MEETING OF THE WILD MEN 199 



I ketched it on the second bounce as I glode by. So between 

 the two of us we managed to hang on to the packet. 



"By-an'-by, we was gettin' terribly tuckered out. It was a 

 good thing for us that the bear was gettin' winded an' dizzy 

 as well; because, at about the sixty-seventh roun', the brute 

 had no sooner gone down the birch than he bounded up agen 

 just when Old-pot-head's son was a-climbin' thro' the upper 

 branches o' the birch. So he slips over into the top o' the 

 east pine, while I stays in the top o' the west pine, an' the bear 

 sits down in a upper crotch o' the birch. 



"Well, we puts in a good many heats of anywhere from 

 twenty-five to seventy-five laps roun' that track by the time 

 daylight comes, an' sunrise finds us all ketching our wind in 

 the upper branches. I noticed that whenever the brute wanted 

 to stop the whirligig it always climbed up the birch just in time 

 to separate me an' me pardner; an' there we would sit, me in 

 the west pine, me pardner in the east pine, an' the black brute 

 right in between. 



"About breakfast time me an' the Injun was feelin' mighty 

 hungry. There we sat cussin' our luck an' castin' longin' 

 glances down at the grub bag. By the time I'd caught me 

 wind a great idea strikes me. Durin' the next heat I would 

 rush out. So I sings out my intentions to me pardner ; an' he 

 says he thinks we can do it. So while he was carryin' Her 

 Majesty's mail I was to try an' grab the grub bag. 



"We got ready, an' dropped down them pines so fast that 

 we both hits groun' before the bear knows what's doin'. Then 

 I leaves that tree like as if all the animals in the woods was after 

 me. I got on so much speed that by the time I grabs the grub 

 bag I was goin' so fast that I couldn't turn roun' without 

 slackin' down. That's where I loses a terrible amount o' time, 

 an' I was beginnin' to think it was all up with me. By the time 

 I got headed roun' agen for the tree, I sees that the bear is 

 comin' down with his back to me. When he hits groun' he sees 



