BEARS I HAVE NEVER MET 279 



it, which looked mighty purty, but 'twould take a 

 mule train to carry enough for a grub stake. 



"I was just looking around to see at what I 

 cud throw the tarnel thing, when I seed the big- 

 gest grizzly I ever sot eyes on, walking along to- 

 ward my shack. Grub was getting low and I 

 knowed if old Ephraim once smelled my last strip 

 of bacon he wud tear down the shack to get it. 

 So I up and let drive at him with a piece of quartz. 



"Gosh-all-Sassafras ! I pasted old baldface in 

 the side so hard that it sounded like a thump on an 

 Injun tomtom. 



"Now, ye know 



GRIZZLIES DON'T TAKE NO BACK TALK FROM 

 NOBODY. 



"Wuz Baldy mad? Well, I-want-ter-know 

 Geewhilikans ! he came at me like a bale of hay 

 sliding down the Illecilleweat glacier! Skeered? 

 Well, you can bet your Hi-yu-muck-a-muck that 

 that is just what was the matter. 



I WAS HYAS KWASS 



(terribly frightened) for certain, an' I did some 

 running that wud hev made a prong-horn stare, 

 an' I jumped and clum them rocks like a Rocky 

 Mountain goat. 



"I was making for the timber belt. The devil's 

 clubs scratched my hands an' tore my clothes an' 

 the goblin's thistles turned their wry necks to see 



