310 THE CAROLINA MOUNTAINS 
hunters, was finally given up when Dr. Mitchell's 
son, according to Big Tom, said to the men, " I give 
you a thousand thanks, but please hunt again to- 
morrow." Upon which Big Tom volunteered to take 
the lead and it is said he went searching for the miss- 
ing man crying all the way. 
The first trace was found eleven days after the 
disappearance, when Big Tom, sure of signs that no 
one less experienced in woodcraft could have seen, 
the mark of heel-tacks on a root, a stone displaced, 
weeds bent, a mark on a rotten log, went from point 
to point until he saw the missing man's hat on a log 
by a streamside. Above was a deep pool at the foot 
of a waterfall — the hat had floated down from there. 
Big Tom at this point tells the story thus. " I yelled 
and they answered me. They came on. ' I 've found 
his hat.' They all huddled up. And I walked on a 
log and saw him. * Come around, boys, poor old fel- 
ler, here he is.' 'Have you found him?' * I have — '" 
and old Tom's voice breaks and the tears are stream- 
ing down his face. Dr. Mitchell, although so well 
acquainted with the mountain, was believed to have 
become lost in a fog and to have fallen over the preci- 
pice above the cataract whose icy water kept the 
body in perfect condition until it was found. It was 
finally buried on the summit of the mountain so dear 
to him, and whose name was changed in his honor. 
Big Tom was the most famous bear hunter in this 
region, but when we saw him years ago his hunting 
days were over, and his tall form was bent with age, 
but he loved to tell of the by-gone days and his bear 
