x THE BEAR 221 



hitting it through the neck, as it was gazing directly towards us ; 

 it fell dead, without moving a foot. 



We rode up to the buck ; it was in beautiful condition, but the 

 horns were in velvet, and were useless. I now watched with 

 admiration the wonderful dexterity with which Bob, as a profes- 

 sional skin-hunter, divested this buck of its hide. It appeared to 

 me that I could hardly take off my own clothes (if I were to 

 commence with my greatcoat) quicker than he ripped off the skin 

 from this beautiful beast. With very little delay, the hide was 

 neatly folded up, and secured to the Mexican saddle by the long 

 leathern thongs, which form portions of that excellent invention. 



Bob remounted his mare, with the skin strapped behind the 

 cantle, like a military valise ; and we continued on our way. 

 "That was a quick shot, Bob." "Yes, 2J dollars, or 2 dollars 

 at least, I'll get for that skin ; you see there's no game that pays 

 us like the black-tail, and I never let one go if I can help it; 

 they're easy to shoot, easy to skin, easy to dry, and easy to sell at 

 a good price, and more than that, they're handy to pack upon a 

 mule." 



That little incident having passed, we again relapsed into 

 silence, and rode slowly forward, with a wide-awake look-out on 

 every side. 



We had ridden about a mile, when the fresh tracks of bears 

 that had crossed our route caused a sudden halt, and we immedi- 

 ately dismounted to examine them. They were of average size, 

 and there could be no doubt, from the short stride of each pace, 

 that they were retiring leisurely, after a night's ramble, to the beds 

 in which they usually laid up. We led our horses to a small glade 

 of good grass that was not far distant, and left them in the usual 

 manner. 



We now commenced tracking, which was simple enough, as the 

 heavy footprints were distinct, and the bears had been travelling 

 tolerably straight towards home. At length, after nearly a mile 

 of this easy work, we arrived at a portion of the forest where some 

 hurricane must in former years have levelled several hundred acres. 

 The trees were lying about in confused heaps, piled in many places 

 one upon the other, in the greatest confusion. None of them were 

 absolutely rotten, but the branches were exceedingly brittle, and, 

 if broken, they snapped like a pistol shot, making a noiseless 

 advance most difficult. Through this chaos of fallen timber the 

 young spruce had grown with extreme vigour, and I never ex- 

 perienced greater difficulty in making my way than in this tangled 

 and obdurate mass of long trunks of gnarled trees, and branches 



