"Yes, indeed," he added reminiscently; "I tried it myself once, when I was about your age, away down in the Lower Ottanoonsis Valley, when the country thereabouts was not settled like it is now.

And I didn't like it at all, let me tell you." "What came ?" demanded the Child breathlessly.

"Was it your mother, or a bear ?" "Neither!" responded Uncle Andy.

"It was Old Tom Saunders, Bill's uncle--only he wasn't old, or Bill's uncle, at that time, as you may imagine if you think about it." "Oh!" said the Child, a little disappointed.

He had rather hoped it was the bear, since he felt assured of his uncle's ultimate safety.
"And I knew a little Jersey calf once," continued Uncle Andy, being now fairly started in his reminiscences and unwilling to disappoint the Child's unfailing thirst for a story, "in the same woods, who thought she was lost when she wasn't, and made just as much noise over it as if she had been.