“A bar! d’you say?” demanded Ike, shooting forward on his old mare.
“A bar!” cried Redwood, breaking through the bushes in pursuit.
“A bear!” shouted the others, all putting spurs to their horses, and galloping forward in a body.
“Where, doctor? Where?” cried several.
“Yonder,” replied the doctor, “just by that great tree. I saw him go in there—a grizzly, I’m sure.”
It was this idea that had put the doctor in such affright, and caused him to ride back so suddenly.
“Nonsense, doctor,” said the naturalist, “we are yet far to the east of the range of the grizzly bear. It was a black bear you saw.”
“As I live,” replied the doctor, “it was not black, anything but that. I should know the black bear. It was a light brown colour—almost yellowish.”
“Oh! that’s no criterion. The black bear is found with many varieties of colour. I have seen them of the colour you describe. It must be one of them. The grizzly is not found so far to the eastward, although it is possible we may see them soon; but not in woods like these.”
There was no time for farther explanation. We had come up to the spot where the bear had been seen; and although an unpractised eye could have detected no traces of the animal’s presence, old Ike, Redwood, and the hunter-naturalist could follow its trail over the bed of fallen leaves, almost as fast as they could walk. Both the guides had dismounted, and with their bodies slightly bent, and leading their horses after them, commenced tracking the bear. From Ike’s manner one would have fancied that he was guided by scent rather than by sight.