332 A NIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS. 



growling. I saw him disappear in the valley. It was 

 evident he thought the place suspicious, and though as 

 long as daylight lasted I watched for his return, I saw 

 him no more. 



Freed from my unwelcome neighbour, I decided on de- 

 scending my tree to cut off a few slices of the bear's meat, 

 which I had suspended to the branches of the oak. Having 

 done so, I climbed back to my position ; away I climbed 

 to the very top, so that I could see nothing above my 

 head but the blue sky of night, in which the stars were 

 beginning to sparkle. 



I made my arrangements for passing the night as com- 

 fortably as possible, and stretched myself along a forked 

 bough, with my head resting on a kind of pillow formed 

 by an accumulation of Spanish moss. 1 attempted to 

 sleep ; but the presence and cries of the owls rendered 

 the thing difficult. These birds seemed to have undertaken 

 the task of disturbing my rest; they ceased not to wheel 

 around the tree where I was posted, striking the air with 

 their wings, and heaving their lugubrious cries, while 

 their round eyes shone in the darkness like flaming car- 

 buncles. 



The moon soon reached its zenith, and its rays struck 

 directly upon my head. In their sweet soft lustre the 

 landscape assumed quite a different aspect; the valley, 

 suddenly illuminated, shone like a broad ribbon of silver 

 in the midst of the two sombre mountain-masses which 

 inclosed it. The noisy cayeutes sallied forth to animate 

 the scene, or rather to give it a drearier and more repul- 

 sive character. These carnivora, attracted by the smell 

 of the dead flesh, arrived from all quarters, and rushing 



