ON THE PRAIRIE 213 



a patch of dead timber grown up with berry 

 hushes. He noticed a black object which he 

 took to be a stump ; for during the past 

 lays we had each of us made one or two 

 clever stalks up to charred logs which our 

 imagination converted into bears. On com- 

 ing near, however, the object suddenly took 

 to its heels; he followed over frightful 

 ground at the pony's best pace, until it 

 stumbled and fell down. By this time he 

 was close on the bear, which had just 

 reached the edge of the wood. Picking him- 

 self up, he rushed after it, hearing it growl- 

 ing ahead of him ; after running some fifty 

 yards the sound stopped, and he stood still 

 listening. He saw and heard nothing, until 

 he happened to cast his eyes upwards, and 

 there was the bear, almost overhead, and 

 about twent feet up a tree; and in as 



many seconds afterwards it came down to 

 the ground with a bounce, stone dead. It 

 was a young bear, in its second year, and 



probably never before seen a man. v 

 accounted for the ease with which it was 



