WINTER IN THE BACKWOODS 259 



and attack a man. With ordinary care these 

 attacks can be avoided. The bear will not pay 

 any heed tola person who steps aside from her 

 path, and does not awaken her suspicion. The 

 danger is when one suddenly meets a she-bear 

 with her young along a narrow path of a round, 

 sharp, hidden turn. A friend of mine once passed 

 within six yards of a bear, and being somewhat 

 amused by her indifference, threw a piece of stick 

 in her direction. Immediately she turned on him, 

 and had it not been for a rifle-shot he would have 

 experienced some rough handling. I myself 

 was once pursued for a mile by a she-bear at 

 whom I had foolishly fired a revolver, and my 

 horse, having a strong antipathy to even the smell 

 of bears, nearly threw me from the saddle in 

 his terror-stricken flight. 



One morning we awoke to discover a sudden 

 change had taken place in the weather. During 

 the previous night there had been a rapid thaw. 

 As I proceeded to where we had stored our traps, 

 the surface ice upon the snow broke at every 

 step, and drenched me to the waist with slush 

 and water. The short distance occupied a long 

 time to traverse, and when I returned to camp 

 I was almost as wet from perspiration as from 



