ock an' throws a chunk
over to Old-pot-head's son, an' without even sayin' grace, we starts
in. Every little while I'd toss another chunk of bread over to me
pardner an' just out o' sheer spite I'd chuck it so that it would go
sailin' thro' the air right in front o' the bear's snout. That makes
him mad. So he tried to catch the stuff as it flies by; but I just
puts on a little more curve, an' that makes him madder still, an' he
ups an' comes for me.

"Then we all knocks off breakfast an' goes for another canter. But it
don't do no good, 'ceptin' that we all gets puffed out agen. After a
bit, the bear stops to ketch his breath, an' then me an' me pardner
goes on with our breakfast.

"With the bear exercisin' us the way he did, we had to take our
breakfast in a good many courses. That makes it so long drawn out that
we gets mighty thirsty. The Injun asks me if the cups is in the grub
bag. I puts me han' in an' feels, but they ain't there. Then I
remembers that we left them down by the fire. We didn't either of us
care to risk snakin' a cup, so I tells me pardner that the next time we
goes roun' we'd best try an' grab a handful o' water. We didn't have
long to wait, for the bear soon gets another move on; an' then away we
all goes sailin' roun' agen. Every time me an' the Injun canters past
the pool, we just makes a sudden dip an' grabs up a handful o' water
an' throws it in.

"It took so much exercise to get so little water that I thought I'd die
of thirst while I was tryin' to drink me fill. When the bear caught on
to what we was doin', it just made him madder an' madder; an' he lights
out after us at such a breathless clip that we had to fairly gallop up
them pines, an' slide down the birch faster than ever. It wasn't long
before nearly every button was wore off, an' our clothes was so ripped
up an' torn down that I'd blush every time I'd ketch the bear lookin'
at me. An' every time we ran 'long the groun' from one tree to
another, me an' me pardner had to use both hands on our garments in
order to keep up our--er--respectability. However, the bear didn't
have the laff on us altogether, for he had gone up an' down them trees
so often an' so fast that he had worn all the hair off his stomach.

"After a while we all gets tuckered out agen; an' while we rests in the
trees me an' me pardner talks about the weather, lettin' on that there
ain't no bear anywheres nigh. So the time passed. As we didn't
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