NATURE'S REALM. 29 
ers, commonly cedar, of sizes and shapes suit- 
able. Bear and moose skins are usually 
stretched between two trees a suitable distance 
apart, according to the size of the skin. 
. The next morning on turning out there were 
strong signs of Mr. Bruin having been pros- 
pecting around the camp the day previous. 
‘‘Now,” says Fred, ‘‘this old chap has a 
strong notion of house-breaking ; it is not safe 
to trust him. I'll go up and interview him if 
possible while you get breakfast, as we must go 
on the river to-day,” and catching up ‘ Kill- 
deer,” as he calls his Winchester, and dropping 
a few cartridges, wound his way up to the old 
horse 
Now, Fred did not want to shoot this bear; 
he would rather have left him run or sleep 
until spring, for the good and valid reason that 
his skin would probably fetch ten dollars more 
in price. Fred got along as easy as possible, 
as Mr. Bruin is sharp in the hearing line, but 
when within fifty yards he caught sight of the 
dead horse. Mr. Bruin just having completed 
his morning meal, and possibly hearing Fred, 
was leaving quite slowly and was in the act of 
climbing over a rather high windfall a few 
yards away. Killdeer in an instant spoke, and, 
although nearly over the log, Mr. Bruin fell 
back growling horribly. No wonder. The ball 
had caught the backbone, breaking it, and de- 
flecting, went through the shoulder, breaking 
the bone there also. Mr. Bruin was still alive 
but could not keep his feet, and Killdeer had to 
speak to him twice before he ceased struggling. 
Fred having been nearly caught once by a 
wounded bear which he declares was sham- 
ming dead, registered a vow that he would make 
‘“‘siccar ” (Scottish for sure) ever after. He 
had set a bear trap (wooden) in a small, steep 
ravine one hundred and fifty yards from the 
main river and passing in his dug-out he landed, 
touching the canoe on the steep shore, and 
walked up to examine the trap. On nearing 
the trap he espied a good, large-sized bear 
making frantic efforts to release himself of the 
heavy weight across his loins. Fred at this 
time carried a heavy Colt’'s, with which he could 
do good shooting, so, coming up close and hav- 
ing a fair chance, he placed two balls into Mr. 
Bruin, aiming for the heart. The bear at once 
seemed to give up the ghost and Fred at once 
proceeded to throw the weights off in order to 
drag the bear to the canoe. It took him only 
a minute or so to do this, and he turned to twist 
a withe to haul by. but hearing a growl he 
wheeled about and within five yards of him 
was Mr. Bear on his feet, blood and froth issu- 
ing from his mouth. Remembering his revol- 
ver was empty, Fred dashed down the ravine 
at the best speed he could put in and lucky it 
was for him the track was good, being an old 
lumber road. It was run, Fred, now; Bruin’s 
after you! Fred got there first—none too soon, 
though, for his canoe as he pushed her from 
the bank and jumped in, was not twenty feet 
away when Mr. Bear jumped ater him, but a 
blow or two of his paddle sent the canoe out of 
reach. Fred quickly filled up the chambers of 
his Colt and as Mr. Bear neared him again he 
made a target of his head until Mr. Colt was 
emptied, and Mr. Bruin was floating with a 
riddled head. It made Fred careful ever after 
not to trust to appearances. By the time Joe 
got up Fred had the pelt nearly off, and, shoul- 
dering a ham each, they went to breakfast. The 
bear was in good condition and fat from, as 
Joe said, the effect of his ten days’ high feeding 
on trap baits. 
Manning a-canoe down river they went some 
eight miles and on the return gathered up four 
beavers, two otters, seven minks and fourteen 
musquash. Two beavers were lost, one having 
cut his foot and left it in the trap ; an otter had 
fished another out of a trap and torn him to 
pieces. The water had risen and flooded their 
traps, which caused them to miss game they 
otherwise would have caught, and the still 
ponds were badly frozen. How would your 
readers like the sport of a day’s polling when 
the ice makes upon the pole you hold so that 
it is necessary to beat it every little while to 
take the ice off it, growing so stout your hand 
is unable to grasp it ? 
Next day the other eight miles above camp 
had to be gone over in the same manner after 
acold night. They could not start until the 
sun got up to soften the ice somewhat, After 
a hard day they reached camp near midnight 
with three beaver, four minks and twenty-two 
muskrats, and having by some manner unac- 
