two apart on these adventurous and
exciting journeys. To Big Tom and his men had been given the post of
honour, and it was well-known that such was his skill as a leader, and
so well was he backed up by his well-trained, stalwart men, that unless
some great accident happened, no brigade following would have any chance
of catching up to him ere his journey was finished.

One day when passing through a lakelike expanse of the river they saw a
large black bear swimming as fast as he could directly ahead of them.
At length a cry was raised, "A bear! a bear!" The men bent to their
oars and there was an exciting chase.

Fortunately for the pursuers, it was a wide open space and the bear was
far out from land. Even in these heavy boats the men can row faster
than a bear can swim. Knowing well the habits of the bear, the men's
first efforts were to cut him off from the mainland, and thus oblige him
to swim for one of the many islands which could be seen on ahead. If
they could succeed in this, of course he would have a poor chance, as
the boats would speedily surround him there. Bears know that they are
not safe on islands when hunted, and so cunningly endeavour to keep from
them; or, if so unfortunate as to be obliged to take refuge on one when
closely pursued, they do not seem able to keep quiet and try to lie
hidden and unseen, but just as soon as possible they make the attempt to
reach the mainland, and there hide themselves away from their pursuers
in the dense forest or underbrush. This peculiarity of the bear is
well-known to the Indian hunters; so in this case the first object of
the men, as they would hardly be able to get near enough to this big
fellow to shoot him in the water, was to head him off from the mainland
and thus force him on an island. In this they succeeded, as they
anticipated.

Frank, Alec, and Sam were, of course, intensely excited as the chase
advanced. In their Zoological Gardens they had often seen and watched
various species of bears. There, however, they were in captivity and
could do no harm. Here, however, away ahead of them like a great
Newfoundland dog, was this big, fierce fellow, wild and free, making the
race of his life, to escape from his relentless pursuers.

At first he struck out for the mainland, and made the most desperate
efforts to reach the shore; but when at length he saw one of the boats
surely crawling along so that it would soon be between him and the point
of