ever had any
idea that them two old cripples had so much speed left in 'em. An' you
can bet it kep' me unusually busy bringin' up the rear; an', anyway,
the feelin' that the bear was for ever snappin' at me coat-tails kep'
me from takin' things too easy.

"Well, we tore round an' round an' round that fire so dang many times
that we was not only rapidly losin' our wind but we was beginnin' to
get dizzy into the bargain. All the time we could hear the great beast
thunderin' after us, yet we daren't slacken our pace; no, sir, not even
enough to take a single glance behind just to see which was gainin'.
It was a sure case of life or death, but principally death; an' you can
depend on it we wasn't takin' any chances.

"Me an' the Captin was crowdin' so close upon the Archdeacon's heels
that in his terror lest we should pass him by he ups an' sets the pace
at such a tremendous speed that the whole three of us actually catches
up to the bear . . . without the brute's knowin' it. If it hadn't been
for the Archdeacon steppin' on the sole of the bear's upturned left
hind foot as the hungry beast was gallopin' round the fire . . . we'd
have been runnin' a good deal longer.

"Well, sir, if you had just seen how foolish that bear looked when he
discovered that we was chasin' him instead of him chasin' us, you'd
have died laughin'. Why, he was the most bewildered an' crest-fallen
animal I ever did see. But he soon regained his wits an'--evidently
calculatin' that his only salvation layed in his overhaulin' us--lit
out at a saprisin' gait in a grand effort to leave us far enough behind
for him to catch up to us. But it didn't work; for by that time we had
all got our second wind an' he soon realized that we was determined not
to be overhauled from the rear. So he set to ponderin' what was really
the best thing for him to do; an' then he did it.

"You must understand that we was so close upon his heels that there
wasn't room for him to stop an' turn around without us all fallin' on
top of him. So what do you think the cunnin' brute did? Why, he just
hauled off an' kicked out behind with his right hind foot, an' hit the
Archdeacon a smashin' blow square on his stomach, an' knocked him bang
against the Captin an' the Captin against me, an' me against the dogs;
an' we all went down in a heap beside the fire.

"Well, sir, that old brute had put so much glad an' earnest energy into
its kick that it knocked the wind plum out of