SOME EARLY EXPERIENCES. 53 



We followed the trail of the men as fast as we could for we were 

 quite sure they must have stopped over night not far from there 

 for it was nearly dark when they killed the bear. Their trail led 

 down the hillside to the main stream, then down the creek and we 

 hustled after them as fast as we could go. After going down the 

 creek a mile or more we saw a smoke and Uncle said, "There the 

 varmints are," and he was right. We were none too soon as 

 the men were already hitching the horses to the sleigh ready to 

 start off. We could see that the bear was already on the sleigh, 

 although it was covered over with a blanket. The men started 

 at us but did not say a word. 



Uncle walked up to the end of the sleigh, caught a corner of 

 the blanket, threw it back and uncovered the bear. Then taking 

 the bear by the foreleg he gave it a flop onto the ground saying, 

 "You have a bear, haven't you," and the bear rolled to the ground 

 and uncovered the trap ; Uncle said, ''You have a trap, too, haven't 

 you." Not a word did any of the men say and when Uncle asked 

 them who they were and where they lived, one of them said that 

 they did not intend to steal the bear but were going to take it to 

 the first house and leave it for us. 



Uncle told them that we did not care to have the bear go in 

 that direction and told the men they must take the bear to our 

 camp and their intentions were to steal the bear and trap and 

 that they had better settle the matter at once. The men were 

 ready to settle and asked what it would cost and Uncle told them 

 if they would take the bear to our camp and then leave the woods 

 and not be caught in that section again, that he would let them 

 go. This they readily consented to do and insisted that we take 

 a part of a cheese they had brought in with them. Uncle told 

 them that we did not care for their cheese or anything else they 

 had all that we wanted was that they take the bear to our camp 

 and get out of the woods. This they did and one of them also 

 took the cheese along and left it at the camp. Then they left, 

 begging that we would not say anything farther about the matter. 

 We learned that the men did not live down the creek but 

 instead lived in New York State. They had come for a few days' 

 deer hunting and had only made a shelter of hemlock boughs. 



