142 FORTY-FOUR YEARS OF 



his thigh. The snow being very deep, before he got a 

 hundred yards away he received another shot in the head, 

 that decided the matter. 



There were six inches thick of solid fat on the carcass, 

 which weighed three hundred pounds. We skinned and 

 quartered it, carried it to our camp, went for a horse, and 

 brought it safely home. But the poor dog had suffered 

 Borely in the fight ; for, somehow or other, he had seized 

 the bear by the snout, and had held on to him all the time 

 I heard him crying, while the bear had so torn his head 

 with his claws, that there seemed to be no hair left on it, 

 and his eyes were so much injured, that I really thought 

 he would never see again. But he recovered, and became 

 as well as ever. 



That winter passed over without anything worth record- 

 ing, until some time in March. During the winter, the 

 turkeys used to leave the glades, and go to the Potomac 

 and Cheat rivers, to feed on the steep hills, where the 

 ground was less covered with snow ; and as soon as the 

 snow melted, they returned to the glades in immense num- 

 bers. There they remained, and fed on the grasshoppers 

 until cold weather came on again. 



Turkeys having been seen in the glades, Hugh and I 

 went out to hunt them, but without success. This occurred 

 in the early part of April, and a little snow had fallen the 

 night before. As we returned in the evening, the move- 

 ments of Watch showed that he winded game. Hugh was 

 picking up chesnuts, for the woods having been burnt, the 

 snow had melted off, and left the nuts exposed. I spoke 

 low to Hugh, and told him that the dog winded something, 

 which I knew was either a bear or a coon. I kept a good 

 look out among the trees and rocks, when directly out 

 walked a large and very pretty bear. He was behind a 

 large rock, that hid him from us, and when he came out 

 he was within tventy steDs of us. I turned my gun on 



