168 PORTY-FOUR YEARS OP 



cold. " Well," said I, " this is enough to kill any man ; 

 and I will go home, if it takes me till daylight to- 

 morrow." 



Off I started ; and after travelling about a mile, I got 

 so tired that I thought I would go to Mrs. Lynn's, the 

 widow of my old friend Colonel Lynn. I had then about 

 two miles to go ; and as I was making my way as I best 

 could on the top of a high mountain, my dog ran off at 

 full speed, and presently I heard him barking. Feeling 

 confident that he had a coon, I went to him, and found 

 him looking under a large rock. 



The dog was old, and had been so severely bitten by 

 coons, that he had become afraid of them ; and as he 

 stood barking outside, thinking it was surely a coon under 

 the rock, I urged him to take hold of him. 



He went in, and did take hold of the animal ; but I 

 soon found that it was not a coon, but a bear. I called 

 off the dog, and going close to the hole, waited for the 

 bear to come out, intending to have a good shot at him , 

 but he would not stir. I then commenced building a fire, 

 in order that I might see him ; and as I was gathering 

 sticks with which to make a light, I heard a rush at the 

 other side of the rock ; and, looking around, I saw the 

 bear running off. 



1 could get no sight on my gun, but fired at random, as 

 he ran, with the dog in full pursuit. They were soon out 

 of sight ; but finding, by the noise, that they were making 

 a turn, I ran across and met them ; when, seeing me be 

 fore, and the dog behind him, the bear climbed a tree ; but 

 as he came out against the light of the sky, I fired, and 

 down he dropped, dead. I took his entrails out and left 

 him, to be carried home with the other two. I then con- 

 tinued my course for Mis. Lynn's, where I arrived at nine 

 ■i'clock, and the following morning I went home. 



A-fte' getting my bears home, three or four hunters and 



