not knowin' what to do. I didn't feel inclined to go in.

"After a while I bethought me that the bar mout come out, an' I laid
myself squat down among the bushes facing the cave. I had my gun ready
to give him a mouthful of lead, as soon as he should show his snout
outside o' the hole.

"'Twar no go. I guess he had heard me when I first come up, and know'd
I war thar. I laid still until 'twar so dark I thought I would never
find my way back agin to the crik; but, after a good deal of scramblin'
and creepin' I got out at last, and took my way home.

"It warn't likely I war agoin' to give that bar up. I war bound to
fetch him out o' his boots if it cost me a week's hunting. So I
returned the next morning to the place, and lay all day in front o' the
cave. No bar appeared, an' I went back home a cussin'.

"Next day I come again, but this time I didn't intend to stay. I had
fetched my axe with me wi' the intention of riggin' up a log trap near
the mouth o' the cave. I had also fetched a jug o' molasses and some
yeers o' green corn to bait the trap, for I know'd the bar war fond o'
both.

"Well, I got upon the spot, an' makin' as leetle rumpus as possible, I
went to work to build my trap. I found some logs on the ground jest the
scantlin, and in less than an hour I hed the thing rigged an' the
trigger set. 'Twan't no small lift to get up the big log, but I managed
it wi' a lever I had made, though it took every pound o' strength in my
body. If it come down on the bar I knew it would hold him.

"Well, I had all ready except layin' the bait; so I crawled in, and was
fixin' the green yeers and the 'lasses, when, jest at that moment, what
shed I hear behind me but the `sniff' o' the bar!

"I turned suddently to see. I had jest got my eye on the critter
standin' right in the mouth o' his cave, when I feeled myself struck
upon the buttocks, and flattened down to the airth like a pancake!

"At the first stroke I thought somebody had hit me a heavy blow from
behind, and I wish it had been that. It war wusser than that. It war
the log had hit me, and war now lying with all its weight right acrosst
my two leg's. In my hurry to git round I had sprung the trigger, and
down comed the infernal log on my hams.

"At fust I wan't scared, but I war badly hurt. I thought it would be
all right as soon as I had crawled out, and I made an attempt to do so.
It was then that I become scared in airnest; for I found that I c