388 
IVILB BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
Bob whispered to me, “ Look sharp, there are 
bears here, more than one I think, and if they’ve 
heard us, they’ll be somewhere alongside this rock, 
I reckon, or maybe up above.” We crept along, 
and beneath the fallen timber; but it was so dark, 
owing to the great number of young spruce which 
had pushed their way upwards, that a dozen bears 
might have moved without our seeing one. 
We now arrived at a small open space, about 
20 feet square ; this was a delightful change from 
the darkness and obstructions. The ground in 
this spot was a deep mass of pine needles, and in 
this soft material there were three or four round 
depressions, quite smooth, and about i8 inches 
deep ; these were the beds of bears, where in 
undisturbed solitude they were in the habit of 
sleeping after their nocturnal rambles. 
I was of opinion that we had disturbed our 
game, as several times we had accidentally broken 
a dead branch, with a loud report, when clambering 
through the abominable route. However, we crept 
forward round the base of the rock, and arrived 
in the darkest and thickest place that we had 
hitherto experienced. 
At this moment we heard a sharp report, as a 
dead branch snapped immediately in our front. 
For an instant I saw a large black shadow appar¬ 
ently walking along the trunk of a fallen pine. 
I could not see the sight of my rifle in the deep 
gloom, but I fired, and was answered by a short 
growl and a momentary crash among the branches. 
