"So much for the l'arning of one who has look'd into
so many books, that his eyes are not able to tell a moose from a wild-
cat! Now my Hector, here, is a dog of education after his fashion,
and, though the meanest primmer in the settlements would puzzle his
information, you could not cheat the hound in a matter like this. As
you think the object no man, you shall see his whole formation, and
then let an ignorant old trapper, who never willingly pass'd a day
within reach of a spelling-book in his life, know by what name to call
it. Mind, I mean no violence; but just to start the devil from his
ambushment."
The trapper very deliberately examined the priming of his rifle,
taking care to make as great a parade as possible of his hostile
intentions, in going through the necessary evolutions with the weapon.
When he thought the stranger began to apprehend some danger, he very
deliberately presented the piece, and called aloud--
"Now, friend, I am all for peace, or all for war, as you may say. No!
well it is no man, as the wiser one, here, says, and there can be no
harm in just firing into a bunch of leaves.
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