of the automatic on his
head.

The next few moments were something of a blank in the mind of the boy.
He heard Will calling to him, he knew that he had been struck by the
bear, knew that his chum's bullets were still flying across the river,
and knew that things were turning black around him.

Then he felt a dash of cold water in his face, and looked up to see Will
standing over him, pouring water out of his hat.

"What did I do to the bear?" he asked faintly.

"Wait till you get to a mirror and see what the bear did to you!"
replied Will. "What you got was a plenty!"

"Why didn't I jump in and swim across?" asked Sandy feebly.

"Because you're the most obstinate little customer that ever drew the
breath of life," answered Will. "You took a chance on being eaten alive
by a bear rather than get your feet wet!"

"Did I get my feet wet?" asked Sandy.

"No, but I did!" answered Will. "I had to swim across. The bear handed
you one between the eyes and then dropped dead. I was afraid you'd lie
here all night if I didn't do something, so I swam over."

"So you're the one that got wet?" grinned Sandy.

"Yes, I'm the one that got wet, but you're the one that got beat up!"
replied Will. "Do you think you can walk home now?"

"Sandy straightened out one arm at a time, then one leg at a time, then
arose to a sitting position.

"I don't know why not!" he replied.

"Get up and see if you can walk!" advised Will.

"'Course I can walk!" replied Sandy. "I just went down for the count!"

He scrambled slowly to his feet and turned about to gaze at his late
antagonist. The bear was lying stone dead close to the stream.

"He's a big one, isn't he?" he asked.

"He certainly is," was the reply. "If he'd got a good swipe at you
before he became weak from loss of blood, you'd be in the 'Good-night'
land all right now!" the boy added, with a grin.

"Well, I'm glad he didn't, then!" answered Sandy.

"Do you think we can carry the rug home?" asked Will.

"Perhaps you can," replied Sandy. "I don't feel as if I could carry an
extra ounce. I guess Bruin did pass me a stiff jolt!"

"You bet he did!" replied Will. "Anyway," he added, "we'll have to leave
the rug until some other time, because we've got quite a lot of fish to
carry. If any one steals the hide, we'll have to stand it."

"We might skin the bear and put the hide up in a tree," suggested Sandy.
"We'll have to tan the pelt in the sunshine, anyway!"

"That's a good