THE BEAR “MONARCH.” 185

exasperating iteration, “I believe there
don’t vas any bears in der gountry. I look
for ’em every day, thinking perhaps might
I could see one, but I don’t could see any.”
And every night before he turned in,
Sparkuhle said: “Vell, might did a bear
come tonight. I wish I could see one, but
I think there don’t vas any bears at all.”

Sparkuhle scorned the shelter of the
bough shed, under which the Examiner
outfit slept, and spread his blankets on top
of a bank about six feet above a rocky shelf
that was used as a pantry and kitchen.
His only weapon was his pick, and he was
not afraid of being disturbed by any prowl-
ing animal.

It was about midnight when the camp
was alarmed by the snorting of the horses
and the clatter of hoofs galloping down
the canyon, but before the cause of the dis-
turbance could be learned a yell of sur-
prise came from Sparkuhle, followed by a
crash and a terrible clatter among the pots
and pans below the bank. In another mo-