280 IN A BEAR'S CAVE. 



carried away a pill from Plumcentre in his innards, an' 

 wur failin' fast on the trail, when what shed I come 

 upon but a b'ar's snore-hole ; that is, o' coorse, the leetle 

 hole the varmint's hot breath melts up through snow 

 over whur he's cached below. Arter finishin' wi' the 

 bull, I kein back an' tuck a view o' the sitooation. I 

 clurred off the snow from whur I expected the mouth 

 o' the cave to be, when what wur my surprise to find 

 thur wa'n't no cave to be seed ! Thur wur a small hole 

 about the scantlin' o' a mouse-hole down through the 

 ground, an' twur up this the varmint's breath hed come. 



" ' Jehoshaphat !' cries I, ' this niggur's not as hefty as 

 he used to was; but his carkidge'd never get down 

 thur !' So I sets to work, an', sure enuff, I med out the 

 mouth o' the cave in the face o' a leetle bank clost by. 

 At fust I thort o' lightin' up stink-plants an' stinkin' 

 the b'ar out ; but on second thorts I concluded I'd take a 

 look in on the crittur, as the cave seemed purty roomby. 

 Wai, I poked in, an' lit a bit o' candle I luckily hed in 

 my possible sack. 



" I soon found that the cave narrered, and got so 

 low at that, that I hed to go it on all fours. The 

 travellin' wur main bad, fellurs, I kin tell yer; fur, yer 

 sees, the water hed kept droppin' through above, an' 

 med pools hyur an' thur along the floor through which 

 I hed to drag my old carkidge, till I wur as wet as a 

 gudgeon. I didn't mind that so much though as 

 keepin' my candle lightin' an' old Plumcentre dry. So 

 I crawled along, an' arter a leetle time I kein to whur 



