to
stay aboard or take to the water again.

"Pull! pull for the shore!" urged Dumont, in a hoarse whisper, and Rube
bent to the oars with all his muscle, glancing nervously over his
shoulder at the silent passenger in the bow. The bear kept one eye
suspiciously on the men and the other on the distant shore, and gave
every indication of great perturbation of spirit. It was a hard pull
to get the heavily-laden boat out of the current, but Rube finally
accomplished it and rowed into safer water. He hoped that the bear
would slide overboard and abandon the boat, as it made him nervous to
have such a passenger behind him, and it was awkward rowing with his
head turned over his shoulder all the time. He suggested to Dumont
that they make a rush for the bear and pitch him out, but Dumont
declined and told him to pull ashore as fast as he could. Rube pulled,
and as soon as the boat's prow grated on the sand, the bear made a
hasty and awkward plunge over the side, scrambled up the bank with his
head cocked over his shoulder to see if there was any pursuit, and
galloped away into the woods in evident fear.

Rube Fields wiped the perspiration from his brow with his forearm and
fervently said, "Thank the Lord!"

Dumont gazed after the galloping bear and murmured, "Wellibedam!"

CHAPTER XX.

A PROVIDENTIAL PROSPECT HOLE.

One-eyed Zeke, who hunted for a living along Owen River, in Inyo
County, Cal., in the early seventies, claimed to have a method of
killing bears that might be effective if a man had nerve enough to work
it and a gun that never missed fire. He carried a revolver and a heavy
double-barrelled shotgun, but never a rifle, and when he saw a Grizzly
he said he opened on him with the six-shooter and plugged him often
enough to leave the bear in no doubt as to the source of the annoyance.
Standing in plain view with the heavily-loaded shotgun ready, he
awaited the charge, and at close quarters turned loose both barrels
into the bear's chest.

That sounds like a plausible scheme. The heavy charges of shot at
close range smash the Grizzly's interior works in a deplorable manner
and he dies right away. But only a few men have the nerve to face a
big ugly bear in full charge and reserve fire until he is within two
yards of the muzzle of the gun. One-eyed Zeke and a celebrated hunter
of the Bad Lands are the only men I have known who professed to have
acquired the habit of hunting the Grizzly in such a f