“I guess you’d have run, too, if he’d been after you,” he said.

“I guess I should.  Bears are all very well in their place, but I’d rather not mingle with ’em socially.  They’re very affectionate and fond of hugging, but if I’m going to be hugged I wouldn’t choose a bear.”

“You seem to think I was a coward for runnin’ from the bear.”

“No, I don’t.  How do I know you was runnin’ from the bear?  Maybe you was only takin’ a little exercise to get up an appetite for dinner.”

“I am faint and weak,” said Hogan.  “I haven’t had anything to eat for twelve hours.”

“You shall have some food,” said Joe.  “Joshua, where are the provisions?  We may as well sit down and lunch.”

“Jest as you say, Joe.  I most generally have an appetite.”

There was a mountain spring within a stone’s throw.  Joshua took a tin pail and brought some of the sparkling beverage, which he offered first to Hogan.

Hogan drank greedily.  His throat was parched and dry, and he needed it.

He drew a deep breath of relief.

“I feel better,” said he.  “I was in search of a spring when that cursed beast spied me and gave me chase.”

They sat down under the shade of a large tree and lunched.

“What sort of luck have you had since you tried to break into my restaurant, Mr. Hogan?” asked Joe.

Hogan changed color.  The question was an awkward one.

“Who told you I tried to enter your restaurant?” he asked.

“The man you brought there.”

“That wasn’t creditable of you, Hogan,” said Joshua, with his mouth full.  “After my friend Joe had given you a supper and promised you breakfast, it was unkind to try to rob him.  Don’t you think so yourself?”

“I couldn’t help it,” said Hogan, who had rapidly decided on his defense.

“Couldn’t help it?” said Joe in a tone of inquiry.  “That’s rather a strange statement.”

“It’s true,” said Hogan.  “The man forced me to do it.”

“How was that?”

“He saw me comin’ out of the restaurant a little while before, and when he met me, after trying to rob me and finding that it didn’t pay, he asked me if I was a friend of yours.  I told him I was.  Then he began to ask if you slept there at night and if anybody was with you.  I didn’t want to answer, but he held a pistol at my head and forced me to.  Then he made me go with him.  I offered to get in, thinking I could whisper in your ear and warn you, but he wouldn’t let me.  He stationed me at the window and got in himself.  You know what followed.  As soon as I saw you were too strong for him I ran away, fearing that he might try to implicate me in the attempt at robbery.”

Hogan recited this story very glibly and in a very plausible manner.

“Mr. Hogan,” said Joe, “if I didn’t know you so thoroughly, I might be disposed to put confidence in your statements.  As it is, I regret to say I don’t believe you.”