MEETING OF THE WILD MEN 197 



out of his trance mighty sudden an' that meant a catch-as- 

 catch-can with a great, big, crazy black bear. 



"As good luck would have it, the next time I threw a stone, 

 it landed on the tip of the bear's snout, an' with a snarl he 

 comes for me. I waits as long as I dares, then up the tree I 

 skips, with the brute follerin' me. About half ways up I 

 thinks I hears a human bein' laffin' in the east pine. So I looks 

 over, an' sure enuff, I sees me old pardner settin' on a limb an' 

 fairly roarin'. All the same, I was feelin' mighty squeemish, for 

 the bear was comin' up lickety splinter after me. 



"Just then I spies a good stout branch that reaches out close 

 against a big limb of the birch, an' I crawls over. As the bear 

 follers me, I slides down the trunk o' the birch, an' lights out 

 for the east pine where me pardner was doin' the laffin'. On 

 its way down the bear rammed itself right smack against the 

 mail-bag; and when the beast struck ground, it smelt the man 

 smell on the packet, an' began to gnaw it. 



"Now me an' Old-pot-head's son knowed well enuff we 

 had to save the mail-sack, so I slips down the east pine a ways, 

 an' breaks off dead branches, an' pelts them at the bear while 

 the Injun crosses over into the top o' the west pine. Then we 

 both at once slides down as low as we dares, an' I begins to lamm 

 the brute with a shower o' sticks. Up the tree it comes for 

 me, while me pardner slips down, grabs the mail-sack, an' sails 

 up the west pine again. 



"That was a mighty clever move, thinks I, but a bag is an 

 orkad thing to portage when you're meanderin' up an' down 

 a tree with a bear after you. But the tump-line was on it, 

 just as we carried it the day before, so it wasn't as bad as it 

 might 'a' been. 



"Well, when I went up the east pine, the bear follered, an', 

 as there wasn't any too much room between me an' the bear, 

 I crosses over into the birch an' slides down its slippery trunk 

 as tho' it was greased. I hits the ground a little harder than 



