Tbe Conversion of Trapper Lewis 271 



" Why, Canady, I'll be eternally chawed up ! 

 Why didn't you blow the hull head off the durned 

 fool, while you was at it ? By gosh, that scatter-gun 

 shoots some ! See whar the buckshot ketched 'im ; 

 the big ball knocked the brains clar out. But, 

 Canady, I drawed true on him ; I bust his shoulder, 

 t'other ball cut his leg. I knowed it would, fur it 

 grazed a sapling." 



So I had managed to knock down a dying bear, 

 and to fill it so full of missiles that its hide might 

 have served as a title-deed to a lead mine. I didn't 

 care if I had we'd killed the bear! 



The animal was not nearly so large as I had ex- 

 pected. I waived all share of the quarry and the 

 bounty, if there was one. Lewis got out his knife 

 and gave me an object-lesson in the matter of how 

 to flay and carve a dead bear. This part of the fun 

 was rather tedious and unpleasant. He hung up 

 the skin and hams, then we went down to the creek 

 and washed our hands. 



The old man was jubilant. He thawed out 

 wonderfully, and I saw readily enough that I and 

 the shot-gun had climbed considerably in his esti- 

 mation. But I could not guess that within the 

 next ten minutes Lewis was to become my sworn 

 friend for life. 



He wanted to hurry home to get his horse for the 

 purpose of packing-in the bear, and he told me that 

 one big pool formed by the creek was jammed so 

 full of logs that we could cross dry-footed and make 

 a bee-line for his house. 



When we reached the jam, I didn't like its look, 

 but Lewis said, " It's easy ; I'll learn you how to 



