"The bear is loose!"
Dirty Eddie was the first to feel the weight of Beppo's
wrath. His foot drawn back to implant a vicious kick in
Bridge's face he paused at the girl's scream and at the
same moment a huge thing reared up before him. Just
for an instant he sensed the terrifying presence of some
frightful creature, caught the reflected gleam of two
savage eyes and felt the hot breath from distended
jaws upon his cheek, then Beppo swung a single terrific
blow which caught the man upon the side of the head
to spin him across the floor and drop him in a crumpled
heap against the wall, with a fractured skull. Dirty
Eddie was out. Soup Face, giving voice to a scream more
bestial than human, rose to his feet and fled in the oppo-
site direction.
Beppo paused and looked about. He discovered
Bridge lying upon the floor and sniffed at him. The
man lay perfectly quiet. He had heard that often times
a bear will not molest a creature which it thinks dead.
Be that as it may Beppo chanced at that moment to
glance toward the doorway. There, silhouetted against
the lesser darkness without, he saw the figures of Co-
lumbus Blackie and The Oskaloosa Kid and with a
growl he charged them.
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