Haw-Haw grew pale and involuntarily reached for his gun as he first beheld this apparition, but instantly he saw the truth.

It was a man who carried a burden down the mountain-side.

The burden was the carcass of a bear; the man had drawn the forelegs over his shoulders--his jutting elbows making what had seemed the outstretched arms--and above the head of the burden-bearer rose the great head of the bear.

As the man came closer the animal's head flopped to one side and a red tongue lolled from its mouth.

Haw-Haw Langley moved back step by step through the cabin until his shoulders struck the opposite wall, and at the same time Mac Strann entered the room.