"They'll do for slugs. Got yer rifle, Mr. Calliper?"
"No, Bob's brought that. I've got my double-barrelled deer gun, and I've stuck an awful charge into it."
"That'll do."
"Mary Jane," said her husband to Mrs. Calliper, "you and the children go on down the hill. Pen, you and Johnny see if you can't haul out that old stone-boat. It lies up this way, close to the foot of the mountain. We'll need it to get the bear home."
"Oh, mamma," exclaimed Dot, "is the bear comin' to our house?"
She knew very well that if he did, he would eat up all the berries that were spread out on the roof to dry, but her father and Joe Mix and Bob hurried away in the direction of the big chestnut.
Mrs. Calliper would not let any of the children go, but she put down Dot to carry the baby.
Pen and Johnny were a little sulky at not being allowed to help hunt the bear, but they were glad to have something to do, and went on after the stone-boat.
That was a kind of flat sled, made of a thick piece of plank, and used to haul stones on, and they found it just where Mr. Calliper said.
He and Joe and Bob went on up the mountain-side more and more carefully, but they had not far to go, and pretty soon Bob whispered, "There he is; he hasn't gone."