,
by way of initiating me; but it upset me, and I was dragged in the
pine-needles. I did not leap to my feet; I was jerked up. Then began a
wild chase down that steep, bushy slope. Cubby got going, and I could no
more have checked him than I could a steam-engine. Very soon I saw that
not only was the bear cub running away, but he was running away with me.
I slid down yellow places where the earth was exposed, I tore through
thickets, I dodged a thousand trees. In some grassy descents it was as
if I had seven-league boots. I must have broken all records for jumps.
All at once I stumbled just as Cubby made a spurt and flew forward,
alighting face downward. I dug up the pine--needles with my outstretched
hands, I scraped with my face and ploughed with my nose, I ate the dust;
and when I brought up with a jolt against a log a more furious boy than
Ken Ward it would be bard to imagine. Leaping up, I strove with
every ounce of might to hold in the bear. But though fury lent me new
strength, he kept the advantage.

Presently I saw the bottom of the canyon, an open glade, and an old
log-cabin. I looked back to see if the hunter was coming. He was not in
sight, but I fancied I heard him. Then Cubby, putting on extra steam,
took the remaining rods of the slope in another spurt. I had to race,
then fly, and at last lost my footing and plunged down into a thicket.

There farther progress stopped for both of us. Cubby had gone down on
one side of a sapling and I on the other, with the result that we were
brought up short. I crashed through some low bushes and bumped squarely
into the cub. Whether it was his frantic effort to escape, or just
excitement, or deliberate intention to beat me into a jelly I had no
means to tell. The fact was he began to dig at me and paw me and maul
me. Never had I been so angry. I began to fight back, to punch and kick
him.

Suddenly, with a crashing in the bushes, the cub was hauled away from
me, and then I saw Hiram at the rope.

"Wal, wal!" he ejaculated, "your own mother wouldn't own you now!" Then
he laughed heartily and chuckled to himself, and gave the cub a couple
of jerks that took the mischief out of him. I dragged myself after Hiram
into the glade. The cabin was large and very old, and part of the roof
was sunken in.

"We'll hang up here an' camp," said Hiram. "This is an old hunters'
cabin, an' kinder out of the way. We'll hitch this little fighter
inside, where mebbe he won't be so noi