B. M. Bower

“ If Shelton She Sherman shays he shees she-bears shelling sea sells on the seasore, why, it's your fault and his misfortune. If possible, we must keep this from his folks. And if there's anything we can do to remedy the evil before it becomes virulent and the whole outfit gets infectecated, I for one am ready and willing to do my part. But if it turns out fatal, the blame rests upon you, Spooky. ”

“ Why, I never thought of being afraid. Would a man be afraid of a bear with a track that long?" For the third time he measured the space.
"Oh, get along with you and bring me his hide, then!" Vida seemed suddenly to have decided that he was making fun of her. "I'll trail along on high ground, where I can kinda keep tab on you. I don't believe I want to sweep out any bear's den and see if he's got sheep bones cached in it, thank you. But you can if you want to."
An hour or more after that, Shelton dismounted from old Dutch at the little stream that led down from the upper cañon. ”

“ A horse could scarcely hide there, unless he climbed the almost perpendicular sides so as to get behind the bowlders that jutted out everywhere. Dutch must have gone down the cañon, scared by the thing that came out of the cave. The thought served to hearten Shelton appreciably. There was no shame in being afraid of anything that could scare old Dutch, he told himself. And there was another point: It could not have been Burney, then, that came out of the cave; though Shelton, in spite of the evidence of the fresh boot tracks, had not convinced himself that Burney was ever in that cave. ”

“ Spider got up, threw his cigarette stub into the fire, and turned upon Spooky. "Say, Spooky, you're to blame for this," he accused sternly. "Shep was a nice, innocent, truthful cuss when he come here. And your dog-goned, baneful influence and example has done this!" He indicated Shelton with his outflung hand. "You've lied to him, and you've lied before him, and you've lied behind his back ever since he come. We can't blame Shelton She Sherman. He is more to be pitied than censured. ”

“ Vida said positively. "He seen him go over a little rise, and he was big—Uncle Jake would swear it was Goliath. A bear don't go on its hind legs "
"It might—if it was carrying something. Don't you suppose it would carry a sheep away with it? I've read about them doing those things, and they go on their hind feet at such times." Shelton leaned toward her, and his cheeks were pink, like a girl's with earnestness. "I'm positive Burney was not away from the ranch last night," he said, to clinch his argument. ”

“ And you know who's the man that done it. You know there ain't any ordinary man could wring a sheep's neck like they was wrung. And the dog musta been just grabbed up and squashed! I seen him this morning, and his ribs are all mashed and his neck broke. It was Laddie, and he wasn't afraid. Uncle Jake says the other dog just crep' under the wagon and whined, when he seen what it was——"
"Oh, say, doesn't that sound more as if an animal had been around?" Shelton cut in eagerly. "You know, I went down in that cañon over there, after I left you, and I saw a bear track. ”

“ And Shelton protested so earnestly that he was telling the truth, that they consented at last to believe that he had seen a track which may have looked like a bear's track, also the possibility that he had been followed by something.
"But that wasn't a bear," Spooky insisted, with perfect sincerity. "It was that same spook I felt and seen, and I'll bet money on it. You want to keep away from them hills, Shep. I've got a hunch that thing is fixin' to git somebody. Here's four of us been follered now. There ain't a one of us that wouldn't swear to it. ”

“ That made him more cautious still, though it could not dampen his enthusiasm or dull his eager expectancy. He tried to keep always going where the tracks led, which became somewhat difficult, since the floor varied its moist sand covering with a shale rock that left no mark. ”