“Miller arose, took him by the hand, and said, ’That’s straight, now, is it?’

“‘That’s straight.  Making bear sign is my long suit.’

“‘Mouse,’ said Miller to one of the boys, ’go out and bring in his saddle from the stable and put it under my bed.  Throw his horse in the big pasture in the morning.  He stays here until spring; and the first spear of green grass I see, his name goes on the pay roll.  This outfit is shy on men who can make bear sign.  Now, I was thinking that you could spread down your blankets on the hearth, but you can sleep with me to-night.  You go to work on this specialty of yours right after breakfast in the morning, and show us what you can do in that line.’

“They talked quite a while longer, and then turned in for the night.  The next morning after breakfast was over, he got the needed articles together and went to work.  But there was a surprise in store for him.  There was nearly a dozen men lying around, all able eaters.  By ten o’clock he began to turn them out as he said he could.  When the regular cook had to have the stove to get dinner, the taste which we had had made us ravenous for more.  Dinner over, he went at them again in earnest.  A boy riding towards the railroad with an important letter dropped in, and as he claimed he could only stop for a moment, we stood aside until he had had a taste, though he filled himself like a poisoned pup.  After eating a solid hour, he filled his pockets and rode away.  One of our regular men called after him, ’Don’t tell anybody what we got.’

“We didn’t get any supper that night.  Not a man could have eaten a bite.  Miller made him knock off along in the shank of the evening, as he had done enough for any one day.  The next morning after breakfast he fell to at the bear sign once more.  Miller rolled a barrel of flour into the kitchen from the storehouse, and told him to fly at them.  ‘About how many do you think you’ll want?’ asked our bear sign man.

“‘That big tub full won’t be any too many,’ answered Miller.  ’Some of these fellows haven’t had any of this kind of truck since they were little boys.  If this gets out, I look for men from other camps.’

“The fellow fell to his work like a thoroughbred, which he surely was.  About ten o’clock two men rode up from a camp to the north, which the boy had passed the day before with the letter.  They never went near the dug-out, but straight to the kitchen.  That movement showed that they were on to the racket.  An hour later old Tom Cave rode in, his horse all in a lather, all the way from Garretson’s camp, twenty-five miles to the east.  The old sinner said that he had been on the frontier some little time, and that there were the best bear sign he had tasted in forty years.  He refused to take a stool and sit down like civilized folks, but stood up by the tub and picked out the ones which were a pale brown.

“After dinner our man threw off his overshirt, unbuttoned his red undershirt and turned it in until you could see the hair on his breast.  Rolling up his sleeves, he flew at his job once more.  He was getting his work reduced to a science by this time.  He rolled his dough, cut his dough, and turned out the fine brown bear sign to the satisfaction of all.