ways of the mountaineers too well to 

 turn or make another offer, and the 

 stranger went on. 



Many a man has spent a thousand 

 dollars in efforts to capture some wild 

 thing and felt it worth the cost for 

 a time. Then he is willing to sell 

 it for half cost, then for quarter, and at 

 length he ends by giving it away. The 

 stranger was vastly pleased with his 

 comical Bear cubs at first, and valued 

 them proportionately; but each day 

 they seemed more troublesome and less 

 amusing, so that when, a week later, at 

 the Bell-Cross Ranch, he was offered 

 a horse for the pair, he readily closed, 

 and their days of hamper-travel were 

 over. 



The owner of the ranch was neither 

 mild, refined, nor patient. Jack, good- 

 natured as he was, partly grasped these 

 facts as he found himself taken from 



