260 The Wilderness Hunter. 



He had come on the beast close up in a thick wood, and 

 had mortally wounded it with his gun ; it had then closed 

 with him, knocking the gun out of his hand, so that he 

 was forced to use his knife. It charged him on all fours, 

 but in the grapple, when it had failed to throw him down, 

 it raised itself on its hind legs, clasping him across the 

 shoulders with its fore-paws. Apparently it had no inten- 

 tion of hugging, but merely sought to draw him within 

 reach of his jaws. He fought desperately against this, 

 using the knife freely, and striving to keep its head back ; 

 and the flow of blood weakened the animal, so that it 

 finally fell . exhausted, before being able dangerously to 

 injure him. But it had bitten his left arm very severely, 

 and its claws had made long gashes on his shoulders. 



Black bears, like grislies, vary greatly in their modes 

 of attack. Sometimes they rush in and bite ; and again 

 they strike with their fore-paws. Two of my cowboys 

 were originally from Maine, where I knew them well. 

 There they were fond of trapping bears, and caught a 

 good many. The huge steel gins, attached by chains to 

 heavy clogs, prevented the trapped beasts from going 

 far ; and when found they were always tied tight round 

 some tree or bush, and usually nearly exhausted. The 

 men killed them either with a little 32-calibre pistol or a 

 hatchet. But once did they meet with any difficulty. 

 On this occasion one of them incautiously approached a 

 captured bear to knock it on the head with his hatchet, 

 but the animal managed to partially untwist itself, and 

 with its free fore-arm made a rapid sweep at him ; he 

 jumped back just in time, the bear's claws tearing his 



