Frank in the Woods

ters with

rn tell on. Here, in the woods, it's jest the same as it is in a city; let a boy have his own way, an' he'll

he could; but I had to run the risk

igh the head-waters o' the Colorado River. I war about seventeen year ole, an' a purty good boy I war for my age, too. It tuk a smart, lively young Injun to take my measure on the ground, an' I used to think that what I didn't know

ps; but I didn't keer, for I war used to bein' alone in the woods. Arter feelin' in all my pockets, I found a long strip o' buckskin, an' I thought I would tie the little feller to a saplin' that stood close by the cabin; so I sot down on the ground an' war tyin' the string fast to his neck-he hollerin' an' fightin' all the while-when, all to onct, I heerd a loud growlin' and crashin' in the bushes behind me. I looked up, an' seed the ole bar a comin'. She had heered her baby squallin', an' was comin' arter him. I jumped up an' let the young bar fall, as though he had been a live coal. My gun war standin' agin a tree, close by, but I knowed I wouldn't have time to reach it, so I turned an' begun to go up the saplin'. You better believe I climbed some, an' I thought I war gettin' along mighty fast; but I warn't a minit too quick. I hadn't hardly got out of reach

ut, no; I tuk it into my head all to onct that I must have them young painters. I wanted one of 'em to play with; an' without stoppin' to think, I begun to crawl down into the cave, an' along a narrer, crooked passage that must a been twenty yards long. One little feller kept up his cryin', an' it kept growin' louder an' louder, an' I knowed that he warn't a great way off. At last I come to a place where the cave seemed to widen into quite a large room, an' after a few minits' lookin'-or, I should say, feelin'-for the cave war as dark as a nigger's pocket-I found the young painters-three of 'em-in a nice bed of leaves made up in one corner. I didn't mind the hollerin' they made when I tuk hold of 'em, but chucked 'em all into my cap, an' started back. I had tuk good keer to 'member my bearin's, an' I knowed I should have no trouble in findin' my way out; so I crawled along keerless like, as usual, chucklin' over my good luck, an' thinkin' what nice pets I would make of the young painters, when all to onct I come within sight of the mouth o' the cave. Bars and buffaler! I would have give all the beaver-skins I ever expected to be wuth, if I had been safe out o' that cave. The ole painter was comin' in. She had smelt my tracks, an' I could see by the light that come in, in little streaks on each side

hirt, he drew forth a clasp-knife and a plug of tobacco, and after cutting off a

s, an' when he got one of his gloomy fits on him, there would be days when-although we ate at the same fire, an' p'rhaps slept under the same blanket-he wouldn't speak to me. I knowed something war troublin' him, an' it war a sorry sight for me to see that strong man weepin' like a child; but I trapped with him for better nor five years afore he told me his story. There would be weeks at a time when he would seem to forget his troubles, an' then it done me good to lay beside our camp-fire an' listen to his stories. He war a'most as big agin as I am, an' strong as a hoss. He could pull up a saplin' that two common men couldn't

we war trappin' on the Missouri River, right among the mountains. One mornin', arter a good break

last night. Let's go an' hunt up the varmint. I would

ses, which we had picketed close by the cab

they have to handle themselves round purty lively, for if the bar onct gets his claws on a hoss he has to go under. You couldn't hire a red-skin to go into the mountains alone an' hunt up a grizzly. The varmint allers lives in the thickest part of the woods; an' if you don't pl

the gully. It war 'bout a hundred feet deep an' a quarter of a mile broad, an' the banks on both sides war as steep as the roof o' this cabin, an' covered with bushes so thick that a hos

lace, ai

ot, where there warn't no bushes, an' the timber didn't grow very thick. 'If the bar gets arter us,'

r higher than our hosses' heads, an' it war hard work to get through it. We had sent out the dogs-we had two of the best bar dogs I ever happened to see-when we first started down, and jest as we reached the bottom of the gully, they give notice

though he war sot on a pivot. Ole Bill drew his rifle up to his shoulder, an' sent an ounce-ball into the bar's hide, which brought him to the ground; but he war on his pins agin in less than no time, an', leaving the dogs, he took arter ole Bill, who made straight acrost the gully toward the clar spot he had spoken of. The dogs follered close at the bar's heels, onct in awhile makin' a grab at his back settlements, which seemed to bother him a good deal; but he didn't stop to fight 'em, cause he thought the ole trapper war bigger game. The bushes an' trees war so

hoss' sides war a thing to look at. He tried to load up his rifle, but the bushes war

laurel brake. The bushes war thicker than ever, an' as tough as green hickory, an' Bill's hoss couldn't hardly make no headway at all. But

out his own way. He didn't look the least bit skeery, but I knowed he war kalkerlatin' how many clips he could get at the bar afore the varmint could grab him. The dogs war bitin' at the bar's legs all the whil

d ole Bill. 'Shoot close! My

xpectin' to bring him, sure. But a bush atween me an' him glanced the ball, so that I only made an ugly wound

half his tail. The animal was doin' his best, but I see that it warn't healthy to stay on his back, an', as we passed under a tree, I grabbed hold of a limb jest above my head, an' swung myself clar off t

addle. But the bar had done the work for him, an' no amount of grievin' could fetch me another; so I choked down my feelin's, an' begun to help ole Bill to take off the grizzly's hide. But there war plenty