The boys dug their spurs into the trembling mustangs, who responded with
a snort of pain and plunged into the thicket. Only the bold skill of the
riders saved them from pitching sidewise down the steep slope, despite
the brush, for they were unshod and their knees had weakened.

But the grizzly, alas! was still master of the situation. In less than a
moment the boys saw him lumbering along above them. He evidently had
possession of a trail, more or less level.

"Dios de mi alma!" cried Adan. "If he gets ahead of us he will come down
and meet us somewhere. We shall be lost--eaten even as a cat eats a
mouse, a coyote a chicken."

"You will look well lining the dark corridors of the bear, my friend.
Your yellow jacket with those large red roses, which would make a bull
sweat, would hang like tapestry in the houses of Spain. Those hide
boots, spotted with mud, and the blood of the calf, would keep him from
wanting another meal for many a long day--"

"Ay, thou fearless one! Why, it is said that if the grizzly even raises
his paw and slaps the face every feature is crushed out of shape."

"I should not be surprised."

They plunged on, tearing their clothes on the spiked brush and the
thorns of the sweetbrier, fragrant lilac petals falling in a shower
about them, great ferns trodden and rebounding. The air was heavy with
perfume and the pungent odour of redwood and pine.