THi: fJIt; HKAK OF ARKANSAS. 89 



have douc it by hitting him in the head. Your shot 

 has made a tiger of him ; and ])hist me, if a dog gets 

 killed or wounded when they come to blows, I will stick 



my knife into your liver, I will .■ My wrath was up. 



I had lost my caps, my gun had snapped, the fellow 

 with me had fired at the bear's head, and I expected 

 every moment to see him close in with the dogs and 

 kill a dozen of them at least. In this thing I was mis- 

 taken ; for the b^'ar leaped over the ring formed by the 

 dogs, and giving a fierce growl, was oflf — the pack, of 

 course, in full cry after him. The run this time was 

 short, for coming to the edge of a lake, the varmint 

 jumped in, and swam to a little island in the lake, which 

 it reached, just a moment before the dogs. 



'' ' I'll have him now,' said I, for I had found my 

 caps in the lining of my coat — so, rolling a log into the 

 lake, I paddled myself across to the island, just as the 

 dogs had cornered the brar in a thicket. I rushed up 

 and fired — at the same time the critter leaped over the 

 dogs and came within three feet of me, running like 

 mad ; he jumped into the lake, and tried to mount the 

 log I had just deserted, but every time he got half his 

 body on it, it would roll over and send him under ; the 

 dogs, too, got around him, and pulled him about, and 

 finally Bowieknife clenched with him, and they sunk 

 into the lake together. 



" Stranger, about this time I was excited, and I 

 stripped ofi" my coat, drew my knife, and intended to 



