HUNTING THE GRISLY. 95 



and evidently bent on charging home. 

 Rogers then waited until it was within twenty 

 yards, and brained it with his third bullet. 



In fact bears differ individually in courage 

 and ferocity precisely as men do, or as the 

 Spanish bulls, of which it is said that not more 

 than one in twenty is fit to stand the combat of 

 the arena. One grisly can scarcely be bullied 

 into resistance ; the next may fight to the end, 

 against any odds, without flinching, or even at- 

 tack unprovoked. Hence men of limited ex- 

 perience in this sport, generalizing from the 

 actions of the two or three bears each has 

 happened to see or kill, often reach diametri- 

 cally opposite conclusions as to the fighting 

 temper and capacity of the quarry. Even old 

 hunters who indeed, as a class, are very nar- 

 row-minded and opinionated often genera- 

 lize just as rashly as beginners. One will 

 portray all bears as very dangerous ; another 

 will speak and act as if he deemed them of no 

 more consequence than so many rabbits. I 

 knew one old hunter who had killed a score 

 without ever seeing one show fight. On the 

 other hand, Dr. James C. Merrill, U. S. A., 

 who has had about as much experience with 

 bears as I have had, informs me that he has 

 been charged with the utmost determination 

 three times. In each case the attack was de- 

 livered before the bear was wounded or even 

 shot at, the animal being roused by the ap- 

 proach of the hunters from his day bed, and 

 charging headlong at them from a distance of 

 twenty or thirty paces. All three bears were 



