all holds and fell heavily to the ground.

For a minute all was silent. Then the growling began again, and he
heard the scratching of claws upon the tree. In another moment the
dark bulk of the bear appeared again in front of him, and again he
drove the knife to the hilt into his body and felt the hot blood spurt
over his hand. Clawing, scratching and yelling, the bear slid back
down the tree and bumped heavily on the ground, but in a moment resumed
the attack and climbed the tree as quickly as if he were fresh and
unwounded.

The man up the tree was puzzled to account for such remarkable vitality
and perseverance, but he braced himself for the combat, and at the
proper moment chopped viciously at the bear's forearm and felt the
blade sink into the bone. This time he got in three good hard lunges
under the arm, and when the bear fell "ker-flop" he had no doubt that
the fight was ended.

But there never was another such bear as that one. It wasn't a minute
before the whole thing had to be done over again, and the man up the
tree varied the performance by reaching around and giving the bear a
whack in the neck that nearly cut his head off. This sort of thing was
repeated at intervals for two or three hours, but at last the attacks
ceased, and all was still at the foot of the tree. The man was weary,
and to tell the truth a little rattled. He did not deem it wise to
come off his perch and take any chance of trouble on the ground, so he
strapped himself to the branch with his belt and fell asleep.

It was gray dawn when he awoke. He rubbed his eyes and looked down at
the ground. Then he rubbed them again and pinched himself and glanced
around at the rocks and trees to make sure that he was not in a trance.
He said to himself, being a reader of the poets, "Can such things be,
or is visions about?"

It was no dream and the man up the canyon said it was no lie. Lying
about the foot of the sycamore were nine dead bears, weltering in their
gore.

Which explains why the Don and the Colonel and the rest of the
expedition of extermination returned forthwith to Los Angeles without
having seen a bear. There are no more bears. The man up the canyon
killed them all years ago.

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEARS I HAVE MET--AND OTHERS***

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