heard a man who used to make salts say that he spoiled a
horse by carrying a bagful of the nearly dry extract thrown across the
saddle. Some of the juice trickled out, and going under the saddle, not
only took the hair off, but made terrible sores, which it was found
well-nigh impossible to heal. The liquid corroded our iron kettles very
rapidly.

All through November, December and January we worked industriously, and
studied our Latin. In summer the swamp would have been unhealthy and
dangerous to life; but in winter, with the mud and water-holes frozen
solidly, it was a warm, comfortable location, for it lay in a great
valley, inclosed by high mountain ridges, that were covered by dense
growths of pine and spruce. It fairly seemed as if the great fires which
we built every afternoon warmed up the whole swamp.

Our smoke would often almost hide the sun when the weather was calm.
Very little wind at any time found its way into our sheltered valley.
The winter fortunately was a mild one. The snow was not more than a foot
deep, and rains occasionally fell, leaving an icy crust.

One of these rain storms came during the last days of January. It thawed
for two days, and then became cold on the following night. Next morning,
while we were getting breakfast, boiling potatoes and baking biscuits in
our tin baker, we heard out in the woods, to the east of our camp,
sounds as if some animal was walking on the snow and breaking through
the crust.

We listened. The sounds came nearer, and pretty soon we saw through the
tree trunks that they were made by a bear. Probably the warm rain had
roused him out of his winter den, or else he was starved out, for he
looked surly and fierce, as if he felt cross.

He walked leisurely until he was within seven or eight rods of us. Then
he stopped and looked at us a minute, but started forward again, and
would probably have gone on civilly, had not Ed took our gun, which we
kept loaded, and ran after him.

[Illustration (woods-1) Shooting the Bear]

Hearing Ed coming, the bear turned round and ran towards him.

Ed stopped and took aim. The bear at once rose on his hind legs, and
fanned the air with his paws.

Ed fired, and fortunately killed him with a single charge of buck-shot.

But I never saw a poorer bear. His hair was rusty, and he was evidently
not in good health. The meat we could not eat; the very crows would have
passed it by.

We wanted, however, candles to study by, and