The Tomahawk., 1904-04-07
he had slowed down; but the sly old

he had slowed down; but the sly old
chap was so cute that he sized his
gait right down to Uncle Spitzer's,
and KEEP that consarned tail O. his'n
jest ahead O. his nose. with not an.
other speck O. fox carcass to be seen.
"'Findin' that he couldn't git sight
at nothin' but the foX's tail by fol.
lerin of it that way, Uncle Splitter
all of a suddent stopped square in his
tracks, turned round and started back
in t'other direction, thinkin', O. course,
that he'd take the willy chicken-stealer
off his guard and come face to face
with him. But he didn't. When Uncle
Splitter turned and took the back
track, all he could see when he swung
round the circle was that same old
bushy tail trailin' along, and jest
roundin' the corner ahead of him, as
usual.
"'Now, Uncle Splitter had been CIR
cleatin' the girt' O. that tree fer goin'
on to 20 minutes and, havin' tramped
somethin' like 20 mile over the hills
besides, he begun to feel his wind git
tim a leetle skeerce. Consistently, he
wasn't as gentle in his mind as lamb
on the hillside, and he said that if he
could only a got his hands on to that
fox jest at that minute he'd a treated
him worse than Samson did that little
flock O. foxes he ketched wunst on
time, as you mowt a. heerd about,
Danl, and tied blazin' pine knots to
their tails. While Uncle Splitter stood
there a-cussin' like sojers will, he see
fer the first time big holler place in
the tree, nigh the ground. He got an
idee in second.
"'Chasin' the fox round the tree two
or three times as fast as he could Jump,
Uncle Spitzer Topped down and crep'
into that holler place. The fox came
on, and as he was passin' the hoiler,
Uncle Spitzer showed his gun bar'l out
like a flash, ketched the fox under the
belly, and give it sweep up that sent
it flynn clean amongst the branches
O. the tree Uncle Splitter was out ON
his feet in a second, and had dead
aim on to the fox before he had time
to turn and drop back lords the
ground.
GAS he drawed bead on the fox In
the air, he sees a tremendous big
wildcat scroochin' on the limb of
tree, right in range of his gun, and
not 20 foot away. The varmint was
all ready to spring on Uncle Splitter.
Uncle Spitzer had an idee that his bull
let would slosh clean through the fox
and pink into the wildcat, too, and
he'd git 'em both without putin his
self out any, and he whanged away.
"'Down come the fox. deader than
gate post, but the bullet missed the
wildcat. Before Uncle Splitter could
take his gun down to get another load
into it, the wildcat sprung for him. 1t
struck the end O. his gun bar'l with It's
laws wide open, and it was goin' so
fast that the bar'l slid clean through
it. like stringin' bead on thread,
and Uncle Spitzer fetched it in strung
that way, draggin' the fox along by
it's big brush So If anyone ever had
any idee O. sayin anythin' agin Un-
Gle Spitzer wearin' that Britisher sojer
coat O. his'n they never said it after he
fetched in that wildcat and that fox.
"'Then by and by Uncle Splitter took
to sayin' that there wasn't nothin' in
our woods no more that was worth any,
body's while to tackle. and he sWore
reg'lar every fall that he'd never be
happy till he could git som'rs where
he could run ag'n lions or tigers or
somethin' o. that sort. So. one fall,
when he didn't come home from goin'
out a-huntin', pap and all OF 'em
thought, of course, that he had pulled
out and gone to seek country where
he could tackle lions and tigers.
""The next spring, though, pap
knocked over a big bear down back O.
Dark swamp. So fur as anything
showed on the outside there wasn't
nothin' about that bear any different
from any other bear just like it, but
no bear that ever was killed in the
Knob country or any other country
never had the somethin' in it's inside
like this bear that pap killed that day
did.
"'When that bear was dressed they
picked 12 brass buttons out of its nav.
| Twelve brass sojer buttons. Uncle
Spitzer hadn't gone away to the hon
and tiger country, after all. He had
tackled this bear, and bit off more than
he could chaw. But the bear hadn't.
Uncle Spitzer and his sojer coat had
digested all right, but them buttons
hadn't, and there they was. And this
button here is one of them. Here 1t
is, and if it amt primy fishy evidence
that bears III do it, Dan'l, then produce
your evidence that Uncle Splitter went
| away to git lions and tigers and wasn't
eat by the bear my pap killed. says
Uncle Jase.
THAT primy fishy evidence looked
| for all the world like the buttons that
was on the old blue army overcoat that
! wore wunst. and I says to Uncle
Jase:
why I says. 'How's this, Uncls
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