THE BEAR "MONARCH." 199 



ute Bowers was seen running from the 

 ridge in fifteen-foot jumps, and as he ap- 

 proached the trap he shouted: "The bear 

 is there now!" 



"Is that so?" said the correspondent. "I 

 thought he had finished his supper and had 

 gone away by this time." 



Bowers had approached to within forty 

 yards of the bear before seeing him, and 

 the bear had merely raised his head, taken 

 a look at the intruder and resumed his 

 eating. As it had become too dark to drive 

 nails, and there was no longer any reason 

 for finishing the door that night, Bowers 

 fetched the rifles from camp and the two 

 men went up the ridge to take a better 

 look at the bear. Had there been light 

 enough to make the rifle sights visible, it 

 would have been hard to resist the tempta- 

 tion of turning loose at the old fellow from 

 behind a convenient log; but it was impos- 

 sible to draw a bead on him, and it would 

 have been sheer foolhardiness to shoot and 

 take the chances of a fight in the dark with 



