oaded his piece, "or 'ee
may chop the little finger off ole Rube's right paw."

Another peal of laughter followed, as all perceived that this was the
finger that was wanting.

"'Ee--es," continued he, looking at the faces that were around him, "'ee
may scalp me if I don't."

This last remark elicited fresh roars of laughter; for although the
cat-skin was closely drawn upon his head, all present knew that old Rube
was minus his scalp.

"But how are ye goin' to do it? Tell us that, old hoss!"

"'Ee see this, do 'ee?" asked the trapper, holding out a small fruit of
the cactus pitahaya, which he had just plucked and cleaned of its
spikelets.

"Ay, ay," cried several voices, in reply.

"'Ee do, do 'ee? Wal; 'ee see 'tain't half as big as the Injun's
squash. 'Ee see that, do 'ee?"

"Oh, sartinly! Any fool can see that."

"Wal; s'pose I plug it at sixty, plump centre?"

"Wagh!" cried several, with shrugs of disappointment.

"Stick it on a pole, and any o' us can do that," said the principal
speaker. "Here's Barney could knock it off wid his owld musket.
Couldn't you, Barney?"

"In truth, an' I could thry," answered a very small man, leaning upon a
musket, and who was dressed in a tattered uniform that had once been
sky-blue. I had already noticed this individual with some curiosity,
partly struck with his peculiar costume, but more particularly on
account of the redness of his hair, which was the reddest I had ever
seen. It bore the marks of a severe barrack discipline--that is, it had
been shaved, and was now growing out of his little round head short and
thick, and coarse in the grain, and of the colour of a scraped carrot.
There was no possibility of mistaking Barney's nationality. In trapper
phrase, any fool could have told that.

What had brought such an individual to such a place? I asked this
question, and was soon enlightened. He had been a soldier in a frontier
post, one of Uncle Sam's "Sky-blues." He had got tired of pork and
pipe-clay, accompanied with a too liberal allowance of the hide. In a
word, Barney was a deserter. What his name was, I know not, but he went
under the appellation of O'Cork--Barney O'Cork.

A laugh greeted his answer to the hunter's question.

"Any o' us," continued the speaker, "could plug the persimmon that a
way. But thar's a mighty heap o' diff'rence when you squints thro'
hind-sights at a girl like yon."

"Ye're right, Dick," said another hunter; "it make