A hunter's LIFE. 149 



I knew that he had followed the track of either a bear or 

 a coon, and presently I heard him in full chase, cominp; 

 towards me. I made up my mind to shoot running or 

 standing, as I thought it was a deer. I looked for the 

 tail, but saw neither deer nor tail, though directly a bear 

 came running toward me at full speed. I stood still till 

 h ' came within seven stops of me, when I took no sight, 

 but held the gun against him, and fired. The bear never 

 stopped, though I saw the ball strike, but too far forward 

 to kill him. I reloaded as soon as possible, and ran out 

 of the laurel, and knowing there was a path made by the 

 bears, which I also knew he would keep, as it led into a 

 great swamp, I ran on the clear ground till I got below 

 him, and then going into the path, I soon saw him coming 

 toward mc, fighting the dog off as lie walked along. When 

 he had approached quite near enough, I hissed at him, 

 upon which he looked at me, laid back his ears, and came 

 faster toward me. I knew that he intended to make a 

 fight; and taking aim at his head, I held on till he was 

 within five steps, when I was certain my aim would send 

 the ball into his body if I should miss his head, and I was 

 also satisfied that my lock would not miss firing. When 

 he arrived at the place I desired him to be in, I fired, and 

 down he dropped, as flat as a bullock would have fallen. 

 I mounted him in a moment, and drove my knife into him 

 up to the handle, after which he never drew another 

 breath. He weighed fully three hundred pounds. I took 

 out his entrails ; and finding him to be a fine fat fellow, I 

 felt as if Mary's faith had surpassed mine, and in my heart 

 I thanked God for the gift. 



I then opened his stomach, to see what he had been 

 feeding on ; and finding that he was full of red-oak acorns, 

 I knew where to hunt for others. Accordingly, I went 

 out to the top of a hill covered with red-oaks, and saw 

 wb^re a very large bear had been that morning. He had 

 13* 



