RENCOUNTER WITH A BEAR. 229 



him to listen to the noise, for I felt convinced it 

 emanated from no other than a bear feeding, enjoying 

 his favorite bonne bouche, the blue-berries. Young 

 America listened ; Bruin gave another grunt of evident 

 satisfaction, when the former exclaiming "bear!" 

 slid down the tree with such agility as would have 

 put in shade the majority of monkeys. As soon as 

 he reached the ground, off he started down stream, 

 but the funniest part of all was that my guide, in the 

 precipitancy of his movements, must have tripped 

 over the hummocks at least half-a-dozen times in a 

 dozen strides. When we had got thirty or forty 

 yards off, for I followed, though scarcely as rapid- 

 ly, my amour propre asserted itself, and I halted ; 

 not so with my companion ; soon he disappeared 

 through the labyrinth of shrubs, and I remained alone. 

 To my relief I found no bear was in pursuit, so, placing 

 my rod against a stalwart hemlock, I ascended its 

 branches to take a view of the situation ; for a long time 

 I could not discover Bruin, but at length detected a 

 large mass of black fur, accompanied by two smaller 

 ones, busily employed feeding. They had quitted 

 the wet ground and were on the edge of an acclivity, 

 where the mother was most industriously drawing the 

 broken fragments of shattered logs on one side, while 



