est with the light step
of a strong youth and the precision of a practised hunter. About four
miles from the Indian camp he came upon the track of a bear, the
footprints of which proved that it was an unusually large one. He
followed it up closely, and was led by it to a spot where some trees had
been cut down, and not far from which he saw what appeared to him to be
the remains of a trap. Almost at the same moment of his making this
discovery he heard a growl, and saw the bear itself--a monster of the
brown species, which differs from the ordinary black bear of America in
being more carnivorous and much larger, as well as more savage and bold.
No sooner did it see the youth than it rushed upon him with great fury.
A piece of broken line was drawn tight round its neck, and another
piece round its fore-leg, while four arrows stuck in its shoulder and
side, showing plainly that it had broken loose from a snare and had been
attacked by man. But Lawrence had no time to think on these things. He
had barely time to throw forward and cock his gun when the bear was upon
him. It rose on its hind-legs, and in doing so towered high above the
youth, who, whatever his feelings might have been, looked undismayed.
With an unflinching eye he took aim at the monster's heart, and shot it
dead. So close was it to him that he singed the hair on its breast and
had to leap to one side to avoid being struck as it fell.

Reloading quickly, the young hunter advanced towards the trap, where his
worst fears were realised, for near to it he found the body of an Indian
torn limb from limb, and mostly eaten, except the head, which remained
entire. It was evident that the poor man, having set several snares for
bears, had gone to visit them, and found this brown bear caught by the
head and leg. He seemed to have tried to kill it with arrows, but must
have been afraid to go near enough to use his weapons with effect, and
the enraged animal, having broken the snare, flew upon him and tore him
to pieces.

Brown bears of this kind are very powerful. One traveller in these
regions saw the footprints of a large one, which, having seized a
moose-deer in a river, dragged it for a quarter of a mile along the
sandy banks, and afterwards devoured it all except part of the
hind-quarters; and the moose which had been treated in this
unceremonious way, judging from the size and hardness of the bones, must
have been upwards of a year old, when it would w