BEARS IN 1870, TODAY OTHER NOTES. 109 



the spur while I took the other spur. Just before reaching the top 

 of the spur, I heard Mr. Howard shoot and in a few minutes I 

 heard him shouting for help. When I got across the ridge to 

 where he was, I found him dressing a good sized buck. As it 

 was getting dark we lost no time in taking the entrails out of the 

 deer, cutting a withe with a hook, which we hooked into the 

 lower jaw of the deer. We hooked ouselves to the withe and made 

 lively tracks to the shanty, where we could talk and laugh of the 

 day's hunt. 



* * * 



We were up early the next morning and had our lunch packed 

 in our knapsack, ready for an early start. It had turned warm dur- 

 ing the night and the light snow that was on the ground, was fast 

 disappearing. So we lost no time in getting back to where we had 

 left Bruin's track the night before. We could still manage to 

 follow the trail on the snow and we soon found where Bruin 

 had broken down a few laurel and tried to make a bed. But he 

 would not stop long, apparently, when he would move on for a 

 short distance and again break down a few laurels as before to make 

 a nest. We could see a little more blood at each place where he 

 stopped than the one before. 



We were working the trail as cautious as we could, when we 

 heard a noise in the thick laurel to our left and got a glimpse of 

 Bruin going through the laurel. We emptied both barrels of our 

 guns in the direction where we could see the brush wiggle, but 

 all of our shots failed to take effect. Bruin now left this laurel 

 patch, crossed a ravine and began to climb another spur of the 

 main ridge. We did not follow the trail long, when we discovered 

 that it was becoming hard work for Bruin to travel far at a time, 

 as he would stop to rest. The snow was now gone so that it was 

 a little more difficult to follow the trail of the bear. We thought 

 that it would be better for one of us to go up the ravine to the 

 top of the ridge and stand about where he thought that the bear 

 would come out at the top of the ridge. Mr. Howard went to the 

 ridge, while I was to follow the bear's trail. 



After waiting long enough to give Mr. Howard time to get 

 to the top of the ridge, I took up the trail of the bear. I had not 



