the Bear toward the flock of some 

 neighbor, and carefully specified the 

 neighbor to avoid mistakes. He tried 

 to pray himself to sleep. It had never 

 failed in church when he was at the 

 Mission, so why now? But for once 

 it did not succeed. The fearsome hour 

 of midnight passed, then the gray dawn, 

 the hour of dull despair, was near. 

 Tampico felt it, and a long groan vi- 

 brated through his chattering teeth. 

 His dog leaped up, barked savagely, 

 the sheep began to stir, then went 

 backing into the gloom ; there was a 

 rushing of stampeding sheep and a 

 huge, dark form loomed up. Tampico 

 grasped his gun and would have fired, 

 when it dawned on him with sicken- 

 ing horror that the Bear was thirty feet 

 high, his platform was only fifteen, just 

 a convenient height for the monster. 

 None but a madman would invite the 



