198 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



I wanted to, but didn't waste no time in lightin' out for the 

 west pine, where the Injun was restin' ; an' all the time the bear 

 was tryin' to grab me coat-tails. 



" It was just a case of up to the west pine, cross over and down 

 the birch ; then up the east pine, cross over an' down the birch ; 

 then up the west pine, cross over an' down the birch, till we got 

 so dizzy we could a hardly keep from fallin'. If you could 

 just 'a' seen the way we tore roun' through them trees, I'll bet 

 you would 'a' done a heap o' laffin'. 



"The bear was mighty spry in goin' up, but when it came to 

 goin' down he'd just do the drop-an'-clutch, drop-an'-clutch 

 act. That's just where me an' me pardner had the advantage 

 on the brute; for we just swung our arms an' legs roun' that 

 birch an' did the drop act, too; but, somehow, we hadn't time 

 to do the clutch, so our coat-tails got badly crushed every time 

 we landed. 



"It was a kind of go-as-you-please until about the tenth 

 roun', when I accidentally drops the mail-bag on the bear's 

 head, an' that makes him boilin' mad; so he lights out after us 

 as tho' he had swallered a hornet's nest. 



"Then away we goes up an' down, up an' down, an' roun' 

 an' roun' that perpendicular race track, until we made such a 

 blur in the scen'ry that any fool with half an eye an' standin' half 

 a mile away could 'a' seen a great big figger eight layin' on its 

 side in the middle o' the landscape. We took turns at carryin' 

 the packet, but sometimes I noticed Old-pot-head's son was 

 havin' a good deal of trouble with it. It didn't seem to bother 

 him much when he was climbin' up; for he just swung it on his 

 back with the loop o' the tump-line over his head, an' so he had 

 his hands free. But it was when he was comin' down the 

 slippery birch that the weight of the bag made him rather more 

 rapid than he wanted to be; an' so, when he an' the bag struck 

 groun', they nearly always bounced apart; an' if the Injun 

 failed to get his feet in time to ketch the sack on the first bounce, 



