44 



FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



raining too hard for him to practice on shooting bear any more 

 that day. 



We skinned the bear, hung up the meat, took the trap and skin 

 and went back up the creek and set the trap in the same place 

 again. Taking the bear skin we started back to where we left the 

 other bear. After carrying the whole bear and bear skin until it 

 was dark, we hung the bear skin up in the crotch of a tree, tak- 

 ing the bear and hurrying to camp at as lively a gait as we were 

 able to make. 



Hill said that while we had had a pretty rough day of it he 

 would make it all up in getting the joke on Benson if I would 

 not give him away on shooting the bears, as Hill was to tell Ben- 

 son all about how he did it. 



Before we came to camp I said to Hill that if he cared to we 

 would play a joke on Benson. He wished to know what the plan 

 was. I said that we would fix the bear up in the path that led 

 from the shack to the spring and get Benson to go after a pail 

 of water and run onto the bear. So we planned to have Benson 

 think that we got no bear and after supper was over I was to 

 take the pail and start to the spring after a pail of fresh water 

 when Hill was to interfere and insist that Benson should go for 

 the water as he had been in camp all day and needed exercise. 



It was about a hundred feet from the shack to the spring and 

 down quite a steep bank and about half way from the shack to 

 the spring was a beech log across the path. When we got near 

 camp we made no noise and when we came to the spring we washed 

 our hands carefully to remove any blood that might be on them. 

 Then we took the bear to the log that was across the path and 

 placed the forepaws and shoulders up over the log leaving the 

 hind parts on the ground, then with a small crotched stick placed 

 under the bear's throat to hold up its head we had it fixed up to 

 look as natural as we were able to in the dark. 



We went into the shack looking as downcast as a motherless 

 colt. It was unnecessary to deny getting any bear for Benson 

 told us almost before we were inside that we should have known 

 that we would get no bear in any such weather as we were hav- 

 ing and none but simpletons would have gone out in such rain. 



