llon laughed at his little joke.

"Did a bear ever corner you?" asked Dave.

"Onct, just onct, and it was the wust experience I ever had with a wild
beast," replied the old miner. "I was out prospectin' when I got on a
narrow ledge o' rock. All to onct I discovered a grizzly on the tudder
end o' the ledge. We was both sitooated, as the sayin' is, so I
couldn't pass the bear an' he couldn't pass me. I had fired my gun an'
missed him. When I tried to pass by he riz up an' growled an' when he
tried to pass me I swung my gun a-tryin' to knock off his head. An' so
we had it fer about an hour, nip an' tuck, an' nobuddy doin' nuthin."

"But you escaped," said Roger. "How did you do it?"

"I didn't do it--your uncle, Maurice Harrison, done it. It was a favor I
owed him that I never got paid back," responded Tom Dillon, feelingly.
"The bear got mad and all to onct sprung at me. I swung the gun an' he
knocked it outer my hand. Then I heerd a report from another ledge above
us, and over rolled Mr. Bear, shot through the heart. An' Maurice
Harrison done it."

"Good for Uncle Maurice!" cried Roger.

"That shot came just in time," went on the old miner. "If it
hadn't--well, I wouldn't be here, lookin' for the Landslide Mine,"
concluded Tom Dillon.

"I don't know that I want a bear to corner me," said Phil, with a
shiver.

"No, we'll leave the bears alone, if they'll leave us alone," returned
Dave.

It was a little before nine o'clock when they came in sight of Black Cat
Camp, a typical mining community, perched on the side of one of the
foothills leading to the mountains. There was one main street,
stretched out for the best part of a quarter of a mile. All the
buildings were of wood and none of them over two stories in height.

"We'll go to Dick Logan's place," said Mr. Dillon. "That is where Abe
Blower used to keep his outfit."

The boys found Logan's place to consist of a general store, with a sort
of boarding-house and stables attached. Dick Logan was behind the
counter of the store, in his shirtsleeves. He greeted the old miner with
a smile, and shook hands cordially.

"Is Abe Blower around?" demanded Tom Dillon, without preliminaries of
any kind.

"He was around, Tom, yesterday," was Dick Logan's answer. "But he left
here about the middle of the afternoon."

CHAPTER XVII

ALONG THE MOUNTAIN TRAIL

The boys had expected some such answer as this, so they were not greatly
surprised. They were introduc