A HUNTER S LIFE. 139 



to stand there, and keep the dog quiet, while I went to 

 see what it was. Cautiously treading only on logs, and 

 other places where the bears had scratched the leaves off 

 ihe ground, I moved forward until I discovered the bear, 

 behind a large fallen spruce pine, eating nuts as fast as he 

 could find them. I waited some time to get a shot at his 

 side, but as he still kept his head toward me, I took aim 

 at him while his head was down, and shot him. Down he 

 went, and in a twinkling the dog was on him, and I fol- 

 lowed, of course. 



Friend, being a great coward, kept himself at a good 

 distance, calling to me to keep out of the bear's reach. 

 The dog was fighting desperately, and the bear was con- 

 stantly rising and falling. Seeing that he was getting 

 better of his wound, as he made a push at the dog I seized 

 his hind foot, and jerked him sideways. Being weak from 

 the efiTects of the shot, he fell, and the dog seized him by 

 the ear, whereupon I plunged my knife deep into his lights, 

 and he soon fell dead. Mr. Friend came up, and scolded 

 me for acting so foolishly, saying that I would certainly be 

 killed some day or other, if I did not quit that foolish 

 practice of fighting with my knife. 



The sun was then shining warmly, and it was a fine 

 morning for a bear to feed. We took out the entrails of 

 our prize, started off again, and walked about half a 

 mile, when I saw another bear travelling from us. I made 

 a noise, and he stopped to see what it meant, when I shot 

 him ; but off he ran, as if he was not hurt. He crossed a 

 small creek, and I followed. Friend kept on his own side, 

 and the dog with him, fighting all he could. I got into a 

 thick swamp of laurel, and presently heard Friend's gun 

 go off, when the fight ceased. I scrambled through the 

 thicket, and joined him, when I found he had laid the bear 

 dead, by shooting him through the brain. The dog had 

 run him up t tree while Friend stood at a safe distance, 



