28 PEPACTON 



thought he would show them how easy it was i* 

 dispatch a bear with a club, if you only knew where 

 to strike. He had seen how quickly the largest hog 

 would wilt beneath a slight blow across the " small 

 of the back." So, armed with an immense hand- 

 spike, he took up a position by a large rock that the 

 bear must pass. On she came, panting and nearly 

 exhausted, and at the right moment down came the 

 club with great force upon the small of her back. 

 "If a fly had alighted upon her," said Mr. Knapp, 

 "I think she would have paid just as much attention 

 to it as she did to me." 



Early in the afternoon I encountered another 

 boy, Henry Ingersoll, who was so surprised by my 

 sudden and unwonted appearance that he did not 

 know east from west. "Which way is west?" I 

 inquired, to see if my own head was straight on the 

 subject. 



"That way," he said, indicating east within a 

 few degrees. 



"You are wrong," I replied. "Where does the 

 sun rise ? " 



"There," he said, pointing almost in the direc- 

 tion he had pointed before. 



"But does not the sun rise in the east here as 

 well as elsewhere 1 " I rejoined. 



"Well, they call that west, anyhow." 



But Henry's needle was subjected to a disturbing 

 influence just then. His house was near the river, 

 and he was its sole guardian and keeper for the 

 time; his father had gone up to the next neighbor's 



