The following extract from the Hunter’s Feast forms the conclusion by the “hunter naturalist” about a “Deer hunt in a Dug Out.” He and Dick were after venision in their canoe by torch light:
    “We had scarcely passed this point, when my attention was attracted by a pair of fiery eyes that glistened out of some low bushes upon the left bank of the river. I took aim and pulled the trigger. While doing so, I heard the voice of my companion, warning me, as I thought, not to fire.
    I first looked to the bank, to witness the effect of my shot. To my great surprise, the eyes were still there, gleaming from the bushes as brightly as ever. Had I missed my aim. It is true, the voice of my companion had somewhat disconcerted me; but I still believed that my bullet must have speed truly, as it had been delivered with a good aim.
    As I turned to Dick for an explanation, a new sound fell upon my ear that explained all at the same time, causing me no slight feeling of alarm. It was a sound not unlike that sometimes uttered by terrified swine, but louder and more threatening. I knew it well-I knew it was the snort of a grizzly bear!
    My bullet had hit and stung the fierce brute to madness, and quick cracking among the bushes soon followed by a heavy plunge the bear was in the river. “Good heaven, he’s after us!” cried Dick in accents of alarm, at the same time propelling the dug-out with all his might. It proved true enough that the bear was after us and the first plunge had brought his nose almost up to the side of the canoe. However, a few well-directed strokes of the paddle set us in quick motion, and we rapidly glided down stream, followed by the enraged animal.
    We knew that if he once laid his paw upon the canoe, we should either be sunk or compelled to leap out and swim for it. We knew, moreover, that such an event would be certain death to one of us at least.
    I need hardly affirm, that my companion used his paddle with all the energy of despair. I assisted him as much as was in my power with the but-end of my gun, which was now empty. On account of the hurry and darkness I had not attemped to reload it.
    We had shot down the stream for a hundred yards or so, and congratulating on the propect of an escape from the bear, when a new object of dread presented itself to our terrified imaginations. This object was the sound of falling water, but not, as before, coming from some tributary stream. No, it was the fall of the river upon which we were floating, and evidently but a very short distance below us.Â
    We paddled with all our strength-he with the oar, while I with the flat butt of my rifle. We had succeeded in bringing her to a sort of equilibrium, and were in the hopes of being able to force her toward the bank, when all at once we heard a heavy object strike against the stern. At the same moment, the bow rose up into the air, and a number of the burning pine-knots fell back into the canoe. They still continued to blaze; and their light now falling towards the stern, showed us a fearful object. The bear had seized hold of the dug-out, and his fierce head and long curving claws were visible over the edge.
    Quick action was required. I could think of no other than to lean sternward, and strike at the bear with my clubbed rifle, at the same time calling upon my companion to paddle to the shore. We preferred, under all cirumstances, risking the chances of a land encounter with our grizzly antagonist.
    I had succeeded in keeping the bear out of the canue by several well planted blows upon the snout; and Dick was equally successful in forcing the dug-out nearer to the bank, when a sharp crack reached my ears, followed by a terrified cry from my companion.
    I glanced suddenly round, to ascertain the cause of these demonstrations. Dick held in his hands a short, round stick, which I recognized as the shaft of the paddle. The blade had snapped off, and was floating away on the surface!
    We were now helpless. The managing of the canoe was no longer possible. Over the falls we must go! We thought of leaping out but it was too late.
    The bear seemed to have some apprehension as well as ourselves; for, instead of continuing his endeavors to climb into the canoe, he contented himself with holding fast to the stern evidently under some alarm.
    The torch still blazed, and the canoe was catching fire; perhaps this it was that alarmed the bear.
    The canoe shot outward as if propelled by some projectile force: then came a loud crash, as though we had dropped upon a hard rock. Water, and spray, and froth were dashed over our bodies; and the next moment, to our surprise and delight, we felt ourselves still alive and seated in the canoe, which was floating gently in still smooth water.
    It was still quite dark, for the torch had been extinguished; but even in the darkness, we could perceive the bear swimming and floundering near the boat. To our great satisfaction, we saw him heading for the shore, and widening the distance between himself and us with all the haste he could make. The unexpected precipitation over the falls had cooled his courage, if not hostility.
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