28o DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



me go by; but 'taint no use whatever to race with 

 a baldface. They look clumsy, but it's all in their 

 looks. They air race horses in fur overcoats, that's 

 what grizzlies be! 



"So I grabbed a branch of a lodge-pole-pine 

 and swung myself up like a squirrel an' I clum to 

 the slim end. But, shoo ! 



OLD BALDFACE NEVER WAITED 



for a minute. He just cum after me like a miner 

 up a ladder when there is a cave-in behind him." 



"What, a grizzly climb a tree?" cried a young 

 man in a stylish hunting suit. Uncle Jeff gave one 

 look from under his shaggy brows and the young 

 man wilted, shriveled up and was quiet. 



"That air tree was almighty slim an' tapering 

 up whar I wuz, an' it bent in a way I did not like, 

 but that pesky b'ar just kept on cumen, and clum 

 almost up to me, when I heard the wood a 

 cracken. 



"* You blathering old idj it! Ye baldf aced fool ! 

 Stop, or we'll both be killed!' I yelled. 



"BUT EPHRAIM WUZ MAD, 



an' he didn't pay no attention to my remarks; so 

 I clum to the tip-top an' drug up my legs as close 

 to my body as I cud hold 'em, while I reached for 

 the milky way, an' that's when I began to lose my 

 freckles. 



"Old baldy came right on, a-growling an' cuss- 

 ing to hisself, an' all the time the pine a-bending 



