CHAPTER X. 



A TERILOUS BEAR-HUNT A DEBATING SOCIETY 



PANTHER HUNT DISASTROUS EVENTS DEATH 



OF ERSKINE DEPARTURE. 



The winter sleep of bears — The she-bear and cubs in the cave — 

 Our perilous hunt — Erskine — Debating society in the woods — 

 Questions discussed — My proposition — Adventure with a pan- 

 ther — Our wounds — Bad sport — Hunting with the Indians — 

 The skeletons in the cave — Erskine's fatal encounter with the 

 bear — My wounded shoulder — Indian surgery — I decline set- 

 tling in the woods — sorrowful leave-taking. 



"We had no trifle to carry, and were very glad to reach 

 home ; but our feet Avere hardly out of the stirrups 

 when we heard that some Indians had looked in. 

 They had discovered a cave which certainly contained 

 a bear, but the Cherokees, who had first found it, had 

 not ventured to penetrate far, as it was deep and nar- 

 row. This was grist to our mill. The skins and meat 

 were stowed away, the rifles discharged and cleaned, 

 horses fed, and all prepared for a regular hunt. We 

 passed the evening in telling stories about bears ; 

 among others Conwell related the following anecdote 

 respecting their winter sleep : " In this southern 

 climate, the bear generally lays up about Christmas, 

 or the beginning of the year, and remains till the end 

 of February ; if the weather is then mild he comes out 

 occasionally, and sometimes he does not return to his 



(312) 



