THE DUSKY GROUSE. 147 



of tlie night. When Smith had dined, he threw himself 

 on the bed with his boots on, and this elicited tlie remark 

 from the doctor that nothing but a bear would go to bed 

 with its boots on. 



" I never knew a bear wore boots," said Smith calmly, 

 as he turned over on his side and commenced snormg so 

 remarkably well that he caused everyone to laugli heartily. 

 We rolled ourselves up in our blankets in a short time 

 after, and managed to sleep fairly well, despite the howl- 

 ing and screaming of the nocturnal animals, until the 

 cook awoke us long before daylight next morning. After 

 a bath in the lake we returned to camp and feasted on 

 the delicacies placed in the ground oven the previous 

 day, and thoroughly enjoyed them, for the roast bear was 

 excellent, though a little coarse; and as for the deer 

 heads, all I can say is that a person must eat them in the 

 wilderness to appreciate their gastronomic qualities. 

 When breakfast was over we plunged into the forest, and 

 after marching about a mile the dogs routed a stag, but 

 lie escaped by heading for the hills and seeking refuge in 

 the lake. Knowing that the hounds would not return 

 for some time, we commenced still hunting, and succeed- 

 ed in killing two deer and a bay lynx in the course of an 

 hour. The latter animal was found on the lower limb of 

 a huge pine, and from the mass of feathers on the ground 

 we inferred that it had been feeding on grouse during the 

 night or early morning. It was the feathers, in fact, that 

 had revealed its position and brought It to an untimely 

 end, and caused Smith to indulge in one of the most 

 atrocious puns he was capable of uttering, for he said 

 that the grouse and the lynx formed a concatenation. 

 The doctor and Mr. Jones having decided to take the 

 deer to camp, Smith and myself continued on our way, 

 as we intended to devote our attention to the birds. We 

 took the precaution to blaze the trees with our hunting 

 knives as we went along, for fear of losing the trail, and 



