The trackers hurried forward so eagerly in their pursuit that they felt no fatigue. They found several deer, and at one time they saw at a great distance a bear; but they did not pursue either, for their minds were too full of the hope that they might discover the haunts of the monster upon whose death depended, as they believed, their lives and that of Liney Fox. When Balser and Polly reached the stony ground of Flatrock the bear tracks began to grow indistinct, and soon they were lost entirely among the smooth rocks from which the snow had been blown away. The boys had, however, accomplished their purpose, for they were convinced that they had discovered the haunts of the bear. They carefully noticed the surrounding country, and spoke to each other of the peculiar cliffs and trees in the neighbourhood, so that they might remember the place when they should return. Then they found a dry little cave wherein they kindled a fire and roasted a piece of venison which they had taken with them. When their roast was cooked, they ate their dinner of cold hoe-cake and venison, and then sat by the fire for an hour to warm and rest before beginning their long, hard journey home through the snow. Polly smoked his after-dinner pipe,—the pipe was a hollow corn-cob with the tip of a buck’s horn for a stem,—and the two bear hunters talked over the events of the day and discussed the coming campaign against the Fire Bear. “I s’pose we’ll have to hunt him by night,” said Polly. “He’s never seen at any other time, they say.” “Yes, we’ll have to hunt him by night,” said Balser; “but darkness will help us in the hunt, for we can see him better at night than at any other time, and he can’t see us as well as he could in daylight.” “Balser, you surprise me,” answered Polly. “Have you hunted bears all this time and don’t know that a bear can see as well after night as in the daytime—better, maybe?” “Maybe that’s so,” responded Balser. “I know that cats and owls can see better by night, but I didn’t know about bears. How do you know it’s true?” “How do I know? Why, didn’t that there bear make a bee-line for this place last night, and wasn’t last night as dark as the inside of a whale, and don’t they go about at night more than in the daytime? Tell me that. When do they steal sheep and shoats? In daytime? Tell me that. Ain’t it always at night? Did you ever hear of a bear stealing a shoat in the daytime? No, sirree; but they can see the littlest shoat that ever grunted, on the darkest night,—see him and snatch him out of the pen and get away with him quicker than you or I could, a durned sight.” “I never tried; did you, Polly?” asked Balser. Polly wasn’t above suspicion among those who knew him, and Balser’s question slightly disconcerted him. “Well, I—I—durned if that ain’t the worst fool question I ever heerd a boy ask,” answered Polly. Then, somewhat anxious to change the conversation, he continued:—