256 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



make faces in trying to swallow them, and often do not 

 succeed at all. One of the button-holes in my over- 

 coat i« suffering from a strained jaw now ! " 



Olive laughed and blushed at this, saying that it really 

 was not so veri/ easy to give the button a nice little neck 

 of thread to hold it and yet make it strong and fast. 



" Double thread, four times through, and wind four 

 times round the neck is my receipt," said Dr. Roy. 



So this is how it came about that Nat was sitting 

 tailor fashion on the wolf skin facing the campfire, 

 sewing on buttons, the Saturday before Christmas, 

 having borrowed Mammy Bun's thimble, which he 

 wore on his thumb. 



" It's my turn again to choose," said Dodo, going to 

 the portfolio ; " but won't you please lielp me. Uncle 

 lioy? I want to find one of those animals with the 

 Ijctween liorns, that are Iiollow like a cow's and yet fall 

 off like a Deer's ! " 



"The Antelope, you mean. Turn a little further, 

 over — tliere is a head of a Prongbucki (as the males 

 are called), showing the horns, and here is a picture 

 with the doe and fawn being chased across the plain by 

 a Coyote, while the Prairie Dogs watch nervously from 

 the doors of their holes, wondering when this little 

 brother of the Wolf Avill turn his attention to them. 

 This picture is quite a drama in itself, and we only need 

 add one iiioi-e character to have a group of plainsmen 

 about wliom books of stories could be Avritten. Stop, 

 there is the picture that I wish, — the Badger. 



" If you thijik a moment about the animals of our 

 stories, you will remember that tliey have almost all 

 1 See page .300. 



