48 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



ing light of our watch-fire, or some roving beast of prey, attract- 

 ed by the savory vapors of our evening meal, startle us from our 

 slumbers. " Once, while on a timber-hunting excursion," said a 

 messmate, " on the east branch of the Penobscot, the night being 

 very mild, and feeling too much fatigued to make the usual prep- 

 arations for security, we built our fire near the trunk of a large 

 prostrate tree. "When we laid down our heads were near the 

 fallen tree, which protected us somewhat from the current of 

 air, but we were without covering, except the spreading branch- 

 es of the trees. We had not lain long before we heard a heavy 

 tramping some little way off. It approached nearer and nearer, 

 until the animal seemed directly upon us. 



" As I lay upon my back, I turned my eyes upward, when they 

 met the full gaze of a large bear, which stood with its fore paws 

 on the log directly over my head. In an instant I sprang upon 

 my feet, and, seizing a brand from the fire, I hurled it after him, 

 at the same instant making the woods tremble with the echo of 

 my voice. 



" Alarmed at my sudden motions, and more than all at the 

 fiery messenger, which emitted thousands of sparks as it whiz- 

 zed along after him, glancing from tree to tree in its course, at 

 each concussion emitting new volleys of fiery particles, without 

 stopping to apologize for his intrusion upon our sleeping apart- 

 ment, he plunged into the forest at full speed. By the rustling 

 of dry leaves and the cracking of fallen limbs, we could hear 

 him a long way off, with unabated energy fleeing from the object 

 of his terror. Next morning we came across an old she-bear and 

 her cubs. We had a spirited little dog with us, who instantly 

 encountered the bear ; but one blow from her paw completely 

 disabled him, and his injuries proved so serious that we were 

 obliged to kill the little fellow, much to our regret, for, of all 

 places in the world, the companionship of a good dog is most val- 

 ued in the woods. One of our men caught a cub ; it struggled 



