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Then I recollects that I hed seed a piece o' high ground about that part o' the parairy a sort o' mound that hed been made by Injuns, I s'pose. This, then, that looked like a island, wur the top o' that mound, sure enough. "The log wur a-driftin' in sich a way that I seed it must pass within twenty yards o' the mound.
We wan't more 'n half acrosst, an' I seed if it riz much more we ud hav to swim for it. I wan't far astray about that. The minnit arter it seemed to deepen suddintly, as if thur wur a hollow in the parairy: I heerd the mar give a loud gouf, an' then go down, till I wur up to the waist. She riz agin the next minnit, but I could tell from the smooth ridin' that she wur off o' the bottom.
"Somehow or other, I had got clutch o' my bowie, and at the next opportunity I made a cut at the rope, and heerd the clean `snig' o' the knife. Arter that I lay quiet on the parairy, an' I b'lieve I kinder sort o' fainted.
I seed his snout a passin' through the hole, but I seed no more; for I feeled the critter's claws touchin' me, an' I let go. "Now, thunk I, wur my time for a run. The blanket mout blin' him a leetle, an' I mout git some start. "With this thort, I glid past the animal's rump, an' struck out over the parairy.
It wur plain I wur put down on the parairy, so I bundled my possibles, and turned head for Laramies afoot. I had a three days' walk o' it, and prehaps I didn't cuss a few! "I wur right bad used. Thur wan't a bone in my body that didn't ache, as if I had been passed through a sugar-mill; and my clothes and skin were torn consid'ably.
Both saddle an' bridle hed been washed away: so I made the rope into a sort o' halter, an' mounted her bare-backed. "Jest then I begun to think whur I wur agoin'. The hul country appeared to be under water: an' the nearest neighbour I hed lived acrosst the parairy ten miles off. I knew that his shanty sot on high ground, but how wur I to get thur?
"Thur waunt no kiver near them not a stick, for the parairy wur as bar as yur hand; so I seed, at a glimp, it 'ud be no use a tryin' to approach, unless I tuk some plan to decoy the critters. "I soon thort o' a dodge, an' went back to camp for my blanket, which wur a red Mackinaw. This I knew 'ud be the very thing to fool the goats with, an' I set out torst them.
I seed her disappear through the darkness; but I didn't as much as say good-bye to her, for I wur afeard that my voice mout bring her back agin', an' she mout strike the log with her hoofs, an' whammel it about. So I lay quiet, an' let her hev her own way. "I wan't long on the log till I seed it wur a-driftin', for thur wur a current in the water that set tol'uble sharp acrosst the parairy.
Thur wur a half o' mile o' clur parairy on every side o' me, an' I knowd the grizzly laid catch up afore I hed made three hundred yards in any direction. I knowd, too, that ef I started, the varmint 'ud be sartin to foller. It wur plain to see the bar meant mischief; I kud tell that from the glint o' his eyes. "Thur wan't no time to lose in thinkin' about it.
Thur wan't no time to be wasted ne'er a minnit; so I gin the mar a kick or two in the ribs an' started. "I found the path out to the edge of the parairy easy enough. I hed blazed it when I fust come to the place; an', as the night wur not a very dark one, I could see the blazes as I passed atween the trees.
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