allen brothers stretched their slow length
into obscurity. The sound of breathing again became audible; the shape
reappeared in the aisle, and recommenced its mystic dance. Presently
it was lost in the shadow of the largest tree, and to the sound of
breathing succeeded a grating and scratching of bark. Suddenly, as if
riven by lightning, a flash broke from the center of the tree-trunk,
lit up the woods, and a sharp report rang through it. After a pause
the jingling of spurs and the dancing of torches were revived from the
distance.

"Hallo?"

No answer.

"Who fired that shot?"

But there was no reply. A slight veil of smoke passed away to the right,
there was the spice of gunpowder in the air, but nothing more.

The torches came forward again, but this time it could be seen they were
held in the hands of two men and a woman. The woman's hands were tied
at the wrist to the horse-hair reins of her mule, while a riata, passed
around her waist and under the mule's girth, was held by one of the men,
who were both armed with rifles and revolvers. Their frightened horses
curveted, and it was with difficulty they could be made to advance.

"Ho! stranger, what are you shooting at?"

The woman laughed and shrugged her shoulders. "Look yonder at the roots
of the tree. You're a d--d smart man for a sheriff, ain't you?"

The man uttered an exclamation and spurred his horse forward, but the
animal reared in terror. He then sprang to the ground and approached the
tree. The shape lay there, a scarcely distinguishable bulk.

"A grizzly, by the living Jingo! Shot through the heart."

It was true. The strange shape lit up by the flaring torches seemed more
vague, unearthly, and awkward in its dying throes, yet the small shut
eyes, the feeble nose, the ponderous shoulders, and half-human foot
armed with powerful claws were unmistakable. The men turned by a common
impulse and peered into the remote recesses of the wood again.

"Hi, Mister! come and pick up your game. Hallo there!"

The challenge fell unheeded on the empty woods.

"And yet," said he whom the woman had called the sheriff, "he can't be
far off. It was a close shot, and the bear hez dropped in his tracks.
Why, wot's this sticking in his claws?"

The two men bent over the animal. "Why, it's sugar, brown sugar--look!"
There was no mistake. The huge beast's fore paws and muzzle were
streaked with the unromantic household provision, and heightened the
absurd contra