BBTJIN TAKES PASSAGE. 213 



* 



as he seated himself on his stern, showed as pretty a set 

 of ivory as a body would wish to see. There we sat, he 

 in one e'end of the dugout and I in the other, eyein' one 

 another in a mighty suspicious sort of way. He didn't 

 seem inclined to come near my e'end of the dugout, and 

 I was principled agin goin' towards his. I made ready 

 to take to the water on short notice, but at the same 

 time concluded I'd paddle him to the shore, if he'd allow 

 me to do it quietly. 



" ' Wai, I paddled away, the bear every now and then 

 grinnin' at me, skinnin' his face till every tooth in his head 

 stood right out, and grumblin' to himself in a way that 

 seemed to say, ' I wonder if that chap's good to eat ?' I 

 didn't offer any opinion on the subject ; I didn't say a word 

 to him, treatin' him all the time like a gentleman, but 

 kept pullin' for the shore. When the canoe touched the 

 ground, he clambered over the side, and climbed up the 

 bank, and givin' me an extra grin, started off into the woods. 

 I pushed the dugout back suddenly, and gave him, as 

 I felt safe again, a double war-whoop that seemed to as- 

 tonish him, for he quickened his pace mightily, as if quite 

 as glad to part company as I was. I larned one thing, 

 stranger, that mornin', and it's this, never to try drownin' 

 a bear by runnin' him under with a dugout. It won't 

 pay.' " ^+& 



