y
rope and fastened it to a stout bush.

"Thar, youngster, I reckon thet'll hold him! Now tie his paws an' muzzle
him."

He drew some buckskin thongs from his pocket and handed them to me. We
went up to the straining cub, and Hiram, with one pull of his powerful
hands, brought the hind legs together.

"Tie 'em," he said.

This done, with the aid of a heavy piece of wood he pressed the cub's
head down and wound a thong tightly round the sharp nose. Then he tied
the front legs.

"Thar! Now you loosen the ropes an' wind them up."

When I had done this he lifted the cub and swung him over his broad
back.

"Come on, you trail behind, an' keep your eye peeled to see he doesn't
work thet knot off his jaws.... Say, youngster, now you've got him, what
in thunder will you do with him?"

I looked at my torn trousers, at the blood on my skinned and burning
hands, and I felt of the bruise on my head, as I said, grimly: "I'll
hang to him as long as I can."

XIII. THE CABIN IN THE FOREST

Hiram Bent packed the cub down the canyon as he would have handled a
sack of oats. When we reached the cabin he fastened a heavy dog-collar
round Cubby's neck and snapped a chain to it. Doubling the halter, he
tied one end to the chain and the other to a sturdy branch of a tree.
This done, he slipped the thongs off the bear.

"Thar! He'll let you pet him in a few days mebbe," he said.

Our captive did not yet show any signs of becoming tame. No sooner was
he free of the buckskin thongs than he leaped away, only to be pulled up
by the halter. Then he rolled over and over, clawing at the chain, and
squirming to get his head out of the collar.

"He might choke hisself," said Hiram, "but mebbe he'll ease up if we
stay away from him. Now we've got to rustle to skin them two bears."

So, after giving me a hunting-knife, and telling me to fetch my rifle,
he set off up the canyon. As I trudged along behind him I spoke of
Dick Leslie, and asked if there were not some way to get him out of the
clutches of the lumber thieves.

"I've been thinkin' about thet," replied the hunter, "an' I reckon we
can. Tomorrow we'll cross the ridge high up back of thet spring-hole
canyon, an' sneak down. 'Pears to me them fellers will be trailin' you
pretty hard, an' mebbe they'll leave only one to guard Leslie. More'n
thet, the trail up here to my shack is known, an' I'm thinkin' we'd be
smart to go off an' camp somewhere else."

"What'll I do about