The Grit-advocate., 1900-11-30
tilda. till he proves himself to be
man Did We ever kill bear?"

He roared out this concludin' ques-
ton at me in tones that fairly made me
jump. felt fer minute almost as II
l had been shot or blown up with a
bomb or suthin' of that sort; but when
found it was only conundrum he
had fired at me. rallied an said:
We'll no, l can't say that I have
ever killed bear. but if that is one
of the requirements before l kin git
hooked up in double harness with Ma
tilda, all we've got to do is to bring on
yer bear an III massacre him fer ye
in hurry"
Il don't doubt in the least that ye
would" seq old higgins, sneeringly.
'pervided some one would ketch the
bear an tie its legs together an bring
1t to ye so all ye'd have to do is to
knock it on the head with a club an
kill it without any exertion to speak OF
or danger to yerself Anybody could
do that. But when We go out an meet
yer bear, face to face, in the woods,
same as l used to do when / was
young man. an down him in fair
fight an bring him into camp-well.
yell ind that's different. Now, don't
s'pose ye'd knuckle under fer wood
chuck or raccoon. mebbe, but it takes
q man to face bear
AN when I've bagged one l get
Matilda, do II" SEE l.
Yes, stree. young man; think I'm
purity tolerably safe in promisin' ye
that. But we've got to kill the bear in
fair rough-an' tumble fight-no
shootin at it from behind tree or
stump. When ye do that an deliver
the carcass at my house, in good order
an condition, as the bills Of ladin
say, I'll own up that yer man. an be
ready to talk bizness to ye."
"All right; it's bargain" SEE I. IS
clipper as we please But didn't feel
half as clipper as l talked. In fact,
felt darned blue over the prospect
ahead of me, cause in the first place
l knew bears were sighted around them
diggin's only about once every five
years, an five years is long time to
wait fer a gal If We love her right
smart; an In the second place, even If
/ met up with bear, 1t wasn't dead
certainty exactly which would git
| chawed up.
Bears were little out of my line
anyway. But l knew it was mo bear.
no Matilda"-hank higgins would
| never compromise on anything less
than bear-an' l made up my mind
the first time l heard of bear bein'
seen anywhere in the neighborhood I'd
start out on the war-path an capture
the critter an bride along with it or
perish nobly in the attempt
Well, time is no respecter of per-
sons an don't seem to give a ding
whether Teller is enjoyin life or not,
an 1t kept rollin right along at the
usual gait Of twenty hours a day
an seven days week fer hull year
an half, an nary a bear, nor even
bear track, had seen or heard Of any
where around the hull township, an l
don't mind sayin' l was gittin' Jest a
little mite discouraged.
Time kept moggin' along, as before
remarked, an one frosty March day
when the snow was packed down hard
and had crust on it that would hold
up man I tramped up into my wood
lot on the hill back of higgins place,
with ak on my shoulder, an begun
slashin' down trees an chopin 'em up
into cordwood. AS I worked away |
keep glancin' ever an anon down
to'ards the cottage where Matilda lived,
which was right in plain sight below
me. an wonderin' If Fate would ever
send bear along. At noon l sot down