MY LAST HUNT ON THE KINZUA. 87 



and talked over what we thought we might do the next day. 

 Then we rolled up in our blankets and it was time to get the 

 coffee boiling again before we were hardly aware that we had 

 been asleep. 



Bruin now began to act more like a sensible bear and would 

 zigzag about from one thicket to another. We now got close 

 enough to him so that we heard him in the brush several times. 

 Bill said that he thought that bruin was about to make up his 

 mind to let us take off that handcuff. He proved to be right, 

 for it was not long before bruin's trail led down onto the side 

 of a steep ravine. The sides were not more than one hundred 

 yards apart and were quite clear (only for the piles of pine 

 tree tops) from fallen trees, that had been taken out for logs. 



We were standing a little way down the side of the ravine, 

 laying plans as to our next move, as we had come to the con- 

 clusion that bruin had either turned down along the side of the 

 ravine or had gone into camp. We had planned that one would 

 go up around the head of the ravine while the other waited on 

 the trail until the one that went around should get on the opposite 

 side. While still laying plans, we saw bruin come out on the 

 opposite side and began to climb the hill. 



We had followed the bear for six days and this was the first 

 time that we had seen his lordship. He would go a few steps 

 and stop and look back. We watched our opportunity and when 

 he made a stop, we both fired. Bruin made a jump or two up 

 the hill then tumbled back down again and the fun had ended. 

 We took the entrails out and left him lying across a log and went 

 down the ravine to where there was a lumber camp and there we 

 found that we were on Dent's Run, a branch of Bennet's Branch 

 and in Elk county. 



This was the fourth county we had been in since we had 

 taken the bear's trail. They told us at the lumber camp that there 

 would be three or four teams go down to the railroad station at 

 Driftwood the next morning with spars which they were hauling 

 to the river to raft. We got a man with a yoke of oxen and a 

 bobsled to go with us and get the bear and the next morning 

 about 5 o'clock we got the bear strapped onto one of the spars 



