Trails were easy to find on the soft ground, but besides the bear I saw none but those of squirrel and rabbit, and a rare opossum.

But at last, in a marshy glen, I found the fresh slot of a great stag.

For two hours and more I followed him far north along the ridge, till I came up with him in a patch of scrub oak.

I had to wait long for a shot, but when at last he rose I planted a bullet fairly behind his shoulder, and he dropped within ten paces.

His size amazed me, for he was as big as a cart-horse in body, and carried a spread of branching antlers like a forest tree.