light snow had fallen, I
was satisfied that it was a bear going back and forth from his
lodging quarters to his feeding grounds.

So I left the trail of the deer and took up the trail of the bear,
taking the track that I thought had been made last. I did not follow
the trail far, which led along the brow of the ridge, when I saw that
the several different bear tracks were forming into one trail and
making in the direction of several large hemlock trees that had been
turned out by the roots and lay in a jumbled up mess. I followed the
trail carefully until I was certain that the bear had entered the
jungle of timber. Here I worked carefully around the jam of timber
until sure that the bear was in the jungle and that it would be
impossible for me to get near the bear. The density of brush and
undergrowth was such that I would drive the bear out before I could
get close enough to Bruin to get a shot at him. And this was a time,
when I longed for a pard.

Being convinced that I could do nothing alone, I got out on one side
of the trail the bear had made in going back and forth and watched
until dark, in hopes that Bruin would come out on his way to his
feeding grounds. But in this I was mistaken so was obliged to give up
the hunt for the time being and make tracks for the shanty. My camp
was about five or six miles from Edgcomb Place, this being the
nearest point to where anyone lived, where I might get help to rout
Bruin. The Edgcomb Place was a sort of a half way house, it being
about fourteen miles either way to a settlement. The stage made one
trip a week over this road and stopped at Edgcomb Place for dinner
and often some one would come out from town in the stage and stop
there for a few days' hunt. It was one of these parties that I was in
hopes of getting to help me out in this bear hunt.

I started in the morning before daylight as the stage had gone the
Kettel Creek way the day before, which was in my favor of catching
help at the hotel. As good luck proved to be on my side, I found a
man at the hotel by the name of John Howard, who was stopping there
for a few days' hunt. He was more than anxious to join me in the bear
hunt. We hastened back to camp so as to get onto the job as quickly
as possible. We got to the shanty about noon and got a hasty lunch
and started out to wake Bruin up if he was still sleeping where I had
left him.

When we got to the jam of timber, we found that he had been to his
feeding g