A H II N T E R ' S L I F E . 133 



honse with the news, autl I took a musket, and my largp 

 bull-dog, and went to the spring, which was nearly a hun- 

 dred yards from the house. As I drew near, the bear 

 came down off the tree, and the bull-dog ran in and laid 

 hold of him. The bear gave him one slap on the jaw. 

 when he bawled out and ran home. Watch seized the 

 bear by the ham, and ran round and round with him, till 

 he was glad to run up the same tree again. As I was 

 then quite close to the bear, I took aim, and killed him at 

 the first fire." 



The Colenel said he had come lo tell me to send for my 

 bear. But as it was the first he had ever killed, I told 

 him to keep the skin and half the meat, and I would send 

 for the other half another day. 



The winter continued to be very severe till March ; 

 when there came on a thaw, which melted off the old 

 snow. 



I had heard of a great den of bears on Meadow Moun- 

 tain, called the Big Gap ; and on the 4th day of April, 

 1803, Hugh and I started to hunt bears on our old hunt- 

 ing-ground ; and during a chase, we found ourselves on 

 the ground of which we had heard so much about bears 

 denning in, or, as the hunters call it, "holing." I pro- 

 posed to Hugh to look for their dens ; to which he agreed, 

 and so we went in search of the place. 



In half an hour we were in the greatest place for bear's 

 holes I ever saw in my life. I really believe that at least 

 twenty had lain in one acre of rocks. However, they had 

 all left their holes, to go out and eat acorns, except an old 

 female and her younglings, which were located in a deep 

 place in the rocks. Our dogs found them before we got 

 near the place, and the old one fought with great fury, 

 while her cubs ran for life. As they passed me, I shot 

 one, and killed it, though Hugh missed the one at which 

 he 'ired. We then went to the assistance of the dog.'i 

 12 



