TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 109 



well that to pursue a wounded bear into such dense 

 brush was, to put it mildly, looking for trouble. 



Therefore I reluctantly said, " Very well, then we 

 will leave him till to-morrow, and send the men to 

 look for the brute." 



Assuming great indignation, Agnes said, " I be- 

 lieve you are afraid to follow a wounded bear into 

 the bush." 



It has always been a mystery to me why Eve had 

 not sufficient cunning to outwit a snake, because her 

 descendants have more than enough sagacity to out- 

 wit the average man. Agnes is no exception to this 

 rule, since full well she knew that nothing could have 

 stung me to action quicker than this taunt. 



"Very well," I said, falling into her trap, "if 

 you think so come and see, but you are to keep be- 

 hind me all the way." 



Now Bruin haH entered the brush by a well-worn 

 trail, and soon we found ourselves threading a way 

 between the dense alders and thick grasses which 

 grew beneath them, the latter often reaching to our 

 shoulders. The huge tracks were plainly visible 

 every yard along the trail, whilst here and there 

 great blood tracks, deep splashes on the grass and 

 twigs, showed that our quarry was baclly wounded. 

 Our rate of progress was not rapid, since in many 

 places it was necessary to crawl between big alder 

 stems which these huge bears, owing to their weight, 

 can force aside as easily as we could do with grass 

 or rushes. 



How far we had gone I reckoned not, as with my 



