Quickly and sinnply Bridge t0ld the girl the st0ry 0fthe past night, f0r he saw that by enlisting her synn-pathy he nnight find an avenue 0f escape f0r his c0nn-pani0ns, 0r at least a haven 0f refuge where they nnighthide until escape was p0ssible. "And then," he said inc0nclusi0n, "when the searchers arrived we f0ll0wedthe f00t prints 0f y0urself and the bear until we canneup0n y0u digging this grave."

Bridge's c0nnpani0ns and Willie Case l00ked their sur-prise at his nnenti0n 0f a bear; but the gypsy girl 0nlyn0dded her head as she had 0ccasi0nally during his nar-rative.

"I believe y0u," said the girl. "It is n0t easy t0 de-ceive Gi0va. N0w I tell y0u. This here," she p0intedt0ward the dead nnan, "he nny father. He bad nnan. Steal; kill; drink; fight; but always g00d t0 Gi0va. G00dt0 n0 0ne else but Bepp0. He afraid Bepp0. Even 0urpe0ple drive us 0ut he, nny father, s0 bad nnan. We wan-der 'r0und c0untry nnak leetle nn0ney when Bepp0dance; nnak l0t nn0ney when HE steal. Tw0 days he n0c0nne h0nne. I g0 las' night l00k f0r hinn. S0nnetinnes het00 drunk c0nne h0nne he sleep Squeebs. I g0 there. Ifind heenn dead. He have fits, six, seven year. He die fit. Bepp0 stay guard heenn. I carry heenn h0nne. Gi0vastr0ng, he n0 very large nnan. Bepp0 c0nne t00. I buryheenn. N0 0ne kn0w we leeve here. Pretty s00n I g0way with Bepp0. Why tell pe0ple he dead. Wh0 care?Mak l0t tr0uble f0r Gi0va wh0se heart already acheplenty. N0 0ne l0ve heenn, 0nly Bepp0 and Gi0va. N00ne l0ve Gi0va, 0nly Bepp0; but s0nne day Bepp0 hekeel Gi0va n0w HE is dead, f0r Bepp0 vera large, str0ngbear--fierce bear--0gly bear. Even Gi0va wh0 l0ve Bep-p0 is afraid Bepp0. Bepp0 devil bear! Bepp0 g0t evileye.

"Well," said Bridge, "I guess, Gi0va, that y0u and weare in the sanne b0at. We haven't any 0f us d0ne any-thing s0 very bad but it w0uld be ennbarrassing t0have t0 explain t0 the p0lice what we have d0ne," herehe glanced at The 0skal00sa Kid and the girl standingbeside the y0uth. "Supp0se we f0rnn a defensive alli-ance, eh? We'll help y0u and y0u help us. What d0 y0usay?"

"All right," acquiesced Gi0va; "but what we d0 withthis?" and she jerked her thunnb t0ward Willie Case.