10 The Black Bear 



difficulty, for he had climbed so high that I did not 

 dare trust my weight to the small branches, and, shake 

 as I might, I was unable to dislodge him. Finally I 

 climbed down to where the limbs were longer, cut one 

 of them with my jack-knife, and, using it as a pole, 

 succeeded in poking the cub out of his perch. And 

 as he shot past me I called to the boys to look out and 

 listen for the splash of his arrival. But instead of the 

 expected sound I heard Martin call out that the cub 

 had caught on a lower limb and was climbing back up 

 the tree. This was aggravating, but I thought that 

 at least I had the upper hand of him this time and 

 started down to meet him. 



He had taken refuge on one of the longest branches 

 of the old fir, and as he was too far out for me to reach 

 with my pole, I had recourse to my former tactics. 

 I stood up on the branch the cub was on, grasped a 

 higher one with both hands, and put all my strength 

 and weight into a succession of violent shakes. The bear 

 slipped inch by inch out toward the end of the limb; 

 first one paw and then the other lost its grip; at last 

 he hung down from the outermost fork by what looked 

 like one toe nail. But further than this he refused to 

 yield. Round and round he swung as long as the shak- 

 ing lasted, which was until I was completely out of wind 

 and compelled to stop for breath; and then back the 

 little beggar climbed, and by the time I had got ready 

 for another inning he was safe in the original position. 



