knowd, too, that ef I started, the varmint 'ud be sartin to foller. It
wur plain to see the bar meant mischief; I kud tell that from the glint
o' his eyes.

"Thur wan't no time to lose in thinkin' about it. The brute wur still
comin' nearer; but I noticed that he wur a-gwine slower an' slower,
every now an' agin risin' to his hind-feet, clawin' his nose, an'
sniffin' the air.

"I seed that it wur the red blanket that puzzled him; an' seein' this, I
crep' closter behint it, an' cached as much o' my karkidge as it 'ud
kiver.

"When the bar hed got 'ithin about ten yards o' the spot, he kim to a
full stop, an' reared up as he hed did several times, with his belly
full torst me. The sight wur too much for this niggur, who never afore
had been bullied by eyther Injun or bar.

"'Twur a beautiful shot, an' I kudn't help tryin' it, ef 't hed been my
last; so I poked my rifle through the hole in the blanket, an' sent a
bullet atween the varmint's ribs.

"That wur, perhaps, the foolichest an' wust shot this child ever made.
Hed I not fired it, the bar mout a gone off, feard o' the blanket; but I
did fire, an' my narves bein' excited, I made a bad shot.

"I had ta'en sight for the heart, an' I only hit the varmint's shoulder.

"Ov coorse, the bar bein' now wounded, bekim savage, and cared no longer
for the blanket. He roared out like a bull, tore at the place whur I
hed hit him, an' then kim on as fast as his four legs 'ud carry him.

"Things looked squally. I throwed away my emp'y gun, an' drawed my
bowie, expectin' nothin' else than a regular stand-up tussle wi' the
bar. I knowd it wur no use turnin' tail now; so I braced myself up for
a desp'rate fight.

"But jest as the bar hed got 'ithin ten feet o' me, an idee suddintly
kim into my head. I hed been to Santa Fe, among them yaller-hided
Mexikins, whur I hed seed two or three bull-fights. I hed seed them
mattydoors fling thur red cloaks over a bull's head, jest when you'd a
thort they wur a-gwine to be gored to pieces on the fierce critter's
horns.

"Jest then, I remembered thur trick; an' afore the bar cud close on me,
I grabbed the blanket, spreadin' it out as I tuk holt.

"Strangers, that wur a blanket an' no mistake! It wur as fine a
five-point Mackinaw as ever kivered the hump-ribs o' a nor'-west trader.
I used to wear it Mexikin-fashun when it rained; an' in coorse, for
that purpose, thur wur a hole in the middle to pass the head through.

"Wal, je