A H n NT er'r T, r F r. 127 



cominp: nearer home, the bear at last ran into a large 

 glade, in full view of Colonel Lynn's house. It so hap- 

 y)ened that General Lee, an old Revolutionary ofiBcer, who 

 fought with General Washington, was on his road to the 

 West, and had stopped with Colonel Lynn a few days. 

 When the dogs and the bear came in sight, the whole 

 family, together with General Lee, came out to see the 

 sport. Hugh and I came into the glade, and commenced 

 hostilities at once ; and after three rounds fired at him, 

 the bear yielded to superior numbers, there being four to 

 one ; and he died like a hero, fighting till the last breath 

 left him. 



As the time was approaching when it would become ne- 

 cessary for me to prepare my winter stock of meat, Hugh and 

 I took our dogs and guns, and set off for the Little Cross- 

 ings, which, in those days, was the best hunting-ground I 

 knew of. We were late in reaching our camp ; but I 

 started out, and soon encountered a herd of deer, of 

 which I shot two. We brought these to the camp that 

 evening ; and agreed to meet at the camp the following 

 morning, if either one saw any bear tracks, there being a 

 light snow on the ground. We met at noon, as Hugh had 

 found the tracks of a bear ; and, having eaten our dinner, 

 we started to follow the track, which, after tracing it three 

 or four miles, seemed to terminate in a small thicket of laurel. 

 As neither of us had ever been there before, we did not know 

 how to take advantage of the ground ; there being two 

 thick swamps, one on each side of a hill, and this little 

 thicket situated on the top of the latter, with clear ground 

 on both sides. 



As we found that our dogs winded the bear in the little 

 thicket, we slipped them into it ; and in a few minutes 

 they were in the midst of I know not how many bears, but 

 it is certain that seven of the largest kind ran out on the 

 south side of the hill ; and Hugh told me that he saw at 



