THE EERINESS OF BRUIN. 181 



shadow, we made out a great brown form, 

 looking twice its real size in the dim light. 



There is something undeniably eery about 

 Bruin at night. The mysterious way in 

 which he appears from the dark recesses of 

 the thick woods or the distant peaks, where 

 he has been keeping out of sight all day ; his 

 slow, solemn movements, and the absolute 

 silence he keeps, make him different from 

 all other beasts. The boar can't help grunt- 

 ing out his pleasure, or holding converse with 

 his kind ; the wolf and jackal make the night 

 hideous with their bowlings ; everything else 

 is more or less noisy, but Bruin alone steps 

 out of the darkness, silent as a shadow, to 

 return as noiselessly as he came. 



Just below us was a slope of short grass 

 between the patches of standmg corn, and 

 here the bear seemed likely to cross. This 

 would be our chance, as the dark line of his 

 back just above the ears of corn did not 



