d
beaten him off, and he couldn't get food, 'cause he'd left the Reservation
where there's always plenty to eat an' drink, and there was none anywhere
else.

"Wal, he sizes up that squaw, and sees her blanket's good an' thick, and
her moccasins is made of moose hide, and her beads is pretty, and he
thinks she'll make a good meal, but he thinks, thinks he, he'll eat the
squaw's sick gran'ma first. So he says 'Good-bye,' an' waits till she's
well away on the trail, and then hurries back to the tepee an' eats up the
old squaw. Say wolves is ter'ble--'specially timber wolves.

"Now, when that squaw gits home----" Seth paused and doled out more taffy.
The children were wonderfully intent on the story, but the sweets helped
their attention. For there was much of what he said that was hard on their
understandings. The drama of the story was plain enough, but the moral
appealed to them less.

"When that squaw gits home she lifts the flap of the tepee, and she sees
what she thinks is her gran'ma lying covered up on the skins on the
ground. The fire is still burnin', and everything is jest as she left it.
She feels good an' chirpy, and sits right down by her gran'ma's side. And
then she sees what she thinks looks kind o' queer. Says she, 'Gee,
gran'ma, what a pesky long nose you've got!' You see that wolf had come
along an' eaten her gran'ma, and fixed himself up in her clothes an'
things, and was lying right there ready to eat her, too, when she come
along. So master timber wolf, he says, 'That's so I ken smell out things
when I'm hunting.' Then that squaw, bein' curious-like, which is the way
with wimminfolk, says, 'Shucks, gran'ma, but your tongue's that long you
ain't room for it in your mouth.' That wolf gits riled then. Says he,
'That's so I ken taste the good things I eat.' Guess the squaw was plumb
scared at that. She'd never heard her gran'ma say things like that. But
she goes on, says she, 'Your teeth's fine an' long an' white, maybe you've
cleaned 'em some.' Then says the wolf, 'That's so I ken eat folks like you
right up.' With that he springs out of the blankets an' pounces sheer on
that poor little squaw and swallows her up at one gulp, same as you ken
swaller this taffy."

Seth suddenly sprang from his seat, held the bag of candy out at arm's
length, and finally dropped it on the ground in the midst of the children.
There was a rush; a chorus of childish glee, and the whole twelve fell
into a struggling heap up