fered every reparation in our power, in the way of humble apology or pecuniary penalty, but we had not the heart to name the real delinquents; for we could not but believe that they were so beside themselves with excitement that they could not have been restrained by any authority. The Warden, of course, admonished us, as was his duty, but kindly consented to overlook the delinquency in view of the frankness of our confession and the circumstances under which the delinquency occurred.

I had a glimpse of him, but he shot by me
Like a young hound upon a burning scent.

- [Dryden.

Know'st thou not any whom corrupting gold
Would tempt into a close exploit of death?
-[Shakspeare.

EER were at one time very abundant in this region, but merciless hunting at all seasons has either extinguished or driven them to other feeding-grounds less accessible to their inhuman enemies. It is, however, the Bears' paradise. They seem to have a penchant for the sheepfolds lying on forest borders. Every farmer considers a bear-trap as necessary as a plow, and captures are frequent.

Our first camp was in the neighborhood of several farms where bruin had marauded successfully. DUN, being the most ambitious hunter in the party, was in constant expectation of an opportu

nity to prove himself as skillful with the rifle as with the rod. In the pursuit of minor game he had found "a foeman worthy of his steel" in Judge FULLERTON, whose eye is as keen as his wit, and who bags his game as expertly as he extracts truth from a reluctant witness. The two were well matched. Some of their contests for the championship "astonished the natives," and would have secured them backers for the proposed international "shoot" at the Centennial. Both of them had "slain their thousands" of every living thing, from chipmunk to deer, but neither had ever fleshed his maiden bullet in a bear. Both hoped and waited; but DUN had the advantage in that he was the owner of the only rifle in camp, and made it his constant companion.

He had begun to despair of a chance to bring a bruin to book, when, while quietly enjoying his after-dinner pipe, a tiny dug-out was seen gliding rapidly across the river from the farm-house directly opposite, its occupant shouting lustily, "A bear! a bear!" This was the signal DUN long had waited for, but feared he'd die without the sound. The effect upon him, as upon all of us, was electrical. In an instant he was in the dugout, accompanied by myself as his henchman.

The moment we struck the shore our excited guide led off on the trail with a speed which would

have been creditable in a retreat, but which was bad generalship in an advance upon such an enemy. The foolish fellow did not seem to understand that his followers had neither his wind nor his muscle, and that, without a little practice, it was quite impossible to ascend a precipitous mountain-side at a two-forty pace, even though a bear's scalp might be the prize awaiting us at the end of the race. We had run four or five hundred yards at our best speed, when our guide, far in advance of us, yelled out, "Here he is! here he is!" in such thundertones as would have "struck terror to the souls" of a thousand bears, had they been in the neighborhood. The cry, however, was inspiriting. Although DUN was already "blowed," the heralded proximity of the enemy gave him new life, and he scrambled forward, rifle in hand, with an energy which lifted him in my estimation to the dignity of an exhaustless wind instrument. For myself, I could only lie down and pant. On sped DUN, however, like an Indian runner, determined to have that bear's hide or die for it. But luck

was against him. As the guide yelled out, “There he goes!" I saw the beast rise the brow of the hill and scamper out of sight, unscathed. But my discomfitted friend had had "a good drive out of him," and but for the stupidity of the excited bumpkin, he could have achieved his life's ambi

tion. It only required a cautious approach; for at the first alarm, the bear was quietly feeding upon the carcass of a sheep, and would have continued his repast until gorged, had he not been disturbed.

Moose are still numerous, but at this season are generally far back in the mountains. An occasional straggler, however, finds his way into the valleys. Their tracks are seen everywhere along the river, but it was our fortune (last year) to see but one in motion. He was fording the river two or three hundred yards below our camp at the Forks, and but for the tumult made by our excited Indian guides, he could have been bagged. As it was, he escaped, a rifle ball following him at random as he passed into the woods. He was about the size, color and shape of a Jersey cow.

Moose, like deer, have been hunted unmercifully, and are by no means as plentiful as they were twenty years ago, when it was an easy matter to kill a dozen in a week within ten miles of our present encampment. Their threatened extermination induced the enactment of very stringent laws for their protection; and as such laws are more respected here than by the "free and independent electors" on our own borders, within a few years moose, like salmon, will be as plenty as in their palmiest days.

Of small game, duck are most abundant. In