Some bears came out ahead of us and scared the horses!" I blurted out.

"And we've lost six of them! They ran off the ledges into Saddleback brook and broke their legs.

We had to kill them." The old Squire jumped to his feet with a look of distress on his face.
Addison now came into the room, and helped me to give a more coherent account of what had happened.
After his first exclamation of dismay, the old Squire sat down and heard our story to the end.

Naturally, he felt very badly, for the accident had cost him at least a thousand dollars.

He did not reproach us, however.
"I have only myself to blame," he said.