g
out his hunting knife, he hurriedly cut off a short thick branch and
trimmed it into a shape that would have made a most excellent shillelagh
for a native of the Green Isle.

He had hardly done so, when the heads of the bruins were thrust upward
almost against his feet. Carson grasped the club with both hands and
raising it above his shoulders brought it down with all his might upon
the nose of the foremost. The brute sniffed with pain, threw up his
head and drew back a few inches--just enough to place the other nose in
front. At that instant, a resounding whack landed on the rubber snout
and the second bear must have felt a twinge all through his body.

Though each blow caused the recipient to recoil, yet he instantly
returned, so that Carson was kept busy pounding the noses as if he was
an old fashioned farmer threshing wheat with a flail.

It was a question with Carson which would last the longer--the club or
the snouts, but in the hope of getting beyond their reach, he climbed to
the topmost bough, where he crouched into the smallest possible space.
It was idle, however, to hope they would overlook him, for they pushed
on up the tree which swayed with their weight.

The nose of the grizzly bear is one of the most sensitive portions of
his body, and the vigorous thumps which the hunter brought down upon
them, brought tears of pain to their eyes. But while they suffered, they
were roused to fury by the repeated rebuffs, and seemed all the more
set on crunching the flesh and bones of the insignificant creature who
defied them.

It must have been exasperating beyond imagination to the gigantic
beasts, who feared neither man nor animal to find themselves repeatedly
baffled by a miserable being whom they could rend to pieces with one
blow of their paws, provided they could approach nigh enough to reach
him.

They came up again and again; they would draw back so as to avoid those
stinging strokes, sniff, growl and push upward, more eager than ever to
clutch the poor fellow, who was compressing himself between the limb and
the trunk, and raining his blows with the persistency of a pugilist.

They were finally forced to desist for a few minutes in order to give
their snouts time to regain their tone. The bulky creatures looked at
each other and seemed to say, "That's a mighty queer customer up there;
he doesn't fight fairly, but we'll fetch him yet."

Once more and for the last time, they returned to the charge, b