Leather-Clad Tales of Adventure and Romance, No. 38 — page 209: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

IN THE SUNK LANDS. 499 The bear seemed surprised, but immediately turned around and advanced cautiously. I went out farther. The limb tapered down to two inches, and bent under our weight. I glanced fearfully at the ground twenty-five feet below, and tried to calcu- late how many bones would be broken if I fell. The bear paused, unable to come farther, and Sammy fired. ‘I saw the hairs drop where the bullet went in—too far back of the shoulder to be vital. The bear bit savagely at the wound, tottered, and then, quickly rolling himself into the semblance ofa ball, he dropped straight on the dogs standing open-mouthed below. By this means he tried to erush or strike them with his paws, and be up the tree again before they could retaliate ; but our dogs were too wary, and scattered. Thump ! he landed. It was a ludicrous sight. He seemed astonished that he had killed none of them, and, as Bob and Treve fired hastily and harmlessly over him, he shambled offinto the canebrake with the dogs hanging to his hams. Sammy and Joe were furiously trying EGomichboo cS (€(0) m