240 FORTY-FOUR YEARS OF 



after him, and had not got out of sight of En]ovv, wlieii 1 

 saw the l)car walking slowly down a hill. The leaves lieing 

 so dry that they rattled as I walked over them, I coidd 

 gain but little, if anything, on him. I had lost sight of 

 him, and expected I should see him no more, when pre- 

 sently he made a great noise in breaking through the 

 brush ; and as I knew that he could not hear me while he 

 was making such a racket himself, I ran after him till I got 

 within sight, and discovered that he was playing among 

 the dry limbs of a fallen tree. 



Hellebore is the first weed that shoots up in the spring, 

 and it grows to the height of two feet, with a stalk some- 

 what resembling that of corn, and a strong, broad leaf. It 

 grows in marshy ground ; and this place, being a narrow, 

 muddy branch, was full of it. The bear had got into the 

 mud, and was amusing himself by biting oflf the hellebores 

 and slinging them out of his way. 



This he continued to do until I was on the bank of the 

 run, and within thirty steps of him. I then knew that he 

 was ray prize, and I stood quietly looking at him playing ; 

 for I had never before seen a grown bear play. I stood 

 until he stopped his gambolling, went to the water, and 

 took a drink. 



All this time his stern was toward me, and I was afraid 

 to shoot, lest the ball should not sink deep enough to kill 

 him. But I knew that, as he mounted the hill on the op- 

 posite bank, he would turn either one side or the other to 

 me, as he would not go straight up such a steep bluff. 



After he had drank, he walked in a diagonal direction 

 up the steep bank, and turned his side to me ; but not 

 until he had got under the branches of a spruce-pine, when 

 I could see nothing but his legs. However, I had to 

 shoot then or not at all, as I knew that would be the last 

 chance I should get ; so I took aim through the limbs, as 

 if there was nothing in the way, and fired. 



