386 WANT OF CAUTION. 



was considerable, and the beasts in great measure concealed 

 by the underwood. 



After reloading, and whilst replacing the gun in its case, 

 the hammer, through haste and inadvertence, was lifted, and 

 the piece exploded. There was no danger to Elg and the 

 dogs, who were in another direction; but my own person 

 escaped narrowly, for the gun being pointed downwards, 

 the ball carried away a portion of the left Skida, within 

 an inch of my foot ! Had the foot been perforated, or a 

 toe lopped off, it would have been inconvenient, for night 

 was fast approaching, and we were far from home. 



As it was, the matter was bad enough ; for the explosion 

 having blown away the upper end of the gun-case, the locks 

 and the barrels were sure, in consequence, to be shortly filled 

 with snow; and had it not therefore been for the greater 

 convenience of carriage, the gun would have been just as well 

 or better without its covering. Though anticipating it would 

 soon prove useless, we nevertheless pushed forward ; for even 

 were it to fail, I had Elg's rifle on which to fall back. 



If the bears had now kept to an open part of the forest, or 

 to a tolerably level country, we should soon have been up 

 with them; but they held, on the contrary, to precipitous 

 and broken ground, and to the most tangled brakes, so that 

 our progress was necessarily very slow. Some time therefore 

 elapsed before they were again seen ; and the view was then 

 so transitory, and the distance so great, that it was thought 

 best to reserve our fire. 



At length, from sheer exhaustion, I was brought regularly 

 to a stand-still; not so much, however, from the fatigue of 

 the present run, which had been comparatively short, as from 



