THE GRIZZLY BEAR. 67 



fully, I advanced at a run to finish it; but I had not gone 

 twenty yards before I saw the dam sniffing around it and 

 caressing it. She evidently thought something had in- 

 jured it, for, on lifting her head, she gazed about as if in 

 search of a foe. Seeing me standing in plain sight for 

 I halted on seeing her she charged me promptly and 

 fiercely. I fired at her once, but I suppose I missed her ; 

 and not having time to reload, I broke for the shelter of 

 the chasm. Dashing, or rather tumbling, down its side at 

 a headlong pace, I was soon at the bottom and clambering 

 up the opposite side; and on reaching the crest I looked 

 around for my pursuer, but she was not visible. The fir- 

 ing brought some of the party to my aid in a few minutes, 

 and, thus re-enforced, I went in search of the cub ; but, 

 on reaching the place where it lay, we found only a large 

 pool of blood, and a zigzag trail of the same material which 

 led into the heaviest part of the undergrowth. 



Knowing that the dam was exceedingly fierce at the 

 treatment of her offspring, and not caring to meet her in 

 the dense shrubbery, it was deemed the wisest plan not to 

 pursue her ; for we did not want to have any dead or 

 wounded men to dispose of, and we were anxious to re- 

 sume the march in order to get some tidings of the red 

 foe who was then on the war-path, and whose movements 

 we were employed to watch. I learned on that occasion 

 from an Indian hunter that the female, when she is accom- 

 panied by her cubs, is much more dangerous than the 

 male, even in the rutting season, and that she will boldly 

 face anything living that may approach or threaten her 

 darlings. As an instance of this, he related the case of a 

 friend of his who captured a cub about two months old, 

 and was hastening homeward with it, when he was sud- 

 denly arrested by hearing some animal tearing through the 

 bushes behind him. Looking around, he saw a female 

 grizzly bounding toward him at her best pace, her eyes all 

 allame with rage, and her mouth frothing. Knowing that 

 he could not escape her if he stuck to his prize, he threw 

 it on the ground and fled ; but the mother did not stop in 



