fell upon the 

 rocks at the foot o' the bluff ! 



" Wai, I a'most felt froze to the spot when I saw the 

 poor critter fall ; but I made torst him at once and riz 

 him out o' the water when he wur a drowndin'. Blood 

 kem from his ears an' nose an' mouth. He wur jest 

 able to say, ' Wild-cat Paleface's friend. Cache up thur. 

 Paleface can keep all !' His head fell over, limber-like, 

 an' he slipped from my hands as dead as a last year's 

 straddlebug. 



"Wai, I wur main sorry for the poor critter. No 

 doubt he had his little store o' plunder cached away 

 up above, an' wur drawing on it to trade some powder 



