IQ3 A REMINISCENCE. 



' The critter seemed as surprised at first as I was. He stood with a stupid, 

 inquiring look lor a minute, and then rose on his haunches, and began pawing the 

 air in a playful way, as if to coax me to go up to him, and let him give me a reg'lar 

 old-fashioned hug. 



" Not much, I said to myself, raising my gun, and, sighting at the place where I 

 'sposed his heart was, I let drive, and then banged the stock of my rifle down 

 on my foot, and looked up to see him keel over like a meeting-house when its 

 foundation gives out. 



" But he didn't keel. He pawed at his flesh as though the wound was a splintt* 

 which he was trying to pull out. I was sure he would turn up his toes the next 

 minute ; but, while I was watchin' for it, he dropped down on all fours and lumbered 

 toward me at a gait that left no time to load my gun again. 



"If there ever was a scared young man, it was Jack Harvey about that time. 

 Right behind me was the precipice, with the deep river far below. The grizzly was 

 in front, and, coming so fast that I couldn't load up again nor get by him. The only 

 weapons left was my hunting knife and revolver. 



" Yanking out the pistol, I emptied every chamber into him when he was less 

 than twenty feet away. I'm sure, too, that each bullet lodged in his big body, and 

 yet, for all the effect they produced, they might as well have been fired against a 

 stone wall. 



" By the time I could get out my knife, Old Ephraim had come to town. 



" I knowed it was no use trying to fight him with only my knife, for he could 

 chaw me up afore I could prick him. Feeling that I had made a mistake in not 

 jumping over into the water, I started ; but what held me back was the fear that 

 the stream was not so deep as it looked. In such a wild place a current is likely to 

 have all kinds of depths that is, in some places it would take a pole fifty or a 

 hundred feet to touch bottom, while right alongside it a p'inted rock might push up 

 within an inch or two of the surface. 



" Now, if I should happen to drop on one of them p'ints, you can see that it 

 would be rather bad for me, and it was that which kept me from jumping until it 

 was almost too late. 



"Just as I turned, Old Ephraim grabbed me, with the intention of crushing my 

 ribs into a pulp, and I knowed that the question had to be settled in the next 

 minute or two. I put forth all the strength I had to break loose, but I couldn't 

 Howsumever, I done that which was next best. The grizzly was so close that I 

 upset his balance, and over we both went. 



"Well," added Jack Harvey, with a sigh at the recollection, "that was a good 

 many years ago, but I don't think I'll forget about it if I live to be as old as Godkin 

 there. It seemed to me that we were about an hour and a half falling through the 

 air afore we struck the water, and, when we done so, it must have sounded as though 

 the top of the mountain had tipped over into the stream. 



" I remember that at the minute we went off the ledge, I tried to bring Old 

 Ephraim under me. so that if we did stop too suddenly, he would get the benefit of 



