" Pa made a couple of quick jumps, and
grabbed a limb of a hickory tree, and was pulling himself up and
repeating prayers, when the leading dog reached up his nose and smelled
pa's shoes, when the intelligent animal gave a bark and a yell to the
other dogs, as much as to say: "That's the identical cuss. Eat him
alive."
He grabbed about a double handful of the cloth of pa's clothes right
below where his suspenders button on and held on, and shook pa real
hard, but the cloth was tough and didn't tear. Pa suddenly seemed to be
endowed with superhuman strength, for he drew himself up on the limb and
raised the dog from the ground, and all the pack came around the tree
and set up a howl that scared pa so the perspiration rolled off him, and
he had a chill so he shook like the ague.
Pa yelled to the planter, who was holding up the fat lady and said:
"Here, Mr. Confederate, I am not a union prisoner, and I want you to
unlock your dog's jaws, and free me, 'cause I can't hold up a 90-pound
dog by my suspenders much longer. If this is southern hospitality, I
don't want to be entertained no more." The planter leaned the fat lady
against a tree, and took the dog by the hind legs and pulled him off.
[Illustration: "Here, Mr. Confederate, I Am Not a Union Prisoner.
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