dicated I was very near them. The wonder was they did not eat me, for my gun was not usually loaded for bears. It was only for rab- bits and partridges. I was sometimes like the man we used to laugh at; he rushed into the house one day and snatched his gun and went in pursuit of a bear that had just passed his house; after being away for some time he came back without the bear. His wife asked him why he did not get it. He said he followed it until its tracks got too fresh. He thought “discretion was the better part of valor.” It is better to calculate on the risks before starting out.

An Exciting Bear Hunt at Night

One morning four of our best sheep were missing. We soon dis- covered what had happened them—the bears killed them. We found the carcases of three of them at the edge of the woods. I continued the search for the other and found it in a thicket about two hundred yards from the clearing. It was in a hollow with not many trees very close to it. I determined to get one of these bears and set my wits to work out the best plan to do it. I placed the carcase between two logs, that were lying on the ground. I then got a large gun and loaded it with a heavy charge of powder and buckshot. I fixed the gun so that it pointed a few inches above the carcase of the sheep. I fastened the gun in position and tied a strong line to the trigger. I then drew the line around a smooth stick back of the gun and brought the other end around and fastened it to the carcase. I cocked the gun and aimed it so that when the bear came to eat the sheep he would pull the line and shoot himself. He could not get at the meat without getting in between the logs and that would bring him directly in front of the gun.

To make sure of getting our game, two of my brothers, a neigh- bour and I took positions up in the trees, within range and near the carcase. Soon after sundown we heard the bears tramping and snif- fing in the thicket quite near us. The cubs were whining and making little grunts. It was an exciting time and nearly as dangerous for us as for the bears, for we had guns and it was dark in the woods. We might easily get confused and come to grief, either by the bears or by our guns. One small bear came out near our neigbour but he let it

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