HUNTING THE GRIZZLY BEAR IN HIS DEN. 279 



and emits a brilliant flame. Nothing else is needed but 

 the rifle. The knife and the belt are useless; for if a 

 struggle should ensue that would make it available, the 

 foe is too powerful to mind its thrusts before the hand 

 using it would be dead. Bearing the candle before him, 

 with the rifle in a convenient position, the hunter fear- 

 lessly enters the cave. He is soon surrounded by dark- 

 ness, and is totally unconscious where his enemy will 

 reveal himself. Having fixed the candle in the ground 

 in .firm position, with an apparatus provided, he lights it, 

 and its brilliant flame soon penetrates into the recesses 

 of the cavern its size of course rendering the illumina- 

 tion more or less complete. The hunter now places him- 

 self on his belly, having the candle between the back 

 part of the cave where the bear is, and himself; in this 

 position, with the muzzle of the rifle protruding out in 

 front of him, he patiently waits for his victim. A short 

 time only elapses before Bruin is aroused by the light. 

 The noise made by his starting from sleep attracts the 

 hunter, and he soon distinguishes the black mass, mov- 

 ing, stretching, and yawning, like a person awaked from 

 a deep sleep. The hunter moves not, but prepares his 

 rifle; the bear, finally roused, turns his head towards 

 the candle, and, with slow and wading steps, ap- 

 proaches it. 



Now is the time that tries the nerves of the hunter. 

 Too late to retreat, his life hangs upon his certain aim 

 and the goodness of his powder. The slightest varia- 

 tion in the bullet, or a flashing pan, and he is a doomed 

 man. So tenacious of life is the common black bear, 

 that it is frequently wounded in its most vital parts, and 



