78 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 
stranger, for you see it ain’t the natur of bear to go in 
droves; but the way they squander about in pairs and 
single ones is edifying. 
“ And then the way I hunt them—the old black.,.95- 
cals know the crack of my gun as well as they know a 
pig’s squealing. They grow thin in our parts, it fright- 
ens them so, and they do take the noise dreadfully, poor 
things. That gun of mine is a perfect epidemic among 
bear: if not watched closely, it will go. off as quick on a 
warm scent as my dog Bowieknife will: and then that 
dog—whew ! why the fellow thinks that the world is 
full of bear, he finds them so easy. It’s lucky he don’t 
talk as well as think; for with his natural modesty, if 
he should suddenly learn how much he is acknowledged 
to be ahead of all other dogs in the universe, he would 
be astonished to death in two minutes. 
“Strangers, that dog knows a bear’s way as well as 
a horse-jockey knows a woman’s: he always barks at the 
right time, bites at the exact place, and whips without 
getting a scratch. 
‘“T never could tell whether he was made expressly 
to hunt bear, or whether bear was made expressly for 
him to hunt; any way, I believe they were ordained to 
vo together as naturally as Squire Jones says a man and 
woman is, when he moralizes in marrying a couple. In 
fact, Jones once said, said he, ‘ Marriage according to 
law is a civil contract of divine origin ; it’s common to 
all countries as well as Arkansaw, and people ‘take to it 

