us, and when we rounded the headland, we saw that
he and Wood had headed, and were driving him towards
a small island, of less than half an acre, covered
only with low bushes, half a mile down the lake.
We did not propose to harm him, but we intended to
drive him upon that little island, and by surrounding
it, keep him there for a while by way of experimenting
upon his fears, or rather as Martin said, “to
see what he would do.” As he approached
the shore, he bounded upon the island, and tossing
his head from side to side, as if looking for a place
of concealment or escape. Finding none, he dashed
across to the opposite side and plunged into the lake.
He was met by the Doctor and Smith, and turned back.
He rushed in another direction, across the island,
to be headed by the boat in which I was seated, and
again in another direction to be headed by Spalding.
Thus met and driven back at every turn, he at last
stationed himself on a high knoll, near the centre
of the island, apparently expecting that the last
struggle for life was to be made there. We rested
upon our oars, making no noise, and watching his movements.
The bushes were low, coming only up midside to the
animal. He watched us latently for half an hour,
tossing his head up and down, looking first at one,
then at another, as if calculating from which the
attack upon his life was to come. At last, as
if overcome by weariness, or concluding that after
all there was no real danger, he laid quietly down.
In answer to his confidence in the harmlessness of
our intentions, we rowed away back to the island where
we started him. We had not reached it, however,
when we saw him enter the water, and swim to the main
land, and glad enough he seemed to be when he had
regained the protection of his native forests.
We took our dogs from the island, and rowed to the
broad channel of the inlet which enters the lake on
the left hand side, as you look to the south.
There are two of these inlets, which enter within a
quarter of a mile of each other, each of which comes
down from little lakes, or ponds, deeper in the wilderness.
The one we entered flows in a tortuous course through
a natural meadow, stretching away on either hand forty
or fifty rods, to a dense forest of spruce, maple,
and beech, above which gigantic pines stand stately
and tall in their pride. Three miles from the
lake, the hills approach each other, and the little
river comes plunging down through a gorge, over shelving
rocks, and around great boulders, as if mad with the
obstructions piled up in its way.
As we approached these falls, Smith, who sat in the
bow of the boat, motioned to the boatman to lay upon
his oars, and pointed to an object partly concealed
by some low bushes, forty or fifty rods in advance
of us. Remaining perfectly still a moment, we
saw a bear step out upon a boulder, look up and down
the stream, and stretch his long nose out over the
water, as if looking for a good place to cross the