“Here Jake paused to indulge in a prolonged chuckle as the scene unrolled itself anew before his mind’s eye.
“‘It happened this way: A couple of us were splitting slabs in the Madawaska woods along in the fall, when, all of a sudden, the head of the mall flew off, as this ’ere one did. Bill, however,—Bill Goodin was the name of the fellow with me,—wasn’t so lucky as you were in getting out of the way. The mall struck a tree, glanced, and took Bill on the side of the knee. It keeled him over so he couldn’t do any more work that day, and I had to help him back to the camp. Before we left, I took a bit of codline out of my pocket, ran it through the eye, and strung the mall up to a branch so it would be easier to find when I wanted it.
“‘It was maybe a week before I went for that mall,—a little more than a week, I should say; and then, it being of a Sunday afternoon, when there was no work to do, and Bill’s leg being so much better that he could hobble alone, he and I thought we’d stroll over to where we’d been splitting, and bring the mall in to camp.
“‘When we got pretty near the place, and could see through the trees the mall hanging there where we had left it, Bill all of a sudden grabbed me sharp by the arm, and whispered, “Keep still!”
“‘“What is it?” said I, under my breath, looking all around.
“‘“Use your eyes if you’ve got any,” said he; and I stared through the branches in the direction he was looking. But there was a trunk in the way. As soon as I moved my head a bit, I saw what he was watching. There was a fine young bear sitting back on his haunches, and looking at the mall as if he didn’t know what to make of it. Probably that bear had once been hurt in a trap, and so had grown suspicious. That there mall hanging from the limb of a tree was something different from anything he’d ever seen before. Wondering what he was going to do, we crept a little nearer, without makin’ any noise, and crouched down behind a spruce bush.
“‘The bear was maybe a couple of yards from the mall, and watching it as if he thought it might get down any moment and come at him. A little gust of wind came through the trees and set the mall swinging a bit. He didn’t like this, and backed off a few feet. The mall swung some more, and he drew off still farther; and as soon as it was quite still again, he sidled around it at a prudent distance, and investigated it from the other side of the tree.
“‘“The blame fool is scared of it,” whispered Bill scornfully; “let’s fling a rock at him!”
“‘“No,” said I, knowing bears pretty well; “let’s wait and see what he’s going to do.”
“‘Well, when the mall had been pretty still for a minute or two, the bear appeared to make up his mind it didn’t amount to much after all; he came right close up to it as bold as you like, and pawed it kind of inquiringly. The mall swung away; and being hung short, it came back quick, and took the bear a smart rap on the nose.