A Photographic Expedition 161 



attack me, and had always maintained that no grizzly 

 would attack a man except under peculiar circumstances. 

 However, this bear was either an exception to my rule, 

 or else he considered the circumstances "peculiar." 



It did not take him long to reach me, and, as he did 

 so, he rose up and struck at my ribs with his right paw. 

 The only weapon at hand being my can of batteries, and 

 this, weighing about twenty pounds, being no mean 

 defence if handled rightly, I swung it at him, hoping to 

 stop him with the blow. As I did so, however, I ad- 

 vanced my left hand, and the bear's paw caught my 

 camera, ripping out the front board and the magnet and 

 wires attached to it. Almost at the same time I landed 

 somewhere with the can, and, although the stroke did him 

 no damage, it did set him back a foot or two, and turned 

 what had doubtless been nothing but ill-temper into rage. 

 With a loud snort he came at me again, and this time he 

 raised himself to his full height and aimed a vicious 

 stroke at my head; and I, seeing what was coming, ducked 

 and closed in on him. And I was just in time, for I felt 

 the wind from the blow, and his paw tore my hat from my 

 head, and then, passing down the side of my face, struck 

 me a glancing blow on the shoulder. Nothing, I think, 

 but my nearness to the bear saved my life. Meanwhile, 

 as I had ducked and closed in, I had swung my right hand 

 back of me, and just as the bear delivered his blow at me, 

 I landed mine on him; and as I had swung my can of 

 batteries in a half-circle over my head, they came down 

 with tremendous force. 



I must have caught him somewhere about the head, 

 for it felt as though I had struck a board, and the bear 



