not have the little black fellows fight a duel also? They were surely civilized enough to fight now!

And so, with a very few days' training, they fought a duel exactly like the one in which poor old Mountain Joe was engaged, even to the detail of one of them suddenly dropping his stick gun and running away and falling headlong into a prospect hole.

When Joe came home and saw this duel and saw what a fool he had made of himself, he at first was furiously angry. Meantime Reese was angry as ever, more angry, in fact, than ever before. For he could not endure to see the boy have any friends of any kind.

As winter came on, the two black bears were fat as pigs and fully half grown. Their appetites increased daily, and so did the anger and envy of Mr. Sil Reese.

"They'll eat us out o' house and hum," said he one day, as the snow began to descend and close up the pack trails. And then he proposed that the blacks should be made to bibernate, as others of their kind. There was a big hollow log that had been sawed off in joints to make bee gums; and he insisted that they should be put in there with a tight head and pack of hay for a bed, and nailed up till spring, to save the provisions.

Soon there was an Indian outbreak. Some one from the ranch, or "hotel," must go with the company of volunteers that was forming down at the post for a winter campaign. Of course Reese would not go. He

wanted Mountain Joe to go and get killed. But Joe wanted to stay and watch Reese.

And that is how it came about that the two black babies were tumbled headlong into a big, black gum, or short, hollow log, on a heap of hay, and nailed up for the winter. The boy had to go to the war.

It was late in the spring when the boy, having failed to get himself killed, to the great disgust of Mr. Sil Reese, rode down and went straight up to the big gum in the back yard. He put his ear to a knot hole. Not a sound. He tethered his mule, came back, and tried to shake the short hollow log. Not a sound or sign or movement of any kind. Then he kicked the big gum with all his might. Nothing. Rushing to the woodpile he caught up an ax, and in a moment had the whole end of the big gum caved in, and, to his infinite delight, out rolled the twins!

But they were merely the ghosts of themselves. They had been kept in a month or more too long, and were now so weak and so lean that they could hardly stand on their feet.

"Kill 'em, and put 'em out o' misery," said Reese; for run from him they really could not, and he came forward and kicked one of them flat down on its face as it was trying hard to stand on its four feet.

The boy had grown some; besides, he was just from the war and was now strong and well. He rushed up in front of Reese, and he must have looked unfriendly, for

Sil Reese tried to smile, and then at the same time he turned hastily to go into the house. And when he got fairly turned around, the boy kicked him precisely where he had kicked the bear. And he kicked him hard, hard that he pitched forward on his face, just as the bear had done. He got up quickly, but he did not look back. He seemed to have something to do in the house.

SO

In a month the babies- big babies now-were sleek and fat. It is amazing how these creatures will eat after a short nap of a few months like that! And their cunning tricks, now! And their kindness to their master! Ah, their glossy black coats and their brilliant black eyes! And now three men came. Two of these were Italians from San Francisco. The third man was also from that city, but he refused to eat bear meat. He thought it was pork. They took tremendous interest in the big black twins, and stayed all night and till late next day, seeing them perform.

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Seventy-five dollars," said one to the other, back in a corner where they thought the boy did not hear.

"One hundred and fifty. You see, I'll have to give my friends fifty each. Yes, it's true, I've took care of 'em all winter, but I ain't mean, and I'll only keep fifty of it."

The boy, bursting with indignation, ran to Mountain Joe with what he had heard. But Joe's eyes fairly danced in delight at having fifty dollars in his own hand and right to spend down at the post.

And so the two Italians muzzled the big, pretty pets

and led them kindly down the trail toward the city, where they were to perform in the streets, the other man following after the twins on a big white mule.

And what became of the big black twin babies? They are still performing,- seem content and happy, happy,--sometimes in a circus, sometimes in a garden, sometimes in the street. They are great favorites, and have never done harm to any one. JOAQUIN MILLER.

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THE OWL AND THE BELL

BING, Bim, Bang, Bome!"

Sang the Bell to himself in his house at home,
Up in the tower, away and unseen,

In a twilight of ivy, cool and green;
With his Bing, Bim, Bang, Bome!

Singing bass to himself in his house at home.

Said the Owl to himself, as he sat below
On a window-ledge, like a ball of snow,
"Pest on that fellow, sitting up there,
Always calling the people to prayer!
With his Bing, Bim, Bang, Bome!
Mighty big in his house at home!

"I will move," said the Owl.

"But it suits me well; And one may get used to it, who can tell?"

So he slept in the day with all his might,

And rose and flapped out in the hush of night,