1 62 In the United States vi 



and I trotted after him, when he, being suddenly 

 struck with the idea that valour was the better part 

 of discretion, faced round and walked straight at me, 

 stopping about thirty yards off. As I only had the 

 Ballard, and was quite out in the open, away from 

 any decently-sized trees, I hardly knew what to do. 

 We stood facing each other thus for a few moments, 

 and I could plainly see his pink tongue licking his 

 lips, and his bright little eyes twinkling with rage, 

 I put up the rifle, but could not cover any part of 

 him where a ball would have been mortal, and if 

 I had only wounded him he would have been at me 

 in a brace of shakes. After interviewing one 

 another thus, he said " hough " and decided to advance, 

 and I decided to retreat, which I did with consider- 

 able decision up the thickest sapling in the neighbour- 

 hood, hoping, however, that he would follow me at 

 least to the foot of it. I was in no small state of 

 exultation at the prospect of killing my bear single- 

 handed, but before I was settled, he swerved and 

 went crashing away through the willows, and I saw 

 him no more. He looked as big as an ox. Texas 

 Jack quizzed me tremendously about this on my 

 return, but the very next day he came back to 

 camp with a far-away look in his eye and requested 

 whisky. He too had come across a grizzly. He 

 found him in a patch of trees, covering up the 

 carcass of an elk — they are wonderfully cunning, 

 these bears, and will plaster mud and moss over 

 carcasses they don't want at once, will even plaster 



