e was
in such a hurry to hug Dot, and kiss her, and exclaim, "Dear! dear!
dear! My pet! Bears! Oh, Dot, bears! Berries! My precious!"

"The bear dot the berries, mamma."

"Berries indeed! Who cares for berries!"

Joe Mix asked, the moment Bob came near enough, "Any slugs for me?"

And Bob held out to him a handful of buckshot and rifle-bullets.

Joe had been drawing the old charge out of his gun, and loading it again
with more powder, and now he poured in half a dozen big buckshot and
three bullets.

"They'll do for slugs. Got yer rifle, Mr. Calliper?"

"No, Bob's brought that. I've got my double-barrelled deer gun, and I've
stuck an awful charge into it."

"That'll do."

"Mary Jane," said her husband to Mrs. Calliper, "you and the children go
on down the hill. Pen, you and Johnny see if you can't haul out that old
stone-boat. It lies up this way, close to the foot of the mountain.
We'll need it to get the bear home."

"Oh, mamma," exclaimed Dot, "is the bear comin' to our house?"

She knew very well that if he did, he would eat up all the berries that
were spread out on the roof to dry, but her father and Joe Mix and Bob
hurried away in the direction of the big chestnut.

Mrs. Calliper would not let any of the children go, but she put down Dot
to carry the baby.

Pen and Johnny were a little sulky at not being allowed to help hunt the
bear, but they were glad to have something to do, and went on after the
stone-boat.

That was a kind of flat sled, made of a thick piece of plank, and used
to haul stones on, and they found it just where Mr. Calliper said.

He and Joe and Bob went on up the mountain-side more and more carefully,
but they had not far to go, and pretty soon Bob whispered, "There he is;
he hasn't gone."

"Got a pail on each side of him, and another in his lap," said his
father.

"Now," said Joe, "we've got him. We must all shoot together. Keep yer
second barrel a moment, Mr. Calliper. Then give it to him."

Joe was an old hunter, and he wasn't good for anything else; but he knew
all about bears.

Mrs. Calliper and the children heard the guns go off pretty quickly
after that--bang! bang! bang! and then another bang.

"Oh dear! I hope they won't either of them get hurt!"

There was no danger of that, for the distance had been short, and ever
so many slugs and buckshot had struck Dot's bear almost at the same
time. He dropped the pail and rolled over on the ground, and he could
not h