n less than
a moment the boys saw him lumbering along above them. He evidently had
possession of a trail, more or less level.

"Dios de mi alma!" cried Adan. "If he gets ahead of us he will come
down and meet us somewhere. We shall be lost--eaten even as a cat eats
a mouse, a coyote a chicken."

"You will look well lining the dark corridors of the bear, my friend.
Your yellow jacket with those large red roses, which would make a bull
sweat, would hang like tapestry in the houses of Spain. Those hide
boots, spotted with mud, and the blood of the calf, would keep him from
wanting another meal for many a long day--"

"Ay, thou fearless one! Why, it is said that if the grizzly even raises
his paw and slaps the face every feature is crushed out of shape."

"I should not be surprised."

They plunged on, tearing their clothes on the spiked brush and the
thorns of the sweetbrier, fragrant lilac petals falling in a shower
about them, great ferns trodden and rebounding. The air was heavy with
perfume and the pungent odour of redwood and pine.

Roldan had passed Adan. Suddenly his horse stumbled and would have gone
headlong had not his expert rider pulled him back on his haunches.

"What is it? What is it?" cried Adan, who also had been obliged to pull
in abruptly, and who liked horses less when they stood on their hind
legs. "Is it the bear upon us? But, no, I hear him--above and beyond.
What are you doing, my friend?"

Roldan had dismounted and was on his hands and knees. In a half moment
he stood erect.

"We are saved," he said.

"Ay? What?"

"It is a hole, my friend--large and deep and round. Did you put any
meat in your saddle-bags?"

"Ay, a good piece."

"Raw?"

"Yes."

"Give it to me--quick. Do not unwrap it."

Adan handed over the meat, then dismounted also.

"A bear-trap?" he asked.

"Yes, a natural one. Come this way, before I unwrap the meat."

The boys forced their way to the south of the large hole, dragging the
still terrified horses, who were not disposed to respond to anything
less persuasive than the spur. Roldan approached the edge of the
excavation and shook the meat loose, flinging the paper after it. As
the smell of fresh beef pervaded the air it was greeted by a growl like
rising thunder, and almost simultaneously the huge unwieldy form of the
bear hurled itself down through the brush. The boys held their breath.
Even Roldan felt a singing in his ears. But the grizzly, without
pausi