THE BIG BEAR OF ARKANSAS. 85 
it, by those very marks; and when I did that, I swelled 
up considerably—lI’ve been a prouder man ever since. 
‘So I went on, larning something every day, until I 
was reckoned a buster, and allowed to be decidedly the 
best bear hunter in my district; and that is a reputation 
as much harder to earn than to be reckoned first man in 
Congress, as an iron ramrod is harder than a toadstool. 
‘Do the varmints grow over-cunning by being fool- 
ed with by greenhorn hunters, and by this means get 
troublesome, they send for me, as a matter of course; 
and thus I do my own hunting, and most of my neigh- 
bors’. I walk into the varmints though, and it has be- 
come about as much the same to me as drinking. It is 
told in two sentences— 
‘“ A bear is started, and he is killed. 
‘The thing is somewhat monotonous now—I know 
just how much they will run, where they will tire, how 
much they will growl, and what a thundering time I will 
have in getting their meat home. I could give you the 
history of the chase with all the particulars at the com- 
mencement, I know the signs so well—Stranger, I’m 
certain. Once I met with a match, though, and I will 
tell you about it; fora common hunt would not be worth 
relating. 
“On a fine fall day, long time ago, I was trailing 
about for bear, and what should I see but fresh marks on 
the sassafras trees, about eight inches above any in the 
forests that [knew of. Says I, ‘Them marks is a hoax, 
