The Panther and Bear. 241 



nor cliildren, nor any near kindred, and I believe lie 



loved me mor'n lie did all the rest of human kind. 



He didn't hate, or dislike anybody but an Ingen, and 



him he hated like pison, and well he might. If the 



dark deep woods could speak, they'd tell, may be, 



strange stories, of Ingens that crossed old Pete's trail 



in the forest, and never got back to their wigwams. 



But that Vv^as long, long ago, while the grass was 



growin' on the graves of his father, and mother, and 



sisters, and brother, massacred by the murderin' cusses, 



and the thirst for vengeance was rank in his heart. 



But what I was goin' to tell you, is this : 



" One day, he was passin' from St. Eegis to Big 



Clear Pond, and in goin' over a ridge had sat down 



on the trunk of a fallen tree to rest. As he sat there, 



he heard a crashin' through the brush, as of some 



animal, that seemed to be in a monstrous hurry to get 



away from somethin' that he seemed to think, warn't 



a great v/ays behind him. Presently a bear rushed 



by him, over the ridge, gruntin' and talkin' to himself, 



as is the way of the animal sometimes. He seemed to 



be orfully afraid of something, but had no idea that old 



Pete, and his rifle was around. Them things warn't 



very healthy for bears, and if that one had knowed 



11 



