294 WILD SPORTS IX THE FAR WEST. 



be better off, but for one circumstance tlmt embittered 

 our existence and exposed us to numberless dangers. 

 There was a tribe of Tuskarora Indians in our vicinity, 

 who had been driven out of the north, probably by the 

 French, and who plundered and murdered whenever 

 they found an opportunity. Amongst other things, 

 they had stolen a number of horses, and that so cun- 

 ningly, that for a long time they eluded all our efforts 

 to trace them. The mountains ended in a bluff several 

 miles long, and from twenty to thirty feet high, so steep 

 that no bear, let alone a horse, could have descended it. 

 As soon as a horse was missed, those who went to seek 

 him examined each end of the cliff, without ever finding 

 any traces of the animal. I was then about twenty- 

 two years old, and one day I Avas out with my dog, — 

 and such a dog I have never seen since. Old Beef 

 here is a good fellow, but that one had a cross of a bull 

 in him ; well, we came on the trail of a fat bear — for 

 fat he was — of that I had infallible signs ; in the first 

 place, because he had crossed a sandy bed of a small 

 stream where his footsteps were deeply impressed, 

 showing the balls round and full ; secondly, I found 

 that he had not eaten the acorns with their cups, but 

 had taken the trouble to separate them. I fancied he 

 could not be far off, and followed up the trail, which 

 led towards the bluff ; at about two hundred yards from 

 it, he had entered the stony bed of a brook. I kept 

 close up Avith the dog, making as little noise as possible, 

 and only taking my eje off the trail Avhen a turn or 

 higher ground gave me a chance of seeing the beast. 

 As I proceeded I was astonished to find traces of horses 

 leading towards the bluff. Two capital horses had been 



