196 THE DRAMA OF THE FORESTS 



begin to believe you ain't shammin'. An' when that ugly brute 

 hauls off an' hits me agen, I decides then an' there that there's 

 no occasion to sham it. Rut just as soon as I makes up my 

 mind I'm dead, the bear leaves me; an' when I can no longer 

 hear him breathin', I peeps out of a tiny little hole, and sees the 

 big brute maulin' me old friend the Injun. Then I takes an- 

 other peep roun', an' don't see no escape 'cept by way o' them 

 three trees, so I just jumps up, an' lights out like greased 

 lightnin' for the nearest tree. After me comes .the bear 

 gallopin'. I guess that was the quickest runnin' I ever 

 done in all me life. I just managed to climb into the lower 

 branches o' the west pine as the bear struck the trunk 

 below me. 



"When I stops for breath in the upper branches, I sees the 

 old bear canterin' back agen to have another go with me pard- 

 ner. 



"Just as soon as I was safe, the whole performance struck me 

 as bein' pretty funny, an' I couldn't help roarin' out and a- 

 laffin' when I saw the beast maulin' Old-pot-head's son, an' 

 him tryin' for all he was worth to play dead. 



"Thinks I, I'll make me old friend laff. So I starts in to 

 guy him, an' he begins to snicker, an' that makes the bear mad, 

 an' he begins to roll the Injun. Then, you bet, I couldn't 

 make him laff no more; for, what with shammin' dead, an' bein' 

 frightened to death into the bargain, I don't think there was 

 much laff left in him. 



"You know how bears will act when they sometimes comes 

 across a handy log? Well, that's just what the beast was doin' 

 with Old-pot-head's son — it was rollin' him over an' over. The 

 very next second it rolls his feet into the fire. Down the tree 

 I slid, like snow down a mountain, an' stood at the foot of it 

 an' pelted the bear with stones. The Injun's blanket began to 

 smoke. It was no laffin' matter, for I knowed if I didn't drive 

 the brute off in a jiffy Old-pot-head's son would be a comin' 



