The dogs are much too frightened to go near him. They bark at a distance. One man fires a shot and hits. The bear shows his teeth and hisses as he makes a rush forwards. Another shot makes him look round, and the dogs grow bolder. A shot in the muzzle makes him quite furious, and he springs at one of the dogs. He catches one dog by the back and flings it howling over the snow. Then he springs at the other, and tears his ear or paw. Wild with fury, he rushes toward his attackers, but between them he is soon laid low, and carried off in a sleigh. His skin alone will be worth many dollars, and the flesh more, so that with the Government grant, the men will have a comfortable little sum each as a result of their hunting.
It is not without danger, this bear-hunt, neither is it certain of success; for if the bear once dodges the early shots, he will manage to get through the trees and disappear in a way that is almost uncanny. So when a man has once been on a bear-hunt and brought his prey safely home, he becomes a hero in his village.
—From "Finn and Samoyad".
Draw a diagram, showing:
1. A hollow tree.
2. A pile of rocks.
3. A fallen pine-tree.
4. The track made by the bear in seeking a winter bed.
5. The bear's stopping place.
6. The track made by the hunter in a circle.
You will have to indicate the two tracks by two different kinds of lines.
What is a spoor?
[IS IT THE SAME BEAR?]
In Longfellow's "Hiawatha," the poet describes a bear asleep, as follows:
"He had stolen the Belt of Wampum,
From the Great Bear of the mountains,
From the terror of the nations,
As he lay asleep and cumbrous
On the summit of the mountains,
Like a rock with mosses on it,
Spotted brown and gray with mosses."