52 TRUE BEAR STORIES.

of the big gum caved in, and, to his infinite
delight, out rolled the twins!

But they were merely the ghosts of them-
selves. They had been kept in a month
or more too long, and were now so weak
and so lean that they could hardly stand
on their feet.

“Kill ’em and put ’em out o’ misery,”
said Reese, for run from him they really
could not, and he came forward and kicked
one of them flat down on its face as it was
trying hard to stand on its four feet.

The boy had grown some; besides, he
was just from the war and was now strong
and well. He rushed up in front of Reese,
and he must have looked unfriendly, for Sil
Reese tried to smile, and then at the same
time he turned hastily to go into the house.
And when he got fairly turned around,
the boy kicked him precisely where he had
kicked the bear. And he kicked him hard,
so hard that he pitched forward on his face
just as the bear had done. He got up
quickly, but he did not look back. He