50 TRUE BEAR STORIES. 



not want Mountain Joe to stay at home 

 or keep sober. He wanted to handle all 

 the money and answer no questions. A 

 drunken man and a boy that he could bully 

 suited him A best. Ah, but this man Reese 

 was a mean fellow, as has been said a time 

 or two before. 



As winter came on the two blacks were 

 fat as pigs and fully half-grown. Their ap- 

 petites increased daily, and so did the 

 anger and envy of Mr. Sil Reese. 



"They'll eat us out o' house and hum," 

 said the big, towering nose one day, as the 

 snow began to descend and close up the 

 pack trails. And then the stingy man pro- 

 posed that the blacks should be made to 

 hibernate, as others of their kind. There 

 was a big, hollow log that had been sawed 

 off in joints to make bee gums; and the 

 stingy man insisted that they should be 

 put in there with a tight head, and a pack 

 of hay for a bed, and nailed up till spring 

 to save provisions. 



Soon there was an Indian outbreak. 



