Trail and Camp-Fire 



hill over which they had gone, and almost ran 

 into them, standing there together among the 

 sparse "quaken ash." One rose to its hind- 

 legs, and I missed it again — how, even with- 

 out sights, I don't know ; I could almost have 

 poked it with my gun. They wheeled, and 

 raced into the bushes behind them, and, seeing 

 that I had missed, I went back to Fox to look 

 for the wounded bear. 



She was not where she had fallen, and her 

 noise had stopped. It was already quite dark 

 under the willow bushes. We circled closely 

 all around them, peering beneath. They were 

 only a small patch lying on the edge of the 

 woods, and we could see everything except 

 the very center, which could only be reached 

 on hands and knees. We decided to leave that 

 part till morning. Then, after looking also 

 through the surrounding woods, I sent Fox 

 back for the horses, and watched beside the 

 bushes for the twenty minutes or so that he 

 was gone. Nothing more stirred, and we 

 rode back to camp. 



It rained hard all night, and it was still 



raining heavily when, long before daylight, we 



returned with young Fox to the bait. There 



is no need of dwelling on the disappointment 



256 



