322 ALMOST DEVOURED. 



ears fur many a day, an' the sound o' it hain't left 'em 

 yit! 



" Jest as she wur gwine over I threw myself off, an' 

 fell so clost to the edge o' the bluff that my legs hung 

 over as I turned a somersault upon the ground wi' 

 the toss I got. I hedn't time to cry mercy when I wur 

 surrounded wi' wolves, thur teeth gleamin' an' eyes 

 shinin' like coals o' fire in thur heads. I med through 

 'em wi' my bowie, an' lucky it wur, I reckin, fur this 

 coon that thur wur a few o' them pifions growin' on 

 the bluff, or he'd never 'a knowed what to-morrow wur 

 like. I clawed up into a pine, an' ef thur hedn't been 

 a wolf nearer 'n Jerusalem that climb 'ud 'a been danger- 

 some enuff. The tree wa'n't a big un, an' it leant out 

 over the barranca, so that when I got squatted at last, 

 my legs wur swingin' above the river five hunderd foot 

 below I. 



" 0' coorse I'd lost my rifle that hed bust off my 

 back when I fell, an' wur lyin' somewheres along the 

 top o' the bluff; but I hed my pistols, an' I kep' loadin' 

 an' firin' wi' them till I'd throwed a good wheen o' the 

 wolves. Torst morning, seein' as they wurn't likely to 

 make a ' raise ' by the spec'lation, the band took thur- 

 selves off, arter chawin' up every one o' the lot I'd 

 killed. 



"That's thur style, I reckin. Anyhow I got clur 

 m'self ; but fur the fright an' the loss o' my mar' I hev 

 med the varmints pay dear since. Nary a wolf comes 

 'ithin reach o' Plumcentre 'ithout gettin' a lump o' lead ; 



