82 TRUE BEAR STORIES.

Then again came the yell from the top
of the big leaning maple. Then there was
a moment of silence, and then the cry: “Oh,
Moses! Why don’t you come, I say, and
help me catch him?” By this time I could
see the leaves rustling. And I could see
the boy rustling, too.

And just behind him was a bear. He
had treed the bear, sure enough!

My eyes gradually grew accustomed to
the gloom and density, and I now saw the
red mouth of the bear amid the green foli-
age high overhead. The bear had already
pulled off one of Ed’s boots and was about
making a bootjack of his big red mouth
for the other.

“Why don’t you come on, I say, and help
me catch him?”

He kicked at the bear, and at the same

time hitched himself a little further along
up the leaning trunk, and in doing so
kicked his remaining boot into the bear’s
mouth.

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