90 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HCNTER. 



have taken a part with Bowieknife myself, when the bt'ar 

 rose to the surface. But the varmint staid under — 

 Bowieknife came up alone, more dead than alive, and 

 with the pack came ashore. 



" ' Thank God ! ' said I, ' the old villain has got his 

 deserts at last.' 



" Determined to have the body, I cut a grape-vine 

 for a rope, and dove down where I could see the bear 

 in the water, fastened my rope to his leg, and fished him, 

 with great difficulty, ashore. Stranger, may I be 

 chawed to death by young alligators, if the thing I 

 looked at wasn't a she dear, and not the old critter 

 after all. 



" The way matters got mixed on that island was on- 

 accountably curious, and thinking of it made me more 

 than ever convinced that I was hunting the devil him- 

 self. I went home that night and took to my bed — 

 the thing was killing me. The entire team of Arkan- 

 saw in bear-hunting acknowledged himself used up, and 

 the fact sunk into my feelings as a snagged boat will in 

 the Mississippi. I grew as cross as a bear with two cubs 

 and a sore tail. The thing got out 'mong my neigh- 

 bors, and I was asked how come on that individ-u-al 

 that never lost a bear when once started ? and if that 

 same individ-u-al didn't wear telescopes when he turned 

 a she-bear, of ordinary size, into an old he one, a little 

 larger than a horse ? 



" ' Prehaps,' said I, ' friends' — getting wrathy — ' pre- 

 haps you want to call somebody a liar ? ' 



