Our Fellows

d and acted so much like me, or else I looked and acted so much like him, that only our very intimate friends could tell us a

lled upon to stand punishment for his misdeeds. On one occasion Mark got into a difficulty with a half-breed. About a week afterward, while I was rid

nd ever since that time he had been robbing my traps, shooting at my dog and killing my doves, th

on and six hundred acres of corn. He owned one hundred and fifty working mules and horses, twice as many young cattle, which ran loose in the swamp, and about twenty-five

en in pursuit of a bear or deer, and imagine, if you can, the de

hould have been sorry to part with them, for they were as

m. Wild-cats were abundant, and panthers were so often met with, that traveling after dark was seldom undertaken for pleasure. Bears, however, were the principal pests. They were, to quote from the

with all these plantation dogs. The most of them belonged t

nd courage, were unequaled in all that country except by Sandy’s Sharp and Music. These four hounds were animals worth having. They could run

h-dog”—that is, his fore legs stood wide apart and curved outward, l

was as black as jet. His nose and ears were as

had at least one peculiarity that every body noticed. He never wagged his tail sideways, as ot

t is, we lived about a mile and a half apart—and we were together almost all the time. We always spoke of one another as

ce of giants extinct after seeing him. When he was thirteen years old he was as tall and heavy as his father, and much stro

thing 10wonderful. He could outlift any two of our fellows, without puffing out his

hair, and his extreme good nature, which I seldom saw ruffled. The first was by no means the result of ignorance, for Sandy, bes

when it came to talking he was all afloat. He twisted his sentences into all sorts of awkward shapes, and sometimes used words that had but little connection with the idea he wished to communicate. It wa

at Sandy was as slow as an elephant in all his movements,

ows. On one side two windows looked out upon a wide porch, and on

tion of books, a couple of lamps, an ornamental clock, and a few articles of cu

t were of great use to us. They were simply cows’ horns scraped thin and supplied with carved mouth-pieces. They were used principally for calling the hounds during a bear or 12deer

his gate and whistle. We did not go to all that trouble. If Mark and I had any thing exciting on hand, and

e direction, and Duke and Herbert from the other. We had written out a regular code of si

we could ask them to come over and pay us a visit; and we could tell them when to expect us. We

we learned it from the settlers, who also had a code of s

g on the following day he would go out with his horn and blow five long blasts and t

d follow, until all the men in the settlement for two or three miles around,

arters, and I will introduce you. After that, if you think you would enjoy a four-mile gallop before supper, we will find you

he dog’s ears with the toe of his boot, is my brother Mark. If you don’t find

or at the opposite side of the fire-place, with a hammer in his hand and a pan of hickor

the table devouring the hickory-nuts as fast as Sandy cracks them, is Herbert Dickson. He is blessed w

further than any other fellow of his age in the settlement. There is nothing in the world that Herbert more enjoys than the astonishment and chagrin o

wledged leader. He settles all our disputes, when we have any—which, by the way, does not often happen—and is the projector and manager of most of our plans for amusement. He is handsome and polite, and, of course, a great favorite with the girls. He is a boy of high moral principle, strictly truthful,

s yet to find his equal as a fighter and bear dog. I am not so modest but that I can tell you, also, that I am the champion hunter among our fellows. I killed a bear alone and unaided, and his skin now hangs on that nail at the foot of the bed; but my companions, one and all,