backbone-but

Updated: August 8, 2026

“I heard him brag once,” said Jotham, “that there wasn’t a man ‘twixt the Mohawk Flats and the Pennsylvany line that was his match at a close hug.” “Did you?” exclaimed Kirby, raising his huge frame in his seat, like a lion stretching in his lair; “I rather guess he never felt a Varmounter’s knuckles on his backbone-But who is the chap?” “Why,” said Jotham, “ it’s ”

James Fenimore Cooper - The Pioneers