“Hello! Browning!” was repeated.
“What do you want?” at length cried the young pioneer.
“Where is the bear?”
“Here he is.”
“What is he doing?”
“He is dead.”
“Well, I reckon that isn’t true, because you couldn’t kill him without a gun or a tomahawk, and you haven’t got either of them.”
“I beat him to death with a club.”
“By George! you are fool enough to do anything. We don’t believe you.”
So saying, they gingerly began to come nearer and nearer, until they were at the edge of the hole where the bear lay dead. They would come no closer until young Meshack took the bear by the foot and shook it in the air.