MR. YOWDER AND THE GIANT BULL SNAKE

Simply to catch sight of Rounds' jacket--where the giant bull snake spans a desert that extends, in turn, across front and back covers, and a comparatively tiny Mr. Yowder sits astride the creature's upraised neck--is to be a goner; inside, the yarn is stretched just as far, and proves just as enthralling. Knute, as Mr. Yowder names his friend, starts out at a normal size but, when he takes up with the itinerant sign painter who has learned to speak snake, he wiles away his days with bodybuilding exercises. And by the time that Yowder's horse runs off, Knute has grown more than capable of taking his place. Their local fame soon leads to a job hunting buffalo for the Army, for which the pair proves excellently suited. ""When they found buffalo, Knute would circle the herd, completely hemming it in, while Mr. Yowder sat in the saddle and shot as many as the Army wagons could haul away."" The adventure ends with an impressive but disastrous performance wherein the heroes drive a stampeding buffalo herd smack into a wagon train containing Buffalo Bill himself, the President of the United States, and a number of other important people. ""Nobody knows for sure [where] Knute finally settled,"" but he's sure to be recognized anywhere for the natural wonder he is.