THE END OF THE TRAIL 131 



the bear lost his temper and turned upon him. 

 Then, with one smash of his powerful fore-arm, he 

 felled him to the floor and, springing with a sav- 

 age growl upon the prostrate man, set his wicked 

 teeth through the fleshy muscles of his arm just 

 below the shoulder. 



In telling me about it afterward, the keeper 

 averred that it was his own fault. He had always 

 allowed the bear to play with the tools when he was 

 not using them. "Why," he explained, "he would 

 have had me dead in a minute if he had a wanted 

 to ! He was just like a boy that 's been teased. 

 He only give me one lick and a bite for disturbing 

 him. I got to my feet, picked up my things, and 

 walked right by him. He stood close beside the 

 door when I went out, and he never offered to 

 touch me again. I was only laid up for two days, 

 and I don't hold it against him." 



In July, 1917, when Bruno was fourteen years 

 old, he suddenly became paralyzed in his hind- 

 quarters, and a few days later, apparently without 

 any suffering, he passed away. Black bears have 

 been known to live in confinement to an age of 

 twenty years, but fifteen years is probably about 

 the average length of their existence. Just how 

 long a wild bear usually lives under natural sur- 

 roundings out in the open, it is hard to state, for 



