The moon was not
due to rise until about midnight, and Davis pulled off his boots,
rolled up in his blanket and went to sleep. The preacher was not
sleepy, and was not entirely confident that it was bear nature to wait
for moonlight before starting out on the prowl. So he made a small
fire and sat beside it, toasting his toes and thinking of things.

Just before midnight Davis awoke, looked at his watch, and said: "Well,
parson, it is about time for the moon to show up, and the bear is
likely to come pretty soon. You'd better put out your fire."

The preacher shoved some dirt over the embers with his foot, and Davis
had just returned his watch to his pocket, when the sound of the
crunching of gravel was heard from the bank just above the carcass.
Davis looked up and could just make out a huge dark form on the edge of
the bank. He raised his carbine and fired point blank at the dark
mass, and the report was answered by an angry growl. The bear leaped
down the bank toward the hunters, and Davis sprang to his feet,
dropping the carbine, and jumped into the creek, revolver in hand, to
get into clear fighting ground. In doing so, he had to jump toward the
bear, but he preferred close quarters in the creek bed, where the water
was knee deep, to a scrimmage in the brush.

The preacher ran for his carbine, which was leaning against a tree
twenty feet distant, but he had no opportunity to use it, for the bear
made but one more plunge and fell into the water with the death gurgle
in his throat. When Davis was certain that the bear was done for, he
and the preacher ventured to examine the beast. They found that Davis
had made one of the luckiest shots on record, having sent a carbine
bullet through the heart of the big cinnamon bear, although he had
taken no aim, and, when he fired, could not distinguish the bear's head
from his tail.

They pulled the dead bear out of the water, and by the light of the
moon, which had risen over the mountain, the preacher curiously
examined the teeth and formidable claws of the first wild bear he had
ever seen. He felt of the animal's enormous, muscular legs, and was
profoundly impressed with the great strength of the brute.

"Well," said Davis, after he had inspected the body sufficiently, "we
might as well turn in and sleep the rest of the night. The trail back
to camp is too rough to follow in the night." And so saying he rolled
up in his blankets.

"Sleep!" said the preacher;