At morn he was awakened by a growl and a rustling noise below; it was
the bear dragging to his abode the carcase of a buck. When he thought
that the animal was glutted with flesh, and sleeping, Boone descended
the tree, and, leaning his rifle against the rock, he crawled into the
cave to reconnoitre. It must have been a terrible moment; but he had
made up his mind, and he possessed all the courage of his father: the
cave was spacious and dark. The heavy grunt of the animal showed that he
was asleep.
By degrees, the vision of Boone became more clear, and he perceived the
shaggy mass at about ten feet from him and about twenty yards from the
entrance of the cave. The ground under him yielded to his weight, for it
was deeply covered with the bones of animals, and more than once he
thought himself lost, when rats, snakes, and other reptiles, disturbed
by him from their meal, would start away, in every direction, with loud
hissing and other noises. The brute, however, never awoke, and Boone,
having finished his survey, crawled out from this horrid den to prepare
for the attack.
He first cut a piece of pitch-pine, six or seven feet long, then, taking
from his pouch a small cake of bees-wax, he wrapped it round one end of
the stick, giving it at the extremity the shape of a small cup, to hold
some whisky.
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