[Transcriber's note: Extensive research found no evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]

AT THAT INSTANT THE BEAR CAME TO LIFE.

A
MOUNTAIN
BOYHOOD

by JOE MILLS

Author of "The Comeback"

Illustrated by
ENOS B. COMSTOCK

J. H. SEARS & COMPANY, Inc.
PUBLISHERS
NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY
J. H. SEARS & CO., INCORPORATED

COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY
THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA (INC.)

MANUFACTURED COMPLETE BY THE
KINGSPORT PRESS
KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE

United States of America

TO
THE ONE WHO MADE THIS
BOYHOOD POSSIBLE
MY WIFE

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

At that instant the bear came to life . . . . Frontispiece

I plunged downward, struggling frantically

I sat down by the fiddler and dozed

I glimpsed his flaming eyes and wide-open, fang-filled mouth

Sheep and rock dropped straight toward me

Never before had the ring of an ax echoed in Silent Valley

"See all fools ain't dead yit," he observed

The memory of that race for life is still vividly terrifying

Every fall I watched Mr. and Mrs. Peg at their repairs

They turned tail and came racing back, straight toward me

Out of the dust of years, we dug the history of a