"I guess we can make out," said Joe. "Vicente and me have our macates, and if we can get him fairly stretched, they ought to do for his hind legs and his mouth. If we can catch him close to some timber there'll be no trouble to tie him up, but if we get him in the flat country where there's nothing to tie him to, we're liable to kill him. I've heard how they used to catch bears in California, but I never saw it done myself, though I've heard the story over and over again. Maybe Vicente has seen it done. How's that, Vicente?" "Yes," grinned Vicente, "in my country, sometimes they catch it bear--make him fight bull. Suppose we had big rawhide here; no trouble to catch it bear and take him to camp." "You two fellows will have to tell Donald and me what to do," said Jack. "We are green at this sort of thing; but if you will tell us, we will do the best we can--eh, Donald?" The young Englishman's eyes snapped as he nodded. "Well," decided Joe, "I reckon the best thing to do is to charge the bear together. I think that Vicente has the best horse and will get to him first. Then, if he can catch him by the neck, I'll try to pick up one or both of his hind feet, and then you two fellows will have to do the rest. The main thing, of course, is to keep him from getting one of the ropes in his mouth, for if he does that he'll just naturally chew it off and we'll be short a man." "But," asked Donald, "will these horses go up so close to a bear that you can rope it?" "I know that Vicente's will," answered Joe; "Vicente makes his horses go wherever he wants them to; and I expect that my horse will be all right, and so will Jack's. I don't know about yours, Donald. Guess it will depend a great deal on its rider. Now before we get ready to charge the bear, we must tighten our saddles, and see that everything is in good shape; we don't want to have a saddle slip after we get our ropes on the bear. Might be kind of unhandy for a man to be left afoot there." The boys dismounted, loosened their cinches, pulled forward the blankets, tightened the cinches again, saw to it that their ropes were well arranged, and then everything was ready. Vicente turned his horse and rode toward the ridge, and the others followed a little behind him. Presently Vicente took off his hat, checked his horse and, letting it go forward only a step or two at a time, scanned the country before him. After a few moments it was evident that he saw something. He bent low and backed his horse down the slope, rode a few hundred yards nearer to the higher hills on the right and then stopped. "Bear pretty close now; just over ridge."