ate spot, with not a living soul a-near, unless,
indeed, the thing in moccasins might have a soul, a bison bull were
hardly the object to awaken pleasant wonderment and lively admiration in
the mind of a lost boy, who, against a pair of long, sharp horns, could
oppose no weapon but a jack-knife, no shield but a coonskin cap.

When the boy first caught sight of him, the bull was already within easy
viewing distance, and was soon so near that, in his turn, he could not
fail to catch sight of the boy, where he still sat crouched at the foot
of the tree. This was plainly to be seen, by the way the monster stopped
short, turned square 'round, and lowered his huge, black front to stare
at the little stranger. Bright eyes, wild eyes, Sprigg now saw a bison's
eyes to be.

The fringe of mane, which veiled the face, obstructing his vision,
caused the animal, when he stared at you, to roll his eyeballs downward
till their colored circles were half hid by their lower lids, thus
leaving the upper whites exposed to view in the form of a new moon, with
the points downward. To be squinted at with the side whites of the eyes,
to a naughty boy like Sprigg is anything else but pleasant; but to be
stared at with the upper whites of the eyes, as the bison bull was now
staring at Sprigg, were enough to make you feel as if you had a
wide-awake nightmare in broad daylight.

Evidently his bullship was greatly surprised to find so small a boy, at
so late an hour, in that out-of-the-way place, without even so much as a
dog and gun to show for the business which had brought him thither.
Then, as if feeling that he had a right to investigate the matter, the
bison, with short, slow, soft steps, began shortening the distance
between himself and the object of his curiosity. Closer and closer he
came, still with his huge, black front lowered, and his crescent-like
eyes gleaming wildly out from the depths of his overshadowing mane, with
a look as if he were saying within himself: "And what wee thing is
this, up here in my bluegrass pasture?"

Sprigg could not draw his eyes from those of the beast; nor had he the
power to rise and flee from the spot, though it was well that he had not
the power to run, as in that event the bull might have been tempted to
give him chase, as things with horns are apt to do when we are trying
our best to get out of their way. Overtaking him, the bull would have
run his long, sharp horns directly under the young fugitive'