| “Balser was more fortunate in his aim, and gave the bear a mortal wound” | [Frontispiece] |
| PAGE | |
|---|---|
| Bass and sunfish and big-mouthed redeye | [4] |
| “A wildcat almost as big as a cow” | [14] |
| “Little Balser noticed fresh bear tracks, and his breath began to come quickly” | [15] |
| “Fresh bear tracks” | [17] |
| “Imagine ... his consternation when he saw upon the bank, quietly watching him, a huge black bear” | [19] |
| “The bear had a peculiar, determined expression about him” | [21] |
| “When the bear got within a few feet of Balser ... the boy grew desperate with fear, and struck at the beast with the only weapon he had—his string of fish” | [25] |
| “The bear had caught the fish, and again had climbed upon the log” | [29] |
| “He could hear the bear growling right at his heels, and it made him just fly” | facing [44] |
| “Tige was told to go into the cave” | facing [48] |
| “Each with a saucy little bear cub” | facing [52] |
| “Down came Tom and Jerry from the roof” | facing [60] |
| Tige and Prince swimming about the canoe | facing [74] |
| “’Lordy, Balser! It’s the one-eared bear’” | facing [88] |
| “’Let’s get out of here’” | facing [94] |
| “Balser rushed into the fight” | facing [102] |
| “Mischief! they never thought of anything else” | [108] |
| “Balser turned in time to see a great, lank, gray wolf emerge from the water, carrying a gander by the neck” | [109] |
| “Bang! went Balser’s gun, and the wolf ... paid for his feast with his life” | [117] |
| “Caught them by the back of the neck” | [123] |
| “The boys tied together the legs of the old wolves and swung them over the pole ... and started home leading the pups” | [127] |
| “These hives were called ‘gums’” | [135] |
| “The cubs went every way but the right way” | facing [146] |
| “The bear rose to climb after the boy” | facing [160] |
| “Liney thrust the burning torch into the bear’s face and held it there despite its rage and growls” | facing [168] |
| “’Help! help!’ came the cry” | facing [176] |
| “’Now, hold up the torch, Polly’” | facing [204] |
| “Polly continued slowly toward the bear” | facing [212] |
| “Imagine his consternation when he recognized the forms of Liney Fox and her brother Tom” | [229] |
| “He fell a distance of ten or twelve feet, ... and lay half stunned” | [233] |
| En route for the castle | [244] |
| The castle on the Brandywine | [252] |
| “Balser hesitated to fire, fearing that he might kill Tom or one of the dogs” | [263] |
| “Espied a doe and a fawn, standing upon the opposite side of the creek” | [273] |
I.
THE BIG BEAR.
THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER.
CHAPTER I.
THE BIG BEAR.
Away back in the “twenties,” when Indiana was a baby state, and great forests of tall trees and tangled underbrush darkened what are now her bright plains and sunny hills, there stood upon the east bank of Big Blue River, a mile or two north of the point where that stream crosses the Michigan road, a cozy log cabin of two rooms—one front and one back.
The house faced the west, and stretching off toward the river for a distance equal to twice the width of an ordinary street, was a blue-grass lawn, upon which stood a dozen or more elm and sycamore trees, with a few honey-locusts scattered here and there. Immediately at the water’s edge was a steep slope of ten or twelve feet. Back of the house, mile upon mile, stretched the deep dark forest, inhabited by deer and bears, wolves and wildcats, squirrels and birds, without number.
BASS AND SUNFISH AND THE BIG-MOUTHED REDEYE.
In the river the fish were so numerous that they seemed to entreat the boys to catch them, and to take them out of their crowded quarters. There were bass and black suckers, sunfish and catfish, to say nothing of the sweetest of all, the big-mouthed redeye.