"
"They are brave men, those hunters," said Lady Mary; "but I fear they are
very cruel. I wish they would only kill the furious bears. That was a sad
story you told me just now, nurse, about the poor little boy. Have you
heard of any other sufferers; or do people sometimes escape from these
monsters?"
"I also heard of a little child," continued nurse, "not more than two
years old, who was with her mother in the harvest-field, who had spread a
shawl on the ground near a tall tree, and laid the child upon it to sleep
or play, when a bear came out of the wood and carried her off, leaping the
fence with her in his arms. But the mother ran screaming after the
beast, and the reapers pursued so closely with their pitch-forks and
reaping-hooks, that Bruin, who was only a half-grown bear, being hard
pressed, made for a tree; and as it was not easy to climb with a babe in
his arms, he quietly laid the little one down at the foot of the tree, and
soon was among the thick branches out of the reach of the enemy. I daresay
baby must have wondered what rough nurse had taken her up; but she was
unhurt, and is alive now."
"I am so glad, nurse, the dear baby was not hugged to death by that horrid
black bear; and I hope he was killed."
"I daresay, my lady, he was shot by some of the men; for they seldom
worked near the forest without having a gun with them, in case of seeing
deer, or pigeons, or partridges.
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