in
coonskins and other furs. Father said that one night grandfather and
Orin Loomis were out hunting coons with the dogs, having taken their
axes to chop down coon trees, but no guns, when they found a bear, on a
small island, in the middle of a swamp. But I find his bear story so
well told in the "_Wadsworth Memorial_" that I will quote from
that:

"In the fall of 1823, as Butler and Loomis were returning after midnight
from one of their hunts, and had arrived within a mile or two of home it
was noticed that the dogs were missing. Presently a noise was heard, far
back in the rear.

"'Hark! What was that?' said Loomis. They listened awhile, and agreed it
was dogs, sure.

"'Orr, let's go back,' said Butler.

"'No, it is too late,' answered Loomis.

"'But,' said Butler, 'I'll warrant the dogs are after a bear; don't
you hear old Beaver? It sounds to me like the bark of old Beaver when he
is after a bear.'

"Butler was bound to go back, and so they started. The scene of the
disturbance was finally reached, after traveling two or three miles. The
dogs had found a bear; but it was in the middle of Long Swamp, and the
alders were so thick that there was scarcely room for man, dog or bear
to get through. This did not deter Phin. Butler, however. They got near
enough to find that the bear was stationed on a spot a little drier than
the main swamp, surrounded by alder bushes, and that she was determined
not to leave it. The dogs would bay up close, when the old bear would
run out after them. They would retreat, and then she would run back to
her nest again.

"'We can't kill her to-night,' said Loomis, 'we will have to go home and
come down again in the morning.'

"'No,' replied Butler, 'I am afraid she will get away. We can kill her
to-night, I guess. You can go and hiss on the dogs on one side, and I
will come up on the other; and when she runs out after them, I'll cut
her back-bone off with the ax.'

"They concluded to try this plan, and came very near succeeding. As the
old bear rushed past, Butler put the whole bit of the ax into her back,
but failed to cut the back-bone by an inch or two. Enraged and
desperate, she sprang upon the dogs, who, emboldened by the presence of
their masters, came too close. With one of her enormous paws she came
down on old Beaver, making a large wound in his side, which nearly
killed him. He was hardly able to crawl out of the swamp.

"The fight was then abandoned until morning, as