104 A BEAR HUNT. 



long to the southward, near the Columbia, that 

 he exclaimed, " Cela va bien, nous ne sommes 

 pas mal avances au nord," and the poor fellow 

 actually thought we could not be far from the sea. 

 While rounding a projecting bluff or headland, 

 near which I was told there was a river, our 

 attention was attracted to the crest of a steep 

 rock, where the keen eye of the Indian de- 

 tected a poor bear, quietly regaling himself 

 with a feast of berries. "Sass! sass!"* whis- 

 pered he, and in a moment all were down to 

 a level with the canoe, and remained motion- 

 less, except the bowman, who persisted in mak- 

 ing signs perfectly unintelligible ; until at last 

 he said, in an under tone, " Dites-lui d'oter son 

 bonnet rouge," meaning my servant, an honest 

 Lancashire lad, who, not understanding a word 

 of French, had never ceased to look at the bear, 

 without once thinking of his flaming red cap. 

 " What ! " exclaimed he, as he took it off, " will 

 it frighten him ?" The interpreter and Indian 

 waded on shore, and crawling silently through 

 the bushes, were soon lost to our sight. In a 

 few minutes a couple of shots, followed by a 

 whoop, proclaimed the fate of bruin ; and we 

 landed at a convenient spot to fetch the meat. 

 While the men were absent on this errand, I 

 strolled about and saw some gooseberries and 

 currants on the bushes, still unripe ; there were 



* Sass, bear. 



