about," returned Kiddie. "It's a
problem that interests me a heap. He didn't go by the door, that's
plumb certain. He didn't turn himself into air and escape through the
cracks."

"Hold hard!" exclaimed Gideon. "I was forgettin'. The shed was strong
as a prison when you an' me built it. But it ain't just the same as
'fore you quitted fer Europe. Young Rube Carter got mussin' around,
usin' it as a kennel fer his bear cub. Amazin' fond of animals, that
boy is; same as you was yourself at his age, Kiddie. Say, you didn't
happen ter let out a bear cub, time you shoved Broken Feather inside,
did yer?"

"No," Kiddie chuckled. "There was no bear there, only the rancid stink
of one. Nearly knocked me down. Don't wonder at Broken Feather
wanting to quit."

"Then I guess Rube let th' beast out early this mornin', while we was
at the gulch."

Gideon led the way beyond the corner of the shed and pointed to a
well-concealed trap-door in the lower timbers.

"Thar y'are," he went on. "That's sure the way he got out. Clear as
print, ain't it?"

"Yes," Kiddie nodded, contemplating the moist ground, which the sun had
not yet reached. "There are his footprints, covering the boy's smaller
ones. Rube's footmarks were already crushed by the bear's pads, and he
didn't turn back to bolt the door as the Indian did. Quite a baby cub
it seems. But it will soon need a heavier chain than the one it has
now."

"Eh? How d'you know Rube led it out by a chain an' not a rope?"

Kiddie glanced downward.

"Bear trod on it and left an impression," he indicated, as he strode to
the trap-door. "The links are thin and small, hardly strong enough to
hold in a collie dog, let alone a growing young grizzly."

"Grizzly?" repeated Gideon. "But you've not seen th' critter. Might
be a brown bear, or a cinnamon."

"Never knew any but grizzlies to breed about here," explained Kiddie,
moving the loose door along its grooves. "And I presume Rube caught it
himself. Yes," he continued, "this is where the fellow got out. What
perplexes me, however, is why Rube thought it necessary to have a
second door at all."

"Padlock was too high for him to reach," returned Gideon, "an' Rube
didn't notion t' have truck with keyholes, winter nights, when he c'd
shove the cub's grub in by a trap he c'd slide open in the dark."

"Well, there's no great harm done, anyway," smiled Kiddie. "Your mare
and the corral ponies are safe; none of your me