188 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



nity to prove himself as skillful with the rifle as 

 with the rod. In the pursuit of minor game he 

 had found "a foeman worthy of his steel" in 

 Judge FULLERTON, whose eye is as keen as his wit, 

 and who bags his game as expertly as he extracts 

 truth from a reluctant witness. The two were well 

 matched. Some of their contests for the cham- 

 pionship " astonished the natives," and would have 

 secured them backers for the proposed interna- 

 tional " shoot " at the Centennial. Both of them 

 had " slain their thousands " of every living thing, 

 from chipmunk to deer, but neither had ever 

 fleshed his maiden bullet in a bear. Both hoped 

 and waited ; but DUN had the advantage in that 

 he was the owner of the only rifle in camp, and 

 made it his constant companion. 



He had begun to despair of a chance to bring a 

 bruin to book, when, while quietly enjoying his 

 after-dinner pipe, a tiny dug-out was seen gliding 

 rapidly across the river from the farm-house di- 

 rectly opposite, its occupant shouting lustily, " A 

 bear ! a bear ! " This was the signal DUN long 

 had waited for, but feared he'd die without the 

 sound. The effect upon him, as upon all of us, 

 was electrical. In an instant he was in the dug- 

 out, accompanied by myself as his henchman. 



The moment we struck the shore our excited 

 guide led off on the trail with a speed which would 



