Page:Three Young Ranchmen.djvu/196

182 Almost overcome with fear, Paul raised his gun and fired at the bear's head. It was a chance shot, but luckily it hit the huge beast in the ear The bear howled with pain, staggered forward a few feet and rolled over on his side.

By this time Dottery and Blowfen had their pistols out. Leaping to the roadway, they ran forward, and in less than a minute the bear had received six pistol balls and was kicking in his death agony.

It was Paul who helped Chet to his feet. The boy was as white as a sheet and trembled so he could scarcely stand.

"I—I thought I was a goner!" he stammered. "What a big fellow he is!"

"The bar we war arfter last spring," said Jack Blowfen to Dottery as they examined the brute. "See those marks on his side where we tipped him? A good job that he is out of the way."

It was the second grizzly bear the boys had seen since they had lived in that section and they gazed at him curiously. What white teeth he had, and how powerful he looked! Even now that he was still and all was over, Chet hardly cared to touch him.