My First Grizzly 59 



I waited for what seemed an unconscionable time, 

 and hearing nothing, began to fear that this bear, like the 

 others, had given me the slip. Finally I raised up to look 

 about and there he was about seventy-five yards away. 

 He had evidently been standing still and had resumed his 

 walk just as I looked up. I did not drop down again, but 

 just stooped so that he would not see me, and waited for 

 him to reach a spot from which he could not get away 

 once I had opened up on him. 



When some forty yards off he turned a little to the 

 left so as to avoid some bushes, and this being just what 

 I wanted, I straightened up, aimed carefully just on 

 the point of the shoulder close to the neck, and pulled the 

 trigger. 



It never entered my thoughts but that the bear would 

 drop in his tracks. One can, therefore, imagine my sur- 

 prise when he gave a roar Hke a mad bull and came my 

 way on the jump. I threw the lever of the rifle forward to 

 pump up another cartridge, but that roar, and the grizzly's 

 tactics, had so surprised me that I forgot to thumb my old 

 Winchester and the shell was left jammed in the breach. 

 Here was a situation not down on the programme, and it 

 began to look as though I was going to have all the grizzly 

 I wanted. I took one look, dropped the gun, and lit out 

 for the creek, and as I reached it I jumped down the 

 bank, which was about three feet high. 



Underneath this bank the dirt had been washed out by 

 the river, leaving a considerable hollow below the roots of 

 the bushes, and when I saw this space I ducked into it, 

 figuring that the bear, if he jumped after me, might jump 

 clear over me and give me a chance to climb back up the 



