cayuse made a sudden bolt upon sighting the bear, and threw
him over his head onto the rocks.

The lad was already sitting up, and rubbing his knee in a dazed way, as
if not fully understanding what had happened. The pony rushed wildly
away, heading up the wide gully, as though with a full knowledge of
where it was going. And the poor little burro would doubtless have
been only too glad of a chance to follow, if only it could break loose
from the detaining rope.

Meantime the ugly monster, that had been the cause of all this
commotion, was shuffling closer with each passing second, eager to
strike down the burro with one savage blow from his mighty paw with its
long claws, after which he could proceed to help himself to what those
various packages contained.

All this Frank Haywood saw in that one glance he shot toward the scene
of action. The boy was apparently directly in the path of the hungry
bear. And when his pony had fled in such a panic he must have also
carried off the rifle, if the boy possessed so valuable a weapon.

Thus the little fellow was at the mercy of the most feared wild beast
to be found in all the territory between the Atlantic and the Pacific.

A wild inclination to hurl himself between that brute and his
prospective victim surged over Frank. With but a knife, or even a
revolver to back him up, such a rash act would have been little short
of madness. Fortunately it was not needed.

"Let me try for him, Frank!" said a trembling voice at his side.

And then, all at once, Frank Haywood discovered his chum was crouching
close by, and that he was clutching a rifle in his shaking hands. How
he had managed to get hold of the weapon Frank could not even guess,
because his own was a dozen feet away just then.

Now Bob Archer had certainly never before set eyes on a ferocious bear
outside of the circus or museum. And doubtless that brownish-colored
beast looked as big as a house to him, for he was very much excited.
But he had true Kentucky pluck, and even that circumstance did not make
him quail. If the monster had seemed to equal two houses, still would
Bob have tried to do his duty. And just then it was to save that poor
little Mexican boy.

The grizzly had advanced so rapidly that he was already almost upon the
crouching boy, who stared at him as if in dire dismay, as well he
might. It was not too late, even then, for the boy to have escaped,
could he have understood the real situa