Rocky Mountain Sam — page 183: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

174 ROCKY MOUNTAIN SAM. killed bullock was rolled over into the pit, and they fastened upon it with a gratified howl. «Well, as this ain’t very pleasant, we'd better get out of this until they get«through with their hash,” said the gen- eral, unlocking and opening a small door in the side of the corral, through which he was not unreluctantly followed by his guests, inasmuch as the spectacle within was more san- guine than interesting. | “Now, how many of ’em d’ye want to take with ye?” asked the general, as they strolled back to the place where the balloon was anchored. ‘‘You can have the whole two dozen of ‘em, if you wish.” ‘““No, thank you; but I suppose we can make room for twelve or fifteen,” said the professor, with some hesitation. ‘Is—is there any way of muzzling them, till we want to use them?” ‘“‘“Muzzling them!” echoed the:general. ‘You don’t want. to muzzle’em. After | put ’em in the car, theyll be as gen- tle as lambs, till they seea bear or aredskin; and you needn’t trouble yourselves about bringing *em back home again either. When you’ve got through with ’em, just pint their noses in the right direction, pat’em on the backs, and let “em scoot, They'll find their way back here from anywheres within a circle of two hundred miles. All yon’ve got to do is to not let *em get too infernal hungry. Run down some sort of game with “em—bear meat they hike best—about once a day, and you won’t have no trouble at all. In about halfan hour they had their singular cargo aboard—fifteen hounds in all, including Chawer, the favor- ite—and were making their adieus to the general and his household. As the balloon rapidly arose, the hounds at first mani- fested some restlessness at their novel situation, but soon grew very quiet and docile, until Chawer at length snuffed out the remains of some bear meat which chanced to be in the car, the remains of a previous meal prepared by the hunters. ‘This they at once lit upon as if they had not tasted food for a mouth, the voyagers wisely abstaining from interfering in the repast. After disposing of everything there was to eat, they huddled together in the bottom of the car, and began to lick their chops and snooze, much to the relief especially of Teddy, who had viewed the inroads caused by their rapacious appetites with undisguised alarm, “comicbooks.