een so great, and her rest was so profound,
that the customary warnings failed of their effect. The girl murmured
in her sleep, threw an arm forward, smiled as gently as an infant in
its cradle, but still slumbered. In making this unconscious gesture,
her hand fell on some object that was warm, and in the half unconscious
state in which she lay, she connected the circumstance with her habits.
At the next moment, a rude attack was made on her side, as if a rooting
animal were thrusting its snout beneath, with a desire to force her
position, and then, uttering the name of "Judith" she awoke. As the
startled girl arose to a sitting attitude she perceived that some dark
object sprang from her, scattering the leaves and snapping the fallen
twigs in its haste. Opening her eyes, and recovering from the first
confusion and astonishment of her situation, Hetty perceived a cub, of
the common American brown bear, balancing itself on its hinder legs, and
still looking towards her, as if doubtful whether it would be safe to
trust itself near her person again. The first impulse of Hetty, who had
been mistress of several of these cubs, was to run and seize the little
creature as a prize, but a loud growl warned her of the danger of such
a procedure. Recoiling a few steps, the girl looked hurriedly round, and
perceived the dam, watching her movements with fiery eyes at no great
distance. A hollow tree, that once been the home of bees, having
recently fallen, the mother with two more cubs was feasting on the
dainty food that this accident had placed within her reach; while the
first kept a jealous eye on the situation of its truant and reckless
young.

It would exceed all the means of human knowledge to presume to analyze
the influences that govern the acts of the lower animals. On this
occasion, the dam, though proverbially fierce when its young is thought
to be in danger, manifested no intention to attack the girl. It quitted
the honey, and advanced to a place within twenty feet of her, where it
raised itself on its hind legs and balanced its body in a sort of angry,
growling discontent, but approached no nearer. Happily, Hetty did not
fly. On the contrary, though not without terror, she knelt with her face
towards the animal, and with clasped hands and uplifted eyes, repeated
the prayer of the previous night. This act of devotion was not the
result of alarm, but it was a duty she never neglected to perform
ere she slept, and when the