420 FINDING THE BEAR. 



that is, the effect of the noon-day's sun upon snow or ice in 

 the spring it was mashy, so to say, and consequently not 

 only the Skidor, but the dogs sunk nearly to the ground. 



Our little party was drawn up at a distance of from one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty paces apart, on the face 

 of a rather lofty and deeply-wooded hill. My station was 

 near to the centre of the line ; and as we were beating the 

 forest before us, one of the dogs opened at some fifty paces 

 in advance, in a manner that assured me it was the bear 

 he had faEen in with. From the advanced period of the 

 season, and the very unfavourable state of the snow, I feared 

 that if the beast was once fairly on foot we might have 

 very "great difficulty in killing him. In all silence I there- 

 fore pushed forward as fast as I could, in the hope of 

 getting a shot prior to his leaving the lair ; and when near 

 to it, I took off my Skidor, as well because some fallen trees 

 obstructed the way, as that my movements might be more 

 noiseless. 



The bear was lying near to the summit of a little knoll, 

 and at the outer edge of a thick brake ; but on the side 

 I approached him there was a small opening in the forest, 

 so that my view was nearly unobstructed. Owing, however, 

 to his being couched beneath a sort of bower, consisting of 

 several of the adjacent young pines, which he had broken or 

 torn down with his teeth and claws a form of lair, by 

 the bye, such as I never saw before or since I was not 

 aware of the beast until within some eight to ten paces of 

 his bed, and then little more than his head, which was 

 obliquely towards me, was visible; and though the dog 

 stood baying immediately near to him, and though fully 

 awake, as I saw by the rolling of his eye, he had not, 



