Hunting the Grisly 137 



dogging the footsteps of some solitary hunter 

 and killing him when the favorable oppor- 

 tunity occurs. Most of these tales are mere 

 fables; but it is possible that in altogether 

 exceptional instances they rest on a founda- 

 tion of fact. One old hunter whom I knew 

 told me such a story. He was a truthful old 

 fellow, and there was no doubt that he be- 

 lieved what he said, and that his companion 

 was actually killed by a bear; but it is prob- 

 able that he was mistaken in reading the signs 

 of his comrade's fate, and that the latter was 

 not dogged by the bear at all, but stumbled 

 on him and was slain in the surprise of the 

 moment. 



At any rate, cases of wanton assaults by 

 grislies are altogether out of the common. 

 The ordinary hunter may live out his whole 

 life in the wilderness and never know aught 

 of a bear attacking a man unprovoked; and 

 the great majority of bears are shot under 

 circumstances of no special excitement, as they 

 either make no fight at all, or, if they do fight, 

 are killed before there is any risk of their 

 doing damage. If surprised on the plains, 

 at some distance from timber or from badly 

 broken ground, it is no uncommon feat for 

 a single horseman to kill them with a revol- 



