42 THE STORY OF THE BEAR. 



"But it must be done," replied number one, "we can't afford to sit here 

 and let him starve us to death." 



"I think he will probably go away after a while." 



"No fear of it; he has set his heart upon us, and there he will stay until 

 we go down and surrender, or until we manage to outwit him." 



After some further consultation, it was agreed that the first speaker 

 should stealthily slide down the tree, while his companion endeavored to 

 keep the attention of the enemy drawn toward him. 



The former moved as quietly as possible among the limbs, while the 

 other purposely made a rustling of the branches. 



The bear was instantly on the alert, and sidled closer to the tree, so as to 

 be ready for the choice morsel when it dropped into his mouth. 



As a matter of course, the second man moved tardily, while his friend 

 did his best. When the latter found himself with his arms around the trunk, 

 pressing it with his knees, the moment became one of intense excitement. 



But the second hunter shook and rattled the limbs in a manner that 

 must have set the grizzly's heart bounding with expectation; the young man 

 was sure he saw him lick his chops in anticipation of his luscious meal. 



A moment later,, the feet of the first hunter lightly touched the ground, 

 and he peered cautiously from behind the tree, to make sure that the bear 

 had not discovered him. He was still wistfully looking upward, when the 

 hunter sank softly to the ground and began crawling toward his gun, several 

 yards distant. 



At this critical juncture the bear evidently came to the conclusion that 

 it was time to give a little attention to the other half of his meal, and turning 

 his gaze in that direction, he espied him creeping over the ground. 



With a furious growl he made a low plunge after him, and the hunter, 

 finding the crisis had arrived, sprang to his feet and grasped his gun. 



When he turned to fire it the bear was upon him, and the fiash of his 

 powder was in his very eyes. The wound appeared only to enrage him, for 

 the next instant he had grasped the young man in his arms, with the purpose 

 of tearing him to shreds. 



Fortunately, the hunter possessed a hunting knife, which he plunged 

 v.ith all his might into the stomach of his enemy; but, upon drawing it forth 

 and attempting to repeat the process, it slipped from his hand, and he thus 

 found himself entirely unarmed in the clasp of the most formidable brute of 

 the Western wilderness. 



The other hunter, seeing the terrible strait in which his companion w^as 



