Old Ephraim 345 



bear had turned as soon as she was in the timber, 

 and came toward Merrifield, but he gave her the 

 death-wound by firing into her chest, and then shot 

 at the young one, knocking it over. When I came 

 up he was just walking toward the latter to finish it 

 with the revolver, but it suddenly jumped up as 

 lively as ever and made off at a great pace for it 

 was nearly full-grown. It was impossible to fire 

 where the tree trunks were so thick, but there was a 

 small opening across which it would have to pass, 

 and collecting all my energies I made a last run, got 

 into position, and covered the opening with my rifle. 

 The instant the bear appeared I fired, and it turned 

 a dozen somersaults downhill, rolling over and over ; 

 the ball had struck it near the tail and had ranged 

 forward through the hollow of the body. Each of 

 us had thus given the fatal wound to the bear into 

 which the other had fired the first bullet. The run, 

 though short, had been very sharp, and over such 

 awful country that we were completely fagged out, 

 and could hardly speak for lack of breath. The sun 

 had already set, and it was too late to skin the ani- 

 mals ; so we merely dressed them, caught the ponies 

 with some trouble, for they were frightened at 

 the smell of the bear's blood on our hands, and rode 

 home through the darkening woods. Next day we 

 brought the teamster and two of the steadiest pack- 

 horses to the carcasses, and took the skins into camp. 

 The feed for the horses was excellent in the val- 

 ley in which we were camped, and the rest after their 

 long journey across the plains did them good. They 



