Part 4 (2/2)

He went crouching, keeping behind the densest cover Then, growing still an to advance on all fours

Now it chanced that Sam coxen's eyes were not the only ones which had found interest in the red buck's proceedings A large black bear, wandering just within the shelter of the forest, had spied the buck in the open, and being curious, after the fashi+on of his kind, had sat down in a thicket to watch the deht of hunting the big buck, knowing that he would be hard to catch and troublesonacious, meddlesome mood which is apt to seize an old ht of Saure, not two paces fro-place, his first i, portentous shadow into the silent deeps of the wood His next, due to the season, was to rush upon the man and smite him

Then he realized that he himself was not the object of the man's stealthy approach He saw that what the hunter was intent upon was that buck out in the field Thereupon he sank back on his great black haunches to watch the course of events Little did Sa red eyes that followed him as he crawled by

At the point where the cover cae patch, coxen found hiun, he strode so, deliberate aied, the buck stood for so him with sheer curiosity Was this a harmless passer-by, or a would-be trespasser on his new dolance, he decided that it looked like the noisy figure which had waved defiance froleam came into the buck's eye He wheeled, stae

At this er The cap refused to explode Angrily he lowered the gun, reht, and there was plenty of priain took careful ai less than a plain invitation to mortal combat He was in just the mood to accept such an invitation In two bounds he cleared the cabbages and caly down to the fray

This unexpected turn of affairs so flustered the inexperienced hunter that he altogether forgot to cock his gun Twice he pulled desperately on the trigger, but with no result Then, sun at the enemy and fled

Over the fence he went almost at a bound, and darted for the nearest tree that looked easy to climb As his ill luck would have it, this tree stood just on the edge of the thicket wherein thewatch

A wild ani away, and rarely loses a chance to show its appreciation of the fact As Sa himself up, the bear luainst the trunk

The buck, who had just cleared the fence, stopped short It was clearly his turn now to play the part of spectator

When coxen looked down and saw his new foe his heart swelled with a sense of injury Were the creatures of the wilderness allied against hian to feel distinctly worried The thought that flashed across his et back to unharness theher, and looking out for a way of escape

About halfway up the tree a long branch thrust itself forth till it fairly overhung a thick young spruce Out along this branch coxen worked his way carefully By the time the bear had climbed to one end of the branch, coxen had reached the other Here he paused, dreading to let hireat branch bent low under his weight, till coxen was notfir Then, nervously letting go, he dropped, caught the thick branches in his desperate clutch, and clung secure

The big branch, thus suddenly freed of coxen's substantial weight, sprang back with such violence that the bear alrily, he scraan to lower himself, tail foremost

From the business-like alacrity of the bear's movements, coxen realized that his respite was to be only teround, and could easily havethe other tree But there beloas the buck, keeping an eye of alert interest on both bear and man

coxen had nohoofs He preferred to stay where he was and hope for some unexpected intervention of fate Like most backwoodsravity of his situation could not quite blind hi over in hisout of his dileht of actually happened The buck lost interest in the man, and turned all his attention to the bear, which was just now about seven or eight feet fro hi his trousers

It is possible that that particular buck ainst the bears If so, this must have seemed an excellent chance to collect a little on account The bear's aard position and unprotected hind quarters evidently appealed to him He aave the bear a savage prodding with the keen tips of his antlers Then he bounded back soht or ten paces, and waited, while the bear slid abruptly to the ground with a flat grunt of fury

Sahter, nearly fell out of his fir-tree

The bear had now no room left for any ree at the insolence of the buck, and rushed upon hie the buck had no thought ofaside in a bound that carried him a full thirty feet Another such, another and another, and then he went capering off frivolously down the woody aisles, while the bear luht Sam coxen slid down from his tree and made all haste over the fence In the open field he felthe could outrun the bear, in case of need But he stopped long enough to pick up the gun

Then, with one pathetic glance at the ruined cabbages, he strode hastily on up the hill, glancing backward from tionists was returning to the attack

In the Deep of the Snow