THE BLACK BEAR OF MUSKOKA m 



where they had concluded to camp, as signs of 

 game were plentiful. 



There was still an hour or two of daylight 

 left, and after building a brush lean-to and 

 throwing down and opening their packs, they 

 started up stream. The country was very dense 

 and hard to travel through, as there was much 

 down timber, although here and there the sombre 

 woodland was broken by small glades of mountain 

 grass. At dusk they again reached camp. The 

 glade in which it was pitched was not many 

 yards wide, the tall, close-set pines and firs 

 rising round it like a wall. On one side was 

 a little stream, beyond which rose the steep 

 mountain-slopes, covered with the unbroken 

 growth of the evergreen forest. 



They were surprised to find that during their 

 short absence, something, apparently a bear, 

 had visited camp, and had rummaged about 

 among their things, scattering the contents of 

 their packs, and in sheer wantonness destroying 

 their lean-to. The footprints of the beast were 

 quite plain, but at first they paid no particular 

 heed to them, busying themselves with re- 

 building the lean-to, laying out their beds and 

 stores, and lighting a fire. 



