It sent a twitter through my bones
When I got where that I could see
The thing ’twas goin’ to tackle me.
’Twas big and round and blacker’n Zip,
—And powerful? My sakes, ’twould grip
A tree or bam or line o’ fence
And make ’em look like thirty cents.
While all the time it growled and chawed
And spit the slivers forty rod.
—As things looked then a bob-tailed darn