1 66 Sport and Life. 



while the other was hanging down helplessly, evidently shattered 

 by the trap-gun. How an animal with this wound could have got 

 so far uphill was decidedly a puzzle which, at the time, however, 

 we did not try to solve. For our escape from being dashed to 

 pieces against the low-hanging branches of the scrub cedar, as the 

 horses, terrified out of their senses by the close proximity of the 

 bear, dashed down the slope, was almost as miraculous as the bear's 

 performance. Behind us came Bruin, though it was probably more 

 in consequence of his wound, which had stiffened all his muscles 

 during the interval, that he preferred a downhill course, for I think 

 he was too sick to show fight. How we got to the bottom I don't 

 know, but as soon as we did, and could pull up the horses, we got 

 off to settle our foe. The bear was not hunting trappers that day, 

 for as soon as he reached level ground he took the opposite 

 direction, and it was all we could do to follow him, shooting as we 

 ran, which is not favourable to good practice. When we came to 

 skin him, after a stern chase of over a mile, we found over a dozen 

 holes in him, and how many we drilled into space in the bear's 

 vicinity history does not relate. Considering that one of the trap- 

 gun balls had shattered the bear's fore shoulder, and the other barrel 

 had sent two balls through the upper part of his chest, the immense 

 vitality of a grizzly was w r ell illustrated by this episode. 



I have already hinted that I have no exciting bear adventures to 

 relate, though oddly enough, in illustration of oft-told experiences, 

 I was never nearer coming to an undesirable end by 'bar, than 

 when I was furthest away from them. I had sent home my self- 

 cured skins in two or three big bundles. Getting home before they 

 did, I was keenly anxious about the condition of the pelt after its 

 long journey. On receiving the notice that the bales had arrived at 

 the nearest railway station, I myself drove at once to fetch them. 

 The smell of 'bar, as this incident proved, terrifies horses who 

 have never seen, and much less scented, a live one ; for the two 

 old stagers, quiet as lambs under ordinary circumstances, took 

 fright at the scent, and made matchwood of the vehicle and a 

 much bruised individual of the writer. 



