254 FORTY-FOUR YRAilS OF 



CHAPTER X. 



BantA with Daiiel MoHenry — In going, kills a Deer and three Bears — Dees Du 

 pont's Cannister Powder — Rifle nearly kicks bim over — Campi! in the Snow — Fin* 

 Supper of roasted bear-meat — McHenry's Death — Goes to North Branch with 

 his son, John Lynn, to Hunt and examine the ground — Camps in thick Laurel 

 — Catastrophe — Dwelling burned, with two Grandchildren — Again visits the 

 Potomac, with his two sons, John Lynn and James Browning — Gets lost in 

 the Woods — Rough time — Has to camp out in Rain and Snow — Hair sticks fast to 

 the Pitch or Turpentine — Uncomfortable Fix — Fasts three days — Found by the 

 boys, and leaves for Home — Hunts with Enlow — Kills one Deer — Dangerous Ford- 

 ing of the River — Hunts on Cherry-Tree Meadow — Finds a Panther's track going 

 into the Laurel — Treed by the Dog— Kills it— Finds the Ball in the Scalp — Beats 

 it round, and kills a large Buck with the same Ball, having no more. 



A SHORT time after the hunt detailed at the conclusion 

 of the preceding chapter, a friend, named Daniel McHenry, 

 living eight miles distant, sent for me to come to his house 

 and join in a hunt with him ; at the same time sending me 

 some of Dupout's rifle-powder. 



As my wife had some business in that direction, we 

 agreed to meet the following day at Mr. McHenry's, and 

 return home together. 



We traveled in company until our roads parted, when I 

 went towards the hunting-ground on Meadow Mountain, 

 and found where a bear had been feeding. I stopped, 

 and, intending to watch for him, took my station on a 

 fallen tree, about eight or ten feet from the ground, and 

 there sat till after sun-down ; when, hearing a noise of 

 something coming in the dry leaves, I rose to my feet and 

 made ready for action. 



At last I saw the head of a fine doe over a large fallen 

 tree. The moment it raised its head it saw me ; when, 



