hands and raising it above his shoulders brought it down with all
his might upon the nose of the foremost. The brute sniffed with
pain, threw up his head and drew back a few inches -- just enough
to place the other nose in front. At that instant, a resounding
whack landed on the rubber snout and the second bear must have felt
a twinge all through his body.

Though each blow caused the recipient to recoil, yet he instantly
returned, so that Carson was kept busy pounding the noses as if he
was an old fashioned farmer threshing wheat with a flail.

It was a question with Carson which would last the longer -- the
club or the snouts, but in the hope of getting beyond their reach,
he climbed to the topmost bough, where he crouched into the smallest
possible space. It was idle, however, to hope they would overlook
him, for they pushed on up the tree which swayed with their weight.

The nose of the grizzly bear is one of the most sensitive portions
of his body, and the vigorous thumps which the hunter brought down
upon them, brought tears of pain to their eyes. But while they
suffered, they were roused to fury by the repeated rebuffs, and
seemed all the more set on crunching the flesh and bones of the
insignificant creature who defied them.

It must have been exasperating beyond imagination to the gigantic
beasts, who feared neither man nor animal to find themselves
repeatedly baffled by a miserable being whom they could rend to
pieces with one blow of their paws, provided they could approach
nigh enough to reach him.