270 Sporting Sketches 



the uncertainty became unbearable, and I crept 

 doubtfully forward for half-a-dozen steps, then 

 shrivelled into as near nothingness behind a tree as 

 a man can, for straight ahead, about fifty yards 

 away, was the bear! It had not seen me, and, 

 luckily, it was moving from me, else I'm afraid I'd 

 have stampeded. 



Its black body disappeared behind some cover, 

 and as it vanished my feeling underwent an ex- 

 traordinary change. A fever of excitement, a wild 

 impulse to follow, seized me, and I stole forward as 

 rapidly as possible. My loss of nervousness, and 

 the new, keen desire to kill, astonished me. The 

 sight of the game had braced me up. The previous 

 long, uncertain stalk had rattled me, but things 

 were now all right. " Shot-guns no good " be 

 hanged, and old Lewis, too ! The fourteen-gauge 

 should prove its merit right now. 



Crack ! crack ! the double report of Lewis's rifle 

 ripped the silence of the woods. I leaped upon a 

 log and saw the old man skip behind a tree. I saw 

 his arm flourishing as he strove to reload ; then 

 something black rolled into view about halfway be- 

 tween us. The black thing finally got upon its feet 

 and came blundering directly toward me. I glared 

 at it for a few seconds, then tossed up the gun, and 

 fired both barrels when it was hardly twenty yards 

 away. It collapsed, for the ounce ball happened to 

 find the head. 



Up came old Lewis on the jump. He took one 

 look at the bear's head, then excitedly exclaimed, 

 " Great gosh ! " 



"What's wrong?" 



