BEAR HUNTING. 
273 
longer space so to become; and scarcely less familiar with his 
brother, who, at that time, held a farm in the valley just below 
our feet. I had been resident at Tom’s above six weeks; and, 
during that spell, as he would call it, we had achieved much 
highly pleasant and exciting slaughter of Quail, Woodcock, and 
Partridge ; not overlooking sundry Foxes, red, black, and gray, 
and four or five right Stags of ten, whose blood had dyed the 
limpid waters of the Greenwood Lake. It was late in the 
autumn ; the leaves had fallen ; and lo ! one morning we awoke 
and found the earth carpeted far and near with smooth white 
snow. Enough had fallen in the night to cover the whole sur¬ 
face of the fields, hill, vale, and cultivated level, with one wide 
vest of virgin purity—but that was all! for it had cleared off 
early in the morning, and frozen somewhat crisply; and then a 
brisk breeze rising, had swept it from the trees, before the sun 
had gained sufficient power to thaw the burthen of the loaded 
branches. 
“ Tom and I, therefore, set forth, after breakfast, with dog 
and gun, to beat up a large bevy of Quail which we had found 
on the preceding evening, when it was quite too late to profit 
by the find, in a great buckwheat stubble, a quarter of a mile 
hence on the southern slope. After a merry tramp, we flushed 
them in a hedgerow, drove them up into this swale, and used 
them up considerable, as Tom said. The last three birds pitched 
into that bank just above you; and, as we followed them, we 
came across what Tom pronounced, upon the instant, to be the 
fresh track of a Bear. Leaving the meaner game, we set our¬ 
selves to work immediately to trail old bruin to his lair, if pos¬ 
sible ;—the rather that, from the loss of a toe, Tom confidently, 
and with many oaths, asserted that this was no other than ‘ the 
damndest etarnal biggest Bar that ever had been knowed in 
Warwick,’—one that had been acquainted with the sheep and 
calves of all the farmers round, for many a year of riot and im¬ 
punity. In less than ten minutes we had traced him to this 
cave, whereunto the track led visibly, and whence no track re¬ 
turned. The moment we Jiad housed him, Tom left me with 
18 
VOL. II. 
