300 The Wilde^niess Hunter. 



brook, the ground being carpeted with a sponge of soaked 

 moss. At the head of this brook was a pond covered with 

 water-hhes ; and a scramble through a rocky pass took me 

 into a high, wet valley, where the thick growth of spruce 

 was broken by occasional strips of meadow. In this 

 valley the moose carcass lay, well at the upper end. 



In moccasined feet I trod softly through the soundless 

 woods. Under the dark branches it was already dusk, 

 and the air had the cool chill of evening. As I neared 

 the clump where the body lay, I walked with redoubled 

 caution, watching and listening with strained alertness. 

 Then I heard a twig snap ; and my blood leaped, for I 

 knew the bear was at his supper. In another moment I 

 saw his shaggy, brown form. He was working with all 

 his awkward giant strength, trying to bury the carcass, 

 twistine it to one side and the other with wonderful ease. 

 Once he got angry and suddenly gave it a tremendous 

 cuff with his paw ; in his bearing he had something half 

 humorous, half devilish. I crept up within forty yards ; 

 b'jt for several minutes he would not keep his head still. 

 Then something attracted his attention in the forest, and 

 he stood motionless looking towards it, broadside to me, 

 with his fore-paws planted on the carcass. This gave me 

 my chance. I drew a very fine bead between his eye and 

 ear, and pulled trigger. He dropped like a steer when 

 struck with a pole-axe. 



If there is a good hiding-place handy it is better to lie 

 in wait at the carcass. One day on the head-waters of the 

 Madison, I found that a bear was coming to an elk I had 

 shot some days before ; and I at once determined to am- 



