With a roar that made the horses rear and neigh like stricken
things, he flung himself against the sides of his prison, drew back and
leaped clumsily, tore up the earth, and galloped frantically to and fro.
But he was caught like a rat in a trap.
The boys laughed gleefully and remounted their horses, which also seemed
to appreciate the situation, for they had quieted suddenly.
"Adios! Adios!" cried Roldan, as they forced their way up to the trail
the bear had discovered. "You will make a fine skeleton; we will come
back and look at you some day."
But it was not the last they were to see of Bruin in the flesh.
III
An hour later they began to descend the mountain on the other side, and
by dawn espied a ranch house in a valley. The white walls were pink
under the first streamers of the morning. The redwoods rose like a solid
black wall on the towering mountains on every side.
"Ay!" exclaimed Roldan, drawing a deep sigh. "Sleep and a hot breakfast.
They will be good once more."
"They will," answered Adan, who had been collapsing and digging his
knuckles into his eyes for an hour and more.
They feared that no one might be stirring, but, as they approached the
verandah, the door opened and a stout smiling Californian, dressed in
brown small-clothes, appeared.
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