176 CRUISIJtfGS IN THE CASCADES 



My only object was to reach shelter, to rest, and 

 feast on the unsatisfying bread. I heard a succes- 

 sion of the splashings that came from my left with 

 such regular cadence as to cause me to look up, 

 when, great St. Hubert ! there came a huge grizzly 

 bear shambling and splashing along through the 

 wet snow. It was his footsteps that I had been 

 hearing for a minute or two past, and which I had, 

 at first, thought to be the falling snow. 



He had not yet seen me, and what a marvelous 

 change came over me ! I forgot that I was tired; 

 that I was weak; that I was hungry. The instincts 

 of the hunter reanimated me, and I thought only of 

 killing the grand game before me. I threw down 

 my rifle, raising the hammer as the weapon came 

 into position, and the click of the lock reached his 

 ear. It was the first intimation he had of possible 

 danger, and he stopped and threw up his head to 

 look and listen. My thoughts came and went like 

 flashes of lightning. I remembered then the fam- 

 ishing condition of myself and friends. Here was 

 meat, and I must save it. There must be no nerv- 

 ousnessno wild shooting now. This shot must 

 tell. And there was not a tremor in all my system. 

 Every nerve was as of steel for the instant. The 

 little gold bead on the muzzle of the rifle instantly 

 found the vital spot behind the bear's shoulder, 

 gleamed through the rear sight like a spark of fire, 

 and before he had time to realize what the strange 

 apparition was that had so suddenly confronted 

 him, the voice of the Winchester was echoing 

 through the canon and an express bullet had 

 crashed through his vitals. 



