" The old man enquired why I
seemed so much terrified, and my brothers told him that I would persist
in calling a screech-owl, a catamount. Old Rufus did not often laugh,
but he laughed heartily on this occasion, and truly it was no wonder and
when he corroborated what my brothers had already told me, I decided
that what he said must be true. His presence at once gave me a feeling
of protection and security and creeping close to his side on the cedar
boughs which formed our bed, while the immense fire blazed in front of
our tent, I soon forgot my childish fears, in a sound sleep which
remained unbroken till the morning sun was shining brightly above the
trees. But it was long before I heard the last of the night I spent in
the bush; and as often as my brothers wished to tease me, they would
enquire if I had lately heard the cries of a catamount? Time passed on
till I grew up, and leaving the paternal home went forth to make my own
way in the world. Old Rufus still resided in R. When a child I used to
fancy that he would never seem older than he had appeared since my
earliest recollection of him; but about the time I left home there was a
very observable change in his appearance.
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