X 
THE BEAR 
377 
shots that we had heard, and that he had followed 
the beast up in some extraordinary manner, and at 
length discovered it. 
We were about to give up all hope of his return, 
and knowing that he, as a smoker, was never without 
a supply of matches, we expected to see the glare of 
a distant fire, by which he would sit up throughout 
the night, when presently we heard the sound of 
whistling, and the clatter of a horse’s feet among the 
stones of the brook, within 150 yards of our position. 
In a couple of minutes Texas Bill appeared, 
leading the horse, which was covered with dry foam. 
In one hand he held a large bloody mass; this 
was the liver of a bear! 
“Well done. Bill!” we all exclaimed, except the 
sulky Jem Bourne, who only muttered, “A pretty 
state you’ve brought that horse to; why, I shouldn’t 
have known him.” 
The story was now told by the modest Bill, who 
did not imagine that he had done anything to excite 
admiration. This was his account of the hunt in 
the dark:—“Well, you see, when the two bears were 
going up the open slope, down which you and I 
came, after shooting the sage-hens, all I could do 
was to gallop after them, to keep them from getting 
into the forest; when of course they would have 
been gone for ever. One of them did make a rush, 
and passed across me before I could stop him, and 
I didn’t mind this, as I couldn’t have managed two. 
I got in front of the other, and cracked my whip at 
him, and at last I got him well in the open on the 
