BEAR ENCOUNTER. 385 



came down one by one, striking me with., a blow like 

 hail, and then fell the deluge. I made one dive for 

 the tent, and rolling myself up in my blanket, lay and 

 listened to the wild uproar without. It seemed as if 

 tent, point, and all must be carried away in the fierce 

 tornado. But at length the peals grew less frequent, 

 and rolled with a muffled sound back from the east, 

 showing that the storm was travelling away over the 

 wilderness. 



We now prepared breakfast, and packing up our 

 traps, turned our boats down Bog Eiver ; and soon the 

 winding stream shut Mud Lake from view. But for 

 the dreadfully rough, fatiguing carrying-places we knew 

 we must traverse on our way back, we should have 

 been exhilarated at the thought of returning once more 

 to the beautiful lake region we had left. 



As we approached the spot where the moose had 



been killed, we came upon a bear swimming the 



stream. He had evidently just finished his breakfast 



from the entrails of the moose, and was going back 



to his retreat. Had we turned the bend of the river 



a minute sooner we should have rowed plump on him, 



and had we been expecting such an encounter we 



could easily have killed him. 



17 



