His bandaged hand held his busy knife and he carved on a wide, thick strap of leather as he said: "Oh, never mind about the puppy! I don't care—much. There are other dogs. As soon as a friend of mine, who always keeps his word, gets back to his farm at Urbana, he is going to send me a foxhound by the next wagon-train to our new home at Vincennes." And he showed them the leather collar. Near the fastening he had cut OHIO * KENTUCKY * INDIANA. On one side were the words SIMON KENTON. On the opposite side it said, OBEDIAH HOLMAN. Between the two was the comforting legend, THEIR DOG.
XII
ONE PERCUSSION CAP
The "Pennsylvania Dutch" Colony on the Wabash
SLEEPY Obadiah Holman shivered and pulled the covers over his head, for gusts of wind were fanning his cheek.
"Sniff, snuff," said the wind. "Grunt—g-r-o-w-l!"
The boy jumped from his bed to the middle of the cabin's puncheon floor. Wide awake now, he listened. What was that sound?
A bear was smelling at his pillow through a crack between the logs of the wall.
Slowly his feet grew cold. Slowly his scalp began to itch.