Nights with the Grizzlies 



a little opening, there, within ten steps of 

 me, was a dark mass, breathing heavily and 

 lying partially behind a small clump of 

 willows. Putting a telling shot through the 

 center of the mass, he appeared to wake up, 

 and gave an exhibition of some of the 

 grandest ground and lofty tumbling, at one 

 time appearing to stand up on his head and 

 kicking with his hind feet ten feet straight 

 into the air. As he did not get upon his feet 

 again, another shot was unnecessary, and he 

 soon settled down and was dead. 



This bear was as large from tip to tip as he 

 of the Big Bear Fork, but not as fat nor as 

 large-bodied ; in fact, not as heavy as the one 

 just killed. Neither of these bears, I think, 

 needed a second shot, and, undisturbed, would 

 not have gotten on their feet again. A 

 dense thicket was near, and they might have 

 scrambled into its cover and have been lost, 

 so another shot was given. At any rate, 

 darkness was at hand by the time the car- 

 casses were dressed, and a dense fog was 

 settling over the mountain that had to 

 be crossed. The exhilaration of spirits from 

 the killing of two such large bears on the 



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