INDICATIONS OF BRUIN'S RESIDENCE. 165 



Turning from the rivulet, we clambered up the 

 side of the ravine for a few hundred feet, the trees 

 becoming fewer and smaller as we ascended. In an 

 indentation in the ground which looked as if it 

 were formed by a giant, with a crowbar, who had 

 pried out an immense boulder was an orifice large 

 enough for a man to crawl into. Some debris of 

 animal matter, plenty of old bleached-looking brown 

 hair, and a musky odour such as one gets a whiff 

 of occasionally at the * Zoo/ were sufficient to 

 indicate Bruin's residence without the sight of his 

 name on a brass plate over the door. How many of 

 these formidable animals might there be in this 

 retreat ? Any number, from one to half-a-dozen ! 

 From my knowledge of the appearance and habits 

 of the animal, I should say the latter number 

 was not improbable ; and I expressed myself to 

 that effect to my companion. ' Like enough/ said 

 the old man. 



Our plan of operations was first to endeavour to 

 smoke the brutes out. If the floor of the cave 

 ascended, this could be accomplished easily enough, 

 for the smoke would circulate throughout its entire 

 limits, and force them to bolt, when their destruction 

 could be effected with despatch, and without danger ; 

 but if the floor of the cavern was deeper than the 

 entrance, the lightness of the smoke would pre- 

 vent its descending beneath the level of the fire, and 

 the animals would be free from its noxious influences. 



For half an hour we both toiled collecting all 



