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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851

"The Prairie"

But,
suddenly abandoning his hostile purpose, he snuffed the air a moment,
gaped heavily, shook himself, and peaceably resumed his recumbent
attitude.
"Now, Doctor," cried the trapper, triumphantly, "I am well convinced
there is neither game nor ravenous beast in the thicket; and that I
call substantial knowledge to a man who is too old to be a spendthrift
of his strength, and yet who would not wish to be a meal for a
panther!"
The dog interrupted his master by a growl, but still kept his head
crouched to the earth.
"It is a man!" exclaimed the trapper, rising. "It is a man, if I am a
judge of the creatur's ways. There is but little said atwixt the hound
and me, but we seldom mistake each other's meaning!"
Paul Hover sprang to his feet like lightning; and, throwing forward
his rifle, he cried in a voice of menace--
"Come forward, if a friend; if an enemy, stand ready for the worst!"
"A friend, a white man, and, I hope, a Christian," returned a voice
from the thicket; which opened at the same instant, and at the next
the speaker made his appearance.


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