eks ago, that he took
to be a wild-cat. He fired at it, but it got clear of him. He says it
looked a good deal like a cat, only it was larger, and had a little
short tail. I wish he 'd killed it. I should like to know what it
was. I never saw a wild-cat; did you?"

"No," replied Oscar.

"But that was n't equal to something a man came across in the woods the
other side of these hills, two or three years ago," continued Jerry.
"What do you suppose it was?"

"I don't know; was it a moose?" inquired Oscar.

"No," replied Jerry; "moose come down into this neighborhood, once in
awhile, but that was n't what I was going to tell you about. There is
a road through these woods, a little beyond the hills. It is n't
travelled much, except by the loggers in the fall and spring. A man
was riding along this road, one afternoon in summer, when he suddenly
came across a monstrous black bear. As soon as the bear saw him, he
squat down on his haunches, right in the middle of the road, and began
to show his teeth. The man didn't dare to drive by him, and his horse
was so frightened that it was as much as he could do to hold him in.
He had a loaded revolver with him, but he knew there was n't much hope
of killing the bear with that. So he turned his horse about, and
concluded to go back to the nearest house, and get a gun and somebody
to help him kill the bear. The bear sat still, watching him, as much
as to say, 'If you'll let me alone, I 'll let you alone;' but just as
the man was starting up, he thought he would try his pistol, and so he
blazed away at the bear. Two or three of the shot hit the bear in the
shoulder. They did n't hurt him much, only enough to rouse his dander;
but he sprang up as quick as lightning, and started after the team.
The man whipped up his horse, and the bear 'pulled foot' after him, and
did n't give up the race till he had run about a quarter of a mile.
The man said if he had been afoot, the bear would have beat him at
running, but he could n't keep up with the horse.

"Well, the man went back three or four miles, and got another man to go
with him in search of the bear. They armed themselves with guns and
hunting-knives; but when they drove back to where the man met the bear,
they could n't find anything of him. They traced his tracks into the
woods, but after awhile they lost them, and as it was getting late,
they gave up the hunt; and nobody hereabouts has seen that bear from
that day t