120 FORTY-FOUR YEARS OF 



rain that it was like swimming through a river. But into 

 It I went, half angry at myself for going so far from home 

 to hunt. On I went, however, breaking and tearing- 

 through the thick laurel like a frightened ox would have 

 done if he had had a hornet's-nest tied to his tail. I was 

 as wet as I could be, and was obliged sometimes to crawl 

 on my hands and feet under the laurel ; at other times, to 

 walk on the tops of thick beds of it, until I was so heated 

 that I stopped to take a drink ; when the reflection of my 

 face in the water looked like the full moon, setting behind 

 a cloud on a murky evening in Indian summer. 



On I went, till I got to my camp ; when, finding that 

 my horse had gone, I ate my breakfast, and then followed 

 his trail till I found him safe at home. As the day was 

 very warm, I knew that the flies had by this time been so 

 long on my meat that it would not be worth anything ; so 

 I did not go for it : and all I got for that job was the 

 hide. 



Being much dissatisfied with that hunt, I took with me 

 Hugh McMullen, and went on Deep Creek to seek another 

 bear. On account of the high water, we had to travel 

 about four miles down the stream, in order to cross on a 

 large drift, to get to the ground on which we wished to 

 hunt. 



We found the drift, and got over ; and as soon as the 

 dogs entered the hunting-ground, away they went, at full 

 cry, Hugh and I followed at our best speed, until we 

 were near the creek ; when we heard a bear and the dogs 

 plunging through the water. Not knowing what sort of 

 a bear it was, and fearing that the dogs might be killed, 

 we hastened to the creek, which was from fifteen to twenty 

 feet wide. Thinking that I could clear it with a running 

 jump, I started at full speed, and sprang for the other 

 bank, which I reached ; but, not being able to recover my 

 balance, down I went, to my arm-pits, and my gun went 



