ars should not be choosers."

Quite out of breath, he clung to the rotten limb and proceeded to shout
at the dogs so as to keep them there until he could find a chance to
insert fresh charges in his gun, when he expected to take care of them.

"Hey, you with the collar, ain't you ashamed of yourself to take to such
a pirate life, when you once had a good home, I bet? Say, ain't he a
jim-dandy of a big bouncer, though, and as strong as an ox? I'd just hate
to fall into his maw. Now, hang around a few seconds more, and I've got a
nice surprise for you. If you ever knew what a gun is, I guess you've
forgotten by now."

In this strain he talked to them, and kept both dogs jumping up at him in
the endeavor to get a grip. Sometimes they brushed his dangling foot
with their jaws, and at that Jerry involuntarily drew up a little.

When he had inserted the shells, he tried to get a chance to cover the
big dog. That animal, though, apparently suspected his purpose, and kept
jumping about so wildly that it seemed impossible to aim at him. The
second brute had been wounded so seriously that it had crawled away, so
there were now but two left.

Finally, seeing a good chance to knock over the smaller one of the pair,
Jerry could not resist the temptation.

The animal may once have been a family pet, but a wild existence of some
months, perhaps years, had taken him back to the wild state from which
his ancestors had come ages ago. He was a mangy-looking, dirty white
brute, with eyes that seemed red to the boy in the tree.

At the report of the gun the animal fell over in a kicking heap, for the
distance was so very short that the charge of shot had gone with all the
destructive power of a "forty-four" bullet.

But something not down on the programme immediately followed. The rotten
limb upon which Jerry was hanging, unable to stand the strain of his
weight and movements, gave way with a crash.

He felt a thrill of horror as he found himself being precipitated
downward, knowing as he did that the largest and fiercest of the wild
pack was still there, unhurt save in the way of a few stray shot that had
flecked his tawny hide with tiny blood spots!

CHAPTER XV

IN A BEAR'S HOLLOW

Jerry landed with a crash that almost shook the breath from his body.

Realizing the need of haste in getting upon his feet, he scrambled erect.
He had maintained that frenzied clutch upon his gun, as if believing that
it was his best and