44 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



spring the place where a bear had sprung at 

 two moose, which were trotting together ; 

 he missed his spring, and the moose got off, 

 their strides after they settled down into their 

 pace being tremendous, and showing how 

 thoroughly they were frightened. Another 

 time he saw a bear chase a moose into a lake, 

 where it waded out a little distance, and then 

 turned to bay, bidding defiance to his pursuer, 

 the latter not daring to approach in the water. 

 I have been told but cannot vouch for it 

 that instances have been known where the 

 bear, maddened by hunger, has gone in on a 

 moose thus standing at bay, only to be beaten 

 down under the water by the terrible fore- 

 hoofs of the quarry, and to yield its life in 

 the contest. A lumberman told me that he 

 once saw a moose, evidently much startled, 

 trot through a swamp, and immediately after- 

 wards a bear came up following the tracks. 

 He almost ran into the man, and was evidently 

 not in a good temper, for he growled and 

 blustered, and two or three times made feints 

 of charging, before he finally concluded to go 

 off. 



Bears will occasionally visit hunters' or 

 lumbermen's camps, in the absence of the 

 owners, and play sad havoc with all that there- 

 in is, devouring everything eatable, especially 

 if sweet, and trampling into a dirty mess what- 

 ever they do not eat. The black bear does 

 not average more than a third the size of the 

 grisly ; but, like all its kind, it varies greatly 

 in weight. The largest I myself ever saw 



