272 THE BEAR FAMILY 



" I told him to keep his head and blaze away, which 

 he did, wounding this fellow, who dropped off his 

 perch and began to bawl and kick up a great row gen- 

 erally. Immediately three other bears stood on their 

 hind legs, and the wounded one regaining his feet, they 

 came for us with growls of rage. This was too much 

 for me, armed only with a knife. I told Clark I was 

 going to quit and rustle my gun, which I proceeded to 

 do. Clark emptied his magazine and ran also." 



The horses had caught their reins in the sage-bushes 

 and were easily captured. The two friends loaded 

 their rifles and leading the horses by the lariats, which 

 they fastened to the bridles, they returned " to re- 

 deem themselves from the stigma of so hasty and 

 undignified a flight." 



The bears were now in the willows, where it was 

 necessary to walk in a crouching position and at times 

 to crawl. Mr. Frank found one of the bears and fired 

 as it charged him. In another moment he dodged the 

 bear's paw and embraced it to keep it from striking 

 him, shouting lustily to his friend, who came into the 

 willows and fired as soon as he could safely do so. 

 The shot struck the bear in the back, and, when Clark 

 fired a second time, it charged him. Striking at him, 

 the bear " hit his gun and sent it spinning in the air." 

 Clark, " true to the hunter's tradition," played 'possum 

 in an admirable manner and lay perfectly still, while Mr. 

 Frank sat up and prepared to shoot. " My gun," he 

 says, " was full of sand ; it refused to work. I threw 

 down the lever, and was working the sand out of it as 

 rapidly as possible, but the magazine refused to give 

 up its cartridges. It was an awful moment of sus- 



