NE day, in a long tramp through 

 the heavy forest that borders 

 3 the Little Southwest River, I came 



upon a dim old road that had been bushed 

 the previous winter and, having nothing 

 better to do, followed it to see whither it 

 would lead me. Other feet than mine had 

 recently gone on the same errand, for every 

 soft spot in the earth, every moldering log 

 and patch of swamp moss and muddy place 

 beside the brook, had deep footprints and 

 claw marks to tell me that Mooween the 

 bear had gone back and forth many times 

 165 



