“A gun! a gun! give me a loaded gun!” 445 
pareiitly a reviving strength that defied further pursuit, 
lie now seemed to pass up the hill with an easy and 
sliding gait, while we were falling over hidden logs, or 
sinking knee-deep into the light, leafy soil of decaying 
vegetation at every step. Even at tliat thrilling moment, 
I found time to wonder how it was that he could outstrip 
us with his heart’s blood spouting from two gaping 
wounds at every leap, and his wounded head also bleed- 
ing with deadly freedom, 
Lawton gazed after him with clenched and uplifted 
hand, and a look of wild disappointment gleaming from 
his unsettled eye. lie was evidently now conscious of 
the madness of his former pursuit, and contented himself 
with devoting the remainder of his sti’ength to calling 
vehemently for a loaded gun. 
“A gun ! a gun ! Give me a loaded gun ! Why don’t 
some of you shoot? The bear will get away! Follow 
him, some of you! I can go no farther.” And he sank 
upon the shelving hill-side in the weakness of overtaxed 
muscles and lungs. 
“There’s no use following him any farther,” exclaimed 
the broken-winded master. “He’s got away from us, 
and it’s too dark in these bushes to bunt for him. You 
can’t see now ten feet around you ; and he might turn the 
tables by waylaying u$ behind some rock or clump of 
bushes. My ribs are not over and above strong. I’m 
going back.” lie spoke word after word with a rapid 
and broken utterance, as lie leaned liis rifio against a 
decayed log, wiped his dripping brow, and pufied and 
blew like a grampus in shoal water. 
“Yes; but he can’t go far,” gasped the exhausted 
