SLOWTRAP'S ADVENTURE WITH THE COW. 127 



ily one of the buttons caught between her teeth, and she 

 gave a sudden wrench to poor Slowtrap, who was nicely 

 balanced at the top of the fence ; in a moment his legs 

 rose in the air, like the two chimneys of a steamer, and 

 then his body tumbled to the ground. What happened 

 afterwards, no one could tell, as we all followed his ex- 

 ample, in a convulsion of laughter. 



On the 28th December my old companion mounted 

 his steed, and shaking hands with his relations and me, 

 was soon out of sight in the forest. I prepared for the 

 mountains, and Conwell said he would willingly go with 

 me, but that he had business for some days ; I answered, 

 that I would go first, not to be a burden to him, at which 

 he was much vexed, and requested me not to go with- 

 out him, concluding his kind invitation to remain in 

 his house, by saying that I was "as welcome as the 

 flowers in May." I could not withstand this, and re- 

 mained with much pleasure. He rode away the same 

 day, and returned on the following evening. In the 

 afternoon it came on to snow, and continued till late at 

 night, so that we expected glorious weather for shooting ; 

 but our joy did not last long, for it soon became warm 

 again. Nevertheless we got every thing in readiness, 

 mended moccasins, cast balls, sharpened knives, and, on 

 the 30th, we proceeded to the Pilot rock, at the source 

 of the Hurricane. After crossing the Boston divide, we 

 stopped on the slope, where we found a spring of deli- 

 cious water, and "struck camp." The night was clear 

 and cold, but the heat of the day had spoiled all the 

 beautiful snow. Stretched before the fire, we rested oiu 



