THE VICTORY. 187 



me with a whiz. He wheeled at oncest; an' now, 

 boyees, I gev myself up, fur I seed at that minute 

 another buffler cavortin' torst me, wi' his tail screwed 

 up an' his horns on full cock. 



" I wur atween them, an' both on 'em cum a-thunderin' 

 down at me 'ithin ten yards. I cudn't stir no more'n 

 ef I'd froze to the ground. 'Twur jest like that all-fired 

 feel kirns over one asleep when a waggon-load o' black 

 cats is drawn up on the bed, an' somethin' awful busts 

 out o' a cloud an' sets a fellur a-hollerin' till he wakes 

 hisself wi' the fright o' it. 



" I wur jest in that way, but at the last half -shake I 

 med a mighty jump aside, an', boyees, yell never bleeve 

 it, them two bufflers met face to face wi' a crack like 

 an airthquake. Ye shud 'a seen 'em, the way they wur 

 throwed. Both on 'em staggered back an' fell, sittin' 

 on thur hams like dogs ; but I guess they didn't stay 

 thur long. They riz at oncest, an' med at each other 

 like game-cocks, snortin' an' plungin' an' pushin' like 

 all creation. 



" I wur clean mazed, an' stud a-lookin' on till I tuck 

 a notion that I'd better make tracks fur camp while 

 they'd forgot me. I put out, you bet, like a quarter- 

 hoss, an' never stopped till I got up to the waggons. 

 Hyur I found some o' the mountain-men ; an' I cudn't 

 get 'em to swaller my story nohow till I led 'em back 

 to whur I'd left the two bulls fightin'. Sure enuff they 

 wur still at it, an' I crep up wi' one o' the fellurs, an' 

 we each o' us throwed his bull. I wur well out o' the 



