162 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



the clearing,* evidently with the intention of attacking his 

 drove of sheep. Seizing my unloaded gun, and hastily 

 charging both barrels with bullets, I rushed down to join 

 him, in the state of deshabille I had been sitting. From 

 an eminence a few yards from the house we took a survey : 

 no bear could be seen ; but the timid sheep were huddled 

 in a fence corner, evidently having suffered no ordinary 

 fright. 



With anxious gaze we scanned the inclosure; several 

 times a blackened, charred stump, the memento of some 

 giant monarch of the forest, was supposed to be the bear. 

 Again and again our mistake was found out, and a new ob- 

 ject was metamorphosed into Bruin. Ten minutes were 

 thus spent, the flock of sheep became, if possible, more un- 

 easy, when, with sudden energy, they made a simultaneous 

 dash and crossed to the far side of the field ; still no bear 

 was visible, but that he was close at hand was evident. 

 Loss of time or prolonged suspense began to make us care- 

 less ; an advance into the field had even been proposed, and 

 was about to be executed, when the sheep made another 

 start, evidently intent on returning to the position we found 

 them in ; but as they passed a log out rushed Bruin, and 

 cut off the retreat of the hindermost. The poor victim 

 made two or three feeble efforts to regain his fellows, then 

 turned and looked his enemy in the face, and from that mo- 

 ment succumbed to fate, at the same time retaining the use 

 of his legs. Nor did Bruin rush up and seize him. He 

 only headed him off when inclined to turn out of the prop- 

 er direction, driving him all the time toward the right side 

 of the field, which edged on a piece of swamp. Soon the 

 fence was gained ; here the sheep's fortitude forsook him, 

 and as both landlord and self had followed as close in rear 



* Where the forest has been cut away for cultivation. 



