swimmin' the Ohio, and I put out in chase right off. I soon overhauled
the critter, and picked up my rifle to give him a settler, when I
found that in paddlin' I had spattered water into the canoe, wettin'
the primin' and makin' the gun of no more use than a stick. I didn't
understand much about the natur of the beast then, and thought I'd run
him down, and drown him, or knock him on the head. So I put the canoe
right end on towards him, thinkin' to run him under, but when the
bow touched him, what did he do, but reach his great paws up over the
side of the canoe, and begin to climb in. I hadn't bargained for that;
I felt mighty onpleasant, you may swear, at the prospect of havin'
sich a passenger. I hadn't time to get at him with the rifle, till he
came tumblin' into the dugout, and as he seated himself on his stern,
showed as pretty a set of ivory as a body would wish to see. There we
sat, he in one end of the dugout and I in the other, eyein' one
another in a mighty suspicious sort of way. He didn't seem inclined to
come near my end of the dugout, and I was principled agin goin'
towards his. I made ready to take to the water on short notice, but at
the same time concluded I'd paddle him to the shore, if he'd allow me
to do it quietly.

"'Wal, I paddled away, the bear every now and then grinnin' at me,
skinnin' his face till every tooth in his head stood right out, and
grumblin' to himself in a way that seemed to say, 'I wonder if that
chap's good to eat?' I didn't offer any opinion on the subject; I
didn't say a word to him, treatin' him all the time like a gentleman,
but kept pullin' for the shore. When the canoe touched the ground, he
clambered over the side, and climbed up the bank, and givin' me an
extra grin, started off into the woods. I pushed the dugout back
suddenly, and gave him, as I felt safe again, a double war-whoop that
seemed to astonish him, for he quickened his pace mightily, as if