Hunting the Grisly 105 



stantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar 

 of fury and challenge, blowing the bloody 

 foam from his mouth, so that I saw the gleam 

 of his white fangs; and then he charged 

 straight at me, crashing and bounding through 

 the laurel bushes, so that it was hard to aim. 

 I waited till he came to a fallen tree, raking 

 him as he topped it with a ball, which entered 

 his chest and went through the cavity of his 

 body, but he neither swerved nor flinched, 

 and at the moment I did not know that I 

 had struck him. He came steadily on, and in 

 another second was almost upon me. I fired 

 for his forehead, but my bullet went low, 

 entering his open mouth, smashing his lower 

 jaw and going into the neck. I leaped to one 

 side almost as I pulled the trigger; and 

 through the hanging smoke the first thing I 

 saw was his paw as he made a vicious side 

 blow as me. The rush of his charge carried 

 him past. As he struck he lurched forward, 

 leaving a pool of bright blood where his muz 

 zle hit the ground; but he recovered himself 

 and made two or three jumps onward, while I 

 hurriedly jammed a couple of cartridges into 

 the magazine, my rifle holding only four, all 

 of which I had fired. Then he tried to pull 

 up, but as he did so his muscles seemed sud- 



