and he made the most
agile leap of his life.

"Murther! murther! pull him off, Mr. Shasta, catch hold of him!"
exclaimed the affrighted Irishman, springing wildly on every side of the
fire, and striking with blind fierceness at the imaginary brute in his
rear.

Howard and Elwood laughed till the tears rolled down their cheeks. They
had seen Shasta's trick and they could therefore appreciate it. Never a
smile lit up the grim face of the Pah Utah. He continued leisurely
smoking, his keen black eyes looking dreamily into the fire, as if lost
in some pleasant reverie.

But what of that? Who can doubt, that he laughed internally full as
heartily as the youngsters? Who can tell what surges, and waves, and
ripples of laughter went through and through him, until his whole being
was absorbed in merriment?

Finally Tim's terror passed away and he became comparatively quiet.

"Worrah! worrah!" he exclaimed, panting from his severe exertions. "What
a narra 'scape I had."

"Did he really bite you?"

"Bite me! Didn't ye see him fasten his teeth in me and hang on till I
shuk him off?"

"No; I didn't observe him."

"Git out wid ye nonsense. But I felt him sure and it was meself that
thought once he'd pull me off into the darkness and make me a prey to
the beasts there--that I did think, did I."

"No danger," remarked Howard, as he and his cousin were unable to
restrain their laughter.

"What be ye spalpeens laughing at?" indignantly demanded the Irishman.

"But, Tim, are you sure you were not mistaken? We saw nothing of the
kind," pursued Howard.

The fellow looked too full of indignation to speak.

"What is getting into your heads? Ye saam to be losing your sinses
intirely."

"And I can say I saw none of them touch you."

"Then you was blind," was the indignant retort. "Ye harrd him sing out
at me heels, didn't you?"

"Of course, we heard them all the time, as we do now; but the one you
imagined so close may have been a dozen feet distant."

"_But he bit me!_" was the triumphant reply to this.

"Where?"

"On the hand."

"Let us see the mark!"

The boys arose and walked up to their friend, who bent over the fire,
held his hand close to his face, turning it over and over and
scrutinizing it with the closest attention. Concluding he was mistaken,
he exchanged it for its fellow, which was subjected to an equally severe
cross-examination. Still nothing confirmatory of his words could be
found.

The amazed