when Hill was out to tell Benson which way to go so that
he would be sure to find the deer and the next morning the boys went
out and brought in the deer while I went to look after some traps.
The boys stayed a day or two longer and then went home declaring that
they had had the best hunt of their lives.

I will now tell of some of my hunting and trapping with Mr. Nelson
and my first experience with a big cat. About 1860, when I was a mere
chunk of a boy, a man by the name of Perry Holman was camping on the
extreme headwaters of Pine Creek, hunting and trapping. Early one
morning Mr. Holman came out of the woods after groceries and other
necessaries. On his way out he saw where a small bear had crossed the
road just at the top of the hill on the old Jersey Shore turnpike and
about five miles from Mr. Nelson's place. Mr. Nelson at that time
always kept one or two good bear dogs. Mr. Holman told Mr. Nelson of
the bear's track and said that the bear had gone into a laurel patch
on the west side of the road and that the track was very fresh. He
thought if Mr. Nelson would take his dogs and go out that he could
get the bear without much trouble as he believed the bear would still
be in the laurels close to the road.

Mr. Nelson told Mr. Holman to get his groceries while he would come
to see if I would go along to look after the team while Mr. Nelson
and Mr. Holman went into the laurels after the bear. Of course, I was
ready for anything that had hunt in it. The sleighing was good and
Mr. Nelson was soon ready, taking his dogs into the sleigh so that
they would not break off on the track of a deer or some other animal.

When we came to where Mr. Holman saw the bear or cub, Mr. Nelson, or
Uncle as we always called him, said to Mr. Holman before he got out
of the sleigh:

"Perry, that is no cub's track; that is a big cat and I think we will
find him in the laurel patch."

Uncle told me to stay with the team and that they would not be gone
long; that if the track led off he would come back to the sleigh and
I could go back with the team and he would go to Mr. Holman's camp
and stay over night and come home the next day.

The dogs were anxious to take the trail, but Uncle held them in to
the laurels. They had not been gone more than ten minutes when the
dogs began to give tongue like mischief. I could see that the dogs
were coming towards the road and in about a minute saw the biggest
cat that I had ever seen at that time,