78 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



stranger, for you see it ain't the natur of bear to go in 

 droves ; but the way they squander about in pairs and 

 single ones is edifying. 



" And then the way I hunt them — the old black ras- 

 cals know the crack of my gun as well as they know a 

 pig's squealing. They grow thin in our parts, it fright- 

 ens them so, and they do take the noise dreadfully, poor 

 things. That gun of mine is a perfect epidemic among 

 bear : if not watched closely, it will go off.as quick on a 

 warm scent as my dog Bowieknife will : and then that 

 doo- — whew ! why the fellow thinks that the world is 

 full of bear, he finds them so easy. It's lucky he don't 

 talk as well as think ; for with his natural modesty, if 

 he should suddenly learn how much he is acknowledged 

 to be ahead of all other dogs in the universe, he would 

 be astonished to death in two minutes. 



" Strangers, that dog knows a bear's way as well as 

 a horse-jockey knows a woman's : he always barks at the 

 right time, bites at the exact place, and whips without 

 getting a scratch, 



" I never could tell whether he was made expressly 

 to hunt bear, or whether bear was made expressly for 

 him to hunt ; any way, I believe they were ordained to 

 go together as naturally as Squire Jones says a man and 

 woman is, when he moralizes in marrying a couple. In 

 fact, Jones once said, said he, ' Marriage according to 

 law is a civil contract of divine origin ; it's common to 

 all countries as well as Arkansaw, and people take to it 



