inanimate object.  But his imagination was always on the alert, and as he often feared dangers that arose undefinable and indescribable in his mind, it was not without some trepidation that he had separated himself from the horses and groped his way toward the object that had so much terrified his pony.  He paused within a few feet of the object, and waited for the next flash of lightning to scrutinize the thing more closely before putting his hand upon it.  But no flash came, and he grew tired of standing.  He stooped down, so as to bring the upper portion of it in a line with the sky beyond, but still he could not make it out.  He ventured still nearer, and stared at it long and steadily, but to no avail:  the black mass only was before him, seemingly inanimate, and of a deeper hue than the darkness around.

“I’ve a notion to try my whip on you,” said he, thinking if it should be a human being it would doubtless make a movement.  He started back with a momentary conviction that he heard a rush creak under its feet.  But as it still maintained its position, he soon concluded the noise to have been only imaginary, and venturing quite close gave it a smart blow with his whip.  Instantaneously poor Joe was rolling on the earth, almost insensible, and the dark object disappeared rushing through the bushes into the woods.  The noise attracted Glenn, who now approached the scene, and with no little surprise found his servant lying on his face.

“What’s the matter, Joe?” demanded he.

“Oh, St. Peter!  O preserve me!” exclaimed Joe.

“What has happened?  Why do you lie there?”

“Oh, I’m almost killed!  Didn’t you see him?”

“See what?  I can see nothing this dark night but the flying clouds and yonder yellow sheet of water.”

“Oh, I’ve been struck!” said Joe, groaning piteously.

“Struck by what?  Has the lightning struck you?”

“No—­no! my head is all smashed up—­it was a bear.”

“Pshaw! get up, and either drive on, or feed the horses,” said Glenn with some impatience.

“I call all the saints to witness that it was a wild bear—­a great wild bear!  I thought it was a stump, but just as I struck it a flash of lightning revealed to my eyes a big black bear standing on his hind feet, grinning at me, and he gave me a blow on the side of the face, which has entirely blinded my left eye, and set my ears to ringing like a thousand bells.  Just feel the blood on my face.”

[Illustration:  A dark encounter]

Glenn actually felt something which might be blood, and really had thought he could distinguish the stump himself when the wagon halted; yet he did not believe that Joe had received the hurt in any other manner than by striking his face against some hard substance which he could not avoid in the darkness.

“You only fancy it was a bear, Joe; so come along back to the horses and drive on.  The rain has ceased, and the stars are appearing.”  Saying this, Glenn led the way to the wagon.