own-stairs
Enoch had returned to the house and was calmly dressing. "Why didn't ye
foller him?" demanded the younger boy. "He's bad wounded. He'd dropped
that shote in a minute."

"You killed the shote all right," said Enoch in disgust. "Neither of the
shots touched the bear at all. There's no use chasing after the critter
now. We'll wait till after breakfast. He won't go far, lugging that
shote."

The bear was fat and in the best possible condition for salting down for
winter use. So even Mrs. Harding had no objection to make when the boys
started after breakfast to follow the trail. She herself, with the help
of the younger children, collected the hogs in the pen again and put up
the log fence. Meanwhile Nuck and Bryce found that the bear had made for
a piece of swamp about two miles away. The swamp was close grown with
saplings and brush, while here and there a monster tree shot skyward.
Some of these big trees were so old that they had become hollow and
without doubt there was more than one lair of wild creatures in the
swamp.

But it was easy enough to follow the early morning visitor to the cabin.
After carrying the shote into the edge of the swamp, bruin had stopped
and made a hasty meal upon the porker. Indeed the boys, who started on
his trail scarcely two hours after the raid had been committed,
undoubtedly disturbed him at his repast. The shote was not completely
eaten when they found the bear's breakfast-table. "It is a mighty big
bear anyway," Bryce declared, looking at the marks of the marauder's
feet. "He couldn't have brought that pig so far if he hadn't been."

"He warn't big enough for you to hit," said Nuck, slyly.

"Huh! guess you can't crow any," responded the younger boy. "You missed
him good and wide, too."

They hurried on then, easily tracking the big, human-like spoor of the
bear in the soil which here was not frozen. Indeed, in some places they
"slumped in" rather deeply. The bear seemed to have picked out his path
by instinct. But he could not hide his trail and before long the hunters
came to a huge tree standing amid a clump of brush on the top of a
hillock. The high ground was surrounded by water and rather hard to come
at; but the boys were determined to get the bear after chasing it so
far. They approached with caution, however, Enoch making Bryce remain in
the rear.

"If I fire and don't kill him you must be in reserve with your gun," he
whispered cautiously. "He'd be an ugly c