4<D FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



the bear had taken this bait. I now took one of the traps at the 

 pen, leaving the clog and all appearances as though the trap still 

 remained there. Getting another clog I concealed it under the 

 edge of the bank and set the trap under the bait that I had hung 

 in the bush. I was certain this time that I would outwit Bruin, 

 but instead, the bear went onto the bank, pulled the bush around, 

 took the bait and went about his business. Now I was getting 

 pretty excited and began to think of the advice of Uncle Horatio 

 but I was not willing to give up yet. 



Up the brook, fifty or sixty feet from the bait pen, there had 

 fallen a small, bushy hemlock tree which stood on the right hand 

 bank of the spring, and the top of the tree reached nearly over to 

 the opposite bank. I had noticed that when the bear had come 

 to the trap he had come down the brook and went back the same 

 way. The water was shallow in the brook, barely covering the 

 stones and fallen leaves all over the bed of the brook. Going to 

 the top of the hemlock tree, I saw that the bear had passed between 

 the top of this tree and the bank of the brook. Here was a fine 

 place to conceal the trap and I said, "Old fellow, here I will surely 

 outwit you." I took the trap from the bait pen and set it in the 

 open space between the top of the tree and concealing all the 

 very best I could, I again put more bait in the bait pen and hung 

 up more on the bush. 



I waited two days and then went to the traps again, wonder-r 

 ing all the way what the result would be. Well, it was the same 

 as before. The bear had gone to the bush on the bank, taken the 

 bait, and had also taken the bait from the bait pen as usual. Now 

 I thought it quite time to try Uncle's plan, though I had but little 

 faith in it. 



It was several miles to Mr. Haskins', the nearest house, but 

 I lost no time in getting there for I was now feeling desperate. 

 Mr. Haskins readily consented to help me build a deadfall. We 

 cut a beech tree that was about fourteen inches through, that stood 

 back in thick undergrowth some rods from the bait pen. We cut 

 a portion about four feet long from the large end of the tree for 

 the bed-piece and placing it against the small tree for one of the 

 stakes. With levers we placed the tree on top of the bed-piece 



