ace have the heel of it as hard as I could. I hadn't any room
to swing, so I couldn't hit very hard. But a bear's nose is tender,
on the tip; an' it was jest there, of course, I took care to land.
There was a big snort, kind o' surprised like, an' the face
disappeared.

"I felt a sight better.

"Fer maybe five minutes nothin' else happened. I sat there figgerin'
how I was goin' to git out o' that hole; an' my figgerin' wasn't
anyways satisfactory. I knew the bear was a stayer, all right. There'd
be no such a thing as tryin' to crawl 'round that shoulder o' rock
till I was blame sure _he_ wasn't on t'other side; an' how I was goin'
to find _that_ out was more than I could git at. There was no such a
thing as climbin' _up_. There was no such a thing as climbin' _down_.
An' as fer that leetle ledge an' crevice leadin' off to the
right,--well, boys, when there's a rattler layin' low fer ye in a
crevice, ye're goin' to keep clear o' that crevice. It wanted a good
three hours of sundown, an' I knew my chaps wouldn't be missin' me
before night. When I didn't turn up for dinner, of course they'd begin
to suspicion somethin', because they knew I was takin' things rather
easy an' not followin' up any long trails. It looked like I was there
fer the night; an' I didn't like it, I tell you. There wasn't room to
lay down, and if I fell asleep settin' up, like as not I'd roll off
the ledge. There was nothing fer it but to set up a whoop an' a yell
every once in a while, in hopes that one or other of the boys _might_
be cruisin' 'round near enough to hear me. So I yelled some half a
dozen times, stoppin' between each yell to listen. Gittin' no answer,
at last I decided to save my throat a bit an try agin after a spell o'
restin' an' worryin'. Jest then I turned my head; an' I forgot, right
off, to worry about fallin' off the ledge. There, pokin' his ugly head
out o' the crevice, was the rattler. I chucked a bunch o' weeds at
him, an' he drew back in agin. But the thing that jarred me now was,
how would I keep him off when it got too dark fer me to see him. He'd
be slippin' home quiet like, thinkin' maybe I was gone, an' mad when
he found I wasn't, fer, ye see, _he_ hadn't no means of knowin' that I
couldn't go _up_ the rock jest as easy as I come down. I feared there
was goin' to be trouble after dark. An' while I was figgerin' on that
till the sweat come out on my forehead, I turned agin, an' there agin
was the bear's face starin' r