loo BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



for the light-coloured male. So utterly beat was I, and so 

 afraid of a further repetition of our climb if the bears got 

 over another ridge, that, without stopping to get my wind or 

 a steady aim, I fired hurriedly, putting in two shots from my 

 Mannlicher as fast as I could load. It appeared to me that 

 I hit my beast with the first shot, as, startled by the report 

 of the rifle, he almost fell. Subsequent examination, how- 

 ever, proved that neither bullet touched the bear. Little, on 

 the other hand, did better, as with his first shot he broke the 

 hind leg of the she-bear, and turning he put a shot into 

 the other bear, thinking it was going away wounded. As 

 the latter was still going, but pretty sick, I gave him another 

 shot, this time in the neck, and he fell like a log without 

 moving. We afterwards found that this bullet had smashed 

 a bone of his neck clean in half. Little then started 

 pumping lead after the other bear, which was shuffling off 

 downhill at a good rate with a broken leg, and giving forth 

 terrible snarls and groans. Five or six shots seemed to 

 have no result, except one bullet which, we could see, hit the 

 bear in the nose. Finally, taking my rifle, in which there 

 still remained two cartridges. Little gave her a bullet in 

 the shoulder which settled her. On examining the bear, we 

 found that nearly all the bullets had gone through her feet 

 and legs, and this was owing to the fact that after firing the 

 first shot, the back-sight on Little's rifle had fallen down, and 

 in the excitement of the moment he had not noticed that he 

 was shooting without it. 



Both bears were small ones, the female being the larger, 

 but her skin, when taken off and spread on the ground, only 

 measured 7 feet 8 inches, and the actual body, from nose to 

 tail, was much shorter. No measurement of the skin alone 

 can give an accurate idea of the size of the beast from which 



