TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 105 



skulking form slowly emerge from a distant patch 

 of alders, and there in the full light of a setting sun 

 stood the most gigantic specimen of a bear which 

 either of us had ever seen. 



Although fully half-a-mile from us it needed not 

 the assistance of our glasses to tell us that here indeed 

 was a king amongst bears, for standing on a patch 

 of the bare hillside the brute looked, as Agnes said, 

 as big as an elephant. 



He seemed in no hurry to descend the hillside, but 

 remained a while as if listening, lifting his great head 

 as though sniffing the air in quest of scenting any 

 hidden danger. We knew that as far as we were 

 concerned everything was safe, since the wind was 

 blowing straight towards us. 



Presently the bear began to move, and slowly, with 

 a rolling gait, he descended to the river bank. On 

 arriving there a curious metamorphosis took place in 

 the antics of the bear, for suddenly the ungainly brute 

 appeared as active as a kitten. After standing 

 motionless on the bank for a moment he sprang into 

 the water, and a second afterwards appeared gallop- 

 ing up the bank with a salmon in his mouth. The 

 whole performance was so quick, and the distance 

 was so great, that we were unable to see how the 

 actual capture of this fish had been effected. But 

 upon subsequent occasions when closely watching 

 these great bears fishing, I observed that they always 

 pounce upon a fish, transfixing it in shallow water 

 with their claws, and then carry it to the bank in their 

 mouth. Once on land they retire to some thick patch 



