ON THE LABRADOR. 67 



of these birds within two hundred yards of Broomfield's 

 house, and with the aid of a Paradox had lessened their 

 numbers by eleven, being at length driven to desist by 

 the sheer tameness of our quarry. But here, where the 

 grouse had probably never seen man or been startled by 

 his foot-steps, the birds rose at a hundred yards. The 

 reason was soon obvious, for along the height of the 

 ridge the ground was seamed with fox-tracks. 



I had been walking not more than half an hour when, 

 taking a zigzag path up a hillside, I entered a grove of 

 trees and beneath a juniper cut the track of a black bear, 

 Following it, I soon came upon evident sign of its fresh- 

 ness, for in the soft ground it was perfectly clear that it 

 had been made since the rain. The bear had been 

 feeding upon the berries over which I had walked, and 

 moreover he had dined not wisely, but too well, since, 

 after the manner of the Roman emperors, the great 

 creature had vomited a part of his feast and had begun 

 feeding again immediately afterwards. I do not think 

 the bear could at any time have been more than two or 

 three minutes ahead of me, and had I hurried across the 

 moss where my foot-falls were noiseless it is quite possible 

 that I should have seen him before he entered an area of 

 bush where the highest juniper did not reach ten feet, but 

 where low scrub and fallen timber made it necessary to 

 clear the ground before every step. Twenty yards deep 

 in this unfortunate thicket I heard the bear moving on 

 my right hand. Here the bushes appeared to open out, 

 and seeing free ground underfoot, I walked rapidly in 

 that direction. But this time defeat came from above, 

 not from below. The jagged branches of a dead pine 

 touched the felt hat I was wearing, producing a thin 

 and penetrating sound. I heard two sticks break, and 



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