was however mistaken, in supposing he could excite the
benumbed faculties of the Doctor, by provoking a discussion. From that
time, henceforth, he was never known, except on one occasion, to utter a
word that indicated either the species, or the genus, of the animal. He
obstinately refused the nutritious food of the whole ox family, and even
to the present hour, now that he is established in all the scientific
dignity and security of a savant in one of the maritime towns, he turns
his back with a shudder on those delicious and unrivalled viands, that
are so often seen at the suppers of the craft, and which are unequalled
by any thing, that is served under the same name, at the boasted
chop-houses of London, or at the most renowned of the Parisian
restaurants. In short, the distaste of the worthy naturalist for beef
was not unlike that which the shepherd sometimes produces, by first
muzzling and fettering his delinquent dog, and then leaving him as a
stepping stone for the whole flock to use in its transit over a wall, or
through the opening of a sheep-fold; a process which is said to produce
in the culprit a species of surfeit, on the subject of mutton, for ever
after. By the time Paul and the trapper saw fit to terminate the fresh
bursts of merriment, which the continued abstraction of their learned
companion did not fail to excite, he commenced breathing again, as if
the suspended action of his lungs had been renewed by the application
of a pair of artificial bellows, and was heard to make use of the ever
afterwards proscribed term, on that solitary occasion, to which we have
just alluded.

"Boves Americani horridi!" exclaimed the Doctor, laying great stress on
the latter word; after which he continued mute, like one who pondered on
strange and unaccountable events.

"Ay, horrid eyes enough, I will willingly allow," returned the trapper;
"and altogether the creatur' has a frightful look, to one unused to the
sights and bustle of a natural life; but then the courage of the beast
is in no way equal to its countenance. Lord, man, if you should once get
fairly beset by a brood of grizzly bears, as happened to Hector and I,
at the great falls of the Miss--Ah, here comes the tail of the herd, and
yonder goes a pack of hungry wolves, ready to pick up the sick, or such
as get a disjointed neck by a tumble. Ha! there are mounted men on their
trail, or I'm no sinner! here, lad; you may see them here-away, just
where the dust i