n 'em through a hole
in the blanket. They wur a-growin' scary, an' hed begun to run about in
circles; so when I seed this, I knew it wur time to stop.

"Wal, I hunkered down, an' still keepin' the blanket spread out afore
me, I hung it upon a saplin' that I had brought from the camp. I then
stuck the saplin' upright in the ground; an' mind ye, it wan't so easy
to do that, for the parairy wur hard friz, an' I hed to dig a hole wi'
my knife. Howsomdever, I got the thing rigged at last, an' the blanket
hangin' up in front kivered my karkidge most complete. I hed nothin'
more to do but wait till the goats shed come 'ithin range o' my
shootin'-iron.

"Wal, that wan't long. As ye all know, them goats is a mighty curious
animal--as curious as weemen is--an arter runnin' backward an' forrard a
bit, an' tossin' up thur heads, an' sniffin' the air, one o' the
fattest, a young prong-horn buck, trotted up 'ithin fifty yards o' me.

"I jest squinted through the sights, an' afore that goat hed time to
wink twice, I hit him plum atween the eyes. Ov coorse he wur throwed in
his tracks.

"Now, you'd a-jumped up, an' frightened the rest away--that's what you'd
a done, strengers. But you see I knowd better. I knowd that so long's
the critters didn't see my karkidge, they wan't a-gwine to mind the
crack o' the gun. So I laid still, in behopes to git a wheen more o'
them.

"As I hed calc'lated at fust, they didn't run away, an' I slipped in my
charge as brisk as possible. But jest as I wur raisin' to take sight on
a doe that hed got near enough, the hull gang tuk scare, an' broke off
as ef a pack of parairy-wolves wur arter 'em.

"I wur clean puzzled at this, for I knowd I hedn't done anythin' to
frighten 'em, but I wan't long afore I diskivered the pause o' thur
alarm. Jest then I heerd a snift, like the coughin' o' a glandered
hoss; an' turnin' suddintly round, I spied the biggest bar it hed ever
been my luck to set eyes on. He wur comin' direct torst me, an' at that
minnit wan't over twenty yards from whur I lay. I knowd at a glimp he
wur a grizzly!

"'Tain't no use to say I wan't skeart; I wur skeart, an' mighty bad
skeart, I tell ye.

"At fust, I thort o' jumpin' to my feet, an' makin' tracks; but a minnit
o' reflexshun showed me that 'ud be o' little use. Thur wur a half o'
mile o' clur parairy on every side o' me, an' I knowd the grizzly laid
catch up afore I hed made three hundred yards in any direction. I