“A grizzly bear down here!” cried Case, and the next minute he was some distance away, whirling the light swiftly around his head.
“The grizzly will like that, I know,” Alex said, calmly, from the tree. “He’s a sociable kind of a bear, and has been inviting me to come down and accept of a furnished room inside of him. Suppose you take a shot at him, old man? I don’t think he intends going away until he sees my finish. And, if I were you. I’d climb a tree before I shot. He tells me that it annoys him to be shot at.”
“You everlasting, concentrated essence of cheek!” cried Case. “Why don’t you shoot him yourself? He’s your bear! What?”
“I clipped one of his ears,” replied Alex, “and then my gun dropped to the ground and he ate it. At least I heard a crunching that sounded like eating a piece of steel. I haven’t got my searchlight, because I had to throw it at him when I climbed the tree.”
Case took the hint about getting up in a tree, while Captain Joe looked on in red-eyed wonder. He could not understand why the boys did not help him capture or kill the big beast sitting at the foot of the tree.
The grizzly had set up a protest at the interruption of his silent wait under the tree for the supper he had ordered, and was now sniffing toward the bushes where Captain Joe stood. He kept out of the circle thrown by the searchlight as much as possible, but was evidently determined to make a stand right there for his stomach’s sake.
The light wavered and traveled about considerably while Case was worming his way up to the branches of a tree, and so, in the uncertain light, the bear kept going bravely nearer to the dog. Captain Joe did not retreat. So far as Case could see from his place of safety, the dog was getting ready to do battle.
“Here, Captain Joe!” Alex called, “you’ll get your dome of thought dented if you go fooling with that grizzly. He’s been raised a pet, and doesn’t like to have dogs seek his society.”
“‘Dome of thought dented’ is slang,” Case put in, from his tree, “and you’ll wash dishes to pay for it.”
“All right,” Alex replied, submissively, “you just dent the grizzly a few and I’ll wash the dishes. I’m hungry, and I’ve a notion that Gran has deserted, and I want to get back to the cabin. If I should appear on South Clark street in my present apparel, the police would pinch me for neglecting to patronize the clothing stores. See?”