B. M. Bower

“ Shelton told her, and he told her also that he was from the Sunbeam. "You know the Sunbeam? You know Mr. Burney's ranch?" he asked her, while he stuffed tobacco into his pipe. His lunch was tied to the saddle on Dutch—wherever that was.
"Burney—Aleck——" she muttered, and stopped, her jaws gumming words soundlessly. "Aleck——"
"Yes, his name's Aleck, too—though I didn't know any one ever called him that. You know him? Big man!"
"Big, big man—fadder—big man. Die long time. I know. I see Aleck—fadder die. Bear——" she waved her skinny hand that was like a mummy's. "Bear kill. I see. Long time. ”

“ But I think it was that bear I saw the tracks of."
"A bear," Spooky asserted, "wouldn't hardly kill sheep like that. He might come into a band and pack off one or two, and he might go through a band just cuffing 'em right an' left, like that." Spooky illustrated with thrashing arms the cuffing process, "He'd break their necks, I reckon, if he done that—or cave in their ribs or something. But it don't look natural—him grabbin' every sheep separate and wringin' its neck. That looks to me more—human." Spooky spoke with a certain reluctance and a certain inquiring look toward Spider. ”

“ And"—Shelton unconsciously lowered his voice and glanced toward the door—"she says her uncle would swear it was Burney. She said a person couldn't make any mistake in a man like him. But still"—his head dropped back wearily on the pillow—"I stick to the bear theory. A bear would go off on its hind legs, wouldn't it, if it were carrying a sheep?" ”

“ For instance, when he asked her about any great bears in that country, she muttered Indian words under her breath until he asked her again and again, and then she told him, "Long time big bear kill——" and that was as much as she spoke intelligibly. ”

“ He dragged his weary bones into the bunk house just when the boys were smoking their last, before-bedtime cigarettes and wondering what had went with Shep—I am using their vernacular, understand, and I realize that it is a long way from being correct English. ”