132 TEUE BEAR STOEIES. 



To the south, several hundred miles dis 

 tant, stretches the long Sea of Cortez, as 

 the conquerors of ancient Mexico once 

 called the Gulf of California, Beyond the 

 Sea of Cortez is the long and rock-bound 

 reach of the west coast of Mexico. Then a 

 group of little Central American republics; 

 then Colombia, Peru and so on, till at last 

 Patagonia points away like a huge giant's 

 finger straight toward the South Pole. 



But I must bear in mind that I set out; 

 in this story to tell you about "The Bear 

 Slayer of San Diego," and the South Pole 

 is a long way from the subject in hand. 



I have spoken of San Diego as one of the 

 great new cities, and great it is, but al 

 together new it certainly is not, for it was 

 founded by a Spanish missionary, known 

 as Father Junipero, more than one hun 

 dred years ago. 



These old Spanish missionaries were 

 great men in their day; brave, patient and 

 very self-sacrificing in their attempts to 



