A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH 121 



out one of the cubs near the top, standing up amid 

 the branches, and peering down at him. This he 

 killed. Further search only revealed a mass of 

 foliage apparently more dense than usual, but a 

 bullet sent into it was followed by loud whimpering 

 and crying, and the other baby bear came tumbling 

 down. In leaving the place, greatly puzzled as to 

 what had become of the mother bear, Uncle Nathan 

 followed another of her frozen tracks, and after 

 about a quarter of a mile saw beside it, upon the 

 snow, the fresh trail he had been in search of. In 

 making her escape, the bear had stepped exactly in 

 her old tracks that were hard and icy, and had thus 

 left no mark till she took to the snow again. 



During his trapping expeditions into the woods 

 in midwinter, I was curious to know how Uncle 

 Nathan passed the nights, as we were twice pinched 

 with the cold at that season in our tent and blan- 

 kets. It was no trouble to keep warm, he said, 

 in the coldest weather. As night approached, he 

 would select a place for his camp on the side of a 

 hill. With one of his snow-shoes he would shovel 

 out the snow till the ground was reached, carrying 

 the snow out in front, as we scrape the earth out of 

 the side of a hill to level up a place for the house 

 and yard. On this level place, which, however, 

 was made to incline slightly toward the hill, his 

 bed of boughs was made. On the ground he had 

 uncovered he built his fire. His bed was thus on 

 a level with the fire, and the heat could not thaw 

 the snow under him and let him down, or the burn* 



