at as though stunned by the
suddenness of the blow. His brawny arms were nerveless; the heart had
gone out of him, leaving him helpless as a little child. But presently
his strong manhood asserted itself, and a bright glitter came into his
keen, gray eyes.

"Mary," he said, almost roughly, "stop taking on so and listen to me.
I am going after our child and with God's help I will bring him back."
The realization of the hopelessness of it all nearly choked him, but he
had to say something to quiet the look of misery and terror in his
wife's eyes.

"I want you to stay right here until I come back. I am a strong man
and a good shot and no harm will come to me. No matter how long I am
gone, or how lonely you get, you are not to stir from the house. Do
you hear?"

The young mother looked at him in a dazed manner as though she but half
comprehended, but at last a look of understanding and eagerness came
into her eyes.

"I am going too," she said.

The man had foreseen and feared this and had tried to forestall it.

"No," he said, roughly, "you cannot go. Stay right in this room until
I return."

As he spoke he took down an old double-barreled gun, and drawing the
shot in one barrel, rammed home a Minie ball that just fitted the bore.
This was a rude makeshift for a rifle, but it was the best he could do.

Hastily slipping on his overcoat and cap, and tenderly kissing his
wife, he passed out into the darkness, on his hazardous and almost
hopeless mission. But before taking the trail, he went to the shed and
aroused an old hound who was sleeping upon a door-mat inside.

"Here, Hecla," he called. "Come along. You may be of some help to me
to-night."

Then tying a long piece of rope to the hound's collar, that she might
not follow too fast, he said, "Here, Hecla, good dog," indicating the
beast's track in the snow. "Sic, Si-c-c-c-c."

As the strong bear scent fumed into the old hound's nostrils, the hair
rose upon her neck and she stood uncertain.

"Si-c-c-c-c," repeated the man sternly.

Reluctantly the hound took the trail, the man following close behind.
Across the mowing and into the pasture, and straight for the deep
woods, the track led.

The man groaned as he thought of the hopelessness of his task;--to
follow a full-grown bear into the deep woods at night, and recover
safely from its clutches a little child.

This was his only hope, though, so setting his teeth, and remembering
the pale face