meant
business, I believe, and it's a lucky thing we stopped it when we
did."

Jesse put his rifle to the ground and stood trembling all over. "Well,
Uncle Dick," said he, "I don't know whether or not the bear was
scared, but I know _I_ am right now."

"It's just as well to be honest," said his uncle, putting a hand
kindly on his shoulder. "Any man has a right to be anxious in as close
a corner as this."

They heard the loud hallo of John now, a little way above them; and
presently Leo came slipping down toward them, smiling broadly.

"Kill 'um two bear!" said he. "Plenty good hunt, eh?" He looked at the
little heap of empty shells lying so close to the dead bear.

"Two grizzlum, both fight," said he. "Bad bear. Heap shoot 'um."

"And I'm mighty glad we're no worse off," said Uncle Dick, when in
turn they had passed from one of the great grizzlies to the other.
"And, speaking of luck, you boys certainly have had it in every way.
Leo, it looks to me as though you put us up almost too close on these
bears."

"No see 'um from trees," said Leo. "I like shoot 'um bear close up.
Heap shoot 'um. This boy he heap shoot 'um too."

"All is well that ends well," said their leader. "Now here we are
again, with two big bear-hides to get down out of these mountains. Are
you satisfied, boys--good and plenty satisfied?"

"I should say so," said Jesse, smiling; and they all laughed at him.

"I don't know that I ever knew of a better hunt," said Uncle Dick, at
last, looking approvingly at the two bears. They had rolled and pulled
the upper bear down to the lower, so that they now lay side by side.
"Three bears like this in two days is certainly considerable hunting.
These are big as Rob's bear. The robes are prime, too, and not rubbed
to amount to anything--one dark silver tip and one gray fellow. You
can't ever tell what color a grizzly is going to have or what he is
going to do."

They fell to work now, each party skinning out its own bear, a task
which kept them employed for some time.

"We'd better kill the next bears closer to the foot of the slide,"
said Jesse, laughing. "Then we won't have to carry the skins so far."

"A good idea," assented his uncle. "I'm telling you, a full-sized
grizzly-hide, green, is all a strong man can pack."

"We'll not try to carry them down to the main camp, will we?" inquired
Jesse.

"Indeed, no. We'll be lucky if we make it back to last night's camp
down the valley. There's a bare