WHY THE GIBSON BOYS HID OUT 



355 



"Wow ! What in thunder ye doin' ? 

 Down, Tige ! Goldurn ye, leggo my leg ! 

 Bud, pull these dogs ofT'n me ! Ouch ! 

 Help! Git out, ye consarned fool 

 hound ! Sic 'em, Jack ! Bat 'em in 

 the jaw, Dad ! How's them pups gittin' 

 along, Pop? Oh, I'll skin ye alive, 

 ye devil's brats !" 



Those were a few of the vocal ac- 

 companiments of Gibson's system of 

 educating bear dogs. The rest were in 

 "the tongue unknown to script," and, 

 if I remember aright, there were some 

 brutal semi-snarls and an "inter-hiss" 

 mixed up in turmoil. 



Some of the sounds from the thicket 

 were so unintelligible to the Gibson 



boys and so fraught with menace, that 

 when the old man chucked the bear hide 

 to the tangle of dogs and made a break 

 for his rifle, the boys fled into the 

 forest and kept on running while their 

 wind lasted. The last they heard from 

 camp was the old man's voice pitched 

 high in profane urgings to the hounds 

 to take their trail, and blood-curdling 

 threats of what would happen to them 

 when caught. 



That was why the Gibson boys hid 

 out for two or three weeks, and, having 

 seen a little of the crude ways of the 

 family, I wondered not at all at their 

 reluctance to meet the old gentleman 

 before his legs were healed. 







\M-V> 



mi 



» i&m 







» 



■::;;: 





m 



'&& 





^5 



'■*&%* s. 





&&&< 











^* 



/- I 



/wfo £/i£ forest 



