THE BEARS OF BLUE RIVER [Illustration: The MM Co.] [Illustration: “Balser was more fortunate in his aim, and gave the bear a mortal wound.”] The Bears of Blue River BY CHARLES MAJOR AUTHOR OF “WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER,” ETC. _WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY A. B. FROST AND OTHERS_ New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1908 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1900, 1901, BY CURTIS PUBLISHING CO. BY JOHN WANAMAKER. COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY CHARLES MAJOR. First published elsewhere. Reprinted November, 1902; March, 1904; October, 1908. New edition September, 1906. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.—Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE The Big Bear 3 CHAPTER II. How Balser got a Gun 31 CHAPTER III. Lost in a Forest 53 CHAPTER IV. The One-eared Bear 79 CHAPTER V. The Wolf Hunt 104 CHAPTER VI. Borrowed Fire 140 CHAPTER VII. The Fire Bear 171 CHAPTER VIII. The Black Gully 190 CHAPTER IX. On the Stroke of Nine 217 CHAPTER X. A Castle on Brandywine 238 ILLUSTRATIONS. “Balser was more fortunate in his aim, and gave the bear a mortal wound” _Frontispiece_ PAGE Bass and sunfish and big-mouthed redeye 4 “A wildcat almost as big as a cow” 14 “Little Balser noticed fresh bear tracks, and his breath began to come quickly” 15 “Fresh bear tracks” 17