ection, shook himself thoroughly, and
resigned affairs to Fate.

Jim, stimulated by the remarks of the passengers and their eager
interest in his doings, marched up to Thumper, struck a sparring
attitude, and shuffled around, making sundry little passes and jabs
which the bear ignored.

"Punch him!" cried a voice in the crowd. Jim lunged; the bear ducked,
lazily, but effectually, and the crowd laughed. Jim drove right and
left at his antagonist; the bear parried, ducked, and got away, until
the crowd shrieked with merriment and the Irishman was furious. He
lived to punch that bear, and, at length, he succeeded--square on the
end of Thumper's snout. The bear sneezed, dropped his head, and stared
fixedly at Jim.

"Run!" I yelled--alack! too late. Up rose Thumper to a paralysing
height, higher still went his trusty paw, and down it came, with a
swinging, sidewise blow on the Irishman's neck.

I will maintain, by oath, affirmation, or combat, that Mr. Jim made six
complete revolutions, like a button on a barn door, before he struck
mother earth with the dullest of thuds.

Ten to one that the town was out one Irishman would have seemed a good
business proposition, and, to clinch the assurance, the bear began to
walk on Jim. While the bear kneaded him like a batch of dough, some of
us woke and rushed to the scene of action.

I do not remember clearly how we got out of it. Some pulled at the
bear's chain, and some grabbed Jim by whatever offered a hold. At
length James was rescued, alive and weeping, though three-quarters of
the new suit, including the most useful portion of the nether garments,
remained in Bruin's paws as the spoils of victory. The crowd on the
platform was charmed. This was precisely the thing it had travelled
miles to see.

Poor Jim! He was a spectacle. Tears, scratches, and dust robbed his
face of all humanity; the scant remnants of the Sunday suit fluttered
in the breeze; his shaking knees barely supported him. We gave him a
stimulant, a blanket, and some good advice. Mr. D----, for once in his
life on the right side of the question, was especially forward in
furnishing the last necessity. So passed Jim from the field of his
glories, and, barring some scratches, bruises, and a stiff neck (not to
mention the Sunday suit, as that loss really fell upon Solomon), he was
as well as ever inside of a few days. The only lasting result of the
encounter for him was that, when the small boy