pass, as he knew there were big ones about. We waited but no others 
     
     came out. Near daylight one brother and I got down from our trees 
     
     and started for home. We had to almost feel our way out of the 
     
     woods, it was dark and any moment we might meet a bear. A very 
     
     little while after we reached the house we heard the guns go off in 
     
     the woods. We did not dare go back; as the others might mistake 
     
     us for the bears. We could not do anything then but wait for morn- 
     
     ing to dawn. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Soon as we left the woods the big bears came out of the thicket 
     
     where we heard them. I suppose when they heard us leaving they 
     
     thought the way was clear for them to have supper, or rather break- 
     
     fast. A very large one came out first and began to eat the carcase. 
     
     The neighbor fired, and over rolled the bear. My brother tried to 
     
     fire but his gun missed, or he lost the cap. He rushed for the gun I had 
     
     set and when lifting it up, forgot to untie, or cut, the line fastened 
     
     to the trigger; when the muzzle was close to his face the string tight- 
     
     ened on the trigger and bang went the gun, with a roar like a small 
     
     cannon. It almost stunned him, it was so close and so heavily loaded. 
     
     He had a narrow escape. We should be very careful with guns; there 
     
     are many fatal accidents with them. In a moment of excitement we 
     
     forget warnings and take risks. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In the meantime the bear had got partly on its feet and was drag- 
     
     ging itself into the thicket. The neighbour had reloaded his gun and 
     
     was following it when another bear faced him and stood up to attack 
     
     him. That was a critical situation in the dim light, but the neighbour 
     
     was a brave man. He levelled his gun and put the charge into the 
     
     bear’s throat and it fell dead at his feet. There were bears all around 
     
     them; one ran up a tree. We could see its claw marks on the bark up 
     
     twenty feet from the ground. The darkness prevented them from see- 
     
     ing it at the time it went up or they could easily have shot it. They 
     
     followed the wounded one but could not find it in the dark; it was 
     
     probably well they did not, for it might have torn them to pieces. At 
     
     day-break they came out with the bear they had shot. A party went 
     
     in pursuit of the wounded one and followed its trail two or three miles; 
     
     there were blood marks all the way, but it eluded its pursuers and was 
     
     never found. That was the wildest bear hunt I ever had. The wonder 
     
    
   
   
    
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