ound the rock not more'n a foot away.

"You'll understand how my nerves was on the jumps, when I tell you,
boys, that I was scared an' startled all over again, like the first
time I'd seen it. With a yell, I fetched a swipe at it with my boot;
but it was gone, like a shadow, before I hit it; an' the boot flew out
o' my hand an' went over the cliff, an' me pretty nigh after it. I
jest caught myself, an' hung on, kind o' shaky, fer a minute. Next
thing, I heard a great scratchin' at the other side o' the rock, as if
the brute was tryin' to git a better toehold an' work some new dodge
on me. Then the face appeared agin, an' maybe, though perhaps that was
jest my excited imagination, it was some two or three inches closer
this time.

"I lit out at it with my fist, not havin' my other boot handy. But
Lord, a bear kin dodge the sharpest boxer. That face jest wasn't
there, before I could hit it. Then, five seconds more, an' it was back
agin starin' at me. I wouldn't give it the satisfaction o' tryin' to
swipe it agin, so I jest kept still, pretendin' to ignore it; an' in a
minute or two it disappeared. But then, a minute or two more an' it
was back agin. An' so it went on, disappearin', comin' back, goin'
away, comin' back, an' always jest when I _wasn't_ expectin' it, an'
always sudden an' quick as a shadow, till _that_ kind o' got on to my
nerves too, an' I wished he'd stay one way or t'other, so as I could
know what I was up against. At last, settlin' down as small as I
could, I made up my mind I jest wouldn't look that way at all, face or
no face, but give all my attention to watchin' for the rattler, an'
yellin' fer the boys. Judgin' by the sun,--which went mighty slow that
day,--I kept that game up for an hour or more; an' then, as the
rattler didn't come any more than the boys, I got tired of it, an'
looked 'round for the bear's face. Well, that time it wasn't there.
But in place of it was a big brown paw, reachin' round the edge of the
rock all by itself, an' clawin' quietly within about a foot o' my ear.
That was all the farthest it would reach, however, so I tried jest to
keep my mind off it. In a minute or two it disappeared; an' then back
come the face.

"I didn't like it. I preferred the paw. But then, it kept the
situation from gittin' monotonous.

"I suppose it was about this time the bear remembered somethin' that
wanted seein' to down the valley. The face disappeared once more, and
this time it didn't com