TWO DIANAS IN ALASKA 137 



"Kill her!" said the Leader laconically, with the 

 greatest sang-froid. 



Of course it had to be. I was using my old i2-bore 

 best of friends a terrifically hard-hitting, heavy 

 weapon, and had just time to get in a shot at a near 

 thing of thirty yards, but it was well in the fore- 

 head. Still the game and courageous animal came 

 on, her head dipping low to earth, and as I danced 

 backwards she crashed over, so close to me that I 

 could have touched her as she fell. A brave and 

 gallant beast ! 



" Thus she passed over, and all the trumpets 

 sounded for her on the other side " the Happy Hunt- 

 ing Grounds. 



To have had to kill a she-bear ! 'Twas the way 

 luck went. Would that it had gone some other way. 



The poor little cub stood bewildered a little way 

 off, and presently he advanced to the great prone 

 form and stood beside it, with his quaint little feet, 

 and tiny growing claws, set in a faint trickle of blood. 

 My heart-strings were tugged with the pity of it ! 

 What a brute I felt ! I took out my very grimy 

 handkerchief. 



" You aren't going to cry about it, Agnes, are 

 you ?" the Leader asked apprehensively. 



"You know I'm not," I answered indignantly; 

 " I'm going to wipe the cub's feet, if I can catch 

 it. I do think it is dreadful for it to be standing in 

 the blood of its own mother." 



"What a woman you are!" laughed the Leader. 

 " Killing one minute, and healing the next. I 



