BLACK BEAR. 139 



playing in the sun's heat with comrades, and seldom 

 quarrelling with his brethren. When passages of 

 arms take place, loye is the cause, and the battle is 

 waged more in words than blows. 



Two or three years ago, in the autumn, about mid- 

 night, I was passing through a chain of lakes in the 

 State of Maine ; the night was lit by an occasional star, 

 struggling through the rapidly fleeting dark clouds 

 for an opportunity to show the earth its brilliancy. 

 I was alone, and, save the splash of my paddle and the 

 occasional unearthly call of the loon, all was still as 

 the grave. In entering a narrow passage to avoid the 

 weeds, I had to hug the land so close that occasionally 

 the limb of a tree would brush against me or my birch- 

 bark canoe. With a suddenness that made my heart's 

 blood run cold, a yell from some unknown beast, loud, 

 shrill, and unearthly, so close that I almost believed 

 for a moment that the cause was within reach, echoed 

 from tree to tree, and died away, reverberating in the 

 distance. Again and again it was repeated. For 

 awhile I remained motionless, till the cool breeze 

 recalled me to myself, and I proceeded homewards. 

 Next morning I returned to examine the place. A 

 veteran hunter was my companion, and we found 

 such convincing proofs that bears had been there, 

 that one of them I feel certain produced this noise, 



