TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 121 



gassed bed after bed, and then through a maze of 

 intervening boughs we caught sight of something 

 bulky, something brown, lying on the pressed down 

 branches of a fragile tree. It was our bear ! Cecily 

 touched my arm, and signed to me to ask whether or 

 no she should make certain sure by putting a bullet 

 into the prone form. It was, of course, the most 

 sensible thing to do, but I did not like the idea at all. 

 Talk about hitting a man when he's down ! 



We shouted instead and beat the bushes, but the 

 great brown bear never stirred. He was dead indeed, 

 and had lain so for some hours. As he lay huddled 

 up we recognized that he was a fine beast, of huge 

 size and girth, and belonged to the variety known as 

 Ursus dalli gyas. 



Getting back to camp for breakfast we sent out the 

 men to commence skinning operations, and made 

 them take an axe along in order that the ground might 

 be cleared around the carcase and permit of the busi- 

 ness being thoroughly done. After a little time we 

 returned to the scene of action, because we were rather 

 curious to discover how and why Cecily's bullets had 

 taken effect so expeditiously, when, as it appeared to 

 us, she was badly placed for a shot, and the possi- 

 bilities were against her. The first bullet had entered 

 behind the shoulder joint, and raking through had 

 passed the heart by a quarter of an inch only, and ex- 

 panding had caused considerable internal havoc. The 

 second shot had splintered a rib and finally lodged in 

 the off-shoulder muscles. 



On the way back to camp we found the first ptarmi- 



