nap like a whip, and as it swayed over toward the barranca I threw my
feet out ahead and I let go. I shot through the air like a stone out
of a sling, and struck the ground nearly fifty yards from the tree. It
was that fifty yards that saved me, for by the time I had picked myself
up and started on a run the bear was coming hellitywhoop. I ran like a
scared wolf and I think my momentum would have carried me across the
barranca if the bank had been firm, but the earth caved under me as I
took off for the leap, and down I went into the gully under a mass of
loose earth. I reckon there was about a ton of dirt on top of me, and
I was in danger of being smothered under it. I couldn't move a limb
and I'd have passed in my chips right there and been reckoned among the
mysterious disappearances if it hadn't been for the bear. The piebald
Grizzly of the Piru saved my life."

"Did he dig you out?" asked Dad, grinning.

"That's what he did."

"And then he ate you up, I suppose?"

"No; I'm coming to that. The bear came tumbling down into the barranca
on top of the dirt and he began to dig right away. He was as good as a
steam paddy, and in a few moments I was able to get a breath of air. I
was wondering-which would be the worse, smothering or being chewed up
by a bear, when he raked the dirt off my head and I saw daylight. I
shut my eyes, thinking I would play dead as a last ruse, when I heard a
roar and a rush. There was a trembling of the ground, a dull, heavy
shock, and I felt something warm on my face. At the same moment I
heard a growl of rage and surprise from the bear and felt relieved of
his weight above me. A terrific racket followed. As soon as I could
free myself from the dirt, I crawled out cautiously and saw a strange
thing. A big black bull, the boss of the Mutaw ranch, had charged on
the Grizzly and knocked him over just in time to save me. One of his
horns had gored the bear's neck, and it was the warm blood that I felt
on my face. They were old enemies, each bore scars of wounds inflicted
by the other, and they were having a battle royal down there in the
barranca."

"Which licked?" inquired Dad, eagerly.

"I don't know. I'd had enough bear fight for one day, and I lit out
for camp and left them clawing and charging and tearing up the ground.
I didn't see any necessity for remaining as referee of that scrimmage.
You remember, father, that I came into camp covered with blood, and
that you th