THE BIG BEAR OF ARKANSAS. 



85 



it, by those very marks ; and when I did that, I swelled 

 up considerably — Fve been a prouder man ever since. 



" So I went on, laming something every day, until I 

 was reckoned a buster, and allowed to be decidedly the 

 best b^'ar hunter in my district; and that is a reputation 

 as much harder to earn than to be reckoned first man in 

 Congress, as an iron ramrod is harder than a toadstool. 



'• Do the varmints grow over-cunning by being fool- 

 ed with by greenhorn hunters, and by this means get 

 troublesome, they send for me, as a matter of course ; 

 and thus I do my own hunting, and most of my neigh- 

 bors'. I walk into the varmints though, and it has be- 

 come about as much the same to me as drinking. It is 

 told in two sentences — 



" A b(?ar is started, and he is killed. 



" The thing is somewhat monotonous now — T know 

 just how much they will run, where they will tire, how 

 much they will growl, and what a thundering time I will 

 have in getting their meat home. I could give you the 

 history of the chase with all the particulars at the com- 

 mencement, I know the signs so well — Stravger, Fin 

 certain. Oncfl I met with a match, though, and I will 

 tell you about it ; for a common hunt would not be worth 

 relating. 



" On a fine fall day, long time ago, I was trailing 

 about for brar, and what should I see but fresh marks on 

 the sassafras trees, about eight inches above any in the 

 forests that I knew of. Says I, ' Them marks is a hoax, 



