A DANCING MATCH. 71 



" It's a great shame to laugh," said Mac, as he 

 recovered from the fresh burst his recital induced. 

 " It sounds very hard-hearted ; but though I felt 

 very funky for the poor little chap, I couldn't for 

 the life of me help it at the time. 



" The bear rose on his hind legs and made a pat 

 with the claws of one fore-foot, as if to seize one of 

 the man's. Hanging on like grim death by the thin 

 boughs and twigs, the little fellow had his legs 

 stretched with his feet far apart, clutching the 

 boughs most tenaciously with his toes, which were 

 just about on a line with the bear's paws. When 

 the man raised the foot aimed at out of reach, the 

 brute made a dab with his other paw at the other 

 foot, and so he had alternately to raise each foot as 

 it became the object of attack. This continuing for 

 some time, gave to both the man and his assailant 

 the appearance of dancing. But it was varied by 

 the poor little beggar making occasional kicks at 

 the bear's nose as he shifted his position. The dis- 

 tance was too far for my rifle to tell with any 

 certainty, though I brought it up once or twice, 

 but was afraid to fire, as the two were so close to 

 each other. 



" We shouted, and the rest of the beaters who 

 had huddled together shouted and yelled vigorously, 

 and at last the bear left his active little (.-nemv. 



