122 BIG GAME SHOOTING IN ALASKA chap. 



a few yards' distance in the thick alders on my right. 

 Peering through the bushes, I just caught sight of the head 

 of a great brown bear about 15 yards away as he jumped up 

 from a spot where he had been lying. It was only the work 

 of a moment to tear off my mosquito net and right glove, but, 

 hampered as I was with bushes which impeded every move- 

 ment of my arms and rifle, there was no possibility of aiming 

 steadily, nor was there much to aim at except a pair of great 

 ears, as the bear dashed frantically away through the bush. 

 I let go two bullets, one at the vanishing ears and another 

 into the moving bushes which closed behind them as they 

 disappeared. Hearing no sound from the bear, I was 

 convinced that I had made a clean miss, and such was un- 

 doubtedly the case, for although we followed his great tracks 

 for several hundred yards, no sign of blood was to be seen. 

 This was evidently the animal which we had taken at a 

 distance for a caribou, and perhaps we were fortunate to 

 escape as we did, since tackling a brown bear in thick bush is 

 no child's play if you wound the brute. Nevertheless I was 

 furious at losing him, and returned to the schooner with the 

 sole consolation of thinking that as I had blundered on a bear 

 in my first hour on shore, therefore Glyn and Little stood 

 a fine chance of picking up some good specimens if they 

 remained there two or three w^eeks, as it was their intention 

 to do. I did not see either of them on my return to the 

 schooner, so was unable to tell them of this episode, as I was 

 desirous of pushing on to the westward and seeking pastures 

 new. 



That evening we beat our way slowly out of Ivanoff Bay 

 and shaped our course for Sand Point on Popoff Island. 

 Another twenty-four hours of battling against unfavourable 

 elements saw me safely landed at Sand Point, where I 



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