heavy shot for the turkeys, the other with ball, right into the
monster's chest.

As he fired Bart leaped back, and it was well that he did so, for the
grizzly fell forward with a heavy thud, almost where he had been
standing, clawed at the rocks and stones for a few moments, and then lay
perfectly still--dead.

CHAPTER NINE.

FIRST SEARCHES FOR GOLD.

The three men uttered a loud cheer, and ran and leaped upon their fallen
enemy, but Bart ran back, loading his piece as he went, to where he had
left the Doctor with poor Joses.

Bart felt his heart beat heavily, and there was a strange, choking
feeling of pain at his throat as he thought of rough, surly-spoken
Joses, the man who had been his guide and companion in many a hunt and
search for the straying cattle; and now it seemed to him that he was to
lose one who he felt had been a friend.

"Is he--"

Bart panted out this much, and then stopped in amazement, for, as he
turned the corner of some rocks that lay between him and the tent,
instead of addressing the Doctor, he found himself face to face with
Joses, who, according to Bart's ideas, should have been lying upon the
stones, hideously clawed from shoulder to heel by the monster's terrible
hooks. On the contrary, the rough fellow was sitting up, with his back
close to a great block of stone, his rifle across his knees, and both
hands busy rolling up a little cigarette.

"Why, Joses," panted Bart, "I thought--"

"As I was killed? Well, I ain't," said Joses, roughly.

"But the bear--she struck you down--I saw her claw you."

"You see her strike me down," growled Joses; "but she didn't claw me, my
lad. She didn't hit out far enough, but she's tore every rag off my
back right into ribbons, and I'm waiting here till the Doctor brings me
something else and my blanket to wear."

"O Joses, I am glad," cried Bart, hoarsely; and his voice was full of
emotion as he spoke, while he caught the rough fellow's hands in his.

"Don't spoil a fellow's cigarette," growled Joses roughly, but his eyes
showed the pleasure he felt. "I say are you glad, though?"

"Glad?" cried Bart, "indeed, indeed I am."

"That's right, Master Bart. That's right. It would have been awkward
if I'd been killed."

"Oh, don't talk about it," cried Bart, shuddering.

"Why not, my lad? It would though. They'd have had no end of a job to
dig down in this stony ground. But you've killed the bear among you?"

"Yes; she's dead en