ON THE PRAIRIE 223 



the ready, there, not ten steps off, was the 

 t bear, slowly rising from his bed among 

 young spruces. He had heard us, but 

 apparently hardly knew exactly where or 

 what we were, for he reared up on his 

 haunches sideways to us. Then he saw us 

 and dropped down again on all fours, the 

 shaggy hair on his neck and shoulders seem- 

 o bristle as he turned towards us. As he 

 sank down on his forefeet I had raised the ri- 

 fle; his head was bent slightly down, and 

 when I saw the top of the white bead fairly 

 between his small, glittering, evil eyes, I 

 pulled trigger. Half -rising up, the huge 

 beast fell over on his side in the death throes, 

 the ball having gone into his brain, striking 

 as fairly between the eyes as if the distance 



been measured by a carpenter's rule. 

 The whole thing was over in twenty sec- 

 onds from the time I caught sight of the 

 game ; indeed, it was over so quickly that the 

 grizzly did not have time to show fight at all 

 or come a step toward us. It was the first 

 I had ever seen, and I felt not a little proud, 



