OLD EPHRAIM, THE GRISLY BEAR. 73 



some thicket, still free, and in a frenzy of rage. 

 But even in such cases the beast has been 

 crippled, and though crazy with pain and anger 

 is easily dealt with by a good shot ; while or- 

 dinarily the poor brute is found in the last 

 stages of exhaustion, tied tight to a tree where 

 the log or bar has caught, its teeth broken to 

 splintered stumps by rabid snaps at the cruel 

 trap and chain. Some trappers kill the trapped 

 grislies with a revolver ; so that it may easily 

 be seen that the sport is not normally danger- 

 ous. Two of my own cowboys, Seawell and 

 Dow, were originally from Maine, where they 

 had trapped a number of black bears; and 

 they always killed them either with a hatchet 

 or a small 32-calibre revolver. One of them, 

 Seawell, once came near being mauled by a 

 trapped bear, seemingly at the last gasp, which 

 he approached incautiously with his hatchet. 



There is, however, one very real danger to 

 which the solitary bear-trapper is exposed, the 

 danger of being caught in his own trap. The 

 huge jaws of the gin are easy to spring and 

 most hard to open. If an unwary passer-by 

 should tread between them and be caught by 

 the leg, his fate would be doubtful, though he 

 would probably die under the steadily growing 

 torment of the merciless iron jaws, as they 

 pressed ever deeper into the sore flesh and 

 broken bones. But if caught by the arms, 

 while setting or fixing the trap, his fate would 

 be in no doubt at all, for it would be impossible 

 for the stoutest man to free himself by any 

 means. Terrible stories are told of solitary 



