ADVENTURES IN THE KENAI 259 



a full grown brown bear standing erect on her hind legs 

 in the edge of a patch of alders about six feet the other 

 side of the trail and about 40 or 45 feet from them. 

 When Elting saw the bear a fraction of a moment later, 

 she was just swinging down from her standing position 

 to start running at him. Ben, who was unarmed, made 

 up the ridge toward some down timber and succeeded in 

 getting about six feet off the ground. As the bear came 

 on, Elting swung his 9 mm. Mannlicher from the shoulder 

 and luckily having a shell in the barrel, had only to 

 throw the safety catch and be ready for action. By the 

 time that this was accomplished, the bear was about 

 25 feet away, coming straight on. Without taking much 

 time for any aim, he fired as nearly as he could at the 

 right forward shoulder and the bear broke down on this 

 shoulder with a blood-curdling combination of bawl, 

 growl and howl. The force of the shot turned the bear 

 almost 90 degrees away. Before he could throw another 

 shell into the chamber, the bear with its remaining three 

 legs jumped into the alders and disappeared. Elting ran 

 to the top of the ridge and in the dusky twilight had 

 occasional glimpses of the bear making her way slowly 

 through the alders. She fell down three times, but each 

 time got up and went slowly onward. Ben, who was in 

 a position to see the whole episode, stated that at the 

 crack of the gun, three cubs jumped out of the thicket 

 at the summit of the ridge about seventy yards farther 

 on and the wounded female made every effort to follow 

 these cubs. FeeHng sure that the bear was fatally hit, 

 and not wishing to encounter her in the darkness in a 

 thicket, they went back to camp expecting to pick up 

 the trail in the morning and find the carcass. Diu-ing 

 the night six or eight inches of snow fell and in the morn- 



if 1^^' \ 



