Each moment, his growls announced that he was getting nearer and nearer to the bandits.
Of a sudden, two little balls of seeming phosphorous glowered at them, as the brute came from behind a boulder.
"You can stand there like dummies, if you want to," snapped the elder of the James boys. "I'm going to shoot him!"
"No! No! No shoot!" protested Dew Drop, in alarm.
"Why not?"
"Kaw-Kaw smell powder when um came back. Know some one in um cave. Make heap cuss. Fin' um paleface. Call um Injun. Devil to pay!"
"I reckon the girl's right, Frank," declared his brother, smiling at the words of his saviour. "It wouldn't take long for the old hag to notice the odour of the saltpetre and when she called the bucks it would be all over but the shouting.
"And I've no intention of adorning an Indian triumph."
"All right," grudgingly acquiesced the elder of the James boys. "I won't shoot, but something's got to be done.
"I don't propose to stay in here with a bear walking round loose, if it hasn't any teeth or claws."