Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-12-12

| have gone very far said Thompson, with
out that clog getting wedged tight some
where"
He had scarcely got the words out Of his
mouth, when an exclamation from "Bub, "
who was ahead, brought us all to a stand
still Here's the clog and chain, and the
bar and the trap has gone to the deuce ~
and sure enough, the clog had become wedged
| in the root of tree and the bear was no.
| where to be seen. Upon examination, the
hook made Of bar of iron Il half of an inch
! thick which linked the chain to the trap,
had been bent straight by an exertion of pow
er almost incredible, and the bear had walk
ed off, leaving, no doubt very much to his re-
| lief, the remembrance behind ole must be
a reglar old setlar, remarked Thompson, as
| he knocked the ashes from his pipe and pre-
pared for chase that was likely to be long
and lively The trap still left trail that it
was possible TO follow at a smart walk, and
accordingly We took up our line Of march
with old Allen leading the way.
The trail led at first through a compnra-
| lively open forest Of naples, ash and spruce
intermiXed, and progress was easy and rapid
| The naples had begun to assume their most
! brilliant tints, and their flaming hues of red
and yellow contrastcd finely with the dark
! green foliage Of the spruce and frs, while
! the mountain ash hung heavy with rich red
]
bracing and this, with the prospect of cap
turing a bear, produced n high state Of exhil-
| arntion in Cnch one of the party. The trail
soon led us by an old sugar camp. The old
! log shauty of the camp was in tolerable
state Of preservation, although the hedge
! hogs had made some attempts at forcing an
entrance with their teeth. The roughly
| hewn troughs to catch the sap still lay under
the trees where they had been left last spring
After a half hours hard travelling We enter
| ed the heavy spruce forest which covers near
! ly all the White and Frnnconia mountains
making II solitary wilderness Of thousand
| square miles Of the mountain region Of New
| Hampshire The ground was covered every
| where with thick growth of mosses, into
which the foot sank to the ankle at every
| step. Trees in every stage of decay were ly-
ing upon the ground in great profusion
| some so far gone that nothing but a long line
of moss-coverrd dust marked their graves ;
! Others outwardly sound, but now and then
letting some incautious individual Of the par
| ty up to his knees in their rotten substance ;
while others had caught in the branches of
their comrades before they reached the
| ground, and lay like dying mouarchs in the
| arms Of their attendants The trees seemed
| to have but Il loose hold of the soil the latter
| being light and yielding, and the roots run
| ming only along the surface and stalwart
trees sometimes fell without any apparent
cause. 1t not iufrequently happens that the
hunter, as he sits by his solitary camp at
| night with the dead silence of the forest
around him broken only by the Pickering of
the flames, is startled from his reverie by
duh booming sound at some distant point in
| the forest, or by sudden roar aud crash
near by which rolls away in prolonged echoes
through the forest The hunters say that it
is the trees that are falling. but can give no
| reason for this mysterious phenomenon.
Hence it happens that tinge of superstition
| is often infused into the life of the hunter,
| ignorant Of the secret operations of nature,
and predisposes him to believe and relate
many wild and ghostly tale of the forest.
The trail was now followed mainly by the
marks the trap had left on the logs which the
bear had climbed over, the soft aud spongy
moss rarely leaving any permanent impress
sion We had proceeded some time in 81
lence through the gloomy arches of the forest,
Shf4 Keen TqggfTPS sgs PsGSarSs TIE "t6bfs1ltt bslt
around The trail had disappeared. Bid
| ding the rest of us to stand where We were,
he advanced cautiously for some distance,
examining the ground carefully "a he went,
but without success. Calling "Bub' to his
| aid, they started in opposite directions and
| commenced to describe circle around the
| spot where the last turn Of the bear could be
| seen. but met without discovering which di-
rection the bear had taken. Starting again,
the size of the circle was increased and the
| ground examined still more mnutely. ! cast
my eyes up into the trees, wondering il it
| were possible for a bear to climb a tree with
three legs. but not a hair of Bruno's black
hide was visible among the green foliage
above. Pretty quick the voice of "Bub" was
heard way below us in the forest. Here
she Is. The bear had probably been reliev-
| ing himself by walking on two legs. The
trail now seemed to be quite fresh, and
| Thompson thought We might come up with
| the bear very soon. "Bub" anxious TO kill
his first bear, now led the way, while the old
man fell behind Word was passed along to
| keep perfect silence, that the bear might not
take the alarm too soon and get too long n
| start of ms. On We went threading the
woods with batcd breath and eyes straining
into the forest ahead, until we once more came
to a sudden halt. Up stump again shout
| ed "Bub.' The trail had once more dsap-
| peared. The old man came forward and an
| other circle was described After few min
utes of careful search it was again taken up i'll
a new direction. "Bub" again taking the
lead, every now aud then We stopped and lis
| tened to hear the cank of the trap, but ev-
| erything was quiet.
The trail was now very easily followed and
| We lhtIthNtt our pace Nutll II tultlBtu lIbu
a walk into a steady "dog-trot" We had
proceeded in this manner some fifteen or
| twenty minutes when ''Bub' stopped with u
suddenness which nearly caused me, who was
| following next behind, to turn a summersault
| backwards. Clank cank, came q sound
from the forest just ahead. shout broke
| from every lip, "rho bear the bear" A
short aud sharp run brought us in sight of
the bear. who stopped on seeing his pursuers
raised himself on his launches and coolly
awaited our approach
He was a huge fellow with malicious eye
that looked as though he meant to give us
trouble. We cautiously approached, keeping
a sharp lookout for small trees to climb in
case there should be any sudden and urgent
| necessity for such movement. When with
| in about ten PAGES, 'Bub" halted raised his
| piece and fired The heavy buckshot ratified
among the bones that composed bruins skull
| He WINGED little, closed his eyes and gave
| n powerful sneeze Us though he had sudden
| ly taken dose of snuff up his nostrils, and
| bounded of Mt his fastest pace, the trap clat-
| tering at every leap. Away We went with n
whoop and yell, The bear kept up a tre-
mendous pace on his three legs, crashing
like an OK through the bushes and leaping
| the logs like n kid. 1t required our utmost
| efforts to keep him in sight But on We
went the trees flying by us like animated
| beings until good mile of forest was left be-
| hind, and the sweat began 10 pour in streams
from our reeking bodies, Still the bear
showed no signs of slackening his pace, and
still over moss covered rocks and moscow
cred logs we swept, now catching in the
branches of some fallen tree, now stumbling
headlong over rotten log, until our knees
knocked together from fatigue, and we were
pretty far gone in that condition usually de-
scribed as winded.
Old Thompson showed indomitable pluck,
his gray hair streaming out from under his
hat and his legs describing parabolic curves
as he took the logs at flying leap, while he
| ierked out something between his teeth that
sounded very much like, 'R-r-r-r-run,
d-d-d-a-a-am yer I'll ca-ca-a-atch yer, if yer
run to the de-de-evil."
Still on went the bear until some high