178 A BLACK BEAR HUNT 



jet black and in good condition ; a large diamond-shaped white spot 

 in the centre of his breast. He snapped his jaws testily at times, 

 revealing his large white teeth. He kept turning his tawny muzzle 

 in ceaseless circles, then for a few seconds at a time would sit up 

 on his haunches gathering in with his hairy paws the berries he 

 loved, while muttering from time to time a low whimpering growl. 

 When he had arrived within ten yards of my position I stepped 

 out and confronted him. Never have I seen such a look of sur- 

 prise in any animal before or since. Suddenly, however, into 

 the eyes there gleamed an expression of uncompromising ferocity 

 which was frank and unmistakable. He kept striking his teeth 

 together viciously. I covered with the foresight of my rifle the 

 white spot at the centre of the breast, then as I fired I saw the 

 creature reel under the blow and roll helplessly down the steep 

 hillside. Strange to say, life was not extinct, and I had to thwart 

 a desperate effort at escape by two more bullets before all was 

 over with him. In the excitement of the melee I had not noticed 

 what had become of the other bear. 



One day we emerged into the open sunshine on a broad 

 meadow cut up with tracks like a cattle ' corral'. Here beavers 

 have formed their marvellous dams and dome-shaped houses 

 in three or four very respectable lakes, for the existence of 

 which their labours are responsible. When the last beaver 

 lake is passed a ribbon-like meadow is gained, of bright green 

 reeds and rushes winding up among lofty hills, some of 

 which are covered by a pretty patchwork of light and dark 

 green foliage, according as birch or fir predominate ; others are 

 bare enough to admit of careful inspection with the field-glass. 

 As the hills enclose the valley in a basin-like setting, Nature has 

 seemingly prepared the arena with a view to scientific stalking. 

 On the tallest mountain, dome-shaped, behind which flames the 

 sun sinking to the horizon, two black bears are plainly visible 

 through the glasses. Somehow they had killed a caribou between 

 them, and were gloating over their feast. How moments seem- 

 ingly lengthened to hours as the largest left his companion and 

 marched in our direction, where we stood waiting on the declivity 

 of the opposite mountain for the favourable moment to make 

 our attack ! What a depressing situation when he was heard 

 to pass, with occasional snappings of dry limbs, invisible in the 

 thick covert, and yet within a few yards from where we stood 

 at arms ! Fortune, however, recompensed this discomfiture, 

 for as we made our breathless charge, whenever we emerged from 

 thick places and obtained a view we saw the other, though at 

 intervals disappearing, ever returning to the bare rocks that 



