Balser soon was convinced in his mind that his time
had come to die.

He hoped that when his father should go home to dinner and find him
still absent, he would come up the river in search of him, and frighten
away the bear. Hardly had this hope sprung up in his mind, when it
seemed that the same thought had also occurred to the bear, for he began
to move down toward the shore end of the log upon which Balser was
standing.

Slowly came the bear until he reached the end of the log, which for a
moment he examined suspiciously, and then, to Balser's great alarm,
cautiously stepped out upon it and began to walk toward him.

Balser thought of the folks at home, and, above all, of his baby sister;
and when he felt that he should never see them again, and that they
would in all probability never know of his fate, he began to grow
heavy-hearted and was almost paralyzed with fear.

On came the bear, putting one great paw in front of the other, and
watching Balser intently with his little black eyes. His tongue hung
out, and his great red mouth was open to its widest, showing the sharp,
long, glittering teeth that would soon be feasting on a first-class boy
dinner.

When the bear got within a few feet of Balser--so close he could almost
feel the animal's hot breath as it slowly approached--the boy grew
desperate with fear, and struck at the bear with the only weapon he
had--his string of fish.

Now, bears love fish and blackberries above all other food; so when
Balser's string of fish struck the bear in the mouth, he grabbed at
them, and in doing so lost his foothold on the slippery log and fell
into the water with a great splash and plunge.

This was Balser's chance for life, so he flung the fish to the bear, and
ran for the bank with a speed worthy of the cause.

When he reached the bank his self-confidence returned, and he remembered
all the things he had said he would do if he should meet a bear.

The bear had caught the fish, and again had climbed upon the log, where
he was deliberately devouring them.

This was Little Balser's chance for death--to the bear. Quickly
snatching up the gun, he rested it in the fork of a small tree near by,
took deliberate aim at the bear, which was not five yards away, and shot
him through the heart. The bear dropped into the water dead, and floated
downstream a little way, where he lodged at a ripple a short distance
below.

Balser, after he had killed the bear, became more frig