It seemed now to be the general desire
that the individual who lay alongside of
the narrator of the Bio de Grallas tale
should relate his experience of being "up
a tree," and, with some little affectation of
modesty, he did so:

"Boys" (anything in the West between
the ages of sixteen and sixty is a "boy," if
he is a chum of yours), "I can't say that I
was ever in such a close-fitting place as our
friend Jim, though I know all the localities
well where he has been, and I think, if we
had a little talk, perhaps Jim might know
me too, though I am a good deal changed
since he last saw me; nor can I say that I
ever had any particular adventures with
grizzlies, though a particular friend of mine
was once chewed up by one of 'em; but
though I never have had an adventure with
grizzlies, I was once tree'd with one—and
yet I wasn't—but I will tell you the story.
You know old Doctor Slimtoe (called 'Doc'
for shortness), down in Jacksonville, in
Southern Oregon? You do; most people
do, I've noticed. Well, so do I; and three
falls ago Doc and I were staying together,
or rather I was stayin' with him, for a spell.
Late one night Doc was called off to a
patient, and do all we could his mule
refused to be caught; so, as it wasn't
far, he concluded to walk, and I offered
to keep him company. That part of the
country is rather noted for grizzlies, and
as we were walking through the
chapparal, Doc entertained me with descriptions
of how many men had lost their lives here
by grizzlies since he had located, and such
other lively talk. He, however, knew how
to do with them. 'Don't run— that's just
what they want; face 'em out, sir. When
a grizzly comes out to you, all you have to
do is just——Bless my heart! what's
that?' And before we could say Jack
Robinson there was old Doc takin' a header
through the bush for an oak-tree close by,
and me after him, and after both a
something mighty like a bear, bounding and
crushing through the chapparal. If you
ever saw two men make for one tree
quicker than did Doc and I, I would feel
obliged by the particulars. Doc swore I
think, and I know I did, as we scrambled
up the lower branches of that black oak,
and then at our leisure up higher still,
while the bear kept watch beneath. It
was too dark to make it out, but Doc
declared it was about the largest he had
ever seen in that part of the country; 'in
fact, a full-grown, rampageous, chaw-me-up
grizzly, sir,' were Doc's very words, as we
sat there on the branches of that black oak,
feeling rather chilly and slightly foolish.
Doc's courage came back again, and then he
bounced as usual about what should be
done with a grizzly. ' What would you
have done, sir, if it hadn't bin for my
knowledge of bars, sir.? There'd have been,
I guess, one less subject of Her Britannic
Majesty in the state of Oregon about this
time—ha! ha!' Possibly I would have
faced it out, according to his principle, I
suggested. 'No, sir,' Doc replied, 'not in
chapparal when there's a tree at hand,
only on a parara!' After this I began
rather to chaff the Doc, the result of which
was he got sulky, and absolutely cut me
up in the branches of that oak, with a
grizzly at the foot of it! He retired to one
branch and I to another. With his usual
good luck, he got a thick forked one, and
in two minutes was as sound as a top. For
my part, I couldn't sleep, and watched the
bear at the foot of the tree, whining in a
peculiar manner. By this time I began to
smell a very big rat, and when the first
rays of the sun came to my help, I saw
that I was not far off the mark. Laughing
heartily in my sleeve, I dropped off to
Doc's corner of the tree, and awoke him,
mighty ill-natured, out of a sonorous snore,
by informing him that the bear was harmless.
I thought I would face it out, I said,
and pointing down below, we saw, not a very
fierce grizzly, but only Doc's big black
Newfoundland dog, which had broken
loose and followed us! 'What, darn me!
if that ain't my dorg! Reiver, ho!' and
the affectionate animal began to whine,
just as the bear had done all night! To be
treed up all night by his own dog was too
much for a fellow with Doc's grizzly
experience, and accordingly he began to argue
that it had been really a bear, and that the
dog had only frightened it away: in fact,
he had seen the bear not five minutes before
I woke him. I assured him that he must
be mistaken, for to my certain knowledge
the dog had been there for three hours at
least. Even he pretended not to be
convinced when his disconsolate wife and
children informed him that it had left not
ten minutes after us. 'It was nonsense,'
he said; 'nonsense, and he knew it too!'
Anyhow, I observed that, after we came
down the tree, he called the dog to him, in
that hypocritical way men will be cruel
enough to call dogs to them, when he
thought I warn't looking, give it a
kick which sent it howling home ahead
of us!