AN INTERRUPTION. 19

CHAPTER II.
AN INTERRUPTION.

T came from beyond Indiana, in the direction of Boggs’s
Me’sh.

It was a terrible growling.

“ Why don’t you jump over and sce what it is?” de-
manded Merle, between her little shrieks.

“JT don’t fink I’d better leave you!” said Trotty, a little
white about the lips. “Ill wait till he comes a little nearer,
and then I’ jab him, sir!”

“You will, will you! O, you will, won’t you? Hi then!
Now! Let’s see you doit! Omy! Istump you! O, you
darsewt! O, you will, will you?

Like a clap of thunder to Trotty’s terrified ears, these
awful words burst from the mouth of the “bear,” and that
savage animal himself appeared in full length, and, leisurely
leaping the wall, stood glaring at Trotty.

He was a little undersized for a bear, being about three
feet and a half in length, and very thin in his muscular
development, looking, indeed, very much like a bear recov-
ering from the.mumps or some similar epidemic common to
those delicate animals at an early age. He wore a gray sack
with a leather belt to it, and long gray plaid trousers, as