The Conversion of Trapper Lewis 269 



be hot ! and for a moment a feeling of triumph 

 overcame every other sensation. He'll sneer at 

 Canady, will he? Guess I'll show him show him 

 what ? 



The triumphant feeling fizzled out, and in its 

 stead arose a sensation of utter loneliness. A 

 second glance at the track detected a number of 

 little holes in the mud. Claws had left those traces, 

 and a series of sickly tremors crept up my spine as 

 I peered nervously into the surrounding cover. At 

 last I moved forward, but halted before I had 

 covered thirty yards. What was the outrageous 

 thumping in my chest, as though some imprisoned 

 thing were trying to beat its way out ? I knew 

 what it was, but I could not stop it. Did I really 

 want to kill the bear had it ever, by word or deed, 

 injured me? I felt that it had not. Why then was 

 I so keen to slay the poor creature why was I 

 there at all ? 



I began to wish myself well out of it. Why 

 hadn't the fool bear stuck to the other side of the 

 creek ? Lewis was a bear hunter, and the proper 

 man for the animal to interview. Were there two 

 bears ? If there were, this one wasn't the bear I 

 was after. Old Lewis was after my bear. I had 

 nothing against this one; in fact, it wasn't the bear 

 at all ! Besides, mebbe the old man was right when 

 he said that a shot-gun was no good for bear. I 

 came precious near going over to see old Lewis 

 about it ! 



I figured out that mebbe if I broke a stick or two, 

 or made a little noise, this bear would sneak away 

 and I could go on and slay the right one. Finally, 



