108 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



hard and unyielding nature, and with all 

 her strength she could neither break nor 

 bend it. But she kept thrusting up her 

 long nose and longer claws, laying hold 

 first of his boots, which she pulled off, one 

 after the other, with her teeth, then with 

 her claws she took hold of one garment 

 and then another till the man of money 

 had hardly a shred, and his legs were 

 streaming with blood. Fearing that he 

 should faint from loss of blood, he lashed 

 himself to the small trunk of the tree by 

 his belt and then began to scream with 

 all his might for his friends. 



When the bear became w^eary of clawing 

 up at the dangling legs she went back and 

 began to turn poor Boone over to see if he 

 showed any signs of life. Then she came 

 back and again clawed a while at the 

 screaming man up the madrona tree. It 

 was great fun for the bear! 



To cut a thrilling story short, the party 

 in camp on the other side of the creek 

 finally came in hail, when the old bear 



