"See what he does first," the hunter continued. "It is evident that this animal has fed, else it would not return to its lair. You know that bears go out but little; if we are lucky enough to deal with a bear that has had a good dinner, it will be an immense advantage for us."
"Why so?"
"For the simple reason," Valentine said with a laugh, "that, like all people whose meal hours are irregular, when bears sit down to dinner, they eat with extreme gluttony, which renders them heavy, sleepy, and deprives them, in a word, of one half their faculties."
"Hum!" Don Miguel observed; "I fancy what is left them is quite enough."
"And so do I; but, quiet, I fancy the beast has made up his mind."
"That is to say," Don Pablo remarked, "that it is making its arrangements to attack us."
"That is what I meant to say," Valentine replied.
"Well, we will not let it make the first demonstration."
"Oh, don't be frightened, Don Miguel, I am used to bear hunting; this one certainly does not expect what I am preparing for it."
"Providing you do not miss your shot: in that case we should be lost," Don Miguel observed.