248 EAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



mule^ and lit a roaring lire, using a fallen fir as a back- 

 log, and, wrapping myself up in my blankets, was soon 

 dozing away watching the light from the fire gleam 

 fitfully among the trees. I know no more weird or fear- 

 some situation than watching by a fire in the depths of 

 the forest. A sudden flash lights up the surrounding 

 gloom, and you seem to see an Indian skulking behind 

 every bare and ghastly trunk, or fancy the hungry eyes 

 and cruel teeth of ravening wolves beset you round ; a 

 moment after, and blackness that may be felt enwraps 

 you. I don^t think I could stand it if quite alone. How- 

 ever, after a quiet pipe, I insensibly fell asleep. Next 

 morning the heads of my companions were so fearfully 

 swelled that I had to do all the cooking, and I saw 

 plain enough that there was no travelling for that day. 

 So leaving them behind to look after camp and get dinner 

 ready, I mounted what was called the horse, and started 

 for a ramble with my rifle. I saw three or four deer, and 

 I daresay I might have shot half-a-dozen had I gone 

 after them, but we had plenty of beef in the camp, and 

 I don^t care much for deer-meat. By-the-bye, why do 

 we always read of " singling out the huclc/' and settling 

 his hash for him ? The flesh of a buck at the best of 

 ^ times is far inferior to that of a doe, and in the summer 

 it is almost uneatable except by the noble red man. As 

 I was jogging along quietly smoking my matutinal pipe, 

 I came almost on the top of a couple of black bears, 

 both of them as fat and glossy as butter, and evidently 

 laying in a good stock of food before their long 

 winter^s sleep. The philosophical animal I bestrode 

 uttered a curious sort of a sound, and broke out into 

 what in a human being would be called a cold sweat, I 

 suppose, but he didn^t offer to budge one way or the 



