The dogs went on barking for more
than an hour, but otherwise the camp relapsed into stillness. I spent
the remainder of the night sitting on a log before the fire, smoking my
pipe with the bowl downwards, for the rain had never ceased, and clouds
of steam rose from our camp-fires. The fear was that the powder would
get wet. I must have dropped off my perch asleep, for I picked myself up
the next morning out of a pool of water. It was already dawn, and
looking eastward I saw a streak of light beneath a dark curtain of
cloud, like the gleam on the edge of a sword, so sharp and defined was
it. This was hopeful; it had ceased raining too, and a brisk wind came
up the valley.
There was plenty to be done, in drying our clothes and preparing
breakfast under difficulties. In the midst of this bustle a Wallack came
in to tell us that the bear had really got into the camp in the night,
and that he had killed and partly eaten one of the horses. This
confirmed the fact that the bear had been sighted by one of our party
the day before; though we missed him, he had had his supper, and we were
minus a horse.
I followed the Wallack a few steps up the hill, and there, not far off,
on a knoll to the left, lay the carcass of the horse. It was a strange
sight! Crowds of eagles, vultures, and carrion-crows were already
feasting on the remains. Every moment almost, fresh birds came swooping
down to their savage breakfast.
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