the early morning had suddenly inter- 

 rupted the camp chorus, and I was 

 greeted with the inquiry, " Where's the 

 deer?" 



"That deer/' said I, "is a bear, and 

 he's big as a horse. I left him up in the 

 woods. We'll go and get him after 

 breakfast." 



Bige allowed that "if it really was a 

 bear, he wasn't hurt much. You 

 couldn't kill a bear with that pop-gun. 

 (I was using a Winchester 30). Why, 

 a bear's hide is thicker than sole-leather 

 and this time of year he has an armor- 

 plate of fat under it, six inches thick. 

 You might as well try to shoot a hole 

 through a feather pillow. If you are 

 going to hunt bear, take an elephant- 

 gun a 45-90." 



After breakfast, we all started out on 

 the trail of the bear. We found blood 

 spots in the log-road. We also meas- 

 ured a foot print in a soft place in the 

 path. It was twelve inches in diameter. 

 Broken bushes, blood spots on fallen 



67 



