THE BLACK BEAR OF MUSKOKA 117 



silently up from behind, walking with long, 

 noiseless steps and seemingly still on two legs. 

 Evidently unheard, it reached the man, and broke 

 his neck by wrenching his head back with its 

 forepaws, while it buried its teeth in his throat. 

 It had not eaten the body, but apparently had 

 romped and gambolled round it in uncouth, 

 ferocious glee, occasionally rolling over and over 

 it, and had then fled back into the soundless 

 depths of the woods. 



Bauman, utterly unnerved, and believing that 

 the creature with which he had to deal was 

 something either half human or half devil, 

 abandoned everything but his rifle and struck off 

 at speed down the pass, not halting until he 

 reached the beaver-meadows, where the hobbled 

 ponies were still grazing. Mounting, he rode 

 onwards through the night, until far beyond the 

 reach of pursuit. 



President Roosevelt, referring to the trapper, 

 remarks : 



"In a few wild spots, here and there in the 

 neighbourhood of the Great Upper Lakes, there 

 still lingers an occasional representative of the old 

 wilderness hunters. They do their hunting on 

 foot, occasionally with the help of a single trailing 



