A COURAGEOUS HUNTER. 277 



amusement with the settlers in the backwoods. The 

 animal is chased by dogs, which soon cause it either to 

 ' tree ' or to come to bay in some spot where it can 

 defend itself with advantage. The hunter then steals 

 up, while the bear's attention is drawn off by the dogs, 

 and delivers the fatal bullet from a distance of a few 

 yards. Should the incensed animal, however, get the 

 hunter within his clutches, he will make him pay 

 dearly for his temerity in venturing to such close 

 quarters. 



" When the bear takes refuge from his pursuers in a 

 cave or in a hollow tree, he is forced from its shelter by 

 smoke. Sometimes he is taken in pens, or is caught 

 beneath a ponderous log, so arranged as to fall on the 

 springing of a trigger to which the bait is attached. 

 But it must be confessed that these methods of capture 

 do not recommend themselves to the true hunter, who 

 trusts chiefly to his rifle to win a victory over the 

 denizens of the wilderness. 



" I have observed that at the approach of cold 

 weather the bear sometimes retires to a cave in which 

 to hibernate. Should the hunter discover this retreat, 

 and be sufficiently courageous, he will enter, and by 

 the light of a torch attack the bear in his den. Some- 

 times the passage is so low and narrow that the hunter 

 has to crawl forward, pushing his light along in front 

 of him. To do this the more easily, the torch usually 

 a rough candle made of wild bees' wax, tempered with 

 bear's grease or some similar substance is fixed in a 



