ng for a reply,
darted off in search of him.

CHAPTER XIV.

"I hope they won't git the critter: he ain't nothin' but a cussid
nuisance, no how," said Jerry, as Hal disappeared in the gloaming.

"It's so dark they won't be very likely to," was my reply.

"I 'spect the Irishman had a hand in startin' him," continued Jerry.
"He's owed the critter a grudge ever since he tarred his clo'es so, the
other night."

"How was that, Jerry?" inquired I.

"Why, yer see the boy had been a-proddin' the critter with a sharp stick;
and, arter he got through, he was a-standin' by the wagon, and the bar
made a jump and ketched him right by his trousers-leg. This kind er scart
the feller, and he made a leap, and left the biggest part of his breeches
in the critter's mouth. Ned laughed, and told him, that one bar(e) in
camp was enough, and he'd better go an' mend up--thar he is, now,"
pointing towards one of the wagons.

I called him, and he came towards me, looking decidedly guilty. I said to
him, "Patsey, how did the bear get away?"

"He runned away, sure, sur."

"Yes; but how did he get loose?"

"He aited the rope aff, I suppose, sure. I seed him goin', and thought
it'd be no harm to spake to the boys, sur."

"That was all right, Patsey; but you didn't turn him loose, did you?"

"I turn him loose, sur! Phat would I be doin' that fur?"

"Well, why didn't you go out and help find him?"

"I was afraid, sur;" examining the huge rent in his pantaloons.

"Afraid!" said I. "What under the sun was you afraid of? your bare legs?"

"Will, sur, I didn't know what the quinisquences might be if two bears
(bares) happened to mate in the woods."

Just here Jerry gave one of his peculiar chuckles; and, seeing that I got
but little information from the boy, I dismissed him with the remark,
that, when we got to Tucson, he should have a suit of clothes.

"That'll _suit_ me, your honor," was the reply, as he moved briskly
off.

The boys soon returned, after an unsuccessful search for the bear.

Hal was disposed to blame everybody but himself for the escape, while
Ned, with whom the bear had never been a great favorite, was inclined to
laugh at the matter, to Hal's great disgust.

His ill nature reached its culminating point, however, when Jerry
suggested, that, "if he lied fifteen dollars more to git rid of, he'd
better bury it than give it for a cussid, good-for-nothin' bar, that
warn't nothin' but a infernal nuisance to everybod